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imagine if that had been a US plane.
The US have prior for shooting down airliners too though. Funnily enough though, none of the crew of the USS Vincennes were tried for their part in the murder of 290 people. I guess the only difference is that the US never denied shooting it down, only argued (unconvincingly) about the reason it was reasonable.
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This is also part of the difference, from Wikipedia
In 1996, during the Clinton Administration, the governments of the U.S. and Iran reached a settlement at the International Court of Justice, which included the statement "... the United States recognized the aerial incident of 3 July 1988 as a terrible human tragedy and expressed deep regret over the loss of lives caused by the incident ..."[15] As part of the settlement, even though the U.S. government did not admit legal liability or formally apologize to Iran, it agreed to pay US$61.8 million on an ex gratia basis in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims.[16]
hesa
I did some filming with a Malaysian diplomat last Friday. Had no idea that Malaysia has a neutral stance on the war and everything to do with it, despite MH17.
She reckons it's more of an Asian way of thinking - shit happened, you can't change it and retaliation wouldn't fix it so it's better to be pragmatic.
I find that quite mind boggling - imagine if that had been a US plane.