Whatever is wrong with the world is because of some nefarious Russian plot
Russia is regularly painted out as the villain of the world by Western governments and media, as if whatever is wrong with the world is because of some nefarious Russian plot.
Whether its instability in Syria, state sponsors of terror developing nukes, democratic elections experiencing foreign meddling, cheating in international athletic competitions, extrajudicial assassinations taking place with the use of contraband nerve or chemical weapons, the spread of terrorism, violations of national sovereignty, it looks like Russia is out to destabilize the planet.
The newest case is whenever a plane gets downed, you know it was the Russians.
In each case, Russia is alleged to be directly responsible for the malicious action itself, or, at the least, responsible for supporting it.
Yesterday, the news came out that a joint investigation by the Dutch and the Ukrainians, and some others perhaps, had found that the Malaysian flight MH17 was downed by a Russian manufactured anti aircraft rocket originating with the Russian 53rd Brigade.
TASS reports:
THE HAGUE, May 25. /TASS/. Australia and the Netherlands have officially accused Russia of its alleged involvement in the 2014 flight MH17 crash in Ukraine and plan to hold Moscow responsible, the Dutch government said in a statement on Friday.Like the Skripal allegations from March, the 2016 US presidential elections meddling, the chemical weapons attack in Douma last month, and many others, the allegation that Russia has committed or supported each action is lodged, and no conclusive evidence is ever produced, although with the allegation comes political ramifications, often in the form of sanctions.
"The Netherlands and Australia hold Russia responsible for its part in the downing of flight MH17. The government took a decision on this matter, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stef Blok. Our two countries have informed Russia of their decision," the statement said.
"The downing of flight MH17 caused unimaginable suffering,' said Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok. 'The government has always said that the truth surrounding the MH17 disaster had to be brought to light and that justice must be achieved for the victims and their next of kin. The Netherlands has the support of the international community in this respect," the document said.
The Netherlands and Australia are convinced on the basis of JIT's conclusions that "Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17." "The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable."
On Thursday, the Joint Investigation Team, consisting of representatives of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, released its update in criminal investigation of flight MH17 crash. According to JIT, "the BUK-TELAR that was used to down MH17, originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade (hereinafter 53rd brigade), a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation."
Russia's Defense Ministry rejected all the accusations saying that none of the Russian Army's air defense missile systems had ever crossed the border between Russia and Ukraine. The ministry also said that Russia provided the Dutch investigators with overwhelming evidence clearly pointing to the complicity of Ukrainian crews of Buk missile systems in destroying the Boeing airliner.
The Boeing-777 passenger plane operated by Malaysian Airlines crashed on July 17, 2014, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in the east of the Donetsk region. As many as 283 passengers and 15 crew members - citizens of 10 states, were killed in the crash. The parties to the armed conflict in Donbass accused each other of its complicity in the tragedy.
This most recent allegation comes out of the works right during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), and on the day where various European nations, represented at the Forum, were working to repair diplomatic relations and coordinate joint economic initiatives and investments.
The investigation which released these findings enjoyed the participation of the Ukraine, over whose territory the plane went down, which was in the midst of a civil war following a Western backed coup which installed a government that expressed hostility towards its Russian neighbor.
Meanwhile, the Russians were not allowed a comprehensive involvement in the investigation, at least up to this point.
The allegation that the rocket that shot Malaysia MH17 out of the skies over the Ukraine was Russian manufactured appears purely of a design to implication the Russians in the deed, although the rocket is of a Soviet origin, dating back to 1986.
The Soviet Socialist Republic was the government that occupied the territory that the present Russian Federation represents, so that the logic must therefore mean that the present Russian government carried out this atrocity.
However, following the dissolution of the USSR, its military hardware was divvied up between its various member states, now independent, sovereign, nations themselves, hence, any one of such countries would be in possession of Soviet military hardware, not excluding the Ukraine.
Ergo, the Soviet origin of the rocket, in and of itself, fails to present a solid case that the rocket was fired by military forces under the command of President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.
In 2014, the Ukraine was experiencing a bloody civil war, wherein many various war crimes and atrocities during the strife was committed, for which reason, there exists little to suggest that it is an impossibility that some Ukrainian unit may have conducted this strike, whether following orders from Kiev or not.
Therefore, it cannot be conclusively asserted that Russia shot the Boeing 777 down without additional supporting evidence of some sort, much less that the Russians did it using outdated military hardware that had been withdrawn from active use and scrapped, replaced with more modern hardware.
Comment: It is worth watching the full press conference of the Joint Investigation Team, because it becomes clear how weak their case is to put the blame on Russia. They make two claims: 1) that a BUK-TELAR unit crossed the border from Kursk into Ukraine, and 2) that the remains of a BUK missile indicate it was Soviet made. The first claim is borrowed largely from Bellingcat and is based on Google maps and social media images, and makes a flimsy argument to show that a BUK-TELAR from Kursk is one and the same with another photographed in Ukraine. Alas, for the second, nothing is said about how or where this missile was recovered. It is also claimed that such missile was made in 1986 - and one wonders why Russia would be using outdated equipment when they have been making huge efforts to modernize their military hardware.
Even if we accepted that a BUK-TELAR crossed into Ukraine and that a Soviet-made BUK missile hit the airplane, this does not show that Russian separatists with the backing of Russia did it! Remember that Ukraine has the same equipment, as well as an obvious motive to make Russia look bad.
See also:
Russia thoroughly rejects Dutch and Aussie accusations it's responsible for MH17 downing