Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
For Civilian Airliners, Shoulder-Fired Missiles Still a Global Threat
WASHINGTON — The horrifying deaths of 298 passengers of a jetliner shot down over Ukraine have focused the world’s attention on a previously unrecognized threat: the proliferation of surface-to-air missiles in the hands of rogue, non-state actors. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was brought down by a BUK-17, a high-tech Russian-built...
PHOTOS: The Dutch Pay Their Respects To The Victims Of MH17
Members of the Dutch royal family and the country’s political leadership looked on as the first 40 coffins carrying the remains of passengers aboard the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday, nearly one week after the plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine. In a long line of hearses, the bodies were...
Anderson Cooper Describes ‘Extraordinary Outpouring’ For MH17 Victims
Anderson Cooper took a moment on Wednesday to recognize the “extraordinary outpouring” of grief for the victims aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The plane — believed to have been shot down — crashed in eastern Ukraine last week, killing all 298 people aboard. One hundred ninety-three victims were Dutch, and the first...
Putin’s Tipping Point? Remembering What Happened When the Soviets Shot Down a Plane
FROM PROJECT SYNDICATE When incompetence in the Kremlin turns murderous, its incumbents can begin to tremble. As news of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine trickled into Russia, people with a long memory recalled the Soviet Union’s attack, 31 years ago this September, on Korean Air Lines Flight 007, and its political...
Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin Fears Putin Is Isolating The Country
MOSCOW, July 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Some forces in Russia are interested in the country’s isolation but the Russian business wants to invest in global markets, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday. Kudrin told ITAR-TASS that he was “surprised with the extent of anti-western rhetoric that has emerged” following the...
MH17: An Unintended Consequence
The evidence indicating that MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made radar guided Surface to Air Missile (SAM) is compelling. The perpetrators, on the other hand, will be harder to discern, requiring independent forensic experts to sift through the vast debris field created by the jet breaking up at a speed of over 500mph and at an altitude of...
Comprehending the Crash
Why does a plane crash exert such a strong grip on our attention? Perhaps the answer is obvious, yet different crashes evoke such different kinds of stories, in terms of both media impact and more personal, emotional resonances. Under normal circumstances, the experience of air travel is cloaked in awe and amazement. Who can walk past the FIDS...
Planes Carrying Remains Of MH17 Passengers Arrive In The Netherlands
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two military transport planes carrying 40 coffins bearing victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 have landed in the southern city of Eindhoven. Six days after the Boeing 777 was shot down over the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, the first bodies finally arrived Wednesday in the Netherlands, the...
The Heartbreaking Last Hours Of MH17’s Victims
In a bedroom in a townhouse near Amsterdam, Miguel Panduwinata reached out for his mother. “Mama, may I hug you?” Samira Calehr wrapped her arms around her 11-year-old son, who’d been oddly agitated for days, peppering her with questions about death, about his soul, about God. The next morning, she would drop Miguel and his big...
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17: Coffins Containing Downed Jet’s Victims Leave Ukraine
KHARKIV, Ukraine, July 23 (Reuters) – A Dutch air force transport plane carrying the first 16 coffins with the remains of victims of the downed Malaysian airliner took off on Wednesday from an airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv for the Netherlands. Honorary guards placed wooden coffins on the plane after a short and somber...
