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My conspiracy theory: The plane was hijacked and there has been contact with Malaysia/China/USA. One of the conditions for hostages to be held safely is that t

My conspiracy theory: The plane was hijacked and there has been contact with Malaysia/China/USA. One of the conditions for hostages to be held safely is that the Authorities do not make this public. This would explain: - the otherwise unbelievable delays and pure misinformation by the Malaysian government. Stalling for time. - the fact that they did not publicly do background checks on all passengers until recently. They already know who the hijacker is. Now that there is pressure because of elapsed time and that people are seeing holes in the story, they need to be seen to be doing something. What makes this implausible: - it still does not explain where the plane landed and has been hidden without trace in the interim (perhaps they know - NW Pakistan, NE Afghanistan maybe, and just can't get to it without harming the hostages) - it would be a diplomatic nightmare to have countries using their assets in a futile search when Malaysia already knows what has happened. (On the other hand, if they took 20 countries into their confidence then they would definitely have had a leak by now.) - talking of leaks - I am sure even if it was a tightly held secret that they were in hostage negotiations, someone would have made it public by now. That's just the way things are these days. EDIT: Formatting

mseebach 13y ago
You theory is plausible, but there is no need to explain the lack of public information. It's entirely reasonable that the investigators doesn't feel they require the inputs of thousands of amateurs and thus publicizing every shred of evidence they come across just isn't a priority(1). Specifically addressing public background checks on all passengers: These are people whose families are grieving. The have a completely reasonable expectation of privacy, and I don't think there is good reason to ever publish any but the most rudimentary of information on these individuals. Can you imagine a loved one dying in mysterious conditions and then have Reddit shred through their background information and publishing conspiracy theories about a link between their experimenting with drugs in college, a painful divorce and how that means they might be a suicide-hijacker (or whatever)? 1: I'm not saying there's no value in it, there are clearly some capable people pitching in left and right, but it's a radical paradigm shift in investigation, and while you're looking for a missing aircraft is a time for sticking to procedure, not undertaking paradigm shifts.
- Paddywack 13y ago
  Hi. I agree with a lot of what you say. However, the information that I am referring to was plausible and already in the public domain, but that they were refuting. Examples of this are the delay between the two comms engines being switched off; the Rolls Royce engine data; and their military satellites. All of this information was gleaned from reliable sources [their own military, the engine manufacturer, the normal ATC systems], and you are 100% correct in that it should have been verified before being released. But, my point is that the delay between the time the information first came to light [even through leaks] in release was just too excruciating long to comprehend. In the interim flatly they denied that the information even existed. I can only assume that some of the leaks from "official sources" were in part because they knew that materially[1] important reliable information was being held back. On another note - I do feel for the families. The mis-information, delays and incorrect denials are only adding to the speculation. There must be a better way to report information. [1]= Materially important to quelling speculation. Material to re-directing the futile searches in the wrong places.
alexeisadeski3 13y ago
More plausible than a lot of stuff that's been posted. However, if true... You'd expect DevGru or Legionnaires or whatever the Chinese equivalent is to have acted by now.
sleepyhead 13y ago
> - the otherwise unbelievable delays and pure misinformation by the Malaysian government. Stalling for time. Except that this is exactly how the Malaysian government usually operates. I have lived there for a year and can tell you that the Malaysian government is incompetent. Also they are used to talking to the local media which they control (and who is also incompetent). > the fact that they did not publicly do background checks on all passengers until recently. They already know who the hijacker is. Now that there is pressure because of elapsed time and that people are seeing holes in the story, they need to be seen to be doing something. See above.
- Paddywack 13y ago
  Oddly enough, I have lived there for a year as well. I agree that the government is incompetent, partly because of cronyism and largely because of terribly applied affirmative action. However, I did think that the enormous international support combined with international pressure would have helped mitigate this. They seem to respond well to international pressure - I always believed that most of their best achievements (of which there are a few) have come as a result of the perpetual pissing contest with neighbouring Singapore (not that I am sure Singapore even cares!).
  - sleepyhead 13y ago
    Mamak makes up for government incompetence.

mseebach 13y ago

You theory is plausible, but there is no need to explain the lack of public information. It's entirely reasonable that the investigators doesn't feel they require the inputs of thousands of amateurs and thus publicizing every shred of evidence they come across just isn't a priority(1). Specifically addressing public background checks on all passengers: These are people whose families are grieving. The have a completely reasonable expectation of privacy, and I don't think there is good reason to ever publish any but the most rudimentary of information on these individuals. Can you imagine a loved one dying in mysterious conditions and then have Reddit shred through their background information and publishing conspiracy theories about a link between their experimenting with drugs in college, a painful divorce and how that means they might be a suicide-hijacker (or whatever)? 1: I'm not saying there's no value in it, there are clearly some capable people pitching in left and right, but it's a radical paradigm shift in investigation, and while you're looking for a missing aircraft is a time for sticking to procedure, not undertaking paradigm shifts.

Paddywack 13y ago
Hi. I agree with a lot of what you say. However, the information that I am referring to was plausible and already in the public domain, but that they were refuting. Examples of this are the delay between the two comms engines being switched off; the Rolls Royce engine data; and their military satellites. All of this information was gleaned from reliable sources [their own military, the engine manufacturer, the normal ATC systems], and you are 100% correct in that it should have been verified before being released. But, my point is that the delay between the time the information first came to light [even through leaks] in release was just too excruciating long to comprehend. In the interim flatly they denied that the information even existed. I can only assume that some of the leaks from "official sources" were in part because they knew that materially[1] important reliable information was being held back. On another note - I do feel for the families. The mis-information, delays and incorrect denials are only adding to the speculation. There must be a better way to report information. [1]= Materially important to quelling speculation. Material to re-directing the futile searches in the wrong places.

alexeisadeski3 13y ago

More plausible than a lot of stuff that's been posted. However, if true... You'd expect DevGru or Legionnaires or whatever the Chinese equivalent is to have acted by now.

sleepyhead 13y ago

> - the otherwise unbelievable delays and pure misinformation by the Malaysian government. Stalling for time. Except that this is exactly how the Malaysian government usually operates. I have lived there for a year and can tell you that the Malaysian government is incompetent. Also they are used to talking to the local media which they control (and who is also incompetent). > the fact that they did not publicly do background checks on all passengers until recently. They already know who the hijacker is. Now that there is pressure because of elapsed time and that people are seeing holes in the story, they need to be seen to be doing something. See above.

Paddywack 13y ago
Oddly enough, I have lived there for a year as well. I agree that the government is incompetent, partly because of cronyism and largely because of terribly applied affirmative action. However, I did think that the enormous international support combined with international pressure would have helped mitigate this. They seem to respond well to international pressure - I always believed that most of their best achievements (of which there are a few) have come as a result of the perpetual pissing contest with neighbouring Singapore (not that I am sure Singapore even cares!).
- sleepyhead 13y ago
  Mamak makes up for government incompetence.