MH17

July 17th. A day that is etched in the memory and consciousness of anybody that is Dutch, or has an empathy with the Netherlands. It's the day that flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, by a missile fired from a Russian Army launcher, which was transported into the area that day in 2014, and returned to Russia the same day. 298 people died, of whom 196 were Dutch. The Russians deny all knowledge or responsibility, adopting an elastic attitude to fact and reality in this instance. The sheer horror of the scene is well described and documented, for instance in this podcast by Bellingcat. What also remains is the disbelief at the procrastination in the aftermath. The emotion and dignity of the procession of hearses that threaded its way up the motorways of the Netherlands, to the army base at Hilversum; motorists on the opposing carriageway pulling up at the central reservation, the thousands lining the carriageways and bridges the whole 70-odd miles between Eindhoven and Hilversum. A dignity that sharply contrasted with, and to some extent negated the disregard for human life that was shown by those responsible for the death of 298 innocents.