Ex-Russian Spy Poisoned In London

Litvinenko Is Critic Of The Kremlin, Was Investigating Journalist's Killing

(CBS/AP)  British police are investigating the near-fatal poisoning of a former Russian spy who has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and of his former colleagues in Russia's security agency, authorities said Sunday.

Col. Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, was under armed guard in University College Hospital, London. He was in a "serious but stable" condition, the hospital said.

"He is still very weak," friend Alexander Goldfarb told reporters outside the hospital. "He is in a fighting mood, though."'

Police said a specialist crime unit began an investigation on Friday into how Litvinenko may have been poisoned. No arrests had been made so far, said a Scotland Yard spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with force policy.

Litvinenko, who had been looking into the killing of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, told reporters earlier this week that he fell ill on Nov. 1 following a meal at a sushi restaurant with a contact who claimed to have details about the murder.

British news outlets, including Sky News and The Independent, identified the contact as Mario Scaramella, an Italian academic who has helped investigate KGB activity in Italy during the Cold War. Scaramella could not immediately be reached for comment.

Politkovskaya, who had written critically about abuses by Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen forces fighting separatists in Chechnya, was gunned down Oct. 7 inside her Moscow apartment building. Her attackers have not been found. Rights groups have said the killing underscores the risks faced by Russians who question or criticize the government.

A doctor treating Litvinenko told the British Broadcasting Corp. that tests showed he had been poisoned by thallium — a toxic metal found in rat poison.

"He's got a prospect of recovering, he has a prospect of dying," said Dr. John Henry, a clinical toxicologist who treated Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko when he was poisoned by dioxin during his 2004 presidential election campaign.

Henry told the BBC that thallium can cause damage to the nervous system and organ failure, and that just one gram can be lethal.

Friends visiting Litvinenko in hospital said they were shocked by his appearance.

"He looks like a ghost," said Goldfarb. "He's a very fit man, he never smoked, he never drank, he would run five miles a day, but now he has lost all his hair, he has inflammation in the throat, so he cannot swallow."

Litvinenko quit Russia for Britain six years ago and has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin ever since.

In 2003 he wrote a book, "The FSB Blows Up Russia," accusing his country's secret service agency of staging apartment-house bombings in 1999 that killed more than 300 people in Russia and sparked the second war in Chechnya.

His friends have said they believe Russian authorities could be behind the poisoning. Moscow did not comment on the allegations.

Russian dissident and tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who was at Litvinenko's bedside on Friday, told The Associated Press he suspected Russia's intelligence services were behind the alleged assassination attempt.

"It's not complicated to say who fights against him," Berezovsky said in a telephone interview. "He's (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's enemy, he started to criticize him and had lots of fears."

[laurieleemoo]

lets see, oh the Russian authorities might be behind this? How about trying we all know *** well they are---just a matter of proving it.

Boy, amazing...the Russian people have not caught on yet that the KGB is still alive and kicking.

Lets see, oh there is the poisoning of the Ukraine President last year, they have the 14 journalists that have been murdered in the past year who have spoke out against the Russian government and lets see...now this.

When is the WORLD going to start sreaming foul play here and investigate? When are the Russian people going to start screaming to have Putin thrown out of office.

All I can say is........and you all think GW is bad?

[alphaa10-2009]

Thatcher, then Clinton, then Bush claimed "We can do business" with the new Russian rulers, but recurrent behaviors like assassinations, media censorship and imprisonment of political opponents, hand-in-glove cooperation with international terrorist and criminal organizations, and continued hostility to democracy in general within Russian and Chinese borders set off alarms about true intentions of these powerful adversaries.

In a phrase, do they believe we are fools? The answer, not merely fools, but very rich fools. Self-anesthetized by our hopes of global community and prosperity, we are fools indeed to ignore the plotting of gangsters next door. Yet, advocates of economic globalism insist their magic protocol renders all our fears groundless.

[alphaa10-2009]

Post-Iraq Paranoia-- 2
For whatever survival advantage it presents to our future, the West has analysts who seriously question the commitment by Russia and China to peaceful development, long term. Traditions of both powers, they argue, are consumately anti-democratic in every sense of the word. Without either experience or context to understand Western notions of progress (and peace), they ask, why should Russian or Chinese leaders alter the foundations of their thinking-- or their actions?

Yet, such critics are isolated-- especially as they point out this is the signature deception in attempts to "resocialize" the former USSR and the continued Communist dictatorship of the PRC. In the US, both Democrats and the GOP are guilty of this wholesale self-delusion, especially as it plays well with their multinational, corporate underwriters.

[alphaa10-2009]

Post-Iraq Paranoia-- 3
The answer is not more Cold War paranoia, McCarthism, Bush demagoguery and unreasoning fear, but in sobering up to the realities beyond our borders. Post-Iraq, there will be a strong tendency to withdraw, and ignore challenges to freedom and democracy abroad. But if we learn anything from misadventure in Iraq-- and the lessons are many-- it is the world continues sympathetic to a truly honest pursuit of human rights and democracy. Human rights is our best litmus test for friend and foe.

Our future and survival as a nation lies not merely in intelligent, sustained military strength and informed application-- but equally important-- without compromising our own democratic ideals and principles as the basis for all we do or hope to do.

[texassian]

I would not believe a single word from this guy. He is a former KGB officer - meaning his trade is deceit.
As far as Berezovsky, etc - you have to be insane to believe his and the rest of the mafia tycoons...
Berezovsky is a thief. That's the only word that descrivbes his essence.

This former KGB traitor probably just ate bad sushi at that Japanese restaurant.

If FSB wants to get rid of the problem - that person simply disappears, no fuss no muss. Same applies to Politkovskaya murder. Had it been FSB, she would have just disappeared into a thin air, never to be found.

You can't write a book like that without some form of feedback, good or BAD..........