Roger Cohen
9/14/2010

Cohen reports from Israel, where he says little attention is focused on the peace talks with Palestine. People prefer to watch the Israeli version of American Idol on television. People do not trust politics, they don’t trust peace, and the recent arrivals from the former Soviet Union don’t have democratic values, which has weakened democracy there, according to Israeli historian Tom Segev, whom Cohen interviews. He says people are “busy privatizing themselves in online worlds where national politics matter little” and have become cynical and blasé, which has eradicated idealism.

Cohen is a New York Times columnist.

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