Poland's commander-in-chief, all Poland's top Generals, party leaders and top line advisers were murdered in one fell swoop. This is what befell the Polish Republic last Saturday. An ostensibly anti-Communist formation, painstakingly built in the face of Soviet and post-Soviet pressure, suffered a crippling blow. Polish conservatives and patriots, including President Lech Kaczynski, were killed en route to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet massacre of more than 21,000 Polish military officers near a town located between Minsk and Moscow.
It is horrifying that an event marking Stalin's decapitation of Poland in 1940, is now associated with yet another decapitation. How much Poland has suffered! And could this event have happened anywhere, but in Russia? At such a moment it is essential for Russia's leaders to show sympathy for Polish national feeling. Writing on a Ukrainian Web site the other day, former KGB Lt. Col. Viktor Kalashnikov wrote, "Europe becomes a place where everything is possible."
President Kaczynski, of course, is yet criticized in the press as a "Russophobe." But in reality President Kaczynski was not sufficiently fearful -- otherwise he would still be alive. After all, Kaczynski was anti-Communist, which is hardly a safe occupation for an East European politician. This was underscored in 1984 by KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn who said... "ANY! leader "who is involved in fighting against the communists should not visit communist countries or take part in any summit meetings on Russian soil."
"Such visits" He said, pouring vodka into my glass, "were opportunities for assassination. After all Russian politics, are how you Americans say, Oh yes, "A full contact sport."
