What is left of the government’s definitive identification of Russia as the culprit in the Salisbury attack? It is a simple truth that Russia is not the only state that could have made the nerve agent: dozens of them could. It could also have been made by many non-state actors.
Motorola sales agent Gary Aitkenhead – inexplicably since January, Chief Executive of Porton Down chemical weapons establishment – said in his Sky interview that “probably” only a state actor could create the nerve agent. That is to admit the possibility that a non state actor could. David Collum, Professor of Organo-Chemistry at Cornell University, infinitely more qualified than a Motorola salesman, has stated that his senior students could do it. Professor Collum tweeted me this morning.
The key point in his tweet is, of course “if asked”. The state and corporate media has not asked Prof. Collum nor any of the Professors of Organic Chemistry in the UK. There simply is no basic investigative journalism happening around this case.
So given that the weapon itself is not firm evidence it was Russia that did it, what is Boris Johnson’s evidence? It turns out that the British government’s evidence is no more than the technique of smearing nerve agent on the door handle. All of the UK media have been briefed by “security sources” that the UK has a copy of a secret Russian assassin training manual detailing how to put nerve agent on door handles, and that given the nerve agent was found on the Skripals door handle, this is the clinching evidence which convinced NATO allies of Russia’s guilt.
As the Daily Mirror reported in direct quotes of the “security source”
“It amounts to Russia’s tradecraft manual on applying poison to door handles. It’s the smoking gun. It is strong proof that in the last ten years Russia has researched methods to apply poisons, including by using door handles. The significant detail is that these were the facts that helped persuade allies it could only be Russia that did this.”
Precisely the same government briefing is published by the Daily Mail in a bigger splash here, and reflected in numerous other mainstream propaganda outlets.
Two questions arise. How credible is the British government’s possession of a Russian secret training manual for using novichok agents, and how credible is it that the Skripals were poisoned by their doorknob.
To take the second question first, I see major problems with the notion that the Skripals were poisoned by their doorknob.
The first is this. After what Dame Sally Davis, Chief Medical officer for England, called “rigorous scientific analysis” of the substance used on the Skripals, the government advised those who may have been in contact to wash their clothes and wipe surfaces with warm water and wet wipes. Suspect locations were hosed down by the fire brigade.
But if the substance was in a form that could be washed away, why was it placed on an external door knob? It was in point of fact raining heavily in Salisbury that day, and indeed had been for some time.
Can somebody explain to me the scenario in which two people both touch the exterior door handle in exiting and closing the door? And if it transferred from one to the other, why did it not also transfer to the doctor who gave extensive aid that brought her in close bodily contact, including with fluids?
The second problem is that the Novichok family of nerve agents are instant acting. There is no such thing as a delayed reaction nerve agent. Remember we have been specifically told by Theresa May that this nerve agent is up to ten times more powerful than VX, the Porton Down developed nerve agent that killed Kim’s brother in 15 minutes.
But if it was on the doorknob, the last contact they could possibly have had with the nerve agent was a full three hours before it took effect. Not only that, they were well enough to drive, to walk around a shopping centre, visit a pub, and then – and this is the truly unbelievable bit – their central nervous systems felt in such good fettle, and their digestive systems so in balance, they were able to sit down and eat a full restaurant meal. Only after all that were they – both at precisely the same time despite their substantially different weights – suddenly struck down by the nerve agent, which went from no effects at all, to deadly, on an alarm clock basis.
This narrative simply is not remotely credible. Nerve agents – above all “military grade nerve agents” – were designed as battlefield weapons. They do not leave opponents fighting fit for hours. There is no description in the scientific literature of a nerve agent having this extraordinary time bomb effect. Here another genuine Professor describes their fast action in Scientific American:
Unlike traditional poisons, nerve agents don’t need to be added to food and drink to be effective. They are quite volatile, colourless liquids (except VX, said to resemble engine oil). The concentration in the vapour at room temperature is lethal. The symptoms of poisoning come on quickly, and include chest tightening, difficulty in breathing, and very likely asphyxiation. Associated symptoms include vomiting and massive incontinence. Victims of the Tokyo subway attack were reported to be bringing up blood. Kim Jong-nam died in less than 20 minutes. Eventually, you die either through asphyxiation or cardiac arrest.
If the nerve agent was on the door handle and they touched it, the onset of these symptoms would have occurred before they reached the car. They would certainly have not felt like sitting down to a good lunch two hours later. And they would have been dead three weeks ago. We all pray that Sergei also recovers.
The second part of the extraordinarily happy coincidence of the nerve agent being on the door handle, and the British government having a Russian manual on applying nerve agent to door handles, is whether the manual is real. It strikes me this is improbable – it rings far too much of the kind of intel they had on Iraqi WMD. It also allegedly dates from the last ten years, so Putin’s Russia, not the period of chaos, and the FSB is a pretty tight organisation in this period. MI6 penetration is just not that good.
A key question is of course how long the UK has had this manual, and what was its provenance. Another key question is why Britain failed to produce it to the OPCW – and indeed why it does not publish it now, with any identifying marks of the particular copy excluded, given it has widely publicised its existence and possession of it. If Boris Johnson wants to be believed by us, publish the Russian manual.
We also have to consider whether the FSB really publishes its secret assassination techniques in a manual. I attended, as other senior FCO staff, a number of MI6 training courses. One on explosives handling was at Fort Monckton, not too far from Salisbury. One in a very nondescript London office block was on bugging techniques. I recall seeing rigs set up to drill minute holes in walls, turning very slowly indeed. Many hours to get through the wall but almost no noise or vibration. It was where I learnt the government can listen to you through activating the microphone in your mobile phone, even when your phone is switched off. I recall javelin like directional microphones suspended from ceilings to point at distant targets, and a listening device that worked through a beam of infra-red light, but the target could foil by closing the curtains.
The point is that there were of course no manuals for this stuff, no manuals for any other secret MI6 techniques, and these things are not lightly written down.
I would add to this explanation that I lost all faith in the police investigation when it was taken out of the hands of the local police force and given to the highly politicised Metropolitan Police anti-terror squad. I suspect the explanation of the remarkably convenient (but physically impossible) evidence of the door handle method that precisely fits the “Russian manual” may lie there.
These are some of the problems I have with the official account of events. Boris lied about the certainty of the provenance of the nerve agent, and his fall back evidence is at present highly unconvincing. None of which proves it was not the Russian state that was responsible. But there is no convincing proof that it was, and there are several other possibilities. Eventually the glaring problems with the official narrative might be resolved, but what is plain is that Johnson and May have been premature and grossly irresponsible.
I shall post this evening on Johnson’s final claim, that only the Russians had motive.
Update: I have just listened to the released alleged phone conversation between Yulia Skripal in Salisbury Hospital and her cousin Viktoria, which deepens the mystery further. I should say that in Russian the conversation sounds perfectly natural to me. My concern is after the 30 seconds mark where Viktoria tells Yulia she is applying for a British visa to come and see Yulia.
Yulia replies “nobody will give you a visa”. Viktoria then tells Yulia that if she is asked if she wants Viktoria to visit, she should say yes. Yulia’s reply to this is along the lines of “that will not happen in this situation”, meaning she would not be allowed by the British to see Viktoria. I apologise my Russian is very rusty for a Kremlinbot, and someone might give a better translation, but this key response from Yulia is missing from all the transcripts I have seen.
What is there about Yulia’s situation that makes her feel a meeting between her and her cousin will be prevented by the British government? And why would Yulia believe the British government will not give her cousin a visa in the circumstance of these extreme family illnesses?
@Craig – Are you going to bring Nikolai Glushkov into your analysis?
I used to have a copy of this manual. It came with my Action Man ‘Super Ninja Door Knob Assassin’ kit. It included a jar of nerve agent, a postman’s disguise and a Stupidity Gun to fire at the Press.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw-yn2RLcu0
Don’t know how it got misplaced, but my comment below, i.e., “Love that film…”, was meant for your link to the Shawshank Redemption.
Very nice, during this disgrace of a mockery of a sham. 🙂
Love that film… certainly one of my top favourites
Actually, I think he says “A travesty of a mockery of a sham”. Woody Allen in ‘Bananas’. 🙂
a sham of a mockery of a sham 🙂
You youngsters have got it easy with your new-fangled nerve agents. In the old days we had to make do with a cork and dynamite.
Required: a short test tube, a cork, two needles, three wires, one electric blasting cap, one metal ball bearing, and one stick of dynamite. The two needles are pushed through the cork to an equal length, and the ball bearing is placed within the tube. The test tube is corked, and taped to the inside of a door handle. The wires are then connected from the eyes of the two needles to the battery, with one wire going via the blasting cap. Next, the battery and stick of dynamite are taped to the back of the door. When the handle is turned, the ball bearing will roll and touch both points of the needles, thus completing the electrical circuit and exploding the dynamite. [Anarchist’s Cookbook]
Very funny… once again, how I wish there was a like button
Interesting discussion Craig. Thanks for exploring this. For some reason the legacy media don’t seem inclined to ask any questions.
As for the chemical weapon on the door handle thing, this goes back to at least ww2.
I feel sure that applying mustard gas in “ointment” form to things like door handles was covered in SOE manuals. I think this was in one of MRD Foot’s books.
So hardly a new idea.
Mustard gas is a blister agent is not particularly lethal, although I imagine applied in an ointment it could result in a particularly nasty rash. Which might be a severe inconvenience in the field
Timelines…. the theory that the nerve agent was on the door handle came some time AFTER the Government accused Russia of culpability (and after several other theories about how exactly the Skripals came into contact with it).
Surely, if the Government had access to the “tradecraft manual” before the poisoning occurred, the door handle would have been the first place to look for evidence. If they only acquired the “tradecraft manual” after the event, how could they point the finger so conclusively at the Russians BEFORE the smoking gun “evidence” of said manual??
Interesting
Yet more excellent work, Craig. Thank you.
The BBC papers review on Wednesday night featured Jane Merrick attacking Jeremy Corbyn over Johnson/Skripal.
Merrick’s partner, a Corbyn critic at The Observer, is brother-in-law of Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff in Blair’s No 10 and also a Corbyn critic.
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-westminster-power-couples/
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/11/theobserver.dailytelegraph
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/jul/28/business.theobserver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Helm
Government desperately trying to keep the narrative on track and within control.
Expect further ‘leaks’ of ‘evidence’ soon… naturally it will be of the dodgy dossier standard, and will thankfully be seen as such by the public, although the media will of course propagate it as further evidence. I say seen as such by the public, because viewing the paper comment sections, from the Mail through the Guardian and even to an extent the times (subscription based so more likely to agree with the paper) my feeling is that public sentiment simply is not swaying behind the official media, people simply don’t believe it. Quite amazing this gap between the media and the public. People are not swallowing what they think is *b*llsh*t.
One wonders whether the FCO look at long term reputational damage by following Boris Johnson, certainly if I were a diplomat I would be inwardly raging.
Note that the Amber Rudd is remarkably quiet and low key. If she truly believed the evidence surely she would be also on the vociferous bandwagon? I suspect she is hedging her bets in case this goes all pear shaped. Has nobody thought to ask her opinion? The Home Secretary FFS!
Boris directly lying, deleted tweets (explained by more lies), evidence apparently held back from Corbyn (in case of leaks), dodgy evidence, supposition, rhetoric, infantile Defence Sec way out of his league… unbelievable.
And Yulia Skripal… held back from public view (and a non-enquiring docile press).. they need crucially to keep her on narrative… she must be made to be compliant, hence no consular access. Why no outcry or interest in her situation by the media?
Before HMG began accusing Russia Amber Rudd was cautioning patience. I haven’t seen her on TV baying against Corbyn. (though remember she was nearly decapitated by Momentum last June). My own MP, Tory, doesn’t reply to my emails with raining endorsements of the PM. I actually think there are quite a few Tory MPs waiting for this to become unravelled. Remember also that the whole thing is driven by Brexiteer Boris and most Tory MPs are remainers.
…. my feeling is that public sentiment is simply not swaying behind the official media, people simply don’t believe it. ….
I truly wish I could subscribe to that, but unless the public at large read Mr Murray’s blog and take on board the pertinent and valid comments of those who respond to him they, in the main, will believe as gospel all the rubbish the Press and BBC put out.
It’s why we have Brexit and the politicians we collectively voted for.
What I don’t understand is, if it says in the Russian Assassination Manual that the nerve agent is to be smeared on door handles, why it took them 3 weeks to announce it had been on the door handle, when countless people had probably been in and out of the house during that time….not to mention the policemen standing on guard just inches away from it all that time!
And there STILL hasn’t been any actual evidence produced. None at all.
This is the only place that I can find any ongoing plausible and coherent narrative with regard to the bizarre events in Salisbury – so for that I thank you.
The rot is all pervasive and goes well beyond politicians, journalists and media with a public profile.
The dogs of inanity have already been set onto Professor Collum. Apparently he is a sexist, a homophobe and a transphobe. So many character flaws flaws that his scientific knowledge is obviously worthless. Where do these people come from? Are they just the spontaneous creations of a society that has run its course or have these idiots been weaponized by the forces of darkness?
Half the people posting on this blog would, under the right circumstances, be queuing up to denounce Professor Collum. Ask why?
What’s this with this Prof. Collum. (Sorry, I’m not from Britain), can anyone point me to the outrageous thing he has done?
Sure, here is a link to a letter written by a bunch of disgruntled students all about the “crimes” of Professor Collum
http://cornellsun.com/2017/04/20/letter-to-the-editor-on-a-professors-misconduct/
Here is what some may call a rational rebuttal to the claims (or smears if you prefer) set out in the letter above.
http://cornellsun.com/2017/04/24/letter-to-the-editor-prof-david-collum-chemistry-is-owed-an-apology-and-a-retraction/
It is probable that a good number of the types of people so keen to smear Professor Collum are also exercised about the egregious falsehoods being purveyed with regard to events in Salisbury.
…and people wonder why their governments despise them.
When it comes to evaluating the evidence of an expert witness, his character and everything else about him are orthogonal to his scientific assertions. (That is, completely irrelevant).
smearing this deadly stuff on a doorknob would surely kill the attacker too? Unless they were suited up – which would lose the element of secrecy somewhat. Also a lot of people have cctv at home these days. An ex spy would not be unlikely to have security at his house. This would make smearing the doorknob a very risky practice!
Porton Down have identified a nerve agent in samples. Where did those samples come from? Has anyone independently identified this stuff in the blood of the victims?
A good timeline of the pantomime events in Salisbury by the local press,
http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/16067474.LIVE__Russian_former_spy_fights_for_life_after_he_was_deliberately_poisoned_with_nerve_agent_in_attempted_murder_in_Salisbury/
Front door – ha ha – just look at the lock!
This is Sergei Skripal’s front door. It’s secured witha crappy “Euro cylinder”. Teaching someone to pick that would take about 5 minutes. They could then pick it in about 10 seconds, using what is known as a “rake pick”.
Get in, incapacitate, hold pillow over face, job done. Or if they want to use a nerve agent, squirt it in his ear or put it anywhere in the house they like, on his toothbrush, wherever.
He was supposedly a target for the FSB or GRU and poor old MI5 didn’t know.
We are being taken for utter fools here.
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
And besides, the general public usually ‘has no time’.
That’s the new front door, complete with good luck horseshoe. To see the old front door, spend a few minutes with Google Earth. Search for Christie Miller Road, Salisbury. The house is at the east end of the cul-de-sac, seen in street view.
Larry A
The door Google Earth is showing me is from April 2009. It has something in the middle and something higher up, presumably a pin tumbler lock and a mortice deadlock rather than just a Euro cylinder, but Sergei Skripal was still in jail then. He bought the house in 2011. Is there any reason to think the door that current has the good luck horseshoe wasn’t there at the time of the attack?
I hear that the details of the Skrypals’ last meal has been classified. This means presumably that Inspector Knacker has, after many weeks and dozens of dead ends, finally brought his detective skills to bear on the food intake of the miserable actors .If Zizzi’s survives this tragicomedy being played out by No 10, then their last meal will be on the bucket list of many eager aspirants: to eat the killer meal that doesn’t kill you.
Have they made the employees and other customers of the pizzaria and the pub have to sign the official secrets act. lol
Good point as tabloid reporters are normally extremely good at ferreting out info from all manner of sources on a case as big as this. One suspects that hospital staff treating the Skripals might have been asked to sign the Official Secrets Act, too. Whatever, there has certainly been an unusual lack of reporting into most aspects of this affair other than from official statements.
Egad!, an ‘English’ Journo appears – seems to tell that which we accept to be the truth by reporting Farage, pity that she seems to be an Italian only recently employed as a video journalist for the DailyExpress, but at least she’s not wittering about dooorknobs & broomsticks, and Bears-that-go-bump-in-the-night, fairy-stories.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/941732/Nigel-Farage-Russia-latest-Vladimir-Putin-poisoning-attack-Boris-Johnson
extract of the relevant bit so you don’t need the 38 tracking DailyExcess cookies
Alessandra Scotto Di Santolo writes [a caller phones LBC] As [caller] was finished with his rant, Farage decided to take him on. He snapped: “If the evidence is overwhelming – why did they delete the tweet?”, ”I’m not a Corbyn supporter, I’m not a Putin supporter.”, “But I do think, [Corbyn] makes a pretty fair point in saying and urging caution.”
She further writes [suprisingly for the DailyExcess again accurately,]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the Foreign Secretary was left with “egg on his face” after the defence research laboratory admitted it could not identify the source of the poison. Mr Corbyn told ITV: “He claimed on German television that this was a Russian-produced nerve agent and Porton Down then examined it and said all they could identify that it was Novachok.
“Porton Down said they could not and would not identify where it had come from. Where does that leave the Foreign Secretary? Egg on his face for the statement he made on German television.”
Talking to ITV News, Mr Corbyn continued: “The Foreign Office then issued a tweet in support of what the Foreign Secretary said and then removed that after Porton Down said they couldn’t identify the source of it.
“Boris Johnson seems to have completely exceeded the information that he’d been given and told the world in categorical terms what he believed had happened.
“It’s not backed up by the evidence he claimed to have got from Porton Down in the first place. Boris Johnson needs to answer some questions. There clearly was a huge inconsistency.”
complimenti Alessa
Perhaps a copy of “The Assassins’ Manual” fell out the pocket of an agent that murdered one of the other Russian oligarchs who had fallen out of favour with Putin?
As for the exterior doorknob being coated with poison – clearly, the spy was well briefed. The Skripals were doubtless somewhat obsessive-compulsive, and liked to give the door a good rattle each to ensure it was locked. Not being content with the test being carried out by someone else, each of them had to try the door in turn. Alternatively, one of them gave it a thorough test, confirmed it was locked, and they then shook hands in agreement that it was, indeed, locked.
Being a bit concerned about dry skin, they also had moisturised their hands with a very rich hydration lotion. It took a while for the deadly nerve agent to penetrate through this, so they felt no effects until much later.
Seems all very logical to me – where’s the mystery here?
“The Skripals were doubtless somewhat obsessive-compulsive, and liked to give the door a good rattle each to ensure it was locked.”
@Glenn – Take a look at what I’ve posted about locks. The government’s position is weak as it stands without being subjected to misinformed criticism. You do need to touch the outside handle to lock a Eurocylinder lock and as I understand it the “narrative” is that Sergei Skripal was the target and Yulia Skripal “collateral”. (Not that I believe that crap.)
Now the UK says that it has “secret intelligence” that proves their case. Wouldn’t it be a great surprise if this new intelligence breakthrough was somehow associated with the UK’s leading “expert” on Russian intelligence, Christopher Steele?
Steele is of course the “editor” of the famous Trump dossier and already has an intriguing possible connection with Skripal through their common associate Pablo Miller (Skripal’s recruiter and now working for Steele’s Orbis security consultancy).
“Now the UK says that it has “secret intelligence” that proves their case. Wouldn’t it be a great surprise if this new intelligence breakthrough was somehow associated with the UK’s leading “expert” on Russian intelligence, Christopher Steele?”
Very good point, hilarious, but quite possibly true!
Letterboxes are said to be a household bacteria hotbed, worse than doorknobs. I’m calling BS on the entire shooting-match.
What will ghastly Treeza come up with next to justify her strut upon the world’s stage and continue to hobnob in the Chancelleries of Europe?
So suddenly this Russian manual appears out of thin air – as George Smiley said: “Topicality is always suspect”.
Russian manual with ‘Belongs to V.V. Putin’ written on it, presumably?
Probably. And newspaper editors should read John Le Carre!
Let me guess, written in his own hand?
When you lock a Eurocylinder from the outside you DO have to touch the handle and pull it upwards.
Even with a pin tumbler such as a Yale or a mortice deadlock such as a Chubb, you will pull on SOMETHING to close the door – usually what is called a cylinder pull.
In Sergei Skripal’s case he uses a Eurocylinder – practically the crappest security you can get.
When was the last time anyone walked out of a house together with their partner and they both closed the door together?
But that is sadly irrelevant, as the door in the photograph above is the “new” door, they took his old door remember?
I have no idea what sort of a mechanism the original door had, it could have been a latch for all I know.
I’m guessing it was a stable door, well and truly bolted.
Front page of Times today said something along the lines of Security Services believe Russia has run tests to determine whether Novichok could be used for assassination purposes. If they had then presumably they would know that it wasn’t that reliable which would suggest that someone else who hadn’t run such tests was responsible for the poisonings.
I would love to be a fly on the ceiling when Pablo Miller gets around to debriefing Sergei Skripal:
Miller: You remember that meeting we had arranged that afternoon in the park. The one I was unaccountably late for?
Skripal: Yes
Miller: Well you never would have guessed, those damned Russians had smeared poisoned ointment on your doorhandle that you both touched 3 hours ago. And you both suddenly succumbed together at precisely the same time.
Skripal: Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Miller: Good lad, after all, you really don’t have anywhere else to go, do you? Welcome to Her Majesty’s service
Unfortunately David Collum is being attacked by the “ME TOO” crowd.
The diversionists out in force then
Craig Murray you are fantastic in exposing the Tory lies, please keep up the good work. I knew from the beginning that this was a deliberate attempt to smear both Russia and the leader of the opposition.
Why not ask who is the British government’s informant CURVEBALL this time, and is ‘C’ Alex Younger presiding over the proceedings of the Joint Intelligence Committee over who is the culprit in the Salisbury nerve agent attack?
Russian TV airs ‘Yulia Skripal call’ – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43652574
Apparently they are all fine, in basically undamaged health. So they have survived a deadly military grade nerve-agent, with no known antidote and have no lasting damage or impact?
Surely an Easter miracle?
It’s an ‘alleged call’ suggesting that BBC/HMG are concerned about its impact. Can’t imagine the Russians would try to fake a call under the circumstances as they’d do on be found out.
Can anyone knock up a Ladybird Book of the secret Russian assassin training manual?
Might be good for a laugh and demonstrate how utterly bonkers this whole “assassin manual” is.
Superb.
This is worth repeating: The BBC are protecting a hard-right Conservative Foreign Secretary.
Just let that sink in.
Have I missed something? I thought Stephen Davies (Consultant in emergency medicine, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust) had stated in a letter to the Times(March 16, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/british-retaliation-against-russia-s-actions-p5hmpj8jh) that “no patients have experienced symptoms of nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury”. This seems to be consistent with your article describing the fatal nature of nerve agents. So if patients were not poisoned by nerve agents, how come Porton Down have identified Novichok?
Even if it is true that Porton Down identified Novichok, what did they test? Something given to them by the authorities. Perhaps alleged to have been collected from the Skripal house, or car, or their persons, or clothes…
Similarly, Porton Down is alleged to have sent samples to OPCW. Samples of something, no doubt.
The important term here is “chain of custody”. It has not been mentioned, mainly because it is entirely absent.
When a principal player (the British government) has controlled alleged crime scenes for days or weeks, and has presumably obtained control of any alleged samples… we can’t believe anything that is alleged about those samples.
Even if Yulia Skripal gave blood and it tested positive for some substance… she has been unconscious in the control of the authorities for weeks. Anything in her blood could easily have been put there, through a drip or by some other means.
Russian envoy to UK speaks on Skripal scandal (WATCH LIVE) : https://www.rt.com/news/423279-skripal-london-russia-ambassador/
What’s he saying?
The live broadcast yesterday was a very good platform for the patient courteous Russian Ambassador to UK. He was speaking for over an hour and answered all the questions he had knowledge on. Questions about ameristani attitudes he referred to questioner to the ameristani embassy, similar to the Swiss questions. many questioners from around the world. The most aggressive was the DT ares-hole. A lady in the front row, from I believe the BBC, was received first and if I remember correctly also had the last question.
This was regarding any assistance with the Russian niece’s planned visit. No facts were really known as a visa request allegedly had not been processed by HM outsourced agency, responsible for such things these days. There was some interplay between the last lady questioner who appeared to be or had already offered assistance to the niece, travel, accommodation, translators, general hand holding etc.. The Ambassador thanked her but also stated if asked by any Russian involved in this important issue, they would provide all they could.
A polished performance by the non native English speaker marred a little in microphone issues. Just as what is expected from a seasoned individual and diplomat from Russia, or any other country.
Without making any assumptions as to what exactly the stuff was, what if the delay was down to eventual ingestion after eating something with fingers (prawns for example)? not powerful enough to enter the system through the skin, but entering after direct contact with food?
I think it was reported that it was of a higher concentration on the opposite hands of each individual, perhaps indicating one is left handed and one right handed?
none of it adds up
Fugu fish. They ordered Fugu at the restaurant. Has a powerful toxic impact if not prepared correctly.