When a war crime results in an international tragedy, we want answers. We want them now. We want to know who, and we want to know why. Sadly, it isn’t always that easy, especially when the people responsible seem to be trying to do all they can to obscure the evidence. At this point, I consider the most likely scenario is that Russian separatists, using Russian equipment in which they were not trained well enough to use, thought the plane was a Ukrainian cargo plane and shot it down, but there are other possibilities.
The United States government has concluded that the passenger jet felled over Ukraine was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile launched from rebel-held territory and most likely provided by Russia to pro-Moscow separatists, officials said on Friday.
While American officials are still investigating the chain of events leading to the destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on Thursday, they pointed to a series of indicators of Russian involvement. Among other things, military and intelligence officials said there was mounting evidence that a Ukrainian military plane shot down three days earlier had been fired upon from inside Russian territory by the same sort of missile battery used to bring down the civilian jet.
The intelligence persuaded President Obama to publicly lay responsibility at least indirectly at the door of the Kremlin. Speaking at the White House, he tried to channel international indignation toward Russia for what he called an “outrage of unspeakable proportions.” Mr. Obama said the episode should be “a wake-up call for Europe” and “should snap everybody’s heads to attention” about what is going on in Ukraine, where a pro-Russia insurgency has become an international crisis…
Inserted from <NY Times>
As the article points out the missile may have also been fired from inside Russia. What follows is a hypothesis only. I won’t call it a theory, because there is insufficient evidence for that designation.
Vladimir Putin (R-RU), aka GOP Pootie, became the darling of the Republican Party because of his hatred for LGBT people and his willingness to persecute his own gay citizens. As a rule homophobic hatemongers like Putin and the Republican Party think of AIDS as a gay disease. With that in mind it is possible that Putin had that plane targeted, because of who some of the passengers were.
More than 100 AIDS experts and public health officials on their way to the International AIDS Conference in Australia were among those killed when a Malaysian jetliner was shot down over the Ukraine yesterday. Their deaths prompted an outpouring of grief from their colleagues.
“The International AIDS Society today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today,” the group's organizers said.
Among the passengers was Glenn Thomas, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, and Joep Lange, an eminent HIV researcher from the Netherlands who was also the former president of the International AIDS society.
Lange led a campaign to expand affordable care for HIV patients in impoverished regions. He is considered an icon in the AIDS medical community…
Inserted from <AlterNet>
It is possible that Putin saw these researchers as representative of those who oppose his GOP gay-hatred and targeted this airliner for elimination. A cure for AIDS would be devastating for pseudo-Christians, as they use it so much as “proof” of God’s condemnation of gays. Now I consider my hypothesis far less likely than the one I presented first, but until we actually know, we need to consider every scenario that fits. Already some Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are claiming the plane was shot down, because God wanted to punish the researchers.
17 Responses to “Flight MH 17: Why?”
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Oh TC – that last remark about the Repuglicons saying that God wanted the plane to crash because of those AIDS researchers on it just made me DESPAIR!!! What on earth is up with them – God would never, ever, ever do such a thing – as usual they are projecting their own evil onto others and onto God!
Those AIDS researchers were wonderful, dedicated, marvellous human beings – God bless them and all who so sadly lost their lives then – they will be so sadly missed.
The London Times ran an editorial cartoon of the Rethuglicans' favorite foreign thug – a shirtless Putin with his latest trophy – that is absolutely spot on!
http://www.mediaite.com/print/london-times-runs-damning-editorial-cartoon-on-putin/
That is spot on and very damning!
Love it!
As JL said on Care2, "Why are there such speculative stories and conspiracy theories emerging concurrent with the start of every such investigation? It used to be that the media only reported facts and news about such events. Do they believe every one expects everything to be instantly available so they fill the gap with fantasy to meet that invented expectation?"
I'm sure we can all agree to sending our condolences to Lona since a disproportionate number of passengers on the flight were Dutch. Lona, I am – we are – so sorry for what you and your compatriots must be going through.
RACHEL MADDOW 07/18/14
Plane crash followed NATO alert on rebel capability
Rachel Maddow whittles away the unsubstantiated reports in the Malaysia Airlines plane crash investigation and points out that NATO warned the world on June 30th that Russia was training Ukrainian separatists on vehicle-borne anti-aircraft capability. (Maddow exposes hollowness of reporting on MH17 downed over Ukraine) A series of 6 VIDEOS:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/plane-crash-followed-nato-alert-on-rebels-308253251733
It seems really unlikely that Putin or even the separatists shot down the plane knowing what it was. Putin may not like AIDS researchers, but he would have known that shooting down an airliner would be a public-relations disaster — as it is turning out to be.
The Buk anti-aircraft rocket system's instrument panel uses a radar screen which tells you where a plane is but makes it hard to tell one kind of plane from another. The separatists have been shooting at Ukrainian military planes in that area for a long time.
This was a mistake, but that doesn't mean Putin isn't culpable. As I said in my own post about this, these separatists are basically the same kind of trigger-happy dumb hicks as those guys who were threatening the BLM around the Bundy ranch a couple of months ago. Putin should have known that supplying powerful military weapons to idiots like that would lead to some kind of disaster. He did it anyway, and the disaster has now happened. The blood is on his hands.
This crash couldn’t have come at a worse time for the refugees from Central America! It takes the focus off of their plight and what is being done to them. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Some of the Rightwingers are busy now, blaming President Obama for the crash, so maybe that part is good. But, it takes the humanitarian focus off of the poor kids trying to find a home that is safe from the horrors that they are trying to escape from.
The people on the plane are truly casualties of war. The families of the victims should be afforded every chance to recover whatever remains that are still there! The “rebels” that are carting off evidence are doing so to protect their asses! When, or if (and that’s a BIG IF) neutral parties are able to get to get to the site unimpeded, there probably won’t be much left to investigate!
Sad week, very sad week!
I had wondered if, as the Russians are training the rebels, one of the rebels "accidently" fired the missile as part of a training exercise. As Infidel said, that certainly doesn't change Putin's culpability. He's culpable right up to the top of his bald pate! I firmly believe that Putin and the others involved should stand trial for murder at the International Criminal Court. Further, I think that Russia, if convicted, should lose its veto power on the UN Security Council, but that is another matter for another day as I don't think there should be any veto powers.
At church today, we had prayers for the victims and their families and friends. There are many candles lit. May the light of love and compassion transcend the darkness of evil and despair.
The whole international community should be demanding an explanation from Putin. I heard one news person say today that Putin is an aspiring Czar. This should be evident to all who live on the Russian border or anywhere in Europe. The Westboro church people should be condemned by all and tried for cruelty to everyone.
Thanks all!
Please note that in authoring this particular gem that I called it a hypothesis, and said it was not likely enough to even be called a theory. I merely wanted to point out that as absurd as it seems, there is actually more supporting evidence for it than there is for the things Putin is now claiming, because Putin is in league with the same Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian Dominionist groups that wrote the Ugandan legislation that would have made being gay a capital offense in Uganda. I still think the problem is that Putin gave Russian separatist Ammosexuals bigger guns than they could handle.
There was another comment from a Republican. I did not aprove it, because, like so many Republicans, this individual used a bogus email address. But I will share what they had to say, because it is so typical of Republican thinking.
The guy that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 should be given a medal for Killing Dozens of AIDS researchers. God (or if you don't believe in God then: Nature) put AIDS here to eliminate self-Destructive biological units that spread disease and are a threat to the rest of the biological units.
"An estimated 12,000 scientists, medical workers, advocates and policymakers are traveling to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia amid the grim news that dozens of their colleagues, including a top researcher, were killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine."
Theur hate knows no bounds.
Has the person who wrote this been talking to the guy who has the theory about acid sperm? Or maybe it was the guy who has the theory. This is what comes of not teaching science AND the scientific method, since both are needed.
Why? Because it was an accident whoever was responsible. Why were they allowing civilian flights over a war zone where a plane was shot down earlier? Why the rush to blame one side or the other before any evidence is even gathered?
Jamie the missile launch was tracked by a US satellite. We know where it came from. Three RT Reporters have resigned, because they refused to tell Putin's lies. I think it's absurd to suggest that people should remained silent about war crimes, because the US has committed that ware crime. The list of war crimes the US has never committed is infinitesimally short.
And need we forget Civilian Iran Air Flight 655 shot down by the US in 1988 oops. All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.