Tea with Strangers

Former KGB and Federal Security Service Col. Alexander Litvinenko was moved into the ICU of a London hospital over the weekend, just days after meeting with a “mysterious stranger” who claimed to have information on the death of Anna Politkovskaya.

Doctors found ungodly levels of the toxic poison thallium -- a high class rat poison -- in his system. While not nearly as sexy or 007-ish as the titanium-soaked ricin pellet which the Bulgarians used to eliminate Georgi Markov, London is becoming a rather dangerous place for Eastern European exiles.

The Kremlin was supremely displeased with Litvinenko’s defection in 2000. It has fermented this displeasure, while Litvinenko spent his time as an outspoken critic of Russia’s authoritarian drift. But thallium in a drink? You know its Amature Hour at the Apollo, when even the Bulgarians are more professional.

PBD