Skip to main content

A blow upon a bruise

My heart sinks as the distressing predictability of the Putin regime shows up yet again.

On November 23rd 2006 Alexander Litvinenko- a Russian defector, but a British Citizen- died in a London hospital. It transpired that he had been poisoned with Polonium 210, with a radioactive signature of Russian origin. Over the course of the past five months the Police investigation has discovered evidence that directly links a Russian intelligence operative, Andrei Lugovoi, to the administration of the poison in a cup of tea served at the Millennium hotel, Grosvenor Square. Today, the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided that the evidence is such that Andrei Lugovoi may be charged with murder and his case sent for trial. As a Russian citizen residing in Moscow, the DPP will request the Russian authorities to extradite the indicted man to face trial.

The initial response of the Russian authorities is to refuse this entirely legitimate request.

Furthermore, on the same day, the Russian Environmental Agency has announced that they have found irregularities in the production sites of BP-TNK, the largest British investment in the Russian Federation. In the past when such declarations have been made, it has begun a process that squeezes out the international partner. In other words, the Russians are now putting the squeeze on BP, as a punishment for a Russian citizen being indicted for the crime of murder.

The breathtakingly crude link points out the fact that Lugovoi may well have been ordered to commit a murder by the Russian government itself. In which case, the regime in Moscow is an accomplice to murder. In the past such an act would amount to a declaration of war against the Queen's Peace and be a casus belli- a cause of war.

However, Russia has now announced that it wishes to solve its trade dispute with the EU, yet meanwhile the Nashi thugs are now picketing the Embassy of the European Union in Moscow, continuing their protest against Estonia.

The European Union and the UK in particular must now demonstrate to Russia that no progress at all is possible on improving trade or on allowing Russian entry into the WTO until they cease this illegal and disgraceful behaviour.

Without a complete change in attitude from the Kremlin, then a return to Cold War confrontation is inevitable. Despite the currently high prices of commodities, which has given Moscow a superficial swagger, in such a confrontation, Russia will be in an extremely weak position. Democratic Societies do not put the squeeze on business for political reasons, but the UK does have many ways to put pressure on Moscow- and Mr. Putin's own retirement plans may need to be changed if he were to face legal proceedings that could curtail his freedom to travel, for example.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I've been following your attempts to enlighten the denizens of Our Scotland with interest.

Oddly enough, I also watched that episode of Brideshead Revisited last weekend.

Popular posts from this blog

Concert and Blues

Tallinn is full tonight... Big concerts on at the Song field The Weeknd and Bonnie Tyler (!). The place is buzzing and some sixty thousand concert goers have booked every bed for thirty miles around Tallinn. It should be a busy high summer, but it isn´t. Tourism is down sharply overall. Only 70 cruise ships calling this season, versus over 300 before Ukraine. Since no one goes to St Pete, demand has fallen, and of course people think that Estonia is not safe. We are tired. The economy is still under big pressure, and the fall of tourism is a significant part of that. The credit rating for Estonia has been downgraded as the government struggles with spending. The summer has been a little gloomy, and soon the long and slow autumn will drift into the dark of the year. Yesterday I met with more refugees: the usual horrible stories, the usual tears. I try to make myself immune, but I can´t. These people are wounded in spirit, carrying their grief in a terrible cradling. I try to project hop

Media misdirection

In the small print of the UK budget we find that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British Finance Minister) has allocated a further 15 billion Pounds to the funding for the UK track and trace system. This means that the cost of the UK´s track and trace system is now 37 billion Pounds.  That is approximately €43 billion or US$51 billion, which is to say that it is amount of money greater than the national GDP of over 110 countries, or if you prefer, it is roughly the same number as the combined GDP of the 34 smallest economies of the planet.  As at December 2020, 70% of the contracts for the track and trace system were awarded by the Conservative government without a competitive tender being made . The program is overseen by Dido Harding , who is not only a Conservative Life Peer, but the wife of a Conservative MP, John Penrose, and a contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson at Oxford. Many of these untendered contracts have been given to companies that seem to have no notewo

Bournemouth absence

Although I had hoped to get down to the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth this year, simple pressure of work has now made that impossible. I must admit to great disappointment. The last conference before the General Election was always likely to show a few fireworks, and indeed the conference has attracted more headlines than any other over the past three years. Some of these headlines show a significant change of course in terms of economic policy. Scepticism about the size of government expenditure has given way to concern and now it is clear that reducing government expenditure will need to be the most urgent priority of the next government. So far it has been the Liberal Democrats that have made the running, and although the Conservatives are now belatedly recognising that cuts will be required they continue to fail to provide even the slightest detail as to what they think should guide their decisions in this area. This political cowardice means that we are expected to ch