In Bin Laden’s death, Russians begin to see a conspiracy

One day after welcoming the death of Osama bin Laden with open arms, Russians have turned to their time-honored tradition: the conspiracy theory.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, a tabloidy paper that is Russia’s biggest selling one, leads its frontpage today with an article titled “Three naïve questions about the death of bin Laden.” Question #1: Were they really looking for him? Question #2: Was he buried in Muslim tradition? Question #3: Was he a terrorist? This is how question number three is answered:

“Osama is dead. They say he was killed with a shot to the head. But where’s the proof? Some in the US must be able to get PR from someone else’s defeat. Let’s at least remember the most detailed video from the seziure of the overgrown and wild Saddam Hussein. Show us the video or at least a photograph of the main terrorist's corpse, fragments of the examination of his captured colleagues or family members. Maybe they won't say what's needed and that's why they don't show it? Instead of this, we only get Obama's bravado speech. And why was the main 'material evidence' disposed of so quickly? Bin Laden's corpse yestery was apparently thrown into the waters of the Arabian Sea, so that no one would look for it. And we're meant to believe this, taken on word?

…

Maybe, we’ll get real proof of bin Laden’s death soon. But meanwhile, it sounds just like Washingtonian fanfare. Sounds it too loudly. On the verge of falsity."

Russians love a good conspiracy theory. Read a great essay about it here and a recent example here. They’ve even built a whole television station designed to export their love of it. For that, turn to Russia Today’s coverage of bin Laden’s death (and revel in their noxious puns: “Bin & Gone,” “Osama bin Bogeyman”…).