My June 4th blog discussed the possibility of a Turkish-Israeli war in light of the saber-rattling that was coming from the Turkish side. Thankfully, that tension has receded a good bit. A second attempt to break the naval blockade of Gaza by Hamas sympathizers failed when another ship was intercepted by the Israeli navy (see first link below). The threats of Turkish warships or warplanes escorting the Hamas-backed ship failed to materialize. That was good news for the region and the world.
However, the “Turkish crisis” is far from over. Turkey stills seems to be slipping into the embrace of the Shiite radicals in Iran, and this bodes ill for the western alliance and NATO. Below are additional links that discuss the slippage of Turkey away from the West. The third link cites American Vice-President Biden’s declaration that Israel had the right to intercept the ships trying to break the blockade of Gaza. This is at least some good news out of the usually anti-Israel Obama administration.
While I have no link for it, the June 4th issue of the USA Today cited a comment by Greg Sheridan, the Foreign Editor of The Australian about this crisis. He wrote: “If this is part, as it seems to be, of a more general defection by Turkey against the West, with Turkey holding who knows what ultimate weaponry or even nuclear ambitions, this is a grave development for the entire world.” How true. It appears that global alliances are on the verge of realignments, due to both geopolitical and financial frictions.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/05/israeli-forces-board-gaza-bound-aid-vessel/
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/03/biden-israel-right-stop-gaza-ships/
