By Yigal Levin
This is fucking insane: today, a Russian military Mi-8 helicopter violated Polish airspace, penetrating roughly 300 meters into it and remaining there for 42 seconds.
The Poles scrambled fighter jets and put ground forces and air-defense assets on alert, but, of course, nobody shot the helicopter down.
Just a reminder: in 2015, when Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24, the aircraft had been inside Turkish airspace for “just” 17 seconds. The aircraft was hit after it had already returned to Syrian airspace, and it also crashed on Syrian territory.
Russia swallowed it, imposed “sanctions” on Turkey — including a ban on Turkish tomatoes, restrictions on tourism, and a number of other measures — but of course never dared to “go to war” with Turkey.
Forty-two seconds in war is already a hell of a long time, but in aviation it is fucking enormous: in those “seconds,” an aircraft can cover kilometers of distance.
So the Poles are basically telling the Russians: sure, fly in, land troops here — we don’t mind.
This is not just fucked up. This is spectacularly fucked up.
Last year I already used the example of Switzerland, so I’ll bring it up again.
During World War II, tiny Switzerland uncompromisingly shot down German aircraft that “accidentally” entered its airspace. And sometimes they really did enter by accident — for example, while returning from France.
Swiss pilots fought the Germans in the air and shot them down, scoring victories in aerial combat. This particularly infuriated Hitler because the Swiss were shooting down German aircraft while flying Bf 109 Messerschmitts themselves — aircraft Switzerland had purchased back in the 1930s.
Yes, the Reich did not have nuclear weapons, but Berlin already had operational plans for a military campaign against Switzerland and its occupation. And with almost all of Europe already under German control, Switzerland had every reason to understand that those plans were not necessarily a bluff.
But the Swiss did not sit around wringing their hands or engaging in verbal gymnastics — they simply shot down anything that violated their airspace.
Anything that crosses into your airspace should be shot down immediately. Let Moscow explain afterward who got lost, who made a mistake, and what exactly happened.
Anything else sends Moscow one very clear signal: You can.
