The downing of Malaysian passenger flight MH-17 was a great tragedy, especially for the Dutch people. In The Netherlands I covered all ins- and outs 24/7 from the beginning, the first hours after the Boeing-777 crashed in eastern Ukraine near the border with Russia.
In New York, president Obama spoke about the tragedies in the world and was quite forcefull about Islamic State, Al Qaeda ‘remnants,’ Ebola outbreak in western Africa and the conflict in Ukraine. Indeed the downing of flight MH-17 was covered and resulted in these immediate news headlines on Dutch news sites and tv coverage …
Obama: ‘Rebels blocked entry to crash site with help from Russia
This is a blatant and ugly lie from the U.S. president I will not let this pass unanswered.
The article continues …
“Rebels who were backed by Russia have blocked for days access to the crash site of flight MH17. Russia supported the rebels in eastern Ukraine later with troops. This reproach was made by the American president Barack Obama for the Kremlin today in his speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations.
With the disaster of the Boeing-777, which was likely shot down, 298 people were killed of which 196 were Dutch.
The Russian action in Ukraine, including the Russian annexation of Crimea, is a test of the international order, says Obama.”
Tweet from the White House [plus comments]
“We are heirs to a proud legacy of freedom and we are prepared to do what is necessary to secure that legacy for generations to come” –Obama
Remarks by President Obama at UN General Assembly | CFR |
Recently, Russia’s actions in Ukraine challenge this post-war order. Here are the facts. After the people of Ukraine mobilized popular protests and calls for reform, their corrupt president fled. Against the will of the government in Kyiv, Crimea was annexed. Russia poured arms into eastern Ukraine, fueling violent separatists and a conflict that has killed thousands. When a civilian airliner was shot down from areas that these proxies controlled, they refused to allow access to the crash for days. When Ukraine started to reassert control over its territory, Russia gave up the pretense of merely supporting the separatists, and moved troops across the border.
This is a vision of the world in which might makes right — a world in which one nation’s borders can be redrawn by another, and civilized people are not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones because of the truth that might be revealed. America stands for something different. We believe that right makes might — that bigger nations should not be able to bully smaller ones, and that people should be able to choose their own future.
And these are simple truths, but they must be defended. America and our allies will support the people of Ukraine as they develop their democracy and economy. We will reinforce our NATO Allies and uphold our commitment to collective self-defense. We will impose a cost on Russia for aggression, and we will counter falsehoods with the truth.
From my diaries covering the Ukraine crisis in the aftermath of the MH-17 crash:
○ Russia critical of MH17 inquiry, wants bigger U.N. role on Sept. 19, 2014
○ DSB Releases Preliminary, Final Report On MH-17 Due within a Year on Sept. 9, 2014
○ Russia Criticizes Stalled MH17 Investigation, Failure to Release Data on Aug. 25, 2014
○ Was Malaysia MH-17 Downed by Su-25 Fighter Planes? on Aug. 10, 2014
○ Dutch PM Rutte Abruptly Calls-off MH-17 Recovery Mission on Aug. 6, 2014
○ World In Turmoil (Ukraine and ME) – Brzezinski and Albright Speak Out on Aug. 2, 2014
○ The Dutch Have Gone Mad [More Mad] on July 25, 2014
○ Shrapnel Damage of Cockpit MH-17 Devastating on July 23, 2014
○ US building case tying separatists to plane crash | Dutch get Anne Applebaum as ‘neutral observer’ of Ukraine conflict | on July 20, 2014
Sergei Lavrov’s take on the speech, courtesy of the Saker:
The Russia They Lost
Note that the author only mentions America and Germany. Those are the two main Western reference points for Russians. And since the start of the Ukraine crisis, the Germans have not managed to differentiate themselves from the Americans.
Thanks for the beautifully written, painful link, The Russia They Lost. I’ve passed that on to my Facebook friends.
Still waiting for the public release of Obama/Kerry’s “irrefutable evidence” that Ukrainian separatists or Russians shot down MH17. As with GWB/Cheney’s Iraq WMDs, we get allegations and lies endlessly repeated until the public accepts the garbage. (Obama quit giving good speech early in 2009, but few Democrats/liberals have yet to notice.)
Shame on the Dutch government for not having the courage to demand that the US either puts up or shuts up.
I saw somebody mention (can’t remember who) that the Dutch are the most determined European supporters of the Empire, after the English. That makes sense, since England was world hegemon based on naval power before the US, and Holland was the hegemon before England replaced it. So because of their histories, the English and the Dutch can relate more to US imperialism than other Europeans.
They were the two colonial powers on the east coast in colonial times and as such laid the foundation (you know, the founders and all that stuff). They have tons and tons of money invested in the US. Not so long ago they were numbers one and two on the list of investor nations, and they are definitely still somewhere at the very top. Yes, the Netherlands lives in the same poodle kennel as the UK. The US forms their cosmic cultural and economic order, anything else is unfathomable. There are many exceptions of course. But don’t let them fool you: when push comes to shove the US always gets the benefit of the doubt. It’s sickening that they can’t show the slightest outrage about the cover-up of the Malysian place crash over Ukraine—the flight originated in their capital, and nearly two hundred of their compatriots were killed.
Ooops … these F-16s were promised to the “Eastern Front” in the Baltic in confrontation with Putin’s Russia. The Dutch AF would be part of the NATO Rapid Reaction Force. Wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Sikorski [“War in Europe is not a hysterical idea”] will express themselves when they get this message. So sad!
Lacking a U.N. mandate from the Security Council, the European nations will operate in Iraq and will not fly sorties over Syrian territory. This is contrary to the Obama doctrine: “There is no border between Iraq and Syria. President Assad has lost all legitimacy.” The hypocrisy, how these principles apply to western states only, not meant for ‘regional’ power Russia and the Ukraine.