“The fact that Victor Yuschenko is flogging this actually gave me pause because he doesn’t seem to scare easily - he was the one poisoned by rivals during the election.”
Perhaps. But he’s a politician and losing power often seems worse than death. And I’m not saying he’s scared. To the contrary, I’m saying it sounds like a guy cynically turning a molehill into a mountain to close a big gap in the polls (which he is doing successfully).
And “elections may have to be canceled”, according to the story - simpily not letting a good crisis go to waste. More Hussein think spreading around the world, as it slowly turns back into countries ruled by tyrants.