Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Ah, the plot thickens on the Litvinenko assassination case. You knew it would. Anything likely stirred up in the murky recesses of the Russian KGB has to have a byzantine plot and lots of dark shadows.

British authorities investigating the case detected radiation traces on three British Airways planes:

The case of the poisoned former K.G.B. agent took a bizarre twist when British Airways said that traces of radiation had been detected Wednesday on jets that flew between London and Moscow, establishing a possible Russian link and indicating that more than 30,000 people might have been exposed to the radiation.

The airline said tests had found “very low traces” of radioactivity so far on two of three Boeing 767s, which were singled out because the police suspected that passengers included people linked to the investigation. At least one of the planes flew between London and Moscow days before the former agent, Alexander V. Litvinenko, fell ill from the radioactive poison, polonium 210, that doctors say killed him.

Gee, I’d say if the police suspected that passengers on board those planes “included people linked to the investigation” they’ve just about busted the case wide open. Those would be the guys who brought the poison from the FSB or government lab in Russia and transported it to London so it could be off-loaded onto the unsuspecting Litvinenko. The British police haven’t solved the murder authoritatively since they need hard evidence for that. But they certainly know by now who really did the poor fellow in.

As many as 30,000 people might’ve been exposed to the radiation. Imagine a spy service willing to potentially harm that many people in order to rid itself of one meddlesome ex-agent. It’s quite breathtaking. Imagine if Putin and his spy cronies ever felt really threatened. What might they then be willing to consider??? It’s not too much of a stretch (at least not for the latter day KGB/FSB) to move from poisoning a single man to poisoning say an entire city of a country whose leaders you detest. Or you could even drop the big one–but that might be going a tad too far for even these overreaching goons.

I’m curious to find out what the Brits will do in response to this egregious violation of national sovereignty. I know they won’t recall their ambassador, but I truly wish they would. Events prove, I’m sorry to say, that the only thing the brutal Russian government understands is brute force (diplomatic, not military) in response to their thuggish acts. Short of that they could expel every single FSB/KGB agent operating under diplomatic cover in England. That would send a message. They could suspend economic agreements and mete out other repercussions which would hit the oligarchs running the country (Russia) where it hurts. But doing nothing or little would be a terrible mistake which would lead to much worse “mischief” down the road not just potentially in London, but Washingtion, New York, Berlin, Paris, Rome, etc. Either reign them in sharply now or regret a missed opportunity later.