I really am, in spite of just about everything else I'm about to write. NPR characterizes this as a shock, which it certainly is, and cites "suspicion", which there certainly should be. Vladimir Putin acted with unseemly haste to put himself in charge of the investigation. I'm not saying that Russia had anything to do with this plane crash. I'm not not saying it, either. Poland must act quickly--much faster than it would like to, I'm sure--to preserve stability.
Perhaps my instant distrust is coloured by the book I just finished: The Next 100 Years, by George Friedman, the founder of STRATFOR. The author makes some startling, at times ludicrous geopolitical predictions about the coming century (America strongly encouraging Mexican immigration? Japan, Turkey, Poland and the U.S embroiled in a global conflict?)...and proceeds to back them up with solid facts and very plausible speculation.
Friedman spends a good deal of time on Russia, and notes that a combination of demographic and geopolitical factors are acting against Moscow. He asserts that Russia will arise from dormancy over the next decade and attempt to re-create the Soviet Union or some facsimile thereof. He specifically predicts a Russo-Polish confrontation by 2020. I can't help but wonder if he's maybe a decade off. Poland has essentially been decapitated at a single stroke.
Incidentally, who allowed so many important people to get on one plane?
Switching gears for a moment, what do you think the reaction would be if something like this happened in Canada? Stephen and Laureen Harper aside, how many Canadians can even name the equivalent Canadian politicians, military and financial leaders? Given the disgusting level of vitriol the CBC tends to spew towards Harper, do you think the comments on their website would be at all mournful? I don't.
That, quite frankly, bothers me. A lot. The level of animosity I see in North American politics these days is completely off the charts, and no matter your political beliefs, most of it is completely unfounded.
Of course, whatever Canadians might say to the contrary, our geopolitical situation is much more stable and serene. Back to Poland. It is absolutely critical for that besieged country to move quickly and replace the dead. They should reject outside help out of hand. Mourning there should and shall be, but it must be postponed until the power vacuum has been filled.
2 comments:
Damn, I didn't realize the plane contained sooo many important leaders, wow. I thought gov's always had rules around the "number of people on the same bus'?
That was my first thought, too, Rocket. That and "hmm, Putin grabbed control of the investigation awfully fast, and oh, yeah, thick fog that can conceal any number of things...would a pilot actually ignore warnings not to land? Really?...hmmm..."
Again, this could just be a tragic pilot's error. But it could be something else altogether.
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