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Thread: Polish President dies in Plane Crash

  1. #1
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    Polish President dies in Plane Crash

    97 people on board, all proclaimed dead. per BBC:

    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.

    The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the crash is a catastrophe for the Polish people.

    He says Prime Minister Donald Tusk was reportedly in tears when he was told.

    Plane 'hit trees'

    The Russian emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass news agency the plane crashed at 1056 Moscow time (0656 GMT).

    Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said it had been flying from Moscow to Smolensk, but had no details on the identities of those killed.

    Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev told Russian TV that no-one had survived.

    "As it was preparing for landing, the Polish president's aircraft did not make it to the landing strip," he said.

    "According to preliminary reports, it got caught up in the tops of trees, fell to the ground and broke up into pieces. There are no survivors in that crash.

    "We are clarifying how many people there were in the [Polish] delegation. According to preliminary reports, 85 members of the delegation and the crew."

    Russian investigators said there were a total of 132 people on the plane.

    Controversial figure

    The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers.



    Our correspondent says there had been calls for Polish leaders to upgrade their planes.

    As well as the president and his wife, Maria, a number of senior officials were also said to be on the passenger list.

    They included the army chief of staff Gen Franciszek Gagor, central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek and deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

    Mr Kaczynski has been a controversial figure in Polish politics, advocating a right-wing Catholic agenda.

    He has opposed rapid free-market reforms and favoured retaining social welfare programmes.
    Last edited by Rockefella; 04-10-2010 at 04:26 PM.
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  2. #2
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    Yeah, I heard about this just now.

    What's going to happen to Poland now? Not to be insensitive, but sounds like Poland's political system will be a train wreck for a time because how do you determine the next in line for succession? There seemed to have been many important people that died in that crash at the same time.

  3. #3
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    speculation time: was that an accident or... something else? sine Kaczynski had many foes...

  4. #4
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    really a terrible incident, and i hope that poland can resolve the problem of a lack of a head of state in a hurry, and peacefully. i would hate for the this to be a catalyst for unrest.
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  5. #5
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    Kaczynski won a popular election by a few % over his prime minister and had controversial views (especially establishing Poland as a Catholic state), but not the type that would fuel speculation of assasination. The delegation's trip was to attend a ceremony honoring
    the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre; dropping the plane on purpose would be quite a stretch even for Putin.
    Foggy conditions and Aeroflot? Gotta wonder why the Poles don't have their own state aircraft.

    Poland is a parlimentary representative democratic republic, which as I understand places the president as titular head of government (state protocol activities), and prime minister as head of the executive branch (legislative activities). One would think that despite recent turmoil Donald Tusk will continue with his executive responsibilities.

    Though elected by popular vote, presidents are the window dressing of state government, prime ministers are the managers of government.
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  6. #6
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    Thats horrible. Here in Edmonton, we had a shooting at a Chrysler dealership. The shooter killed himself and his boss.
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    ^^^

    And that would relate to this unfortunate plane crash how, exactly?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Commodore GS/E View Post
    speculation time: was that an accident or... something else? sine Kaczynski had many foes...
    Yeah, them Russians planted those trees on purpose! Git 'em!

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    Rest in peace.
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    Apparently the pilot was ordered by Kacinski to try to land, (a deviation would have taken him 400 km away from Katyn where he was supposed to appear). This very much resembles the case which happened in 2008, when Kacinsky was approaching Tbilisi, Georgia in a different light. At that time the pilot refused to land when it turned out that it was impossible and in spite of presidential orders he deviated to another country. Later on the President accused the pilot of refusing to take orders. Probably the pilot of this plane was less strong.

    This of course does not take away the feelings of enormous loss.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    Gotta wonder why the Poles don't have their own state aircraft.
    LOT is one of the oldest airlines in the world.
    Guess they dont' fly to Smolensk
    VERY FEW countries keep state aircraft nowadays.
    The last vestage of colonial power ?
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  12. #12
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    Yeah, them Russians planted those trees on purpose! Git 'em!
    lolz.

  13. #13
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    I guess this can be a lesson in not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

    they suggest nearly 30% of the top brass of Poland's military is now wiped out in one fell swoop. Along with the commander in chief.

    Condolences.
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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    ^^^

    And that would relate to this unfortunate plane crash how, exactly?
    Sorry.
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    Foggy conditions and Aeroflot? Gotta wonder why the Poles don't have their own state aircraft.
    As far as I'm aware although the plane was a Russian Tu-154, it belonged to Poland, not to Aeroflot

    It is one of the most horrifying accidents lately, my deepest condolences to our Polish contingent.

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