I am not the least bit surprised. I think many westerners will be. As will many libertarians who’ve been told by Justin Raimondo, Scott Horton, Lew Rockwell, Daniel McAdams and others that these are noble freedom fighters.
http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-banks-act-mh17-credit-card-looting-reports-155839417.html
Wrote this to a friend of mine a few days ago:
The short-view answer is that the revolution which overthrew Ukraine’s corrupt, brutal gov’t is a threat to the corrupt, brutal gov’t in Moscow, and they needed to flex their muscles and make things hard for Ukraine as punishment, for fear that another revolution would spring up in Moscow.
The long view is that “Russia” is a fake identity with a fake history. Under both Peter I and Catherine the “Great” they rewrote history to create a single identity for all the people they conquered. They claim Ukraine as the wellspring of their culture, but Moscow as the political capital. Basically, without Ukraine, the whole “Russian” idea plunges into an identity crisis.
A unit of heavily armed rebels blocked the 30-strong team from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), cordoning off a large part of the crash site. The inspectors retreated after an hour-long standoff, having been unable to gain access. They were sent on their way by warning shots fired by the rebel unit commander.
“We will keep coming back tomorrow and the next day and the next day,” said OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw. “Tomorrow will be a crunch day. There are a lot of experts from the Netherlands and Malaysia gathering in Kiev as well as relatives. The bodies are starting to bloat and decay. An expert team is clearly needed. There is a lot to be done in a short amount of time.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/18/mh17-crash-pro-russia-rebels-block-access-ukraine
“Putin is a little bit smarter than that,” Paul told John Bachman on “America’s Forum” on Newsmax TV on Friday. “I don’t think he would ever come close to participating in an act like this.”
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Ron-Paul-Putin-Malaysian-flight-Russia/2014/07/18/id/583590/
There are reports that the wreckage site is being looted and cash withdrawals are being made from victims credit cards.
You see, BUK rockets aren’t cheap.
ith each passing hour it looks increasingly likely that pro-Putin militants are responsible for shooting down the Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine. (President Obama said today that the missle that destroyed the plane came from “territory controlled by the Russian separatists.”) This really shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The pro-Russian fighters have already shown that they’re utterly ruthless in their efforts to subvert the Ukrainian state.
The pro-Russian fighters have already shown that they’re utterly ruthless in their efforts to subvert the Ukrainian state.
A recently released report by Amnesty International charges the rebels with “savage beatings and other torture meted out against activists, protesters and journalists in eastern Ukraine over the last three months.” Ukrainian officials accuse the separatists of using local civilians as “human shields” and of shelling apartment buildings. Pro-Russian militants have also firebombed vehicles as well as blown up bridges, mines, and refineries.
Such tactics are not random excesses. To the contrary, they are entirely premeditated — as one can see from a handbook for insurgents recently published by one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, as the leading separatist group in eastern Ukraine refers to itself. Pavel Gubarev, the self-styled “governor” of Donetsk and the leader of the Novorossiya (New Russia) movement, recently posted the manual, entitled “Methodological Guide for Struggle Against the Junta,” on his personal website. (The “junta” is the separatists’ name for the Ukrainian government in Kiev.) There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the document.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/07/18/strike_him_with_an_axe
Conclusion of Malaysia’s investigation: http://online.wsj.com/articles/malaysia-says-intelligence-reports-on-flight-17-crash-pretty-conclusive-1409983490 (ie. pretty sure the Russian Mercs / Separatists did it)
Retweeted East of Brussels (@EastOfBrussels):
BREAKING: #Russia terrorists arresting reporters coming to occupied #Donetsk morgue where stolen bodies of #MH17 are http://t.co/4WmV307DXf
Rebels discuss hiding evidence, controlling access to MH17 site:
Russian Cossack mercenary Nikolay Kozitsyn confirms that it is him speaking in intercepted rebel comms. See from 6:44
People stealing parts of MA17. People are stealing parts of the Malasian “Boeing” #MH17 via @BeeBooque http://t.co/hNvgVo9hrB
Int observers/jornos arrived to #MH17 crash site say that this man from RU propaganda TV has full access unlike them. http://t.co/DfWC435VZl
While int-l experts are blocked from access to #MH17 crash site, RU are disassembling wreckage to sell as scrap metal http://t.co/523NTlZAAT
Russians/Rebels covering up crash:
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/490244410819760128/photo/1
Michael Bociurkiw #OSCE expert update call from #MH17 crash site. Access severely restricted, movements controlled.
Audio: We have just shot down a plane.
Another collection of photos and videos showing rebels had a BUK:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2696847/They-shouldnt-f-g-flying-There-war-going-Ukraine-intelligence-officials-release-phone-calls-claim-PROVES-Russia-shot-Flight-MH17.html
Russian voice (woman?) “We Shot Down the Junta plane. He was beautifully Shot Down”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3h9EQ0YxgU
Buk likely operated by Russian specialists:
https://twitter.com/MiddleEast_BRK/status/490467064495489024
“Laaneots said the same system was used to shoot down a AN-26 a few days ago, adding that the system can not be used by amateurs and a team must have been dispatched from Russia to operate the Buk missile battery.”
He use to be high ranking officer in Soviet Army and knows well how Russian army works. In a longer Estonian version he says that if Russian officers are ordered to shoot down a plane, they will do it, no questions asked.
http://news.err.ee/v/politics/9c70fe38-9bdc-455e-8952-c41269c4c7c7
Video of #MH17 going down with engine exploding and people cheering
http://ukraineatwar.blogspot.nl/2014/07/video-of-mh17-going-down-with-people.html
Videos of the Buk AA System in Rebel territory:
Photos of the Buk in Toreza and elsewhere:
http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article;jsessionid=4DFC156B5300370202FDBEDB76BABA75.app1?art_id=129099&cat_id=39574
4 days ago a Russian paper ran a story about Russian fighters acquiring BUK AA system that likely shot down #MH17 jet http://t.co/bZNK2D4XiH
Terrorists in #Ukraine moved & attempted to hide anti-air installation BUK behind supermarket. http://t.co/3xRcuxbcgY, http://t.co/UZZd9ttjDX
RFERL Fact Sheet. Who had the missiles. Tweets claiming credit for shooting down a Ukrainian plane.
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-russia-malaysian-flight-fact-box/25461842.html
One Pro-Russian fighter account of Buk prior to MA17:
https://twitter.com/SantaFantik/status/488845800655839232
Another Russia Today reporter resigns. This time in protest at MH17 coverage.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/18/mh17-russia-today-reporter-resigns-sara-firth-kremlin-malaysia
http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/18/were-lying-rt-reporter-resigns-over-mala?n_play=53c99d00e4b0ce58f3211bad
June 29, 2014: ITAR TASS Reports: Separatists gained control of the Buk Anti-Aircraft Missle System.
July 17, 2014: ITAR TASS Reports: Separatists never had the Buk Anti-Aircraft Missile System.
Many Airlines used the same flight path:
As fingers point at Malaysia Airlines for allowing flight MH17 to fly over a war zone, a German weekly news magazine has revealed that Singapore Airlines jets flew over the same eastern Ukraine area 75 times in the past week.
In contrast, MAS planes only flew over rebel-held Donetsk 48 times within the same period, Spiegel Online reported, citing flight tracking website flightradar24.com.
It said Russian airline Aeroflot flew over the area 86 times in the past seven days, Ukraine International Airlines 62 times, and Germany’s largest airline, Lufthansa, 56 times.
“Overflights were recorded here in the past seven days in a radius of nearly 240km to the Ukrainian industrial city.
“In the ranking of the airlines, MAS is at fifth place with 48 overflights… the data shows that the region of Donetsk experienced brisk air traffic,” said Spiegel Online.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/sia-used-same-mh17-flight-path-75-times-065907006.html
Flight Aware flight tracker shows many flights over that area prior to #MH17 downing: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/MAS17/history/20140709/1000Z/EHAM/WMKK
Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 never deviated from its flight plan route
https://wheretospotatairports.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/malaysian-airlines-flight-mh17-never-deviated-from-its-flight-plan-route/
This is how the story about #M17 developed:
1.On morning of June 17, pro-Russian terrorists boast that they have captured ground-to-air missile system “Buk” and show the pictures.
2. Terrorists shot down a plane and say that this is Ukrainian military transport aircraft AN-26.
3. All YouTube and pro-Russian FB and Twitter communities celebrate this fact and distribute video of the burning plane.
4. Ten minutes later, there are reports that the downed aircraft is the passenger airliner Boing which belongs to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 with 295 people on board.
5. All pro-Russian communities start to cut out news about captured ground-to-air missile system “Buk” and news about Ukrainian AN-26 crash, and delete uploaded videos.Here is news from Russian propaganda channel “Lifenews” (which was on location almost immediately after the downing) about Ukrainian AN-26 – but with photos of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (!!!) – http://lifenews.ru/news/136801
This article posted minutes after the crash claiming that “The rebels reported shooting down AN-26 plane in eastern Ukraine”, supported by the video from the scene of Boeing 777 crash.In case this article is deleted, this is webcache of it: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Atc3TPU2icpEJ%3Alifenews.ru%2Fnews%2F136801+&cd=1&hl=uk&ct=clnk&gl=nl” — via Oksana Forostyna
Deleted DPR tweet about possessing BUK.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NF6E5FCKFNEJ:https://twitter.com/dnrpress/status/483248037629018112
The intercepted discussions BW Rebels / Russians:
The argument that this video is fake based on the meta-data date of the video is nonsense. Most videos show a different meta-data date: pax-americana.livejournal.com/660.html
Another intercepted conversation:
It seems like one of the Separatist leaders, Girkin — a Russian GRU (military intelligence / subversion) officer with experience in Chechnya, momentarily claimed credit for shooting down a Ukrainian plane before realizing it was a passenger plane.
Note: some people are saying this VK page is not managed by Girkin, but by some Russian group who supports him.
Russian television reports rebels shot down Ukrainian military plane, then the same anchor woman claims the incident was the Ukrainian military shooting down MH17. Cynical lies.
German Intelligence concludes separatists shot down MH17: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-intelligence-blames-pro-russian-separatists-for-mh17-downing-a-997972.html
Russian television airs photos of wreckage showing explosion damage, not gun damage, contradicting their propaganda.
#MH17 captain and crew were unaware of any problems with the flight – then contact broke off suddenly
https://twitter.com/EasternEnsemble/status/509304890112212993/photo/1
Images Show the Buk that Downed Flight MH17, Inside Russia, Controlled by Russian Troops
“New evidence has been found that shows the Buk missile system that was used to shoot down MH17 on the 17th of July came from Russia, and was most likely operated by Russian soldiers. Using videos posted by locals in Russia’s Belgorod region back in June it has been possible to identify the Buk missile launcher seen in Ukraine on July 17th as part of a convoy of Buk missile launchers. It has also been possible to identify the Russian brigade the Buk is likely to have belonged to, and who may have operated the Buk missile launcher when it was in Ukraine.”
Malaysian investination pretty conclusive separatists shot down MH17
The fake Russian satellite imagery of MH17.
The Dutch determined EXACT same MH17 BUK launch location as I had determined earlier. Screenshots from newscast pic.twitter.com/rql746yJD7
— Ukraine@war (@DajeyPetros) December 22, 2014
This is the other wide angle photo of the #MH17 BUK missile smoke trail, including enhanced/darker version. pic.twitter.com/vtQn7sgTQd
— Ukraine@war (@DajeyPetros) December 22, 2014
Latest and very exhaustive German investigation: https://mh17.correctiv.org/english/
(IF YOU ONE FOLLOW ONE LINK, FOLLOW THIS ONE!!! ^^ WORTH READING!)
Elsewhere, the tweets of “Carlos”, who claimed to be an air traffic controller in Ukraine, were adding more details to the incident. In May, Russia Today had previously reported on Carlos, who had been commentating on the Ukraine crisis for a number of months, and claimed in his interview with Russia Today to have received death threats because of his work. In a series of tweets made on July 17th from his now deleted Twitter account, Carlos made a number of claims, including
The attack was the Ukrainian government trying to make it look like an attack by pro-Russian rebels.
Air traffic control in Kiev, where he claimed to work, was being taken over by the Ukrainian miliary, with phones and other equipment being confiscated from staff.
That MH17 was being escorted by two Ukrainian jet fighters minutes before MH17 was shot down.
That it was shot down by a missile, with the military present with Carlos confirming it was Ukrainian.. . . .
But as people began to look into the identity of Carlos some major questions were raised about his identity. The Spain Report contacted the Spanish embassy in Ukraine, asking about Carlos, and received the following reply:
This is not the first time we have been asked about him. This “Carlos” was also active during the Maidán revolution in Ukraine.
We have no knowledge of “Carlos” having been in Ukraine.
Russia’s propaganda isn’t even internally consistent. Not all of their theories can be true.
One of Russia’s many claims was that a Ukrainian SU-25 shot down MH17 — this is technically impossible for several reasons. Its ceiling is too low and its maximum speed is slower that cruising Boeing 777.
News Corp Australia report that over 20 minutes of unreleased footage exists of Russian-backed militants ransacking luggage in the immediate aftermath. One senior figure from the Donetsk militants has already been identified on the recording, claims News Corp.
The Dutch team have had access to satellite images, radar information and the plane’s flight data recorder, but were blocked from entering the crash site by the militants in the days following the disaster.
March 5, 2015: #Netherlands national prosecutor’s office: #MH17 took down by RU missile system very likely to be controlled by RU crew
Dutch investigators believe the Russian soldiers who shot down MH17 may have been killed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2982337/Russian-secret-services-liquidated-troops-shot-MH17-planting-bugs-smartphones-laptops-investigators.html
MH17 fragment reveals Russian letter
Russian officer recognized on tape in Dutch MH17 investigation
One of the individuals who may have been involved in the downing of flight MH17 according to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM), was recognized by Ukraine as a former high ranking Russian intelligence officer.
It is the first indication that the Dutch Prosecution Service is considering the involvement of high ranking Russian (former) servicemen.
On Monday, the Public Prosecution Service published four tapped telephone conversations from the period surrounding the crash. The service did not reveal the callers’ identities, but explained that the conversations featured “separatists”. On Monday, chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke spoke of “authentic recordings” that “were analyzed through and through”.
60 Minutes Investigation: MH17 was downed by Russian BUK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8UCD59Q0x0
Bellingcat: MH17 – Forensic Analysis of Satellite Images Released by the Russian Ministry of Defence
The Bellingcat investigation has found the following –
– Satellite images presented by the Russian Ministry of Defence claiming to shown Ukrainian Buks linked to the downing of MH17 on July 14th and 17th are in fact older images from June 2014.
– The discrepancies visible in the Russian MoD satellite map imagery which shows they are incorrectly dated are visible in publicly available imagery on Google Earth.
– Error level analysis of the images also reveal the images have been edited.
– This includes a Buk missile launcher that was removed to make it appear the Buk missile launcher was active on July 17th, and imagery where Buk missile launchers were added to make it appear they were within attack range of Flight MH17.
With this new report all four major claims made at the Russian Ministry of Defence press conference have now been shown to be false:
– The flight path was not altered in the way claimed by the Russian Ministry of Defence. Data from the Dutch Safety Board’s preliminary report and other sources show Flight MH17 made no major course changes such as the one described in the Russian Ministry of Defence press conference.
– The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed the video of the Buk missile launcher presented by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior was filmed in the Ukrainian government control town of Krasnoarmeisk. This has been proven to be untrue, with analysis of the video showing it was filmed in the separatists controlled city of Luhansk.
– Radar imagery was described as showing an aircraft close to Flight MH17 after it was shot down. Experts interviewed by various media organisations have stated this is almost certainly debris from Flight MH17 as it broke up over Eastern Ukraine.
– Satellite imagery shows Ukrainian Buk activity around July 17th. As this report shows, those claims are untrue, and were based on fabricated satellite imagery.
Also from Bellingcat: Forensic Analysis of Satellite Images Released by the Russian Ministry of Defence
Great account & summary from The Daily Beast on anniversary of disaster:
More revealing, the Russian media, including ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, and Vzglyad.ru, cited this forum and other sources that claimed the separatists had shot down a Ukrainian cargo plane—until, of course, it was learned that the crashed plane was a civilian airliner.
But Vzglyad.ru added another important detail:
“Ukrainian military claim that the losses were caused by actions by Russia. The militia refuted this information, correcting that they had shot down the plane from a ZRK ‘9K37M1’ (better known as a Buk).” . . .
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, tried to excuse the fact that the separatists claimed responsibility for the attack thus:
“People from the east (of Ukraine) said that they had shot down a military plane. If they believed that they had shot down a military plane, it was confusion. If it was confusion, then it was not an act of terrorism.” In other words, a high-ranking Russian diplomat was trying to account for why separatists shot down MH17—a disclosure that, as we shall see, was ignored and then vehemently rejected by Churkin’s superiors. . . .
News Corp also says that their investigation has unearthed evidence that the locals on the ground were being instructed to say that a Ukrainian jet shot down the civilian airliner.
The video is disturbing. Russian-backed fighters rummage through the luggage of the recently deceased in search for the aircraft’s black boxes and other identifiable paperwork and USB sticks. The commander continues to repeat that “they [the Ukrainians] brought down the passenger plane [with a fighter jet] and we brought down the fighter.” The problem—there is no fighter. This commander’s troops have just shot down a civilian aircraft, a fact that begins to dawn on them over the course of the 17-minute video.
The commander can be heard off camera saying: “They say the Sukhoi [fighter] brought down the civilian plane and ours brought down the fighter…But where is the Sukhoi? There it is…it’s the passenger plane.”
GREAT READ / OVERVIEW:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/17/how-we-know-russia-shot-down-mh17.html
Dutch investigators have found shards of a BUK missile in the wreckage:
Kremlin tabloid releases badly impersonated CIA agents discussing MH 17.
Pro-Russian separatist leaders in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk have blocked access to Dutch law enforcement officials pursuing an investigation into the downing of a Malaysian jetliner nearly a year ago, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Office said on Saturday.
The obstruction by separatist officials prompted the investigators, from the Dutch National Police and Ministry of Defense, to cut short their field work in Ukraine without conducting research into cellphone towers and cellular networks in the region, the public prosecution office said.
The passenger jet, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, was shot down on July 17 as it flew over the war zone in eastern Ukraine during a journey from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch citizens.
Here it is, though it’s been completely obvious from the beginning to anyone paying close attention. The Russians CLAIMED CREDIT for shooting down the aircraft, and then quickly changed their story after discovering it was a civilian plane. They’ve offered at least a half dozen contradictory explanations and theories.
Russian MH-17 propaganda:
One of the more prominent of their many contradictory stories and explanations was that a Ukrainian fighter shot down MH17.
LNR/DNR mark MH17 anniversary with slogan, “they killed you, and they’re killing us.”
Here are all the places where Russia tried to manipulate the outcome of the MH17 investigation
A consolidate, and partial list of Russia’s lies about MH-17:
According to Russian GRU Officer Igor Girkin, MH-17 was loaded with corpses and crashed to discredit the Russian side of the war.
A seemingly invented persona, a visiting air traffic controller named “Carlos,” claimed Air traffic controllers in Kiev, intentionally redirected MH-17 over a dangerous area.
A Russian Ministry of Defence press conference also claimed MH-17 deviated suddenly from it’s path. (Pubically available flight-path data shows MH-17’s route was widely used, and no deviation occurred.)
“Carlos,” who does not seem to ever have existed, also tweeted that MH-17 was attacked by the Ukrainian government trying to make it look like an attack by pro-Russian rebels, and that MH-17 was being escorted by two Ukrainian jet fighters minutes before MH-17 was shot down.
The Kremlin released satellite imagines “proving” MH-17 was shot down by a Ukrainian SU-25. The images even captured the air-to-air missile mid-flight!
CBC’s interview with Michael Bociurkiw of the notoriously Russian-influence OSCE claimed the damage “almost looks like machine gun fire, very very strong machine gun fire” sparking speculation that this damage was caused by a GSh-30-2 30mm cannon, one of the SU-25’s armaments.
Most recently, after numerous investigations concluded that MH-17 was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missle, Russian media returned to claiming it was brought down by a Ukrainian BUK.
Later, Russian media outlets invented witnesses who heard a Ukrainian fighter pilot confess to shooting down a “wrong plane.”
Story about how Ukrainians though Putin was on board.
💯 @bellingcat: #MH17 was downed by "Buk",number 332,
Russian 53 Artillery Brigade from Kurskhttps://t.co/Gs6ZuAHK8d pic.twitter.com/hJmb85FpBv— Viktoria (@Ukropo4kA) May 3, 2016
Local LNRovtsy recognized that team frantically luganchan kill and destroy the city received from the Russian FSB
For the evening was not the first time I get Old Luhansk that drunken LC-vtsy local, which at a certain stage of intoxication instead of “whites” visit “Bloody Boys” and slain by them for the last week of peaceful luganchane openly admit aloud that team luganchan furiously kill and destroy the city received from the Russian FSB.
Who would doubt …
За вечер уже не в первый раз получаю инфу из Луганска, что пьяные лнр-вцы из местных, которых на определенной стадии алкогольного опьянения вместо “белки” посещают “кровавые мальчики” и убиенные ими за последнюю неделю мирные луганчане, открыто вслух признаются, что команду остервенело убивать луганчан и разрушать город получили из ФСБ РФ.
А кто бы сомневался…
UPDATE: @RutheniaRus 22m
#Lugansk: Terrorists firing at civilians, 20 dead, 101 wounded in 24 hours. Do not allow take dead, wait Russian TV.
A video surfaced on the Internet, showing the movement of “Buk” air missile systems between the towns of Torez and Snizhne, located in the Donetsk Oblast. The equipment is accompanied by a passenger vehicle.
Source: http://tsn.ua/politika/z-yavilos-video-yak-teroristi-pereganyayut-buk-do-snizhnogo-359599.html
“It was an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations”
“There are many good people in our country, people who love others. Forgive us for all the others. #MH17
Another one. “Sorry.”
Ultimately, #Ukraine will help #Russia become a freer country.
It seems like one of the Separatist leaders, Girkin — a Russian GRU (military intelligence / subversion) officer with experience in Chechnya, momentarily claimed credit for shooting down a Ukrainian plane before realizing it was a passenger plane.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=848428975168507&set=a.314896515188425.88344.100000042388077&type=1&theater
It’s definitely true that the plane was shot down. It’s also definitely true that 3-5 Ukrainian military planes were shot down in the same area. It’s also guaranteed that each side is going to accuse the other of shooting down the airliner.
