I’ve been following with interest the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB agent who was recently poisoned using a radioactive heavy metal.
Among the most interesting is a recent Science Friday podcast on the topic, where they interviewed a professor of Environmental Toxicology and former research scientist for the Atomic Energy Agency in London, where he briefly lays out the type of work involved in obtaining polonium-210, and why it’s such a great tool for eliminating inconveniences.
Near the end you can hear him almost break protocol and reveal some personal conjecture, but then he goes back in character and sticks to the established facts. Even if the science doesn’t interest you, it’s worth it for that moment alone.
And then today I just found an article on The Economist titled Murder Most Opaque, which sheds some more light on Litvinenko himself and speculates if this is the way that Russian issues will be dealt with from now on - you may recall the murder just a few months ago of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist who had written stories documenting the abuses of Vladimir Putin’s government. The article colorfully calls Putin’s government “capricious“, which I thought was rather on spot: they seem to be dealing with situations with the tact and restraint of a spoilt but immensely powerful child.
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The row over Mr Berezovsky is another example of this way of thinking. Some Russians simply refuse to believe that in Britain extradition cases are decided by the courts, rather than by the government. Likewise, some in the Kremlin were angry that Litvinenko’s deathbed accusations managed to penetrate his police guard to be broadcast: they apparently assumed that protection meant arrest.
It’s a great omnibus of the current Russian situation.