Wait for all the facts before assigning blame over Ukraine air disaster
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Internet gods appear to be cruel to those who come to them seeking confirmation of their biases. Simple things are misread or misinterpreted. In my last letter I said there were eight years between the downing of an Iranian plane in 1988 and compensation
Checking up a very detailed and properly referenced Wikipedia page on the fate of Korean Airlines flight 007 that was shot down in 1983 reveals that the Soviet pilot, Osipovich, didn’t fire his cannon AT the plane, he fired WARNING shots, and even admitted that they were useless because he didn’t have tracer rounds.
As bad luck would have it, shortly after that and for its own reasons, the Boeing started a climb and lost its speed, which was interpreted by Osipovish as an evasive manoeuvre.
His fast flying Su-15 overshot the Boeing and he had to make a second approach.
This time no warnings were given and he fired two missiles. There was nothing despicable in his behaviour – he was following orders and protocol.
The whole saga had lasted for many hours already and the Boeing was minutes from leaving Soviet airspace for good.
Soviet shenanigans started afterwards when they lied about practically everything, but most of those lies were owned up to by Russia in the ’90s.
Those who want to demonise Russia will do it no matter what.
Even when Abkhazian rebels shoot down a Russian-made plane flying from a Russian city, carrying Russian passengers and piloted by Russian crew, it would still be Russia’s fault.
I’m not trying to defend Russians here – they get what is coming to them – but people who allow their judgment to be clouded by emotions and biases will eventually make mistakes in areas that affect their own well-being, too, karma and all that.
This whole series of letters started with blaming Russians and/or pro-Russian rebels for shooting down the Malaysian MH17 before any facts were known.
Hopefully, we are only days away from a preliminary investigation report that should shed more light on the matter.
KAL 007, by the way, flew for 50 kilometres after being hit. If the MH17 covered the same distance it would put it far out of range of the alleged rebel Buk missile launcher, leaving only Ukrainians with the capability to shoot it down.
What is called “irrelevant aftermath” could be also called “justice”.
Volk Tambovski
Bangkok
