Friday 22 January 2016

Litvinenko

I feel sorry for Litvinenko I really do, horrible way to die and I feel even more sorry for his widow. The thing is though, he was a spy. We don't really need an enquiry ten years on to tell us he was probably bumped off by the FSB with clearance from the top, I mean the choice of Polonium itself was a clear statement. I don't really understand why the Russians don't just say, sure we did it.

Litvinenko defected saying the FSB was corrupt, and it may well be, but of course the Russians regarded him as a traitor, roles reversed we would too. Then, working for our security services he tries to recruit another Russian spy to our side and gets bumped off instead.

I'm sure espionage isn't like we see on tv or in films, but I'm also sure it's a risky career option. I find it hard to believe we've never killed an enemy on foreign soil in peace time. All this posturing is ridiculous, we do not want a return to the cold war. As a kid I can remember air raid sirens being tested and I remember my uncle who worked in the so called defence industry showing movies of a nerve gas attack.

We've got a handful of nukes we could throw back in the worst case scenario and we probably need permission from the Yanks and firing codes even to do that. Peace is what the world needs and that means talking to each other, détente, understanding. End the posturing and build a relationship with Russia. I'm sure they have corruption problems and mafia, but really we aren't helping matters either.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting subject, Malcolm. My comments are (1) using Polonium 2-10 is way over the top - it's a nuclear material, (2) Russia will never ever admit to even having FSB agents in UK, (3) we should immediately expel as many of them as we dare. Yes, that will set off a tit for tat operation, but it will set Russia's spying back decades. We should also add more sanctions. Russia's economy is going backwards fast - we should accelerate the process. Jaw Jaw is better than War War, but Russia must be told in no uncertain terms that killing a "traitor" on the streets of London using nuclear material is simply not acceptable.

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