12:51PM
Esquire's The Politics Blog: The Real Israeli Raid Fallout: Turkey with a Bomb?
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 12:51PM 
If you look beyond the international shouting match that began on Monday after Israel botched its handling of a Turkey-sponsored aid flotilla bound for Gaza, well, things look pretty shocking. Just because at least nine people are dead — Western casualties included — doesn't mean the boat raid itself is what "has the makings of a huge international fracas." And just because the Turkish foreign minister says "this attack is like 9/11" — which it isn't — doesn't mean Tel Aviv will take its eyes off what the Israelis actually perceive to be the larger threat: Iran's nuclear weapons.
Read the full post at Esquire.com's The Politics Blog.
Reader Comments (4)
So in short, the "activists" on the boat were useful idiots, and nine of them had to die for this purpose....what a rotten bit of truth.
As a disclaimer, I still support Israel first by principle, since it is the most "take no shit" of the three small countries either under or "would be" under classical imperialism by the regional powers..the small countries being Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel. Using the principle of recognizing a people's drive to have a republic, I greatly resent the anti-Israel sentiment because I understand it undermines independence for Lebanon and Palestine...and Kurdistan.....yet there are useful idiots who would rather have fervor over principle.
I always like to point out that around the time Erdogan walked out on Peres at Davos, and Erdogan was puffing about the Gaza strip, the Turkish Army was actively suppressing Kurdish rebels.
Erdogan...that smart son of a bitch!!
I don't know if I would go that far, in the sense that the most aggressive protestors, I suspect, knew exactly what they were doing and what the risks were. The organization that set up the flotilla has a lot of links to extremists groups, so not exactly your average NGO.
I think I've made this argument on the blog before: Turkey needing to reorient on Israel to justify its eventual reach for the bomb. My sense is that Erdogan, whom I respect a lot, had no problem letting this unfold, knowing that if it went badly, he'd get the "Boston massacre"-like dynamic he was looking for.
Does this make him a baddie? Israel plays that game plenty.
But I did want my take out in the open.
The Turks feel that the Gaza war was a carefully calibrated affair that was conducted straight through one of Turkey's great fence mending 'good neighbours' policy ...ie secret Syrian - Israeli talks.
For the (failed and gory) tactic of displacing an elected body in Gaza , they trashed an ally.
Its a brutal truth that Palestine ( not sure about Lebanon) has only come into possible existance because of a strong jewish state ...but not quite sure whether such a bloody umbrella is worth that kind of unintentional pay off.
Nationalism is so 19th century.
I made sure not to use the word "bad" for Erdogan, because I understand how amoral and "Machiavellian" international relations can be. I do not think any head of state in history is free from this description at one time or another, even for greater good down the road.
But I agree, I still do not know enough about Erdogan to paint a sinister person, but I do know that he sure knows how to drive stupid fervor in his favor!...you take what you can get.