Evidence submitted by the British government in court today proves, beyond any doubt, that Boris Johnson has been point blank lying about the degree of certainty Porton Down scientists have about the Skripals being poisoned with a Russian “novichok” agent.
Yesterday in an interview with Deutsche Welle Boris Johnson claimed directly Porton Down had told him they positively identified the nerve agent as Russian:
You argue that the source of this nerve agent, Novichok, is Russia. How did you manage to find it out so quickly? Does Britain possess samples of it?
Let me be clear with you … When I look at the evidence, I mean the people from Porton Down, the laboratory …
So they have the samples …
They do. And they were absolutely categorical and I asked the guy myself, I said, “Are you sure?” And he said there’s no doubt.
I knew and had published from my own whistleblowers that this is a lie. Until now I could not prove it. But today I can absolutely prove it, due to the judgement at the High Court case which gave permission for new blood samples to be taken from the Skripals for use by the OPCW. Justice Williams included in his judgement a summary of the evidence which tells us, directly for the first time, what Porton Down have actually said:
The Evidence
16. The evidence in support of the application is contained within the applications
themselves (in particular the Forms COP 3) and the witness statements.
17. I consider the following to be the relevant parts of the evidence. I shall identify the
witnesses only by their role and shall summarise the essential elements of their
evidence.
i) CC: Porton Down Chemical and Biological Analyst
Blood samples from Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were analysed and the
findings indicated exposure to a nerve agent or related compound. The samples
tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent OR CLOSELY RELATED AGENT.
The emphasis is mine. This sworn Court evidence direct from Porton Down is utterly incompatible with what Boris Johnson has been saying. The truth is that Porton Down have not even positively identified this as a “Novichok”, as opposed to “a closely related agent”. Even if it were a “Novichok” that would not prove manufacture in Russia, and a “closely related agent” could be manufactured by literally scores of state and non-state actors.
This constitutes irrefutable evidence that the government have been straight out lying – to Parliament, to the EU, to NATO, to the United Nations, and above all to the people – about their degree of certainty of the origin of the attack. It might well be an attack originating in Russia, but there are indeed other possibilities and investigation is needed. As the government has sought to whip up jingoistic hysteria in advance of forthcoming local elections, the scale of the lie has daily increased.
On a sombre note, I am very much afraid the High Court evidence seems to indicate there is very little chance the Skripals will ever recover; one of the reasons the judge gave for his decision is that samples taken now will be better for analysis than samples taken post mortem.
——————————————————-
This website remains under a massive DOS attack which has persisted for more than 24 hours now, but so far the defences are holding. Some strange form of “ghost banning” is also affecting both my twitter and Facebook feeds. So please
a) Feel free to repost, republish, translate or spread this article anywhere and anyway you can. All copyright is waived.
b) If you came here by Twitter, please retweet but also in addition create a new tweet yourself containing a link to this post (or to any other site on which you have placed the information)
c) If you came here by Facebook, again please share but also in addition create a new post yourself which contains the information and the link.
The state and corporate media now have evidence of the vast discrepancy between what May and Johnson are saying, and the truth about the Porton Down scientists’ position. I am afraid to say I expect this to make no difference whatsoever to the propaganda output of the BBC.
UK kills ‘traitor’ in someone else’s country, with no subsequent fuss, ‘cos they’re good guys…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-41593659
Yeah, good point!
Your link says the woman was killed in an American drone attack. It doesn’t say she was specifically targeted, she was an enemy combatant with other enemy combatants in a war zone and like many other combatants she got killed. It’s an occupational hazard when you work for Islamic State.
Looks like it’s an occupational hazard when you work for FSB and MI6 these days 😉
Okay, Fred (not to be confused with a well known reggae song), are you suggesting the UK don’t kill their people abroad? (Apologies for promoting Google)
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/20/theresa-may-drone-strikes-british-terrorists-reyaad-khan
I think we can make a distinction between killing someone who carries an AK47 and cuts peoples heads off in a war zone and killing someone out for a pint and a Sunday dinner in Salisbury.
When did the Scottish Nationalists and Islamic State become allies BTW?
No, Fred, I was talking about state-killing on foreign soil. However, I fully understand why you respond to my comment with an anti-Scottish independence sentiment, because that’s your be all and end all. Wait until Craig posts an article on Scotland before you resume your predictable animosity.
I think state killing on foreign soil sums up most wars, that tends to be what wars are all about. In 2015 the British parliament voted to allow air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, the person killed was a soldier fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.
Thank you for thinking, Fred, and returning to the subject of this article.
Fred
You stated
“In 2015 the British parliament voted to allow air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, “
But I am sure you are also aware that in 2003 the same parliament voted to bomb Iraq.
The point is the U.K. is the illegal combatant in Syria as indeed are the proxy armed terrorists whom the U.K. government still support.
The United Nations made attacking IS legal, there was no resolution authorising the bombing of Iraq.
JOML
“Wait until Craig posts an article on Scotland….”
We’ve been waiting a mighty long time for one of those already.
Fred
“The United Nations made attacking IS legal, there was no resolution authorising the bombing of Iraq.”
The UN passed many resolutions on DAESH or ISIS. Which one are you referring to. If it 2249 you are referring to then I would like to point out that it was not a carte blanche to bomb anything that moves in Syria, except Daesh and Al Qaeda which the allies refrained from doing until Russia intervened in September 2015. Moreover there are at least two other resolutions which quite clearly says that it is illegal to assist in any way and to limit economically any transactions with not only DAESH but also Al Nusra and Al Qaeda. These have been ignored as money and arms and training have been funnelled to these two entities by our allies in the area with our knowledge and assistance.
Mohammed Emwazi, the guy the media called “Jihadi John”, was specifically targeted and there have been others too. (Personally I cry no tears whatsoever for the bastard, but that’s not the point.)
So what’s new? The British government supports, trains and equips Islamic terrorists in Syria, while at the same time maintaining that the’re a horror in the UK. Who do you think is being defended, when Chulov et al talk of the horrors of the Syrian siege of Eastern Ghouta? Yes, that’s right, they’re jihadis, the same mentality, as the nutter in the French siege of the supermarket in Trèbes.
Laguerre
I have made this point before but you have not responded. These are not ‘jihadis’ they are pseudo Islamic terrorists. It is part of the propaganda to use this term.
Fascinating Russian tv documentary re Skripal’s earlier adventures. – feels truthful, interviews with ex colleagues/inmates etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dr9PLZfULs
I’ve posted this information twice now and it has been deleted twice, is it because of the number of links included?
I’m re-posting with reduced links in case that is the problem:
It seems that Julia Skripal’s boyfriend is Denis Dementyev, who works at Nike in Moscow but is alleged (by Victoria Skripal) to be also working for Russian Intelligence
It also looks like I am the first person to publish this new information ?
Photographs of him taken with Julia Skripal can be seen here: http://valet.ru/user/95338/
Further links to Facebook, Linkedin and Russian social networks deleted to avoid automatic post deletion by admin
one revealing Facebook comment by Denis Dementyev I found: ” but judging by the articles guardian and bbc several Yulia’s “friends” did not hesitate to haypanut the situation. How then it will be unclear to look into the eyes – like I gave interviews to the Guardians while my girlfriend was fighting for life in intensive care, so I’m done!”
If anyone can research his parents, it will save me some time, as It’s a long list of “Dementyev” high up in the “structure” and I’m assuming initially that if his mother is “high up in the structure” then his father probably is too.
My aim is to corroborate or disprove Viktoria Skripal’s allegations 10 days ago on mashtv in Russia that his mother was the person who planted a bottle of poisoned perfume or some other item in her suitcase (this was also claimed by intelligence officers to the Telegraph although they suggested the poison was intended for Mr. Skripal instead of his daughter) and reported in many newspapers a week ago,
Hope it’s not this Dementyev:
Deputy chief of Russia’s strategic air force killed in gangland shooting
Nov 1, 2004 – The General, Konstantin Dementyev, was killed by unknown assailants on the main road between Minsk and Moscow as he returned from holiday in Belarus. Both Dementyev and his driver were killed on the spot, while a second passenger was rushed to a Smolensk hospital. According to unspecified …
Could be: Sergey Gennadevich Dementyev appointed the Director general of JSC Aviastar
or
Former Deputy Industry and Energy Minister Andrei Dementyev
or
Lt. Gen. Valery Dementyev
Certainly couldn’t be this one (from a bizarre role play website called tf-aspis.com ?
talk about bizarre coincidences when doing research:
“A document collected during yesterday’s raid on FSB Safehouse entails a transfer of a single canister of weaponized organophosphorus type VENOM AGENT X (VX).
The weapon is delivered by Russian General Dementyev, of the YAVPATORIA base in the military district center. Due to the strategic nature of the weapon, such employment is signed by President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.
A encrypted conversation between GRU forces and the joint-command of DNR / LNR paramilitaries indicate they intent to use this weapon in a false-flag operation on civillian populatin in the area of BARIGA, UKRAINE.”
posted by “J. Wilson” Joined: Jul 20, 2016
http://tf-aspis.com/forum_threads/2663984?post=13309384#forum_post_13309384
Any help appreciated in finding out who his parents are!
Yes, when someone collapses from a nerve agent it is almost always the mother-in-law who is responsible
But try telling that to the imbeciles in Scotland Yard
Stop slagging off Scotland, any opportunity!
When someone is murdered, it is almost always family. IF that family has access to nerve weapons, then yes, that would be the most probable answer.
I will update here further when I get the father and mother names of Dimitri Dementyev and analyse her network to see if there is any likelihood that she had connections in “nervous places”.
It’s difficult for me to do this research so if you know anyone with a good knowledge of the Russian Elites, please let me know.
‘Skripal case is a carefully-constructed drama’ – John Pilger ‘: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxRiG8vRRBk
As usual, (though not quite always!) Pilger hits the nail on the head.
And the Rssian Ambassador tells it like it is: ‘No proof’ Sergei Skripal ill in hospital: Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvrWmOt-Ek
Someone ought to tell him, Britain is ‘Exceptional’ and doesn’t need evidence, just lying assertions.
‘ 30 Questions That Journalists Should be Asking About the Skripal Case’:
http://www.theblogmire.com/30-questions-that-journalists-should-be-ask ing-about-the-skripal-case/
You can lead Presstitutes to the printing presses, but you can’t make them question the PTB.
One of the first things Jeremy ought to do when (if) he becomes PM, is to persuade Unions and the Labour grassroots to support a genuine ‘Left Wing Newspaper’, a genuine newspaper rather than a polemical one like the Morning Star, so there is an every-day newspaper that reports the truth, rather than just parroting government or CIA lies, and that does ask the searching questions when highly dubious ‘Terroorist Attacks’ occur (or are faked) on Britain’s streets.
Lastly, not all MSM can be lumped together – the exception proves the rule:
”Standing up for Russia’: https://ahtribune.com/world/europe/uk/skirpal/2183-standing-up-russia.html
We have a left wing newspaper. The Morning Star.
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/
Laugh all you like, but don’t ignore certain possibilities that have emerged::
1. Sergei Skripal’s niece claims that daughter Yulia was the real target of the nerve agent attack
https://meaww.com/read/news/sergei-skripals-niece-claims-that-his-daughter-was-the-real-target-of-the-nerve-agent-attack
2. Nerve toxin used on ex-spy ‘was planted in daughter’s suitcase’
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/nerve-toxin-used-on-ex-spy-was-planted-in-daughter-s-suitcase-20180316-p4z4nn.html
3. This would explain TM’s statements and the Russian Denials
Just trying to establish if claims are valid or not, would you like to help?
If the official story were true and if the British government actually believed that Russia was behind the attack, why would they be reluctant to send Russia a sample? What could Britain lose by sending Russia a sample of an agent that Britain believed Russia already possessed?
Good question
Well done. Your work and personal experience and contacts are indispensable in this crisis
I think a rogue Russian agent may have provided the poison – Skripal had many personal enemies among his former GRU colleagues. False flag the next most likely.
And the Winner of the most Stupid Skripal “Fact” goes to the Mirror
“Senior Whitehall staff have seen evidence which shows Russians have researched administering poisons via door handles.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/spys-door-ground-zero-police-12248036
But then we learn;
“Earlier reports that the nerve agent novichok was placed in Mr Skripal’s car ventilation system or was unwittingly brought back from Moscow in a suitcase by Yulia, 33, have been dismissed.”
So NOT in the luggage.
If this report is true, what does it tell us?
1) Only one of the pair had a high probability of touching the door handle on closure and that person should not wearing gloves.
(Departure time from home on 4th March is not reported nor if revisit was made – first sighting in Salisbury 9.15am)
Conclusion: The target was not specific. Either not both with high probability.
2) Skin contact toxin involved not necessarily a nerve agent or novichok. If Binary – pre-mixed or secondary contact point with 2nd precursor required. (Car door handles (both front doors) but gloves still a problem.
3) Time of victim contamination not known but if prior to 9.15am then extreme precision in Toxicological Effect manifestation. Given different ages, sex and physical health it is remarkable that both succumbed within a few minutes of each other following 7hrs (9.00am -4.00pm) of exposure. Uncertainty over when 2nd victim became contaminated presumably due to physical contact with the other.
4) Hand contact with drinking glasses in pub & restaurant, shaking hands, menus, doors, toilet facilities appear to have had no harmful Tertiary affect on others including first responders.
5) DS Bailey therefore likely to have had exposure from door handle and taken toxin into Skripal home.
Further conclusions
Target not specific but highly likely timed with Yulia’s visit.
The person to be assassinated was not as important as the spectacle. Whoever did this didn’t specifically want Segei or Yulia dead, just one of them and for it to be known a poison was involved (The British wanted it to be known that specifically a novichok was involved– which has yet to be established)
NB Novichoks encompass a broad range of toxins including nerve agents/gas and incapacitators. They spread over 3rd and 4th generation theorised variants and may be stand alone compounds or binary products.
Charles,
A good post.
What I cannot get past is the presence of not only a policeman but one of relatively senior rank, and on a Sunday too. It is the presence of this particular one that would imply (to me, at least) that a mistake was made by those who ‘poisoned’ Mr Skripal and his daughter. This mistake, if that is what it was, is what allowed for about 36 hours to elapse before the media and government went berserk with coverage of this event.
This event was reported on the Sunday – I read about it on the BBC ceefax pages (or whatever they are now called) on my tv at the time. However, it was only reported as an ‘incident’, possibly even a chemical incident of some kind, making me think perhaps it was yet more yoofs throwing something into people’s faces – and the report came with no further or especial importance attached to it. Monday went by and very little further was said.
It was not until the Tuesday, 6 March 2018 – that the incident in Salisbury dramatically morphed into an event that has the guise of being preparations for WWIII breaking out, or at least an exacerbation of existing tensions in Syria – i.e. the proxy war, that would see Russia on one side and the West broadly aligned on another, irrespective of what the people themselves think or believe.
If Mr Skripal and/or his daughter were the intentional targets, which is not in doubt, only that it is the order of things which is – then surely, this event would have, should have been headline news on Sunday afternoon or early evening – so why wait until the Tuesday before that happened?
HM gov would have known within moments of discovering what had happened to the Skripals, whether this event was *anticipated* by them or not of the identities of those who were poisoned – so why wait 36 hours before reacting?
That is exactly what did not happen i.e. there was no REaction. There was an almost stunned silence, followed by considerable OVERrecation – implying that the Sunday evening and Monday were spent in frantic discussions as to how to explain not the presence of a Russian spy and his daughter found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury but the policeman’s presence in that context given that he was also ‘poisoned’ – and worse still, no-one else was, rather suggesting that the policeman must have been compromised in some way.
It is the timing of this event which concerns me. Outgoing Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Mike Veale was not expected to take up his new position in Cleveland until sometime in April whilst the new acting Chief Constable, Kier Pritchard took up his new position, although it had been announced already, on Monday 5 March 2018 i.e. the day after the Skripals were ‘poisoned’.
This means that whether by coincidence or design, the weekend when the Skripals were ‘poisoned’ was a hiatus, with neither the former or the current Chief actually in place. On top of that, I have read in one or two reports that Yulia only arrived in the UK on the Saturday, 3 March 2018, the day before she was ‘poisoned’ – making that hiatus even more noticeable, or convenient.
There was a posting made by ‘ultraviolet’ yesterday, which included what I consider to be a significant link. As there are so many comments, it is not always easy to catch up with all of which has been posted, so for those who may not have seen it, I am copying it here now:-
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2018/march/06/180306-toxic-storm-for-royal-marines-in-major-chemical-exercise
This exercise is still underway at the time of writing.
With thanks to ‘Ultraviolet’ as the person whose inclusion of it is what caught my attention.
I have historically taken a passing interest in the way the UK legal system seems to have been willing to turn a blind eye to the deaths of Russians in the UK in dubious circumstances. So I remarked on the announcement of the discovery of the poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury at the time. And the original accounts reported it as caused by fentanyl which, as I said to my husband at the time, had to be incorrect. Where did that report originate?
Mary,
That is an interesting perspective. Forgive me if my understanding of your comment is at fault as I reply: if I understand what you are saying correctly, yours would be a knowledge that fentanyl could not be correct?
I saw that report/suggestion at the time, I think also, ‘opioids’ were mentioned. As I do not understand the difference between fentanyl / opioids etc, when I saw that report, I assumed that it was the correct interpretation of what happened to Mr Skripal, and his daughter Yulia – not that it could not be correct.
Your question then is most interesting. Perhaps fentanyl was suggested either out of initial ignorance – the ‘oh look, there are a couple of druggies over there who have taken something’ – or, if ‘fentanyl’ was suggested only to be later corrected, it was the deliberate mentioning of something that many people would not understand could be incorrect that is what provided a window of time to those who mentioned it, in order to devise a ‘plausible’ explanation as to the policeman’s presence?
Yes the fentanyl story was the first theory to emerge:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/05/salisbury-incident-critically-ill-man-is-former-russian-spy-sergei-skripal
Fentanyl and its more powerful derivative, carfentanil are synthetic opioids, that is drugs with similar actions to the natural opiates, which include morphine. There has recently been an epidemic of use of fentanyl by addicts in the state. The properties that are useful medicinally for fentanyl is that it is easily absorbed through the skin, or through oral mucosa and acts very quickly. It can also be absorbed through an aerosol or by inhalation of the powdered for.
It is interesting that this very early article was written by Luke Harding, amongst others, one of the most anti-Putin Guardian journalist. His grudge arose from the fact that he was once not given a visa to go back to Moscow.
https://off-guardian.org/2015/09/09/luke-harding-enemy-of-the-state/
Ducks , doors & kids are in . Cars, suitcases, perfume are out . This misuse of ‘an NTA’ ( non-traditional agent ) still has at least one journalist following it!
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/russian-kids-fall-ill-after-12247329
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/spys-door-ground-zero-police-12248036
Spoiler: the kids are ok, (tho’ the Record claims that they displayed symptoms of being exposed to the NBC/CBRN NTA)
The Daily Express is deleting any comments critical of May’s Skripal madness and some rather clumsy bots are attempting intimidation of such comments.
It’s the same on here, mate. Try writing something Craig doesn’t agree with and see how far you get
You mean you might be The Salvation Airforce Banned?
This buffoon needs sacking and should never have a political role again.
The veracity of this story was thin to start with but this guy’s lies-not “misleading” comments could have started a war or had other repercussions which cost lives of ordinary people while he and his other Tory cronies along with other MP’S are safe and smug in Westminster free to make other irresponsible accusations.
In the Sunday Times today, he is named as one of two humanitarians demanding that Treeza increases NHS funding. Underneath of photo of her, the caption reads: May: lobbied by Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson
Theresa May orders £4bn Brexit boost to save ailing NHS
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/theresa-may-orders-4bn-brexit-boost-to-save-ailing-nhs-8m92t89hd
The Tories are actually getting the wind up about their re-electability. Local elections are taking place on May 5th for instance. Nobody believes this lorry load of compostable equine waste from Salisbury.
Why do the British public believe the utterances of this serial philanderer with his unenviable record of journalistic inaccuracies ? He has ‘form’ stretching back all his adult life. He’s not a buffoon, he’s a very dangerous individual and, I agree, he should be dismissed before he does to this country what he did to Petronella Wyatt.
I call him ‘the blonde thug’.
I agree. Underneath the oafishness, Johnson is a very calculating individual.
The older I get, the more I look at ALL “successful” politicians as “calculating” individuals. I’m willing to hold out the hope, however, that a very small minority of them might actually have the interests of “the people” they purport to serve at heart.
But I mean, a very, very small minority.
From the other side of the pond, and from what little I know, I suspect Corbyn MIGHT be one of those few.
Or
The Skripals deliberately went “off radar” which suggests the people in the Salisbury Hospital beds may not be the Skripals and a switch has occurred. The people lured to the bench and poisoned were possibly vulnerable people who will not be missed. The door handle poison therefore may have been applied after the Skripals left home.
Saying their final goodbyes to Wife/Mother & Son/Brother at the cemetery (@9.15) before they switch off their phones and begin their new lives in exile.
NB EVERYONE with a mobile phone in Salisbury on that day is having their movements traced.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5893197/russia-spy-mobile-mystery-skripal/
“A man in a dark jacket walks beside a woman in a white coat, black trousers and white trainers clutching a pink handbag down Market Walk at 4.08pm.
They are strolling towards the bench where Sergei, 66, and Yulia, 33, collapsed just moments later as a dog walker brushes past the woman.
Seven minutes later a police car speeds past at 20mph with lights flashing after receiving the first call from witnesses.
One minute later a hero male paramedic in full uniform sprints up the shopping centre clutching a first aid bag to treat the victims.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5767001/cctv-video-ex-russian-spy-sergei-skripal-daughter-yulia-walking-mystery-woman-before-poisoned/
Response time to suspected drunks in Salisbury on a Sunday afternoon is excellent, first responders including CID/SB Detective Sergeant and an Air Ambulance.
Note to government, Salisbury Emergency Services don’t need any more money, they are doing a fantastic job with the resources already available. If other neighbouring Authorities are feeling the pinch then Salsibury can probably afford to lose some of its excess resource.
Might explain the refusal to allow Russia consular access to Yulia?
Nothing new about the fantastic Emergency Services’ response times (in certain areas – in certain circumstances)
eg Porton Down involvement again. On the day Dr David Kelly went missing, he hadn’t been seen or heard from in about 9 hours so his family made a call to the police at nearly midnight to express their concern. The Kelly’s lived in a remote village but 3 police officers were able to get to the home (more than 8 miles from the police station, along country lanes) within 15 minutes with Missing Persons Forms in hand. A helicopter was above the home within an hour. No one at this stage had checked with neighbours or friends or the pub literally across the road (20yds) to see if Dr Kelly was with them.
I suppose it depends on where you live and who you are and if the emergency services aren’t doing anything else.
a police car speeds past at 20mph…Only in England!
That’s a new one on me. It was not the Russians or the British but the Skripals themselves that did it?!! So where does the use of a nerve agent fit in?
There was a young woman interviewed early on, by a tv reporter just after the incident who described the couple she saw on the bench and how she wondered if she ought to call someone, but decided someone else would probably do so. She sounded pretty authentic and she described the couple in general terms which could have described the Skripals. If we are going large on conspiracy theories, here is another variant for you. Maybe the Skripals were about to go to ground, but someone got wind of it (no idea who) and got to them first. I still cannot think of any possible reason why a nerve agent should be used if indeed it was. For any of the conspiracy theories, it would have been unnecessary as any nasty poison would have done, or indeed as in the case of Glushkov, a simple assassination. Indeed the UK police and legal system has been turning a blind eye to the suspicious deaths of Russians in the UK for some time now, why would this one be different?
We still do not know what Skripal did, if he was really retired. Did anyone else read the news report that Skripal regularly bought Russian sausages and cabbage from a specialist food stall (in London near a rail terminus?) a couple of times a month. He told the stall holder he was a security consultant who travelled regularly to Europe (I think France) and also Dubai. I cannot find the reference now, anyone else have it?
@Mary – I couldn’t find your source, but I’ve read about him visiting a Polish shop 10 minutes from where he lived and buying sausages and other food there that reminded him of home, and also about him joining the local Railway Social Club.
He was an officer in the GRU. If his only relationship with a stall holder was that he bought food from their stall I doubt that he said he was a security consultant who travelled regularly to France and Dubai unless he wanted that info, perhaps false, to get back to someone. As all Russian people know, walls have ears.
Today’s Sun on Sunday says he travelled to both Dubai and Africa, which they say “(raises) the prospect he was selling information to criminals and foreign powers”. (Or perhaps he was buying it for MI6, huh?)
They also say that his and his daughter’s mobile phones were turned off for four hours on 4 March. Since she had flown in from abroad the previous day to stay with her dad, whose mother was very ill in Russia, perhaps they wanted to spend some time together without getting interrupted by scumbags phoning them to offer payment protection insurance?
From the Sun on Sunday:
“Met Police counter-terrorism detectives investigating the attempted murders, are still trying to establish where Skripal and Yulia were on the morning of Sunday 4 March and continuing to appeal for anyone who saw them or their burgundy-coloured BMW to come forward.”
“A source said: “The most credible explanation is their phones were switched off during the morning of the day they were targeted.”
“The most likely reason would be if they were going to meet someone and wanted to remain off the radar. This would fit with the tradecraft Skripal used as a spy.”
What crap! I think “a source” means “a Sun reporter”, and the introductory words “The most credible explanation is” means “Here’s what I’m going to say”.
As for turning your phone off being “tradecraft”, my mobile is hardly ever on, so clearly I must be selling secrets most of the day every day.
No this wasn’t his local store this was described as a specialist street food place in London,and if memory serves the story was in Metro, a daily free sheet for Londoners. Maybe some enterprising Journalist asked around some Russian haunts and turned up the story.Unfortunately I cannot recall the name of the person who told them.
Thet said Skripal was a regular there a couple of times a month and he could well have been chatting in Russian and offered up an occupation of security consultant to explain why he regularly cal!ed in. One possible place I identified was Zima’s a Russian street food bar which opened in 2016 in a Soho basement
I looked it up to see if any of the staff names were mentioned in case one rang a bell but the contacts section is blank of names Also the bar itself has a scrolling message, “Closed for renovations until 3rd April.”
Incidentally it was Metro where I read a couple of days ago that OPCW were working in Mr Skripal’s garden. I assume Metro has fallen under the radar up till now because it is a local free sheet ,(in London). If they are doing proper journalism over Skripal that will presumably soon be stopped.
@Mary – Just responding to your last two sentences: if it was a standard Russian job then Britain had special reason to respond this way. Indeed if it wasn’t, ditto.
Mary,
I think the reason the case of Sergei Skirpal is being treated differently is because of his links to ‘Christopher Steele’. Mr Steele is also directly named in that which is unravelling in the US at this time re: the 2016 US Election – Fusion / Hillary Clinton, suggestions of Russian interference. Although a direct link between these two events is not obvious, one must be present.
Similarly, it can be no coincidence that the man who sexed-up intelligence for HM gov (WMD) circa 2003 was John Scarlett, who later was Christopher Steele’s boss at MI6 between 2004 – 2009.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Steele
In this Wiki entry, it discloses when Mr Steele worked for John Scarlett i.e. 2004 – 2009. To any casual observer, this would suggest that the two men only came to know each other after the WMD dodgy dossier was made, which was 2003.
This is Mr Scarlett’s Wikipedia entry:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scarlett
In comparing the two Wikipedia entries side by side, a tantalising question arises – namely that Mr Scarlett, as MI6 station chief was expelled from Moscow in a tit-for-tat in 1994, without also making clear exactly when Mr Scarlett arrived in Moscow. The entry for Mr Steele states that he was based in Moscow from 1990 – 1993. Would this proximity of dates not rather imply that the two men must have known each other since at least the early 1990’s – i.e. not commencing in 2004, after WMD was sexed-up?
Which begs an even more tantalising question: did Mr Steele actually provide assistance with regard to the sexing-up of intelligence for the WMD dossier?
Curiouser yet still is that Mr Steele has direct links to at least one of the Russians that your comment referenced, which the justice system seemingly turned a blind eye to – that being Alexander Litvinenko – when it was Mr Steele who ‘quickly realised’ that this death ‘was a Russian state hit’.
If it was a Russian state hit, why did HM gov not decide to search for the perpetrators on that basis?
There have been some reports of late that suggest Mr Skripal was back in touch with Russian intelligence services – perhaps implying or inferring that Mr Skripal given his known links to Mr Steele realised or knew exactly *who* was behind the repeated smearing of all things Russian – i.e. HM gov.
If the question regarding the targetting of Mr Skripal then is – why now? – when firstly, this sort of rules out Russia altogether, other than rogue elements who may wish to undermine Mr Putin, it also implies that there must be a link between *now* and that which is unfolding in the US.
If Mr Steele is the common denominator in the US and the UK – what exactly did Mr Skripal potentially find out, that caused him to be targetted – if HM is continuing to offer protection to Mr Steele, when the US has already indicted him for his role in the 2016 US Elections?
Perhaps Mr Skripal had found out that Russia had not tampered in the US Election at all – that it was the UK who did – with that which pertains to CSL and Cambridge Analytica also offering up a few clues that might support this rationale?
sag rising- the theory you suggest UK tampering in the usa – thanks steele dossier (what did skripal know and have on this?), is also supported by cambridge analytica having scl as it’s head which have ties to the upper echelon of britain
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2018/03/20/scl-a-very-british-coup/
all of which leads one to surmise, there are a number of possibilities as to why skripal was targetted, least of all it being about ‘russia’, as convienent as that is for this ongoing cold war mentality that has set in, both in the usa and the uk – the same 2 countries that pushed for war in iraq based on false pretenses…
James,
Thank you for the reply…..
Have you see this re: Boris Johnson and ‘secret’ meetings with Cambridge Analytica – which occurred at just the time that Mr Steele is now known to have been interfering in the US Election?
https://twitter.com/StrongerStabler/status/976804260829696005
The second link concerns the Gubarev v Buzzfeed lawsuit (i.e. the Steele / Trump dossier) – which HM gov is doing its utmost to ensure is gvien as little coverage as possible in the UK media.
https://www.scribd.com/document/374648986/Gubarev-v-Buzzfeed-2018-EWHC-512-QB-21-03-18#from_embed
sag rising… thanks for those links.. i hadn’t seen them… there seems to be a few interests that are meeting at a crossroads in all of this and it does raise some good questions of who knew what and when… i suspect we will know more in due time, but regardless of when, it would seem a better case could be made for the UK stealing the USA election as opposed to russia stealing the USA election…. but, this would be not according to the script written up for an ongoing witch hunt on russia with the usa/uk and poodles in tow for a continuing isolation of russia… i just don’t see it all working out for the west either way..
SR. Yes, Scarlett and Dodgy Dossier now Steele and Dirty Dossier. Did Skripal assist Steele with Dirty Dossier? Find sources in Russia for Steele? Help fabricate? If so, he knew too much. US investigations of Steele and the Dossier are not over. So silence him.
Press reports that Trump may expel 20 Russian diplomats this coming week. Stories say the National Security Council met Wednesday and Friday. The recommendation appears to have been pitched to Trump on the basis that the US must show “solidarity” with the UK. Presumably, real as opposed to cooked intelligence is not relevant because this is a political action, ie showing “solidarity” with the UK. It is not clear what Trump will do.
Trump just signed a major spending bill opposed by his base. The Bolton appointment alienates part of his base as does the Pompeo appointment. Expulsion of Russian diplomats thereby increasing tensions with Russia will increase this alienation of some. With a narrowed base for Trump, the Democrats have increased possibilities in the coming fall midterm elections. Should the Demcrats take the House, impeachment action may well be likely. This will at a minimum cause further political turmoil and polarization in the US.
Should Trump choose the expulsion option, the Skripal Affair will reach a new level.
I doubt whether these neo-con appointments has seriously alienated any part of Trump’s base, any more than expelling Russian diplomats would. Bringing in gun controls is probably the only thing that would cost Trump among the 35% still with him.
And even if the Democrats did take the House, which looks unlikely, impeachment would also require them to take the Senate, something that definitely won’t happen.
But I do agree US expulsions would hike this dubious affair to a new level.
J. The base is not uniform. There are factions. The Christian Zionist faction manipulated by Bannon etal. is anti-Russia, anti-Iran, anti-China, pro-Revisionist Zionism of Bibi etal. This faction is aligned with the revisionist Zionist Neocons and various Cold War hawks. But the Republican Libertarian faction of Ron Paul, the Old Right faction of Pat Buchanan, non-Zionist Evangelicals, etal. hold non-interventionist views and oppose the Neocon line.
The Dems taking the House enables them to begin the impeachment process.
This is itself will deepen the political crisis in the US. Dems would use it with a view to 2020. Republicans obsessed on the Blue Dress back in the day. As to the Senate, some Republicans might wish to pull the plug on DT and side with Dems. Who knows? The result would be Pence and perhaps Haley as VP more desirable as easier to control.
J.To help visitors here understand the CZ game in US politics: Bannon focuses on the Christian Zionist/Fundamentalist part of the base. These people, for example, play a disproportionate role in Republican primaries such as in Iowa a key presidential primary state. Bannon tried to rally them in the Alabama Senate race but lost. Close but he lost.
The ideology of these people is derived from the “Dispensationalist” cult originated in Victorian England by a de-frocked preacher, John Nelson Darby. An excellent analysis of this is to be found in Stephen Sizer, Christian Zionism Road map to Armageddon? (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004). Rev. Sizer is a British Anglican along the Evangelical line.
The Christian Zionists have a belief in their eschatology in the “End Times”. History will come to an end at Armageddon and this is to be welcomed as it will trigger the reign of Christ. Armageddon will come as a result of a combination of the Russians, Medo-Persians, and Chinese attacking the Holy Land. So for them Russia and China and Iran today are the evil ones and so on.
Please note that Lord Palmerston used the British Christian Zionists of the day in his anti-Russia policy. His son-in-law, Ashley Cooper (Lord Ashley etc), was adept at manipulating these people. This is circa 1840sa and on. An old game being replayed today in front of our eyes by Bannon and company no doubt assisted by Cambridge Analytica.
One can also recollect the very careful staging/psyop of Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem…
Bannon is an old adviser and ally of Bolton.
Yes, salus, a scary crowd indeed, thanks for the historical background. What is perhaps most amazing about it is the general lack of acknowledgement of the intended eventual fate for Jewish people in the CZ scheme. You’d have thought this would put CZs far beyond the pale for the likes of Netanyahu, who sees Anti-Semites virtually everywhere else.
Hi
I looked up Dispensationalist cult online. Wow! when they started printing they got arguing big-time. Now we have computers that make those old theological quarrel libraries look small. God sent many messengers to teach the Oneness of God, but once you allow the concept of God sharing His Authority, you get divisions in doctrine, you could say as many doctrines as individual people.
No, if a dispensation is a delegation of God’s Authority, by definition it is wrong, because He doesn’t delegate to anyone or anything. Once you sow the seed of delegated authority you can create a chain. God delegated to the prophets, they delegated to the bishops, and in the end my big toe is the only thing to which anyone in the universe must listen. They thought it was heresy because they all had a different idea to eachother.
No, Islam dispatches the whole cacophony of wrangling priests to the garbage bin by informing us to follow His word, the Qur’an and to check it against our own conscience. The seeds of hate found in Islamism were sown by the enemies of Islam into our religion. Christ’s pbuh religion is the same as Islam, and anything else in the Christian spectrum is mere Christianism, for want of a better word, mostly the opposite of Christ’s pbuh teaching.
salus,
If the linking of Christianity to Zionism may once have been the case, now those two forces are the polar opposite and in conflict with the other, in the sense that one attacks the other, and the other defends, not that the two are both fighting with each other as children may fight with neither being right or wrong, or both being right and wrong.
Now, genuine Christianity and Zionism are the polar opposite, they are not the same, and could never be suggested as being in cahoots. That they are at all is because people like PM Theresa May declares on the one hand that she is a ‘committed Christian’ whilst on the other, does everything in her power to undermine Christianity (and all other faiths)..
This is by design and not accident, and is what allows for her to then be seen as a Christian whilst at the same time, doing some very un-Christian things. The ‘cutest’ bit about such misrepresentations are that it is actual Christians who are then criticised for poor behaviour, (if they object to being misrepresented) – rather than Mrs May herself for those misrepresentations. Justin Welby also being a prime example of what faith is not.
Historically, ‘Zionism’ existed before the State of Israel was formed, in 1948. Prior to that time, this is what being a ‘Zionist’ actually meant i.e. looking forward to the time on earth when as Jews, they could have a place to call ‘home’. In Orthodox Jewry, however, Christ the Messiah must first come before the State of Israel can be established on earth, and to this day, Orthodox Jews resist acknowledging the State of Israel (even if some also live there) for that very reason – i.e. that Christ has not come yet, so technically, to them, Israel in a Biblical sense, does not exist.
To Jews who adopt ‘Zionism’ in present-day understanding, far from being similar to Christianity, as may once have been the case – now, the opposite is true. This is something which can be ascertained in looking for references on ‘liberal Judaism’ – where many of the given explanations suggest that ‘Zionists’ adopt ‘pluralist’ principles – or, the embracing of all things.
http://www.liberaljudaism.org/who-we-are/what-is-liberal-judaism/
Liberal Judaism is ‘inclusive’.
If, on the surface this sounds wonderful, it is precisely because this does not result in the embracing of all things by all people, that this stance automatically alienates itself from all other viewpoints – when theirs are ideas not designed or intended to uphold tenets of a particular faith but rather, a watering-down of those tenets as a means to include those who would otherwise not be included by any/all other faiths.
Every religion, creed and doctrine that is faith-based actually has belief in a deity, or God, be that Jehovah, Allah, Mohamed etc etc. Liberal Judaism does not have any God-based faith other than atheism, and this is what they mean by ‘pluralism’ or inclusivity – when all other doctrines are ‘exclusive’ not inclusive.
Just as Mrs May would state she is a committed Christian whilst going out of her way to undermine Christianity (and all other world faiths) – so does liberal Judaism / Zionism misrepresent things: so when they say ‘pluralism’, they do not mean an assimilation of all ideas, which would serve all mankind – they actually mean – their ideas, and at the expense or detriment to everyone else, which is what causes conflict to emerge, and them to separate from all other faiths.
Whilst it is quite correct to suggest that Christians believe in the ‘end times’, ‘Zionists’ not only do not believe in God/Jehovah, they do not believe in end times either – theirs is a ‘faith’ that is not established in any God but only in the here and now – and with no afterlife.
it wouldn’t be the first time the usa or uk showed ”solidarity” with one another… the most obvious example being the case made for war on iraq…. passing the baton made sense with the sun setting over the british empire… now it looks like the sun is setting on the american one too… go back to passing the baton back and forth with 2 has beens, while the rest of the world move on…
Germany detains Catalan President Carles Puigdemont. As the fascist Spanish state attempts to smother and remove democracy in Catalonia by mass imprisoment.
https://mobile.twitter.com/catalannews?lang=en
Re my above comment, Germany has already handed over a Catalan president to Spain in the 1940’s he was imprisoned and executed.
History repeats itself, unless we stand up and say no.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lluís_Companys
I agree he should not be handed over.
But the Spanish government is not using mass imprisonment. Is it something like 20 or 30 people? I’m not justifying it. Merely saying it’s not at a “mass” level. Nor is the present conflict comparable to the Spain-wide war in the 1930s between republicans and fascists. Most supporters of the Catalan independence movement are rightwing chauvinists who don’t want to bail out the untermensch in the rest of Spain. Imagine if there was an independence movement in Surrey.
“Most supporters of the Catalan independence movement are rightwing chauvinists who don’t want to bail out the untermensch in the rest of Spain. ”
N.
So they shouldn’t determine their own destiny, why? Because their region is more economically profitable, that’s a weak argument.
As for chauvinistic, well, giving the Nazi salute, and singing the fascist song Cara al Sol, gangs of menacing Spaniards flooded the streets of Catalonia.
https://helpcatalonia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/fascism-rears-ugly-head-in-spain-as.html
N_
That totally bullshit argument again that we heard last year. That the Catalan independence movement should be viewed with suspicion because not every single person in its ranks is a blood red socialist. Such an argument is duplicitous and unprincipled. Democracy is for everyone.
Just as democracy is important and should be defended whether we like the result it gives or not I think the rule of law is important and should be defended whether we like the law or not.
Who’s law? Spain’s, was it handed down directly from the hand of god? Is it not immutable, if so they’d no new nations.
The Catalan people are a people, with enough culutral diversity to become a independent nation. However we all know that international recognition is the key for the Catalans.
Don’t speak to me of democracy and Spain, of late Spain appears to me anyway a fascist state, heading back to the thirties.
But I’ve been looking through the various freedom indexes compiled by organisations all over the world and Spain seems to do well in all of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freedom_indices
Yes, unless of course you’re voting in Catalonia, then you’re beaten shot with rubber bullets and hit with smoke grenades, no matter how old you are, whilst the fascist give the Nazi salute and sing Cara al Sol.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pictures+of+police+beating+people+in+catalonia&client=tablet-android-samsung&prmd=ivn&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&fir=y1jDXBF-0wHLeM%253A%252CZppBJXHVU4AE6M%252C_%253BhhIIMa-vlfu1dM%253A%252CQa5CDUydBfRLyM%252C_%253BLXlv_3w-0h7tpM%253A%252CX91CNy1MkWugzM%252C_%253BsCKiIyMZQzxzJM%253A%252CI8pDT7ajSDKfFM%252C_%253BoE4JvMYIafAHCM%253A%252CcIz4EiEFEGi48M%252C_%253BIPTEyu0Ita-9mM%253A%252CWPHxGXkG_W8sgM%252C_%253BftRXms1ZpMVB0M%253A%252Cta6j4_lB14s5hM%252C_%253BbPy2MzPb3qM2tM%253A%252ChdIRfXzlGDLxeM%252C_%253BhN2R_P9deOOTnM%253A%252CjndN5bWatOvD4M%252C_%253Bym29tcreT1zzWM%253A%252CT2TK8M5-pwnt4M%252C_&usg=__QdcVxU_dtN1nU4fSEozx-EmaYBw%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiG16TIvYfaAhWRMewKHeloC8kQ7AkIPA&biw=1024&bih=600#isa=y
I think the rule of law is worth defending and if people deliberately break the law we shouldn’t be criticising the Spanish police for trying to uphold it.
So in your eyes rule of law trumps democracy. That’s what happened in Spain.
Without the law there can be no democracy.
Not all law, and certainly not sedition and rebellion, that’s being used against the Catalan democratically elected officials.
I don’t think we can pick and choose when it comes to the law.
Rebellion? Sedition? Are you kidding me.
Till recently treason in the UK carried the death penalty, the last person to be convicted of it was hung.
Fred
The term is hanged.
Hung is what sectarian Scottish Tory councillors claim to be.
“The Catalan people are a people, with enough culutral diversity to become a independent nation. However we all know that international recognition is the key for the Catalans.”
Could this be the real reason the PTB seem to be facilitating mass immigration into Europe of non-Europeans, even to the extent of toppling the throttling valve that was Ghadaffi? Break down the cultural cohesion of a ‘people’ and you no longer have a ‘people’ able to advocate for their own independence. Just a thought. I’d love to be independent of the B.I.S. and AZ empire myself.
Fred, “I think the rule of law is worth defending” unless it is Russia, then due process does not apply.
Is that a joke?
You ask “Whose law?”… For me, and fwiw, and I have lived in Spain since 1971, it´s the law of all the Spanish people who in 1979 voted overwhelmingly and democratically in referendum in favour of the new constitution with 95% voting “sí” in Cataluña on a 67% turnout.
.
A constitution which states the indissoluble unity of Spain so any constitutional change in this respect would need to be approved in popular vote on the basis that all spaniards would be affected by any such change and therefore have a democratic right to opine on it. So no, the Spanish constitutional laws are not immutable and can be varied by way of a popular vote, but a popular vote of all regions not just one in which case it would cease to be democratic.
Typo, the referendum was 6 December 1978.
Skripal incident
My view utilising my experience and knowledge and the open source information gathered from what has been made public by the media (the media has its own over inflated view of GREAT Britain’s actual position in the world), I see NO sense in the Russian state being involved in this issue!
Firstly, I believe this is PM May grandstanding (politically it makes her look strong counteracting her perceived weakness on Brexit. Plus in rightwing Tory eyes it make GREAT Britain look GREAT again!) Politicians never look a gift horse in the mouth and the media undertake little independent investigation if they are spoon feed an official story.
A respected journo contacted me and it was clear to me that he hadn’t considered ANY alternative to Russia and Putin.
So why do I question Russian involvement?
First this guy was arrested by Russia as a traitor in 2004 and imprisoned for treason. In Russia, like in the US, individuals can be executed for treason, so if they wanted him dead for what he did, what better way to do it there and then!
Later, around 2008, he was exchanged in a US ‘spy swap’.
Again if they didn’t want this guy to leave prison they could have kept him and not taken the deal.
But, he arrives and is settled in the UK.
So now nearly 10, repeat 10 years later, he and his daughter are poisoned!
Why?
Six years ago his wife died. Some say in questionable circumstances, but it appears that it was something as everyday as cancer.
Recently the son dies IN RUSSIA. If the family felt unsafe, why was the son in Russia?
It seems as though the son actually died of liver disease. But the point is, regardless of the cause of death, he was apparently happy to travel to Russia.
So if, although some in the media are trying to conflate these family deaths and this incident as proof of state sponsored murder, the question they don’t ask is, if these were murders, then why NOT murder the father and daughter in the same unobtrusive manner?
But of course ‘people’ over look this as it not sexy and does fit the evil Russian story.
Let me make it clear here. Of all of the police, intelligence and security agencies I’ve worked with, the Russian agencies were by far the most uncooperative and untrusting. I’m not a fan of Russia. Hence, all my points come from this biased perspective.
So, to the nerve agent, Novichok.
The agent was developed in the SOVIET UNION in the 1970’s and 80’s. Hence, contrary to the PM’s position in parliament, Russia is NOT, repeat NOT, the only present day country that had/has access to these weapons. Indeed, one of the main areas for the production/testing of such weapons was in Uzbekistan. I also know from experience, that in the decade and a half post the fall of the Soviet Union, (frankly until Putin got a grip) that practically everything, particularly IP (knowledge), was readily up for sale!
Consequently any of the former Soviet 15 republics that are now countries in their own rights Ukraine, Azerbaijan etc could have access.
Finally, to put the jingoistic pronouncements into context about countries killing individuals in third countries, for obvious reasons I’ll not speak about the UK but about the actions of our primary ally, using open source information available to all jurnos etc:
The US drone programme, under a president I highly respected, has killed a large number of people in other sovereign states, without those countries’ authority!
Also the US has in the past, and recently, interfered in countless countries elections, spied DIRECTLY on allied leaders (heads of state and government Merkel, Aznar, Sarkozy etc) and on hundreds of millions of citizens in countries like Germany, France, Spain the EU structures in general. The US has also accepted that they were involved in cyber attacks in many countries of the world. Frankly, as President Obama sheepishly put it when the NSA were caught spying on Chancellor Merkel back in 2013, this is what intelligence agencies do! Remember this incident was referred to by Trump when Merkel visited the US after his assumption to the presidency.
So, to end, who carried this out?
Upon Putin’s rise to power in the mid to late 90’s some 20 oligarchs owned about 85% of The Russian Federation’s wealth!
Most of these oligarchs, many who bought this dirty money to the UK and its overseas jurisdictions, HATE Putin. He regulated their power and clearly considered extra judicial actions against them. These BILLIONAIRES have access to nigh on anything, especially via old KGB, GRU (FSB/SVR etc) officers, is available. So such individuals or a cabal thereof can not be ruled out.
Russian Mafia, often the same as above, with the above wealth and means.
False flag ops of third countries like e.g. Ukraine. That would be a great op for them.
But most importantly what was Skripol doing himself, hat was he involved in. How was he supporting his lifestyle? Was he involved in something in which he was utilising the nerve agent which he mixed himself incorrectly and potentially killing himself and his daughter.
And then there’s the Russian state. They could be behind what would be a botch job as is being suggested. But it would be poor tradecraft.
Then there are rouge officers, but again why such a botch job?
In other words all avenues should have been exhausted and evidenced before jumping on this jingoistic anti-Russian bandwagon.
These are just my thoughts.
Interestingly I was contacted by a journalist concerning my above thoughts. He’d been assured by attendence at a RUSI conference on the Skripal issue, that it was ordered by Putin. I replied as follows:
I’m OPEN to any suggestion. My only question is WHY now and WHY in this manner?
If one dark night somebody had hit Skripal over the head, killed him and stolen his gold chain the job would have been completed.
Or if he crossed the road and was run over in a hit and run, the job would have been completed.
Even if he was shot twice in the back of the head, the job would have been completed.
All of these acts could have taken place with a minimum of fuss AND complete plausible deniability, WHICH is something in the game one invariably hopes to achieve.
As you’ll see from my book in one of my roles in the Branch I monitored the ‘Stray Dogs’ campaign. The Libyan generally kept it simple.
Hence, I suggest for a sophisticated units like the SVR, FSB or even GRU there was no need to send a partial calling card by using a nerve agent!
Frankly, its unprofessional.
Moreover, if it was to stop people ‘defecting’, as was suggested this morning by our esteemed Foreign Secretary an interview to camera, why wait 10 years to send this message?
I think the answers in this investigation sit with Skripal himself. I don’t know what they might be though.
Have you checked to see if Skripal traveled outside of the UK recently? As any attack could have been distanced by being carrying the murder out abroad.
Moreover, his movements might tell you what he was up too. (By the way, I’m not suggesting that Skripal was working for the UK, I for one would never have used him.)
There is a question re Detective Sergeant (DS) Nick Bailey’s involvement.
A DS does NOT get called to drunks on a bench (the initial call to Wiltshire Constabulary), nor does a regular CID DS go to search the house of drunks found on a bench. Both of these are uniform roles.
Nor would general duty police, uniform or CID, know who a resettled SIS agent was, let alone where he’d been settled. There may have/should have been a restricted marker flagged on the national computer, but access to the knowledge contained therein would be extremely limited.
As regards thev RUSI assertion I asked the following- have you been provided with any actual evidence of Russian involvement by any of your contacts in SO15, Wiltshire Constabulary, the Military, the Services or government?
Frankly, RUSI can say what they will.
Finally, re the smoking gun (supposedly Novichok, about which beginning in 1992 many papers were written) if my memory serves me correctly, there were several primary development and testing sites for many types of Chemical/Biological material outside of the Russian republic in soviet times. Hence, each of the governments, now states, will have had/have access to various CB agents.
Moreover, the US assisted many former Soviet republics to dismantle or contain such, CBRN knowhow and actual substances, post the Soviet era. Hence, for a decade or so post the fall of the Soviet Union, various states, terror organisations and cults tried to obtain such knowhow and/or substances with varying degrees of success (e.g. Japanese Aum Shinrikyo cult, and various Islamists groups did this with varying degrees of success etc).
Consequently, my EXPERIENCE showed me, that Soviet era ‘kit’ regardless of how secret it was, did not remain exclusive to/in Russia or even the former Soviet states, but had world wide currency.
There was a very good article from a colleague of yours incorporating some good research in the Guardian concerning Skripal et al and allied issues.
Hence, as for the information I provide, I am always very mindful of what is open source material. Therefore until I know something is open source and in the public domain, I remain silent! Even then I am very, very careful.
As I state in my book, (Black Ops The incredible true story of a British secret agent by Carlton King), having worked both on Iraq and Afghanistan before the invasions, I was adamant to anybody that would listen that invading either country was exactly what the jihadi recruiting sergeants wanted. Plus as I also mentioned in my book, as far as Iraq was concerned, prior to its invasion I made it clear that, from my knowledge base, there were no nuclear and limited CB potential in that country. HOowever, in making such accessments, I always considered the fact that somebody else might have better knowledge/sources than I.
OBVIOUSLY now, anything I say re Skripal is without ANY official knowledge, as I’ve long since retired from these domains. That said, my historical recollections are not negated, as these were based on my grade ‘A’ knowledge and methodology base.
Consequently, when somebody states incorrectly, even the PM, that something was only produced by ‘Russia’ (and is only in the possession of the Russians etc.,) and I KNOW its wrong, I will challenge it.
But more importantly, thinking with my law enforcement, in addition to my intelligence service hat on, I alway seek MOTIVE.
WHY has a ‘crime’ been perpetrated?
That’s why I’d rule nothing out in the Skripal incident, but utilising primary research and ALL ROUND KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE, I’d simply travel were the evidence took me.
So what has Theresa May told the EU leaders that has them so convinced?
Maybe this will answer your question:
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Varadkar said: “We’re part of a European Union which has 28 member states in it.
“Other member states are sometimes subject to attack; we saw a terrible attack today in France and last week an attempted assassination using a chemical agent occurred in England.”
“Part of the European Union and part of European solidarity is the 28 of us standing together; so if an unfriendly act is perpetrated on one European country; other European countries will stand together and stand by our allies and that’s what we would expect for us and it’s what we will do for other countries.”
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/ireland-will-stand-by-its-allies-taoiseach-responds-to-criticism-that-assessing-russian-ambassadors-is-unfriendly-action-36735761.html
nothing… herd mentality at work.. that’s all….. it is the same mind that continues to support nato – another irrelevant organization past it’s date..
In a word – ‘porkies’!
Carlton,
A brilliant post.
If Mr Skripal’s son died of liver disease – so did Christopher Steele’s first wife Laura, in 2009, from cirrhosis of the liver.
re: RUSI – one of the people who were swapped along with Mr Skripal was a Russian who is now working as a research fellow for RUSI – Igor Sutyagin. However, Mr Sutyagin urged caution in attributing blame to Russia.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sergei-skripal-police-scour-former-russian-spys-home-after-poison-plot-in-salisbury-a3782251.html
It would be most interesting if the RUSI person who spoke to the journalist that you referred to, who between them sought to implicate Russia could be named, insofar as it is known, or is possible to find out, or disclose.
Are the British police allowing Sergei Skripal’s girlfriend in Salisbury to reman in seclusion rather than force her to come forward to testify about what she knows about the attack for fear of her own safety?
Great news from Eastern Ghouta. Its finally being liberated of the western funded mini Bin Ladins. Yes LIBERATED. Remember that word when watching the MSM coverage.
Only Duma remains and apparently they’re only holding out right now in the desperate hope they can relocate down south to Daraa (a CIA/Israeli stronghold) instead of ending up in Idlib where they will be wiped out by their FSA brothers. These proxies don’t seem to ever get along…
ISIS and the FSA in Yarmuk, south of Damascus, hopefully next and then the poor people of Damascus can finally have a safe nights sleep after 7+ years. The only thing to worry about then is Israeli airstrikes.
Now lets do some math:
– The west and the MSM claimed 400,000+ people lived in E Ghouta at the beginning of this liberation campaign a month ago.
– Less than 20,000 jihadi’s along with their families have taken the bus up north to Idlib. (5,000 fighters, 15000 family members)
– Logically that means 380,000 local Syrians remain in their homes in Eastern Ghouta under SAA control.
– This means the vast majority of Syrians never supported the FSA in E Ghouta, and were being held captive as prisoners and human shields (minorities paraded on pick up trucks in cages).
Take a bow Britain, USA, Israel/Saudi and co. Another ME country in ruins at the hands of the 1% and their never ending quest for money.
Now back to discuss whether Britain and its allies would poison a Russian for kicks…………..hmmm I’m still on the fence…………
It’s possible that the two things are related. The alleged poisonings in Salisbury may have been meant to coincide with the much-vaunted chemical weapon attck in Syria (which may not happen now owing to the swift work of the SAA)
Or because it was a complete fantasy to begin with.
If so it was one taken very seriously by the Syrians and the Russians. Probably something to do with the reports of large quantities of chlorine being smuggled in from Turkey and the discovery of a makeshift chemical weapons factory in E Ghouta.
Talking of complete fantasies, I wonder how the Skripals are getting on in that Salisbury hospital, the one that has never had any cases of nerve-agent poisoning.
It wasn’t a chemical weapons factory. Therr is nothing in that video to indicate chemical weapons were being produced.
So DDTea……sounds like you a firmly behind the so-called SAA Gas attacks……you don’t live in a semi in Coventry do you, with your mum?
Try this piece of news, of course ignored by our MSM and government because it is ‘complete fantasy:
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-uncovers-militant-chemical-factory-in-east-ghouta-video/
You should know better thab to believe Al Masdar. That isn’t a chemical weapons lab and those aren’t gas “canisters.” Those are carboys with screw caps, designed to contain and pour liquids.
This setup is entirely inappropriate to handle poison gas or volatile toxic chemicals.
And an air compressor is a basic necessity in any lab.
This looks like an explosives or maybe a fuel lab. Ghouta had to manufacture its own fuel by destructive distillation of plastic.
Well said Mr knuckles ☺
Wow, you’ve bought and sold regime disinformation wholesale. Those “minorities in cages” were neither minorities nor forcivly encaged. The cages were symbolic and part of a demonstration against the gov’t ‘s starvation siege.
If so many people were being held hostage, what possible justification could there be for such heavy air raids, artillery bombardment, and incendiary ammunition? The govt had zero regard for their welfare. Your basic math does not include how many are dead or still buried under rubble. You also forget that more people are still awaiting evacuation. Also, that the main population center in eastern ghouta is Douma city.
You didn’t mention footage taken by evacuees where government soldiers were yelling. “Praise Assad or you don’t get water!”
I could go on. But I’ve learned that all moral values of Assadists are tied solely to what benefits the regime. You all are worse than Zionists.
And where did and who are these intrepid freedom fighters in Douma. Would you care to tell us please?
Would you care to tell us who is fighting for Assad in Eastern Ghouta and their national origins?
wow…….this site has attracted a MSM lackey….next you’ll be telling us Russia did it !!
@ DDTea March 25, 2018 at 19:51
‘…You didn’t mention footage taken by evacuees where government soldiers were yelling. “Praise Assad or you don’t get water!”…’
What makes you think they were government soldiers? Sounds much more like something the ‘White Helmets’ would arrange, for propaganda purposes. But, of course, you saw it with your own eyes, like George Galloway replied (in a ‘straw-man’ response to a question of mine the other day), he saw ‘the planes go into the Twin Towers with his own eyes (ignoring effectively my question).
Some folks have actually seen, with their own eyes, King Kong trampling on cars, swatting helicpters away, and toppling buildings.
Indeed, some US citizens actually heard, with their own ears, reports of an alien invasion, and took off into the hills.
I’m confused.
Was Al-Qaeda responsible for 9/11? If not, then was it a false flag to demonize Al-Qaeda in our consciousness?
And if Al-Qaeda is innocent, then what is wrong with the White Helmets being an Al-Qaeda affiliate?
I don’t believe anything you just said, by the way; I just want to understand your cognitive dissonance.
Since you seem to suffer from cognitive dissonance….why are you trying to understand someone elses???
WOW DDTea, your Bin Laden loving friends in Syria are being wiped out thanks to secular Syria, Russia, Iran and co. Maybe you could offer them a place to stay once removed from Idlib? Jihadi Johns friends are looking for a new home? Mind your head.
Poor little jihadi’s not being able to bomb the good people of Damascus. Sunni, Shia, Christian of many different sects united across Syria against the sharia law loving chop chops. Poor DDTea. Here’s a hanky.
”But I’ve learned that all moral values of Assadists are tied solely to what benefits the” Syrian people and that’s why 85% of the population safely live under SAA controlled zones (not including the US illegally occupied NE).
YOU didn’t bother to mention the mass murder, rape, torture and imprisonment of minorities by yours friends in E Ghouta. Why don’t you go on about that?
”Starvation siege”, with all those fat f’ks boarding the green buses. Give it a rest. Next you’ll be claiming the USAF air drops food to the Taliban when they feel peckish.
Remember kids, the VAST MAJORITY of Syrians in Eastern Ghouta have remained where they are, LIBERATED, and reunited with their family, friends and Syria once again.
DDTea is just upset that Sharia Law will NOT be imposed on the secular Syrian communities by his US/British/Israeli/Saudi friends.
Putin and co take a bow.
Explain how your love of secularism-at-any-cost is any different than the old “white man’s burden?”
By the way, Ba’athist Syria is not actually secular. Maybe you should read their constitution 😉
“Article 3 of the 1973 Syrian constitution declares Islamic jurisprudence [a.k.a. Sharia Law] one of Syria’s main sources of legislation. The Personal Status Law 59 of 1953 (amended by Law 34 of 1975) is essentially a codified Islamic law. “
Right after you answer MY questions. There they are above. Take you time.
Actually, you owe me a response first since you conveniently ignored the questions I asked before the ones you posed.
“If so many people were being held hostage, what possible justification could there be for such heavy air raids, artillery bombardment, and incendiary ammunition?”
“If so many people were being held hostage, what possible justification could there be for such heavy air raids, artillery bombardment, and incendiary ammunition?”
Ehhhhhhhh, to LIBERATE Eastern Ghouta before the mini Bin Ladens could chop up the locals. It worked a treat. Eastern Ghouta is still habitable unlike Mosul and Raqqa with minimal force used against brainwashed western cannon fodder.
__________________________
#Syria Impressive video. More than 100000 civilians left the battle zone in Eastern Ghouta via safe corridor of Syrian and Russian military.
After militants were driven out, many civilians had already returned to their homes#Damascus #SAA #Russia #SAA #EastGhouta #Ghouta#الغوطة pic.twitter.com/p55IffbixD
— RusSyrianWariors (@Ruswariors) March 25, 2018
__________________________
Within Syria @WithinSyriaBlog
Mar 24
More
This is not a concentration camp in Nazi German … this is the underground prision of Jaysh al-Islam where dozens of families of Syrian minorities are being held and enslaved for years now and no one care
__________________________
-GEROMAN ?? – Retweeted
هادي نصرالله @HadiNasrallah
11h11 hours ago
More
“I’m done fighting, the FSA lied to us and the US dollars and Saudi money they gave us ruined everything. I just want the war to be over”
Listen to this interview with a “rebel” fighter evacuated from Ghouta towards Idlib as part of an agreement with the Syrian Government
__________________________
Hassan Ridha @sayed_ridha
26m26 minutes ago
More
Negotiations ongoing between the Russian side and Jaish al-Islam to reach a settlement and evacuate militants from Douma city.
__________________________
Now you,
Would you live under the same roof as Jihadi Johns friends in E Ghouta?
Are you an apologist for mass murder, kidnap, imprisonment, rape and torture perpetrated by the FSA?
Have the majority of Syrians remained in EGhouta since its liberation or have they got the bus up north?
Was the burning alive of people in cages staged by the rebels as you claim the ‘pick up truck human shields’ were?
Do you acknowledge the White Helmets are linked to MI6/CIA and Bin Ladens AQ Syria?
Do you support a Syria under Salafist Sharia Law rather than a secular democracy?
Have minorities across Syria been murdered by the ‘rebels’ for not converting to Salafism?
And by the by, the Syrian constitution in currently being drawn up with the support of minorities across secular Syria at the Russian peace talks. Keep up. Why you quote something from decades ago I don’t know, its like quoting UK law banning homosexuality as accurate…..
Scottish resident Clara Ponsati and former Catalan minister is the subject of a European Arrest Warrant made by the Spanish government to the Scottish legal system.
Ponsati resumed her professorship at St. Andrew’s University after her stint as Education Minister in Catalonia was curtailed by the Rajoy government’s suspension of democracy. She is an internationally respected academic whose participation in politics has been impeccably democratic.
Article 2 of the European Arrest Warrant lists 32 offences whereby people can be extradited even if the alleged offence is not recognised by both countries concerned. However “sedition” and “rebellion”, the charges levelled at the Catalan ministers, are not on that list.
Also, in recital 12 in the preamble to the Framework Decision of the EAW it states:
“Nothing in this framework decision may be interpreted as prohibiting refusal to surrender a person for whom a EAW has been issued when there are reasons to believe, on the basis of objective elements, that the said arrest warrant has been issued for the purposes of prosecuting or punishing a person on the grounds of his or her sex, race, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, language, political opinions or sexual orientation, or that that person’s position may be prejudiced for any of these reasons”.
Added to which, Recital 12 in the same Framework Decision states:
“No person should be removed or expelled to a State where there is a serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
In respect of that Recital 12, Joaquin Forn, the deposed Catalan Interior Minister, was kept for months without trial in a freezing cell without heating or hot water.
There is also the legal question of malum prohibitum. Which denotes an act that is only unlawful by virtue of statute and not by virtue of it being an act considered evil in and of itself. The Catalan ministers are being charged with offences that are surely only unlawful by virtue of statute of the Spanish constitution. A constitution written by Francoists.
Sorry, the second recital quoted is Recital 13, not Recital 12.
Here you go reel guid.
Extraneous considerations.
https://mobile.twitter.com/PeatWorrier/status/977896078275117057/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwingsoverscotland.com%2Fthe-winds-of-change%2Fcomment-page-1%2F%23comments
Thanks for the link Ros. Peat Worrier is always good to read on legal matters.
“Germany will be legally obliged to make the arrest but the EU Arrest Warrant gives judicial discretion on surrendering a detainee – one ground for refusal is a prosecution relating to political expression”
https://mobile.twitter.com/DerekBateman2?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwingsoverscotland.com%2Fthe-winds-of-change%2Fcomment-page-1%2F%23comments
Surely the same with regards to Clara Ponsati, will apply in Scotland.
I should add reel guid that rebellion isn’t a crime in Belguim, however it is Germany where Puigdemont has been detained.
If the German’s hand over Puigdemont to Spain, it will be the second time Germany has delivered a Catalan president into the hands of fascist Spain – the first being Lluís Companys.
Yes Ros. The German police could surely have allowed Puigdemont to continue on his way to Belgium.
A statement from the FM on Clara Ponsati, and where our position is just now.
https://mobile.twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/977928823076544522
Ros
Good to see Nicola making an unequivocal statement in support of the Catalan ministers.
And yes, the Justice Secretary has no power over this. However, does the Lord Advocate have the power? Seeing as the LA has the overall responsibility for prosecutions?
“In respect of that Recital 12, Joaquin Forn, the deposed Catalan Interior Minister, was kept for months without trial in a freezing cell without heating or hot water.”
Yes we do that in Scotland too, it’s called remand. Judges use it for people they think would probably sod off to Belgium to avoid standing trial.
I was hoping for a reply from our learned friend Martinned. Instead I get Fred.
I think Martin would tell you the same as I did, remanding in custody is standard throughout the world for people who can’t be trusted to turn up in court.
”Learned friend Martinned” – yikes.
No person should be removed or expelled to a State where there is a serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
Yet here we are, political prisoners held in western Europe, for excercising their democratic rights.
Who’ll likely be sentenced to long periods of imprisonment. I expect this kind of skullduggery from the likes of China or North Korea, but not from a member of the EU, yet, Spain portrays itself as a democratic nation.
@ Republicofscotland March 25, 2018 at 14:59
The same, of course, applies to Julian Assange. Indeed, no one should be extradited to the barbaric US ‘Justice’ system.
Spanish law despite being singed up to the UN charters, does not respect the right of self determination and those Governments supporting such a fascist notion are in theory denouncing this very basic right.
I’m appalled that Germany is playing into the hands of a left over Franco section in Rajoy’s corrupt Government. It makes it clear to anyone in Europe that self determination is a dangerous option to choose.
what a dilemma for Europeans who care about it…
@Carlton King
Thanks, interesting analysis.
“But more importantly, thinking with my law enforcement, in addition to my intelligence service hat on, I always seek MOTIVE.
WHY has a ‘crime’ been perpetrated?”
So, would you agree that it could have been Julia Skripal’s future mother-in-law then?
“That’s why I’d rule nothing out in the Skripal incident, but utilising primary research and ALL ROUND KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE, I’d simply travel where the evidence took me.”
Where has it taken you so far?
Can you help identify the “high up in the structure” parents of Dimtry Dementyev? (Julia Skripal’s boyfriend)
I was wondering what if anything were Julian Assange’s views on current events. Whilst most of his comments are what most people would have expected, he also poses, another interesting angle, which I had not expected. This suprised me. He merely proposed the possibility, that maybe it actually was The Russians who did this. I never thought him a fan of Theresa May, but he is merely asking a question. He is a clever bloke.
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/973903259751604225
Extract
“Theresa May is in a difficult position. If the Kremlin was knowingly behind the claimed nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal then it is likely designed to provoke a UK response with Russian moves already gamed out. Only a highly creative response can avoid such a trap.”
Tony
Tony,
This is from Julian Assange dated 22 March 2018 as it pertains to the 2016 US Election / Trump Dossier – and therefore to Christopher Steele:-
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/03/julian-assange-drops-a-bomb-implicates-british-government-in-dirty-anti-trump-dossier/
Sagittarius Rising,
So why is it date stamped 5:46 AM – 14 Mar 2018?
I know Twitter apparently gets the hours wrong, but not normally the dates.
By the way, did you know the clocks have moved forward, at least in the UK.
I would also like to point out, that Theresa May, could if she wished, get Julian Assange out of jail in the Ecudaorian Embassy (assuming he is there, which I very much doubt)
Tony
Tony,
Are we talking about the exact same thing? I saw the tweets that you posted, which gave a date of 14 March 2018 – the article I provided is a later one dated 22 March 2018, which includes a series of tweets also from Julian Assange – they are all dated 22 March 2018.
I agree with you about what Mrs May could do but is not doing.
I am in the UK – so, yes, I got the hour sorted – even if it takes longer for my body clock to catch up.
“I would also like to point out, that Theresa May, could if she wished, get Julian Assange out of jail in the Ecudaorian Embassy (assuming he is there, which I very much doubt)”
Now that’s interesting as I know that the legacy media narrative about how long he has been in there isn’t right , do tell us more.
What’s going on?,
Sometime later. The clocks have moved forward, and I’m a bit late for the pub, but basically, my suspicions about Julian, are not only when the last time he appeared in the middle of summer, several hours late, when “News” about him had just been released…
He was wearing a motocycle jacket, as if he had just arrived on a motorcycle and been smuggled in the back door.
It was very hot that day, and he didn’t have far to walk.
Maybe they had the air-conditioning turned up very high, and he was freezing to death,
Or maybe he had just arrived on a motorcycle for all the world s media to make a speech.
Sorry, I do notice these things. It’s only asking questions.
Tony
What do you mean about the short walk? Walk from where? Isn’t he holed up in the embassy and can’t go outside for fear of being arrested?
Assange is not in jail in the Ecuadorian Embassy. He’s in self-imposed hiding and the person best placed to get him out is himself. All he has to do is go the door and step out into the street, serve his few months and cough up for jumping bail and he’s a free man.
Fine. Got anything to add to the points about him not really being in there at the moment?
Yeah right.
“On 4 December 2015, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) adopted Opinion No. 54/2015, in which it considered that Mr. Julian Assange was arbitrarily detained by the Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In that opinion, the Working Group recognized that Mr. Assange is entitled to his freedom of movement and to compensation. The application was filed with the Working Group in September 2014. ”
“The Opinion 54/2015 was sent to the Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 22 January 2016 in accordance with the Working Group’s Methods of Work.”
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17012
‘Switch and ditch’, very clever Kempe.
Let’s pick this up at a later point Tony, I don’t think either of us are going away.
RoS.
Is Julian free to walk out of the embassy at a time of his own choosing? Yes or no.
Free to walk out and be arrested, is a more appropriate phrase. Otherwise he’d have departed the embassy a long time ago.
Of course you know this, but continue to deny that his arrest would lead to a unplanned and very uncomfortable visit to the States.
It’s ‘highly likely’ that Assange is a CIA asset. I don’t take any notice of what he says.
Anyone who thinks that Julian Assange is little more than a self-serving publicist who is willing to recklessly take advantage of the real sacrifices of others, especially Gareth Williams, his followers and Edward Snowden, doesn’t know what he is thinking about.
At this point, the best person to get him out of his incarceration is PM May..
An interview with Wladimir Ugljov in German. Now 71 he struggles on a pension of 200 Euro’s and in the past sold cloth on the black market to keep alive. His erstwhile colleague Rink was known to sell a few phials of the nerve gas they’ve made, very likely for being hard up as well.
It looks like Russia is looking around for Skripals ex pals, but the whole story is now becoming pure propaganda and has taken in other NATO states in collaboration of this meme.
Weighing up whether to put my tatties into the ground or translating this whole story.
Tatties have won, sorry
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/russischer-gift-erfinder-ugljow-toedliche-tropfen-im-telefonhoerer-a-1199699.html
Has anybody else noticed this story disappearing faster than the cheshire cat? Neither BBC or Google news have the words Skipal/Putin/Johnson/ Russia/Salisbury/nerve agent/ poisoning on their front page or “in the news” menu.
Yes, noticed that.
It’s like a major aircraft crash. In the first few weeks it’s a media frenzy with every media outlet rolling out “experts” and endless groundless theories about what caused the crash.
Two weeks later it’s forgotten and two years later, when the final report comes out, few are interested.
News stories do decay fast, seems a little bit more than that. Searching Google for Dr Stephen Davies Salisbury gets a very poor showing. Three hits on sputnik at the top then way way of topic.
I feel I am watching history being re written almost before its happened.
Dr Stephen Davies has gone down the memory hole. Google news says hes been mentioned three times in the last week, on sputnik, and that’s it.
They’re struggling with how this story is breaking, it seems to me.
I found it interesting that a poll on people’s beliefs showed that, while 45% of people thought that Russia was probably responsible, only 32% thought they almost certainly were. And that was after almost a week of May and Boris bombarding us with how certain they were that Russia was behind it.
If less than a third of the population is buying the Government’s line, that does not bode well for them.
Perhaps that is why they decided to drive it out of the headlines with anti-Semitism smear number 283.
Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry tweets and retweets about anything she can except about events in Catalonia and Germany.
John Helmer published an interesting analysis of the order by Justice Williams in his blog Dances with Bears. On the one hand he points out that the OPCW team seems to be doing a professional job, thus confirming how right the Russian government was in insisting on referring the matter to the OPCW. On the other hand he also points to some inconsistencies between the Russian aide memoire where they say tjat their consul was denied any acces to Yulia Skripal, and the Judge stating that no Russian consular official approached the hospital or the court system with a proper petition. The court-appointed attorney for the Skripals seems to have disconnected his phone. I hope the Foreign Ministry in Moscow clarifies this point as soon as possible. They should file a formal petition yo be admitted in the court’s proceedings on behalf of Yulia, under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Russia should also file.a formal request.to the OPCW to be admitted in their investigation under paragraph 5 of Article IX of the CWC.
Here is the link to John Helmer’s bloghttp://johnhelmer.org/?p=17644
The SNP, Greens, Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru the only parties speaking out and denouncing the EAWs on the Catalan exiles.
Nothing from Labour and the Tories. The old firm of keeping the people in ignorance, closing down proper debate, tribal obsession, autocratic decisions and power at all costs.
RoS has neglected to congratulate RG for this post.
I would like to know the reason for this omission.
No matter. I’ll congratulate myself. Well done me.
Aw well, Glenn, I’d love to congratulate you, but you’ve not put up a half decent post for a long time.
Still I live in hope. ?
The day you have an original thought will be an occasion of high celebration, RoS. But I don’t hold out much hope of that.
Tomorrow morning in the HoC
1. NATIONAL SECURITY AND RUSSIA
Until 10.00pm (Standing Order No. 9(6))
The Prime Minister
That this House has considered national security and Russia.
Relevant Documents:
Oral evidence taken before the Foreign Affairs Committee on 21 March 2018, Oral evidence from the
Foreign Secretary, HC 538.
First Report of the Defence Committee of Session 2016-17, Russia: Implications for UK defence and
security, HC107, and the Government Response, HC668, and oral evidence taken before the Defence
Committee on 21 February, on Departmental priorities, HC814.
First Report of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, National Security Capability
Review: A changing security environment, HC 756.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmagenda/OP180326v2.pdf
The troughers pack up on Thursday 29th March and return 16th April, 2018. Nice little Easter break ahead for them. Any of them flying off to foreign destinations?
Any elected politician who represents you and who refuses to condemn the behaviour of the Madrid government and the astonishing return of the phenomenon of political prisoners in Western Europe does not deserve your support. Because it’s your human rights too they are ignoring.
If they don’t speak out, vote them out.
reel guid.
There’s a demonstrations outside the German Consulate in Glasgow at 6pm tonight, 1 George Sq, with regards to Germany detaining the democratically elected president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont.
A bit far for me to attend, but, just in case Brian should be going, please put a word in for me.
Catalunya is everywhere, their right to self determination is inalienable.
It is unfortunate that this discussion has veered well off course, because there are issues which need wider attention; the fact that DS Bailey doesn’t exist for instance.
That’s something that crossed my mine too.
How do we ascertain he does or does not exist?
Also,
There’s a reason the discussion veered well off course.
Give the bots some credit, please!
You mean, that was just a nom de guerre of somebody whose name is entirely different? In that case, is there any reason to believe he’s really a Detective Sergeant?
He’s a ghost.
No recent pictures, no pictures we can confirm are him, no live interviews with friends, family or neighbours. Who goes through an ordeal like the one he has supposedly been through and not end up getting the media circus treatment? Everything about his story exists as state/media assertion only; there isn’t a shred of actual evidence that the guy even exists.
Yep, a poster boy.
Fleet street not interested?
For god’s sake, the vultures savaged the McCains!
It’s their natural rapacious MOD.
Ergo…
Yes normally it is no time at all after an incident that we get a photo of the brave PC gurning in their hospital bed, thumbs up. On this occasion, nothing, not even him a photo of leaving hospital waved off by the staff. I am starting to get the feeling there is something more here than the attempted killing of the Skripals, something else associated with them which the authorities need to cover up, but I have no idea what it is. Not yet anyway.
OK here is some info about DS Bailey which ran on Sky News on 8 March:
The police officer who fell seriously ill after the nerve agent attack put a rapist behind bars who had been at large for decades.Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, 38, is now stable and conscious after being in intensive care following the attack. Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are still critically ill after they were found collapsed on a bench in Salisbury.
DS Bailey was one of the first at the scene when the pair were found slumped in The Maltings on Sunday. The officer was recognised for outstanding police work in December 2016 when he put a Salisbury rapist behind bars for more than 14 years. He spent two years building a case against Arthur Bonner, who sexually assaulted numerous victims over four decades between the early 1970s and 2014. His work was praised by the then chief constable Mike Veale for his dedication and outstanding professionalism and for the sensitive way he dealt with the victims and their families.
Acting Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, Kier Pritchard, said he had been to visit DS Bailey. He said: “I’ve known Nick for many years, he’s a great character. He’s a huge presence in Wiltshire Police – well-liked, well-loved, a massively dedicated officer. “He’s clearly receiving high specialist treatment. He’s well, he’s sat up. He’s clearly not the Nick that I know, but he’s in the safe hands of the medical professionals working in Salisbury District Hospital.
“But he’s very anxious, very concerned. He did his best on that night. I’m proud of all our staff who attended this incident at the Maltings on that night. They responded to try to protect people who were ill, with limited information.”
Messages of support have poured in for DS Bailey from the public and police forces across the country. Sarah Bailey, from Waters Road, Salisbury, said DS Bailey was involved in a case with her a few years ago. She told the Salisbury Journal: “He was fantastic, so helpful and supportive. I really do hope he has a full and speedy recovery.
Does answer some of my questions. We need facts and good support for those facts. However, please, we do not need bashing of other media, which tends to show a bias.
Thanks for all the information. Keep up the good work.
Despite the free media we still DON’T KNOW:
What toxin was used, where it came from, who administered it, how/where it was administered and why.
We DO KNOW despite the free media not telling us:
There has been a DA Notice issued on Medical and other Information, Salisbury Hospital staff have been ordered not to say anything to anyone. They have been told that they will be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for the slightest deviation from this order (most people do not realise that the OSA applies regardless of if the individual has signed anything or not. It is and Act of Parliament not a Contract. If someone passes on information to another, without authorisation, knowing it to be Classified then they are committing an offence. A 2 year jail sentence + further repercussions for public sector workers eg loss of pension may apply.
DS Bailey received the correct antidote before identification of the toxin was possible, the Skripals (or whoever they are) were not so fortunate.
DS Bailey’s job was not to attend to suspected drug / alcohol nuisance reports. He was on the scene because of other reasons.
Dr Stephen Davies has been wiped from news reports, the hospital, police and government spokespersons refuse to answer questions regarding his statement that nobody in Salisbury was affected by Nerve Agent Poisoning.
The government is keeping the public in the dark and issuing conflicting statements eg A Novichok Military Grade Nerve Agent was responsible but there is Minimal Risk to the public, any member of the public that becomes contaminated can clean themselves with baby wipes and wash their cloths in a regular fashion.
The public are being taken for mugs by a government that is in panic. The media is assisting the government’s con on the public.
Stephen Davies has not been scrubbed from anywhere. Where did you get that misinformation?
Here’s a reference to him in the BBC from March 16: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43429152
Here’s his LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stephen-davies-a245b0a8
The Skripals did not receive medical attention for over 30 minutes. That could be more than enough time for the nerve agent to “age” inside their active site, and become resistant to any antidote.
If Bailey was treated much sooner because doctors were beginning to suspect nerve agent, then he would have received life saving antidote much sooner. Considering the length of his hospital stay, and how he has mentioned that “life will never be the same,” he seems to have been heavily poisoned. He’s lucky to be alive.
You clearly came to this late, after Davies had made his incendiary claim the internet was awash with comment and links, I estimate more than 90% of what I could get access to (with my limited skills) is no longer available to me. Someone has scrubbed those links.
But your claims and assumptions indicate that you have taken only a perfunctory interest in the matter or your sources are very different to mine.
“The Skripals did not receive medical attention for over 30 minutes.”
From when? When they were poisoned? If it was the door handle that could have been 7hrs earlier.
And what do you suppose would happen in a normal human being put their hand on a door handle coated with a “Military Grade” Novichok? They would be dead within minutes if not seconds.
Unless it is some kind of slow release variant that has not been mentioned by Porton Down in Court papers or the government (May’s Common’s Statement).
“That could be more than enough time for the nerve agent to “age” inside their active site, and become resistant to any antidote.”
How much time? What Active Site? Resistant to what Antidote? The Antidote to a “related” Nerve Agent?
“If Bailey was treated much sooner because doctors were beginning to suspect nerve agent, then he would have received life saving antidote much sooner.” Sooner than what? Which Antidote did they give him? AND to answer the point I was making that you attempted to rubbish – How did they know which Antidote to give him?
Because if they did know which Antidote to give him, then they knew which class of chemicals they were dealing with and that is at odds with the Porton Down submission to the Court. Once an effective antidote had been found (by knowledge aforethought, by analysis techniques that are only known to Porton Down or by guesswork) then that would point to the class of chemicals that were being dealt with.