Dennis, You solve a mystery by examining the evidence. Only once you have clues that point at a culprit is it worthwhile to speculate about motives. I agree that the scenario would be more compelling if it were obvious why Russia would take the plane. On the other hand, given that we have no idea why Russia would blast MH370’s sister plane out of the sky, but incontrovertible evidence that they did, it is self-evidently erroneous to say that lack of obvious motive is exculpatory.