President Obama's hope that direct talks would bring Middle East peace in a year seems less likely than ever. The US failed to persuade Israel to freeze settlements in East Jerusalem, and no talks are occurring at all. We ask what might happen next. Also, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes bail. On Reporter's Notebook, President Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan died suddenly of a ruptured aorta. We talk about Richard Holbrooke with his friend, the New Yorker writer George Packer.
Banner image: Palestinian laborers work on a new housing project at the Israeli settlement of Har Homa on the outskirts of mostly Arab east Jerusalem, on December 02, 2010. Photo: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images