Thank you for a refreshing insertion of sanity into a thread that inevitably will act like a flame to the more hysterical moths. Your third point is, indeed, one of the more intriguing mysteries here. And given how these things generally go (early reports are almost invariably false), I wonder how accurate our assumptions are on things like the altitude of the plane, and the capabilities of other AA systems that are strewn throughout Ukraine.
But the fact that a plane was flying over an active civil war/separatist movement is just mind-boggling. Going by the adage to never look for conspiracy where stupidity will suffice, I have to think it was just a monumentally poor decision.
The other motivation I could see is if they thought the passenger jet was Ukrainian, in which case there is some motive there for shooting it out of the sky.
Now, I am still assuming the reports of the BUK usage are correct. If it was some other missile battery, then all bets are off. Could have been anything from spilled coke on the control panel to a 14 year old at the joystick.
Why would any competent leader place or leave incompetents in charge of the use of missiles capable of bringing down commercial jets? How reckless can one get?
It amazes me that there are folks here in this country who actually admire Putin. The guy is an incompetent thug. Following more than a decade of his incompetent leadership, the Russian economy remains a pathetic joke. And, a year from now it will be even more anemic. What a great leader!
All these innocent people are now dead because Putin is a reckless, incompetent jerk. It sickens me to see Americans rising to his defense.