Since the tragic downing of a commercial jet over eastern Ukraine on July 17^th, the Anglo-American media has put out a tsunami of coverage, much of which was based on some circumstantial evidence mixed with a lot of conjecture and innuendo.  As it turns out, many of the claims were based on the Kiev government’s claims – which the State Department often regurgitates – even though many previous claims by the Kiev government throughout the Ukraine crisis and civil war have turned out to be less than accurate, to say the least.  Other sensational claims turned out to have been made and repeated by media outlets that had no actual reporters on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

Since this involves not only a tragedy but the potential for serious escalation between two nuclear powers, it is imperative that people seek out views from a wide variety of sources and put their critical thinking skills to work.  As a counter-balance to much of the shallow garbage that passes for journalism today in the American press, I urge readers to check out the following sources and form their own conclusions.

On July 21^st, the Russian Defense Ministry gave a presentation on the MH17 downing, including presentation of radar imagery, along with 10 questions they put to the U.S. to prove their allegations (the following has the best reproduction of images shown during the briefing that I’ve found, along with commentary by an analyst of Ukraine/Russia (Vineyard of the Saker) who has a very good reputation in the blogosphere:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Russian-Military-Final-by-Michael-Collins-Brand-Obama_Mh17-Airline-Crash_Russia_Ukraine-140722-494.html

Investigative journalist Robert Parry, who has won awards for reporting on intelligence issues, discusses what his inside source has told him about MH17:

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/07/20/what-did-us-spy-satellites-see-in-ukraine/

Parry’s follow up in response to the US intelligence briefing to the press regarding MH17 – the intelligence community’s response was prompted by the Russian military’s presentation on 7/21:

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/07/22/the-mystery-of-a-ukrainian-army-defector/

Video of AP reporter, Matt Lee, demonstrating what real journalism is during an exchange with State Dept. spokesperson Marie Harf where he questions her persistently about the Russian military’s presentation and how the US government has not provided any substantive evidence to support their grave accusations regarding MH17:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPCejH3mTM