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Spot on If there's no hostile intent on the part of the intruders.......ie- they didn't hit that tiny sliver of airspace and turn north deep into Turkey immediately.......then its VERY difficult to be able to articulate a threat that warrants shoot down. To shoot down these jets crossing that small sliver of land border that they were in for ~15 seconds: 1. The Turks would've had to take the shot at them inside Turkish airspace, to where they'd be hit outside Turkish airspace and crash outside Turkish airspace. Hardly the way to show hostile intent on the part of the Russians or to claim they were defending against a threat. And as can be seen, they crashed in Syria. or 2. To have the Russian jet crash inside the Turkish border in that area, the Turks would've had to fire at the Russians when they were outside Turkish airspace.....before EVER even entering Turkish airspace, in order for them to be hit and crash inside Turkish airspace. ie- a preemptive engagement before an incursion ever yet occurred? Either way, Turkey hasn't a leg to stand on in this way. . Notice also that Turkey didn't go deal with Russia on this one on one, they immediately went "running to dad" (NATO) to go plead their case. That bastard Turk president, who supports ISIS and buys oil from them, didn't like it when Russia was hitting ISIS oil convoys of his oil. Yet again, our idiot political leaders are betting on the wrong horse here. We didn't learn a damn thing from Egypt, Libya, or Iraq. And we're making the same errors in Syria.

The rebels and ISIS are much the same, with ISIS being supported by Turkey (ironic). As The Turk president supports them through buying oil from them. We're not doing dick to battle ISIS, with the window dressing airstrikes we're undertaking. And the Kurds we're supporting, are only being bombed by the Turks when we're not overhead. Same story since that worthless Op Provide Comfort/Northern Watch in the '90s, where the Turks would refuel from our tankers, in order to bomb the same Kurds we were protecting from the Iraqis.

I, for one, don't want to be stuck paying the bar tab for drinks I didn't order and never wanted, vis-à-vis Turkey and their idiotic actions in trying to drag NATO into defending their moronic acts. And with Turkey as an ISIS ally and Kurd enemy, how can they be considered our friend?

I kinda enjoyed seeing a Sukhoi going down in flames. Russia/Putin has been provoking NATO/the US for several years now; the Russians are not our friends and this is the 3rd NATO member they've messed with in recent history. Putin understands and plays real/hard power politics. The Turks followed through with their red line on not crossing the Turkish border and slapped them. I'll be curious to see if the Russians cross it again.

Surprised at some of the comments here. Some facts to consider: 1. Turkey routinely enters sovereign Greek airspace, despite repeatedly being asked not to. The Greeks don't shoot them down, because that would not be a proportional response... just like shooting down a Russian aircraft that is clearly not heading north into Turkish airspace, but is instead briefly crossing a small tit of airspace, is not a proportional response 2. The timings and reported geometry of the intercept and shootdown are revealing. By the Turks' own admission, the Su-24 was in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds, but it had been back in Syrian airspace for 40 seconds when it was hit and downed. You don't have to be a genius to work out that in a rear-aspect AIM-9 engagement, the shot was taken when the Fencer's airspace incursion was already over, and meant that the F-16s were probably in Syrian airspace when they engaged. That makes the Turks' response a punishment for the incursion, not an attempt to prevent it, and that constitutes an aggression that we all could really do without. Further, if you look at the data that the Turks have released, it's clear that the Fencer was pointing at the border for less a minute, which makes their claims of 10 warnings in five minutes sound suspect 3. The idea that Russia is a de facto supporter of ISIS because it is targeting the Turkmenistans, FSA and other rebel groups in the north is as much of a nonsense as the idea that the groups the West is supporting are 'moderate'. These so-called moderates are the same ones who shoot pilots in parachutes and behead children for being the wrong type of Muslim.

No, but a similar offense would sure as hell get you kicked out of Afghanistan in 2012.

I've been saying this for years...if they get details like this wrong, imagine all the other inaccuracies we read on a daily basis.