Calculated moves

The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey has aggravated the existing tensions in the Syrian conflict. The hurriedly summoned crisis meeting of Nato has found the US supporting Turkey and stressing the latter’s right of ‘self-defence’. Only a couple of days ago, the same countries had vowed in Istanbul to jointly fight Daesh and affiliated rebels. The downing of the Russian jet is a blow to efforts initiated by Russia to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict. But apparently it would not have occurred without a prior ‘okay’ from the US in any case. It seems the US is not interested in a political solution that bears even the remote possibility of Assad getting a role in the process, or a solution that would cross their sinister plans in the Middle East.
We should be aware of another possible implication. The military interventions of the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have created monsters like Al-Qaeda and Daesh. Now the US is supporting another player that will surely get out of hand: Turkey. And last but not least it is Turkey that is buying Syrian and Iraqi oil from Daesh in the black market, thus helping it finance its operations. This new turn in international politics exposes the real objectives of players that are close to Pakistan.
Ali Ashraf Khan
Karachi