There Is No Art to a Bad Deal

 https://mishpacha.com/there-is-no-art-to-a-bad-deal/

Some pundits are hailing this deal as a “historic breakthrough.” Others contend that the Iran MOU, piloted by Vice President J.D. Vance, and the Israel-Lebanon deal, shepherded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, mark the beginning of a power struggle between two front-runners for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, to see whose deal will prevail and whose will fail.

Both are interesting takes that ignore the bigger picture.

Israel has bitter experience signing deals with Lebanon that didn’t even last as long as Madison’s agreement with the Barbary pirates did.

The United States has made two key mistakes in recent negotiations. The first was freezing Israel out before signing an MOU with Iran. It compounded that error by negotiating the Lebanon MOU with a fragmented government that doesn’t fully control its own territory.

It’s bad enough when adversaries deceive you during negotiations. When you deceive yourself, there is no art to that, nor is the real deal likely to materialize.