Eric Morse, Ottawa Citizen (Canada)
There is very little that can be done effectively. There has been some incredulity expressed that Syria could have forgotten that Turkey is a NATO member but it’s more likely that Syria knows and simply does not care. The shooting-down may or may not have been under direct control from Damascus — we will likely never know for certain — but Damascus has been taking a belligerent line since the incident and Syria has fired at (but missed) a second Turkish aircraft. Assured of some degree of Russian backing in the form of Security Council vetoes, arms shipments and some visible presence at the naval base of Tartus, plus Chinese moral support, President Bashar al-Assad does not need to be unduly concerned about direct intervention from either the UN or NATO (which would practically have to be the UN’s executive arm again, since no other capable international armed force exists).