Russia has totally ruined Turkey's plans in Iraq/Syria?

Thanks to Joe for the link!

via Huffington Post.

Putin's determination to destroy Turkey's proxies at the Syrian borders and to thwart Erdogan's plan to create a no-fly/buffer zone in the area has derailed Erdogan's plans for Syria. Erdogan hoped to use the buffer zone as an operational hub aimed at bringing down President Assad.

Then this...

Erdogan's objective in shooting down the plane was to provoke Russia into a harsh response. He hoped the response would bring Russia into conflict with the whole of NATO, which would help reverse Turkey's declining fortunes in the Syrian war.
Erdogan's calculations went terribly wrong. Following the incident, Turkey requested an emergency meeting with NATO members. Contrary to Erdogan's expectations, although, members did not support Russia, neither did they wholeheartedly support Turkey. Many members questioned Turkey's action and, according to Reuters, "expressed concern that Turkey did not escort the Russian warplane out of its airspace." In a clear indication of the suspicion among NATO members regarding Turkey's real intention behind its adventurism, some diplomats told Reuters, "There are other ways of dealing with these kinds of incidents."
Not only didn't Cold War II happen, French President Francois Hollande, who promised "merciless" revenge in the aftermath of Paris attacks, met with Putin and they agreed to form an alliance against Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL) in Syria. The outcome of such an alliance is that the "Assad must go" mantra will be overshadowed by the war against Daesh--something that Erdogan hated to occur.

Interesting.  My instincts appear to be spot on.  I have always said that an alliance with Russia against ISIS was the way to go and shot down the idea (pushed by many on this blog) that we had to defend Turkey's actions because they're part of NATO.

The Turks are playing a dangerous game and are doing their level best to bring us into their foolishness.

The funniest thing about this game is that even a blogger could see thru the ham fisted game playing.  Turkey is in trouble.  We need to watch them carefully cause the desperate tend to do stupid stuff and Erdogan is both desperate and crazy.