More US manipulation, I assume

Yes, the title is sarcastic. It's more that in cases like Ukraine, I remember Joan Baez's remark that "the US isn't the worst, it's just the biggest." The efforts of others may be "as flea-bitings" as the old saying has it - but remember, it's fleas that transmit bubonic plague.

Vienna, Austria (AP, December 11) - Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, doctors said Saturday, adding that the highly toxic chemical could have been put in the opposition leader's soup, producing the severe disfigurement and partial paralysis of his face.

Yushchenko was in satisfactory condition and was expected to be released from Vienna's private Rudolfinerhaus clinic Sunday or Monday to return to the campaign trail in Ukraine, said hospital director Dr. Michael Zimpfer.

Yushchenko, who faces Viktor Yanukovych in a rerun of a disputed presidential runoff on Dec. 26, has claimed that he was poisoned by Ukrainian authorities, who deny the charges. ...

Yushchenko fell ill in early September and had been treated at the Vienna clinic twice before. But it was the tests run since he checked in Friday night that provided conclusive evidence of the poisoning, Zimpfer said.

The 50-year-old politician also has suffered from back pain and acute pancreatitis. ...

Zimpfer said Yushchenko's blood and tissue registered concentrations of dioxin - one of the most toxic chemicals - that were 1,000 times above normal levels. ...

When first seen by the Austrian doctors Sept. 10, Yushchenko was in a critical stage but was "not on the verge of dying," Zimpfer said.

"If this dose had been higher, it may have caused death," he said.

It's not clear who, but it is clear that someone poisoned Yushchenko and very likely was trying to kill him. Since he first

complained of pains after meeting with Ihor Smeshko, the head of Ukraine's Secret Service,

which would seem to cover motive and opportunity, and

[t]he substance containing the dioxin would most likely have been consumed the day Yushchenko fell ill, as dioxin is rapidly absorbed, Zimpfer said,

which matches the timing, I'd say Yushchenko's accusations against the government are credible, while remaining unproven and probably unprovable.