For all you travel buffs out there, of course you want to travel on the best possible airline, don’t you? Well now you can. The results for 2014 are in, and here they are:
After the bloody suppression of a patriotic demonstration in Warsaw in 1861, Alexander Herzen wrote to Tsar Alexander II: “You have become a common murderer, an ordinary thug.” He also described the Russian press as “shameless” and “unscrupulous.”
Today, perhaps we should repeat the words of this great Russian, and direct them at Vladimir Putin and his Russian press-men who are lying ceaselessly and insolently. First we hear that Poland trained the Ukraine fascist squads that terrorized the Maidan; next we are told that Putinist conquerors of the Crimea bought their weapons and uniforms in stores and that the Kremlin had nothing to do with it. Now we are once again hearing about the Ukraine state’s responsibility in the MH-17 disaster.
The 298 victims of the shoot down of the Malaysia Air flight are a result of Putin’s ruthless and cynical imperialist policies. It was his decision to arm and finance the so-called “separatists” who in reality are the Kremlin’s spy network and fifth column in the Donbass region. They were armed with Putin’s knowledge, approval and money. And these people are the ones who killed random, innocent individuals.
Putin—with his KGB polkovnik mentality—does not want to let Ukraine follow its own path toward democracy and Europe. He wants to reconstruct the Russian empire. Inciting, upholding and supporting ethnic conflicts in Latvia and Estonia serves this aim, as does the creeping dismantling of Moldova, and maintenance of conflicts around Upper Karabakh. Indeed—this great power, this great Russian chauvinism is the final and highest stage of communism. And Putin understands progress as gradual and complete annexation of successive former Soviet states.
The European Union—accustomed to peace and quiet—has neither determination nor an understanding of the growing threat. The clichéd faith in the possibility of placating the beast is replaying over and over again. The blindness and loyalty of European political and business elites gives reason for concern. But there is nothing that releases us—intellectuals active in culture, scholarship, and media—from the duty to say clearly, stubbornly, and emphatically: This is very dangerous. We must not be allowed to repeat the naiveté once displayed by intellectual elites toward Hitler and Stalin. And back then we were not allowed to close our eyes to the annexation of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Baltic States.
My friend from Moscow says that there are two scenarios in which the Russian army will leave Ukraine: One realistic and the other miraculous. In the realistic scenario, Saint George will ride in on a dragon and use his fiery sword to chase this band of scoundrels away. That’s the realistic scenario. And the miraculous one? They’ll just up and leave on their own.
The policy of successive concessions leads nowhere. Putin is not a European-style politician; he’s a politician of permanent belligerence and aggrandisement. Much seems to suggest that he has already let the genie out of the bottle—crowds of mercenaries are moving from Russia to Ukraine, crowds of sentimental monarchists, Orthodox fascists, National-Bolsheviks, and the like. Arming these bandits with first-class weapons is simply criminal. It is a good thing that Poland’s current government has taken an honest and judicious stance—it’s not flexing its muscles but it’s also not succumbing to illusions or hypocrisy.
Source: Adam Michnik – a leader of the anti-Communist opposition in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s, is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where this piece originally appeared (as edited). Translated by Agnieszka Marczyk.
US intelligence officials say they have no clear evidence of direct Russian government involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which they say was most likely hit by rebels by mistake. This is a narrow view at the least considering the source of the weaponry used in the attack.
They say that MH-17 was likely hit by an SA-11 SAM fired by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and that Russia “created the conditions” for the attack by arming and financing the separatists.
It is believed that the most likely explanation for why the plane was shot down was that the rebels made a mistake and misidentified the aircraft as that belonging to the Ukraine air force. Separatists had previously shot down 12 Ukrainian military aircraft.
“The most plausible explanation … was that it was a mistake,” and that the missile was fired by “an ill-trained crew” using a system that requires some skill and training, an official said. Again this statement does not stand the test of scrutiny! Why was this “ill-trained crew” using a technical weapons platform, but even so they still managed to shoot down an unidentified civilian aircraft flying at 33,000 ft by assuming it was a Ukraine air force aircraft.
The officials had made their appraisal using social media postings and videos made public in recent days by the Ukrainian government, even though tnot all off this evidence has been authenticated.
Video of a missile launcher said to have been crossing the Russian border after the launch, and appearing to be missing a missile has yet to be verified as being exactly what it purported to be.
It is still not known who fired the missile at MH-17 or whether any Russian operatives were present at the missile launch. As if Russia (or the separatists) is going to freely divulge that information!
It is also not certain that the missile crew was trained in Russia, although a stepped-up campaign in recent weeks by Russia to arm and train the rebels suggests that Russia is clearly implicated in this disaster. This training has continued even after the downing of the commercial jetliner. The Russian military had been training the rebels at a large base in Rostov on various weapons, including air defence systems, they said.
The claim that the Ukrainian government had shot down the plan was not supported and was unrealistic, as Kiev had no such missile systems in that area, which is clearly under the control of the rebels.
This would mean Ukrainian government troops would have had to fight their way into the area towing the weapons systems, fire at the passenger plane and fight their way out again. “That is not a plausible scenario to me,” the official said.
President Barack Obama said the Malaysia Airlines plane “was shot down over territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine.’’ He also said Russia has both trained the separatists and “armed them with military equipment and weapons, including anti-aircraft weapons”.
But in Russia, at a news conference held yesterday, defence chiefs offered two alternative theories about what happened to MH-17, the first being that it was possibly shot down by a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet. Moscow stated its radar systems had detected the fighter tracking near the Boeing 777 at the time it crashed and noted the plane was armed with air-to-air R-60 missiles (how?) that could shoot down the aircraft.
The US dismissed the claim as “desperate” propaganda, pointing out that Ukraine air force fighters cannot operate at 33,000 feet where MH-17 was flying and that Ukraine has told Washington that none of its planes was in the air at the time.
Russia also suggested MH-17 might have been shot down by a Ukraine government surface-to-air BUK missile system rather than a Russian supplied system provided to rebels by Moscow. But again, how did Ukraine get the missile into the rebel held area?
Russia seems to be offering feeble and implausible excuses to attempt to deflect their role in this disaster!
While there are various questions that have already emerged from what was supposed to be Ukraine’s irrefutable proof confirming Russian rebel involvement in today’s MH-17 tragedy, perhaps one just as important question emerges when one considers what is clearly an different flight path in today’s tragic flight of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777.
Perhaps the best visualisation of what the issue is, comes from Vagelis Karmiros who has compared all the recent MH-17 flight paths as tracked by Flightaware and shows that while all of the ten most recent paths pass safely well south of the Donetsk region, and cross the airspace above the Sea of Azov, it was only the last flight that passed straight overhead Donetsk.
How and why did the diversion from the accepted diversion flight path and passage over the war zone occur? The above map shows precisely where the restricted airspace is, and how MH-17 flew straight over it on the 17/07/2014.
Also, had airlines and pilots been made aware of the recent and previous missile attacks on Ukraine air force aircraft in this area? While MH-17 may well have been mistaken for a military aircraft of the Ukraine air force, there was always a significant risk that this exact type of incident would occur.
Of course the most burning question still remains as to why this civilian aircraft was targeted, and who is responsible (directly and indirectly) for firing the missile. Those who supplied the missile system are just as guilty as those who pressed the button!
Twenty-seven Australians were aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 apparently shot down by a missile fired by Russian-based and Russian-supplied rebels in Ukraine, which killed all 298 on board.
Kiev accused pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces of the “terrorist act’’ as stunned world leaders called for an international inquiry into the disaster, which could further fan the flames of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
B777-2H6 (ER) 9M-MRD; C/N 28411; Photo: Wikipedia
Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian insurgents traded blame for the disaster, but comments attributed to a rebel chief suggesting his men may have downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 by mistake, believing it was a Ukrainian army transport plane.
And if this is true and the plane was brought down by Russian supported separatists using Russian know-how and Russian supplied heavy weapons and SAM missiles, then all roads lead back to Russia and stop clearly at the feet of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The finger of suspicion in this matter has to point to Russian operatives. Pro-Russian separatists would scarcely have the expertise to operative this type of technical equipment, therefore this indicates that they must have been operated by the Russian Army who have the prerequisite skills and experience. This theory is supported by reports (and video) of mobile SAM batteries crossing back into Russia the day after the attack.
The Russian president has again demonstrated that he has scant regard for human life inasmuch as he has failed to prevent the flow of money and weapons to these terrorists, in the obvious attempt to annexe more Ukraine territory to the Russian state. Putin should resign from the presidency, but of course he will not do so because he so enjoys the power of office. The elixir of power is more addictive than any narcotic! Furthermore, Russia has demonstrated that little has changed in its national outlook and foreign policy from its communist past, and is still not averse to being the “bully” to achieve its national needs and desires. Russia has demonstrated its continued dissatisfaction with the loss of territory since the breakup of the former USSR. Russian democracy resembles no other!
However, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the Ukrainian government for the crash of a Malaysian Airlines jet that was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 295 people on board. The government in Kiev is responsible for the fighting in eastern Ukraine between government troops and pro-Russian rebel forces which caused the downing of the civilian aircraft, Putin said at a cabinet meeting last night, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin.
Putin has repeatedly denied Russian involvement in the fighting in Ukraine. Mr Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the downing of a passenger plane, saying it would not have happened if Kiev had not resumed a military campaign against separatists. “I want to point out that this tragedy wouldn’t have happened if there was peace in this land, or at least if fighting hadn’t resumed in the southeast of Ukraine,” Putin said. “And undoubtedly, the state on whose territory this happened is responsible for this awful tragedy.”
The government in Kiev blamed the attack on pro-Russian rebels. The separatists denied the accusation. Ukraine’s state security service said it intercepted phone conversations among militants discussing the missile strike, which knocked Flight 17 from the sky near the eastern town of Torez, about 30 kilometres from the Russian border. The Boeing Co. 777 was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.
The Australian Prime Minister demanded Russia cooperate with any international investigation and took a swipe at Moscow, saying: “The bullying of small countries by big ones, the trampling of justice and decency in the pursuit of national aggrandisement, with reckless indifference to human life should have no place in our world.”
The Boeing 777-200ER, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur but carrying 27 Australian-born passengers, appeared to have broken up before impact and the burning wreckage was scattered over a wide area.
Malaysia said the plane had made no distress call.
Around the World
American intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile took down the passenger jet. US officials said a US intelligence assessment suggests it is more likely pro-Russian separatists or the Russians rather than Ukrainian government forces shot down the aircraft. US Vice President Joe Biden said the incident was “not an accident’’ and described the Malaysia Airlines aircraft as having been “blown out of the sky.’’
Ukraine labelled the crash a “terrorist act” with the Ukraine embassy Charge D’Affaires to Australia, Mr Mykola Dzhydzhora, stating that the Ukraine understood “medium-range surface-to-air missile” was used in an attack on MH-17, which he said were supplied by the “Russian Federation”.
On the plane were 154 Dutch, 27 Auistralians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six from the UK, four each from Belgium and Germany and one from Canada. Other nationalities had yet to be confirmed.
All of the 15 crew were Malaysian nationals.
Dialog of terrorists discussing the shooting down of MH-17 from the Ukraine Security Service.
A Malaysian Airlines plane carrying 295 people, including 27 Australians, has been shot down in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, with reports saying the jet was shot down at 33,oo0ft.
The 1997 Boeing 777-2H6 (ER) C/N 28411 (9M-MRD) was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it disappeared from radar and came down near Torez in the region of Donetsk. It remains unclear as to who fired the SAM.
The Malaysian Airlines flight appears to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile called a BUK, a relic from the Soviet era, Britain’s Telegraph reports.
An Australian passport has apparently been found in the plane wreck of Malaysian Airline MH17 which was allegedly shot down while carrying 295 passengers.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused pro-Russian insurgents of shooting down the jet and described it as a “terrorist act”.
Poroshenko stated on the downed plane: “This incident is not a catastrophe. It is a terrorist act.”
All 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board the plane are believed to have died.
Horrifying images have emerged on social media showing dozens of severely mutilated corpses strewn in the plane wreckage.
Debris was spread out for kilometres and the tail of the passenger jet lay in a corn field with the Malaysian Airlines insignia on it. Rebel fighters and several fire trucks were seen nearby the crash site.
Poroshenko expressed his “deepest and sincerest sympathies for the families and loved ones of those killed” and vowed that “those behind this tragedy will be brought to justice.”
Vladimir Putin has been reported to say that he believed that he may have been the target of Ukraine forces, as he flew through the area at the same time as MH-17. The validity of this statement has not been confirmed, and may be an attempt by Russia to deflect blame over the incident.
The plane crashed in a region where pro-Russian rebels have been engaging Ukrainian army forces in recent weeks, even reportedly shooting down some Ukrainian air force planes.
But the rebel leaders have denied any involvement in the Malaysian Airlines crash and pledged to allow “international experts” access to the crash site.
Malaysian Airlines confirmed that it had “lost contact” with one its planes in Ukrainian airspace.
The rebels suspected of carrying out the attack on MH17 are now likely to become some of the world’s most wanted men.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic is reported to have initially taken to Twitter to claim responsibility for downing an aircraft, but those tweets were later removed.
But the pro-Russian group which controls parts of eastern Ukraine is already said to have shot down four Ukrainian military aircraft in the last week alone.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, with both the government in Kiev and pro-Russia separatists officially denying any involvement.
But that will not stop the international finger of blame pointing towards the rebel forces operating in the region.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has already described the disaster as a deliberate act.
“I would like to bring your attention to the fact that we are not calling it an accident, or a disaster, but an act of terrorism,” said Mr Poroshenko.
While demands by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mr Najib Razak that “perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice” will increase pressure for an international response.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has also called for justice: “If a surface to air missile is involved, it is not an accident – it’s a crime and the perpetrators must be brought swiftly to justice.”
It is the belief of this writer that if the aircradft was shot down by pro-Russian separatists using Russian supplied SAM missiles, then Russia (and thus Putin) is implicated in this terrorist action and must ultimately accept responsibility and the repercussions associated with the incident.
As a result of the embarrassing loss by Brazil to Germany in the first semi-final of the FIFA World Cup 2014, the recriminations and the blame game has started already as shock turns to anger, and the man at the centre of this storm is the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The agent of the Brazil superstar Neymar has launched a scathing attack on humiliated national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, branding ‘Big Phil’ a “repulsive, conceited jerk”.
The fall-out of Brazil’s massacre at the World Cup resulting in their exit at the hands of Germany is showing no signs of abating after the hosts were thrashed 7-1 – the biggest debacle since their 6-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, Photo: AFP
Neymar’s agent criticised Scolari on six points:
“One– being Portugal coach and winning nothing,” he wrote.
“Two – going to Chelsea and being sacked the following day.
“Three – going to coach in Uzbekistan.
“Four – returning to Brazil, taking over a big team (Palmeiras) and getting them relegated to the second division.
“Five – leaving the club 56 days before the end of the Brasileirao (season) to ‘escape’ relegation.
“Six – being an old jerk, arrogant, repulsive, conceited and ridiculous”.
It is not the first time Scolari has faced heavy criticism for Brazil’s World Cup debacle and he is expected to be dismissed from his role at the end of tournament, although he refused to stand down on Wednesday.
It is unusual for a source so close to the players to launch an attack on such a personal level.
Too often it is the coach or the manager that suffers after a team’s loss. Surely a team’s performance is measured by the talent available in the team which is all the coach has to work with. Brazil surely could not be that short on talent that the team is solely reliant on solitary players like Neymar and Thiago Silva, so much so that the team cannot function without them.
The Brazil squad was simply not good enough. They are a long way from the 2002 squad which included Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos, and the fans wanted the team to win the Cup as if by magic rather than hard work. And the team lacked the maturity and emotional restraint to pull it off. They were lucky to get as far as they got in the competition.
Football-mad Pope Francis “might” watch the World Cup final on Sunday between his native Argentina and Germany, but is unlikely to do so alongside his German predecessor Benedict XVI according to the Vatican.
“He might want to watch the final,” says Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.
But a Vatican source claims he “excluded categorically” the prospect of Benedict XVI, an academic theologian with a liking for classical music, sitting down in front of his television set to watch the face-off.
“It’s really not his thing, he is not a fan. It would be like inflicting an infinite penitence on him at the age of 87,” the source adds despite the wishful thinking of the internet meme above. “He has never been able to watch a football match from beginning to end in his life.”
There was utter carnage in Brazil today after the first semi-final of the FIFA World Cup.
In the Estadio Mineirao at Belo Horizonte, the host nation of the FIFA World Cup, Brazil was soundly defeated by Germany, 7 goals to 1.
Yes, you read that correctly, 7-1.
It appeared that Brazil would not score, but in the 90th minute a consolation goal was scored by Oscar. This was too little, too late. Brazil was totally humiliated by the German onslaught that showed no sign of abating until the final whistle.
Goal scorers for Germany were Kroos (2), Klose, Muller, Schurrle (2) and Khedira.
Germany is the first team into the World Cup final and will play the winner of the Nederlands-Argentina game to be played on 9/07/2014 at 17:00 (local time).
Brazil has one more game in the competition when they play the loser of the above match to determine 3rd place in the Cup. Perhaps some lost pride can be restored by doing well in this match.
Nobody described the grief felt by the players and the nation better than defeated player, Fred.
“It is a moment of great sadness and disappointment”, he said. “It is a scar that will forever live in all our lives, but will have to seek a higher power to pass such adversity.”
Here’s how Warren from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph recorded the event:
The recent sentence of five years and nine moths handed down to veteran performer Rolf Harris is grossly inadequate. Consider that each of the 12 offences carried at maximum 2 year prison sentence, Harris was looking at a possible 24 years imprisonment.
Legal opinion believed that because of the nature of the crime some of which if committed today could attract a life sentence, that the sentence Harris could expect would be 8 to 10 years, and he could be expected to die in gaol.
Harris’ 12 guilty verdicts of sexual assault against children, committed over decades, which sent some of his victims into a spiral of alcoholism, depression and self-hatred, resulted in the final sentence of five years and nine months. Consider further that Harris brazenly carried out these attacks, often in plain sight of others, and using his position of fame and stardom to protect himself, and that he has shown no remorse whatsoever.
Harris’ sentence of five years and nine months was arrived at after a convoluted formula of consecutive and concurrent sentences for the 12 offences.
Further, UK law allows prisoners who serve 12 months or more to be released on licence half-way through their sentence. This Harris could be released as early as May 2017.
The sentence is set to be reviewed amid criticisms it is unjustly lenient.
George Brown is a decorated soldier and health professional and 40 year veteran in the field of emergency nursing and paramedical practice, both military and civilian areas. He has senior management positions in the delivery of paramedical services. Opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the author and should not be construed as being those of any organization to which he may be connected.
He was born in the UK of Scottish ancestry from Aberdeen and a member of the Clan MacDougall. He is a member of the Macedonian community in Newcastle, and speaks fluent Macedonian. While this may seem a contradiction, it is his wife who is Macedonian, and as a result he embraced the Macedonian language and the Orthodox faith.
His interests include aviation and digital photography, and he always enjoys the opportunity to combine the two. Navigate to his Flickr site to see recent additions to his photo library.
Џорџ Браун е украсени војник и професионално здравствено лице и 40 годишен ветеран во областа на за итни случаи старечки и парамедицински пракса, двете воени и цивилни области. Тој има високи менаџерски позиции во испораката на парамедицински услуги. Мислењата изразени во овие колумни се исклучиво на авторот и не треба да се толкува како оние на било која организација тој може да биде поврзан.
Тој е роден во Велика Британија на шкотскиот потекло од Абердин и член на Kланот MacDougall. Тој е член на македонската заедница во Њукасл, и зборува течно македонски. Иако ова можеби изгледа контрадикција, тоа е неговата сопруга кој е македонски, и како резултат научил македонскиот јазик и ја примија православната вера.
Неговите интереси вклучуваат авијација и дигитална фотографија, и тој секогаш ужива во можност да се комбинираат двете. Отиди до неговиот Фликр сајт да видите последните дополнувања на неговата слика библиотека.
Discussion on the law that applies to or affects Australia's emergency services and emergency management, by Michael Eburn, PhD, Australian Lawyer. Email: meburn@australianemergencylaw.com
Oh, let's see...distinguished Gen-X'er, frustrated writer and mom living in the confines of a small town that thinks it's a big deal. And have I mentioned Walmart yet?
Words, By George! 