In an update to the post I did yesterday (I think – now heading into my second week on the road) regarding the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya I find it quite interesting that her editor is in complete concurrence with authorities. And that is to say he agrees her murder is – as I suspected – an attempt to make the act look like it was done by Putin’s government as a prelude to elections, or even a coup:

ditors at Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper where Politkovskaya worked, praised the investigation as having identified suspects who appeared to be genuinely involved in the slaying.

“We are fully satisfied with the way the investigation proceeded,” said Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta’s editor in chief. “It was an honest, unbiased and efficient investigation. What’s more, we fully cooperated with the investigators and they didn’t hide anything from us.”

The investigation discovered that officers from the Interior Ministry police and the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the domestic successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB, played “very instrumental” roles in setting up the slaying, Muratov said.

“We know everything the investigators know, and they know everything we know,” he said. “This is why the authorities couldn’t hide the results of the investigation even if they wanted to.”

This is big news which should up end the conventional wisdom that Putin is the dangerous leader. It is turning out those in exile and desperate to get back into power are the ones who would use murder as a propaganda tool. And if this is the case, then why would they not use nuclear material smuggled through London to disrupt Russia and begin the take over of Russia one such Oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, has openly called for. In his own words:

Russia expects exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky to be extradited from Britain where he has refugee status after the billionaire told a newspaper he was planning a revolution to topple President Vladimir Putin, Reuters news agency reports.

“We need to use force to change this regime, ”Berezovsky said in his interview with Guardian newspaper Friday.

I would include executing journalists in the definition of using force to change a regime. Why is the UK still sticking by Berezovsky? It is now clear (and admitted) that Berezovsky worked as an asset to British Intelligence, as did Litvinenko for some time (until they realized how useless he was). Berezovsky could have easily been playing the UK off Russia, establishing tensions where none existed. Providing intelligence does not mean he does not have grander schemes, like the overthrow of Russia. And he has also claimed he has people in place in Russia ready to move when the time comes.

Is Britian being played here? I would bet against it without hesitation on any other matter. But Berezovsky is up to something serious. And it is also possible Litvinenko was running amok and doing something unbeknownst to Berezovsky that involed Polonium-210, since Berezovsky was reducing the young lad’s allowance and Litvinenko needed money.

The Litvinenko death and Politkovskaya murder have always been tied together in peoples’ minds. So what if they were partially right? More from the article:

Chaika said those arrested were the alleged “organizers, accomplices and perpetrators of the crime.”

He suggested that the order to kill Politkovskaya came from opponents of Putin living abroad and was aimed at casting suspicion on the president’s government.

Pro-Kremlin media made similar statements immediately after Politkovskaya was slain. The same argument was later used after Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko died in London last year from radioactive polonium-210 poisoning.

What if these people were right, that it was the Oligarch’s trying to stain Putin so they could garner support for a coup? Putin has what he needs and can get what he wants. He is not facing election. He has no motive outside the conspiracy fantasies of people with no proof. On the flip side, we have the words of these Oligarchs stating their plans. And we know, as the article points out, they are the ones who truly gained from the publicity surrounding these deaths. Publicity they paid PR firms to help promote.

Update: As more people weigh in on this news, the more indications there are that the media’s conventional wisdom regarding the deaths of Litvinenko and Politkovskaya, as well as others. And we see hints of information that does indicate what I have suspected, that the Oligarch’s are the source of much of these acts of violence:

If all of Mr Chaika’s claims are to be believed, it would mean that members of Russia’s security services are under the command of Boris Berezovsky. ” The level of corruption in Russia can bring many unpleasant surprises,” said Gennady Gudkov, a former FSB colonel and now a member of the security committee of the Duma, or parliament. Mr Gudkov said he was certain the London-based exile was behind the killing: “My information leads me to believe that Berezovsky himself, or people controlled by him, are behind both this act and many acts of terrorism.”

It is important to remember that some members of this activity may decide to sing to authorities. We shall see soon enough. But what is fascinating is to see the media face the concept they have been wrong and had jumped to conclusions – many times based on information being fed to them by these very same Oligarchs:

“It’s good that there has been progress in the case,” said Igor Yakovenko, secretary-general of the Russian Union of Journalists. “If we believe everything that Chaika says then this is the end of the sad tradition of the murders of journalists in Russia going unsolved.” But, he said, there were several doubts about the allegations. “It’s worrying that, even before the investigation has been officially completed, they are pointing the finger at people abroad,” he said.

Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, the opposition newspaper where Politkovskaya published her hard-hitting reports on Russian politics and the conflict in Chechnya, expressed similar doubts. “We have known about this for a while. We’ve worked together with their investigation and we trust their professionalism,” said Mr Muratov. “But we are absolutely amazed that they have openly stated they know who ordered the crime before the investigation has even been completed.”

Who wouldn’t be ‘absolutely amazed’ when their preconceptions prove to be in error? The fact is the media as not been scrutinizing the information, has not as been skeptical of claims by the Oligarchs as they were of the Kremlin. The media, in short, as not been objective. That much has been obvious from day one.