[Drew68]

I’m not trying to prove Putin is a good guy. He’s not. That doesn’t prove he willfully ordered a hit on a civilian plane as you allege.

I agree. While there's no doubt Putin is at the very least giving moral support to the separatists, it's highly unlikely he ordered this plane shot down, an act of violence that has pretty much turned the entire world against the rebels.

My belief is that this was the work of separatists using a BUK that was seized from a Ukrainian military depot in Donetsk this past June, that they honestly thought they were shooting a cargo plane and most likely were either too poorly trained, stupid, drunk or all three to properly identify their target.

[DTA]

In order to shoot down an airplane at high altitude, BUK (NATO: SA-17 Grizzly) needs acquisition radar called Kupola (dome) as well.

So called terrorists do not have such radar. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Vitaliy Yarema is on record saying the rebels do not have Buk or S 300

However, Ukraine army has Kupola and 21 launchers in the vicinity of crash site, brought in the theatre several days ago, for unknown reason ("terrorists" do not have any fixed wing aircraft.)

So, for the sake of discussion, how SA-17 can shoot down an airplane travelling 600 knots at 33,000ft without radar?

If it can not, the question is - who had the operational radar illuminating the target?