"Realistically, there is very little prospect of progress in this Congress," Mr. Keohane told me.
The prospect of progress could avert the consequences of a failure, which could include a further downgrade of the United States government's credit rating.
Two centuries later Mr. Pagden sees little prospect of progress or enlightenment, not as long as religion determines the shape of civil society in the Islamic world.
Yet neither the possibility of an Egyptian repudiation of the 32-year-old peace treaty with Israel nor the remote prospect of progress on the Palestinian front are the biggest security concerns among those at the Herzliya.
"I would want to see that there was the prospect of progress in the forecast toward achieving both much higher levels of employment and, eventually, higher inflation, closer to my 2 percent target".
"To not trigger something, I would want to see that there was the prospect of progress in the forecast toward achieving both much higher levels of employment and, eventually, higher inflation, closer to my 2 percent target," he said.
But he still insisted that, although the government was ardent in its desire to negotiate on settlements and borders and all the other political issues, Palestinian terrorism was thwarting any prospect of progress.
The prospect of progress in the disarmament talks comes as the leaders of North and South Korea prepare for a three-day summit meeting beginning Tuesday in Pyongyang, the North's capital, only the second such meeting between the states since the Korean Peninsula was divided in 1945.
Vice-President Mike Pence arrives in the Middle East this weekend, with stops in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, amid growing anger at the Trump Administration, little to show for its pledges, and almost no prospect of progress anytime soon, while getting sucked into longer-term military commitments to preserve its few gains.
Dundee United chairman Steven Thompson is warning clubs that are wary of reconstruction proposals that they are wrecking the prospect of progress.
