Why Would Anyone Shoot Down a Malaysian Airline Plane over Ukraine?

Filed in National by on July 17, 2014

Seriously, I was astonished and sick when I heard that this plane disappeared from radar, then heard it was shot down. The pictures are horrific and while the Ukrainians and the Russians have rushed to say they were not responsible, someone shot down that plane. There’s not much anyone knows at this point, but why would anyone shoot down this plane? Tell me what you think in the comments.

The Malaysia Airlines crash over Ukraine: what we know and don’t know

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Comments (22)

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  1. puck says:

    This is the Lusitania all over again. I hear the plane was too high for a shoulder-fired missile. So either it was a screw-up by some loose cannon among the Russian separatists, or somebody is trying to start a world war.

  2. As was pointed out elsewhere, why the bleep would a commercial plane fly over a war zone? I think the flight was something from Amsterdam to Indonesia. They had to fly over the Ukraine?

  3. cassandra_m says:

    That plane would have been flying at about 5 miles altitude right at the eastern edge of Ukraine (on a pretty much direct route to Kuala Lampur) in airspace that had not been closed. Maybe this incident points out how hard it is to define a war zone now. And the fact that very destructive weapons can be in the hands of anyone, just anywhere.

  4. AQC says:

    I have no understanding of this, but, the whole thing makes me sick.

  5. puck says:

    The main thing now is to find out how Obama was to blame. And – Benghazi. Paging John McCain…

  6. Delaware Libertarian says:

    Since multiple Ukrainian military aircraft were shot down in the area at that time, maybe the separatists thought it was another Ukrainian military aircraft. After all, these are a motley bunch of soldiers who have fought in every dirty war in Eastern Europe and Asia (Balkans, Chechnya, etc.) who now have access to a bunch of shiny new toys that they are not used to handling.

  7. puck says:

    And McCaIn answers the call:

    Republican Senator John McCain said the United States should know what happened “within hours” and should respond “within minutes,” by moving to arm Ukrainian government forces if it turns out the separatists were to blame.

    “We’ll have to give arms to the Ukrainians, which we’ve refused to do so far, shamefully. This will obviously affect our relations with Russia dramatically.

    Within minutes. No pause for reflection.

  8. Maybe whoever shot it down had been to school and had to take common core. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

  9. rustydils says:

    To compare the 12 minute speech given by the best president in history, Ronald Reagan, after the Russians shot down the Korean 747 in 1983, to the 40 second (before he went back to fund raising) speech given by the worst president in History, Barack Obama, after the Russians shot down the mayalsian airliner go to
    http://www.freedomslighthouse.net

  10. SussexAnon says:

    Nice try.

    KAL shot down Sept. 1, 1983, speech given, Sept. 5, 1983.

    Reagan had 4 days to come up with a speech.

  11. SussexAnon says:

    …..and Reagan is reading from a teleprompter…..and we all know what that means in conservative dogma, right?

  12. puck says:

    The best president in history will be the one who pulls the economy out of the tailspin Reagan and his acolytes put it in. Bill Clinton is on the short list, and Obama has a shot at it, but maybe it will be another Clinton.

  13. citydem says:

    The downng of the Malay airline- reflects the increasingly sophisticated weaponry being brought over the border from Russia. It is also true however that the Russian seperatists seized a BUK battery from a arms depot in Eastern Ukriane- as posted on their web- site GRAD missile units- more advanced Russian tanks, Kamkaz trucks have all made their appearance suddenly in the hands of these seperatists. These are no longer disgruntled “citizenry” in the Donbass/Lugansk areas of Ukraine- the increasing percentage of Russian fighters indicates Putin has done nothing to close his border with Ukraine (despite his public utterances) along with the weaponry. Putin believes European weakness, lack of US leadership on sectoral sanctions gives him a opportunity to continue this war- with little immediate consequence- we will see middle and long term consequences with her neighbors—- for Ukraine – Putin has become the most hated man in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Army bloodied and underfunded has become battle hardened, and the debate on the nuclear rearming of Ukraine will occur…..

  14. citydem says:

    The downng of the Malay airline- reflects the increasingly sophisticated weaponry being brought over the border from Russia. It is also true however that the Russian seperatists seized a BUK battery from a arms depot in Eastern Ukriane- as posted on their web- site GRAD missile units- more advanced Russian tanks, Kamkaz trucks have all made their appearance suddenly in the hands of these seperatists. These are no longer disgruntled “citizenry” in the Donbass/Lugansk areas of Ukraine- the increasing percentage of Russian fighters indicates Putin has done nothing to close his border with Ukraine (despite his public utterances) along with the weaponry. Putin believes European weakness, lack of US leadership on sectoral sanctions gives him a opportunity to continue this war- with little immediate consequence- we will see middle and long term consequences with her neighbors—- for Ukraine – Putin has become the most hated man in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Army bloodied and underfunded has become battle hardened, and the debate on the nuclear rearming of Ukraine will occur…..

  15. cassandra_m says:

    Josh Marshall this AM:

    Were it not for the hundreds killed, it would also be comical the ridiculous series of events Vladimir Putin’s reckless behavior led up to this morning. For months Putin has been playing with fire, making trouble and having it work mainly to his advantage. Certainly in the context of Russian history and nationalist aspiration reclaiming the Crimea is a vast accomplishment. But the whole thing blew up in his face today in a way, and with repercussions I don’t think – even with all wall to wall coverage – we can quite grasp.

    This is the thing, really. Putin has been playing this thing badly from the beginning and now there’s a civilian plane from a country that has nothing to do with this down and no one quite knows what’s next.

  16. Dorian Gray says:

    So just to recap yesterday… The Israelis began a ground offensive against the Gaza maximum security facility to try to quell a prison riot. Then some fucking Russian dipshits shoot down a passenger plane by mistake. Human beings are fucking maniacs.

    We’re lucky to be born affluent people in the USA because this is some seriously twisted shit.

  17. Dorian Gray says:

    …oh and let’s not forget the caliphate in Iraq and the Levant.

  18. Geezer says:

    And now we have learned that about 100 of those who died were on their way to a global AIDS conference in Australia. That’s some heavy collateral damage.

  19. citydem says:

    El – the international route for the Europe/ SW Asia corridor was always through Ukraine – note no “the” included – that went out of use awhile back— but I am struck that – while the crisis in Crimea was going on — our folks banned American flights over the Black Sea and Crimea areas principally over fear of a incident like this- the White House had expressed over the past two weeks their fear of Putin upping the stakes with more and sophisticated weaponry entering into Ukraine from Russia into the hands of increasingly “Russian” seperatists w/o the requiste Command and Control oversight- “culpable deniability” – in Eastern Ukraine – and why had the IATA? not discussed and had a international air corridor around this area?

  20. Delaware Dem says:

    To respond to our favorite delusional conservative Rusty, regarding Reagan and KAL 007…. you do realize that ALL Reagan did in response to the Soviet downing of that jetliner was give a speech, right? Isn’t that also your critique of Obama? LOLz.

  21. Dana says:

    Mr Geezer wrote:

    And now we have learned that about 100 of those who died were on their way to a global AIDS conference in Australia. That’s some heavy collateral damage.

    And their deaths are somehow more important than those of the other 198 passengers?

  22. Dana says:

    Best guess: the plane was misidentified, and the rebels didn’t realize that they were shooting at a civilian airliner. Nothing else makes sense, but wars like this seldom make sense.

    However, don’t think that Vladimir Putin is exactly broken up about this. Misidentified or not, this sends the message that sending in air power by NATO to defend Ukraine just might mean that some NATO jets don’t make it back home. And if it was the rebels, rather than a Russian-controlled battery, it also sends the message, “John Kerry, don’t come to Kiev.”