Now you both are making wild criticisms about how Abbot approached
Putin without having the slightest idea what was said.
All that is publically known that Putin said all the right things.

I think we can all agree that Abbott put it to Putin that a Russian
rocket launcher shot the plane down.
Putin would have known that Abbott would have had US satellite information.
There is no reason to believe that Abbott was other than firm and polite.

Everything else is political bias.

"I think we can all agree that Abbott put it to Putin that a Russian
rocket launcher shot the plane down."

Actually Bazz, we don't all agree. The Russians have released a transcript of that telephone call and there is no mention by either side of responsibility for the shooting down of the plane. Putin repeated his argument that there should be an independent inquiry and that the perpetrators should be brought to account. Abbott agreed. This is presumably what Abbott was referring to when he said that Mr Putin "said all the right things".

There is a distinction between Abbott's public posturing for domestic political consumption and the reality of diplomatic discussions.

Since that telephone conversation there have been several developments, none of which support the initial Abbott response. It may be one reason why Abbott has toned down his earlier rhetoric.

I am still waiting for a reasoned and rational response to the satellite, radar and electronic data released by the Russians Monday a week ago. We know that the Americans had a spy satellite overhead at the time, yet they have refused to release the data from that satellite. There have been unofficial leaks (see Robert Parry's Consortium News) that again do not support the Abbott position.

Instead of hard data there have been manifestly absurd fresh claims, no doubt to distract from the real issues. The latest of these is a Twitter claim by the US ambassador of Russian mortar fire into Ukraine. This has been debunked by, inter alia, the OSCE, and drawn widespread ridicule from even the Americans.

For the broader geopolitical perspective on what is happening I suggest readers go to Paul Craig Roberts' website and Pepe Escobar on Asia times online. Perspectives manifestly lacking from our lickspittle Australian media.