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Crash of MH17: no end of blame

By Marc-Stephan Arnold (People's Daily Online)    14:20, July 23, 2014
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Europe and the whole world are appalled by the shooting down of a passenger aircraft of Malaysian Airlines in Ukraine, in which nearly 300 people were killed. Meanwhile, media have already begun the search for the culprit - and it seems almost as if he were already fixed.

Even before there were any details about the crash of MH17, the American Secretary of State John Kerry already called on the Europeans to now finally agree to tougher sanctions against Russia. The U.S. and Ukraine also claim to be in possession of satellite images and maps that would indicate the start of an SA-11 surface to air missile. Evidence to support their allegations has been, however, presented to the world public by neither the U.S. nor Ukraine.

Russia, however, had submitted its own maps and satellite photos of the crash site on Monday. The Russian side claims that Ukrainian warplanes had approached shortly before the crash of the MH17 passenger plane. They called on the government of Western Ukraine to explain what it did with the fighter jets in coming. In addition, a Russian general urged the U.S. and Western Ukraine to submit their satellite photos as evidence.

Who is to blame?

The Western media seem to see the culprit in Russian President Vladimir Putin - again. So much so that now, in despair, the parents of the children who were killed in the plane crash even wrote their pain letters to the President of Russia, which will then be published promptly by the media.

In this way, in Europe, more and more hatred is directed against the Russians. Conversely, the Russians feel unfairly treated and forced into a corner - accordingly outraged are the reports in the Russian media. In Russia, the anger is growing.

Now, rather than getting involved in an attempt to exploit the sadness and anger of the families of the victims and of the whole West to push through a foreign policy agenda - namely the isolation of Russia, which the United States has been aiming for a long time, you should rather keep quiet and wait what the investigations in MH17 bring to light. For example the flight recorder, which the eastern Ukrainian rebels have now handed over to the representatives of the Malaysian government, may provide enlightenment.

Europe at a crossroads

It is quite possible that Europe is currently in one of the most important phases of its history. In most countries of the EU the economy is prostrate, with unemployment and especially youth unemployment rising rapidly. In such situations historically, governments have always liked to use a war to divert from the actual problems.

Make sure you get the results of the investigation of the plane crash, wait and build no more hatred and anger on both sides of the media. Exactly one hundred years after one of the largest European catastrophes, Europe does not need a second Archduke Ferdinand moment *.

* Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este (born December 18, 1863 in Graz, † June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo) was an Austrian archduke and heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary since 1896. The assassination in Sarajevo, where he and his wife were killed, is considered as a trigger of the First World War. 

(Editor:Sun Zhao、Zhang Qian)

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