The funny thing is no one seems to pay attention. I had mentioned some weeks back about all those planes flying around over Syria and what might happen. Today, the Turks shot a Russian SU-24 out of the sky for apparently "invading" Turkey for 17 seconds, then their buddies on the ground killed the two airmen who managed to eject and then killed a Russian marine in a rescue mission while blowing up a rescue helicopter at the same time. The world blinked nary an eye. In fact the equity markets closed up at the end of the day.
Maybe the reaction was, "Ah ha. Russia is a paper bear," and to be sure the operational expertise exhibited by the Bear today was considerably less than formidable. Mind you, the SU-24 is no match for the souped-up F-16 the Turks were flying but everything else was amateur night in the Russian Circus. Then again, it's still Russia and it is still Putin, a nut at best, but it is also Turkey and Article 5 which may alone keep things under control and force Putin to lick his wounds and wait to fight another day. I fear this isn't over.
But I can't get over the singular lack of concern world-wide. It was as though nothing happened and yet something very big occur ed. Thanksgiving is a lousy time for crises because nobody wants to deal with one and the tendency is to wait for Monday. I'm not kidding; it's just that the rest of the world keeps on truckin'. Thanksgiving is just another Thursday.
Anyway, we're off to be with family and friends tomorrow, and Monday will probably come too quickly. For those of you that celebrate with us, have a wonderful holiday. For those of you Over There or over somewhere, peace...or at least take a shot at it.
See you next week.
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