The Kremlin announced on Wednesday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed the pardon to free Israeli Naama Issachar from a lengthy prison sentence handed down over alleged possession of a small amount of contraband.

New rumors are floating around about renewed ‘negotiations,’ this time hosted not by France, not by Egypt, but by our newly found friend: Putin.

Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for agreeing to return a tank from a battle in the 1982 First Lebanon war when Israel fought against Syria and Lebanon. After the war, Syria gave the tank to the Russian army and it later ended up in a Moscow museum.

Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed Israel’s “grave concerns” regarding the deal. Netanyahu stressed the sale will “only encourage Iranian aggression in the region” and “further undermine the stability of the Middle East.”

It may not be easy to find the Goldilocks solution where we don’t do too much as in Iraq or too little as in Syria, but until we have a serious debate about Iraq (and...Syria) and consider what needs to be learned from these conflicts, we will thrash around using false analogies and making bad judgments.