OK, so it’s been well over a week and probably two that I’ve been working on this article.  It’s become, as I have mentioned in the past, something of an obsession for me.  Still, I do think that this article represents some of the best web research I’ve done in a while, not to mention that I think I’ve made a pretty compellingly-written article.

Welcome to the world of power and money in the new, nominally Democratic Russia.  Those of us for whom KGB spies and the quiet deaths of dissidents seem to be faded memories of James Bond adventures past will be surprised to find how little actually changed in the last fifteen years.  There was, in fact, only one brief photo-flash of democracy, and the rest of the last decade and a half has been nothing but misery for Russians.  The KGB changed it’s name, but not it’s practices:

Echoes of Dagestan, World and National Politics ~ DragonFlyEye.Net

[O]n August 31st of 1999, in the town of Buynaksk in the Dagestan province of southern Russia, a bomb is detonated in an apartment building, killing 64 people including Russian soldiers. This is the second bombing in a week and one of four bombings that will later be known as “The Russian Apartment Bombings.” These attacks will claim more than 300 lives in just under two weeks, and will be blamed on the growing Chechen separatist movement, prompting the Russian military to occupy that disputed territory. Before the dust has settled and the victims removed, the newly-elected President Putin will declare - fully two years before the United States - Russia’s own War on Terror.

Elsewhere, former KGB/FSB agent turned political dissident Alexander Litvinenko sits in prison on charges stemming from an alleged misuse of power in the line of duty in the early nineties. Litvinenko had been working in the Central Staff of the FSB, charged with counter terrorism and infiltration of organized crime. In time, Litvinenko will publish a book charging Vladimir Putin with using the FSB to mastermind the Russian Apartment Bombings. In time, Alexander Litvinenko will die.

There are a great many articles out there right now hinting at the shape of things just under the water where Alexander Litvinenko are concerned.  One article may show a relationship between two men, and another may show a relationship between another two men.  But as yet, I have not seen as complete a picture of the figures in this sordid tale or how they relate to one another.  In this piece, I stitched together information from news articles, Wikipedia entries and anything else I could find that would corroborate the narrative that eventually unfolded for me. 

In fact, that’s how the article began: I was trying to figure out all the hard-to-pronounce names of all the Russians involved in the story, started looking each of them up, and found clue after clue about each of them.  It got confusing enough that I felt the need to write down a timeline; that timeline got progressively longer and longer until I knew I had a story that aught to be told.

So, please take the time to check it out!  I always say that, of course, but this one I am very proud of.  If you like it, post a comment on it or track back to it (those are the icons on the upper right hand of the article).  And pass it along!

Technorati Tags: Litvinenko, Berezovsky, Putin, Russia, KGB, FSB

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The folks at WordPress sent out a friendly warning to developers and bloggers alike: the new version of WP is going to have some significant changes to it’s core, and they’re very likely to affect plugins:

Development Blog ? Is your plugin Naughty or Nice?

WordPress 2.1 is almost here and you know what that means for developers. It?s time to pull out those old plugins you?ve had stashed, blow off the dust and start applying some spit and polish and make sure it will last longer than Grandma?s Ham and Bean soup that has been sitting in the refrigerator for weeks. Many of the big changes in WordPress 2.1 are MySQL related so grab a pen and paper (or open Notepad) and start taking notes.

I have to say that I’m a bit confused as to why a new version that makes such significant changes to the database constitutes a sub-version rather than an entirely new WP3.0, but I guess if its your product, you get to name it what you want.  In any event, plugin-monkeys like myself need to pay special attention to the changes found here so we can be ready.  I don’t often write my own plugins, but I’ve got one widgetized plugin that’s out there for public consumption, and I use TONS of plugins to make this page work.

The big thing is that when you upgrade you pay careful attention to the directions they give out for all new versions: make sure you disable all your plugins before upgrading, and make sure you turn them on one at a time to find out which ones work with the new version and which ones do not.  That last bit is critical this time, because if the developer used the now-eliminated wp_ functions, it’s likely to crash your blog with an ugly SQL error and eliminate your ability to access even the Admin area.

It’s a shame that they cannot develop a version of WP that does not crash so hard.  It seems like it should be possible to create WP such that it exits gracefully and at least gives you access to the Admin area when the shit hits the fan, but I presume that it is not, in fact, possible.  Forcing the inexperienced to delete files through FTP takes them well outside of the GUI world you gave them, which probably causes a fair amount of anxiety in the noobies out there.

So, put that on my wish-list along with a customizable Admin page.  Give me those two, and I’m all set.

Technorati Tags: WordPress, Development

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Don’t expect anything the kiddies can watch, folks.  This ain’t yo mama’s blog.  But if you’re ready for a turn at the adult swim, check out Henry Rollins laying it out for ya nice and simple:

YouTube - Henry Rollins “America is under attack.”

Henry Rollins tells it like it is. Fuck the Neo-cons and there destruction of America.

Yeah, that’s good stuff.

Technorati Tags: Henry Rollins, Democracy, Bush

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In case you’ve missed it, there’s a link on each individual post on this blog taking you to the BBC’s or Wikipedia’s “This Day in History” links.  I’m planning on making such tools much easier to spot and less garbled with the body text, so you’ll be able to see it better soon enough, I hope.  In the meanwhile, here’s one of today’s more interesting entries:

BBC ON THIS DAY | 9 | 1992: American marines land in Somalia

Their mission is to spearhead the arrival of 35,000 troops from a dozen countries assembled as part of a US led multi-national operation to crack down on looting and extortion that has prevented food getting through.

American forces were expecting to tackle hostile gunmen who have been holding the famine-stricken country to ransom in a conflict which has seen around 300,000 people killed in the last year ever since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted and local warlords took over.

But instead of fierce fighting, the marines were greeted by the world’s media.

Read more. . . . .

Technorati Tags: 1992, Somalia, History

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Dare to keep readers off topic:

U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

Washington D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the outgoing Chairman of Environment & Public Works Committee, is pleased to announce the public release of the Senate Committee published booklet entitled ?A Skeptic?s Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism. Hot & Cold Media Spin Cycle: A Challenge To Journalists who Cover Global Warming.?

Meanwhile, the National Science Teacher’s Association does what it can to keep kids off topic as well:

The Blog | Laurie David: Crooked Curriculum: Oil Company Money Scandal at Nat’l Science Teachers Association Deepens | The Huffington Post

Since the Washington Post published an op-ed I wrote asking if NSTA’s puzzling decision to reject 50,000 free DVDs of Al Gore’s global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth might - just might - have had anything to do with more than six million dollars the organization has accepted from ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, ConocoPhillips and the American Petroleum Institute, the muck keeps piling up.

It’s a shame that all the rest of us have on our side is truth and inevitability.  Those are seldom enough.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Big-Oil, Global Warming

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?

Wesley Snipes arrested over tax charges || Reuters UK:

Snipes was charged along with Eddie Ray Kahn of Sorrento, Florida, and Douglas Rosile of Venice, Florida, who has surrendered to the police, Paul Perez, the district attorney said in October.

Perez said Kahn is the founder of American Rights Litigators (ARL) and its successor, Guiding Light of God Ministries (GLGM), both based in central Florida. Rosile is an accountant who prepared tax returns for ARL members.

The indictment said ARL claimed to use aggressive accountants to protect Americans’ rights and the GLGM “held itself out as a Christian ministry … established to assist men and women in their pursuit of truth and freedom as Americans.”

“In reality, ARL and GLGM were for-profit, commercial enterprises that promoted and sold fraudulent tax schemes …,” the indictment said.

Oh, dear.? Wesley should really check out Snopes.com some time.? That would be much, much better than believing some half-assed scheme to not pay taxes on American-earned income (which, by the way, I didn’t know he had any of that lately).? Certainly, it would be better than defending himself after falling prey to moronic schemes by saying the following:

?

Snipes earlier said in an e-mail to Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell that he was being targeted unfairly at least partly because he is black and famous.

“It appears I’m to be the scapegoat, because there’s more public interest in ‘celebrities gone bad’ than ‘rich people being taken advantage of,’” Snipes said in the e-mail.

“Being a black male who asks questions doesn’t help the situation either,” he said.

Um-hum.? It’s The Man holdin’ a good brother down, that’s what it is.

This one’s a shortie! Getting close to the holidays, and I guess I’m getting lazy!

The DragonFlyEye.Net Blog ? Litvinenko’s Poisoning Pinpointed

It appears that Scotland Yard believes it has pinpointed the moment of Litvinenko’s poisoning, which did indeed occur at the hotel with his buddy Lugovoi. Does this mean a double-cross or a convenient moment for some other attacker?: Scotland Yard ascertains route of Litvinenko?s poisoner - Politics - REGNUM

The DragonFlyEye.Net Blog ? Dude, Just Slow Down!

Well, the D&C needs to sell papers, and so they’re diplomatic. But the winter weather was most certainly not “the cause” of the accidents. It’s the drivers, and the drivers really aught to be ashamed. As long as I live, I don’t know if I’ll ever fully understand this. You gotta figure more than half the people in these accidents have lived in Rochester or the surrounding areas all their lives; statistics alone bare this out. How can so many people be so completely inept at winter driving? I remember living in Sodus, the first heavy snow fall of the season would always bring with it a slew of SUV’s stuck on the side of 104 in Webster.

Technorati Tags: Litvinenko, Rochester, Rochester International Airport, Baker Report

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It appears that Scotland Yard believes it has pinpointed the moment of Litvinenko’s poisoning, which did indeed occur at the hotel with his buddy Lugovoi.  Does this mean a double-cross or a convenient moment for some other attacker?:

Scotland Yard ascertains route of Litvinenko?s poisoner - Politics - REGNUM

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard managed to ascertain where exactly ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned. Under the most recent theory, it happened at the lobby of the Millennium Hotel in central London, where on November 1 Litvinenko met Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun.

Technorati Tags: Litvinenko, Polonium

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Wow.  I went out for my usual morning Starbucks run, and what a freakin’ mess it is out there.  Fortunately, most people driving on Mt. Hope this morning appeared to have the basics of winter driving down.  Rule #!: slow the hell down, jerk-ass.  But apparently, people on I-390 still need an education:

Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

One of the first snowfalls in December was the cause of several morning accidents. There were at least 12 accidents by 7:15 a.m. but nobody had been brought to Strong Memorial Hospital for treatment of motor vehicle injuries. Four accidents occurred on I-390, including one at Exit 16 heading into Brighton, two at Jefferson Road in Henrietta, and one at Brighton-Henrietta Town Line Road.

Well, the D&C needs to sell papers, and so they’re diplomatic.  But the winter weather was most certainly not “the cause” of the accidents.  It’s the drivers, and the drivers really aught to be ashamed.  As long as I live, I don’t know if I’ll ever fully understand this. You gotta figure more than half the people in these accidents have lived in Rochester or the surrounding areas all their lives; statistics alone bare this out.  How can so many people be so completely inept at winter driving?  I remember living in Sodus, the first heavy snow fall of the season would always bring with it a slew of SUV’s stuck on the side of 104 in Webster.

I suppose that, living the hick life that I did as a child in places like Honeoye, Bloomfield and particularly Sodus, I learned to deal with nasty weather as a matter of survival: if you go off the road on Rt. 350, it may be a while before anyone notices and longer before anyone stops.  Also, as a person who’s done a fair amount of small-boat (under 24′) piloting on Lake Ontario, perhaps its just that I’m used to controlling something that does not really stop when you tell it to.

So here, then, are Tommy’s Winter Driving Tips.  It’s a short list, and to my mind, the only ones that really matter when you’re behind the wheel (meaning I’ve left out the whole “get snow tires” and “change your windshield wipers” suggestions):

1. Slow the hell down, jerkass.  There is a delicate balance to be struck between sliding and driving, and this cannot be achieved above a certain speed.  Believe it or not, if you just relax and pay attention, the road conditions will tell you how fast you should go and you don’t need to really think about it.  Use the force, Luke!
2. The question is not “Am I sliding?”  The question is “Am I sliding in the right direction?”  You can’t avoid sliding forever.  You should probably try, but you won’t be able to be 100% successful.  Once you’ve begun sliding, you’ve already lost the ability to stop the car, so don’t make the situation worse by hitting the brakes.  If you do, you go from four wheels to four skis, all aimed in a random direction you probably didn’t want to go.  Winter driving is all about inertia, baby; navigating a controlled slide is about using that intertia; it’s a zen-type-thang.  If you have front wheel drive, turn the wheel in the direction of the slide and let the front wheels catch up to the rear wheels.  Or, if you were trying to turn at the time, split the difference between the direction the car is aimed and the direction you want to go in.

I hope that helps somebody out there understand the subtler points of winter driving.  It’s tough in part because it’s counter-intuitive: to control the car, you need not only to be able to accept a relative lack of control, but to use that lack of control to your benefit.  Just like life.

Technorati Tags: Winter, Driving, Rochester

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