Dec 13 2006
Some Litvinenko Thoughts
The news on Litvinenko’s death and the Polonium-210 trail has succumbed to the moder Ripper news, so obviously something very quiet is being done behind the scenes or the trail is growing cold. I think it is the former because this quick response by the Germans in response to some possible evidence that Kovtun made a phone call from Berlin during his period in Germany between Moscow and his trip to meet Lugovoi and Litvinenko in London.
I meant to note I find the constantly shifting stories by Lugovoi and Kovtun to be a clear sign they new full well they have been in contact with radiactive material. The tanning salon excuse is just pathetic. I also find their pointing to Oct 16th as possible contamination point telling as well. They knew that their illnesses were due to Polonium 210, but they only realized their problem after Litvinenko fell ill and died. Up until they could not hide the truth anymore (i.e., they needed medical attention) they tried to divert suspicion using one lame excuse after another. But they knew it was Polonium 210.
Add this the fact Berezovsky’s mouthpiece Goldfarb went out of his way to dismiss any idea that Lugovoi and Kovtun could have been involved in the assassination effort and one can see he too was trying to divert attention from them as culprits in Litvinenko’s death. When in reality they represented the best lead to Putin and Russia as part of an assassination effort. Why would Berezovsky/Goldfarb go out of there way to publically vouch for the best supporting evidence of a Russian assassination plot to ever surface? Diversion. Only when it became clearly obvious that Lugovoi was ill did Goldfarb go silent again.
Finally, the delay in questioning Lugovoi could easily be seen as negotiations for a plea agreement. Lugovoi has been giving the public perception he is working for investigators on this case, and investigators are not out denying anything. We still have this mysterious fourth contaminated hotel out there, and we have police backing away from the poisoned tea cup theory. I would not be surprised if within a few days we see some sweeping actions by authorites. Then again, I would not be surprised to see nothing new happening for days on end as well. My latest musings for all to rip apart at their leisure!
For example, here is one report from very early today:
“Meanwhile, urine samples of a family visited by Kovtun showed no sign they were contaminated by the rare radioactive substance, Hamburg police said Wednesday.
The negative test results were considered final confirmation that Kovtun’s ex-wife, her partner and their two children had absorbed no polonium-210, although traces of the substance were found at their apartment.”
So in one day we have reports of no contamination and we have reports of hospitalization with polonium poisoning. See what I mean? You can’t believe what you read in the media on this story, the reporting is all over the place.
http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_5263-German-Police-On-Litvinenko-Case-In-Reported-Rush-To-Trace-Phone.html
has this…
German police trying to crack the Alexander Litvinenko poisoning case raced to Berlin this week in the faint hope of catching mysterious Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, a Berlin newspaper was to report Thursday.
Police dismissed the account in the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper as speculation and said there had never been any evidence that Kovtun was in Berlin.
Quoting security sources, the paper said police surveillance detected a phone call by Kovtun Monday night to his former mother-in- law near the city of Hamburg. Kovtun spent five days in Hamburg before meeting with Litvinenko on November 1.
Although Kovtun is reported to be in a Moscow hospital, technical data suggested the mobile phone call was coming from an eastern inner-city section of the German capital Berlin, the paper claimed.
Hamburg police raced to Berlin to check out the location, making the journey in just 90 minutes. The newspaper did not say what they found, nor how they travelled, but the fastest link is a bullet train that takes just over 90 minutes.
The newspaper said crack Berlin police were not deployed because they lacked radiation protection suits. There was concern that Kovtun might be contaminated with polonium-210, the poison believed to have killed Russian ex-agent Litvinenko in London last month.
© 2006 DPA
What’s the reference though(mine was the International Herald Tribune 10 hours ago)?
Mine was 6 hours ago from Australia
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=133467®ion=3
They are sourcing it from Associated Press
I am not saying either one is “right” or “wrong” … just that there is conflicting information out there.
That’s just a rewrite of the earlier reports that they went to the hospital for testing, the report in the IHT shows that there was no Po poisoning… just like the apartment, etc….
Of course, one of them is correct but who knows which one?
“Hamburg police said Wednesday that results from the urine samples of the ex-wife and her partner, showed no indication that they absorbed the substance — confirming that they suffered no contamination.”
But if you check google news and sort by time, the hospitalization reports are all newer, and from many sources.
If you choose to believe yesterday’s news… well hell, anythings possible.
Write it up and I’ll crush your argument.
I am a little unclear on why both sides are so adamant on their positions – including the host AJ and then the prominent comment brigade — especially when all agree that that the reporting is dismal, wacky (as to be expected – they don’t look for the truth remember? See AP etc. etc.) and uneducated at best.
C and C – both take a pill…it’s all a mystery and who knows? You both could be right (Hey, I think I am!)…but stop with the mocking insults.
Reuters:
“German officials cleared two people on Wednesday feared to have been contaminated with polonium 210.
Germany’s Radiation Protection Agency said urine tests showed Kovtun’s ex-wife and her current partner had not absorbed the substances. Test results for their children were not yet available.
“In both tests, there was no indication of assimilation of polonium in connection with the discovered contamination,” the agency said in a joint statement with the Hamburg police, confirming a preliminary assessment.”
No assimilation of PO
Again–the only person credibily known to have assimilated lethal quantities or even significant quantities of PO is Litvinenko, the Kovtun claim proving with time to be increasingly dubious.
In any case, I was using that as an example of conflicting news reporting on the case. So if someone “wants” to believe one scenario, they will latch onto one news report and someone else “wanting” to believe a differnt latches onto a different one to validate their conclusion.
Also, there have been some just plain wrong reports (polonium traced to a Russian reactor, for example).
CP-I think this one is nailed down.
Which one nailed down? I don’t understand.
Another example:
News reports that Scaramella showed Litvinenko a list showing that Litvinenko was on some kind of hit list.
Scaramella says that is false. Says he showed Litvinenko that he (Scaramella) and other members of the Mitrokhin Commission were on some kind of a hit list. He says the list nowhere mentioned Litvinenko.
From only a few hours ago:
“The ex-wife of a witness in the case of a murdered former Russian spy, her two children and boyfriend have been hospitalised in Germany with suspected polonium-210 poisoning. â€
You don’t get that level of poisoning simply from being exposed to someone who has been poisoned.
Left by crosspatch on December 13th, 2006
What level is “suspected poisoning” anyway? Is it worse than “assumed poisoning” or “questionable poisoning,” for instance?
That point holds no water.
Okay …. you wouldnt be poisoned at all from simply being in the same room with someone who was poisoned or shaking their hands or even kissing them on the cheek. You might get a little contamination, but not be poisoned.
I don’t see the people that Litvinenko and Lugovoi and Kovtun met with at the security company in the hospital with poisoning, nor do I hear of their homes being contaminated.