Sean Guillory takes a look at the death of Kommersant military affairs correspondent, Ivan Safronov (he fell from a fourth story window). I think Sean has hit the nail on the head with his assessment of the implications of so many mysterious deaths either in Russia or connected to Russia over the past few months:
This explanation of course fuels an already smoldering fire when it comes to journalists in Russia. If Safronov’s death turns out to be murder, he will be the 14th journalist killed since Putin became president. Not to mention the several Kremlin critics who’ve recently ended up whacked. These facts are already causing news reports to connect a variety of dots that begins with Anna Politkovskaya, runs through Alexander Litvinenko, twists around Paul Joyal, and now is looking to lasso Ivan Safronov. All of this has got to perk the suspicions of even Putin’s most ardent supporters.
Whether these deaths are intentional or not, connected or not, the work of the Kremlin or not, they’re giving Russia a certain ‘image’ abroad. And not a good one.
Whether the Kremlin will be pleased with their new image or not, is yet another question.
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Whether the Kremlin will be pleased with their new image or not, is yet another question.
A very good question indeed, and ripe for discussion. It could well be that the Kremlin wants this public image, since it helps terrorize the population at home and intimidate foreign critics. What’s the downside? Loss of foreign investment? Maybe Russia doesn’t want any, because it would only serve to undermine the Kremlin’s powerbase. Surely, Russia has done absolutely nothing in good faith to allay our concerns. Instead, Putin gives his Munich speech and throws gas on the fire. The Kremlin is either breathtaking evil or breathtakingly stupid and arrogant. I’m not sure it matters much which is the case since the result is the same.
Let’s ask Bob Dylan’s question: “How many deaths will it take til he knows that too many people have died?” How many people have to give up their lives before the world realizes that action is needed? How many people are we prepared to sacrifice? Have we really learned the lessons of Hitler and Stalin? Quite possibly, we haven’t.
And let’s remember that La Russophobe has been warning about this for months now. With every day that passes, she’s proven more and more prescient.
ANDY: Did you know that the other major source attackingthe Kremlin in the Dateline NBC report besides Joyal, namely Times of London crack Reporter Daniel McGrory, died five days before the broadcast aired?
http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2007/03/msnbc-on-litvinenko-iii.html
That’s another “dot” for you. Five days before the report airs, McGrory (just 53) is dead (of an alleged heart attack it seems). Five days after it airs, Joyal is shot (in an alleged carjacking or something, it seems). Hmmmm . . .
No, I hadn’t. Interestingly, much of the media don’t seem to have picked up on it either – a Google News search for his name only comes up with 9 articles over the past month or so.
I suppose the next question to ask is whether there is anything else that connected the two men, besides the fact they both appeared on the same tv show. Did they both manage to upset the same person?
ANDY:
Well sure! They both managed to upset Vladimir Putin! Remember, this TV show’s purpose was to forcefully state, based on inside information from the British authorities investigating, that Litvinenko was killed in a “state-sponsored” assasination, and these two men were the main sources because they’d been investigating the story and were in a position to know what the non-public status was.
It’s now undisputed that the British authorities have concluded that the Kremlin killed Litvinenko. When he was killed, some said we have to “wait for evidence” before concluding Russia is guilty. OK, now the evidence is in. And not only is it in, but as soon as it COMES in, people start dropping like flies. Maybe it’s just coincidence, but there you are. And nobody is DOING anything about it. How is this any different than watching Hitler grab the little countries of Europe? Have we really learned anything from our mistakes?
If you want to be depressed, do a Google image search on Daniel McGrory. It’s hard even to see his face.
IBD has a good editorial:
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=257991962571285
Please do not forget the sack of rice which fell off a truck in Beijing just yesterday and the bag of coffee spilt in Bogota the day before. Nobody has claimed responsibility yet, was it the Kremlin ? Spooky, isn’t it ?
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