In shooting down a Russian fighter jet that violated its airspace, Turkey also greatly diminished any chance the U.S. will accept Russian into its anti-ISIS coalition, Charles Krauthammer argued tonight.
Speaking of French President Francois Hollande’s visit today to the White House, Krauthammer explained, ”The reason he’s here, he’s trying to persuade the United States to allow Russia into the so-called 65-member coalition that Obama has supposedly put together.”
“The reason why we are correctly refusing that — and I give Obama credit for this — is that Putin has no interest in a war with ISIS,” Krauthammer said on Tuesday’s Special Report on Fox News. “His only interest is a war against the opposition to defend Assad.”
Krauthammer said Turkey is drawing its own red line:
This I think sort of highlights that, the Turks are the most opposed to Assad of anybody on the ground. It wasn’t only that the Russian airplane went into Turkish air space. It’s that the bombing run was against Turkmen, who a minority in Syria, ethnically Turkish that the Turks have always felt they have to defend. And, whether or not it was in Turkish air space or not, matters not. They were attacking these Turkmen opposition leaders. Turkey defended them I think as a signal to the Russians that we are not going to allow you to do that. I think that’s a result of this; harder for Russia to become our ally.