The Russians aren’t panicking, they’re just waiting for the West to come down from their tantrum. At worst it was an accident caused by a combination of giving the weapons to the wrong people, and then IDIOTS allowing airliners to fly over an ACTIVE WAR ZONE with planes being shot down. Neither the Russians, nor the rebels, had ANYTHING TO GAIN by shooting down a planeload of innocent people, and people are coming to see that.
So, we’re just supposed to ignore the intercepted phonecall from the intel commander to his deputy, right?
Really?
I don’t think anyone is tuoting the line that the Russians or anyone else intentionally shot down a civilian airliner. What is said is that this was a weapon system that never ought to have been entrusted to such irresponsible people.
It is like handing a loaded AK47 to an excited chimpanzee and expecting the chimp to behave responsibly. The Russians should never have entrusted these jokers with anything like the BUK system.
That’s the point, not that the Russians thought it would be a great idea to shoot down an international passenger aircraft.
Exactly so.
“Neither the Russians, nor the rebels, had ANYTHING TO GAIN by shooting down a planeload of innocent people, and people are coming to see that.”
100% correct. I do not believe for a moment Russia or Putin gave orders to shoot that plane down whatsoever. What I DO know is “evidence” I’ve seen is bogus. For one, the supposed photo or the BUK’s vapor trail was taken on a CLEAR DAY. Yet the footage shown around the world (minutes later) of the downed plane burning and it’s smoke rising is a VERY CLOUDY DAY. Hmmmm...???? My guess is Ukraine is trying to make Russia look bad/put it on them purposefully because they got no satisfaction after losing Crimea.
I don't think people are suggesting that they deliberately targeted MH17. It was a colossal screw-up but responsibility for it still lies somewhere. And the overwhelming majority of the evidence points to the sepratists and their Russian masters. I tend to agree with you that Russia can ride this one out but at a cost. And the cost may well be eastern Ukraine. Putin will probably have to end his support for them.
Nice try. All the blame belongs to the Russians and their sock puppets.
THEY fired a missile that killed nearly 300 people. The rest of us have a expectation that Barbarians won’t attack innocent civilians.