24/07/14 19:29 Asia Times Online :: It was Putin's missile!

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Asia Times Online :: It was Putin's missile!
THE ROVING EYE
It was Putin's missile!
By Pepe Escobar
And here's the spin war verdict: the current Malaysia Airlines tragedy - the second in
four months - is "terrorism" perpetrated by "pro-Russian separatists", armed by
Russia, and Vladimir Putin is the main culprit. End of story. Anyone who believes
otherwise, shut up.
Why? Because the CIA said so. Because Hillary "We came, we saw, he died" Clinton
said so. Because batshit crazy Samantha "R2P" Power said so - thundering at the UN,
everything duly printed by the neo-con infested Washington Post. [1]
Because Anglo-American corporate media - from CNN to Fox (who tried to buy Time
Warner, which owns CNN) - said so. Because the President of the United States
(POTUS) said so. And mostly because Kiev had vociferously said so in the first place.
Right off the bat they were all lined up - the invariably hysterical reams of "experts" of
the "US intelligence community" literally foaming at their palatial mouths at "evil"
Russia and "evil" Putin; intel "experts" who could not identify a convoy of gleaming
white Toyotas crossing the Iraqi desert to take Mosul. And yet they have already
sentenced they don't need to look any further, instantly solving the MH17 riddle.
It doesn't matter that President Putin has stressed the MH17 tragedy must be
investigated objectively. And "objectively" certainly does not mean that fictional
"international community" notion construed by Washington - the usual congregation
of pliable vassals/patsies.
And what about Carlos?
A simple search at reveals that MH17 was in fact diverted 200 kilometers north from
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the usual flight path taken by Malaysia Airlines in the previous days - and plunged
right in the middle of a war zone. Why? What sort of communication MH17 received
from Kiev air control tower?
Kiev has been mute about it. Yet the answer would be simple, had Kiev released the
Air Traffic Control recording of the tower talking to flight MH17; Malaysia did it after
flight MH370 disappeared forever.
It won't happen; SBU security confiscated it. So much for getting an undoctored
explanation on why MH17 was off its path, and what the pilots saw and said before
the explosion.
The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, has confirmed that a Kiev-controlled Buk
anti-aircraft missile battery was operational near the MH17's crash. Kiev has deployed
several batteries of Buk surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers;
these are all perfectly capable of bringing down jets flying at 33,000 ft.
Radiation from a battery's Kupol radar, deployed as part of a Buk-M1 battery near
Styla (a village some 30km south of Donetsk) was detected by the Russian military.
According to the ministry, the radar could be providing tracking information to
another battery which was at a firing distance from MH17's flight path. The tracking
radar range on the Buk system is a maximum of 50 miles. MH17 was flying at 500
mph. So assuming the "rebels" had an operational Buk and did it, they would have
had not more than five minutes to scan all the skies above, all possible altitudes, and
then lock on. By then they would have known that a cargo plane could not possibly be
flying that high. For evidence supporting the possibility of a false flag, check here.
And then there's the curiouser and curiouser story of Carlos, the Spanish air traffic
controller working at Kiev's tower, who was following MH17 in real time. For some
Carlos is legit - not a cipher; for others, he's never even worked in Ukraine. Anyway
he tweeted like mad. His account - not accidentally - has been shut down, and he has
disappeared; his friends are now desperately looking for him. I managed to read all
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his tweets in Spanish when the account was still online - and now copies and an
English translation are available.
These are some of his crucial tweets:
"The B777 was escorted by 2 Ukrainian fighter jets minutes before disappearing
from radar (5.48 pm)"
"If the Kiev authorities want to admit the truth 2 fighter jets were flying very close a
few minutes before the incident but did not shoot down the airliner (5.54)"
"As soon as the Malaysia Airlines B777 disappeared the Kiev military authority
informed us of the shooting down. How did they know? (6.00)"
"Everything has been recorded on radar. For those that don't believe it, it was taken
down by Kiev; we know that here (in traffic control) and the military air traffic control
know it too (7.14)"
"The Ministry of the Interior did know that there were fighter aircraft in the area,
but the Ministry of Defense didn't. (7.15)"
"The military confirm that it was Ukraine, but it is not known where the order came
from. (7.31)"
Carlos's assessment (a partial compilation of his tweets is collected here
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/spanish-air-controller-kiev-borispol-
airport-ukraine-military-shot-down-boeing-mh17/ ): the missile was fired by the
Ukraine military under orders of the Ministry of Interior - NOT the Ministry of
Defense. Security matters at the Ministry of the Interior happen to be under Andriy
Parubiy, who was closely working alongside US neo-cons and Banderastan neo-nazis
on Maidan.
Assuming Carlos is legit, the assessment makes sense. The Ukrainian military are
divided between Chocolate king President Petro Poroshenko - who would like a d?
tente with Russia essentially to advance his shady business interests - and Saint Yulia
Timoshenko, who's on the record advocating genocide of ethnic Russians in Eastern
Ukraine. US neo-cons and US "military advisers" on the ground are proverbially
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hedging their bets, supporting both the Poroshenko and Timoshenko factions.
So who profits?
The key question remains, of course, cui bono? Only the terminally brain dead believe
shooting a passenger jet benefits the federalists in Eastern Ukraine, not to mention
the Kremlin.
As for Kiev, they'd have the means, the motive and the window of opportunity to pull
it off - especially after Kiev's militias have been effectively routed, and were in retreat,
in the Donbass; and this after Kiev remained dead set on attacking and bombing the
population of Eastern Ukraine even from above. No wonder the federalists had to
defend themselves.
And then there's the suspicious timing. The MH17 tragedy happened two days after
the BRICS announced an antidote to the IMF and the World Bank, bypassing the US
dollar. And just as Israel "cautiously" advances its new invasion/slow motion ethnic
cleansing of Gaza. Malaysia, by the way, is the seat of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes
Commission, which has found Israel guilty of crimes against humanity.
Washington, of course, does profit. What the Empire of Chaos gets in this case is a
ceasefire (so the disorganized, battered Kiev militias may be resupplied); the
branding of Eastern Ukrainians as de facto "terrorists" (as Kiev, Dick Cheney-style,
always wanted); and unlimited mud thrown over Russia and Putin in particular until
Kingdom Come. Not bad for a few minutes' work. As for NATO, that's Christmas in
July.
From now on, it all depends on Russian intelligence. They have been
surveying/tracking everything that happens in Ukraine 24/7. In the next 72 hours,
after poring over a lot of tracking data, using telemetry, radar and satellite tracking,
they will know which type of missile was launched, where from, and even produce
communications from the battery that launched it. And they will have access to
forensic evidence.
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Unlike Washington - who already knows everything, with no evidence whatsoever
(remember 9/11?) - Moscow will take its time to know the basic journalistic facts of
what, where, and who, and engage on proving the truth and/or disproving
Washington's spin.
The historical record shows Washington simply won't release data if it points to a
missile coming from its Kiev vassals. The data may even point to a bomb planted on
MH17, or mechanical failure - although that's unlikely. If this was a terrible mistake
by the Novorossiya rebels, Moscow will have to reluctantly admit it. If Kiev did it, the
revelation will be instantaneous. Anyway we already know the hysterical Western
response, no matter what; Russia is to blame.
Putin is more than correct when he stressed this tragedy would not have happened if
Poroshenko had agreed to extend a cease-fire, as Merkel, Hollande and Putin tried to
convince him in late June. At a minimum, Kiev is already guilty because they are
responsible for safe passage of flights in the airspace they - theoretically - control.
But all that is already forgotten in the fog of war, tragedy and hype. As for
Washington's hysterical claims of credibility, I leave you with just one number: Iran
Air 655.
Notes:
1. Missile Downs Malaysia Airlines Plane Over Ukraine Killing 298, Kiew Blames
Rebels, Washington Post, July 18, 2014.
Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving
into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad
during the surge (Nimble Books, 2007), and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books,
2009).
He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.
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