Post by Onyango Oloo on Jul 19, 2014 13:05:29 GMT 3
By Onyango Oloo in Nairobi
Yesterday, millions of South Africans and freedom lovers around the world observed the 96th anniversary of Madiba’s birthday-six months after he died.
Today, July 19, 2014 those of us who reflect on revolutionary processes around the globe remember that on this day in 1979, the fighting people of Nicaragua in Central America led by the Sandinistas overthrew the hated, corrupt and brutal US backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.
Right now however , we are collectively shell shocked and grief stricken as we condole with the families, friends, colleagues and compatriots of the 154 Dutch, 43 Malaysians, 27 Australians,12 Indonesians, 6 Britons, 4 Germans,4 Belgians, 3 Filipinos/Filipinas, 1 Canadian and 47 other people whose nationalities have yet to be identified whose lifeless bodies were strewn all over the town of Grabovo in the east Ukrainian country side.
They were all aboard the ill fated Flight MH-17 Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777ER which took off from Schipol International Airport, Amsterdam at 12:15 local time and was scheduled to land at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6:10 am, July 18, 2014 Malaysia time. 80 children were also on that plane as well as 100 scientists (the number has been REVISED DOWNWARDS to SIX) en route to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
I spent hours last night listening to the BBC World Service, watching CNN, Al Jazeera and surfing the net absorbing various dispatches from multiple media outlets from around the world.
In a statement, US President Barack Obama said:
Soon after news of the crash broke out, the Ukrainian authorities released a 2:23 minute video allegedly “proving” that “militants of Bes group shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane with a Russian anti-aircraft missile.”
beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/07/ukraine-releases-youtube-clip-proving-rebels-shot-down-malaysian-flight-mh-17-video-2995012.html
In the clip Ukraine presents what it alleges are several recorded conversations, first of all between a pro-Russian separatist and his coordinator Vasyl Geranin, who is said to be a colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
A large chunk of mainstream western media coverage has harped on and reverberated the themes in the Obama statement and Ukrainian regime’s allegations.
But how factual and accurate are these anti-Russian claims?
There is an emerging counter narrative which provides an alternative view point.
According to the report of the Spanish air controller at Borisol airport in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev,there was an unexplained change of course of the Malaysian MH17 flight which took the aircraft directly over the eastern Ukraine war zone.
Below are excerpts of the Spanish Air Traffic Controller’s Twitter messages:
11:48 – 17 de jul.de 2014 El avión B 777 volóescoltadopor 2 cazas de ukraine hasta minutos antes, de desaparecer de los radares,
The B777 plane flew escorted by Ukraine jet fighter until 2 minutes before disappearing from the radar,
11:54 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Sílasautoridades de kiev, quierendecir la verdad, estarecogido 2 cazasvolaronmuycercaminutos antes , no lo derribo un caza
“If Kiev authorities want to tell the truth, It´s gathered, 2 jet fighters flew very close minutes before, wasn’t downed by a fighter”
12:00 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Nada másdesaparecer el avión B 777 de Malaysia Airlines la autoridadmilitar de kievnosinformo del derribo, como lo sabían?
“Malaysia Airlines B777 plane just disappeared and Kiev military authority informed us of the downing, How they knew?”
12:00 – 17 de jul.de 2014 A los 7:00 minutos se notificó el derribo, mástarde se tomó la torrenuestra con personal extranjero q siguenaquí
“7:00 minutes after [plane disappeared], the downing was notified, later our tower was taken with foreigner staff, they still here ”
12:01 – 17 de jul.de 2014 En los radaresestatodorecogido, para los incrédulos, derribadoporkiev, aquí lo sabemos y control aéreomilitartambién
“all this is gathered in radars, to the unbelieving, shot down by kiev, here we know it and military air traffic control also”
13:15 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Aquí los mandosmilitaresmanejan y admitenquemilitares a otrasórdenes, pudieronser, pero no, los pro-rusos
“Here the military commanders are in control and admit that the military could be following other orders , but not the pro-Russians”
13:29 – 17 de jul.de 2014 El ministro del interior siconocíaque, hacían los cazas en la zona, el ministro de defensa no, .
“Interior Minister knew what the fighters were doing in the area, the defense minister didn’t.”
13:31 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Militaresconfirmanquefueukraine, pero se sigue sin saber de donde vino la orden
“Members of the Military confirm it was Ukraine, but still does not know where the order came from”
13:36 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Hacedias lo dijeaquí, militares de kievqueríanalzarse contra el actual presidente, estopuedeseruna forma, a lasórdenes de timoshenko
“Days ago I said here, kiev military wanted to rise against the current president, this may be a way, ordered by timoshenko [following timishenko orders]”
13:38 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Los cazasvolaroncerca del 777, hasta 3 minutos antes de desaparecer de los radares, solo 3 minutos
“The fighters flew close to 777, up to 3 minutes before disappearing from the radar, just 3 minutes”
13:43 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Se cierra el espacioaéreo
“Airspace closed”
13:45 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Se cierra el espacioaéreo, pormiedo a másderribos
“Airspace is closed, more downings feared”
15:17 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Control militarentregaahoramismo de forma oficialque el aviónfuederribadopormisil
“military control now officially [say] the plane was shot down by missile”
15:23 – 17 de jul.de 2014 El informeoficialfirmadoporlasautoridadesmilitares de control de kievya lo tiene el gobierno,,,, , derribado
“Government has the official report signed by the control military authorities in Kiev,,,, [plane] shot down”
15:26 – 17 de jul.de 2014 En el informe se indica de dondeabríasalido el misil, y se especificaque no proviene de lasautodefensa en laszonasrebeldes
“The report indicates where the missile had come out [from], and specified is not from the selfdefence in rebel areas”
Tony Cartalucci ponders the age old Cui Bono? (Who Stands to Gain?) question:
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 Downed Over Warzone Ukraine. Who Was Behind It? Cui Bono?
At no juncture during the Ukrainian crisis could the downing of Malaysian Boeing 777 flight MH17 have been more convenient for NATO and its proxy regime in Kiev.
Kiev’s forces were being picked apart in eastern Ukraine with several units encircled and destroyed. In the west of the country, dissent was growing by Ukrainians unwilling to march off to fight in the east. NATO’s attempts to bait Russia into moving into Ukrainian territory and shift global opinion against Moscow had repeatedly failed.
The final card to be played by the US was another round of sanctions that almost immediately was ridiculed as ineffective and impotent. Even US corporate-financier interests condemned the latest round of sanctions claiming they were “unilateral” in nature and thus limited US enterprise from interacting with Russia while leaving European competitors free to move into the void. An effective US policy of confronting, containing, and undermining Russia would require multilateral sanctions with almost universal support – but the impetus for such sweeping sanctions did not exist – until now.
Indeed, the stars have aligned for NATO. While the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared Ukrainian airspace off limits to all aircraft under its jurisdiction, it appears other airlines continued flying over what has been a war zone for months. The Atlantic in a report titled, “The FAA’s Notice Prohibiting Airline Flights Over Ukraine,” stated clearly that:
Did aviation authorities know that this was a dangerous area?
Yes, they most certainly did. Nearly three months ago, on the “Special Rules” section of its site, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration put out an order prohibiting American pilots, airlines, charter carriers, and everyone else over whom the FAA has direct jurisdiction, from flying over parts of Ukraine.
For months fighters in eastern Ukraine have been downing Ukrainian military helicopters, warplanes, and even a military transport aircraft – all using various forms of man-portable anti-air missiles - all of which are incapable of downing the Malaysian 777 which was flying at approximately 33,000 feet – well above the effective range of man-portable air defense systems.
The system cited as responsible for the downing of flight MH17, was the sophisticated Buk radar guided, tracked-vehicle mounted, anti-aircraft missile system. The New York Daily News reported in an article titled, “Malaysia Airlines plane feared shot down in Ukraine near Russian border,” that:
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, said on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, reported Interfax, a Ukranian news agency.
It is not clear if fighters in eastern Ukraine obtained any Buk systems – and if they did, it is unclear whether they had the ability to maintain and operate them.
If they did have any Buk systems, they would be few. Kiev claims that the systems were passed along by Russia – apparently denying that any of their own systems had gone missing. Unfortunately, even if Russia was arming fighters in eastern Ukraine, it would not be with Buksystems that would be traced directly back to Moscow during their first use regardless of what they fired at.
Cui Bono?
Russia’s strongest card thus far has been its restraint and NATO’s inability to implicate it in the chaos NATO itself started by backing armed Neo-Nazis during the “Euromaidan” of late 2013-early 2014. Russia surely would not throw that card away to pass along weapon systems to fighters that were already successfully downing Ukrainian military aircraft with man-portable missiles.
Russia and the fighters operating in eastern Ukraine have nothing to gain by downing a civilian airliner, but absolutely everything to lose – thus pointing the finger in another direction – that of NATO and their proxy regime in Kiev. That the downed aircraft is yet another Malaysian Boeing 777 – the second one this year to be lost under extraordinary circumstances – has serendipitously gained maximum attention for propagandists across the West. They have the world’s full and undivided attention with which to pin the blame on Russia and anti-Kiev fighters in eastern Ukraine.
The impetus necessary to unite Europe and other Western allies behind NATO and the US for a more direct intervention in Ukraine where the West is currently floundering is now consuming headlines around the world. If the downing of MH17 was not a case of tragic misidentification, then answering the first question of any investigation, cui bono – or to whose benefit – is answered resoundingly with, “NATO.”
SOURCE: www.globalresearch.ca/did-ukraine-fabricate-evidence-to-frame-russia-for-mh17-shoot-down/5391942
Professor Michel Chossudovsky the Director of the Ottawa-based Centre for Global Research asks a more direct question:
Was Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior behind the Downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17?
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, July 18, 2014
A division of Buk missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was, according to Pravda, deployed to the Donetsk Oblast on July 15, two days before the downing of the Malaysian airlines MH17 flight. The Buk missile system has the capabilities of downing an aircraft flying at 35,000 feet.
While the Pravda report remains to be confirmed, Russian Defense sources confirm the presence of several missile batteries in the Donesk oblast operated by the Ukraine armed forces:
‘The Ukrainian military has several batteries of Buk surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, in the Donetsk region where the Malaysian passenger plane crashed, Russian Defense Ministry said”(RT, July 17, 2014)
Of significance, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Vitaliy Yarema confirmed that the Donesk rebels do not have Buk or S 300 ground to air missiles which could have downed the plane.
According to the Kiev Post report: “Ukrainian prosecutor general says militants did not seize Ukrainian air defense launchers”
Members of illegal armed units have not seized air defense launchers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donetsk, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema said. (Kiev Post)
Yarema also confirmed that according to military sources:
“After the passenger airliner was downed, the military reported to the president that terrorists do not have our air defense missile systems Buk and S-300,” (quoted by Itar-Tass).
This disclaimer is pro forma. It comes from official sources and can easily be reversed at a later date as part of the propaganda campaign directed against the Donbass rebels.
Yet what appears to be contradictory in these various statements is that immediately after the downing of MH17, an adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Mr. Anton Gerashchenko stated categorically that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 MH17 “had been downed by an air defense missile system Buk” (without however mentioning who was behind the missile operation)
According to the Ukraine Interfax News Agency Anton Gerashchenko, “said on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher.”
According to the Strait Times:
Mr Gerashchenko was quoted as saying: “A civilian airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system… 280 passengers and 15 crew have been killed.”
How could he have known what type of missile system had brought down the plane? His statement contradicts that of the Ukrainian military.
Gerashchenko runs a ministry of interior propaganda program at the www.stopterror.in.ua website. See also uacrisis.org/anton-gerashhenko/
How could he have been privy to this information of a military nature prior to the conduct of an investigation on the ground? Unless the Ministry of the Interior which oversees the NationalGuard (integrated by Right Sector militia) was directly involved.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Interior, largely under the control of the two Neo-Nazi parties Svoboda and Rights is responsible for the “internal” military operations directed against rebel forces in Lugansk and Donbass, in coordination with the Armed Forces.
Here is the analysis done by the Oriental Review:
Who Shot Down the Malaysian Jet Over Ukraine?
By Oriental Review
On July 17, 2014 the madness of three-month-long Ukrainian military conflict in the East has brought the first shocking international consequence. At 3.20PM GMT the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 jet flight #MH-17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur disappeared inside the Ukrainian airspace right above the area of intense military combat in Donetsk region and crushed near Grabovo village, around 60 km to the east from Donetsk. All 285 passengers and 15 crew members have reportedly died.
According to data available the airliner “was moving at the altitude of 10,600 meters on the 350th flight level”. This flight level was opened for international transit flights, despite since July 8, 2014 the Ukrainian aviation authorities “did not recommend” international transit flights in the area below 302th level i.e. 9600 meters due to the “anti-terrorist operation” unleashed in the area involving Ukrainian pursuit aviation and air-defense capabilities in action. So formally the Malaysian company complied with the ruling of Ukrainian civil aviation authority although the security risk for the flight was evident.
The area of the catastrophe is indeed the epicentre of the ongoing fierce fighting between regular Ukrainian army units and rebellious armed militias of Novorossia opposing anti-constitutional February coup d’etat in Kiev. An informed source monitoring operational situation in the area has revealed earlier on Wednesday that a battery of Buk antiaircraft missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was deployed near Donetsk. At present, another battery of the same missile systems is being loaded in Kharkiv. The aircraft flying at the altitude of more than 10 thousand meters might be hit only with weapons like S-300 or Buk. The militias don’t have such weapons, and cannot afford them as it was acknowledged even by the Ukrainian Defense minister Valery Galetey in a statement on another issue two days before the Flight MH-17 tragedy:
“…a “powerful weapon” must have been used to down the plane flying at 6,500 meters, an altitude the shoulder-fired missiles used by the separatists can’t reach.”
The Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko argues that the catastrophe in Donetsk was most likely caused by the incompetence and non-professionalism of the Ukrainian operators of the Buk systems during its testing after the battery was deployed in the new location. He said that the Ukrainian antiaircraft unit did not have any kind of proper training for the last 23 years since the collapse of Soviet Union.
What happened today is hardly the first case of “errant shooting” of the Ukrainian military on civilian air targets. On October 4, 2001 the Russian Siberia Airline flight #1812 Tel-Aviv-Novosibirsk carrying 66 passengers and 12 crew members was erroneously hit by a Ukrainian missile over the Black Sea during military exercises, which was eventually admitted by the Ukrainian side. No one on board survived.
So regardless the MH-17 incident was caused by the criminal negligence and incompetence of the Ukrainian military or deliberate (and reckless) Kiev’s provocation to put blame on Russia, the strong international commitment to make Kiev immediately halt its punitive actions in Novorossia until all the circumstances of the tragedy are thoroughly investigated is urgently needed.
The fact of unmotivated change of the transit route over Ukraine of the notorious flight #MH-17 on the day of tragedy should be carefully considered by the investigation commission:
According to the reports, the deviation of the flight MH-17 leading to the passage over the combat area was carried out on the request of the Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk Air Space Control Centre. The key question is whether it was a tragic coincidence or deliberate provocative act.
It should be borne in mind that a formal, open, inclusive and thorough investigation into the MH 17 tragedy that includes the Malaysians, the West Europeans, Ukrainians (including the rebels) Russia, the United States and the United Nations is yet to commence.
We should therefore hold our horses and avoid rushing to premature judgments and conclusions.
In the meantime, to get more insight into the crisis in Ukraine, check out the following links:
Yesterday, millions of South Africans and freedom lovers around the world observed the 96th anniversary of Madiba’s birthday-six months after he died.
Today, July 19, 2014 those of us who reflect on revolutionary processes around the globe remember that on this day in 1979, the fighting people of Nicaragua in Central America led by the Sandinistas overthrew the hated, corrupt and brutal US backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.
Right now however , we are collectively shell shocked and grief stricken as we condole with the families, friends, colleagues and compatriots of the 154 Dutch, 43 Malaysians, 27 Australians,12 Indonesians, 6 Britons, 4 Germans,4 Belgians, 3 Filipinos/Filipinas, 1 Canadian and 47 other people whose nationalities have yet to be identified whose lifeless bodies were strewn all over the town of Grabovo in the east Ukrainian country side.
They were all aboard the ill fated Flight MH-17 Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777ER which took off from Schipol International Airport, Amsterdam at 12:15 local time and was scheduled to land at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6:10 am, July 18, 2014 Malaysia time. 80 children were also on that plane as well as 100 scientists (the number has been REVISED DOWNWARDS to SIX) en route to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
I spent hours last night listening to the BBC World Service, watching CNN, Al Jazeera and surfing the net absorbing various dispatches from multiple media outlets from around the world.
In a statement, US President Barack Obama said:
“Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine. Moreover, we know that these separatists have received a steady flow of support from Russia. This includes arms and training. It includes heavy weapons.”
Soon after news of the crash broke out, the Ukrainian authorities released a 2:23 minute video allegedly “proving” that “militants of Bes group shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane with a Russian anti-aircraft missile.”
beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/07/ukraine-releases-youtube-clip-proving-rebels-shot-down-malaysian-flight-mh-17-video-2995012.html
In the clip Ukraine presents what it alleges are several recorded conversations, first of all between a pro-Russian separatist and his coordinator Vasyl Geranin, who is said to be a colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
A large chunk of mainstream western media coverage has harped on and reverberated the themes in the Obama statement and Ukrainian regime’s allegations.
But how factual and accurate are these anti-Russian claims?
There is an emerging counter narrative which provides an alternative view point.
According to the report of the Spanish air controller at Borisol airport in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev,there was an unexplained change of course of the Malaysian MH17 flight which took the aircraft directly over the eastern Ukraine war zone.
Below are excerpts of the Spanish Air Traffic Controller’s Twitter messages:
11:48 – 17 de jul.de 2014 El avión B 777 volóescoltadopor 2 cazas de ukraine hasta minutos antes, de desaparecer de los radares,
The B777 plane flew escorted by Ukraine jet fighter until 2 minutes before disappearing from the radar,
11:54 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Sílasautoridades de kiev, quierendecir la verdad, estarecogido 2 cazasvolaronmuycercaminutos antes , no lo derribo un caza
“If Kiev authorities want to tell the truth, It´s gathered, 2 jet fighters flew very close minutes before, wasn’t downed by a fighter”
12:00 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Nada másdesaparecer el avión B 777 de Malaysia Airlines la autoridadmilitar de kievnosinformo del derribo, como lo sabían?
“Malaysia Airlines B777 plane just disappeared and Kiev military authority informed us of the downing, How they knew?”
12:00 – 17 de jul.de 2014 A los 7:00 minutos se notificó el derribo, mástarde se tomó la torrenuestra con personal extranjero q siguenaquí
“7:00 minutes after [plane disappeared], the downing was notified, later our tower was taken with foreigner staff, they still here ”
12:01 – 17 de jul.de 2014 En los radaresestatodorecogido, para los incrédulos, derribadoporkiev, aquí lo sabemos y control aéreomilitartambién
“all this is gathered in radars, to the unbelieving, shot down by kiev, here we know it and military air traffic control also”
13:15 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Aquí los mandosmilitaresmanejan y admitenquemilitares a otrasórdenes, pudieronser, pero no, los pro-rusos
“Here the military commanders are in control and admit that the military could be following other orders , but not the pro-Russians”
13:29 – 17 de jul.de 2014 El ministro del interior siconocíaque, hacían los cazas en la zona, el ministro de defensa no, .
“Interior Minister knew what the fighters were doing in the area, the defense minister didn’t.”
13:31 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Militaresconfirmanquefueukraine, pero se sigue sin saber de donde vino la orden
“Members of the Military confirm it was Ukraine, but still does not know where the order came from”
13:36 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Hacedias lo dijeaquí, militares de kievqueríanalzarse contra el actual presidente, estopuedeseruna forma, a lasórdenes de timoshenko
“Days ago I said here, kiev military wanted to rise against the current president, this may be a way, ordered by timoshenko [following timishenko orders]”
13:38 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Los cazasvolaroncerca del 777, hasta 3 minutos antes de desaparecer de los radares, solo 3 minutos
“The fighters flew close to 777, up to 3 minutes before disappearing from the radar, just 3 minutes”
13:43 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Se cierra el espacioaéreo
“Airspace closed”
13:45 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Se cierra el espacioaéreo, pormiedo a másderribos
“Airspace is closed, more downings feared”
15:17 – 17 de jul.de 2014 Control militarentregaahoramismo de forma oficialque el aviónfuederribadopormisil
“military control now officially [say] the plane was shot down by missile”
15:23 – 17 de jul.de 2014 El informeoficialfirmadoporlasautoridadesmilitares de control de kievya lo tiene el gobierno,,,, , derribado
“Government has the official report signed by the control military authorities in Kiev,,,, [plane] shot down”
15:26 – 17 de jul.de 2014 En el informe se indica de dondeabríasalido el misil, y se especificaque no proviene de lasautodefensa en laszonasrebeldes
“The report indicates where the missile had come out [from], and specified is not from the selfdefence in rebel areas”
Tony Cartalucci ponders the age old Cui Bono? (Who Stands to Gain?) question:
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 Downed Over Warzone Ukraine. Who Was Behind It? Cui Bono?
At no juncture during the Ukrainian crisis could the downing of Malaysian Boeing 777 flight MH17 have been more convenient for NATO and its proxy regime in Kiev.
Kiev’s forces were being picked apart in eastern Ukraine with several units encircled and destroyed. In the west of the country, dissent was growing by Ukrainians unwilling to march off to fight in the east. NATO’s attempts to bait Russia into moving into Ukrainian territory and shift global opinion against Moscow had repeatedly failed.
The final card to be played by the US was another round of sanctions that almost immediately was ridiculed as ineffective and impotent. Even US corporate-financier interests condemned the latest round of sanctions claiming they were “unilateral” in nature and thus limited US enterprise from interacting with Russia while leaving European competitors free to move into the void. An effective US policy of confronting, containing, and undermining Russia would require multilateral sanctions with almost universal support – but the impetus for such sweeping sanctions did not exist – until now.
Indeed, the stars have aligned for NATO. While the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared Ukrainian airspace off limits to all aircraft under its jurisdiction, it appears other airlines continued flying over what has been a war zone for months. The Atlantic in a report titled, “The FAA’s Notice Prohibiting Airline Flights Over Ukraine,” stated clearly that:
Did aviation authorities know that this was a dangerous area?
Yes, they most certainly did. Nearly three months ago, on the “Special Rules” section of its site, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration put out an order prohibiting American pilots, airlines, charter carriers, and everyone else over whom the FAA has direct jurisdiction, from flying over parts of Ukraine.
For months fighters in eastern Ukraine have been downing Ukrainian military helicopters, warplanes, and even a military transport aircraft – all using various forms of man-portable anti-air missiles - all of which are incapable of downing the Malaysian 777 which was flying at approximately 33,000 feet – well above the effective range of man-portable air defense systems.
The system cited as responsible for the downing of flight MH17, was the sophisticated Buk radar guided, tracked-vehicle mounted, anti-aircraft missile system. The New York Daily News reported in an article titled, “Malaysia Airlines plane feared shot down in Ukraine near Russian border,” that:
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, said on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, reported Interfax, a Ukranian news agency.
It is not clear if fighters in eastern Ukraine obtained any Buk systems – and if they did, it is unclear whether they had the ability to maintain and operate them.
If they did have any Buk systems, they would be few. Kiev claims that the systems were passed along by Russia – apparently denying that any of their own systems had gone missing. Unfortunately, even if Russia was arming fighters in eastern Ukraine, it would not be with Buksystems that would be traced directly back to Moscow during their first use regardless of what they fired at.
Cui Bono?
Russia’s strongest card thus far has been its restraint and NATO’s inability to implicate it in the chaos NATO itself started by backing armed Neo-Nazis during the “Euromaidan” of late 2013-early 2014. Russia surely would not throw that card away to pass along weapon systems to fighters that were already successfully downing Ukrainian military aircraft with man-portable missiles.
Russia and the fighters operating in eastern Ukraine have nothing to gain by downing a civilian airliner, but absolutely everything to lose – thus pointing the finger in another direction – that of NATO and their proxy regime in Kiev. That the downed aircraft is yet another Malaysian Boeing 777 – the second one this year to be lost under extraordinary circumstances – has serendipitously gained maximum attention for propagandists across the West. They have the world’s full and undivided attention with which to pin the blame on Russia and anti-Kiev fighters in eastern Ukraine.
The impetus necessary to unite Europe and other Western allies behind NATO and the US for a more direct intervention in Ukraine where the West is currently floundering is now consuming headlines around the world. If the downing of MH17 was not a case of tragic misidentification, then answering the first question of any investigation, cui bono – or to whose benefit – is answered resoundingly with, “NATO.”
SOURCE: www.globalresearch.ca/did-ukraine-fabricate-evidence-to-frame-russia-for-mh17-shoot-down/5391942
Professor Michel Chossudovsky the Director of the Ottawa-based Centre for Global Research asks a more direct question:
Was Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior behind the Downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17?
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, July 18, 2014
A division of Buk missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was, according to Pravda, deployed to the Donetsk Oblast on July 15, two days before the downing of the Malaysian airlines MH17 flight. The Buk missile system has the capabilities of downing an aircraft flying at 35,000 feet.
While the Pravda report remains to be confirmed, Russian Defense sources confirm the presence of several missile batteries in the Donesk oblast operated by the Ukraine armed forces:
‘The Ukrainian military has several batteries of Buk surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, in the Donetsk region where the Malaysian passenger plane crashed, Russian Defense Ministry said”(RT, July 17, 2014)
Of significance, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Vitaliy Yarema confirmed that the Donesk rebels do not have Buk or S 300 ground to air missiles which could have downed the plane.
According to the Kiev Post report: “Ukrainian prosecutor general says militants did not seize Ukrainian air defense launchers”
Members of illegal armed units have not seized air defense launchers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donetsk, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema said. (Kiev Post)
Yarema also confirmed that according to military sources:
“After the passenger airliner was downed, the military reported to the president that terrorists do not have our air defense missile systems Buk and S-300,” (quoted by Itar-Tass).
This disclaimer is pro forma. It comes from official sources and can easily be reversed at a later date as part of the propaganda campaign directed against the Donbass rebels.
Yet what appears to be contradictory in these various statements is that immediately after the downing of MH17, an adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Mr. Anton Gerashchenko stated categorically that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 MH17 “had been downed by an air defense missile system Buk” (without however mentioning who was behind the missile operation)
According to the Ukraine Interfax News Agency Anton Gerashchenko, “said on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher.”
According to the Strait Times:
Mr Gerashchenko was quoted as saying: “A civilian airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system… 280 passengers and 15 crew have been killed.”
How could he have known what type of missile system had brought down the plane? His statement contradicts that of the Ukrainian military.
Gerashchenko runs a ministry of interior propaganda program at the www.stopterror.in.ua website. See also uacrisis.org/anton-gerashhenko/
How could he have been privy to this information of a military nature prior to the conduct of an investigation on the ground? Unless the Ministry of the Interior which oversees the NationalGuard (integrated by Right Sector militia) was directly involved.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Interior, largely under the control of the two Neo-Nazi parties Svoboda and Rights is responsible for the “internal” military operations directed against rebel forces in Lugansk and Donbass, in coordination with the Armed Forces.
Here is the analysis done by the Oriental Review:
Who Shot Down the Malaysian Jet Over Ukraine?
By Oriental Review
On July 17, 2014 the madness of three-month-long Ukrainian military conflict in the East has brought the first shocking international consequence. At 3.20PM GMT the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 jet flight #MH-17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur disappeared inside the Ukrainian airspace right above the area of intense military combat in Donetsk region and crushed near Grabovo village, around 60 km to the east from Donetsk. All 285 passengers and 15 crew members have reportedly died.
According to data available the airliner “was moving at the altitude of 10,600 meters on the 350th flight level”. This flight level was opened for international transit flights, despite since July 8, 2014 the Ukrainian aviation authorities “did not recommend” international transit flights in the area below 302th level i.e. 9600 meters due to the “anti-terrorist operation” unleashed in the area involving Ukrainian pursuit aviation and air-defense capabilities in action. So formally the Malaysian company complied with the ruling of Ukrainian civil aviation authority although the security risk for the flight was evident.
The area of the catastrophe is indeed the epicentre of the ongoing fierce fighting between regular Ukrainian army units and rebellious armed militias of Novorossia opposing anti-constitutional February coup d’etat in Kiev. An informed source monitoring operational situation in the area has revealed earlier on Wednesday that a battery of Buk antiaircraft missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was deployed near Donetsk. At present, another battery of the same missile systems is being loaded in Kharkiv. The aircraft flying at the altitude of more than 10 thousand meters might be hit only with weapons like S-300 or Buk. The militias don’t have such weapons, and cannot afford them as it was acknowledged even by the Ukrainian Defense minister Valery Galetey in a statement on another issue two days before the Flight MH-17 tragedy:
“…a “powerful weapon” must have been used to down the plane flying at 6,500 meters, an altitude the shoulder-fired missiles used by the separatists can’t reach.”
The Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko argues that the catastrophe in Donetsk was most likely caused by the incompetence and non-professionalism of the Ukrainian operators of the Buk systems during its testing after the battery was deployed in the new location. He said that the Ukrainian antiaircraft unit did not have any kind of proper training for the last 23 years since the collapse of Soviet Union.
What happened today is hardly the first case of “errant shooting” of the Ukrainian military on civilian air targets. On October 4, 2001 the Russian Siberia Airline flight #1812 Tel-Aviv-Novosibirsk carrying 66 passengers and 12 crew members was erroneously hit by a Ukrainian missile over the Black Sea during military exercises, which was eventually admitted by the Ukrainian side. No one on board survived.
So regardless the MH-17 incident was caused by the criminal negligence and incompetence of the Ukrainian military or deliberate (and reckless) Kiev’s provocation to put blame on Russia, the strong international commitment to make Kiev immediately halt its punitive actions in Novorossia until all the circumstances of the tragedy are thoroughly investigated is urgently needed.
The fact of unmotivated change of the transit route over Ukraine of the notorious flight #MH-17 on the day of tragedy should be carefully considered by the investigation commission:
According to the reports, the deviation of the flight MH-17 leading to the passage over the combat area was carried out on the request of the Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk Air Space Control Centre. The key question is whether it was a tragic coincidence or deliberate provocative act.
It should be borne in mind that a formal, open, inclusive and thorough investigation into the MH 17 tragedy that includes the Malaysians, the West Europeans, Ukrainians (including the rebels) Russia, the United States and the United Nations is yet to commence.
We should therefore hold our horses and avoid rushing to premature judgments and conclusions.
In the meantime, to get more insight into the crisis in Ukraine, check out the following links:
