Miklagård is in vogue again?

I think Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, overdid it a little today when he tries to use an economical argument for biasing the Turkey/Israel balance of favors in his blog. I now understand why there was not, according to the Swedish government, a genocide in Armenia 1915--it is because Turkey is going to be the world's ten most affluent nation in a decade.

There seems to be preparations for another genocide unfortunately. The intifadas were not effective so when Ariel Sharon gave Gaza to the Palestinians and they responded by electing a terrorist organization as their leader, some called this a democratic election, Israel blockaded Gaza. Hamas responded with a new kind of irritant, sending rockets into Israel, as part of a new strategy--defamate Israel internationally.

Finally Israel had to retaliate in the only way they could and this led to an international outrage. Now phase two in this new type of warfare has been launched--a Turkish flotilla where lots of people have been fooled to participate in a "peaceful" demonstration by a Turkish terror linked group I.H.H. Some peace, when the Israelian commandos were brutally attacked on the Turkish lead ship Mavi Marmara. I agree with Niklas Wykman, the youth leader of the Moderate Party, when he stated that people had been fooled into a hate attack on Israel. I wonder, however, how innocent these people in actuality were.

Michael Oren, the Israelian Ambassador to the US, writes an informative article in The New York Times. He verifies that Israelian commandos suffered gun shot wounds. What is most worrying was the extreme anti-Israelian hate that became displayed in the media response. It is interesting to compare the attack with the recent attack on the Red Shirts in Bangkok which was received with a mere whisper in comparison although generating almost ten times the amount of casualties.

Michael Oren says that Israel also want a Gaza free of brutal Hamas rule and a situation where there are no threats to Israel as the international discussion has turned in the direction of removing the Gaza blockade. It is of course obvious to the Israelis, as for others, that Gaza has turned into a liability. However, it seems beyond reasonable doubts that Israel must avoid the build up of rocket capabilities like those of Hizbollah up north for the safety of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In the mean time no one is starving in Gaza even if life could be better. Hamas, from their part, still shoots rockets--as if they wanted to sacrifice another 1,000 Palestinians to create yet another international outrage against Israel.

The effect the international outcry has is to move the theater beyond the two state solution. Erdogan, the Turkish PM, has called Israel a "festering boil" in the Middle East. This is as close to Iran and Hamas speak you can get from this prospective EU member state. Partly this talk is a reaction to the Turks giving up on Europe, I guess, but it is not surprising. We do not, at least not yet, se Europeans stand and scream "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".