from Crikey …..

Abbott's foggy memory. Having abjured the shirt-front, what methods was Prime Minister Tony Abbott going to employ to convince Russian kleptocrat Vladimir Putin of his arguments in relation to MH17? Not logic or evidence, it seems. A spokeswoman for Abbott is reported as saying “the Prime Minister observed that when the United States had inadvertently shot down a civilian aircraft it had duly apologised and made appropriate restitution”.

Well if he did observe that, Putin would have been forgiven for wondering what sort of fool Abbott was taking him for. When the US Navy shot down Iran Air 655 in 1988, murdering all 290 passengers on board including over 60 children, the US government refused to apologise. Indeed, then-vice-president George H. W. Bush, later president, boasted about not apologising, saying, "I will never apologise for the United States -- I don't care what the facts are ... I'm not an apologise-for-America kind of guy."

The best the Iranians ever got was an expression of "deep regret", but the US refused to acknowledge legal liability and didn't offer any compensation for eight years -- despite the fact that the US admitted the ship that shot the airliner out of the sky, the Vincennes, was well inside Iranian territorial waters. In 1990, the captain of the Vincennes was awarded the Legion of Merit "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer" for his service during the period when the plane was shot down.

Is that the example Abbott seriously thinks Putin should adopt?