Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine

[Anomalocaris]

How long until the republicunts blame Obama for this incident?

Before the attack even happened. Maybe one day republicans finally get around to accuse Obama of that most monsterous crime of all - allowing members of the republican party to continue to squander oxygen.

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it seems more likely to me that the Russian's would have seen this aircraft approaching from Ukrainian airspace, and they've obviously failed to identify it.

I remember when they sent up a MiG to identify a Korean airliner, did so, and shot it down anyway.

Fuckers have a track record.

Actually, the case is not so black and white.

Two things the US white washed in the Korea Air 007 incident are:

1. Just before the Korean air 007 incident Reagan directed the USN to put pressure on the Soviet Union by conducting a highly provacative exercise, called FleetEX83, right off Soviet Kamchatka peninsula. Several flights of armed F-14 intentionally violated Soviet airspace and flew at low altitude across the Kurile Islands, over Soviet bases. The Soviet far eastern air defence command was purged in response to this, and the replacement commander of Soviet far eastern air defence, Colonel general Kamensky, was told his career depended on shooting down the next American aircraft that violate the Soviet air space in the far east. It was against this backdrop that flight 007 penetrated into Soviet airspace above Kamchatka Peninsula.

2. There are international laws against sending armed military aircraft into foreign air spaces without permission. There is actually no international law that prevents a nation from shooting down an intruding passenger aircraft if the passenger aircraft completely ignores all attempts at contact, even if the passenger aircraft is positively identified. The Isrealis shot down a positively identified Lybian Arab Airline flight 114 in 1973, and the west went out of their way to not blame Isreal.

As it happened, the Soviet Union did not in fact positively identify Korean Air 007 as was clear from intercepted transmissions, and believed it was really a military aircraft on account of the fact that flight 007 appeared from their traces to have invaded Soviet air space twice, the first time it appear to have changed course and left soviet airspace to avoid interception, and then change course again to re-enter soviet airspace after the pursuit aircraft turned back.
In fact, the US published transcripts of intercepted Soviet communications between senior commanders. One general argued the plane should not be shot down unless it is positively identified as non-civilian. The other argued the plane is evidently military based on what it had done, and therefore no further identication is needed before it can be shot down. The pilot who actually shot down the Korean air nontheless went through all the internationally recognized steps to attempt to contact Korean air, including firing warning tracers. For unknown reasons Korean air 007 never responded in any way to the Soviet attempt at communication. Korean Air 007 also changed speed and altitude in a way that cause the Soviet pilot to believe it was trying actively to evade him.

It was in this situation, when Korean airline 007 was about to leave Soviet air space again, and Colonel general Kamenskys career being on the line if the plane turned out to really be american and not shot down, that Korean Airline 007 was ordered shot down.

I think the general consensus now is Soviet Union did not infact violate any international law, and in fact did not act with any unusual neglect or criminal triggerhappiness in the Korean air 007 incident. It was really a accident. The US by violating Soviet airspace in the same area with armed military aircraft many times in the weeks prior to the incident had not acted with complete blamelessness in facilitating the accident.

The US simply far, far outplayed the Soviets in the international public relations game in the aftermath of the incident.

The Soviets in shooting down the Korean Air 007 were no more blameworthy than the Israelis in shooting down the Lybian air 114 9 years earlier. But the US chose to acuse one and defend the other.