Turks shoot down Russian plane, Syrian rebels kill pilot & Russian rescuer

EditorialWhatta mess. Russian has been helping out the Syrian Assad regime against multiple rebel groups, including ISIS and more.

They were attacking Syrian Turkmen rebels very close to the Turkish border and allegedly crossed over into Turkey multiple times, were warned by Turkish aircraft to stop 10 times and many times before that. Finally Turkey, a NATO member U.S. ally had it with them and 2 F-16’s shot a Russian SU-24 out of the sky.


Russian President Vladmir Putin claims that the Turks have been buying Syrian oil from ISIS, which would help their war effort against Assad.  The Obama regime has objected to Russia attacking the very troops trained and armed by the U.S.

The Turks say they have radar records to prove the territorial transgressions. the Russians say the plane was shot down over Syrian territory. Both may be correct. This allegedly happened over a small Turkish territorial salient and it may have only been there for seconds, but repeatedly. Why the plane was operating so close to Turkish territory in any case is a valid question.

The rebels allegedly shot the parachuting crew and killed at least one. A rebel crew allegedly blew up a Russian rescue helicopter and killed at least one crew member.

The rebels were allegedly trained and armed by the U.S. Domestic opponents of this have severely criticized the Obama administration for doing so and claim that the rebels are violent extremists who would be even worse than Assad in power.

We hear that Turkey is invoking NATO Article V, which mandates that members come to the aid of an attacked member. This may be a stretch, since the Russian planes were flying over territory, not attacking it. In any case, NATO was holding an emergency meeting on the crisis last time we checked.

This is a very serious international incident which could lead to a war between Russia and Turkey or worse. Some have described this as a de facto proxy war between the U.S. and Russia.

This is the best report, which includes videos and photos, of the incident, which we have been able to find so far:


The U.S. has been cutting back on military manpower, equipment and funding, even as it expands aggressive diplomatic moves in multiple regions which might have to be backed up with military power- not a good position to be in.


Obama’s statement: Obama on downing of Russian jet: Turkey has a right to defend its airspace


Nato meets as Russia confirms one of two pilots dead after jet shot down – as it happened


George Miller is Publisher of CitizensJournal.us, “retired,” residing in Oxnard

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