There may be far more to the recent death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko than meets the eye, which in itself is a strange thing to note in that he died through poisoning by a highly toxic radioactive element known as Polonium-210.
It seems to be a cut and dried enough case, of course. Litvinenko, of late a citizen of Great Britain, the nation to which he was granted exile after a period of incarceration in a Russian prison for "abuse of power" (he allegedly refused to asassinate an enemy of the state), had been in the proces of conducting an investigation into the murder of Russian dissident journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who herself had written investigative articles highly critical of Russian policy in regards to the region of Chechnya.
Got all that? Well, here's where it really gets confusing. Seems as though Mr. Litvinienko was himself a Chechen sympathizer. In fact, on his deathbed, he converted to Islam.
He had expressed the wish to do so to his father, and evidently somewhere along the path of his final few days, he followed through on his desires. Unfortunaely, so contaminated with radiation by the time of his funeral were his remains, he was not allowed a Muslim funeral, due to safety concerns.
Atlas Shrugs has written and linked to a number of theories about the murder-or assassination-and even postulated that it might have been a suicide on the part of Litvinenko, who may have desired to be a martyr, which among the Chechen rebels and some other Muslims, is actually now what he is seen as.
What strikes me as interesting is that this man might well be legitimately viewed as a traitor of the worse, most heinous variety, given some of the actions of the Chechen rebels, such as, for example, the assault on a school in Beslan, in Southern Russia, which resulted in hundreds of deaths, more than half of them school children. In fact, the Chechen rebels are said to be allied to some degree with Al-Queda.
Even given the long history of the region and it's legitimate grievances against Russia, this alone raises questions as to the degree of culpability he might share in giving aid and comfort to these terrorist factions, the justification in his assassination by figures known or unknown within the Russian government, or even if his death might have been the accidental result of his own nefarious actions, and associations.
Still, there can be no doubt that the degree of poisoning exhibited not only on him, but amongst his close associates, poses grave cause for concern. It seems like everywhere Litvinenko turned up in those final few hours, Polonium-210 was sure to follow.
Of course, that is in itself not that amazing, considering that it can be ordered legally on-line, in suppossedly safe and shielded amounts available to university research laboratories. Such a site can be seen here, and is so bizarre, it almost reads like a satire.
This still leaves open the question as to how he absorbed such a deadly material in such significant amounts. If it was indeed an assassination, I would advise a return to his home and a perusal of his liquor cabinet, or possibly his after shave.
Or, if he was a smoker, they might possibly want to check his tobacco supply, in that it seems as though Polonium-210 is to be found naturally in tobacco due to it's presence in certain phosphate fertilizers used for the product.
Unfortunately, you won't find that fact bandied about too much by either the tobacco companies, or by anti-smoking zealots. After all, the tobacco companies don't want any more lawsuits, nor do they wish to have to undergo the relatively expensive process of insuring removal of the radiation. The anti-smoking forces as well do not want to call attention to this development, as it would suddenly give merit to the effort to finally produce a safe cigarrette.
This would be the last thing they want, and why they will fight tooth and nail to prevent revelation of the fact that tobacco smoking has been seen as a preventive, and potentially a cure, for Parkinsons Disease.
As such, the last thing the anti-moking forces would want is something that might in the long run derail their gravy train-speaking of which,from their perspective, the only thing worse right now would be for the discovery of Polonium-210 in trans-fats.
And to think, all this time we've been blaming the tobacco problem on some curse by American Indians.
Well, it certainly explains why that tobacco goddess I once thought I was going to attune with turned out to be a troll.
4 comments:
There is a huge difference between Chechen rebels and Al-Quaeda.
Chechen rebels are fighting for freedom from a foreign occupation. As I wrote in this post, there is more to Beslan and other Chechen terrorist acts than meets the eye.
Al Quaeda isn't fighting for freedom from foreign occupation. Its leader, Osama, is a Saudi. Saudi Arabia is already an independent country.
Sonia-I made note of the Chechens very real and legitimate grievances with the Russians in the "Chechnya-In Depth" article I linked to from the CBC.
Regardless of those concerns, I merely made note of the fact that they have been linked to Al-Queda, as allies, and also their tactics, involving the use of civilian and child hostages, lead to the killings.
Yes, the Russians response technically caused the deaths, but what else were they to do? Negotiate? Yes, it was tragic, and the Russians conducted the response in an amateurish manner, perhaps, but ultimately the fault is with the rebels. No other country would negotiate with terrorists, or rebels, or however you want to term them.
Say what you want about Putin, Russia is one country in Europe I promise you don't have to worry about being swamped with Muslim extremists-or any other kind-over the next four decades.
Don't you think it's somewhat odd that the MSM, which tends to be highly critical of Putin, has for the most part avoided mentioning that Litvinenko was not only a Chechen sympathizer (thus technically a traitor)but a deathbed Islamic convert to boot?
I'm going to be frank here. I think he and his compatriots were involved in a plot to release this radioactive material on Russian soil, but the amounts they were carrying on them when they got together for their meetings leaked, resulting in their deaths.
I think if Putin had wanted to kill them, he would have found a different method,one that would have been more certain, less traceable,and one that wouldn't endanger other people, especially on British soil.
Say what you want about Putin, Russia is one country in Europe I promise you don't have to worry about being swamped with Muslim extremists
You were in never in Russia. There are plenty of Islamic extremists there (and plenty of non-Islamic ones as well who make Timothy McVeigh look like a altar boy).
I know it's not all Putin's fault. But he isn't making things better. Compared to him, Bush is an angel.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Putin is an angel, or that Russia is a paradise, in fact I know better than that. But so far as I know, their major problem is the Mafia-the Russian variety, which by the way makes the Italian American brand look like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
I did not know there were Muslim extremists besides the Chechens, but the fact that they do exist makes Putins policies actually all the more justifiable.
Are you sure you just don't like him becasue of his past association with the former Communist regime? That would be perfectly understandable, by the way. I just tend to give him a lot of leeway, and hope for the best, knowing to some degree what he has to contend with. But I wouldn't go so far to say he is a "good" man.
Then again, what sucessful politician or leader is? No matter what their intentions are, sooner or later they are going to have to compromise their principles, or end up presiding over a train wreck for a country. Think in terms of Jimmy "Kiler Rabbit" Carter.
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