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The United States does not believe there was any malicious intent on the part of a Russian jet that came within a half-mile of a US aircraft over Syria earlier this month, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson Col. John Dorrian said in a briefing on Friday.

The US military did not immediately report the close call between American and Russian aircraft in Syria in order not to turn it into a major incident, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Air Force Col. John Dorrian said in a briefing on Friday."There was an immediate contact between the aircraft and then follow-up through the deconfliction channel that we've been working with the Russians," Dorrian told reporters. "The coalition...does not assess this to be something that was done with nefarious intent."

Earlier in the day, US Air Force Central Command chief Lt. Gen. Jeff Harrigian said a Russian military jet flew dangerously close to a US plane over Syria on October 17. The commander asserted that the incident had no nefarious intent. "It was not reported to the public because we have a deconfliction channel to discuss these incidents with the Russians," Dorrian told reporters. "The deconfliction channel is not one that is necessarily designed for public disclosure, and really the purpose of that is to do the exact opposite of turning it into a major incident is really more intended to keep the temperature down between us and the Russians."

Dorrian identified the Russian aircraft as a fighter jet and the coalition plane as a "larger-framed aircraft that we don't provide additional detail on."

"On October 17, the crew of a US aircraft E-3 AWACS drifted down nearly one kilometer from its height and dangerously approached a Russian Su-35 fighter jet at the distance of less than 500 meters in violation of all air safety rules in [Syrian] airspace near Deir ez-Zor," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Shortly after the incident, the command of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria's Latakia contacted the US side asking for explanations. Konashenkov said that representatives of the US Air Force Command "apologized for the incident and promised to work with pilots to further avoid such situations."
...
"We are surprised by yet another attempt of the US military command to shift the blame for the dangerous approach of the US plane to Su-35 fighter jet on the Russian Aerospace Forces."Konashenkov said that Russian and US pilots cooperate to avoid dangerous incidents in Syrian airspace, adding that Moscow informed of the Su-35 jet's route in advance." This incident proved that effective cooperation has been established between Russian and American pilots allowing to avoid such incidents in future."

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In another tangential part of the recording, Chomsky is heard on the tape asking Clinton what now seems like a prescient question about Syria, given the disaster unfolding there and its looming threat to drag the U.S., Iran and Russia into confrontation.

"Do you think it's worth talking to Syria—both from the U.S. point [of view] and Israel's point [of view]?"

Clinton replied, "You know, I'm pretty much of the mind that I don't see what it hurts to talk to people. As long as you're not stupid and giving things away. I mean, we talked to the Soviet Union for 40 years. They invaded Hungary, they invaded Czechoslovakia, they persecuted the Jews, they invaded Afghanistan, they destabilized governments, they put missiles 90 miles from our shores, we never stopped talking to them," an answer that reflects her mastery of the facts but also reflects a willingness to talk to Russia that sounds more like Trump 2016 than Clinton 2016.

The conclusion comes a few moments later when Clinton said, "But if you say, 'they're evil, we're good, [and] we're never dealing with them,' I think you give up a lot of the tools that you need to have in order to defeat them...So I would like to talk to you [the enemy] because I want to know more about you. Because if I want to defeat you, I've got to know something more about you. I need different tools to use in my campaign against you. That's my take on it."

Ironically taking the "moral" ground and slamming Putin as evil is precisely what the Obama administration has done; we can only imagine what Hillary - and her Secretary of State - will do in Syria and across the globe, if elected president through rigged elections or otherwise.