Poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbead
Source: Kim Zigfeld, at La Russophobe

In his defiant last statement, poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko said, “The bastards got me. But they won’t get everybody.”

Incredibly brave words for a man going down in lingering pain from a now-unknown poison. Less than a week ago, Alexander Litvinenko was in perfect health, doggedly trying to find out the truth behind the murder of another Russian journalist in London. In a scene reminiscent of Daniel Pearl’s kidnap, he apparently got too close to people too dirty, and then hit on some nerve too close to something dear to the Russian government. Then he was poisoned, fulfilling Kim Zigfeld’s eerily asked question of ‘who’s next?‘ The Russian government dismissed allegations of their being behind the act but the Kremlin’s never been truthful about its poisoning practices. This goes back to the Bulgarian umbrella incident of 1982 to the use of poison gas on the Moscow theatre to the poisoning of Yushchenko around 2004. They poison. This what they do, there is no sense in arguing with them, through their repeated actions the truth gets louder and more strident the more Putin & Co. deny it.

It’s nothing but the FSB KGB continuation of an age-old Russian tradition, reaching back to the assassination of Alexander II and Nicolas Stolypin, of killing off the bright lights of reforms and truth seeking. In both those instances, history’s course was changed as democracy was suborned through murder – and changed for the way worse. Murder as an instrument of governance changes the entire basis for what a society can and cannot put up with, can or cannot fear, and will or will not do. It creates a climate of fear and a senseless pall of brutality. But there is one critical difference – in the 19th century cases, Stolypin and Alexander II were legitimate leaders felled by illegitimate thugs. In these new cases, the truth-tellers and reformers were little democracy revolutionaries on the bottom, felled by illegitimate thugs from the top. That’s why Litvinenko’s statement that ‘they won’t get everybody,’ is so significant. It’s the boys at the top striking out at the many democrats on the bottom, not the stray groups of anarchists at the bottom striking out at the few reforming leaders. Hence, Litvinenko’s quest for truth will go on. And everything about his last moments suggests that he did die a hero.

There is one implication from this poisoning that Putin ought to concentrate very hard on: Now that he’s set the terms for how democracy and transparency will be made or unmade, through assassination, he should know that two can play that game. And that he and his are not particularly immortal. God knows what will happen with this murder – along with the other assassination in Beirut. I feel an ominous cold chill in the air already.

Keep a eye on Kim’s La Russophobe blog for more updates if she doesn’t get any up right away here. She will be making a post here in a day or two

UPDATE: Kim’s summary of the case on Publius is here, and her latest reading at La Russophobe is here. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for the implications of the case for us in the West, she outlines what is really at stake here.

UPDATE: Speaking from the grave, Litvinenko left a message and testimony directed at Putin, accusing him of the crime.

UPDATE: Radiation from Polonium-210 was found in the spy’s body.

UPDATE: A London sushi bar where Litvinenko had one of his suspect meals has been found oozing with radiation by London cops.

UPDATE: Putin warned the EU not to lecture him about Russia’s treatment of political dissidents and said they ought to focus on their own problems, being a mafiya-infested confederation and all.