Back in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the region’s nations need to use their clout to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spreading and the fighting becoming “an endless cycle of violence.” It’s in their self-interest, he said, per Reuters. One of his stops was Turkey, where Blinken met with President Tayyip Erdogan, who has been critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Even so, Blinken afterward pronounced Turkey committed to playing a positive role in Gaza after the war and using its influence to contain the fighting. Turkey’s foreign minister advocated a…