#18
May 20, 1999


Bye Bye Bibi!

I think the world, along with the Middle East, breathed a sigh of relief this week when Benjamin Netanyahu lost his re-election bid for Israeli Prime Minister. After three years of broken promises and stalemate, many hope that the new PM, Ehud Barak, will implement the accords agreed upon by his predecessors, The Oslo and Wye River accords.

But can the damage that has been done be reversed? On the eve of the election, construction began on a settlement in Arab East Jerusalem, on a hilltop known in Arabic as Jabal Abu Gheniem, in Hebrew as Har Homa. It was the governments approval of this site for a Jewish settlement in March 1997 that led to massive Palestinian protests and brought upon the peace-making impasse that has endured to this day.

When reading the western press, one would think that this whole election was based on the peace process. “Israelis Vote for Peace” is the headline in most of the worlds newspapers. Now, while of course peace is important to the people of Israel, it is not the only reason why they voted this way or that. Most Israelis know that the peace process will move on no matter what, and that a Palestinian state is inevitable. When one takes a closer look into the election, into not only the Prime Ministers race, but also the elections for the Knesset (parliament), one can see the issues that are indeed at the heart of the election, the issues that truly influenced the way people voted. And with the Knesset results, one can see the deep divisions within the Israeli electorate, divisions that go beyond the peace process.

The biggest news coming out of the elections, other than Netanyahu getting booted, are the great gains that the Shas party made in the Knesset. The party almost doubled its seats, becoming the third largest party represented. Shas draws its support from religiously ultra-orthodox Sephardic (Jews from the Middle East, not Europe) voters. Now, the ultra-orthodox (haredi) believe that only when the messiah comes can there truly be an Israeli state, so while some feel that the peace process is wrong, it is not the driving force behind their members. Instead, blocking the involvement of the Israeli Supreme Court in religious matters, continuing the heredi exemption from military service, and keeping state support of the haredi, because only one out of every three ultra-orthodox adults have a job, are their main concerns. The reasoning behind the draft exemption and the low employment rate being that they must devote all their time to religious study. Also, the Sephardim feel they are discriminated against by the Israelis of European descent, the Ashkenazi, who have a higher standard of living and who have always controlled Israel. This is an issue that perhaps caused non-orthodox believers into casting their vote for Shas.

Why would Shas want to be included in a center-left government? To continue to have influence in the spheres of the government that they find important, such as the ones mentioned above. Many of the parties on the left, indeed, many secular Israelis, have a problem with what they see as the special treatment the haredi receive. And these are the parties that are the natural coalition partners of Barak’s Labor Party. Both Meretz and Shinui, two parties to the left of Labor that are expected coalition parties, have stated their refusal to join any government that includes Shas. And Shas has stated that it will not be in a government that includes Meretz and Shinui. Easy enough, you’d think, with Shas clearly on the right of the political spectrum, and with Shas having supported Netanyahu in the election. But it ain’t that easy, of course. Barak want’s to be the ‘Prime Minister of the entire country’, he wants to have a government that includes as many parties as possible, and he may feel that leaving out the third largest party, which also happens to be the fastest growing party in the nation, is not the way to go about fulfilling his plans. Barak fancies himself as a ‘third-way’ type of leader, like Clinton, Blair, and Shroeder. Now while Shas has always been included in Likud (Netanyahu’s party) governments, they have also worked with Labor governments as well, so their inclusion would not be something new. But with the rise in tensions between secular and religious Israelis, there may be some trouble ahead this time.

Another problem with including Shas in the government is that they will demand the post of Minister of the Interior, a post that Natan Sharansky, the leader of Yisrael Ba’aliya, a party mostly made up of Russian immigrants, wants. In fact, he made it the platform of his party, and is sure to pull his party out of coalition talks if he doesn’t get it. What makes this post so important? The Interior Ministry decides who is eligible to immigrate to Israel, and the benefits that immigrants receive. Shas, which has traditionally held the post, has very narrow ideas of who can be admitted and who can’t, or more basically, who is a Jew and who isn’t, for anyone who can prove their Jewish heritage is automatically an Israeli citizen. There have been many political clashes between Shas and the new immigrants on this subject. Yisrael Ba’aliya, a centrist party that also would be a natural Labor government coalition partner, will only join a government with Shas if they got that post, and Shas doesn’t seem to want to give it up.

So what does Barak do? He stated during the election that he would not have Shas in his government as long as its leader was jail, which he is, convicted of bribery. Yesterday, the leader quit his post, opening the way for his party. But does Barak risk alienating a large part of the people who got him into office? He needs Sharansky and the immigrant parties, he needs the left, but he wants Shas. A guy a work with says he needs Shas, because the haredi all have ten kids, and in ten years or so they will be the largest party, have all the power, and he doesn’t want to be killed. Needless to say, he’s not a big Shas fan. But the haredi birthrate shows how much is at stake with the increase of immigration from Russia. The Russian Jews tend not to be very religious, and feel that the ultra-orthodox are not deserving of all they get. And this great demographic change that is occurring will only be exacerbated as time moves on. Politics, politics.

To me it would seem Barak has an easy decision. Combined, Shinui, Meretz, and Yisrael Ba’aliya have more seats than Shas. These parties are also natural allies of Labor. With Labors historic position on the left of the political spectrum, it would be a major change in Israeli politics if Shinui and Meretz were left out of the coalition. But including them would swing the coalition even farther to the left, further left than Barak and his moderate leaning desire. Also, not including Shas would alienate a large part of the electorate, a chunk of the population that already feels like it is discriminated against. Barak bringing Shas into the government, he might think, would show that he is a centrist PM, not beholden to the extreme left, truly a ‘third-way’ type of guy. But either way it goes, someone is going to be pissed, and the internal divisions within Israel will only be exacerbated.

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So, the latest poll results are in, and by a razor thin margin, Slobodan Milosevic is Hitler! Slobo garnered 37% of the vote, with Slick Willie and me, johnnie b. baker, getting 32%. I think these poll results show that I need to work a little harder on my mass killing techniques. Hopefully I can bring up my numbers before the elections. I think I’ll start with the Canadians… Be sure to take part in this weeks non-scientific poll. You won’t regret it. http://members.tripod.com/johnniebbaker/foolish/file.html

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I guess my last file was boring, as I received 0 letters. Either that or I’m wasting my time writing these things. So, until next time…


#19
May 26, 1999


Living the òðóäíûé æèçíü (Difficult Life)

Yes, even here in Moscow, Ricky Martins Latin lovefest is blasting from every stereo, club and record store in town. Have to admit it’s a catchy tune, though when I do catch myself humming along I change it to the above Russian variant. When we first arrived in Moscow, not a day went by without us hearing Cher’s ‘Believe’. Around every metro station there is one or two kiosks selling pirate tapes or CD’s, and they all have speakers blasting out tunes. It is from these, and Russian MTV, of course, that one outside of the local hipster circles can hear what is hot. And, swear to God, Cher was playing out of every speaker in town. You would walk down the street and it would just waft with the wind into your ears. You would turn on the TV and it would be playing before the news (I kid you not). Even Living the òðóäíûé æèçíü (trudnyi zhizn) hasn’t reached the saturation level that Cher did, but maybe then it’s still to early.

But eventually Cher died out, and while other songs took her place, none reached quite her level. The most popular American band in Russia right now, believe it or not, is The Offspring. Yes, the poet laureates of suburban Southern California are the number one band in Russia. First, it was ‘Pretty Fly for a White Guy’, and then ‘Get a Job’. Both songs make the Russian MTV top ten right now. A couple of months ago, when I was still teaching, I decided to give my teenager class a break, and taught them all the words to ‘Pretty Fly’. And it was not as easy as you would think, what with all the slang in the song. I must have listened to the song twenty times over the course of a couple of days. I had to explain who Rikki Lake was (like Oprah, who they know, just as fat but young and white), and what ‘to play the field’ meant. They loved it. Homeys, lily ass, Vanilla Ice and Ice Cube, I explained to them what they all meant. “He wanted 13 but he got a 31”. I explained to them what thirteen meant. (The thirteenth letter in the alphabet is m, and that stands for marijuana. They didn’t understand marijuana, so I said ‘narcotica’ and made like I was smoking a joint.) Wannabe. And on and on. They really dug it, one of the boys even got up and played air guitar. It was definitely one of the best classes, much better than the time I tried to explain what the slang term ‘the kind’ (the kind ride, the kind grub, the kind smoke) meant. Of, course, after that, they kept asking me to do Metallica and Madonna songs, so I told them that whoever did the best on the coming test could choose the next song. It was, believe it or not, ‘Losing my Religion’. Now, that one was difficult to explain. Not any slang, which is easy, but more abstract stuff. But I did it, and if they didn’t quite understand what it meant, at least it killed another lesson.

And now I’m not teaching, so that saves me from having to hear ‘Living the òðóäíûé æèçíü a hundred extra times.

But all this American cultural imperialism hasn’t completely shut out indigenous pop form the airwaves. Usually, there are about 5-7 Russian songs on the MTV top 20. It ranges from the turgid pop of Alya Pugacheva, who, in her mid 40’s, is the biggest pop star in the country (kind of Whitney Houston, Maria Carry, and Cher wrapped up in one). She has been at the top since Soviet times. Then there’s her husband Philip Kirkorov, who has got to be the biggest joke I have ever seen. He’s hugely popular, but he sings the worst music I have ever heard and dresses like a bad Vegas lounge act. Like Elvis in his last days. Recently, though, he’s going for a make over, and is trying to change his image from Englebert Humperdink to Trent Reznor. Quite a jump.

Of course, there is some good music, grungy stuff like Spleen (which means something entirely different in Russian) and Mummy Troll (which a friend in London, who is missing Russia, just went and saw, with only ex-pat Russians in attendance). And some of the Russian videos are the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. Sometimes my students would ask me if I had heard any Russian music in America, and of course, I hadn’t. Outside of the rare ’99 Luftbaloons and ‘La Bamba’ non-English language tunes don’t seem to hit it big back in the states. And I think that it’s too bad. Travelling through Europe, you hear not only local and English or American music, but also German, French, and even Indian songs playing on the radio. And while a majority of it is the normal bad pop, there is some cool stuff as well. Such is America, alone (with it’s satellite, Britain) in the world.

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One of the things one worries about most when living abroad, especially in an ‘is the economy collapsing or is it not’ country like Russia, is the exchange rate. It’ll turn the most financially inept person (such as myself) into a die-hard currency speculator. When we arrived here in September, the ruble was 12 to the dollar, double what it was a month earlier. Now it’s 24 ½ to the dollar. We get paid in rubles, but fortunately, our pay is pegged to the dollar. At least in theory. With the values rising or falling by the day, it is impossible to know at what rate we will be paid every two weeks, and whether it will be the worth as much the next day. The last two weeks are a case in point.

First off, Prime Minister Primikov was fired, fueling speculation that there would be chaos and unrest. This coupled with the impending presidential impeachment hearings, made me think that I needed to buy as many dollars as I could. Even if I had to change them into rubles in a couple of days, I would have made a few bucks. I asked a fellow employee about this, an economic analyst no less, and he said not to worry. I doubted this, but I nevertheless didn’t run out when I got off work and change all my money. The next day I checked the exchange rate and it had risen a couple of rubles. Great, I thought, I just lost ten bucks. Still, my colleague assured me, don’t worry. I was still skeptical, but he gets paid to make such advice, so I listened. The next day, it rose again. I was losing money by just sitting on my butt. And then it was payday. The ruble was at 26, and my pay was at 23. So right there I was getting paid about $25 less than I should. I was going to change money right then and there for sure, but it was Friday night, and usually the rate stays the same over the weekend, so I figured I’d wait until Monday.

Over that weekend, Yeltsin wasn’t impeached, and the exchange rate went down a bit. Plus, there was a consensus that the nominee for PM was going to be approved. So I didn't exchange any money. And, since the new PM was approved, the rate has steadily declined, though it hasn’t reached the level it was at before Primakov was fired. So over the space of a two weeks, my money acted like a yo-yo. And this is how it has been the entire time we’ve been here. So I’ve decided now not to buy any dollars for a couple of more days, and see what happens. But I promise, the next time it goes up just a little, I’m buying.

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So the results of the latest Budget File poll is in! And to my surprise, 47% of all respondents actually care about Israeli politics! When I was writing the last file, I figured the majority of people would just read the first few lines and then tune out. I mean, an analysis of Israeli voting patterns isn’t the most exciting thing in the world. But then, of course, while only 20% didn’t give a damn about Israel, 33% admitted that they don’t even no where Israel is! So in the end, I lost out. Oh well, trying to think of things to write about every week is hard, as I think this file really shows, and I gotta write about what I’m thinking about. After all, it’s my moltings, right? Be sure to check out the latest un-scientific poll, at http://members.tripod.com/johnniebbaker/foolish/file.html.

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And now, off to letter land…

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Bye Bye Bibi, indeed. I felt a sigh of relief seeing Netanyahu admit defeat. Thanks for adding some dimension to that satisfaction by fleshing out where politics in Israel is likely headed.

That said, I suspect that you'll have more than one reader confused over your description of the Sephardic Jews. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the Sephardi is Spain. A quick flip through a handy American Heritage Dictionary indicates: [The Sephardi are] "a member of the branch of European Jews who settled primarily in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa." So, to say they're not European isn't 100% true.

In any case, it's nice to know that I'm not the only non-Jewish American who gives a shit about this stuff. I'm glad you have a forum and an audience to share the moltings of your fertile mind.

Best regards
~ Will Stagl
Tucson, AZ.

Reply-

Yes, Sephardic means from Spain, etc. When the Muslims conquered Iberia, they brought with them Jews, who under Qu'ranic law are protected as monotheists, 'people of the book'. When the Muslims were kicked out of the peninsula some 400-odd years ago, the majority of the Jews left with the retreating Islamic forces (spurred on by the inquisition). They then dispersed throughout the Islamic lands, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, etc. In fact, Jews held many prominent positions in the Ottoman Empire. These comprised the majority of the Jewish population of the Middle East. When the state of Israel was born, many of them moved to Israel (though not all of them). Therefor, when talking about Sephardic Jews, one means the Jews that immigrated from Israel from the Middle East (or North Africa, which culturally, linguistically, and to a lesser extent geographically is considered by many as part of the region), thereby distinguishing them from the Ashkenazi, or the Jews from Germany, France, Austria, etc. All scholarship on the subject, and the Israelis themselves, when they say Sephardic, mean those Jews that are historically bound to the Middle East.

Yes, it might not be 100% true, but 95% at least.

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johnnie b,

Your article was interesting and insightful, but anyone in the States with children or grandchildren old enough to be in school (at least High School) has their minds on whether their children will be coming home from school today. Over here our children are destroying each other. Its getting to be a common occurrence to hear about some kid showing up at school blowing half a dozen or more kids away. I had a client come in the other day and start crying while we were talking because she is so worried about what will happen to her kids while they are at school. She was Vietnamese and didn't know much about religion, but asked me if I thought God was going to end the world soon. I suppose loosing your child in a shooting at school would be the end of the world for many.

I have mixed feeling about all the media coverage of these shootings. Of course, people are horrified but interested. The only problem is the hoopla seems to encourage other borderline ding-dongs who are seeking attention to act out. Although the Bible tells us that there is an evil that will become more recognizable (to those who can see) as time goes by, with the slick marketing of religion, who will pay serious attention to what the Bible says. Especially when religion is used as the biggest excuse for killing in the world. Are we really supposed to believe the Serbs are "Christians"? Anyway, let Israel deal with their religious problems, the Shas, the Sephardic, the haredis, the Muslims. Man will never be at peace until there is no religion or until all people agree on one religion, and it will take a power greater than man to reach either solution.

Kathy
San Diego

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Until next time…

Budget Files