Peace, Just Not There

The Middle East once again threatens to boil over: Israel, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq---there's no conflict-free zone. Elsewhere, however, there are nascent signs of peace.

Google and Apple are talking about resolving all litigation [bold added]:

The companies have been exchanging proposals on using binding arbitration to reach a licensing agreement over patents that are essential to comply with industry standards on how phones operate. Such an agreement could lead to a global settlement of all of their patent disputes, Apple said in a Nov. 15 filing.

Stocks rose on Friday after signals from both parties that the impasse over the "fiscal cliff" may be resolved:

the top lawmakers emerged from the White House meeting, which lasted more than an hour, with uncharacteristic optimism that they would reach a deal in coming weeks. [snip]

Leaders from both parties and aides to Mr. Obama said they agreed to make concessions to achieve a deal. For Democrats, that included a willingness to curb entitlement programs, such as Medicare. For Republicans that meant a willingness to raise tax revenue.

Of course, the devil is in the details, but at this point any deal is better than no deal. Let's hope that the emotion surrounding Thanksgiving next week is one of gratitude, not fear or disappointment. © 2012 Stephen Yuen