Tensions are soaring in the Black Sea tonight after Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian Su-24 over neighboring Syria. Turkey claimed the plane was in Turkish airspace when it was attacked, though US officials have said they believe the plane was inside Syria when it was attacked. Pentagon officials also say they are unsure if the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace at all.
Turkey informed the UN Security Council that it shot the plane down today, saying it had every right to do so. They also urged “consultations” with NATO, though the alliance appears to be urging Turkey to calm down and show a little restraint.
This is the first NATO downing of a Russian military plane since the 1950s, and is fueling concern of eventual retaliation by Russia after the incident, particularly with Turkey so loudly trumpeting their attack.
Both pilots ejected from the plane when it was hit by the Turkish warplanes, but were killed on the way down by ethnic Turkmen rebels in the region. Rebels issued photos of the slain pilots, and carried pieces of their parachutes as war trophies.
Russia had sent a helicopter to the area, looking to rescue the pilots, but the helicopter too was shot down, by rebels armed with US-provided Tow missiles. Reportedly the 10 on board the helicopter all survived, evacuating before it was destroyed outright.
While everyone else seems to be counseling caution after the incident, President Obama appeared quite supportive of the Turkish decision to attack a Russian plane, insisting the country “has the right to defend its territory.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin termed the Turkish attack a “stab in the back” by “accomplices of terrorists.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cancelled a planned visit to Turkey in protest, while several politicians in Russia are calling for more serious measures, like halting flights to the country.
How far can they push Russia before Russia retaliates?
That, of course, would be a fatal mistake on Putin's part.
Has a Right to Defend Itself
…that's exactly why I keep arguing for giving Afghans & Pakistanis drone bases in Maryland and Virginia. You could even fund it with profits from 'blockbuster' drugs if congress doesn't like the idea.
That way, it's not so much murder of the defenseless so much as it's Dueling Terror Tuesdays.
Umm….Does China have "the right to defend its territory"?
Defense is a response to aggression. Where was the aggression here?
“has the right to defend its territory.”
I hope Obama remembers his own words when Syria as a sovereign state or Russia, which was invited by Syria and is essentially an extension of the Syrian military, shoots down a few Turkish jets bombing the Kurds or other foreign invaders.
Obama has set a low bar for shooting down a country's military jets. China should take notice when the regular U.S. overflights testing Chinese borders, they have Obama's approval to shoot down U.S. planes even if they only breach Chinese territory for a few seconds.
Putin can't rely on the sovereignty argument since he himself continues to violate Ukrainian sovereignty.
yes, and i hope he remembers them yet again when syria, using those new s-300
missile systems provided by their russian friends, swats down a few 'merkan or
french aircraft invading their territory…..and maybe shoot the terrori….um, pilots as
they parachute to safety.
We see again the attitude of NATO and USA : the plane was shot down 1 km from turkish borders but Nato is satisfied with turkish lie. From that some interesting conclusions :
1/ the plane was shot down as retaliation for destruction by russians of 1000 trucks bringing petrol from islamic state to Turkey.This petrol is bought by Europ. All this finance operations of the islamic state like the killings in Paris.
2/The shut down of the russian plane is in fact an assassination of russian pilots by a state member of NATO.
3/ This state member of NATO openly support islamic state. It even produced money (till recently) for the islamic state and USA do not know about it !?
4/ We sue some football leaders for bribes and we do not care about the logistic and financial support to islamic state by a member of NATO ?
Does it mean that NATO has became a mafia-terrorist organization ?
A military jet aircraft only 1 km away from a border no longer has time to change course before crossing the border. Thus, the defending state, having warned the pilot where he was heading and got no reaction from him, was entitled to presume that he intended to violate Turkish airspace. He was probably taking a short cut back to Latakia and reasoned that he would be in and out of Turkish territory before the Turks could shoot him down. He made a cynical calculation and it blew up in his face (more or less literally). As to point 2, the pilots both ejected successfully and seem to have been killed by irregulars on the Syrian side.
November 25, 2015 Who started this ‘terrorist’ war? When?
After the latest tragedy in Paris, the outpouring of heartfelt sympathy from ordinary human beings and cynical posturing from political leadership, it is time for people to stop, think and take democratic action before it gets much worse. And in the short run it will get worse.
http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/16867#comm…
Yet another set of holiday resorts closed to Russian tourists. The weather in the Med is not really good enough for winter holidays, but there's a huge summer traffic from western Europe to the Turkish south coast resorts. I assume the Russians go there too. With Crimea now so expensive (and awkward to get at) that ordinary Russians can't afford to go there and Sochi a millionaires' resort from the word go, the Russians will have nothing left but to take their holidays in the Arctic! Slowly but surely, Putin is depriving ordinary Russians of the fruits of their post-Soviet life.