Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Everybody saw this coming.

White supremacy is terrorism.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Breaking News: Russian Tu-154 Disappears From Radar

Breaking News: Russian Tu-154 Disappears From Radar

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The BBC, and several other news agencies, are reporting that a Russian Tu-154 has disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Sochi on the Black Sea. The military jet, believed to be carrying around 100 people, was supposedly bound for Russia’s air field in Latakia Province, Syria.

This is obviously going to be a fast moving story. Russia is on a terror alert and has been involved in an offensive into/on Ukraine’s eastern border for the better part of the past week. So even if this isn’t terrorism or retaliation in regard to Russian aggression against Ukraine or anything else there is going to be those who will attempt to use this incident, and the likely tragic loss of life that has resulted because of it, for their own purposes. There is a real possibility of purposeful strategic miscommunication/desinformatziya here to suit many different actors’ strategic objectives.

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  2. 2.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: No its not. And the fact that 70 to 100 people are missing and may be dead is the significant portion of it not being good that may quickly fall by the wayside as different actors look to exploit this tragedy.

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    @Elmo: It’s not yet 3:00 a.m.?

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah. I saw this on your BBC link:

    Reports suggest a military music band and reporters were among those on board the aircraft.

    Also, the same link said 91 people on board and then later 83 people. Obviously early reports and information is unclear.

  6. 6.

    Gin & Tonic

    So I’ve had *way* too much to drink to post coherently tonight, with my son and sons-in-law here and exploring my whisky/whiskey collection, but thanks to Adam for keeping it real.

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: I would gladly not have to do so. I’m sure I could have just thrown a dart at a map of the world and been able to find something that was breaking and tragic and ongoing. I was speaking with a former student today, one of the partner nation officers I’ve supervised, and we were talking about his last deployment and how so few people, at least in the US, have any idea of all the ongoing, tragic things that are happening. From South Sudan to Aleppo to Ukraine to wherever. As bad a day as it was in Germany with the truck attack, and not to minimize it and the loss of life there and its effects on the families of the dead and wounded, but it was minor in the tally of all the tragic, bad things that happened that day.

  9. 9.

    fuckwit

    Can we believe anything from any official statement from anyone anymore?

    I think we’ve entered a hall-of-mirrors situation.

  11. 11.

    GregB

    @fuckwit:

    Yes, it definitely seems we are in a theough the looking glass scenario.

    In other news, the mendacious Trump flunky Jason Miller hasbabruptly departed as a media flack only a day or two after being announced.

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    Russia24 is reporting that the crash site has been found. Its in the Black Sea. Also, that those on board including a number of civilian entertainers going to Russia’s base in Syria for New Year’s performances for the Russian forces deployed there.
    http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2836829

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    So in follow up to my ealrier message, if you ever find yourself in Vegreville, Alberta, stop in to the Red Cup Distillery and chat with Rob DeGroot. He does amazing work. Unfortunately his production is so limited, you basically cant’ find it for sale anywhere.

  14. 14.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: As a general rule Americans don’t care much about things that happen outside our borders. I’m not sure what the percentage of Americans with passports is these days – probably a bit higher than it used to be because now you generally need one to go to Mexico or go on a cruise – but it’s historically been very low. We don’t travel much outside the country and we don’t understand what happens in those places that we don’t visit. We also aren’t taught much geography and don’t speak other languages at a significant rate, so we’re woefully uneducated about the rest of the world. Our media doesn’t help any of that either.

    For a superpower we’re shockingly uneducated and insular. Probably signs of decline.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: I had noticed. Last time I checked approximately 33% of members of Congress, both chambers, had active passports. Among the US population it was higher – between 40 and 50%. The actual percentage of either members of Congress or the US citizenry actually having ever travelled abroad was below 50%.

  19. 19.

    daveNYC

    @Yarrow: The Post called it the Alexandrov military band.

    At least the location somewhat limits the BS that can be spewn. Lovely that my main concern isn’t the people lost. Fucking 2016.

  22. 22.

    janelle

    Just for clarification purposes, the Tupolev Tu-154 is not a “military jet”, per se – it’s a passenger airliner. This particular plane is owned and used by the Russian military and those on board this plane were all members of the Russian military, but the model itself is also used by a number of eastern European commercial airlines for traditional non-military air travel.

  23. 23.

    max

    @Adam L Silverman: Russia24 is reporting that the crash site has been found. Its in the Black Sea. Also, that those on board including a number of civilian entertainers going to Russia’s base in Syria for New Year’s performances for the Russian forces deployed there.

    It’s either Russian AF (16 Tu-154’s), Navy (4), or ‘Ministry of Internal Affairs’ (2). I’m thinking Russian Navy, and given near-immediate loss of aircraft this is mechanical failure or pilot error. It’s possible it’s terrorism but not likely, and it isn’t the UA AF either.

    @Adam L Silverman: I wouldn’t be so sure about that: http://www.nationalreview.com/…..esponsible

    ‘National Review floats report of plot based on exactly no evidence’ was pretty much the day-to-day action report for 9/11/2001 to the end of the Bush administration.

    max
    [‘It’s Christmas. Bleh.’]

  24. 24.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    @Yarrow:
    If you live in Ashland Oregon it’s a very full days drive just to make it to the Canadian border. I’d argue that the US is so large and isolated from the world it’s not surprising people don’t own passports. You want to pay for my vacation to Europe?

  25. 25.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    Just finished painting the living room.

    Upstairs is finished. Living room & kitchen in progress, but totally painted. Putting it together tomorrow and furniture back in place. Next step there is floors, but many other things before that happens.

    Remodeling is hard as hell.

  26. 26.

    Yarrow

    @max: The National Review is going to have a hard time keeping up with all the various forms of “fake news” that have appeared in the last few years. Just making stuff up is so 2001.

  28. 28.

    daveNYC

    @Adam L Silverman: I was thinking more along the lines that he’d have a hard time saying it was a Ukraine SAM or that a local Air Force did the deed.

    If they want to say that it was a bomb that did it, their options are wide open.

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    G decided to put It’s A Wonderful Life on. Donna Reed seriously makes this movie. It wouldn’t work nearly as well with a different actress.

  35. 35.

    Yarrow

    @Amanda in the South Bay: Europe is not the only place to go with a passport, but if people want to go there it’s possible to find cheap flights and travel relatively inexpensively. Takes a little planning.

    As for driving for a day to get somewhere, people do that a lot for various things. If someone wants to go outside the borders of the US, I don’t see the driving time as a massive stumbling block.

    Not everyone can afford to travel and not everyone wants to. But percentage-wise the US is way behind most developed countries in the percentage of people who have passports and who have traveled outside their country. There’s more to it than just that we’re a big country.

  36. 36.

    jacy

    Home! Survived initial (surprise!) contact with The Boyfriend’s family. They seemed to like me. (And I could tell The Boyfriend thought it went well….) Funny story tho — his son (who is 10) unbeknownst to anybody and just because he thought it was fun, filmed part of the dinner on his phone and sent it to his mom, who is not so happy that her ex has a serious girlfriend. So there were words. She definitely doesn’t like me! But, all in all, a success, and one more hurdle jumped in the long, weird courtship process….. Now I have to wait until my rotten children are asleep so that Santa can visit and bring them the Playstation they don’t know they’re getting. (And I know they’re old enough not to believe in the Big Red Guy, but they’re playing along for my sake….) Me, I got what I wanted already.

  37. 37.

    fuckwit

    Passport-related question.

    Mine expires in April. I want to get it renewed before Troll takes over on Jan 20th and either maybe fucks up the process or makes it more difficult to get one… or there’s just such a rush of people trying to get the fuck out that there gets to be a huge waiting list. I have a European trip planned for summer 2018.

    What’s involved in renewing? Last time I renewed was I guess a decade ago; I don’t remember, and maybe it’s changed since then?

  38. 38.

    Jay Noble

    @Yarrow: The report I read had 83 passengers and 8 crew, thus the 91 figure. I believe I was on Daily KOS. They said that a large part of the passenger list was a famous folk dance troupe.

  39. 39.

    seaboogie

    @fuckwit: Go to your local post office that handles passports (many do, the smaller ones may not). They’ll take your pic, help you fill out the forms, and expedite as necessary if you pay extra money for that option. Or you can use the google machine and do it online (except for the pics). Tis a pretty easy process, while we still have a functional government.

  40. 40.

    magurakurin

    @Amanda in the South Bay: I lived in Portland for many years and we went to Squamish BC to rock climb on 3 day weekends all. the. time. It ain’t that far. But your point is still valid. The US is very large and you can spend a lot of time just exploring it alone. But then again many Americans don’t even travel in the States that much. Me, I rode a bicycle across the US and Canada 25 years ago. Very large.

  42. 42.

    Gvg

    I so looking forward to Trump being the one to first respond to alarming and incomplete reports from the world, not. He’ll never understand that first reports aren’t and that he need to wait for the facts….

    Who is this Jason Miller guy and why is it significant that some other staffer “accuses” him of being the father of her child? Why should anyone other than them care? How does it relate to Trump anyway?

  44. 44.

    TS

    @Mnemosyne: Majority of the US Press simply announce he has resigned – Daily Mail has the “baby daddy” information. Seems everyone connected to Trump will be protected by the US political media.

  46. 46.

    dr. luba

    @Yarrow:

    For a superpower we’re shockingly uneducated and insular. Probably signs of decline.

    Is this an actual change? I seems to me that for most of our history we have been that way.

  47. 47.

    dr. luba

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Among the US population it was higher – between 40 and 50%.

    IIRC, it used to be much lower…….9-11 changed everything, and now you need a passport to come back into the country from Mexico and even Canada. I live in Detroit, and remember earlier times when you were jsut waved through most of the time, no ID check. Flying to the Caribbean–Driver’s License was enough to get you home. In fact, valid U.S. Passports in 2012 were 113,431,943 (36%). In 2002 it was 55,169,571 (19%). In 1992 it was 17,950,578 (7%).

  48. 48.

    Weaselone

    @Yarrow:

    I’m not so sure. Even smaller countries with nearby neighbors still have large populations that have never travelled out of country. Do we have stats on similar countries like China, India Russia and Canada.

    In comparison to say Europe where it’s pretty easy, cheap and fast to hop on the train system and cross a border into France, Czech, Switzerland, Benelux or Poland within a couple hours, travel in the USA to a foreign country is generally more difficult and expensive unless you live near the border. It’s actually further from Amarillo to the Mexican border than from anywhere in Germany to the border.

  51. 51.

    StringOnAStick

    @fuckwit: The last time I renewed you had to bring your own photos, which I got at the local Kinko’s. Make sure you do it far, far in advance of when you’ll need it because any global or national weirdness can create huge back ups and paying to expedite it is expensive. Given that we suspect the shitgibbon to shred any and every nonmilitary federal agency, you might want to get on that ASAP, and my thanks for reminding me to check our expiration dates!

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    @Major Major Major Major: Presumably Congresscritters get “Official” passports (or whatever the term is) pretty quickly whenever they need/want to travel. IOW, not having a personal passport might not indicate anything in particular for a particular congressman/woman.

    And they aren’t cheap for normal people, so it’s not surprising that a large fraction of the population doesn’t have one (especially if they’ve got kids). :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @max: Satter doesn’t work for NRO. He’s written an actual book on this as a former journalist who was living in Russia as some of these events were unfolding. He’s also written several other books dealing with Russian politics, Putin, etc. He’s a reliable source.

  54. 54.

    lol chikinburd

    The Alexandrov Ensemble going down is truly horrible. Probably the most 2016 thing that was possible to happen under those circumstances.

  56. 56.

    Origuy

    @The Pale Scot: There’s more than one group allowed to be called the Red Army Choir. The Alexandrov Ensemble is one of them. I’m not sure if the group is this video is them or the MVD Ensemble.

  57. 57.

    The Pale Scot

    @Mnemosyne:
    Matt Smith?

    Bah!

    David Tennant is the Doctor!

    Really though, Matt did a great job, I was skeptical about what the future held after David locked himself in that radiation thingy. But Matt really charmed oversea audiences.

    And ya Peter Capaldi doesn’t do it for me, he’ll always be Malcolm Tucker.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @seejanerun: Yes. There is an official passport for US government officials traveling on US government business. It has a different color cover than the blue ones US citizens get. And there is a third type just for diplomatic use with a distinct color that is different from either the regular US passport or the passport for US government officials.

  62. 62.

    Chet Murthy

    @dr. luba:

    “What’s a person who speaks three languages called?”
    “trilingual”
    “what about two?”
    “bilingual”
    “what about one?”
    “American”

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