Comrade Vlad
The news has been full of late of news regarding the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, Russian spy and hated opponent of Putin. I know it’s a horrible thing to say but the first thing that I always think of is that the Russians know how to do things.You step out of line with the man at the top and wherever you are in the world, they’ll get you. It is all very reminiscent of the ‘glory days’ of the Cold War, spies and epionage. Who needs Jame Bond when you’ve got BBC News24.
The latest developments, however, are a little more worrying on a personal level. Apparently they are checking out a heck of a lot of people that flew in from Moscow on BA for radiation poisoning. This is a little worrying on two levels, firstly that the Russians had no problem smuggling radioactive material onto a flight into London, and secondly that if the Russians could do it why not somebody else, with a more largescale devastation in mind. I’m picturing maybe only one or two carefully placed government security guys at crucial points at Moscow airport, a nod and a wink as an agent with an atache case boards a plane and away you go. We may be very stringent at this end but what about the other end? When the government is involved absolutely anything is possible. If the Russians do it why not, say, Saudi Arabia or China? Frightening prospect.