PLANE CRASH: POLISH OFFICIAL BLAMES RUSSIA

The London Daily Mail is reporting that Polish MP Artur Gorski is pointing the finger at Russia with respect to the plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and several top officials on April 10th.

Via the Mail:

'One version of events says that the plane approached the airport four times, because every time the Russians refused it permission to land - they wanted to send the plane with the president to an airport in Moscow or Minsk,' Mr Gorski claimed in an interview published in the newspaper Nasz Dziennik.

'They came up with some dubious reasons: that there was fog over the airport, and that the navigation system didn't work as it was under renovation, and that airport had a short landing strip.'

The longer the tragic irony and macabre coincidences of this crash continue to be noticed, the more Poland is going to demand answers. It is for this reason that it is absolutely imperative for Russia to be 100% transparent with this investigation. As I said here, skepticism is sure to supercede trust considering both Putin's track record as well as the fact that he is the one overseeing the investigation.

h/t to Drudge

THE CHICAGO WAY - RUSSIAN STYLE

Kyrgyzstan is a country northeast of Afghanistan with Tajikistan the only country separating them. It is also home to a U.S. Air base critical for America's war effort in Afghanistan. The uprising there led to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fleeing the country.

That uprising is thought to be sanctioned by Russia via a propaganda campaign likely coming from Vladimir Putin himself. Via the Washington Post:

Less than a month before the violent protests that toppled the government of Kyrgyzstan last week, Russian television stations broadcast scathing reports portraying President Kurmanbek Bakiyev as a repugnant dictator whose family was stealing billions of dollars from this impoverished nation.

The media campaign, along with punishing economic measures adopted by the Kremlin, played a critical role in fanning public anger against Bakiyev and bringing people into the streets for the demonstrations that forced him to flee the capital Wednesday, according to protest leaders, local journalists and analysts.

Sounds like some Community Organizing took place in Kyrgyzstan with the help of state-controlled media. Hmmmm, sounds familiar, huh? That said, Bakiyev is not to be pitied too much. He appears to have lost a high stakes game of playing both sides against the middle and crossed Putin in the process.

Apparently, Bakiyev agreed to a $2 Billion deal with Russia that involved his closing down the U.S. air base. The Post reports that about one year ago, Bakiyev took three times as much money from the U.S. to keep it open:

Little more than a year ago, the Kremlin regarded Bakiyev as an ally, promising him more than $2 billion in aid during a visit to Moscow at the height of the global economic crisis.

On the same trip, Bakiyev announced plans to close the U.S. air base, in what was widely seen as an exchange.

Four months later, after Russia had made good on $415 million of its pledge, Bakiyev suddenly agreed to keep the air base open when Washington offered more than three times the original rent. Russian officials, including President Dmitry Medvedev, indicated at the time that they had blessed the decision, but it soon became clear that the Kremlin had been cheated -- and was furious.

Bakiyev's actions and fate notwithstanding, the fact that Russia is intentionally trying to hamper U.S. war efforts with Chicago-style payoffs is cause for serious concern. Especially in light of Obama's signing the recent Non-Proliferation Treaty as Putin's Russia continues to aggressively strengthen relations with enemies of America in the western hemisphere.

The situation remains fluid....

h/t to Free Republic

ANOTHER QUESTIONABLE PLANE CRASH IN RUSSIA

When Boris Yeltsin resigned on December 31st, 1999 former KGB member Vladimir Putin assumed the role of acting President of the Russian Federation. He has been the face of the man leading Russia ever since. On March 3rd, 2000 - just over two months later - a man named Artyom Borovik was killed in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from a Moscow airport. Borovik was a journalist and he apparently had ruffled quite a few feathers.

Via Highbeam:

A plane crash that claims nine lives is always going to be a tragedy. But when it happens in the midst of a season of Russian political intrigue, and when two of the victims are prominent men with plenty of enemies, it takes on a whole new dimension.

Borovik was the first in a long line of Russian journalists who have died under Putin's reign. In fact, as of March 11th, 2007 - when a man named Andrew Osborn chronicled them - the number had reached 20. The first of those 20 was apparently Borovik:

Artyom Borovik

Senior executive at investigative magazine 'Completely Secret' that exposed the misdeeds of the rich and powerful. Died on 3 March 2000 in a plane crash that the authorities believe may not have been accidental.

Via Osborn's piece at the Independent:

Shot, stabbed or poisoned, the journalists have two things in common: no one has been convicted, or in most cases even arrested, after their deaths. And all of them had angered powerful vested interests which appear to suffer little restraint in dealing with their enemies.

Osborn interviewed a man named Oleg Panfilov for the article, who is identified as president of the Moscow-based Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES).

Mr Panfilov makes a direct link between such intimidation and the presidency. "The problem is with Putin himself," he said. "He showed his true colours with Politkovskaya's death." In the eyes of many, he appeared dismissive and slow to react. "Putin takes pleasure in launching verbal attacks on journalists," Mr Panfilov went on. "It is he who defines the atmosphere in which we work."

I talked about this more extensively here. In a span of 10 years, at least 20 Russian journalists have died on Putin's watch. No one was convicted in connection with those deaths. One of them died in a plane crash. A common thread they all shared was work exposing corruption, shady dealings, criminal investigations, etc. - all things that would likely put them in direct opposition to someone like Putin.

Read it all.

VIDEO: AL GORE AMBUSHED BY O'REILLY PRODUCER

Bill O'Reilly producer Jesse Watters confronted Al Gore while the latter was on his way to lunch during a speech stop at Duke University. Gore said he didn't "like Ambush Journalism". Awwww. Well Vice President whack job, the American people don't like being de-frauded.

A nice little takeaway was when Watters prefaces a question by saying, "So while we have you here......." he was immediately on the receiving end of Allegory's saying, "You don't have me here."

It was interesting to hear Allegory - a visual symbol representing an abstract idea - respond that he would "consider" going on the O'Reilly Factor after viewers had only moments before heard the segment introduced by O'Reilly, who said they'd been trying to get Allegory to appear on the program for 13 years. I guess a hungry Al Gore will say anything to get someone out from between him and his pork.

The only question not asked I would have loved to have heard was whether or not Allegory would be eating meat for lunch.

Via MediaITE