The highly-publicized death of former FSB (Russian Security Agency) Colonel Alexander V. Litvinenko from what appears to have been Polonium poisoning has stirred accusations he was murdered on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Litvinenko is said to have dictated a final statement to certain friends as he lay dying -a part of which is quoted here:
"... as I lie here, I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death. I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like. I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.
You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.
You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.
You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women.
You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people."
This statement would seem to make it a "given" that Putin had Litvinenko murdered - but the actual circumstances suggest another less-attractive explanation: death by misadventure !
To begin with, let's consider the parties involved.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin needs no introduction. A former KGB apparatchik -who has surrounded himself with people drawn from FSB (successor agency to the infamous KGB),he has a reputation for being brutal and ruthless : qualities we can hardly admire ,but which the Russian people needed at a time when Russia was being bled dry by "The Friends of George Soros" (credited with stealing 100 Billion Dollars in foreign aid , and handing off Russia's most valuable assets to a close-knit circle of criminal Oligarchs) ; and being attacked almost continuously by al-Qaeda trained Chechen "separatists" - eager to seize control of the vital oil and natural gas fields.
Alexander V. Litvinenko , the "martyred victim" in this case , was himself a KGB man,and later joined the FSB: achieving the rank of Colonel.
In 1998, he accused his superiors of ordering him to murder one of the Oligarchs :Boris Berezovsky -described by some as one of the architects of the massive Yukos Oil swindle. Berezovsky fled to England , and was given sanctuary : much to the chagrin of Russian prosecutors.
Litvinenko was charged with abuse of office,and was jailed for 9 months in 1999, awaiting trial-but was acquitted-and promptly fled with his family to England, where he was given sanctuary,and eventually received citizenship.
What Litvinenko was doing for a living in England has not been mentioned . He did write a book,claiming the Russians had bombed their own citizens and had laid the blame on the Chechens. It seems unlikely he earned much from this enterprise , but seems to have lived rather well in a nation that is notoriously "high rent".
Now, let's look at the circumstances.
Litvinenko met a friend at a sushi bar on the probable date he was poisoned.The meeting was arranged by e-mail : making a bit unlikely the dreaded minions of Vlad Putin could have known about it in advance. Litvinenko ate sushi during the meeting. His friend settled for a glass of water.
British media reports (and the NY Times-which is, as we know,never wrong) indicate police have found traces of Polonium - the poison allegedly used - at the sushi bar , at a hotel used by the victim, and ...in the victim's own home !
Now we all know (from James Bond movies) those Russian agents are deucedly clever - but this seems to go quite a bit beyond clever . It strains the limits of credibility, in my honest opinion, to suggest that someone-other than the victim-was able to transport this material to all three locations.
Much has been made in the media of the poison used : understandably so, since Polonium is a radioactive element . It is also a "heavy metal" poison - much like its inert neighbor on the Periodic Chart of Elements - Lead ; and may be treated in much the same way Lead poisoning is treated: via administration of chelating agents, which cause the metal to be excreted in the urine and/or solid wastes of the body. The key , of course, is prompt diagnosis and treatment.
If Litvinenko had taken this improbable poison in an attempt to draw attention and sympathy to his cause ,and to pump up interest in his "investigation" into the murder of Russian journalist Anna Polrikovskaya , his survival would have depended on telling the doctors exactly what was in his system : assuming he knew what it was.
I'm going to hypothesize here, and suggest someone he trusted -someone connected with the Oligarchs (or with their connections !) -may have furnished Litvinenko with a little bottle of nasty stuff: suggesting he take it in order to have a much-publicized, very serious illness, that would bring massive discredit upon the Putin government (reminiscent of Viktor Yushenko's Dioxin poisoning during the Ukraine's now-faltering "Orange Revolution"). I'm going to make another "wild guess" and suggest the "helpful" poison supplier didn't bother to tell his "good friend" what was in the stuff - because Litvinenko was, in the final analysis quite...expendable.
Why such a devious,cold-hearted scheme ?
It doesn't get much play in the Western Media, but Russia has become a "golden goose" again.Between sensible exploitation of her natural resources,and her policy of selling heavy-duty arms to anyone with two ruble to rub together, Russia has been able to pay off much of her foreign debt,and has excellent cash flow. She is, in a word, ripe for plucking.
If you think the Oligarchs and the assorted FOGS ( "Friends of George Soros") have given up on the idea of tumbling Russia in the dust again, I have some nice submerged real estate you might want to invest in ! There's more than enough gold in "them-thar hills" to warrant a few strategically timed murders - or the occasional "death by misadventure" !
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