by Stephen Lendman

A veto may have been cast when this article is read. Moscow opposes a US proposed rigged process - suppressing evidence of its culpability and Kiev’s in downing MH17, pointing fingers the wrong way, a longstanding imperial practice.

The whole world SHOULD know neither Russia or Donbass freedom fighters downed MH17, killing all passengers and crew members aboard during flight over Southeastern Ukraine’s war zone. Accusations otherwise are tiresome Big Lies. They wore thin long ago. Kiev and Washington bear full responsibility for what happened - a thinly veiled scheme to wrongfully blame Russia and Donbass for their criminality.

Moscow’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin called Washington’s scheme to establish an MH17 tribunal it controls for supposedly holding responsible parties accountable “a grandiose political show” with no legitimacy whatever.

On Friday, Security Council members will shortly (or perhaps already) vote(d) up or down on establishing a so-called MH17 international tribunal as this is written - drafted by Malaysia on behalf of its government, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine, together conspiring in coverup, the whole process manipulated by Washington to blame the wrong parties for what happened and absolve culpable ones.

Moscow opposes an attempt to establish a rigged process. It may have already vetoed the resolution if enough other SC members don’t vote “no.”

Vitaly Churkin said “(w)e will vote against it. I have no doubt (of) that. If the (draft) resolution gets nine or more (“yes”) votes, (there) will be a veto” from Russia. "If it gets less than nine votes,” Moscow will vote “no” without using veto power.

It’s entirely out of line to consider the MH17 incident a “threat to international peace and security” - the wrongheaded language Washington demands.

“No international tribunals have been established before in accordance with UN Charter Chapter VII on civilian plane crashes,” Churkin explained.

The draft resolution doesn’t mention one specifically. It calls for “bring(ing) to justice all those guilty in the air crash.” It requires “cooperat(ion) (from all countries) until the international investigation is completed.”

A Kremlin press release said Putin “confirmed Moscow’s position on (the) inexpediency of establishing an international tribunal remains unchanged. (M)any questions still remain to (be answered), including (about) collected evidence and denying Russia access to (a) significant part in the process.”

“The Russian side stressed readiness for close cooperation with the aim of finding causes and circumstances of this tragedy.”

Putin explained the importance of fully implementing Security Council Resolution 2166 - calling for a full and comprehensive investigation of what happened.

He “noted that the draft resolution put forward by Russia is aimed at coordinating with the tasks outlined in Resolution 2166. Regret was expressed in connection with the fact that countries calling for establishing an international tribunal on Malaysia Airlines plane crash, did not support this compromise draft.”

Washington rejected Moscow’s alternative resolution calling for more investigatory transparency - instead of secrecy maintained and excluding Russia from access to information collected.

The Kremlin criticized Ban Ki-moon for not appointing a special representative to investigate the incident - one of many services he performs for the imperial interests he represents.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs