Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday afternoon curiousity: A suicide in Austria
Anybody want to weave a story around this bit of news?
Police are investigating after a British nuclear energy expert involved in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme fell 40 metres to his death from a UN building in Vienna.
You cannot help but wonder whether the mullahs are sending a message to -- or throwing a brushback pitch at -- the Western delegations charged with boxing them in. With more hawkish leadership in the United States this would be a very bad move, because it would undermine the idea that "negotiations" -- in the talky sense rather than the "diplomacy of force" sense -- can contain Iranian aggression.
Of course, it might have been an accident.
CWCID: Dawnfire82's Facebook scroll.
5 Comments:
By 
Ray, at
Fri Oct 23, 02:02:00 PM:
Fell down 18 flights of stairs with twenty bullet holes in his back, worst case of suicide we ever saw.
Israelis blame Iranians. Iranians blame Israelis. Russians blame Americans. Austrians declare it a suicide. Case closed.
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Oct 23, 02:18:00 PM:
Vienna is a playground for intelligence agencies. Earlier this year some Chechens were involved in a Russian hit. Two months later, a buddy of his was shot in Dubai. Fun trivia, Ahmedinijad may have been involved in the murder of some Kurds in Vienna a while back. Because of its open doors to both eastern and western nations in the heart of Europe, Vienna was a major espionage battleground during the Cold War.
It's entirely plausible that this was done by a security service. That he apparently fell 40m down the center of a stairwell overnight certainly implies 'foul play.' Even blind drunks can't usually manage such a thing, and there are may more reliable ways to commit suicide. Being tossed off a height is a classic assassination method. No murder weapon and if you do it right you can't prove it wasn't a suicide.
Too many interested parties to speculate whodunnit. Iranians to intimidate other negotiating staff or remove an especially intransigent negotiator. Maybe he was working for the Iranians and was about to be found out. Maybe he was found out and someone offed him rather than taking the trouble of a trial or suffering the possibility that he might flee. Maybe a third party was after nuclear information. And it's possible that this is linked to the arrest of some aspiring jihadis at Cern.
Who knows?
By 
, at
Fri Oct 23, 04:05:00 PM:
According to this interview with Victor Davis Hanson, we are facing "armageddon" in Iran's nuclear threats.
"A big nation attempting to humiliate a small nation in a way the small nation simply cannot accept. Unseriousness among great powers. A gathering sense of impending catastrophe. Once again, it may be Armageddon time."
By , at
Fri Oct 23, 07:37:00 PM:
Of course, it might have been an accident.
Which reminds me of the old saw from Pravda, "It is no accident that.." (Or was it Izvestia?)
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Oct 23, 08:47:00 PM:
Re the 'armageddon' link: The Jews blow up a nuclear facility, so Iran goes nuts on the Arabs? I don't buy the idea that the Iranians would lash out at Gulf countries' petroleum production; that would be an absurd over-reaction and would remove one of their best threats. The Islamic Republic of Iran would likely not survive the ensuing consequences anyway.
Caveat: If the Saudis allow Israeli craft through their airspace, I could see retaliation against them, but overt military ones still beg credulity with me...
