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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Jul-2014
18-Jul-14 World View -- Will Russia get away with it again?

Web Log - July, 2014

18-Jul-14 World View -- Will Russia get away with it again?

Multiple simultaneous crises signal deteriorating geopolitics

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Multiple simultaneous crises signal deteriorating geopolitics
Will Russia get away with it again?

Multiple simultaneous crises signal deteriorating geopolitics

It's thought that flight MH17 was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile system

It's thought that flight MH17 was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile system

On Thursday, the deterioration of the world's geopolitics took a giant step forward with two major new crises:

A large passenger plane was shot down in east Ukraine, by a missile that's widely believed to have been launched by pro-Russia separatists, and obtained from Russia's armed forces.

Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza that's expected to last for weeks.

Also on Wednesday, there were a couple of "minor" crises of the kind that occur all the time. For the past five days, armed groups have been attacking Libya's main airport in Tripoli. Terrorists attacked the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in Pakistan, terrorists struck in Lahore in the east, and other terrorists struck in Hangu, in the northwest.

The world has become a much darker place in the 11 years since I started writing Generational Dynamics.

Will Russia get away with it again?

Flight MH17 was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew members, when it crashed in east Ukraine near the border with Russia, killing everyone on board.

According to reports, Igor Strelkov, the commander of the pro-Russian separatist militias east Ukraine tweeting the following immediate after the MH17 was shot down:

"We shot down AN-26 [military transport] near the city Torez, Donetsk People's Republic ... We warned, don't fly in our sky."

Strelkov's militias had shot down at least two Ukrainian AN-26s in the last week, and was bragging that he'd shot down a third. The tweet was taken down a few minutes later, when he learned that he'd shot down a passenger plane.

But reports indicate that pro-Russian separatists are preventing any independent international investigation of the crash site to take place, and that they've confiscated the plane's "black boxes," and are sending them to Russia. It's believed that whatever investigation occurs will be conducted entirely by the Russians, who will simply cover up their activities. American, Europe and the United Nations did nothing beyond toothless sanctions when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, and they will do nothing in this case either.

It's a cruel irony that the flight MH17 that was shot down on Wednesday was a Malaysian Airways plane, just like the MH370 flight that disappeared on March 5, and still hasn't been found. Malaysian officials were excoriated, particularly by the Chinese, because there were so many Chinese victims, and the Malaysians didn't seem to know what was going on.

MH17 was on a flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia, and there were passengers from many countries throughout Asia, as well as from Europe and America. Countries like Japan, China and India have taken a neutral view of the entire Ukraine conflict. Now that many of these countries will have citizens who lost their lives because pro-Russian separatists shot down an airline with weapons supplied by Russia, will these countries continue to remain neutral to the Ukraine conflict? We'll have to wait and see. International Business Times and VOA and Newsweek

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 18-Jul-14 World View -- Will Russia get away with it again? thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (18-Jul-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Jul-2014 18-Jul-14 World View -- Will Russia get away with it again?

Multiple simultaneous crises signal deteriorating geopolitics

Will Russia get away with it again?

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Jul-2014
18-Jul-14 World View -- Will Russia get away with it again?