
A Cold War Hero: Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski - elsamuko
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2010-featured-story-archive/colonel-ryszard-kuklinski.html
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szopa
I am not sure what OP wants to say with this submission... Is it that the US
treats differently people who defect to them than people who defect from them?
That's... not very surprising. In some way it feels more fair than the way the
Soviets treated Kim Philby, a British spy and defector:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Philby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Philby)
(tl;dr: he wasn't a KGB colonel like he was promised, he was kept essentially
in house arrest, and had a 500 rubel allowance).

As for Kukliński, being a Pole myself, I have mixed feelings. I very much
prefer that my country is in the American sphere of influence (and not the
Soviet as it used to for almost 50 years). However, if WW3 had happened, we
would've been be on the Soviet side. Zbigniew Brzeziński said that Kuklinski’s
information had permitted them to make counterplans to disrupt command-and-
control facilities rather than only relying on a massive counterattack on
forward positions, which would have hit Poland. However, I have no dellusions
that anybody in the US would have any doubts about turning Poland into a
radioactive wasteland if that served the American interests of the moment...

Also, the Polish government after the fall of Communism wasn't very eager to
pardon Kukliński. That happened only after Clinton's administration threatened
to block Poland's NATO accession if he weren't exonerated.

~~~
pinaceae
Being on the Soviet side would have been worthless as well of course, as it
was clear that central Europe would be a nuclear wasteland in any case.

Operational plans of the Soviets against NATO foresaw the first wave of attack
led by troops from Warsaw pact nations (East Germany, Poland, etc.) - which
would have been completely wiped out by NATO defenses, but depleting their
arsenals. The second wave would have consisted of fresh Russian troops which
then would have swept through the rubble of Europe.

These plans have been made public a few years ago and here in Austria they
were part of a exhibtion. Austria would have suffered a similar fate, some
plans seeing Soviet tank troops advancing along the Danube, some plans
ignoring it but in both cases seeing nuclear weapons (tactical) be deployed by
both sides. NATO would have nuked bridges instantly, the WP denied NATO Vienna
as a bridgehead.

As a Pole myself it is pretty clear that if you're caught between two power
blocks (Germans, Russia, NATO, Soviets, whatever) you're always fucked
whatever "side" you're on. You're collateral damage in their power struggle.

~~~
arethuza
"In matters of military contingency, the expected, precisely because it is
expected, is not to be expected. Rationale: What we expect, we plan and
provide for; what we plan and provide for, we thereby deter; what we deter
does not happen. What does happen is what we did not deter, because we did not
plan and provide for it, because we did not expect it."

[http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/6127193/learning-to-live-
wi...](http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/6127193/learning-to-live-with-the-
bomb/)

------
stevoski
From the article:

"Polish Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski was a patriot who showed his love for his
country in a very courageous act. He risked his life and the safety of his
family to protect Poland from the Soviets during the Cold War by spying for
the United States."

Oh such delicious double-speak...you spy on us, you are a traitor. You spy on
your country for us, you are a patriot of your country.

~~~
ghostdiver
Technically Poland was under soviet occupation, so it was like Vichy France
during WWII, but for almost 5 decades.

~~~
CleanedStar
If technically Poland was under Soviet occupation, then technically Italy was
under US occupation.

There's much more of a case for Italy being a US satellite state than Poland
being and independent state under foreign occupation. There was no independent
Poland in the century before World War I. Only the two decades of upheaval
between World War I and II allowed for some Polish independence.

US troops occupied Italy and are still in Italy today. Not that those who ran
the US economy disapproved of what Mussolini had been doing. As Fortune
magazine memorably said in 1934: "The wops are unwopping themselves". Plenty
of US investor money went to Italy, and Mussolini even had some support in US
liberal circles. Then World War II happens. Northern Italy, which the fascists
had to work to keep down, mostly liberated itself in the days and weeks before
Allied troops even arrived there. Then in 1948 the US very openly rigged
elections so the Christian Democrats would win. Gladio was set up as a secret
government in case the left was voted to power. As late as 1976, Italian
voters voted 34.4% for the communists, 9.6% for the socialists (who still had
the hammer and sickle emblem), 1.5% for the ultra-left Proletarian Democracy
etc. Secret P2 lodges pulled strings at high levels, strategia della tensione
was put into effect with bombings by the far right blamed on the left, with
leads back to the highest levels of government. US intelligence had a massive
involvement in Italy. It was no less a "satellite state" than any eastern
European country.

Hungary was called a satellite state of the USSR even though it had had an
independent communist revolution after World War I, put down by foreign
intervention. Hungary was independent of the USSR until 1956, when the right
took over and announced its desire to join NATO. England and France were
invading Egypt around this time.

~~~
ajuc
USSR/Russian troops entered Poland in 1939 and left in 1992. After WW2 it was
decided at Yalta that Poland will be communist country no matter what Poles
want, there were falsified elections, till early fifties there were partisans
fighting against new government in less populated areas. People that had the
misfortune of fighting Germans in right-wing instead of left-wing partisan
groups during WW2 were mass-murdered in tousands (some left-wing groups
members too just in case). Political parties other than communist PZPR and
pre-war socialist PPS were outlawed (PPS was outlawed a few years later too).
There was censorship.

Between 1945 and 1989 if you asked Poles whether they want to be occupied by
USA instead of being "independent Warsaw Pact member" 90% or more would
instantly agree.

Say what you want, but for most Poles Kukliński did good.

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nine_k
If you want to see a _true_ Cold War hero, a person who prevented a nuclear
war from starting, read about
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov)

~~~
arethuza
And this chap, who talked two colleagues out of firing a nuclear torpedo
during the Cuban Missile Crisis:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov)

~~~
bilbo0s
I'd just like to point out, that this Arkhipov guy was one cool character. If
there is a flash point full of hot heads... like American cowboys depth
charging Russian subs, and Russian madmen intent on teaching America a
lesson... the world wants guys like that to be there to "break up the fight".

This was a military man WAY ahead of his time. There were not a lot like him
in the 60's.

A bit off-topic, but just as an indication of this guy's background, we were
taught about his role on K-19 as well as B-59. Sangfroid like this is what you
hope to have in a crisis.

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mercurial
I'm sure Snowden will get his own medal in the mail any day now. After all, he
did what he did to advance liberty and peace, too.

~~~
ergo14
The medal will probably be radioactive and covered with cyanide.

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tejot
"1995, the court dismissed Kuklinski’s sentence completely, declaring that he
was acting under special circumstances and the higher need of his country.
Kuklinski finally returned to Poland for a visit in the spring of 1998."

truth being told, USA, like always, bullied Poland into withdrawing the
charges ( and that "helped" them join the structures of NATO) which is quite
well described for example in the latest book by Leszek Miller, who dealt with
the case as a prime minister after 1989.

( I don't have a personal opinion about Kuklinski's choice - it was treason,
it was patriotism, it was many things - everybody lives by their own ethical
backbone ).

~~~
ajuc
To be fair Miller is not exactly neutral on that matter (he is postcommunist
from SLD - which was called PZPR before 1989 and ruled communist Poland).

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lawnchair_larry
Another terrible title edit by the mods.

~~~
abstractbill
What was the original title?

~~~
elsamuko
"He did so for the noblest of reason — to advance [..] liberty and peace [..]"

------
elsamuko
Quote shortened due to 80 char limit. More about Kukliński here:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryszard_Kukli%C5%84ski](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryszard_Kukli%C5%84ski)

~~~
hedonist
Yeah. The _Legacy_ and _Opinions in Poland_ sections are particularly
interesting.

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gwern
> Kuklinski was given the codename GULL for his love of the sea.

Well, that's one way to explain it.

~~~
oijaf888
What would your explanation be?

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JoachimSchipper
GULLible, I guess.

~~~
gwern
I was actually thinking of the noun 'gull' ("A person who is fooled or
deceived."), not the adjective 'gullible'.

