Amir Oren

America is looking forward. With all due respect to past experience, the accumulated wisdom of veterans who brought it thus far, it prefers to build its future on the next generation.

Like the U.S., we too have an electoral college made of 'states,' some of which are underrepresented, like Israel's non-Jewish citizens, and some that are disproportionately influential, like settlers and Haredim.

The merger between the Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu could certainly lose Netanyahu the vote in the Likud Central Committee.

Israel, in its early years, did not turn away help from the Mafia, but knew very well how to differentiate between Meyer Lansky and Meir Shamgar, Meir Amit or Meir Dagan.

The prosecution is suffering from shell shock, low morale and managerial failure. It is devoid of the necessary ability to make decisions within a stipulated time frame.

Many Israelis maintain the mistaken assumption that if only a preemptive strike had been carried out on the afternoon of Yom Kippur in 1973, developments on the ground would have been completely different.

Netanyahu's speech opens a dangerous breach in this direction. As usual with him, the verbal envelope, preferably illustrated, is more important than the substantive content.

Harpaz report contained baffling gaps appear between the material examined and the material cited.

Israel is not a passive and obedient partner to his madness.

Any statement made by Barak, even if it is the opposite of a previous one - is true only for that exact minute.

Since the next deputy chief of staff is very likely to be the next chief of staff too, the government must intervene now in the first appointment, to avoid facing a fait accompli when it comes to the second one.

Last week, Egypt's President Morsi promoted then-Brig. Gen. Sedky Sobhy to lieutenant general and made him army chief of staff, and deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

This is the last chance - for Obama and the Israelis - to say their piece beforehand, instead of regretting their silence afterward.

Lindenstrauss' report will reveal the truth about Barak's actions. It will reveal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failures to act. It will make it hard for this pair to embark on unrestrained adventures.

The sad truth is that, in Israel, whistle-blowers can expect to be branded as troublemakers and punished.

If the attorney general's announcement moves further away, it means war has moved closer.

Barak so underrates Lindenstrauss that he thinks the comptroller will be tempted to believe the praise he heaps on him.

Lindenstrauss is laying the foundation for a civilian version of the IDF's treatment of officers found responsible for extreme and severe negligence.

Appointment of the current and next chief of staff and the Iran operation are the bun and the hamburger, with Boaz Harpaz as the ketchup.

In the Barak-Ashkenazi war, the men under scrutiny have such big egos that it would be best if the comptroller kept his own ego under control.

The process of appointing the comptroller is problematic, and it would be best to transfer it to a selection committee.

G8, NATO and IAEA meetings, Iran nuclear talks in Baghdad and Egypt's elections make for a busy week ahead.

Those who are on the sidelines and are forced to wait their turn have only been able to substantiate half of their claims - that the current leaders are unworthy.

The comptroller's examination of the Barak-Ashkenazi affair was flawed on several accounts - instead of focusing on a systemic analysis of the warped process, the comptroller was tempted to deal with unsubstantiated trifles that proved nothing.

Despite the Shin Bet's lofty statements about "vision," "calling" and "values," it is a power-intoxicated organization of which everyone - even its democratic masters - are afraid.