When I first glimpsed the wreckage of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 on TV, my immediate thought was at last they’ve discovered the mystery of the missing plane. My surprise turned to incredulity as soon as I understood that the airline had suffered yet another tragedy, this time over the skies of eastern Ukraine. And then to heartbreak at the thought of sheer terror those passengers, including 80 children, must have experienced, as the aircraft descended sharply into a field near the village of Grabovo that is smack in the middle of a conflict zone.
Nobody can comprehend the agony of the victims’ families and friends, who will never see their loved ones again and, worse, are unable to retrieve their bodies for burial and may never know with absolute certainty what happened because the crash site extending over many miles has been tampered with. It’s believed that bodies have been taken by emergency personnel to morgues in Donetsk, inaccessible to family members. Valuables have been stolen; mobile phones are not in evidence. Until now, there’ve been conflicting reports concerning who is holding the black boxes containing most of the secrets.
Malaysian Airlines that’s been bleeding revenue since the disappearance of Flight 370 has been vindicated for routing flights over a war-torn region because numerous international airlines have taken the same flight path without incident and there were no alerts from aviation authorities. Malaysia’s national carrier is in dire financial straits and may require a government rescue package to stay in the air. Nevertheless, it has been sensitive to passengers’ fears by agreeing to ticket refunds. At the time of writing, there is little factual evidence because investigators have had little access to the scene and the data contained inside the black boxes has not been studied. But, unfortunately, this absence of hard facts has not deterred government finger pointing in align with their respective political stances vis-à-vis the crisis in Ukraine. The US and the EU, which have thrown their backing behind the new government in Kiev, have made concerted efforts to verbally indict pro-Russian rebels and Moscow, which they accuse of training and arming separatists who’ve declared their region as the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The conclusion, which remains unsubstantiated, is that the plane was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile from a BUK launcher that could only be operated by experienced military personnel. However, during a CNN news report in the initial hours following the tragedy when videos of the actual crash showing black smoke billowing upwards were aired, at least one expert pointed out that there was no smoke trail in the sky which would be the case if the aircraft had been aflame while still in the air.
But let’s go with the missile theory. Both the Ukrainian government and the rebels are in possession of such missiles. Of course, the likely culprits are the insurgents, who have been downing Ukrainian military planes and helicopters. It’s probable that this passenger plane was shot down in error because it’s not in the rebels’ interests — and definitely not in the interest of Moscow being slammed with US and EU economic sanctions — for this cataclysmic event to have occurred. But, it’s surely wrong for leaderships to jump the gun before an investigation has even begun in order to score political points. In many countries, even official speculation on an ongoing criminal court case is frowned-upon.
President Obama, roundly criticized for his flippant “It looks like a terrible tragedy” comment on Thursday, before switching to a jokey tack for the benefit of a Delaware audience, is now building a circumstantial case against Russia. Furthermore, he’s exerting pressure on President Putin to guarantee safe access to the site for observers and investigators but it’s far from certain just how much influence Russia has over the various rebel groups. Predictably, President Putin has laid the blame on Kiev’s doorstep for stoking tensions and is urging a cease-fire.
Politics cannot be divorced from this catastrophe which will certainly impact already strained international relations, but isn’t it unseemly that the political aspect is shrouding what is, after all, a humanitarian calamity deserving of respect? When so many around the world are grieving the loss of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters the US and Russia should be pulling together in a spirit of cooperation, not trading insults. There is plenty of time for a blame game once the victims are transported to their respective home countries and the truth — or at least the most reliable version of it — is made public.
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