another twist in the litivenko case

the russians don't want to extradite any suspects and anyone found guilty will be tried in russia...

i'm not particularly sure how international legal jurisdiction works but in Scots law you're tried under the jurisidiction that the crime is commited i.e. i'd get done in edinburgh if i commited a crime there and whoever done this (russian or not) should be tried in Britain as the crime was perpetrated on British soil.


http://othernews.uk.myway.com/articl...65292859A.html

And your point is?

apart from saying: it's nothing to do with us, the russians aren't exactly doing much to convince people they werent involved....

It's bad enough that you've got sick individuals running around the streets but when they're running one of the most powerful countries in the world, it doesn't bode well - I guess that can be said of more than just Russia though...

Humans show all too easily just how f**ked up and twisted we are by money and power.... and what lengths some will go to when there is a threat of loss or diminishing respect for that power.

It really is sick!

Yep. For example, people rush to conclude that the rich and powerful are guilty of murder, when not a shred of evidence has been found to support their case.

It could just as easily be the case that the Russian authorities are blocking the extraditions because they fear reprisals from the same people who murdered Litvenenko. Someone out there does, afterall, have access to an invisible, deadly poison....

you'd think the russians would be more important about maintaining good diplomatic relations with the UK and the way the world percieves it as opposed to worry about some sort of shadowy group hitting back at it, they do deal with chechen rebels after all....

I'm not saying the russians have done it and i read today that russian law dictates they do not extradite suspects to other countries (for some reason) but all that aside, the way they are conducting themselves during an operation where they should be co operating as much as possible eg. allowing special case for extradition (as is not uncommon), letting the british investigatgors interview suspects instead of their own guys and letting them talk to this jailed dissident who claims to have warned litivenko that he was in danger previously.

again what you have to remember is that the cold war ended less than 20 years ago, alot of people running the show woul dhave been in the KGB, Stassi etc... so it's not too far fetched to imagine that they'd still be willing and capable to use underhand tactics to deal with "problems" I mean i have no doubt that the UK, US et al would have no qualms about silencing people who threatened to severely undermine their regime.

But it is the way that it was done. I am not condoning such action by governments at all but the fact that so many people, who had absolutely nothing to do with anti-Russian opinion or dissidence, could potentially be affected by the poision that was used to kill Litvinenko is one step too far.

It's terrorism no matter how you look at it and I hate to imagine what sort of stand-off would ensue if it was discovered that Russia was responsible for orchestrating this act of terrorism within our borders.

true.

it seems that whoever has done it has made a point of it being a major event I mean you could give some junkie 20 quid to stab jim in a toilet if you just wanted him dead so whoever went to the trouble of transporting and poisoning him with lethal radiation must have wanted other people to notice.

But then it could also be a terrorist group attempting to start WWIII.

I mean, let's face it, Al Quaida cannot fight the west and win on their own so how can they get someone bigger on their side?

They can't. But hey, if they cause a sh*t storm in the UK, USA (wherever) and attempt to frame another superpower, they won't have to.

It's a tough one but I do think Jim's right in that Russia are not exactly helping to vindicate themselves by insisting that they will investigate alone and not in conjunction with either our own national security services or an independent investigation team.

that's what makes me wonder about the russians role. surely if it was some form of underhand terrorist plot, the russians would be doing as much as they can to co operate and help the UK find the person because it's equally as beneficial to them....