Ukraine acusses Russia of cover-up. Yahoo/AP

A tribute placed on the wreckage of flight 17. Yahoo/AP

Ukraine has accused Russia of a cover up regarding Flight 17. Yahoo/AP. Specifically, Ukraine accuses Russia and pro-Russia rebels of transporting bodies and debris from the wreck. An international team was allowed to inspect a small part of the crash site but was driven away when they lingered too long near the wreckage. 

My Comment:

Russia and the pro-Russian rebels really need to rethink their strategy here. Any cover up or interference will just make them look worse in the international community. And there really isn't that much to cover up. Barring some new evidence it's fairly clear that the missile was fired by pro-Russian rebels. I'm guessing it's for domestic reasons. Neither the Rebels or Putin can admit to their people that this was mostly their fault (i still blame the airliner and the air traffic controllers of Ukraine and Russia as well). 

What would i do if i was Putin (assuming this is an accident, if it was on purpose i won't speculate because he would have to be completely insane to do this)? Well first i would cooperate fully with the investigation. Then i would, assuming i knew for a fact that it was the Rebels, admit what had happened. I'd then demand the rebels punish the operators of that missile system, or if they were Russian, court martial the entire crew. I'd also give some token reparations to the families of the victims and donate some money to AIDS research as well, due to all the HIV/AIDS doctors and advocates that died. I'd also call for an investigation of all the air traffic controllers in both Russia and Ukraine and another investigation of every airline that flew in the area after it was clear that airplanes were being shot down. Finally, I would remind people that mistakes happen in the fog of war and that there is plenty of blame to go around.

Will Putin do so? Of course not. No politician on earth is capable of admitting that they screwed up. Should the reports be true and Russia really is trying to cover things up it will follow the pattern of thousands of cover ups before it. It won't work, it will make your country look horrible and you will lose prestige. As always though, it's still too early to know what exactly happened, and we have to remember that it's Ukraine saying this.