Memo to Putin: Syria Is Turkey's Ukraine

49 NOV 27, 2015 2:00 AM EST

By Marc Champion

Bloomberg

Russian leaders have evidently been shocked by Turkey's deliberate decision to shoot down one of their planes, which they say was motivated by Turkey's alleged support for Islamic State and greed for the proceeds of smuggled terrorist oil. A simpler explanation is that Russia would have done the same.

Here is the hypothetical: What would President Vladimir Putin do if civil war broke out in a neighboring country, which had been part of the Russian empire for centuries before breaking away under circumstances, and with borders, that Russians still found difficult to accept? What would he do if, in that war, some of the rebels were ethnic Russians at risk of being brutally crushed by the armed forces of the neighboring state?

Actually, that's not so hypothetical; it pretty much describes eastern Ukraine. And we know what Russia did -- it became heavily involved in a poorly concealed invasion.

Russia Plans Sanctions After Turkey Downs Warplane

Nataliya Vasilyeva, James Ellingworth / Associated Press  Updated: Nov. 26, 2015 12:36 PM

ΤΙΜΕ

It's further retaliation against Turkey after its airforce shot down a Russian jet

(MOSCOW) — Russia plans to retaliate against Turkey for the downing of a warplane by imposing sanctions, cutting economic ties and scrapping major investment projects.

Since the plane was shot down Tuesday on the Syria-Turkey border, Russia has already restricted tourism, left Turkish trucks stranded at the border and confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports.

Range of Frustrations Reached Boil as Turkey Shot Down Russian Jet

By KEITH BRADSHERNOV. 25, 2015

The New York Times

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey and Russia promised on Wednesday not to go to war over the downing of a Russian military jet, leaving Turkey’s still-nervous NATO allies and just about everyone else wondering why the country decided to risk such a serious confrontation.

The reply from the Turkish government so far has been consistent: Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Though minor airspace violations are fairly common and usually tolerated, Turkey had repeatedly called in Russia’s ambassador to complain about aircraft intrusions and about bombing raids in Syria near the border. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday evening — and a Pentagon spokesman later confirmed — that before a Turkish F-16 shot down the Russian Su-24 jet, Turkish forces had warned the Russian plane 10 times in five minutes to steer away.

How the Migrant Crisis Could Accelerate a Grexit

Geopolitical Diary NOVEMBER 24, 2015 | 01:54 GMT

STRATFOR

Stratfor laid out on Nov. 11 the potential dangers of Slovenia closing its borders to migrants, establishing a barrier across the heavily transited Balkan migration corridor. Two days later, a terrorist attack in Paris led to a hardening of attitudes across the Continent. In response, the Slovenian government announced Nov. 19 that it would no longer allow economic migrants — those who are not from war zones such as Syria and Afghanistan — to enter its territory. The announcement caused a chain reaction back along the migration route as Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, anticipating a backlog forming in their territories, swiftly closed their own borders. This has left many migrants stranded along the route, powerless to move forward and now unable to backtrack.

Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Putin warns of 'serious consequences'

Wed Nov 25, 2015 3:03am EST 

Related: WORLD, RUSSIA, TURKEY, AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

Reuters

ANKARA/MOSCOW | BY TULAY KARADENIZ AND MARIA KISELYOVA

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying the jet had violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was 1 km (0.62 mile) inside Syria and warned of "serious consequences" for what he termed a stab in the back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists".

Will this Russia-Turkey business get out of control?

Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. How lucky will we be to live through this?

The Washington Post

By Daniel W. Drezner November 24 at 9:20 AM

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a regular contributor to PostEverything

When former senator and actor Fred Thompson passed away earlier this month, it was impossible to forget the best line he ever delivered on a film.

This line seems particularly trenchant now, as something I worried about last month pretty much just happened:

Putin Says Turkish 'Stab in Back' Caused Russian Warplane Crash

By  Andrey Biryukov

November 24, 2015 — 3:01 PM EET Updated on November 24, 2015 — 3:54 PM EET

Bloomberg

President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of being an accomplice of terrorism for shooting down a Russian warplane in Syria and warned of “very serious consequences” for their relations.

“We understand that everyone has their own interests but we won’t allow such crimes to take place,” Putin said at talks Tuesday with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Sochi. “We received a stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism.”

Putin Has Misjudged Turkey's Erdogan

105 NOV 24, 2015 8:09 AM EST

By Marc Champion

Bloomberg

The details of how and why a Russian jet was shot down near the Turkish-Syrian border remain unclear, but one thing can already be said: Russian President Vladimir Putin has misjudged his Turkish counterpart and former friend, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to Turkey's military, one of its F-16s fired on a jet over Turkish territory, after the plane's pilots ignored 10 warnings to leave. So the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's second-largest military is claiming to have shot down an aircraft in anger that was probably Russian, and is now "consulting" with its NATO allies.

Kurds enter Sinjar 'from all directions' - Kurdistan security council

Fri Nov 13, 2015 7:52am GMT Related: WORLD

NEAR SINJAR TOWN

Reuters

Kurdish peshmerga forces entered Sinjar "from all directions" on Friday to begin clearing the northern Iraqi town of Islamic State militants, the Kurdistan regional security council said in a tweet.

U.S. targets 'Jihadi John' in Syria air strike

Fri Nov 13, 2015 5:57am GMT Related: WORLD, UK, SYRIA, MIDDLE EAST

WASHINGTON | BY PHIL STEWART AND MARK HOSENBALL

Reuters

The United States on Thursday carried out an air strike in Syria targeting the Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," who participated in gruesome videos showing the killings of American and British hostages, officials said.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strike likely killed Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen, but cautioned that it was too soon to make any determination.

ISIS enters Kobani, city's defenders see 'last chance to leave,' sources say

By Ralph Ellis, CNN

October 5, 2014 -- Updated 2250 GMT (0650 HKT)

(CNN) -- ISIS moved closer to seizing Kobani on Sunday as militants entered the southeastern edge of the Syrian city and street-to-street fighting began, a fighter and a media activist inside the city told CNN.

The city's defenders were looking for ways to escape the Kurdish stronghold strategically located near the Turkish border, the fighter said.

"It's the last chance to leave," the fighter said. The fighter and media activist requested their names be withheld for security reasons.

Pentagon warns that Isis has global aspirations as US continues Iraq strikes

US effort to build international coalition against Isis advanced, as UK and six other nations agreed to arm the Kurdish peshmerga

The Guardian

Spencer Ackerman in New York

The Pentagon warned on Tuesday that Islamic State (Isis) militants have global aspirations, ratcheting up already dire US rhetoric against the jihadist army that has overrun much of Iraq and Syria.

U.S. Mobilizes Allies to Widen Assault on ISIS

By HELENE COOPER and MARK LANDLERAUG. 26, 2014

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The United States has begun to mobilize a broad coalition of allies behind potential American military action in Syria and is moving toward expanded airstrikes in northern Iraq, administration officials said on Tuesday.

President Obama, the officials said, was broadening his campaign against the Sunni militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and nearing a decision to authorize airstrikes and airdrops of food and water around the northern Iraqi town of Amerli, home to members of Iraq’s Turkmen minority. The town of 12,000 has been under siege for more than two months by the militants.

“Rooting out a cancer like ISIL won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick,” Mr. Obama said in a speech on Tuesday to the American Legion in Charlotte, N.C., using an alternative name for ISIS. He said that the United States was building a coalition to “take the fight to these barbaric terrorists,” and that the militants would be “no match” for a united international community.

Obama Approves Air Surveillance of ISIS in Syria

By MARK LANDLER and HELENE COOPERAUG. 25, 2014

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama has authorized surveillance flights over Syria, a precursor to potential airstrikes there, but a mounting concern for the White House is how to target the Sunni extremists without helping President Bashar al-Assad.

Defense officials said Monday evening that the Pentagon was sending in manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Syria, using a combination of aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes. Mr. Obama approved the flights over the weekend, a senior administration official said.

The flights are a significant step toward direct American military action in Syria, an intervention that could alter the battlefield in the nation’s three-year civil war.

An American-Led Coalition Can Defeat ISIS

U.S. air power and special forces are essential, but so is a political and economic strategy. It's also time to give Qatar an ultimatum.

By JACK KEANE And DANIELLE PLETKA

Aug. 24, 2014 6:27 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

Two months ago we laid out a plan on these pages to bring Iraq back from the abyss of terrorist domination, turn the tide in the Syria conflict, and crush the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The need for such a plan is now more urgent as ISIS has since advanced dramatically, the Iraqi army and Kurdish militia initially performed poorly, and the terror group has threatened to kill more Americans as it did James Foley last week.

The Red Line and the Rat Line

London Review of Books

Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels

In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress. Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons.​ Then with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention. The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia. Why did Obama delay and then relent on Syria when he was not shy about rushing into Libya? The answer lies in a clash between those in the administration who were committed to enforcing the red line, and military leaders who thought that going to war was both unjustified and potentially disastrous.

Refueling row delays Syrian peace envoys' plane in Greece

BEIRUT/ATHENS Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:40am EST

(Reuters) - A Syrian government delegation heading to peace talks in Switzerland was held up for hours in Athens on Tuesday when a Greek firm refused to refuel their plane, citing an EU trade embargo.

The incident was the latest in a series of delays and diplomatic spats in the lead-up to talks due to start on Wednesday between President Bashar al-Assad's government and opposition figures to end their three-year conflict.

The Syria deal

Russian reading

Sep 14th 2013, 22:46 by J.P.P. | WASHINGTON, D.C

AMERICA and Russia have an agreement on removing or destroying Syria’s extensive collection of chemical weapons. The headline points are that Bashar Assad’s regime must submit a full inventory within a week. Should his government find that deadline too exacting, Vladimir Putin’s former colleagues in the SVR, the successor organisation to the KGB, can probably help out. Then the weapons must be destroyed or removed by mid-2014. If Syria fails to comply with these terms it will face a chapter seven resolution in the UN Security Council which, for those who have not looked at their copy of the organisation’s charter since 2003, is the one that covers the use of force. Compliance will be in the eye of the beholder.

Exclusive: Saudi offers Russia deal to scale back Assad support - sources

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Amena Bakr

AMMAN/DOHA | Wed Aug 7, 2013 5:04pm BST

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has offered Russia economic incentives including a major arms deal and a pledge not to challenge Russian gas sales if Moscow scales back support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Middle East sources and Western diplomats said on Wednesday.

The proposed deal between two of the leading power brokers in Syria's devastating civil war was set out by Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week, they said.

Syrian children speak of beatings, burnings, electric shocks

(Reuters) - Khalid, 15, said he was hung by his arms from the ceiling of his own school building in Syria and beaten senseless. Wael said he saw a 6-year-old starved and beaten to death, "tortured more than anyone else in the room".