POLISH JOURNALIST POINTS TO RUSSIAN COVER-UP

I've said it before but it bears repeating when a report from a Polish journalist who chooses to remain anonymous for his own safety, echoes claims that Russia is not being transparent with respect to its investigation into the plane crash that killed the Polish president and 95 top government officials last April. A writer for Big Peace, who goes by the name Sun Tzu has published the report from the Polish journalist:

Via Big Peace:

On April 9th the plane crash killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his ministers, the Army’s highest commanders, members of Parliament and many other officials in Smolensk, Russia. President Kaczynski and his delegates flew to pay homage to 22,000 Polish officers murdered in Katyn forests near Smolensk by the Russians in the biggest still unpunished war crime.

The first president who offered his condolences to the Polish nation in the face of the death of their best leaders was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He took Poles, who were in a state of deep shock after the loss of their president and 95 high state officials, by surprise and in an hour after the catastrophe as he established himself as the leader of an investigative committee.

I've also said before that if this was an accident, it virtually defied astronomical odds when you factor in all of the tragically ironic coincidences that must have taken place. When doing so, those odds almost necessarily must be astronomically longer than odds that the crash was the result of foul play.

All that being said, there is one thing that would greatly silence the conspiracy theorists. That one thing would be complete transparency from Putin and friends. After reading this report in full, it becomes obvious that Russia is not being all that forthcoming with the evidence.

In my view, that alone gives credence to those who suspect foul play, especially when mathematical odds are factored into the equation.

Read it all.

REPORT: RUSSIA STONEWALLING PLANE CRASH INVESTIGATION

Forget conspiracy theories. I've long maintained that it doesn't apply when looking at the facts - and the odds. When a Polish plane carrying that country's president and 90+ senior officials, crashed on April 10th, the odds of it being an accident were likely longer than the odds of foul play. The reason President Lech Kaczynski was flying to Russia was to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacres, in which over 20,000 senior polish officials were killed at the hands of Stalin's NKVD, which was a pre-cursor to the KGB, an agency Vladimir Putin was - and is - very loyal to.

The date, the location, the deaths of polish leaders, Putin's tendency to deal harshly with political opponents, and his dislike for Kaczynski are tragically ironic, yes but what are the odds that such a disaster was an accidental coincidence? Are they longer than the odds it was intentional? When factoring in all of those things, I'd bet they are.

As I have long said, under that premise, Russia's willingness to cooperate with the investigation will either extinguish suspicion or raise more flags. Now we have a report from the Irish Times that Poland is getting impatient with Russia's stonewalling:

POLAND HAS accused Russia of failing to hand over crucial evidence relating to the plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people in April.

“The Polish side will be waiting for information and explanations about the reasons hampering the Russian side in forwarding the appropriate documents,” Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said yesterday. “Now, when the probe is entering its final phase, our co-operation is worse than at the beginning,” he added.

Mr Kaczynski’s aircraft crashed as it tried to land at fog-bound Smolensk airport in western Russia. The president and his group – which included his wife and many of Poland’s senior political, military and financial figures – were travelling to a commemoration ceremony at Katyn, where Soviet forces massacred more than 20,000 Polish officers in 1940.

Jumping to conclusions that foul play was involved is not advised. However, Russia could have gone a long way in dissuading people from doing so by being - shall I say it - transparent.

Read it all.

Click HERE for my April 10th post.

REPORT: NSA DELIVERS SATELLITE IMAGES TO POLISH AUTHORITIES

Via Free Republic, an article in the Polish RMF 24 has been translated and is likely to provide some important missing information about the plane crash that killed the Polish president and nearly one hundred high-ranking Polish officials. The translation is a bit choppy but decipherable.

NSA has reportedly delivered images from a satellite to Polish authorities. Among other things, it might show how much fog was above Smolensk. This would be important because it's a primary reason given for the crash. Additionally, the images could show if the plane was burning before it crashed.

Here is the original Polish story on RMF 24.

via Free Republic:

Translated: Satellite Images Taken Over Smolensk by NSA Given to Polish Authorities
rmf24 ^ | May 5, 2010 | unknown

Posted on Thursday, May 06, 2010 1:24:44 AM by theanchoragedailyruse

Military prosecutors already have satellite pictures of the presidential Tupolev crash near Smolensk – told a reporter RMF FM Krzysztof principle. Military prosecutors who are investigating the crash, confined itself to stating that it was “very important evidence.”

Investigators have received photos several days ago from U.S. National Security Agency, which, inter alia zawiaduje satellite system of the United States. The proposal in this regard by the Ministry of Defence. Materials are examined by our investigators, but does not give you any, even the general answers to questions about what the camera recorded the American satellites.

The Polish authorities, which occurred to the Americans asking for pictures, counting on the fact that photographs can help to exclude one of the texts adopted by the investigators of a possible terrorist attack. They can also help answer the question whether, in the moment of impact with the ground plane explosion occurred or whether the machine has been shot down.

If the camera recorded the flight of Tupolev despite dense fog, can also reproduce the precise track approach to land at the airport. Such information would be an excellent addition to the data stored in black boxes.

RMF FM Reporters also learned unofficially that the recorders recording conversations in the cockpit of the presidential Tupolev, is the voice of the person who did not belong to the close of the crew. It might have been the voice of flight attendant or another person with the cabin crew. But we can not exclude the possibility that one of the passengers entered the cockpit before landing.

It is also known that Polish prosecutors have still not received any document from the Russian investigators, of which appeared in legal aid. Also, records of autopsies of the victims are yet in the hands of Russian prosecutors. Investigators are hoping that today begins a visit to Moscow, Attorney General Andrew Seremet accelerate the transfer of the evidence.

As I've posted before, here and here, the tragic irony and history behind the Katyn massacre is incredibly searing, so much so that Vladimir Putin and Russia in general needs to be 100% transparent during this investigation.

h/t to Free Republic