jimlederman.com

Israel's Economic Reform Paradox

One of the great paradoxes of modern times is that globalization, so beloved by free marketeers and libertarians, has begun to produce one of the most intensely regulated international economic regimes in human history. If anything, as domestic markets have been unshackled from old tariff and non-tariff barriers, the international regulatory environment in which those markets operate has become ever more restrictive. Israel is probably the best case in point. Israelis once believed...

The Lebanese War: A Global Conflict Writ Small

The Lebanese war raised many, many questions, moral as well as military. Many of these questions will be analysed in depth in the numerous investigative committees the Israelis and international NGO's have set up. But one of the strangest phenomena of all, the line-up of political forces during this war, seems to have been ignored in the rush to hindsight wisdom. Few, if any, appear to have asked the obvious questions: Who was on whose side�and why? The standard model used...

Israel, Globalization and the Lebanese War

Note: This article was first published by www.techcentralstation.com on August 24, 2006 Israel's war in Lebanon was unlike any other in history. The uniqueness was a product not just of Hizbollah's ability to fire some 4000 katyusha rockets over the heads of hapless Israeli "defenders" and strike deep into the Israeli heartland, but also because it was the first war that has ever been fought by a...

The Lebanese War and International Law

The fact that France and the United States, such intense competitors for influence in the Middle East, have come up with a joint cease-fire proposal should indicate to one and all that there is more at stake in the war in Lebanon than the television screen depicts. Television portrays the fighting as a dramatic human rights tragedy and just another round of fighting in the seemingly-endless Arab-Israeli dispute. However, the war has taken on important international strategic�and not...

The Power to Make War in Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government has been granted more freedom to wage war than has been given to any Israeli government since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. However, Olmert himself is emerging politically weaker than he has ever been. This seeming paradox is the product of the Kadima party leader's voluntary imprisonment by his political handlers and PR specialists�the very same situation that led to his party's fall from a high of 42 Knesset seats in opinion...

Palestine: A Nation or a Collective of Clans?

NOTE: A slightly abbreviated version of this article was first published by www.opendemocracy.net on July 11, 2006 The recent outbreak of fighting in Gaza has been accompanied by the usual lurid pictures and descriptions of battle; and the consequent, seemingly endless conflict over whether the Israeli or the Palestinian narrative will have the greater public impact. However, the real stakes for the two parties...

WHAT THE ISRAELI ELECTIONS MEAN TO ISRAELIS

Note: An abbreviated version of this article was first published by www.opendemocracy.com on March 6 2006 The recent Israeli election proved once again that there is an almost total disconnect between the country's citizens and its politicians. If, as Walter Bagehot proclaimed, democracy is "government by discussion," then the election demonstrated clearly that the Israeli public is as passionately democratic...

Hamas: Its Electoral Success Is a Victory For an Islamic World View

Note: This article was first published, in abbreviated form, by www.opendemocracy.net on February 8, 2005 Hamas's electoral victory has sent shock waves throughout Western capitals. The New York Times headlined one article: "Rice admits U.S. underestimated Hamas's Strength," while the Daily Telegraph quoted an EU official as saying "Our Middle East experts are running around like...

Ariel Sharon in Context

Note to Readers: I have not been updating my blog in recent months because I have been preoccupied with completing a three year study of Israeli governance. Part of the research material has been included in the article below. The article, in a shortened and edited version, was first published by Open Democracy

Who Will Control Gaza?

NOTE: In the wake of the assassination of Moussa Arafat on September 7, I am reprinting the following Op-Ed that I wrote for Canada's National Post in August -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 16, 2005 National Post The clans of Gaza: When the last Israeli settler leaves Gaza, the Palestinian Authority will have to contend not only with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but a welter of well-financed, well-armed...