RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 17, 2014 at 2:25 pm
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2014 at 2:33 pm by Anomalocaris.)
It is alledged the weapon that brought down the plane is a Buk missile, which is a medium range weapon system that requires separate radar trucks, transport erector lunacher vehicles, auxiliary power supply vehicles, etc to operate. It's not a shoulder fired missile. It's a air defence system. This is not the sort of system a bunch of bandits on the run is likely to be able to operate. It is something used by technically sophisticated army units. This suggests to me it is at least as likely as not the real culprit is the Ukrainian army, or the Russian army, rather than the separatists.
This would not be the first time the Ukrainian army fired a sophisticated air defence system at an airliner by accident. It happened before when the Ukrainians shot down by accident a Siberian airline Tu-154 not long after 9/11
I will not reflexively point the finger at Russia. It is not clear to me how this could benefit Russia. There are all sorts of things Russia could do to provoke another crisis in Ukraine without so blantantly blackening its own name by shooting down a third, neutural, country's passenger liner.
This would not be the first time the Ukrainian army fired a sophisticated air defence system at an airliner by accident. It happened before when the Ukrainians shot down by accident a Siberian airline Tu-154 not long after 9/11
I will not reflexively point the finger at Russia. It is not clear to me how this could benefit Russia. There are all sorts of things Russia could do to provoke another crisis in Ukraine without so blantantly blackening its own name by shooting down a third, neutural, country's passenger liner.
