Ron Paul writes [5]:
While western media outlets rush to repeat government propaganda on the [plane crash in Ukraine], there are a few things they will not report.
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The media has reported that the plane must have been shot down by Russian forces or Russian-backed separatists, because the missile that reportedly brought down the plane was Russian made. But they will not report that the Ukrainian government also uses the exact same Russian-made weapons.
He's right ...
The American government and media are loudly proclaiming that it must have been the Russian loyalists within Ukraine who shot down the plane because they possessed the type of missile used in the attack: SA-11 missiles fired from a Buk missile system [6].
Of course, the Ukrainians possess them as well.
As the Council on Foreign Relations notes [7]:
All three regional actors—Russia, pro-Russian rebels of the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” and the Ukrainian government—had access or potential access to this weapons platform.
Reuters points out [8]:
As Russia and Ukraine trade blame over the apparent shooting down of a Malaysian airliner, they appear to agree on one thing: the type of Soviet-era missile that brought it down.
But if an SA-11 Buk missile, known as “Gadfly” in NATO, struck the aircraft and killed all 298 on board, that won’t solve the mystery of who did it: Russia, Ukraine and Russian-speaking rebels have all claimed the missile in their arsenals.
Former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry explains [9]:
Ukraine, after all, was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 and has continued to use mostly Russian military equipment.
For example, here’s a Ukrainian state company BOASTING [10] about their Buk systems and SA-11s … complete with pictures:
[11]
(Click here [11] and here [12] to see big, clear images.)
The Ukrainian military also admits – after denying it for 8 days – that it accidentally shot down [13] a Russian airliner in 2001, killing all 78 passengers, using a different missile system.
But – say American talking heads – it came from “rebel-controlled territory”.
Maybe … but last time we heard that kind of claim, it turned out to be totally false [14].