And it doesn't help when a passenger plane gets hit and goes down because googling becomes even muddier than usual with overlapping search terms.
Well, not to worry, I did another search and guess what? I found what I was looking for. Interestingly, this may have happened just before the Malaysian plane was shot down.
Ukraine Accuses Russia of Shooting Down Fighter Jet
But surely that's just a coincidence.
At any rate, although I still think the Malaysian plane shooting was an accident, there are signs that Russia has escalated things drastically lately. And that's mostly because the Russian side is getting more desperate as the Ukrainian side is making some serious headway including taking back towns and securing some boarder crossings. We've seen division amongst pro-Russian groups and some have even handed in their weapons and asked for amnesty. Not looking good for those Russians, I mean, "pro-Russian Ukrainians". As a result we've seen a lot more heavy weapons coming in to Ukraine which I suppose is a last ditch effort to even the battlefield. So who knows, maybe that sa-11 was one that was taken from a Ukrainian base, or maybe it was a gift from Putin, irregardless it's believed Russians helped organize these anti-aircraft teams as the Ukrainian airforce has played an important role so far and a proper air defense would be key to Russian objectives. The Russians must believe strongly in this as it appears they've started actively shooting down Ukrainian fighters using their own fighters.
Well, at least we agree on something.
You could but you'd piss off the rebels who have repeatedly complained that Russia isn't doing anything.
Except that by "nothing" they really mean, full Russian annexation. Russia has otherwise done plenty.
This is a local rebellion which, unlike the "local" rebellions we've helped, isn't sweeping across the country to take the capital.
They're not sweeping across the country because they can't, but some rebels did promise marching in Kiev. But the big problem here is that it isn't local at all. The fact is pro-Russians aren't a huge majority in Eastern Ukraine. This isn't Crimea. Eastern Ukraine has been historically Eastern Ukraine, it's not a territory that some former Soviet Leader gifted to them. What we're seeing here is what's called a
Fifth Column, which is when certain groups, usually foreign, operate clandestine in a manner to subvert the established authority. It's how empires are built and maintained fluffy. That's something you might want to read up on if you get the chance.
The fact is there's very little reason to believe that Eastern Ukrainians would have risen up so violently and so quickly. If we go back to before Yanukovych rejected the EU deal, polls were conducted to determine how Ukrainians felt about Russia and if they should join Russia. The results indicated that there was little desire for such a thing. But once the crisis began things changed and Russian propaganda went into high gear. Once Yanukovych was ousted things happen very quickly and some very interesting things happened - armed men appeared out of no where and some well known Russian commanders appeared with them. Some Russian spetznaz from the Georgia invasion a few years back suddenly appeared in Crimea and after that Eastern Ukraine. So no, this is not a local uprising and I'm certain you know this, you just choose to lie about it because that's what liars do.
Btw, do the Ukrainian pro-Russian groups have a leader? Yes they do. Who is that leader? I'm sure you know but I'll tell you anyway. The guy's name is
Igor Girkin, also known as Igot Strelkov. He's well known enough to have his own wiki page and why not,
he commands the Donbass People's Militia. Unfortunately for the people of Donbass, he probably answers to a higher authority outside of that region, or country even. Yes, it turns out he's a Russian colonel, officially part of the reserve but amazingly active none the less. He calls the shots in Eastern Ukraine, although he might be losing his influence as some groups have decided to no longer follow his every command (it seems they don't trust him, hmmm... I wonder why). This kinda makes your argument that it's a local uprising look like total BS.
And sorry, I fully reject the argument that it's all Kiev's fault. Sure they could have responded differently and probably should have, but one can't ignore that the pro-Russians were NOT just sitting at home minding their own business. No, they attacked Ukrainian institutions and even military bases and it's all very well documented. The fact that you'd venture such a completely stupid argument is mind boggling and only adds evidence to my own personal theory that your perceived intelligence is no more than being really good at parroting propaganda from your favorite propagandists without first applying some critical thought. In other words I fully believe you're a moron and probably don't deserve a second of my time but it's a slow day today so what the hell. The reality is that the pro-Russians in Eastern Ukraine are a sizable bunch but I see no reason to believe they are the clear majority. There are plenty of pro-Ukraines living in East Ukraine and on all accounts I've read they refer to the pro-Russians as terrorists. Not trying to paint them as terrorists, but want to point out that there is a deep divide even in Eastern Ukraine itself - which probably explains why Russia needs to intervene on a scale much greater than in Crimea.
Now, as for the IMF nonsense. Whatever evils the IMF and the EU may entail, they are far greater than what Russia had in store for Ukraine. Here in Winnipeg we have a very large Ukrainian population, possibly the biggest ethnic group around and that's dating back decades. Many of my work mates are Ukrainian and one thing I learned is that most Ukrainians feel that Russia has done all it can to influence Ukraine through corruption and organized crime. This isn't something new, this is old news, it's just what Russia does. The new leaders in Crimea appointed by Russia are well known gang leaders and that surprises no one. When Ukrainians say they want to break away from Russia they really want to break the corruption and the organized crime. Are you surprised that Tymoshenko didn't win? I'm not. Putin wanted her to win (he had suggested that she's make a good president that he could "work" with) probably because she was part of the old system and he probably had some dirt on her he could use. Ukrainians were probably wise not to re-elect her. Irregardless of what needs to be done to work with the EU and the IMF they consider that far better than dealing with Russia. And I fully agree with them on that. The fact is Russia screwed up and it's Ukrainians who are paying the price. That too is old news and just one more reason for Ukraine to distance itself.