The main problem Israel had — and still has — is the Russian presence. How long will Putin restrain himself when confronted with Israel’s policy? Is Israel approaching Russia’s red line, risking real friction with the superpower that has located itself along Israel’s northern borders? Based on the laconic statement by Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Israel might be.

Russia, uniquely, is in a position to push the Iranian vector off its current trajectory and prevent an all-out war. Its own interests inside Syria indicate that this is something it should want to do.

But reality does not conform to theory, and whether Moscow will take action to rein in the Iranians, and what price it will ask for doing so, are the reasons Netanyahu meets – and talks – so often with Putin. Whether or not Israel is on the cusp of a new war in the North is to a large extent dependent on decisions the Russians will now make.

Russia merely does what’s good for Russia. Israel’s problem is not Russia – it is the absence of counterweight to Russia. Israel is powerful. It is powerful enough to deal with its neighbors. But it is not a superpower. Dealing with Russia and taming its ambitions is a job for a superpower.

Until not long ago, Israel had a deal with the US: We take care of the neighbors, you deal with the problems that only a superpower can deal with. Is this deal still in place? If it is, the US must act. If it isn’t, Israel must recalibrate its assumptions, and reformulate its policies. This will not be easy, nor pleasant. Still, Israel can’t operate in the world assuming that the US is the counterweight to Russia when it is not.

The result is that on his stops in Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, Mr. Tillerson will either be delivering difficult messages — urging partners to follow through on promises — or trying to assuage furious allies. And while previous administrations had papered over differences with generous promises of financial aid, Mr. Tillerson’s goody bag will be all but empty.

Players throughout the Middle East watch for symbols. President Trump’s and Vice President Pence’s visits to Israel conveyed strong support and friendship, and the lead White House role in managing this relationship.

But the Secretary of State arriving at a moment of crisis demonstrates something else: Detailed coordination and determined vigilance by American and Israeli allies to jointly confront and deter real-time threats.

And just as clearly, his absence – as he lands in capitals all around Israel – would tell the region that against Iran in Syria, Israel is on its own.

…the most contentious stop this week is likely to be in Ankara, where a rising tide of anti-Americanism is spurred on by the government’s media mouthpieces, which have called the United States an enemy of Turkey.

U.S. officials have expressed concern for the safety of locally hired employees of the U.S. Embassy there… And tempers have flared over the situation in Syria, where the United States supports Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists.

The advantages of a merit-based immigration system aren’t only economic. A 2011 British study of points-based immigration by Centre Forum finds that its most attractive feature is its “power as a political tool.” Such a system allows the government to tell the public that it is in control of the country’s borders and is systematically limiting immigration in the national interest. Clear and measurable standards communicate objectivity and provide a defense against charges of racism and national bias.

When the Trump administration says it wants “merit-based immigration” it’s not talking about admitting 1 million scientists and engineers, or even any additional immigrants with college degrees… No, “merit-based” is a code phrase for reducing legal immigration by up to 50 percent and eliminating almost all family immigration categories and the Diversity Visa lottery.

The new immigration regime likely to be brought into effect under the Trump administration, then, is anti-family, anti-Muslim but pro-genius… Islamophobia and immigration are inextricably tied together in the Age of Trump, and anyone hoping to evade its xenophobic restrictions must act now.

…many men have rushed to gather what protections they feel they have left, while breathlessly pointing out all the ways the new arrangements are flawed. Thus, the urgent invocations of due process and the importance of protections for the accused, and the lurid visions of innocent men felled by “huntresses” who will “believe all women” at the expense of rule of law.

I asked seven legal scholars and experts what due process is, with the understanding that in legal circles the question is essentially an existential one. Due process in court is one thing — in the court of public opinion, it is a much more fluid notion, entangling questions of what is fair, what is reasonable to believe, and what rings emotionally true.

You may support President Trump, you may not. You may support the #MeToo movement, you may not. Whatever your position, it’s irrelevant when it comes to the subject of the tweet itself. Due process was written into the U.S. Constitution to safeguard the presumption of innocence, which is a founding principle of our justice system.

The course was described as “video game-esque” by an NBC commentator as Gerard started down the first slope—and who better to defeat a video game than a determined teenager?

You get the picture. The victorious athletes are hoisting plush tigers when you’d expect them to be hoisting medals, and the reason for this switch is not immediately clear. Have the Olympic medals been replaced with stuffed animals for some reason? If they have been replaced, can I have all those unused medals for my personal use?

No and no! Gerard and his fellow victors will indeed receive actual Olympic medals. The post-event, plush-doll-laden venue ceremonies are just preludes to the real thing.

Mirai Nagasu made her triple axel look elegant and effortless.

But in landing one of the most challenging jumps in figure skating, she accomplished a feat that made her the first female American figure skater to nail the triple axel at the Olympics.

At the end of her routine, Nagasu triumphantly threw her hands in the air and a bright, exuberant smile spread across her face.

It’s hard to believe Judy Blume is 80. Generations of kids have grown up with her and shared her books with their own children and even grandchildren. I was shocked—and should not have been—by how much my own girls loved Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret…

Margaret’s concerns—about being liked and keeping up and navigating the changes and no-changes in her body and figuring out what religion meant to her in a pluralistic world—all these worries were utterly immediate to them, as they were to me.

…the reason today’s young adult fiction feels so sexually airless is that it lacks what made Blume and her peers seem so dangerous: Their books were physically arousing. In adult books, that trait is often a reliable sign of bad writing. But for teenagers, who are still strangers or newcomers to sex, the bonus physical stimulation of something like “Forever” or “Domestic Arrangements” can be validating, a way of making pleasure ordinary, appropriate enough to check out of the library. Those books were not afraid to let teenagers know that good sex can also be a good story.

Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear.