Comments on: Making sense of Israel: A 60-year-old start-up

I haven't been back to this part of the world in over two decades. Reading about the changes is one thing. Seeing them up close is quite something else.

[jimalaiyah]

Can you elaborate on how a political culture can be broken?

[charlie cooper]

briefly, ongoing political gridlock, year after year, where inside deals & political corruption/bribery cases crop up, leaving important policy decisions - mostly foreign policy -- for "later...year after year, government ministers who get caught feathering their own nests...inside deals while the "suckers" can only watch....what's really amazed people now is that olmert escaped taking responsibility after the publication of the winograd commssion despite the track record of disasterous decisions made during the second lebanon war. on top of that you now have the talansky affair - just the latest corruption scandal olmert's been caught up in. and yet he continues to cling to power.

[shurygin]

I tend to agree with your take on it, but I think it happens mostly due to a lack of alternative. There are no strong players left - all front runners had their chance in the past and failed, each for his own reasons. Public probably does not see the reason to replace one looser for another.