• 385 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 389 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 391 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 394 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 395 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 396 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 397 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 398 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 402 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 402 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 403 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 405 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 405 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 409 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 409 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 410 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 412 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
  • 412 days Europe’s Economy Is On The Brink As Putin’s War Escalates
  • 415 days What’s Causing Inflation In The United States?
  • 416 days Intel Joins Russian Exodus as Chip Shortage Digs In
Another Retail Giant Bites The Dust

Another Retail Giant Bites The Dust

Forever 21 filed for Chapter…

What's Behind The Global EV Sales Slowdown?

What's Behind The Global EV Sales Slowdown?

An economic slowdown in many…

Zombie Foreclosures On The Rise In The U.S.

Zombie Foreclosures On The Rise In The U.S.

During the quarter there were…

  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

NATO Member Turkey Shoots Down Russian Fighter Jet; Putin Vows Revenge

This is the kind of thing that happens when you put ten different armies, taking orders from at least ten different commanders, in the same theater.

Last night a Russian fighter was flying in and out of Turkish airspace and Turkey shot it down. Then local rebels (Syrian Turks) shot the pilots as they parachuted to the ground.

Now everybody's mad and the sabers are rattling. Putin called the Turks "the accomplices of terrorists" and warned of "serious consequences." Diplomatic representatives have been summoned to various ministries, planned visits are being canceled, and NATO ambassadors are meeting, presumably to write a unified list of talking points. Russia advised its citizens to avoid visiting Turkey and the former's tour operators stopped marketing such trips.

The initial US response is that it's a matter for Russia and Turkey to sort out -- which is odd considering that as the lead member of NATO the US is obligated to back up any other member in a fight.

In other related news (from Reuters):

In a further sign of a growing fallout over Syria, Syrian rebel fighters who have received U.S. arms said they fired at a Russian helicopter, forcing it to land in territory held by Moscow's Syrian government allies.

Turkey called this week for a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent, and last week Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the bombing of their villages.

And that's just one little corner of what is now a broad Middle East war. See:

In Yemen, a Saudi war fought with US help

Iran says U.S. has plan to divide Iraq, pleads with Iraqis to resist

Israeli soldier killed, two wounded in West Bank gas station stabbing

What does all this mean financially? Either nothing or quite a bit, depending on what happens next. If everyone shakes hands and returns to the business of slaughtering faceless "rebels," then the global markets will shrug and turn back to the Fed and ECB. But if the name calling and threats go on for a while, then the already long line-up of potential black swans will get another really big one: the possibility of confrontation between NATO and Russia in a place where everyone is already shooting at everyone else -- and where the US has a growing number of soldiers in harm's way.

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment