Russian President Vladimir Putin is sitting uncomfortably on the world stage, trying to extricate himself from yet another crisis of his own making. Preliminary indicators, according to U.S. officials, show that it was a Russian-made surface-to-air missile that shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, killing all 298 people aboard. Those passengers included several who were headed to the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia. One of them, Joep Lange from the Netherlands, once led the International AIDS Society, which oversees the conference. Lange, 59, was traveling with his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren, 64; both of them worked at the Amsterdam Institute for Global Heath and Development, where he was executive scientific director and she was a communications director.
Other AIDS advocates who perished in the crash included Glenn Thomas, 49, a communications officer for the World Health Organization; and Pim de Kuijer, 32, a longtime AIDS activist and lobbyist at Stop AIDS Now, a Dutch organization.
"He was an outspoken advocate on human rights, especially the position of women in society and position of gays in society," his brother, Paul de Kuijer, told the New York Times .
The plane crash, in the midst of a war zone where Russian-backed rebels are fighting Ukrainian soldiers, is a stark reminder that even 33,000 feet is not too far for the world's violence to reach. While not the same as the terrorist attacks that felled the World Trade Center in 2001, the Russian-backed rebels have made clear that they have no limits in their battle to take over Ukraine. There's evidence, including bragging by the rebels themselves, that they've shot down other plans in recent weeks – but those were military aircraft or cargo planes. It seems that the rebels mistook the Malaysian Airlines jet for something other than a civilian plane, and are now scrambling to shift the blame. This week, the aircraft's black boxes were recovered and, hopefully, a professional investigation can commence. But the crash site was compromised by rebel fighters in the immediate aftermath; this week ABC News reported that large pieces of the aircraft appear to have been cut away, so it's unclear how much evidence may have been tampered with or lost.
Ultimately, the downing of the airline falls squarely on Putin's shoulders. He's a one-man wrecking crew against humanity. There's the draconian anti-gay propaganda laws that are now in effect, which cast a pall over the Sochi Winter Olympics earlier this year and that continue to stifle free speech and association in the country. And it was just after the games that he used military action to annex the Crimea Peninsula from Ukraine.
The Obama administration has imposed additional sanctions on Russia in the wake of the Malaysian Airlines disaster. However, action is really needed from European countries, which are much larger trading partners with Russia. Yet there is already a disconnect, with French president Francois Hollande moving forward with the sale of at least one warship to Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
U.S. actions alone won't sway Putin, nor will scoldings from the United Nations. A concerted effort by many nations is needed. Putin also can't dodge responsibility if clear evidence is found that a Russian-made missile was in fact used. The deaths of 298 people – who likely never knew what hit them – are a tremendously sad loss. The fact that those killed included some of the world's most dedicated AIDS researchers and activists is a double blow, not only to those living with the disease, but all those who are affected by it.