Now The Georgian PM Mysteriously Dies---What Is Putin Up To?

No sooner do we post on Russian President Vladimir Putin's dark dealings with Iran than another domino falls:

The lawmaker, Alexander Shalamberidze, noted that the death of Zhvania, 41, came days after a car bombing that killed three policemen in Gori, the city nearest to South Ossetia. Zhvania, considered a moderate influence in the government of this former Soviet republic, had been trying to negotiate settlements with the separatist regions.

``The explosion in Gori and Zhvania's death have dealt strong blows to our state. Now our neighbors are going to take advantage of that, they are saying we are almost savages living in the cold,'' Shalamberidze said.

Asked whom he meant, he replied: ``Russia. They are trying to prevent Georgia from getting stronger. The entire Russian diplomatic activity regarding our country confirms that.''

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, asked about the lawmaker's allegation, responded: ``The statements of those who rush to make judgments ... will remain on their consciences.''

Folks, this is getting scary.

Putin is an ex-KGB man. This sounds an awful lot like one of the KGB "special tasks" Pavel Sudoplatov,
Oleg Gordievsky,
and Christopher Andrew
have described. On top of the attempted assassination of Yuschenko in Ukraine, this is truly disturbing.

It looks an awful lot to me like Putin is attempting to reconstitute the Soviet Union.

[Edited to include article link---Teflon]