Via MSNBC, an Associated Press report on Ivan Safronov’s death: Russia opens inquest into reporter’s death

A journalist who fell to his death from a fifth-story window had received threats while gathering material for a report claiming Russia planned to provide sophisticated weapons to Syria and Iran, his newspaper said Tuesday.

Prosecutors have opened an inquest into the death of Ivan Safronov, a military affairs writer for the daily Kommersant who died Friday in what some media said could have been murder.

Kommersant reported that Safronov told his editors he would write a story about Russian plans to sell weapons to Iran and Syria via Belarus, but they said he had not yet submitted the article.

In the old days the transaction would have gone through Bulgaria, but now they use Belarus because Aleksandr Lukashenko needs to pay his bill for Russian natural gas.

It’s a pretty interesting shopping list: MiG-29 and Su-30 fighters, Iskander [SS-26 Stone] surface-to-surface missiles, S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, and the Pantsyr-S1 missile/cannon close support anti-aircraft defense systems. The anti-aircraft systems are top shelf and pose a real problem for an attacking air force. The aircraft and Iskander systems are targets and a waste of money against either the US or Israel, unless the intention is to divert resources.

Putin has transferred his belief system from Karl Marx to Gordon Gekko, so he will sell weapons to anyone with cash.

Like Henry II of England, he doesn’t have to order people to be eliminated, it just happens. Of course, this might be the result of the people who talked to Safronov in the UAE realizing they should have kept their mouths shut, and removed a potential obstacle to their career advancement.

I’ve seen this around the neighborhood, so I’ll post the link.

From The News Hole, the blog of Countdown – SHOCK: DRUDGE TAKES CLIP OUT OF CONTEXT! DEVELOPING…:

The audio clip Drudge used is out of context. Not included in his version is Hillary’s set up, which leads into her quoting from a well-known hymn by famed gospel composer Reverend James Cleveland.

The congregation immediately recognized the hymn and cheered her.

And she only affected that accent when citing that one refrain from the Cleveland hymn, a Baptist church standard.

The audio clip on Drudge is also somewhat altered – whether deliberately or because it is a dub – from the real-time version we have.

I’m not a fan of Mrs. Clinton, but nobody needs to put up with this kind of crap. There are substantial issues to argue about without dealing with the stupid. They have a longer clip so you can judge for yourself.

DeeDee Jonrowe second to scratch Iditarod 35.

Ms. Jonrowe is a cancer survivor who has been at the front multiple times, including runner-up twice. She took a spill and broke at least one bone in her hand.

The hand injuries are a major problem because it is nearly impossible to change the boots on the dogs with only one good hand.

Why couldn’t NPR have found someone other than Libby Lewis to report on the Lewis Libby trial and conviction?

Hide the dogs and arm the women – for the next 60 days the Florida legislature is in session.

The local public radio stations usually carry Capital Report during the annual two-month spasm of political opera. Willing suspension of disbelief is helpful in listening to the foolishness foisted upon the citizens of the state by its part-time lawmakers.