By James O’Neill*
On 9 March 2020 a Dutch Court commenced a trial against four men (three Russians and a Ukrainian) accused of complicity in the destruction of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 over Ukraine on 17 July 2014. The flight was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 passengers and crew on board were killed, among them 38 Australian citizens and residents. The largest group of victims came from the Netherlands.
The crash was immediately attributed to a BUK missile, allegedly fired by Russians on behalf of Ukrainian dissident forces at that time in a civil war with the Ukrainian government that had come to power in an American backed coup on 30 April of that year. The coup led to a civil war that continues to the present day.
The eastern portion of Ukraine is Russian speaking and objected to the coup by Ukrainian speaking persons from the west of the country. One of the consequences of the coup was that Crimea, which had for centuries been part of Russia until Soviet President Khrushchev “gifted” it to Ukraine in 1954. Neither the Russian parliament nor the Crimean people were consulted about the transfer of sovereignty from Russia to Ukraine.
This history is important because what happened after the coup with regard to Crimea has been consistently misreported by the western mainstream media. Crimea objected to the coup and almost immediately organised a referendum on whether or not they would apply to be readmitted to the Russian Federation.
Over 90% of the population of Crimea voted in the referendum, and over 90% of them voted to apply to re-join the Russian Federation. They duly did, and the Russian parliament voted for their readmittance. This history is important because the western mainstream media consistently ignore the facts and the history and depict what happened as a Russian “annexation” of Crimea.
The Ukrainian government was opposed to Crimea’s vote and the steps that followed. The then Ukrainian President Poroshenko vowed to take Crimea by force. In this foolhardy endeavour he was supported by then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott who promised a commitment of Australian troops. Quite how Australia could expect to win a war with Russia was never explained.
The Russians had a naval base in Crimea and one of the major objectives of the Ukrainian vow to regain Crimea for Ukraine was to remove Russia from its naval base. That base would then be leased to the Americans giving them a vital resource in close proximity to the Russian mainland. This was a bizarre and profoundly stupid exercise on many levels, but it is essential to an understanding of what happened on 17 July 2014.
On that date the Malaysian airlines plane flight MH 17 was shot down. Significantly, the event occurred only weeks after the Crimean departure from Ukraine. This sequence of events is essential to understanding what happened then and has been the case ever since.
The Dutch government immediately assumed the role of lead investigator of the crash. There was no basis in international law for them to have such a role. There was even less of a justification for excluding the Malaysians from the investigation. The reason for this sequence of events was not publicised at the time, but more facts have subsequently emerged that shed considerable light on what happened, why, and the ongoing consequences.
Immediately after the crash four nations signed a secret agreement to govern their investigation. The four were the Netherlands, Australia, Ukraine and Belgium. Malaysia was excluded because it refused to sign a secret agreement drawn up by the other four to govern their investigation. The most important provision of that agreement was that nothing would be announced by any member of the quartet unless all four agreed. This was astonishing. It gave Ukraine, which on any objective assessment was at the very least a prime suspect, the power of veto. [Right: Letter Gumshoe contributor obtained confirming this.]
The reason the Malaysians were excluded was that they refused to abide by those conditions agreed by the other four. What we have subsequently learned is that the Malaysians immediately sent a team to Ukraine, and gathered the so-called black boxes with the assistance of Dombass rebels who were guarding the site. The Malaysians refused to hand over the black boxes until after they had conducted their examination of the contents.
What the Malaysians discovered, and what is being confirmed by Ukrainian eyewitnesses, forensic evidence and other material, was that the plane was shot down by Ukrainian jet fighters. The Ukrainian Government had always denied even having fighters aloft on that day, an obvious and provable lie that the western media never challenged.
What compounds that particular piece of dishonesty was the fact that the existence of the Ukrainian fighter jets in the vicinity was known to the Dutch and Australian investigators several years ago. This information has been concealed by the respective governments ever since. Instead, they have persisted with what they knew to be a total fabrication: that Russian supported Ukrainian dissidents had fired a BUK missile that caused the crash.
The British disinformation group Bellingcat had even published what they said were photos of a Russian BUK missile system in the area on the day that then returned to Russia. This was a fake video, but worse, known by the Dutch and the Australian investigators at the time to be a fake. Yet that lie has been allowed to fester ever since.
Which brings us back to the farce being played out in Amsterdam. It is obvious from the detailed reports emerging from this playhouse masquerading as judicial proceedings, that the script and the outcome have already been determined, even though the “trial” is expected to take at least 12 months.
Unsurprisingly, the four accused have refused to attend this farce, although one of them is legally represented. The farcical nature of the proceedings thus far has been well documented and described by the Australian analyst John Helmer and if one can stand the appalling details, his website www.johnhelmer.net is well worth a visit.
Do not expect the Australian media to do other than act as mouthpieces for the utterances from Amsterdam. They have consistently refused to examine the facts, the context and the incontrovertible evidence accumulated by the Malaysian government as well as independent investigators.
There has been speculation that the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines was a genuine mistake, and that the real target was a plane carrying Russian President Putin in the vicinity at the same time, returning from a trip to South America. That remains an open question. Certainly, the deliberate shooting down of a civilian airliner seems a step too far, even for the then leaders of Ukraine.
The other lesson to be drawn from this tragedy is that the families of the innocent victims are unjustly being used as pawns in the wider geopolitical war being waged by the West on Russia. They do not deserve to be treated in such a callous and self-serving manner.
*Barrister at Law and geopolitical analyst. He may be contacted at joneill@qldbar.asn.au
[Editor’s note: Mary Maxwell had announced a slowdown, but I am back at my devices, and the news does not stop.]
“Malaysians immediately sent a team to Ukraine, and gathered the so-called black boxes with the assistance of Dombass rebels who were guarding the site.”
Possession is nine-tenths of the law. I’in it?
I already wrote this somewhere, but it is needed again. The Dutch version, which is being pushed through, says that the Donbass rebels brought a BUK system from Russia, shot the plane down, and then took the BUK back to Russia. That is an absolute nonsense. No civilian planes fly above Donbass, all fly hundreds of kilometers further west and over the See of Azov. Those people could not know the plane would be there. I believe that the talk between the ATC Ukraine and the MH17 plane is known. The plane was brought there by the ATC, moreover was then instructed to go 2000 feet lower, thus closer to the fighter planes level.
I hate to be “funny” about a matter like this, but the official version could only go like this:
The rebels group brought the BUK system to Donbass and found that no planes fly above. So they called ATC Ukraine and told them, please send us one so that we can shoot it down. And the ATC obliged. Then they moved the BUK back to Russia. Sorry, but no other procedure exists for the Dutch version.
And I also saw a photo of the front of the plane with nice round holes presumably from a cannon of an older MIG, however, I can not find it anymore (of course, trials have preparatory phases).
I cringe when ever I read the MSM write that Russia ‘annexed’ Crimea. Crikey, the referendum was over 96% in favor of re-joining Russia.
All an Australian journalist would have to do is visit Crimea and ask the people how they feel about re-joining Russia. Don’t expect that kind of journalism to appear in the Ozzie press.
I’m also in the camp that it was an attempt to shoot down Putin. Allegedly, the pilot that returned from the flight (minus a missile) said “It was the wrong plane.” The two aircraft had very similar markings.
Slightly off tooic but on lying media.
This morning some alleged teckie guru was the usual guest on radio 2GB (Steve Pr8ce) speaking of all things teckie etc. Some expert?
A caller rang in and asked him how he can avoid all the advertisement and follow ups when he does a search at, such as google.
The expert, a Stephen Feneck (?) More or less, if not more, said that all the search engine sites like google, yahoo etc do it and they need the income from advertising. ( and to 3xpect it)
He did not mention that other sites may be used and d not flood one with stupid adds.
I was so annoyed I rang 2gb with a complaint not on air. why bother to wait!?
I referred 2 GB to the fact that there are search sites availabe, like duckduckgo that do not disclose searches and there are no adds.
So for another example of failed msm credibility. If the 2GB radio host and producer do not know about sites like duckduckgo, one can only assume they arelimited to dickdicksgo.
Radio 2GB needs a godd ‘shirt fronting’.
At my 2015 Adelaide Fringe show, Dee played Julie Bishop shirt-fronting Putin.
“The other lesson to be drawn from this tragedy is that the families of the innocent victims are unjustly being used as pawns in the wider geopolitical war being waged by the West on Russia. They do not deserve to be treated in such a callous and self-serving manner.”
I watched one family member being interviewed on the television the other day, he was speaking about how bad Putin was etc ( which he may well be, ) but blind freddy can see through this nonsense… he may be a pawn, but he looks like a willing one.
if it was any of my family members, Id be screaming at the TV stations to interview me, and directing them to Gumshoenews. It isnt the first time Ive seen this fella interviewed, regurgitating the official account.. perhaps others do want to speak, but they dont sound so convincing?
what is the point of courts of law when all they do is engage in such criminality?
Id have liked to have seen Dees portrayal of JB, and id also like to know how Julius S, was able to edit his comment after hitting the Post Comment button on a previous article. 🙂
Dear Fair, Fish did not change his comment, and it is impossible to do so, unless you offer Dee a little something in a brown paper bag. Speaking of which, has anyone seen the Donate button lately?
Fair, there is an extant copy of Dee’s impersonation of the Foreign Minister but I can’t find it, so here is a substitute for now:
“what is the point of courts of law when all they do is engage in such criminality?”
Good question! I eventually bailed on the ‘system’, it was too much for my sanity to keep trying to swim upstream in a cascading torrent of lies, manipulation and good ol’ boys club.
There is no credibility in the ‘system’ – so protect yourself.
“so protect yourself.”
aye – ill do my best Terry – If the likes of yourself and others here that are of more learned experience than I feel the need to bail on the system.. and can seem to do no more than continually wade chest deep through the sludge of impossible implausibility, deception, lies, … etc
well, Im wrapped in 10 rolls of sorbent and am wearing a wreath of garlic cloves and have a bunch of freshly picked parsley jammed up my cloaca ( for fresh breath ) – i doubt thats enough though… I shouldve gone the extra roll.. and added some cloves to the parsley but Im really less concerned for myself.. I just feel bad for all those that were killed on that plane..
seems they will never see justice.
Id give up all my protection for a way to get just a sniff of justice. for them that died, at least.
if the masses could just get a hint of truth..
Thanks James, Gumshoe, et alia;
One way of minimising the impact of “the lies, manipulation and good ol’ boys club” is to visualise the content of the respective med cabinets: I mean, I can’t imagine that any of the above 4 poker-players ever have a good nights sleep or a good anything else for that matter!
All governments are run by criminals.
This morning on 7, we saw the Queen with her advisor Rothschild.
Looks like total world domination is in their hands.
Perverts pedophiles and drinkers of children blood worshipped for their success!
Deliberately withdrawing toilet paper from the shelves, shutting down the whole system because they control all means of production. At their mercy, we push the trolleys in the barns.
What’s next, forced vaccinations? Five years prison and $250k fine for resistance?
These are the serpent race that rule over us.
Nice clear-headed synopsis. Marise Payne should be formally presented with a copy and her response duly published
Qu’est ce que c’est “ATC”, s’il vous plait?
Hallo, I do not speak French, but I used the abbreviation above, it means Air Traffic Control
John, thank you.
Interesting how all these events are unfolding to make way for the emerging New Khazaria within occupied Ukraina.
Sickening isn’t it, that in this post-truth world, the future of humanity (whatever that is) now exists on the most threadbare outer layer of a bursting bubble of secrets, lies, deceit and hoaxes.
It is almost like being at a comedy fringe festival. From Amsterdam, perhaps Ms Payne and Ms Bishop et al could drop in via the Hague and turn themselves in while others move on to Rotterdam for a higher calibre of entertainment …
(Heaven knows why Russia would even participate …)
Fair, thanks for noticing – I would have responded but I had already hit Enter on this one. 😊