The Ultimate Sadness of MH17.

Until a couple of days ago the situation in Ukraine was of only passing interest to most people around the world. It was purely and simply a Ukrainian issue. And then somebody pushed a button and within minutes 298 innocent people from various countries – none of whom were Ukrainian or Russian – were lying dead across a swathe of the Ukrainian landscape. Suddenly, everybody around the world wants to know who pushed the button. Somebody somewhere is a mass murderer, and the eyes of the world are on Ukraine and Russia.

That was going to be the start of a post about the fate of Malaysian Airlines MH17, and the crazy circus of claim, counter claim, demand and denial which is currently ensuing.

I got so far and had to give it up; it was becoming too big and inevitably straying into areas in which I have neither knowledge nor expertise. I just wonder, however, whether the three warring parties will – or can even be expected to – stand aside and allow an expert, systematic and unbiased investigation into the evidence. It seems unlikely, and it further seems that some of the evidence has already been destroyed.

In that case, we will probably never know for certain who pushed the button, and on whose order. That means that the relatives and other loved ones of those who died will never have proper closure. And the eyes of the world will, no doubt, judge those most guilty of obstruction as being probably the ones guilty of the act itself. And how long, I wonder, will it take before the world forgets about it.