The expansion of Israeli settlements announced yesterday is more significant than it first appears. The plans will effectively divide the West Bank into a northern and southern zone with an Israeli settlement in the middle. It is hard to imagine how Palestine could exist as a viable non-contiguous state. Moreover, the settlements issue is what made Germany decide to abstain on the UN vote. Germany is one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, but it had asked for an Israeli statement on the future of the settlements, a request that the Israelis apparently ignored.
The M23 rebels have left the city of Goma in a move that suggests the possibility that Uganda’s peace overtures have had some effect. M23’s objective was to remove President Kabila from his position in Congo, and it is unlikely that Kabila will resign. The dispute between Kabila of Congo and Kagame of Rwanda needs to be mediated by some entity–it should not be allowed to spill over into such horrific violence.
Robert Skidelsky is a prominent economist who has an interesdting perspective on the economic crisis on 2007-08 and its lingering effects on contemporary economic growth. It is a perspective that suggests that the real driver of the economic malaise of the last 5 years is income inequality and not bad credit. It is worth a read.
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