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GWYNNE DYER: Russians tried to kill Britain's Prime Minister - what happens now?

Beyond the obvious "murder is bad," the attempt could set a precedent that puts us at risk of another world war

Britain’s soon-to-be-ex prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is so harmless and ineffectual that it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to kill him, but somebody in Russia apparently did.

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On June 15, two foreign construction workers were found guilty in London’s Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) of setting fire to two homes and one car that were once Starmer’s.

Their information was years out of date (although Starmer’s sister-in-law and her family were still living in one of the houses), and the arsonists were both ignorant and gullible. They were ‘disposable agents’, hired online on Telegram to do a simple attack: no training, money paid in crypto, no knowledge of who hired them or who the target was.

These days, lots of killings are ordered this way, and often it doesn’t annoy the person who paid for the hit, even if it fails. It still spreads fear and suspicion, keeps the other side busy, and creates opportunities for online conspiracy-mongering. (Russian bloggers immediately claimed the attacks were done by ‘rent boys’ trying........

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