As difficult as it is to decide on a figure for any broad settlement, the question of what to do with the money could ultimately prove more vexing.
If it is ever possible for Russia & the U.S. to arrive at a broad settlement of their disputes they will provide the U.N. with the necessary authority it now lacks.
A decision on Friday by a California official to withdraw from negotiations with large banks over their mortgage practices threatens to derail a broad settlement that the Justice Department has been brokering for nearly a year.
A bankruptcy court judge approved a broad settlement deal on Thursday that paves the way for MF Global customers to recover much of the $1.6 billion that disappeared when the brokerage firm blew up in 2011.
A broad settlement with JPMorgan, however, could well be a template for other settlements in the near future.
The Madrid conference brought together all parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict for the first time, and it established land-for-peace and self-determination as the bases for a broader settlement.
In March, Duke Energy offered to negotiate a broad settlement.
The requests for information by Mr. Schneiderman's office also seem to confirm that the New York attorney general is operating independently of peers from other states who are negotiating a broad settlement with large banks over foreclosure practices.
Faced with strong western denunciation, President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia called a halt to the Russian offensive and negotiated terms for a truce and a broader settlement with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who, as chair of the European Union, rushed to the region to try to strike a deal on a ceasefire.
Assad is also striving to gain some promises regarding a broader settlement with Israel in return for an eventual promise to withdraw from Lebanon.
