“They assert Mr. Putin is mostly bombing moderate rebel groups opposed to Mr. Assad and devoting little time to the Islamic State terror army.”
If that was true, then why did Isis take down the Russian airline?
You are not getting the picture..
Russia is not there to fight ISIS, despite the propaganda that you have apparently believed.
Russia is there to save Assad’s butt. That’s it..
As per usual, as implied by history going back nearly 100 years now, the Russians have little or no respect for borders or sovereignty of adjacent countries.
It’s a simple tactical matter to keep their aircraft off that Turkish border. They have the assets, ie: slower flying planes and choppers to do what they need to do near that border yet they have totally ignored warnings.
It was not that long ago that we had similar issues with Turkey when we invaded Iraq. We made adjustments tactically.
IMO, the blame for this falls squarely on Putin or one of his generals. It was avoidable. Totally so...
As I have already said, we are in the throws of WWIII as we speak. When it happens, Muslims, ISIS, and Turkey will not be the issue.