Israel sinks into its siege mentality, meanwhile, Turkey got what it wanted

Couple of FT articles.

Per my post in Esquire’s The Politics Blog, Turkey seems to be moving with all premeditated speed to neck down its ties with Israel—all the better for the nuclear moves down the road.  This is classic “chosen trauma,” in that it’s a BIG DEAL because it suits Ankara’s strategy to make it so.

Meanwhile, Israelis seem, as usual, to be of many minds on the subject.  Few like the blockade but most see it as defensible, given Hamas’ behavior since taking power.  Everybody seems to think the raid was poorly conducted, but likewise that Turkey set them up, so botched or not, Ankara wanted its bloody shirt.

As for the actual events, everybody sees what they want to remember, says the FT piece.  Israelis see their forces under clear attack (please, no professional soldiers kill 9 people in such an operation unless they feel like they’ve got no choice regarding survival) and don’t much care about the cost borne by the instigators of the provocation.   The West only sees its martyrs, thus a natural feeling of solidarity with ordinary Palestinians that most definitely benefits the criminally cynical—and by my measure inept—Hamas government.

To date, outside great powers have done nothing to alter this dynamic, meaning the upshot of the blood events is that Turkey executed—pun intended—the concluding act in their comprehensive de-alignment with Tel Aviv—nothing more and nothing less.