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from the reports-of-my-death-are-greatly-exagerated dept.
'Murdered' Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko turns up alive
A Russian journalist and critic of the Kremlin, reported to have been shot dead in Ukraine, showed up alive at a press conference on Wednesday to declare that his murder was faked by Ukrainian security services in an effort to foil an assassination plot against him.
In a stunning development, Arkady Babchenko, 41, walked into a room of journalists in Kiev who had been expecting to get an update on his murder.
He apologized to his wife Olechka -- who on Tuesday was reported to have found him bleeding to death at his apartment -- for the "hell" she had gone through. Ukrainian officials offered a jaw-dropping explanation for his so-called death -- to expose a Russian plot against him.
Script flipped.
Also at BBC.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @12:56PM (16 children)
How did this save him?
Had they put him in hiding for the rest of his life, with the story left at "he's dead", it would have saved him.
But now he's known to be alive, plus a big stink has been made around him (in particular, there are similarities to the boy who cried wolf, since the ukrainian government said "russia did it", and then they said "well actually we faked it").
They are promising to give him protection, but they could have done this without the circus.
And they arrested one person, who could have been arrested without the circus.
So... really. What exactly was he saved from?!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @01:07PM
Credibility
(Score: 5, Insightful) by pkrasimirov on Thursday May 31 2018, @01:21PM (5 children)
> could have been arrested without the circus.
They wanted the person who ordered this murder, and to get him the "circus" was needed. And they got him, two of them. We will see how this unfoils, waiting for the proofs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @02:01PM (1 child)
you're responding to a troll/useful (to putin) idiot
he already knew what you said, but didnt want it to be true
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @02:49PM
I'm not a troll. I honestly did not think of the "requester pays when murder is made public, so we can trace the money" idea.
you may be right in that I'm an idiot, and I have to say I'd hate being useful to putin in any way, I'm sorry if my question degraded the quality of the discussion.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 31 2018, @05:23PM (2 children)
There are unlikely to be any proofs. Ukraine vs Russia is now a years old story, with a helluva lot of atrocities, including a downed airliner. And, there are no proofs of any of those atrocities. All of us read the accusations, all of us follow the circus after the accusation, and each of us decides that this side or that is "more credible". But, so far, there have been zero proofs.
Personally, I tend to side with Russia over Ukraine. But, I can't point to any one incident, and produce real proof that Ukraine was the "bad guy". Well - except for Ukraine banning the use of the Russian language in a province populated mostly by Russian speakers. That was definitely a strike against Ukraine.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 31 2018, @07:46PM
And, there are no proofs of any of those atrocities.
Uhh....there's plenty of proof that Russia invaded part of Ukraine and claimed Crimea. [wikipedia.org]
That you don't want to acknowledge that fact says more about you than about the quantity of proof available.
(Score: 4, Informative) by zocalo on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:07PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday May 31 2018, @02:34PM
There are a number of ways in which it may make sense.
One of them:
- they arrested the hitman just before the job, with the journo acting as bait
- they wanted to arrest the instigator but also wanted evidence that he was the correct person, so...
- ... they faked the murder (with the hitman in custody)...
- ... when the rest of the payment for the job came into hitman's account, they traced the source of it, maybe matched with a CCTV at the bank at the moment of transfer.
Yes, making public the murder fakery doesn't necessary help the would-be victim for the future, but maybe doing so secured the testimony of the hitman - no longer accused of murder (only of an attempted one) he may be more pliable to cooperation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday May 31 2018, @02:49PM (5 children)
I suppose if they killed him now, it would be quite clear Russia was behind it.
Althought, I suppose that would be the case anyhow.
And Russia has shown they do not give a shit who knows about their assassinations.
Yeah, I don't get it either.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Thursday May 31 2018, @04:46PM (4 children)
Now the question becomes: who would benefit from making it look like Russia killed him?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 31 2018, @05:26PM (3 children)
That's easy: America's Democrats. They've been howling "Russians Russians Russians" for almost two years now. If they can make Russia look bad, they think that will improve their own image, or some such crazy thing.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @07:16PM
OR they have legitimate concerns about foreign interests affecting elections, along with a having a president that is beholden more to a foreign nation than his own country.
Nah, its just to improve their election chances! /s
After Trumpster fire the Democrats just need to avoid shooting their foot off AGAIN, they are already primed to win most elections.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:09PM
You're overly specific for obviously partisan reasons, but not Redundant. The American government in general, as well as many other governments, would benefit from making Russia look bad.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:55PM
Thank you, Runaway! Finally, someone talking sense!
It was obviously a false flag operation by Killary and Soros, using a Clinton death squad dispatched from 200 West Street [wikipedia.org].
I mean, look what they've done to Roseanne Barr. She speaks the truth about the monkeys we've finally gotten rid of and she's pilloried for it. Bob Iger [wikipedia.org] knew the truth and nothing would have come from the tweets of such a wonderful patriot like Ms. Barr, except a death squad sent by Killary, Bill and George kidnapped his grandkids and threatened to traffick them to the Saudis if he didn't stomp on Roseanne hard.
Everything bad and evil is always the work of Killary and her minions.
I love you Runaway. We think exactly alike!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Bot on Thursday May 31 2018, @04:17PM
i disagree, perpetual hiding could be uncovered by accident or by a double agent and then the russians would have had a field day. Now, indeed, he remains a target, but whatever happens to him, filo russians will be the likely culprits.
A standard secret service op i guess, with exposure calculated to smear the opposition.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 31 2018, @07:37PM
But now he's known to be alive, plus a big stink has been made around him
It turns out that journalists investigating corrupt regimes that will gladly kill them for what they are reporting are kind of into the whole truth getting out there thing....