Dec 04 2006

Litvinenko Was A Muslim, And Alex Pulls Another “Goldfarb”

The Litvienko case is very intriguing. One of the most intriguing stories we have seen in a long time. I think its intrigue comes from the fact that it could have major political implications across the globe and impact the overall war on Islamo Fascism. As the readers on this site know (and hash out everyday in the comments) there are two schools of thought: assassination and nuclear accident with contraband material. I won’t rehash the arguments here, but it is amazing that with all the revelations and twists and turns in this case that one of these theories has not been ruled out.

Anyway, to add to the debate today we have the news, now confirmed by his father at his side when he died, that Litvinenko wanted to have a Muslim burial:

Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, requested before his death that he be buried according to Muslim tradition, his father said in an interview for the Kommersant daily newspaper published Monday. The former agent and critic of the Kremlin expressed the wish as he lay dying in his father’s arms, Valter Litvinenko said.

“He said I want to be buried according to Islamic tradition. I said okay son. It will be as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family. The important thing is to believe in the Almighty. God is one,” he said in the interview.

Litvinenko and Berezovsky were strident supporters of the Islamists Chechen uprising. And in fact the Chechen Muslims hailed Litvinenko as a martyr when he died late last month – an honor they would not confer on some western infidel. And we need to note that this is the third death in a month asociated with the Chechens – as I posted here. The Chechen angle is still under reported and under appreciated because the Western Europeans have become partial supporters of the Chechen Islamo Fascists, as opposed to their views on Al Qaeda and other Arab Islamist movements. So would a Muslim Litvinenko do everything he could for his Muslim Chechen brothers in their fight against Putin? A serious question which has not yet been explored in the news media.

Update: Well, it seems the Times UK has decided to finally connect the dots:

Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, is to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed.

The spy’s father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son – who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya – made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital.

Emphasis mine. Finally we are facing some facts here. – end update

The other strange event today is another in a long line of finger-pointing revelations out of one Alex Goldfarb. He seems to have come up with evidence of another killer. “Goldfarb’ is becoming analogous to desparate alibi production as the man, who speaks for Berezovsky and supposedly Litvinenko, has a trail of revelations which magically map to news stories of the day (sounds like a PR firm at work doesn’t it?). Goldfarb announced the theory the assassination was a hit from Putin. He announced the culprit could have been Scaramella. He magically produced scanned letters from a guy in a Russian jail saying he warned Litvinenko four years ago he was in danger (after four years I would assume the warning was in error). Goldfarb once claimed Litvinenko was in Berezovsky’s office sweating the Polonium and contaminating the offices there, until the timeline did not fit that theory. And now Goldfarb is claiming Litvinenko fingered another person on his deathbed, but hesitated to say anything to authorities because he wanted to lure the killer back to London???

Last night Alex Goldfarb, a close friend of the victim, revealed that on his death bed Mr Litvinenko voiced his suspicions about the former FSB agent. Mr Goldfarb said yesterday that his friend did not want to publicise details of his encounters with Mr Lugovoy and some of his associates, in the hope that he would recover and lure these men back to London when he was better.

Alex is quiet smart actually. I have said one of my issues with the assassination theory is that claim by Litvinenko was held until he passed away. It maximized the PR punch and allowed for the rare event Litvinenko pulled through. Alex has now covered himself somewhat on the charge that withholding Litvinenko’s Putin accusations was not for PR timing, but to allow for the chance to lure Lugovoi back to London. Which seems ridiculous since the man seemed to travel to London a lot. Goldfarb’s alibi dance is one reason I still think Berezovsky is at the center of this and not an innocent victim. Someone is paying him to put out these crazy ideas to the media. Someone who probably cares which way this investigation goes.

46 responses so far

46 Responses to “Litvinenko Was A Muslim, And Alex Pulls Another “Goldfarb””

  1. crosspatch says:

    Also, don’t assume that Litvinenko was contaminated all at once. He could have been contaminated several different times as could others. What the doctors saw could be a cumulative dose. So that Scaramella has it in his system doesn’t mean he had to have received it at the time he met with Litvinenko.

    Also, I would have to assume that airline seats are regularly vacuum cleaned which could remove contamination. Same with hotel carpets and linen. While this might not be done after each flight, I would assume the plane is given a pretty good cleaning at least once a month and possibly a light vacuuming more often than that.

  2. Lizarde1 says:

    CP: it could mean Lugovoy was the delivery guy and separator and Sasha was the receiver and distributor – he could have had a couple of clients and taken delivery for each separately – also the stuff could have been on money which got there as money was changing hands and it was spewing all over the place and some people count money by licking their fingers (gag) – as for vacuuuming the planes it managed to still be there from the 25th of Oct till sometime very recently. Of course the planes could have been the very same planes that flew the return trip and we just haven’t heard that two different sets of seats were contaminated on those planes. Could it also have been on money that Sasha paid Scarmella for something that we haven’t heard about and that is how he got contaminated….just a fly by night thought. Scarmella’s return plane wasn’t contaminated either I don’t think so he too took a shower and changed clothes.

  3. crosspatch says:

    I believe contamination was found on more than two planes, wasn’t it?

    Also, Lugovoi would risk the health of his family? Somehow I don’t think that very likely. If he were acting as assassin, he would have to know something about what he was using. He would have to know how deadly it was. I don’t think I would carry that stuff with my wife and kids around me if I knew it was a deadly poison.

  4. jerry says:

    “also the stuff could have been on money which got there as money was changing hands and it was spewing all over the place and some people count money by licking their fingers (gag)”

    reminds me of a report last year that most all paper money in europe is contaminated with cocaine (as most river water in the US is contaminated with anti-depressants).

  5. Lizarde1 says:

    I haven’t read that there are more than two planes contaminated but I could be wrong. I don’t think Lugovoy was the assasin – I think he was delivering it and there WAS stuff on the plane Moscow London when he went with his wife and kid Oct 31. Maybe he didn’t know what he was carrying or maybe he was assured that it was safe – remember we have all read that a mere piece of paper is enough to shield it – as we know the facts now he, the stuff, and his wife and kid were all at the Millenium and on the contaminated plane. The only other possibility is that one of his two friends was also on the same planes from Moscow to London and in the hotels and was the one who delivered it and dispersed it – either Sokolenko or Kovtin.

  6. Lizarde1 says:

    Radiation has been found at a number of sites in London, as well as on two British Airways planes that traveled the Moscow-London route since Nov. 1, when Litvinenko is believed to have been poisoned. On Monday, British authorities said they were investigating two additional central London locations.
    http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/12/04/russia_to_help_uk_in_poisoned_spy_case/

    Among those to be interviewed is Andrei Lugovoi, another former spy who met Litvinenko on Nov. 1 — the day he fell ill. FBI agents also have been involved in the probe.

    A business associate, Vyacheslav Sokolenko, told The Associated Press on Monday that Lugovoi could not be reached pending his questioning by the British investigators. Sokolenko refused to comment further.

  7. crosspatch says:

    Thing is, when we are dealing with such small amounts of stuff, contamination could be there and not spotted (what if it worked its way into the fabric and was shielded by a piece of thread) or could be picked up in cleaning and in another case some could be left behind. Take a pinch of fine sand on a carpet or chair and then vacuum. Repeat it three times. Bet you leave different amounts behind each time. Might even get it all once.

    Now if the contamination was consistant with being deposited by perspiration, we have a problem for the assassination theory. It would mean Loguvoi is also a victim of contamination.

  8. crosspatch says:

    British authorities last week also found radiation on three British Airways planes that flew between London and Moscow. After being checked, the planes were been allowed to resume flights.

    Russian authorities delayed a Finnair flight in Moscow on Saturday in a radiation scare. No radiation was found.

    British authorities also have cleared two easyJet planes that Scaramella flew to Britain to meet Litvinenko and back to Italy.

    Bunn, the Harvard specialist, expressed bewilderment by the discovery of radiation at so many locations. He said that while Litvinenko might have left traces of polonium through his sweat after he was poisoned, it was a mystery how the substances entered the planes. He said the two most logical explanations were that the person carrying the polonium had been contaminated himself or that investigators were confusing low concentrations of the substance that occur naturally with the poison in the Litvinenko case.

    http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/12/04/001.html

  9. crosspatch says:

    http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/12/04/001.html

    This story says three planes and I also remember an initial report of three planes, two were at Heathrow and one was at Moscow.

    Sorry if this is a repost. I am not sure if it is the site squirrely happening again or if I messed up my last post myself.

  10. crosspatch says:

    British authorities last week also found radiation on three British Airways planes that flew between London and Moscow. After being checked, the planes were been allowed to resume flights.

    Russian authorities delayed a Finnair flight in Moscow on Saturday in a radiation scare. No radiation was found.

    British authorities also have cleared two easyJet planes that Scaramella flew to Britain to meet Litvinenko and back to Italy.

    Bunn, the Harvard specialist, expressed bewilderment by the discovery of radiation at so many locations. He said that while Litvinenko might have left traces of polonium through his sweat after he was poisoned, it was a mystery how the substances entered the planes. He said the two most logical explanations were that the person carrying the polonium had been contaminated himself or that investigators were confusing low concentrations of the substance that occur naturally with the poison in the Litvinenko case.

    From that article linked to above.

  11. crosspatch says:

    British authorities last week also found radiation on three British Airways planes that flew between London and Moscow. After being checked, the planes were been allowed to resume flights.

    Russian authorities delayed a Finnair flight in Moscow on Saturday in a radiation scare. No radiation was found.

    British authorities also have cleared two easyJet planes that Scaramella flew to Britain to meet Litvinenko and back to Italy.

    Bunn, the Harvard specialist, expressed bewilderment by the discovery of radiation at so many locations. He said that while Litvinenko might have left traces of polonium through his sweat after he was poisoned, it was a mystery how the substances entered the planes. He said the two most logical explanations were that the person carrying the polonium had been contaminated himself or that investigators were confusing low concentrations of the substance that occur naturally with the poison in the Litvinenko case.

  12. Lizarde1 says:

    The plane still sitting in Moscow at the time of that article was cleared as I remember it – the contaminated planes were both in Britain having both flown the Moscow-London route.

  13. crosspatch says:

    I have been trying to cut/paste the last couple of paragraps from that moscow times article but it keeps getting thrown away for some reason.

    “British authorities last week also found radiation on three British Airways planes that flew between London and Moscow. After being checked, the planes were been allowed to resume flights”

  14. Lizarde1 says:

    more amusing stuff on Scarmella – he is said not have the right accent for an academic and southern Italian and is maybe a Russian spy! (I read elsewhere that his CV did not check out): http://www.euro2day.gr/articlesfna/24987638/

  15. Lizarde1 says:

    oops forgot this from above post:
    The University of Naples, where he claims to have held a post, has no record of him. At the “Environmental Crime Protection Program”, an organisation of which he styled himself secretary-general and which has a University of Naples e-mail address, no one answered the telephone on Monday

  16. Lizarde1 says:

    CP you may well be right about the three planes but all the papers now are saying two planes for some reason probably sloppy reporting Did you note that two new places in central London are being looked at?

  17. crosspatch says:

    According to another article I just read, the Moscow plane still hasn’t been checked yet. Should be checked today.

  18. Sue says:

    contaminated with cocaine

    And human feces. Think about that next time you start to put your fingers in your mouth. Crikey!

  19. crosspatch says:

    “LONDON: The British Airways on Friday said one of its three planes which had shown traces of a radioactive material had been cleared, but two aircraft — belonging to Russian companies — were being checked for suspected contamination.”

  20. crosspatch says:

    If there are three Moscow/London planes contaminated, then there is a bit of a problem with the targeted assasination theory and it leans more toward smuggling and/or a more general accidental contamination of people.

    Oh, and those two Russian planes are in ADDITION to the three BA planes. The wording in the story I was getting this from (The Hindu) is a bit ambiguious but this set it straight:

    “There may be other aeroplanes of which we do not at this stage know, but those are the five that we know of,” Home Secretary John Reid told MPs.