Alexander Litvinenko

[Sid Walker]

US expert on Russian intelligence shot in Washington

AFP 3/3/07

US authorities were Saturday investigating the shooting of a US expert on Russian intelligence who was shot outside his house in a Washington suburb, an FBI spokeswoman said.

Paul Joyal, 53, was hit several times as he returned home on Thursday evening, FBI spokeswoman Michelle Crnkovich told AFP.

The shooting came four days after Joyal alleged in a a major television network interview that the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved in the radiation poisoning of a former KGB agent in London.

US media reported that Joyal was in a critical condition, but Crnkovich said she could not confirm his state of health although he was still alive.

"The Prince George's County Police Department is doing the investigation and the Baltimore FBI is just available to assist them if they need us to," she said, adding the case was so far being treated as an ordinary crime.

Joyal told NBC's Dateline program that he had struck up a friendship with former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko during trips to London.

Litvinenko died in a London hospital on November 23 and was found to have high levels of the radioactive isotope polonium 210 in his body.

He and his associates have accused Russia of carrying out the poisoning because of his fierce opposition to Putin.

Joyal repeated the accusations in his interview saying: "A message has been communicated to anyone who wants to speak out against the Kremlin: 'If you do, no matter who you are, where you are, we will find you and we will silence you -- in the most horrible way possible.'"

A former police officer, Joyal set up a consultancy in the 1990s specializing in intelligence information for companies wishing to invest in the former Soviet republics. He is often interviewed by US media as an expert on the region.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_expert_on_...s_03032007.html

Interesting and sinister. My only question would be if Soviet agents did it, or asked their pals in US inteligence to do it as a favor for some favor in Russia for them....both countries are now run by / controlled by gangsters and nothing less than that.

Peter

The Soviet Union was disbanded circa 1990.

If you know of Soviet agents, operating anywhere, I'm sure it would be of interest to the curent Russina Goverment.

More seriously, you left out a third possibility, which seems to me rather more plausible.

That is the possibility that this latest murder is a set-up, directed against Putin and the Russian leadership, by forces in the west that are less than enthusiastic about his independent, pro-Russia, anti-plutocratic polices.

I see the 'soft' side of that set-up almost daily on satellite TV, with the usual suspects (Fox, CNN, BBC) gradually cranking up anti-Putin rherotic.

The 'hard' side may well consist of false flag atrocities, which are grist to the media mill (they give the pre-spun media chatterers something nasty to chatter about)..

Only a few days ago, the Russian Foreign Minister called on Israel to sign up to the Non Proliferation Treaty - something apparently too risque for any 'electable' western political leader at this time.

In fact, one has to go back to JFK to find a US President who had the topic of Israeli nukes firmly in his sights.

The well-publicised killings of Putin's critics seem rather too "pat" to me. They are murders of people who recently made very quotable quotes warning against Putin. In the western mass mediq, these quotes have been given great prominence, along with the story of their mysterious murder.

The obvious conclusion is that Putin's agents are killing dissidents. You throw in another possibility, that Putin somehow gets western agents to do his dirty work.

But one wonders what advantage Putin might gain from these murders - given the enormous publicity they are attracting in the west? The people murdered were relatively unknown to westerners before their death.

I'd be inclined to look below the surface for an explanation, rather than accept pre-packaged spin from western media sources that have a lousy repuation for honesty on assassinations, false flag operations and suchlike.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Sid Walker

[Myra Bronstein]

The dead Russian journalist du jour.

Let's see: shooting, poisoning, shooting, heart attack, fall from a high building....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nati...reporter05.html

Another Russian critical of government dies

MOSCOW — A military correspondent for Russia's top business daily has died after falling out of a window, and some media alleged today that he might have been killed for his critical reporting.

Ivan Safronov, the military affairs writer for Kommersant, died Friday after falling from a fifth-story window in the stairwell of his apartment building in Moscow, officials said. His body was found by neighbors shortly after the fall.

With prosecutors investigating the death, Kommersant and some other media suggested foul play.

"The suicide theory has become dominant in the investigation, but all those who knew Ivan Safronov categorically reject it," Kommersant said in an article today.

The Moscow city prosecutor's office did not respond to repeated calls for comment, and neighborhood prosecutors could not immediately be reached.

Safronov's colleagues and relatives have described him as a strong, cheerful person who would be extremely unlikely to kill himself.

Safronov, who had served as a colonel in the Russian Space Forces before joining Kommersant in 1997, frequently angered the authorities with his critical reporting. He was repeatedly questioned by the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor, which suspected him of divulging state secrets.

...

"For some reason, it is those journalists who are disliked by the authorities who die in this country[/b]," the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets said today. "Ivan Safronov was one of those. He knew a lot about the real situation in the army and the defense industries and he reported it."

Russia is among the most dangerous countries for journalists, plagued by attacks on reporters who seek to expose official corruption and other abuses. The problem was highlighted by the October killing of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative reporter and a harsh critic of human rights abuses in Chechnya.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in January that 13 Russian journalists have been murdered in contract-style killings since 2006, making Russia the third deadliest country for journalists after Iraq and Algeria over the past 15 years.

[Bob Goodman]

Another tidbit from Wayne Madsen.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

March 21, 2007 -- The Litvinenko radiation poisoning and a mysterious plane crash. Amid the hype over the radiation poisoning death of ex-Russian intelligence agent and Boris Berezovsky colleague Alexander Litvinenko last November, a little-reported story about a helicopter crash went largely unnoticed. In what may have been an indication of who and what was behind the Litvinenko poisoning and the attempts by Italian right-wing politicians to discredit both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the activities of a mysterious firm tied to Berezovsky and his former Yukos Oil business partner, Tel Aviv-based Leonid Nevzlin, are under renewed scrutiny.

On January 2, 2007, WMR reported: "In another full circle between Tel Aviv and Italy, Menatep's [Group Menatep -- the Gibraltar-based firm behind Yukos since renamed GML] former chief for investment management Alexei Globuvich said, after his arrest last Spring in Italy, that Nevzlin may have tried to poison him and his family after mercury was found in his office, home, and car. Globuvich said he was a threat because he knew where Yukos and Menatep assets were located. Shortly thereafter, a Scotland Yard officer handed over to the British security firm ISC Global plans by the British government to extradite a number of Russian-Israeli exiles in Britain to Russia. ISC Global had been part of Menatep and Nevzlin was one of its chief customers. The London offices of ISC Global, now known as RISC Management, were visited in November 2006 by Litvinenko and Russian businessmen Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun and traces of polonium-210 were discovered there. According to the Sunday Times of London, Russian police are also investigating whether the poisoning of Litvinenko and the attempted poisoning of Globuvich are connected to the radiation poisoning death two years ago of Roman Tsepov, a former bodyguard of Putin when he was deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg. Tsepov was involved in the Russian government's tracking of Yukos assets. Also of interest are connections to the June 2004 assassination of Forbes Russian edition editor-in-chief Paul Klebnikov, a U.S. citizen who wrote a damaging expose of Berezovsky. Three Chechen contract killers were charged in Klebnikov's murder. The same Russian-Israeli mob ring is also being looked at in the investigation of the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya of Novaya Gazeta as a way to embarrass Putin."

Attention is being drawn to a May 14, 2006 article in the Times of London. In March 2004, British attorney Stephen Curtis, the chairman of ISC Global, died, along with his pilot, in a helicopter crash near Bournemouth Airport. The two were on their way to Dublin. The Times reported a James Bond-like secret project by ISC Global, jailed Yukos tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Nevzlin to launch an international smear campaign to discredit Putin and other members of the Russian government, including Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, other ministers, and officials of state-owned energy companies. Doctored "compromising" photographs were to be used in the smear campaign. Also targeted by the Russian gangsters was Russian tycoon and Chelsea football team owner Roman Abramovich, who had earned the wrath of Nevzlin, Berezovsky, and others because Putin allowed Abramovich to retain his billions in wealth and travel freely to and from Russia.

According to The Times, Curtis, who managed a £16 billion portfolio for Menatep, was under surveillance and had been threatened in the weeks before his death. He told a relative, "If anything happens in the next two weeks then it won't be an accident." After his death, Curtis' home was found to contain a small magnet used for a bugging device. It also was revealed at the Curtis death inquest that the British attorney had been in contact with British police "on many occasions" concerning the activities of his Russian clients.

ISC was to obtain a luxury yacht, the Constellation, that would become a headquarters for exiled Russian-Israeli oligarchs wanted by Moscow for fraud. The yacht would have its own armed SWAT team and crew to repel any attacks. The yacht would be outfitted with bullet proof glass and "white noise" generators to prevent eavesdropping. Prostitutes invited on board would be specially screened by a "trusted agency." Nevzlin authorized the anti-Putin project in a 12-page dossier marked "Secret." In the document, Putin is referred to as "X." British ex-SAS commandos were to be used as personal bodyguards to protect the exiled Russian tycoons from kidnapping and extradition by Russian agents. On January 11 this year, Yuri Golubev, 64, a Yukos cofounder, along with Khodorkovsky, and colleague of former Yukos deputy chairman Nevzlin, was found dead in his bed in London. Police ruled the cause of death as "natural causes." Our sources in Britain report that the scandals surrounding British Prime Minister Tony Blair and key members of his government are part and parcel of the fact that Britain's government has been co-opted by the Russian-Israeli mobsters, much in the same way that their American colleagues, acting through neo-con proxies, have captured control of the Bush administration. The British honors-for-cash scandal, British defense contractor malfeasance, and phony intelligence about Iraqi WMDs laundered through the British government, are all results of the mobsters' control of Blair and his advisers.

[Peter McKenna]

It has been reported in the British media that Scotland Yard detectives have identified the two men who murdered Alexander Litvinenko: Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun. Both men are former KGB officers. However, Putin has refused to extradite the men and so no charges will be brought. It seems that the Russian government has not really changed since the fall of communism in 1989. However, Putin will escape criticism from Blair and Bush because he believes in the "war on terrorism" (in reality, the death of Litvinenko is linked to this so called war). It is back to the days of the Cold War. You could be the most evil dictator in the world, but as long as you were "anti-communist" you were not criticised and allowed to continue in power. In fact, we now know that the CIA was sent to help you remain in power and to carry out your assassinations of internal critics.

In the April 6, 2007 edition of The New Republic, an article entitled “Rabble Rousers”, about Russian Oligarchs living in London, Boris Berezovsky is interviewed.

Berezovsky is convinced that the Kremlin is behind the poisoning deaths of the Russian expatriates.

The article goes on to say that “Berezovsky isn’t the only one who subscribes to that theory;”

“Putin has created a state so intolerant of opposition that it is possible to imagine that a dissident was murdered by his government in the heart of London with a radioactive isotope. He has presided over the greatest rollback of human rights since the communist era. His government has sanctioned the arrest, torture, and murder of countless Chechens, while leveling their Capitol virtually to the ground; it has rolled over the press and failed to convict anyone of the murder of at least 13 journalists since Putin came to power in 2000. He has installed KGB veterans at nearly every significant level of government and allowed the security service to become a massive corporate empire.”

[Sid Walker]

It has been reported in the British media that Scotland Yard detectives have identified the two men who murdered Alexander Litvinenko: Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun. Both men are former KGB officers. However, Putin has refused to extradite the men and so no charges will be brought. It seems that the Russian government has not really changed since the fall of communism in 1989. However, Putin will escape criticism from Blair and Bush because he believes in the "war on terrorism" (in reality, the death of Litvinenko is linked to this so called war). It is back to the days of the Cold War. You could be the most evil dictator in the world, but as long as you were "anti-communist" you were not criticised and allowed to continue in power. In fact, we now know that the CIA was sent to help you remain in power and to carry out your assassinations of internal critics.

In the April 6, 2007 edition of The New Republic, an article entitled “Rabble Rousers”, about Russian Oligarchs living in London, Boris Berezovsky is interviewed.

Berezovsky is convinced that the Kremlin is behind the poisoning deaths of the Russian expatriates.

The article goes on to say that “Berezovsky isn’t the only one who subscribes to that theory;”

“Putin has created a state so intolerant of opposition that it is possible to imagine that a dissident was murdered by his government in the heart of London with a radioactive isotope. He has presided over the greatest rollback of human rights since the communist era. His government has sanctioned the arrest, torture, and murder of countless Chechens, while leveling their Capitol virtually to the ground; it has rolled over the press and failed to convict anyone of the murder of at least 13 journalists since Putin came to power in 2000. He has installed KGB veterans at nearly every significant level of government and allowed the security service to become a massive corporate empire.”

Hi again Peter,

You apparently find both New Republic and Boris Berezovsky credible sources of information.

I'll leave the New Republic to stew in its reactionary juice for a moment.

My interest here is Mr Berezovsky.

Just what is it about Boris Berezovsky's evolving tales that Peter McKenna finds believeable?

Here is one of Berezovsky's earlier claims:

Berezovsky Claims Chechen Rebels Have A-bomb,

Do you believe that, Peter?

How about Berezovsky's claim that Putin was behind the Moscow appartment bombings in 1999?

On that topic, Pravda, made the following observation:

Boris Berezovsky was staying in Russia during a wild outburst of terrorist attacks in the country, when extremists exploded several apartment buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, killing hundreds. The oligarch left Russia several months later and never returned to the country afterwards. Two years later, though, the oligarch in disgrace personally participated in the work on a book and a documentary, in which Russia's Federal Security Bureau (FSB) was accused of organizing the explosions in Russia. Both Russian and Western readers and viewers did not believe those stories, although Berezovsky and his accomplices managed to launch a campaign to undermine the authority of their prime enemy – the Russian government.

The oligarch's name has become a direct association of all kinds of political provocations since that time. There is no direct evidence to prove Berezovsky's implication in the organization of the above-mentioned explosions, although one has to acknowledge that it was Boris Berezovsky, who needed the war in Chechnya most. There are certain witnesses who say that Berezovsky was doing his best to maintain highly unfriendly relations between Chechnya and Russia in spite of the fact that he utterly hated the two sides of the conflict.

Now Berezovsky - and possibly Peter McKenna - may argue these articles are yet more proof of their allegation that Putin's Russia has become an autocratic State with a totally controlled meda regurgitating pro-Putin spin 24x7.

Nevertheless, the question remains. Was Boris Berezovsky correct about that too? Was Putin's hand really behind the Moscow appartment bombings?

I'd like to hear your take on this, Peter. You clearly have a first class, analytical and independent mind when it comes to terrorism and tower-blocks - and the wisdom to distinguish between honest men and charlatans in the murky world of post-Soviet Russian politics.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Sid Walker

[Peter McKenna]

It has been reported in the British media that Scotland Yard detectives have identified the two men who murdered Alexander Litvinenko: Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun. Both men are former KGB officers. However, Putin has refused to extradite the men and so no charges will be brought. It seems that the Russian government has not really changed since the fall of communism in 1989. However, Putin will escape criticism from Blair and Bush because he believes in the "war on terrorism" (in reality, the death of Litvinenko is linked to this so called war). It is back to the days of the Cold War. You could be the most evil dictator in the world, but as long as you were "anti-communist" you were not criticised and allowed to continue in power. In fact, we now know that the CIA was sent to help you remain in power and to carry out your assassinations of internal critics.

In the April 6, 2007 edition of The New Republic, an article entitled “Rabble Rousers”, about Russian Oligarchs living in London, Boris Berezovsky is interviewed.

Berezovsky is convinced that the Kremlin is behind the poisoning deaths of the Russian expatriates.

The article goes on to say that “Berezovsky isn’t the only one who subscribes to that theory;”

“Putin has created a state so intolerant of opposition that it is possible to imagine that a dissident was murdered by his government in the heart of London with a radioactive isotope. He has presided over the greatest rollback of human rights since the communist era. His government has sanctioned the arrest, torture, and murder of countless Chechens, while leveling their Capitol virtually to the ground; it has rolled over the press and failed to convict anyone of the murder of at least 13 journalists since Putin came to power in 2000. He has installed KGB veterans at nearly every significant level of government and allowed the security service to become a massive corporate empire.”

Hi again Peter,

You apparently find both New Republic and Boris Berezovsky credible sources of information.

I'll leave the New Republic to stew in its reactionary juice for a moment.

My interest here is Mr Berezovsky.

Just what is it about Boris Berezovsky's evolving tales that Peter McKenna finds believeable?

Here is one of Berezovsky's earlier claims:

Berezovsky Claims Chechen Rebels Have A-bomb,

Do you believe that, Peter?

How about Berezovsky's claim that Putin was behind the Moscow appartment bombings in 1999?

On that topic, Pravda, made the following observation:

Boris Berezovsky was staying in Russia during a wild outburst of terrorist attacks in the country, when extremists exploded several apartment buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, killing hundreds. The oligarch left Russia several months later and never returned to the country afterwards. Two years later, though, the oligarch in disgrace personally participated in the work on a book and a documentary, in which Russia's Federal Security Bureau (FSB) was accused of organizing the explosions in Russia. Both Russian and Western readers and viewers did not believe those stories, although Berezovsky and his accomplices managed to launch a campaign to undermine the authority of their prime enemy – the Russian government.

The oligarch's name has become a direct association of all kinds of political provocations since that time. There is no direct evidence to prove Berezovsky's implication in the organization of the above-mentioned explosions, although one has to acknowledge that it was Boris Berezovsky, who needed the war in Chechnya most. There are certain witnesses who say that Berezovsky was doing his best to maintain highly unfriendly relations between Chechnya and Russia in spite of the fact that he utterly hated the two sides of the conflict.

Now Berezovsky - and possibly Peter McKenna - may argue these articles are yet more proof of their allegation that Putin's Russia has become an autocratic State with a totally controlled meda regurgitating pro-Putin spin 24x7.

Nevertheless, the question remains. Was Boris Berezovsky correct about that too? Was Putin's hand really behind the Moscow appartment bombings?

I'd like to hear your take on this, Peter. You clearly have a first class, analytical and independent mind when it comes to terrorism and tower-blocks - and the wisdom to distinguish between honest men and charlatans in the murky world of post-Soviet Russian politics.

First of all, the paragraph from the New Republic; “Putin has created a state so intolerant of opposition …” was not a quote of Beresovsky’s, but other critics of Putin, as per TNR article. So I was not quoting Beresovsky.

The agency behind the murder of the Russian journalists (Including Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist murdered after publishing articles critical of the Russian army’s atrocities in Chechnia), the poisoning of Putin’s critics, the apartment bombings, etc., have not, of course, either blatantly or surreptitiously confessed to being responsible. However, quite a number of Russian expatriates and Russian studies experts, including David Satter, a Senior Fellow, of the Hudson Institute, specializing in Russian studies, murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and Litvinenko himself, believe (or believed) that the Kremlin was responsible for atrocities against their own people:

http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction...ils&id=4344

I can understand skepticism of Beresovsky, and his ‘opinions’, he has plundered billions of Russian capitol. Also, it does not make sense that Litvinenko was assassinated and Beresovsky wasn’t (although Litvinenko had revealed a plot to assassinate Beresovsky). Regardless, the facts in that last paragraph have attained near universal acceptance.

I personally don’t necessarily subscribe to the theory that Putin was behind the poisonings, as this would damage his image internationally. I also don’t understand the West’s seeming reticence at protesting Russia’s behavior, especially as the poisoning of Litvinenko, a British citizen, occurred in England, and Marina Kovalenskaya, 48, and her daughter Yana, 25, both Americans, were apparently poisoned with radioactive Thallium during a visit to Russia.

As far as The New Republic, it is slightly biased for my tastes, but with the exception of the Stephen Glass articles, it is also considered to be unimpeachable. During Clinton’s presidency, it was the “official magazine of Air Force One”. But The New Republic doesn’t have near the prestige carried by such inimitable sources of objectively researched material offered by “Physics911” or Indymedia”.

Thank you, also, for your sarcastic compliments. Reading you insightful analysis of this topic confirms my faith in that touch of humanity that will temper the excesses of totalitarianism.

[Sid Walker]

CNN reports Berezovsky calls for coup

As Berezovsky seems be believe he is the 21st Century's answer to Lenin, it beats me why MI6 doesn't take a leaf out of Ludendorff's book and put the home-sick exile on a sealed train headed for the Motherland.

[Michael Hogan]

Britain, Russia square off in spy case

By Paul Reynolds

World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

A period of tense relations between Britain and Russia is expected following the UK request for the extradition of former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

However, the British government is determined that the criminal investigation should take priority over any diplomatic difficulties and is quite prepared for a delicate period ahead with Moscow as the extradition request takes its course.

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6679799.stm

[John Geraghty]

Michael,

You got there before me. Many of us suspected Lugovoi. I found it particularly convincing when I heard that he was formerly the bodyguard of former Russian PM Yegor Gaidar, who was poisoned in my University shortly after Litvinenko (see my article posted on a previous page). Lugovoi will still maintain that he was set up and the Russians will refuse to extradite him.

John

Edited May 22, 2007 by John Geraghty

[Michael Chapman]

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko is probably the first spook whodunnit that could have been solved by an ordinary Joe who just followed the discrepancies and omissions in the reporting. Not a single contributor on this thread could be bothered to do that

You may or not be relieved to know that I did. But I am not going to reveal just now who almost certainly did kill Litvinenko and why. I will only do this when every contributor on this threat has written out 500 times:

'I must always remember to follow the timelines.'

[John Geraghty]

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko is probably the first spook whodunnit that could have been solved by an ordinary Joe who just followed the discrepancies and omissions in the reporting. Not a single contributor on this thread could be bothered to do that

You may or not be relieved to know that I did. But I am not going to reveal just now who almost certainly did kill Litvinenko and why. I will only do this when every contributor on this threat has written out 500 times:

'I must always remember to follow the timelines.'

It is not a question of 'being bothered' Michael, but a distinct lack of time that hinders most on this forum. You are a journalist and so I presume you would have the time to follow up on this.

Would you care to educate us on the conclusions that you have reached?

Two books have recently been released on the Litvinenko case. Perhpas you would care to share your conclusions with Scotland yard?

John

Edited May 29, 2007 by John Geraghty

[Sid Walker]

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko is probably the first spook whodunnit that could have been solved by an ordinary Joe who just followed the discrepancies and omissions in the reporting. Not a single contributor on this thread could be bothered to do that

You may or not be relieved to know that I did. But I am not going to reveal just now who almost certainly did kill Litvinenko and why. I will only do this when every contributor on this threat has written out 500 times:

'I must always remember to follow the timelines.'

It is not a question of 'being bothered' Michael, but a distinct lack of time that hinders most on this forum. You are a journalist and so I presume you would have the time to follow up on this.

Would you care to educate us on the conclusions that you have reached?

Two books have recently been released on the Litvinenko case. Perhpas you would care to share your conclusions with Scotland yard?

John

I have to agree with John that there are only so many hours in the day.

However, Michael, I share his interest in the conclusions you have drawn.

Scotland Yard can speak for itself.

[Michael Chapman]

The murder of Alexander Litvinenko is probably the first spook whodunnit that could have been solved by an ordinary Joe who just followed the discrepancies and omissions in the reporting. Not a single contributor on this thread could be bothered to do that

You may or not be relieved to know that I did. But I am not going to reveal just now who almost certainly did kill Litvinenko and why. I will only do this when every contributor on this threat has written out 500 times:

'I must always remember to follow the timelines.'

It is not a question of 'being bothered' Michael, but a distinct lack of time that hinders most on this forum. You are a journalist and so I presume you would have the time to follow up on this.

Would you care to educate us on the conclusions that you have reached?

Two books have recently been released on the Litvinenko case. Perhpas you would care to share your conclusions with Scotland yard?

John

Don't rise to the bait John! I'm a semi professional agent provocateur! I'm also an inveterate attention seeker, showman and lay-about.

Your a good bunch on this board (even ol' 'Simmers' for all his nonsense which I'm about to set fire to on the Churchill thread), but Christ, you are weighed down with so much PC baggage! When it comes to unpicking conspiracies, folks, it helps if you first remove the ideological blinkers (he said mixing his metaphors).

It's only when the truth really hurts you that you know you've got it right!

[Sid Walker]

It is not a question of 'being bothered' Michael[/b], but a distinct lack of time that hinders most on this forum. You are a journalist and so I presume you would have the time to follow up on this.

Would you care to educate us on the conclusions that you have reached?

Two books have recently been released on the Litvinenko case. Perhpas you would care to share your conclusions with Scotland yard?

John

Don't rise to the bait John! I'm a semi professional agent provocateur! I'm also an inveterate attention seeker, showman and lay-about.

Your a good bunch on this board (even ol' 'Simmers' for all his nonsense which I'm about to set fire to on the Churchill thread), but Christ, you are weighed down with so much PC baggage! When it comes to unpicking conspiracies, folks, it helps if you first remove the ideological blinkers (he said mixing his metaphors).

It's only when the truth really hurts you that you know you've got it right!

Have you considered a career as a talking head on TV, Michael?

You seem to meet the selection criteria.

Edited May 30, 2007 by Sid Walker

[Michael Chapman]

It is not a question of 'being bothered' Michael[/b], but a distinct lack of time that hinders most on this forum. You are a journalist and so I presume you would have the time to follow up on this.

Would you care to educate us on the conclusions that you have reached?

Two books have recently been released on the Litvinenko case. Perhpas you would care to share your conclusions with Scotland yard?

John

Don't rise to the bait John! I'm a semi professional agent provocateur! I'm also an inveterate attention seeker, showman and lay-about.

Your a good bunch on this board (even ol' 'Simmers' for all his nonsense which I'm about to set fire to on the Churchill thread), but Christ, you are weighed down with so much PC baggage! When it comes to unpicking conspiracies, folks, it helps if you first remove the ideological blinkers (he said mixing his metaphors).

It's only when the truth really hurts you that you know you've got it right!

Have you considered a career as a talking head on TV, Michael?

You seem to meet the selection criteria.

I was THAT close to anchoring my own current affairs gig years back. But all my guests must have had grossly incompetent diary secretaries as they were always double booked.

A mystery I still can't fathom today...