Posted on 12/16/2015 4:08:48 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Russia's payback against Turkey over shoot-down may turn deadly
By Josh Cohen
December 15, 2015
It was a clash with ominous Cold War overtones. Turkey's recent destruction of a Russian Su-24 jet was the first time in 63 years a NATO jet shot down a Russian one. Although Ankara claimed the jet was in Turkish territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of a "stab in the back"and being "accomplices of terrorists."
Putin subsequently cancelled Russian energy projects in Turkey, and also banned the import of Turkish fruit and vegetables. What Putin said next, though, should send chills down Turkish spines.
In comments during his annual state of the nation speech, Putin implied Russia might use force against Turkey: "We shall remind them many a time what they have done and they will more than once feel regret what they have done," said Putin. "Our armed forces, secret services and law enforcement agencies have been mobilized to give a rebuff to the terrorist threat."
While Putin uses bluster for effect - once promising Chechen terrorists Russia would "rub them out in the outhouse" - he does have a legitimate beef with Turkey. Even if the Russian jet was in Turkish territory, it was there for merely 17 seconds, and the Turkish jet fired no warning shots at the Russian one. That Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan boasted he himself gave the order to fire only made things worse.
In a sign of escalating tension, on Sunday a Russian destroyer fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing vessel. If Putin chooses to further up the ante against Turkey, he's got a number of cards he could play.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.reuters.com ...
(1) border between N. Syria and Turkey: Turkmen rebels, Turkey's proxy, are being pounded by Russian air-strike. Russia probably wants to wipe them out, or drive them out to Turkey.
(2) S. Eastern border of Turkey: Kurds are gaining strength with supports from outside. Their territory is about to expand further. This would destabilize Kurdish region inside Turkey.
(3) N. Eastern border: Signs of renewed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia is to send thousands of troops to Armenia. Azerbaijan is a country Erdogan want to be part of his neo-Ottoman empire. In addition, Turks are reaching out to Azerbaijan as an alternate supplier of natural gas now that Russia scuttled gas-pipeline project with Turkey.
Those warning shots were AK-47 rounds.
Can anyone tell me where the wreckage was found? On Turkish territory - or not?
I realize that the Russian plane may have strayed into Turkish airspace, attracted Turkish attention, and then high-tailed it out of there, only to then be shot down over Syria (i.e., "hot pursuit") - but I'd like to know.
Regards,
From a news report.
“The warplane went down in Syria’s northwestern Turkmen town of Bayırbucak near the border enroute to bombing the Syrian opposition-controlled area. “
Syrian territory; reported on in older FR threads.
And Turkey keeps on prodding the bear.
Likely with Obama urging him on.
No if you look at the map, Turkey jets out a small amount into Syria. The plane was tacking a direct course and went thru that little portion of Turkey instead of flying Southeast and around it. The Russian plane was thinking we’ve done this a hundred times.. This is different than the plane heading directly into Turkey. It was skirting Turkey. Very very dumb what Turkey did, but Russia I think was provocative also. Still dumb.
Edrogen is mentally unstable.
The Turks were waiting in ambush for the Russians, did the deed, and now are facing the consequences.
Time to roast the Turkey. Maybe put a Kurd in charge.
Thanks for posting. This is what I’ve been thinking Russia could do. Erdogan has way too many enemies in Turkey, radical enemies, to do what he did.
True dat. And it is proof positive that Erdogan is indeed insane to trust Barry.
Time to kick Turkey out of NATO.
The Balkans, 1914. Near the same area, 2015. That should send chills down a lot of spines.
Even for Reuters, this was stupid. Did some alien virus kill off every editor on the planet?
” It (The Russian S-400 AA defense system) also eliminates the possibility that the West could establish a no-fly zone over northern Syria — a step long demanded by Ankara.”
Erdogan got his no-fly zone. Now any Turkish planes, military or civilian, flying in Turkish air space within 250 miles of the Syrian border are at serious risk.
Russia has a history of shooting down civilian planes. Too, the Turks have probably been flying supplies to the Turkmen & probably ISIS. Putin would love to down a Turkish plane full of weapons bound for terrorists.
Erdogan, so full of himself, is so stupid he would come in dead last in a kindergarten tic-tac-toe contest. He needs to double his food taster staff.
It is also part of a larger Russian strategy. They choose to constantly fly their warplanes into borders of other countries to create the “new normal”. I fail to see what they think the benefit is, but their actions have been consistent for years.
Unless Obama was in the contest too.
Of course he’s unstable - he’s a radical Muslim, isn’t he? In shooting down that SU-24, he kicked a big hornet’s nest and I suspect he’s gonna get stung more than once for it.
Putin subsequently cancelled Russian energy projects in Turkey, and also banned the import of Turkish fruit and vegetables.
Now Russian companies have a couple billion dollars worth useless pipes. This is an economic suicide bomb that blows right back at Russia. Is this the best Putin’s got? Really?
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