Showing posts with label CIA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CIA. Show all posts

April 10, 2011

Remembering One Year Later: The Death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski

A year ago today, the plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and a delegation of 96 top-level government and military officials crashed near Smolensk, Russia. They were on the way to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. Shock and disbelief gave way to a period of national mourning for the President, a sorrow which still bears heavily upon their hearts and spirits of many Polish people - and Poles all around the world.

In the midst of domestic political disagreement over the issue, is the ever present public suspicion that Russia was responsible for the horrific plane crash that wiped out the President and the top creme of Polish government. Comparisons of this tragedy were made with that of the Katyn Massacre that occurred over seventy years ago near Smolensk, adding fuel to public anger. Yet again the insidious spectre of Russia looms over Polish sovereignty.


Despite attempts at rapprochement between the two nations, Russia and Poland are still as far apart as ever. At issue is the reluctance of the Russian government, ergo Putin, to fully disclose all secret information and documents relating to the Katyn Massacre. Russian-Polish relations were further strained by the enmity apparent between Putin and President Lech Kaczynski.

That Russian authorities took control of all investigative procedures immediately following the plane crash compounds public suspicion and distrust. In an article written by S. Eugene (Gene) Poteat, a retired senior CIA Intelligence Officer, a number of strange events took place prior to and after the plane crash that point to a Russian conspiracy. The plane which transported the President and his delegation had been completely refurbished and upgraded (in Russia) just four months before the fateful crash - and, in the opinion of Poteat, most likely fitted with bugging devices - and who knows what else. No wonder the Russians wouldn't let Polish investigators come anywhere near the plane wreckage. Adding to suspicions are conflicting reports; for example, Russian authorities insist that the pilot of the plane could not communicate in Russian - when in fact he spoke Russian fluently. Stranger still is the fact that the Russian traffic controller with whom he spoke had suddenly disappeared right after the crash. The Russians claimed that he went on retirement. Many other strange occurrences have taken place that need to be investigated thoroughly but have not been dealt with.

Just a few days ago the Prosecutor handed the Polish government fourteen (14) volumes of documents compiled by the Russian government,detailing the Russian investigation of the plane crash. That it took a year for them to complete is of no surprise, less still their timing in its presentation. Sources indicated that certain "anonymous sources" confirmed that the crash was due to pilot error in trying to land in heavy fog. If that were the case, then why bother writing fourteen volumes?




Poteat referred to Putin as a "master who knows his craft" wasting no time in taking compete charge of the investigation. No surprise there - Russia's motto has always been "Maintain Total Deniability".




The following is a series of four videos entitled, "Letter from Poland", narrated in English, but is largely in Polish with English sub-titles. The film was produced by a public TV station in the Netherlands, Tegenlicht Vpro and is one of the most insightful, thorough documentaries I have yet watched on the subject of this heartbreaking national tragedy.  To watch the same video with Dutch sub-titles you may log onto the link I have provided to the Tegenlicht website.

I invite you to watch these videos.  But I request also that you share the information with everyone you know. There is much about Poland that the West, in fact, the world still does not understand. Part of the problem is that many countries, including Russia, continue to speak on behalf of Poland instead of allowing Poland to speak for herself. The world is still brainwashed by Russian propaganda. The West in particular has been so easily manipulated having been fed Russian pablum since World War II. Here is the opportunity to discover the truth.


Israeli newspaper, Maariv, called the plane crash, " A Smell of Liquidation ".

Global News, a Romanian portal, suspected that it was assassination and declared that the FSB (the Russian Federal Security Service, aka KGB) was directly responsible.

Wiktor Suworow, former agent of GRU (Russian military intelligence) also considers a very strong possibility of assassination, since the FSB took the black boxes immediately after the crash "as if they had something to hide." 

In an interview with Jacek Przybysli,  Andrey Iłłarionow, former advisor to Vladimir Putin revealed some interesting facts: (English translation follows)
"Shortly after the disaster, we heard that the pilot, four times as he approached for landing. Everyone at the airport knew that there was only one landing attempt. For several days, however, repeated the lie about the four samples. Then he began to spread disinformation that the Polish pilot was inexperienced. Only after some time it appeared that he had sufficient experience. It was said that he did not know Russian, and could not communicate with the tower. This too was a lie. Finally, time has proved to be untrue disaster. The cockpit was not there any women."
 
In an interview on August 26, 2010, Antoni Macierewicz, member of Polish Parliament and former Vice-Minister of National Defense, and former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Poland was asked if the crash was an assassination. Here is what he said,
"What we do know for sure, is that the controllers from the Smolensk control tower, after consulting with the Russian Central, and specifically, with the secretary of the General Staff of the Russian Transportation Aviation (I am saying that based on the testimony given by the controller) is that he allowed, and to be more precise, advised this plane, Tupolev 154M, to descend to the altitude below 50 meters. When they descended to this altitude, they only had 3 seconds until the crash. And this is known for sure."







Recommended Links:
Polish Plane Crash A Crime
Polish Tragedy Resounds a Year Later
Analysis: A year later Kaczynski crash dives Polish politics
Polish Probe into Kaczynski Plane Crash Extended
Twists and turns in Polish-Russian relations  (a general chrononology)




NOTE TO VISITORS:

The videos originally posted here entitled "Letter to Poland (Brief uit Polen) have been deleted by myself voluntarily. I have discovered that this video is protected by copyright and the rightful owner is a Dutch television company called Vpro Tegenlicht. Despite my efforts, I was unable to obtain their permission to post the videos on the internet. Nevertheless, you may still see the complete version of the video by logging onto their website.



February 17, 2011

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Halina Szymanska


Halina Szymanska

Halina Szymanska was the wife of Colonel Antoni Szymanski, the last prewar Polish military attaché in Berlin.

Halina was recruited by the Allied secret intelligence services through a network of Polish officers in Bern, Switzerland, who made contact with the British. Szymanska's mission was to provide a conduit of information between the Allies and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr.

In autumn 1939 Canaris helped her and her children move from occupied Poland to Switzerland. In return he was compensated with a contact within British Secret Intelligence Service.  Szymanska, a British agent made contact with Canaris on several occasions in Switzerland and Italy. Then she met with his courier, Hans Bernd Gisevius. Szymanska role as an intermediary was an important one, in maintaining secret communication between the Allies and the Schwarze Kapelle, the German anti-Nazi conspirators.

Admiral Wilhelm Canaris

In April 1940 Szymanska received information that the Germans were about to launch an attack on France and the Benelux countries; and in mid-June 1941 she again received information of the planned German attack on the Soviet Union. She was counted among the few MI6 agents during World War II whose contributions were highly valued.

Szymanska had three daughters with Col. Antoni Szymański — Hanka, Ewa and Marysia. They spent the war in Switzerland, where Halina continued her work for MI6 and then later for the French Deuxieme Reseau, where she conducted courier work into occupied France. She was decorated by the French for her contributions.

In addition she also developed a working relationship with the American Allen Dulles, who was the head of the American OSS intelligence office in Bern. Dulles became the first civilian and the longest serving Director of Central Intelligence (de-facto head of the U.S Central Intelligence Agency (1953-1961).

Dulles was very supportive of Szymanska, in particular, when her daughter Hanka became ill and died in Switzerland. Her daughter Ewa resided in North Carolina and married to Andrew Milewski, who also has a highly honorable war record of fighting with the Allies. Marysia remained in England with her father Col. Antoni Szymański, and with Szymanska,with whom she was very close. She attended boarding school in England, coincidently called Poles, then married Mirek Malewski (another Polish officer who was honoured with distinction). They had two children, Anouchka and Michael.

Many years later, Michael Fabian collaborated with the English spy expert-writer-MP, Nigel West (whose real name was Rupert Allason (with the section of his book, MI6: British Secret Intelligence Service Operations, 1909-45. The story dealt with his grandmother Szymanska and among other documents featured in the book, is also Halina's French identity card which was forged by Mr. Adams, a printing expert with MI6. The document enabled Halina to travel to occupied France for secret meetings with Admiral Canaris, gather information, and then report back to the Allies in Switzerland.

The book also includes a photo of Szymanska's diplomatic passport stamped with numerous entry and exit visas, two of which relate to her rendezvous with Admiral Canaris in Italy, April 1941. It was at such time that he disclosed details of Hitler's imminent attack on the Soviet Union.

After World War II, Halina Szymanska married General Kazimierz Wisniowski, who held the position of Chief of Staff to General Wladysław Anders, commander of the Second Polish Corps at the Battle of Cassino in 1944. After the war, she settled in Ealing, a suburb of London. She lies buried with her second husband in South Ealing Cemetery.





source: Wikipedia

Recommended Links:
"Bless Admiral Wilhelm Canaris"
"Admiral Canaris: The Decent Nazi"
Schwarze Kapelle
 Nigel West website
Video " Wilhelm Franz Canaris, Chief of Intelligence" (00:03:03m),



ERRATUM

The photograph of Halina Szymanska that originally appeared on this blog post has been removed.   An authentic photograph of Halina Szymanska has been found on the web, and is now posted in its place.  My apologies to all for the oversight, and many thanks to Mrs. Szymanska's granddaughter for having notified me.

Polish Greatness (Blog)
December 23, 2011