Suspicions about the role of the exiled Russian-Israeli criminal syndicates in the poisoning of Litvinenko, including that headed by Litvinenko's friend, wanted oligarch Boris Berezovsky, re-surfaced after former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar became violently ill after eating breakfast at a conference he was attending in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland's banking secrecy laws has made it a favorite location for the Russian-Israeli Mafia.

Gaidar's sudden illness occurred a day after Litvinenko died in a London hospital from poisoning from polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope when ingested. Radioactive traces were later discovered at sites around London, including Berezovsky's offices in the West End.

Gaidar was moved from a Dublin hospital to a Moscow hospital where he received a telephone call from Putin wishing him a speedy recovery. Putin's Mafiosi critics in Britain, Israel, Moscow, and other countries have accused the Russian leader of poisoning Litvinenko and attempting to kill Gaidar.

However, Russian officials are claiming that the attacks were carried out by Putin's criminal opponents who want to create tension between Moscow and the West.

Their arguments appear to have merit when the choice of radioactive isotope used to kill Litvinenko is considered. Intelligence experts point out that polonium was discovered by Marie Curie (nee Maria Sklodowska) in 1897 and named after her native homeland Poland (Polonia in Latin) to express her support for Polish independence against its partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria.

Before Putin moved in to take over Yukos Oil from the Russian criminal syndicates, there were plans to build a Russian-German gas pipeline through Poland. After Poland was taken over by a neo-con team of identical twins Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who serve as President and Prime Minister, respectively, Poland not only began to conduct a witch hunt against ex-Communists but also became a base of operations for the anti-Putin Russian-Israeli exiled gangsters and oligarchs.

Named as Defense Minister was former American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Radek Sikorski, who also happens to be married to Washington Post editorial board member and leading neo-con journalist Anne Applebaum, also a leading critic of Putin (along with a number of so-called "liberals," including Clinton ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke).

After Putin decided, along with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to bypass Poland and build the Russo-German pipeline under the Baltic Sea, Sikorski unleashed a barrage against Russia and Germany. He likened the pipeline deal to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement that carved up Eastern Europe, including Poland, between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Sikorski asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to cancel the pipeline deal but she refused.

We now know that Litvinenko was working on unspecified "energy issues" in London. We also know he has been described as a Russian-Israeli "double agent" and was reported to have transferred classified Russian documents in Yukos to a Russian-Israeli exiled oligarch in Tel Aviv. Double agents are always in danger from the party they are working against.

Litvinenko's killers' use of polonium, named by Marie Curie in support of Polish independence, may mean that the assassins are more likely found in Warsaw's Russian-Israeli mob infested intelligence apparatus than in the Kremlin.

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Mr Scaramella has since been taken to hospital for further tests. Italian doctors said he had tested positive for a "significant" amount of the poison.

Meanwhile, doctors wearing specialist protective clothing have started the post mortem examination of Mr Litvinenko at a hospital in east London.

Detectives investigating the death of the 43-year-old, who died last Thursday, are investigating letters smuggled out of Russia. The letters purportedly show the existence of a secret squad set up to target him and others, it was claimed today.

Scotland Yard has been passed copies of two letters apparently written in jail by the former Russian intelligence officer Mikhail Trepashkin. In one, Mr Litvinenko is warned that he and his family are at risk.

Mr Litvinenko's London friend Alex Goldfarb said scans of the letters came into his possession yesterday, and he passed them to Scotland Yard.

Mr Trepashkin - who worked for the KGB's successor, the FSB, until 1997 - was tried in 2004 on accusations of being a British spy and passing secret information to Mr Litvinenko and his close friend Boris Berezovsky, the tycoon in exile in the capital.

Mr Litvinenko believed he was being targeted for criticising the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

However, British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that the former spy, killed by polonium 210, was the victim of a plot involving "rogue elements" within the Russian state, it was reported today.

While ruling out any official involvement by Vladimir Putin's government, investigators believe only those with access to state nuclear laboratories could have mounted such a sophisticated plot.

Three pathologists are carrying out his post-mortem examination at the Royal London hospital. One is representing the government and one Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina, while an independent pathologist is gathering evidence for any criminal investigation.

Also today, the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, met her Russian counterpart and received renewed assurances that Moscow would cooperate fully with the investigation into Mr Litvinenko's death.

"When the questions are formulated and sent through the existing channels, we will consider them thoroughly," the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Sergei Lavrov as saying. "Now the ball is on the English side, and everything depends on the British investigators."

Mrs Beckett's conversation with Mr Lavrov, which followed an earlier phone call between the two, did not mean Russia was being obstructive, the prime minister's spokesman said.

The investigation into possible rogue Russian agents centres on a group of men who entered the UK among a large crowd of Muscovite football fans.

The group of five or more, who arrived shortly before Mr Litvinenko fell ill, attended CSKA Moscow's match against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium on November 1 and flew back shortly afterwards.

While describing them only as witnesses, police believe their presence could hold the key to the former spy's death.

Yesterday, the Irish government said it was launching a separate investigation focusing on the former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, who fell ill during a visit to Ireland a week ago.

At first, Mr Gaidar's entourage thought he was suffering from something he had eaten, but one of his aides yesterday said doctors suspected he had been poisoned.

The Gardaí said it would question everyone Mr Gaidar had been in contact with, but there was no immediate link to the Litvinenko case.

In London, the number of locations searched by police for traces of radioactive material rose to 24 yesterday, with polonium 210 found at 12 of those.

The home secretary, John Reid, told the Commons there was a "high level" of contamination at some of the locations, but said the risk to the public was low.

It was reported that the levels of radiation were highest in the toilets of the Millennium hotel in London, where Mr Litvinenko had a meeting shortly before falling ill.

These levels were above the safe public dose limit, Channel 4 News reported. There were also traces at the Itsu sushi bar, where he went later, but they were far lower.

Explaining the increasing belief that Mr Litvinenko's death involved Russian state elements, one official said yesterday: "Only the state would have access to that material."

Officials have now gone so far as to say that the involvement of individuals within the FSB in the affair is "probable". However, they insist it is far from definite, and the evidence is still circumstantial.

Intelligence sources do not rule out the possibility that the perpetrators were "rogue elements" either still in the FSB or former members of it.

Three British Airways aircraft have been taken out of service in connection with the investigation, with traces of polonium 210 found on two of them. One has now been cleared to return to service, the airline said today.

The culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, and Lord Coe, who flew to Barcelona, are among those known to have travelled on one of the contaminated planes.

"I'm feeling absolutely tiptop," Ms Jowell said today. "This was a scare that never was."

The poisoning came a day after Mr Litvinenko, a former Russian security service officer, died in London, apparently after ingesting a radioactive isotope, polonium 210. Some public figures in Russia were quick to link the two incidents.

Mr Gaidar, 50, fainted as he was finishing a speech at the university college in Maynooth, west of the Irish capital.

A colleague, Ekaterina Genieva, told the Noviye Izvestia newspaper: "I went up to him. He was lying on the floor unconscious. There was blood coming from his nose; he was vomiting blood. This went on for more than half an hour," she said.

Mr Gaidar was flown to Moscow and is in a stable condition at an unnamed hospital. President Vladimir Putin telephoned him yesterday to wish him a speedy recovery.

The economist's spokesman, Valery Natarov, said preliminary information from doctors suggested he had not suffered from food poisoning. "They think it is a substance they cannot so far identify - it is not a natural poisoning," he said.

Mr Gaidar said he ate a fruit salad and drank a cup of tea on the day he fell ill. His family declined to comment on whether he was affected by a radioactive substance. But his daughter, Masha, who runs a political movement called Democratic Alternative, said he had lost half his weight. "He's very pale and he looks like he hasn't eaten for a week," she said.

Officials at the Russian embassy in Dublin, where Mr Gaidar stayed on Saturday night claimed that he had been suffering from gastroenteritis.

However, Mr Natarov told the Guardian that Mr Gaidar had not had medical problems before the incident. "He works so hard, travels so much, he's always on the run - he just wouldn't be able to do all that without good health."

Another of the "young reformers", Anatoly Chubais, now head of the Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System, linked Mr Gaidar's illness to the assassination of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow in October. "It is unquestionable for me that a mortal construction of Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Gaidar, which did not come into being by miracle, would have been exceedingly attractive for supporters of unconstitutional scenarios envisioning a change of power in Russia by force," he said.

Litvinenko, an ex-KGB man who was a strong critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, died last week of radiation poisoning.

Traces of the same radiation substance were found on two BA planes on Wednesday. A third is being held in Moscow until it is safe to return.

Reid said examinations had been carried out on a fourth plane which is leased by Transaero and flew into Heathrow from Moscow on Thursday morning, but was later cleared.

There have been concerns about a fifth plane, also a Russian aircraft, he added.

BA is contacting some 33,000 passengers and 3,000 staff since announcing on Wednesday night that "low levels of radioactive traces" had been found on two of its aircraft at Heathrow Airport in London.

A BA spokesman said the planes which had been flown between London and Moscow were being examined because "individuals involved in the Litvinenko case" had traveled on them.

The alert involves 221 flights within Europe made by the three short haul 767s.

In a statement made to the public, the British Airways said it has been advised that "this investigation is confined solely to these three B767 aircraft, which will remain out of service until further notice."

About 5,500 passengers have rung a BA helpline since the radiation alert was issued on Thursday night, whereas some 1,700 calls have been made to the National Health Service following the radiation scare.

Some 69 people have been referred to the Health Protection Agency as a precaution. Of the 29 tested, none had worrying results. Another 18 had been referred to specialist clinics, according to Sky news.

The Russian's death last Thursday has triggered a growing health scare as traces of radiation have been found at more locations, and on board aircraft, apparently linked to the ex-spy or those who allegedly killed him.

According to the latest figures, about 1,700 people have called the government-run health service's hotline saying they were at the locations Litvinenko is said to have visited on the day he fell ill.

Of those, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) -- the body managing the unprecedented situation -- has followed up on 139 cases. As of Thursday, a total of 24 had been referred to specialists for an exposure assessment.

Home Secretary John Reid told parliament Thursday that traces of radiation had been found at around 12 locations, out of a total of about 24 venues which were under investigation.

Among people concerned about possible exposure to a radioactive substance found on two British Airways planes so far were Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and 2012 London Olympics organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe.

They travelled to Barcelona on one of the BA aircraft. They have spoken to the authorities and the plane has since been given the all-clear.

Britain's top police officer Sir Ian Blair said the cost of the police investigation so far was 300,000 pounds (590,000 dollars, 445,000 euros).

The probe has gradually homed in on a string of London locations -- including two hospitals, a sushi bar and a hotel -- and three BA planes used on London-Moscow flights.

BA said it was doing everything it could, after taking calls from more than 7,500 concerned customers so far on its special helpline and receiving more than 60,000 hits on its Internet page relating to the radiation alert.

The airline said earlier that about 33,000 of its passengers may have come into contact with a radioactive substance.

British police and intelligence services increasingly suspect that "rogue elements" within the Russian state are behind Litvinenko's death on November 23, The Guardian reported on Friday, and they have apparently ruled out official Kremlin involvement.

Citing sources within the police and intelligence services, the paper said investigators were hunting a group of five or more men who arrived in London shortly before Litvinenko fell ill on November 1, and watched a Champions League football match between London club Arsenal and CSKA Moscow the same day.

The group, described thus far only as witnesses, flew back to Moscow shortly afterward.

Meanwhile, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi said that he was in London to attend the CSKA game with Dmitry Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko, all three of whom met with Litvinenko at the hotel on November 1.

Police also believe that Litvinenko was poisoned at or near the sushi bar, The Independent reported on Friday.

Meanwhile, stricken former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar's spokesman said he was the victim of an "unnatural" poisoning, fuelling fears his case may be linked to that Litvinenko and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, also a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was murdered in October.

Police in Ireland, where Gaidar fell ill, have started an inquiry into what caused his illness. Gaidar is currently at a hospital in Moscow.

This came days before the New Republic's Jonathan Chait, a cheerleader for the Iraq War, published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times headlined "Bring Back Saddam Hussein":

"Just maybe our best option is to restore Saddam Hussein to power...Yes, I know. Hussein is a psychotic mass murderer. Under his rule, Iraqis were shot, tortured and lived in constant fear."

I would be quick to dismiss these statements as the insane blatherings of merely two lunatics who are clearly so embarrassed by their advocacy for the Iraq War, that they have lost all control of their faculties. But such absurd comments have now become a mainstay of today's op-ed pages. Just a few months ago, the New York Times' David Brooks wrote that "voters shouldn't be allowed to define the choices in American politics." Then there was was columnist Mort Kondracke on Fox News saying the veterans health care system "doesn't work" even though by all objective measures, it is the best health care system in the entire country.

And of course, we have the New York Times' billionaire columnist Tom Friedman appearing on national television to admit that he regularly uses his space on the op-ed page to push free trade deals that he hasn't even bothered to read. He's the same guy who pushed the Iraq War, then criticized the war, and now, just today, published a piece saying we should consider "reinvading Iraq with at least 150,000 more troops" and staying there for 10 more years. He's also the same guy who has taken to destructive proportions the famous laugh line in the Money Pit about the house being fixed in "two weeks," using his column since 2003 to keep claiming that all in Iraq will be finished in a matter of another "six months."

But I must admit, as funny/sad as it is to watch Friedman's house of credibility come crashing down as he does his best Walter-Fielding-on-the-collapsing-stairway impression, nothing is more enjoyable these days than to watch the Wax Figure himself, George Will. His entire column today is about how "uncivil" it was for Sen.-elect Jim Webb to tell President Bush he wants the troops brought home, and how nauseating it is to the Washington pundit class that a U.S. Senator would have the gall to talk about economic inequality. I mean, you need to read this thing - Wax Figure even goes off on Webb for using blunt language, saying he is supposedly "turning out slapdash prose that would be rejected by a reasonably demanding high school teacher."

Yes, folks - the sociopaths on the right have been relegated to grammar criticism and demands that everyone in Washington attend Miss Manners. Because what really offends someone like George Will is not Americans dying in a war based on lies (Why should it? He's a Washington insider with connections, dammit, and he's not personally affected by such dirty things); it's not an economic class war being waged on working people (Why should it? he's a well-paid pundit who can't be bothered with such trifles); it's not even his fellow Washington Post pal Richard Cohen saying that violence is "therapeutic" (what a message for the kids!). No - what really truly offends the Wax Figure's Capital Grille sensibilities is "incivility" and grammar. Oh, except for one thing - that's not offensive when it comes from people like Dick Cheney who told other Senators to "f*&! off" and George W. Bush, that world famous master of the King's English.

None of this is normal, socially acceptable behavior in the real, non-pundit world. These are the kind of sociopathic outbursts that, outside the Beltway, get people fired from their jobs, expelled to pariah status, and ridiculed as having "lost it." But I guess the laws of regular society just don't apply to these people. That's not all that surprising. As I documented in an earlier post, most of the supposedly "national" opinionmaking apparatus resides not throughout the nation, but instead inside elite circles in Washington and New York City - places that apparently aren't subjected to the normal rules of America, places where sociopathic behavior gets you labeled a Serious Person.

But here's the deal, folks - just because you read sociopathic claims on your op-ed pages from the Washington opinionmaking machine about how violence is supposedly "therapeutic," how we should supposedly bring Saddam Hussein back to power, how voters suppposedly shouldn't be able to make choices in America and how new Senators have no right to tell the President they want the troops home - remember, that doesn't make these claims truthful or acceptable out here in the real world, and it doesn't make you crazy for thinking that the people who make these claims ARE crazy.