The US president and Nato both backed the Turkish version of events. Barack Obama said Turkey had a right to defend itself, while the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said “assessments we have got from several allies are consistent with” the Turkish account.
Stoltenberg said Nato stood “in solidarity with Turkey” and its territorial integrity, but called for “calm and de-escalation”, urging Ankara and Moscow to maintain contacts. The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon called on “all relevant parties to take urgent measures with a view to de-escalate the tensions”.
Ban’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters: “He hopes that a credible and thorough review will clarify the events and help prevent future recurrences.”
Turkmen militiamen in Syria claimed to have shot the pilots as they descended on parachutes from the stricken Su-24 bomber. The Turkmen rebels, who are supported by Ankara, broadcast a video of what appeared to be a dead Russian pilot.…The Guardian
Nato and UN seek calm over Turkish downing of Russian jet
Julian Borger | Diplomatic editor
Oh and there were two Russian helicopters destroyed today too. With US missiles fired by rebel groups. Not a good day. WW3.
ReplyDeleteIt may be that the US strategists figure that the window is closing fast, and it's now or never to do Russia and China.
ReplyDeleteA couple of dead pilots are not grounds for WW3. Whatever Putin does it will be for domestic consumption.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like Turkey and rebel groups going rogue to try to prevent US strategic realignment, and drag us into conflict with Russia.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally nuts. Our sick and incompetent leaders have dragged us into such a mess in that region.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteOr, it could be that those people opposing Assad, who has killed more Syrians than ALL the anti-regime forces (including ISIL) combined, might be a tad pissed at two Russian airmen that had just gotten finish bombing them - even if those bombs had little Matryoshka smiley faces.
You know? Occam's Razor?
The Muddle East becomes even more muddled when you use different benchmarks for different players.
Turkey Has Destroyed Russia’s Hope Of Western Cooperation
ReplyDeletePaul Craig Roberts
Turkey’s unprovoked shoot-down of a Russian military aircraft over Syria raises interesting questions. It seems unlikely that the Turkish government would commit an act of war against a much more powerful neighbor unless Washington had cleared the attack. Turkey’s government is not very competent, but even the incompetent know better than to put themselves into a position of facing Russia alone.
If the attack was cleared with Washington, was Obama bypassed by the neocons who control his government, or is Obama himself complicit? Clearly the neoconservatives are disturbed by the French president’s call for unity with Russia against ISIL and easily could have used their connections to Turkey to stage an event that Washington can use to prevent cooperation with Russia.
Washington’s complicity is certainly indicated, but it is not completely out of the question that the well-placed Turks who are purchasing oil from ISIL took revenge against Russia for destroying their oil tanker investments and profitable business. But if the attack has a private or semi-private origin in connections between gangsters and military, would Turkey’s president have defended the shoot-down on such spurious grounds as “national defense”? No one can believe that one Russian jet is a threat to Turkey’s security.
The Rest:
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/11/24/turkey-has-destroyed-russias-delusion-of-western-cooperation-paul-craig-roberts/
ReplyDeleteFrance and Israël launch a new war in Iraq and Syria
On one hand, the French government is mobilising all its media in order to keep its population focused on the attacks of the 13th November. On the other, with Israël, it is launching a new war in Iraq and Syria. The objective is no longer to overthrow the secular Syrian régime, nor to destroy its army, but to create a colonial state straddling the border between Iraq and Syria, to be managed by the Kurds, in order to apply a stranglehold on the Arab states. The dream of an Israeli nation between the Nile and the Euphrates is back.
The Rest:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article189385.html
Damn blogger swallow my comment... Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI was just saying that there is the need for massive repartition in the region, and until this happens violence and chaos will keep going on, There is a need for a Kurd nation yes, it would be good for a geopolitical counterbalance of the region as an other secular state and Syria and Iraq themselves need to be split too.
But at the core what needs to happens is a massive change in policies, as the oil dependence fades things will get worse and worse. At some point Europe may build a wall and forget about the whole region. If Putin didn't think he can run out of money he would cut off gas supply to Turkey and cause massive pain and chaos in just a week for example. All the Arab Spring was due to inflation in food prices 3 years ago.
There needs to be massive changes in education, electrification, investment and natality policies. You can't have most of your population under poverty and unemployed/underemployed and expect things to work out, those countries demographic pyramid is scary with a lot of young people unemployed and subject to minimum inflation shocks. If it weren't for massive deflation force of West and China the whole place would be on fire and ISIS recruitment skyrocketing.
If those things don't change at some point Israel will lose control and will start using nuclear weapons and WWIII in a few decades.