When I saw this on the news this morning, the first word that came to my mind was “Katyn.” Apparently, the same thing happened to Arthur Chrenkoff and Richard Ferndandez.
When I heard it went down in bad weather, it also made me think of this, which to me remains suspicious. Given the nature of the reporting on that one, I’m disinclined to trust any early reporting on this event.
[Update a few minutes later]
I should note that I wrote this before hearing that they had been on their way to commemorate the massacre, and linked the other two pieces based on headlines only. So the resonance is even stronger than I had realized. This will be a very unsettling event for eastern Europe. It should be for western Europe as well, but it probably won’t.
This isn’t the first suspicious plane crash involving a Polish head of state
and the Russians after Katyn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Sikorski
scan down.
I heard this story first thing this morning, so I went online and read what I could find. Then, I heard this again late afternoon on NPR. They reported it as Lech Walesa being killed.
At first I thought I misunderstood, but the infoboob, said it again. Then, the third time said the Lech Kaczynski name. Until I got home, and went online again, I thought they’d both been killed. But I guess it was just a weird mis-speak.
As to the Ron Brown thing, it’s come along WAY different than when I first heard that story.
Unfortunately, I was sick and awake the night that happened. I sat and watched CNN for an hour after the first reports came in. They showed helicopters over the ocean, fire on the ocean and stuff floating, in the OCEAN. For an hour or a little more.
I finally fell asleep. When I next heard the story, it was late afternoon, and the crash was on land, uphill, away from the water, a mile from the beach. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I wasn’t feverish when I saw the first reports. What changed in the “investigation”, versus the initial pictures and reports, to move the crash site that far?
They showed helicopters over the ocean, fire on the ocean and stuff floating, in the OCEAN. For an hour . . .
Ever see the movie “Wag the Dog”? Or the CNN “Bagdad” studio that was actually in the US?
Yeah, I’m pretty much 90% positive that Putin had them whacked because they supported keeping the US ABM system in eastern europe. Obama will go along with it cause he’s against SDI too but doesn’t want to look like he’s turning his back on the Poles, so the Poles get a new government that agrees to pulling the ABM system out and Putin gets what he wanted.
In a dangerous world it’s not good that we can’t trust our own government.
K,
all I know is what they reported EARLY, and how different it was later, and in the final report. Very different stories indeed.
And again, I’m not the conspiracy type, but a “Wag the Dog” scenario would NOT be that hard to pull off. Especially with the MSM on the side of the Democrats / liberals, and they have a MSM and Administration bromance going on, like NOW and like during the Clinton Years. There is no lie that’s too crazy or outrageous to tell to keep the power.
Conversely, you have outright lies, fabrications and forgeries, being used by the lefty MSM, to make conservatives look bad. GWB’s military record comes to mind. Dan Rather TO THIS DAY defends them as real. And again, many people will let Rather “Wag the Dog” on the records, and continue to believe they are the real “hidden” records.
So, IMHO, it’s all too easy to get the MSM in on the subterfuge and via them, many people can be swayed into believing both the seemingly unbelievable, and into disbelieving the real truth.
I think the only answer is to put 10, 9/11 Truthers and 10 Birthers in a room, with sticks and rocks, whomever gets out alive, is the proof of the REAL story, end of conversation, no more questions.
It’s OK, everyone; Putin himself will lead the investigation into the crash.
Sorry guys, I know it’s fun, and often right, to be suspicious of anything tragic that has to do with Russia, but I wouldn’t be so quick to pass judgement on this one. Russian airliners are well-known for their crappy quality, and their civilian air transport net has never won any prizes for either efficiency or safety.
Put me in with Mr. Gallagher. I understand the sentiment that thinks Russia would do something like this to the Polish government. I put nothing past Putin.
However, I think I missed the various reports. Since I first read about it Friday night, it seems the plane was landing in severe IFR conditions it clipped a forest. The photos of the crash seem to suggest the same. There’s a lot of pieces there for people to inspect. And my understanding is Russia, and the EU, already convinced Obama not to put ABM in Poland.
When Putin is involved, I can’t help but think,
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“…you can take the boy outta the KGB, but…”.
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And it’s not like the Russian’s had anything to gain, by shaking hands with the Poles and saying,
.
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“We know we outright murdered a ton of Poles, imprisoned even more and used them for slave labor, kept your country behind the Iron Curtain for four and a half decades and openly threatened you and the U.S. if you guys took the missile defense system…but OUR BAD, we apologize, new game!! Let’s get together and do a commemoration.”
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PUHlease, Vlad Putin could do a Dana Carvey style imitation of George Bush on this event,
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“…not gonna do’it, wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture, can’t ‘pologize to them Pollacks…”.
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And God only knows how many people the Russians could, or have, put into Polish politics or how many they could get elected to start the ties going BACK closer to the Russian side, and dropping away from the Polish currently leaning west.
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And to say that Putin wouldn’t have these officials killed, I think disavows who and what he was bred and trained to be. K…G…B.
We should never forget, the KGB isn’t just a radio station in San Diego, or even a guy bounding around baseball stadiums in a funny chicken suit.
The KGB also used to be about espionage and murder brought to you from the now defunct U.S.S.R. ! But I’ve never seen just where the ‘Old Spy’s Home’ is in Russia. Where do spies go when their handlers are dismantled, voted out or otherwise taken out of power?
All the old Russian spies can’t be in Brighton Beach, running restaurants and selling pirozhki from street carts. Do I believe all the ex-Soviet spies just took civilian jobs, selling cars, running bars, doing security work for the highest bidder like on a bad TV drama?
Nyet.
Careful Schtumpy, It’s not like they have a history of assassinating reporters and political opponents often in ways to send a message that they did it./sarc
I’ve just got to hope they don’t escalate to Blog Commenters.
I wasn’t kidding about Putin leading the investigation into the crash.
Will Putin find that Putin had nothing to do with it?
Ken, don’t forget the Russians have a history of shooting down airliners too…
Looks bad, smells bad… but it also looks like an accident. Eastern European aircraft have a reasonably bad instrument landing record. Apparently this was the pilot’s 5th attempt to get down and he’d been warned about his glide path on that attempt by the Tower.