By Mohamad Ariff Sabri, Raub MP

Maybe it is too much of watching Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang. I am constantly looking for some alternative explanations to what seems so obvious. In the downing and brutal shooting down of MH17, the world is quick to point its finger to Putin, the Russians and the separatist rebels. But on many occasions things are not what they appear to be.

The Netherlands who lost most of the passengers on MH17 seems to be more circumspect and is refraining from rushing in to accuse Putin and Russia. The Dutch PM is heavily criticised for his slowness and circumspection in condemning Putin and Russia. Why is this so?

The popular story line is this. It appears that the Russians are behind all this. It appears that the separatist rebels who are fighting to keep Ukraine as an integral part of USSR are the people responsible for shooting down MH17. The American controlled world media wasted no time cultivating the what appears to be version. And the world appears to believe it.

But what if, the real culprits were the Ukrainians themselves who actually shot down the plane but worked with America in blaming the Russians and Putin? They did that on purpose . That will provide them the justification to continue attacking and causing mischief to Putin and Russia. And serve American interests in Europe.

Initially I thought this is the correct line of approach. Let us therefore demand the presence of the Russian ambassador and tell him firmly of our indignation and protest against Putin and Russia.

But probably the better approach is to call in the Russian ambassador and work with him on how best we can work with Moscow and Putin in bringing the bodies of the Malaysian who perished home. Bring them home through Russian controlled territory.

Najib may make a big deal about wanting to bring the bodies of Malaysia back home and have them given a proper burial and rites in Malaysia. Under normal situation that would be comforting and the right thing to do. Bring them before Hari Raya? Why make it impossible for yourself.We dont want our dear PM lose more sleep. He did not sleep for two days- our dear PM.

We have to clear many things such as negotiating with the warring factions and walking on a political and diplomatic tightrope and all that. Then we probably have to get doctors do the forensic DNA testing so that we can identify our dead. Can that be done within a week?

Circumstances are not normal- the area where the plane went down is in a disputed and war zone. Malaysia and Najib can continue making un-impactful noises of what they want to do. But we must come to terms with real politics in the geopolitical game.

It’s better for Najib to work cultivating Putin’s goodwill in trying to bring back the remains. Otherwise together with the other nations, we have to make an international closure, bury our dead where they perished. And this requires working with Putin and Moscow to let the so called rebels bury the dead. Then get our religious people over there and conduct the proper burial rites. We can bring Christian and other priests and Muslim ustazs over there.

I understand in Islam, the dead are often buried where they died. Our prophet and many of his companions were buried at places where they died. Saad Ibn Waqas was buried in China.

The term separatist rebels is given by the west under directive from America of course. America wants the present regime that is ruling Ukraine to remain as its proxy state. The so called separatists are fighting to evict the mafia government funded and supported by America. Putin can’t have an Ukrainian state serving as a dagger pointing to its heart or to use a more current comparison have a BUK SA-11 pointing towards its vital parts.

The journalist from The Daily Telegraph could almost be heard triumphantly saying..Yet there is no difficulty in identifying those responsible for this outrage. People on the payroll of the Russian Intelligence. You can almost feel the writer talking like a CIA operative.

He puts it squarely on the Russians. … The Russians he said know everything about the attack, down to the serial number of the missile and the names and breakfast rations of the people who ordered the attack. The Russians also know exactly what links there are (if any) between the people who fired the missile and their own GRU command structures.

To sound fair, the writer quickly balances his skewness by saying that the…….Americans will know a lot of this, too. Washington is doubtless poring through myriad satellite images and thousands of conversations in Russian military slang to establish in minute detail what happened when the missile was fired and who ordered it.

And then, he went on… likewise, the Ukrainians know plenty – they do not have the GRU’s resources, but they are highly motivated to follow what the “rebels” and “separatists” are doing.

But the Russians he finally came around… is that the Russians – who know the most about it – are refusing to hand over to the world everything they know. Nor are they throwing their weight behind a rapid international effort to help the victims’ families by sealing and investigating the crash area in a normal way. Instead of a principled, helpful and sensitive response from Moscow, we see a macabre spectacle of diplomatic bluster and evasion while the crash site is despoiled and manipulated. Murky alterations to the Wikipedia MH17 site are traced to Russian official buildings. Bodies are piled in unguarded railway refrigerator wagons. International officials are threatened at gunpoint by belligerent fanatics loyal to Moscow. Russia stands accused for not using all its influence to push the rebels out of the way so that normal international procedures can take place.

That is the story he and the western world wants us to believe. But like I said, what if, the Ukranians were the ones who did it? And put the blame on Russia and Putin?

* The views expressed in this article are the personal opinion of the columnist

* The article first appeared on sakmongkol.blogspot.com