I have now received confirmation from a well placed FCO source that Porton Down scientists are not able to identify the nerve agent as being of Russian manufacture, and have been resentful of the pressure being placed on them to do so. Porton Down would only sign up to the formulation “of a type developed by Russia” after a rather difficult meeting where this was agreed as a compromise formulation. The Russians were allegedly researching, in the “Novichok” programme a generation of nerve agents which could be produced from commercially available precursors such as insecticides and fertilisers. This substance is a “novichok” in that sense. It is of that type. Just as I am typing on a laptop of a type developed by the United States, though this one was made in China.
To anybody with a Whitehall background this has been obvious for several days. The government has never said the nerve agent was made in Russia, or that it can only be made in Russia. The exact formulation “of a type developed by Russia” was used by Theresa May in parliament, used by the UK at the UN Security Council, used by Boris Johnson on the BBC yesterday and, most tellingly of all, “of a type developed by Russia” is the precise phrase used in the joint communique issued by the UK, USA, France and Germany yesterday:
This use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War.
When the same extremely careful phrasing is never deviated from, you know it is the result of a very delicate Whitehall compromise. My FCO source, like me, remembers the extreme pressure put on FCO staff and other civil servants to sign off the dirty dossier on Iraqi WMD, some of which pressure I recount in my memoir Murder in Samarkand. She volunteered the comparison to what is happening now, particularly at Porton Down, with no prompting from me.
Separately I have written to the media office at OPCW to ask them to confirm that there has never been any physical evidence of the existence of Russian Novichoks, and the programme of inspection and destruction of Russian chemical weapons was completed last year.
Did you know these interesting facts?
OPCW inspectors have had full access to all known Russian chemical weapons facilities for over a decade – including those identified by the “Novichok” alleged whistleblower Mirzayanov – and last year OPCW inspectors completed the destruction of the last of 40,000 tonnes of Russian chemical weapons
By contrast the programme of destruction of US chemical weapons stocks still has five years to run
Israel has extensive stocks of chemical weapons but has always refused to declare any of them to the OPCW. Israel is not a state party to the Chemical Weapons Convention nor a member of the OPCW. Israel signed in 1993 but refused to ratify as this would mean inspection and destruction of its chemical weapons. Israel undoubtedly has as much technical capacity as any state to synthesise “Novichoks”.
Until this week, the near universal belief among chemical weapons experts, and the official position of the OPCW, was that “Novichoks” were at most a theoretical research programme which the Russians had never succeeded in actually synthesising and manufacturing. That is why they are not on the OPCW list of banned chemical weapons.
Porton Down is still not certain it is the Russians who have apparently synthesised a “Novichok”. Hence “Of a type developed by Russia”. Note developed, not made, produced or manufactured.
It is very carefully worded propaganda. Of a type developed by liars.
UPDATE
This post prompted another old colleague to get in touch. On the bright side, the FCO have persuaded Boris he has to let the OPCW investigate a sample. But not just yet. The expectation is the inquiry committee will be chaired by a Chinese delegate. The Boris plan is to get the OPCW also to sign up to the “as developed by Russia” formula, and diplomacy to this end is being undertaken in Beijing right now.
I don’t suppose there is any sign of the BBC doing any actual journalism on this?
Erratum – I originally typed “nerve gas” and not “nerve agent” in the first line – purely my error.
I’ve seen reports that the Chemical Weapons Convention requires the UK to hand over samples of the agent used to OPCW. Is that correct anybody know?
That is correct PeteB… and the latest on that was B No saying the UK now would be doing so
Brilliant set of Articles on all this circus BS from the UK Craig
And respect for standing firm against the liars…and the so called mainstream reporters. Cheers for all the info
Fascinating stuff as always. This is an attempted murder like no other, the perpetrators are presumably still at large and yet no coverage of the search for them, no calls for the public to be vigilant, no discussion about lone wolves, nothing. Just a constant barrage of anti Russian rhetoric and another great big stick to attack Corby. These are worrying times we live in.
Maybe they never left home?
Keep it up Craig. We need you.
We need an Elizabeth Wilmshurst to show some honesty in the Westminster system
This whole episode is remarkably *consistent*! That’s the thing, the troubling thing.
But wait, the Foreign Policy article concludes: “It is possible that at some point over the past 30 years the Israelis may have disposed of their stockpile of mustard gas and nerve agents.”
Isn’t “extensive stocks” speculation, however well informed?
My knowledge isn’t confined to that article. but I was looking for a reference so it’s not just my word. And remember that is a very august and establishment minded US publication.
Craig. How do they go about testing the nerve gas? Is it through blood tests of the affected people? Thank you
If i may, yes, you can use body fluids, the vomit would be favourite, no processing by the liver which blood chemicals would have. I would go for the vomit.
There may also be other things they could swab for samples. The lack of a fevered search for a culprit is curious. Yulia lives in Russia and came here from Russia. It may well be her hands for eg were full of it, as per Kim Jong Mang in Seol airport. Maybe she goofed, or the protection measures for her failed.
I’m not saying this is the case, only that it would explain the lack of a manhunt, they know who applied it but cannot question her. Motive is difficult but family estrangement is possible, as it blackmail or other sort of pressure.
We know have very sensitive methods for dealing with both messy (vomit) and low amount samples (swabs).
I would like to know how they have ruled out botulinum toxin. That would explain a lot of the reported symptoms and would respond to much of the same treatments as for a nerve agent. It blocks ACh Receptors too as the Novichok agents are reputed to do, if they exist.
It is all very curious.
@Muscleguy – Did you know that Yulia Skripal has been reported to be engaged to be married to a high-ranking Russian security official?
(That may possibly be false or a distortion. The Daily Mirror cite what her cousin Victoria said on an unnamed Russian TV show.)
It was not a TV show; it was a text interview by a very popular Telegram channel (the word “channel” is confusing here, probably).
I myself read this interview (I am Russian) only today and this Viktoria Skripal actually says that Yulia’s boyfriend lives in the UK, and his mother (high-ranking Russian security official) also lives mostly abroad.
I wonder whether UK security have at least attempted to contact Viktoria Skripal (she has Facebook) for more details. I guess not. 🙁
Yes. Perhaps the three of them got food poisoning and everybody has over reacted, starting with local police and ending with Theresa May, and various heads of state.
An Israeli cargo plane carrying 3 of the 4 main components used in sarin crashed into a block of flats in Amsterdam in 1992 (El Al Flight 1862). (Write-up in the, ahem, New York Times.) The load was en route to the Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona.
The flight was out of Schiphol airport, home to Mossad’s European HQ.
You should protect your sources. Don’t give away the gender. This angers me.
Except it might be a deliberate red herring. Or not…
Thank you SO much Craig. I notice the Guardian this morning is at least acknowledging that there are many people, including yourself, that have serious doubts about all this. We are all indebted to your efforts
One can expect bellicose nonsense from May and Johnson but I think the stance of Anne Turley and Nia Griifith give some indication of Corbyn’s long term problems.
No surprise whatsoever. The PLP roared ACL Blair into Iraq. They’ve already forgotten that debacle, as well as the fact half of them would have been gone last June if it wasn’t for the Corbyn surge. This is the thanks he gets for saving their worthless asses.
ACL sounds like a police rank!
The early day motion had a list of all the usual suspects. I think time will prove Corbyn right. Cautious approach needed. I suspect the way the Tories jumped in but fail to adress their taking Russian money will play badly.
@Gordon – I admire your optimism, but the Tory connection with Russian money will only play badly if we make it.
There are weak points: Lebedev and Abramovich are just as big crooks as any of the other “oligarchs”. If they weren’t Britgov-connected, they wouldn’t be here. Berezovsky was a sitting target – a “Russian” mafia boss allowed to operate from London, who got killed before he could say what he wanted to the Litvinenko inquest. He had Israeli bodyguards by the way.
Berezovsky is one of the people we should all be talking about, this friend of the royal family, this causer of wars, this big-time killer. The royal family have always hung out with the mafia. Think ex-Edward VIII and Meyer Lansky; Princess Margaret and John Bindon; the royal family and the Colony Club in the 1960s between the two Gaming Acts.
Well analysed and expressed, Craig Murray. Thank you. Tony Kevin.
Once again, this episode highlights the growing mistrust ordinary people have in our elected officials and the “Establishment”. The continuing and constant misinformation and propaganda that we are fed by the MSM, is eroding our society.
In a nutshell.
I still like watching this YT. It has been viewed over 3 million times. Sadly it had the opposite effect last June when the country gave her another go at it. We have had in No 10 since 13 July 2016. It feels like a century.
https://youtu.be/HxN1STgQXW8
Presumably the technical questions Corbyn asked were at the suggestion of someone Porton Down.
The jingoism surrounding this is very worrying.
I am missing a detail I read on another blog, namely that, because this type of chemical weapon is designed to be replicated from commonly available resources relatively easily, it was never included in any declaration or destruction of chemical weapons. Can you confirm that? Thank you
A. Having been accused of misconduct, Veale resigned and goes off to a new niche in Cleveland, never to be heard of again.
Wiltshire Police chief constable Mike Veale to quit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-42668229
Very recent – 12 January 2018.
I am not on Facebook but saw this. Not a happy ship by all accounts.
https://en-gb.facebook.com/Cleveland-Police-Exposed-1556438771250060/
Thanks Craig for getting it out there.
Clear sanity for sure.
Great info,
From an ordinary punter.
Dear Mr Murray,
This interesting contribution is sadly typical of too much of your commentary. You adocate sensible caution and provide important evidence that suggests how tricky it is to identify nerve agents. But you conclude by calling everyone liars, which is not measured, not sensible and is exactly the kind of emotional and summary judgement your are criticising.
I think his point is that well-intentioned people are corralled and pressured into adopting positions – issuing professional evaluations that go well beyond what they are comfortably certain about but, expressed in a certain way, can be interpreted more cautiously – that can be used by others, who are indeed, duplicitous, in intent, to push in the other direction. It’s not too difficult to imagine.
On publicly available evidence, there are multiple possibilities apart from the “Putin ordered the hit” line.
Perhaps the Skripals were carrying the poison, it was actually intended for somebody else and the “bomb” went off prematurely. As has been noted, Skripal was a double agent who turned for money so who’s to say what else he would do for more money? There must be more to the backstory than Putin’s 8-year-old grudge against a traitor. Something more immediately threatening, and linked to large amounts of cash one might imagine. Whether that still keeps Putin in the frame is anybody’s guess.
Anyhow, I think Craig has veered away from his very correct skepticism regarding the simplistic and under-supported government line and too far towards defending Putin and suggesting (also with just about zero supporting evidence) that his favorite villain Israel may be to blame. Putin is definitely a gangster along with his gangster chums, with a record of stealing stuff and rather brazenly killing people who get in his way. Just as The UK government has a record of concocting scientific evidence, he and his supporters can’t act all self-righteous when his innocence is not initially assumed.
On the contrary. It is absolutely the behaviour of liars to jump to conclusions first and run ahead of the evidence, which is what the news cycle has been stuffed to the seams with for over a week. It is a lie to act as though we know who the perpetrators were when all the available evidence shows that who they were is still in doubt. It is not a lie to point that inconvenient fact out.
Reply intended for Peter Jackson above.
There was another Russian ex-spy that has claimed that Skripal was in contact with Russian Embassy lately. So one of the versions is that he could actually be thinking of ways to return to Russia somehow.
But this Russian ex-spy may be lying, of course.
Again, I wonder whether this guy (who made these claims) was questioned by the police…
I appreciate your focus on the semantics of how the link is being formed with Russia and a type developed by them.. Is there doubt that the suitcase was weaponised in and came from Russia?
Your article tries to shift focus towards Israel but offers no evidence or motive just a semantic use similar to that you accuse the UK government of using, is there a link between Israel and the victims.
Russia has clear motive following threats made by Putin and by their national tv station and past pedigree in carry out brazen acts in the uk.
Israel has a very clear motive. Russia has effectively won the game in Syria and severely thwarted Israeli ambitions in Lebanon/Syria. As Israel sees it, Russia has massively empowered pro-Iranian factions Israel sees as a threat. Israel has a very strong motive for undermining Russian international influence, by pinning such a stunt on Russia. On top of which, Israel even more than Russia has form for assassinations abroad.
It could be Russia. You have to pitch the revenge motive against the why now question and the disadvantage of destroying the spy swap system.
Then it wouldn’t be in Israel’s interests to discourage Russian dissidents from passing information to the West.
Imagine if during the war MI5 was receiving information from a German double agent and they’d decided to kill him because it would make Hitler look bad.
“Then it wouldn’t be in Israel’s interests to discourage Russian dissidents from passing information to the West.”
That may be true, but in the scale of things, I would imagine Israel could live with that loss if it means getting the UK and others to force a regime change in Syria that is pro-West/Israel and anti-Russia.
“Imagine if during the war MI5 was receiving information from a German double agent and they’d decided to kill him because it would make Hitler look bad.”
Yes, I can imagine that MI5 might contemplate something like that, but the Propaganda Ministry, the Ministry of Information, wouldn’t have had it. It would have meant a successful infiltration of Britain by German operatives, something which they claimed never occurred at all, and possibly quite truthfully.
“Very clear motive”. Coming up with a possible motive – clear or otherwise – is not the same as having evidence.
For many people in the case of Israel it is the same thing.
Craig knows that is one red herring he can throw and there will be no shortage of people ready to catch it and run with it.
@craig… Absolutely.
Assad is still in power even though in 2011 they accused him of using nerve agents against his own population. Now it comes to light that that information was not confirmed at all.
Israel could have gassed those people quite easily. ( Its a theory). The whole Syria situation is a can of worms. There are several players and its getting very difficult to separate the grass from the trees on that whole mess.
Mossad are known for assassinations and Mossad operate everywhere.
“I don’t suppose there is any sign of the BBC doing any actual journalism on this?”
What would you have the BBC do? Report conjecture? Report something that cannot be substantiated? Report “alternative facts”? They tried doing that during the Brexit referendum.
The BBC and all media outlets have a very fine line to tread, and if they say the wrong thing the ramifications are huge.
Lets face it, we have absolutely no way of knowing you are telling us the truth other than you say so. Some people are now so worked up about the idea of the MSM lying that they would rather trust an unknown than an established media outlet for no other reason than their personal bias.
The problem is people like yourself who masquerade as journalists slating journalists for personal gain. Where’s the right of recourse if you write something thats wrong?
Where is this personal gain you speak of? It sounds good, can I have some please?
I am hardly an “unknown man”. My background is rather relevant is this instance.
Ha – your background in government operations, if not chemistry!
Sorry, you brought that on yourself with an armchair interpretation of scientific writings. And they did the classic of refuting one of your ill-considered claims, then calling your whole position weak.
It is indeed possible to scientifically identify a substance of which you have never held a sample or didn’t previously believe existed. And once you’ve identified it, you may re-consider your belief that it didn’t exist. But of course that still doesn’t tell you where it came from.
It is however much easier to be certain if you have a standard sample to compare the test sample to. Without a standard sample the identification will not be all that absolute, it will come with error bars which the politicians and spivs will not want a bar of.
Also unless one of them was carrying a vial etc of it their samples will be messy (vomit) or scanty (swabs) which will complicate matters and make the identification less certain.
Nothing in this case turns on chemistry – you are being obtuse
A lot of finger pointing even based on exactly the same logical errors that the finger pointers make.
Personally, I an not even convinced yet that any chemical weapon was involved – as the muscleguy says above – botulism produces very similar symptoms as the purported Novichok. If you were told that you may have been exposed to CW would you not also start feeling sick, policeman included? If you were a Porton Down employee under pressure, would you not give in and sign off? The whole investigation has too many balls still in the air to be sure of anything yet, except that it was Putin of course. After all, he a tug who has pushed Britain into Brexit, killed Litvinenko etc, shot down MH17 and so on and so on.
Next time something bad happens, we will remember that Putin also poisoned a double-spy and so on and so on. Or perhaps after the next CW false flag in Syria.
Maybe Putin planted botulism biological weapon into the restaurant’s fridge, it would have been easier than smuggling a CW all the way from Russia. No-one ever got poisoned by going to a restaurant, right?
@DavidH
You sound exactly like the ‘chemist’ who was abusing him on twitter. You disparage his lay ability to understand scientific procedure, insinuating you know, but end up conceding the point he was making anyhow – ‘But of course that still doesn’t tell you where it came from.’
Still a vacuous argument the second time round.
The BBC has had no problem reporting government conjecture!
Journalists have no problem reporting the spoon fed government line they’ve been fed. If they got off their arses and did their job properly there would be no need for Craig to have to call out obvious manipulations of the truth.
Correct. Not one journalist delving into the timeline of DS Bailey which would shed a lot of light.
The most they have done so far is to have Afshin Rattansi on QT last night and he was rubbished and ambushed.
Dimblebore to him – demanding that he gave the questioner the honour of answering his question…a rare demand from the Bullingdon boy and at Charterhouse along with Jeremy Hunt. That’s where they learn. In the public schools. BLiar included at Fettes.
You should have watched Victoria Derbyshire yesterday. It is broadcast on BBC2 and the ‘News’ Channel – a double whammy.. She had on Hamish de Bretton-Gordon (his 99th appearance on the BBC in recent days!), Mark Lyall Grant and Oliver Miles, oh and Chris Bryant.
It was more of the same. Bash Corbyn at every opportunity.. Big up the Salisbury ‘incident’ as it is referred to by the PTB. Sickening stuff from the state broadcaster as per usual.
Yes Afshin was given the third degree yet the first person to answer that question deflected it nicely. I saw that too. And I thought you bloody hypocrite.
“What would you have the BBC do? Report conjecture? Report something that cannot be substantiated? Report “alternative facts”?” lol
That is exactly what the Beeb is doing.
“What would you have the BBC do? Report conjecture?”
Asking the obvious questions would be a start. Where is the evidence that clearly demonstrates that the chemical used in Salisbury was from Russian origin? Perhaps the BBC could start with their own archives..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/415742.stm
Michael, there was a time that the BBC did do journalism. Interestingly enough, they (and the NYT) reported in 1999 that the US was going into Uzbekistan to clean up Nukus, a research and testing site, of … wait for it… Novichok.
World: Asia-Pacific
US dismantles chemical weapons
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/415742.stm
See also: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/world/us-and-uzbeks-agree-on-chemical-arms-plant-cleanup.html
Aside from confirming at least one thing Craig has mentioned, have you seen the BBC relate back to that report, that informs us that Novichok nerve agents were being cleaned up in a place that was part of the Soviet Union, but isn’t Russia, and could therefore be where the agent used on Skripal originated from?
Balanced reporting – that’s all.
As a lawyer of over 30 years experience including the ICC, I too noticed this very careful and precisely formulated use of “weasel words”. Should we take it that the apparent change of posture by France and the US is more to do with politics rather than investigative progress?
Well done on this story, Craig. Your efforts are much appreciated by those of us interested in truth and cautious over the dangers presented by incompetent politicians putting their own party agenda before peace and prosperity for their country and its people.
@CRAIG
Please do not answer this question. It’s an FYI for people on the site.
I hope you are using a PAYG “burner” non-smart phone bought for cash, and never registered, with cash top-ups. That goes for anyone else on this forum who is investigating misconduct and corruption.
And don’t buy it anywhere where you’re on camera.
Has anyone considered the possibility that the “attempted assassination” involved the Skripals only accidentally, and was a trial run by some other group that has not yet claimed responsibility? Apart from a policeman in hospital, the initial news reports mentioned some 20 other people “treated” after the incident. Hardly a good example of a targeted hit.
The 21 are said by Wiltshire’s chief constable to have included several police officers. The implication is that they also included many civilians. Funny how none of the 21 other than the detective sergeant Nick Bailey have been identified or spoken anywhere.
Has anyone even seen a blog comment or newspaper report when someone other than the three known casualties says they fell ill and were medically examined and treated?
Sounds like chaff.
Note for Illuminati fans: 23 victims, 23 diplomats expelled, huh?
And where is the BBC report on what happened to those twenty casualties?
You are a legend.
Hope you have a good supply of Avon skin so soft for the all the midgies.
Are you saying they were “a theoretical research programme” or that they “completed the destruction of the last of 40,000 tonnes of Russian chemical weapons” because it seems like a contradiction to say they never existed but were destroyed.
40,000 tonnes of other chemical weapons were destroyed. Nobody has ever discovered any actual “novichoks” in Russia. Or anywhere. Until now.
Craig, whilst I appreciate that you’ve dug up that no one has reported such things to the OPCW, but given those reports from the BBC and the NYT of the US going into Nukus and the specific references to Novichok, and this senate hearing (below), isn’t your stance on there never being any Novichok perhaps neglecting the distinct possibility that the US just didn’t tell the OPCW about it?
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-108shrg87824/html/CHRG-108shrg87824.htm
“In 1991, Dr. Mirzayanov blew the whistle on an ultra-secret Soviet program that successfully developed, tested, and produced in small quantities an entirely new generation of nerve agents, known as the novichok agents.
In my view, the US government and the international community have yet to reward Dr. Mirzayanov’s valor by bringing Moscow to full account for the novichok program.”
“…funds have also driven the safe dismantlement and destruction of a chemical weapons
production plant and testing facility located at Nukus, Uzbekistan.”
” DOD completed a project to dismantle the former Soviet CW research facility at Nukus, Uzbekistan in FY 2002″
Regarding the BBC I understand a 36 year old women is now responsible for content on BBC One news and is producer. Oddly there is no mention of her parents or family on her Wikipedia profile I just wonder why ! and in any event should one person decide the content of a news programme that will influence many.
Once upon a time (and they all lived happily ever after) I believed that governments acted responsibly and took great care with matters of great importance. Lets talk about this Novichok affair. A Russian exile and his visiting daughter have been attacked and are now comatose and critical in a Salisbury hospital. Porton Down it seems have established they were the victims of a chemical attack, Novichock, an agent developed by the Russians. Thus far, I think, these are matters of fact.
Before I go further, it is necessary for me to state that it is my intention to be “responsible and to take great care” from hereon. In the eyes of Russia the exile is a traitor, having betrayed his nation’s interests and agents. it is widely accepted that Russia is a rogue nation – some would say a nation like no other with a mafia like structure, and a nation with a well recorded history of assassinating traitors and dissidents. Even before conclusive evidence, one’s search for the perpetrators would quite naturally turn to Russia, in view of the chemical agent involved, and of course because of this nation’s track record.
Our Prime Minister gave the Russian state opportunity to respond to matters of fact – critically ill Russian exile and his daughter and the Novichok involvement. Russia responded with low humour and sarcasm, and showed a clear unwillingness to address the issue. What other reasonable final conclusion should one come to than it was a Russian state assassination attempt?
“Before I go further, it is necessary for me to state that it is my intention to be “responsible and to take great care” from hereon.”
Try again.
It is not really your intention to be objective or fair is it?
“ it is widely accepted that Russia is a rogue nation – some would say a nation like no other with a mafia like structure, and a nation with a well recorded history of assassinating traitors and dissidents. “
Widely accepted? By whom. It may be true that Russia became s mafia state and a near failed and rogue nation in the 90s when economic stripping of its assets and dismembering the state was supported by the west through Harvard, the IMF and WB with helping hand from Soros and CIA. But that did not seem to worry anyone in the west. After Putin started to clean up, a work in progress, many of these gangsters made thier homes and were given asylum in London in return for relocating thier money. Your statement should read:
It is a very well known fact that London is the centre of criminal money laundering”.
I do not see how Russia’s reaction to HMG’s demands last Monday can be the final factor in determining guilt. I consider HMG were deliberately provocative in order to cause such a reaction. BTW and it’s a bit off the thread, but if Putin ordered the attack and was trying to boost his vote in this Sunday’s election why have HMG played into his hands by their behaviour this week? I am in Moscow and my Russian partner agrees with me that if this has any effect on the election it will only be to increase Putin’s vote.
The Russians tried Skripal and had him in jail for 9 years. He was left alone to live a quiet life in Salisbury. They could have bumped him off in prison. It seems he didn’t even contract TB and HIV while he was there, remarkable. He must not have been put in with the general prison population.
Now you’re talking. So it’s something more recent that got them (almost) killed. Perhaps they weren’t even the intended target or were involved with transporting the poison and accidentally got exposed. Doesn’t mean that Putin and them Ruskies aren’t still in the frame, though…
That’s David McArthur
“Our Prime Minister gave the Russian state opportunity to respond to matters of fact ……. Russia responded with low humour and sarcasm”
May’s government was gratuitously offensive and provocative to the Russians, so it’s unsurprising that their response was appropriate to that approach. Was that intentional, given the way the Russian response was immediately misrepresented by both political figures in the Conservative Party and by you here as some kind of corroborative evidence of Russian guilt?
You think about it, if you feel like being ““responsible” and taking “great care” for a change.
Has anyone appeared on BBC from the hospital to say that the Russian exile and his daughter are comatose and in a critical condition?
Has anyone from Porton Down appeared to say they are victims of achemical attack or thatits Novichock?
During the Yeltsin heyday over one million Russians emigrated to Israel. Amongst them were people of all walks of life, from billionaires to gangsters to experts in all sort of fields.
Just worth mentioning.
Thanks for this CM from South Africa… will distribute your work on our lists so that the Warmongering Elites of America and satellite EU states are exposed for the warmongers they are…
I recall David Kelly fondly. A lone man standing up against the might of the US and satellites. His case should be instructive enough for fair-minded folk. However, as is evident from some comments on this list, the MSM is adept at getting Pavlovian responses from the electorate.
The powers that be don’t care for truth. And more innocent people will die. Europeans have allowed the US to crap on their doorstep. They seem oblivious to this. And also, that the US-Euro Alliance have maintained institutional framework to entrench poverty in Africa through unfair trade deals, creating an immigration surge the world over. This in spite of the falling population rates in the North and pension instability, as pointed out years ago by The Corner House.
At least here we now have confirmation that the “right to bomb n&%&rs” is an expertise that is still reserved and used.
Personally, I think you should leave off commenting on obvious trolls, except where there is substance in their arguments. There is too much balance in the world, and Karma will do the rest.
“On the bright side, the FCO have persuaded Boris he has to let the OPCW investigate a sample. But not just yet. The expectation is the inquiry committee will be chaired by a Chinese delegate. The Boris plan is to get the OPCW also to sign up to the “as developed by Russia” formula, and diplomacy to this end is being undertaken in Beijing right now.”
To be valid evidence, any such sample must be taken, by an independent party, from the Russians in hospital, for analysis in Brussels and Moscow. Simply sending some sample from Porton Down is not sufficient.
You put the msm to shame
Thank you for this.