As was to be expected Russia has issued some threats with Putin declaring that serious consequences would follow the incident. He goes a step further and calls Turkey the accomplice of terrorists. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/25/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-idUSKBN0TD0IR20151125 The U.S and France urged against escalation while hawkish NATO secretary general declared that the alliance stood in solidarity with Turkey.
It's going to be interesting to see how Russia can handle all of these conflicts at once. I doubt they can afford multiple wars...
Nobody wants to go to war with Russia, especially over something like this, and while Turkey is a part of NATO so if Russia do attack, the rest of the NATO countries are obliged to defend them, I think a lot of countries would rather kick Turkey out of NATO than do that.
Yes, especially now that it was Turkey who fired the first shot. Remember that NATO countries are obliged to defend each other AGAINST agression, I'm not sure how the situation would go now that it's Turkey who started the whole thing. Especially when some US sources have claimed that the Russian jet was inside Syrian airspace when it was shot down.
I'm finding very mixed reports on the position of the jet when it was shot down. Some sources are saying it penetrated 1.15 miles inside Turkish airspace for a total of 17 seconds and given up to ten warnings before it was downed, while others are claiming it was well within Syrian airspace while warnings were received. I've also been seeing stuff around saying that Turkish militants were shooting the pilots as they parachuted down and were chanting Allahu Ackbar as they shot one of the pilots as he lay on the ground surrounded by them. This situation is very worrying and it really will test alliances between NATO countries and Russia. It seems such a shame that this has to happen right at this time when it was looking like many countries were gonna start working together in beating down ISIS.
I am not sure what NATO would do. Russian planes have been crossing the border pretty regularly into Turkey and they did nothing about that. Russia has been bombing the heck out of peaceful ethnically Turkish communities in Syria that have nothing to do with ISIS and that isn't even getting reported. Russia proxy invaded the Ukraine and supported forces that shot down an airliner and they did nothing about that. It might take a little more than "accidentally" bombing Turkey to get NATO tangibly involved.
"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back ..." — B.O. (2012) Yah, well, Mr. President is sure is feeling like the 80s. Well, minus the strong economy, of course. I'm referring to the war jitters between us and the Ruskies. I'd add the bad blood between the Russians and the Turks goes back a long, long ways. And Turkey is a member of the NATO alliance. What could go wrong?
What concerns me is NATO is backing Turkey's story despite the evidence of the Russian pilot who said there were no warnings. As the plane entered Turkish airspace for a matter of seconds before it left, can an order and decision to fire be that quick and precise without any prior planning or motivation? Turkey hasn't got the best track record for honesty either, and NATO taking sides doesn't help international relations. Then there is the story of the other Russian pilot being shot dead, and another Russian soldier shot while making the rescue attempt, so there are hostilities in play here and both sides are not telling the whole story.
To be honest I don't trust either country but having been to Turkey on this occasion I'm prepared entourage believe the Russians, as I, along with a lot of people think that a lot of Turkish have sympathies with the terrorists in the region. If the plane was in Turkish airspace or not, to actually shoot it out of the sky is an extreme measure, and I'm sure fighters could have been scrambled to escort the plane away like what's happened many times before.
It kinda reminds me of that film from the 80's War Games. Also Tomorrow Never Dies but I highly doubt that this is a black flag type situation. The news last night was saying that neither nation wants this situation to escalate and it seems that things are dying down a little, while Russia has issued Turkey a warning of "Don't try that again"