Anne Applebaum, the wife of the current Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, wrote a very strange article in The Telegraph (UK), published 18 April 2010, claiming Poland would emerge stronger [sic] from the crash of the presidential plane on 10 April 2010 near Smolensk in western Russia. The entire article downplays the significance of the crash.
She focused on Ryszard Kaczorowski, former president of Poland in exile in London before 1990, instead of Lech Kaczyński, the president of Poland since 2005.
The article is a classic example of lies, half-truths and propaganda.
Here are some excerpts from that article.
Polish plane crash: country has shown resilience since President Kaczynski's death
For Anne Applebaum, the crash that killed the Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his entourage was a personal tragedy as well as a blow for Poland. But she believes the country is emerging stronger.
by Anne Applebaum in Warsaw
Published: 7:30AM BST 18 Apr 2010
(...)
Last weekend, Kaczorowski died in the plane crash that also killed the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski. Both were on their way to honour the 20,000 Polish officers murdered by Stalin in the Katyn forest and at other places nearby. That act of mass terror, which took place 70 years ago this month, could easily have killed Kaczorowski too. He did not escape death in Russia a second time.
Contrary to some reports, there was not an unusual number of VIPs on board, given that it was the president's plane, and given where it was going, and there were no members of the cabinet. Nevertheless, there were many people whose names appear halfway through newspaper articles, people whom "everybody knows" in political circles - people like Ryszard Kaczorowski who had played important symbolic roles in public life, people who do the groundwork for the politicians whose names are more familiar.
(...)It was Anne Applebaum's husband, Radek Sikorski, who shouted after his party's (Platforma Obywatelska) victory in the 2007 parliamentary elections:
That was the effect of the Polish Catholic church's announcement, that President Kaczynski and his wife were to be buried in Wawel near Queen Jadwiga, Poland's 14th century monarch and saint.
Strangely, nobody now seems to want to take responsibility for a decision which, at a rough guess, 80 per cent of the country probably opposes. A few protested against it, spoiling the mood. This week, when real politics start up again, the rhetoric might grow even uglier. After all, Poland will tomorrow find itself at the beginning of a very strange election campaign, one in which the late president's brother may well be a candidate.
dorżniemy PiS-owskie watahy!which may be translated as "we will slaughter the PiS gangs!" PiS stands for Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, currently the main opposition party. Interestingly, these turned out to be prophetic words. Almost entire leadership of PiS died in the presidential plane crash, except Jarosław Kaczyński, Lech's twin brother.
Radek Sikorski was the minister of defence in the PiS government from 2005 until February 2007. He was forced to resign when it became obvious he was strongly favoring communist era generals, especially Marek Dukaczewski, former head of WSI, the communist era military intelligence agency. PiS began reforming WSI in 2005.
Lech Kaczyński was very critical of the role played by Sikorski in the negotiations with the US about the American anti-missile shield to be stationed in Poland. Although details of the negotiations were not disclosed it was clear that Sikorski sabotaged the agreement worked out by the PiS government.
Sikorski made many vicious and ugly unprovoked attacks against Lech Kaczyński. The character of those attacks was reminiscent of the communist regime. And here is his wife publishing lies and propaganda. Very interesting indeed.
Anyone interested should read the article in its entirety. What was omitted from the article is just as important as what is in there.
