Despite all the evidence of a pattern of conspiratorial killings of journalists attempting to report on Russian corruption I was surprised this morning when I heard a comment on the GMA news segment saying we should not assume conspiracy! Looking at the various "accidents" how could one help but suspect that this is the case?

I fear for the people of Russia.
"High crime in the area"....nice try with 14 journalists dying under questionable circumstances.
Citizens are being prevented from protesting Putin. They are being denied freedom of assembly and free speech through deception and force and it appears if you know too much, death.
What's next? Another wall?

Do you really think Putin's government is behind this, or is it some other force at play to discredit Russia vis a vis their position NOT to bomb Iran??

Because as soon as people start becoming generally skeptical - even if it's just about Russian corruption - they'll begin to apply that same skepticism to American politics.

That's when things would get interesting.

Yes, it is hard to believe that anyone would commit cold blooded murder. But Putin...everyone forgets he was head of the KGB and we all know how "innocent" they are. Of course, our CIA is just as "innocent" as the KGB.

I'd be scared to death (literally) if I was a journalist in Russia and even thought about saying anything critical of the government. Czar Vladimir I is alive and well...

DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES should call for an independent inquiry into these attacks. This has become an international problem, and the Russian authorities have a very poor success rate in solving these crimes. It's one thing to murder your own critics, but it's another thing to murder critics who are citizens of other countries.

I completely agree with L2's comments and found it rather humerous to hear that as well this morning on GMA. With Russia and China still in pseudo-defense of Iran and most things related, it came as no surprise that the mainstream media would take that stance. Whether it be fed down from the State Department, the Bush Administration, or any other domestic or international entity, noone except the related human rights organizations would raise even the semblance of a red flag over any of the incidents involved. All the Middle East needs is for Russia to formally decide to put all stock/pressure in Iran, and create a plethera of colorful international situations for Mr. Bush to publicly flub and disgrace his, if not our, way through in the coming months. Given all that has occured regarding Journalismm in Russia recently, it will be interesting to see who takes the reins after Mr. Putin steps down, and what gets turned up after he has left.

How many U.S. reporters would be dead now if they were as aggressive as their Russian counterparts?

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

Add this:

"Expert in Russian poisoning case is shot FBI joins investigation, but officials think it’s just local crime"

just a local crime...

Riiiiiggggghhhhht....

The dead reporters were trying to
say publicly what everyone knows
privately, that Russia under
Putin is operated by robber baron
capitalists and organized crime.
No wonder their population is
crashing!

But I thought Bush looked into Putin's soul, and it was all good?

Putin was never head of the KGB, you're thinking of Andropov, a truly evil man who pushed the world the closest it's ever come to thermonuclear holocaust in 1983.

It's obvious Putin is behind it. Connect the dots: first, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent critic of the Vladimir Putin administration, is murdered in Moscow. Then Litvinenko, who was apparently investigating Anna's death. These people don't mess around.

"a comment on the GMA news segment saying we should not assume conspiracy"

All the world's media is run by either Rupert Murdoch or Murdoch-wannabes.

JimO.

Putin was in fact the head of the KGB. I thought it was common knowledge by know

Putin WAS head of the FSB - the successor of the KGB:

On July 25, 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin Head of the FSB (the successor agency to the KGB), the position Putin occupied until August 1999. He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on October 1, 1998 and its Head on March 29, 1999.

It's only a diversion to make Putin look bad. Like with the poisoned spy - he was killed by his own kind. And another post was correct, "it is too obvious." DUH
Putin is not behind the killings. My husband was also part of the KGB . . . you're right - they are equivalent to our CIA. The FBI are the incompetent ones. You have more to thank the CIA and KGB for than you can ever imagine. Russia has flourished under Putin's leadership. Please remember that the "evil" started under Yeltsin's watch.

FSB, KGB, GRU, NKVD, OGPU -- keep 'em separate in your minds and hearts (grin). As they say, it ain't what you don't know what makes you look like a fool, it's what you DO know what ain't so.

We don't know enough yet about Safronov's death, but the little we THINK we know -- most of which is probably, as usual, haste-induced garble, certainly could be disturbing, if it were worthy of belief.

That worthiness will come, thanks to a hard-core of courageous journalists in Moscow, who are fighting our fight and everyone's, viz., the struggle to understand rather than propagandize.

I will eat my hat if Putin steps aside quietly in a free, fair and timely election. But I really don't see that happening. There's just too much at stake right now. Mark my words - Putin is staying put - for the good of Russia.

Not long ago we feared powerful central governments who ruled with massive police forces within their borders. Now we fear small groups of highly skilled thugs who roam freely and cause terror.