I went into Tuesday night assuming the math would eventually do its job. It usually does. Israel's coalition system is ugly and slow, but it grinds out a government in the end, and I've spent years telling people abroad that the drama looks worse from outside than it really is. I'm less sure of that this morning. With nearly all the votes counted, Netanyahu's camp sits at 53 … [Read more...] about Israel Election Deadlock Has Many Exits and None of Them Hold
Opinion
Knesset 2026 Vote Count Estimate, Netanyahu Bloc Near 54 Seats and Neither Camp Reaches 61
The Central Elections Committee count is past 40% of the ballot boxes on Wednesday morning, and the shape of the 26th Knesset is getting harder to argue with. Neither camp gets to 61. The open question now is how close the Netanyahu bloc lands, and whether the Arab parties end up holding the balance on paper or in practice. Here's where the official count stood with about 37% … [Read more...] about Knesset 2026 Vote Count Estimate, Netanyahu Bloc Near 54 Seats and Neither Camp Reaches 61
Alaska Has a Real Ballot Problem and the Justice Department Lawsuit Is Still the Wrong Fix
I don't think Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. ended up on Alaska's Senate ballot by accident. A retired teacher from Petersburg with the same name as the sitting senator files to run, gets listed without his party, and the state's own Division of Elections tries to throw him off because it thinks the point is to confuse voters. That smells. I'd say so to anyone who asked. So I came to … [Read more...] about Alaska Has a Real Ballot Problem and the Justice Department Lawsuit Is Still the Wrong Fix
Washington Fears AI Power and Still Wants to Clip the Coupons
Washington wants a share of the AI boom and reassurance that somebody else has the risks under control. Preferably the same people producing the boom. That is a comfortable political arrangement until those people start discussing how much power they might actually acquire. Then the enthusiasm becomes irritation, and the invitation to help shape the future comes with a request … [Read more...] about Washington Fears AI Power and Still Wants to Clip the Coupons
How Zelensky Embarrassed Trump and Musk Over Starlink
Volodymyr Zelensky’s achievement in the Starlink confrontation was to make an obscure restriction impossible to hide behind technical language. A satellite connection that fails when a drone accelerates is a battlefield problem. Once the Ukrainian president kept describing its consequences in public, it became a political problem for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. By October 24, … [Read more...] about How Zelensky Embarrassed Trump and Musk Over Starlink