A Turkish F-4 was claimed to be shot down by the Syrian military. The violence set into motion by the Arab Spring only continues to worsen within Syria so the shoot down of a NATO ally fighter jet is not a good omen. World War I was launched in part because of the complicated series of alliances between European nations. Once Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, it was inevitable that Europe would plunge into war. Syria is now plunged into internal violence while most of Europe struggles with the failure of the Greek economy (and its struggles to prevent similar fates in Italy, Spain and Portugal).
The original intent of NATO was to protect Europe from attack by the Soviet Union. NATO is not exclusively European; both the US and Canada are members (France left early on due to differences with NATO policies). Turkey is the only Muslim nation that is a member of both NATO and the EU. In effect, an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all. The cynic in me believes this attack will provide the cause for military action in Syria (which is perhaps why the US has increased the number of fighter aircraft and Navy ships in the region).
Syria says it downed Turkish jet
1 comment:
It will be important to determine what the involvement of NATO would look like in the aftermath of this international incident. A military conflict between Turkey and Syria does nothing to ease the suffering for the civilians in the conflict zone. However, NATO as a whole possesses the capability to intervene in such a way as to entirely cripple the ability of the Syrian military to function. Still, widespread military conflict at this early stage after this shoot-down seems immensely unlikely. http://bit.ly/MFqKNT
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