The Buk stops...

As always in air disasters, the saddest aspects are the beloved toys of children who died along with the other passengers; in the case of MH17, a stuffed monkey that will be played with no more.  Unlike aircraft crashes that were the fault of freak natural occurrences, mechanical failure or pilot error, when someone deliberately destroys the craft, even through misdentification, anger will flow from even parties with no connection to anyone on board and I'm furious at this slaughter of innocents.  More than that, roughly a hundred HIV/AIDS experts were travelling to a conference in Melbourne (obviously intending to switch flights at Kuala Lumpur) - more people will die than just those on the plane.  As one AIDS global specialist already in Melbourne said, "The cure could have been on that plane [to come in the future out of the minds of those who perished).
Even in accidents there is a blame game but this is a geopolitical 'incident' (though neutral, the word seems less than adequate as a description of this horror).  So who is here?  The primary responsibility lies with the Ukrainian separatists and their ethnic Russian fellow-travellers who have come over the border.  It is documented by Associated Press that they saw Buk missile launchers in rebel hands last week on 11th July (backed up with footage).  That a new video has emerged showing a Buk missile launcher on a truck heading across the border into Russia, minus two missiles, brings us to the people next most responsible - the security establishment controlling the Kremlin.  Not only have they stirred up this crisis in eastern Ukraine, fomenting chaos as a way of saying 'look, we still matter in this country', but it would have taken Russian military expertise to operate a Buk - I doubt that the rag-tag rebels would have that knowledge, no matter that such missile delivery systems fell into their hands when they began the insurrection.  Radio intercepts released by Ukrainian security services of Russian-speaking 'operators' discussing the destruction of the plane, realising to their horror that it was civilian seem credible, given that the Russians have not produced counter-evidence, as assuredly the FSB would if it existed, only denials.  The mention of a 'Kazakh' team (though that could be a mistranslation of 'cossack') is intriguing as many ethnic Russians used to live in Kazakhstan and hold dual nationality - most likely they are a black-ops Russian military brigade.  It follows on from the Ukrainian defence minister two months ago claiming their troops had killed Chechens in their offensive, a distinct ethnic group within the Russian Federation.  Vladimir Putin has made no bones about wishing to reconstitute the USSR and though he may be sanguine about a new Cold War, I doubt he had in mind repeating the downing of a civilian with hundreds of passengers as happened with the South Korean 747 in 1983 - leading to the highest East-West tension since the Cuban Missile crisis.  Sectoral sanctions by western governments have to follow because of Moscow's irresponsibility and intransigence.
Which brings us to the the Americans and their lily-livered allies in Europe.  Defence contracts have to be cancelled in the UK and France, Germany must play hardball now that it is the height of summer and energy disruption won't be so high - what happened to that EU plan to find an alternative to Russian supplies within 90 days?  They have been gutless recently, too afraid of endangering the European economy in the short-term that they fail to see the bigger picture of threat (a situation of which Putin is free thanks to stage-managed elections - of course he's going to win in 2018).  The USA has been a bit stronger in applying further-ranging sanctions to Russia on Wednesday yet now the pressure will be to ramp them up further.  If the western governments had acted with more solidarity and sense (principle doesn't enter into foreign policy decisions), instead of dithering over Crimea and then trying their best to forget the eastern Ukraine, Russia may have balked at getting its fingers burned from playing with fire.  So, in a sense, it is the weakness and cynicism of western governments that has led to a jet airliner becoming collateral damage.
Malaysian Airlines bears some of the blame.  A Dutch tourist, prior to boarding, posted a picture of the aeroplane with the caption 'If the plane goes missing, this is what it looks like'.  The trauma of losing MH370, probably over the Indian Ocean, should have prompted a complete overhaul of operating procedure at the airline, to take no risks whatsoever.  They dropped their prices in the wake of MH370 but does this explain the decision to fly over, rather than around, the scene of fighting to save money on fuel or was it always company policy before the disappearance of MH370?  They weren't alone in that but there were few other airlines who tempted fate.  Saving fuel costs was the reason that the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 cut across Soviet airspace back in 1983.  No matter how low they drop their prices now, the company is irreparably tarnished and may be bought out.
Last and most definitely least to blame is the government in Kiev.  They would not have shot the plane down because the rebels have no aircraft they can fly themselves.  Moscow claims the fault lies with Kiev for resuming the military offensive, as if the latter could let the east of the country which accounts for much of its economy slip permanently from its control, to be run by gangsters and Russian viceroys.  It may seem a small point but Russia was right to say responsibility lies with the country in whose airspace this occurred.  It is akin to attributing the sinking of the Titanic to the arrangement of the deckchairs rather than the iceberg, but Kiev didn't choose to declare the whole area a no-fly zone to all except its military fleet, preferring to keep collecting the air tolls for overflights.  Now because of that short-sighted greediness, they may lose a whole lot more in terms of overflight tolls, as operators give the entire country a miss.  All that said, the Kiev government and all those who serve under it are least deserving of opprobrium.  The buck stops primarily with the separatists and the Russian military-security establishment.