By 
Vladimir Putin, a lieutenant in the former KGB Russian secret police force, once again is using tactics he learned years ago in hindering the removal of 298 bodies from a downed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 passenger plane as it was flying over Ukraine's war zone July 17.Pro-Russian rebels, armed by Putin, have admitted mistakenly shooting down the Boeing 777, believing it was a cargo plane from the Ukraine. There were no survivors.
The plane was flying over Ukraine from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur. Many of the passengers were on holiday or on business trips.
When the plane crashed, the rebels, believed to be on orders from Moscow, barred officials from Malaysia, the United Nations and other NATO countries from entering the crash scene and examining the bodies. They also refused to turn over the plain's information-loaded 'black boxes' for five days.
The corpses lay on the ground in 100 degree temperatures from July 17 to July 22 when about 100 of them finally were released by the rebels for transport by refrigerated train cars and aircraft to Amsterdam.
Malaysia Airlines said there were 193 Dutch citizens on the flight, the most of any nation. Passengers came from 11 other countries including two who held dual citizenship. The lone American had dual Dutch-U.S. citizenship.
Officials from various countries say the remains of many victims may never be recovered because shrapnel from the missile blast destroyed body parts beyond recognition.
The recovered bodies were placed in wooden coffins to be identified later - an investigation that may take up to a month, according to observers at the scene.
The rebels have been battling Ukraine's military since May. They maintain the country should not follow Western thought and should not join or become associated with the European Union. That is Putin's preaching precisely.
Behind the scenes, of course, Putin wants the Ukraine back into the Russian fold. He envisions another Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) of 15 nations that was ruled by the Communist Party from 1922 to 1991 when it broke apart. The individual nations then became independent countries, including the Ukraine.
Putin is 61 years old and believes he can make that dream come true before he is laid to rest with his old Communist thug, Joseph Stalin.
President Barack Obama has stated the rebels used a surface-to-air missile from a stationary rocket launcher to shoot down the Malaysian aircraft.
The rebels stated they used the same weaponry Wednesday July 23 to down two Ukrainian jets flying over the contested war zone near the towns of Saur and Mogila. The pilots ejected but their whereabouts, as of July 24, are not known.
The Ukraine unrest pits the U.S. and European-backed government in Kiev against the rebels in eastern Ukraine backed by Moscow.
Both Washington and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea from Ukraine earlier this year and failing to take steps to stop the conflict.
Some U.S. conservatives, such as Republican Sen. John McCain, already call for tougher sanctions and arming the Ukraine military in its fight against the rebels.
Obama said further sanctions would come if Russia continued backing the rebels and otherwise contributing to a continuation of the Ukraine conflict.
That is a laugh, of course.
The sanctions include freezing of Russian bank accounts in the U.S. and across Europe and barring Russian officials from obtaining travel visas to the U.S. and other countries.
Putin laughs at such threats. He is daring the U.S. and the rest of the Western nations to come after him militarily. Putin is calling the world's bluff right now - and getting away with it.
