How would Putin benefit from blowing up the plane?
How would Putin benefit from blowing up the plane?
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This question was often presented back in the days of the Soviet Union when a communist fellow traveler would search for an easy way to cut off discussion.
You assume that Putin set out deliberately to destroy a civilian passenger jet. The evidence so far shows, however, that Putin’s Russian agents in Ukraine were supplied with a sophisticated anti-aircraft weapon which they had used in previous days to take down Ukrainian jets and a transport plane. When Putin’s forces in Ukraine destroyed MH17, they proudly announced on social media that they had destroyed a Ukrainian military transport plane. Only later, when they realized that they had murdered nearly 300 civilians, did the story change. First, the plane was full of spies. Then there was a magic Ukrainian jet and a phantom Spanish air controller in Kyiv who was arrested by the Ukrainian police. Then, there was a story that it was really an attempted assassination attempt against Putin returning from the World Cup. And so on.
The point is that Putin is culpable for the murder of the MH17 passengers and crew because he allowed sophisticated weaponry to be supplied to his forces in Ukraine and encouraged those forces to us those weapons. For this reason, Putin is morally responsible for what happened. He is a stone cold killer. Meanwhile, his murderous aggression against Ukraine continues, with a fresh supply of men and armor crossing into Ukraine last night.