Tuesday, March 17, 2015

And may the best man win [Tzipi Livni has shifted to non-candidate for a rotating premiership with Herzog, in order to boost coalition building success].

Haaretz, this morning, here.

Haaretz had been a favored source for Israeli leftist viewpoints, but they put in a paywall.

Candidate info, with Livni still listed despite her reported move.

Commentary and reporting possibly of interest to readers; here, here, here, and two how low will he go links, here and here; the latter item concluding:

I admire John Kerry greatly for trying as hard as he did to negotiate a two-state solution. He was criticized as naive, but he saw an opening, and he took it. It was worth the risk. But if Netanyahu somehow returns to office—and anything is possible in the free-for-all of an Israeli election—I can't imagine that Kerry, or his boss, would choose to devote any more time in turning Netanyahu toward compromise. And though I haven't asked him yet, I'm fairly certain Joe Biden also believes that Netanyahu will not be seeking out a cross on which to nail himself. Netanyahu, it seems, is about the perpetuation of one thing—Netanyahu.

There is no guarantee, of course, that Isaac Herzog, the Labor Party leader who might emerge as Israel's next prime minister, will take bold steps toward peace, or succeed in this pursuit. But, unlike Netanyahu, Herzog seems to understand that the status quo is not sustainable over the long term, and he understands that the prime minister's office is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Lots of candidates and parties, all over the map on different issues - not a two-party stagnation.

_____________UPDATE_______________
MN Progressive Project has a pair of posts considering the Israeli election, here and here, the latter item linkink to Haaretz. If Republican online interest exists, it is not at either of the blogs I know of in CD6, here and here. Where all politics is more local.