'Hunter Gray' hunterbadbear@hunterbear.org [marxist]
2014-07-18 17:03:17 UTC
----- Original Message -----
From: Jyri Kokkonen
To: Hunter Gray
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 8:09 AM
Subject: Malaysian airlines jet crash/missile strike
Dear Hunter,
As youâve probably noticed â and especially on RT which I also follow â that the blame game has started in earnest over the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
I think itâs safe to assume that it was hit by a surface-to-air missile, and in that part of the world that could have been done only with a Soviet-era (or post-Soviet) so-called BUK missile system supplied to the separatists (Iâm basing this on the initial boast of shooting down a Ukrainian military transport plane by separatist leader Strelkov, which was quickly removed from Vknotakte a Russian version of Facebook, and soon followed by total denial)
Given this, the most plausible explanation so far is one that I found in The Times of London : http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4151200.ece
The separatists probably had a hand-me-down missile launching system for some reason without the scanning radar that identifies the aircraft overhead (or then it was inoperable). They only had so-called radar for locking on to the target â and we know what the results were. There have been some accounts of Ukrainian military aircraft flying among international air traffic, which may be a further factor that provoked it. Add to this the lack of a proper military organization with necessary infrastructure and strict chain of command, and things can happen.
The lack of proper identification obviously created a situation similar to the shooting of an Iranian (?) airliner by the US Navy in the Persian Gulf some years ago. A classic screw-up of terrible proportions. And that was done at the time by one of the worldâs leading military organizations in terms of expertise and hardware.
Even assuming theories of provocation and false blame, no one stands to benefit from something like this in the current situation. A horrendous mistake pure and simple. There is an unkind Finnish expressions for slipshod work and screw-ups as âdoing a Russianâ or âRussianing thingsâ, but I wonât get into that...
As a footnote, we happened to be at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam yesterday at noon arriving from Birmingham, England for a short layover. It seems that the ill-fated Malaysian Arline MH17 was literally taxiing towards take-off when we were getting off the plane on the tarmac and boarding the bus for the terminal. A slightly sobering thought of paths crossing.
Best wishes,
Jyri
P.S. As one of the two cooks in our family, Iâm going to try out the frybread recipe this weekend. It sounds very similar to Indian-style roti bread which I fry in butter or ghee in a cast-iron skillet to go with curry. I might even try the chili.
The trip to England went fine. Contradictory as ever, but thatâs part of the charm. The countryside was beautiful â and the ales were good.
From: Jyri Kokkonen
To: Hunter Gray
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 8:09 AM
Subject: Malaysian airlines jet crash/missile strike
Dear Hunter,
As youâve probably noticed â and especially on RT which I also follow â that the blame game has started in earnest over the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
I think itâs safe to assume that it was hit by a surface-to-air missile, and in that part of the world that could have been done only with a Soviet-era (or post-Soviet) so-called BUK missile system supplied to the separatists (Iâm basing this on the initial boast of shooting down a Ukrainian military transport plane by separatist leader Strelkov, which was quickly removed from Vknotakte a Russian version of Facebook, and soon followed by total denial)
Given this, the most plausible explanation so far is one that I found in The Times of London : http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4151200.ece
The separatists probably had a hand-me-down missile launching system for some reason without the scanning radar that identifies the aircraft overhead (or then it was inoperable). They only had so-called radar for locking on to the target â and we know what the results were. There have been some accounts of Ukrainian military aircraft flying among international air traffic, which may be a further factor that provoked it. Add to this the lack of a proper military organization with necessary infrastructure and strict chain of command, and things can happen.
The lack of proper identification obviously created a situation similar to the shooting of an Iranian (?) airliner by the US Navy in the Persian Gulf some years ago. A classic screw-up of terrible proportions. And that was done at the time by one of the worldâs leading military organizations in terms of expertise and hardware.
Even assuming theories of provocation and false blame, no one stands to benefit from something like this in the current situation. A horrendous mistake pure and simple. There is an unkind Finnish expressions for slipshod work and screw-ups as âdoing a Russianâ or âRussianing thingsâ, but I wonât get into that...
As a footnote, we happened to be at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam yesterday at noon arriving from Birmingham, England for a short layover. It seems that the ill-fated Malaysian Arline MH17 was literally taxiing towards take-off when we were getting off the plane on the tarmac and boarding the bus for the terminal. A slightly sobering thought of paths crossing.
Best wishes,
Jyri
P.S. As one of the two cooks in our family, Iâm going to try out the frybread recipe this weekend. It sounds very similar to Indian-style roti bread which I fry in butter or ghee in a cast-iron skillet to go with curry. I might even try the chili.
The trip to England went fine. Contradictory as ever, but thatâs part of the charm. The countryside was beautiful â and the ales were good.