Boris Nemtsov assassinated

[evilC]

Anyone else feel like we're entering some kind of endgame phase?

[ursus arctos]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

I put this in the "Help Me Understand" thread, but it likely deserves its own.

Putin is taking personal control of the investigation, so clearly there is nothing to be concerned about.

I just realized that I've walked across the bridge he was shot on (which is just off Red Square) several times.

My immediate reaction is that, much like Ukraine, Putin and his aides don't have anything like complete control over well-armed yahoos who think that they are doing the Kremlin's bidding.

[ursus arctos]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Anti-Putin Twitter is over this like a rash.

The new Anna Chapman

[MsD]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Awful. Very worrying. Is the protest still going ahead?

[Sash08]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Mental, this.

Of course, fingers all pointing at Putin, that he is sending a "message", etc but I am struggling to see what he gets out of murdering a chap who carried zero political threat (especially given the timing & the location). Mind you, the events in Eastern Ukraine have long gone well beyond the realms of sanity & rationality.

Never been a fan of Nemtsov tbh. Perhaps, something to do with his visit to Oxford back in 1999/2000. He didn't come across particularly well & was just rather unconvincing. (Yavlinskiy came to the Union around the same time & was just miles better.)

[ursus arctos]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Anne Appelbaum, who is far from impartial, is saying that Tass is accusing the opposition of having murdered him as a "provoacation".

My Russian is nowhere close to being good enough to evaluate this claim, but it is troubling nonetheless.

[Borracho]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Anne Applebaum is so far up Boris Johnson's arse she can see Rod Liddle's feet. I wouldn't pay attention to anything she says.

Her book about life in the Warsaw pact countries is deadly dull, btw, if anyone's thinking of buying it.

[Magik]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Jonathan - Anne's ok comparing to her husband Radek Sikorski.

As for the Nemcov murder - don't be silly of course CIA did it. Just like the Kyiv fascist coup.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

It's a good thing Obama has demanded a thorough investigation from Putan. Because that will make all the difference we really need.

[anton pulisov]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Apparently the street where he was shot has now been cleaned, and his apartment searched.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Blimey, that's efficient. Chorley council only clean my street about twice a year.

[ursus arctos]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Yeah, they were out with power washers on the bridge within hours of the shooting. So much for forensics.

To answer MsD's good question, the opposition march for Sunday is still on, though there is serious discussion of turning it into a memorial for Nemtsov.

Good obit from the FT.

[Magik]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Ha! Told ya - killers used Ford auto (not renault or lada. etc), which directly leads to USA imperialists...

This piece is quite good (and shocking too) http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/28-02-2015/129934-boris_nemtsov_murdered-0/

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

so did putin have this guy shot, or did two drunken Knights back from the crusades hear him fulminating about who would rid him of this troublesome priest?

[Levin]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Magik wrote: Ha! Told ya - killers used Ford auto (not renault or lada. etc), which directly leads to USA imperialists...

This piece is quite good (and shocking too) http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/28-02-2015/129934-boris_nemtsov_murdered-0/

Fuck me, that article. Though I will now only refer to wikipedia as a CIA sponsored publication.

[Haddock]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Arkady Renko, just a fantasy isn't he? As I suppose is a John Rebus here. Except maybe just slightly less so. For now, anyway.

[ursus arctos]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Russia Today going for the Islamist/Ukrainian "fascist" combo.

Berbaslug, I'd strongly go for the latter. This is extremely brazen, even for Vlad

[Posty Webber]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Magik wrote: This piece is quite good (and shocking too) http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/28-02-2015/129934-boris_nemtsov_murdered-0/

The only thing shocking about that piece is that you think it's quite good.

It astounds and scares me that someone as clearly articulate and intelligent as the author has a hat or hats made completely of tin, rolled-thin and malleable.

[linus]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that Pravda would become a more interesting source than many western outlets, the world is really fucked up today.

[Guy Profumo]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote: so did putin have this guy shot, or did two drunken Knights back from the crusades hear him fulminating about who would rid him of this troublesome priest?

I'll be blunt.

I thought something similar, but couldn't find the words to articulate it.

Thanks, youth

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

it would have been better if I'd written "turbulent" instead of "troublesome"

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Guy Potger wrote:

so did putin have this guy shot, or did two drunken Knights back from the crusades hear him fulminating about who would rid him of this troublesome priest?

I'll be blunt.

I thought something similar, but couldn't find the words to articulate it.

Thanks, youth

I'm lost. Is this some Game of Thrones shit?

[ursus arctos]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Tens of thousands in the street in Moscow

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

Pat McGatt wrote:

so did putin have this guy shot, or did two drunken Knights back from the crusades hear him fulminating about who would rid him of this troublesome priest?

I'll be blunt.

I thought something similar, but couldn't find the words to articulate it.

Thanks, youth

I'm lost. Is this some Game of Thrones shit?

it's henry II and Thomas A Beckett. It also makes its appearance in the first series of Blackadder, so you were kind of close.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Boris Nemtsov assassinated

The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote:

so did putin have this guy shot, or did two drunken Knights back from the crusades hear him fulminating about who would rid him of this troublesome priest?

I'll be blunt.

I thought something similar, but couldn't find the words to articulate it.

Thanks, youth

I'm lost. Is this some Game of Thrones shit?

it's henry II and Thomas A Beckett. It also makes its appearance in the first series of Blackadder, so you were kind of close.

Well, it just goes to show the reach of my cultural references.