Could This Escalate Into A World War?

[gordiescotland1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34913173
Could Russia attack Turkey?

[Baldric]

Quite possibly, who knows, yet?

[DTCwordfan]

I doubt it, Putin isn't that mad......

[SirOracle]

Yet another Muslim country escalating trouble. Seems there is no end to this.

[Jackdaw33]

If Putin wants to do the West's dirty work by blasting Turkey and Syria off the face of the earth, I say, "Go ahead!"

[Gromit]

No.

Turkey are very off message on Syria, so I doubt the rest of NATO would support them.
From the war, Turkey wants to replace Assad wirh a Turkmen, Islamist puppet.
Russia nor the US wants that outcome, so it will never happen.

For a lot of other reasons too, the US are very dissatisfied with Turkey, so it shouldn't escalate. - but Turkey had better not send any sorties into Syria because the Russians will be waiting for revenge.

[ichkeria]

No
They will content themselves with irritating them
However, the two countries are fighting a proxy war with each other in Syria at the moment. Russia started attacking the Turkmen Syrians, who are actually enemies of ISUS as well as Assad, a group Turkey is actively supporting. And given Turkey is our NATO ally and Russia ... isn't - well, then it is a dangerous situation

[jourdain2]

Err - yes they could. I think Putin will be sorely tempted, but in the end I don't think they will. Turkey is, however, showing just why they should not become part of the EU.

[Old_Geezer]

It could / they could. But it seem unlikely.

NATO is likely to publicly support Turkey because one can not afford a split. If it seems divided then is seems weak and irrelevant.

One might think Putin is bold enough to try something but even he can't be blind to the major loss on both (all ?) sides were he to escalate it.

The diplomats will negotiate some face saving compromise whilst the leaders rattle their sabres for their population and claim a satisfactory "winning" result.

[ichkeria]

The Russians were playing their usual game of brinkmanship. Turkey's response was perfectly reasonable. And Putin knows this despite his rhetoric. He needs to 'sound tough' So of course he isn't going to attack Turkey. Which would in any case not be viable

[SirOracle]

Shooting down a plane is not being perfectly reasonable in my book, Ichkeria.

[Gromit]

All depends on where the plane was when it was hit.

- If it was in Turkish airspace, then not much Russia can say.
- If it was in Syrian airspace, then Turkey/NATO has a problem.
- If it had flown in Turkish airspace, but was out of it, then a problem.

[chrissa1]

What did the Turks think the Russian planes were going to do to them?

Don't the Turks want to be accepted into Europe? No thanks. We don't want them.

[keyplus90]

Unfortunately yes.

[ichkeria]

It is reasonable if it is in your airspace and you earn it TEN times to back off. Their have already been countless infringements as it is. What is the point in having an air defence system if you aren't going to use it. What is the point of issuing warnings and not carrying them out.
As someone noted above anyway, give some people an inch and they take a mile. We've seen that before. Well done Turkey for not backing down I say

[chrissa1]

But, Russia is not the enemy here, ich.

[ichkeria]

Suppose it had been British airspace and the RAF had warned them 10 times to withdraw or be shot down? Or is Turkey somehow an exception?

[Gromit]

// Unfortunately yes. //

Fortunately No.

Don't be daft Keyplus. I always credited you with more nounce than that

[ichkeria]

Rusdia IS Turkeys enemy here as I already pointed out

[naomi24]

//Well done Turkey for not backing down I say //

Why? Was Turkey under threat?

[Gromit]

Ich,
The Russians do jot want a war with Turkey. There are no Turkish targets in the area to attack. Even if they were fractionally over the border line, Russia was no "actual threat" to Turkey, territory or people. The attack was reckless.