Putin Plays Turkey to Ruin Obama’s Thanksgiving

Nothing about today’s Turkish downing of a Russian fighter jet is an accident. It is a deft strategy by Putin to finish dismembering the Cold War order and NATO. Here is the game plan:

1. Putin is already setting the stage for a big military push and moving troops into Syria.
2. Putin purposely sends an aircraft over Turkish territory in order to have it shot down.
3. Turkey takes the bait and gives Putin what he needs: A video of Syrian Rebels (Turkmen trained by Turkish military) murdering Russian Pilots and a cassus belli against Turkey.
4. Putin then will attack Turkey, armed with his video that will rally the Russian People, and a Legitimate Cassus Belli from the downing of the plane.
5. Putin knows that NATO will not come to Turkey’s aid and that Obama wants no part of Syria, Turkey or anything else across the Atlantic. Boom. Putin breaks the NATO Alliance since Article 5 of the NATO Alliance calls for mutual defence. Neither Obama nor Europe will come to Turkey’s defense.
6. Putin wants to pick a fight with Erdogan because he believes that Erdogan is funding ISIS and is their Spiritual father. He believes that Muslim Terror is his biggest threat and Erdogan’s desire to be Sultan of the new Ottoman Empire is a direct threat to his hegemony around the Black Sea. Turkey borders Syria from the North and the Black Sea from the South.
7. The Black Sea is strategic to Putin. The Northern Tip of the Black Sea is the Southern tip of the Ukraine which is a prize that Putin has his eyes on. The North Eastern side is already bordered by Russia. By squeezing Turkey in the South, Putin starts to put his hands around more than 50% of the border around the Black Sea.
8. Nothing Putin does is an accident. This is, therefore, not a conspiracy theory. Two Russian Pilots is a small price for a big strategic move to dismember NATO and get closer to control of the Black Sea.