After a harrowing delay, the first bodies from
MH17
arrived back at their point of departure on Wednesday.
The sendoff from
Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, had been dignified, in contrast to most
of their treatment over the previous six days. There were decent
coffins, a short military ceremony and soberly dressed officials with
heads bowed. A measure of order had been restored.
These
arrangements, it appears, were the result of highly complicated
negotiations between many parties.
There were representatives of
Malaysia (because the plane was theirs); of the Netherlands (because
this is where the plane had set off from, and the majority of the
passengers were Dutch nationals); of the Ukrainian government (because
the plane came down within its borders); of the anti-Kiev rebels
(because they control the actual territory where the plane crashed); and
of Russia (because it had some lines open to the rebels, if not as much
real leverage as many still believe).
Add in international
organisations, such as the OSCE, and the various official groups charged
with investigating air disasters, plus officials from countries such as
Britain that also lost nationals and which can offer particular
expertise, and the picture becomes still more complex. When you consider
this extensive list, however, what is striking is not just who is
there, but who is not. Where, most conspicuously, is the US?
In
the early days, some overheated rhetoric wafted across the Atlantic
about blame for MH17, especially from Samantha Power, the US ambassador
to the UN, who loses no opportunity to rehearse her trademark
denunciations of Russia. But President Obama was always more cautious,
and now US intelligence officials have expressly excluded “direct”
Russian involvement in what happened, while blaming
Russia for “helping to create the conditions”.
For
the most part, though, the US has remained on the sidelines. Where it
has acted, for instance in sending aviation safety officials, it has
done so without fanfare. Rather than rush to Kiev or Moscow or the
Netherlands, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, has remained in the
Middle East, applying his efforts to the ever more destructive conflict
over Gaza.
Whether US intervention would have been welcome or not
after MH17 is neither here nor there. The downing of the Malaysian plane
soon turned into as much of a major international diplomatic crisis
(with Russia in the dock) as it was a human tragedy many times over.
Somehow, as seen from Europe, you would have expected the US to have
been there.
Maybe, though, we Europeans are going to have to get
used to the idea that in diplomatic and military – if not economic –
terms, Europe has ceased to be special in Washington. There were already
hints, during Obama’s first election campaign, that “Yes, we can!”
might one day be completed with “do without Europe”.
Read more: Europe must learn to deal with Moscow without US backing | Mary Dejevsky | Comment is free | The Guardian
