As for Mr Meshal, having realised to his chagrin that Gaza was no longer his to bargain away, he declared that he would retire after 15 years in the job.
Mr Zapatero, for one, has realised that the political debate has moved on.
Many Bosnian Serbs, for example, have realised that their community will not regain respectability unless it parts company with its wartime leaders.Many Bosnian Muslims have maintained that the tribunal's work ought to have even more tangible political consequences.
As Europeans try to harmonise higher education, some institutions are pushing the more structured learning that comes with an American PhD.The organisations that pay for research have realised that many PhDs find it tough to transfer their skills into the job market.
There is, perhaps, a bitter-sweet irony to the fact that strapped-for-cash farmers have realised they can make money by selling off relatively modest areas - a small-holding can be anything up to 40 acres - to people chasing the rural dream.
Computer experts who years ago would reveal software vulnerabilities for mere prestige have realised that they were treating "diamonds as pebbles", says Mr Filiol, now head of the Operational Cryptography and Computer Virology Lab in Laval.
He tries to put a name to the period in which he finds himself, for the novelist has realised that "period" is not simply a matter of historical retrospect, it is also a kind of self-consciousness.
"But since my running for president I have realised this party really is not quite what I thought it was when it comes to diversity and being inclusive".
Even though the voluntary nature of the study was stressed arguably it was too early for them to have realised they could exercise that choice.
In fact, Ms Fisher has probably been dealing unwittingly with the problem for longer that she has realised.
