Posted on 07/22/2014 4:41:54 AM PDT by right-wing agnostic
The one emotion most of us who study Russia never associate with the men of the Kremlin is panic. They’re not the type. They’re more like mobsters, prone to say “we have a problem” rather than to freak out. They think everything has a solution, although sometimes that solution might mean someone has to take nine grams of lead behind the ear. They do not raise their voices—my experience is that most Russian tough-guys are mumblers, not yellers—and they get things done, even if the final outcome might lack a certain, say, elegance.
That’s why it’s unusual to see the government of Vladimir Putin, and maybe even Putin himself, panicking over the downing of Malaysian Airline Flight 17. For the first time in a long time, maybe even since Putin’s first election to power, the Russian regime has a problem it cannot solve, one that will cost the Kremlin in both money and reputation.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
In 1988 the USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser, entered Iranian territorial waters and spotted an aircraft that it thought was an Iranian F-14 fighter plane. However, it was actually a civilian Iran Air Airbus A300, flying over Iran’s territorial waters on its regular route from Tehran to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Vincennes fired a surface-to-air missile that destroyed the plane, killing all 290 onboard. Under a 1996 agreement at the International Court of Justice, the U.S. agreed to pay Iran $61.8 million.
Have Russia pay a fine of $61.8 million. Problem solved.
They all think like Stalin:
“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of many is a statistic.”
“Have Russia pay a fine of $61.8 million. Problem solved.”
With http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ that would be $94 today
Vlad: First, send the black box to Lois Lerner. Announce you heard about it by reading it in the papers.
Next, announce a full-scale investigation, and now that it’s under way, you cannot comment. Go on a two week vacation.
The Russians aren’t panicking, they’re just waiting for the West to come down from their tantrum. At worst it was an accident caused by a combination of giving the weapons to the wrong people, and then IDIOTS allowing airliners to fly over an ACTIVE WAR ZONE with planes being shot down. Neither the Russians, nor the rebels, had ANYTHING TO GAIN by shooting down a planeload of innocent people, and people are coming to see that.
wrong
on so many levels
have you been reading your history on Huffington Post?
So, we’re just supposed to ignore the intercepted phonecall from the intel commander to his deputy, right?
Really?
I don’t think anyone is tuoting the line that the Russians or anyone else intentionally shot down a civilian airliner. What is said is that this was a weapon system that never ought to have been entrusted to such irresponsible people.
It is like handing a loaded AK47 to an excited chimpanzee and expecting the chimp to behave responsibly. The Russians should never have entrusted these jokers with anything like the BUK system.
That’s the point, not that the Russians thought it would be a great idea to shoot down an international passenger aircraft.
Exactly so.
Sometimes even mobsters have panic attacks.
see: Tony Soprano
“What is said is that this was a weapon system that never ought to have been entrusted to such irresponsible people.”
Like giving ANY weapons to those ISIS savages in Syria that are butchering hundreds of people each month thanks to the United States?
We have no moral authority to condemn Russia for anything.
“Neither the Russians, nor the rebels, had ANYTHING TO GAIN by shooting down a planeload of innocent people, and people are coming to see that.”
100% correct. I do not believe for a moment Russia or Putin gave orders to shoot that plane down whatsoever. What I DO know is “evidence” I’ve seen is bogus. For one, the supposed photo or the BUK’s vapor trail was taken on a CLEAR DAY. Yet the footage shown around the world (minutes later) of the downed plane burning and it’s smoke rising is a VERY CLOUDY DAY. Hmmmm...???? My guess is Ukraine is trying to make Russia look bad/put it on them purposefully because they got no satisfaction after losing Crimea.
Why Starbucks is panicking over caramel lattes.
Why ranchers are panicking over red cedar.
Why brewers are panicking over yeast.
Man, anyone can write headlines like this.
The Kremlin ‘Specialist for Creating New Independent States’ Moves to Eastern Ukraine
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 11 Issue: 132
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=42650
“So, we’re just supposed to ignore the intercepted phonecall from the intel commander to his deputy, right?”
If they are bragging about shooting down an innocent civilian plane, then no. However, I don’t think that was the case.
“What is said is that this was a weapon system that never ought to have been entrusted to such irresponsible people.”
I’m not sure that giving the Taliban, ISIS, or Libyan rebels Manpads is such a hot idea either, as they only have to get them into Jamaica Bay and they can be shooting down planes landing and taking off at JFK.
We’re not exactly squeaky-clean ourselves - we’re just fortunate that nothing has happened (yet).
I don't think people are suggesting that they deliberately targeted MH17. It was a colossal screw-up but responsibility for it still lies somewhere. And the overwhelming majority of the evidence points to the sepratists and their Russian masters. I tend to agree with you that Russia can ride this one out but at a cost. And the cost may well be eastern Ukraine. Putin will probably have to end his support for them.
You guys are watching too much Fox News. No matter how horrible you think Putin is...he loves to be loved. His priorities seem to be that he is always trying to gain more and more popularity. It’s seems like a fetish of some sort. Yes he would most definitely put bullet in your head behing closed doors,,,,but no way in hell would he EVER order a civilian plane to be shot out the sky knowing it might damage his precious popularity rating.
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