re: Why stealing the Malaysian airplane makes no sense...

The idea of storing it for later seems unlikely to me, too. But maybe that's because it's so horrifying.

My gut is telling me that Uighur separatists hijacked the plane, possibly with the help of a 'flipped' co-pilot, and took it into China or near the Kyrgyzstan border for a prisoner/hostage swap. Or were planning a 9/11 style attack on a Chinese city which failed. China either quashed the attempt, shot it down, it crashed accidentally, negotiated already and is waiting to announce to the world (that seems realllly unlikely), etc.

Or it was a crazy/lone wolf solo pilot or co-pilot kind of deal, either plain ole suicide or some kind of political statement wrt to the jailed opposition leader.

(From what I've read, the pilot seems like a good dude and quite principled, but frustrated with the state of politics in his country. That can apply to about half of America, too. I don't think he's involved unless it's related to his mental health. I've not really dug deeply though.)