May 27, 2012- Iran Talks, Syrian Massacre, Egyptian Elections, African Illegals

It took a few days for the fog of the latest meeting between the West and Iran to clear. But now it has and the results seem clear. Despite initial signals that progress had been achieved, it is now clear that no progress, whatsoever, has been achieved. According to American sources the Iranians have not made any decisions yet on whether they actually plan to negotiate, or just buy time. Real negotiations on their Nuclear program may not be something the Iranian regime is ever willing to conduct. Thus, it may come down, once again, to a question of whether the US will be willing to take action.

The latest massacre in Syria both underscores the willingness of the world to stand by and watch massacres take place, while at the same time, may be an indication that the end of the regime may be near. Yes, it has been said many times that the end of Assad is just around the corner. Yet, 14 months and 9,000 deaths later, Assad is still in power. But this latest massacre and the complete failure of the UN ceasefire to go into effect, may finally be enough to push even his fervent supporters, like Russia, to rethink their position.

The official results from the first round of voting in the Egyptian Presidential elections will not be known for a few days. However, unofficial results have been published. These unofficial results present Egyptians with a stark choice. The top winner was the candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood. The candidate that seems to have come in second is a Nasserite. Interestingly, it seems that if you total all the votes of the candidates for the Egyptian Presidency, the country seems split down the middle between those who want an Islamic state and those that want a secular state.

Finally, a major topic of conversation in Israel over this Shavout weekend remains the question of the African-illegals who are now in Israel. Between 10-15% of Tel Aviv's population are now Africans (this equals between 40 and 60 thousand people). While most claim to be Sudanese refugees, it turns out that 2/3 are Eritrean. The Eritrean Ambassador was interviewed on Israeli TV on Thursday night. The Ambassador stated that Eritrea would not take them back. Tensions have been running high, especially in South Tel Aviv (where most of the refugees live) and, whose presence have been pushing out a largely poor resident population. The city which has allocated increasing funds to educate their children is feeling more and more boxed in. With no real solutions being implemented, the problem is growing every day, as more illegals show up. As I have written before, this is an immensely difficult problem. None the less, one that can no longer be ignored.