Just as the World Cup had forced the British media to grudgingly acknowledge the obvious truth that Russia is an extremely interesting country inhabited, like everywhere else, by mostly pleasant and attractive people, we have a screaming reprise of the “Salisbury incident” dominating the British media. Two people have been taken ill in Amesbury from an unknown substance, which might yet be a contaminated recreational drug, but could conceivably be from contact with the substance allegedly used on the Skripals, presumably some of which was somewhere indoors all this time as we were told it could be washed away and neutralised by water.
Amesbury is not Salisbury – it is 10 miles away. Interestingly enough Porton Down is between Amesbury and Salisbury. Just three miles away from Muggleton Road, Amesbury. The news reports are not mentioning that much.
“I am all out of ideas Inspector. What can possibly be the source of these mysterious poisonings?”
Neither Porton Down nor the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has any idea where the substance to which the Skripals were allegedly exposed was made. Boris Johnson’s great “coup” of obtaining a majority vote at the OPCW to expand its powers to place blame for chemical attacks, has proven rather otiose as the OPCW has no evidence on which to base any blame for Salisbury. In fact, four months on, May and Johnson’s shrill blaming of Russia remains entirely, 100% evidence free.
I do however wish to congratulate the neo-con warmongers of the Guardian newspaper for verbal dexterity. They have come up with a new formulation to replace the hackneyed “Of a type developed by Russia”, to point the finger for a substance that could have been made by dozens of state or non state parties. The Guardian today came up with “Russian-created novichok”. This cleverly employs a word that can encompass “developed” while also appearing to say “made”. It also again makes out that novichok is a specific substance rather than a very broad class of substances. The Guardian’s Steven Morris, by this brilliant attempt deliberately to mislead his readers, runs away with this week’s award for lying neo-con media whore of the week. His achievement is particularly good as the rest of his report is largely a simple copy and paste from the Press Association.
I most certainly hope that the couple in Salisbury hospital recover from whatever is afflicting them. The media is, by making this the lead story on all broadcast news after last night’s football, inviting us to make the connection to the Skripals. In which case I assume the couple were perfectly well for five hours after contact, able to be very active and even to eat and drink heavily, before being mysteriously instantly disabled at the same time despite different ages, sexes, weights, and metabolisms and random uncontrolled dosages.
Replicating that would be quite a feat.
I’m sorry that two people have been harmed (if they have been) and I hope for their full recovery, but I must say that this thing has become hilarious. It seems that a particular location in the UK has become infested with novichok (!) – based on everything up to now, something undefined and kind of dangerous, not fatal, except in political terms – for Russia.
Today we also see that the OECD has issued a report that the income of the 1% has been rising. Not so for the rest.
We in “the West” actually live in extremely oppressive conditions of every kind. Governments are lying, corporations are lying, the MSM are lying, threats of novichok, “illegal immigrants”, terrorism, “the other”, no good jobs, no money for welfare, education, health, decent housing for everyone, but yes for the rich, the super rich and the even more rich, for weapons and more weapons, for surveillance and ever more surveillance, fascist ideology is spreading like wildfire, etc.
Would it not be time to change all that and organise our societies, states and lives so that all of us on this beautiful planet can live together in peace, cooperation and prosperity. We’ve got all the resources, they just are not in the right hands. We can do it. It’s not as hard as it may seem.
Well said. Another pathetic fiasco to detract attention from more important issues.
It is interesting to note that the US and its effective vassals (including the UK) practice projection and gaslighting.
For instance they accuse Russia of doing things they actually do-projection-and they manipulate one’s perception of reality-gaslighting.
This is part of the real information war being waged by US driven NATO in conjuction with the BBC and the Guardian etc which is costing us billions of pounds to support. There is an excellent article on Psychoanalysing NATO:Projection. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/07/03/psychoanalysing-nato-projection.html .
Could not agree more. Well said.
It seems to me now, watching the coverage on news stations, especially the BBC, that this ‘attack’ is to fortify the original novichok story. Maybe the powers that be realise the original story is so unlikely in most of the publics mind that something else needed to be done to hammer home the point. Accidental contamination of another couple may make the original story a bit more believable. I’m sure this is also connected to the very successful World Cup and indeed the success of the England team.
Admittedly it seems like a very dangerous gamble as the original story may unravel further but it might just show what a terrible pickle they have found themselves in.
What if England win the World Cup (unlikely yes, but go with me).
What do you think of Russia?
Average Brit: I love it!!!
Another attack timed to now prevent Juliya Skripal from returning to Russia which would kind of undermine that Russia is the evil empire…very strange DM coincidentally able to release all her extra information?
So this is it. The discarded novichok syringe used to spike the Skripals lay undetected for four months 300m from the bench.
Two hapless junkies reuse it and chuck it in the bin outside her hostel.
No doubt the syringe will have Made in Russia on it.
Of course we know it was left there deliberately for this exact purpose but the reaction will cause violence at the World Cup if not an actual war.
The UK government do not care about their people’s happiness in the World Cup, because they told them to stay away from it, using scare stories – it didn’t work.
FIFA didn’t listen to the US and UK. trying to cancel the event.
This is the final meaure to try to alienate people from Russia – it is so transparent it will not work – I hope.
Actually there is a slight detente in here in Moscow because the British Ambassador went to the match last night and my other half tells me there was a friendly football match involving British diplomats and Russians today. This would explain why an official FCO advice update today for once said something nice about Russia, that if you have fan ID you can get free travel on certain trains, even though this has been known for weeks. But this is just a local detente so embassy staff can get to see the games (I have to content myself watching them on a very large screen in central Moscow)
The match between Russian and British diplomats took place in the USA
https://russian.rt.com/sport/news/532873-diplomaty-rossiya-angliya-futbol-ssha
And here’s the story about the British Ambassador at the match, there to provide consular assistance
https://www.thesun.co.uk/world-cup-2018/6690447/uk-ambassador-attends-game-russia/
Don’t ignore the tabloids.
No doubt the syringe will have Made Personally by Vladimir Putin on it.
“Of course we know it was left there deliberately for this exact purpose but the reaction will cause violence at the World Cup if not an actual war.”
Don’t see why.
Unless there’s a squad of agents provocateur there already, to this purpose.
Football supporters are often used in such ways.
They’re one of the few groups who can gather in large numbers, without raising suspicion.
Used in Ukraine, South Africa, Latin America. I’m sure there’ll be some work out there on this phenomenon.
Sajid Javid will chair a Cobra meeting tomorrow.
Apparently the holding of today’s meeting at “official level” means it was chaired by an official and not a minister. Presumably a civil servant from the Home Office.
Did today’s second Cobra meeting happen?
Got to wonder whether senior state figures whether “political” or “permanent” know what the hell they’re doing.
Mark Sedwill has just taken over from Jeremy Heywood as the cabinet secretary. Sedwill previously coordinated the work of the MI6, MI5, the surveillance agency GCHQ.
Somehow, I think Sedwill may advise against a Judge-led inquiry in to torture accusations, don’t you?
Ah yes, the old Skripal fantasy tale reborn just whem May is up the proverbial Brexit Creek without a Leave policy but 2 scared of Moggy& Co to make one, Scotland baying for Indyref2,Irish anti abortionists demanding May takes a stand& to cap it all Trump is coming to visit? If ever there was a need for the return of the poor Scripal & that nasty Russian Novichok script& even poorer actors, this is it? Call Cobra?LOL@
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said the key was Amesbury’s proximity to Salisbury.
“If it had happened anywhere else, it is doubtful if anyone would have paid much attention,” he said.
Can we get this clown off the stage? Yeh, if it happened say in Scotland then heck who would be bothered to report such a thing?
Unbelievable.
Scots are expendable ?
de Bretton Gordon is commercial. He is MD of CBRN at Avon Security.
More on him here in relation to his ‘activities’ in Syria.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mask-military-industrial-complex-slipping
They used to make tyres and industrial rubber components. I used to be in contact with them when I worked in London in the 70s. Now providing gear to the spooks et al.
https://www.avon-protection.com/
They must be making a fortune in the current political climate.
Have the police ever wondered if the conveniently handy Porton Down weapons lab might not be the most obvious place for a deadly nerve agent used in alleged attacks in Wiltshire to have come from?
Have the police wondered why a nerve agent which was supposed to be far more deadly than the one which killed Kim Jong-Un’s brother in minutes took a long time to affect the Skripals, and then didn’t kill anyone who was affected?
Or do the police just unquestioningly accept what the government and its agencies say? If Porton Down says that it’s a novichok, it’s a novichok, even if the symptoms of those who were affected don’t really look like the symptoms that a novichok would cause – almost instant death!
..do the police just unquestioningly accept what the government and its agencies say?
The Wiltshire local commanders are told to ‘shut up and do as you’re told’ by higher echelons in the counter-terrorist police (spook grade). Let me be clear here; from a good source the plain brown wrappers are an establishment backstop in this case dished out by a thoroughly opprobious secret service. Bastards!
And the calls for an inquiry into rendition and torture have conveniently been pushed down, or off, the front pages of newspapers by this revived novichok story, which will please the spooks.
Isn’t this the same couple?https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/russian-spy-poisoned-hunt-for-blonde-woman-seen-on-cctv-minutes-before-sergei-skripal-was-found-a3783386.html
Don’t think so! The woman affected is much older than the blonde!
Personally I don´t see how it´s possible to judge the woman of the fuzzy CCTV as being “much younger” than Dawn Sturgess who in different images on the web can look much younger or older. On the linked page there are photos of both Sturgess and Rowley and comparing also with others around I see a huge likeness between the couple on the video and the now victims both being fairly tall and lanky and even a bit gaunt, and with a striking similarity of both couples hairstyles.
Personally I don´t see how it´s possible to judge the woman of the fuzzy CCTV as being “much younger” than Dawn Sturgess who in different images on the web can look much younger or older. On the linked page there are photos of both Sturgess and Rowley and comparing also with others around I see a huge likeness between the couple on the video and the now victims both being fairly tall and lanky and even a bit gaunt, and with a striking similarity of both couples hairstyles.
Yes , it simply that V.V.Putin and his sordid scheme of Novichocking the whole of Britain, albeit in a sloe and mysterious way!
We never will know where he s minions will strike next, and at whom? It is the Ultimate Russian Scare!
All of GB will be Novichocked!
But now that you are out, Brexit and all that, that is maybe not that bad a deal? I mean the Tories will kill you off faster, but less humanely, You know in it is their nature, no compassion or mercy! So why not just console yourselves ?
Sigh!, I wonder when this tragedy is over !
At the moment people interested in this story whether they believe it or not can walk around Amesbury and Salisbury to examine whatever piques their interest. Before long the government could move these events into sensitive sites like military bases or listening stations etc, where nobody can go and examine the scene. We’ll hear nothing but what the establishment tells us and their claims will be impossible to counter. They could tell us Russia has attacked our military installations, as in they’ve started war. They wouldn’t even need one crisis actor playing victim to kick off WWIII.
Agreed ? the Brit Nat State is desperate to continue the charade that was started by (whatever) befell the Skipals in order to convince whoever wants to listen – that the millions being spent on a ‘clean-up’ (or cover up of the fake news) has been justified ! It’s worth noting that the daughter is now desperate to return to Russia ?? ? Wakey Wakey !
No coincidence that the infamous novichoks resurface just as Gavin Williamson is arguing with Philip Hammond for an increased Defence budget – and as the MSM is full of tales of British complicity in rendition and torture…
Good point.
Its all about the money, money, money.
They just need your money, money, money
They don’t wanna make the world dance
Forget about the Prize Tag
Great article Mr. Craig Murray. I love that term “lying neo-con media whore of the week” It seems like such an appropriate term for the corporate mainstream presstitute pundits and writers that simply amplify the government narrative of events.
Sky News, BBC & even Good Morning Britain explained how close this all was to Porton Down. So not much correct in this piece really…
Sky News, BBC & even Good Morning Britain explained how close this all was to Porton Down. So not much correct in this piece really.
Spot-on. This is simply another distraction from all of Theresa May’s current problems! Maybe someone working at Portman Down is unbeknowingly carrying traces of this nerve agent out of the complex on their body. It has obviously always been in under their control otherwise how wold they have been able to test for it on the Skripals? Anything to rain on Russia’s Parade. What with the World Cup being such a success and the soon to happen Putin/Trump meeting. This government and the MSM are contriving to make the UK a laughing stock around the world.
The worry for me is that criminal elements have infiltrated Porton Down.
i figure it’s not meant to be comical, but that last, decidedly sarcastic paragraph is hilarious.
Reply ↓
John Goss
July 4, 2018 at 16:24
“However I wouldn’t say it’s entirely by chance that Skripal lived so close to Porton Down.” They probably live a lot closer now, that is inside Porton Down. Anybody who believes the Skripals are alive and will be allowed to return to Russia is threepence short of twopence halfpenny.”
Apparently, even Viktoria is no longer convinced that Yulia is a captive.
There is a story in Moskovsky Kosmolets: ‘A new angle for the Skripal case: Julia was visited by a friend in Britain.’ It concerns her friend Gulnara, who visited Yulia in London between between 9 – 13 June. There are more reports of calls to Viktoria where Yulia asks her cousin not to meddle – it makes her return more difficult. The contact with Gulnara included paperwork to facilitate the ongoing refurbishment of Yulia’s apartment. Gulnara was asked not to give keys to Viktoria.
MK writes:
‘Not only Viktoria, but other relatives of the Skripals are not welcome. And the anger is clear: the family has to fight off journalists, and distant relatives have been called descendants of traitors and even kicked out of their municipal apartment.
The criminal case of an attempt on Julia Skripal is being investigated by the Investigative Committee. The case is controlled by the closest associate of the head of the TFR, investigator for especially important cases, Major General Sergei Chernyshov. He dealt with resonant matters – the catastrophe of the submarine Kursk, the machinations of the former chief financier of the Defense Ministry, the case of a major theft from the company Tomskneft, and others. Of the latter, it was the business of the head of the GUEBiPK department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dmitry Zakharchenko.’
http://www.mk.ru/social/2018/07/04/novyy-rakurs-dela-skripalya-yuliyu-v-britanii-navestila-podruga.html
Six of today’s front pages have gone with the Novichokkers. The other four – Meghan, water shortage, football and Brexit.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-44719785
With this latest addition to the Skripnal saga I think it is safe to say we have moved to yet a new level of insanity here in the wild wild West. We long ago moved from “post-modern” into “theatre of the absurd,” then rather quickly with the Trump era into “post-reality,” and now I think its safe to say we’ve finally entered a newer realm dear to all of us old baby boomers, a new “psychedelic era!” Of course in the old “psychedelic era” one had to ingest hallucinogens oneself to see reality distort and contort into amazingly elastic shapes and colors. Now of course all one need do is read the latest MSM headlines or watch the TV news to see “reality” simply melt away into an ever changing mass hallucination. One of my favorite sayings has always been: “You can’t make this stuff up,” but now even this old saw has been rendered useless as it has become abundantly clear that if you are a politician or the MSM outlets who echo them, you can “make anything you want up”- and the masses will of course dutifully follow along, nodding gravely as you propagandize them with fact-free nonsense.
I was very saddened to learn a while ago that Alan Travis, a very good journalist at the Guardian, had left.
Here is one of his stories. Many people were very surprised when I showed them this story. If two-thirds of Margaret Thatcher’ s cabinet opposed the original decision to purchase Trident then why cannot the Labour Party oppose its replacement?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/30/thatcher-cabinet-opposed-trident-purchase
And this quote clearly shows that British nuclear weapons have got nothing to do with defending the people of this country:
“Failure to acquire Trident would have left the French as the only nuclear power in Europe. This would be intolerable.”
@ Tony July 5, 2018 at 15:41
‘..“Failure to acquire Trident would have left the French as the only nuclear power in Europe. This would be intolerable.”
That is rubbish. Britain has plenty of aircraft capable of carrying nuke-armed cruise missiles, as well as gravity bombs.
Naval ships also can do so, as well as conventional subs – no need for Trident, except Uncle Sam demands we purchase them.
Global warming a problem? Wait till you get a ‘nuclear winter’.
Fabulously entertaining Russian world cup! those that are green with envy; spin us another pile of bollocks, and we all know that their team sucks! … and not being a great football fan , i remain converted after watching some wonderful world cup matches.
This Skripal story is getting overused and unbelievable with each reprise.Time for MI 5 and MI 6 to invent something new .The brtish and World Public is Wising up and becoming too Cynical and Skeptic !
They could have been shot by Chinese-created gunpowder.
The fact that Skripal was a Russian double agent meant the Russians did it.
The fact that this couple AREN’T connected to Russia means the Russians did it.
Maybe the Russians are going to kill us all, two by two, UNstealithily with a method that makes them look ‘Hella Guilty’ until there’s no one left, and they can walk in unopposed?
Whatever happened, looks like someone has seriously cocked up. Unless the couple aren’t who we think they are or know something they shouldn’t. Sounds VERY conspiracy theory, doesn’t it?? But, to be fair, they’ve been poisoned by a deadly nerve agent that can’t be bought down your local heroin dealer’s so, there’s that…
Yes, the scriptwriters slipped up there having the Skripals become ‘incapacitated’ at exactly the same moment. I think the reason they overlooked the impossibility of that happening and, as such, gave the game away, was because if they hadn’t both become incapacitated in the same moment, then one of them could have called for an ambulance when the other one DID, and then they couldn’t have had a brave, courageous cop come to their aid, who would of course then become a hero some days later in the media (implying of course that he KNEW what he was dealing with).
I mean if the scriptwriters had had just Sergei ‘poisoned’ it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as emotive as having his daughter ‘poisoned’ as well AND a courageous, heroic cop who put his own life in danger to give them assistance, ‘poisoned’ as well. And how we all wept when we were told they stood little chance of recovering, and even if they did, they would be afflicted for life and never be the same again, and oh how we rejoiced at the miraculous recovery of first Yulia, and then her father. And needless to say, like all good fairystories, they all lived happily ever after.
I just this minute came across an article in the Daily Mail dated April 20th which says the following:
‘British intelligence have identified key suspects in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
The attempted assassins, thought to be now residing in Russia, targeted former double agent Skripal and smeared the chemical nerve agent Novichok – in liquid form – on the front door of his home in Wiltshire, Salisbury, authorities believe.
Counter-terrorism police are building a case against ‘persons of interest’, The Daily Telegraph reports.
It is understood that analysis of flight records in and out of the UK has provided officers with specific names connected to the case.’
Regarding the analysis of flight records……. Given that THAT would be one of the FIRST things you would have officers checking out, does it seem remotely plausible that it would take them five or six weeks to come up with some suspects?
Right, so that’s over ten weeks ago now, and it’s there in black and white that: ‘British intelligence have identified key suspects in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia’ and that ‘The attempted assassins, thought to be now residing in Russia, targeted former double agent Skripal and smeared the chemical nerve agent Novichok – in liquid form – on the front door of his home in Wiltshire….’.
Well if that’s the case, then someone should inform Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu who was quoted in The Independent on Wednesday as saying:
“I appreciate that there will be a great deal of speculation as to whether this incident is linked to the events in Salisbury in March. I would add that the complex investigation into the attempted murders of Yulia and Sergei remains ongoing and detectives continue to sift through and assess all the available evidence and are following every possible lead to identify those responsible, for what remains a reckless and barbaric criminal act.’
I reckon it was the blonde woman with the red handbag seen in the vicinity that day, and it’s quite likely it was Vladimir himself in disguise!
NB ‘The attempted assassins…’?!
I’ve only read a couple of pages of the comments on here so far, so my apologies if someone else has pointed the following out:
So the “attempted assassins” put the Novichok on the handle of the front door (in the middle of the night presumably when the Skripals were asleep and there was no-one about). And then the next day at some point, the Skripals left the house to go into Salisbury to have a drink and some lunch. Now it doesn’t really matter which way round it was, but if two people are leaving to go out, then one or the other of them would open the front door, and one or the other of them would pull it to. They obviously wouldn’t both pull it to together. So HOW could they both have (supposedly) inadvertently touched the Novichok that the “attempted assassins” had fiendishly placed on the door handle. Oh, I know, the one who DIDN’T pull the door to got to the end of the garden path and suddenly realised they had forgotten their mobile phone or whatever, and went back ……… And no doubt the fiendish “attempted assassins” forsaw exactly such a thing happening.
And these diabolical “attempted assassins” must have known in advance that no-one – a friend or a neighbour or whatever – was going to pop in and see Sergei and Yulia that morning and, when leaving, pull the front door to themselves as they left. Or maybe they just didn’t care, what with them being “attempted assassins”.
The whole episode is a complete farce of course, and I have no doubt whatsoever that it was all staged.
And just one last thought: We have been told that the brave heroic cop who went to their aid, at some point shortly afterwards went to Sergei’s house, and THAT is how he became contaminated, and poisoned as such. Now why on Earth would a cop think to go to the house just because two people became ill (and could have been suffering from food poisoning for all he knew). I mean I could understand an officer or two – having ascertained the address from something Sergei had on him – going to the address to see if anyone else lived there (and happened to be in), but in doing so it’s highly unlikely you would have any reason to touch the door handle.
And given that these “attempted assasins” must have secreted the Novichok on to the door handle in the middle of the night (and assuming the front door was ‘open’ to the elements), they obviously had no idea WHEN the Skripals were going to go out, or if it would rain in the meantime and wash it all off.
As I say, it’s all too ludicrous for words, and no wonder they are described as “attempted assassins”.
Yeah, as if!
My apologies, but I just want to elaborate on the “fairystorey” theme:
In the first place, the scriptwriters realised of course that if Sergei and/or Yulia were just shot in the head, for example, then there could be no miraculous recovery, or a cop who heroically came to their aid and then got contaminated/poisoned himself when he went to the house (and then recovered), or forty other people that were affected (as reported by Murdoch’s Times on March 14th, and then refuted in a letter to the paper from a consultant who worked at Salisbury Hospital), or create concern and apprehension amongst the inhabitants of Salisbury etc, etc, etc, or be resurrected and regurgitated as it now has been so as to keep the story going.
And THAT of course is putting to one side the absurdity of Vladimir Putin ordering the assassination of a former spy (and his daughter) who had spent six years in prison in Russia (when he could have been bumped off at any point if he wanted) AND had been living in the UK for eight years AND to have it done with a nerve agent that points straight back to him/Russia AND could potentially contaminate and kill other people AND to have it done two days before the PR celebrations for 100 days to go until the World Cup Football kicks off AND with just three months or so to go before the high profile event itself.
But as the PTB know only too well, people don’t think rationally when they’ve been emotionalised.
If you haven’t read this, it’s well worth checking out:
https://off-guardian.org/2018/07/06/on-russophobia-propaganda-and-russo-british-relations-an-open-letter-from-vasily-livanov/