The mood about the negotiations in Zimbabwe whiplashes between blinkered optimism and dire pessimism almost daily. The latest is that the negotiations are dead in the water with the sticking point continuing to be the composition of the cabinet. Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF continue to deny that stalemate has set in, but Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC believe the opposite. So far banking on MDC interpretations has proven wiser than buying what Mugabe has been selling.