On Flight MH17

     Much like Jon Stewart, I was really surprised to get home from vacation and learn that the world had gone to crap while I was lounging on the beach. This post was originally going to be about my vacation by the ocean, but I think we can all agree that there are some much more important matters to be discussed, namely - Flight MH17.


     Flight MH17, a Malaysian Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The last known contact with the Boeing 777 was over Ukrainian airspace, where the commercial flight was shot down. The plane had on board 298 passengers, the CBC says, all of whom were killed. I has been determined that MH17 was shot down in rebel-controlled territory, though it remains to be seen who exactly forced the plane to crash.

Debris from the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17
[source]

     The Crisis in Ukraine has been escalating ever since Russia's taking the Crimean Peninsula earlier this year. This tragedy of a commercial flight being shot down has risen political tensions even further. As the Ukrainian Armed Forces blame pro-Russia separatists for the crash and vice-versa, little progress is being made in determining what side shot down MH17.

     This is yet another reminder of how dangerous the Ukrainian conflict is. Simply said, those 298 passengers were civilians. None of them had any stake in that war, and the fact that they died is horrendous. Even though MH17 was most likely mistaken as an enemy aircraft, it is still unacceptable that a bloody civil conflict was able to kill these innocent people, among whom included three infants, Slate says.

     No matter who is responsible for the deaths of the 298 passengers, MH17 is a reminder to the world that the Ukraine is in the middle of a civil war, something we've seemed to have forgotten in the past month. This conflict is killing hundreds and hundreds of people, and is bleeding off into other parts of the world due to this deadly plane crash. It's long since time that the international community get involved.

     We don't know who downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, and it's starting to look like maybe we never will. We just need to stop this from ever happening again.


     Check out the TestTube video below to learn some more about flight MH17. You can also check out the Contemplations post about the Crisis in Ukraine here. Remember to share your thoughts in the comments. You can find me on Facebook, and Google+, or email me directly at contemplationsblog.gmail.com.