On: The Guardian view on the EU and Israel: moving beyond mere exhortation | Editori

The Commission’s exhortations to Mr. Netanyahu are like a small pump attempting to divert a river. I observe the force of the water: it follows the channel carved by its own momentum and the shape of the land. A pump, no matter how well designed, cannot alter the course unless it is of a scale commensurate with the flow itself. The declarations from Brussels are pressure applied at a single point in a vast hydraulic system; the pressure dissipates, the volume of water continues along its established path.

This is a problem of leverage. In a cantilever, the load must be supported at the fulcrum. If the fulcrum is too distant from the point of application, the arm will fail. The fulcrum here is not words, but material consequence. What is the precise mechanism of consequence? I have not yet determined whether the Union possesses a lever of sufficient length and strength, or if its constituent members are themselves a series of smaller levers pulling in opposing directions, canceling out the net force.

The question within the question: does the structure of the Union, with its many chambers and required unanimities for action, inherently produce a system of exhortation rather than directive force? Like a complex gear train where one small, stuck cog prevents the transfer of motion to the larger wheel. I must study the gear ratios. How many turns of the smaller ‘member state’ gear are required to produce one full revolution of the ‘Union action’ gear? The answer likely lies in the design itself.

I leave this unresolved: is the ‘democratic deficit’ often discussed not a deficit of voice, but a deficit of mechanical advantage? A system designed for gradual, consensual motion cannot suddenly generate the torque required to arrest a momentum of such magnitude. The engineering challenge is profound.