Global markets are notorious for being volatile, but they are all the more so when a NATO nation is shooting down Russian fighter jets.
The news broke this week that a Russian bomber on a mission to destroy targets inside Syria was shot out of the sky by Turkish F-16s for violating their air space.
The Russian jet can be seen on video spiraling out of the sky as the pilot ejects to what he presumably hoped would be safety.
However, another video shows Turkish-backed Syrian militants firing at the descending pilot and his parachute– which by many interpretations is nothing less than a war crime.
Later video would show Syrian fighters surrounding the body of a deceased Russian pilot as they thanked their god and desecrated his body.
Meanwhile, a very angry Vladimir Putin is certainly planning his next move.
Where Does Turkey get the Balls?
There is no possible scenario where the sovereign nation of Turkey could think that Russia was launching an invasion with one bomber.
While Turkey has an unashamed right to defend its airspace, to claim that the nation was acting in self-defense is beyond belief.
When you examine the border area between Turkey and Syria, it looks more like child’s drawing of a squid than the straight line America might be accustomed to with say, its northern Canadian neighbor.
Honestly, if you took a turn down a wrong street, you could pass in and out of the Syrian/Turkish border nine times before you made it home for dinner – a factor which may have played a crucial role in this incident.
According to U.S. officials, a calculation shows that the Russian jet was in Turkish airspace for 30 seconds or less.
The Turkish government claims that they issued 10 warnings over a five minute period. They did not clarify whether all of those warnings occurred while the jet was in their airspace.
The war in Syria is a myriad of proxy interests that you would need top level national security clearance to decipher.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left to trying to figure this thing out from what we observe in the mainstream media.
We most certainly know that Russia is at odds with American national interests on a global scale.
Yet, we are not really trying to engage in World War III over what a dubious NATO ally claims is a violation of its airspace by a few miles.
But this is not really what it is about at all, is it?
The Turkey Conundrum
As Russia flew close to the Syrian/Turkish border, it wasn’t exactly bothering itself with members of the Islamic State.
Turkey has financed, armed, and empowered a good number of rebels fighting the Assad regime that have now become the targets of Russian military action.
And if you are to believe many reports, Turkey has also been somewhat friendly to ISIS itself.
Consequently, for Turkey to sit back and watch Russia bomb the interests to which they have invested so much over the years is a difficult pill to swallow.
So as the Russian bomber rained down pain on their Syrian allies, is it really so difficult to assume that Turkey acted with glee at this border incursion?
No one thinks Russian and Western interests in Syria are on par with one another, but make no mistake that the interests of Turkey don’t exactly fall within the policy interests of NATO.
Turkey, with an overwhelming ability to wipe out the ISIS scourge if they so chose, sat by and watched as ISIS ravaged the Kurdish border town of Kobani.
Turkey also just recently allowed their airbases to be used in strikes against the Islamic State.
So while Turkey might be America’s counterbalance to many Russian interests in the region, they often fall into the category of, “friends who are less than helpful.”
Make no mistake. Big-picture Turkish actions will have repercussions on the global economy and the state of world affairs for our generation.
