Poirot,

It was clear from the beginning that the shooting down was not “murder”, i.e. intentional (since who could have expected to benefit from it?), and that it was a terrible mistake by the separatists, who were defending themselves (otherwise what would they need anti-aircraft missiles for?).

The question was only, whether the missile was provided by the Russians (with or without properly trained operators), whether the missiles were captured from the Ukrainians, or whether they came with the crew defecting from the Ukrainian army. This still does not seem to have been resolved.

George,

"It was clear from the beginning that the shooting down was not “murder”, i.e. intentional (since who could have expected to benefit from it?), and that it was a terrible mistake by the separatists..."

Precisely....

"....This still does not seem to have been resolved."

No...not for certain.

The point being that Abbott appeared to jump in with both feet (and continues his chest beating)...the reason he did that was to enhance his domestic profile in seemingly taking on the big boys.

Note this. George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were found guilty of war crimes in Malaysis in 2012. This trial adhered closely to the Neuremberg criteria for war crimes.

Could this be another reason why this mostly Govt owned Malaysian Airlines was attacked twice ?

Ukraine could benefit from the shooting down of M17 if it looked like the rebels in eastern Ukraine fired the weapon.

Remember also that Putin is on side with Iran and Syria.

Turning the world against Putin could be on the agenda of various nations.

Who was it that redirected the course of M17 to move further north and fly over the area where aircraft had been shot down during the previous week?
That apparent redirection appears to involve premeditation and possibly murder.
Has that been investigated and reported?

In any case it's unity and teamwork and peace and prosperity that the world needs.
Russian leader Putin is innocent until proven guilty.
He should be welcomed by Australia to attend the G20 economic summit in Brisbane.
Hopefully G20 agenda will lead to new productivity and business and employment to provide income, instead of poverty, unrest and war.

At least through the www, people worldwide can now gain insight to discuss what is really going on.

Suspicion of guilt is usually aroused when a suspect is caught with illegal weapons.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/20/ukraine-widespread-use-cluster-munitions

It's quite possible PM Abbott has been under-informed or misled so as to use Australia to put pressure on Putin politically because of his link to Iran and Syria.

Reality is that if the west joined in teamwork with all nations including Iran and Syria, there would be less injury and death and peace could be achieved more quickly.

Failure to take action to create relevant unity and teamwork might constitute negligence involving crime against against humanity and genocide.

The world is watching.

The only lifting of shirts by Herr Fuhrer is from the back, a bully boy with Oxford credentials backed by a bigger bunch of bullies feeding from the trough at Capitolist Hill in Washington DC.