The Tragedy of Flight MH17: Who Benefits?

Screen-Shot-2014-07-17-at-4.57.25-PMCui bono? Who benefits? Who stood to gain? That is the first question everyone should ask with any potential crime (although of course it’s not the only one). Yet, that is the question that is being generally ignored regarding the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Instead, the western media leaps to “whodunnit?” only to immediately answer their own question with, “Well obviously either Russia, the separatists, or both.”

The reason for this is obvious. If they were to even consider the “qui bono?” question, they would have to admit that there is virtually no way that either Russia or the Donetsk separatists could possibly have expected to benefit from downing an airline full of internationals. There was no strategic value in it, and they couldn’t have expected it to be blamed in western media on anyone else or to do anything other than galvanize world opinion against them. Therefore, if either did do it (which is highly unlikely, given that the Russians were not directly fighting in the area, and the separatists were most likely not prepared to reach a flight at that altitude, given the limitations of their equipment and experience), it was almost surely by mistake.

This does not eliminate any culpability and liability they might carry, but it does make ridiculous their characterization by some as mustache-twirling super-villains, on the part of the Russians, or crazed international terrorists, on the part of the separatists, out to murder any citizen of the free world who wanders into their grasp. It should also knock the legs out from any attempt to use this tragedy as a justification for the U.S. to increase intervention, for the E.U. to increase sanctions, or for world opinion to deny the separatists’ right to self-determination.

If the Ukrainian government downed the plane (which they were fully equipped to do), it might have been by mistake on their part as well, but not necessarily. That is because they, in contrast, could very well have expected to gain by downing the plane, for precisely the opposite reason: namely, that it was very likely that the western media, already sympathetic with them anyway, would pin the blame on their enemies, as of course they actually did.

The situation is similar to the gas attack that was almost used as casus belli by the U.S. for bombing Syria to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. Especially after Obama declared that the use of chemical weapons would be a “red line”, the international fighters trying to overthrow Assad had everything to benefit by attacking locals with such weapons, since it could easily be pinned on the Syrian government, and Assad had nothing. Ignoring this obvious fact, the political class used the incident to (unsuccessfully, thankfully) try to convince the western public to support airstrikes on Syria. And the most likely interest-analysis assessment of the situation turned out to be the correct one, as subsequent conclusive evidence showed that Syrian government forces could not have been behind the sarin attack, and it very likely may have been Syrian rebels provided with chemical weapons by Turkey.

And yet, Russia and the separatists had even less to gain from an atrocity than the Syrian government, since Assad could have at least conceivably gained extremely short-sighted strategic benefits from gassing his enemies, whereas the former could gain absolutely nothing from killing tourists.

Speaking of cui bono, not even the biggest sell-outs in the establishment media stand to gain from the nuclear holocaust they are risking by whipping up anti-Russian hysteria in the west and tension between two nuclear powers. So they should seriously consider going off-script for once, ask the most basic questions, and be honest about the most obvious truths for a change.

39 thoughts on “The Tragedy of Flight MH17: Who Benefits?”

  1. Who gains? The Ukrainian faction does, of course- as well as the Israelis, who curiously enough launched their ground invasion of Gaza the same day as the shoot-down. I wonder if somewhere down the line we'll find a connection of the two events. One gets political sympathy (at the expense of their opponents, of course), while the other gains a huge media blackout. And who pays for all of this? A planeload of innocent civilians.

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  2. It is interesting that this is the second Malaysian airliner that has been in the news this year. My question is why was a commercial airplane flying over Ukrainian airspace? Is it standard aviation practice to fly over a war zone? It could be a false flag attack by the Ukrainian government, or it could be that the Russian separatist did it by mistake (or if the audio translations are valid because they are morons). I don't know myself. It is a tragedy but there is no reason to start World War III or IV over it. I'm no expert but if Ukrainian military planes are being shot down then shouldn't they be able to shoot down a commercial airliner? http://www.vox.com/2014/7/18/5914139/ukrainian-re…

    The truth never got in the way of false accusations before except when the US military told Obama not to attack Syria according to Ray McGovern and Seymour Hersh. Hopefully no one has a taste for nuclear war with Russia.

    1. Ukrainian government aircraft were shot down from low altitudes by rebels using short ranged rockets. The Malysian airliner must have been shot down by a more sophisticated, long range weapon. The chances are it was he Ukrainian government anti aircraft system that was operating that day and by accident or design did the deed. They shot down a Russian airliner by mistake in 2001 iirc. The onlynother credible theory is that the rebels had captured a missile system and its targeting radar and happened to have among them personnel able to operate both and mistook the airliner for a Ukrainian transport (which, given its flightpath, seems unlikely). The more likely culprits are the Ukrainians but we shall see.

      1. Thanks for the explanation. There is talk that the Ukrainians were aiming at Putin's plane. That is crazy if true. They would have started World War III/IV on the anniversary of World War I.

    2. If you recall the Libya war of a couple of years ago, you'll remember that the Allies lost no planes. That's because they stayed above 25,000 feet, and Ghadaffi didn't have any of these missiles. Only a very few countries in the world have this kind of capability. The Iranians have been trying to get hold of these for twenty years. The Israelis wiped out a truck convoy a few months ago that they said was in the process of delivering some to Hezbollah, which for Israel was one of those "red lines" that justify bombing.

      Until this week, planes flying at that altitude were considered immune from ground fire. Oops.

  3. My thoughts exactly. The US has been involved in Ukraine for yrs. For us, the Cold War never stopped. We have continued to act in the same old belligerent, aggressive manner. Somewhere, somehow, I figure the US has a finger in this somewhere.

  4. “… it was almost surely by mistake.”

    Yes, most likely a mis-identification, or rather non-identification ‘error’, and in that sense it could be called a “mistake”.

    I will say here that I do not accept any claim by anyone that this was done deliberately to make one side or the other look bad (i.e. a false-flag). I feel strongly that all such claims should be entirely ignored from the outset, unless until compelling and verified evidence to that effect is presented. And I also would accept that, if it were proven to be so – which so far it isn’t.

    Therefore, the thing that matters in this case is who detected and then went on to ‘identify’ their raw contact data as a verified ‘bogie’ and valid combatant target?

    How did they know?

    What if anything did they make and base this assumption on?

    What if anything did they do to reality check it before firing?

    Who commanded the missile battery which fired?

    Who gave the actual order to fire on what was almost certainly a non-identified contact, flying within and precisely along a known international civil Jet-route, and was on a scheduled civil airline service flight?

    Who checked any of that before firing on almost 300 people?

    A professional military SAM commander and a disciplined professional battery leader would know such a contact can not possibly be fired on without that, and without an air exclusion zone being declared.

    Which suggests the people who did not identify the contact, but fired on it, were very poorly trained and poorly disciplined, not formal military in a tight structure that utilises a normal military doctrine and rules of engagement.

    This points with considerable weight towards it being the result of an illegal undisciplined loose militia insurgency force using heavy weapons which they have no capacity nor right to even have access to, let alone be using to engage unseen radar contacts at normal jet cruise altitudes following typical jet routes, speeds and courses.

    This is the result of such criminal militaristic fools being permitted to obtain or steal or be given such weapons, and to retain and use them.

    I’m Australian, I’m personally disgusted and very disappointed in Vladimir Putin’s disgraceful attitude toward the present circumstance. He’s failed spectacularly the most basic human and civil test of a national, regional or world leader’s prerequisites. His attitude and words, thus far, will be and must be condemned. They will not forgotten, and the resulting animosity will do Russia lasting harm if this situation is not addressed, immediately, in a vastly more comprehensible and civilised manner.

    Putin himself seems to have become so full of his former KGB culture and sense of militaristic nationalism that he doesn’t even understand what a frightful mess he’s plunged Russia into and how regrettable will be the repercussions if he does not snap out of it. Whatever grievances and petty issues he harbours with Washington’s policies or NATO’s toe-stepping, this is not the time nor place for any of that.

    It’s pitiful that this even has to be pointed out.

  5. That what my thought are on who benefits the most.

    Just dropping some of my opinions here.

    Before this tragedy, on 3rd July 2014 on BBC, Ukraine's new defense minister Valeriy Heletey has promised that the army would retake Crimea (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28144334)

    The way he put his words with fullest confidence. My first instinct when reading the article was, sounds like he has a well layout plan. Now I am asking, is this his plan.

    Logically in military point of view, it is impossible for Ukraine to retake Crimea alone or with US and NATO helping secretly ….not unless they have an open war where the US, NATO and US allies like Australia, Japan etc on Ukraine side while Russia stands alone (more likely China will step away)

    Everyone knows majority of people in the US, NATO and among US allies' nations do not want to involve in this war. As we know, the Ukrainian government has been going around asking an open war involving the mentioned nations. By creating this tragedy, it will turn this around.

    Another thing that makes me think on the logic to it. Buk SAM is a huge hardware, as big as a tank. If I am the Russians, it would be very idiotic for me to drive that equipment around into Ukraine and risk it to be sighted and captured by the Ukrainians, proving that Russia is involved.

    Saw a youtube video that was posted : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic_mBPDh3Dg&l…

    That guy has a very good point!

    Looking at the past actions of this current Ukrainian government and the people involved, they are willing to sacrifice innocent lives to rally support of their people and the West. My question to myself is….if they can do those despicable things, why not impossible they shoot down a civilian airline

    Now more questions that makes me think. Just before this tragedy, on 17 July 2014 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28338897), US and EU put more sanctions on Russia. Russian are not that stupid enough to pull a stunt like this. It is idiotic as well as suicidal! Doing so will have more sanction and create an open war with the mentioned nations

    Other than that voice tapes, I can see that more likely we will see in few days time or weeks later, some Russians or Ukraine Russians turn up publicly to confess that either Russia or the rebels are involved. As we know, Russians can be easily bought off…..there are Russians killing their own parents, siblings, wife to get money or do anything for money.

    I am not for Russia, just dropping my personal opinions on what I know

  6. And considering the world & dog knows by now that the NSA is eying everything, communication, roads, movements on roads, how would Russia have thought to give such advanced weaponry, training and/or direct involvement without the evidence being all over? The imagery which surfaced so far, if not manufactured, might easily be staged in such a way that it had to be to be recorded. Of course stupidity does not know borders and it's possible the Russians just made a very bad move with this surface-to-air missile support. It cannot be excluded either.

    The other theory of Putin's plane being targeted somehow is not that crazy in my view. The planes are colored and sized very similar, flying likely at around the same height and were definitely in the air at the same time-frame (Putin returning from Brazil). But then again, it's hard to believe he would fly over Ukraine. And they would possibly never admit this vulnerability and flightpath will remain secret. Or the target would just be any Russian civilian airliner (those from national airliner Rossiya have similar markings and color) since the Ukrainians have openly stated the desire to kill "all those Russians" as response to Crimea and other moves.

    Motives, motives, motives: Ukraine has them plenty. If they were not involved they got a great gift with this tragedy. One that might keep giving.

  8. …but, but , but John Bolton has already told us who's responsible for the tragic shoot down.

  9. Pingback: Who Shot Down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and Why? Interview with Stephen Cohen | Stop Making Sense

  10. The CUI BONO argument is fundamentally flawed as it assumes that the people who operated this BuK SAM system, intentionally shot down a commercial airliner. There is proof that they claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian cargo jet, right after MH17 came down. Therefore it seems pretty clear who is the culprit, and the petty fog of looking for a motive is senseless and only tries to steer away from the issue, which is that innocent people have been drawn in to a regional conflict. All proof points to russia, and now that the rebels are looting the crash site and blocking international recovery teams, it does certainly only get more suspicious.

      1. C'mon, Frank, you're the one that doesn't know what "proof" is. Proof is what Colin Powell presented to the UN in Feb. '03.

  11. Pingback: Flight MH17 – False Flag Operation to blame Russia? | DobraVijest.com

  12. Oh come now… Do ya’ll think Putin is as arrogantly stupid as Obama? What KGB man of ANY caliber would let himself get caught with his pants down like this, much less a canny old fox like Putin… l’m hearing it’s gotta be a mistake, I’m hearing it’s super hi tech gear needing loads of training… One doesn’t rule out the other, but still… Some please remind me why I should believe ANYTHING that comes from the mouth of the US gov’t or its various sock puppets at this point. A screw up? Yeah, maybe. That’s about as far as I’m willing to go with it at this point. Cui Bono absolutely needs to be in the first line of questions asked here.

  13. look at newspapers,all opening news are about flight MH17 …
    no one is following gaza shelling , second hand news….
    plane went down the day before gaza strip invasion…
    I think no missile was fired, probably a bomb set to explode over Ukraine

  14. Of course the MSM is leaving out a lot of details. For one, the US just so happened to have a satellite over this region right when the plane went down. If they want the world to turn against Russia, why don’t they present the proof?

    Also, why did Ukrainian air traffic controllers divert the plane from its southern flight path to fly right over the conflict area? Why was there a Ukrainian fighter jet tracked as approaching the plane in both distance and altitude? Why is there no mention of 20+ Buk missle systems that Ukraine had near the conflict area accompanied by the radar systems that are needed for them to work efficiently when the separatists have practically no Air capability? Not to mention that Ukraine’s anti-air battalions where moved near the conflict area just days before the plane went down and then are removed the day after.

    Like many have said, Neither Russia nor the separatists stand to benefit from any of this where by pinning the blame on them, the Ukraine/US stand to gain it all. Esp after the dollar failing as global currency, Russia making deals w France, China, Brazil, etc, and of course the recent spy scandal in Germany. All that is effected in a positive direction for the US by this event.

  15. I presume that if it is the Ukrainians who shot the plane the Russians should be able to prove them wrong quite easily with their satellite and intelligence data?

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  19. Three months later: germany says to have evidence The separatists did it with a ukranian buk, russians say ukranians did it with a su 25 airplane. Well, who benefited: the Israeli for not making frontline news with their murderous actions in gaza? That makes sense in a world where lives do not count and only money makers rule.

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