Stephen Lendman

Washington’s Ukrainian Stooges Shot Down The Malaysian
Airliner: The holes in the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight
MH17 are believed to have come from 30mm cannon fire.

On July 17, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed near Donetsk. En route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Killing all 283 passengers. Plus 15 crew members. At the time, Washington blamed Donbass self-defense forces. Claiming a Russian-supplied Buk surface-to-air missile fired from territory they controlled. Moscow blamed Ukraine. The Dutch Safety Board launched an investigation. Issuing a preliminary September 9 report. A final one to come later.

Initially saying MH17 "broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside." Voice and flight data recorders as well as air traffic control data suggest MH17 operated normally until 13:20:03 GMT. No emergency call was made. Ukrainian air traffic control communications between 13:20 and 13:22:02 GMT were unanswered.

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) lied. Claiming Donbass "terrorists" targeted a Russian Aeroflot airliner. Downed MH17 by mistake. Media scoundrel reporting ended. Having accused Russia of direct involvement. Big Lies only go so far. Not daring to blame Moscow for downing its own aircraft. Killing hundreds of passengers. Claiming a botched false flag. Blaming Ukraine for what happened.

A missile didn't down MH17. No credible evidence suggests it. Shrapnel marks indicate a 30 millimeter caliber projectile. Fired at close range. From a military aircraft. Eyewitnesses reported a Ukrainian one flying close to MH17 when downed.

The New York Times and other Western media falsely blamed Russia and Donbass self-defense forces. Kiev in collusion with Washington bore full responsibility. The obvious went unreported.

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Niles Williamson

The deafening silence of the US media and government about the investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 one month ago reeks of a cover-up.

In the hours and days immediately after the crash, without a single shred of evidence, US officials alleged that the passenger jet was shot down by an SA-11 ground-to-air missile fired from pro-Russian separatist-held territory in eastern Ukraine. They launched a political campaign to obtain harsh economic sanctions against Russia and strengthen NATO’s military posture in Eastern Europe.

Picking up on the scent, the CIA attack dogs in the US and European media blamed the crash squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The cover of the July 28 print edition of German news magazine Der Spiegel showed the images of MH17 victims surrounding bold red text reading “Stoppt Putin Jetzt!” (Stop Putin Now!). A July 26 editorial in the Economist declared Putin to be the author of MH17’s destruction, while the magazine ghoulishly superimposed Putin’s face over a spider web on its front cover, denouncing Putin’s “web of lies.”

Anyone comparing the media’s demonization of Putin with their treatment of Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi had to conclude that Washington was launching a campaign for regime change in Russia like those it carried out in Libya and Iraq—this time, recklessly pushing the United States towards war with a nuclear-armed power, Russia.

Having built up the crash into a casus belli against Russia, however, the US media suddenly dropped the matter completely. The New York Times has not found it fit to print a word on the MH17 crash since August 7.

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Niles Williamson

On Wednesday, the US launched a drone strike in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least seven people. The strike, the first since Pakistan’s May 11 elections and Obama's speech on drone policy last week, was a clear message that Washington intends to continue its global campaign of drone strikes—violating Pakistan's national sovereignty and summarily murdering Pakistanis.

In yesterday’s attack, a CIA drone fired two missiles, destroying a house purportedly used as a meeting place for Taliban militants in the village of Chashma Pull. Three children were amongst those reported injured in the attack.

The victims reportedly included Wali Ur-Rehman, the second-in-command of Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a coalition of Pakistani militias fighting the US occupation of Afghanistan and the Pakistani state, which is collaborating with the US war.

TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan refused to confirm or deny that Rehman had been killed in the strike. It is not uncommon for those targeted for murder by Washington to be reported dead, only to resurface at a later date.

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