Russia Conspiracy Theories Trap Putin Malaysia Airlines MH17 | New Republic:
The result of all this Russian coverage is that Russians’ understanding
of what happened is as follows. At best, the crash is an unfortunate
accident on the part of the Ukrainian military that the West is trying
to pin on Russia, which had nothing to do with it; at worst, it is all
part of a nefarious conspiracy to drag Russia into an apocalyptic war
with the West. So whereas the West sees the crash as a game-changer, the
Russians do not see why a black swan event has to change anything or
they want to resist what they see is a provocation. To them, after a few
days of watching Russian television, it’s not at all clear what
happened nor that their government is somehow responsible for this
tragedy. And the more we insist on it, the less likely the Russians are
to agree.