I had fingered Lugovoi as one of the prime suspects. See the archived posts for December 03 - 10, 2006. My suspicion became most focused on Lugovoi as a result of the item of evidence mentioned in the 14th comment to the blog post of Friday, December 8, 2006. See also, at the same link, the earlier blog post of December 6, 2006, Bungler-Murder Hypothesis 2.1.
I had suggested that time lines might help sort out the evidence and the possibilties. I see that the New York Times and the AP agree with my sentiment:
Timeline in Poisoning of Ex - KGB Agent, New York Times (May 22, 2007) (AP).
Of course, as Priit Parmakson has pointed out, the New York Times has been enamored of time lines for quite some time. When I teach my course in fact investigation next (in the fall of 2008) I must point this out to my students.
If this case ever results in a public trial -- but, alas, it appears this is unlikely -- students of evidence, inference, and investigation would have great clay to sculpt.
5 comments:
New York Times ("Ex-KGB Agent") perhaps does not know the popular Russian saying "Бывших агентов КГБ не бывает" - "No such thing like a former KGB officer".
Russia passed a law about two years ago that is said to give ground to the practice of assassinations of traitors (a possible motive for Litvinenko's case) as well as members of groups who fight the Russia (assassination of the former President of Chechnya in Qatar).
It should be noted, though, that according to some Russian newspaper sources, Putin himself was chosen and brought to Presidency by Berezhovsky, the Russian oligarch, the controller of Yeltsin. Putin, however, broke with Berezhovsky, strip him from most of his resources and forced Berezhovsky to exile - where he latter has been actively trying to remove Putin from power.
Of course, it goes without saying that Lugovoi and Kovtun, his buddy, are both ex-KGB agents as well.
Judge and author Richard Posner asked by Slate what font he prefers:
http://www.slate.com/id/2166947/fr/flyout
"I usually compose in Century Schoolbook. But I cannot for the life of me remember why I chose that! I used to compose in Baskerville ... in Verdana, which I also liked; but I no longer remember why I did that, either."
I'd not be surprised by an essay on the economics of font choice by Posner in near future.. 8)
Q. What font does Castro use?
A. BatangChe
Q. What font does the Pope use?
A. Times Old Roman
Q. What fount does Putin use?
A. Chechnya nyet
Q. What fount does GW Bush use?
A. Null set
Wikileaks support for my Lugovoi hypothesis: Alan Cowell, "Cables Shed Light on Ex-K.G.B. Officer’s Death" (NYTimes Decc. 20, 2010), http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/world/europe/21wikileaks-litvinenko.html?_r=1&hpw
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