An interesting " Whodunit ! "

Eight years after his death, claims surface that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat did not die of natural causes.  Laboratory tests reveal that there were traces of the radioactive poison Polonium 210 on his clothing and personal items.   When he died on November 11, 2004, Polonium 210 was virtually unknown.  No tests were carried out at that time and it only became a news item two years later - in 2006 - when  former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with it and died in London.   Litvinenko was a critic of Russia and had earned the enmity of the Kremlin.

It will be almost impossible to name the person responsible for Arafat's death because he had far more enemies than friends.   At the time, he was a virtual prisoner in his West Bank headquarters.  He was primarily responsible for the Intifada and the resulting Israeli blockade had him pinned down and unable to travel.

Arafat was a commanding figure in the long running dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.  The west regarded him as a terrorist and initially he was revered as a hero by the displaced Palestinians, but his dogmatic refusal to compromise saw several promising peace plans wither and die.   In the end, many of his former followers thought his time had passed and he was no longer relevant.   Enemies gathered on both sides of the political debate and nobody was surprised when he suddenly suffered a massive brain haemhorrage and was airlifted to a French military hospital.

This Polonium revelation will throw the spotlight on other suspicious deaths.  Polonium 210 is a radioactive substance so deadly that an amount too small to be seen with the naked eye is inevitably fatal.  Before tests to reveal it's presence were devised, it would have seemed the ideal way to remove a troublesome high official or eliminate a rival.    The finger of suspicion will be pointed at many deaths that involved the sudden demise of people holding or seeking high office.

It will also heighten fears held by world leaders.   The risk of assassination is always present, but now the risk is increased to throw suspicion on the members of a leader's inner circle.    Will we see a return to the medieval practice of the chef being forced to taste the dishes put before a leader to guarantee the absence of poison ?

It is said "  Uneasy lays the head which wears a crown ".   In an age when the leaders of commercial industry  collect salaries measured in millions of dollars - the exponential line of succession has incentive to speed that process !