It was happy to see Yulia alive and looking reasonably well yesterday, if understandably stressed. Notably, and in sharp contrast to Litvinenko, she leveled no accusations at Russia or anybody else for her poisoning. In Russian she spoke quite naturally. Of the Russian Embassy she said very simply “I am not ready, I do not want their help”. Strangely this is again translated in the Reuters subtitles by the strangulated officialese of “I do not wish to avail myself of their services”, as originally stated in the unnatural Metropolitan Police statement issued on her behalf weeks ago.
“I do not wish to avail myself of their services” is simply not a translation of what she says in Russian and totally misses the “I am not ready” opening phrase of that sentence. My conclusion is that Yulia’s statement was written by a British official and then translated to Russian for her to speak, rather than the other way round. Also that rather than translate what she said in Russian themselves for the subtitles, Reuters have subtitled using a British government script they have been given.
It would of course have been much more convincing had Sergei also been present. Duress cannot be ruled out when he is held by the British authorities. I remain extremely suspicious that, at the very first chance she got in hospital, Yulia managed to get hold of a telephone (we don’t know how, it was not her own and she has not had access to one since) and phone her cousin Viktoria, yet since then the Skripals have made no attempt to contact their family in Russia. That includes no contact to Sergei’s aged mum, Yulia’s grandmother, who Viktoria cares for. Sergei normally calles his mother – who is 89 – regularly. This lack of contact is a worrying sign that the Skripals may be prevented from free communication to the outside world. Yulia’s controlled and scripted performance makes that more rather than less likely.
It is to me particularly concerning that Yulia does not seem to have social media access. The security services have the ability to give her internet risk free through impenetrable VPN. But they appear not to have done that.
We know a little more about the Salisbury attack now:
Nobody – not Porton Down, not the OPCW – has been able to state that the nerve agent found was of Russian manufacture, a fact which the MSM continues to disgracefully fudge with “developed in Russia” phrasing. As is now well known and was reported by Iran in scientific literature, Iran synthesised five novichoks recently. More importantly, the German spying agency BND obtained novichok in the 1990s and it was studied and synthesised in several NATO countries, almost certainly including the UK and USA.
In 1998, chemical formulae for novichok were introduced into the United States NIST National Institute of Standards and Technologies Mass Spectrometry Library database by U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical and Biological Defense Command, but the entry was later deleted. In 2009 Hillary Clinton instructed US diplomats to feign ignorance of novichoks, as revealed by the last paragraph of this Wikileaks released diplomatic cable.
Most telling was the Sky News interview with the head of Porton Down. Interviewer Paul Kelso repeatedly pressed Aitkenhead directly on whether the novichok could have come from Porton Down. Aitkenhead replies “There is no way, anything like that could…leave these four walls. We deal with a number of toxic substances in the work that we do, we’ve got the highest levels of security and controls”. Asked again twice, he each times says the security is so tight “the substance” could not have come from Porton Down. What Aitkenhead does NOT say is “of course it could not have come from here, we have never made it”. Indeed Aitkenhead’s repeated assertion that the security would never have let it out, is tantamount to an admission Porton Down does produce novichok.
If somebody asked you whether the lion that savaged somebody came from your garden, would you reply “Don’t be stupid, I don’t have a lion in my garden” or would you say, repeatedly, “Of course not, I have a very strong lion cage?”. Here you can see Mr Aitkenhead explain repeatedly he has a big lion cage, from 2’25” in.
So the question of where the nerve agent was made remains unresolved. The MSM has continually attempted to lie about this and affirm that all novichok is Russian made. The worst of corporate and state journalism in the UK was exposed when they took the OPCW’s report that it confirmed the findings of Porton Down and presented that as confirming the Johnson/May assertion that it was Russia, whereas the findings of Porton Down were actually – as the Aitkenhead interview stated categorically – that they could not say where it was made.
The other relatively new development is the knowledge that Skripal had not retired but was active for MI6 on gigs briefing overseas intelligence agencies about Russia. This did not increase his threat to Russia, as he told everything he knows a decade ago. But it could provide an element of annoyance that would indeed increase Russian official desire to punish him further.
But the fact he was still very much active has a far greater significance. The government slapped a D(SMA) notice on the identity of Pablo Miller, Skripal’s former MI6 handler who lives close by in Salisbury and who worked for Christopher Steele’s Orbis Intelligence at the time that Orbis produced the extremely unreliable dossier on Trump/Russia. The fact that Skripal had not retired but was still briefing on Russia, to me raises to a near certainty the likelihood that Skripal worked with Miller on the Trump dossier.
I have to say that, as a former Ambassador in the former Soviet Union trained in intelligence analysis and familiar with MI6 intelligence out of Moscow, I agree with every word of this professional dissection of the Orbis Trump dossier by Paul Roderick Gregory, irrespective of Gregory’s politics. In particular this paragraph, which Gregory wrote more than a year before the Salisbury attack, certainly applies to much of the dossier.
I have picked out just a few excerpts from the Orbis report. It was written, in my opinion, not by an ex British intelligence officer but by a Russian trained in the KGB tradition. It is full of names, dates, meetings, quarrels, and events that are hearsay (one an overheard conversation). It is a collection of “this important person” said this to “another important person.” There is no record; no informant is identified by name or by more than a generic title. The report appears to fail the veracity test in the one instance of a purported meeting in which names, dates, and location are provided. Some of the stories are so bizarre (the Rosneft bribe) that they fail the laugh test. Yet, there appears to be a desire on the part of some media and Trump opponents on both sides of the aisle to picture the Orbis report as genuine but unverifiable.
The Russian ex-intelligence officer who we know was in extremely close contact with Orbis at the time the report was written, was Sergei Skripal.
The Orbis report is mince. Skripal knew it was mince and how it was written. Skripal has a history of selling secrets to the highest bidder. The Trump camp has a lot of money. My opinion is that as the Mueller investigation stutters towards ignominious failure, Skripal became a loose end that Orbis/MI6/CIA/Clinton (take your pick) wanted tied off. That seems to me at least as likely as a Russian state assassination. To say Russia is the only possible suspect is nonsense.
The Incompetence Factor
The contradiction between the claim that the nerve agent was so pure it could only be manufactured by a state agent, and yet that it failed because it was administered in an amateur and incompetent fashion, does not bother the mainstream media. Boris Johnson claimed that the UK had evidence that Russia had a ten year programme of stockpiling secret novichok and he had a copy of a Russian assassination manual specifying administration by doorknob. Yet we are asked to believe that the Russians failed to notice that administration by doorknob does not actually work, especially in the rain. How two people both touched the doorknob in closing the door is also unexplained, as is how one policeman became poisoned by the doorknob but numerous others did not.
The explanations by establishment stooges of how this “ten times more powerful than VX” nerve agent only works very slowly, but then very quickly, if it touches the skin, and still does not actually kill you, have struck me as simply desperate. They make May’s ringing claims of a weapon of mass destruction being used on British soil appear somewhat unjustified. Weapon of Upset Tummy does not sound quite so exciting.
To paint a doorknob with something that if it touches you can kill you requires great care and much protective gear. That no strangely dressed individual has been identified by the investigation – which seems to be getting nowhere in identifying the culprit – is the key fact here. None of us know who did this. The finger-pointing at Russia by corporate and state interests seeking to stoke the Cold War is disgusting.
———————————————
This blog now accepts subscriptions to keep it going via the button top right. A number of people have contacted me saying they would prefer to make a one off donation, often stating their finances are too shaky to commit to a subscription. I am extremely grateful for the thought, but I would genuinely much prefer that nobody gives any money if it causes them any difficulty at all, now or potentially. The minimum subscription is £2 a month. The blog will continue to be free to read, and free for anybody to copy and use/republish the articles without payment.
RT’s version on Yulia.
Yulia Skripal’s first post-poisoning TV appearance: What we did and didn’t learn
24 May 2018
In Yulia Skripal’s first televised statement since being poisoned by a nerve agent, she looked better than could be expected given her ordeal. So what did we learn from her public appearance, and what new questions were raised?
Yulia and her father Sergei, a former Russian spy, were found unconscious on a public bench in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Yulia’s statement to Reuters on Wednesday is the first she has made publicly since that day.
The UK government accuses Russia of being behind the poisoning, a claim the Kremlin has vehemently denied. The Russian Embassy in London says it has been refused access to the Skripals, and that it would like to confirm they are not being held against their will.
/..
https://www.rt.com/uk/427689-yulia-skripal-statement-poisoning/
They link to this post of Craig’s.
Oh dear
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-44235402
Attack from another quarter with World Cup a few weeks away.
Thanks SA, in this article from the Guardian, they point to “previous information” coming from the “investigative site Bellingcat”, using “open source information” – Twitter and FB no doubt. Bellingcat is of course the blogger Eliot Higgins, who has been discredited many times over his stories on Syria and Ukraine.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/24/mh17-downed-by-russian-military-missile-system-say-investigators
The Deputy Defence Editor at The Sun, LOL, one David Willetts, has been reviewing the ‘papers’ on Sky. He thinks the visit to Israel by P William will ‘be great for Israel’. Of course. He said that the ‘rorl (sic) family can do things which politicians can’t. He made several references to the ‘rorl’ family, quoting P Charles visit to Peres’ funeral. The presenter made reference to P Philip’s mother whose remains were reinterred in a cemetery in the Mount of Olives.
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/04/world/prince-philip-s-mother-buried-in-jerusalem.html
P Philip visited her grave in 1994.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/duke-will-tiptoe-to-his-mothers-grave-prince-philip-sidesteps-a-46-year-ban-on-royal-visits-to-make-1449620.html
Is that the famous 2 brains David Willetts?
Nadira might be interested in this article about the making of a film.
Inside the Irish Prison System
A review of the film Michael Inside: The Prison System in Ireland
by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin / May 24th, 2018
https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/05/inside-the-irish-prison-system/
______________
She and Shahida need just a few more £hundred for their film by tomorrow.
£14,601 pledged of £15,000 goal
62 backers
28 hours to go
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/875400829/unwanted-the-plight-of-rohingya-muslims/posts/2182031
Craig
It would be a pity if Nadira missed the deadline by only a few hours or even a few days for the sake of a mere £500.
You will be aware, from your negotiating experience and/or from negotiations you were not involved in personally,of the technique of “stopping the clock”.
Perhaps that could be used in your wife’s case.
Good luck anyway.
I came across your site as I imagine many people do, who are simply stunned by the Government’s apparent belief that we will swallow any lie, no matter how improbable (by which I mean the Skripal story). What is most chilling is the feeling that they don’t much care whether we believe them or not. There is not anything I can add to what has been written about the Skripals, but given that the MH17 story is being aired again and commented on here, I thought it was now common knowledge that the aircraft was shot down not by a surface-to-air missile, but by an air to air missile fired by a Ukrainian jet fighter. I was astonished to read in the Times of all papers (about two months ago) of the apparent suicide of the young Ukrainian Airforce fighter pilot whose name had been connected to this tragedy and was very surprised that the Times should mention it at all.
You might well ask why should anyone shoot down a passenger jet – unless they got the wrong one, that is.
@ Lily Steinmetz May 25, 2018 at 10:03
The air-to-air shoot down was my understanding as well.
What a coincidence Vladyslav Voloshyn ‘shot himself’ just before the ‘Official Report’ comes out!
Bit like Barry Jennings ‘dying’ at age 53 just a couple of days before NIST released it’s ‘Final Report’ on WTC 7:
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Barry_Jennings
And the whole spate of deaths that occurred just before people were to be subpoenaed to testify on the JFK inquiry.
Many other deaths have occurred just in time for people who knew too much were due to testify.
Then there was Pope John Paul I, who conveniently died (poisoned) in the early hours of the day he was going to announce sweeping changes in the Vatican, to do mainly with the Vatican Bank and Masons in the Vatican (see ‘In God’s Name’ by David Yallop).
And the detective in charge of the Charlie Hebdo shooting committed suicide shortly afterwards before the ‘real’ investigation had begun
Wow – thank for the link re Barry Jennings.I didn’t know he’s passed and his whole family disappeared! WTC7 remains the smoking gun of what happened and apparently Jennings was tooo much of an inconvenience for their evil deeds.
I see the Guardian are taking the opposite view to the majority on this site about Yulia’s demeanor : “Her continued polite refusal to meet anyone from the Russian embassy, plus her effusive thanks for the care she has been given in the UK, gives a fair impression of whom she trusts more at this moment.”
No surprise there.
@ Lily Steinmetz May 25, 2018 at 10:03
‘..You might well ask why should anyone shoot down a passenger jet – unless they got the wrong one, that is.’
Exactly. There was speculation (highly credible in my estimation) that the Ukrainians thought it was Vladimir Putin’s plane.
Here is another very similar case (except Russia wasn’t blamed!):
‘An Assassination of International Proportions 27 June 1980 and A Cover-Up by NATO : civilian jet with 81 civilians shot by French Mirage instead of Qaddafi Plane over Sicily’: https://counterpsyops.com/2012/08/25/an-assassination-of-international-proportions-27-june-1980-and-a-cover-up-by-nato-civilian-jet-with-81-civilians-shot-by-french-mirage-instead-of-qaddafi-plane-over-sicily/
‘…At first, it seemed that the circumstances of the loss didn’t make sense — the aircraft had been flying along perfectly and then, quite inexplicably, it had exploded in midair with the loss of everyone on board. In response to questions from the media, government officials offered that Flight 870 might have been downed by a terrorist bomb. Initially, that explanation made some sense, but then no terrorist organization stepped forward to make a claim of responsibility.
Unsatisfied, the media returned to ask more questions — and as if by some order from above, officials suddenly went silent. No additional information was forthcoming. This in turn fed media suspicions that the real story was being kept from public view. Sadly, they were right. Everywhere they turned, doors were suddenly closed. It seemed as if nobody was willing to talk about what had happened.
Even more ominously, it was soon discovered that tapes of radar plots had disappeared or had been somehow erased. Other records were also missing or suddenly unavailable. Even more chilling, key witnesses began dying in strange circumstances — car accidents, suicides, and even a heart attack. What followed was the beginning of a decades long cover up, one that would go to the highest levels of no less than three governments. It is a cover up that is still in force even today. The events played out like a bad Hollywood movie, except that it was altogether real….’
Radar tapes disappeared (same as MH 17), ‘key witnesses began dying in strange circumstances — car accidents, suicides, and even a heart attack.’, same as MH 17.
“Unsatisfied, the media returned to ask more questions” – it’s a pity this doesn’t happen any more…
Paul, I had never heard that about flight 870 before, but it looks as though the New York Times ran the story in 2013, and they certainly were not holding back on the possibility of it being shot down by a French aircraft. Absolutely incredible.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/world/europe/itavia-flight-870-ruling-adds-support-to-a-theory.html
Regarding MH17, keep in mind too that the Ukrainian govt has a veto on what evidence can be seen by the public.
Letter regarding the MH17 non-disclosure agreement:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeCufeZWsAECoLn.jpg
@ JMF May 25, 2018 at 14:12
Exactly. All parties have to agree to what is released. What kind of an investigation is it when a prime suspect can veto any info it doesn’t like?
Compare this to the reaction of UK gov when Russia requested that it be involved in the Skripal investigation; the request was officially described as ‘perverse’.
” I thought it was now common knowledge that the aircraft was shot down not by a surface-to-air missile, but by an air to air missile fired by a Ukrainian jet fighter.”
Common knowledge seems slightly hyperbolic. I would dispute that energetically. But it is certainly the “knowledge” of those who wish to blame Ukraine for the shooting down.
Bye Bye to my link to P Charles’ visit to Israel, his visit to his grandmother’s grave, her bones being sent from England to be re-interred in the Mount of Olives and his handsome embroidered blue velvet kippah. LOL
I believe that Prince Charles’s grandmother helped save many Greek J**s from extermination. That, I believe, is something which cannot and should not be held against her (or her descendants for that matter, Quite the contrary for any decent person. She was declared Righteous among the Gentiles by the State of Israel and that – together with her own wishes, expressed before her death, is why she is buried on the Mount of Lives in Israel.
Oh and don’t mention royal funerals. We only want births and weddings.
No funerals do quite nicely thanks – look at Diana.
The key is exploitation of emotion – deaths work just as well as births and weddings.
…. and definitely don’t mention Prince Charles being circumcised by a rabbi.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/10201882/Circumcision-is-one-of-the-oddities-of-the-Royal-Family.html
Node: note the date of that story from the Torygraph!
Rowan, I’ve posted proof that the telegraph story isn’t a joke, but it’s been stuck awaiting moderation for ages. Check back here later for the proof.
I have to say, Yulia looks extremely well after being at deaths door, in a coma for 20 or so days, ivasive painful treatment…..looking good Yulia, looking good
That is my opinion too, Philip.
She walked along the path, smiling, in a nice feminine dress, her motions are well-coordinated, her skin fresh and hair silky, she took her place crossing her legs in elegant manner and recited a monotonous statement looking at the teleprompter. She was nice and diplomatic.
Pale skin? Faded dry hair? Memory or awareness problems? She can read, speak and control herself.
I expected to see a person in trausers and high-collar blouse hiding scars and traces of invasive treatment. Not that I expected to see her in a wheel-chair, but perhars helped by medical personell on her way, or at least walking slowly and cautiously. Isn’t her head at least dizzy after Novichok? Doesn’t seem so.
As if she is delivering a message to us:
– I read from the screen what I have to read, but look at me and now try to believe it.
I wonder who she smiles at at the start of the film.
I wonder if it normal to translate from English to Russian, read, write, make corrections in the text in such a short time after poisoning?
Definitely there’s something we don’t know about Novichok.
She did have a huge tracheostomy scar on her throat…
Please don ‘t argue with Tatyana when she’s bringing valuable psychological and feminine insights to our attention.
So has she bared her breast yet? I’d rather Yulia though. Sorry Tatyana, but maybe you have a special tattoo on your bum?
Friday evening guys, chill, enjoy a nice long spring weekend!
Haha, you’re being dishonest as usual Philip. She’s not looking good, she’s looking positively beautiful. Compare her to all the other pics we’ve seen of her before the mishap. You wouldn’t have recognised her unless she had been introduced.
A little weight loss can go a long, very very long, way.
I can imagine a fair few internet warriors around here could take a cue.
PS Very curious what ol’ Sergei is going to look like now. Gregory Peck?
you sound like a real catch
Is that the raspberry speaking?
The ugly truth about the British state, roll on indy2.
“Sifting through the rubble of Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, Human Rights Watch uncovered a critical document. Its author? Sir Mark Allen, then head of Britain’s Mi6 counter-terrorism regime. ”
“In a fax to Mousa Koussa – the Libyan external intelligence chief – the British spymaster wrote: “I congratulate you on the safe arrival of Mr Belhaj. This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built up over recent years.”
http://thenational.scot/comment/columnists/16248955.Appalling_torture_story_shows_ugly_truth_of____Global_Britain___/
So Corbyn is a long time supporter of the reunification of Ireland, yet a spokesperson for Labour strongly denied that he (Corbyn) told Mhairi Black that he didn’t say he supported independence for Scotland.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-ireland-reunification-north-border-belfast-visit-labour-good-friday-agreement-a8366211.html
Thanks for clearing that up — he strongly denied that he didn’t say he supported Scottish independence!%$*”!!!
That’s more or less how Labour are dealing with everything under Corbyn.
On Brexit, Labour strongly support the idea that the vote must be respected but are opposed to Brexit although they don’t deny that they are against doing nothing to stop Brexit.
Similarly, on Trident, they are against the use of nuclear weapons but deny that they would scrap plans to renew trident or that they would use nuclear weapons under circumstances that they don’t deny might never come to pass although if required they would press the button that ideally they would not have.
Precious ! 🙂
Since this matter had been put to a vote in Nireland but not the rest of the UK, Nireland must be in a different jurisdiction so all we have to do is turn the money off. Let the Irish decide what they want to do about it, it’s their country, not mine.
Somehow I doubt the any British government would want to see a united and possibly prosperous Ireland on their doorstep giving them competition, especially with EU backing. Throw in the possibility of a independent Scotland in the coming years, and London’s domination on these isles could be reduced as businesses see a benefit in setting up outside it.
It appears that the grapes in Scotland are very unfairly sour. Why not import some from lovely old Sussex. Write a nice note to to the new Duke and Duchess, you might even get some from California.
Btw Scotty, since you’re handing out free investment advice, what new business do you reckon we should start in Scotland? Please don’t say printing currency notes. It wouldn’t have the economies of scale to make it sustainable.
I’m sure Sussex grapes are very tasty indeed, still the only grapes I can think of regarding the British economy and Brexit, are the Grapes of Wrath. However I’m sure the freeloading royals won’t be concerned about that type of grape.
How very sad that you should have to sleep with that thought, night-in, night-out.
This book might be worth reading. I have not read it myself yet though and it does not cover the Skripal affair.
http://skyhorsepublishing.com/titles/12932-9781510730328-plot-to-scapegoat-russia
Both Skripals are able to communicate, yet both don’t seem to be interested in contacting family and friends or even an independent lawyer for serous advice on their future, Sergei’s mother for instance is beside herself with worry……. “A 90-year-old woman, who identified herself as the mother of Sergei Skripal, made an appearance on Russian state television, pleading that the British authorities let her speak with her son via phone – something that she effectively still hasn’t been allowed to do.
“I haven’t seen my son for 14 years. I want to meet him, to hug my son tightly. I’m ninety years old, I pose no threat to anyone. Please, let me make at least one phone call to my son,” she said. https://sputniknews.com/europe/201805221064688349-skripal-mother-tv-appearance/ What kind of monsters are these Skripals that they can ignore their nearest and dearest in such an unfeeling way and for over 10 weeks. Unless that is exactly what the security services want, no contact with anyone. Why?
So, basically the Skripals are being held hostage by Britain. Maybe they intend to strap them to England’s goal posts in the world cup and use them as human shields.
Seriously, I really couldn’t care less about these duplicitous bastards. Sergei in particular is clearly a snake of sorts. He who sups with the devil…
@ Hatuey May 25, 2018 at 12:53
So what exactly is Yulia guilty of? Being her father’s daughter?
It’s obvious that she was cavorting around London with him. She must know better than I do what a sleekit man he was, working with British intelligence agencies, etc. If any of my family got involved in that murky business and I knew about it, I wouldn’t go near them. She’s definitely not completely innocent in all this.
One of many questions. Those responsible could have had a pop at Pa Skripal at any time for years. He was on 192.com for goodness sake. And yet … it happened just after his daughter arrived in UK, and a mysterious four hour disappearance with disconnected phones. Who has an answer to this, and the silent starving cat, and all the rest of it. Me, i’m off to re-read a letter from that nice Mr Zinoviev.
For once I agree with Paul Barbara. It is not necessarily good to visit the sins of the parents on their children. Mr Murray and other commenters please note……
Not so fast Charles, you haven’t a clue about the actual *facts* of her background in truth.
And tell me, how could Skripal have been so irresponsible to move to the UK and leave his family behind in Russia?
But then, as John Mayer says, if she gave me just one night, I might see her in a different light. Haha, Oh No, i may sound stupid, but not *that* stupid.
If my father was in cahoots with MI6, I’d disown him forever.
It’s only British propaganda that stops you for seeing MI6 for what it is. Maybe you’ve been watching too many Bond films.
Anyway, she didn’t disown him. And from what I can gather both of them are now part of some British ploy.
“What kind of monsters are these Skripals that they can ignore their nearest and dearest in such an unfeeling way and for over 10 weeks. Unless that is exactly what the security services want, no contact with anyone. Why?”
All good questions. With Sergei Skripal it is not possible to say why. He is a former spy and apparently still has dealings with that spooky community. He spied for money and is consequently despised by spies who ply their trade on ideological grounds. Getting a straight answer from him could be impossible. But still he is a human being and should not be held against his will (if that is what is happening).
Sergei, apart from relatives in Russia, is all Yulia has left. Her brother and mother are dead. Her concern for her father is understandable. She may have got caught up in this by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who knows? The general consensus is our spooks will never allow them to return to Russia. They might speak out like Litvinenko’s father did to Oksana Boyko when he revealed some of the methods used by MI6 to spread false information.
https://www.rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/422891-uk-skripal-evidence-moscow/
Rajoy’s government in Spain is probably about to fall through a no-confidence vote. Would a succeeding center-left government treat Catalonia better?
Centre-left is a euphemism for far right so I doubt it.
One can but hope.
This didn’t take long.
Google and Facebook accused of breaking GDPR laws
1 hour ago
Four web giants are accused of breaking the law
Complaints have been filed against Facebook, Google, Instagram and WhatsApp within hours of the new GDPR data protection law taking effect.
The companies are accused of forcing users to consent to targeted advertising to use the services.
Privacy group noyb.eu led by activist Max Schrems said people were not being given a “free choice”.
If the complaints are upheld, the websites may be forced to change how they operate, and they could be fined.
/.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44252327
Are Messrs Page, Brin, Schmidt, Zuckerberg et al worried? Not in the least I should think. Zuckerberg ‘owns’ Instagram and What’sApp
‘The Top 5 Google Shareholders
•Larry Page. Larry Page is the co-founder of Google and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet. …
•Sergey Brin. Born in Moscow, Russia, Sergey Brin and his family emigrated to the United States in 1979 when he was six. …
•Eric Schmidt. …
•Sundar Pichai. …
•Institutional Holdings.’
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/011516/top-5-google-shareholders-goog.asp
‘Mark Zuckerberg – The founder and “face” of Facebook holds around 8.78 million in Class A Facebook stock in a series of funds held with his wife, Prisciclla Chan, as of his March 31, 2018, SEC filing. Zuckerberg also owns a whopping 441.6 million Class B shares. Control over nearly 89% of the Class B shares, gives Zuckerberg 60% voting rights in the company. Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, and has become one of the most famous businessmen in the world. Zuckerberg and Facebook have come under fire in the Cambridge Analytica scandal where it was revealed that the latter accessed user data and used it to target political advertisements. Zuckerberg in a written statement before the House admitted that the company had not done enough to protect its users.’
+ Moskowitz, Sandberg, Saverin, Coum, Schroepfer et al
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/082216/top-9-shareholders-facebook-fb.asp
How do we know it was the Skripals in the restaurant?
I think it highly likely the couple in the restaurant were the same as those found collapsed on the bench shortly afterwards.
Zizi couple; man in his 60’s, female in her 30’s smartly dressed black coat.
The Couple in the restaurant match the description of those found on the bench.
The couple caught on CCTV (in the walkway between Zizis and the bench) match the description of those in the restaurant.
Freya Church (witness) says the couple on the bench were 100% definitely the couple on CCTV, a red bag was witnessed at the bench.
The man in the restaurant did his best to get noticed and let everyone know they were both Russian speakers
How was he identified as Sergei, was Sergei’s card used for payment? Did someone in the restaurant actually know the Skripals?
I only ask because the girl on CCTV was 100% definitely not Yulia, just saying!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5470455/How-poisoned-spy-plot-unfolded-Salisbury.html
RoS @ 11.16 today
Enter https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=sir+mark+allen for many references on here. He has quite a record.
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Allen_(businessman) Can’t see any Philip Cross edits there!
Thank you Sharp Ears, for the link on reading it I recall some of it. Of course deceit and subterfuge are a way of life in the intelligence game, however reading how Sir Mark Allen cosied up to the Libyan secret service, then remembering the outcry to depose Gaddafi, it all somehow stuck in my craw as they say.
[ MOD: Caught in filter, timestamp updated ]
—
The Sergei Skripal script authors : The “Louis Vuitton” clue …
See also : Craig Murray : Probable Western Responsibility for Skripal Poisoning
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/probable-western-responsibility-for-skripal-poisoning/
***
5 March 2018 : Telegraph : Sergei Skripal: The ‘spy with the Louis Vuitton bag’ allegedly poisoned during quiet retirement in Salisbury
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/05/sergei-skripalthe-spy-louis-vuitton-bag-allegedly-poisoned-quiet/
6 March 2018 : Daily Mail : Cancer, car crash and liver failure: Mysterious deaths of wife and son of Russian ‘Spy with the Louis Vuitton Handbag’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5468291/Mysterious-deaths-Sergei-Skripals-wife-son.html
***
I have studied terrorism narratives for over a decade and approached the “Sergei Skripal” narrative in the same way.
Scripts are designed using a method.
The narratives are not just “thrown together” using random nodes and events.
They are constructed using allegorical references to other events and people which always define the motivation or “complaints” behind the event and those responsible for the event.
The method by which events within and external to the narrative are connected is by using relationships between the dates of the events.
I have documented hundreds of examples of this in various places on the web using my own name. This is not the place to go into forensic detail of that method and the rationale behind the preferred numbers used in the event relationships.
Suffice to say that the relationships between the narrative nodes in the “Sergei Skripal script”, produce the same tell tale signatures which confirm for me that this is a script and that is has been constructed using the normal method.
***
“The spy with the Louis Vuitton handbag”
I was intrigued by this story and so included “Louis Vuitton” in my analysis along with all of the other known nodes / events in the Skripal narrative.
Was the “Louis Vuitton” story about Sergei Skripal real or invented ?
Here is what we find :
While trawling through the nodes in the Cambridge Analytica, Clinton, DNC, FBI, CIA narrative, I finally discovered the birth date of Cambridge Analytica investor & hedge fund billionaire, Robert Mercer’s daughter, Rebekah ‘Bekah’ Mercer, aka “the First Lady of the alt-right” and the current owner of Bannon’s Breitbart.
Rebekah ‘Bekah’ Mercer was born on 6 December 1973
https://www.geni.com/people/Rebekah-Mercer/6000000056329607854
Louis Vuitton died on 27 February 1892
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Vuitton_(designer)
= 777 months, 777 weeks, 777 days
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadded.html?d1=27&m1=2&y1=1892&type=add&ay=&am=777&aw=777&ad=777&rec=
before Rebekah ‘Bekah’ Mercer was born …
who probably does own a few Louis Vuitton handbags …
Thereby demonstrating that the two scripts are inextricably linked.
A Kabbalistic quid pro quo for the Orbis / Pablo Miller, Trump dossier …
MG
Israeli court orders demolition of Bedouin village in West Bank and “defence minister” announces an additional 2,500 settlement units. European governments vewy angwy. FFS! Being vewy angwy isn’t going to achieve anything. Expulsion from UEFA, revoke EU favoured nation trading status, expulsion from Eurovision now!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/25/israel-court-approves-razing-khan-al-ahmar-bedouin-village
The UN will talk a lot and decry Israel, as they have done in the past seventy years however no firm action can or will be taken against the oppressive apartheid military state of Israel, as long as the Great Satan (the US) has Israelsl’s back covered, and that doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon.
You forgot BDS.
The most likely scenario is that Skripal had been suspected of being a Triple Agent for some years (actually a Double but the Brits fell for the 10 name betrayal). Eventually they got proof, Sergei does seem to have been rather blase and sloppy in his travel recent arrangements. Yulia seems somehow caught up in the family business.
So what to do? Teach both Russia and Skripal a lesson, possibly putting an end to his shenanigans for good. And demonstrating to Putin that the British government are not as stupid as he thinks. They have now proved beyond reasonable doubt that they are indeed more stupid than anyone could imagine.
George Gideon Oliver Osborne CH must know these words – ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ (Matthew 6:19-21 King James Version (KJV))
By George! Osborne takes on another job, this time for a wealthy Italian family
The former chancellor will oversee an Italian family business that owns Fiat, Ferrari, and even Juventus football club.
25 May 2018 :
George Osborne already holds a string of other roles
George Osborne has added another job to his portfolio, tying him to one of the richest families in Italy.
The former chancellor will chair a partners council overseeing Exor, the listed holding company of the Agnellis.
Companies owned by the £10.5bn family investment business include Fiat and Ferrari – and even Juventus football club.
John Elkann, head of the Italian family and chief executive of Exor, said the council will “explore new ways to collaborate with friends and partners”.
Since leaving Parliament in April 2017, Mr Osborne has also been appointed editor of the Evening Standard newspaper, become an adviser to the world’s largest fund manager Blackrock, and chaired the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
He also holds a string of academic posts at Stanford Business School and the Hoover Institution.
Of his latest role, Mr Osborne said: “I am delighted to have been asked to chair this impressive panel of business leaders.’
“I look forward to chairing discussions that I am sure will provide useful insights and ideas for Exor and its companies.”
Mr Elkann added: “George Osborne will bring his unique knowledge and viewpoint to the council’s work.”
https://news.sky.com/story/by-george-osborne-takes-on-another-job-this-time-for-a-wealthy-italian-family-11384851
We will never know his total income. BlackRock pay him £650k for two days’ work a week.
Sometimes just sometimes I think David Icke might have been onto something with the shape shifting space lizard stuff.
I wonder whether Gideon has ever actually uttered ‘Hold the front page’ at the Standard. Or even made any genuine editorial decisions there.
Lord Beaverbrook kept hold of the Daily Express newspaper (I’m being generous calling it a newspaper) purely for propaganda purposes. I’d imagine Osborne (possibly the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer in living memory) is using his position at the newspaper to attack his enemies, settle old scores (watch out Theresa) and curry political and non political allies alike.
Serious journalism in my opinion will come in a very distant second place.
Bojo comments on MH17, those pesky Russians at it again.
Press release
Foreign Secretary statement on the MH17 investigation
The MH17 Joint Investigation Team countries (Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine) have announced their latest findings in their investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.
Published 25 May 2018
From:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP
Australia and the Netherlands have declared their intention to hold the Russian Federation responsible for its role in the downing of the plane.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:
I would like once again to offer my condolences to the families and friends of those so tragically killed by the downing of flight MH17 on 17 July 2014, and to thank the Joint Investigation Team for its painstaking work. It is vital that this work continues towards prosecution. The 298 people, including 10 British nationals, who lost their lives in such horrific circumstances, deserve justice.
Earlier investigations, by both the Joint Investigation Team and the Dutch Safety Board, concluded that the aircraft was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile system, launched from within territory held by Russian-backed separatist groups. Thanks to the thorough and professional work of the investigators, we now know that that missile belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Military Brigade of the Russian army.
The Kremlin believes it can act with impunity. The Russian Government must now answer for its actions in relation to the downing of MH17. The UK fully supports Australia and the Netherlands in their request to the Russian Federation to accept state responsibility, and to cooperate with them in their efforts to deliver justice for the victims of this tragedy.
Instead of seeking to undermine the investigation through the deluge of disinformation we have seen from Russia about MH17 in the past, the Russian Federation must fulfil its obligations under UN Security Council resolution 2166 to provide any requested assistance to the investigation. To do otherwise would be a violation of the UN’s resolution, and to deny the families the justice they seek for their loved ones.
This is an egregious example of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent life. The international community has witnessed this irresponsible and destabilising pattern of behaviour in Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, in its fomenting of conflict in eastern Ukraine which has led to the death of over 10,300 people, and in its shielding of President Assad’s brutal regime as he uses chemical weapons against his own people.
The UK will continue to offer its full support to the efforts of the Joint Investigation Team, the Dutch and Australian authorities and other grieving nations to deliver accountability for this terrible act and justice for all those who died.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-statement-on-the-mh17-investigation
The missile casing does raise a question for me. If they are accusing the Russians or rebels of firing the missile from a BUK from rebel territory. Considering the crash site was being shelled by Ukrainian forces would imply the crash site was in rebel territory. I don’t know how these missiles work for the shell to be intact, but I am guessing it deploys a warhead when in proximity of the target the shell is shed before impact. So how did the shell get in the hands of the Ukrainian forces. Why wouldn’t the Ukrainians have published photos of it at the time (those on the ground definitely would have for propaganda). How did it stay intact from the descent and the shelling by Ukrainian forces and finally why wouldn’t the rebel forces who were at the crash site for a long while before the investigation team got in dispose of the evidence(The rebels were loading bodies on to trains if i remember correctly). The missile casing doesn’t fit in the picture very well for it to only have been disclosed now.
From what I’ve seen in the report, the missile telescopes out at the join of the nosecone to the cylindrical body. The exposed part then explodes sending out the shrapnel.
If it was a Russian missile, and knowing how easy video is to falsify these days I’m not convinced it was, then it would suggest that they were drawn into firing by the Ukrainian aircraft that were flying below and behind MH17 in a deliberate act to get them to shoot down the civilian airliner. I know that sounds unlikely but if you remember the Spanish air traffic controller at Kiev who said the military had taken over all control just before the event.
The Ukrainians have BUKs too. Much like Novichok, it’s hard to say who is the source of the BUK – Soviet production.
Old version BUKs no longer in use with the Russian Republic but still in the arsenals of former Soviet republics – as evidenced by the fleches that were found in the recovered fragments of the pilots cabin of MH17. Evidence apparently still studiously ignored by the Dutch investigators.
What was the response of the World, when the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air airbus over the Straits of Hormuz in 1988, killing all 290 people on board. The aircraft was over Iranian airspace at the time and was a scheduled flight which was on course. On the same day, the USS Vincennes crossed into Iranian waters and sunk two of their gunboats.
In 1990 Captain Rogers who was the commanding office of the Vincennes at the time of the atrocity, was awarded the Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer … from April 1987 to May 1989.” The award was given for his service as the Commanding Officer of the Vincennes, and the citation made no mention of the downing of Iran Air 655.
Whatever happened to Malaysian Airways flight MH17, it was IMO a tragic accident, and Boris Johnsons letter is an example of hypocrisy at its very worst.
No an investigation involving one of the possible guilty parties (Ukraine) and not the other (Russia) is not a credible one and suggests the investigation is not a impartial one. Suggesting this is part of a long series of misinformation campaigns about a long standing destabilization campaign in the Ukraine by the USA (such as the US inspired coup using the far right) and its colonies in an attempt to push NATO eastwards and drive a wedge between Russia and the EU as a close relationship between Russia and the EU, particularly if Russian oil and gas was priced in Euro would be the end of US hegemony. Particularly as the involvement of the US in the illegitimate coup is a matter of public record with the Victoria Nuland recording. The UK governments position is incoherent, we support a coup and self determination for the Ukraine but not for Crimea? It is obviously possible for either party to have downed the plane as both had the Buk system, after all the US downed an Iranian passenger plane over the gulf, but I find it difficult to take western sources on trust given their long record of misinformation from the gulf of Tonkin to the Iraq war, that Bojo with a long and undistinguished record of lying accuses Russia just removes even more credibility from the story.
I am sure that the mystery of who poisoned the Skripals could have been solved much more quickly if it is outsourced to open sources such as Bellingcat and the White helmets to investigate, given thier recent success in the MH17 shootdown and Douma gas attack respectively.
SA.
In my opinion, the British government (not to be trusted on any matters) probably (if they didn’t do it themselves) have a fairly reasonable idea as to who might have poisoned the Skirpals. However the attack on Sergei and his daughter presented the untrustworthy British government with a golden opportunity to blame Russia.
Vivian O’Blivion How disgusting. The Palestinian Bedouin people have nothing. Just a few tents and some scraggy animals. They have been hounded out of the Negev desert for decades now.
Wonder who this jerk is? From your link. ‘Last week the head of the British consulate-general in Jerusalem visited the village and said in a video clip published online that the planned demolition was a “matter of great concern for the UK and indeed for the European Union”.’
In this case, their homes are made of ‘tin sheets and wooden panels’. The poor people. Look at the photo on here. They will be moved next to a rubbish tip. The settlers will have all mod cons, water and sewage laid on and green gardens.
Israeli court authorises demolition of Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar
#Occupation
Community will most likely be relocated next to landfill in Abu Dis, a rundown West Bank suburb of East Jerusalem
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-top-court-okays-demolition-palestinian-village-1074858494
From Wikipedia, you see that they were recorded living there in 1931.
‘According to the 1931 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Khan el Ahmar had a population of 27, in 3 houses.In 1945 the Arabs of Khan el Ahmar had 16,380 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 538 dunams were used for cereals, while 15,842 dunams were classified non-cultivable land.
Many of the families living in Khan al-Ahmar, from the Bedouin Jahalin tribe, were expelled from the Negev in 1952 by the Israeli army. They moved to the West Bank and settled in Khan al-Ahmar which, in the late 1970s, found itself incorporated into lands that were assigned to a new Israeli settlement, which became the present-day Maale Adumim.The village is one of the only remaining Palestinian areas within the E1 zone, strategically significant because it connects the north and south of the West Bank.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_al-Ahmar
There is power in language.
Not Israeli Army but Israeli Defence Force. Me think they doth …..
Syrian regime, Iranian regime but Egyptian government.
The drip, drip of conditioning is there you only have to pay attention.
Hello, is there a British attorney out there? If so, could you ask or somehow find out if Julia Skripal has access to an attorney? When she says she and her father speak only for themselves she makes an important point, meaning that there they have not given anybody a power of attorney to act for them nor has anybody been appointed for them by the courts at present. This is important information. However, this does not mean and must not mean under any circumstances that they do not get independent and confidential.legal advice. I very much hope that this is the case but it would be better to have this confirmed by them in writing or on video.
I must say that there is some characters operating on this comments section. Its a relief that even in their tory – noveau approach, they are faily eloquent in their fabulations, but none the less, pretty far of concerning actual provable facts. On the other side of the spectre we have the “conspiracy crowd” operating likewise in a eloquent and courteous manner, propagating theories so preposterous that they beggar belief.
On top of it all we are served fairly well pieced together/ researched blogs/articles, whose indices or implications are bone chilling, even to an ancestor to the Vikings in Scandinavia, and that seem to suggest, that we are all taken for a ride on the nonsense train.
Prior to the Brexit vote i had the impression that the British Press was fairly like in any other semi faux democracy, middle leaning, bla-bla critical to whateveritsbias government, and not even worth 2 day old fish.
Well, well, well the Brexit vote and the events unfolding after that has really improved my perception of what British Press truely is and what they are capable of, and of course helped by a population that is either completely ignorant and illiterate or a population that is subjected to a massive amount of disinformation.
I think the disinformation. Anyway , you are on your way out of the Brüderbund and may God have mercy on you, if I may, I suggest you instigate your own color revolution, not the modern ones, but the ones like Bastille day and what followed. The ruling class in Britain has never had a real scare, they need one now, because they are running amok, and things can get worse, much worse for ordinary people.
Look at Ukraine… That could be Britain in a decade, not the war (nobody wants any part of that rainy place, not even the Russkie’s, beer to thin, women looking like horses, Upps sorry 🙂 ) but the sheer oppression perpetrated to common people. Common people, like me , have not so many great desires, a decent place to stay, a fair wage, and safety to bring up our children, reasonable schooling and free healthcare. We do that in Scandinavia and our taxes pays for that. Everyone’s taxes. The Taxman is almost unavoidable in Scandinavia, we all agree it is in the common interest, which it is.
So Britain’s go do something about it, before you become the 51’st state or Airfield one, kick the oligarchs out, the Tories (the infidels as I call them) the Rees- Mogs, the Dave Davies, the incompetents, but do not forget the lying Blairites either, kick them out, kick them in the North Sea, or simply hang them the ol’ traditional way “till their bones are picked clean”… History is a good place to start in daling with unruly rulers.
Pity Cromwell never appealed, he would have succeeded on the continent.
Keep up your blog Mr. Murray it is good reading. I can, and should support your effort financially, but my Mercedes just needed a 2000 £
investment, so it will be a small contribution right now.
Actually, mate, the Uk ‘ruling class’ are servants to the Americans.
Woody Johnson comes over and blatantly demands Uk sacrifice healthcare for defence spending, no doubt on overpriced American stuff. Then out comes idiot-in-chief Gavin Williamson and threatens to use nukes if he does not get more money. What is he doing outside a mental institution saying things like that? He is saying it because the Americans told him to.
Then we have Boris Johnson continuing the nonsensical line that Russia has occupied Crimea illegally. The man is not fit to be in public life, but holds a US passport. He serves Americans, no-one else.
Let’s not forget that the USA’s food production standards are way below that of the EU’s. The US is a large participant in the growing of GMO crops, fields of sterile identically modified food plants that even insects avoid due to them not containing a good energy source. Glysophates are everywhere now unfortunately, add in the low standards on meat production in the US, and you get a clearer picture as to why Trump and May want us well out of the EU and its health regulations surrounding food.
The Scottish government know this fine well and are attempting to retain powers over food regulation and more through their Continuity bill.
Should be agreeing.
Well Rhys we are disagreeing on that. But what to do. I still do not believe that the English have grown more stupid, but I will not rule it out.
Facts are that Britain is the most undemocratic society of Western Europe with proportionate the largest inequalities, where the working class have foolowed the trend of the US: The people are being fucked over. My wage increase since 2002 is very noticeable, in Britain, the people are under “austerity”, while shareholders and city are robbing the wealth under outsourcing. Yes it is true.
Rhys, leave the sinking boat while you can. Come back in a few years and its like Spain in the sixties.
Britain is done.
At a recent conference in St. Petersburg I met an acquaintance from an eastern European country who knows a lot about Soviet history and is fluent in Russian, English and French in addition to his mother tongue. He told me that in addition to the testing facility at Ukus, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan (which you visited) the main centre for production of chemical weapons in the Soviet Union was Pavlodar in Kazakhstan. He could not say specifically that any of the 200 variants of novichok was produced there, but he made very similar points to those that you have been making. He said that one could never trust the metropolitan Police again, since they were evidently complicit in the whole affair.
Are you Gary Littlejohn the stunt-man?
Any thoughts from anyone on the following puzzle just posted by someone on Twitter? — How come the UK cops got to learn pretty fast that the Skripals had visited their wife’s / mother’s grave @ Salisbury prior to their visits to a pub and Zizi’s pizzeria, and so rushed to the cemetery with a [Porton Down] biochemical / forensic team? If the two were incapacitated and even delirious, then from where came that information upon which the cops etc. acted? From MI5/MI6 surveillance?
Btw, does the UK govt’s having, at some secret place & time, awarded exclusive access to Yulia to a Reuters journo & film-crew indicate, or at least suggest, that MI6 must have someone awfully compliant in that organization — indeed, someone quite happy to betray the bona fide principle of equal access vis-a-vis all the rest of the media? Myself, I suppose that such exclusive access awarded only to a BBC stooge would have been all too transparent, and hence suspicious.
Reuters has long been associated with MI6
All news agencies today are run by the spooks. It’s not a joke!
Viktoria Skripal shares her opinion on Yulia’s statement:
– there are no Yulia’s common inaccuracies of speech or ‘fillers’
– in real life Yulia speaks faster (yes, we heard her during her phine call)
– it is Yulia, she lost weight, she looks good
– remarkable – she didn’t cover the scar on her neck
– Yulia doesn’t speak about her Granny or her cousin Viktoria
– German journalists phoned Viktoria and asked what she thinks about the video where Yulia blames Russia!
– Yulia is not aware of her Granny’s request to phone Sergei
– Yulia didn’t contact her relatives
– Yulia’s russian mobile phone is turned-off, Salisbury home phone is in auto-reply mode, Sergei’s mobile phone won’t answer
– Yulia is introvert, not a public person
– there was an official statement that Yulia is at a military base, so I think it is made under pressure
– Yulia’s specialization is Geography, the word ‘invasive’ is a strange choice
– Yulia knows English perfectly
– the dress is new, never seen, Yulia as many modern girls preferes pants? (how do you say modern trausers?)
– Yulia visited Britain and Spain, she speaks British (not American) English
– it has been rainy in London for 3 days, but the weather is fine in the video
– video and letter have no date, it is strange for a public statement
here is the video (in russian)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRg2HRcZlLs
Quote: “– remarkable – she didn’t cover the scar on her neck”
Any film make-up artist can give you a scar. Just saying. It may well be bothering someone that she appears to have emerged from the deadly nerve agent encounter without a scratch.
To be exact – Viktoria says it is weird that Yulia didn’t cover the scar, but chose a dress exposing it
“Almost three months have passed since the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on 4 March in Salisbury. The British political leadership has put forward serious accusations against Russia, but has not yet provided any evidence in support of its position.
Speaking on 1 May in the Commons Defence Committee National Security Advisor Sir Mark Sedwill admitted that no suspects had been identified in the Skripals’ investigation. It is now clear from official statements and media reports that the chemical substance A-234 under British classification was produced by a dozen Western countries. Life itself shows that British accusations are groundless, while intelligence that they are allegedly based on is unverifiable.
Time has come for British authorities to apologize to Russia for the hollow accusations accompanied by an unprecedented anti-Russian campaign, to give answers to all the questions and requests officially sent to the British side on this matter, to engage with Russian law enforcement agencies that have opened the criminal case regarding the attempted murder of Yulia Skripal, and to stop isolating the two Russian citizens.”
https://www.rusemb.org.uk/fnapr/6541
How can you speak freely when you are not free?
Another camera angle would have shown any number of minders, uniformed police and staffers. The video is an illusion. Obviously she is not filmed in her everyday room, with bars at the window, a guard down the hall and no means of normal interaction with the outside world.
It all reminded me of the song about the Teddy Bears’ picnic: ‘If you go down to the woods today you’re in for a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today you’ll hardly believe your eyes. . . ’
The Reuter’s video includes the voice-over: “ . . . and she signs both copies of her statement, proving its authenticity”.
It does no such thing, apart from remind you that she is denied the lawyer she is entitled to when questioned by police, when making a statement and that she has been held in custody without charge for much longer than even the anti-terror laws allow. It’s as illegal as it is inhuman.
After all this time, if they still can’t trust her to say anything that isn’t laboriously pre-scripted, what can the future hold? It can’t be practical to lock her up incommunicado, 24/7, indefinitely. So the alternatives are as worrying as they always were.
I think that Yulia believes that she is at a safe place now. I think the same people who treated her while at hospital, the same people moved her in that safe place, that is why she may trust them.
She says “I live one day at a time”, and this backs up my guess that Yulia tries to gain more time, to get more information, to have enough time for Sergei’s full recovery.
She says “I’m not ready now”.
If you have to manufacture a story at the very least try and attempt to make it slightly believable , this effort that would put Swiss Cheese in the shade , from the outset this fairy tale looked like it was being compiled on a daily basis , any and all verifiable facts were missing or extremely fuzzy , were the british media asking questions well who knows , because they were not forthcoming with any answers .
Even a good fiction Writer would be hard pushed to pull this lot together into some believable tale for public consumption .