Reputed @ManchesterUP publishes conspirological concoction on #MH17 catastrophy @JITMH17 @Bellingcat

[umland]

Shame on Manchester University Press for publishing this “study” on the conflict in Ukraine, by a conspirological author with, apparently, no or little Ukrainian language proficiency and with no publicly documented qualification in academic East European studies. Lots of misinformation is circulating around, in mass media, about MH17 that is not only confusing, but must be extremely stressful for the relatives of the catastrophy’s victims. It is a scandal that a major academic publisher named after a reputed British university would, against the background of the published results of the Dutch governmental investigation into the MH17 disaster, provide a platform for such a purposeful mystification of a manifest Russian mass killing of, among others, numerous children.
Academic freedom is to be valued, but university presses should aim to publish empirical and not conspirological work, and give a voice to competent experts in their books’ academic disciplines, and not to apparent dilettants, with rather obvious non-academic motivations. There are enough dubious outlets and shabby publishers that provide plattforms for conspiracy theories and non-scholarly “investigations.” It is not necessary for major Western university presses’ to join them, in the name of a “pluralistic” public discourse.

For an excerpt from the book, see: https://www.academia.edu/31325882/The_Eurasian_Union_and_the_BRICS_under_attack

On the author, see http://www.whathappenedtoflightmh17.com/presentation-van-kees-van-der-pijl-on-ukraine-and-mh17/
Manchester University Press's response, and comments by various experts: https://www.facebook.com/andreas.umland.1/posts/10213702477769695?comment_id=10213702775657142&comment_tracking=%7B"tn"%3A"R"%7D
CC: Flug MH-17 / Bellingcat / MH17 / MH17 = Malaysian / Pray for MH17 / MH17 / Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 / MH17 / MH17 / Malaysian Airlines MH17 / Malaysia Airlines / Ukraine Сrisis Media Center / British Embassy, Kyiv/ Ukrainian Institute, London / Olha Onuch / Stephen Hutchings / British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies - Basees / Political Studies Association