One big question for me over the "poisonings"-thingies in general is why should any national secret service, and in particular, that of a large and militarily-scientifically advanced nation such as Russia (which could if so inclined presumably draw on highly-efficient personnel and methods - that is, if it should decide that certain adversaries were becoming a serious threat to vital national and/or internal-political interests) use such picturesque but extremely/suspiciously inefficient, blatant and adverse-publicity-generating "hit methods"?????

Writing from Italy with an eye to our not-so-distant past but also with a beady eye to more recent international goings-on including some US/UK "mysteries", the classic secret-service hit-methods both at home and abroad would seem to be far more discrete and effective - the commonest being of course faked car-accidents, faked suicides and mysterious "disappearances"... all quick and simple enough to execute, I'd say if carefully prepared they'd take no more than a 4-man hit-team plus a small logistics support-team?

So why on earth - if it really felt it had become necessary to physically eliminate a minor Berezovski-gang conman - or even an "orange" Ukrainian politician - should Russia now favour such Conan-Doyle-style weirdities rather than more efficient, less backfire-prone "standard issue" covert-op hit-techniques??

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Other big question is of course "why now?" - and the timing-factor, at least to me, seems likewise to weigh AGAINST against the poisoning being ascribable to the Russian government, as it occurs in a geopolitical context of agitated US/UK attempts to isolate Russia from Europe and prevent political/economic convergences of interests... and in particular, it was simultaneous with the Polish attempt to block the new EU strategic agreement with Russia on energy ties etc.

So it came at a time when Russia itself could be presumed to have an interest in avoiding spectacular adverse publicity in Europe... and its "anglosphere" opponents seem to have a no less marked interest in stirring up anti-Russian opinion-waves?

Which of course doesn't mean I'm accusing the CIA, MI6 or other western services of being involved either directly or indirectly in the poisoning, as the Berezovski-entourage certainly keeps strange enough company of its own, of a kind prone to settling scores in... call 'em "ethically-challenged" ways? ... but it could at least partly explain some of the odder aspects of the MSM coverage?
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"Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami