Morning in Jerusalem

I picked up a copy of the Post on my way into the magazine this morning. On the bus, I was able to glean the following concerning coalition building:

• Likud and Kadima will form a unity government with Labor
  
• But only Yisrael Beitenu can form a government
• But since Labor is going to the opposition, Yisrael Beitenu can't possibly be the deciding factor
• And analysis shows that Likud is really the loser here anyway
• Except for the other analysis, which has Likud firmly in control

I am not knocking the Post at all -- coverage all over Israel reads the same way. The fact is that nobody has any idea how this thing is going to end, including the politicians themselves. They're playing a chess game, except that they can make as many moves as they want as fast as they want, except that they're blindfolded. Or, to dodge the laborious metaphor, we can satisfy ourselves with a quippy Jeffrey Goldberg:

The Arab world doesn't have enough democracy; Israel has too much.