Why Poland and the EU will no longer follow America’s lead
By Gene Poteat
SCND: April 18, 2016
The American media, as well as that of the European Union, are awash in articles critical of the election of Poland’s Law and Justice Party (PIS) and the new Polish government formed after that landslide victory, calling the new leaders “right-wing” radicals and dictators that crossed the line with their “disturbing tilt” to the right. In 2015, the PIS won both presidential and parliamentary elections and, for the first time since the Second World War, removed entrenched pro-communist, pro-Russian stooges from power in Poland.
Poland was stunned at America’s reaction to their new government. What so traumatized America’s sensibilities? First, they removed the pro-Russian officials and judges. Then, they had the audacity to declare, independently, they would not abide by the EU’s policy of open borders accepting uncontrolled Muslim immigrants flooding Western Europe - going against American and EU open borders and multi-cultural, one-world policies - which has led to uncontrolled Muslim immigration into already unstable, shifting countries facing their own economic problems. To America, it was: “How dare Poland go behind our back thinking independently and taking actions different from the position of the United States, which, by the way, had been dutifully supporting the previous Polish government.” I suspect we were doing so without realizing it was pro-Russian. Interestingly, all these critical articles were alike. They all used the same words and phrases: right-wing, radicals, disturbing tilt to the right, violation of democracy and “Putinization” of Poland.
And they all appeared about the same time, apparently emanating from a single source, indicating there is no such thing as independent press, only a dependent press. Or one that is skillfully manipulated and fed leads from groups with hidden objectives. Not a single American journalist or reporter appears to have taken time to look into what was behind the Polish election that brought to power these so-called ‘right-wing radicals.’ Our simplistic view that the world is either left or right - left being good, right bad - indicates we have little idea what Poland’s election was about.
That true story actually started here in Charleston. Back in 2010, the Mercury published an article suggesting the plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, that killed the entire top echelon of Poland’s freely-elected, centerright, pro-NATO, pro-West government may not have been the accident the Russians claimed, but instead an assassination arranged by the Russians. [See "Russian Image Management," et al., in the right column] The Polish government that took over after the crash was filled with former communists and the left-wing Donald Tusk who were never elected. The Tusk government moved quickly to accept, without question, the Russian explanation of the crash - pilot error attempting a landing in bad weather.
The Mercury article went on the Internet and was picked up in Poland, which lead to a Polish parliament investigation. Drawing on Western technical expertise, investigators found strong evidence the crash was indeed no accident, but was caused by two bombs planted onboard. Russia’s actions immediately after the crash were to sweep the crash site of evidence, confiscate personal effects, documents, wallets and briefcases and cell phones of the 96 victims and confiscate the plane’s black boxes to prevent examination by others - actions more akin to cleaning up a crime scene than assisting any investigation.
The new centerright government under attack by our media, elected in October 2015, simply returned Poland’s elected government to power and is now in the process of purging their Constitutional Tribunal of the leftist, pro-Russian stooges, who were appointed, who participated in this travesty of justice. This government now has a full-blown crash investigation underway, with serious international participation and the Russians are worried. What better way to divert attention than to suggest that Poland has veered “too far right” by planting stories with America media friends?
American and EU social liberal darlings might view Poland’s change of heart over unlimited Muslim immigration as a disturbing tilt to the right, but Poland’s border decision has now been picked up by Sweden, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Macedonia and most of the other border states in southern Europe - all of whom recognize the damage wrought in following American-inspired leftist ideas of open borders and unlimited immigration.
Germany’s open welcome policy has shifted back to reality. America may enjoy the experimental status of becoming a nation without borders or real citizens and an economy with few real jobs, but Poland - and much of the EU - will not continue to be sheep led by such a poor, self-destructive, naive bellwether.
About the Author: Gene Poteat is an electrical engineer (The Citadel) and a retired CIA scientific intelligence officer. He served abroad in London, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia. He is president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, writes and lectures on intelligence matters and teaches at the Washington-based Institute of World Politics graduate school from which he received an honorary doctoral degree. He may be reached at G2Poteat@ gmail.com.
This article originally appeared in The Charleston Mercury and is reprinted here with the author's permission.
From the Editor's Desk: A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin’s corruption.
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From the Editor's Desk: A chilling and unflinching portrait of one of the most fearsome figures in world politics.
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From the Editor's Desk: "Blowing Up Russia" contains the allegations of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko against his former spymasters in Moscow which led to his being murdered in London in November 2006. In the book he and historian Yuri Felshtinsky detail how since 1999 the Russian secret service has been hatching a plot to return to the terror that was the hallmark of the KGB.
Vividly written and based on Litvinenko's 20 years of insider knowledge of Russian spy campaigns, Blowing Up Russia describes how the successor of the KGB fabricated terrorist attacks and launched a war. Writing about Litvinenko, the surviving co-author recounts how the banning of the book in Russia led to three earlier deaths.
Already during the first night of the crash, the Russians were removing the most important pieces of evidence from the crash site, that is, the remains of the Polish President’s Tupolev, TU-154M. Parts of the aircraft were transported away without any prior planning, and some of them were purposefully destroyed. Read more here
"Russian Image Management"
The trip to Smolensk was expected to highlight Russia finally admitting culpability in the massacre, after long having blamed it on the Germans, an atrocity they had tried to conceal for over 70 years.
As for the reception committee, it had different ideas. Putin wasn’t looking forward to such an occasion. Into this poisonous reception brew was President Kaczynski’s well-known public criticism of Moscow and Putin, a habit that has ended the lives of others within Russia – and abroad. A few discouraging Russian requirements – that Kaczynski could not attend in any official capacity – did not halt the Poles. Kaczynski would go anyway on non-official, “personal” business. To Russians, such a distinction would be meaningless, not lessening the possible international excoriation of such an event. A problem ripe for a modern, Russian solution: a tragic, ‘natural’ accident.
World-renowned forensic pathologist goes on the record: "I have been doing autopsies for 50 years, and I've investigated more than fifteen, twenty airplane crashes […] I've been in countries all over the world where families think that the government is hiding something. Whether it is Zimbabwe or Israel, or Philippines, the government may not like an outside person checking to make sure they got it right. [But,] they never interfered with that. The family, the next of kin, always has the right to do what the wishes of the family are. In the 21st century, the body of the dead person no longer belongs to the state. It belongs to the family. So, it is unusual - something that I have never experienced before - where the government [of Poland] has not permitted the famil[ies]" to conduct independent forensic examinations of their loved ones' remains [...] I've never heard of a body coming back to a country and the family being unable to open up a casket. I've never heard of the family not being able to get an autopsy… Read more here
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