Polish President dead
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Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of others are believed to have been killed in a plane crash in Russia.
Officials in the Smolensk region said no-one had survived after the plane apparently hit trees as it came in for landing in thick fog.
Several other government figures, including the army chief of staff, were also thought to have been on board.
They were in Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when the Soviets killed thousands of Poles.
- georgesIII0
another 132 people died too, may they rest in peace.
- eating_tv0
He has a twin brother too, I think he's still in politics aswell.
- Kiggen0
Sad for him and his family. On a political level he was supreme douchebag so i hope their prime minister now can take over.
- raf0
Kaczyński wasn't a douchebag, but he was portrayed as such by large news corporations. He was a conservative, but definitely less corrupt than the pro-Euro government. Sure, that's just my opinion.
But yeah, this is unimaginable so many eggs were in one basket.
Let me shine some insider light on the context. They were heading for a ceremony commemorating the extermination of Polish elites by Soviets. In 1940 they took some 22000 Polish, picking out the most educated: army officers, lawyers, architects, doctors, etc. to a camp in Katyń and meticulously shot each one in the back of the head. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kat…
When the mass grave was first discovered 3 years later, Soviets attributed it to the Nazis. Russians weren't keen to admit responsibility for this for years, even when the full story was known.
It wasn't until very recently that Putin finally changed his stance and took part in a ceremony on a cemetery out there with the Polish PM this week. Andrzej Wajda's film Katyń http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879… was unexpectedly aired in Russian national TV for the first time.
In the last weeks the tension between the two countries seemed to be released for the first time in who knows how long, possibly centuries.
This visit of the President and the entourage was supposed to be greeted by Russian government as a continuation of this sudden Putin love fest towards Poland.Now, this... could indicate we're "back to normal". I mean, I hear Poles saying "KGB did it, this explains why Putin was playing nice recently".
The presidential election was to be held in the next few months. Kaczyński's opponent technically just won.
Another thing, an American radar system and Patriot missiles station has been on the cards, also discussed recently with the US government. This kept increasing the Polish-Russian tension and sure will work as the "motive" in all those KGB theories...
- CALLES0
was he kwel?
- dibec0
raf +1
sad day indeed for Poles. All over the front pages. Even Drudge.
- drgss0
zzZZ
"The airport was closed because of thick fog (500m visibility) and the pilot was offered a choice of landing instead in either Moscow or Minsk, however he decided to continue with the original flight plan and the crash occurred on the fourth approach after three failed attempts. In 2008 the pilot of Kaczyński's plane was threatened to be dismissed when he refused to land the aircraft in Tbilisi"
- I am sure the pressure was the reason. He shouldn't have attempted to land.raf
- dog_opus0
Very sad. He was a decent leader in a pantheon of incompetent, corrupt elitist hacks.
- FredMcWoozy0
1. Polish president and state dignitaries are flying to russia to mourn the 1940 slaughter of over 20,000 Polish people in a Russia Forest (Kaytn Forest) by stallin
2. Poland finds oil reserves that will allow them to become independent of Russian Oil Pipe line
3. Polish President is Conservative and does not like Russia
4. Obama is in Russia as we speak signing a nuclear arms treaty
5. Zibignew Brzinski hates Russia and is a Polish Native - One of the Guys who groomed Obama
6. Central Banker, Conservative President, All Army Chiefs and Other Polish Politicians all dippose Russia - died in the plane. Govt brought to its knees
7. Poland Agrees last week to install US Missle Shield around its borders
8. Plane is Russia made, Crash on Russian soil, Russia controls crime scene
9. Poland was going to break away from the EU
10. Poland plane looses radio contact 16 mins before crash
- drgss0
11. Polish president wasnt expected or invited to the ceremony
- drgss0
12. When flight dispatchers refused the plane to land in the thick fog, and redirected it to Moscow or Minsk, the polish president thought of it as an attempt to stop him from attending the ceremony, and ordered to land anyway. On the fourth landing attempt the plane struck the trees and smashed into pieces
- benfal990
plane crashes are so dramatic
- georgesIII0
- shoppeddbloc
- wich one is the one?benfal99
- the one in front,
the president is always in the front rowgeorgesIII
- Josev0
It wasn't only the President. This is terrible for the country.
From Yahoo News:
"The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. Also killed were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said."
- drgss0
yep theres a spare one
- ifeltdave0
this is pretty tragic to say the least.
- georgesIII0
thats even more fucked up because the entire commanding echelon is gone.
it's going to be dog eat dog now,