Posted by Jack
UPDATED NEWS:
Malaysian Airliner shot down by Russian missile. “There’s a build-up of extraordinary circumstantial evidence,” Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “We picked up the imagery of this launch. We know the trajectory. We know where it came from. We know the timing.”
Putin confronts worldwide scorn just as the U.S. and its allies were trying to push him into a corner over the annexation of Crimea and his support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. The U.S. and Europe tightened sanctions last week, and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told Putin on a call yesterday that the attack was “totally unacceptable,” his office said in a statement.
“Russia risks becoming a pariah state if it does not behave properly,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said yesterday in an interview on Sky News. “We now need to use the sense of outrage that is clear to get a further round of sanctions tightening against Russia.”
More Sanctions: Cameron said earlier yesterday that he agreed with his French and German counterparts that Europe should be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia at a meeting July 22. END
NOTE: It takes about 26 weeks of intense training to be able to operate the Russian made SA11 missile system. It’s also a mechanic’s nightmare and is very prone to breakdown. Experts say the missile system virtually requires a technician to be on hand for repairs at all time in addition to it’s operators tracking aircraft and launching missiles. Experts say there is no way this captured Ukrainian SA11 weapon system could be operated by rebel farmer, that it is almost a certainty that it was operated by Russian soldiers. If you notice in the new footage every time you see these so-called masked rebels they look extremely fit, they carry their weapons in military fashion, they wear Russian uniforms and handle themselves in all ways as you would expect highly trained Russian soldier to behave. Obviously these guys are not the rebels, they’re Russian special forces and they have been keeping the Ukrainian military from coming in and wiping out the small band of true rebels, that and the Russian divisions sitting on the border.
IRAQ: Jul 19th the outskirts of Baghdad was hit by captured long range artillery, followed by attacks overnight in two Iraqi cities killed at least 16 people, officials said Monday as authorities struggle to stop the Sunni militants’ offensive that has left huge areas in northern and western Iraq outside of government control.
In one of the attacks, mortar rounds rained down on Shiite neighborhoods in the town of Mahmoudiya on Sunday night, killing 11 civilians and wounding 31, a police official said. The mixed Shiite-Sunni town is about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
And in Baghdad’s western suburb of Abu Ghraib, a roadside bomb struck an army patrol, killing two soldiers and three volunteers who took up arms following the Sunni militant push across Iraq in recent weeks. Eighth people were wounded in that attack, said the police official.
Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media.
On Friday, the U.S. mission in Iraq said at least 5,576 civilians were killed and another 11,665 wounded in the first six months of this year. Another 1.2 million people have been uprooted from their homes by the violence.
The civilian deaths so far this year mark a sharp increase over the previous year, when just over 7,800 civilians killed, according to the U.N. END
Note: The general sentiment is that Saddam may have been a brutal dictator, but at least he maintain security and firm control over radical Sunnis and Shiites. International experts say the staggering loss of life, internal corruption, government ineptitude and most recently an all out civil war has imposed more misery on the Iraqi people than was ever done under Saddam Hussein. Iraq is now at risk of fracturing into several countries with at the largest portion becoming a rogue state controlled by Muslim terrorists. Iraqi’s blame the US for this tragedy and claim the breakdown in their security began when the US captured Bagdad and had no clue how what to do next.
Two narcissistic cult leaders are in a face off. One an inept boob, the other a master manipulator. Who will prevail, Obama or Putin?
If I were in Ukraine, I would be thinking about what Obama’s policy of abandonment has wrought in Iraq.
Putin better be careful or Obama and Kerry will issue a stern warning.
I don’t claim that my crystal ball works any better than someone else’s, but this airliner shoot down sure dovetails nicely as smoke screen for the invasion on our southern border.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnkSXosZhic
Here’s another question–At the time of the shoot down, was internet available aboard the airliner? If so, what if anything, was transmitted over social media?
Here’s another wrinkle on the situation in Ukraine, something Rush talked about back in March:
I agree with what George Will said on Fox News Sunday 2014/07/20 —
“What we really need is lethal aid for the Ukrainians to win the war that is being waged to dismember their country.”
Full Statement —
GEORGE WILL, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, when the plane was first shot down, the first reaction was that this marked a new threshold in international anarchy, because a non-state actor, meaning the insurgents, the Russian insurgents in the eastern Ukraine, have brought down from perhaps 33,000 feet a commercial aircraft.
But there’s no meaningful sense, Chris, in which these insurgents are non-state actors. They are appendages of the Russian government supplied by them and, for all we know, directed by them. So, in that sense, there’s a gap between the president’s rhetoric and what it is reasonable to infer about this. The president’s reaction is what we need is a cease-fire. What we really need is lethal aid for the Ukrainians to win the war that is being waged to dismember their country.
So, who was the stupid, naive, and inept fool of a candidate?
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/07/159689-flashback-mitt-romney-now-makes-obama-look-dangerously-foolish-46-second-exchange-russia/
The media and UN seem obsessed with an investigation. Why? We know who did it. We know where the missile was fired from and who had control of the region. We know who was the only party that possessed the technical skill to use this weapon system. The plane was shot down by Russia obviously and somebody needs to held accountable. This was about as serious as it gets. Russia stands alone, is all of Europe and America afraid to retaliate in a manner befitting the provocation?
“…is all of Europe and America afraid to retaliate in a manner befitting the provocation?”
Good question although I hear it as more of a retort. This is a pointed question for the US since we talked them into disarming and promised to keep their borders safe…then reneged on missile defense in the region that would have acted both as deterrent and to protect their borders.
The whole world has to believe that America cannot be counted on to act or keep her word. I am thoroughly disgusted…again.