Obama has been surprisingly bullish in his support of Israel's efforts in Gaza over the last week - that may be putting it too strongly but he has certainly seemed less deceptively nuanced in his language [or on the other hand has become so exquisitely nuanced that even an Obama-sceptic like me is missing the truth behind the truth]. Whatever it is, Erdogan, Obama's buddy whom Dear Leader will be meeting with soon, has in opposition to Obama been quite strident in his rhetoric against Israel, going so far as yesterday labeling it a terrorist state.
So how does this play out when they meet? Obama has publicly supported Israel's right to self defense, Erdogan has called them baby killing terrorists - each, aside from whatever actual personal friendship they feel for the other, in more practical terms sees the other as a useful portal for plying a message of toleration [that one may rightly regard as highly disingenuous, at least on Erdogan's part] back and forth between the two cultures.
So again, how does this play out, both behind closed doors and in public when they meet? Does Obama pull a Medvedev, lean over and whisper "I got your back, don't worry"? Judging by his past I'd say yes - I'd certainly be extremely distrustful of what's going on behind closed doors if I were Netanyahu. Will an American reporter pull head from ass long enough to ask Obama at whatever joint news conference they have what he thinks of Erdogan calling Israel a terrorist state? And if Israel has entered Gaza at that point [which I see as likely since the goal here is to significantly degrade Hamas' long range missile capacity and I'm not sure how you do that without going in] how will each manage to back away from their positions? Or does Erdogan even bother to back away - hell, can he back away? Once you've branded a country a terrorist state, I mean, how do you dance around that language?
