Australia, Netherlands played good cop, bad cop to free MH17 bodies

AUSTRALIA and the Netherlands played a good cop, bad cop routine to achieve the release of the MH17 bodies, experts say.

WHAT a difference a few hours has made. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte was slated for his limp-response and pandering to the Russian president Vladimir Putin in three phone calls since last Thursday’s horrific plan tragedy which cost 298 lives, 192 of which were Dutch.

But now that 282 of the bodies are being transported back to Holland on the start of a welcome return home to their distraught families, Mr Rutte is being hailed as the diplomatic hero.

Some political experts believe it was a carefully orchestrated co-ordinated response between the Western allies to play the good cop, bad cop routine.

IN DEPTH: More stories on MH17

The strong language of Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, who said Russia can’t wash its hands of the disaster and the lead of the Australians at the UN Security Council were facilitated by the country’s geographical distance from Russia, the Dutch say. They argue they couldn’t have used the tough talk of Abbott because of Russia’s military strength just a few hundred kilometres away.

A Dutch diplomacy expert from the Clingendael Insittute Jan Melissen told Dutch paper AD: “Australia, which also has many casualties, has railed against Russia. But for Australians, Russia is literally far away. For us, Russia is a neighbour and directly adjacent to Europe. We have a relationship of many facets together, whether we like it or not. “

The former Dutch defence minister Joris Voorhoeve said it was a deliberate political tactic from the first hours of the downing of the plane that the Dutch would be measured and controlled in public pronouncements and allow others to be angry.

Mr Voorhoeve, said: “From day one it was a very conscious choice of the government to walk on egg shells’’. He said the Dutch had tried to work behind the scenes with Russia to apply pressure on the rebels for access to the site. It was crucial in getting the repatriation of the bodies, he believed, especially as British Prime Minister David Cameron was bullish, and US secretary of state John Kerry was raging in line with the Australian anger.

“Timing is everything at such a time,’’ Mr Voorhoeve said. “Sometimes you know things but you have to keep quiet to keep the line open, especially with such an unpredictable group as the rebels in eastern Ukraine. “