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Comment by DoingIsLearning | Hacker News Reader

> I was in favour that NATO would secure the skies

'Securing' skies is a term that has been repeated a lot but in practice it means potentially shooting down Russian aircrafts to 'secure' a corridor.

This would mean a NATO member doing an act of war against Russia _without_ the purpose of defending a NATO member state.

The main argument is where do you draw the line? Why did NATO not provide air support for Georgia in South Ossetia, or for Crimea in 2014 but now does so for Donetsk in 2022?

In my opinion doing so would just give Russian propaganda a stronger argument that NATO is intended on attacking Russia rather than securing it's member states.

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Just because we closed our eyes in the past doesn't mean we need to continue doing that. It's the straw that breaks the camels back.

Shooting down Russian airplanes over Ukrainian territory when they are literally bombing Ukraine is not "an act of war against Russia". That's a bit of a far stretch don't you think?

If NATO bombs Belarus and Russian airplanes defend, you can hardly call that "Russian war against NATO".

> Shooting down Russian airplanes over Ukrainian territory when they are literally bombing Ukraine is not "an act of war against Russia". That's a bit of a far stretch don't you think?

It is an act of war. It is not a far stretch.

It is clearly not threatening "the territorial integrity of Russia", as Russia likes to call it. Because those planes get attacked over enemy territory.

What does that have to do with it? One military shooting down another military's aircraft is an act of war.

Clearly not: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Russian_Sukhoi_Su-24_sh...

Russia did nothing, as usual.

Unless NATO says sorry whenever they shoot down a Russian plane like Turkey did.

> If NATO bombs Belarus and Russian airplanes defend, you can hardly call that "Russian war against NATO".

That is literally a casus belli. It very much is an act of war.

According to Russia, even sending weapons is an act of war. It all has degrees. There is a clear difference between attacking Russia on their own territory vs defening Ukraine over Ukraine territory, with their consent. Russia would do nothing, just like when Moskva was sunk, just like when airfields on annexed Crimea were attacked.

Edit: So what would happen if Russia flies a fighterjet over NATO territory and they shoot it down. An act of war?

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