On 11/24/15, Zenaan Harkness <zen@freedbms.net> wrote:
"According to Putin, Russia has always treated Turkey not simply as a close neighbour, but as a friendly state." I guess that position is now officially off the table. May be not the smartest move by Turkey? I'm not getting the feeling that shooting down a Russian jet in Syria was a good idea (even if it had been in Turkish airspace minutes prior).
That would be, as we now have been informed by the leak of the Turkish diplomatic communication to NATO immediately after the shoot down, 'for at most 17 seconds'.
I hope this does not escalate.
Well, Russia responded with a "moderate bombs" bombing campaign, a rather vigorous campaign it seems (albeit a moderate one), around the area where the Russian Su-24 jet moderately crashed in Syria after being moderately shot down in Syrian airspace by the moderate Turkish F-16, and one of the two Russian pilots was moderately machine gunned to a moderate death in the air as he parachuted to the ground. Perhaps a Geneva War Crimes Convention violation declaration will be forthcoming (just a moderate one though) only not too soon that might be considered an unwanted, if moderate, escalation of the situation. In all seriousness, Russia responded quite moderately and I'm grateful there has been no overt escalation. Regards, Zenaan