Author: Andrew Sullivan

Dan Drezner:

The parallels between Israel and — gulp — North Korea are becoming pretty eerie.  True, Israel's economy is thriving and North Korea's is not.  That said, both countries are diplomatically isolated except for their ties to a great power benefactor.   Both countries are pursuing autarkic policies that immiserate millions of people.  The majority of the population in both countries seem blithely unaware of what the rest of the world thinks.  Both countries face hostile regional environments.  Both countries keep getting referred to the United Nations.  And, in the past month, the great power benefactor is finding it more and more difficult to defend their behavior to the rest of the world. 

Ugh:

Even after just a few hours, it was clear that this was a gift to Israel's worst enemies. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president said: "The inhuman action of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people and preventing the humanitarian aid from reaching Gazans does not show this regime's strength, but is a sign of its weakness, and all this brings this sinister and fake regime closer than ever to its end."

"In the war of images, in the war of pictures and propaganda, it seems to me that the Israeli government that you represent is just losing this war. They are destructive not only for the image of the government of Israel – this is of no importance; when democratic governments fail, they are replaced. The damage that concerns me is to the country to which I'm bound unconditionally. This seems more dangerous than a military failure," – Bernard Henri-Levy, to Israeli sports minister, Limor Livnat.

Robert Mackey looks at a poignant historical parallel to the assault on the flotilla attempting to break the blockade of Gaza:

Large protests erupted on both sides of the Atlantic. The ensuing public embarrassment for Britain played a significant role in the diplomatic swing of sympathy toward the Jews and the eventual recognition of a Jewish state in 1948.

Greenwald pounces:

There's no question that Ron Paul holds some views that are wrong, irrational and even odious.  But that's true for just about every single politician in both major political parties (just look at the condition of the U.S. if you doubt that; and note how Ron Paul's anti-abortion views render him an Untouchable for progressives while Harry Reid's anti-abortion views permit him to be a Progressive hero and even Senate Majority Leader).  My point isn't that Ron Paul is not crazy; it's that those who self-righteously apply that label to him and to others invariably embrace positions and support politicians at least as "crazy."  Indeed, those who support countless insane policies and/or who support politicians in their own party who do — from the Iraq War to the Drug War, from warrantless eavesdropping and denial of habeas corpus to presidential assassinations and endless war in the Muslim world — love to spit the "crazy" label at anyone who falls outside of the two-party establishment. 

C. Christine Fair claims that we are not killing as many Pakistani civilians as drone critics claim. Andrew Exum fumes:

I do not care how many civilians drone strikes actually kill. And I do not care how many civilians Americans think drone strikes in Pakistan kill.

I care only about how many civilians Pakistanis think drone strikes kill. As one of the world's experts on Pakistani public opinion, you should be able to provide that number to me, right? Because all you can tell me right now is the Pakistani press is dutifully reporting whatever the Taliban tells them … and I already know that. I don't care in the slightest about what Pakistani generals or the CIA is telling you behind closed doors. It does not matter. I care about what those Pakistani generals are telling their public. I care, in other words, less about reality as defined by verifiable facts and figures and more about reality as it is interpreted in Pakistan and within Pakistani diaspora communities.

But the Taliban would make this stuff up regardless. To my mind, it does matter how many civilians get killed in such raids, because it changes the moral equation. It appears we have been very successful in taking out the enemy, but with so many collateral deaths the result is both morally compromised and counter-productive.

It's particularly important to see how well the drones can work, because they may, in fact, be the only weapon in our arsenal once the deranged attempt to do counter-insurgency in Afghanistan becomes too obvious a failure to continue. The drones, in other words, may be the key to our withdrawal.

Stratfor's George Friedman, not a natural antagonist to the Jewish state, wonders if this could be a turning point against the Netanyahu-directed assisted suicide of Israel. After all, Israel opened fire on a ship from a NATO member, Turkey.  Should NATO treat this as an attack on every member nation?

The tougher Israel is, the more the flotilla’s narrative takes hold. As the Zionists knew in 1947 and the Palestinians are learning, controlling public opinion requires subtlety, a selective narrative and cynicism. As they also knew, losing the battle can be catastrophic. It cost Britain the Mandate and allowed Israel to survive. Israel’s enemies are now turning the tables. This maneuver was far more effective than suicide bombings or the Intifada in challenging Israel’s public perception and therefore its geopolitical position (though if the Palestinians return to some of their more distasteful tactics like suicide bombing, the Turkish strategy of portraying Israel as the

instigator of violence will be undermined).

Israel is now in uncharted waters. It does not know how to respond. It is not clear that the Palestinians know how to take full advantage of the situation, either. But even so, this places the battle on a new field, far more fluid and uncontrollable than what went before. The next steps will involve calls for sanctions against Israel. The Israeli threats against Iran will be seen in a different context, and Israeli portrayal of Iran will hold less sway over the world."

Note that the flag on that ship was Turkey, a NATO member. Will Turkey demand invocation of NATO's Article 5?

And this will cause a political crisis in Israel. If this government survives, then Israel is locked into a course that gives it freedom of action but international isolation. If the government falls, then Israel enters a period of domestic uncertainty. In either case, the flotilla achieved its strategic mission. It got Israel to take violent action against it. In doing so, Israel ran into its own fist.

(Photo: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman briefs the media during a press conference on May 31, 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel. By Maya Hitij – Pool/Getty Images.)

An otherwise calm weekend erupted today with the attack of Israeli commandos on a flotilla of aid activists bound for Gaza. Dramatic footage here. Israeli version of events here, a foreboding sign from Turkey here, and an unconfirmed report of a blinded American here. Gideon Levy compared the incident to the 2008 assault on Gaza, Goldblog responded with angst, and Andrew posed a counterfactual. Readers reacted here. Before the incident, a reader reflected on how Israel responds to its enemies and Time told us what really happened during that supposedly contentious meeting between Barack and Bibi.

In other news, the Guardian reported on the resurgence of the far right in Britain, Joel Wing worried about Iraqi refugees, and Graeme Wood investigated the widespread use of witch trials in Africa. Joe McGinniss broke his silence to Weigel, TNC tackled Lanny Davis, and Andrew criticized George Will's reasoning over Obama and the spill. He also examined the latest victim of the closet.

In spiritual coverage, John P. Meier explained the Jewishness of Jesus, a Protestant reader discussed death and faith, another reader enriched the debate over Christ's divinity, another delved into the deeper meanings of Frost, an Orthodox Christian tried to apply original sin to bonobo apes, and atheist David Sloan Wilson went after Dawkins. Olivia Judson looked at man-made DNA, Bailey defended man-made organisms, and Ryan Sager summed up some studies on happiness.

In assorted coverage, Nick Carr kept up his crusade to save our attention spans, a reader countered, Mike Konczal critiqued online education, and Kottke came up with a great use for the iPad. Swimming pigs made it into an MHB and a few readers provided parting words for Ralph. Cool ad here, cool map here, and a heartbreaking map here.  Lots of amazing images of animals here.  And the Dishness was strong with this reader.

— C.B.

(A young woman lays down on the grave of U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Noah Pier on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery May 31, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. Pier was killed February 12, 2010 in Marja, Afghanistan. This is the 142nd Memorial Day observance at the cemetery. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.)

More awful news from Israel. This is unconfirmed at present.

A suggestion of a real confrontation:

Two Turkish activists were reported to be among those killed in the flotilla. Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences.

Ian Welsh has more. The death toll is now being put at 19. I wonder what the nationalities of the dead and injured are.