Philip L. "Phil" Marcus's (philmarcus) Blog

In a recent article, an Israeli foreign policy expert named Gidi Grinstein spoke in favor of negotiation while carrying a big stick to the bargaining table. I do not agree and I will tell you why. Grinstein’s context is admittedly very specific, namely the Mideast. His primary contentions are tha...

Like many of us, I have been focused a great deal on the horrific fighting in southern Lebanon and Northern Israel, and how these are part of a much larger drama that also features Iran, Syria, Russia and the US and others. Anyone can see that all this violence needs to stop and the differences—a...

In a totally connected world governments and others frequently negotiate by public statements they expect to get into newspapers and on TV, and from there to their opposite entities. For example, this past weekend the Israeli government made a public statement through its acting prime minister th...

Mickey Mouse has bought some electronic playmates for $7.5 billion, as Disney buys Pixar. Three months earlier it would not have been possible. Why could a deal be made now?   In January 2004 Pixar broke off talks with Disney to extend their distribution deal past spring ‘06: Pixar made ‘em and D...

For many months, if you watch TV news, you have seen Iran go forward toward making nuclear weapons. There have been talks, on and off, between European powers and the US on one side and the Iranian government on the other. Europe and the US made dire threats of economic blockades and so forth. Ir...

“I don’t care if it’s a ‘4 Panel End of Day 15/16" Onionskin.’ It’s still just a marble, and I won’t give you a hundred bucks for it. 75 bucks, my final offer, take it or leave it.”“Look, it’s worth every nickel, but I need the cash, so I’ll throw in this china-grade hand painted clay marble from...

A couple comes home from a party to find their million-dollar Dali painting gone from the wall. A day or so later their insurance company says it has gotten a message through “channels” that the Dali can be bought back at a reasonable price. Does the couple say they “never negotiate with burglars...