Cb avoidance and Notam reading.
Having bumbled up and down over Croatia on many occasions in my last years in the seat 0A, I recall being sensitive to avoiding action which took me away from the weather, but would have put me in Kosovan airspace, so that option was never considered. The obvious question if weather deviation actually was a factor in the track of MH17 is, were the crew fully aware of the wasps nest currently lurking there? And if not, then why not?
ATC, some postings ago, you stated rather arrogantly, that if there was any notam, then the crew should have read and actioned it. May I remind you again of the limited time allowed for pre-flight briefing activities and the mass and mess of info presented in a variety of graphic designs which aid misinterpretation and increase the chances of missing the IMPORTANT bits?
I recall in the days of XL Airways, impounding the 87 sides of A4 printed bumph and attempting to get fleet management to reorganise it in a user friendly format. The filters were inadequate so I was skimming past the info regarding the lit mast 10 metres high, adjacent to the bulk fuelling compound at some GA/flying club airfield.
BAs notams at the end of the 90s were informing Classic transatlantic crews about minor airfields in Republic of Ireland.
Like a lot of aviation tragedies, the origins of many accidents lie within the walls of that airlines HQ, so don't try loading the dead MH17 crew with failure to appreciate what was going on 5 miles below, in a continent about which they may have known very little regarding current military conflicts.