Tinker, Traitor, Slander, Sigh
Who needs facts or evidence when you have a libellous rag like the UK Independent?
‘Putin Murdered My Son’ it screams, with another screed of speculative slander - this time from Litvinenko’s father, Valter.
Of course one should have sympathy for Valter. I suppose it can’t be much fun being the father of a traitor who made money out of muckraking and fronting for mercenaries.
On the other hand, Valter - a former gulag screw - will be more than happy to retire with Godfather Berezovsky’s PR cheque for the fresh dirt on Putin.
It turns out that Valter didn’t really know what his son did in the KGB. But it wouldn’t have been anything naughty, oh no, he wasn’t the kind of boy, says Dad. You certainly can’t accuse Independent journalists of being investigative.
Litvinenko’s wife admitted she didn’t know what Alexander did for a living either. And neither did the Sushi bar girls, where Litvinenko hung out in Armani suits with wads of cash.
Well, isn’t that odd. Valter claims to know exactly how Putin operates, and how he murders people, but not what his son did all day.
So, with no real information, the Independent treats us to Mr. Litvinenko senior’s advice for Bush and Blair. He says, “Bush and Blair have trusted Putin too much. They shouldn’t have trusted him.” Really? I don’t quite see how building NATO bases surrounding Russia is consistent with trust, but it’s nice to know the traitor’s father is also on the side of NATO. Let’s hope Bush and Blair get a copy of the Independent, since Valter may shortly need asylum. Actually, with his gulag experience, maybe Valter can find a job in one of those nice CIA torture camps in Bulgaria.
It appears the time has come in the UK to ignore any last principles of journalism, libel laws or even the principles and process of justice.
Why do we need a murder trial at all? We can all phone-in or text-in to the Independent and Telegraph with a vote for Brtain’s most-hated foreigner. Then string him up. Putin could win the UK Hate-Idol contest. How is it that the world’s most xenophobic country doesn’t have such a scheme already? Oh, of course, I’m forgetting, Britain does. Saddam won it last time. WMDs, FSBs, what’s the difference. Feed the British public rancid disinformation and let racism take its course.
Is there any comment on this ?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/16/russia.spy.reut/index.html
Under British law, the Independent’s article probably wouldn’t be considered as libellous.
http://www.yawningbread.org/apdx_2006/imp-290.htm
Valter Litvinenko’s comments could potentially be considered as slanderous. However, in a British court, the burden of proof would be on the plaintiff (ie. Putin) to prove that he did not order the killing of Alexander Litvinenko.
And, somehow, I can’t imagine Putin wanting to tell his side of the story at the Old Bailey.
[...] Copydude [...]
Andy: Thanks for the link. Interesting. The defence of ‘in the public interest’ is however a highly subjective area.
Gene:
Don’t know what to say about this. What is odd is that Shvets came forward very early in the affair but the story has only come out now. The BBC interviews are managed by Berezovsky/Bell PR so there’ll be half-truths at best.
I’ll limit comment to just this incredibly misleading bit of yours: ” Valter [Litvinenko] - a former gulag screw.”
How is it you take the following from the Independent article:
Mr Litvinenko, 68, had his own clash with authority in 1979, when he was working with mentally disturbed prisoners in Sakhalin island, in Russia’s far east, with the rank of captain [and medical doctor] in the USSR’s Ministry of Interior troops. He said he resigned his commission after an official investigation failed to back his complaints about the treatment of detainees.
and twist it to malign Valter Litvinenko as a “former gulag screw”? By using the word “screw” in the manner you do, isn’t it logical for readers to assume you mean he tortured prisoners under his care as a doctor? If I’m off base here, would you please explain exactly what it is that you do mean?
As you say, “Who needs facts or evidence when you have a libellous rag,” — so do you have any “facts or evidence” about Valter Litvinenko?
And if not, why are you attacking and slandering the man? Very strange, indeed.
Hi Mariposa.
‘Screw’ is English prison slang for any prison official of any function. Sorry, that was probably misleading for Americans. It doesn’t necessarily mean thumbscrews. (Though ‘psychiatrist’ definitely sounds like a euphemism to me. Rather like ‘mercenaries’ in Iraq are called ’security contractors’. )
That Valter worked in the gulags is documented here
Mariposa - as Copydude says, ’screw’ is in relatively common usage in England, as slang for any prison warder. It’s normally used by prisoners to refer to their guards, so isn’t a particularly positive characterisation, but doesn’t have any particular links to modern day torture (although, having said that, I wonder if the word has its historical roots in ‘thumbscrew’ - as in ‘turning the thumbscrews’).
Copydude - I’d imagine that the ‘in the public interest’ argument could be quite easily made. The facts of the case are very much in dispute, and theories are flying around all over the case. It would be seen as in the interest of enhancing discourse, I suppose.
Hi to you, too, copydude.
“The facts of the case are very much in dispute, and theories are flying around all over the case.”
Andy, that is about the only thing that’s clear in all of this so far from the conflicting news reports.
Thank you both for explaining that. I had never heard that term before.
copydude, what word do you believe “psychiatrist” would be a euphemism for, anyway?
Mariposa - I can only say that Valter’s job in a gulag could not have been that of a loving padre. Health and social workers are pretty thin on the ground in Russia generally and forget about psychiatry in prisons. All you’ll find there is anal rape, suicide and HIV. Gorbachev’s daughter, Julia, used to campaign about HIV issues in Russian prisons. I met her once during a cigarette break, without knowing who she was, at an art exhibition. Take it from me, you don’t want to know what happens in Russian prisons.
Odd reply, as it didn’t answer the question, but you’re right about me not wanting to turn this to a discussion of Russian or Soviet prisons, or prisons in general.
Why is it so hard to believe that Putin was involved? He is a thug.
Hi Chornyvolk.
That is a good question and one the media would do well to consider.
It may well be that Putin is a power-crazed thug. I haven’t met him so I wouldn’t know. But he is certainly intelligent - Phd - a statesman and also a nationalist. He has rescued Russia from the toilet - think crash of 1998 to paying off the Paris Club debt ahead of time in August this year. No one is going to risk that - or WTO membership and EU negotiations - on rubbing out a dirt-peddling squit of a nobody like Litvinenko. Litvinenko was already in purgatory, a lonely exile doomed to do Berezovsky’s bidding for a few crumbs and the odd sushi from the rich man’s table.
The less said about Putin’s PhD, the better: he did not write his thesis and indeed may never have read it.
What a cruel irony, though, that the rector of the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute, where Putin defended his PhD, is named Vladimir Litvinenko.
I see the debate on Pres. Putin continues.
For anyone interested, I ran a trial scenario past someone who has worked with Polonium in the past, and is quite familiar with it.
I wondered if it could have been used to contaminate money-eg: an extortion payment.
My “consultant” says the fact the money would have glowed bright blue in daylight would probably have given the ploy away .
Common sense says this was a smuggling gig that went sour-possibly when one of the players decided to “short-weight” the buyers by removing and stashing a small amount of the potent powder.
[the rector of the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute, is named Vladimir Litvinenko]
A-ha! He poisoned wrong guy!
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