exposing weakness

Submitted by myth (Germany), Jun 27, 2012 at 08:32

At first sight the Syrian decision to shoot down a Turkish aircraft annoys Turkey the most. Maybe not. The F4 is an old fighter-plane. It seems to me that Syrian air-defence is superior to Turkish aircrafts in terms of technology. Translated into political terms this means that Russia is more resolved to supply Syria with state-of-the-art arms than the US is to supply Turkey. Maybe that is more annoying to Turkey than the incident itself.

In practical terms the West, if it was to intervene, has two options. It can either on short term take out Syrian air-defense with their own modern fighter-planes for Turkey's airforce proved vulnerable. Or it chooses to rearm Turkey with more modern aircrafts.

The West should avoid an arms race in the region let alone active fighting. Turkey should consult with NATO allies prior to testing their weaknesses against hostile air-defence.

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