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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2014 5:42:45 GMT 12
(click on the picture to read the developing news story)
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2014 7:49:31 GMT 12
Well....that will have resulted in a huge number of news media organisations sweeping the board clean of the in-depth stories they had planned for today.
Such as Radio NZ National from 5:00am this morning. I was in a hotel room in Wellington and had set the bedside radio to turn on at 4:55am. Nothing was different until the 5:00am news bulletin, after which they suspended the final hour of the all-night programme and began Morning Report an hour early. I went straight to CNN on the television.
So, in years to come, when the inevitable question is asked, “I know where I was when I first heard the news....”
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2014 8:16:36 GMT 12
(click on the picture)
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Post by beagle on Jul 18, 2014 8:17:12 GMT 12
yes, just heard it on the news too. Who wants to fly Malaysian Airlines now. I can say I was in the garage stirring a can of paint when I heard it.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2014 9:02:57 GMT 12
Wait for the conspiracy-theory fringe idiots (and there'll be plenty of those, especially in the USA) to begin claiming the airliner was shot down by Israel to divert attention from their pending invasion of the Gaza strip. Meanwhile.... (yet again, click on the picture to read another news story)
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Post by flyinkiwi on Jul 18, 2014 11:08:06 GMT 12
When I heard the news when I got up this morning I instantly thought of this song. It's pretty apt I think.
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Post by Darren Masters on Jul 18, 2014 11:25:40 GMT 12
This is unbelievable. Not again?? Makes me sick to my stomach the kind of people that are out there.
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Post by jonesy on Jul 18, 2014 11:48:04 GMT 12
Incredibly sad news. Innocent people with a right to travel brutally murdered. Those poor folks. Just sickening news really, and compounded by political bickering as to who's at fault.
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Post by mumbles on Jul 18, 2014 12:52:51 GMT 12
yes, just heard it on the news too. Who wants to fly Malaysian Airlines now. I can say I was in the garage stirring a can of paint when I heard it. I'd say this has almost nothing to do with it being a Malaysian airlines flight, other than unfortunate coincidence. That won't stop the conspiracy theorist keyboard jockeys from making spurious connections though. If the Buk system being fingered was used in this it looks like someone needs to learn how to use the interrogation mode it's apparently fitted with. Muppets.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2014 13:04:47 GMT 12
(click on each picture to open more news stories)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 18, 2014 13:28:10 GMT 12
Dreadfully sad. I was a bit stunned when Mum told me this morning about it.
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Post by beagle on Jul 18, 2014 14:35:28 GMT 12
yes, just heard it on the news too. Who wants to fly Malaysian Airlines now. I can say I was in the garage stirring a can of paint when I heard it. I'd say this has almost nothing to do with it being a Malaysian airlines flight, other than unfortunate coincidence. That won't stop the conspiracy theorist keyboard jockeys from making spurious connections though. If the Buk system being fingered was used in this it looks like someone needs to learn how to use the interrogation mode it's apparently fitted with. Muppets. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Malaysian Airlines, just that with both accidents now, some people would think carefully about flying with them.
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Post by Darren Masters on Jul 18, 2014 15:25:28 GMT 12
Nuke for the people responsible. Plain and simple. Makes me so angry!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 18, 2014 15:27:41 GMT 12
I wonder why, when all the other countries had details hours ago of who from their nations was onboard, is it taking so long for MFAT to confirm if a kiwi was also on the plane. Surely the kiwi would have checked in and shown their passport in the same system that everyone else did? The only thing i guess is they may have dual citizenship and used the other passport?
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Post by suthg on Jul 18, 2014 15:44:49 GMT 12
Early on there was a list of nationalities but at that stage, no New Zealand citizens mentioned. Now there is mention of at least one NZ passport holder and others with NZ connections (dual citizenship UK passport??). It may take a while before NOK family members are contacted. Very sad indeeed. NZ on board ill fated flight MH17
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Post by ErrolC on Jul 18, 2014 15:47:30 GMT 12
Early reports had 40 odd with unknown nationalities, so it isn't as simple as 'other countries knew'.
Sent from my D5503 using proboards
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 18, 2014 16:05:38 GMT 12
from The Sydney Morning Herald....Did this man shoot down MH17?By DANIEL FLITTON | 3:19PM - Friday, 18 July 2014MH17 PRIME SUSPECT: Self-proclaimed Minister of Defence of “Donetsk People's Republic”, Igor Girkin, centre, walks with his bodyguards in the eastern Ukrainian city earlier this month. — Photo: ALEXANDER KHUDOTEPLY/AFP.THE prime suspect goes by the name Strelkov — or "shooter". Real name Igor Girkin, the former Russian intelligence officer has shot his own troops for insubordination. He may have just shot down a passenger plane with 298 people on board.
"We did warn you — do not fly in our sky," he reportedly posted to a Russian social media page just hours ago.
This chilling message was most probably aimed at the Ukraine government, Girkin's target in a vicious separatist war.
But that post has now been deleted as it has become clear the jet was from Malaysia Airlines, not a military transport aircraft of the type Girkin has brought down in recent weeks.
The so-called "defence minister" of the Donetsk People's Republic first announced: "We just downed an An-26 near (the town of) Torez."
"And here is a video confirming that a ‘bird fell’," said the post.
The video shows locals referring to the same coalmine in the region mentioned by Strelkov.
Russia's state media avoided any mention of the controversial posts and instead reported militia leaders' later claims that the Ukrainian air force had shot down the Boeing 777 instead.
Confirmation of separatist fighters killing the 298 people on board the plane from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur would further complicate Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to paint their uprising as a fight for self-determination.
The comments attributed to Girkin did not identify what missile was used to down the craft.
But a message on the official Twitter account of the Donetsk People's Republic had announced hours earlier that insurgents had seized a series of Russian-made Buk systems capable of soaring to that height.
"dnrpress: self-propelled Buk surface-to-air missile systems have been seized by the DNR from (Ukrainian) surface-to-air missile regiment A1402," said the post.
That tweet was later deleted as well.
No amateur can bring down a passenger jet streaking across the sky. A trained operator is needed to work the sophisticated surface-to-air missiles needed.
Don't be lulled into believing any trooper with a rocket propelled grenade launcher on his shoulder could carry out this attack.
The professionalism required alone makes Girkin and his Russian-backed separatists as the most likely suspects.
They have captured missile batteries mounted on trucks, and are suspected to have been supplied Russian-made "needle" portable launchers that can be carried by a man.
But it was far from clear whether Moscow condoned this atrocity.
The conflict in Ukraine has boiled for months since Russian commandos in Februrary seized control of the Crimean peninsula.
A referendum in March — widely dismissed as a farce — saw the territory incorporated into Russia.
Ever since, Girkin and his ilk have been fighting in the east of Ukraine, with persistent reports of Russian forces staging across the nearby border.
But Putin has steadfastly denied any further claims on Ukraine.
Lilia Shevtsova, a highly regarded Russian analyst, wrote this week that no one has been willing to call this conflict for what it is — an international war.
"The West doesn't want to call it war, since it would then have to take concrete measures against the aggressor, a nuclear state. Who would dare to do that? Ukraine isn't ready to press the world to call the conflict a war out of fear of contradicting the West. And it's quite clear why Russia wouldn't want to acknowledge that it's fighting a war," she said.
There have been plenty of peace overtures, sanction threats and fruitless diplomacy.
But as Shevtsova puts it in a pungent remark: "Moscow, meanwhile, is attempting to wear the peacemaker's hat without ever doffing its battle helmet."www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/10282898/Did-this-man-shoot-down-MH17
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 18, 2014 16:29:06 GMT 12
and others with NZ connections (dual citizenship UK passport??). One Dutch travel agency said they had several customers on the flight who were coming to New Zealand, so that may be the connection in that it was their intended destination.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 18, 2014 16:33:38 GMT 12
Early reports had 40 odd with unknown nationalities, so it isn't as simple as 'other countries knew'. The beggars belief. In this day and age the airline, immigration, airport, and everyone else has all the traveller's full details in their system, and nationality is as simple as the passport every single passenger has to produce and have checked in before they board. So how can they have missed doing this for 40 people? I simply do not believe it. I'd wager any flight you could go into the airport computer system and instantly see every nationality onboard after check in is completed. If that is not the case, all the massive security restrictions stuck on travellers the past couple of decades are pointless. it's probably more of a case of McCully's department pussy-footing around yet again because it involves Malaysia.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 18, 2014 16:51:03 GMT 12
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