You do know that one of the demands from the Putin backed rebels in all of this that the Ukrainians agree to the independence of Donetsk before the Dutch et al can get all their dead back.
Putin is using the dead as bargaining chips to get what the his rebels can't win on the battlefield.
Putin and his rebels gained in all of this -- they got bargaining chips to fall from the sky at the cost of only one SAM.
“Putin and his rebels gained in all of this — they got bargaining chips to fall from the sky at the cost of only one SAM.”
No he didn’t. He got nothing.
Putin has been on a campaign to convince the world that he is indeed the leader of the free world. That would normally be easy, since all we have is the Queer Muslim in the white house...
Putin didn’t need a bargining chip. He had Obama.