by Stephen Lendman

On Monday, Putin and Obama met privately on the sidelines of the Paris climate conference for about 30 minutes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US president “expressed regret in connection with the incident involving the Russian jet downed by the Turkish Air Force in Syria(n)” airspace.

It wasn’t cross-border as Erdogan claimed, lying about his act of war and refusing to apologize for the death of the Russian pilot, gunned down from the ground while parachuting to safety by extremist Turkmen, operating like ISIS, allied to Ankara against Assad.

Obama’s sympathy was less than candid, fooling no one, especially Putin. A previous article asked if Washington ordered the Russian aircraft shot down.

Erdogan would never do it unilaterally without permission or complicity with Obama. Russian analyst John Helmer was quoted saying “Turkey never makes a military move without getting Pentagon approval first.”

Most important is whether Washington planned and orchestrated Erdogan’s aggression against Russia, letting him act as triggerman.

According to Peskov, Putin and Obama discussed Syria - “both presidents sp(eaking) in favor of moves toward the start of a political settlement.”

“They also spoke about Ukraine and pointed out the importance of an earliest possible implementation of the Minsk accords.”

Putin spoke candidly and forthrightly. Obama virtually always says one thing and does another on major national and geopolitical issues, notably anything affecting Russia.

The meeting was the third time both leaders met face-to-face since in New York during September’s General Assembly session. Both leaders have entirely different geopolitical agendas. Putin goes all-out for resolving conflicts in Ukraine and Syria diplomatically. Peace and stability defeat Obama’s endless war agenda.

Putin has no plan to meet with Erdogan, ignoring the Turkish leader’s request. He remains livid about what happened and failure to get an apology for premeditated aggression.

Relations between both countries were ruptured, not easily mended soon, especially given Erdogan’s support for ISIS and other terrorists in Syria Putin is combating, more aggressively since the November 24 incident and better prepared to prevent or counter any air or ground attack on Russian forces.

Installing the world’s most sophisticated S-400 air defense system gives Moscow control of Syrian airspace. Air Force spokesman Igor Klimov said Su-34 bombers (the type aircraft Turkey shot down) are now equipped with air-to-air missiles for the first time.

“Today, Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers have made their first sortie equipped not only with high explosive aviation bombs and hollow charge bombs, but also with short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles,” Klimov explained.

“The planes are equipped with missiles for defensive purposes.”

They have target-seeking capab(ility) (to hit) air targets within a 60km radius.”

Following comments last week from Erdogan and Prime Minister Davutoglu, Turkey’s second-in-command said “(n)o Turkish prime minister or president will apologize…for doing our duty” - after meeting with US-controlled NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, agreeing with him - both men defiantly ignoring a premeditated act of war against Russia.

Obama expressed support for Turkey’s right to defend its borders, an arrogant statement ignoring naked aggression, showing contempt for international law and importance of safety for Russian aircraft and crew.

Henceforth, Russia will counter any threat to its aircraft or ground personnel with S-400 surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air ones on its planes - doing whatever it takes to avoid a repeat incident, knowing Washington, Turkey and other rogue NATO partners can’t be trusted.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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