Russians shoot down a civilian airliner...

[Ike Bana]

As far as I'm concerned the Russians and the Russian supported militias in the eastern Ukraine are the bad actors in this situation, and have been right from the beginning. I can't say what either Putin or Donetsk leaders Borodai or Girkin would think they have to gain by shooting down a civilian airliner other than to blame it on the legitimate government of the Ukraine. Doesn't matter what they were thinking, only that they did it.

The eastern Ukraine is nothing more than Putin's Sudetenland. It doesn't matter now many Russians there are living east of Kiev, or how many Ukie's there are living east of Kiev who bought the USSR pie and who's allegiance is to Russia. The Ukraine is a sovereign nation...it doesn't belong to Russia, and Putin's excuse that the citizens of the eastern Ukraine are being discriminated against and suffering from some sort of maltreatment is utter bullshit. This is about natural gas pipelines and the Russian's Black Sea naval base. Sevastapol is a city in the Ukraine, it's not a city in Russia. The Ukrainian government and the majority of ethnic Ukrainians want to join the EU and leave Russia behind. Those are the issues...not some bullshit alleged anti-Russian prejudice.

And now the Russians have murdered 295 people and Putin and the Donetsk leaders are war criminals. Reckon if Obama and the rest of the west will have the balls to make them pay.

[JJIII]

[QUOTE=Ike Bana;231364 Reckon if Obama and the rest of the west will have the balls to make them pay.[/QUOTE]

Somehow, I doubt it.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by JJIII

Somehow, I doubt it.

Somehow, I figured you'd doubt it.

[barbara]

How do we, or any country, "make them pay"?

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by barbara

How do we, or any country, "make them pay"?

With the blood of our young men and women, of course.

Regards,

D-Ray

[barbara]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

With the blood of our young men and women, of course.



Regards,



D-Ray

😟
I'd like to think we were smart enough to do things differently.

[finnbow]

Actually, the sanction Obama announced yesterday were pretty stiff. If and when Russia is shown to be responsible, there will more coming including some actions from Europe.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by barbara

How do we, or any country, "make them pay"?

I'll work on it. Economically for one. Cut 'em off. Russia's a big country. They have enough resources to be miserable surviving all on their own.

One other thing about this...there's no way to hide how this happened. Satellite surveillance will show where the missile was launched. If it was inside Russian soil we know it was them. The equipment necessary to knock a jetliner out of the sky at 30,000 feet is sophisticated and requires highly trained operations teams. It's the Russians. It's not gonna be some militia schmuck in the eastern Ukraine with a shoulder-fired launcher. And if it is the militias...it's a team trained and supplied by the Russians.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Actually, the sanction Obama announced yesterday were pretty stiff. If and when Russia is shown to be responsible, there will more coming including some actions from Europe.

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

I'll work on it. Economically for one. Cut 'em off. Russia's a big country. They have enough resources to be miserable surviving all on their own.

Sounds good to me.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by JJIII

Somehow, I doubt it.

How much did we pay?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai that was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on 3 July 1988. The attack took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from the Vincennes.

All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.[1] This attack ranks tenth among the deadliest disasters in aviation history, the incident retains the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Persian Gulf and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus aircraft anywhere in the world.[2] The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.[3]

According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft, and operators of Vincennes mistook for Mode II.[4]

According to the United States Government, the crew incorrectly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter (a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force).