Ok, The plane being brought down is something we agree on. A tragedy.
The rest of it... regarding the commentary, including your own I think is a little bit clouded for want of a better word.
First, Russia never invaded the Ukraine - not in a conventional sense. The Crimea scenario was self-determining and I think one person got shot.
Now of course, anyone would be pretty stupid to argue that the Russians don't have a dog in this. They are clearly providing the rebels with intelligence, some arms (not a massive arsenal by all accounts) and have influence - although not direct control as implied by media commentary.
This is all about geopolitics and to all intents and purposes a proxy conflict. Now, the "bad guy" Putin is looking after Russia's geopolitical interests on his very own borders.
On the flipside, exactly the same is happening in Kiev. Western powers are providing intelligence, direction and arms... to serve their own geopolitical interests. You may think the Director of the CIA was in Kiev on vacation... personally I don't.
You label the Eastern rebels as Russian thugs - the vast majority are actually Ukrainians. It's a Ukraine v Ukraine conflict with other parties backing a side to serve their own interests. It's not a good guy v bad guy division - there is probably little difference between people serving on either side.
At the beginning of all this, western powers were funding NGO's (Non-governmental organisations) and supported what was labelled in the western media as a popular uprising... it wasn't that popular in the east - Russian (which most of them speak) was promptly banned as an official language. Their own uprising was labelled terrorism, not a "popular uprising".
The west didn't want Ukraine falling under the Russian trade agreement and the Russians didn't want the Ukraine falling under the EU umbrella and last of all falling under a NATO umbrella.
Now, this might come as a surprise to you, but I am a westerner and pro-western- but let's just call it for what it is. The west keep encircling and pushing Russia and now it's finally pushing back. The same thing will happen with China further down the line.
As per many recent wars and conflicts, the hegemony of the US dollar in energy dealings is another likely factor - the Russians and Chinese are looking to lessen the reliance of the dollar - their own energy deal will be done in native currencies and the BRICS bank has just been established using a basket of currencies. This is obviously a massive concern to the west, particularly the US, as it will bring down the entire economy.
uzzled
