Can we take a breather, here?

It looks like Russia and the UK are really going at it. First there was an effort by someone to knock off Boris Berezovsky, a person who had announced his intention to change the Russian government forcibly via extralegal means. Now, as AJ-Strata discusses at his blog, the Russians are refusing to extradite the man the Brits say poisoned Alexander Litvenenko.

I would refuse extradition, too. Unless, that is, the British will extradite Berezovsky to face the appropriate legal process for his announced intentions.

Talk about messed-up...

Let me get this straight: Boris Berezovsky vocalizes his intentions to bankroll a palace coup in Russia. The British do nothing about this guy - well, okay, they didn't exactly do "nothing", they gave him asylum and a new identity.

If I were Putin, I'd be pretty pissed off about the situation. And, like I posted earlier, I'd be looking into dealing decisively with Mr. Berezovsky. Which he did. The Brits, though, foiled it.

So why is Putin the bad guy in all of this? Sorry, but in this case, the Brits are in the wrong, and they are arguably an accessory to any attempted coup.

Take him down, Vladimir...

Boris Berezovsky has declared his intention to violently overthrow the government of Russia.

The end for Russian President Vladimir Putin in that situation will not be a very good one. Quite frankly, if President Putin decides to go medieval on Berezovsky, it is self-defense as far as I am concerned.

The British have an obligation to not provide this loose cannon with a base of operations, as well. They need to hand Berezovsky over.

Putin comes through...

In what seems to be a classic case of "Good cop, bad cop", Russia has pulled out of the Iranian nuclear project.

I'm going to vent a little. On the right, there has been a streak of Putin Derangement Syndrome, in which he has been taken to task constantly. Never mind the fact that the sales to Iran really did little to make them more dangerous (China, by providing C-802 missiles, and North Korea, which sold ballistic misiles, probably have done more for Iran). A lot of them forgot that the Cold War ended in 1991, and we won.

The fact is, we have big fish to fry, to wit, the war on Islamofacism. A key ally in this is going to be Russia. They not only have better HUMINT capabilities than the United States does, we can also get their help in other areas (like cutting off spare parts to countries like Syria, Sudan, and Iran).

In this case, Putin has come through for us. He also managed to help the Russians make a fair bit of cash off this. It was played very well, and it is safe to assume that we probably got a fair bit of intelligence as well.

There's a lesson to be learned in this. Jumping to conclusions and demanding purity are good ways to lose friends. Putin might not be an angel, but he's not hostile towards us. There's no need to pick fights with him.

Long list of suspects...

It seems that the reporter who committed suicide was looking into arms sales to Iran and Syria (and thus, a possible pipeline to Hezbollah and Hamas). This means that Iran and Syria could be considered suspects in this case - if it is a homicide and not the suicide.

Of course, there are those who seem all too willing to blame Vladimir Putin for anything not to their liking - or any journalist who gets hurt or killed. It is not on par with Bush Derangement Syndrome, but when there are real bad guys out there, nagging Putin just doesn't make sense.

On a scale of 1 to 10...

AJ Strata's connection of the dots rates a "Holy Shit!" It seems Litvinenko had some interesting associates, including a major financial backer of Yushchencko, the Ukranian president who came to power via the Orange Revolution. That backer is now talking of pulling off a coup against Vladimir Putin.

And now, we have a Chechen leader threatening the West. Did he really want to do that? Because if his threats do get carried out, he may not like the consequences.

Was Litvinenko building a Chechen bomb?

AJ-Strata uncovers a disturbing piece of evidence. Is seems that Litvinenko was invovled in nuclear smuggling and possibly efforts to build a "dirty nuke" for Chechen terrorists.

If so, then his death is a blessing. If the Russians are responsible, they deserve the credit. Then again, it seems the materials he was smuggling may have killed him.

Looks like the Russians got one...

The al-Qaeda commander in Chechnya is toast.

The Russians did good on that one.

Hat tip: Strata-Sphere.

Having an off day...

Eve Fairbanks has been very good when she is on target. That said, everyone has moments where they are off. Her post at the Plank concerning Russian President Vladimir Putin is one of them. Here, she's harsh, but she has forgotten the bigger picture. When one looks at the big picture, the whole anti-Russia kick is one that just does not make sense.

There is a big threat we are presently facing. This is state-sponsored terrorism motivated by an extreme form of Islam that is arguably comparable to Christian Identity in terms of its extremism/hatred. And we need folks to help us out. Perhaps the biggest help is Russia, which has a very good intelligence community - and which also has to deal with terrorism motivated by extremist Islam. We have a common foe.

Furthermore, the nature of this foe is such that we need to deal with it quickly before things get to the ugly stage. Not ugly as in tough fights like we have seen in Fallujah, but ugly in the sense of ICBMs taking out cities in response to a WMD attack (for a good explanation, see the comments by Robert A Hahn at Redstate on this thread). It has long been American policy than an attack with WMD will draw a response in kind. When your adversary view those who die in a war as martyrs, deterrence won't work.

The thing about that which really makes it suck is that many of those killed in the likely retaliation will have had nothing to do with the attack in and of itself. Many of these state sponsors of terrorism are dictatorships, either secular or religious in nature.

Look, is Putin an angel? No. I don't think anyone could have been in KGB and not done something that squeamish people will flinch at. But there are also those who make a big deal out of nothing. That Tor-M1 purchase? False hope for Iran (I wrote that Strategypage piece). Five, maybe seven batteries, tops. So Putin is - for all intents and purposes - ripping off our enemies.

And we'll need Russia even more, no matter what happens with Europe. Western Europe has drifted away from us for a while. And no matter if you believe Mark Steyn or Ralph Peters as to what will happen, either way, we will need Russia to counterbalance a more hostile Western Europe (or at least Spain, France, and Germany). That is why Putin gets a pass. We need the Russians.

It's not a disgrace. It's just doing what we have to do to keep the country secure.