re: #226 Great White Snark

I’m seeing mixed reports. Some say 1 of 2 crew survived, but are in rebel territory (which doesn’t quite define who’s actually in control - Daesh? FSA? Others?)

Turkey claims that the Russian jet was repeatedly warned for being inside Turkish airspace and refused to respond. Russia claims that the plane was at least 4km inside Syrian airspace.

Frankly, I have little reason to trust either Turkey or Russia on what happened. Both have been known to play fast/loose with the rules of engagement.

Moreover, the more you look at the Russian air campaign, the more you see that it’s all about indiscriminate bombing of targets that have little to do with fighting Daesh, and more about keeping Assad in power. The weapons being used aren’t high precision but dumb bombs being dropped from planes or helicopters with minimal targeting - they’re engaging in area denial.

But this is the kind of friction that will happen with multiple countries with multiple aims and goals all in the same airspace.

Will any journalist bother to ask Carson what he thinks of the Turks shooting down a Russian plane, seeing how he was all gung ho to shoot them down over Syria (and it’s not clear at this point where the plane was actually hit - in Syria or over Turkey).