Is Putin's Non-Denial An Admission That Russia Shot Down MH17?

Anti-corruption blogger and Putin opponent, Alexei Navalny, offers the following advice to Putin in a piece in Echo Moskvy:

“It seems to me it would be simpler if the separatists and Russia say the following: The aircraft was destroyed by armed forces operating in east Ukraine. No one planned this action. This was a tragic error. Such things happen but that does not make things easier. We share the grief and we are shamed. We will pay compensation to the victims’ families.”

Navalny offers this “simple solution” knowing Putin cannot take it. It would cost Putin his domestic support and humble him in the eyes of the world. It is also against his KGB training, which teaches always deny, deny, no matter what.

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Times Report Casts Shame on Obama's Handling of Ukraine Crisis

The New York Times is noted for its access to the inner sanctums of the Obama administration. Four of its top reporters collaborated on its Pentagon Plan Would Help Ukraine Target Rebel Missiles, which elaborates the administration’s thinking on Ukraine. To the shame of many Americans, the Times report confirms that Vladimir Putin has sized up Barack Obama correctly. He does not understand Putin. He responds to strength with weakness.

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Is Putin Responsible For MH17? Five Questions For Investigators On Russian Culpability

The Kremlin churning out MH17 conspiracy theories reminds me of a shyster lawyer defending a guilty murderer by deliberately planting seeds of doubt in the minds of jurors. The goal of Putin’s propaganda is the same: to suggest a one percent probability that someone other than Kremlin terrorists brought down the plane.

No matter how much smoke Kremlin PR specialists blow, they cannot deny the following facts concerning the MH17 crash at around 4:30 pm on July 17 over the east Ukrainian town of Snizhne:

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If Putin 'Mans Up,' His Regime Will Crumble

Feinstein may not understand that Putin’s “manning up” could spell the end of his regime and he can’t admit the truth. Instead, Putin will ramp up his appeals for peace (with the very thugs who shot down MH17, it is now clear), pledge full cooperation with international investigations, and then stonewall like crazy. Meanwhile, he will not let Ukraine go. As a Russian analyst notes Putin has “never admitted a single error” and “never made a single step backward” in his 15 year rule.  His KGB training requires him to double down, fight his way out, turn up the pressure, never admit, never retreat. He will continue his support of his proxies in east Ukraine and hope that the West’s attention span will be short.

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Why Putin Can Never Tell The Truth on MH17

If Putin were to admit the truth, it would confirm that Russia has supplied fanatical and in some cases possibly insane rebel leaders with advanced military equipment contrary to his assertions that Russia has nothing to do with the Ukraine conflict, other than wanting peace. Such an admission expands the Ukrainian conflict to the world stage. It is the first case of rebels, supplied by a major power with surface-to-air missiles, bringing down a passenger plane. A nightmare shared by the whole world has come true. Which rebel group in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, or the Gaza strip will be next? In this context, Putin is just as dangerous as al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, and the rest of this crowd.

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Smoking Guns: Russian Separatists Shot Down Malaysian Flight MH17

With respect to Putin, there are two interpretations: One is that he controls Russia almost single handedly with his noted vertical of power. If so, he must be held personally responsible for what his agents did. The second interpretation is that Russia is falling apart as mercenaries move themselves and heavy military equipment at will within Russia and across its borders.

Neither places Mr. Putin in an exactly favorable light. Let’s see how he squirms out of this.

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Russian Escalation Imminent As Merkel Plays The Peace Card For Putin

Ukraine understands that Putin used the last cease fire to re-equip and fortify pro-Russian separatists. With Ukraine’s Anti-Terrorist Operation tightening the noose in Donetsk and Luhansk, by-stander Europe has no business pushing for a deal with“peace maker” Putin that he will never honor. For Putin, a cease fire is just a tactical trick to gain advantage.

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Putin's Failing Ukraine Scorecard

My scorecard for the half year of hostilities shows that Putin is losing not only the battle for Ukraine but also his drive for the restoration of Russian empire. Unless the West pulls Putin’s chestnuts from the fire with itsincessant demands for a cease fire, the Ukrainian theater will go from bad to worse for Putin.


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Russian Separatists Trick Journalists And Mothers Into The Line Of Fire

Putin’s propagandists must still be celebrating the Channel One reporter’s death. Their only regret is that one of the mothers was not the victim.

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