For those who haven't heard

[unixronin]

A Tu-154M airliner carrying the heads of the Polish government and military to a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Forest Massacre has crashed at Smolensk while attempting to land in heavy fog.  All 96 aboard were killed.  The pilot had been repeatedly advised by Smolensk ground control to divert to Moscow or Minsk, but some [unconfirmed] reports apparently claim he was ordered by someone on the flight to land at Smolensk, as the passengers would be late for the ceremony if he followed tower recommendations to divert.

This crash has just decapitated the Polish government and military command structure.  Poland has declared a week of national mourning, with two minutes of silence at noon on Sunday, and Russia has declared that April 12 will be a national day of mourning.  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had just visited Katyn on Wednesday, along with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, to pay respects to the Polish dead of Katyn, making him the first Russian Prime Minister to do so, as part of an effort to bring about a political reconciliation between Russia and Poland.

Comments

[danjite.livejournal.com]

My friend randomdreams has a sane observation about this incident here. (http://randomdreams.livejournal.com/443885.html?mode=reply).

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Oops ... Just realized I failed to complete a paragraph there. I plead distraction.

[polaris93.livejournal.com]

I saw the headlines earlier, but I hadn't realized just what that crash did to Poland until I saw this post. Thank you for posting this. It will be interesting -- in more than one sense of the word -- watching what happens in Poland in the weeks and months ahead, especially considering Poland's geographic placement and her involvement in affairs of the region. Wish I'd taken a second look at those online articles about the crash -- I'm slowing down, dammit.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Oops ... Just realized I failed to complete a paragraph there. I plead distraction.

[polaris93.livejournal.com]

That's okay. You should see some of the editorial problems my own posts have!