ABC News Exclusive: Murder in a Teapot

ABC News ^ | January 26, 2007 | Brian Ross and Maddy Sauer

[Ben Mugged]

British officials say police have cracked the murder-by-poison case of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, including the discovery of a "hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for Polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing.

A senior official tells ABC News the "hot" teapot remained in use at the hotel for several weeks after Litvinenko's death before being tested in the second week of December. The official said investigators were embarrassed at the oversight.

The official says investigators have concluded, based on forensic evidence and intelligence reports, that the murder was a "state-sponsored" assassination orchestrated by Russian security services.

Officials say Russian FSB intelligence considered the murder to have been badly bungled because it took more than one attempt to administer the poison. The Russian officials did not expect the source of the poisoning to be discovered, according to intelligence reports.

[GSlob]

"Funny how they all seem to have avoided this thread like the plague -- or polonium."
Well, "Cheburashka" popped up. But it is indeed funny and amusing. For general benefit [pro bono] in the early part of the polonium affair I formulated 3 basic rules on them:
1. Not a single words passing the lips of a kegebun could be trusted [and that includes the pauses they need to catch the breath or to swallow the saliva];
2. Not a single constructive deed by a kegebun can be trusted either. If a kegebun malingers a suicide - mistrust it and make sure by a double tap to the head. To their destructive capacity, however, one can give full faith and credit.
3. For the purposes of Rules 1 and 2, kegebuns are all those associated with the infamous organization, its predecessors, successors, assignees, creditors, lessees, etc [collectively, KGB], and all those associating with and/or pushing its agenda.

[albee]

" I'm a little Teapot, Short and Stout...........

Nah...that is Khrushev...and he's been dead for years now.

[GSlob]

Khrushchev was affectionately known as 'zhopa s ushami' [= "a-hole with ears"], and not as a teapot.

[albee]

Ya ponyemayu po russki. On tozheh bil svolatch.

[GSlob]

Well, the basic etiquette requires using commonly understood language on a public forum. Thus, when necessary, transliterations could be provided, but - as a common courtesy - they ought to be accompanied by translations.

[Paleo Conservative]

The official says investigators have concluded, based on forensic evidence and intelligence reports, that the murder was a "state-sponsored" assassination orchestrated by Russian security services.

Putin has been busy.

Why is Russia allowed to be in the G8? If they're going to act this way, it should revert to being the G7.

[albee]

"Well, the basic etiquette requires using commonly understood language on a public forum."

You had no way of knowing that Russian was my first language and I was just showing off.

[GSlob]

That's why I immediately provided the English translation. If you can get 'zhopu s ushami' without it - good and well. If you know the old joke from which it came - even better. And if you did not happen to know these - the translation was supposed to take care of the situation.

[Pontiac]

Please explain "kegebun" and "Cheburashka"

[GSlob]

"Cheburashka" is a FReeper screenname [post #11 on this thread is his/hers]. "kegebun" - dissident slang, derived from "KGB", and meaning, literally, "KGB-effer", or "effing KGB-[person]". Post # 21 explained who, and what, they are.