Commentaries, Reactions, And Analysis On The Shooting Down Of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17

Is MH17 Disaster A Result Of Tragic Blunder? -- Michael Desch, CNN

(CNN) -- In the last few days, two Ukrainian warplanes were brought down over Eastern Ukraine (one allegedly by a Russian jet) and on Thursday a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crashed in the area, apparently with the loss of all 298 souls on board. If it turns out that the unfortunate civilian airliner was also shot down, Russia and its local allies could again be implicated. Understandably, the international community will wonder whether this portends an escalation in the Kremlin ambitions there.

Vice President Joe Biden is already sure he knows what happened, telling an audience in Detroit on Thursday that the plane has "been shot down, not an accident. Blown out of the sky." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko calls this "an act of terrorism" and is pointing the rhetorical finger at Moscow.

While all the facts are not yet in, it is indeed possible that a Russian surface-to-air missile brought the civilian plane down. If so, Russia or its Ukrainian separatist allies bear heavy responsibility for this tragedy. But that would not indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin's overall strategy in the region has changed.

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Commentaries, Reactions, And Analysis On The Shooting Down Of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17

When You Mess With Civilian Airliners, You Mess With the World -- Robert Beckhusen & Matthew Gault, War Is Boring
What’s behind the downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine, and what happens next? Five smart views. -- Helen Coster, Reuters
Who is to blame? Crash investigators face struggle -- Jill Lawless and Laura Mills, AP
Air Disaster Strains Moscow’s Competing Strategy on Ukrainian Rebels -- Neil macfarquhar and Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times
We Must Stop Putin -- Con Coughlin , The Telegraph
It’s Finally Time for the West to Stand Up to Putin -- James Kirchick, Daily Beast
If Ukraine rebels shot down MH17, Russia could reap the whirlwind -- Fred Weir, CSM
The Malaysia Airlines Shootdown Spells Disaster for Putin -- Romesh Ratnesar, Bloomberg Businessweek
Downing of jet could escalate Ukraine crisis, tension between Russia and West -- Karen De Young, Washington Post
Will the Malaysia Airlines crash de-escalate the Ukraine crisis? -- David Ignatius, Washington Post
Downing of airliner seen as pivotal moment in Ukraine crisis -- Matt Spetalnick and Warren Strobel, Reuters
Malaysia plane MH17: Game-changer in Ukraine crisis? -- Jonathan Marcus, BBC
Will MH17 tragedy shock Europe into action on Ukraine? -- Sara Miller Llana, CSM
#MH17: What we know so far – UPDATED -- Ryan Evans, War On the Rocks
Should downed Malaysian jet have flown over Ukraine? -- Paul Armstrong, CNN
Questions over why Malaysian plane flew over Ukrainian warzone -- RT
Malaysia Airlines plane MH17: wars have bloomed from far, far less -- Paul Daley, The Guardian
Who are pro-Russian separatists blamed for MH17? -- The Telegraph
Is this the smoking gun? Footage emerges of BUK missile launcher being moved into place in Russian separatist stronghold just two hours before MH17 was shot out of the sky -- Daily Mail
What would it take to shoot down MH17? -- Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post
If Ukrainian rebels hit Malaysian plane, where'd they get the missile? -- Anna Mulrine, CSM
Factbox: World figures comment on downing of Malaysian airliner -- Reuters