Leading from behind, or more accurately, failing to lead at all, has its consequences. Turkish jets shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet Turkey claimed was over its airspace, and both pilots were reportedly killed. In addition, American-backed Syrian rebels shot down a Russian rescue helicopter, killing one crew member. Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva will now be deployed off the Syrian coast, with Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoi warning that "every target posing a potential threat will be destroyed," and all military contacts with Turkey "will be suspended." As PJ Media's Richard Fernandez deftly explains, the latest turn of events is "a clear sign of how dangerous Obama's Syria policy has become. The vacuum left by his policy has not only engendered a chaos which has destroyed whole countries, but it has drawn in great powers whose armed forces are operating in dangerously close proximity." In short, this is how wars begin. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Turkey there will be "significant consequences" for what he characterized as a "stab in the back" committed by "accomplices of terrorists." The Turkish military insists that two jets approached their border and were warned "10 times" before one of the planes was shot down. Putin disagreed. "The Russian bomber was shot down over Syria by an air-to-air surface fired from a Turkish F-16 plane when the bomber was at an altitude of 6,000 meters at a distance of 1 km from the Turkish bomber," he stated.

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