Winter is late this year to reach the east coast.
Already early December, in three weeks Christmas, and no snow on the horizon.
This does not, of course, prevent Washington from dressing up for the holiday: with all due respect to global warming, tradition is tradition.
The White House also wore a holiday.
The windows are all decorated, and the national fir tree is already in full glory.
The situation inside the rooms is, of course, much gloomier.
The new variant of the Corona is very troubling to the administration, which has already decided on further restrictions (a negative check from the last 24 hours for those entering the country, instead of 72 hours so far).
This affects the general mood, which is not at its peak anyway in light of the slump in public appreciation of the president's performance.
Bennett in a message to the powers before the resumption of talks - reminder // Photo: Omar Miron - GPO
The Israelis who will arrive in Washington this week - and there will be two such senior officials: Defense Minister Bnei Gantz and Mossad chief Dedi Barnea - will find an administration with very little attention to our affairs. The inner arena is dedicated, as mentioned, to Corona and also to the recent massacres in schools, which as always raise the possibility of restricting the sale of weapons, and the outer arena focuses on Russia and reports on the preparations it is making to invade Ukraine. In an attempt to bar teeth and deter, the administration warned that such a move would have far-reaching consequences; A quick look at the US force's policy since President Biden took office reveals that the Russians have nothing to worry about: the last thing the current administration wants is confrontations.
Israel, on the other hand, should be very concerned.
While the administration says Iran is "not serious" in the negotiations it is conducting on a return to the nuclear deal and if the talks fail "there are more options", it sounds like a meaningless threat: just like those heard last week in Jerusalem about a possible attack on nuclear facilities. I wondered what was the meaning of the rhetoric that gripped the senior political-security echelon in Israel, but it is difficult to say that anyone was really excited.
Nuclear talks in Vienna, Photo: Photo: AFP
The current Israeli effort is focused on trying to influence the agreement, which, as mentioned, is still far from within reach.
The administration is eager to reach out to it to remove the Iranian issue from the chapter and evacuate to China (and Russia), and the Iranians recognize this and harden positions.
For them - and unlike the Americans - returning to an agreement now is an option, not an obsession.
They learned to live under the sanctions and took advantage of the time for impressive progress in the nuclear project and other strategic matters, with an emphasis on the serial production and distribution of precision missiles and aircraft of all kinds.
In this situation, Washington could agree worst of all: a partial agreement (less for less), which would include the removal of some of the sanctions on Iran in exchange for the uranium enrichment freeze.
Israel is trying to fight this option with all its might, but the attention it is gaining in Washington is partial;
While the security establishment sees the Iranian danger face to face with it, the political leadership - whose extreme and problematic marker is Foreign Minister Blinken - sees Iran in much pinker colors.
The nuclear facility at Natanz, Photo: AP
"We will not fall off the chair if we find that there are direct, secret talks between Washington and Tehran," a senior Israeli official said over the weekend, and he was right.
Israel should demand at least transparency from the US, as well as clear answers: if there is an agreement, what do they aspire to include, and if not - what will happen. Are further sanctions on the table, and are the Americans willing to consider returning the military option? The current response from Washington seems to be no, forcing Israel to decide for itself on its future strategy vis-à-vis the Iranian nuclear program, and on the course of action to implement it. It is better for him to have a convoy and not talk.
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