Careful What You Say

We tend to forget how small the world is becoming these days. With communication systems and global media bringing even the most remote parts of the world closer together, it's difficult not to say something, post something or record something without someone somewhere in the world eventually finding out about it if they were so inclined. I often check out the locations of the hits on my pages, just to find out where people are coming from and how they may happen upon my humble blog. It's interesting to sometimes see the chain of words that have no clear connection to my page come up at random and then get someone directed here. It just goes to show that if you look hard enough, you can find anything you want out there. That includes video footage of you criticizing the Russian government.

Pictured with this blog is Paul Joyal; an expert on Russian Intelligence and outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Joyal was also one of the vocal experts on television who spoke out against the KGB and their assumed involvement in the poisoning death of former KGB agent and spy Alexander Litvineko. Now police are investigating it as a local matter seeing as how it was an apparent robbery. Police investigators are claiming that robbery could be the only motive because Joyal's wallet and cash are missing after the shooting. They don't seem to suspect any involvement of any intelligence agency since it was just coincidental that several weeks before, Joyal had been on television openly criticizing President Putin and restating the belief that the Russian government and KGB was involved in the death of Agent Litvineko. Connection? For the conspiracy theorists out there, this case is ripe with fodder; for others it may only be coincidental.

Part of the rub in this case comes from the fact that Litvineko was poisoned under similar circumstances. After appearing on television and criticizing President Putin, he was soon after admitted to a hospital with symptoms of poisoning. It turned out he was infected with a radioactive isotope that couldn't have come from anywhere other than an injection into food or drink that led to his having such high doses that death occured within a short time. Again, one can say that it was a grudge held by someone else but the circumstances are enough to draw any number of conclusions, the most popular at present being that he was poisoned by the Russians and now they have come after Joyal.

This is not to say that I do or don't believe it; but I do believe that there are lots of people out there (all over the world) who labor and live under the belief that whatever they say or think or feel is right, and anything against that belief is a threat to their very existance. Some tend to take criticism and other opinions for what they are and strive to improve themselves or their policies by listening to the people. The hope that most every citizen of a democracy has is the hope that as a democracy they have a voice in their government and can speak out to effect change. To say that 'because I'm not running for election' it doesn't matter what the opinion of your country's citizens are means that you don't care for what the people are saying or feeling.

As I have said in previous blogs; we elect people to be our leaders but even more to the point, in a democracy, we elect them to be our leaders. If they don't want to represent us or don't care about our opinions or input, then it is our right as a democracy to speak out and say what we feel. When leaders start to stifle the voice of the people, especially when it is a voice in peaceful protest, those leaders begin to show their true colors and soon people tend to realize that perhaps they're not wanting a democracy but a monarchy. That's a bad thing. Speak out about what you feel. There are so many ways to make your voice heard; just know that whatever you say, no matter how private, may eventually get back to those you are speaking about.