MH17: West's Version of Events Hearsay, Subterfuge, Hysteria (Izvestia, Russia)
"Given the area in which the plane crashed, it is logical
to assume that it was shot down. The only question is - who did it? ... What is
in doubt? First, the dramatically altered course of the aircraft. Second, the
airline lost over the Indian Ocean in April, the fate of which remains unknown.
Third, the apparent desire of the Kiev authorities to ensure that such
incidents continue to happen. ... . If Ukrainian authorities knew that the militia
had Buk missiles, then why they didn’t they close the combat zone to all flights?"
Journalist Maxim
Kononenko - on what is known, and not known, about the shot down Malaysian
airliner.
On
July 17, a Boeing 777 aircraft belonging to Malaysia Airlines fell in the
Donetsk region, killing 298 people. The aircraft fell from a height of 30,000
feet, which can only have been for two reasons: an onboard explosion or
a missile strike.
Given
the area in which the plane crashed, it is logical to assume that it was shot
down. The only question is - who did it?
On
our planet, there are only two countries that have mistakenly shot down a
civilian airliner. These countries are Ukraine and the United States.
In
1988, the Americans shot down an Iran Airlines A300 over
the Persian Gulf (killing 290 people, including 66 children - video, right). In
2001, the Ukrainians shot down a Russian TU-154 [Siberia
Airlines Flight 1812] over the Black Sea (66 people died). The Soviet Union
also shot down a civilian airliner [Korean Airlines Flight 007],
not, however, by mistake - but deliberately [Moscow claimed
the aircraft was on a spying mission - video, right]. Nevertheless, the
1983 incident is also interesting in the context of what has happened in
Ukraine.
The
fact is that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was
flying on a route different than it had before. On July 14th and 15th, it flew over
the Nikolaevsk and Kherson regions. On the 16th it flew a bit north - over the
Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions. But on July 17th, the day of the disaster,
it for some reason, flew not only over the Donetsk region, but straight through
territory beyond Kiev's control. The deviation (from what was likely the usual
course taken on July 14, 15 and before) was about 280 miles.
This
trouble is a reminder of South Korean Boeing KAL Flight 007, which also
deviated from its usual route, then by 300 miles. The relationship between the
USSR and the U.S. was considered to be in about the condition it is today. The
disaster only deepened the crisis, and who knows how it would have been resolved
if [General Secretary] Yuri
Andropov hadn't died just six months later.
So,
what is in doubt? First, the dramatically altered course of the aircraft.
Second, the airline lost over the Indian Ocean in April [MH370], the fate of
which remains unknown. Third, the apparent desire of the Kiev authorities to
ensure that such incidents continue to happen.
The
last point requires a more detailed explanation.
The
Malaysian airliner, flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet and at a speed of 660
miles per hour, could not have been shot down with the help of Igla MANPADS, which is what the
militias use to shoot down Ukrainian military aircraft. This can only be
done with more serious weapons. For example, with the help of "Buk" SAM missiles.
A lot of people use them. Ukraine, for example. In 2008, Georgians shot down one
of our Tu-22M tactical
reconnaissance aircraft with Ukrainian-supplied Buks.
Half
an hour before communications with MH17 were lost, Secretary Andrei Lysenko of Ukraine's
National Security and Defense Council announced that the Donetsk militia had launched
a Buk missile. The news headlines from Ukrainian Pravda said: 5:26pm: NSDC Announces Launch of Buk Missile;
5:29 pm: Airliner Shot Down Over Donetsk
Region.
The
fact is that suggestions of the militia's use of Buk missiles didn't appear on July
18th, or even July 19th. Reports that Ukrainian anti-aircraft
missile regiment A-1402 was overrun and looted by pro-Russian forces, and that Buk
missiles had been seized, first appeared on ... June 29th! Why then, didn't the
militiamen shoot down an aircraft at that height sooner? After all, they fly
there all the time!
The
fact that aircraft fly at that altitude all the time is another problem.
Ukrainian aviation authorities closed the combat zones to all flights, but only
up to a height of 26,000 feet. If Ukrainian authorities knew that the militia
had Bukmissiles, then why didn’t
they close the combat zone to all flights?
Almost
immediately after news broke about the plane crash, the Internet was filled
with statements. [Ukraine President] Poroshenko
declared the catastrophe a terrorist attack. Ministry of Internal Affairs adviser
Zorian Shkiryak urged NATO to launch a ground operation in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian
propaganda accounts on Twitter began to spread a false announcement from CNN
about the Pentagon’s confidence that the plane was shot down by a missile
launched from Russian territory.
Ludicrous
statements and assertions appeared that actually, they wanted to shoot down President
Putin's plane, because that, too, has a tricolor on the fuselage. From the
ground, you know, stripes cannot be seen, but that the Boeing 777 had two
engines and the Presidential Il-96 has four, even a child knows. Not to mention
the fact that the presidential aircraft would have gone no place near the war
zone.
Instantly,
a supposed photograph of a baby lying in a field appeared (it looked more like
a doll), along with a passport of one of the passengers - brand new without any
trace of soot. And that was before the locals reached the site of the catastrophe.
Soon
later, on the YouTube account of the Ukraine Security Services, a recording appeared
[NYT video, right] of an intercepted conversation between militia leader Gorlovki Igor Bezler and
GRU [Main Intelligence Directorate] Lieutenant Vladimir Geranin. Bezler reports
to Geranin that a plane has been shot down. Journalist Ilya
Barabanov called colonel Geranin to ask him about this. He expressed great surprise, and said he never
discussed anything like that with Bezler.
The
recording was soon taken down and re-posted with another exchange, this one
between a man at the scene called "Major" and someone named "Greek."
Major says that the plane was shot down by "Cossacks, based in Chernukhin."
Let's leave aside the Cossacks, who can deal with SAM Buk missiles, and concentrate
instead on the audio recording created on July 16th. That is, either it deals with
a different aircraft, or it was made before the fact in order to guarantee a
provocation.
Posted
By Worldmeets.US
Of
course, there are also questions from the other side, which mainly concern the
mysterious AN-26 transport plane allegedly shot down by militia about the same
time the Boeing fell. This is said to have been written on Igor Strelkov's
Twitter account about an AN-26 that was never found, and the messages were subsequently
erased. And the fact remains, no one knows exactly who is behind this Twitter
account.
All
we know is that it doesn't belong to Strekov.
Yet
we do know that on July 13th, militia representative Ruslan Taskaev announced that
there was a problem with the Buk missiles that were captured (and Ukraine's prosecutor
general announced that nothing was captured). And it is known that in the northwest
outskirts of Donetsk, battalions of Ukraine's 156th Zenith Missile Regiment are
deployed, with 27 Buk M1 missile batteries. Well now, the
what, when, where, and how of who is to blame, is piling up.
