This is just a short blog to remember Poland's president Lech Kaczynski.
An aging Russian airliner crashed in the fog, and, in addition to Kaczynski, many of Poland's leaders were killed Saturday.
The Polish president and dozens of other dignitaries were traveling to a ceremony commemorating a slaughter that has divided the two nations for seven decades.
It was reported that Poles wept before their televisions, lowered flags to half-staff and taped black ribbons in their windows after hearing that President Lech Kaczynski and the upper echelons of the establishment lay dead in woods a short drive from the site of the Katyn forest massacre, where 22,000 Polish officers were killed by Soviet secret police in one of Poland's greatest national traumas.
According to one source, chunks of the plane were scattered widely amid leafless trees and small fires in woods shrouded with fog. A tail fin with the red and white national colors of Poland stuck up from the smoking debris. Early indications pointed to pilot error in heavy fog as a factor in the crash, officials said.
On board were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said. Kaczynski's wife, Maria, also died.
"This is unbelievable — this tragic, cursed Katyn," Kaczynski's predecessor, Aleksander Kwasniewski, said on TVN24 television.
It is "a cursed place, horrible symbolism," he said. "It's hard to believe. You get chills down your spine."
The deceased president also had a twin brother, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. He was said to be headed to the area in a chartered plane along with party members.
Television showed Jaroslaw kneeling and praying at the crash site. Tusk, joined by Putin, placed a wreath at the site and knelt. When he stood up, Putin hugged him.
Some on board were relatives of the officers slain in the Katyn massacre. Also among the victims was Anna Walentynowicz, whose firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the Solidarity freedom movement.
"This is a great tragedy, a great shock to us all," former president and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said.
Polish Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, who became acting president, addressed his country on television: "Poland is in mourning, we have suffered a dramatically painful loss."
He said he would announce early elections within 14 days of the president's death, in line with the constitution. The vote must be held within another 60 days.
While at this point, the only humane thing to do, is to mourn this tragic loss for the country, and pray for the victims and their loved ones.
However, don't be surprised to hear whispers that the Russian KGB is alive and well, and this plane crash was more than an accident. After all, it is no secret that Kaczynski favored the USA's plans to build a missile site in Poland. The project was greatly opposed by the Russians. Conspiracy theorists are free to draw their own conclusions.
In the meantime, we hope Poland can rebound from this tragedy, and move on.
