Only the Russians have allowed us to hear the actual voice of Yulia Skripal, in that recorded conversation with her cousin. So the one thing we know for certain is that, at the very first opportunity she had, she called back to her cousin in Russia to let her know what is going on. If you can recall, until the Russians released that phone call, the British authorities were still telling lies that Sergei was in a coma and Yulia herself in a serious condition.
We do not know how Yulia got to make the call. Having myself been admitted unconscious to hospital on several occasions, each time when I came to I found my mobile phone in my bedside cabinet. Yulia’s mobile phone plainly had been removed from her and not returned. Nor had she been given an official one – she specifically told her cousin that she could not call her back on that phone as she had it temporarily. The British government could have given her one to keep on which she could be called back, had they wished to help her.
The most probable explanation is that Yulia persuaded somebody else in the hospital to lend her a phone, without British officials realising. That would explain why the first instinct of the British state and its lackey media was to doubt the authenticity of the call. It would explain why she was able to contradict the official narrative on their health, and why she couldn’t get a return call. It would, more importantly, explain why her family has not been able to hear her voice since. Nor has anybody else.
It strikes me as inherently improbable that, when Yulia called her cousin as her first act the very moment she was able, she would now issue a formal statement through Scotland Yard forbidding her cousin to be in touch or visit. I simply do not believe this British Police statement:
“I was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital on the 9th April 2018. I was treated there with obvious clinical expertise and with such kindness, that I have found I missed the staff immediately.
“I have left my father in their care, and he is still seriously ill. I too am still suffering with the effects of the nerve agent used against us.
“I find myself in a totally different life than the ordinary one I left just over a month ago, and I am seeking to come to terms with my prospects, whilst also recovering from this attack on me.
“I have specially trained officers available to me, who are helping to take care of me and to explain the investigative processes that are being undertaken. I have access to friends and family, and I have been made aware of my specific contacts at the Russian Embassy who have kindly offered me their assistance in any way they can. At the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services, but, if I change my mind I know how to contact them.
“Most importantly, I am safe and feeling better as time goes by, but I am not yet strong enough to give a full interview to the media, as I one day hope to do. Until that time, I want to stress that no one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves. I thank my cousin Viktoria for her concern for us, but ask that she does not visit me or try to contact me for the time being. Her opinions and assertions are not mine and they are not my father’s.
“For the moment I do not wish to speak to the press or the media, and ask for their understanding and patience whilst I try to come to terms with my current situation.”
There is also the very serious question of the language it is written in. Yulia Skripal lived part of her childhood in the UK and speaks good English. But the above statement is in a particular type of formal, official English of a high level which only comes from a certain kind of native speaker.
“At the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services” – wrote no native Russian speaker, ever.
Nor are the rhythms or idioms such as would in any way indicate a translation from Russian. Take “I thank my cousin Viktoria for her concern for us, but ask that she does not visit me or try to contact me for the time being. Her opinions and assertions are not mine and they are not my father’s.” Not only is this incredibly cold given her first impulse was to phone her cousin, the language is just wrong. It is not the English Yulia would write and it is awkward to translate into Russian, thus not a natural translation from it.
To put it plainly, as someone who has much experience of it, the English of the statement is precisely the English of an official in the UK security services and precisely not the English of somebody like Yulia Skripal or of a natural translation from Russian.
Yulia is, of course, in protective custody “for her own safety”. At the very best, she is being psychologically force-fed the story about the evil Russian government attempting to poison her with the doorknob, and she is being kept totally isolated from any influence that may reinforce any doubts she feels as to that story. There are much worse alternatives involving threat or the safety of her father. But even at the most benevolent reading of the British authorities’ actions, Yulia Skripal is being kept incommunicado, and under duress.
In all sincerity, I find it quite refreshing to be reminded just how dumb and inattentive I am; a propos nothing in particular, there is a new item up on RT about the UN Security Council meeting the other evening and, more specifically, about the performance of the British Delegate
Hattie JacquesKaren PierceI watched her performance, and just found it drab and predictable, quite frankly, without picking up on the nuanced subtext which was, in fact, parading this woman’s crass ignorance in plain view. Specifically, she went to great lengths to chide the Russian delegate on how “Karl Marx, [I think he] must be turning in his grave to see what the country that was founded on many of his precepts is doing in the name of supporting Syria by condoning the use of chemical weapons on Syrian territory.” when, as the article points out, the country she was surely referring to was the USSR, which ceased to exist more than a quarter of a century ago……
It’s frustrating to only be able to come up with witty retorts 3 days after the moment has passed, but surely some quip about the UK invoking King Arthur to rise from The Lake, his arm clad in shimmering white samite, clutching Excalibur to his bosom would have been apposite, or a reference to Dunkirk, or to what happened to the Light Brigade when they took on the Russians over Crimea, but no, the moment has passed, and I am left to wallow in my rhetorical inadequacy.
The full article is here: https://www.rt.com/uk/423844-pierce-marx-turning-grave-syria/
(and I missed the bit about the leather jacket and the tortoiseshell handbag too: Bismark this woman is not)
apologies for the lapse in html taggery – its early, and the first bucket of Nescafe hasn’t really kicked in yet
Personally, I think it both outmoded and offensive to appraise women based solely on their physical attributes (I prefer to consider them as a whole), but does anyone else think that the US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert looks like Cameron Diaz on a really bad day, without makeup?
There is a species of American diplomat which appears to have been bred over generations to draw out specific vicious traits: how else can one explain Victoria Nuland, Nikki Haley and the ginger-haired dope who stands in for her at the UN whose collective IQ would struggle to make it into the low (negative) teens? And as for our lot, other than that darling darling plummy little waif Emma whateverhernamewas who drew the short straw and was pushed on stage at the Ambassadorial Briefin in Moscow, they all look like extras from the Rocky Horror Show, quite frankly.
OK, I give in – The Duran has done a far better hatchet job than I could ever dream of pulling off: http://theduran.com/gasbag-uk-ambassador-invokes-karl-marx-against-russia-peddling-douma-gas-hoax/
Ophelia,
Nimrata Randhawa (currently known as Nikki Haley) is not a career diplomat, has no formal diplomatic education/training she is a professional accountant born to indian parents. One of those second-gen immigrants who would die to prove that she is more american than aborigines, one of those dangerous species.
Nuland is totally different story, she and her husband built their wealth on russophobia, russophobia’s been her and her husband’s bread and butter throughout their entire life.
many thanks for these insights, Freddy
so, what;s the SP on our UN delegate? ex-Dinner Lady, or aspiring Big Issue vendor?
She is all yours 🙂
Unfortunately not familiar with British dips
Well, Freddy, if as I surmise your Heather Nauert looks like Cameron Diaz after a severe bout of dysentery, then the British UN delegate Karen Pierce looks like Cruella DeVille after a month spent binging on Big Macs and budget alcohol
Just think about – there are tens (may be hundreds) of thousands of highly paid bureaucrats whose (and their families’) prosperity completely depends on russophobia. Plus all those think tanks ($150-350K/Y salaries). Mortgages, kids in ivy league schools, lifestyle, everything would disappear if Trump implements his idea of being “friends with Russia”, you really think that could happen ? Not in a thousand years.
a thousand years, you say…..
is that how long Trump’s reign is due to last then?
Let,s use dinner ladies or Big Issue vendors for snarky comparison material.
“looks like Cameron Diaz after a severe bout of dysentery” – :):):)
OB
May I suggest that you switch over to ethically sourced fairtrade coffee instead?
it’s funny you should mention that, as I have recently been trialling a locally-produced Russian roast named “мертвый кот” which has a peculiarly gritty taste with notes of high-end pharmaceuticals and low-grade agricultural chemicals
Really, I would avoid that as it is of a type developed in USSR. Why don’t you try
голодные морские свинки instead?
I would, but I find there are too many small bones in it and it has no real body – well, at least not after a month
Point of information from someone who knows better than me. Russia has. by far, the largest organic veg production, more than any other country?
a neat segue to my assessment of the US State Department’s Heather Nauert (below)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysentery#/media/File:A_Soviet_soldier_dies_of_dysentery_as_a_result_of_eating_unw_Wellcome_L0032151.jpg
I read that she thought Karl Marx was Russian.
Thought is too strong a word here.
Please don’t confuse the UK ambassador with someone else entirely.
One is a comedienne who plays an authority figure, bringing mirth to millions. The other is Hattie Jacques.
Ha ha. I certainly think that HJ, were she around, would make a better UN ambassador than the current one: “Now then, you naughty boys, stop this Nuclear War nonsense at once!”
Having struggled to get up and be fully awake and alert this morning there is no doubt, no other explanation, than I am suffering propaganda poisoning – please respect my privacy and do not call the media
Is this by an agent of a type developed by HMG?
When will we all accept that our so called dear leaders lie and lie and we all just go on to rationalise about their lies trying to make sense of the false realities and fake narratives. Only to come back to playing the same game soon after the last batch of lies are forgotten.
Anyone recollect Jessica Lynch? The Heroin Soldier who was captured by the Iraqis and rescued on film by the US special forces blowing up and destroying the last remaining barely operational hospital that was in Basra?
Fact is this time there are Nukes involved and the other side can and will launch them, hence the illuminating headlines in US as in Washington Examiner: Don’t worry, the US would win a nuclear war with Russia
that Washington Examiner article says it all for me, quite honestly, and you surely have to ask why did they bother writing it?
rather than saying “There are grounds for optimism” or “There is no reason for alarm” we are once again treated to the moral certainty of American exceptionalism – as Obama memorably put it, “In a fair fight, America will always win”, with the clear implication (recently echoed by Trump) that if America isn’t winning, then that’s “unfair”
where I come from, that kind of attitude is considered arrogant, and the consensus opinion is that the most appropriate response involves a hearty slap in the face
So, the Vietnamese cheated?! Bloody hell.
Commies, huh!
The only Good Commie is one we have paid to defect and spill the beans to MI6, whereupon it turns out they weren’t really Commies after all, but probably “rebels” or “political opponents” or “actually, he looks a bit Ukranian, are you sure he’s really Russian?”
of course this doesn’t apply to those of you whose dear leader is Putin.
Having struggled to get up and be fully awake and alert this morning there is no doubt, no other explanation, than I am suffering propaganda poisoning – please respect my privacy and do not call the media – and please please, feed my cats ….
New poll from The Times. Only 1 in 5 in Britain back bombing:
https://twitter.com/NeilClark66/status/984318183644516352
“How Now, Brown Cow”.
“The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The Plain”.
If it wasn’t for some enlightened soul directing me to Craig Murray a few weeks ago, I would be tearing my hair out by now at the obvious lies and pathetic attempts at manipulation by our ‘government’.
Craig, you are a hero; god bless you.
Is it time for regime change here in Britain? We are a danger to the world and so we couldn’t complain if an external force started bombing us… for our own good, obviously . I wonder if we’d like the medicine our leaders prescribe for others?
PS. I’m unsure if the UK’s leaders are in Washington or London.
please do not use such inflammatory and intemperate language: the elected British Government is not ” a regime”
it is “a Junta”
Sorry, but I was making the assumption that the regime was a separate entity to the elected British Government.
Understood – a lot gets lost in the semantics: Hitler’s Nazi Party was democratically elected, but many observers subsequently became lost in the jungle of acronyms such as ‘Gestapo’, ‘SS’, ‘SA’, ‘Waffen Young Conservatives’ etc
Official document here-
https://20years.opcw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/s-1612-2018e.pdf
“The name and structure of the identified toxic chemical are contained in the full classified report of the Secretariat, available to States Parties. ”
The coverup is complete. us poor plebs won’t ever be allowed to know that the poison was.
You do realize that you’ll need the White Helmets to be on stage first, don’t you?
I don’t know if the use of “plainly” in Craig’s titel is conspicuous for native speakers, hence meant to be ambiguous. To me the statement of the Yard is definitely an exhibition of Yulia under duress, since mentioning “specially trained officers” underlines the report of the “Sun”, she was put away under military confinement. Even if it was police confinement, that would be a terrible mistake under the assumption of Russian guilt. In this case Russia would have means to blackmail Yulia with threats to the prejudice of her russian relatives and friends. So it was imperial to avoid putting her in a situation that allows her at any time to claim being put under duress. The british authorities either disregad any logic by arrogance (they could leave her under supervision of councelors, like they did with Julian Assange) or, as I said, they intend to exhibit the duress against Yulia.
There are no torn limbs to see, no smashed bones nor burned flesh. But otherwise it is exactly done the way, the Inquisition used to handle it. The witch / witness of sorcery was tortured, she has confessed, holy justice is done. And for the purpose to leave it at that, she has to “burn”, she has to be killed, there is no other way.
And make no mistake – that is the way civilization works, has always worked in varying designs and arrangements. You finished a circle in history of slavery – that’s all.
Hope you are making good progress with the AFD and their rabid supporters TomGuard, they are using Bibi and his persecution model as their policy base on how to deal with ‘immigrants’.
Well, congrats, you and your likes cooperate well with the censorship in this blog smearing me.
Much we do not know, but are these the most plausible alternatives at this point:
1. A family conflict with use of (non-lethal) gas against some members? Using this as a pretext on government level for a poisonous attack on Russia and creating diplomatic havoc? (Instead of helping establish some form of joint criminal investigation with Russia). Prediction: May will not last till May. Possible criminal investigation against her and the FS?
or
2. Arrangement of a false flag operation as a prelude to a bigger false flag operation in Syria, paving way for more violence and dangerous confrontations. Will May be imprisoned? Put before the Hague Tribunal? Hard to tell, but she can impossible last.
It ia all very sad to look at (from abroad). The first Norwegian King Harald (850 to 932) sent his Son Haakon to the English King Athelstan (norw: Adalstein) to be educated and to learn manly and decent behavior. For the rest of his life he was called Haakon Adalsteinsfostre and became a good King, one of our best.*
(We used to look up to England in those days).
@ Olaf S April 12, 2018 at 07:59
Most likely in my opinion is and has been from the outset your option number two, either a real poisoning or a hoax by the Brits to frame Russia and make the planned and now executed White Helmets orchestrated False Flag in Syria more ‘believable’ by the general public.
Interesting tale about Haakon! We ought to dig up King Athelstan and see if DNA can be extracted to clone him and make him our Prime Minister (after Jeremy Corbyn, that is).
I don’t know why I want to say this but…Shrivenham, a short helicopter ride away, comfortable officers’ accommodation.
How many armed police surround Yulia’s “safe house in the country” and at what cost? Could we not lodge JA there and kill two birds with one stone?
Skripals are toast & most likely will be killed soon in the guise of a New Identity & Relocation – what do 2 lives matter in the grand scheme of things?
Boris JohnsonVerified account @BorisJohnson · Apr 10
Wonderful that Yulia Skripal is out of hospital and here’s to her full and speedy recovery. Thanks again to the incredible NHS staff in Salisbury. I wish Sergei Skripal all the best and hope he recuperates quickly too
Ha!
Where is OUR blond thug? What’s he up to?
Boris is now safely back in his kennel, and has issued a statement via his American handlers asking for his privacy to be respected and could they take the electrodes off his gonads please
He’s organising the attack on Syria, isn’t he? It has to be one of his interests, a diversion away from Brexit, and from the lies of Skripal. Jingoist patriotism over war on Syria is supposed to carry Brexit over the line next March, isn’t it?
Today OPCW will make public their report and their conclusions. Today is my son’s 12th birthday. I’m sitting here and try to catch a minor hope for peace, instead of packing gifts and serving cakes.
I have the transcript here. It says: “Russia did it”.
@Monster
it is my outmost fear, I see no way they could say ‘russians didn’t do it’. It was not their goal, they provide technical aid.
There are at least 3 possiblities:
1. russians really did it
2. false flag, but nobody cares to dig deeper
3. false flag and they know it
IMHO 1 and 3 are not as scary as 2
I think OPCW will probably confirm that it was of a type of compound similar to insecticides but as there is no other proof and given that Russia shields Assad and lets him gas people in Syria that the OPCW on balance and having looked at where its bread is buttered, will suggest that it has come from Russia. Now there.
I seem to invent a new conspiracy theory!
Turkish are involved into this case to their top and deeper. Pros: – they want a piece of Syria and are in fact already there with their troops and will not pass it to Assad (Afrin); – W.H.O. affirmed they had no direct evidence on Douma attack, but received info from Turkish Gaziantep staff; – OPCW general director is turkish; – they don’t want Russia to support Assad (and downed russian plain and also killed russan ambassador earlier); – there were reports on ISIS making money selling oil through Turkey, also jighadists sheltered in Turkey.
and on top of that – yesterday Trump was meeting Erdogan!
The legalese. Yards of it.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/chemical-weapons-convention-guidance
and our man in the Hague at the OPCW is HE Peter Wilson.
https://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/member-states/member-states-by-region/western-europe-and-other-states/member-state-united-kingdom/
So many international institutions are busy in the Hague. The only one that is under used is the International Criminal Court. Time in the dock there awaits Messrs Bush, Blair, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Negroponte, Straw et al. Theresa May had better watch her step and not join them.
Wilson doubles up at the OPCW. He is the UK Ambassador to the Netherlands.
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/peter-wilson–2
We are pretty sure Russia was involved in this affair and so have even greater reason now to finish the job. She must be kept safe until she is truly able to speak for herself and that may be some time. Meanwhile we can do without the conspiracy theories surrounding her.
Yes, Headmaster, sorry Headmaster
Agreed
I think your theory is the conspiracy, M Rawlinson. ?
“Meanwhile we can do without the conspiracy theories surrounding her.”
You mean Boris?
Yes, why are you here M Rawlinson?
Who’s ‘we’?
The first rule of The Tufty Club is “Don’t talk about the Tufty Club”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Ry9tiz9_c
NB this was the closest I could get to Guinea Pigs
‘pretty sure’, you say, that is why we are wheeling out ex MI’s by the minute, ensure that the narrative is hammered home. Sadly it was a piss poor job badly done and nobody who has had any previous experience in the forces will believe the perceptions which are being peddled for us to believe.
Mr. Rawlinson and the ‘we’ behind him are responsible for the poisoning of Russian minds in the run up to the world cup ( not world war) you are as responsible for any fracas and injuries caused to British football fans, as the PM, the lying Foreign secretary and that loud mouth schoolboy masquerading as defence minister. What a shower.
Russian Embassy London 11th April 2018
PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
Embassy comment in relation to the “Statement issued on behalf of Yulia Skripal” published by the Metropolitan Police
The statement allegedly on behalf of Yulia Skripal published at Scotland Yard website is an interesting read. If everything mentioned there is true we cannot but congratulate our compatriot. However, with no possibility to verify it, the publication by the Metropolitan Police raises new questions rather than gives answers.
As before, we would like to make sure that the statement really belongs to Yulia. So far, we doubt it much. The text has been composed in a special way so as to support official statements made by British authorities and at the same time to exclude every possibility of Yulia’s contacts with the outer world – consuls, journalists and even relatives.
We are surprised by the point about the “access to friends and family”. Not a single friend or relative quoted by Russian or British media confirms such contacts. As far as we know, the Skripals have no relatives closer than Yulia’s cousin Victoria and their grandmother Elena (Sergey’s mother), who live together. A question arises: what family is Yulia in contact with?
We have also noticed the apparent contradiction between the phone conversation in which Yulia says to Victoria that “everything is fine” with her and her father, and their health condition as described in today’s Met Police statement.
Particularly amazing is the phrase “no one speaks for me” appearing in a statement which, instead of being read on camera by Yulia herself, is published at Scotland Yard website.
To sum up, the document only strengthens suspicions that we are dealing with a forcible isolation of the Russian citizen. If British authorities are interested in assuring the public that this is not the case, they must urgently provide tangible evidence that Yulia is alright and not deprived of her freedom.’
https://www.rusemb.org.uk/fnapr/6478
conspiracy theory or no conspiracy theory, there is a valid point here; Yulia’s privacy could have been preserved, and she could have been protected both from prying journalists (there are none) and Russian assassins (there are none) by the simple device of recording her statement on video – thereby at least confirming that she is in fact alive, and that it is in fact her
the longer this charade goes on, the more sinister it becomes
oops, sorry Headmaster
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
“I must not spread conspiracy theories before prep”
etc
OB
Even if they did not want to video her they could have issued her statement in Russian, with a translation.
Even the BBC now state that what has been issued by the Police on Yulias behalf as if it is her own words.
Bend Over, Boy! Mr Rawlinson has a surprise punishment for you!
But Craig, isn’t that the whole point?
The statement is SO obviously UK officialese nobody, but nobody, least of all anybody who knows a mere smattering of Russian (or Ukrainian), will believe for a single moment that it is anything but a fake press release penned by some legal or PR person.
The deception and diversion continues.
.
A fairly early start for me too, had to copy and paste correspondence with my M.P. Zac Goldsmith and send it to all non-Tory Councillors in the area for forwarding. Zac was very prompt in telling me the line he would take if military action against Syria came to Parliament but omitted to tell me whether he thought it should come to Parliament which was odd. Everyone should lobby their MPs, keep pressing to know what the MP thinks and then publish it.
Now we’re talking, rthat’s what I call a hands-on approach!
Good on ya, Pyotr!
Adding this link here as I’m not sure where to add interesting links to the Skripal story as Craig is often adding new topics..
Update from breaking OCCRP investigation into professor Leonard Rink’s links to organised crime groups from the Caucasus and how he supplied them with 0.25 ml ampoules containing 100 doses of Novichok enough to kill one person in each ampoule. Further claimed that “Novichok” would degrade slightly over time but still be lethal after 30 years.
“The substance I wanted to obtain … is labelled a state secret. … In terms of its toxic impact, it is similar to VX [a highly toxic nerve agent],” Rink added. “We poured it out into vials, about 0.25 grams each. … I took the vials home with me and put them in my garage.”
It’s not clear exactly how many vials Rink took with him. According to files from a separate top secret criminal investigation launched against him as a spin-off of the Kivelidi case, he had made “8-9 vials” and, on Sept. 13, 1995, gave some to “individuals of Chechen origin in the city of Moscow.”
According to a specialist who took part in Rink’s interrogation, 0.25 grams of the substance would be enough to poison 100 people. “If applied to the skin, only a hundredth of the amount contained in a vial would be enough to kill a person weighing around 80-90 kilograms,” he said, according to the interrogation document.
During interrogation, both the specialist and Rink confirmed that the substance was top secret and that it was produced at GITOS. Two other specialists contacted by reporters who were knowledgeable about Novichok said that if the substance was produced correctly and sealed in a vial, it would remain effective even after 25-30 years of storage. While they acknowledged that it would lose strength over time, the dose needed to kill someone is so minimal that it would be effective even at reduced strength.
He initially told investigators that in 1994, he gave one of them to a man named Ryabov who had initially told him he wanted to poison a dog, but then “said that the poison was needed not for a dog, but for a person.” However, in court testimony in 2007, Rink said that he had given Ryabov four vials and that they were eventually seized by the Federal Security Service. Rink said that Ryabov had started to threaten him. “I was afraid of Ryabov’s threats; [he] was connected with criminal elements. … [so] I agreed to get this poison for him,” he told investigators in 2000.
In the spring of 1995, according to a file from the investigation, Rink sold another vial to Artur Talanov, who lived in Latvia at the time — as the document puts it, “for self-defense.”
“Some people needed the substance to settle [their] gangster disputes,” Rink explained in 2007 court hearings. “They found out where my relatives live. Ryabov came to my home, and I had to buy him off somehow. First I gave him something simple, I thought that would be enough. Then something more serious.”
Talanov subsequently took part in an attempted robbery on a cash delivery van in Estonia, where he was shot and seriously wounded.
But — at least according to the investigation — the vial Talanov bought ended up in the hands of Vladimir Khutsishvili, a long-time acquaintance of the murdered banker and former board member of Rosbusinessbank. Khutsishvili was eventually convicted of Kivelidi’s murder in 2007 — as the investigation saw it, he was in the banker’s office at a time when poison could have been applied to the telephone receiver.
For the hundred doses of the substance contained in the vial he sold Talanov, Rink received “from US$1,500 to $1,800,” according to his testimony.
In July 2004, law enforcement within the Kivelidi murder case decided to halt the criminal investigation against Rink and those he sold the poisonous substance to (on the illegal preparation, acquisition, storage, transport, and sale of potent and poisonous substances), as the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had expired.
The fate of the other vials Rink took home is unknown. He declined to comment for this story.
https://www.rbc.ru/photoreport/06/03/2018/5a9e74619a794775e560e536
Investigation report Russian document now published:
https://www.occrp.org/documents/novichok-has-already-killed/investigation-against-rink-stopped.pdf
Yulia is now probably receiving the same treatment, as our politicians, diplomats and media. Craig Murray, may have been immune to it. I can guess how.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/brainwashing-9780198798330?cc=gb&lang=en&#
Brainwashing
The science of thought control
Kathleen Taylor
Oxford Landmark Science
Discusses the history, sociology, and psychology of brainwashing, and links it with a fascinating and accessible account of the brain and neuroscience.
Alongside the science and psychology, Taylor examines the history, politics, and ethics of brainwashing. Touching on religion, education, and advertising, this book shows how it goes on all around us.
Highly topical and relevant, describing the use of brainwashing techniques by terrorist groups and cults, as well as famous fictional examples such as Orwell’s 1984
Short-listed for the MIND Book of the Year Award 2005.
Includes a new Preface from the author, reflecting on the continuing use of brainwashing techniques today by fundamentalist terrorist groups such as “Islamic State”, and growing insights from the development of neuroscience techniques
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1: Torture and seduction
1: The birth of a word
2: God or the group?
3: The power of persuasion
4: Hoping to heal
5: ‘I suggest, you persuade, he brainwashes’
6: Brainwashing and influence
Part 2: The traitor in your skull
7: Our ever-changing brains
8: Webs and new worlds
9: Swept away
10: The power of stop-and-think
11: That freedom thing
Part 3: Freedom and control
12: Victims and predators
13: Mind factories
14: Science and nightmare
15: Taking a stand
In addition to The Times publishing a poll showing only 1 in 5 British people back military action against Syria, the Daily Mail has a highly equivocal headline story criticizing the highly wobbly May on not putting it to parliament:
“UK submarines move within missile range of Syria as Theresa May convenes ‘war cabinet’ and prepares to brush aside MPs’ demands for a vote before joining military action on Assad”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5605247/Theresa-convenes-war-cabinet-tomorrow.html
(That is the online headline. The print one is even more pithy: “May’s Great Gamble: UK subs move within missile range as PM is poised to sideline parliament and join Trump attack.”)
not bad for someone thought to be brain dead just a few weeks ago. given the apparent ability of a Russian tv crew to wonder around the hospital this week it makes me think the phone call was real, but unauthorised, someone snuck a phone into her setup for that call to her cousin which is why it just happened to be recorded. after that, they decided she had to be moved
yes, unfortunately the kind soul who allowed Yulia to use her phone appears not to have made it out of the hospital alive
(even though she probably wasn’t a patient)
I firmly believe that before she gets an opportunity to “speak freely” her condition will deteriorate as an “unforeseeable” side effect result of the “poisoning” and miraculously she will be in a permanent coma from that point forward. As well as her father.
‘No one speaks for me’
‘I don’t need any help from the Russian embassy’
those are the headlines in the British press covering this.
It’s funny that they felt they needed to rephrase her ‘statement’. Apparently it’s too much officalese to even quote)))
I am ignorant of the background of Yulia Skripal but in language learning process colloquial comes before fomal. The latter has to be acquired by specialist study.
Officialese, which this appears to be, is not generally within the competency of most native speakers let alone learners.
That this was drafted by a third party for her to sign seems highly plausible.
The feeling that the British State is developing paranoia symptoms is growing.
Would be interested to see a webcam of her…. this is what I would expect UK media to expect….
In the current absence of the Foreign Secretary the Government is promoting Tom Tugendhat as its spokesman.
Peter Oborne’s 2017 piece helps explain why
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/foreign-affairs-crispin-blunt-uk-435761826
interesting take on where some of this anti-Russia stuff is coming from, especially from HMG position.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/britain-targets-russian-billionaires
“As the U.S. goes after a handful of Russian oligarchs with its latest round of sanctions, the U.K. is under pressure domestically and from abroad to tighten controls and shed its reputation as a place to launder corrupt money. The U.K. National Crime Agency estimates that more than £90 billion ($127.5 billion) of such money enters the U.K. each year, feeding a vast industry of property companies, lawyers, bankers, and accountants. A lot of that comes from Russia, and ends up in high-end real estate. ”
and more importantly
“On April 10 the top U.S. sanctions official, Sigal Mandelker, issued a warning while in London, saying U.K. banks will face “consequences” if they continue to do business with blacklisted individuals and entities. “The government’s in a very difficult situation,” says Tom Keatinge, head of the Royal United Services Institute’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies in London. There are “expectations that you’re going to be able to roll up billions of pounds of illicit Russian finance.”
Seems a bit simplistic although we all understand that the U.K. and London economy in particular has a dependency on this money, driving up property prices and elevating hedge funds, etc.
When you look at what various zealots have said about a post-Brexit UK economy, they have been quite up front in suggesting it might do more to sell itself as a place where such dirty money can hide and be cleansed,
The fact is that that money is out there and it needs a home so I can see why British authorities and bankers might argue that it is better that it comes to the U.K. rather than anywhere else. I guess you could dovetail that by arguing that the interaction with Britain might positively rub off in some moral way but as yet I haven’t heard anyone say it.
Where all this talk of the US punishing those who deal with Russians, Helms-Burton style, falls flat in its face is that by the time the money reaches the U.K. it’s virtually impossible to detect where it came from, or, whether it was ill gotten or not. Much of it goes through other countries like Greece and Turkey on its way and it is more or less impossible to work out who really owns it.
The capitalist infrastructure of global banking and finance, when you think about it, is designed to allow money to move freely and unhindered across countries and an important part of that is dedicated to making it impossible to know who actually controls or owns it.
Hatuey, totally agree with you, The UK has positioned itself as a money laundering centre via it’s network of protectorates being used for off-shore banking that all interconnect back to the City of London with it’s medieval laws protecting identities of those within.
Wondering if all of the diplomatic and now possibility military support the UK is giving the US in the row with Russia, is basically so the US won’t really carryout it’s threats above in regards to Russian money in the UK?
If all that money was to stop, and the UK housing market crashed/ along with any brexit economic bumps/ plus banking not getting cut of the laundered money, would be one big almighty economic storm for the UK to weather!
Could just be a big enough lever for the US to push the UK to do a number of things…
Craig was going to post a thread on who, if not the Russian State, might be responsible. It is little wonder if he was distracted from that.
Yulia might like to ask her special helpers how the investigation is going, who have been eliminated from the inquiry?
But distractions are needed at the mo, they are needed big time.
In the UK the Local Elections are on course to further destabilise confidence in anything left that retains that archaic vestige.
In the US its worse, both Trump and Clinton are looking at criminal charges (personally and their aids) for all manner of things and now some people want an investigation into a suspected bombing in 2001.
I know that particular subject might be banned here but if you cherry pick your agenda you could well end up with a cherry pie without cherries.
What we are seeing is deception on a scale that would make Goebbels blush but with a peculiar disregard to having it believed.
https://lawyerscommitteefor9-11inquiry.org/lc-doj-grand-jury-petition/
President Macron is highly unpopular. Does he think going to war will change that?
Foreign wars are the hopeful rescue cards of failing leaders. Macron should remember what happened to DeGaulle, a bigger man than he in every respect.
Mrs May also take note.
France has a historical interest in Syria. They were basically granted a 50% stake in the country at its birth. Even before Macron the British and the French were partnered towards opposing Assad.. if I remember correctly, the British government approached France first with a plan to destabilise the country before this so called civil war started in 2012. Maybe that is actually what started it.
As for De Gaulle, you seem impressed. More impressed than say ordinary Algerians.
Correction, it started in 2011 apparently… although you could argue the campaign to destabilise goes back decades.
This is worth a read. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-pipelines