Today, the Dutch Safety Board released its final report on MH17. For anyone following the story, its conclusions aren’t a surprise: MH17 was downed by a BUK surface-to-air missile. A parallel criminal investigation will wrap-up within a few months.
Now’s a good time to briefly revisit the exact chronology of the MH17 story.
Pro-Russian separatists: We’ve shot down a Ukrainian An-26!
Russia: Rebels have shot down a Ukrainian An-26!
Everyone else: Actually, it was MH17.
Russia: Ukrainians have shot down MH17! They were trying to fire at Putin’s plane and to assassinate him.
Everyone else: MH17 was likely shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched from rebel-held territory.
Russia: Ukrainian Su-25 shot it down. Just ask air controller Carlos!
Everyone else: MH17 disintegrated after being hit by a large number of high-velocity objects from outside, likely shrapnel that came from a BUK surface-to-air missile launched from rebel-held territory.
Russia: There was no MH17. It was actually the missing MH370, repainted and loaded with corpses.
Everyone else: All available evidence and witness testimony strongly indicate that MH17 was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile brought into Ukraine by members of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk and fired from rebel-held Snizhne.
Russia: There was a bomb placed on board MH17 by CIA agents to frame Russia in a false flag attack.
Everyone else: There is sufficient empirical evidence to corroborate and add further details to the original BUK version.
Russia: Okay, fine, maybe it was a BUK, but then it was a Ukrainian BUK, and it was launched from Ukraine government–held territory by Ukrainian soldiers speaking Ukrainian and singing Ukrainian songs. Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine.
Everyone else: Further investigation confirms the original version and makes it highly unlikely that the BUK launch could have taken place from the territory held by the Ukrainian government. We all vote in favor of a UN resolution that calls for an impartial and fact-based tribunal to prosecute whoever is found to be responsible.
Russia: We already know Ukraine/CIA/aliens are responsible. They should all be punished! Also, we single-handedly veto the UN resolution that calls for an impartial tribunal and prosecution of whoever is found responsible.
Dutch Safety Board: MH17 was definitely downed by a BUK surface-to-air missile, which exploded less than one meter from the cockpit. It was a 9N314M warhead as carried on a 9M38-series missile. We have extensively studied the comments provided by the Russian Federation. Alternate scenarios were thoroughly ruled out.
Russia: Why won’t anybody listen to us?!
To be continued…
You can read a much more thorough take on this in my Listverse article:
10 Outrageous Ways Russian Media Covered The Crash Of MH17
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