High profile

The Litvinenko murder has been all over the media since yesterday morning. The police expert appearing on BBC´s Newsnight last night couldn’t hide his fascination by such a professional kill and the high profile aura around it.

With Casino Royal recently released in cinemas across town we can tell the cynicism, not just because of Litvinenko´s family tragedy surrounded by James-Bond-like media puff, but again fiction can be more tedious than reality and its anyone’s guess if the Casino Royal´s box office will go up or down. I think it was also in late November JFK was killed in Dallas, and how many bestsellers have been written about CIA´s involvement in that. How many did the Israelis secret agents surreptitiously execute after the Munich tragedy, who killed Laura Palmer.

Retribution, eye for an eye, one of many mesmerizing themes in the Icelandic Sagas, with the saga of Hrafnkell Freysgoði suggesting that if you show the enemy mercy he will return one day and kill you. I think it was Jacob in the bible who showed his brothers mercy when, after they had tried to kill him, they came to him decades later, didn’t recognise him as a king and asked for food. Maybe we should just think for ourselves, the expert on Newsnight did, Mr. Litvinenko did, thought is wasn't part of his old job he did bargain for.