Saturday, August 9, 2014

MH17: Conspiracy, Putin and World War 3

Stuart J. Hooper
21st Century Wire
PLANES
By all accounts, it appears that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was indeed shot down over Eastern Ukraine on July 17th.

With all 295 passengers and crew dead, this is an immense tragedy that has struck at the hearts of people across the world. This event has unfolded in a region that is already dealing with numerous issues, meaning for the very real possibility of extremely negative complications.
Audio presentation of this essay can be found here:

MH17 Conspiracy, Putin and World War 3



Eastern Ukraine has suffered intense fighting over the past few months as pro-Russian forces, primarily located in the East, have declared independent regions, as in Donetsk, while forces from Kiev look to regain control. Earlier in the day of Thursday 17th July, the same day as the attack on MH17, Ukraine’s government in Kiev accused Russia of shooting down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet. The government stated, Military aircraft of the Russian Federation carried out a rocket attack on a Su-25 plane of the armed forces of Ukraine, which was on a mission in Ukraine”. Although, there is still ‘no proof of active engagement’ from Russian forces in Ukraine, meaning that this accusation cannot be proved (NY Times). These messages of animosity towards Russia continued on into the day after the MH17 disaster had occurred, as Kiev immediately laid blame upon the pro-Russian ‘separatist’ forces in the East. These accusations were immediately countered, as the rebel forces stated that they lacked the missile systems needed to shoot down an aircraft at the altitude MH17 was flying at; some 33,000 feet.
Such accusations have not been echoed by any other government at the time of writing, with the U.S and UK in particular offering only condolences and calls for an investigation. This is an exceptionally important detail of the post-crisis developments, because usually after such an incident governments, especially Western governments, will look to present the perpetrator to the public as soon as possible to stem rampant speculation. The fact that this hasn’t happened represents the true severity of what has occurred. This successful attack on a civilian aircraft, in such a volatile region, has the possibility to ignite a fuse of destruction that can only be started in very few areas of the world. This, quite literal, fuse extends to the thousands of nuclear missiles waiting to be launched on the Russian side of the Eastern Ukrainian border. The possibility for the use of tactical nuclear weapons has never been higher.
Putin pointed the finger at Kiev, albeit somewhat lightly, on Thursday evening, stating that if the government had not continued military operations in the East then the disaster would never have happened. Interestingly, it has been reported that Kiev deployed a Buk anti-aircraft missile system to Donetsk on Wednesday 16th July. Accusations that this system was used to shoot down MH17 have been voiced, so perhaps Putin is correct in suggesting that this continuation of the conflict is to blame for the tragedy. To further support the claim that a Buk system shot down MH17, the Russian Defence Ministry issued a statement on 18th July saying that “Russian equipment detected throughout July 17 the activity of a Kupol radar, deployed as part of a Buk-M1 battery near Styla [a village some 30km south of Donetsk]”.  This is in direct contradiction to statements from Kiev, which said that no Buk systems were deployed anywhere in the region. Could Ukrainian forces have accidently shot down MH17, thinking it was some kind of transport aircraft supporting anti-Kiev forces? If this official Russian statement on the Buk deployment is correct, then this could certainly be a very real possibility. But, on the other hand, we must remember that simply having capability does not prove guilt.
However, the idea that this was a case of mistaken identity has an incredibly frightening piece of supporting evidence. Russia Today posted an article, which almost immediately went viral, detailing a statement that suggested Putin’s presidential aircraft was the actual target of this attack. The anonymous source said, “I can say that Putin’s plane and the Malaysian Boeing intersected at the same point and the same echelon. That was close to Warsaw on 330-m echelon at the height of 10,100 meters. The presidential jet was there at 16:21 Moscow time and the Malaysian aircraft – 15:44 Moscow time”. Images of both the presidential IL-96 and Boeing-777 reveal that the two aircraft are astoundingly similar in both physical shape and aesthetic design. A source from the terminal in which Putin’s plane is based has suggested that the IL-96 has avoided Ukrainian airspace for some time, but no official word confirming or denying either of these stories has emerged. If it is confirmed, the world has just been witness to one of the most outrageous assassination attempts of all time.
The centre of the case against the pro-Russian rebels hinged upon the discovery of a tape that had ‘leaked’ online, allegedly detailing a conversation about the destruction of MH17. It has recently come to light that said tape is nothing more than a manufactured fraud. Analysis has revealed that the audio file is compiled of numerous clips spliced together, in an attempt to lay blame upon the rebels in the East. The report, which can be found below, states that the rebels are actually discussing an earlier plane crash and that whoever created this audio file had very little time to perfect it. We cannot allow such a fraud to be used as evidence in the push for a wider war.
Putin has been a thorn in the side of not only Ukraine, but the majority of the Western world, for the entirety of his time in office. Thwarting Western plans has been an almost daily calling for Russia’s president, as Putin prevented the West from attacking Syria, by organising a diplomatic solution to the chemical weapons problem, and halted plans to overthrow Ukraine and bring it under NATO by diplomatically annexing Crimea. Putin’s presidential jet was returning from Fortaleza, Brazil, where he and other leaders of the BRICS nations had agreed to the creation of a $100Billion development bank, which will offer a true counterweight to Western financial dominance that it has been exerting via the World Bank and IMF. This new force from the BRICS might be seen as the tipping point into a new level of hatred for Putin, as Western hegemonic, financial dominance can now finally be challenged. Thus, one need not look far to find a motive for any potential assassination of the Russian president.
The West has gone all-in on supporting Kiev under Poroshenko. The son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, was recently appointed to the board of directors of a major Ukrainian gas company, which happens to have prospects in the contested Eastern regions where MH17 was lost. Such a flagrant display of oligarchical tendencies caused such an outrage that the Whitehouse had to issue a statement suggesting that ‘“the vice-president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company”. This move, into Ukrainian natural resources, shows that the oligarchy, steering Western hegemonic power, is not going to easily back down when it comes to Ukraine. The loss of MH17 only strengthens the West’s position if it attempts to blame pro-Russian rebels in the East. While governments have not, at least yet, entirely agreed with Kiev’s accusations against Russia regarding MH17, the corporate media is doing its best to push that line of thought. The most outrageous, and truly unsubstantiated, headline was brought to us by British tabloid The Sun, which stated: ‘FLIGHT MH17 SHOT OUT OF SKY’, with the following directly below it: ‘PUTIN’S MISSILE’. When you put it all together you will read the slightly disjointed sentence, ‘flight MH17 shot out of sky Putin’s missile’, which cleverly, and legally, covers the tabloid. Had the front page included the word ‘by’, a strong, and undoubtedly winning, legal challenge from the Russian government would be coming The Sun’s way. This disingenuous and illusive front page will have undoubtedly mislead thousands, if not millions, of readers, as it attempted to lay the foundations required, in the minds of the general public, for the full-scale anti-Russian propaganda campaign that we are now bearing witness to in the West.
Unimaginable, is the only way to describe what might be occurring right now if Putin had have been on board that plane. The lack of any strong accusations from the U.S. and UK reflect this horrific, and potentially narrowly avoided, possibility. But what must be stressed is that 295 innocent people lost their lives today in an act of unthinkable barbarity. The world, but not necessarily governments, must send a hard, unified and immediate response that the targeting of civilian aircraft will never be tolerated. But, this incident must also not be allowed to trigger World War Three. Such a statement is not mere hyperbole, as the analysis above has examined, and should serve as a stark warning on the immense severity of this situation. Do not allow the media, politicians, or anyone else, to use this incident to justify actions that will have truly world altering consequences. Also, be sure to ignore disinformation (as some crackpot is already spreading regarding this incident and zombies, yes zombies) and inconsequential ‘information’, because numerology isn’t studied on any political science or international relations course in the world. Make use of social media to remind people that we do not know that it was ‘Putin’s Missile’ and take a stand against the propagandists. While an unthinkable tragedy, the loss of MH17 is not worth World War Three. So let’s not go there.
Stuart J. Hooper
Essential Sources:
ITAR-TASS
Kiev’s evidence of militia’s responsibility for airliner crash faked – experthttp://en.itar-tass.com/russia/741521
Ukraine’s anti-aircraft missile system dispatched to Donetsk Wednesdayhttp://en.itar-tass.com/world/741173
New York Times
Russia Today
BRICS establish $100bn bank and currency pool to cut out Western dominancehttp://rt.com/business/173008-brics-bank-currency-pool/
Reports that Putin flew similar route as MH17, presidential airport says ‘hasn’t overflown Ukraine for long time’http://rt.com/news/173672-malaysia-plane-crash-putin/
Son of US VP Joe Biden appointed to board of major Ukrainian gas companyhttp://rt.com/business/158660-biden-son-ukraine-company/
Ukrainian Buk battery radar was operational when Malaysian plane downed – Moscowhttp://rt.com/news/173784-ukraine-plane-malaysian-russia/
White House: No ethical issues with Veep’s son joining Ukraine gas gianthttp://rt.com/news/158800-us-biden-ukraine-gas/
The Sun
Friday, July 18, 2014Print Edition

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