My post on the shootings in France has brought tens of thousands of people to this site – but not to read my dull contribution. People are coming to read the comments from other readers.
Today’s development of the bomb squad descending on the al-Hilli house does not in itself worry me enormously. You may recall the massive terror scare that was ramped up when some Muslim students in Manchester were found to own a bag of sugar.
In fact we have the opposite phenomenon today, with the spook-fed “security correspondents” on TV lining up to tell us it is probably just everyday household stuff. This deviation from the standard Islamophobic “Muslims = bombs” narrative is so startling it makes me wonder why the “move along, nothing to see here” line is being taken so quickly.
My own security services sources insist that al-Hilli was not a person of current interest to the UK intelligence agencies and was not involved in anything clandestine. I have no reason to disbelieve them. On the other hand, the limited and confusing information in the media is almost entirely from official sources. I find it very strange indeed how little attention has been paid to the murdered French cyclist, and how easily it is presumed he was just a passerby. Surely it is as likely he was the intended victim and the al-Hillis the accidental witnesses?
Please do read the comments on my first entry on the subject to see the debate unfettered by the censorship in the mainstream media. This is perhaps my favourite comment:
From Janesmith101
All comments regarding Sylvain, Al-Hilli and a possible nuclear link are being removed from sites I’ve posted on in The Guardian, Independent and Huffpo UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/09/alps-killer-motive-baffles-police
Here was my comment, I added as a point of fact it was completely speculative and an unproven theory in a later comment, also removed.
Sylvain Mollier, the ‘passing’ cyclist, was in fact a nuclear metallurgist who worked for a french nuclear company called Cezus (a subsidiary of Areva). Cezus fabricates and processes zirconium into metal and nuclear grade zircoaloy for nuclear fuel assemblies – it also has other applications in aerospace such as components and ceramics for missiles and satellites. Mr Al-Hilli was also a skilled aerospace engineer, on what looks to be his first camping holiday.
What is the probability that two highly skilled engineers managed be at the same remote place, at the same time, yet still managed to end up dead as a result of what looks to be a military style assasination?
As someone else pointed out in The Independent comments, the deceased were found by a ‘retired’ RAF officer who, we assume, will recieve perpetual anonymity as a witness. If the police are looking for a motive, try an intercepted rendevous by a security service fixated on denying a hostile power illicit nuclear technology.
http://wrmea.org/component/content/article/162-1995-june/7823-israel-bombs-iraqs-osirak-nuclear-research-facility.html
The Huffington Post UK reports that this wasn’t the family’s first trip to the camp site. An earlier report had asked other camp site visitors whether they had seen the family before and they had replied they hadn’t. If this isn’t wasn’t the first visit by Al-Hilli, it might slightly increase the odds that he knew or had met Mollier before, this being the last in a series of rendevous of a transactional nature. Mollier lived and worked locally.
Again, I’m not sure of the truth of these reports, there is some very sloppy journalism, as there is always seems to be. I’ve read for example Mollier’s company Cevus descirbed as a steel firm something which it is patently not, but perhaps it may have been a detail lost in translation.
An interesting comment summing up some of the strange coincidences, at least, surrounding these murders. My other favourite comment calls me a “macchiavellian shill”.
I have only one thought of my own I want to add at the minute. Al-Hilli was a Shia muslim and had been on pilgrimage to Qoms in Iran. What if it is indeed true that he was in possession of no especial nuclear or defence secrets to pass on to the Iranians, but the Israelis thought that he was? The Israeli programme of assassination of scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear programme is a definite fact. It makes as much sense as anything else at the moment, as a possibility.
I am not saying that is what happened. But the directions in which the mainstream media is being so strenuously pointed by official sources, like the massacre of an entire family over an inheritance, are certainly no more inherently probable. Certainly as we are now told all the shots were from one gun, for the assassin to get each victim in the head with none of them being able to escape, indicates real proficiency with the weapon and a very high level of training.
Sorry for the wrong steer. That Sylvain Mollier in the above link is likely to be:
https://plus.google.com/108260155236635062311/posts
(from the University that he’s going to)…..and he’s too young.
Guy Fawkes, yes !
Did you know dentists also use Zirconium ? 😉
http://www.osseonews.com/all-zirconium-dental-implants-opinions/
@GuyF Dentist eh? The sort of dentist that might have an x ray machine in her shed ? (Some reports have indicated that the shed was kitted out for her (SAH’s wife) dentistry studies).
An inventory of the shed would be nice at this point.
Curiouser and curiouser
Where is Sir Peter Ricketts?
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CINEMASCOPE PANAVISION TECHNICOLOR SMELLYVISION(tm) 140mm Bolex Camera zooms in at Harry’s Bar, 5 Rue Daunou, lights ‘a’ poppin’, Gay Pareee (very gay, very very VERY gay, Anders 😉 )!, camera tracks back on a dolly (no, not Lady Penelope James! 😉 ), a pink convertible Rolls Royce is stuck in the gutter in reverse gear, its rear wheels spinning, and the smell of burning rubber pervades the night air of Gay Paree!
CUT to:
A silver haired be-suited beanpole slamming the door on Parker’s nose, and strutting up to Le Zinc, a la Basil Fawlty:
What’s it gonna be tonight, Sir Stallion? [winks]
[Beanpole looks around, the all is clear…]
Sssshhh. Been a hard week and a half James (for it is he! )…
[mutual eye contact, smouldering]
OK! … Must snap out of it!
Eh?
Shut up! … Oh … bugger bugger bugger and THRICE bugger!
Four buggers sir?
Fuck OFF! Three threes is nine you imbecile!
Imbe-what sir? Anything to do with the Bastille sir?
[apoplexy surfaces]
Sorry sir … ‘Ave you been, ummm–
Spit it out man!
–Ummm, well sir, overdoing the ummm, Frankie Howerd again sir, down at Aix en Provence?
No! La Chevaline sur le Mort, since you ask.
I see sir. Tiffin?
Too early…
I know sir, one of your–
–Shut it James! Gin ‘n Tonic, treble, fuck it, make it a quadruple, easy on the ice, pink umbrella-
-Naturally sir!
-Eight place mats. That sort of jazz. Been a hard ten days at the falls.
Moriarty sir?
No – Anders.
Eh?
Eh indeed … We’ve had Interpol on him, the Mounties, Cracker, Magnum, Inspector Morse, FBI, GCHQ, NSA, convened daily COBRA meetings, tapped CARNIVORE, ECHELON, and finally checked out all the library databases for people taking out –
-What sir?
[Beanpole looks around, the all is clear…]
Mossad books!
Get him sir?
Nada Peter – oops, I mean James!
[sulking] You’re spending far too much time at The Ritz sir! I hate Peter’s sodding Pecker! He’s a whore sir! Packet of Cheese ‘n’ Onion and half a shandy and he’s anyones!
[Apoplexy surfaces]
Shut up James! My career’s on the line you fool! Anders is too slippery; slipperier than a greased eel at a slippery greased eel KY Jelly convention!
[James looks knowingly at Sir Scurvy]
Dead end sir?
No! We’re looking for a convenient Patsy. Anders and his buffoon partner Tony Roma fits the bill. Oirish and Muzzy. Sympathetic justice leanings, that sort of jazz. We’ll have one magic bullet kill both of them in the woods!
I see sir.
[QUADRUPLE HARD DATA-STYLE(tm) G ‘n’ T is poured]
There you go sir.
[Murders it in one looong gulp]
Blimey sir!
Usual jazz, SAS and Increment abseiled in – we told the fuckers! No abseiling, strictly verboten! – but what did they do?
RAFman sir?
Fucking-A! Two of them in one swell foop. Landed on the bastard. Mangled SAH’s bycycle! They are ruddy headstrong, the Hereford BOYZ!
Damage to RAFman sir?
[smouldering looks]
Only to his Grecian 2000 … Thank Allah!
Good result then sir.
NO! – Anders is still out there, on the prowl, iPhone at the ready, don’t you SEEEE! He could be anywhere, in the woods, in old SAH’s potting shed where he did all the dirty b*omb cooking, he could be ferreting for kebabs under accelerators, mapping NIPPLE EXCITEMENT plots, heat signatures from you tube videos, and we have no fucking idea what he will do NEXT!
Oh dear sir.
I’ve recommended to the PM to up the threat level!
To what sir?
Anders level.
Blimey sir, this is serious!
You don’t know the half of it! He seems to be running a cell on a tiny nonentity blog that nobody ever ever reads…
Low circulation sir?
Low as Miranda Antonia Blair’s slithering belly, and that is very low indeed James!
Good one sir!
They’ve stumbled upon…-
What sir?
-…Pure fucking luck mind you. Sodding bad luck! O! My pension!
What did they stumble on sir?
[Beanpole looks around, the all is clear…]
[Gulps, Stutters] Haf-f-f
Eh sir?
Nnn-ii-uu-mmm…
Oh dear sir. ‘Nother drink sir?
Same again, sixteen placemats, usual jazz, but double up! Four pink umbrellas. No ice at all!
Sixteen buggers sir?
Nineteen, you fool!
Usual sir, Henri Paul’s account?
Not this time, Anders is on the case! Bung it on Herr Majesty!
OK sir. Sorted! Gimme a kiss sir!
Don’t tell Peter?
Oooooh get you! What about Anders?
Don’t worry, I have a cunning plan…….
Interesting post on this site from a poster called “bobbin” (wondering if Bobbin is rafman’s wife…certainly seems to know him)
Claims Sylvain’s partner has a legal career, and that rafman and philippe left the scene to alert other walkers/cyclists of the scene ahead
http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t5569p60-preserve-the-crime-scene
Sorry, poster is “portia” not “bobbin”
@Anders7777
ROTFL!
😀
They certainly sent Mollier off to his ‘temporary’ grave in style, with a Gendarmes escort no less !
http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2012/09/17/french-victim-of-alps-shooting-buried-in-home-village
@Dopey
Whoever “Portia” is, she hasn’t a clue.
“He called the emergency services immediately.”
As if.
That was the “original version”. Later versions said it was PD cos RAFman couldn’t get a signal.
So the poor bugger should be left in peace… after such a gruelling ordeal…
On the other hand SAH’s brother got 4 days interrogation… (And he’s innocent until proven guilt too.)
But then he’s brown, isn’t he, so who cares. And not ex-RAF-superhero and had a spat with his brother tsk-tsk so deserves his come-uppance, presumably.
Funny how she’s so sure he’s been tested for powder and blood spatters… no one’s ever said anything about that (I infer the negative but hey.)
@Dopey, I kind of like ‘Bobbin’s’ angle on that comment that Sylvain may have shielded the 7yr old … goes some way to explain the 5 shots in the back, plus 2 headshots when on the ground to make sure.
If he was on his bike how far could he ride after 2/3 shots in the back, however if he thought that standing firm and taking more may save the life of a 7yr old girl ….
@Katie, that pic in the ‘Timeslive’ article was the gendarmmes escorting the private ambulances from the crime scene, there not hearses and unless there’s a church on the same stretch of forestry road he was buried elsewhere
@Fiona
It sounds as if you are suggesting a more old cold-war type set-up. You think it could be a US/UK v Russia or China type scenario.
There is another country that might want to go the hafnium route. I agree that Iran is most unlikely as wanting hafnium as they have invested heavily in uranium refining. Israel currently does not admit to the nuclear weapons it has but insists Iran must not get them. This hypocrisy might be resolved by switching to hafnium weapons and announcing that we are all legal now and signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Thus they achieve a major propaganda coup.
@dopey
Good find. I find the writing not quite English in style. Someone, perhaps French with a good command of it nevertheless.
She/he makes it sound like Clapham Junction up there in the car park. (oops, given away my nationality…)
@bluebird. Faithful Wiki.
It’s worth keeping an eye on that thread. They’re mad as a box of frogs on there (far madder than us lot) but there’s a few Frenchie’s get on there, and retired folk good at being nosy…paranoia rules over there, but they are capable of going into the far end of a fart on stuff when it suits them
Watcher.
What part of this beneath the photo did I misunderstand then. :-))
I promise you that’s what French hearses look like , bloody trades vans, but I can see there could be a mistake on behalf of the paper !
“French gendarmes escort hearses leaving La Combe d’Ire raoad in Chevaline near Annecy, southeastern France,
Fiona, a hafnium bomb would not be a dirty bomb. There might be some hf 178 rest in the environment (the rest part that did not release its energy) however, all the rest will be gone by then. It will provide a clean environment. And even the tiny rest of hf178 wont create any danger to people.
However, an explosion will be fatal to all people in that environment. There will be an enormous amount of xray and heat, and those who wont be killed by the 150 kiloton explosion would be killed by xray and heat. And those who survived will be deadly ill by xray. However, those who come lateron will find a clean and non radioactive environment. Great for an army going into previously bombed areas.
However, the best thing about hafnium bombs is the matter of fact that they can be tiny and light. A few gramm only can have the energy of 15 kilotons of Tnt (hiroshima bomb had 13 kilotons)
So you can use such tiny bombs on small drons, e.g. Heptacopters, and destroy a city like it is london or tokyo or tehran from the air with a 20 qcm drone
@Vermillion
I don’t think hafnium has anything to do with this so don’t think that any scenario involving hafnium is likely.
Either “Portia” knows more than the press, or she made up that bit about Mollier being shot seven times. In all the reports that I have read, it said that he had been hit by five shots, of which two were finishing-off shots to the head. Likewise, I don’t recall reading anywhere that he was shot in the back. Does anybody have a source for that claim?
Extract from “Get Anders”
James: [blocking Anders’ path] Listen, I don’t like it when some tough nut comes pushin’ his way in and out of my thread in the middle of the night! Bloody well tell me who sent you!
Anders: You’re a big man, but you’re in bad shape. With me it’s a full time job. Now behave yourself James
.
[James takes a swing at Anders, who grabs his hand, punches him, and then slaps him in the face for good measure]
@Katie, you missed the next line stating the pic was taken on the 6th Sep
“French gendarmes escort hearses leaving La Combe d’Ire raoad in Chevaline near Annecy, southeastern France, September 6, 2012.”
Also I instantly recognised those signs as being on the forestry road below the crime scene car park.
Any ideas who the chap in civvies (shorts and T-shirt with rucksack at feet) standing by the Gendarmerie helicopter is in this photo is:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/09/06/article-2198777-14DADB77000005DC-651_964x643.jpg
Perhaps Philippe Didierjean?
Photo was in an early (6 Sept) news story .
I’m also keeping an eye on a Swedish forum – my Google translate is going into meltdown – burning rubber and hot oil pervades the air of my study, as I type this alongside a pot plant and wardrobe…
Seems like Grannie’s flat has been searched.
Det är Säpo i Sverige, och inte Södertörnspolisen ( som inte ens känner till någon husrannsakan i Tumba ) som genomsöker 74-åriga Suhailas lägenhet. Något som inte vore fallet om det handlat om ett vanligt mord.
https://www.flashback.org/t1955658p116
Writer also speculates that the granny had two different identities (and hence perhaps two ages, 74 and 77??)
Haven’t scanned the Swedish press yet…
This may be a red herring, but I’ve just spotted another co-incidence. At exactly the time that our little shooting party was happening in France a cpl 100k away in Alsace it seems our French chums were having a fire at their Nuclear plant in Fessenheim. Some maintenance issue it seems.
It was a funeral home not a church they took him to. Seen here in this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204165/French-Alps-massacre-Could-Sylvain-Mollier-main-target.html?ITO=1490
@ felix
I saw a post somewhere days ago that claimed the wife was actually 49, not 47. (she had the 4 year old exceptionally late if she was 49 however).
No wonder we can find little about these people if even their ages dont match up.
@Mark nope, as it’s an early shot I wonder if the papp could be Phillipe Demazes
@Felix , keep digging !
@GuyF , the fire has been reported before on here, although with the hafnium angle could there be any reason to expect this to distract staff at the Annency zirc plant?
@Bluebird
You still have to bombard the tiny bit of hafnium with a whole lot of x-rays and that bit of the mechanics people seem to forget. I am no expert on x-ray machines but they are not tiny and I suspect an extremely powerful and large one would be needed.
There is already such a supposed clean nuke, the neutron bomb, so what does this new one offer. Also if you explode a nuke high up you greatly limit the fallout. And many countries were and still will not be adverse to sending troops into radioactive areas providing it would not kill or injure them right away. The arguments for a clean bomb always seem good on the surface but are not that compelling when you look more closely.
[James takes a swing at Anders, who grabs his hand, punches him, and then slaps him in the face for good measure]
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RAOFL! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Remember the scene well! Great film! Recent remake interesting but not a patch on the original! 😉
Not just a village called Chevaline:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/uk/slbm/chevaline.html