On Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine & MH17

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With all the focus on the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine and the struggle of pro-Russian separatists, it should be lost on nobody that an imperialist Russia is conducting a war of aggression against its smaller neighbour, Ukraine. Those were Russian troops that occupied Crimea before it was annexed. More recently Russia has become even more aggressive and we have seen reports of Russian armor entering Eastern Ukraine  - of course we are suppose to be stupid about where the "separatists" get their heavy weapons. We also have reports of missiles being fired into Ukraine from Russia and Russian warplanes downing Ukrainian planes. So quite apart of the demands and organization of pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east, we have a Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Now to the case of MH17. We have the Ukrainian telephone intercepts. I believe they are accurate and have gone into detail as to why I think that. I have also debunked the Russian "expert's" claim that they are fake. The story they tell is that the shoot down of MH17 was an accident on the part of the pro-Russian forces. They first thought it was a Ukrainian military plane and then found out otherwise. This is an explanation I can believe, although I would add that such an accident was the inevitable result of Putin's aggressive attempts to impose a no-fly zone over part of the country he is attacking.

The Russian response is that Ukraine did it and it was no accident but the sacrifice of 298 lives by Ukraine in the hopes of winning support for its side, just as, according to Putin and Assad, the Free Syrian Army was willing to use sarin on its own people for the same reason. I have recently been reminded just how common this twisted logic is after reviewing events surrounding the "Mississippi Burning" murder of three civil rights workers in 1964. The KKK city officials suggested the civil rights movement disappeared the three kids themselves in a ploy to get the federal government involved! Those "anti-imperialists" who rallied to Assad's claim that the rebels gassed themselves in hopes of provoking NATO intervention? This is the company they keep.

The Russian story has many parts. One is that the Ukrainian intercepts are fakes, prepared well in advance, another is that MH17 was filled with corpses in the first place, and another is that an Su-25 was tracking (and possibly shot down) MH17. All of this implies some grand conspiracy involving multiple branches of the Ukrainian government with advanced planning and support from the US and possibly also Malaysia Air.

This is why I regard all those that try to argue that technically an Su-25 could shoot down MH17, leaving aside why anyone in the Ukrainian air force would even choose a plane so unequal to the task when they have much better, and all the other aspects of the implausible Russian tale, as first rank Putin apologists.

Now to the question of who shot down MH17, one man, Igor Bezler, claimed "We have just shot down a plane," and the only plane he could be referring to is MH17. So who does Igor Bezler work for? If we can answer that we know who shot down MH17. Bezler claims to be a separatist militia leader of Horivka, but he is also a Russian GRU agent. He was Soviet army airborne in Afghanistan. Until 2002 he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the GRU, a few years ago he retired to eastern Ukraine. He was involved in the annexation of Crimea before turning up in Donestsk. He was talking to another Russian officer when he reported the downed jet. So is Bezler still under the same command he has been under for more than 20 years or is he a renege from it? If he still honors the Russian command, that could explain how he got control of a BUK. It also means Russia shot down MH17 as part of its war of aggression against Ukraine and thus even though it be an accident it was manslaughter committed during the commission of a violent crime, meaning Russia should be charged with 298 counts of murder in the first degree by any laws I would respect.

Additional notes:
STOP FAKES: Top Russian Lies about Ukraine [Part 1] [Part II]

Apparently the tracker and commander units can be separated from the missile launcher units by great distances in the Russian BUK systems. This piece by Eugene Leng puts forward the view that at all times, control of the BUK system that shot down MH17 remained in Russia.

According to Alexander Bunin, this is what the "trigger" end of the BUK looks like.
This is not a MANPADS, whoever pulled this trigger was well trained.