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F1: More bad luck for Hamilton
7/26/2014 10:56:57 AM
- Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton finishes second last in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying
- Hamilton's car catches fire to end his session early but he walked away unhurt
- It's the second straight week the Englishman suffers a car issue in qualifying
- Teammate and Championship leader Nico Rosberg records the fastest time
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(CNN) -- If Lewis Hamilton is to win a fifth Hungarian Grand Prix, he'll need something akin to a miracle.
That's because Hamilton will start at the back of the pack after the back of his Mercedes caught fire in qualifying -- the second consecutive Saturday he's suffered misfortune. It was on his first qualifying lap, too.
Hamilton wasn't hurt.
His teammate and Championship leader Nico Rosberg had no such issues, recording the fastest time.
Last week in qualifying for the German Grand Prix, a brake issue led to a Hamilton crash and meant he began 20th on the grid on race day but he put in a stellar drive to rise to third.
Hamilton, who bettered the field in practice Friday and earlier Saturday, was the first to point out that overtaking opportunities aren't as great in Hungary as they were in Germany.
"It's a shame, especially when you do the practice sessions with not too many problems," Hamilton said in a television interview aired by Sky. "I didn't even get a lap this time. Last time I got maybe two laps.
"I can't believe it's happened again. This is not a track you can really overtake on so coming from last to the podium is a lot less likely."
Hamilton's mishap gives Rosberg the chance to extend his 14-point lead over Hamilton in the individual standings.
And although the German said he would have preferred to go head-to-head with Hamilton, he felt Sunday's race would now be "easier."
Unsurprisingly, he doesn't plan on taking many risks at the Hungaroring.
"It makes it easier of course because he is my competitor," Rosberg was quoted as saying by Autosport.com. "It's a free opportunity tomorrow.
"I need to play it safe and avoid any unnecessary things happening, and get as many points as possible.
"I would prefer to be out there battling with Lewis. That would give me the maximum adrenaline rush. It won't be a gloves-off battle with Lewis, but I am still very, very happy."
Rosberg clocked a best time of one minute, 22.715 seconds, bettering reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull by 0.486 seconds, Williams' Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who is a distant third in the driver standings.
Read: Rosberg wins at home
Mideast gets a breather as 12-hour cease-fire holds
7/26/2014 10:04:33 AM
- Death toll surpasses 1,000, Health Ministry says
- At least 40 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the operation
- A 12-hour humanitarian truce started at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. ET)
- More than 100 bodies found in Gaza areas too dangerous to enter in recent days
Gaza (CNN) -- The end of a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire between Israel and Hamas approached Saturday as diplomats worked to create a longer truce in a conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people -- mostly civilians.
The cease-fire started at 8 a.m. Saturday (1 a.m. ET). The 12-hour cease-fire enabled Palestinians to move medical supplies into Gaza, families to emerge from shelters and people to dig the dead from piles of rubble.
Palestinians found more than 100 bodies in areas that have been too dangerous to enter in recent days because of Israeli bombardment, Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra from the Gaza Ministry of Health told CNN Saturday.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,840 wounded since the start of an Israeli operation, al-Qedra said.
There are news reports of Israel agreeing to extend the truce by four hours. But the possibility of a longer truce seemed remote, according to comments from the Hamas camp.
"There won't been any talks about extending the cease-fire as long as there aren't talks about breaking the siege," said Israa Al-Mudalal of the Gaza Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She accused Israel of "escalating the situation" in the so-called buffer zone and of not letting medical workers remove bodies in certain areas.
"We can't stop the firing (of rockets) until we have a real solution to this problem," she said. "There will be no peace as long as the siege continues."
Two senior Hamas officials, Izzat Risheq and Jamal Nazal, told CNN that the truce negotiations were tense and difficult.
Cabinet minister Yaacov Peri told Israel's Channel 10, "I wasn't asked yet for my opinion, but if I am asked, I will say yes to extending the cease-fire by a few hours."
In Paris on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other diplomats pushed for an extended truce. He met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
"We still have some more things to do over the course of ... 24 to 48 hours," Kerry said Friday.
CNN Mideast analyst Michael Oren said Friday that Israel rejected a seven-day cease-fire proposal because it doesn't want to give Hamas time to rearm itself.
"There is no Eid"
A CNN team visiting the hardest-hit areas in northern Gaza where many of the newly-discovered bodies were discovered saw entire blocks of buildings reduced to rubble.
"I wish this cease-fire had never happened," one man in Beit Hanoun told CNN, "And I would have never found out my home is destroyed."
Another woman in Beit Hanoun meets a neighbor as she navigates her way through mounds of rubble and metal. "Did you see my home?"
"It's gone. Nothing is left," the neighbor responds.
Families took advantage of the cease-fire to stock up on provisions.
"There are more people in the streets," said a mother of five in Khan Younis, who did not want to be named. "People who were afraid before, go out now out of necessity. People with sick kids go to the hospital today. Buy Pampers today. Buy food today. I went to get bread for my family today."
She added, "When my husband goes to the mosque to pray, I pray that he comes back. ... If someone killed a cat in America, people make a bigger deal about it than children dying in Gaza."
As the Muslim world prepared to celebrate the Eid holiday in two days, Gaza residents buried the dead.
"There is no Eid," the woman in Khan Younis said. "In the Gaza Strip, it would be absurd for anyone to bake cookies."
Israel Defense Forces, meanwhile, said it will keep working to "locate and neutralize tunnels" being used by militants during the cease-fire and will respond with force if militants target Israeli civilians or soldiers.
The Israeli military said four soldiers were killed since Friday night in Gaza, bringing the total number of soldiers killed to 40 since Operation Protective Edge started.
A previous cease-fire backed by Egypt fell apart earlier this month.
Palestinian Parliament Member Mustafa Barghouti told CNN that Hamas will comply with the terms of the temporary cease-fire.
"Of course, they will," Barghouti said Friday on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. "Not only Hamas, but all Palestinians."
Doctor: 'We are preparing ourselves for death'
The bloodshed is pushing hospitals in Gaza to the limit. At South Gaza's European Hospital, the flood of bloodied children and adults has overwhelmed doctors.
"We sometimes work 20 hours continuous," Dr. Jamal Abu Hilal said.
Doctors here say they're sick of stitching up bodies mutilated by shrapnel.
"We feel exhausted. We feel anxious. We feel depressed," Hilal's colleague Dr. Shadi said.
In one room, surgeons worked on a child mangled by shrapnel. The rest of the boy's family was killed.
"Not even one square meter is safe in Gaza strip," Dr. Hassen al-Masri said.
He, too, is afraid of dying in the conflict. The doctor carries his identification papers with him all the time, even while treating patients -- just in case.
"We are preparing ourselves for death."
Casualties mount in West Bank
The violence has also expanded to the West Bank. At least four Palestinians were killed in outbreaks of violence in several parts of the West Bank, according to medical sources.
A 23-year-old man was shot near Huwara village outside Nablus by Jewish settlers, a doctor at the Rafidia Hospital said. The circumstances of his death are unclear, but it led to clashes between protesters and the Israeli military in which another man was killed, medical sources said.
Two more men were killed during clashes with Israeli troops at a checkpoint north of Hebron in Beir Ummar in the West Bank, according to Palestinian medical sources.
The violent protests came after the U.N. shelter in Gaza was hit, killing 16 people and wounding a couple hundred more -- most of them women and children.
Video from the school showed chaos amid pools of blood. There were so many victims than many gurneys included two wounded children.
The bloodshed left the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon exasperated.
"I am telling to the parties -- both Israelis and Hamas, Palestinians -- that it is morally wrong to kill your own people," Ban said. The "whole world has been watching, is watching with great concern. You must stop fighting and enter into dialogue."
Americans fighting for Israel
Is Hamas using human shields in Gaza?
What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?
What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Map: Tension felt around the world
U.S. ends ban on flights in Ben Gurion
FAA ban marks Israeli setback, Hamas 'victory'
How does the Iron Dome system work?
Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Gaza; Ralph Ellis and Chelsea J. Carter wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, Yousuf Basil, Ben Wedeman, Elise Labott, Richard Roth, Ian Lee,Tal Heinrich, Holly Yan and Tim Lister contributed to this report.
Nibali closes in on Tour de France title
7/26/2014 1:03:09 PM
- Vincenzo Nibali of Italy closes in on a first Tour de France cycling title
- Nibali carries a nearly eight-minute lead into Sunday's final stage
- Two Frenchmen are set to finish on the podium in Paris, pleasing home fans
- Tony Martin of Germany wins the 20th stage, a time trial, by more than a minute
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(CNN) -- With the last day of the Tour de France usually uneventful as it relates to changes in the overall lead, Saturday marked the last realistic opportunity someone could catch Vincenzo Nibali.
But given his big advantage, that was always unlikely.
And after Saturday's penultimate stage, only a catastrophe can stop Nibali from becoming just the second Italian champion of cycling's most coveted race in more than 45 years -- Marco Pantani was the last Italian winner in 1998, preceding Lance Armstrong's now tainted reign.
As Germany's Tony Martin claimed the 54-kilometer time trial from Bergerac to Perigueux, Nibali finished fourth. Crucially, though, he carries a nearly eight-minute lead into the final day, a 137.5-kilometer stretch from Evry to the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
"I haven't realized yet how big it is to win the Tour de France," Nibali of team Astana was quoted as saying by the Tour's official website. "I'll keep that for tomorrow.
"It's difficult to ride the Tour but the beauty of it is to cycle on the Champs-Elysées. That's the biggest memory I've kept from my first participation -- the lap of honor, the enormous number of people, Paris' monuments.
"I'll try to savor my victory as much as I can. Every moment will count."
There hasn't been a home champion since Bernard Hinault in 1985 and that drought looks set to continue but the good news for the French is that two riders -- Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot -- should finish on the podium for the first time since 1984. Peraud overtook Pinot for second.
Peraud said the early exits of last year's winner Chris Froome and former winner Alberto Contador due to wrist and shin injuries, respectively, allowed him to contemplate a runner-up placing.
"The withdrawals of Froome and Contador opened a range of possibilities and I started dreaming about this second place," he said. "I'm happy to have achieved that goal.
"I have a feeling of mission accomplished and a lot of joy today."
Martin, a multiple world time trial champion from Germany, won his second stage of this year's race in 1:06.21, more than a minute-and-a-half quicker than Dutchman Tom Dumoulin.
Read: Lithuanian makes history
Bolt ready to compete in Glasgow
7/26/2014 4:02:59 PM
- Usain Bolt arrives in Glasgow ahead of his participation in the relay
- Bolt says his foot has healed and he needs races to get into running shape
- He plans on being a tourist and expects to see a lot of rain and kilts
- A 60-year-old grandfather ties a Games record by getting his 18th medal
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(CNN) -- An athlete who didn't even compete at the Commonwealth Games was the star attraction Saturday in Glasgow.
It wasn't just any athlete, mind you, but the fastest man in the world in Jamaica's Usain Bolt.
Bolt arrived in Glasgow amid a throng of journalists and photographers and it didn't take long for him to deliver his trademark 'lightning Bolt' pose alongside the Games' mascot, Clyde, and local school children.
Bolt hasn't raced in 2014 as he recovered from a foot injury but that's set to change as he said he'll take part in the 4x100-meter relay heats that begin Friday.
"I will be running in the heats," the world-record holder in the 100 and 200 meters said in a press conference. "I think I need the (races) because this is my first run of the season.
"The injury is completely gone. Fitness wise, I have done a lot of training over this past month. I have been really pushing myself.
"I think I am in pretty good shape, but I'm not in running shape. That's why I am running the heats."
The six-time Olympic gold medalist won't be involved in any individual races.
Thanks Gary for letting me borrow your plane @GaryLineker: Great news @usainbolt has arrived in his private plane pic.twitter.com/Z84m2snSav"
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) July 26, 2014 He added that he was excited to be making his Games debut after missing the 2006 edition with a hamstring injury and deciding to skip the 2010 Games in India because of how close it was to the 2011 World Championships.
Bolt plans on being a tourist, too, if only for a little bit, and expects to see a "lot of rain" and plenty of kilts in Glasgow.
Grandfather ties record
Meanwhile, England's Mick Gault tied a Commonwealth Games record when he claimed an 18th medal by winning the bronze in the 10-meter air pistol.
Gault isn't your typical Games participant -- he's a 60-year-old grandfather.
He retired due to illness after the 2010 Games but decided to return one last time.
"I just feel good that a 60-year-old can do that, just do what I've done," he told BBC television. "It's one for England, it's one for the sport, it's one for me, one for the wife and kids who have been through an awful lot.
"The wife's insisted this is my last one. Definitely my last one.
"The stress we go through is horrendous, so job done really."
Gault can break the record he now shares with Australian shooter Phillip Adams, given he still has one more event.
Read: Wiggins has to settle for cycling silver
Ray Rice ruling: What is NFL thinking?
7/26/2014 7:43:33 PM
- Baltimore running back suspended for two games after domestic violence incident
- Carol Costello: I thought men didn't attack women they loved, until it happened to me
- Costello: In my case, as in others, the woman victim wound up getting blamed
- Fathers have to teach their children that violence against women isn't OK, she says
Editor's note: Carol Costello anchors the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET edition of CNN's "Newsroom" each weekday. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- My dad told me real men don't hit women.
He believed that because men were physically stronger and mentally tougher, men had the obligation to shield women from harm.
I didn't buy the mentally tougher part, but I did embrace the idea that men were born with a kind of wonderful genetic code that made it impossible for them to pummel any woman, least of all a woman they cherished.
I believed this all the way through grade school and high school. I believed it until my college boyfriend, in a jealous rage, threw me against the wall and knocked me out.
It only happened once, but I remember how it felt. I always thought I was a physically strong woman, but I could not defend myself against a man who outweighed me by 70 pounds.
Which brings me to star running back Ray Rice.
When video emerged of the Baltimore Ravens player dragging his unconscious fiancée from an elevator, I thought the whole world would be horrified. I thought the National Football League would come down hard on Rice.
I was wrong.
Rice will sit out two games and pay a fine. It reportedly will cost the multimillionaire athlete $529,411.24.
The Ravens' head coach, John Harbaugh, summed it up this way on ESPN:
"It's not a big deal. It's just part of the process. We said from the beginning that the circumstances would determine the consequences. There are consequences when you make a mistake like that. I stand behind Ray. He's a heck of a guy. He's done everything right since. He makes a mistake. He's going to have to pay a consequence." (In May, Rice pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree aggravated assault and was accepted into a pretrial program for first offenders.)
Plus, come on! The guy went to counseling and married his victim, for goodness sake.
Say what?
In a wonderfully headlined post, "The NFL Thinks Smoking Weed Is Eight Times Worse Than Beating a Woman Unconscious," the website sports.mic contrasted Rice's situation with that of Josh Gordon, a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, wo "is facing a 16-game suspension ... for testing positive for marijuana ..."
Actually this strange kind of "justice" meted out by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn't bother me as much as what the Ravens posted on their Twitter feed. According to whoever tweets for the Ravens, Janay Rice herself "deeply regrets the role she played the night of the incident."
Perhaps the new Mrs. Rice really does feel that way, but the Ravens' "helpful" tweet is as tone deaf as John Harbaugh's Rice "made a mistake/he's a heck of a guy" comment.
Ayonna Johnson, director of legal services for the Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, says, "When it comes to ... professional sports, unfortunately we're still in a male-dominant society." A girlfriend or a wife, she says, "has to bend themselves down, bend herself lower, and make her partner and her love interest shine a little brighter."
Even when her manly, wealthy, successful husband is clearly wrong.
Put more bluntly, take the blame, Honey, you probably deserved it.
I don't say that lightly. After my boyfriend knocked me out, I expected my friends to rally around me. Most did not. "He's such a nice guy," they told me in disbelief. "You must have made him really mad. You say some mean stuff. He really loves you."
ESPN's Stephen Smith played the role of my callous former friends on his show, "First Take." He assured his audience that, PERSONALLY, "as a man raised by women," he knows full well there's never an "excuse to put your hands on a woman," except, that is, when you must.
Smith blathered, "We also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation."
In other words, Ladies, don't provoke your man or he'll deck you.
Smith's colleague -- and my new hero -- Michelle Beadle tweeted, "I'm thinking about wearing a miniskirt this weekend ... I'd hate to think what I'd be asking for by doing so."
Smith tried to apologize, but the damage was done. Perhaps the NFL will try to apologize too, but again, the damage is done.
So, Mr. Goodell, a few facts for you to ponder for the future: According to safehorizon.org, one in four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime. One-third of female homicide victims are killed by their current or former partner.
According to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, boys who witness domestic abuse are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
It's why I thank God every day I married a man whose father was as old-fashioned as mine. Gordon Snyder taught his sons a slightly different version, though. Gordy said, "A man who hits a woman never hits a man."
Are you listening, Mr. Goodell?
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Botched executions can't be new norm
7/27/2014 2:28:21 AM
- Four men have been subjected to botched executions this year, authors say
- In Arizona, it took Joseph Wood two hours to die
- Authors say states veil their procedures in secrecy, contributing to the problem
- States must disclose much more information and courts should review process, they say
Editor's note: Megan McCracken and Jennifer Moreno are attorneys with the Death Penalty Clinic, Lethal Injection Project, at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors. CNN's original series "Death Row Stories" explores America's capital punishment system at 10 p.m. ET/PT Sundays. Join the conversation about the death penalty at facebook.com/cnn or Twitter @CNNOrigSeries using #DeathRowStories.
(CNN) -- On Wednesday, July 23, the State of Arizona executed Joseph Rudolph Wood in the fourth visibly bungled execution this year. The execution began at 1:52 p.m. According to eyewitness Michael Kiefer, "Wood was unconscious by 1:57 p.m. At about 2:05, he started gasping." He continued to gasp for over 90 minutes.
Afterward, eyewitness Troy Hayden reported, "Joe Wood is dead, but it took him two hours to die. To watch a man lay there for an hour and 40 minutes gulping air, I can liken it to, if you catch a fish and throw it on the shore, the way the fish opens and closes its mouth."
Kiefer counted more than 640 gasps.
Arizona engaged in a failed experiment. Its new execution protocol called for administration of two drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone. The only other time this drug combination had been used was the prolonged and similarly disturbing Ohio execution of Dennis McGuire, who took 24 minutes to die and struggled for air for 10 to 13 minutes.
Eyewitness Alan Johnson reported that McGuire "gasped deeply. It was kind of a rattling, guttural sound. There was kind of a snorting through his nose. A couple of times, he definitely appeared to be choking."
Faced with these well-documented problems, Arizona adopted Ohio's procedure but increased the amount of each drug (from 10 milligrams to 50 milligrams for midazolam and from 40mg to 50mg for hydromorphone). The state refused to reveal, however, its process for selecting the new doses or whether it conducted due diligence to determine that its protocol would be more effective. Notwithstanding the changes Arizona made to the drug formula, Wood's execution went even worse than McGuire's.
Despite requests from Wood's lawyers, Arizona also refused to reveal the source of its drugs -- including the manufacturer, lot number and expiration date -- and the qualifications of its execution team members.
Nothing about this information would compromise the identity of those participating in executions, but it would allow the courts and the public to analyze whether the execution procedures will work as intended and bring about death in a way that meets the requirements of the Eighth Amendment.
Callan: Are death penalty delays 'cruel and unusual'?
Four men -- Michael Wilson, McGuire, Clayton Lockett and Wood -- have been subjected to bungled executions this year. Although the drugs, doses and other details of the procedures differed in each execution, the commonality between them is that the departments of corrections used experimental drug combinations and shielded crucial aspects of their practices in secrecy.
Even in the aftermath of the executions, the lack of transparency continues. While governors in both Oklahoma and Arizona have called for reviews of the problematic executions, no outside authorities have been brought in to conduct the investigations.
Internal investigations are insufficient to the task. Departments of corrections cannot be allowed to provide pat explanations that leave central questions unanswered, minimize errors and hide relevant information about what went wrong.
Instead, there must be independent investigations of each execution that goes awry and thorough, public reporting of the results. Without truly independent investigations, it will be impossible to make meaningful conclusions about what went wrong or to determine if changes can be made to ensure that the same errors do not happen again.
The botched executions in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma show us that when states are allowed to devise novel, untested execution protocols without judicial scrutiny or public oversight, the resulting procedures are unreliable. And when the unreliable procedures are implemented, the consequences are gruesome and horrific.
States cannot be allowed to continue carrying out death sentences without judicial review of their execution procedures. The courts must require departments of corrections to disclose key aspects of these procedures, particularly with respect to the provenance of the drugs used and the qualifications of the execution personnel.
Without this oversight, botched executions will become the new norm. No additional executions should proceed until the states act with transparency, and the courts scrutinize execution procedures to ensure that they comport with the U.S. Constitution.
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What's Putin's real end game?
7/27/2014 7:13:58 AM
- U.S. intelligence officials say they believe Russian artillery is firing into eastern Ukraine
- Rick Francona says the artillery firing is a significant escalation by the Russians
- He says Vladimir Putin's concern is to protect the pro-Russian rebels
- Francona: Ultimately, Putin may claim territory in eastern Ukraine to 'protect' rebels
Editor's note: Rick Francona is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and CNN military analyst. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr reported Thursday that the U.S. intelligence community has information that Russian artillery is firing into eastern Ukraine. The artillery pieces shown in the released footage are Russian M-46 130mm field guns with a range of a little over 16 miles.
Why would the Russians do this? Simple -- this fits into their plan to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The end game? I believe it is the eventual absorption of that region into the Russian Federation.
The area in red on the map is where much of the fighting between the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian rebels has been occurring over the last month. The separatists have downed several Ukrainian military aircraft in this area as the fighting raged. It is also the area in which Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in what most of us believe was a tragic case of mistaken identity and inept use of modern weaponry.
Over the past month, the Ukrainians have been successful in pushing the rebels into a pocket near the Russian border. One of the key weapons used by the Ukrainians is the Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack/close air support jet fighter. It is heavily armed and armored, meant to fly low and attack personnel and vehicles with a variety of weapons. Flying low makes it vulnerable to ground fire, however, especially shoulder-launched MANPADS, which are the heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles in the rebels' arsenal (also supplied by the Russians).
Pentagon: Russia getting ready to send more powerful weaponry into Ukraine
To address some of the vulnerability to ground fire, pilots can fly higher than the effective ranges of MANPADS.
Defending against these higher-flying aircraft requires a more advanced and capable air defense system -- like the SA-11 (called the "Buk" system by the Russians). From a variety of reports, it appears that the Russians provided a Buk transporter-erector-launcher-and-radar (TELAR) to the separatists. There is footage of an SA-11 TELAR being moved from this contested area toward the Russian border immediately after MH17 was shot down.
Just three days before, on June 14, the rebels shot down a Ukrainian military Antonov An-26 twin-turboprop cargo aircraft flying at an altitude of 21,000 feet. Since this altitude is significantly above the range of the MANPADS in either the Ukrainian or rebel arsenal, the obvious conclusion is that it was downed with a more capable system: the SA-11 system supplied by the Russians.
That event alone should have set off alarm bells in the civil aviation community. The downing of any aircraft operating at that altitude presented a different threat scenario than would an area in which shoulder-fired missiles were the only threat to aviation.
The subsequent -- and I believe mistaken -- downing of MH17 forced the rebels and their Russian sponsors to remove the SA-11 system from eastern Ukraine, although it is obvious to most observers what had happened.
Without the improved air defense umbrella provided by the SA-11, the separatists found themselves again subject to effective Ukrainian air strikes. On Wednesday, two Ukrainian Su-25 fighters were shot down while operating at an altitude of 17,000 feet -- just above the range of MANPADS, yet still at an altitude to deliver munitions with a degree of accuracy.
The Ukrainians believe the aircraft were downed with SA-11 missiles, but this time fired from inside Russian territory. The SA-11 has enough range to reach not only that altitude, but more than 20 miles into Ukrainian territory.
In a further development, on Thursday it appeared that the Russians had also begun fire support for the rebels, firing artillery from inside Russian territory into eastern Ukraine. While the M-46 130mm field gun seen in the photos can reach out to about 16 miles, the Russians have other systems that can reach as far as 25 miles or more.
This represents a significant change in the situation between Russia and Ukraine. Providing material support -- the money, weapons and training required to mount an effective insurgency -- to groups in foreign countries is a recognized method of assisting groups that are either carrying out your wishes or are furthering a foreign policy objective. We have done it routinely. Afghanistan is a prime example.
Firing artillery rounds into another sovereign nation with whom you are not at war is another matter entirely. This would be an act of war, yes, but it underscores just how seriously the Russians (read: President Vladimir Putin) view the survival of the pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine and their hopes that their continued fighting will achieve a key foreign policy objective.
Putin believes these rebels are his ticket to gradually acquiring eastern Ukraine without a Russian military invasion. This use of artillery in the midst of the international furor over the MH17 incident demonstrates his seriousness.
On Friday, the Ukrainians reportedly responded to the Russian artillery fire with mortar fire across the Russian border. This represents a significant escalation of the tensions along that border -- what was once an internal (albeit externally supported) conflict between Ukrainian nationals and pro-Russian separatists now has the trappings of a cross-border fight between two sovereign nations, one of which has immensely greater military power.
Both sides are calculating their next moves. From the Russian perspective, with its approximately 15,000 troops deployed along the border, this artillery fire is logical and almost obligatory support for ethnic Russians who they believe would rather be part of the Russian Federation.
From the Ukrainian perspective, this is Russian meddling in their internal affairs. Military action from the Russian side will draw a Ukrainian armed response. This is understandable, but the Ukrainians need to ensure that they are not playing into Vladimir Putin's game plan. At some point, the Russians may declare that they need to intervene to protect "Russian nationals in eastern Ukraine."
Sound far-fetched? Remember Crimea.
Motyl: Putin, just evil enough
Motsyk: This tragedy is Russia's fault
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