Posted on 08/10/2014 10:58:30 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
Former Congressman Ron Paul said the US knows ‘more than it is telling’ about the Malaysian aircraft that crashed in eastern Ukraine last month, killing 298 people on board and seriously damaging US-Russian relations in the process.
In an effort to inject some balance of opinion, not to mention pure sanity, into the ongoing debate over what happened to Malaysian Flight MH17, Ron Paul is convinced the US government is withholding information on the catastrophe.
"The US government has grown strangely quiet on the accusation that it was Russia or her allies that brought down the Malaysian airliner with a Buk anti-aircraft missile," Paul said on his news website on Thursday.
Ron Paul to Obama: Let’s just leave Ukraine alone!
Paul’s comments are in sharp contrast to the echo chamber of one-sided opinion inside Western mainstream media, which has almost unanimously blamed anti-Kiev militia for bringing down the commercial airline. Incredibly, in many cases Washington had nothing to show as evidence to incriminate Russian rebels aside for references to social media.
“We’ve seen that there were heavy weapons moved from Russia to Ukraine, that they have moved into the hands of separatist leaders,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “And according to social media reports, those weapons include the SA-11 [Buk missile] system.”
In another instance, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters “the Russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful rocket launchers to the separatist forces in Ukraine, and have evidence that Russia is firing artillery from within Russia to attack Ukrainian military positions.” When veteran AP reporter Matthew Lee asked for proof, he was to be disappointed.
“I can’t get into the sources and methods behind it,” Harf responded. “I can’t tell you what the information is based on.” Lee said the allegations made by the State Department on Ukraine have fallen far short of “definitive proof.”
Just days after US intelligence officials admitted they had no conclusive evidence to prove Russia was behind the downing of the airliner, Kiev published satellite images as ‘proof’ it didn’t deploy anti-aircraft batteries around the MH17 crash site. However, these images have altered time-stamps and are from the days after the MH17 tragedy, the Russian Defense Ministry revealed, fully discrediting the Ukrainian claims.
In yet another yet-to-be explained event, Russian military detected a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet approaching the MH17 Boeing on the day of the catastrophe. No acceptable explanation has ever been given by Kiev as to why this fighter aircraft was so close to the doomed passenger jet moments before it was brought down.
“[We] would like to get an explanation as to why the military jet was flying along a civil aviation corridor at almost the same time and at the same level as a passenger plane,” Russian Lieutenant-General Andrey Kartopolov demanded days after the crash.
Paul has slammed the United States, despite its arsenal of surveillance technologies at its disposal, for its failure to provide a single grain of evidence to solve the mystery of the Malaysian airliner.
"It’s hard to believe that the US, with all of its spy satellites available for monitoring everything in Ukraine, that precise proof of who did what and when is not available," the two-time presidential candidate said.
"Too bad we can’t count on our government to just tell us the truth and show us the evidence," Paul added. "I’m convinced that it knows a lot more than it’s telling us."
Questions remain regarding the downed Malaysia Airlines plane. Too bad our gov't won't paint the full picture: http://t.co/oxM2eeCjRA
— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) August 8, 2014
Although no sufficient evidence has been presented to prove that the anti-Kiev militia was responsible for the downing of the international flight, such an inconvenient oversight has not stopped the United States and Europe from slapping economic sanctions and travel bans against Russia.
Moscow hit back, saying it would place a ban on agricultural imports from the United States and the European Union. Russia’s tit-for-tat ban will certainly be felt, as food and agricultural imports from the US amounted to $1.3 billion last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture. In 2013, meanwhile, the EU’s agricultural exports to Russia totaled 11.8 billion euros ($15.8 billion).
After the crash, Ron Paul was one of a few voices calling for calm as US officials were pointing fingers without a shred of evidence to support their claims. Paul has not been afraid to say the painfully obvious things the US media, for any number of reasons, cannot find the courage to articulate.
“They will not report that the crisis in Ukraine started late last year, when EU and US-supported protesters plotted the overthrow of the elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych,” Paul said. “Without US-sponsored ‘regime change,’ it is unlikely that hundreds would have been killed in the unrest that followed. Nor would the Malaysian Airlines crash have happened.”
Paul also found it outrageous that Western media, parroting the government line, has reported that the Malaysian flight must have been downed by “Russian-backed separatists,” because the BUK missile that reportedly brought down the aircraft was Russian made.
“They will not report that the Ukrainian government also uses the exact same Russian-made weapons,” he emphasized.
Question then being, why didn’t they use it earlier? Why did they wait until mid-July? To shoot down a civilian jet, no less.
What is the source of this information?
“Your reading skills leave a lot to be desired.”
No, you just make a lot of statements you can’t back up. To date nobody has come out with definitive evidence about who did this. I’m sorry you are convinced so easily. I require something more substantial. Too many wars have been started using propaganda.
There's no evidence that an SU-25 was close to MH17. And, in any case, an SU-25 is not capable of shooting down an airliner flying at 33,000 feet. It was designed to provide close air support to Soviet ground forces. Its service ceiling is 23,000 feet.
You have that backwards -- You made a statement that I can't back-up.
Go read it again.
This? Nalyvaichenko's a liar. The Ukes suck, too!
What's shocking is how bad these ant-aircraft systems are at identifying targets. That goes for Aegis, too.
Do you have a link to any evidence, or just conjecture?
To date the facts are that it was a Russian manufactured launcher in eastern Ukraine. All involved parties possess and are trained to use such launchers. All involved parties are putting out conflicting stories. It is an active war zone and propaganda is to be expected. The missile was fired it by unknown person(s). No definitive proof exists to say otherwise. NATO has not made a statement saying that evidence exists to show who did it.
What would you expect them to say, we did it?
Just wait a few days — the Malaysians are going to release their preliminary report on what is known thus far from the facts on the ground and those little Orange Boxes and other viable sources.
Not true...within three days the Russian Defense Ministry released radar imagery that they said indicated a Ukraine military aircraft was in proximity to the Malaysian airliner before it went down. To date this information has not been refuted, and the Ukrainians in particular have not released any information other than denials.
And, in any case, an SU-25 is not capable of shooting down an airliner flying at 33,000 feet.
Wrong again. While an SU-25 cannot sustain such an altitude for long periods, it certainly has the ability to ascend to 33,000ft for a short while...long enough to fire a missile... if it chose to. I don't think this is what happened, but it is certainly within the capability of the SU-25 to do so.
Да, дорогой товарищ! Это партийной линии.
Cockamamie Russia Today drivel!
It was not in anybody's interest to be shooting down a foreign civilian airliner. Not the Ukrainians', the Russians', nor the rebels'.
What actually happened, of course, is that the rebels shot it down by accident, thinking they were attacking a Ukrainian military transport. Immediately upon bringing it down, they rushed to the crash site, hoping to round up any crew who had bailed out (as they had after the previous Monday's shootdown). That's when they discovered their horrible error. When their commander learned the truth about 40 minutes after the attack, he immediately scrambled to take down his Facebook boast of bagging another of Kiev's AN-26s.
Wrong again. While an SU-25 cannot sustain such an altitude for long periods, it certainly has the ability to ascend to 33,000ft for a short while...long enough to fire a missile... if it chose to. I don't think this is what happened, but it is certainly within the capability of the SU-25 to do so.
Perhaps, but it would be a lousy choice for such a mission.
The Ukes have got other toys that would be far more suitable. E.g., the S-200, which has a range of 190 miles. However, they might have been a little out of practice, it being almost 13 years.
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