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Why Turkey Stabbed Russia in the BackBy Pepe Escobar (Page 3 of 3 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page. 23 comments
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Elsewhere, Russia has plenty of other options -- as in further weaponizing the YPG; that would allow them to finally take over the stretch of the border between Afryn and Jarablus that is still controlled by the Islamic State group. Ankara will be apoplectic if Syrian Kurds unite their so far unconnected territory in what they call Rojava.
The bottom line is that Turkey and Russia simply cannot be part of the same coalition fighting the Islamic State group because their objectives are diametrically opposed.
Istanbul-based historian Cam Erimtan outlines the big picture:
"Turkey's new government took the reins on the same day the Russian jet was downed. And now the wily Prime Minister Davutoglu and the unwieldy President Erdogan are engaging in damage control and domestic mobilization, for the moment even dropping their favored rhetoric of Islamic solidarity and playing the nationalist card to the full. Even though the military action will no doubt lead to huge gains in domestic popularity, the economic consequences have already started to be felt, with Russia curbing the import of Turkish goods. This may indicate that the AKP-led government solely acted as NATO's lackey, ignoring the realities on the ground and reveling in boisterous grandstanding."
The grandstanding won't last long because Russia will react in a cold, calculated, swift, multi-pronged and unexpected way to the downing of the Su-24.
The Russian missile cruiser Moskva --- crammed with air defense systems --- is now covering the whole region. Two S-400 systems will cover all of northwest Syria and the southern Turkish border. Russia is able to electronically jam the whole of southern Turkey. There's no way Erdogan will have his EU-paid "safe zone" inside Syria unless he goes to war against Russia.
What's certain is that Russia's number one priority from now on is to smash Turkey's extremist strategy in northern Syria for good.
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