ANOTHER FAILURE? – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:  The Israeli-Palestinian "peace talks" are on the verge of collapse.  And The New York Times is actually playing it straight, for now:

JERUSALEM — The Middle East peace talks verged on a breakdown Tuesday night, after President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority defied the United States and Israel by taking concrete steps to join 15 international agencies — a move to gain the benefits of statehood outside the negotiations process.

Mr. Abbas’s actions, which appeared to catch American and Israeli officials by surprise, prompted Secretary of State John Kerry to cancel a planned return to the region on Wednesday, in which he had expected to complete an agreement extending negotiations through 2015.

In that emerging deal, the United States would release an American convicted of spying for Israel more than 25 years ago, while Israel would free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and slow down construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

COMMENT:  An agreement between the two sides has been a major goal, possibly the major goal of Obama's second term.  But it appears to be a fool's errand.  The Palestinian side sees weakness in Washington, and also sees that Obama has made threatening statements toward Israel, hinting that he'd blame Israel for any breakdown.  So what incentive do the Palestinians have for serious negotiations, when they can get more down the road from the "international community."

Obama and Kerry have put too much emphasis on an Israel-Palestine settlement.  In fact, that conflict is rather stable compared to the rest of the Mideast, which is exploding.  Our foreign policy hasn't been in such bad shape since the Carter administration.  It's one naive failure after another.

April 2,  2014