Polish President, his wife, his entourage, killed in plane crash

Saw this as soon as I turned on the news this morning and immediately thought of the possibility that there's much more to the story:

President Lech Kaczynski was travelling with his wife from Warsaw to Smolensk airport, 220 miles southwest of Moscow, when his plane crashed in thick fog.

Poland was left stunned by the news that their president, his wife, and a whole tier of the Polish elite had been killed.

A television newsreader fought back tears as she relayed the news.

Sergei Antufiev, the regional governor of the Smolensk, said that everyone on board had been killed.

"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," Mr Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone. "There were no survivors."

My thoughts on this weren't helped by this reference:

Russia said that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will personally head the investigation into the crash.

It's spy novel stuff in many respects and Kim Priestap is thinking similarly:

There’s a truly bizarre irony in the timing of this crash that cannot be ignored. Kaczynski and many of his top military officers were heading to Russia – on a Russian plane – to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Stalin’s massacre of thousands of Polish military officers.

Here’s another bizarre twist. Just this past September, when President Obama was simultaneously announcing that he was reneging on the United States’ commitment to place a ballistic defense system in Poland, Russia tried to intimidate the Polish government by playing nuclear “war games” on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland.

Something is not right here. Putin is not an honest dealer.  We know he is a former KGB agent who never renounced communism. We also know many of his opponents and critics have had mysterious tragedies befall them. And when he was term limited out as president, he made sure his successor, Dmitry Medvedev was elected, who then turned around and immediately appointed Putin prime minister, allowing him keep his hands on the reigns.

Just as our president assigns someone from his cabinet to stay in an undisclosed location during his SOTU addresses, we need to pray that President Kaczynski similarly assigned a strong and fiercely loyal member of his Polish government to stay back just in case something tragic happened on his trip.

Let's hope that this is nothing more than pilot error in terrible conditions.

World Wars have started over less.

Comments

[Mommynator]

I know I sound like a tinfoil nut, but I can't help thinking that this wasn't an accident.

My sincere sympathy to the Polish people at this time.

[Tom Osborne]

Tinfoil nut or not, Mommynator, I'm with you...in no way do I believe that this was an accident.

[S. Cank]

No this was not an accident but a big sacrifice wipe out .....
How can the Good Polish people now sit down and do nothing....
They should take matters further and sort there country out by taking out the evil members or other governments who must have been apart of this crime..

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

While the “spy novel” and historical aspects certainly is hard to ignore, the blinding fog and multiple landing attempts certainly seems to explain an awful tragedy.

Sympathy to Poland.

[Gayle Miller]

The Polish people, God be good to them, have endured and suffered much, most particularly in the 20th Century. They need and deserve our wholehearted prayers that this was truly an accident and not some despicable act of terrorism. On the other hand, given the lamentable history of terrorism in the 21st century, I'm suspicious.