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NATO?

Reader comment on item: Why Erdoğan Decided to Shoot down a Russian Plane

Submitted by Jonathan Pfeffer (Canada), Dec 14, 2015 at 12:03

I doubt Erdegon had anything personally to do with the shoot-down. It likely was a local decision following SOP. I agree it makes no sense.

I want to ask a related key question here.

Is NATO not a useless treaty?The concept of so many diverse countries engaged in a long term defense treaty makes no sense in this post cold war world of self interest and constant strategic girations.

Turkey and the US have little in common that is not simply geographic in nature. How are we stuck in a treaty with commitments with this Islamist regime? When the next international situation happens generating new wild strategic ripples, we may be on Russia's side against Turkey, who knows? My point is. Everyone acts out of short sighted strategic interests. We sort of can predict US and Western European thinking on future problems. We can't predict the future thinking for countries like Turkey, Iran, Russia. We have to wait for things to unfold.

In IT terms they would say, we have to 'late-bind' ourselves to these countries.

Submitting....

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Daniel Pipes replies:

A decision as momentous as this one would not be made by local commanders following SOP. It requires approval at the highest level. And if you were right, the politicians would have blamed out-of-control soldiers, which they have not done.

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Reader comments (10) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
NATO? [176 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Jonathan PfefferDec 14, 2015 12:03227064
1Russians never forgive or forget [39 words]dhimmi no moreDec 14, 2015 09:15227054
Erdogan , a distasteful person [113 words]Jacques HadidaDec 12, 2015 21:22227016
1Don't public statements offer more of an indication regarding future actions than private conversations? [39 words]Anon.Dec 12, 2015 17:01227011
Turks folly [171 words]WaielDec 12, 2015 12:48227000
Occam's Razor [64 words]Barry BlackDec 12, 2015 11:04226990
Was it really mindless belligerence ? [150 words]SoloviewDec 12, 2015 10:30226988
The N-word in the Woodpile [174 words]Andrew T. HalmayDec 12, 2015 09:49226984
1Turkey Should be Kicked Out of NATO [31 words]Brian O' ReillyDec 12, 2015 08:23226978
Very accurate analysis [115 words]GariochDec 12, 2015 08:11226977

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