repercussions. To an already fragile political arena, unexpected and unplanned for disruption, can lengthen the shadows already there. IMO, too many people in this country underestimate the events occurring in Eastern Europe and Russia. Maybe we have been lulled into a false sense of security these past couple of decades. We need to be suspicious and aware, not complacent. Nothing in recent world events leads me to believe that Russia is concerned about us, they do not fear our strength. They may still pay attention to our military might, but they see our psychological weakness. Those weakness cards are the ones the Obama administration keeps dealing.

I pray and hope that the freedoms so valiantly fought for by the Polish people, will be upheld. I also pray that the shadow can be pushed back once again.

some just chose to believe the Soviet lies because . . . well, its easier to believe a lie told by the SOB with tanks in your yard then to insist on the innocence of a bunch of other SOB’s who used to have tanks in your yard.

Nobody knows what the future may bring, but rest assured, that Poland has always appreciated the risks that she faces. It is no accident that Poland’s two largest parties are actually center-right parties.

One has a more social issues focus (the party of the President), and the other has a more economic issues focus (the party of the PM), but both are very much right and pro-US in terms of foreign policy.

Really bad timing with respect to the arms control treaty. So many coincidences and so much history . . .

In my heart I know this to a mora certainty. I also know that the Russians would have been very unlikely to do this when Bush was the strong supporter and defender of Eastern Europe.

Obama’s behavior toward this region and Georgia sent a very clear signal to Russia and to these people.

So add Obama and his henchmen to the list of culpable parties.

And add this to the items to be cleaned up when America is once again governed by men.

and based on the “facts” available I would err on the side of not, as a former Russian citizen it hurts me to see such a huge blow dealt to our Polish friends.

I despise my former homeland’s government and policies and am dismayed at our current accommodating attitude towards them.

The Russians lie to our faces all the time but their lies are taken as gestures of good will, while constant proof of their lies is being hidden and dismissed by the Media and Government.

and “Controlled flight into terrain” are the two most common epitaphs for pilots. For those who saw the “Diehard” in which the bad guys reset the ILS to crash planes coming into DC, that can’t have been what happened here because the Polish ILS wouldn’t talk to the Russian ILS, presuming even that there was ILS at this small military airport; the pilot was flying by hand and eye on a calculated glide slope, not following a beam.

The way it works is there is a radio beacon near an airport and you come to that beacon at a set speed and altitude. At the beacon, you put the nose down to a specific glide angle and hold the plane at a specific, predetermined speed What you’re doing is tracing the hypotenuse of a right triangle from the spot in space and time above the beacon down to the outer marker beacon at the airport. Of course, this isn’t precise enough to actually land the plane safely so there is some predetermined minimum altitude in which you must have the runway in sight. That’s usually 500 to 1000 feet but can be as low as 300 feet if there are no obstacles around. Either this guy was being pressured to get into that airport or let the challenge get the best of him and he made or had forced on him a very bad decision to try to cheat the minimum. It cost him and almost a hundred other souls on board their lives.

Obama pulling out from plans for the missle defense system for Poland sent a message to Moscow – America would not stand up to Russian aggression.

Have you read Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy? The translation by W.S. Kuniczak was recommended to me a couple years ago. It is no longer in print. It can be borrowed from libraries or bought used from Amazon. It is a magnificant series and I feel it has much to say about today. In my paranoid moods I wonder if the liberals want to suppress it.

but even if Putin and the Russians weren’t responsible for this, I wouldn’t doubt for a NANOSECOND that they would have if given the opportunity. This is the country and the political system that produced Beria, Khruschev, Andropov, etc., and Putin is as much a product of that school as any of them were. There’s no other word to describe it than EVIL, all-caps.

And maybe somebody can illuminate me, but one of the principle pieces of “evidence” for this being an accident was that the Polish pilot was warned off several times by the Russian air traffic controllers, and pressed ahead anyway. Whose word do we have on this? The Russians? Are we really going to accept that at face value? Especially considering the speed with which Putin inserted himself into the investigation. I’m highly suspicious.