UPDATE
The site is just back up at 16.42 on 21 March having managed to slip like the Tardis into another dimension and thus dodge the massive DOS attack we are under. over 50,000 separate IP addresses simultaneously throwing up millions of hits. The attack has not actually stopped and does seem to have a human intelligence changing terms and directing it, which could make for an interesting afternoon. Once our excellent techs get a minute from fighting it, we will post the cloudfare graphs as evidence.
I just thought I might give you a little taste of what it means to your personal life to express dissent from the government line in the UK in 2018. Let me start with this combined effort from the UK’s most popular website, Guido Fawkes, which fanatically supports the government, and the Blairite crew at “The Guardian”.
The red ink is original.
Now it is true that, when I was sacked as Ambassador by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for blowing the whistle on extraordinary rendition and the Blair government’s misuse of intelligence from torture, I went into a terrible depression and voluntarily spent ten days or so in St Thomas Hospital (not a mental illness facility) for treatment. I have never tried to keep this secret, indeed it is a major part of my memoir “Murder in Samarkand”. It is also true, as I have always acknowledged, that I have had other less serious depressive episodes treated at home and been diagnosed as bipolar since I was 20.
That we stigmatise anybody who has ever had a mental illness, write them off and view their views, on anything, as invalid, is an attitude I had hoped we had moved past last century. Indeed, if this hatchet job was done on anybody writing within the Overton window, then the Guardian would be dedicating editorials to condemning it. We have in fact moved to the old Soviet position, where disagreement with the official line equals mental illness. I quite confess this sort of thing does in fact hurt me – if you cut me, do I not bleed?
The use of the term “conspiracy theorist” has been used to denigrate my views, ever since Jack Straw as Foreign Secretary lied to Parliament denying that the UK ever obtained intelligence from torture and denying the existence of the extraordinary rendition programme, which I was supposed to have fantasised. Anyone interested in this history can watch this series of videos of my evidence to a Parliamentary Committee on the subject. It explains why I start nowadays from a position of being so hated by the British state and its acolytes, and also of course enables you to judge for yourself whether I should be ignored as insane.
Ever since then, the state and corporate media have described me as a “conspiracy theorist”. Even though there is now acceptance that extraordinary rendition did happen and presumably they, somewhere inside, know I was telling the truth. I find people are taken aback to discover, for example, that I broadly accept that there was no US government involvement in 9/11 (other than minimising the Saudi role) and 9/11 discussion is banned on this blog – [warning it still is].
I cannot in fact conceive of a more outlandish conspiracy theory than that the Russian government secretly manufactured and stockpiled novichoks, hidden from the OPCW, and secretly trained assassins, only to blow the whole operation on a retired spy they let out of jail ages ago. Yet nobody calls Boris Johnson a “conspiracy theorist” for positing that.
But the abuse is not confined to what people publish about me. I receive some extremely unpleasant emails of which this is an example:
I do hope Mr Temis can get money back on his anger management sessions. But there has been rather a lot of this, including some by old fashioned mail. which I find myself prodding suspiciously before opening :-).
There is of course an open effort to extend the term “anti-semitic” to embrace any criticism of Israel. It is also particularly used by Blairites to attack anybody taking any position seen as supportive of Jeremy Corbyn. I am not in the least anti-semitic. Jewish people have made a disproportionate, indeed magnificent, contribution to the world in the fields of science, music, literature, commerce and others. That does not alter the fact that Israel is a rogue state when it comes to chemical weapons, the subject currently under discussion. It refuses to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroy its chemical weapons stocks, and refuses to join the OPCW.
Plainly someone attacked the Skripals. In stating that it is not the case that Russia was the only state who could have done it, I have included Israel amongst other possibilities. Israel might wish to frame Russia for the deed, as Russian actions in Syria have severely conflicted with Israeli ambitions in Syria and Lebanon. But I have never said it was, or was most likely to be, Israel – it could be the CIA framing Russia, it could be a non-state actor entirely (which I am inclined to think most likely – this could come from those close to a victim of Skripal’s treachery, though I still think the Orbis intelligence connection has been overlooked).
Some of the most vitriolic abuse has come from state and corporate media journalists. Falsely categorising me as an insane racist allows them to ignore any challenge to the establishment line on Salisbury and absolves them, in their own minds, from any dereliction of duty in not questioning it.
In a chilling example of the way they move to crush dissent, here a prominent Blairite corporate media journalist, James Bloodworth, attempts to ensure that consideration of other possibilities than the government line is not carried even in the private domain. He harasses and bullies an individual attempting to force him to accept Mr Bloodworth’s version of what I had said, rather than what I had actually said. When Mr Law (who as a lecturer in philosophy presumably has an attachment to intellectual honesty) refuses, Bloodworth sanctions him by pulling out of his literary festival.
It is very difficult to understand what is happening in the UK today, but when the BBC on its flagship news programme holds a discussion of the Salisbury attack under a huge photo-shopped picture of the leader of the opposition in a Russian hat standing outside the Kremlin, it is plain a fundamental shift has happened in society. The Salisbury attack has perhaps taught us something massively more important than any of the stuff about chemical weapons, and that is that Britain is further along the road to becoming an authoritarian state than we had realised.
The Steele/Orbis “Pee Dossier” has destabilized US politics in a way not seen since Watergate. The FBI used this dossier to justify arranging surveillance on Trump associates and so on. Other elements of the US Deep State network have been linked to this including Justice Department and CIA/open sources shop via Ms. Ohm.
Ths dossier focused in alleged Trump Russia connections. It was fabricated at Orbis under Steele’s direction. A British ambassador was involved in palming it off to the fully Neoconized and highly unstable US Senator McCain who then in snitch mode (acquired from prison days perhaps?) passed it on to various authorities.
Did Russia interfere with US elections? Steele and Orbis certainly did and were paid for services in various ways linked to the Clinton faction of the Democratic Party. Not the Bernie Sanders faction please note. Sanders is our Corbyn one might say. Thus, one can conclude that a “former” British intelligence officer played a major role in attempted influence and destabilization if US elections. Do folks in the UK not think this is “of interest”, and of particular interest to some in US counterintelligence?
If Skripal was Steele’s point man to elicit information true or false from Russian sources, and to fabricate information, then clearly he knows too much. Investgation of the Steele case is ongoing in the US.
No motive for the crime has been put forward. Perhaps the motive was to silence Skripal and his daughter, reportedly a former US embassy employee in Moscow. Silence their knowledge of and involvement in Steele’s Pee Dossier.
Put it this way. If this was a plot to a Netflix detective series, that’s where everyone would be looking, the fictional police and the viewers. Apparently real life is much simpler and we know who did everything from the outset, the evidence will just come to confirm the fact.
There’s nothing new in some of this, at least. After all it’s exactly the kind of thing that was done to Kelly. The price of standing up for truth against the establishment is that those committed to the establishment line will try to destroy you, and they are absolutely ruthless in the methods they will adopt if they think they will work. And especially, the news media worms whom you shame by doing their jobs when they so pointedly fail to do them. For them, it’s really personal.
A thick skin is the only solution.
And the kind of hatred exhibited by your correspondents over the Israel issue is absolutely normal nowadays for anybody who says things Israel supporters don’t want said. It’s also the same kind of hatred clearly felt for eg Brexiters on a site like this (and presumably for Remainers on Brexit supporting sites), and dished out to those who point out race realist or anti-immigration facts and are shouted down and attacked merely for expressing those verboten opinions.
Maybe it was always this way, but there does seem to have been a shift away from tolerance for dissent over the past half century or so, and perhaps this is new to some extent.
Thank you sir for your service.
There’s a piece you might find interesting over at the Saker blog Craig. It certainly gave a new perspective to who the real power brokers may be in our ‘special relationship’ with Washington.
See what you think; http://thesaker.is/russia-is-fighting-a-lethal-enemy/
Why would anyone find that bile remotely interesting? It’s just waffle.
Oh and Winston Churchill was never the Duke of Marlborough; which shows how well the writer did his research.
you forgot to add, in your nation of little shopkeepers way, that Thatcher was the daughter of a grocer, not a greengrocer.
a propos life in general, may I respectfully refer people to today’s hilarity: https://www.rt.com/uk/421796-qc-bbc-code-corbyn-messages/
“RT approached the BBC for comment, but the broadcaster said they will not release a statement as they have not had the chance to see any evidence of the claims.”
Boris Johnson, watch and learn my old son….
Try as I might, I lack both the wit to make this kind of hypocrisy up, and the stomach to tolerate it – it’s breathtaking and, in a “Bodyworks” kind of way, almost beautiful to behold. What has this country become, if not the intellectual badlands depicted with caustic accuracy in the BBC’s own “This Country” mockumentary?
A favourite of the BBC, Guardian and neo-cons generally is Alastair Campbell (of the Dodgy Dossier fame). Campbell freely talks about having a full nervous breakdown, his alcoholism and mental health problems generally. It’s not only stigmatising to pretend anyone who has ever had mental health concerns is in no way worthy to present their views ever again, it is blatantly selective in such criticism.
The BBC was very happy to cover courageous MPs who mentioned their own mental health problems:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-18444516
“Two MPs have spoken out about their mental health problems in an effort to break the “taboo” around the issue.
Tory MP Charles Walker told MPs he was a “practising fruitcake” as he described how he had lived with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) for more than 30 years.
His Labour colleague Kevan Jones told of his battle with depression and the “difficult” decision to speak out.
The pair earned praise from charities for their “historic” speeches.”
It’s pretty disgusting to see the hypocrisy on display, when the view is not one that agrees with their political masters.
Par for the course for Guido Fawkes however. The whole site is steeped in ordure,
An article on the Duran website http://theduran.com/
“Now British media admits it in Skripal case: due process ‘does not apply’ to Russia”
The article discusses the Guardian and Financial Times; who say that Russia can be declared guilty without being given chance to defend itself
Also touches on the information (lack of information) shared with allies as reported in Der Spiegel. Germany do not think the UK have the evidence they claim to have.
It beats me how this blog and its new surge of fans can support obvious bastards like Trump and Putin, simultaneously. Neither has the UK’s interests at heart, even if you ignore the moral turpitude of both. Or, for that matter, Scotland’s interests. Interests are something you need to look out for yourself…
Who said anyone was supporting anyone?
Is requiring evidence ‘supporting’ someone? If require evidence prior to convicting someone in a court am I supporting the accused?
you see, there you go again – anyone who disagrees with the official narrative must ipso fascto be a Trump or Putin fanboy
personally, I am 100% serious that I reckon both Assad and Kim are probably both fundamentally decent and quite affable guys – Assad spent years in the UK, and Kim was educated in Switzerland, but that’s no obstacle to them being portrayed as maniacal idiots.
as Craig is finding out from the flak he is taking – the minute a discussion turns into ad hominem invective, it’s a clear signla that one side has lost the debate (and knows it)
Well you sure sound like Putin the Persecuted is better than Spotted Dick.
There is a line in a song “What chance have you got against a toe and a crest” Both Trump and Putin are proving that they have every chance.
Trump is doing his best for the people of America and Putin is doing his best for the people of Russia. The leaders of the UK are actively working against the interests of their citizenry – indeed the dripping contempt in which the self appointed “great and the good” hold the general population is evident in their every pronouncement.
They hate both Trump and Putin because the actions of each of them show the British leadership for the cowardly slime balls that they are. The British public must never be given an opportunity to glimpse a different future – a future where their leaders actually seek to represent their interests.
‘Tie’ 😉
Komo:
I recommend more flesh-eating bacteria in your bite ?
Genetically modifying one for added neurotoxicity, Ben, but as soon as it produces N-2-diethylaminomethylacetamidido-ethoxyphosphonofluoridate, it goes into agonising convulsions and dies. Ongoing.
Sorry to see Loony confirming exactly what I said. Four legs good, two legs behhhh-ter. These people have the gall to refer to their honest peers as ‘sheeple’? Christ.
You seem to be confusing me with someone else as I have never knowingly referred to anyone as “sheeple” – so it seems your gall is misplaced.
You give every impression of being an intelligent person so the question arises as to how this particular confusion came to manifest itself in your mind. Could it be that you are a victim of the all encompassing state propaganda or perhaps you are a player in disseminating state propaganda. Who knows?
Re. ‘sheeple’, I was not specifically referring to you. If anyone I had Mary in mind. Point of order in return: I do not hate Trump or Putin particularly. Hate is not a word I use, in fact. They’re a matched pair of arseholes, and probably in some kind of collusion. I see no reason to favour their activities over those of our elected government, rotten as it may be…that’s damning enough in itself.
Lets not forget Trump’s hand in hand squeeze, the b@stard May.
You really think most of the readers of this blog are Putin and Trump fans?
And you really think the current government “has the UK’s interests at heart”? They can barely keep the fucking lights on!
Oh but Tony Blair was nasty you cry! Everyone else is jolly decent. Hurrah!
No more so than American Trumpets love Putin, AA.
But it’s enabling behavior nevertheless.
The only enabling behaviour I see Ben is leading towards my death and that of most of the planet.
When did MAD stop being sensible?
It’s a rational fear but if you’ve played sports you know that often being protective from injury often leads to injury. Putin has all the money and now he wants Russia to be the dominant power but he wants to accomplish that internally without having to spend resources.
Shall we just St and back and watch, AA?
Putin wants to be the dominant power Ben? Might you have mixed up Putin and emperor for life and supreme ruler of the universe – Xi Jinping?
Its not self evident?
What’s your take on Putin. (Link from politico below)
Ben,
Putin’s a nasty bastard. However I don’t think he’s Hitler and I don’t think he’s Stalin. I also don’t think he’s suicidal which I can’t say about some of our other esteemed world leaders.
If he invades Poland I’ll change my mind.
Hi, Squonk.
I provide evidence for my opinion of Blair, at any rate. You can’t fault me there. Trump wants to MAGA, and I fully understand that, with his supporter’s full endorsement, he will tell any lie, trample any other country or business, to achieve his version of that goal. Putin wants to MRGA, and will do the same for Russia. Neither is a democrat, and freedom is a concept up for auction. But this isn’t the place to say MUKGA, and fuck the rest of them, is it? #Sosorry.
“But this isn’t the place to say MUKGA, and fuck the rest of them”
Oh yeah how’s that going then? Oh that’s right, the economies on its arse, we’re leaving the biggest trade block on the planet, to import inferior American foods, whilst demonising and evicting EU nationals who keep our economy ticking over.
Meanwhile NI, looks like returning to the troubles, and Scotland will probably vote Yes before we leave the EU.
MUKGA, talk about buying into propaganda.
I wasn’t expecting support from you, but thanks for the mention. Where’s your economic plan, then?
Trump doesn’t want to Make America Great Again. He wants to Make Trump Great (Again).
Putin’s a plotting, clever bastard.
Britain will only become great again once the proud inbred degenerates who run the place (you know the ones who proudly boast they were shit at Maths – i.e. them all) fuck off.
That’s what happens when you breed yourself for memory skills (of course I know what king was killed in 13-oatcacke with which particular weapon) but can’t even add up the gas supply figures and notice something is very wrong.
Oh but they can quote ancient philosophers and in classic Greek!
Just a pity they can’t understand them.
“Britain will only become great again once the proud inbred degenerates who run the place (you know the ones how proudly boast they were shit at Maths – i.e. them all) fuck off.”
Same complaint in the States but who voted for them? Was that vote more than a chore of democracy? What research went into the decision? Did we get whst we deserve?
Ben,
The general population has been taught they can have valid opinions on anything (even though they are not their own).
Strange how none of them attempt to design car engines or nuclear cruise missiles but “think” they can have a valid opinion on just about everything else.
The current form of “democracy” is a sham.
Thats the problem with democracy, AA..people and no one knows that better than politicos like May and Putin.
She may not have your best interests, but I guarantee Putin doesnt.
The general population has been taught they can have valid opinions on anything (even though they are not their own).
And even if they are those craftily inserted into the general discourse by a fundamentally hostile power?
Ba’al,
Well that would make a change from being craftily inserted by the BBC and the Daily Mail anyway! Now where did I put my Kremlin hat?
Let’s make this clear, Did Putin order the assassination? Possibly. Have I seen anything remotely resembling actual evidence of this? No.
My question remains unanswered. The conclusions of those who uncritically accept what the BBC has to say – or the Daily Mail, or Morning Star, or… -are no more or less valid than those performing the same service for a foreign power’s outlets. Except, perhaps, that it is a foreign power, whose aim is division and alienation in its own interests. So why attach more credence to the latter? Answers, please, to rt.com, who will be glad of your support.
Ba’al
For someone with the name of a god you’re not very all-seeing are you?
RT’s most recent share of UK viewing figures (BARB) shows a weekly reach of 0.77% of the population. Nevertheless – obviously you are right and the entire population has fallen under their spell!
Ba’al
Your opinion on Blair is well considered and good. But how do you fail to see that there is still continuity in the system and that Cameron was a continuation. If May had more colour she would also qualify to inherit the mantle. Similarly, there is continuity in the US system and although Trump is even more despicable than say Bush, the whole system is fundamentally the same with some cosmetic presentational changes.
As to Putin, you have to admit I hope that Putin is at least a progress and better than Yeltsin. The West’s Russia democratisation project was a failure because of hasty triumphalism after the fall of the Soviet union and an attempt to totally destroy Russia. Putin not so much wanted to MRGA as to get Russia back on its feet and if you are honest you have to recognise that he has succeeded in pulling Russia back from extreme lawlessness and a failed state, to a nation that can stand to the west.
None of this is to say that Russia is now a fully fledged democracy, but it is a work in progress but this will not be hastened by hostile action from a former colonial power.
The continuity is that of klepto-capitalism. Which takes a different form in Russia, but is still the same model. And whose actions are the more hostile remains a matter of debate. As is Yeltsin’s continuity with Putin:
Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, the right to private property — all these basic principles of a civilized society will be reliably protected by the state.
Boris Yeltsin, on handing over to Putin, his own choice of successor, in 2000. Fine words.
Boris Yeltsin handed over to Putin who was an unknown quantity in 2000. Anyway, Yeltsin despite being an alcoholic had pangs of conscience in the end and knew you had messed Russia up. Putin has reigned-in the uncontrolled oligarchs and the lawlessness in the provinces. He has improved the life expectancy of Russians from 58 years when he took over to 73 currently and there are many other indicators of improvement in the state of the Russian people.
One of the results of Putin’s clamping down on the mafia activity was the departure of some of the most powerful who then were accepted in UK with open arms. This has led to the number of murders of Russians in London, many of them linked to a certain BAB.
As I have said the corruption in Russia under Putin is considerable better than under Yeltsin, but also the same has now been repeated in Ukraine, when, after its ‘democratisationa by the US, with removal of an already elected but corrupt PM, with an even more corrupt one. The truth is that the west does not mind a SOB as long as he is our SOB.
“You really think most of the readers of this blog are Putin and Trump fans?”
No, but evidently he/she thinks such smears will shut down any questioning of Boris Johnson.
Just stop. Criticise whom you wish but don’t expect kid gloves on Pootie.
It beats me how anyone can reach any kind of conclusion at all on the basis of zero evidence.
Don’t be silly MJ, it’s all about, overwhemingly likely or, of a type, they are the new facts.
Can you recommend someone for me to believe in please?
“Believe” nobody. Read the arguments, check and research, then make up your own mind.
“What are the Cambridge Analytica Files?
Working with a whistleblower who helped set up Cambridge Analytica, the Observer and Guardian have seen documents and gathered eyewitness reports that lift the lid on the data analytics firm that helped Donald Trump to victory. The company is currently being investigated on both sides of the Atlantic. It is a key subject in two inquiries in the UK – by the Electoral Commission, into the firm’s possible role in the EU referendum and the Information Commissioner’s Office, into data analytics for political purposes – and one in the US, as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Trump-Russia collusion.”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/20/facebook-data-cambridge-analytica-sandy-parakilas
SOooo, not the Russians, eh!?
Apparently you didn’t connect the Mercer, Trump linkage and Election peril you yourselves should prepare for.
Ben
CA have some ‘Plausible Deniability’ with involvement in the referendum. But not much. The money trail leads to Aggregate IQ
Still a Mercer, Bannon offshoot, and part of the parent company CSL nexus, but based in Victoria Canada.
The official Leave campaign and others spent millions out of their ‘official’ budget of £7million with them.
Like chairman Nix said in the filmed interview, they never have a presence as Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL, removed a listing for SCL Canada from its site. The phone number was that of Zack Massingham, the director of AggregateIQ. When questioned about it, a spokesman for SCL said it was an outdated listing of a former contractor who had done no work for Vote Leave.
Dominic Cummings, the key Vote Leave strategist, has stated.
“Without a doubt, the Vote Leave campaign owes a great deal of its success to the work of AggregateIQ. We couldn’t have done it without them.”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/vote-leave-the-canadian-it-company-and-the-ps725000-donation?utm_term=.ppy822Joo#.soLyddEMM
Thanks. Had not seen that. The triangulations are quite daunting and players like phantoms, but mischief and skullduggery held in common.
You are doing a great, and very important, job in critically analysing the “news” we are fed. Please don’t stop, know that there are many behind you supporting you, we don’t have a platform to speak on , few do, so it’s even more important that you are heard.
Well, Sir
with the posting you prefered to delete I tried to help you. Because you indeed made a serious mistake by hinting at the State of Israel as a possible suspect in this affair. The governing zionists maintain very dependable relations with the Kremlin and have to do so in order to carry on with the “buffer zone” in Syria they claim for security interests. So its utterly implausible, that they colluded with the british government against Russia in an operation, which implicates them by the simple fact, that a lot of soviet scientists ended up in Haifa and Dimona. The adress for a possible false-flag-operation, or the delusion of one, is within the british government and nowhere else. It posesses the means of such an operation exclusively.
Notwithstanding the type of the alleged operation suggests a relation to chemical warfare in the Middle East. But then the State of Israel would be at most a passive party to it.
This could be an anchor to speculate about a relation of the affair to the infights in the governing israel elites about their future course in the Syria-/Lebanon war and visions about Israels regional policy alltogether, but as long as you prefer not to go as far as that, any implication of Israel is fallacious.
“The governing zionists maintain very dependable relations with the Kremlin and have to do so in order to carry on with the “buffer zone” in Syria they claim for security interests. So its utterly implausible, that they colluded with the british government against Russia in an operation, which implicates them by the simple fact, that a lot of soviet scientists ended up in Haifa and Dimona”
The Israeli regime does indeed rely on a working relationship with Russia, because Russia is now a powerful force in their region. But that doesn’t mean they don’t chafe at the restrictions that places upon them – especially when their objectives are directly frustrated as with the general attempt to overthrow the Syrian government, or their freedom to bomb Syria at will (as was recently restricted with Russian assistance).
So it’s perfectly plausible that they would want to see Russia’s influence and freedom of action reduced, provided they could evade the blame for it. There are all sorts of other plausible candidates for this incident, so the chances of Israel getting pinned with the blame would seem slim, especially given their strong influence over governments and media in the US and UK. As we know now, any country with modern university level research chemistry facilities could have made this stuff. One thing is pretty certain – if evidence were to come to their attention that pinned this on Israel, the UK government would suppress it.
But as Craig has repeatedly said, that’s just hypothetical motivation. There’s no more evidence at the moment that Israel did it than there is that any of the other parties with hypothetical motives – Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US – did it. And it could easily have been a non-state or quasi-state actor.
Johnson, I won’t object to your plea of zionist motives to lessen Russian clout in Syria, but I strongly doubt their relevance in this case. It might be generally useful to remember, the prominence of zionist politics nowadays relies exclusively on Israels nuclear weapons within a strategic field, where still one of the most important adjuvants of labour exploitation is at stake. But it does not follow, that Israel would be anything else, than a regional power and could play the bigger (nuclear) powers at will. At best Israel can enhance it’s might by playing in the cards of conflicting plans and interests within the global powers, but then it is not a party, but a partner to one or more of the other parties, like any other regional power..
HI Tom, I didn’t delete your post. I have some excellent volunteers who do the moderation duties and perhaps one of them did, I don’t know. But your post is a valid contribution.
Hi Craig, okay, basicly I wanted to draw your attention to a speech of LtG McMaster from March 15, which also refers to Salisbury:
“Syria, Is the Worst Yet to Come?”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-ltg-h-r-mcmaster-united-states-holocaust-memorial-museum-simon-skjodt-center-syria-worst-yet-come/
Mr Murray’s made much of his FCO sources but let’s face it he knows no more about who carried out the attack than anyone else on his blog. Not that that stops him rubbishing the government’s take while at the same time dog whistling about other possible perpetrators!
The contrast with the tolerance the politicians and media have shown for anyone wanting more evidence is stark.
The invariable policy of the authorities here – and in all but the most secretive and opaque regimes ( like Russia) – is to release classified information on the basis of ‘need to know’. Any evidence in this instance will be more than classified, simply by virtue of its international implications (whatever they, in fact, are), and as a consequence demands from the man-on-the-radical-blog for information will remain unsatisfied. Not least because the authorities don’t want the perpetrator (whoever it, in fact is) to have a free sight of their methods and sources. Hope that’s clear.
That boat sailed in the first few hours of this incident when the “nerve agent poisoning” of a Russian double agent was deliberately megaphoned to the world… an obviously choreographed piece of theatre played out over the following days…. had any of it been the “real deal”, we wouldn’t have heard anything about it… think about it…
In the absence of any evidence the Government’s ‘take’ on the case is irrelevant.
Two more important bits of info released by the police recently. Both support my theory (page 1 of this thread).
1) The suitcase was placed in the back of a pickup truck belonging to the man who collected Ms Skripal from Heathrow. It would have been agitated during the journey back to Salisbury – a possible cause for the chemical agent sample becoming compromised in the case.
2) The police have a four hour gap in data on Mr Skripal’s car journey on the day of the incident. The first sighting following this gap puts him on the road leading back from the direction of… Porton Down. Delivery made?
Delivery made and then a quick operation to get rid of the delivery man (leave no awkward loose ends)?
Nope – why break up a successful chain that’s been operating for some years, reaches to the heart of Russia’s military complex and delivers high-value intelligence?
Guido Fawkes reminds me of Guy Faux and the !834 surprise fire which burned down The House of Commons, and Thomas Barnes made out in The Times thatt the drugged Lord Chancellor, Baron Brougham of Faux and Vaux,, was involved in overthrowing the monsrrchy during the chaos when he just needed medical help for his heroin addiction.
See my biography of him.
Don’t like fairy stories.
Heroin not synthesised until 1874.
It wasn’t a fairy tale. My memory is bade on even what I wrote a half century ago. I’m sure I wrote opium in the book, and spoke of the opium eaters.
Would be good if your reading went past wikipedia.
Interestingly it was first marketed as a cough mixture in Germany.
I wonder what kind of fairy story this man’s visually imagining amidst the throng.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LrsPbtPjGfI
But the whole affair has done wonders in terms of him boosting his public profile and rescuing a mpribund blog by giving the troops a shot of adrenalin. Can an invitation to join the staff of RT be far behind? Treble vodkas all round!
As subject matter the blog has reentered the World scene even if still somewhat culture closed.
If it’s any comfort, Craig, in relation to the venom of your news media and political establishment critics, remember that their narrative has effectively collapsed in just a couple of weeks, and only their systematic suppression of critical voices and unanswerable questions is keeping that reality from becoming generally recognised, as it did in the end over Iraq.
That is in no small part due to your own efforts, which is something to be personally proud of, and something to be respected as an achievement.
Sue Fawkes. Seriously. He’s a troublemaker and he could do with a good libel suit. Talk to a lawyer and sue the guy. He’s a twit and he deserves it.
Ach! Another false flag
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/20/595124809/u-k-seeks-search-warrant-on-cambridge-analytica-ceo-seen-in-hidden-camera-report
Sorry, I haven’t read the 237 no doubt intelligent comments made here already, though I will try to catch up later. But your post is excellent dissection of the thinking of the many bastards who pollute the airwaves and the print media and generally corrupt public debate by their contempt for reason, facts or decency. And it is a great tragedy that their debauched mentality now dominates much of the thinking space in so-called institutions of higher (and lower) education.
Don’t know who this Stephen Law is, but he’s evidently a sound, level-headed, decent person.
Same villification treatment thrown at Ray McGovern and other campaigners for Truth here in the US.
http://raymcgovern.com
See his recent UK interview during which Skripal is discussed.
Ray is a former decorated high ranking CIA officer on the analytical side.
Thank you Mr. Ambassador for your candor and courage.
Ray McGovern worked as an analyst for the CIA from the fallout of its assassination of JFK to the fallout from Iran-Contra which led to the killing of Sweden’s Olof Palme.
McGovern knows where all its bodies are buried, but just makes noise about what is apparently happening since he retired.
Craig quit when he got wind of what the UK was doing.
In short, the comparison is most uncalled for.
TF Rather presumptuous.
Not presumptuous at all. It is you who are being presumptuous, acting as if you know about such matters when you don’t know anything.
I would like to know Corbyn’s position on all of this, these answers do not convince me. He said “Russia has to be held responsible for this” In my opinion he is saying Russia did it, he is agreeing with the UK Government. And in an interview with the BBC to be broadcast later on Tuesday, Corbyn again stopped short of blaming the Kremlin for the attack.
“What I’m saying is the weapons were made from Russia, clearly,” he told Radio 4’s World at One. “I think Russia has to be held responsible for it, but there has to be an absolutely definitive answer to the question: where did the nerve agent come from?”
Corbyn added: “All fingers point towards Russia’s involvement in this, and obviously the manufacture of the material was undertaken by the Russian state originally.” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/20/corbyn-i-would-still-do-business-with-putin-despite-skripal-attack
Harry
Yes I noticed all that, but under the current febrile climate, he can say nothing else. I know it is disappointing but it would be the end of Corbyn if he took any stronger line on this. Even what he said is being taken to be unpatriotic.
I think the problem is that it is now the narrative that Russia under Putin is the bad guy. THis picture has been painted over a long period of time and various examples quoted, including, Georgia, Crimea, Litvinenko and Syria without any further analysis. The fact that this handful of examples are the sum total of misdemeanours if they indeed are would still be relatively small compared to what our governments have done and even tin thier complicity with those episodes used to demonise Russia.
Occasionally, while looking for some sort of sensible articles on what is really happening in this dystopian world, I stumble across a writer who writes honestly and with conviction. You, Craig are added to my small and rare collection of scribes who dare to challenge what we’re told to believe enabling me to make some sort of sense of the mess those in power have created. Thanks and keep up the good work.
I’ve only been following your blog since 18th March, but it (and many BTL comments) have already alerted me to many previously unknown news/analysis sites that could be a breath of fresh air.
The period since the election of Donald Trump has been seriously disappointing in an unexpected way: the extent to which sources that I had previously held in high regard (Democracy Now!, CounterPunch, The Nation, etc.) have been sucked into the hysterical “Trump is a fascist”/’Trump-Russia collusion’ bullshit ‘narrative’. It is seriously disturbing to find the “Left” now waving the flag for the NSA/CIA/FBI et al in the US, while in Europe, for this same faction, the EU has suddenly become some kind of progressive wonderland from which the UK would be insane to detach itself.
‘Funny’ in that “If I don’t laugh I’ll cry” way.
If you lift your head above the parrapet it will be shot down. Most people know this and don’t have your courage to do so. May the forces of good be with you.
I often wonder about the dark forces that control western politicians and the media. Who are they? I don’t believe a word the media says and have direct experience of working with them
All the best in maintaining your resilience against these appalling ad hominem attacks.
You have simply pointed out, based on your experiences within the FCO and the diplomatic service, that there are other explanations to the story being put out as ‘fact’ by the BBC and other news media.
During my 70 years there have been a number of occasions when I recall Conservative Governments ‘expelling’ varying numbers of Soviet or Russian ‘diplomats’ – it is always in inverted commas – for some reported misdeed against the UK. It is a classic diversionary attack.
This seems to me to be another example.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Craig,
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t benefitted from your insights over the last week particularly.
Wishing you much energy, warmth and strength,
Nicola
“What both administrations fail to realize is that the West is already at war, whether it wants to be or not. It may not be a war we recognize, but it is a war. This war seeks, at home and abroad, to erode our values, our democracy, and our institutional strength; to dilute our ability to sort fact from fiction, or moral right from wrong; and to convince us to make decisions against our own best interests.
Those on the Russian frontier, like my friends from Ukraine and Estonia, have already seen the Kremlin’s new toolkit at work. The most visible example may be “green men,” the unlabeled Russian-backed forces that suddenly popped up to seize the Crimean peninsula and occupy eastern Ukraine. But the wider battle is more subtle, a war of subversion rather than domination. The recent interference in the American elections means that these shadow tactics have now been deployed – with surprising effectiveness – not just against American allies, but against America itself. And the only way forward for America and the West is to embrace the spirit of the age that Putin has created, plow through the chaos, and focus on building what comes next.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/putins-real-long-game-214589
Stop posting irrelevant propaganda.
Its your duty to address propaganda, no?
No, but what you posted has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.
Its.part of a discussion above about Putin critique
Ben, I sense you are just trolling this comments section looking for someone to pick an argument with? Is it that, or is all this “whataboutery” merely intended to distract from the point Craig is making viz. it’s all slightly disappointing and demeaning when public figures retreat into the gutter and start attacking the man rather than his argument
“Chuff away the contrary opinion as though illegitimate”..Pootie Bird.
You seem to go along with stirring up wars, Ben. That’s the only reason to give us that quote from politico.com. Make out the war’s already on the go.
Another very well informed dissenting voice in the US, Col. Patrick Lang, hosts a widely read blog. Now retired, Pat headed the Middle East and South Asia section of our Defense Intelligence Agency. The usual treatment by the Neocons and Establishment but no matter to host or followers.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com
Not everyone in the US is brain dead and Neoconized.
Open minded? Igor Rink “Leonard”, one of the developers of “Novichok” who was accused of poisoning Russian banker Ivan Kivelidi, in 1995 has now been interviewed, interesting update: https://newinform.com/110689-sozdatel-novichka-obyasnil-pochemu-moskva-neprichastna-k-otravleniyu-skripalya and http://alfanews.md/index.php?newsid=3405 and http://www.mk.ru/politics/2018/03/20/sozdatel-novichka-privel-dokazatelstva-neprichastnosti-rossii-k-otravleniyu-skripalya.html
Thank you for your contributions. I appreciate your comments and your insights.
It’s my pleasure, did you read the linked interviews?