Current Events & Trends: Russia-Turkey conflict escalates in Syria
Syria’s civil war is a quagmire not only for supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian revolutionary fighters, but also for other nations that have become embroiled in the conflict.
The United States, along with its NATO allies, is in favor of Assad stepping aside and allowing a new government to be established. Russia and Iran openly support Assad’s regime. ISIS is taking advantage of the chaos to push its agenda of brutality.
To add to the mess and add yet another layer of difficulty to the Gordian knot of international relations, Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that it says ignored warnings and violated its airspace. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his anger amid claims that the jet’s instruments show it was firmly in Syrian airspace at the time, running a legitimate strike mission against ISIS forces. This event has the potential for lasting ramifications internationally, as Turkey is a key NATO member. NATO allies already have a tense working relationship with Putin’s Russia.
The Wall Street Journal reports on Putin’s threat of consequences for the lost jet: “Russian President Vladimir Putin tore into Turkey over the downing, saying the jet fighter was carrying out strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria, including Russian natives, and posed no threat to Turkey. The downing was ‘a stab in the back, carried out by accomplices of terrorists,’ he said . . . ‘Today’s tragic incident will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations’” (Dion Nissenbaum, Emre Peker and James Marson, “Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet Fighter,” Nov. 24, 2015).
Russia immediately upped the ante, sending advanced S-400 anti-aircraft missiles to a Russian base in Syria just 30 miles from the border with Turkey, moving a naval missile cruiser closer to the Syrian coast, and announcing that Russian bombers will now be accompanied by fighter escorts on their missions.
It’s easy to see how Syria’s civil war could spread further conflict far and wide, with so many world powers focused on the conflict. (Source: The Wall Street Journal.)
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Rudolph Rangel III
Rudy Rangel attends the Cincinnati East, Ohio congregation along with his wife Judy and two children.
Tom Robinson
Tom is an elder in the United Church of God who works from his home near St. Louis, Missouri as managing editor and senior writer for Beyond Today magazine, church study guides and the UCG Bible Commentary. He is a visiting instructor at Ambassador Bible College. And he serves as chairman of the church's Prophecy Advisory Committee and a member of the Fundamental Beliefs Amendment Committee.
Tom began attending God's Church at the age of 16 in 1985 and was baptized a year later. He attended Ambassador College in both Texas and California and served for a year as a history teacher at the college's overseas project in Sri Lanka. He graduated from the Texas campus in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in theology along with minors in English and mass communications. Since 1994, he has been employed as an editor and writer for church publications and has served in local congregations through regular preaching of sermons.
Tom was ordained to the ministry in 2012 and attends the Columbia-Fulton, Missouri congregation with his wife Donna and their two teen children.
