Wednesday 14 October 2015

Dutch Safety Board comes out with its report

I doubt if we are going to see any more of the truth about MH-17 than we alerady know - certainly from the western side who have political investment in avoiding investigation of the probable attack by a Ukrainian fighter jet as well as as Russian participation in the investigation.

Time to put this aside until something meaningful comes out.

In the meantime, Facebook comments from Alexander Mercouris.

WESTERN MEDIA'S NON-RESPONSE TO MH17 REPORT

Since getting back I have been checking Western media reports following publication of the Dutch Safety Board's report.

My overwhelming impression is one of of a big sense of let-down and anti-climax, with uncertainty on how to report the story.

It was clear to me for several weeks that the media were being primed to expect a report that would pinpoint an area under NAF control as the launch point of the BUK.

That didn't happen because in the end the Dutch Safety Board found it impossible to challenge Almaz Antey's presentation head on.

The result is a media that is baffled and unsure how to report the story, relegating it from the headlines.

I suspect it was because he knew the media would be disappointed that Joustra failed to answer questions after the presentation, though he has tried to repair the damage by telling Dutch journalists later - when Russian journalists were not present - that the missile was launched from NAF controlled territory - though that is not of course what his own report says.

I suspect that by tomorrow the media will have worked out its take, and we should see the usual crop of stern editorials appear. However its uncertainty today tells its own story.

MH17 shot with BUK missile, Ukraine failed to close airspace

RT,

13 October, 2015

The Dutch Safety Board says a BUK missile with a 3N314M warhead was responsible for downing MH17. It also noted that Ukrainian aviation regulators admitted that arms were being in the east of Ukraine which were capable of striking passenger aircraft.

"In the months before the crash, at least 16 military airplanes and helicopters were shot down in the eastern part of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities were aware of this. They stated that, occasionally, weapon systems were used that could reach the cruising altitude of civil airliners. Yet, despite of all this, Ukraine did not close its airspace," said Tjibbe Joustra, the Dutch Safety Board chairman.

The announcement at an airbase in Gilze Rijen in the Netherlands mentioned that civil aviation aircraft should not have been allowed to fly over the east of Ukraine, due to the risk of a plane being struck.

Tjibbe Joustra, the Dutch Safety Board chairman stated that there were more than enough reasons to close the airspace of eastern Ukraine and that Kiev should have taken these steps.

"It is clear that Ukraine already had sufficient reason to close the airspace over the eastern part of Ukraine as a precaution before 17 July 2014. None of the parties involved recognized the risk posed to overflying civil aircraft by the armed conflict in the eastern part of Ukraine," a press release from the Dutch Safety Board stated.

No such precautions were taken and 160 different commercial aircraft were flying along the same corridor from which MH17 was downed.

However, they did agree that it was a 9N314M warhead launched by a BUK surface-to-air missile was responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines plane.

It detonated to the left and above the cockpit and the forward section of the aircraft was penetrated by hundreds of high energy objects, which came from the warhead. This caused the airplane to breakup immediately and wreckage was distributed over an area of 50 sq km.

BUK producer detonates missiles next to pilot’s cockpit in real-life MH17 experiment

Almaz-Antey carried out two experiments simulating explosions near MH17. They determined the missile was an older BUK model 9M38 fired from an area under Ukrainian forces’ control, contesting the preliminary findings of the Dutch-led investigation

Ray McGovern talks to RT on MH17 investigation report

Dutch Investigators 'Sloughed Off' Cooperation With Russia on MH17 Crash.

Russia has expressed its disappointment several times over the fact that the Dutch investigations on the cause of the downing of the MH17 airlines last year over eastern Ukraine have basically sloughed off cooperation with Russian specialists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday

Again, unlike western media RT livestreamed the proceedings of the Dutch full report

Dutch Safety Board MH17 final report (FULL VIDEO).