--- Dennis Redmond <dredmond at efn.org> wrote:
>
> Litvinenko was, by all the credible European press
> accounts I've seen, a
> low-level scam artist with no credibility and zero
> access to any actual
> state secrets.
Indeed Litvinenko is a classic example of how you can scam people with the most ridiculous stories if you appeal to their prejudices.
Consider this: According to Litvinenko, he had worked in the FSB as someone "in charge of recruiting murderers," i.e., he was a murder pimp, a hit man. If this were actually true, you'd think people would start asking themselves if Britain is in the habit of giving political asylum to self-confessed murderers-for-hire. Not suspected murderers-for-hire, mind you, but self-confessed ones who are screaming it at the top of their lungs. (I can picture the asylum meeting now: "All right! Just what Britain needs -- more hit men! We have a woefully large hit men gap with Italy that needs to be corrected. Let the guy in!") This does not seem likely to me.
On the other hand, once you realize that Litvinenko was just in the business of making shit up and that the Brits knew it, that problem vanishes.
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