What is this water falling from the sky?

Some news from outside the Middle East is my focus right now after my return to the States (more on that later). My attention was turned to Myanmar (and like Jay Peterman, "it will always be Burma to me") where Virginia senator Jim Webb, a big part of Obama's ability to take that state, left this week for the remote capital of the country now dominated by a military junta that has created a cult of personality around the armed forces. His purpose? To free a CRAZY AMERICAN, which he did. Yes, John Yettaw may be an American citizen and veteran, but he has made it even harder for democracy advocate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to try to make inroads against the authoritarian Myanmar(an)(ese) military regime, as she has been given an additional 18 months of house arrest for letting in a visitor who swam across a lake and happened to be very ill.
It may seem like things are looking down for the junta, but things seem to be mighty fine. China continues to support them, and they have been partially legitimized by Webb's visit. Sure, the State Department said that nothing changes, but Webb still wants changes, especially with the elections planned for next year.
The elections are where the junta will learn their roll. Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to participate because she was once married to someone born outside of the country. Her National League for Democracy will still be able to participate, but she will have to watch from the sidelines as one of the most unfair constitutions comes into play, where the military can determine whether a coup is necessary (if the government isn't "democratic" enough). The Mon and Wa in the North are already planning to take up arms against the junta if the constitution comes into play since it will disarm the militias protecting these ethnic groups (and running an illegal drug trade on the hilly borders of China). The Burmese military usuall stays in the lowlands near Yangon or the worst-planned capital in the world, Napyitaw. I expect the junta to get some sort of air force with the help of the Chinese before implementing the constitution. If it does come to that, the US needs to seriously consider stepping in to protect these groups, and this will include having to take a firm stance with China on the matter.
In other news, the Israeli government (and Peace Now confirms this) has stopped giving permits to new settlements in the West Bank. This will make it so that permanent settlement will stop, but the IDF will still need to deal with groups like Youth for Israel, which likes to send in young religious Zionists to set up temporary camp on land in the West Bank, but are never too much for the IDF to handle.
Another big development comes with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Washington this week, where today he and Obama agreed to acquiesce to some demands from the Israeli government for the new Palestinian state. The question is whether other Arab states will also agree to the stipulation that the Palestinian state be demilitarized and the right of return be exchanged for monetary compensation. The next question will be Hamas, who look relatively moderate after dealing with a takeover of a mosque in Tunneltown, Gaza (Rafah) by the fundamentalist Warriors of God. This is still all relative, so I wouldn't bet my life savings on it (I would bet $10, if I can get some 10-1 odds, which makes me wonder, is there somewhere to bet on Middle East peace? Yessir).
And welcome the Swedish to the blood libel-style conspiracy fold. A Swedish paper claims that as part of the recent New York metropolitan area money laundering scheme, the IDF was killing Palestinians and selling their organs. They also have some testimony. This comes on the heels of the Romanian ova-trafficking claims, and don't forget what goes into matzah and hamentashen: that's right, the blood of your child! It's really sort of funny how this whole blood-libel thing works, because it is ALL PLAGIARISM (Even The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was.) So anyways, maybe finding something REAL and TANGIBLE will make things easier for you.

Finally, I'm back in the United States, and I have to say I am very sad, but there are just some things that are way better here (partial list: pickup basketball, DIM SUM, THAI FOOD, PRESENCE OF BURRITOS). But many of the people I met in Israel endeared the land to me and I can't wait to go back, and I am definitely considering making aliyah. This is also the first time I've spent more than a month abroad, and the shock of being back here was most evident in the jet lag, which lasted 4 days. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THAT? Anyways, I'm going to keep up the blogging about the Middle East while I'm here, maybe with some occasional reports from my friend Peanut.
UPDATE: Today was the first time I have seen rain in 2 months. I decided to go umbrella-less in order to get the full effect after having missed it for so long. Still, I'm pretty sure I'll get sick of it by the next time it rains.

Separate is NEVER Equal, Avigdor Lieberman's Megalomania Begins to Catch Up, and a Disgusting Act in Tel Aviv

It's been tough to get this blog updated recently, mostly due to a lack of internet connection in my new digs, so now as I wait for a warm laffa with chicken among other treats inside, I update you on the important stuff since the last time I posted.
The biggest thing for me this week was watching this video on youtube and trying to put it into a context that Americans would understand:

As an American, the first two Supreme Court cases I learned about were Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, which set precedents for segregation and integration of African-Americans respectively (African-Americans are still not completely integrated, as is any minority in any country due to the fact that racial/religious majorities will always be scared of an uprising that destroys their rule).
Palestinians are looking at a comparable situation, where the Israeli government evicts them from their homes in order to give them to Jewish families.
Palestinian statehood is a necessity to mollify these problems, but as I continue to say, Israel needs to help. Arab states are known for not being major financial donors in aiding Palestinian development, so Israel must help. For the security wall to work, for Abbas to have real power in the West Bank and possibly have it translate to Gaza, Israel needs to help Palestinian development by improving services such as hospitals and transportation along with basic infrastructure so that there isn't need for people to oppose the state and it can flourish.
This brings me to my next topic: the possible coming fall of Avigdor Lieberman from power. After the US response to the evictions, Lieberman decided to fight back against international opinion by advising the Foreign Ministry to circulate pictures of Hitler and and the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who had met with Hitler to help devise a plan for exterminating the Jews of the Middle East. Lieberman is essentially using the photo to blackmail Western countries into ceasing demands of stopping settlements and condemning the evictions.
This is all a nice distraction, since the Israeli police recently came out with a plan to indict Lieberman for some financial dealings that allowed him to pocket around 10 million NIS while serving in Knesset and as Foreign Minister. Lieberman was reportedly usually careful to not leave a paper trail behind him, but this time was unsuccessful. He had plans to avoid any sort of charges that he got with his deal to join Netanyahu's coalition by getting the Ministries that deals with legal matters under his party's control, but a minister from his party let it continue. So now Lieberman looks like he may be on the way out. Moshe Katsav never thought anything would happen to him, and now he sits as a blacksheep somewhere out of the public eye (probably better for him).
Also on Saturday, a man wearing black attacked a Gay and Lesbian center in Tel Aviv where a support group was meeting, killing 2 and injuring others. Netanyahu and Shimon Peres have come out deriding the incident (still haven't heard from National Religious or Shas, because they probably would say something extremely stupid). And this is definitely a hate crime. I will not pin blame on anyone, but this person was not that mad and blind, he obviousl had some sort of plan to terrorize innocent people who were in the process of coming to grips withtheir identity.
I was in the Golan this weekend, and I have to say, it is a beautiful place. I can't imagine what it would be like under Syrian control, as the Syrians loved to use the advantage in elevation to terrorize Israelis living in the North. But it has such great scenery and awesome hikes that have been incorporated so well into the Israeli National Park system. All I can say is
העם צריך להיות עם הגולן-The nation needs to be with the Golan.