COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
"If Sergei
Skripal was poisoned it will have been a warning from Moscow'
Gee, nothing like jumping to conclusions.
I can't help wondering why a newspaper would even publish
such a questionable effort.
In general, I tend to have little sympathy with the fate of
spies, much as few of us has any sympathy with the fate of mafia figures.
And indeed, the two -
security services and the mafia - have more in common than they have
differences.
But it is interesting the way our press almost immediately
jumps to conclusions in these cases, as it very much did with the late
Litvinenko.
At least, that is,
whenever the circumstances in the story permit accusations against Russians.
It is a selective
effort by the press.
In other cases, there
is little speculation or investigation.
We had a few Russian Ambassadors killed in recent years.
Very suspicious cases, but very little speculation in the press.
The one case that comes immediately to mind was the
assassination of Arafat. We know it was an assassination because of the
polonium discovered in his toothpaste, there being no way such a rare and
poisonous substance could get there by accident.
Who was interested in seeing his death? Who had access to
radioactive materials? There are not a lot of candidates.
But we didn't see this kind of article in the press.
