The war against Islamic State has taken a backseat to the war of words currently taking place between Russia and Turkey. This happened on November 24, when Turkey shot a Russian plane out of the sky, that they claim violated their airspace. One pilot was killed while the other was rescued after a long drawn out mission.
While the Russians are demanding an apology and alleging that Turkey is pro-IS, the Turks are claiming that their actions were within the rules of engagement. The Turks may be right on that front, since the plane was in their airspace but there is a little more at play than just that. This is not the first Russian violation into Turkish airspace and Vladimir Putin needs to sit down with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan to work out a solution to this. Turkey has interests in Syria and will only logically want to protect them. For Russia to impose trade embargoes and detain Turkish businessmen is just deflecting attention from the bigger enemy at play here.
The world needs to unite against Islamic State. NATO needs to step in and work with Russia and Turkey before another Cold War envelopes this war against terror. IS is the real enemy here.
