Larison dissects some more idiotic analysis of Turkey’s reaction to the flotilla:
More recently, the strong reaction in Turkey to the Israeli interception of a convoy organized by Turkish groups with aid for Gaza underlines the possibility that Turkey is moving decisively away from its longtime partnership with the United States. ~Walter Russell Mead
It seems fair to say that Mead has completely misread the situation. Why has there been a “strong reaction” to the raid on the aid flotilla? It isn’t because Turkey is “moving decisively away from its longtime partnership with the United States,” and it isn’t even because the AKP government is bent on undermining the relationship with Israel. There has been a strong reaction because eight Turkish citizens were killed on a Turkish-flagged civilian ship in international waters by the armed forces of its ostensible ally while on a basically peaceful aid mission. Name me a government that would not have a strong reaction to such an episode. For that matter, the aid mission was an effort to breach an inhumane blockade that probably cannot be legally justified. If partnering with the U.S. means ignoring gross, violent provocations against its citizens, no democratic government in the world would be able to maintain such a partnership for very long.
The contortions we have to go through to justify what can not be justified is just insane. Turkey isn’t acting irrationally- she just had a bunch of her civilians killed by an ally who refuses to apologize, refuses to investigate, and is now leading a PR effort to trash them. This isn’t rocket surgery.
Although I can name one government that would not have a strong reaction to her citizens being killed or having their eyes shot out by canisters of tear gas. The United States. We’re totally cool with it. They had it coming. I bet they even had granite countertops.