I think this issue is going to turn out much bigger than just a Russia-(and the separatist rebels they support)-Ukraine-US issue. The majority of pax were Europeans & apparently the European countries are seriously pissed, Australia has demanded an explanation from the Russian ambassador and just to make things worse several of the pax apparently were world class HIV/AIDS researchers enroute to a worldwide scientific meeting.
Apparently this is a huge issue in the Europe news cycle, much more so than in the U.S.
There are local issues as well. The separatists now have 200+ civilian dead bodies to deal with (with no government infrastructure and a disorganized organizational structure and not exactly clear who's in charge within their own forces) from an airliner they shot down thinking it was a Ukrainian military plane, the home countries are demanding return of the remains, not to mention personal effects on the airplane, air crash investigators want to go to the scene but won't because it's Ukraine sovereign territory and Ukraine won't guarantee their safety as long as the separatists control the area. The rest of the world is demanding an international investigation which will certainly point to Russian involvement, and Russia can't really do anything about it now because anything they do will be suspect for covering things up.
This is both a major loss of face for Putin that he can't really make go away, and a serious fuck-up by the separatists that will cost them momentum and maybe the war - especially if this event prompts other countries to start sending serious military support to the Ukraine.
Of course, Israel gets a windfall here because it's a big enough event to keep the news cycle off of their ground operations in Gaza happening at the same time.
