Israeli Election January 2013

What is happening: 

For the past four years, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been the prime minister of Israel after over two decades of high ranking service in the Israeli government (Leader of the Opposition, Minister of Foreign Affairs, etc.). He’s an ex war hero, an ex ambassador to the United Nations, and actually served as Prime Minister in previous years (1996-1999). But despite being a major global political player, has gained fame through some not so glamorous ways. He’s created an immense amount of tension between his administration and the Obama administration (even though the US and Israel are considered close allies) and has an extreme stance on how to handle Palestine, even for Israel. He occasionally puts out an emotional tweet about the situation, similar to that of a thirteen year old girl fighting with her best friend. Plus, he comes out with the goofy diagram that makes it hard to take him seriously.

“The red line represents how close I am to destroying my credibility” (twicsy.com)

But even with these silly mis-haps, Netanyahu has maintained a decent strong-hold in the Israeli parliament. He has been intimidating to not only his own government, but to the entire world. That was, until last Tuesday.

Like the United States, Israel holds midterm elections for their parliament (the equivalent of Congress), and last week, Netanyahu’s party, the Likud Party, got hit really hard. The party that has held a vast majority of parliament for what seems like forever, only maintained the majority by the skin of their teeth. Which is a drastic change from previous elections where barely any other party could even voice an opinion. Now, with his party slimming down within the Israeli government, Netanyahu is seeing that his power is slipping away, and he may have to move to a more moderate position on pretty much everything Israel gets involved in. Again, a drastic change.

Why you should care: 

It’s no secret that the US and Israel have strong political ties and have been for years, but right now, that relationship is seriously on the rocks. Even though the US has always been a friend to Israel, they continue to promote peace between Israel and Palestine, holding meetings with global leaders and with Israel and Palestine individually, talking exclusively about the conflict. And ever since Obama has taken office, the American stance has become far more pro-Palestine, much to the dislike of one far-right, anti-Arab Netanyahu.

Frenemies (zionstrumpet.com)

The important thing to recognize is that there has been tense strain on the US-Israel relationship. And with this recent election, we could see that strain get a little more relaxed. Benjy will be forced to move further to the center on issues important to the US (read: all conflict with Palestine), favoring Obama’s platform on the issue and making strides towards peace in general. Despite this election, on its surface, seeming standard and not of particular importance, it will create a more moderate Israel and will make better, friendlier allies between the United States and one of it’s most important strong holds in the Middle East.

Where you can read more: 

Effect on Netanyahu: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israelis-vote-in-national-election-that-stirred-little-enthusiasm/2013/01/22/8507efb0-6494-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee_story.html

The Slim Win: http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/01/israels-election-0

More On This New Political Player: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/new-israeli-political-star-champions-middle–class/2013/01/23/83b17ff0-6589-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html

The Conflict in Syria

What is happening:

So, for the past year and a half, Syria has been in an all out civil war between its government and its people. Yeah, a year and a half. Since the conflict officially began in March of 2011, Syrian rebels have been attacking (and been attacked by) the Syrian government in an attempt to overthrow the dictatorship held by Bashar al-Assad, one of the bloodiest, and probably the bat-shit craziest dictators the world has ever seen. As far as bloody goes, Assad has already seen to the death of over 8,000 fighters and 32,000 civilians. As far as insanity goes, he was quoted saying, “Only a crazy person would kill his own people.” Do we catch the irony here?

Ha ha! Bombs are fun! (www.lettera43.it)

The United Nations tried to send in “peacekeepers” who were essentially babysitters with no weapons, no power, and no ability to stop any sort of violence from happening. Time, energy, and money well spent, amirite? So, obviously, those did nothing. Several countries from around the world sent small batches of troops into the country to try to maintain peace, but again, they couldn’t do enough to make a difference. And, finally, very few diplomatic attempts were made to try to stop the violence from Assad, but, you guessed it, not enough to make any sort of real change to the situation! Which brings us to where we are today. Rebels are fighting the government (and losing, aside from a few successful attacks) and the government is continuing to bomb its people. Yay modern humanity.

Why the fuck you should care:

This one is tricky. Typically, you should care because of what America is doing about a world problem and the money being spent and the diplomacy and troops being used. But this time, you should care for a different reason. This time, you should care because of what little the U.S. is doing.

Take pretty much any (oil-filled) country in the Middle East or Africa that has had an uprising like this. Egypt, Libya, etc. The bloodshed wasn’t even a tenth as bad as in Syria and the conflict lasted less than half the time, and yet, the good ol’ US of A got itself involved. In Egypt, the U.S. sent weapons, in Libya, the U.S. had a goddam airstrike within the first few weeks. But now, with the death count passing 30,000 the U.S. has had absolutely no involvement with Syria. The United Nations has, frankly, done a half-assed job of trying to keep violence down, but the United States has continued to stay directly out of the entire conflict.

Nope, no thanks. (haber.gazetevatan.com)

Now, this is not an argument of whether or not the United States should intervene. Everyone is free to their own beliefs and opinions and there are definitely strong arguments for and against either side. But the point is that THIS SHOULD SEEM STRANGE. America gets involved in pretty much anything it can get its hands on, when there will at least be some mild benefit.

But, since Syria isn’t going to necessarily bring anything to the table as far as giving the US a hand at home (read: WEAPONS, MONEY, OIL), the US is abstaining from getting involved in the messy, seemingly unsolvable situation.

Essentially, you should care because this is one major global conflict that the United States is saying, “It’s cool; you guys got this,” to. And, even though they have their reasons (as self-interested as they are), it’s a bizarre thing to see.

Where you can read more:

Timeline of the Civil War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Syrian_civil_war

Human Cost of the War: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/10/daily-chart-3

Economist Projections of What Will Happen Next: http://www.economist.com/news/21566341-it-will-be-worse-it-gets-better-syrias-agony