"1) Big Question: Why was a passenger plane flying over a war zone when all other commercial flight have been detoured off that zone? "

Now you're just being silly.

You believe the Malaysian Air and the Malaysian government are in cahoots with the Ukrainians and sacrificed a civilian airliner in order to put international pressure on Putin? I'd expect Putin to spout such nonsense. But RLY?

But if by "all other commercial flights" you mean the FAA and airlines operating out of America; well Malaysia isn't under FAA jurisdiction. Nor is Amsterdam. If you read the FAA notice you'll see that it doesn't even apply to Americans piloting liners for foreign carriers.

If you care about the NOTAMs which would have been jurisdictional, I'll refer you to;
http://www.vox.com/2014/7/18/5915389/malaysian-airlines-crash-shows-the-difficulty-of-creating-a-safe

The NOTAMs for the flight in question indicated that the route was safe. The flightplan was approved. So at this point the number of participants in this little conspiracy you propose has multiplied even further. So why not just say that the entire planet is engaged in a massive conspiracy to punish Putin for supporting separatists in the Ukraine. And any number of nations were willing to sacrifice civilian liners in a game of roulette until Malaysia finally "won."

Sorry, Occam's Razor doesn't support this conspiracy theory.

"4) Russia's ace in the hole right now has been it's restraint. It had nothing to gain by bombing down a passenger plane. "

Well they've hardly been showing any restraint. And thus far the sanctions against them for annexing chunks of the Ukraine have been shrugged off. But that was the Crimea, with actual Russian troops rolling in. They've got plausible deniability in the Eastern Ukraine. They've never claimed that the separatist movement is their puppet. Now, while it wouldn't advance Putin's goals to cut his mad dogs loose; he does have the advantage of promoting the notion that they're independent. So he will continue to dissemble when folks point out the direct support.

And the separatists have everything to gain from controlling both ground and airspace.

The intercepted audio ( which seems strangely charitable for a "plant" ) indicates initial disbelief by the separatist leaders that their men on the ground found no indication of this being a military or spycraft they'd shot down.

As they HAVE taken credit for downing military craft in this region, we know that they have been trying to control the airspace in this region they've annexed.

"5) Is the moral outrage selective? If anyone wants to rage about dead kids in a war, I suggest they go see the pictures from Gaza being shelled right now."

You don't know me very well, do you?

And at this point even the FOX coverage seems to be focussing on the adult casualties over the children. They've spent more time eulogizing dead AIDS researchers than discussing kids. So I really have no idea where you dredged this one up from.

Yes, the same pundits are making backpedaling rationalizations for Israel's behaviour. In Israel only one thing is sure, regardless of which side renews the conflict, the casualties will be lopsided with the Palestinians paying for either side's aggression disproportionately. This current offensive is no different. 7 Israeli dead and 430 Palestinian dead when last I checked.

However you are comparing apples to oranges here. Unless of course your conspiracy theory includes the Malaysian liner firing shells at the separatists and relying on its civilians as a human shield?

BTW. I'm beginning to believe that "human shield" is the weaselword used by those who have decided to fire upon civilians if that's what it takes to hurt their real enemies. Just as when cops shoot hostages in a robbery rather than letting the robbers get away with it.

Dante