As a previous flight planner and navigation guy it was regular to give aircraft direct routings particularly during quieter periods.
In the sky there are airways, air corridors, that as you say are somewhat zig-zag, furthermore there are weekend airways that offer more direct routings, it's in all our interests and common sense to cut down flying times whilst saving fuel in the process so there is nothing significant that Ukraine ATC offered MH17 to take a direct track cutting a corner from their planned routing, they'd probably offered the same to many airliners that day, that week.
I think that this is a case that whilst the authorities are respecting the dead and trying to preserve the crash site for evidence gathering, before they well and truly point the finger at those responsible, the media have got bugger all else to talk about.
Have you heard about the Air Algerie (Swiftair) MD83 crash of yesterday, it's been reported as a DC9, MD83, A320 crash with media pics of Air Algerie B737-200 and A330 whilst a self proclaimed aviation expert focused on it being an A320.
Yes the MD83 is actually a DC9-83 but has nothing to do with A320, A330 or B737-200's!
For months now, ordinary citizens in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk have been tormented by crime and disorder under the self-proclaimed "governments" of the separatists, led in many cases by RUSSIAN citizens. Looting and pilfering, street crime, extortion, have become their daily lot. The separatist leaders run filthy dungeons in which they imprison citizens arbitrarily, without legal protections. The "crimes" of the imprisoned include legitimate journalism, and publicly questioning who the separatists are and what they are doing.
Now, the world has seen the grotesque spectacle of these depraved criminals pawing over the bodies of their innocent victims at the MH17 crash site, handling and in many cases stealing their personal effects, tampering with evidence to conceal their own responsibility for the crime, and preventing qualified professionals -- and the countrymen of the dead -- from reaching the crash scene for days.
Magnifying the horror of the disrespect shown to the remains of the dead, is that many of the dead (perhaps 50 or more) were likely Muslim; it would be deeply important to their families for their remains to be handled with great care and reverence according to religious ritual, and buried within one day.
A report from inside separatist ranks even claims that they discussed bringing corpses from other parts of the war zone, and parts from other crashed aircraft to the MH17 site in the hope of confusing international investigators.
What the separatists have done at the crash site might perhaps have been expected of the Bedouin of generations past, or the most lawless and poverty-stricken regions of sub-Saharan Africa. But these crimes were not committed by the wretched heathens of the world, who have known only dirt floors and never been exposed to moral teaching.
These men are natives of the continent of Europe, who proudly proclaim their heritage of Christian civilization. But in conduct and character, they are no better than filthy savages. Behold, world, these are the separatists! These are the supposed "protectors" and "liberators".
A source within the Ukrainian defense department claims that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was accidentally shot down by Ukrainian troops during a military exercise in near Donetsk which took place on July 17.
“On July 17 the commanding officer of 156th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was instructed to conduct a training exercise of ground troops stationed near Donetsk, which involved deploying the troops, and carrying out a routine tracking and destroying of targets with the Buk-M1 missile,” the source told RIA Novosti.
Although actual use of the rockets was not intended, they were accidentally fired off when two Sukhoi Su-25 combat aircraft flew parallel with but at a different altitude than the Boeing 777, claims the source. When the three aircraft merged and became a single dot on the missile ‘s radar system, the Buk-M1 automatically chose the larger target, leading to the demise of MH17.
It is worth noting that RIA Novosti is Russian state media, although the veracity of the story is no less credible than YouTube videos uploaded by the Ukrainian government, which have been relied upon by both Kiev and Washington as the main source of evidence for the contention that separatist rebels were responsible for downing the airliner.
In addition, the information correlates with what former AP and Newsweek investigative journalist Robert Parry was told by his intelligence source, which was that the U.S. is in possession of satellite imagery which shows men wearing Ukrainian army uniforms firing the missile system that brought down MH17.
Given that Parry won awards for his work exposing the Iran Contra scandal, one would imagine that he has built up some credible and influential sources over the past few decades.
Kiev has failed to release transcripts from air traffic control communications which were seized by Ukrainian security services immediately after the incident, although pilots on board an Air India Dreamliner which was flying just 90 seconds behind Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 say they heard Ukrainian air traffic control give the order for the doomed plane to change route minutes before MH17 was shot down by a missile.
Russia has presented radar evidence which it claims shows Ukrainian fighter jets in the vicinity of MH17 shortly before it was shot down.
infowars.com is such a notorious fount of conspiracy theories that even extremist wingnuts warn about fact-checking it.
Look at a map of the territory under the control of heavily armed separatists on 17 July -- this information isn't hard to find.
Were there ANY troops of ANY kind of the Ukrainian government "stationed near Donetsk"? Seriously?
If there HAD been Ukrainian forces "stationed" in the middle of this combat zone, would they have taken time to "conduct a training exercise"? Seriously?
A training exercise with a long-range anti-aircraft system, during combat against separatists who have no airplanes? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?
It is sad, how many intelligent (but obviously credulous) people read garbage websites like infowars.com and globalresearch.ca .
________________________
For anybody who gives a sh*t, here is my policy. When looking at information sources, I make note of:
1. What is their track record of truthfulness (that is, correspondence to reality)?
2. How often to they publish corrections or retractions of their articles or reports?
3. To what extent is their content observational (this is what happened there) vs. polemical (more proof that all evil is caused by left-handed people!)?
If a source fails to demonstrate its commitment to truth, then I don't waste my time on it. A minority of the time, these garbage websites will contain truth, if only by mistake. But I can get a more comprehensive and dependable picture of what's really happening, without picking through a stinking landfill of lies and fantasies.
quote: "Questions have abounded as to why flight MH17 pilots were re-routed to overfly eastern Ukraine when most other major airlines have avoided the airspace for months. Data shows that MH17′s previous ten flight paths before the shoot down avoided eastern Ukraine entirely."
such a bullshit statement. just looking at history from flight aware shows how false this statement is. on the day of the shoot down no less than 6 commercial aircraft had passed through that very same airspace in the hours before MH17. Only US based airlines had been restricted prior to this event.
zero hedge is full of shit. its a russian propaganda source. The evidence that the Russian terrorists shot down the plane is overwhelming.
I personally like using the keyword search site:edu [keyword] when doing research since it can sometimes bypass information overload, and might as well make the process structured.
Using a heuristic approach is better for reading news nowadays since most journalists are liberals according to research.
(These men are natives of the continent of Europe, who proudly proclaim their heritage of Christian civilization. But in conduct and character, they are no better than filthy savages. Behold, world, these are the separatists! These are the supposed "protectors" and "liberators".)
I agree with you Durak,
How can these regions possibly be allowed to continue functioning as “independent” when the eyes of the world have witnessed the lawlessness, drunks with firearms, the terrorist act that brought down MH17, the robbing of the bodies etc. etc. etc?
All our countries introduce policies that we might not like, might disagree with, but we don't take up arms, we don't go driving around in surface to air missile launchers in the vicinity of our local airport and if we did we'd expect to be imprisoned for a very long time.
The difference in Ukraine is “Putin”, he had his man in the Ukraine presidency, we know what the Ukrainians are like because we saw it in the “Orange Revolution” those years ago, we know that the majority of Ukrainians want for “westernism” so when Putin's man made the wrong call it was predictable that there would be another revolution.
With the ousting of Putin's man from the presidency that when he went in and illegally invaded Ukraine with no declaration of war being made. His military were all over Crimea with their identifying insignias removed from their uniforms and as sure as eggs are eggs his military are all over the Donetsk and Lugansk regions assisting these armed thugs including assisting them in the bringing down of MH17 and the murder of 298 innocent victims.
Ukraine needs to be internationally assisted in the retaking of these occupied regions, including Crimea, sanctions against Putin and Russia need to be maximised until the Russian people get the message and do whatever they deem necessary to remove Putin from office.
I agree all ukranians are shit . Rebals are ukranian the stupid fks put bodies in garbagebags.
The women are sly snakes . Shit country shit people shit government hope they all rot in thete own stench . No doubt they ukranians shot down a passenger jet looted there belongings .
I have a good story about ukraine refugees but fk wasting time on there crap . They should all be put in a room and forced to watch dr phil
When Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans spoke to his European Union peers of his grief and anger over the downing of a Malaysia Airlines airliner over eastern Ukraine, it was a turning point in Europe's approach to Russia.
Several ministers had tears in their eyes when Timmermans said he had known personally some of the 194 Dutch passengers among the 298 people who died on the plane.
"To my dying day I will not understand that it took so much time for the rescue workers to be allowed to do their difficult job, and that human remains should be used in a political game," Timmermans told the U.N. Security Council hours earlier, before flying overnight to Brussels for the crucial EU session.
Until that meeting on Tuesday, Europe had trailed the United States in imposing economic sanctions to pressure Moscow into working to defuse the eight-month crisis in Ukraine in which hundreds of people have been killed.
Many governments were reluctant to antagonize a major energy supplier. Concern over the cost to Europe's convalescent economy of fraying the vast network of industrial and business links with Russia also weighed heavily.
But like a supportive family, EU partners rallied around the bereaved Dutch, putting national economic interests aside and for the first time going beyond asset freezes and visa bans on individuals to envisage curbs on entire sectors of the Russian economy that could turn the screw on President Vladimir Putin.
"In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said the new EU sanctions showed that the 28-member bloc was taking "a complete turn away from joint work with Russia on international and regional security, including the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, organised crime and other challenges"."
That's "rich" coming from a government that has just aided an act of terrorism!
They claim the crash site is unsafe for investigators but an australian couple whos daughter died cab just walk in and search for there daughters body .
Now this is just bullshit and shows how piss weak western forces are .
Australian army as peace keepers should have been sent the following day and surrounded the area . Ukrai hope ukraine just rotts . Everyone rebals included . Russia isnt giving arms . Possible russian criminals but not putin . There is no proof what so ever that putin is giving orders for this . .probably will never know the truth ..you would think atleast the ukraine government would stop the fight for weeks or months until the downed aircraft site was finnished with investigations . Shows how shit they are guiltyas guilty . Russia get sanctions against it from utube and social media .... Thats clever
The rebals are ukranians people that will throw bodies in garbagebags . I think if on russian soil it wouldnt be the same .ukraine a shit cuntry shit people
Well it seems that that the government of Ukraine is aligned with the west and Ukraine is a protectorate since giving up it's nukes. With the firing on Ukrainian forces from across the Russian border, a measured response is a tactical air strike to the cross roads of Rostov on don ......
The freedom fighter separatists in Chechnya also need support from the world community.
The downing of Malaysia Airlines jet MH17 in eastern Ukraine may constitute a "war crime", the UN human rights chief Navi Pillay says.
Ukraine and Western governments believe pro-Russian rebels shot down MH17, using a missile system supplied by Russia. All 298 people on board - most of them Dutch - died.
The US government has been desperate to produce information to back up its claims, but it would not release important information in such an unprofessional way if it was true, the head of the Institute for Political Economy Paul Craig Roberts told RT.
On July 27 the US State Department released satellite images via email “proving” that Russia was firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border. The images were posted on Twitter by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. The four-page document, titled 'Evidence of Russian Shelling into Ukraine,' contains four satellite images, all dating between July 21 and July 25/26. The slides were prepared by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and have a short description.
RT: To a non-expert there doesn't seem to be much going on in these pictures. Just some military installations and some arrows. Do they actually prove anything?
Paul Craig Roberts: No. Moreover, I can say as a former high government official and a former editor at the Wall Street Journal, I can state with complete confidence that information this important would not be released in this way. I also see that it was released at 08.45 am on a Sunday morning, this is a completely dead time in news, and many American cities are not even up yet. [In] San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle it is still the early hours in the morning. If it was released by the State Department, which I doubt, it is so unprofessional; it would mean the State Department is trying to spread propaganda about Russia on social media. The way this type of information would be released, if it was real, would be at a press conference with high-level government officials addressing the bureau chiefs of the major news organizations and it would be held in Washington and there would be experts explaining the meaning of the photographs and attesting their validity.
RT: These images come from a newsletter, distributed by the State Department. Yet there's been no official announcement. Why do you think that is?
PR: I’m not even sure the State Department sent this email because it’s an unprofessional way to release information, so it makes me believe that the information is fake. The US government has been desperate to produce information to back up its claims, [but] it would not release information in this way. Social media has no credibility; anybody can spread propaganda on social media.
RT: The State Department's Twitter feed actually says “follow Geoffrey Pyatt, who is the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, for new images of evidence of Russia firing into Ukraine.” But is it really the role of a diplomat to be getting involved in accusations like this?
PR: No. I think what the real issue here is not the photographs, it is the fact that someone is conducting propaganda against Russia misrepresenting the truth, and is content to spread propaganda via social media. This is the least credible way of presenting important information. So I don’t think this information has any credibility, it’s not believable.
RT: Those images have a copyright sign, which says Digital Globe on it. Why isn't the US government providing data from its own military intelligence, rather than pictures from a commercial company?
PR: This may be a hoax; we don’t know that this is real. We can’t assume the State Department issued this. It makes no sense to me.
Otherwise, the State Department [might] be trying to put out this information that they know they cannot get away with in front of journalists. You see, no respected journalist would take this because they would want to ask questions.
RT: And the release comes at the time when the world's still waiting for the US to reveal its data on the Malaysian plane crash. So what's happened to that evidence?
PR: Obviously, the data does not support Washington’s position. If it did, it would be instantly released. In other words, they do not release information that disproves their propaganda. This is a propaganda war that Washington is conducting; they are trying to convince the world that Russia is an aggressive and dangerous place that the Western world has to militarily unite against the Russian threat. And this is propaganda which is part of their activity.
The US government is not going to accept anything that Russia says and it is going to continue to make charges for which it presents no evidence. And this is not evidence.
The pictures show powder burns to the ground for one thing. If you were standing directly in front when they fired the volley you would not only look like a cartoon character shot in the face, but think it was an attempt at a first strike against Russian ordinance dumb ass
In the words of the foreman of a trial 19 years ago when presented evidence of a crime. "What does the DNA evidence prove? "O.J. gots blood eva'body gots blood" He must gone to Australian public schools too.
Your Reply:
Russian brides > Main Forum > Malaysian Airlines MH17 Shot Down over Ukraine Donetsk Region by Pro Russia Putin Supporters. 295 Dead