Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying the jet had repeatedly violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was 1 km (0.62 mile) inside Syria and warned of "serious consequences" for what he termed a stab in the back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists".
"We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today," Putin said, as Russian and Turkish shares fell on fears of an escalation between the former Cold War enemies.…
The Turkish military said the aircraft had been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish air space. Officials said a second plane had also approached the border and been warned.
"The data we have is very clear. There were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too close," another senior Turkish official told Reuters.Reuters
"We warned them to avoid entering Turkish air space before they did, and we warned them many times. Our findings show clearly that Turkish air space was violated multiple times. And they violated it knowingly," the official said.…
Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Putin warns of "serious consequences"
Tulay Karadeniz And Maria Kiselyova
Also
A video of Syrian rebels allegedly firing at a Russian-made helicopter on the ground has been posted on a YouTube channel associated with the FSA’s 1st Coastal Brigade. The helicopter is said to have been on a search mission for the pilots of the Su-24 jet downed by Turkey in Syria.…
The Free Syrian Army (FSA), considered to be the so-called “moderate opposition” by the West, has received US Tow missiles among other weaponry.RT
FSA video claims Russian-made helicopter hit with US-made TOW missile near Su-24 crash site
The cold war just turned into a hot war.
Sputnik International
Turkey Committed Act of War By Shooting Russian Plane in Syria
Turkey 'Enters Into a War'...On the Side of ISIL
“This incident stands out against the usual fight against terrorism. Our troops are fighting heroically against terrorists, risking their lives. But the loss we suffered today came from a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists,” Putin said.…
“IS has big money, hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, from selling oil. In addition they are protected by the military of an entire nation. One can understand why they are acting so boldly and blatantly. Why they kill people in such atrocious ways. Why they commit terrorist acts across the world, including in the heart of Europe,” the Russian leader said.…Ominous words. Putin just accused NATO member Turkey of state terrorism.
The fact that Turkey did not try to contact Russia in the wake of the incident and rushed to call a NATO meeting instead is worrisome, Putin said. It appears that Turkey want NATO to serve the interests of IS, he added.…
Putin said Russia respects the regional interests of other nations, but warned the atrocity committed by Turkey would not go without an answer.…Putin: Downing of Russian jet over Syria stab in the back by terrorist accomplices
Under international law, shooting down a Russian warplane in Syrian airspace is an act of war by Turkey, legal expert Alexander Mercouris told Sputnik.…
"If the aircraft was in Syrian airspace, then in international legal terms it is an act of war, because Turkey would have invaded Syrian airspace, and shot down an aircraft within Syria, that was operating with the consent of the Syrian government," Mercouris told Radio Sputnik.WWIII in the making?
Sputnik International
Turkey Committed Act of War By Shooting Russian Plane in Syria
Turkey has entered the war on the side of the Islamic State, the Vice President of the Italian Senate Roberto Calderoli said after a Russian Su-24 jet was downed over Syria with an air-to-air missile launched by a Turkish F-16 fighter.
Turkey 'Enters Into a War'...On the Side of ISIL
Turkey, a longstanding member of NATO, has long been involved in the funding of the Islamic State, and supports not only ISIL but also other jihadi groups including Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, British investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed reveals.
Referring to fresh evidence and citing various sources, British investigative journalist Dr. Nafeez Ahmed has revealed that Turkey is up to its eyeballs in clandestine collaboration with Syrian Islamist groups including the notorious Islamic State; to make matters worse, the major Western powers are not going to do anything about it.…
According to the journalist, the irony of the situation is that ISIL is being funded and harbored by the very same America's allies who joined the US-led anti-ISIL coalition — Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait.
"ISIS [ISIL], in other words, is state-sponsored — indeed, sponsored by purportedly Western-friendly regimes in the Muslim world, who are integral to the anti-ISIS coalition," Ahmed elaborates.
It would be naive to believe that Washington policymakers are not aware of the facts on the ground. However, they are not interested in cracking down on these Muslim regimes.
The explanation is obvious: everything revolves around Middle Eastern oil and natural gas.
Washington and its NATO allies are interested in maintaining total control over the region's natural resources. In this light, Turkey is seen by its Western allies as an important energy hub, while Bashar al-Assad is regarded as a stumbling block in the way of a new Qatari gas pipeline to Europe.…Siding With ISIL? Turkey Spotted Dealing With Radical Islamists in Syria
From October: Russia "violated" Turkish airspace because Turkey moved its border
ReplyDeleteApparently the boundary is disputed in some places. Not sure if that applies to today's incident.
Well, Putin is not going to go all cowboy. He'll carry on in Syria and bide his time to deal with Ergodan.
ReplyDeleteYes,he will get the job done without doing stupid stuff. But the game has now changed. Putin laid the evidence on the table and Turkey responded by shooting down a Russian plane. That's doing really stupid stuff — unless the "someone" told Ergodan to do it.
ReplyDeleteMy, my, couple this with the passenger plane bombing, and maybe even Putin can start to grasp the muddle of the Muddle East where he's decided to display his inner adolescence Rambo. I guess folks (and their allies) still don't like being bombed even if they come with little Matryoshka smiley faces painted on.
ReplyDeleteTurkey is neither Ukraine or Georgia - it's full NATO membership and Rambo better cool his jets.
Once again, thanks to the gods for us having an adult in the White House.
Looks like TRY has rallied vs. USD off of this....
ReplyDeleteI would have 'conventional wisdom' thinkng the opposite...
I would have 'conventional wisdom' thinkng the opposite..
ReplyDeleteSomebody rushing in to support TRY?
Erdogan and Putin didn't get along very well already, Putin was calling bullshit on Erdogan a few months ago.
ReplyDelete"Once again, thanks to the gods for us having an adult in the White House."
ReplyDeleteYou mean the adult which essentially put in place the policy that created ISIS all by his lonesome?
I think the real adult so far is the Russian leader.
RUSSIA: Turkey violated airspace, not us.
ReplyDelete"Rudskoy said the Russian warplane did not violate Turkish airspace. Additionally, according to the Hmeymim airfield radar, it was the Turkish fighter jet that actually entered Syrian airspace as it attacked the Russian bomber."
"The Turkish fighter jet made no attempts to contact Russian pilots before attacking the bomber, Rudskoy added."
Or there is a military buildup going on and the rug merchants are beating the military procurement officials in USD terms....
ReplyDeleteObama was poking Putin at his news conference too. That is far from adult behavior , especially considering Putin controls enough ammunition to blow the world up many times over. Really comes off as child like behavior form the recent community organizer.
ReplyDeleteMal its Soros/Ukraine.... big Democrat $$$....
ReplyDeleteIts like the GOP and the Koch people...
Looking more and more like the Ukies are planning to attack Eastern Ukraine under the guidance of US special forces and armed with US weapons.
ReplyDeleteWhat could go wrong.
Uncle Sam is playing with fire in the believe that the US can't lose a military engagement. That may be true but it can't win one either.
This is where empires go to die especially when the are internally divided, arrogant and corrupt domestically. Check off all those for the US.
Obama is pure neocon in his dealings with Putin. It's frankly unfathomable behavior from a head of state. He needs to take a page out of Nixon's book when dealing with powerful rivals.
ReplyDeleteMalmo, you were obviously in an extended coma back in the 00-00's. Let me fill you in -
ReplyDeleteThere was this guy named 'W' - actually the US Prez. He invaded Iraq because they did NOT knock down some towers in NYC, but because he had his own Darth Vader, named Cheney, lie sweet nothings about WMDs in Iraq. Then they put this moron named Paul Bremer in charge and he fired all the Baathist/Sunnis from the Iraqi army and banned them from the Iraqi govt.
- psssss, little secret, these Baathist/Sunni former military guys - they're the ones that made ISIL an unstoppable force in 2014.
Now, W, Darth Cheney and moron Bermer, THOSE are NeoCons. If you think Obama is one of them, then you probable need your nurse to explain to you the difference between your feeding tube and that one below coming out of your nether parts before you make a silly mistake.
But congratulations on coming out of that coma; now try to catch up.
Dan, the point isn't whose airspace was violated or not. The real point is Vladimir Rambo grasping the Muddle East is not some former Soviet colony - no matter how much his BFF Assad tries to convince him - the Muddle East bites hard.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Salsa.... I see O's basis as the Soros angle not the 'neo-con' angle...
ReplyDeleteHe's got Soros to think about wrt Ukraine...
O flipping to the Putin side would be like a GOPer having to come out against the Keystone Pipeline... highly unlikely...
I follow a lot of the neo-cons they dont care about Ukraine... they are more concerned about Iran, etc... (closer to direct Israel interest.... what does the Ukraine have to do with Israel's security?)
'neo-cons' basis starts from interest in Israel's security.... there has to be a tie-in to Israel's security....
I think Putin could Judo the neo-cons and bring them on board if he handles this correctly...
I don't think that Obummer qualifies as a neocon but one could be mistaken because Obummer doesn't stand for anything. He is a "pragmatist," which is a fancy word for "no principles.
ReplyDeleteThe US deep state is not monolithic but consists of factions. A strong president sides with one of the factions and sidelines the rest.
Obama is a weak president that tries to balance the factions so that he doesn't alienate any of them. He is basically an approval seeker.
A strong person doesn't care about approval.
The actual neocons are agitating for boots on the ground in Syria ASAP, along with the war hawks like Graham and McCain.
Robert Kagan is lobbying for something on the order of 30, 000 and Wm.Kristol for 50,000.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-crisis-of-world-order-1448052095
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/kristol-takes-50000-troops-destroy-isis-35218297
Obama has been saying no boots on the ground and then backtracked by sending in special forces as "advisors." Hey, it's only fifty.
I don't get the obsession with Israel security, unless they are driven by an expansionary Zionist agenda. Israel has more than 100 nuclear warheads according to US reports, they could literally blow up all the countries surrounding them in a range of 5k km (on the other side not a very good idea though as the nuclear rain would be devastating).
ReplyDeleteDan this is all "Special Operations 101"... this is what happens when you dont want to put conventional forces to work... it ends up looking all confused...
ReplyDeleteLet's see where the Truman SG ends up, either in the Med or the Gulf... if they end up in the Med then it would look like we going towards the conventional forces side in the Syria theater, if they end up over in the Gulf, then I would assume more of the same as we've been seeing...
Also I would point out that Turkey balked at becoming a jumping off point for conventional forces in Gulf War 2.... a USA division had to go all the way around to the Gulf side to get in...
Ignacio nobody wants to use those things... maybe as a last resort ... but they dont want it tog et that far... imo their tie-in here is Hezbollah backed by Iran... ie neo-cons want Hezbollah destroyed and Iran at least isolated...