Syria and Turkey F-4 Crisis in Perspective by Daniel McAdams…

June 27, 2012July 7, 2013

As we sadly see, the Syrian shoot-down of a Turkish surveillance aircraft in Syrian airspace threatens to finally provide the casus belli for a NATO assault on Syria despite the fact that a UN Security Council resolution will not be forthcoming. Turkey, which by providing safe harbor and facilitating the transfer of weapons to those who are at war with the Syrian government has technically de facto declared a state of war against Syria, has nevertheless acted as the proverbial kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar: “it’s not my fault, mommy, and by the way you were not supposed to be in the kitchen anyway!” Or: “Yes we were on a spying mission in Syrian airspace, testing your air defenses in advance of a possible attack on your country, but still it was totally outrageous of you to respond in such an un-neighborly fashion.”