Set in London, it has all the elements of an old Cold War thriller — but it just happened, and it’s no fiction. Former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko is poisoned to death, dying horribly over the course of three weeks, after someone apparently slipped him a lethal dose of a radioactive isotope, Polonium-210. If anyone is well-placed to guess who master-minded his murder, it is the dying Litvinenko himself, who for the previous eight years has been one of the most outspoken critics of his former bosses in the FSB, formerly the KGB. From his hospital bed, we are told, he dictates a statement blaming Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, himself a veteran of the KGB, and telling him: “May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me, but to beloved Russia and its people.” And as the Kremlin denials begin and the conspiracy theories multiply — here you can find the Times of London summarizing the top five – the question of the hour is, whodunnit?
The even bigger question is whether the democratic world, especially the U.S., will heed the warnings that Litvinenko spent eight years trying to send us — in the process spending time in 1999 in Russia’s Lefortovo prison, and then fleeing into exile. With his death, his 2002 book, “Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within,” co-authored with Yuri Felshtinsky, has jumped to #118 in sales on Amazon — (I’m betting it was no where near that a month ago). The mystery and horror surrounding his death will no doubt linger in the headlines. But will the message stick?
Engrossed as we are in the current mess of a debate over the war against Islamo-fascists, it’s all too tempting to dismiss the signs that despite a number of common enemies, our erstwhile allies now running Russia are not exactly on our side. Russia’s government enjoys a lot of trust and fancy trappings, including membership bestowed during the Clinton era in the G-8 (in which this year it holds the presidency); and the USSR’s old veto-wielding permanent seat on the UN Security Council (which the Soviet Union didn’t deserve either). Less than a week ago, President Bush (in Hanoi, of all places) gave a U.S. green light to Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
Meanwhile, Russia has been busy trading in all the wrong ways. On top of years spent selling nuclear technology to Iran, Russia’s defense ministry has just announced it is going ahead with deliveries to Tehran of anti-aircraft missiles. At the UN, Russia continues to block any serious attempt to stop Iran’s nuclear bomb program. In Iraq, during the Saddam Hussein era, Russia was the top trader with Baghdad via the graft-ridden Oil-for-Food program, leaving a trail of damning documentary evidence leading right up to the Kremlin — which Russian authorities have somehow neglected to investigate in any meangful way. With free speech basically dead in Russia, small surprise that on many fronts there is no end to the question marks and conspiracy theories. Who was behind the near-fatal poisoning in 2004 of the leader of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Viktor Yushchenko? Who was behind the recent murder of outspoken Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya? — whose shooting Litvinenko was investigating when he was poisoned. The murk is considerable, but one bottom-line is obvious. With an ally like Putin, don’t gaze into his eyes. Watch your back. And bring a food-taster.
Putin strikes me as another coming of Josef Stalin. In this information age, he may not be able to get away with the killing on such a grand scale as Stalin did, but they both seem to be cut from the same cloth.
Stalin deliberately killed innocents to instill debilitating fear into the populace. On Putin’s watch, several innocents were killed when the security forces raided the Moscow theater to “save” patrons from the Chechen terrorists (though that may have been “passive” indifference – if you will). In Beslan, the details surrounding the school/hostage crisis not only seem “curious” but downright are pointing to govt complicity in a set up.
The list of horrific acts pointing to the state are too long to list here. However, Putin seems to be very bad news to me and we may soon have to start regarding him as an outright enemy and scrap the parameters of our current reltionship with him.
Make a list of those nations that are not truly our friends and there are very few that truly are, and yet we have perforce dealings with them for various reasons, including, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Russia, etc
Of those nations that are our friends, what you find is that we do their militaryh protection, mostly, via our bases or forces, as in England, France, japan, S. Korea and on and on (some 750 bases!).
I keep going back to 1992 with the election of bill clinton, the “end of the cold war” and the 8 years of neglect that followed. we elected an amateur at a time when we needed a pro. at that time “the new world order” was portrayed as a semi-fascist structure that a 2nd term bush would impose on the world. what we’d give for such an order today… 8 years down the tube. and we are living with the results of clinton’s priorities and lack of discipline (combined with the results of the pathetic jimmy carter (Iran / western guilt) and albert gore (weakening of legitamacy / blame Bush & US mentality..) today. incredibly, the spectre of a clinton return to power still exists. God help our western way of life, liberty and freedom.
The leader of the Orange Revolution is poisoned by dioxin, the active ingredient in Agent Orange. Litvinenko, with a Ukrainian/Polish (?) surname, is destroyed by the element, polonium, discovered by the Pole Marie Curie and named for her homeland. These abundant, and utterly toxic ironies make the message (and warning) garishly unmistakable and entirely characteristic of the cold-eyed Chekists who have called the Russian tune since 1917. What’s next? Methylated Khvanchkara? Rose attar bombs in Tblisi? Their creativity knows no bounds. Or national boundaries.
We should remember that Putin does not operate in a vacuum, nor does he wield sole authority in Russia, and while he is powerful, his enablers have nearly equal authority. The man will retire soon, and his replacement will exercise even more power.
The United States operates from a very different platform, and considering today’s political climate, our system is ill-equipped to deal with terrorism as effectively as Russia does. Their opposition risks personal death with the slightest objection. Our opposition risks civilization.
Indeed, the delicate balance between opposition and efficacy in this country is at once lifeline and tripwire. Lifeline upon which future freedom depends, tripwire with which to Claymore liberal democracy into oblivion.
The United States, curiously, can only count on other English speaking countries and a few lately liberated other countries with vibrant and vital Christian populations as soul sisters in conflict. The rest are merely remoras that grudgingly attach themselves for a short and convenient period to gain points for future trade-offs.
The world’s organizational status is in upheaval after a brief respite. Things have changed. One might remember the elecrtic light bulb and its eventual impact on darkness. WTC was a major move in the opposite direction.
This war was never an option like some two-bit prize fight on a Thursday night. It is a more serious business than World War II.
Our job, as the thinkers and ponderers of this new age, is to forego linear thinking, to engulf this era with supreme lateral examination so that we may place Putin, et al, in proper perspective and against a backdrop of three dimensional history.
History right now is not a snapshot of one individual, nor is it a group shot of a graduating class. It is cinema 360, going on all around us, and we should hold tight the truth that we are not on the screen, we are on the focal point smack in the center.
Odd, though. This may be as alive as we ever get to be.
fred,
Exactly what bases does the US have in France? How many forces are stationed there?
Bases, forces, a garage full of MRE’s… all the same to you, right? you make it sound like it’s a bad thing.
It’s almost as bad as if your friend from way grade school was now a gazillionare, and just wanted to store his extra HDTV home theatre equipment in your basement. Or your living room. He don’t care. He’ll even thow in some surround sound speakers, show you on how to use it, (and in some cases, how to build it,) and pay you rent for it being there.
On second look, I seem to recall that both Australia and Canada are quite staunch US allies, and some mighty big countries. Can you remind me of the names and locations of all the US bases there? Or where the US stereo equipment is located?
Fred:
You can leave England out of your “We do their military protection list”. The US was in England because they needed the basing rights to support the Cold War. The UK was always a willing partner in the fight.
“… which the Soviet Union didn’t deserve either.”
Excuse me? Says who? The Red Army defeated the axis at a greater sacrifice than all the Western nations combined.
On what argument could they deny that great victorious power a permanent UN-SC seat (as of 1945)?
I am amazed the pet thug of a loser oligarch with a history of murder and arms dealing is getting such a free ride as an “outspoken critic” of Putin from westerners. Everyone here in Russia just scratches their head and thinks ‘why would Putin waste time on this clown?’
Not that anyone thinks he isn’t capable of killing people, just for Russia Litvinenko was such a nobody.
Sandrina==
What basis? Being an unapologetic and murderous tyranny and a reliable foe of individual freedom is enough basis for me.
By what right does Russia hold the USSR security council seat?
Whoa, wait a minute.
Pres. GW Bush looked into Putin’s soul, and saw that he was a Good Man. Do you not trust his powers of character discernment ?
You disparage my little king by printing these slanders against the valiant Putin.
– stan
tongue erupting thru cheek
Someone (one of the French post-Marxist philosophers?) said that “communism was nothing but a criminal gang with an ideology. When the ideology died, all that was left was the criminal gang.” There you have Putin in a nutshell.