The Ukrainian no-fly zone was to the south of the Donbas region. Reportedly, MH17 specifically requested permission to fly north of it and were duly approved, after having already over-flown ~700 miles of Ukrainian territory.
BTW, it's "Ukraine", not "the Ukraine". It's a country, not a region of the USSR.
They assumed it was a military plane. All information available points to that.
Absolutely. They assumed. But there is no excuse for assuming unless your life is in imminent danger, which theirs was not.
One would think it was also cover the zone where they had just lost 2 military planes.
Reportedly, MH17 specifically requested permission to fly north of it and were duly approved, after having already over-flown ~700 miles of Ukrainian territory.
Yes. Reportedly. We should have had the actual air traffic controller tapes released by now. Why not ?
Absolutely. They assumed. But there is no excuse for assuming unless your life is in imminent danger, which theirs was not.
You are talking about how the US under Obama fights a war. When the rest of the world fights a war, they always assume they are in danger.
Later.