Assuming the Ukrainian phone intercepts are accurate it’s really kind of surprising that the rebel’s communications protocols are so lax. This isn’t the first time these kinds of recordings have surfaced either. It’s like these guys are running an insurgency on a civilian cell network, with no mind at all towards military grade encryption, which I’m sure Russia has.

Maybe Russia didn’t want their radio tech to fall into the wrong hands in such a soft and nebulous environment. There are other reports as well that the Russian forces seen in Ukraine are operating in a very unprofessional manner, with the report by the crash investigators today that some of the rebel militia appeared to be drunk.

DONETSK, Ukraine—When international observers arrived for the first time at the Flight 17 crash site outside this separatist-held capital on Friday afternoon, they found what they described as a field of already decomposing body parts and debris, lacking a secure cordon or any discernible on-site management. It was guarded by armed irregulars, some of whom the observers accused of being drunk.

So who knows? Maybe the lax attitude towards communication security just goes part and parcel with the overall ramshackle nature of using militia forces to avoid the label of a hot war in the media, and the general absence of actual military discipline that goes with it … you get what you pay for. The entire ratfucking strategy of sending irregulars and volunteers in without insignia always did seem too clever by half, and was probably bound to blow up in Putin’s face sooner or later.