Plane tragedy is a warning to all mankind

THE frightening excuse that the downing of a Ukrainian airliner over Iran was due to human error sends a shiver down the spine. For this explanation came from an Iranian government that had hitherto insisted they were blameless. It is also from a government on the fringe of becoming a nuclear power and one that would arrest our ambassador for paying his respects to the dead.

I just do not believe this was unplanned, for even the dimmest of radar controllers could see that the target was in the climb and accelerating through 8,000ft on a regular planned departure from Tehran airport. It was certainly not a cruise missile which would have been in level flight or even in descent.

This act of violence has alerted the world as to what can happen if evil and tyrannical people take the reins of government, get control of any weapon system, let alone nuclear, and kill innocent people. In a way, it is surprising that the Iranian government did an about-face, unlike the Russian authorities over the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 over the Ukraine in 2014.

Maybe the Iranians realised the mounting evidence was incontrovertible and that there is a lot of suppressed opposition to them as evidenced by the massive protest marches that took place in their country last Saturday.

We live in a beautiful world but humans have made it a terrifying place. It is not just the shooting down of aeroplanes, but the way in which the likes of Russians Nikolai Glushkov and Alexander Litvinenko were murdered.

I do not believe that this tragedy was caused by human error, but by minds with a distorted sense of what is right and wrong. It does, however, increase pressure on politicians to try and form alliances and agreements that will save the world from some nutter flicking the switch that could create a nuclear disaster.

Frightening times, yes, but not out of control. The Middle East has been an area of strife for the last 2,000 years and nothing is going to change quickly, but religious leaders must also play their part in reducing tensions.

Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris