Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/02/russian-opposition-leader-was.html
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“Well, he is opposition leader, so I want him dead, what else is there to tell?”
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The conclusion sharpens suspicion of the Russian government
Umm, I think we can go further than that.
Slam, dunk!
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He must have been in agony. It’s a miracle he survived.
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Again, Putin loves this kind of power flex because he gets to intimidate his opposition by murdering his opponents in plain view of the entire world but with just enough plausible deniability to avoid entanglements with the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
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Eventually, his MO will fail.
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…and does not give a shit who knows it. He’s not interested in plausible deniability - it’s all just fake news designed to confuse and destabilise.
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Hopefully so. The history of Russian leaders over the last century or so suggests he may well continue getting away with it until he eventually dies in office though.
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I was talking about death, the great equalizer.
No one lives forever, and despite all the never-ending propaganda, Putin is no spring chicken himself.
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I suppose. But if he dies of natural causes I’m not sure I’d consider that as “his MO catching up with him” so much as “successfully eluding justice for his crimes.”
The closest thing some people face to justice is getting an unflattering write-up in the history books. I hope people like Putin and Trump live long enough to get a little karmic kick in the ass before they shuffle off this mortal coil.
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Very Russian: Trying to murder a prominent political opponent using a technique you’re known for employing in the past, and fail. I’m surprised that an empty vodka bottle and a bear cub on a leash weren’t found at the scene.
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He better avoid catching a cold.
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Note that I didn’t say a word about ‘cause of death.’
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I am sure Trump will issue a statement via Twitter condemning this action and enacting trade sanctions really soon now…
Or, you know, praising good people on both sides. Or saying how unfair Merkel is to this great leader who had no idea this was going to happen… (hangs head) Trump’s “joke” will be worse than anything I can come up with.
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Maybe, but maybe not. If you were, for example an Russian intelligence operative looking to make trouble for Putin, while eliminating his obvious rival, to improve your own chances of a rise to power, it might behoove you to make it look like Putin. The same applies for a foreign government looking to change negotiating positions. I agree the balance of probabilities points to Putin, but at that level there is always the possibility of someone making it obviously be something it isn’t. Putin’s own rise to power points to that very possibility. The apartment bombings were “obviously” the Chechens, until the Ryazan incident made it a lot less obvious.
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Yes, anything is plausible - even the fantastic. But if this were the case (a rogue Russian creating trouble for Putin), it would be in Putin’s interests to have the miscreant identified and tried. I’m not holding my breath. Novichok nerve agents, according to all reports I’ve heard, are only available to the Russian govt. so it’s unlikely to be a deceptive foreign govt trying to make Putin look worse (and he does not need much such help).
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What about those operatives trying to make trouble for moose and squirrel?
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A “good” pawn knows when to not draw attention to his master’s machinations.
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