NATO chiefs overjoyed as Syria hands them "Just Cause"

One can imagine there's a whole lot of gleeful handrubbing going on in Brussels today.

NATO operates by the same code as a biker gang; an attack on one of us is an attack on all. And the downing of a Turkish fighter plane by Syria yesterday when it strayed into Syrian airspace was obviously an unprovoked attack.

Listen to the tough talk coming from one of NATO's toughest talking cheer-leaders, Brit Foreign Secretary William Hague;

This outrageous act underlines how far beyond accepted behaviour the Syrian regime has put itself. The Assad regime should not make the mistake of believing it can act with impunity. It will be held to account.

Note that this is in stark contrast to NATO, which always acts with impunity and is never held to account.

Note also that the "outrageous act" in question is the shooting down of a foreign warplane that violated Syrian territorial sovereignty, an act that would be deemed entirely justifiable were it to occur in one of the Nations of Virtue.

So the NATO brain trust will be getting together in the next few days to chart a course of action.

Expect the smart bombs and cruise missiles to follow soon after.