Hey, you know, Israel and North Korea are really pretty much alike

Daniel Drezner, a writer for Foreign Policy, slams Israel’s response to the terrorist-supported flotilla in which ten “activists” were killed. “How badly has Israel f**ked up in its response to a flotilla intending to deliver aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza?” he asks. “Pretty f**king badly.” To underscore the answer he provides to his own elegantly-phrased question, he links to an article by one of FP’s other policy geniuses, Blake Hounshell, who has this to say:

While we don't yet know all the facts, the apparent killing of at least 10 people aboard a ship bound for Gaza with humanitarian aid already has all the hallmarks of a massive public-relations disaster.

Why, yes, I guess that it is a PR disaster, especially since the people on the flotilla keep being cast in the role of mere humanitarian aid providers by the news media, which also continue to downplay both the terrorist connections of the flotilla’s sponsors, as well as the obvious point of this blockade-running exercise, which was not to deliver aid but to provoke precisely this kind of confrontation.

Back to 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.

There is so much hogwash in this one paragraph that one hardly knows where to begin; however, we shall, as the Cherokee chief said in The Outlaw Josie Wales, “endeavor to persevere.”

To say that “True, Israel’s economy is thriving and North Korea’s is not” without even paying lip-service to the underlying reasons why this is so, is an example of either purposeful deception or extremely lazy thinking. Imagine saying, in 1944, as a preamble to drawing an analogy between the United States and Germany, “True, America’s Jews are thriving and Germany’s are not” – full stop, no mention of the genocidal policies of the Nazis. So, the only significant difference between Israel and North Korea is their respective GDPs, and the fact that the former is a liberal democracy and the other is a nation-wide concentration camp isn’t worthy of consideration as a basis for drawing conclusions about their economic performance?

“Both countries are diplomatically isolated except for their ties to a great power benefactor.” Israel has formal diplomatic relations with approximately 157 countries; there are entire continents that are devoid of countries which have formal diplomatic relations with North Korea. Also, Israel has been invited to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; I presume North Korea’s invitation got lost in the mail.

“The majority of the population in both countries seem blithely unaware of what the rest of the world thinks.” This seems to be unlikely in Israel, where citizens enjoy freedom of the press, including access to foreign news outlets. North Korea’s citizens are limited to government propaganda and are completely cut off from access to foreign news sources - and I doubt that the unfortunate North Koreans are particularly “blithe” about anything, since this is not a state of mind that is typically associated with terror and starvation.

“Both countries face hostile regional environments.” Now, that’s true enough, but still laughably misleading. Israel’s neighbors are hostile because they want to destroy her. North Korea’s neighbors are hostile because they want to keep from being destroyed by North Korea.

“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.” In the case of Israel, this is due primarily to the open and inexcusable hostility that President Obama demonstrates toward all of the United States’ traditional allies, and is a function of Obama’s alienation from the traditions and history of his own country, as well as a measure of his pathological desire to distinguish himself from George Bush (although, in this matter, Israel is getting Administration support*). China’s fear is more rational; North Korea’s mad dictator is likely to start another war in the Pacific Rim, which would be inimical to China’s political and economic stability.

Drezner quips, “At this rate, Israel and the Netanyahu government will be blamed for the sinking of the Cheonan and the cancellation of Law & Order by the end of the week.” With respect to the cancellation of Law and Order, that would be the basis for a formal expression of gratitude to the Israeli government.

Daniel Drezner; candidate for a pre-obituary?

(H/T: Instapundit)

* Actually, not anymore.