The current buzz in Washington’s bazaars is questioning whether the peripatetic Secretary of State John Kerry is determined or delusional in his multi-faceted quest to solve among the most intractable of global conflicts.  Some see Kerry as a 21st century Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Except, these windmills can bite back.  Others applaud his doggedness and courage to persist.   So far, a dozen trips to the Middle East to broker a deal between Palestinians and Israel have not achieved that outcome.  Russian help in removing Bashar al Assad’s chemical weapons from Syria was indeed a welcome and positive step.  But the Syrian civil war grows no closer to ending [...]

Last Sunday’s Super Bowl was the culmination of America’s National Football League’s sixteen game season and the playoffs that followed to determine who would win the sport’s ultimate prize---the Vince Lombardi Trophy.  One of the world’s most widely watched annual television events, the Super Bowl was very disappointing to those fans wishing to see a game won or lost in the last seconds.  From the opening kickoff, the Seattle Seahawks demolished the Denver Broncos delivering a 43-8 beating, one of the worst in Super Bowl history.   Seattle’s defense, the best in the league, throttled Denver’s offense, also the best in football.  The game was lopsided: despair for the losers [...]