farewell to a Russian general

Sic transit General Igor Korobov, 62, former head of Russia's military intelligence directorate [GRU] and, like his predecessor [58], was heaped with post-mortem praise Thursday after an early death ... and also in the wake of a lot of Western derision linked to one killing and another. Korobov: A "long illness" dontcha know.

It is hard not to think that you might want to be careful when you carry out the orders of your handlers ... you may be next. Vladimir Putin, it will be recalled, was once head of Russia's version of the CIA, and he was not happy with Korobov and the opprobrium occasioned on Korobov's watch.

Britain has accused the GRU of attempting to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent, the Netherlands has accused it of trying to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog, and U.S. intelligence agencies say it tried to hack the 2016 presidential election.
Russia denies all those allegations.

And you thought working for Donald Trump was hard!