UPDATE: MORE ON THE CONTINUING MALAYSIA AIR FLIGHT 370 SAGA
And that's been the whole problem since the beginning: there's no story, no agreed upon narrative of the event, no official international "Warren Report", no matter how silly the story. What we have is a non-story, a not-agreed-upon narrative that has yet to be written. There have been, of course, a raft of conspiracy theories, each with their problems, and none of them really gaining any traction. Oddly, it seems like everytime we get close to getting a story - no matter how Warren-Report-silly that story may be - something happens to derail the narrative, and we're back to square one once again. For example, the geopolitics surrounding the event - were it not for the sad loss of human life - was almost comical to watch. Within a week of the disappearance of the flight, American FOX TV (or as I like to call it, Faux News) ran a interviewed an American General (a lieutenant general as I recall, and I don't recall his name), who calmly assured the audience that his "sources" inside the intelligence community assured him that the missing flight had secretly flown close behind another civilian airliner over India (thus appearing to be only one radar signature to the befuddled Indian radar operators), whence -safely out of hostile Indian airspace, the airliner was secretly landed in (you guessed it) Iran, where it was going to be repainted and used as a false flag terrorist operation undern the auspices of Tehran and Moscow. Or something like that... frankly, I don't remember too well because I was laughing too hard. The only thing missing from the General's narrative and costumery was the monocle, the piked helmet, and the German accent.
All that worked, of course, for about five minutes, when the Indian government promptly informed the world that the whole thing was aviational and radar nonsense, which, of course, it was.
And so it went. A ridiculous narrative was created and just as quickly evaporated.
Then, recently, just as the whole mystery had finally seemed to drop off the radar of global consciousness, debris turned up on the French island of Reunion, and immediately it was speculated that the debris was from Flight 370, and just as immediately, people started poking holes in that theory. One individual (Mr. R.A.) emailed me and argued that the wing part (the flapperon) found on Reunion should have significantly corroded in salt water, there wasn't enough marine growth on the part, it should have sunk by now, and so on.
So all eyes were on France, which unlike Malaysia, was in no hurry to identify the wing part as being from Flight 370. Now, once again, the mystery deepens(thanks to Mr. K.L. and many others who shared this article):
Disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370: Investigators Fail to Link Reunion Aircraft Debris to MH370
Here's the gist:
“French authorities, in consultation with Malaysia, will give updates on progress when the time is right”, added the ATSB. The judicial authorities are in fact remaining silent and refusing to comment on anything. According to our sources, the experts found no irrefutable technical elements that would allow to us to certify 100% that this piece belongs to flight MH370. “The experts’ conclusions are the only technical part of the criminal investigation, which is still going on”, says an insider of the investigation. As of now, the only certitude is that the flaperon that was tranfered from the Reunion Island to Toulouse on August 5 corresponds to a moving part of the wing of a Boeing 777. If the deputy prosecutor of the Republic of Paris has stated that there was a “very strong supposition” that the piece belonged to the plane of flight MH370, which disappeared 18 months ago, that statement is based on circumstantial evidence.Or, to put it 'country simple":
First, the piece belongs to the aircraft model corresponding to that of Malaysia Airlines, a Boeing 777. In addition, no other aircraft of this type except that of the Malaysian company were reported missing.
Also, the trajectory of the wing piece that ran aground on a beach in Reunion matches the sea currents that link the search area of the wreckage of the plane to the French overseas department. Finally, the shells found attached to the flaperon belong to a species endemic to the southern Indian Ocean where the unit is believed to have disappeared.
According to a Toulouse aeronautics expert who requested anonymity, the element of the wing would not have floated for several months at the water’s surface but would have drifted underwater a few meters deep.
According to Jean-Paul Troadec, former chairman of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), the state of flaperon, even if it is not intact, indicates that there was no violent impact with the ocean surface. “If this had been the case with the MH370, one would expect much smaller debris than a flaperon,” said the expert.
Experts from the Directorate General of Armaments have finished surveying the flaperon found on Reunion Island. Nothing certifies that it belongs to MH370!So once again, we're depending on "inside sources" for the "fact" that France has concluded that the part is not from Malaysia Air 370, yet, just enough circumstantial evidence is rehearsed to indicate it might be.
So what are we left with?
Well, once again, we're left with pretty much what we started with over a year ago: no agreed upon narrative, no definitive debris or evidence, and an obfuscated story which tends to indicate that someone very much wishes for the story not to go away.
The real question, with this latest chapter of non-news concerning the non-narrative, remains why. And of course, the bigger question remains: what happened to flight 370, and its victims?
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