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Post by Moose on Nov 25, 2015 18:40:07 GMT
That situation is looking really rather nasty ... not entirely sure what Turkey thought that they were playing at? I don't like Putin at all but I can rather understand his anger at the other day's events.
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Post by jayme on Nov 26, 2015 1:26:22 GMT
It's complicated. Russia has been quite provocative lately, flying over not just Turkey, but also the Baltic States and Alaska. I think Russian jets have even whizzed over the UK. I guess Putin didn't expect anyone to actually react. Also, while France, the US, and others have been focusing on attacking ISIS, Russia has been bombing pretty much anyone in Syria who opposes Assad. This includes a group of rebels called "Turkmen", who are Syrians, but Turkey sort of considers them to be honorary Turkish citizens because they are ethnically Turkish.
So, there has been a bad relationship between Russia and Turkey for a while now, and these are not the first Russian planes to fly over Turkey's airspace, but they may have shot them down to prevent those pilots from bombing Turkmen.
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Post by Moose on Nov 26, 2015 2:21:02 GMT
I appreciate the clarification
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Post by tangent on Nov 26, 2015 14:22:28 GMT
It's likely Russia was pushing Turkey to see how far they could go before Turkey reacts. I see it as Russia's show of strength and Turkey calling their bluff. What you see in the media might be very different from the politician's view, which is likely to be 'Russia up to its old tricks'.
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Post by Moose on Nov 26, 2015 17:24:03 GMT
They seem to be using it as an excuse to go after Turkey anyway. Divided we fall, and all that.
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Post by tangent on Nov 26, 2015 20:30:52 GMT
Unfortunately, if Turkey had not acted in the way it did, Russia would be able to act with impunity.
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