Philip G,
Your conclusions are correct. But not only are the northern rebels Turkish trained and supported, they also have a good deal of US equipment.
CM and SkyHawkN,
I have heard similar thoughts here too. It may be a day or two before we hear much more, but Putin is never going to miss an opportunity like this. He will certainly be back with greater self-protection and he certainly won't shift his objectives.
The Civil Civillian,
I recommend dropping that line of argument - probably worth a different thread if you wish to discuss morality legality and International Law. Apart from anything else you've just descended into personal abuse and a rather childish tone. Not welcome here.
I've done some fag-packet maths too and although I can find a couple of ways to make the time of flight 40 seconds (roughly the time between Su 24 leaving Turkish airspace and missile impact) they don't easily work with the alleged positions on any of the published plots.
M2