"On the poisoning of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London, Mr Putin said he did not believe in conspiracy theories."
This tell us something worth remembering about the cant term "conspiracy theory", what it's good for, and what kind of people routinely use it as a blunt but dependable weapon.
"Mr Litvinenko was a vehement critic of Mr Putin. Mr Putin said Mr Litvinenko "did not possess any secrets" that could have damaged Russia. "
Oh, really? So why did they confiscate his books?
Allegations against the Russian Government
Litvinenko alleged that agents from the FSB co-ordinated the 1999 Russian apartment bombings that killed more than 300 people, whereas Russian officials blamed the explosions on Chechen separatists. This version of events was suggested
earlier by David Satter,[14] and Sergei Yushenkov, vice chairman of the Sergei Kovalev commission created by the Russian Parliament to investigate the bombings. However, Litvinenko provided many new factual details in his book. In December 2003 Russian authorities confiscated over 4000 copies of the book en route to Moscow from the publisher in Latvia.[15]
Funny how Putin's statements show the complete irrationality with which those words are normally used: if a man's sushi is poisoned with an extremely rare, radioactive substance, every sane explanation will include some kind of "conspiracy".
ReplyDeleteNor can four planes be hijacked simultaneously without some kind of conspiracy, unless it was all an extraordinary coincidence.
ReplyDeleteBBC, CNN, Guardian, Independent, German press and TV... Very strikingly, the cant term was never once used in Western mainstream media reports of the Litvinenko case. Putin's likely involvement therein was discussed quite rationally, even if not for very long or in any real depth. But of course this was perfectly predictable, because Russia is not a close ally of Britain or the US. Them Russkis are capable of anything, you see.
It's only a "conspiracy theory" when our Leaders are the suspects.
There was a breathless interview by the pompous, jug eared twat Andrew Marr of a new york russian who was risking his life to expose the chechnya bombings conspiracy.
ReplyDeletehere , 19m 30s in
Its hard to imagine him taking the same line with one of the many authors writing of an equivalent event in the west.