[blind-democracy] Re: Trigger Happy: Will Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?

  • From: Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2015 16:40:14 +0000

Too bad Turkey is just a puppet for Israel.

From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of R. E. Driscoll Sr
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2015 9:37 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Trigger Happy: Will Turkey's Downing of Russian
Jet Backfire on NATO?

All:
Too many assumptions and conjectures for me.
R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.
On 11/26/2015 7:02 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:



Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Home > Trigger Happy: Will Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?

________________________________________

Trigger Happy: Will Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?

By Patrick Cockburn [1] / CounterPunch [2]

November 25, 2015

Turkey must have been eager to shoot down a Russian aircraft. Even going by

the Turkish account of what happened, as illustrated by a Turkish map of the

route of the Russian plane, it would only briefly have been in Turkish

airspace as it crossed a piece of Turkish territory that projects into

Syria.

Why would Turkey do this? Probably because Ankara has become increasingly

furious, since Russian air strikes started in Syria on 30 September, that

Russian jets were routinely invading its airspace. The Turkish government

also knows that its policy since 2011 of getting rid of President Bashar

al-Assad has failed and that it has a diminishing influence in events in

Syria as Russia, the US, France and possibly, in the near future, Britain

increase their military involvement in Syria.

Specific events on the 550 mile-long Syrian-Kurdish role may also have

played a role. This year Turkey has seen the Syrian Kurds, whom it denounces

as terrorists as bad as Isis, take control of half of the frontier and

threaten to move west of the Euphrates. More recently, Syrian army units

backed by Russian air strikes have been attacking towards the other end of

the border near where the Russian plane came down and the pilots were

killed.

Nato countries will give some rhetorical support to Turkey as a Nato member,

but many will not be dismissive in private of President Vladimir Putin's

angry accusation that Turkey is the accomplice of terrorists. Turkey's

support for the Syrian armed opposition, including extreme groups like

Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, has been notorious over the last three

years. Its relations with Isis are murky, but it has been credibly accused

of allowing the self-declared Islamic State to sell oil through Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in a strong domestic position

because of his sweeping parliamentary election victory on 1 November. But he

has seen what appeared to be a strong Turkish position in the Middle East in

2011 deteriorate year by year as leaders and movements he supported, such as

President Morsi in Egypt and the opposition in Syria, suffer defeats.

At the same time, it is damaging for Turkey to have bad relations with

Russia and Iran, two powerful neighbours close to its borders. Leaders of

Nato countries will want to prevent further Russian-Turkish hostilities, so

they can look for Russian cooperation in attacking Isis and ending the

Syrian conflict.

Patrick Cockburn is the author of The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the

New Sunni Revolution [3].

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Report typos and corrections to
'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx>'. [4]

[5]

________________________________________

Source URL:

http://www.alternet.org/world/trigger-happy-will-turkeys-downing-russian-jet

-backfire-nato

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/patrick-cockburn

[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/

[3] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802150276/counterpunchmaga

[4] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Trigger Happy: Will

Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?

[5] http://www.alternet.org/

[6] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B



Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Home > Trigger Happy: Will Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?





Trigger Happy: Will Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?

By Patrick Cockburn [1] / CounterPunch [2]

November 25, 2015

Turkey must have been eager to shoot down a Russian aircraft. Even going by

the Turkish account of what happened, as illustrated by a Turkish map of the

route of the Russian plane, it would only briefly have been in Turkish

airspace as it crossed a piece of Turkish territory that projects into

Syria.

Why would Turkey do this? Probably because Ankara has become increasingly

furious, since Russian air strikes started in Syria on 30 September, that

Russian jets were routinely invading its airspace. The Turkish government

also knows that its policy since 2011 of getting rid of President Bashar

al-Assad has failed and that it has a diminishing influence in events in

Syria as Russia, the US, France and possibly, in the near future, Britain

increase their military involvement in Syria.

Specific events on the 550 mile-long Syrian-Kurdish role may also have

played a role. This year Turkey has seen the Syrian Kurds, whom it denounces

as terrorists as bad as Isis, take control of half of the frontier and

threaten to move west of the Euphrates. More recently, Syrian army units

backed by Russian air strikes have been attacking towards the other end of

the border near where the Russian plane came down and the pilots were

killed.

Nato countries will give some rhetorical support to Turkey as a Nato member,

but many will not be dismissive in private of President Vladimir Putin's

angry accusation that Turkey is the accomplice of terrorists. Turkey's

support for the Syrian armed opposition, including extreme groups like

Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, has been notorious over the last three

years. Its relations with Isis are murky, but it has been credibly accused

of allowing the self-declared Islamic State to sell oil through Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in a strong domestic position

because of his sweeping parliamentary election victory on 1 November. But he

has seen what appeared to be a strong Turkish position in the Middle East in

2011 deteriorate year by year as leaders and movements he supported, such as

President Morsi in Egypt and the opposition in Syria, suffer defeats.

At the same time, it is damaging for Turkey to have bad relations with

Russia and Iran, two powerful neighbours close to its borders. Leaders of

Nato countries will want to prevent further Russian-Turkish hostilities, so

they can look for Russian cooperation in attacking Isis and ending the

Syrian conflict.

Patrick Cockburn is the author of The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the

New Sunni Revolution [3].

Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.

Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.

Report typos and corrections to
'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx>'. [4]

Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[5]



Source URL:

http://www.alternet.org/world/trigger-happy-will-turkeys-downing-russian-jet

-backfire-nato

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/patrick-cockburn

[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/

[3] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802150276/counterpunchmaga

[4] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Trigger Happy: Will

Turkey's Downing of Russian Jet Backfire on NATO?

[5] http://www.alternet.org/

[6] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B








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