Putin takes shirtfronting up a notch

This is not satire. The stakes have been raised in macho posturing between PM Tony Abbott and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the news that russian warships have been seen heading towards Australian waters after Abbott asked Putin to apologise and compensate the victims of the MH17 tragedy. 

According to The Australian, "Australian P3 Orion surveillance aircraft have been deployed to monitor the ships, along with Anzac class frigate, HMAS Stuart.The ships are in the Coral Sea, south of Bougainville off Australia’s east coast."

In a move many commentators considered foolhardy if not downright idiotic in a national leader, Abbott recently threatened to "shirtfront" Putin at the G20 in Brisbane, over the downing of MH17 over the Ukraine, in which 38 Australians died.  The move sent journalists and political advisors worldwide running for their dictionaries because, contrary to popular belief it does not refer to the front of a piece of clothing.  "Shirtfront" is an Australian Rules Football term meaning to hit someone front on and knock them to the ground, an act of violence more suited to a bar-room brawl than a political dialogue. 

The threat has set back Australian-Russian relations leading to threats of trade sanctions and comes in the wake of other international embarassments including diplomatic non-communication from the Indonesian government after it was revealed ASIO was recording thier phone calls, and the Julie Bishop UN climate conference snub.

No one has claimed responsibility for the shooting down of the MH17 passenger jet, but rumours have been rife.  World media has been speculating for weeks that it was a Russian missile that took down the plane, however there seems to be no evidence as to whether it was fired by Russian soldiers or was a weapon captured by Ukrainians.