The agreement reached in Brussels forecloses any possibility of Keynesian demand management to fight recession. Structural budget deficits would be limited to 0.5 of GDP, with (as yet undisclosed) penalties for violators.

The Special Rapporteur also notes that by requiring that persons travel to their municipality to apply for return of property, the Croatian political document issued in June 1998, entitled Programme for the return and accommodation of displaced persons, refugees and resettled persons , effectively forecloses the participation of persons outside Croatia without travel documents.

The Obama administration must seize the initiative and insist that Netanyahu unequivocally support Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories the sine qua non for a two state solution. Otherwise, tension looms in the Israeli American relationship, and calls for one state with equal rights for all will begin to drown out older ideological visions, as settlement activity forecloses the prospect of two states.