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Wednesday, December 6, 2006 |
RollingStone: "If one assumes that that Polonium-210 was taken and used without the full knowledge of the Russian government - and it's not much of a stretch to make that assumption - then that definitely makes the Litvinenko killing a private act of terrorism, one that requires an urgent international investigation.
And just two years ago, in February 2005, Berezovsky gave an interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda in which he claimed somehow to have knowledge that 'the Chechens have their own kind of atom bomb' and hinted that what he meant was a kind of dirty bomb. Berezovsky claimed in the interview that when he heard about the existence of this bomb through his own circle of acquaintances, he informed the FSB director of what he knew.
But subsequently, a mysterious Chechen figure named 'Zakhar' wrote to Komsomolskaya Pravda and claimed that Berezovsky had lied in the interview, that it was Berezovsky himself who had this dirty bomb, and that, far from informing the FSB of its existence, he had tried to sell it to the Chechens."
Of course, the Rolling Stone journalist may be stoned as a prawn, and the conspiracy theories and Cold War language are totally rubbish, but the same elements appear again, i.e. the trafficking of nuclear material by ex-KGB spies.
The theory that there is a network of rogue elements, expulsed from Russia, who have set up a lucrative traffic in radioactive material makes sense.
TorontoDailyNews: "Andrei Lugovoy, a former FSB agent and a friend of Alexander Litvinenko, says he and his wife and children have been contaminated by polonium-210, and says he is being framed for the killing.
Lugovoy was among three Russians who last met Litvinenko at London's Millennium Hotel on November 1, the day the former Russian intelligence officer fell ill. In his interviews, Lugovoy said that the nature of the meeting was purely business-related."
What kind of business? Nuclear material?
There is reporting out which adds more doubt to the assassination theory as it has been leaked from the Litvinenko autopsy that the dosage he took would have cost well over $30 million dollars. This again points to trafficking in nuclear material. The traffickers contaminated themselves. No government (unless it were the US, of course, intent on initiating a new Cold War) would spend that kind of money for a kill job.
And there is more to make us very suspicious about Litvinenko.
RFERL: "Litvinenko's father, Valter, told RFE/RL's Russian Service his son converted to Islam shortly before his death and wished to be buried according to Muslim tradition.
He told me about his decision two days before he died. He said, 'Papa, I have to talk to you about something serious. I've become a Muslim,' Walter Litvinenko said."
This looks like a man who is trying to give a twist to his personal and business life, make it acceptable in a certain way, or simply providing a diversion from his illegal activities.
DailyExpress: "Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if he had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups.
Their biggest fear is that the former Soviet spy, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital, may have been helping Al Qaeda terrorists or other extremist groups get hold of radioactive material to be used in a devastating 'dirty' atom bomb.
The news comes on top of a claim by Litvinenko's friend Mario Scaramella that the former spy helped smuggle radioactive material from Russia to Switzerland in 2000.
Litvinenko's sympathies with Chechen rebels, seeking to break away from Moscow and create an independent Muslim state, are well known."
Litvinenko was a trafficker in nuclear material, maybe also a terrorist. He fell victim to his own game.
Instead of blaming the Russians, the West should cooperate with Russia to eradicate the illegal trafficking that is done by the worst rogue elements who were expulsed from Russia and were given credibility by the Western secret services because of their anti-Putin stance. A return to Cold War ideology will damage our own security. MI5 and MI6 have a lot to explain. Why did they let this happen?
12:20:47 PM 
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Journalismus: "In 1984, Robert Gates, then the No. 2 CIA official, advocated U.S. airstrikes against Nicaragua's pro-Cuban government to reverse what he described as an ineffective U.S. strategy to deal with communist advances in Central America, previously classified documents say."
Will the Democrats be able to reverse the tide? I doubt it. Gates is just another right-wing extremist.
WashingtonPost: "The Pentagon is invoking emergency authority to expedite funding of a war-crimes-court compound at its Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England has informed Congress."
CommonDreams: "As the new Democratic Party majority in the U.S. Congress considers whether to revisit the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), the administration of President George W. Bush is proposing still more restrictions on detainees in U.S. custody.
The government has proposed limiting contact between defence lawyers and detainees at Guantanamo Bay because it says detainees' communications, such as news of world events, could incite the prisoners to violence."
CommonDreams: "A federal advisory panel on Monday rejected a recommendation that states use only voting machines that produced results that could be independently verified.
The panel drafting voting guidelines for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission voted 6-6 not to adopt a proposal that would have required electronic machines used by millions of voters to produce a paper record or other independent means of checking election results. Eight votes were needed to pass it."
USAToday: "The Bush administration repeatedly sought ways to limit payouts to nuclear weapons workers sickened by radiation and toxic material, according to a memo written by congressional investigators and obtained by USA TODAY."
11:36:20 AM
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Payvand: "Iran has decided to replace dollar with euro in its foreign trade given the continual impediments and hostile policies directed by U.S. toward the country, Iranian finance minister said on Monday."
11:25:31 AM
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