Are we to Trust an Ally like Turkey

Russian SU-24

Turkey's Claim:A SU-24 jet was 19,000 feet high in Turkey’s airspace for 17 seconds and travelled 1.84 km across the southern tip.  

Facts
Generally in less tense times air incursions happen pretty regularly but generally you’d expect warning shots to be fired and attempts to force the intruder to leave or to land. Not was this case in Syria between Turkey and Russia.

The Turks shot down a Russian Su-24 jet and did so within 17 seconds – with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu revealing that he personally gave the order to down the Russian Su-24 fighter jet– suggesting very strongly they were waiting for a Russian plane to come into or close enough to Turkish airspace with the aim of delivering a rather pyrotechnic message.

This is a highly ambiguous allegation and much media is neglecting to consider some of the mathematical facts.

The Su-24's max speed is 1320 km/hour (at sea level) and can be greater at a higher altitude  i.e. 19,000 feet per Turkey's letter to the UN, so it would mean that the SU-24 would have been in an out (if it is was) of Turkish airspace (1.84 km width) in 5 seconds! Whereas the Turks claim it was in for 17 seconds.

 This means that the supersonic jet on a mission of war would have been flying at a much less stable or controllable 390 km/hour speed. Highly impossible.

Now in context, Ankara is fiercly anti-Assad and in addition to being generally displeased with Russia's efforts to support the regime, just four days ago, Turkey summoned Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov over the alleged bombing of Turkish villages near the border. Ankara warned bombing villages populated by the Turkmen minority in Syria could lead to 'serious consequences.'

Of course Russia wasn't just bombing Turkish civilians for the sheer hell of it. It's likely Moscow was targeting the very same FSA-affiliated Alwiya al-Ashar militiamen who shot and killed the parachuting Russian pilot earlier that day.

In short, it looks like Ankara saw an opportunity to shoot down a Russian jet in retaliation for strikes on Turkish rebel fighters who are operating alongside anti-Assad forces. Erdogan is essentially gambling that Russia will not retaliate militarily against Turkey because doing so would open the door for a direct confrontation with NATO.

I hope our Prime Minister gets all the facts before jumping in with NATO. Treaty or not.

Hang 'em high or Disavow: the privilege to say, "I am Canadian"

Our Oath:

I swear (or affirm)
That I will be faithful
And bear true allegiance
To Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second
Queen of Canada
Her Heirs and Successors
And that I will faithfully observe
The laws of Canada
And fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.

Disrespect to his country

The old ways:

"[Name], in a few short weeks it will be spring. The snows of winter will flow away, the ice will vanish, the air will become soft and balmy.The annual miracle of the years will awaken and come to pass. The rivulet will run its soaring course to the sea. The timid desert flowers will put fourth their tender shoots. The glorious valleys of this imperial domain will blossom as the rose. From every tree top, some wild songster will carol his mating song. Butterflies will sport in the sunshine.

But you will not be their to enjoy it, because I command the sheriff of the county to lead you away to some remote spot, swing you by the neck from a knotting bough of some sturdy oak and let you hang until dead.

And then [Name], I further command that such officers retire quickly from your dangling corpse, that vultures may descend from the heavens upon your filthy body until nothing is left but the bare, bleached bones of a cold-blooded, blood-thirsty, throat-cutting, murdering S.O.B." - Judge Roy Bean.

More civilised:

As pointed out in an interview by the National Post with Defence Minister Jason Kenney.
In addition to terrorism, the law applies to dual nationals convicted of treason and spying for foreign governments, as well as members of armed groups at war against Canada, such as those fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“This is about respecting the value of Canadian citizenship,” Kenney said in an interview on the weekend.

 “If someone hates Canada so much that they’re prepared to demonstrate violent disloyalty to the country, they forfeit their citizenship. It’s a simple principle.”

He cited the case of former Montreal resident Sami Elabi, who posted a video online from Syria, where he was fighting with al-Qaida. It showed him burning his Canadian passport and then propping it against a wall and shooting it with an assault rifle.

“I think it’s bizarre in the extreme that he should be able to show up at a Canadian embassy … and that we should then be obliged to issue him a new passport and welcome him back to Canada. That’s the position of Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Mulcair. It is an insult to the integrity of Canadian citizenship.”

Do we really need to argue, that a dual citizen who commits Terrorism, Treason, Espionage, and Foreign Military engagement against our country deserves to be able to say "I am Canadian"?