No, they don't control the hardware and OS. Merely putting out a reference system of sorts does not mean the total control Apple has over their devices.

If you can't see the difference then I can't really help you because it's such a basic and plain difference that a first-grader would recognize it.

Well, that's easy to do if you control both the hardware and the OS. That's not an option for anyone else.

You're wrong. The Windows 8.1 app store does include traditional desktop apps. They're rare but the Adobe Reader XI is in the store.

Also, Microsoft can't very well force companies to only publish through their store...

Actual war zones?

• Let's see: RH 827, 1979 by Simbabwian rebels.
• IR 655, 1988. This was an Iranian airplane during the Iran-Iraq-War. I'm not quite sure how you think that an Iranian plane can avoid flying over Iran?
• 9XR-NN, 1994. The jet of the Ruandian president. Again, how is a Ruandian airplane supposed to avoid Ruanda?

That's about all civilian airliners shot down during an actual war. I'm counting 3 so far. Unless, you also count the Cold War as a hot war.

Whatever. As I said, I'm not a native speaker and to determine affinity towards one side or the other merely through the usage of an article strikes me as foolishness at best.

It actually reminds me of the Jehovah-scene from Life of Brian.

Sorry, but I'm not a native speaker and such intricacies sometimes elude me. Seems strange to me that such a little article makes all the difference, because after all, you yourself call other countries "the US" or "the Netherlands".

And last time I looked both the US and the Netherlands were independent countries.

Yes, they're quoting from those sites. However, they're quoting from both sites. For instance, SpiegelOnline has been very careful to treat such material as moderately unreliable.

That kind of propaganda might help them inside Russia where Putin has almost complete control over the press. But outside? With all the incriminating stuff that's already turned up?

I really don't think that the other major players will be impressed by Russian propaganda. The Ukraine certainly won't. The US won't as well, due to their longstanding tradition of mistrusting Russia, in addition to having lost citizens in the crash. Neither will several states in the EU - the Netherlands won't be happy with an "accident" explanation, particularly in light of the fact that an anti-air missile cannot really be considered an accident.

Hindsight is 20/20. You're still blaming the victims.

The only ones to blame here are the guys who pulled the trigger. No one else. Yours is the same despicable argumentation method which would blame a catholic if he was murdered by protestants in Ireland because he used the "wrong" street.

Yours is the old "Let's blame the victim" tactic, which is despicable.

First of all: That was hardly the only commercial liner to fly there.

Secondly, you seem to be under the impression that traffic control flies the planes. That is not so: Ultimately the crew decides the course. Traffic control merely watches that there are no dangerous approaches.

What this boils down to: The separatists put some unschooled and untrained people onto the seat of a BUK which then, due to being unable to make heads or tails out of the blips on the radar, decided to shoot at one blip by the roll of dice.

And that's the friendly interpretation.

Then they got them from the Russians.

And: First they claim that they captured some. And then they claim that they didn't. They can't have it both ways, à la: "We were just kidding!"

Riiight. Because Malaysia has such a huge interest in the Ukraine...