UPDATED: Clinton: It 'Had To Be' Ukraine Separatists Who Shot Down The Plane

[Igel]

34. This is true.

And some older Soviet equipment was in Ukraine.

However, the rebels started off with much less, and in spite of not taking over much new territory in the last couple of months have vaslty increased their stores of old Soviet weapons.

And some post-Soviet weaponry that wasn't in Ukraine depots.

The difficulty is that the territory is landlocked. Even when they had access to a shipping port, it was less than complete and the roads to Donets'k and Luhansk weren't reliably controlled. The border crossings with Russia, however, are fairly reliably under their control. But it would require that dozens of tanks and more APCs, dozens of Grads, a Buk or two, and a lot of munitions and men cross through a border crossing and not have the border guards notice, that the columns of armored vehicles that move south to Russian Donetsk and north from Rostov go unnoticed by the police or the military (even if civilians record their presence).

It boils down to the Russian government knows and is providing the stuff (for free or for payment by others, it makes no difference) or the Russian government lacks control over its ports and military bases sufficient to let 100 pieces of armored tech and dozens of pieces of artillery--with the shells required for their use--walk off and through Russian towns and villages. If the Russian government knows then either Putin knows and is lying with the aplomb of a sociopath or something on this scale is taking place without his awareness and he is a foolish idiot.

I don't know which of these options makes me feel better, to be perfectly honest.