Murder In London

Charles Krauthammer applies Occam's Razor to the tangled set of theories surrounding the murder of Alexander Litvinenko by Polonium 210 poisoning. It yields a simple and straightforward answer: of course Vladimir Putin had it done.

The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, renegade Russian spy and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin's government, is everywhere being called a mystery. There is dark speculation about unnamed "rogue elements" either in the Russian secret services or among ultranationalists acting independently of the government. There are whispers about the indeterminacy of things in the shadowy netherworld of Russian exile politics, crime and espionage.

Well, you can believe in indeterminacy. Or you can believe the testimony delivered on the only reliable lie detector ever invented — the deathbed — by the victim himself. Litvinenko directly accused Putin of killing him.

Litvinenko knew more about his circumstances than anyone else. And on their deathbeds, people don't lie. As Machiavelli said (some attribute this to Voltaire), after thrice refusing the entreaties of a priest to repent his sins and renounce Satan, "At a time like this, Father, one tries not to make new enemies."

In science, there is a principle called Occam's razor. When presented with competing theories for explaining a natural phenomenon, one adopts the least elaborate. Nature prefers simplicity. Scientists do not indulge in grassy-knoll theories. You don't need a convoluted device to explain Litvinenko's demise.

Krauthammer also points out the obvious here: no matter how hard they work, investigators will never be able to pin the blame directly on Putin. There are simply too many layers protecting him from direct blame. But why go after such a small fish as Litvinenko in the first place?

But even Litvinenko's personal smallness serves the KGB's purposes precisely. If they go to such lengths and such messiness and such risk to kill someone as small as Litvinenko, then no critic of the Putin dictatorship is safe. It is the ultimate in deterrence.

And that is probably exactly the line of reasoning that they followed in ordering the hit. Too many opponents of Putin have wound up dead for this to be just a coincidence.

Comment Spammers

I have been hit with a disabling wave of comment spam. They have knocked the site off line repeatedly. As a result, my web hosting company has helped (a LOT) with at least stopping the attack by killing all comments. So there are no more comments allowed until further notice. I'm sure this will also kill trackbacks.

Well, This Really Shouldn’t Be A Surprise

European socialists love the American Democratic party. And Howard Dean is returning that love by attending their international conference.

OPORTO, Portugal (Reuters) - European Socialists promised on Thursday to work to rebuild Europe's strategic alliance with the United States now that the Democrats control Congress after last month's elections.

Socialist leaders attending a meeting of the European Socialist Party pledged that with the Democrats on the rise, strong ties could be renewed with the United States after years of cool relations with Republican President George W. Bush.

Howard Dean, chairman of the national committee of the U.S. Democratic Party, is attending the two-day conference together with the leaders of leftist governments of several countries and party leaders from across Europe.

"We are not anti-American, we want the real America, your America," former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the European Socialist Party, said in remarks directed at Dean.

….

(Portugese socialist prime minister Jose) Socrates said Dean's Democrats "should know that they can count on European Socialists" for support.

They recognize their fellow travelers, don't they? I don't really think that needs any further comment.

Claim Jumping

The organized crime ring that Robert Mugabe heads, sometimes humorously referred to as the 'government of Zimbabwe', has just ordered the seizure of diamond fields recently discovered in that country. This comes after the government methodically cheated its own people to "buy" the diamonds they dug out with their bare hands at rock bottom prices.

While President Robert Mugabe has seized thousands of white-owned farms since 2000 he has, up until now, left mining property alone.

The claim, an extraordinary chunk of ancient tribal land in south eastern Zimbabwe, may be one of the richest diamond fields found in recent years.

And the Zimbabwe government wants it.

African Consolidated Resources plc, with about 1,000 claims in Zimbabwe, listed in London in June and says it was granted title by the Ministry of Mines.

The order to leave the dry, poverty-stricken Marange district, about 200 miles south east of Harare, comes after months of drama.

When rumours of diamonds spread during the summer, thousands flocked there from all over Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries in what may have been the largest diamond rush in Africa in the last 100 years.

Company officials estimate £120 million of diamonds were dug out by desperate people over the last few months. Dirk Benade, 57, an ACR geologist, saw it all. As the hordes massed, they dug deep holes within a metre of one another.

….

As the hygiene conditions continued to deteriorate, Tinos Rusere, the deputy mining minister, went to the site on September 25 and told swarms of diggers to carry on mining and sell their stones to the government.

Dealers from neighbouring South African also appeared, offering better prices.

ACR has built roads and refurbished dams for the local community and, when the diggers were finally moved out of the area by police last week, the company began sifting gravel to estimate how much had been looted.

While the company is trying to fight the government action through the courts, it probably won't really do much good. Mugabe pretty well takes what he wants in that benighted country. And the UN certainly won't be of any help. After all, Kofi Annan's kids have to make livings, don't they?