IRAN SHOT DOWN OF UKRAINIAN PLANE: ANY RUSSIAN CULPABILITY?

ICHEOKU says Iran was reckless in firing missiles into the sky while planes were taking off and landing, without taking adequate precaution. Any responsible country or its military would have anticipated the likelihood of accidentally hitting a wrong unintended target and therefore guarded against it.  They would have either closed their airspace or be extremely careful with targeting objects in their skies and extremely cautious with pushing the launch button of their anti aircraft defenses. 

But they were extremely nervous and fidgety that America will attack them in response to their firing of missiles into America's military bases and wanted to guard against it. Their hysteria was such that they pushed the button and dispatched two missiles to meet an object which appeared on their radar without proper identification and verification of the object. They also did not properly assess the threat and struck a wrong target, a Ukrainian Airlines passenger plane, killing 180 people. People who were escaping Iran to avoid being killed when and if America strikes, but ended up dying anyway; while the people they left behind who have neither the means nor the wherewithal to escape, are now conducting their funerals and mourning them. It is this thing called life and it plays a huge joke on people; it tricks people into thinking that they are in control and have answers to everything. What a cruel irony. 

Iran was reckless in not analyzing their data properly in order to see the trajectory of the object, the Ukrainian passenger plane; otherwise they would have seen that it was outbound and not inbound; and therefore not an imminent threat to warrant any defensive counter measures, including locking on it with their radar and firing off missiles to destroy it. Is it also possible that the antiquated non HDR screen in which they were monitoring their skies made it impossible for them to in fact properly decode certain facts, which would have resulted in a different outcome. Thankfully though, they have finally admitted to their wrong doing in shooting down the plane after severally denying it. What is left now is to determine how much compensation Iran will pay to both the families of the 176 victims and the Ukrainian Airlines, which suffered loss of crew members and business as a result of the unfortunate but otherwise avoidable disaster. 

The Ukrainian Airlines passenger plane is now the fourth time a country shot down a passenger plane belonging to another country. On September 1, 1983 the then Soviet Union shot down a Korean Airline Flight 007 enroute Seoul from New York, over the Sea of Japan killing all the 268 passengers and crew on board, including a United States of American Congressman from Georgia Larry McDonald. On July 3rd 1988 the United States of America shot down an Iranian Airline Flight 655 flying from Tehran to Dubai over the Strait of Hormuz killing all the 290 passengers and crew. On July 17 2014, Russia backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine shot down a Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam over Donetsk. And now the latest of such incidents involving Iran which on January 8, 2020 shot down Ukrainian Airline Flight 752 which took off from Tehran and going to Kiev, over Tehran, killing all the 180 passengers and crew. 

ICHEOKU says why the world is not mad at such happenstances is beyond comprehension; but when Boeing's plane malfunctions and crashes, people go bunkers. Here are deliberate actions of States, shooting down planes out of the skies, killing hundreds, yet there is no wide indignation and condemnation of such countries which are causing these mayhem. Query, why is it not okay for a malfunctioned plane to crash, but seemingly okay for a functioning plane to be shot out of the skies, killing hundreds. Where is the incensed society up in arms against the governments which engage in this reckless life costing deliberate acts. Why is Boeing being held accountable for plane crashes, but not these governments and State actors. 

It is about time these State actors are made to account for their misconducts and forced to pay for their wrongful behaviors, through payment of punitive damages and compensations to their victims survivors as well as the victimized Airline. America paid nearly 64 million to Iranians in 1988; but Russia never paid any compensation to either South Koreans or Malaysians victims. Russia is not an honest broker nor does it play right within the international community; but continuously acts like a rogue State, seeking to cause trouble and ferment problems for America. Russia often engage in distributing dangerous weapons to countries which should not have them just to spite America. Now, Russia has once again given Iran weapons which Iran does not know how to manage and operate properly, the result being the unintended consequence of a passenger plane with 180 people being shot out of the skies. 

Imagine the cruel coincidences:- Russia and Ukraine are in a face off over Eastern Ukraine region of Donbas as well as for seizing Crimea. Russia sold SAM 15 surface to air ballistic missiles to Iran. With the missiles, Iran shoots down Ukrainian Airlines passenger plane killing all the 180 people onboard. Majority of the victims of the disaster were Iranian students, children of elites who were escaping an expected imminent American attack on Iran. They did not want to die or even wish to stay and fight for their fatherland because they are privileged. Their plan was to come back after hostilities have ended to resume their elitist life, lording it over the rest of the Iranian society. But their plan was not God's plan and things turned out differently. This thing called life is filled with cruel ironies, such that at the end of the day, nobody really knows how things will eventually turn out, admitted sometimes projections do come through. 

What a dizzying week it has been which saw Iran holding the short end of the stick. They came awfully short of the bargain: their Qassem Soleimani was killed; they fired dozen of missiles at American military bases but couldn't kill even one American; more economic sanctions were imposed on them by President Donald John Trump; they shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane killing all 180 people on board, including many of their own citizens; they denied responsibility only to later eat their humble pie by admitting that they shot down the plane. What a PR disaster it has been for them as the world will view them harsher now than before; their formerly practically non existent credibility has further taken a dive for the worse. Who will believe anything Iran says going forward, including their denial that they do not seek nuclear weapons with their nuclear program. Overall, the crisis left Iran bloodied, foolish, incompetent and poor bargainers who traded all these smackdowns for nothing. It is a shame and it is sad; but will Russia ever be held to account for its mischief.