NATO strike? Polish elite assassinated in downed plane for not accepting €Euro

[Dig]

This remains one of the most concise and logical assessments of the recent events:

I think it is possible that Russia is the fall guy for all the "conspiracy theories" why the Plane carrying the Polish president and staff crashed. By opening old wounds between Poland and Russia the old tactic of divide and conquer is employed to make sure that the russian and polish people don't get along.

Not to mention, diverting the flak away from the European Union and NATO who might be the real culprits of the crash since Kaczynski was "JFK'd" due to his opposition of the Euro and the european common market.

This is also the worst place that such a crash could have taken place, the polish people fiercely hate Russia, I am actually surprised it hasn't led to a declaration of war.

[Brocke]

A glance at some of the most prominent victims of the crash of Poland's presidential plane, according to the official passenger list, released by the president's office.

Lech Kaczynski, 60. Poland's president, a nationalist conservative who had been in office since 2005. A founder of the Law and Justice party, now in opposition, and the twin brother of its leader, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Maria Kaczynska, 66, Poland's first lady; an economist and translator of English and French, had carried out charity work in her role as first lady. Her uncle was killed at Katyn.

Gen. Franciszek Gagor, 58. Army chief of staff since Feb. 2006. From 2004 to 2006, was Poland's representative at NATO in Brussels.

Gen. Andrzej Blasik, 47, head of the Air Force since 2007. Received professional military education in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2005.

Vice Admiral Andrzej Karweta, 51, Navy chief commander since November 2009. From 2002-2005 served at the Supreme Allied Command Atlantic, SACLANT in Norfolk, Virginia.

Gen. Tadeusz Buk, 49, land forces commander since Sept. 2009. Served in 2007 as commander of Polish troops in Iraq.

Slawomir Skrzypek, 46, president of the National Bank of Poland since 2007. A longtime colleague of Lech Kaczynski, served under him at Warsaw City Hall from 2002-5.

Aleksander Szczyglo, 46, head of the National Security Office, a former defense minister under Kaczynski's brother.

Jerzy Szmajdzinski, 58, a deputy parliament speaker, left-wing lawmaker and the opposition Democratic Left Alliance's candidate for presidential elections this year. Served as defense minister at the time of the Iraq war.

Ryszard Kaczorowski, 90, from 1989-90 Poland's last president-in-exile in London. In December 1990, passed on the insignia of the presidency to the first democratically elected president, Lech Walesa, in a high-profile ceremony.

Janusz Kurtyka, 49. A historian; since 2005 head of state-run National Remembrance Institute, which investigates communist-era crimes.

Anna Walentynowicz, 80, Solidarity activist. Her firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the freedom movement, of which she became a prominent member.

Piotr Nurowski, 64, head of Poland's Olympic Committee.

Krystyna Bochenek, 56, deputy parliament speaker, member of the prime minister's Civic Platform party.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/10/2010-04-10_list_prominent_victims_who_died_in_russian_plane_crash_that_killed_president_lec.html#ixzz0kkM8lFjB

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/10/2010-04-10_list_prominent_victims_who_died_in_russian_plane_crash_that_killed_president_lec.html

[victories]

"The presidential plane was fully overhauled in December, the general director of the Aviakor aviation maintenance plant in Samara"

Aviakor aviation maintenance plant: Owned by "Putins most faithful (source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/5446293/Vladimir-Putin-takes-Oleg-Deripaska-to-task.html) oligarch: Oleg Deripaska..

[Dig]

how do we know that they all were on the same plane?

[Pierce2378]

even better question is how do we even know there were people on the plane?

[Dig]

has one body been recovered?

[Dig]

Spain's and Poland's Road to NATO: the problem of continuity and change in the foreign policy of a democratising state 
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/102649723-60549238/content~content=a902563740&db=all
Author: Beata Wojna a (Show Biography) Affiliation:   a Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Warsaw, Poland

DOI: 10.1080/13507480802370218
Publication Frequency: 6 issues per year
Published in:  European Review of History: Revue europeenne d'histoire, Volume 15, Issue 5 October 2008 , pages 533 - 547
Subjects: European History; World/International History;
Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)
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Abstract
The aim of this article is to compare the Spanish and Polish road to NATO from the perspective of the shape of the foreign policy and its possible restructuring in states undergoing the process of democratic transformation. The study of both cases shows that the reorientation of the foreign policy of a democratising state results to a large extent from external conditions at the global and regional levels although the internal conditions may hinder or accelerate the reorientation. The example of Spain demonstrates that in a firm and stable international system (the bipolar system) it is extremely difficult to change the direction of foreign policy, even if there are internal premises such as democratisation, well-organised opposition supporting the change and social support. In the case of Poland, the flexible and unstable international system made it possible to radically change the direction of its foreign policy. The existing internal premises without the appropriate external context would not have been enough to generate the reorientation of foreign policy. The comparative study of Spanish and Polish cases should be treated as an introduction to the broader analysis on the subject of the restructuring of foreign policy in the democratising state. Democratic transformation processes which took place in Europe from the mid-1970s provide broad empirical material for further scientific work in this area.

[Dig]

The Problem of Interoperability of Polish Forces With NATO
http://www.stormingmedia.us/87/8717/A871773.html
Authors: Marek Ojrzanowski; ARMY WAR COLL CARLISLE BARRACKS PA
 
Abstract: Following the collapse of the Iron Curtain in Europe Poland's interests lay in rejoining the Western European cultural society an interest which always existed in Poland's history except for the last forty-five years. In order to facilitate this desire Poland realized the need to create a stable and fixed security system in Europe, since the order established at Yalta had disappeared. From the beginning of the institution of a democratic government in Poland, the NATO Alliance was considered the only stable factor in this part of world. The presence of U.S. forces was seen as a precondition for the stability and security of the region. The Polish eight year effort to gain acceptance to join NATO succeeded in 1999. It accelerated a difficult period of transforming not only for military structures, but also for the entire nation as a whole. This paper will attempt to focus on the primary challenges concerned with the interoperability of Polish military forces with those of the other nations who belong to NATO. While the principle areas have been identified, some delay will take place before complete integration is completed. The purpose of this document will be to define some of those areas which require further effort before meeting acceptable standards.
Limitations:   APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Description:   Strategy research
Pages:    34
Report Date:   07 MAR 2000
Report Number:    A871773

[Dig]

Poland and the Future of NATO
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/999/chodakiewicz.html

NATO Enlargement: Strategic Impact on Poland's Security
http://www.stormingmedia.us/97/9781/A978194.html?searchTerms=poland

Poland's Role in European and World System of States 1979-2007
http://www.stormingmedia.us/72/7253/A725384.html?searchTerms=poland

The Key Role of NATO Accession on Poland's Democratic Transition
http://www.stormingmedia.us/20/2096/A209604.html?searchTerms=poland

Poland, NATO, and the Bear
http://www.stormingmedia.us/66/6650/A665044.html?searchTerms=poland

Polish Foreign and Security Policy: Dilemmas of Multi-National Integration and Alliance Cohesion, 1989-2005
http://www.stormingmedia.us/78/7865/A786534.html?searchTerms=poland

[Dig]

Bloomberg exposes motive...

Polish Central Banker Skrzypek Was Often at Odds With Cabinet
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-10/polish-central-banker-skrzypek-was-often-at-odds-with-cabinet.html
April 10, 2010, 12:12 PM EDT
By Monika Rozlal and Douglas Lytle

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Polish central bank Governor Slawomir Skrzypek, who died today in a plane crash along with President Lech Kaczynski, frequently found himself at odds with the government and colleagues over monetary policy.

In the weeks leading up to his death, the 46-year-old Skrzypek was caught up in his latest battle, this time over relations with the International Monetary Fund and rules for calculating the central bank’s profit, which the government wanted to use to reduce the state budget deficit.

It was his association with the president and the Law & Justice party that led to his being named in 2007 to lead monetary policy in the European Union’s largest former communist country. With no prior central bank experience, Skrzypek drew on his time running Poland’s largest bank PKO Bank Polski SA.

“I remember Governor Skrzypek as a young man who was learning fast and was persistently pursuing his goals,” Marian Noga, a former member of the Monetary Policy Council who worked with Skrzypek for three years, said in a phone interview today. “The Polish economy has made enormous progress in recent years and Skrzypek also had some contribution to it.”

It may be the policy conflicts, however, that serve as a lasting reminder of his time in power.

‘Not Telling the Truth’

“You are not telling the truth,” Skrzypek scrawled on a piece of paper he then thrust at policy maker Anna Zielinska- Glebocka during a press conference broadcast on live television on March 31. Zielinska-Glebocka read the note out to reporters.

At the center of contention was the approval of new rules about how the central bank calculates its profit.

“The management board doesn’t accept the new rules because they aren’t valid,” Skrzypek said, sitting next to Zielinska- Glebocka, who backed the changes.

Among “numerous legal faults,” he cited the Monetary Policy Council’s decision to make the changes retroactive to 2009 and the rate-setting body’s failure to wait for an opinion from the European Central Bank.

Skrzypek took the reins of the Narodowy Bank Polski on Jan. 10, 2007, moving from the country’s leading lender PKO Bank Polski SA, where he was acting chief executive officer.

Skrzypek replaced Leszek Balcerowicz, who called for quick adoption of the euro, while he himself always stressed that Poland shouldn’t rush with switching the currencies until “it’s advantageous for the country.”

Critical Colleagues

    His views often drew criticism from colleagues and the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has been seeking to cut the budget deficit enough to get the country into the euro area.

“It’s easy to imagine how weak our bargaining position will be in euro-adoption talks if conflicting messages are coming not only from the government and the central bank, but even from the different structures within the bank itself,” former central banker Andrzej Wojtyna said yesterday in an article written for newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

Skrzypek, who headed the central bank’s management and chaired the council, identified “himself more with the management” and tried “to limit the council’s significance against other departments of the bank,” Wojtyna said.

Engineering Background

Born in Katowice, southern Poland, Skrzypek graduated from the Technical University in Gliwice as a construction engineer and later studied at the Warsaw School of Economics in Warsaw, according to his official biography at the central bank.

In 1997, he received a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, as well as a business management diploma from Georgetown University.

He started his career at the National Audit Chamber, where he worked between 1993 and 1997, dealing with financial audits of the government and local government institutions as well as the banking industry.

He later became deputy head of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and between May 2001 and January 2002 he served on the management board of national railway PKP SA.

In November 2002 he became deputy mayor of Warsaw and close to Lech Kaczynski, who was then serving as mayor. In December 2005 he was named deputy chief executive officer at bank PKO BP SA.

During his studies at the Gliwice Technical University, he got involved in anti-communist activities through membership in the opposition Independent Student Association. He was held for six months in 1982 for involvement with the opposition during Poland’s state of emergency.

Skrzypek, with his wife, Dorota, had three children.

Zielinska-Glebocka said in a telephone interview today she was “deeply moved” by Skrzypek’s death.

“This is an unbelievable disaster and tragedy,” she said. “I’m deeply shocked and devastated. I know that the governor had small children and I can only imagine his family’s pain.”

--Editors: Alan Crosby, James M. Gomez

[Dig]

Poland and the euro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland_and_the_euro

Under the terms of the Treaty of Accession 2003, all new Member States "shall participate in the Economic and Monetary Union from the date of Accession as a Member State with a derogation", which means that Poland is obliged to introduce the euro, which will replace its current currency, the Złoty.

On 10 September 2008, speaking at the launch of an economic forum in a Polish resort of Krynica-Zdrój, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the ruling government's objective to join the Eurozone in 2012. However, since the Polish constitution will need to be changed first[1] and they will have to join the ERM 2 before second quarter 2009[2], a target date that is still very aggressive. Regardless, on 28 October 2008 the Polish government confirmed their plan to join the Eurozone in January 2012.[3]

Lech Kaczyński said on news conference that it is unable to join Eurozone before 2015, and even that date is still very optimistic. Also, Polish government officials had confirmed that Poland won't join Eurozone in 2012. [1] The Polish government is going to show the new eurozone join plan in the third quarter of 2009.

On 5 November 2009, speaking at the news conference Polish Deputy Finance Minister Ludwik Kotecki said the government may announce a national strategy for euro adoption in mid-2010. [4]In an interview for Rzeczpospolita daily 22 October 2009 he also said Poland could adopt the euro in 2014 if the general government deficit is reduced in 2012.[5]

On Friday, 11 December Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland could join the eurozone in 2015[6]. Speaking during Finance Ministry-organized seminar on the euro-adoption process on 15 December 2009 Deputy Minister of Finance Ludwik Kotecki said the year 2015 is more likely than 2014, however he declined to specify the official target date[7].

There is no official information on the design process for the Polish national sides of the euro coins.

[Dig]

http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2010/03/30/polands-star-crossed-love-with-the-euro/tab/article/

In autumn 2008, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, announced out of the blue that we will adopt the euro in 2012. Even as he spoke, such an early date was technically impossible. The next 18 months later and Poland has moved nowhere nearer to this ambition.


looks like Donald Tusk is the illuminati's inside man!

[citizenx]

And Tusk had just met with Putin, suggesting at least his (Putin's) complicity.

[Dig]

And Tusk had just met with Putin, suggesting at least his (Putin's) complicity.

what they have over putin...

mind control joint studies

space weapons joint work

food for the past 100 years US has provided russia with food

energy pipelines

and of course anti-putin journos seem to have a 1,000x greater mortality rate than pro-putin journos

[Dig]

OECD urges Poland to pave way to euro with fiscal reforms
http://news.malaysia.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4018601
By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 4/8/2010

Poland should prepare the ground for euro adoption by broadening the tax base to shore up public finances, the OECD said Thursday in its 2010 economic survey.

"Developing the capacity to stabilise the economy once monetary and exchange rate policies are abandoned is the priority," the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development urged Poland, the only EU state to maintain GDP growth, which came to 1.7 percent last year.

The OECD also insisted that fiscal discipline -- itself a key criteria for eurozone entry -- be restored.

"Consolidating public finances should be achieved by broadening the tax base; reducing the generosity of support to farmers; extending the retirement age, especially for women; further diminishing early retirement; saving on disability benefits; and improving public administration efficiency."

In January, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed that euro-hopeful Poland would meet a key condition for joining the eurozone by reducing its public deficit to 3.0 percent of gross domestic product by the end of 2012.

Poland's public deficit hit 7.2 percent of GDP in 2009 and is expected to rise to 7.0 percent in 2010 as the government maintains spending levels to keep the economy on track.

Brussels has given Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, until 2012 to rein in its public deficit under the 3.0 percent of GDP limit specified by the Maastricht Treaty governing criteria for entry into the eurozone.

Poland abandoned its 2012 target for adoption of the euro last year as the public deficit rose and the value of its currency, the zloty, tumbled due to the global financial crisis.

Tusk recently mentioned 2015 as a possible new target date for the eurozone.

Poland's recorded growth of 1.7 percent in 2009, official data showed Thursday, making the ex-communist country the only member in the 27-state EU to have sustained momentum despite the global economic crisis.

The Paris-based OECD, which groups 30 countries and seeks to support sustainable economic growth through research and expertise, also praised Poland's 2009 performance and crisis response.

"Poland's economic performance in 2009 was strong, given the downturn. Although excess demand was substantial prior to the crisis, the external imbalance was modest relative to some neighbours' and contagion was contained," the report said.

The macro-policy response of Tusk's liberal-leaning government to the crisis "were largely appropriate," it added, noting "the sharp depreciation of the zloty cushioned the impact of foreign shock, but contributed to the postponement of euro adoption."

[Dig]

Good article (2 days ago) to see the impact on the NWO one currency plan by Greece and  Poland and their insatiable desire of centralized/pharaoh control over all monetary policy:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-08/north-south-divide-may-hurt-euro-region-more-than-greek-crisis.html

[Dig]

uggggggggghhhhhhhh!

yup, looks like the local cops got a bag of money to look the other way...

Putin,Tusk agree to long-term Russian natural gas supplies to Poland
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15000333&PageNum=0
08.04.2010, 00.58

   
SMOLENSK, April 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk agreed to long-term Russian natural gas supplies to Poland.

Putin told journalists after the talks on Wednesday that the relevant documents would be signed shortly.

At the same time, he stressed that gas cooperation had not been discussed as a separate issue at the talks. “The Polish side has long been raising the issue of increasing Russian gas supplies, and business entities have generally come to agreement,” Putin said, adding that the documents formalising this agreement would be signed shortly.

He was referring to a long-term contract for gas supplies up to 2037 and a transit agreement up to 2045.

[Dig]

Russian, Polish leaders mourn Stalin-era massacre
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EU7UU80.htm
MOSCOW

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is hosting his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in Katyn, the site of Stalin-era massacres of Polish troops during World War II.

Putin's attendance at the Russian memorial ceremony for 22,000 Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's secret police in 1940 is an unprecedented gesture of good will and reconciliation. It also appears to be part of a broader Kremlin charm offensive toward Eastern Europe.

Putin is the first Russian leader to commemorate the Katyn massacres alongside Polish leaders, though Russia has not recognized the massacres as a war crime and Soviet archives on the matter remain sealed.

Katyn is near Russia's border with Belarus.

[Brocke]

Polish PM Tusk cancels visits to US, Canada
AFP: Saturday, April 10, 2010 9:33 PM


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk attend a video conference as they visit the site of a Polish government Tu-154 aircraft crash, at the airport in Smolensk. A plane carrying Polish president Lech Kaczynski and much of the country's military and state elite crashed in thick fog in Russia on Saturday killing all 96 people on board in a blazing inferno.

Photo Credit: Alexey Nikolsky, AFP/Getty Images


WARSAW, (AFP) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has cancelled a visit to Washington Monday for a summit on nuclear terrorism following the air crash in Smolensk, western Russia, in which President Lech Kaczynski lost his life.

He also cancelled a visit to Canada scheduled for next week, the government press office announced.

"Following the air disaster near Smolensk, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has cancelled his visits to Washington and Canada scheduled for next week," the office said.

Tusk returned from Smolensk, where he visited the crash site, to Warsaw early Sunday. A special cabinet meeting was to be held later in the day.

Kaczynski and many other leading Poles were killed in the accident that claimed 97 lives.

Read it on Global News: Polish PM Tusk cancels visits to US, Canada
http://news.globaltv.com/Polish+Tusk+cancels+visits+Canada/2788261/story.html

[Dig]

Poland warns Belarus on crackdown
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1449d860-1a55-11df-a2e3-00144feab49a.html
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw

Published: February 16 2010 23:33 | Last updated: February 16 2010 23:33

A crackdown by Belarusian authorities against the leaders of the former Soviet republic's Polish minority is prompting Warsaw to warn that the wave of arrests could harm the recent warming between Belarus and the European Union.

Belarus has arrested several dozen Polish activists, sentencing some to five-day jail terms, and levying a 1m rouble ($360) fine against Andzelika Borys, the leader of the delegalised Union of Poles in Belarus, after the activists protested the confiscation of a Polish cultural centre in the Belarusian town of Ivyanets.

Andrzej Kremer, Poland's deputy foreign minister, warned on Monday that if repressive measures were not halted, Belarus would isolate itself from the EU.

“People directly responsible for repressions against Poles in Belarus will not have the right to enter our country,” he said.

Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, met on Friday in Warsaw with his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Martynov, and reportedly warned him about the consequences of the anti-Polish measures.

Until recently, Poland had been a strong advocate of improving ties with Belarus, frequently dubbed Europe's last dictatorship for the authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenko, the president.

Mr Kremer's concerns were echoed by Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, who called Minsk's actions “unsettling” and noted that they seemed to be aimed at the political opposition in general, and not just against the Polish minority. A parliamentary mission is scheduled to travel to Belarus next week to investigate.

Belarus, a country of about 10m, has a Polish minority of about 400,000, a remnant from pre-war times when western Belarus was a part of Poland. The Union of Poles in Belarus became the country's largest nongovernment organisation after most opposition groups were driven underground by Mr Lukashenko, prompting the government to form a pro-regime Polish organisation in 2005 which took over the assets of the independent group.

Mr Lukashenko's government was pushed to warm ties with Europe when his Russian allies tired of propping him up through cheap oil and gas and began to demand world prices for energy. Belarus's ramshackle economy needed investment and new markets to survive, and Mr Lukashenko released all of his political prisoners in 2008 as a way of improving relations with the west.

However, in recent months the government seems to have changed tack, occasionally arresting Belarusian dissidents as well as clamping down on the Polish minority.

[CheneysWorstNightmare]

Sane---

Do you think the powers took out the Poland regime?

[Brocke]

Another Chair Affair?

March 25, 2010

Following the so-called “Chair War” when President Kaczyński and Prime Minister Tusk were at loggerheads about who would attend the EU summit, emotions seemed to have calmed down. However, not so. Another round of political handbags at ten paces seems likely. There were frayed nerves when Poland’s President and Prime Minister could not agree about who would attend the Katyń memorial together with Russian Prime Minister Putin in April. Their public spats do not show any signs of abating – the Office of the President has demanded to know what the Prime Minister’s plans are regarding the Nuclear Summit in Washington on the 12-13 April. Not only can the two not agree on who will attend but their respective policies on American involvement in Europe seem to be vastly different. Kaczyński wants a greater US presence in Europe, whereas Tusk takes a more cautionary approach.
Rzeczpospolita

http://newzar.wordpress.com/category/donald-tusk/

[CheneysWorstNightmare]

Here is my fear:

This is the beginning!  The NWO is making its stand NOW.  We better watch out for DC on the 15th and 19th.  The shit is about to happen!!

[Dig]

Belarus has a lot to lose with a Poland/Russian agreement, they are no longer valuable as an EU buffer.

were NATO/G7/CIA/France/Germany meeting recently with Belarus illuminous?


Belarus: Capitalism's Unlikely Frontier
With Russian subsidies declining, President Lukashenko is looking westward for investment
http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_16/b4174058701385.htm
By Carol Matlack April 8, 2010, 11:00AM EST

French software startup Abaxia was hunting for an offshore research and development site in 2006 when one of its employees suggested taking a look at his native country, Belarus. "I had to get out an atlas to be sure where it was," recalls Ongan Mordeniz, Abaxia's R&D chief.

Today, more than half of Abaxia's employees work in the former Soviet republic of 9.5 million, wedged between Russia and Poland on the EU's eastern rim. The company and two affiliates employ 85 engineers at a software development center in Minsk near the former Communist Party headquarters, which is now President Alexander Lukashenko's residence. They're among an estimated 10,000 professionals working for outsourcing operations in what is now the region's No. 3 country for such shops, behind Ukraine and Romania, according to the Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Assn.

Why Belarus? After all, two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall the country still seems sealed in a time capsule, with a centrally planned economy run by an authoritarian leader who is routinely denounced by Western governments for what the U.S. State Dept. terms "frequent serious abuses" of human rights. Minsk (pop. 1.8 million), a tranquil city of wide boulevards, hulking Stalinist architecture, and Soviet-era factories, is an unlikely place to find capitalism's new frontier.

Yet the Lukashenko government is opening the door to investment as never before. Since 2007 it has enacted regulatory reforms and tax relief measures that have vaulted Belarus from 129th place to 58th on the World Bank's ranking of the "ease of doing business" in 183 countries. (Poland ranked 72nd, Russia came in 120th, and Ukraine was 142nd.) The Belarus government says foreign direct investment more than doubled last year, to $4.8 billion, even as investment plummeted in neighboring countries.

American companies may soon join the wave. In late March representatives of Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Honeywell (HON), and Navistar (NAV) (formerly International Harvester) visited Minsk for meetings with Lukashenko and top business leaders. "We see great opportunities here," says Veronika Prikrylová, Microsoft's business development manager for Central and Eastern Europe. Microsoft is opening a sales office in Minsk this spring and hopes that having a local presence will help it combat piracy. An estimated 80% of software now used in Belarus is illegally copied, Prikrylová says.

Lukashenko is looking westward as Russia pulls back on aid to its neighbor. Belarus' economy has long been kept afloat by Russia, which has supplied it with below-market-priced energy while soaking up exports from inefficient Belarussian factories. Economic growth over the past decade has averaged 7.1% annually. "We are not rich, but the government takes care of us," says Galina Zorina, a retired piano teacher strolling through Minsk with her sister, carrying a spray of willow branches for the Russian Orthodox version of Palm Sunday. Russia has subsidized Belarus to keep it as a buffer against EU and NATO expansion.

The nation has been a high-tech magnet since Soviet times. Minsk was one of the Communist bloc's computer-science capitals, and local universities still turn out 4,000 information technology grads every year. Salaries, which average $1,200 a month for Abaxia's engineers, are only slightly above the $1,160 average for engineers at India's IT outsourcing companies. Yet while some graduates emigrate, the low cost of living in Belarus keeps many at home. "I thought about moving to the U.K., but it's easier to support my wife and kids here," says Alexey Balushkin, 27, a senior software designer at Abaxia.


Belarus also produces world-class specialists in mathematics and physics. That's an attraction to companies such as Invention Machine, a Boston-based group that in 2004 acquired the assets of a Belarus software company. Invention Machine now runs an 80-person lab in Minsk, including a team of computational linguists who develop "semantic engines" capable of extracting and analyzing key concepts from documents in multiple languages. "They have taken the field of natural language processing to a new level," says James W. Todhunter, the company's chief technology officer.

Invention Machine is one of 78 tenants in a high-tech park the government established in Minsk in 2005. All benefit from generous incentives, including exemption from Belarus' 24% corporate income tax and a provision that lets expatriate managers work without having to obtain work permits. "No other country in the region has done this much" to attract IT investment, says Arkady Dobkin, CEO of EPAM Systems, a Newtown (Pa.) outsourcing company with over 2,000 employees in Minsk and a client list that includes Microsoft, Oracle (ORCL), and SAP (SAP).

For now, the outsourcing boomlet is still in its infancy; the estimated $300 million it generates each year is dwarfed by the $2.5 billion in annual oil subsidies Russia has provided. Russia, pushing to get its crisis-hit economy back on track, said in January that it would end most of the subsidies this year. "It's going to get much harder for us," says Georgy Egorov, chairman of Belvnesheconombank, a leading bank in Minsk. To raise cash for the government, Lukashenko has restarted a long-stalled privatization effort. In the past two years the government has sold controlling stakes in two mobile-phone companies to Mobilkom Austria Group and Turkcell (TKC) and has said it will privatize banks. Strategic investors are also moving in. In December, Italy's Finmeccanica agreed to partner with Belarussian companies on engineering, transport, and aerospace projects. "There are few investment opportunities like this left in the world," says Tom Mundy, an economist at Moscow-based Renaissance Capital. Belarus' proximity to Europe, well-educated population, and solid infrastructure add to the appeal, he notes.

Whether global companies are ready to do business with Lukashenko is an open question. Although U.S. and EU sanctions imposed on Belarus in 2006 have expired, he still draws criticism from the West. On Mar. 30, EU Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Ashton expressed "grave concern" about harassment of opposition figures in the runup to regional elections on Apr. 25.

Companies remain cautious. Navistar, for example, has considered supplying engine technology to MAZ, a Soviet-era producer of trucks and buses. "They need some kind of Western partnership," says Steven Hyde, Navistar's vice-president for international business development. But, he predicts, doing business in Belarus will remain an unappealing sell "as long as there is a high dependence on political personalities instead of the rule of law."

[Dig]

Here is my fear:

This is the beginning!  The NWO is making its stand NOW.  We better watch out for DC on the 15th and 19th.  The shit is about to happen!!

please no chicken little posts on this thread.

thanks

[citizenx]

Kaczyński wants a greater US presence in Europe, whereas Tusk takes a more cautionary approach.

Precisely.  Cui bono?  The U.S.?  Not really.

Eurocrats?, Putin?, Tusk? Da.

[Brocke]

The inquiry has three versions for the Polish President’s plane crash

10 April 2010 | 21:42 | FOCUS News Agency

Moscow. According to the initial information the pilots of the Tu-154 had tried to land three times at Severnii airport by the town of Smolensk despite the dense fog and the warnings of the dispatchers. There are three versions for the crash so far – bad meteorological conditions, technical failure and pilots error, Russian NTV television reported.
Today’s flight of the Polish President Lech Kaczinski was passing normally but the dispatchers in Belarus started warning about a dense fog near Smolensk. The pilots were offered to land at spare airports but they decided to land here, despite the instructions of Russian dispatchers.

Journalists in Polish media had reported several times President Kaczinski liked to intervene in the actions of the commanders in his plane. Thus one of the pilots was dismissed and was almost arrested after he refused to fulfill an order of his President over security reasons.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n216142


I can think of at lease 3 more versions that they will never report on...

[Dig]

Precisely.  Cui bono?  The U.S.?  Not really.

Eurocrats?, Putin?, Tusk? Da.

eurocrats may have done a deal with Belarus.

Could a strike have been initiated from belarus?

any training exercises in belarus recently?

[Dig]

Belarus has some balls...

Belarus Orders Bush, Rice Assets To Be Frozen
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1069461.html
June 26, 2006

Belarusian President Lukashenka (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)
June 26, 2006 -- Belarusian authorities said today they will freeze any assets that U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may hold in the country.

The move is a response to Washington's decision last week to impose sanctions, including a freeze on assets, against Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and other officials deemed accountable for the fraud that Western governments believe marred presidential elections in March.

[CheneysWorstNightmare]

please no chicken little posts on this thread.

thanks

Understood, brother.  But this seems like to be some serious sh!t.  IMO, the NWO just took out a parliment that didn't want the Euro.

[Brocke]

Belarus to receive first ever Venezuelan crude
Thu Apr 8, 2010 5:17pm IST

* 80,000-T tanker heading for Odessa
* Venezuela promised to supply 80,000 bpd from May

By Gleb Gorodyankin

MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) - Belarus will import its first ever cargo of crude oil from Venezuela in late April or early May in a move that Minsk hopes will help it cut heavy dependence on supplies from Russia, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Trading and industry sources said an 80,000-tonne crude vessel was heading from Venezuela to Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa for further railway delivery to Belarus' Mozyr refinery.

The cargo left Venezuela on April 2 and it will take it some 20-30 days to arrive to Odessa, sources said.

Relations between Russia and Belarus soured over the New Year after Moscow drastically cut supplies of cheap crude to Belarus saying Minsk must pay full export duties on crude it refines for further re-exports of refined products.

Moscow's long-time ally, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, slammed the move and travelled to Venezuela in March in a bid to secure supplies amid shortage of cheap material for Belarussian refineries.

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez promised that South America's top oil exporter will supply Belarus with 80,000 barrels of per day from in May. [ID:nN15224348]

Russian oil supplies to Belarusian refineries fell by 42 percent in January-March, year-on-year, as the country's refiners could not afford paying full export duties. [ID:nLDE6340E2]

Industry observes carefully watch disputes between Russia and Belarus as they threaten to disrupt Russian flows along the one-million-bpd Druzhba pipeline to European Union members Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. [ID:nLDE60Q27P]. (Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin, additional reporting by Andrey Makhovsky in Minsk)

http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINLDE6371B720100408?sp=true

[Dig]

I am not sure if Tusk is a bona fide inside man.

Looks like he did a 30-50 year deal with Putin and possibly follow up was going on, like nonstop meetings between the countries using Katyn as cover. Then eurocrats enrolled "big balls" belarus in sending a decapitating messgae to poland (with or without Tusk)

Katyn Killings Commemorated Without a Belarusian Delegation[/color]
http://belarusdigest.com/2010/04/07/2864katyn-killings-commemorated-without-a-belarusian-delegation/

Just as Belarus Digest had predicted, there is no news of a Belarusian delegation attending the ceremony in Katyn, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet killings of officers of the Polish army.

This even despite the fact that one of the central issues preceding the meeting of Russian and Polish prime ministers Vladimir Putin and Donald Tusk has been the so-called Belarusian List. The list contains names of officers of the Polish Army killed by the Soviets in extermination sites in Belarus (including, very likely, the infamous Kurapaty forest). Russian authorities claim they have not found it in archives. According to Radio Free Europe, Ukrainian and Russian lists have already been found and published.

Not to say about the hundreds of people from Belarus who had been killed in Katyn. In 1940 West Belarus was part of the Second Polish Republic. Many people from the region have served in the Polish army or have just been mobilized after the German invasion in 1939.

BBC Russian edition quotes Belarusian intellectual Liavon Barsceuski who draws parallels between Katyn and Kurapaty:

Here is a person from Minsk. Lieutenant Edmund Menke from Minsk, as the sign says. Overall, there are quite a few people from Belarus here: from Hrodna, from Biaroza (that’s in Polesia), from the Wilno voivodeship, most of which is now Belarus. there are also many unidentified victims, who also could be our compatriots. This memorial is also a memorial for us.

It’s not Russia or Poland to blame for Belarusian authorities ignoring the memory of hundreds of Belarusians buried in Katyn. As already mentioned, Belarusian authorities do not care about organizing a decent memorial in Kurapaty near Minsk. What should one expect in relation to Belarusian graves outside the country?

Still, there is at least some good news indirectly related to Katyn. Today the Belarusian Academy of Arts has awarded Andrzej Wajda, author of the well-known film about the Katyn massacre, an honourary doctorate in recognition of his life‘s work. A symbolic coincidence, if not more.

[Dig]

Interesting meetings last month...

NATO, Belarus’ Defence Ministry hold consultations on Partnership for Peace Program

March 1, 2010 - March 2, 2010
http://www.gomel-region.gov.by/en/bottom_menu/news/power?ns_id=15763
01.03.2010   

MINSK, 1 March (BelTA) – A delegation of the NATO Headquarters and the Belarusian Defence Ministry are holding consultations on the Partnership for Peace Program in Minsk, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Belarusian Defence Ministry.

The NATO delegation arrived in Belarus on 28 February. Apart from participation in the program, the NATO representatives and the Belarusian side will discuss the results of the implementation of the program.

On 2 March, Major General Alexander Anisimov, Belarusian Defence Minister’s Aide for Military Policy, will meet with Frank Boland, the Head of the Force Planning Department of the NATO Defence Policy and Planning Division.

[Dig]

I think Bloomberg is leaking clues to the public...

Russian, Polish leaders mourn Stalin-era massacre
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EU7UU80.htm
MOSCOW

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is hosting his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in Katyn, the site of Stalin-era massacres of Polish troops during World War II.

Putin's attendance at the Russian memorial ceremony for 22,000 Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's secret police in 1940 is an unprecedented gesture of good will and reconciliation. It also appears to be part of a broader Kremlin charm offensive toward Eastern Europe.

Putin is the first Russian leader to commemorate the Katyn massacres alongside Polish leaders, though Russia has not recognized the massacres as a war crime and Soviet archives on the matter remain sealed.

Katyn is near Russia's border with Belarus.

That last word totally caught my eye.

Not one other article mentions Belarus when it is such a key piece of information.

Again, not convinced on Tusk yet. He and Putin both look like children who just had their bicycles stolen. I mean they are genuinely sad and have not issued any statement yet. If they were in on it, the talking points would have been ready to go. You cannot be a political leader in Poland and not understand what this means.

[N.E.P.]

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/poland/091203/poland-swine-flu

WARSAW, Poland — Poland is standing alone against the swine flu, as one of the only European Union member states to refuse to place orders for the H1N1 virus vaccine because of the health minister's concerns about its safety.

But now the country’s human rights ombudsman is threatening the health minister, Ewa Kopacz, with prosecution unless she moves on the vaccine.

Kopacz, who is also a doctor, is worried about the vaccine and is refusing to act until the pharmaceutical companies making the vaccine accept responsibility for any side effects, something they have been excused from by the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic.

“If I had a 100 percent certainty that the vaccine was a panacea for the swine flu, I would certainly buy it,” Kopacz said in an interview with radio station Tok FM, adding that she felt drug companies were “covering up” some information about the vaccines.

“I feel that the research on the vaccines lasted too short a time,” she said.

Kopacz’s stand is very different from most of her European counterparts. Mass vaccination programs have begun in France, Germany and Scandinavia, as well as in central European countries like Hungary.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15990

WARSAW, Poland — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his government won't buy vaccines for swine flu that have not been properly tested or from producers who won't take responsibility for possible side effects.

Tusk told reporters Friday that vaccine producers were pressuring governments to buy, but were also demanding that all responsibility and compensation for possible side effects should fall upon the governments purchasing the medicine.

He stressed that the few dozen swine cases in Poland have been mild and no deaths have been reported.

----------------------------------------------------

Poland and the H1N1 Flu: Calm and Unvaccinated
A/H1N1 in Poland
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16109

----------------------------------------------------------

Polish Health Minister Rejects H1N1 Vaccine
http://littlemountainhomeopathy.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/polish-health-minister-rejects-h1n1-vaccine/
--------------------------------------------------------


Polish PM refuses to buy H1N1 vaccine without `guarantee`
http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=622038

-------------------------------------------------

Polish Health Ministry on swine flu jabs issues A/H1N1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhZesZe33cw
------------------------------------------------------

Poland rejects H1N1 vaccine
http://www.polishforums.com/news-politics-4/poland-rejects-h-n-vaccine-41326/

Old news... Basically it goes like this:
Those big international companies wanted to sell Polish gov, milions of vaccines. Our gov. look at their papers and said:
"wait the minute, it looks like you didn't checked it properly... hm... ok, situation is not rosy with this epidemic in Ukraine. Ok, ok, we (Polish gov.) will buy it, but you have to guarantee it [which means if somebody die/get ill because of it and sue us you (big pharma) will take the blame]"
- Big pharma said:
"no way, we have plenty of others gov. buying it without stupid questions"
and they said to themselfs...
"we have WTO in the pocket, we have army of good paid lobbists, we will break them, stupid little polish politicians..."

But, bad luck happend... Turn out that polish health minister is a tough little lady doctor who has some independent university advisors/professors, and this tough lady doctor got this enorumous pressure on her and said to big pharma "F..K OFF" :-)

It is the exact reason why it wasn't possible to buy this miraculous vaccine in the drugstores. Vaccine producers were afraid of lawsuits in case if something wrong happend.

[citizenx]

Tusk was likely just a beneficiary.

NATO, Eurocrats, Putin all viable suspects, possibly working together.

Belarus connection sounds plausible/possible.

Direct U.S. involvement, however, would seem at odds with pro-U.S. position of Kaczynski.  U.S. might have been somewhat out of the loop.

Eurocrats could have done an end run within NATO, if NATO was involved.

[Okinawa]

has one body been recovered?

I was wondering about this... no bodies in the videos WTF?

All 97 bodies found at the crash site: Russian minister http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-04/11/c_13245725.htm
English.news.cn   2010-04-11 02:02:10

MOSCOW, April 10 (Xinhua) -- All the bodies of the victims in the Polish president's plane crash in western Russian have been recovered, Russian Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said Saturday.

"All the bodies of the dead have been located," Shoigu told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who has arrived at the site of the disaster.

Shoigu said that the bodies would be sent to Moscow for identification.

A highly-placed police source earlier told the RIA Novosti news agency that Polish President Lech Kaczynski's body may have been found, but that "additional tests, including DNA," would be needed to identify many of the bodies.

All 97 people on board died when the Tu-154 aircraft carrying Kaczynski, his wife, and a delegation of senior officials crashed in thick fog while attempting to land at Smolensk airport.

Kaczynski was on his way to a ceremony in nearby Katyn forest to commemorate the murder of some 20,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police during World War Two.


All plane crash bodies recovered http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/all-plane-crash-bodies-recovered/story-fn3dxity-1225852290952
    * From: AFP  * April 11, 2010 3:53AM

THE bodies of all killed in the crash yesterday of the plane carrying the Polish president and other top officials have been recovered, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

"At this point, the bodies of all the dead have been recovered and they have begun being transferred to Moscow,'' Mr Shoigu told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who was shown on television inspecting the forest crash site personally.

Vladimir Putin promises swift probe into Kaczynski plane crash http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_vladimir-putin-promises-swift-probe-into-kaczynski-plane-crash_1369930

Moscow: Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has promised a swift probe into the cause of the plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and at least 96 others on Saturday.

"We must do everything to help the families and dependants of the victims," Putin told state television following an inspection of the crash site near Smolensk, in western Russia. He also held a minute's silence for the victims there.

Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev had earlier appointed the Kremlin chief as head an official commission of inquiry into the crash.

The bodies of all the victims had now been recovered and would be taken to Moscow, emergency situations minister Sergei Shoigu said meanwhile.

Kaczynski's wife, Maria, the head of the Polish central bank, and much of Poland's military leadership, died in the crash.

Transport minister Igor Levitin has meanwhile accused the Polish pilots of the Russian-built Tupolev TU-154, of having acted on their own authority.

The range of visibility at the crash site amounted to only 400 metres, while prescribed range for landings was 1,000 metres, he said.

The aircraft's flight recorders have been found, Levitin said. The devices would be examined by Russian and Polish experts in Moscow.

[DanishD00D]

There was an interesting link to a story in russian about the polish president in the danish daily Politiken today.

Although I too am suspicious, it's known that the Polish president had a temper.

In the article linked below a plane of the exact same type is diverted from Tiblisi in Georgia to Azerbaijan, and reportedly the polish president was so furious at the rerouting. Promising an investigation at the highest levels, in an attempt to hold the pilot personally responsible, and have him/her removed from their job. The president felt he was too important to be overruled by trained professionals both in the cockpit and on the ground.

Reported here in the danish paper is that the crashed plane made 4 attempts to land, and that the air crew on the ground NEVER gave them permission to land even once. A russian military plane that should have landed 15 minutes prior to the crash was also denied. Everybody was told to go to Minsk or Moscow and NOT land in Smolensk.

Will be very interesting to hear the black box tapes to hear if the air crew was under pressure from VIPs on board.

Here's the link to the russian article about previous flight where Polish president threatened and intimidated crew to make them follow his orders instead of protocol.

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=da&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsru.com%2Fworld%2F12aug2008%2Fkolonna1.html&sl=auto&tl=en

if it doesnt work here's the original article that can be google translated (translate.google.com)

http://www.newsru.com/world/12aug2008/kolonna1.html

[Matt Hatter]

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a plane that was designed in the 1960s and capable of carrying more than 100 passengers.

Thats the plane?!

Oh yeah those trees were 2 Miles high or what! Come on someone deliver the goods!

[Xill]

this is a big blow by the Illuminati, now an entire country will be subjugated to their interests by those traitor in the governement.