Garry Kasparov: The Price of Inaction in Ukraine (Obama & Europe Chose Not to Stand up to Putin)

Time ^ | July 18, 2014 | Gary Kasparov

[nickcarraway]

Obama and Europe chose not to stand up to Vladimir Putin — now we're seeing the terrible toll.

There are many questions still to be answered about what happened to Malaysian Air flight MH17 over Eastern Ukraine. I will limit myself to what is known to a reasonable doubt based on the evidence and statements that have been provided by numerous officials in the 36 hours since the tragedy. Nearly 300 innocent lives were lost when flight MH17 was shot out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile. The missile was launched from an area in Eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-supplied and Russia-supported para-military separatists that include at least some Russian officers and special forces. Three other planes have been shot down in the region in the last month.

Nearly 300 dead. Horribly, needlessly. We all mourn them and seek to understand how this could happen. Based on the day’s official statements and most news coverage the word “blame” is somehow forbidden and I do not understand why. Establishing responsibility and exacting accountability for these murders is more important than fretting about reaching the right tone of restraint in a press release.

So who is to blame? This is not a simple question even if you know the answer. That is, of course, the person who pushed the button that launched the missile is to blame; that is the easy part. Shall we just arrest him and try him for murder? Responsibility is a greater concept than that. You have the leader who gave the order to push the button. Then the person who provided the missiles to the separatists. Then there are the officials who opened the border to allow military weaponry to cross

[justa-hairyape]

This man was a chess master. This reads as if some high school student wrote it ? Did we try the officers on the USS Vincennes for murder of Iranians ? No, because they thought it was a military plane. Did the Ukrainians who shot down a Russian civilian aircraft accidentally get tried for murder ? The reaction to this Ukranian event is very strange. If these were terrorists dragging the dead civilians bodies through the streets and celebrating, I could see this type of reaction. But that did not occur here. When the shooters discovered it was civilian, they all went silent and scrubbed their social pages.

[Lurker]

So you think we should all just shrug our shoulders and say “sh** happens?” or something? 298 civilians were murdered here, and not by a legitimate military. A bunch of drunken thugs with missiles did it. And those missiles were supplied by another thug who just illegally “annexed” a huge chunk of a sovereign country.

After the Vincennes incident there was a very thorough investigation. Fault was assigned, a public admission of guilt was given, and reparations were paid. You think any of that will happen here? All of this in light of the fact that the Iranian airliner involved was very likely deliberately engaging in a rather provocative act, ie flying directly at a US warship engaged in a mine clearing operation. Iranian mines btw.

There’s a world of difference between the two events.

The criminals who perpetrated this heinous act need to be rounded up and tried in Courts of Law for this, at the very least. I’d prefer they were summarily shot as terrorists but I’ll take what I can get.

[No One Special]

All that stuff is being handed to you on a plate. It should make you suspicious. Who would have the motive to make this incident look like a mistake? I think you follow me. The perps get to create terror and fear for the bear and put him on the front page without taking full responsibility for what they did. And oh the fun that comes after. Putin’s testing the waters. Now that’s chess for you.

[Bobalu]

I am more than a little bit frightened at the thought of Obama trying to stand up to Putin.

Obama would make a mess of it the same way he makes a mess of everything. If our incompetent president is goaded into action against Putin then WW3 might not be far off.

This is the sad mess we have made of things... this is what happens when a nitwit poser is allowed to be in charge.

[justa-hairyape]

Have no idea if they were drunk or thugs. They were probably ethnic Russians. Will give you that. Whether they were Ukrainian nationals or Russian nationals is unknown. The Ukranian Missile that shot down a Russian civilian aircraft was also supplied by Russia. So that is more or less irrelavent. That system is a major export for Russia. It is all over the world.

So now you are defending shooting down an Iranian civilian aircraft ? Can see why you like using terrorists in Libya and Syria.

Yeah we know you are the law. That is evident Judge Dread.

[justa-hairyape]

What makes me suspicious is the crazy insane hatred for Putin. To the point where a group of Obama lovers are trying to get Freepers banned just because they ask questions and have open minds. That tells me more then Putin ever could.

[No One Special]

Help me out here. What is it about him that you find so appealing?

[nickcarraway]

What crazy insane hatred for Putin?

[SoFloFreeper]

Mr Kasparov, NO ONE SHOULD EXPECT ANYTHING RESEMBLING LEADERSHIP from Obama. He is a CIPHER in that regard.

Some of us in the United States TRIED to communicate that truth. Sarah Palin in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012, numerous pundits and grass roots citizens.

Maybe America and the rest of the CIVILIZED world will realize the truth: this nation’s current fecklessness is NOT a reflection of the entirety of our people—there ARE patriots and allies of humanity in this country.

These patriots will, if God permits, gain power back in the next couple of national elections and reinstate the idea of natural rights and true friendship in the international community.

Please, though, help get the message through: never fall for a fraud like the current one again. Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden....and others of their ilk are all of the same timber as Obama. Beware.

[Don Corleone]

No one country will chance doing it alone and Obama has destroyed any hope of political unity between the nations of Europe and the USA. Sweet!