Turkey Says Syria Gave Jet No Warning

Ankara has stepped up its consultations with its international partners – including Nato – over the downing by Syria of a Turkish military jet, potentially the most incendiary incident involving the two neighbours since the Syrian uprising began over a year ago.

Syria gave no warning before shooting down a Turkish military jet that strayed into its territory, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davatoglu says in a strongly worded appearance.

The NATO alliance faces a "crisis" as European countries have failed to invest in defense for years and grown averse to military force, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.A shortage of helicopters and cargo aircraft in the alliance was an example of chronically low levels of defense spending that had damaged the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, Gates said."Right now, the alliance faces very serious, long-term, systemic problems," Gates said in a speech to alliance officers and officials.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will not fall for a “dirty scenario” and be dragged into the conflict with Syria. Erdogan was speaking Sunday, a day after two car bombings in a town near the Syrian border killed 46 people and raised fears that Turkey may be drawn into the conflict. Erdogan says “we have to maintain our extreme cool-bloodedness in the face of efforts and provocations to drag us into the bloody quagmire in Syria.”

Robert Gates I don’t really know what this is supposed to accomplish:

The mid-October 2012 Turkish interception of an alleged Syrian military shipment was intended to build momentum for the case to intervene in Syria.