Over at Kirill Pankratov’s LJ, Kirill asks the good question, ‘Why Polonium?’
It is after all a very poor and very unusual choice as a poison. Its prime purpose is to trigger bombs. So he offers the three most widely touted rationales and asks his readers which they support.
1. The Big Red Arrow
Polonium was deliberately chosen [...]

Well fancy that. Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service would charge Lugovoi with the murder of Litvinenko. But since they can’t, they won’t.
There will be no extradition, no trial. The trial by media will stand. And black propaganda and dirty tricks wins the day.
As with Dr Kelly, there was no coroner’s report on Litvinenko. That’s so exceptional, [...]

The cover up continues. But at least we know it wasn’t food poisoning.

We haven’t heard much from Litvinenko’s partner-in-crime, Mario Scaramella lately. That’s because they locked him up and threw away the key.
Mario is enjoying a little break from prison at the moment, but only under guard in the local hospital. Here he is said to be suffering from tachycardia, collapses, high blood pressure, blackouts, thyroid [...]

. Now Playing. Rosie Gaines.

It’s been 7 hours and 13 days since Boris took his love away - plus the time it’s taken me to finish reading all the obituaries.
It isn’t done to speak ill of the dead, though very many have made an exception in Boris’ case. What’s missing amongst the list of [...]

By now, you’ve all read the latest crackpot teapot story. So without further ado, I’ve written to one of the hacks who recycled this crap - Justin Penrose, ‘crime reporter’ of the UK ‘Sunday Mirror’.
Dear Justin Penrose,
I have just read your story about the alleged ‘Killer Teapot’.
I put it to you that this story [...]

So, BBC’s Panorama has cracked the Litvinenko case. As the opening titles quickly tell: it was Putin, in the Pine Bar, with the teacup.
Moreover, Panorama ‘reveals’ there were multiple attempts to kill Litvinenko. Hmmm. Did they keep making him cups of tea he didn’t drink? What happened to all the other ‘dirty’ teacups? Why do [...]

This earlier entry got lost during the server switch. However, it was picked up by nfb who translated it into Russian, after which she described her mood as ‘giggly’. It’s nice to know the joke wasn’t lost on Russians.
Александр “Садда” Хусейненко, яростный критик Тони Блэйра, был убит на Новый Год - действие, которое выглядит как [...]

Early last December, at the height of anti-Kremlin hysteria, the Observer turns up with a real story on Litvinenko.
Instead of the passionate human rights worker of press release pathos, Litvinenko is suddenly revealed as an eccentric, a man given to wild claims and to strange fantasies of being a Chechen warrior.
It also reveals his [...]

What a great double act!
Litvinenko and Scaramella were a match made in heaven. Mario, the consummate conman, meets Sasha, dirt-peddler de-luxe.
If only they had known, as they sat down for lunch at a London sushi nosherie, that their meeting would launch the biggest propaganda hit on Russia since the 1980 boycott of the Moscow [...]