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Russia Prepares For Internet War Over Malaysian Jet

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-going-to-be-a-long-night dept.

An anonymous reader writes The investigation of a Malaysian passenger jet shot down over Ukrainian rebel held territory is heating up. U.S. and U.K. news organizations are studiously trying to spread the blame, Russian ITAR, which, just earlier today was celebrating the downing of a large aircraft by rebel missiles in Torez (Google cache) is reporting that the rebels do not have access to the missiles needed for such attacks. The rebel commander who earlier today reported the downing of the aircraft has also issued a correction to earlier reports that they had captured BUK air defense systems with Russian sources now stating that the rebels do not posses such air defenses. The Ukrainian president has been attempting to frame the incident as a "terrorist attack". President Obama made contact with Vladimir Putin and has been instead treating it as an accident, calling it a "terrible tragedy" and saying that the priority is investigating whether U.S. citizens were involved. With control of the black box and its own internet propaganda army Russia may be in a good position to win the propaganda war.

6 of 503 comments (clear)

  1. meanwhile overnight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    meanwhile overnight it's been reported by the telegraph.co.uk that a mobile launcher was seen headed back toward the russian border with two of it's four missiles missing, short video clip provided of one on the move at the website.

  2. Active ops by eddy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seeing a lot of pro-russian "psyops" on one local forum attached to a news outlet focused on economics, so much so that it's pretty obvious that it's organized. Massive amounts of downvotes on anything negative to the pro-russian side, and weak conspiracy theories written in broken english moderated up.

    Not sure why they're wasting their time, but there you go. I guess the proud Cheka men have nothing better to do than troll forums.

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  3. Re:Black box data streaming by acoustix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My guess is cost. Sending data via satellite is very expensive, and there's a lot of data recorded. As for ground stations, I'm not aware of any plane-to-ground data communications currently in use (other than radio for voice) so that would need a completely new infrastructure built.

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
  4. Re:Black box data streaming by justcauseisjustthat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So we can put Wifi internet on airplanes, but not a virtual black box?

  5. Russia has no choice by conquistadorst · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Russia has no choice, they have to do everything in their power to stem the international avalanche of disdain that would otherwise befall them. Think about it:
    1. 1. Russia denies wanting to annex eastern Ukraine
    2. 2. Russia denies supporting rebels
    3. 3. Russia denies arming rebels
    4. 4. Rebels then shoot down an international civilian aircraft using the very weapons they weren't supposed to have

    If the rebels are ever confirmed to have shot down the plane all of Russia's denials fall apart like a house of cards. Caught red handed. Except now there's international blood on their hands instead of just Ukrainian. Unfortunately for Ukraine, nobody really cares about them except their neighbors. So on that note, you can be guaranteed they will stop at nothing to prove rebels were not at fault. I have no doubt there will be people that will be "silenced". The stakes are simply too damn high.

  6. Re:If only... by Rei · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Oh come on now, how could anyone mistake this guy for being gay?

    Seriously, though, some of his publicity stunts are almost Kim Jong-* level. While the "flying with geese to lead them home" one was funny, and the saving his camera crew from a savage tiger one was conveniently off camera, my favorite has to be the "finding ancient Greek pottery while diving in two meters of clear water on a popular beach" one. ;) Of course that one was so over the top even for him that they had to backtrack:

    But his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview shown Tuesday on the Dozhd TV channel that the jugs had been found earlier by archaeologists and placed there for Mr Putin. ... 'Of course, they were left there or placed there. It's completely normal. There's no reason to gloat about this and everything else.'

    Mr Putin is noted for his habit of appearing in vigorous and adventurous settings, including fishing and hunting while stripped to the waist and riding with leather-clad bikers.

    Again, though, let me stress - not gay! ;)

    --
    People said I was dumb, but I proved them.