Time for Russia to hand over the murder weapon
Where is the Buk missile system that almost certainly brought down the Malaysian airliner?
In any murder investigation, the weapon is usually second only to the body in the search for physical evidence.
BLOG WITH ANDREW BOLT
That the Buk has not been produced proves Russia is actually hiding evidence of a crime — one in which it is deeply implicated.
The Buk is so massive it should be the easiest thing for Russian President Vladimir Putin to find. It’s nearly 10 metres long and four metres high. The killers can’t drop it down a drain or toss it in a dumpster.
Moreover, it is an incredibly lethal and expensive weapon that no army would somehow lose.
The Russian army, which almost certainly supplied it to the pro-Russian separatists in whose Donetsk territory MH17 was shot down, would normally have its movements carefully logged.
And the rebel leadership of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic knew exactly where the missile launcher was when it shot down what they thought was a Ukrainian Antonov transport.
Just half an hour later, Ukrainian intelligence taped a man it claims was Igor Bezler, a senior rebel commander, phoning a Russian colonel to report: “We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo.”
Within an hour a post briefly appeared on a Russian website under the name of Strelkov boasting that a Ukrainian plane had been shot down and warning: “Stay away from our skies.”
Strelkov is the nom-de-guerre of Igor Girkin, the DPR commander-in-chief and named by the European Union as a member of Russia’s military intelligence.
Russia’s state-owned ITAR-TASS newsagency likewise reported that “militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) brought down a military transport Antonov-26 (An-26) plane of the Ukrainian Air Force on the outskirts of the town of Torez”.
But then the ghastly mistake was revealed. Soon after, Ukrainian intelligence released a video it claimed showed a Buk — with a missile missing — being hurriedly transported back to Russia.
Russia now insisted the MH17 was destroyed by Ukraine, which actually has no reason to shoot down any planes and had no missile launchers in the rebel-held territory. And be sure: a missile did bring down this plane. Fuselage from near the pilot’s window has massive damage consistent with shrapnel from a missile warhead tearing into the plane, rather than from a bomb exploding outwards,
The murder weapon isn’t all that seems to have vanished. DPR rebels for days refused to let independent investigators examine the crash site. A crane moved wreckage around, while rebel personnel rummaged through the evidence.
While the West spent days begging for the return of their dead, Russia and its rebel clients seem to have conducted a cover-up in plain sight.
It may well succeed. Russia needs only the appearance of doubt — the sliver of uncertainty — to escape the worst of the world’s wrath.
It knows the West is too weak to make it pay. Europe, militarily feeble and economically crippled, depends on Russia for a third of its gas and oil, and the US is led by the weakest president in modern history.
Soon after Barack Obama heard of the disaster he still flew to Delaware to give a stump speech — “It is wonderful to be back in Delaware!” — during which he devoted only 80 seconds to discussing what he said “may be a terrible tragedy”.
He said his “top priority” was to “determine whether there were American citizens on-board”. He did not mention Russia.
Then it was back to joking about his Vice-President: “It is great to be in the state that gave us Joe Biden. (Applause.) We’ve got actually some better-looking Bidens with us here today. (Laughter.)”
Now contrast: only three hours later our own Prime Minister went on Channel 9 not just to offer his sympathies to families of the dead and pledge himself to retrieving the bodies.
Tony Abbott also denounced an “absolutely unspeakable crime” and warned that “if there is any evidence of Russian involvement” it showed “the need for Russia to be told in no uncertain terms that what is happening in the Ukraine is wrong”.
From that moment Abbott, not Obama, has led the West in demanding Putin co-operate and his aggression in Ukraine stop.
But, while Australia may lead, only the US and Europe have the power to really act and both may grab any excuse not to.
That excuse could be the lack of definitive proof of Russian involvement and that’s the proof Russia seems determined to bury.
I ask again: where is the murder weapon?
Where is the Buk missile system that almost certainly brought down the Malaysian airliner?
In any murder investigation, the weapon is usually second only to the body in the search for physical evidence.
BLOG WITH ANDREW BOLT
That the Buk has not been produced proves Russia is actually hiding evidence of a crime — one in which it is deeply implicated.
The Buk is so massive it should be the easiest thing for Russian President Vladimir Putin to find. It’s nearly 10 metres long and four metres high. The killers can’t drop it down a drain or toss it in a dumpster.
Moreover, it is an incredibly lethal and expensive weapon that no army would somehow lose.
The Russian army, which almost certainly supplied it to the pro-Russian separatists in whose Donetsk territory MH17 was shot down, would normally have its movements carefully logged.
And the rebel leadership of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic knew exactly where the missile launcher was when it shot down what they thought was a Ukrainian Antonov transport.
Just half an hour later, Ukrainian intelligence taped a man it claims was Igor Bezler, a senior rebel commander, phoning a Russian colonel to report: “We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo.”
Within an hour a post briefly appeared on a Russian website under the name of Strelkov boasting that a Ukrainian plane had been shot down and warning: “Stay away from our skies.”
Strelkov is the nom-de-guerre of Igor Girkin, the DPR commander-in-chief and named by the European Union as a member of Russia’s military intelligence.
Russia’s state-owned ITAR-TASS newsagency likewise reported that “militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) brought down a military transport Antonov-26 (An-26) plane of the Ukrainian Air Force on the outskirts of the town of Torez”.
But then the ghastly mistake was revealed. Soon after, Ukrainian intelligence released a video it claimed showed a Buk — with a missile missing — being hurriedly transported back to Russia.
Russia now insisted the MH17 was destroyed by Ukraine, which actually has no reason to shoot down any planes and had no missile launchers in the rebel-held territory. And be sure: a missile did bring down this plane. Fuselage from near the pilot’s window has massive damage consistent with shrapnel from a missile warhead tearing into the plane, rather than from a bomb exploding outwards,
The murder weapon isn’t all that seems to have vanished. DPR rebels for days refused to let independent investigators examine the crash site. A crane moved wreckage around, while rebel personnel rummaged through the evidence.
While the West spent days begging for the return of their dead, Russia and its rebel clients seem to have conducted a cover-up in plain sight.
It may well succeed. Russia needs only the appearance of doubt — the sliver of uncertainty — to escape the worst of the world’s wrath.
It knows the West is too weak to make it pay. Europe, militarily feeble and economically crippled, depends on Russia for a third of its gas and oil, and the US is led by the weakest president in modern history.
Soon after Barack Obama heard of the disaster he still flew to Delaware to give a stump speech — “It is wonderful to be back in Delaware!” — during which he devoted only 80 seconds to discussing what he said “may be a terrible tragedy”.
He said his “top priority” was to “determine whether there were American citizens on-board”. He did not mention Russia.
Then it was back to joking about his Vice-President: “It is great to be in the state that gave us Joe Biden. (Applause.) We’ve got actually some better-looking Bidens with us here today. (Laughter.)”
Now contrast: only three hours later our own Prime Minister went on Channel 9 not just to offer his sympathies to families of the dead and pledge himself to retrieving the bodies.
Tony Abbott also denounced an “absolutely unspeakable crime” and warned that “if there is any evidence of Russian involvement” it showed “the need for Russia to be told in no uncertain terms that what is happening in the Ukraine is wrong”.
From that moment Abbott, not Obama, has led the West in demanding Putin co-operate and his aggression in Ukraine stop.
But, while Australia may lead, only the US and Europe have the power to really act and both may grab any excuse not to.
That excuse could be the lack of definitive proof of Russian involvement and that’s the proof Russia seems determined to bury.
I ask again: where is the murder weapon?
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