A photo from the Russian Defense Ministry website showing Russian bombers dropping their payloads on targets in Syria. Moscow's intervention in the Syrian war has increased tensions with Turkey, but has also served to drive a wedge into the NATO alliance. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service
Spiegel Online: Putin vs. Erdogan: NATO Concerned over Possible Russia-Turkey Hostilities
In Syria, the danger of a war between Turkey and Russia is on the rise. Officials in Berlin are worried that the situation could become an uncomfortable test case for NATO while Moscow seems intent on sowing divisions within the alliance.
It was a year deep in the Cold War, a time when the world was closer to nuclear war than ever. There were myriad provocations, red lines were violated, airspace was infringed upon and a plane was shot down.
The situation was such that an accidentally fired missile or a submarine captain losing his cool would have been enough to trigger World War III. It was 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis -- an incident the current Russian prime minister finds himself reminded of today. At the Munich Security Conference last weekend, Dimitri Medvedev invoked the danger of a new Cold War. "Sometimes I think, are we in 2016 or 1962?"
Officials in Berlin have likewise been struck recently by a strange sense of déjà vu. The mood is similar to how it was at the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, a time when everyone was reading the new book from historian Christopher Clark, "The Sleepwalkers," about how Europe stumbled into World War I.
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Update: A "Nervous" NATO Fears Turkey, Russia May Soon Go To War (Zero Hedge).
WNU Editor: We are not reliving the Cuban missile crisis .... Western policy and strategy have already failed in the Middle East, and there is no interest to develop a new strategy on what to do next in the region. But Turkey may change that .... much to the chagrin of everyone.
4 comments:
WNU Editor,
You are correct: we are not reliving the Cuban Missile Crisis.
During the CMC the road to nuclear annihilation was clearly marked like an interstate road map. The Kennedy's were determined to not even drive onto the on-ramp knowing full well where it would lead and that there would likely be no getting off...
Today we are map-less, on back country dirt-roads with no idea where the next turn will take us.
I find it amazing that while Assad and ISIS do not have the ability to destroy the modern world, they have managed to put many of the players that can destroy it at direct odds with one-another inside the same territory. And each one of us are being manipulated by small and large players alike into giving ISIS exactly what it wants...
Today situation is a mix of the past (the worst past) with something new.
What is new is the ambiguous role of Turkey, and his ties with ISIS.
And generally the rise of mid-east powers.
A triple threat scenario when the only winner is radicalism and who use this for their politics. Non only ISIS but also among NATO.
Some very evil are in search of a casus belli, and for now they are blocked by the different resolutions of Obama and Putin.
After Obama I cannot see a bright future. To be euphemistic.
I hope in that mess ours comrades kurds continue to win and unify Rojava, cutting physical ties between Turkey and ISIS.
This may change the game for better.
WNU Editor,
It's actually quite funny.
While it's called the "Cuban Missile Crisis", it was actually the "Turkish Missile Crisis",
And once again, it's Turkey as both the inciting cause, and the wild card.
Good point Jay. I forgot about the Turkey angle during the Cuban missile crisis.
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