This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Multiple simultaneous crises signal deteriorating geopolitics
- Will Russia get away with it again?
Multiple simultaneous crises signal deteriorating geopolitics
On Thursday, the deterioration of the world’s geopolitics took a giantstep forward with two major new crises:
- A large passenger plane was shot down in east Ukraine by a missile that’s widely believed to have been launched by pro-Russia separatists and obtained from Russia’s armed forces.
- Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza that’s expected to last for weeks.
Also on Wednesday, there were a couple of “minor” crises of the kindthat occur all the time. For the past five days, armed groups havebeen attacking Libya’s main airport in Tripoli. Terrorists attackedthe airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in Pakistan, terrorists struckin Lahore in the east, while others struck in Hangu in thenorthwest.
The world has become a much darker place in the 11 years since Istarted writing Generational Dynamics.
Will Russia get away with it again?
Flight MH17 was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew members when itcrashed in east Ukraine near the border with Russia, killing everyoneon board.
According to reports, Igor Strelkov, the commander of the pro-Russianseparatist militias east Ukraine tweeting the following immediateafter the MH17 was shot down: “We shot down AN-26 [military transport] near the cityTorez, Donetsk People’s Republic … We warned, don’t fly in oursky.”
Strelkov’s militias had shot down at least two Ukrainian AN-26s in thelast week, and he was bragging that he’d shot down a third. The tweetwas taken down a few minutes later when he learned that he’d shotdown a passenger plane.
But reports indicate that pro-Russian separatists are preventing anyindependent international investigation of the crash site to takeplace and that they’ve confiscated the plane’s “black boxes” and aresending them to Russia. It’s believed that whatever investigationoccurs will be conducted entirely by the Russians, who will simplycover up their activities. America, Europe, and the United Nationsdid nothing beyond toothless sanctions when Russia annexed Ukraine’sCrimea peninsula, and they will do nothing in this case either.
It’s a cruel irony that flight MH17 that was shot down onWednesday was a Malaysian Airlines plane, just like the MH370 flightthat disappeared on March 5 and still hasn’t been found. Malaysianofficials were excoriated, particularly by the Chinese, because therewere so many Chinese victims, and the Malaysians didn’t seem to knowwhat was going on.
MH17 was on a flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia, and there werepassengers from many countries from Asia, Europe, and America. Countries like Japan, China, and India have taken aneutral view of the entire Ukraine conflict. Now that many of thesecountries will have citizens who lost their lives because pro-Russianseparatists shot down an airliner with weapons supplied by Russia, willthese countries continue to remain neutral to the Ukraine conflict?We’ll have to wait and see. International Business Times and VOA and Newsweek
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Ukraine, Buk missile System, Russia, Gaza,Igor Strelkov, AN-26, MH17, MH370, Malaysia
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