Free Republic

Poland's government moved swiftly Sunday to show that it was staying on course after the deaths of its president and dozens of political, military and religious leaders, even as tens of thousands of Poles expressed their grief over the plane crash in Russia that shocked the country. New acting chiefs of the military were already in place and an interim director of the central bank was named Sunday, with work running as usual, said Pawel Gras, a government spokesman. It was a rare positive note on a day wracked by grief for the 96 dead and laced with reminders of...

WARSAW — As the body of Poland’s president was returned to this traumatized capital on Sunday, a day after he and dozens of top Polish political and military leaders died in a plane crash in western Russia, the country was in mourning but there was already a sense that its young democracy had passed a major test. The mechanisms to replace the lost officials appeared to be functioning and the political culture was responding with remarkable unity. Senior Polish officials sought to reassure the public that the government would continue to function normally despite the loss. Military leaders were immediately...

WARSAW—Cities across Poland fell silent for two minutes Sunday afternoon as the country remembered President Lech Kaczynski and the dozens of other top officials who were killed in a plane crash in Russia Saturday.

SDI: A Russian-built reactor undergoes operational tests in Iran. Tehran orbits a satellite with an ICBM. Are we about to trade away proven missile defense for unproven and unreliable Russian diplomacy?Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and our new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, are scheduled to meet in Geneva on Friday. One of the topics on the list is sure to be something we have warned about — the trading away of American missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic for vague Russian promises to help with the Iranian missile and nuclear threat. The Russian daily newspaper Kommersant...

National Security: The proposed missile defense system for Europe may be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Russia. Is Ronald Reagan's "We win, they lose" now "Let's make a deal"?When President Reagan began the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983, the only ones who took it seriously were the Soviets. Their global ambitions depended on an America inhibited and even intimidated by the threat of nuclear war. They still do. Just ask Georgia. When Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev met Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, he hoped Reagan would be willing to trade SDI away in exchange for...

Officers of the Government Security Office Lt. Colonel Jarosław Florczak Captain Dariusz Michałowski Lieutenant Pawel Janeczek 2nd Lieutenant Piotr Nosek Warrant Officer Jacek Surowka Warrant Officer Marek Uleryk Warrant Officer Paweł Krajewski Junior Warrant Officer Agnieszka Pogródka-Węcławek Crew of the airplane Captain Pilot Arkadiusz Protasiuk Major Pilot Robert Grzywna Lieutenant Pilot Artur Ziętek Senior Warrant Officer Artur Francuz Warrant Officer Andrzej Michalak Flight attendant Barbara Maciejczyk Flight attendant Natalia Januszko Flight attendant Justyna Moniuszko

Polish President’s body arrives home 11.04.2010 17:06 The body of the late President Lech Kaczynski arrived at Warsaw’s military airport, Sunday afternoon, and the coffin driven through streets lined with thousands of Poles wanting to pay their respects. The coffin was removed from the CASA military aircraft which had taken it from Smolensk where the president’s plane crashed on Saturday. Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk and Metropolitan of Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz were waiting on the tarmac to say mass. At 15.24 CET the coffin, draped in the Polish flag, was placed on the airport’s apron and then visited and kissed by...

Poland mourns 11.04.2010 09:59 Two minutes of silence were held in Poland at noon, Sunday, for President Lech Kaczynski, First Lady Maria and 94 other victims who died in the plane crash near Smolensk air base yesterday. Speaker of Parliament and acting head of state Bronislaw Komorowski announced a week of national mourning in a special TV address on Saturday evening, as Poland tried to get to grips with a plane crash that killed many leading politicians and military establishment figures, their way to Katyn memorial ceremonies. The body of the President and First Lady Maria will be returned to...

The body of Polish President Lech Kaczynski will reportedly be transported directly to Warsaw from the site of the plane crash in western Russia where he was killed yesterday. RIA Novosti news agency, quoting an unnamed local government source in Smolensk, said the bodies of all others killed in the plane crash would be sent to Moscow for identification but an exception would be made for the late Polish president. Meanwhile, Polish radio reported that the bodies of Kaczynski and his wife Maria would arrive in Poland at 12pm GMT on Sunday (10pm AEST). Kaczynski's body was identified during the...

Pilot error blamed as witnesses report three or four attempts to land in thick fogAt least 97 dead after plane came down in woodlandArmy chief and national bank supremo also killed in disasterLondon-based Polish parish priest among the dead Poland declared a week of national mourning last night after the president and 88 other members of the country's political and military elite were killed in a plane crash in Russia. The disaster occurred as the aircraft made a fourth attempt to land in thick fog at a military airport close to the western Russian city of Smolensk. President Lech...

AFP - Investigators scrambled on Sunday to determine if pilot error was to blame for the fiery crash of a Soviet-era airliner that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 96 others. The presidential party was en route to a memorial service for Poles massacred by Soviet troops in World War II when its Tupolev Tu-154 airliner crashed in thick fog while approaching Smolensk airport, in the west of Russia. The disaster sent Poland into shock.

The airplane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski Saturday is deeply shocking — but, sadly, not a complete surprise. Poland has for years been calling the Soviet-era military aircraft used by Polish officials “flying coffins.” Poland’s former Prime Minister Leszek Miller once had to leave the government airplane at an airport in Germany after an engine caught on fire. He was later nearly killed in a helicopter crash — and still politicians were too afraid of the public reaction to buy new aircraft. The possibility of a government aircraft crashing and killing an important official was so strongly discussed...

Poland has been plunged into mourning by the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of political and military leaders in a plane crash. The jet crashed as it attempted to land at Smolensk air base in Russia in thick fog, killing all 97 people on board. Russian officials have said the pilots ignored warnings from air traffic control to divert to another airport. A week of mourning has been called in Poland where a two-minute silence will be held at noon (1000 GMT) on Sunday. Russia has also declared Monday a day of mourning for the victims, whose remains...

The head of an Ally to the United States and many of that country's elite leaders are dead. Why is Foxnews not having special coverage? To me... you cancel this prerecorded business block and bring in some heavy hitters like Bill Hemmer or Megyn Kelly. And second of all it took Fox forever to even come on and report this. What is going on? They are providing almost NO coverage.

While CNN leads with the crash in Poland at 10 pm EST, FoxNews Wastes A Whole Hour With Geraldo. What are they thinking?

(CNN) -- Polish President Lech Kaczynski's plane, which crashed Saturday in western Russia, killing Kaczynski and scores of other people, was overhauled last year, [...] Alexei Gusev, the general director of Aviakor Factory, told CNN that the plane, a Tupolev-154, received major refurbishing and repair in December 2009. The work included rebuilding all of the engines, he said. His company also provided the Polish government with repair and maintenance parts for the next six years. "The plane has been in use very little since that major repair," Gusev said. "Speaking openly, we believe that this tragedy could not have...

The plane that crashed, killing Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders, ignored Russian air traffic control's instructions, officials said Saturday. The presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 97. Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police. "The cause of the plane crash was apparently an error...

WARSAW, Poland — Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died Saturday in a plane crash in Russia, was a one-time anti-communist activist who teamed up with his twin brother to take his country in a nationalist, conservative direction. His opponents, however, viewed him as narrow-minded, provincial and overzealous in his drive to cleanse the country of the influence of former communists. And he drew criticism from human rights groups for trying to stop a gay-rights parade through Poland's capital. Kaczynski was a firm friend of Poland's Jewish community, which has enjoyed a revival in recent years after it was nearly wiped...

Instead of diverting, as advised, the pilot of the 20- year-old plane tried and failed to land at least once, before clipping trees and plunging into a forest. Air traffic controllers watched their screens with growing unease as the Soviet-era Tupolev descended into the fog that hung like a shroud over the military airfield at Smolensk in western Russia. Poland mourns death of president in plane crash The controllers had already issued several warnings not to attempt a landing because of the danger posed by visibility close to zero. They wanted the plane to divert to Moscow or Minsk, the...

Poland Nicknamed Government Planes ‘Flying Coffins’ By Marcin Sobczyk The airplane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski Saturday is deeply shocking — but, sadly, not a complete surprise. Poland has for years been calling the Soviet-era military aircraft used by Polish officials “flying coffins.” Poland’s former Prime Minister Leszek Miller once had to leave the government airplane at an airport in Germany after an engine caught on fire. He was later nearly killed in a helicopter crash — and still politicians were too afraid of the public reaction to buy new aircraft. The possibility of a government aircraft crashing...