Just over two years ago, in the middle of one of the hottest summers in recent memory, the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 changed the direction of the war in Ukraine. The European political class, though horrified by Russia’s bold and unrepentant aggression, was up to that point eager to avoid direct confrontation with the Kremlin, and was hoping that Russian President Vladimir Putin might somehow be cajoled into making peace. The downing of the civilian airliner, which killed all 298 passengers aboard, most of them Dutch, stiffened spines in Brussels, and broad sanctions followed.At the start of …read more
Source: The American Interest
