The Times claims to have identified the Kremlin’s latest secret weapon in Cyberwars – “Bikini Girl” @Organicerica. Except there is no evidence @Organicerica has any Russian links or promotes any Russian interests.
It does appear likely that @Organicerica is a bot. The Times claims this is proven by the timing and regularity of the postings (interesting as they claim the same kind of activity pattern proves nothing in the case of Philip Cross). I am prepared to accept, for the sake of argument, that @Organicerica is a bot, or at best a young woman running an automated posting programme.
But what is the output? Promotion of organic restaurants in Seattle. Environmental campaigning particularly against pesticides and genetically modified food. Nothing whatsoever on wider politics, foreign policy, Clinton. And nothing whatsoever related to Russia.
What kind of mindset do you need to have, automatically to equate opposition to Monsanto and to chlorinated chicken with being an agent of the Kremlin? Why is The Times publishing this absolute rubbish? It says something both about the quite hysterical Russophobia gripping the media and political class, and about the desire to delegitimise environmental activism, as witness the jailing of the anti-fracking protestors (against which jailing 1,000 academics have now signed a letter of protest).
The interim head of met police is getting some flack over leaving the scene, but what a coincidence he was there during the Westminster attack, as was the defence secretary, who had to resign for some reason shortly afterwards, with his personal protection officer who conveniently shot the attacker dead. And on the same day, 22nd, that officers were ordered to patrol elsewhere leaving a lone officer with protective clothing and weapons, but without a gun, by an open gate.
Its queried why the commissioner would follow the instruction of a constable to leave the scene, presumably the constable was in fact a counter-terrorism officer, although it could be for other reasons, including getting a high profile witness out of the way, which also would be a possible explanation for the parliamentary lockdown.
Fortunately an MP, from defence department, gave the multiple stab victim CPR, which isn’t the ideal response, presumably as paramedics watched, and was made a privy councillor soon afterwards. And all this happened 3 days after a ‘Westminster simulation exercise, drill, was held on 19th March’ to improve security!!!
Dave,
Quite a bit to unpack in your comment.
1. I don’t see it as a great coincidence that the Acting Commissioner was at Westminster. Fairly safe assumption that the Commissioner has regular briefings and meetings with government ministers and MPs.
2. It is even less surprising that the Defence Secretart was present on a Wednesday when the Commons is sitting. It stands to reason that the Close Protection Officer (s) assigned to Michael Fallon would be ok close proximity to his person. Don’t you agree?
3. Tobias Elwood was a minster in the FCO, not the MoD. He subsequently moved to the MoD in June 2017, he is a serving member of the Army Reserves.
A double coincidence, because not just visiting, but witnessing the attack, and as an interim, occupying the post for one month only.
Not unusual for a Defence Secretary to be in Parliament, but a bit of a coincidence leaving parliament with his protection officer at the same time as the attack and at same time as armed police officers had been told to patrol away from the gate.
Yes a serving officer in the reserves and then promoted and made a privy councillor after giving CPR to multiple stab victim PC Palmer! Where were the medics, which I think, but I’m not a medical expert, would have finished him off, if not already dead, although I was surprised by the Daily Mail showing a close up picture of the (bloodless) knife and only 3 days after the security drill to improve security!
Thanks for the reply Dave.
In response:
1. What has the duration of the time the Acting Commissioner spent in post got to do with anything? How does that make it more or less of a coincidence?
2. Have you got a source indicating that the Defence Secretary was leaving Parliament at the time of the attack? Information I could find simply states that it was Michael Fallon’s Protection Officer who brought down the assailant. The presence of the SoS of Defence is not mentioned.
3. Tobias Elwood was promoted to the Privy Council in recognition of his actions on 22 March 2017. He was not promoted in the Army Reserve until September 2018. I’m intrigued about your repeated point about TE performing CPR on the PC Palmer. As a self described ‘non expert’, what is the point you are trying to make?
4. I fail to see what relevance the 22 March attack has to drill which occurred 72 hours previously. Care to elaborate?
A third coincidence is the interim head is retiring in December. Its a coincidence if even only the protection officer was there and not with the person they are protecting. If medics are present they should be attending to the victims wounds. Odd lapse of security following a major drill to improve security.
Dave,
1. Not that coincidental that Mackay is retiring in December 2018 (18 months after the attack) when you consider that the he has served in the police for 34 years.
2. From your response can I take it that you don’t have a source that Michael Fallon was present, as you previously indicated? Again, not that coincidental that an armed protection officer was sited at the closest entrance to the location of their principle. Standard practice that an exit route is secured.
3. Less paramedics than injured people?
4. Not really. If the drill showed there were security gaps it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that it took longer than a few days to put in place a different system. The machinery of state is rarely quick and never as slow when it comes to dealing with the Parliamentary estate.
All in all Dave your posts haven’t demonstrated anything, even the so-called coincidences are easily explained away.
And two months after the inquest, with outraged demands to resign and a bit awkward if it was a permanent rather interim head involved.
The protection officer was outside parliament, but you would expect them to be in at least observer distance of the person they’re protecting, but I can’t reference the presence of the SoS, although an explanation for the presence of the protection officer would be a material matter at the inquest.
If paramedics were present and a doctor is mentioned, they rather than the MP would be attending the victim. The point about CPR is, I’m not sure that medics would allow a procedure not suitable for someone who has suffered multiple stab wounds.
Security is under on-going review and the drill was about an attack on Parliament, so a bit odd to leave only one policeman at an open gate, whilst armed police were ordered to patrol away from the gate, at the same time as a bizarre attack takes place.
Very impressive attempt to divert attention away from the real issue at hand.
That issue would be the fact that the British have elevated cowardice to the highest of virtues and any failure to prostrate yourself at the alter of cowardice invites instant denouncement.
Here is an example of a person who did not get the memo regarding the virtues of cowardice – armed only with a skateboard he engaged the enemy and paid the expected price for such actions.
https://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20170608/423256041243/ignacio-echeverria-londres.html
Perhaps the ultimate reason that so many here regard the whole of Spain (excepting Catalonia) as comprising “fascists” “thugs” and “Francoists” is because they are deeply ashamed of the cult of cowardice that has descended over their green and pleasant land. Sadly their shame is not sufficient motivation to break from devotion to cowardice demanded of them.
***Very impressive attempt to divert attention from the issue at hand***
I have my own ideas as to who is trying to “divert attention” here, and It sure ain’t Dave. Cowardice is the norm in all societies, courage the exception. Selina Hastings’ biography of Evelyn Waugh documents from first hand accounts (Waugh’s letters and diaries) some of the very inglorious conduct of both the officers and ordinary soldiers during World War II. I’ve no reason to believe that the conduct of servicemen of other nations was necessarily different. Most people want to stay alive.
Given that you live in a society that venerates cowardice it is little surprise that you leap to the defense of the prevailing cult. I have already provided an analogous and contemporary example of someone who despised your cult.
More examples are not hard to find. The owner of this blog sacrificed his career, and probably his own self image, because he would not imbibe the hemlock. Tommy Robinson – threatened by the entire state will not bend his knee. Naturally he is universally despised. Ask yourself is he despised for his views or is he despised because he forces society to confront what it is?
You want to talk about World War 2 – study the war diaries of the Wehrmacht. You will find a consistent theme “Russians routinely fight to the last man. Even when their position is hopeless they rarely surrender” Ask yourself why might this have been, and what, of anything, do you think has changed in the Russian psyche.
You want more evidence of the cult of cowardice? Consider these examples:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3189696/How-police-stand-watch-boy-drown-6ft-water-did-STOP-bystanders-diving-save-investigate-disturbing-elf-n-safety-debacle-yet.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-507651/Coastguard-sacked-daring-clifftop-rescue-13-year-old-schoolgirl-boss-says-We-dont-want-dead-heroes.html
Who knows why a senior police officer was at Westminster. Who knows why people carry umbrellas when it is raining. Such difficult questions. Who knows why a man would lock himself inside a car whilst watching his subordinate colleague being butchered to death.
Who knows why you people would dare to threaten Russia, and why you would dare to opine on the situation in Catalonia. Drop bombs from 30,000 feet on god knows who and you tell yourselves you are humanitarian heroes. Get down in the gutter where it hurts and suddenly you are oh so civilized. You people are a sick joke.
How can anyone take serioiusly the bizarre ramblings of someone who goes on about “you people” and attributes views to such “people” without having the slightest idea of what he’s talking about? And by the way – Tommy Robinson is only too happy to “bend the knee” to the Israel lobby. If he is so concerned about the threat of Islamic terrorism, he might start inquiring as to why the Israeli state he lionises supports Isis and Al Qaeda in Syria and uses its lobbies in the US and UK to start wars that inevitably destablise previously secular Islamic countries. Not to mention the intriguing question as to why Israeli “charities” helps Muslim immigrants come to Europe, but Israel itself expels or imprisons all asylum seekers that land on its own shores. The fact that you cite Robinson as a hero gives me a hint as to your real motive in seeking to discredit ‘Dave”s post.
Jude, Loony is just another alt-right blowhard who worships ‘strength’, lecturing us all on his superior opinions. Craig has a motley band of followers, not a few from the Bannon right.
Ian: You’re right.
Re Loony at 19.48
Here is Google’s attempt to translate that page about this brave young man.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lavanguardia.com%2Finternacional%2F20170608%2F423256041243%2Fignacio-echeverria-londres.html&edit-text=
Super-great-fantastic conspiracy theory there Dave. But it would be good if you could explain why?
Thanks Goodwin.
A mundane explanation is its all part of a security services anti-cuts campaign. They’re not allowed to strike so exploit ‘terror’ attacks to improve funding, which it has, at least for counter-productive technology and ‘elite’ counter-terrorism policing, by over a £billion, at a time of big cuts in funding for general policing.
Whistleblower, Clive Pointing joins the SNP, Pointing embarrassed the then British government by handing papers over to a MP, showing that during the Falkland’s conflict, that the General Belgrano warship was actualoy heading away from the conflict when a British sub sank it with the loss of 323 lives.
Mr Pointing is having a open night in Kelso recounting his experiences of the the trial that followed, and how the security services tapped both his and his lawyer’s phones.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/16971815.renowned-belgrano-whistleblower-clive-ponting-joins-the-snp/?ref=mr&lp=4
Actually, Clive Ponting, . Am I alone in finding it curious that such a glowing testimonial manages to get the hero’s name wrong not once, nor twice, but three times?
“Am I alone in finding it curious that such a glowing testimonial manages to get the hero’s name wrong not once, nor twice, but three times?” Almost certainly, yes.
Almost but no.
Pointing is so rude!
But Punting is great fun.
It appear that one of the candidates on President Trup’s shortlist to replace the excellent Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations is Dina Powell, a former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy.
Interestingly enough, her background is even more “exotic”, so to speak, than that of Ms Haley’s , in that she was born in Cairo and only came to the US at the age of four. She is a Coptic Christian and an Arab speaker.
If she is appointed, she would be yet another in a series of women (moreover often of foreign or ethnic origin /extraction) chosen by successive US Presidents to represent the US at the highest levels, whether in a political, diplomatic or administrative role. Would that many other countries would follow that admirable lead ( a contrast with Russia, for example, which has to do with Maria Sharapova….).
If she is appointed, she will no doubt come under fire from the usual suspects both for her gender and her ethnic origin but I for one would be delighted.
How was Nikki Haley ‘excellent’ as an ambassador? Be precise. I’m guessing you can’t make it palatable.
She was certainly excellent at annoying me.
That is a pity but hardly important in the greater scheme of things.
She was a very good ambassador, who represented the interests of Israel consistently and effectively.
Who is president Trup?
he’s the brother of your Clive Pointing.
Are they step-brothers, Charles? Just trying to work out why they have different surnames. ?
Well spotted – step brothers it is.
More patented claptrap from ‘Charles’. Nikki Haley was widely seen as yet another Trump amateur, hugely embarrassing to the US and way out of her depth. She, like the great majority of his crony appointments, are inept, clueless rightwing blowhards. But you knew that, ‘Charles’.
Charles Bostick is just here to glue up the pages. So apparent with the use of ‘excellent’ to describe Haley, whose only claim to excellence is the alacrity with which she swallows AIPAC funding.
Agreed Ian. There is very little to distinguish the errorts of Ms. Haley as US Ambassador to the UN.
Not that it necessarily reflects badly on Dina Powell but $2,000,000 pa to manage a charity is serious weigh in. More a comment on the crazy remuneration at the top of big charities (see also Mrs Kinnock).
Your analysis is meaningless. America is a nation of migrants from its institution. If you know anything about America (USA) then you would know that one of the most important aspects to get on in the US of A is to become totally assimilated and develop the required drawl. What you have exposed is a sort of racism of looking at the background of people rather than what they are. You also produce a specious comparison with Russia which means nothing whatsoever.
..make do with Maria Sharapova ? Surely you mean they are making do with the very hot, smart and talented Maria Zakharova?
Three sheets to the wind here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSv1lRIrLrc
For what it’s worth: I remain of divided mind regarding Craig’s inclination to publicly challenge the odious Bellingcat. I agree with the commenter here (can’t remember the name) who objected that “debating” Higgins/Bellingcat is like wrestling with a pig.
On the other hand, earlier today I started watching the latest “Going Underground” on YouTube. It featured an interview with “former senior intelligence officer Philip Ingram on the Skripal poisonings, Russian hacking and the new age of war we are entering”. As a US resident, I’d never heard of Ingram before.
I could only stomach the first couple of minutes, in which this “former” intelligence officer praised Bellingcat’s journalistic coup, and asserted that GRU officials are surely embarrassed and discomfited at having been exposed by Bellingcat’s fine detective work; he also seemed to regard “Russian hacking” as a genuine problem or crisis.
Perhaps host Afshin Rattansi, and RT News, strive to be “balanced”, insofar as they deferentially host senior officials (or ex-officials) who unquestioningly toe the government or party line. Perhaps this is their way of offsetting appearances by ex-intelligence critics, e.g. Annie Machon or Ray McGovern in the US.
I bugged out because Rattansi didn’t seem inclined to question Ingram’s praise for Higgins/Bellingcat or his pejorative references to Russia and the GRU; he just sat there nodding. Maybe he got around to asking “devil’s advocate” questions after I switched off. I hope so.
It’s worth mentioning that someone had posted a comment to the video that echoed my skeptical opinion of Ingram, so I posted a concurring reply. There was no profanity or even ugliness in either comment, especially considering the vile and vicious comments typically posted at YouTube videos.
When I checked back a bit later, both the critical comment and my reply had been disappeared– my reply was even missing from my comments history. Why, I wonder?
I’m interested to learn whether Ingram is well-known in the UK, and what sort of reputation he has.
Ort. I haven’t seen the programme yet. It is standard practice for Rattansi to listen
to the interviewee. He is unlike most of the MSM presenters who like the sound of their own voices.
Paul Greenwood
“Mario Draghi was the Governor of Italy when the great disaster was covered up”
‘Fraid not, caro Boscoverde.
The office of “Governor of Italy” is unknown to the Italian Constitution, to Italians or indeed to anyone else.
Perhaps you meant to say “Governor of the Italian Central Bank” or, as it is known in Italian, the Banca d’Italia?
I just have to point out that in my opinion (As a male) the lady pictured, is very well produced in the lower anatomy. I t does give the impression of some something ungodly well out together. The Bikini is a bit skimpy, but I will live with that, we all have to make sacrifices!!
😉
Why do we still discuss Bellingcat? It has long ago been expose as a NATO tool. This is no investigative journalism, this fat arsehole ‘prolly neve leaves his basement, complete idiocy. But people who actually on location (Rare in headchopping area) but no so rare in Ukraine completely debunk Bellingcat’s fantasies.
Elliot Higgins is this era’s Lord Haw Haw, and should have same fate. I will pull the lever in a hearth -beat.
“Why do we still discuss Bellingcat”
I think using bellingcat is the latest attempt to re roll the last dice yet again, and this article from The Independent makes an excellent case to discuss…_
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/skripals-bellingcat-gru-novichok-anatoly-chepiga-alexander-mishkin-putin-russia-a8577161.html
That is a great article . Finally . Thank you for link .
Great article, agreed, but did you read the comments!
This early comment from *somerset sage* made me think. It won’t be the whole reason, just a goodly part I believe…_
“I don’t claim to know the answer but it did strike me in March, that this would provide an opportunity to denigrate Russia just as the Syrian war comes to an end. Why would this be useful? Well, Iran has been helping Syria and Russia to defeat Saudi backed rebels and Russia has sold military equipment to Iran. Then Bolton was appointed and then Pompeo, both very anti-Iran.
It would be a useful coincidence if Trump is planning ramping up threats to Iran.”
@DggerUK,
Unfortunately with Trump and Bibi being best friends, and Trump getting John Bolton on board, plus exiting the Iran nuclear deal, it doesn’t look good at all for the region.
The US and its friend who must not be named are the greatest force for evil in the World today, closely followed by Saudi Arabia.
Ah, yes, Saudi Arabia…….the land were children can be heard whispering “I see dead journalists”…_
Albert H Oct 10 4:42
In answer to my questions you wrote the following:
“To answer your questions:
1. They are probably hiding and don’t wish to talk to you. They are victims and privacy is their right. Obviously I would like to hear their story as much as you, but it doesn’t change the facts.”
I never asked to speak to them but the Russian embassy was refused its consular rights to see her and so was her cousin, who was refused a visa. You express your own curiosity but I was concerned about her basic human rights which were flouted without explanation.
“2. Pablo Miller’s connection to the case is zip.”
As pointed out before, this is factually incorrect and your answer misinformed or wanting to misinform.
“3. I would like to know more about Novichok science too (seriously). There have been plenty of good documentaries on how nuclear bombs work not to mention Africanised killer bees, so yes we are missing the science of Novichok (come on bbc get your act together).”
You wrote another waffling post about this, but that was indeed my point. The term was used as an obfuscation with a catchy Russian name and means nothing. The OPCW refused to say what the ‘poison’ was and therefore did not fulfil thier proper duty.
“4. That was explained by the doctors. They got them to hospital quickly, and kept them alive until the chemicals in their body were replaced. I am satisfied with my understanding of this (compared with Q3 where I still feel I’m missing stuff).”
That novichok was immediately described as a very lethal poison immediately after PD pronouncement and that it kills very quickly cannot be reconciled with the actual narrative of what happened to the skripals. Either a lethal ‘novichok’ whatever that means was used, or it was not. If it was used there would have been 5 dead people, if not many more, if not then something else was used, the two statements are self contradictory.
“5. Easy. Firstly, there is nothing to say intelligence services did not discover the same information. In contrast to Bellingcat, intelligence agencies don’t like to reveal the information they have discovered or the methods by which they discovered it. Bellingcat, by explaining everything has provided a huge amount of insight and extra information that I never really expected would come out (so in some ways I have more questions answered than I originally expected). Secondly, if you have ever worked for a large company or government office you will know they have tremendous trouble recruiting smart people and even more trouble organising them. (every large company is almost universally incompetent). Explaining this would be a long rant. Take the time to read the stuff from Bellingcat, and you will understand their research is impressively clever. They are not idiots. I suspect, intelligence agencies will be analysing their work to see if they can learn anything. In contrast, I doubt they spend too much time on this blog because it is all unsubstantiated crap.”
In fact what you have written is the crap. If the security forces know who the suspects are, and they should at least have much more information on two ‘Russians’ who obtained visas and gave fingerprints and passport numbers to obtain the visas, then it sounds strange that they then have to rely on someone using openly available resources to discover who these are. It makes it look as if both the GRU and our security services are all the real amateurs. They do not need to tell us all this but they need to present these facts to the Russians in order to start a proper investigative procedure. They did not, on the assumptions that the Russians will refuse. But I am afraid that if you do not ask for cooperation with official Russian channels, then you should not expect cooperation from the same source. Also apparently although advertised that the government has asked interpol to look for those people, this is not mentioned on the interpol website.
“As a British citizen, I am somewhat dismayed that so many people support the monkey like behaviour of Graham Phillips (Are we really that degenerate that we prefer hooliganism from a loud mouth over articulate well researched information?). On the other hand, as a British citizen I am proud that there is still hope for humanity in that some smart people like Elliot Higgens and others at Bellingcat still exist and kick arse. [But as at school there are always those that are jealous of the nerds]
Love it. This is truly a moment that as a nation we can be proud.”
The British nation has a lot to be proud off, but this is one of the saddest chapters. With Brexit looming and a minority and incompetent divided government propped up by a sectarian party, the country should be more united not distracted by a story that makes no sense. Also it is extremely surprising that after the debacles of Iraq and Libya as well as Syria, that you should act in such a trusting way.
On top of all that you make allegations that these two are “assassins and child molestors” you then refuse to address questions from me and Mary Paul to refer to the source of your allegations.
Good grief. You are just going around in circles with arguments that make no logical sense.
1. You argue that the Russian embassy was refused consular access, and then conclude that Yulia’s basic human rights were flouted. Illogical conclusion. You have nothing to show that Yulia’s rights have been flouted except by the Russians.
2. You have no evidence to indicate that Pablo Miler was involved in this attempted murder. Absolutely none. This is an unsubstantiated and quite frankly slanderous claim.
3. You claim the OPCW did not fulfil its duty by refusing to disclose the chemical composition and structure of the poison to the public. Clearly a false statement. Where is this written that this is their duty?
4. It seems to be a fairly lethal poison by any standards. Your ideas of lethal go slightly beyond mine. (this is definitely not something you want to risk coming into accidental contact with)
5. Our security services not releasing any information and this does not make them appear to be amateurs. That is their normal way of doing things. They are not required to release information to the Russians and have stated they will not. I fully support that. There is no evidence to suggest our intelligence services are relying on Bellingcat (but clearly they put the photos out there to get the ball rolling). Perhaps the intent was that if amateurs came up with the answers it would look worse on the GRU. The GRU may have been made to look like amateurs, but even that is really just your opinion.
None of the above is even important. The identities of B&P have been established as GRU agents almost irrefutably. The fact they were in Salisbury on the day of the attack is strong circumstantial evidence they were involved. Theories that they were set up don’t hold water. The fact that we don’t have every detail doesn’t make is likely that there is another explanation. Its rock solid – just as the earth goes around the sun. Bare in mind no allegations have been proven in court and this can only happen if Mishkin and Chepiga return to the UK.
I said they were state sponsored terrorists and that is fact.
I also said they were child molesters. I probably should have said alleged child molesters, and I basically stand by that. I see no reason why the sceptics should be allowed to monopolise the use of unsubstantiated information. Where does the suggestion that Dawn died from a fentenyl overdose come from? You want to answer that? In the case of Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga it is obvious from their pictures that they have that same look as all the other perverts that hang around children’s playgrounds. Its largely self evident. In any case, neither is actually disputing this fact, but if they do they are welcome to sue me in a UK court.
The rest of your comment regarding national pride is incomprehensible. Its easy:
Elliot Hiiggins 1 —————- GRU 0
Geeks 1 —————– Jocks 0
Sherlock Holmes 1 ————- ped Anatoliy Chepiga 0
Harry Potter 1 ————– ped Alexander Mishkin 0
Basically Ninja warrior Eliot Higgins vanquished the GRU. (I won’t say Russia, this is not about Russians and I don’t want to be accused of Russia-phobia, because it really isn’t about Russian people – in fact I suspect many of them helped Bellingcat)
Rule Britannia
@Andrew “Rule Brittania” – Only a troll would suggest that two individuals are child molesters when there is no evidence whatsoever to justify the allegation and no rational train of thought whatsoever that even justifies such speculation.
But I apologise for misspelling “Britannia”.
I have never claimed to be anything other, and nor have you, or Goose that provided the inspiration for this (go back to the original post from Goose and work your way forwards)
Andrew “Rule Britannia” Surely the British intelligence services, and their assets in the media and online, should avoid making serious and completely unsubstantiated accusations of sexual crime against Russians – especially since these assets have been working like absolute trojans to discredit very credible accusations of sexual abuse made against big wigs of the British establishment – including one former Prime Minister, Ted Heath.
Jude93,
Where are these credible accusations? What inside information are you privy to?
You have developed quite the trend of commenting with supposed authority on the operations of British intelligence agencies. Have you anything to evidence your claims or are you a fully paid up member of the tinfoil hat brigade?
Irish U: ***Where are these credible accusations?***
Oh I don’t know, will the fact that a Chief Constable who investigated the accusations against Heath do, state that they were credible, do? See “Ted Heath was eight out of ten guilty, police chief who led inquiry into the former Prime Minister, told MPs”; DailyMail, 12 October, 2017. One thing is for sure, there’s a lot more evidence implicating Heath and other big wigs, than there is to support the ludicrously unsupported drivel about Russia “hacking” the US election.
Also, it’s a funny thing, when the British police claim to have identified the culprits for a terrorist event hours, if not minutes after it happens, the media treat their word as law, and ask no hard questions whatsoever, but when the same police suggest that those who accuse esablishment big wigs of sexual abuse, may be telling the truth, the media turn on the cops like an angry pack of wolves. And that’s to say nothing of the treatment they dish out to the accusers themselves. Likewise if a Catholic priest is accused, the msm treat the accusation as self-evidently true – no matter how far back in time it goes, yet when the accused is an establishment big wig like Heath, the same journos hysterically denounce the accuser as a paranoid fantasist, a liar, and even a criminal opportunist. In such circs all the sanctimonious guff about “believing the victims” goes out the window quicker than you can say “Sir Peter Morrison”.
I don’t know where you get the stuff about me commenting with “supposed authority on the operations of British intelligence agencies”. My best guess is that you may be alluding to things I’ve posted here recently about the infiltration of both the Official IRA/Workers Party and the Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein by British agents. All of this is in the public domain – the fact that most people choose to ignore it does not make it secret or even contested information. The 2009 book ‘The Lost Revolution’ – a history of the OIRA/Workers Party (written from a point of view very sympathetic to the WP it should be noted) quotes members of the OIRA and WP admitting to collaboration with the British security forces. Not that such admissions were needed to put two and two together: the fact that the British state tolerated and even facilitated OIRA’s criminal empire in Northern Ireland proved in itself that such a relationship existed. The infiltration of Sinn Fein is also a matter of public record: Denis Donaldson, Gerry Adams right hand man, admitted to be being a British agent in 2005, and was shot dead a short time later.
So while I bow to no one in my appreciation of the uses of tin foil, it’s not really necessary to get to the truth in many such cases.
Irish U: The second sentence in my previous reply should read “…will the fact that a Chief Constable who investigated the accusations against Heath, stated they were credible, do?”
Jude 93
October 11, 2018 at 01:32
A truly excellent rebuttal, if I don’t say so myself.
You might have mentioned Kincora and the role played by British security services in assisting Ulster loyalist groups. Then there was the murderous Freddie Scappaticci who was also a British spy working for the IRA as a torturer and executioner as far as I can make out.
@IrishU,
PIE – Paedophile Information Exchange – Sir Peter Telford Hayman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hayman_(diplomat)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paedophile_Information_Exchange
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_paedophile_dossier
Cyril Smith – Liberal MP
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Smith
Jimmy Saville – BBC “untouchable” lauded by the famous and royalty alike.
Hatuey thanks: Yes, I neglected to mention Scapaticci and Kincora. Plus the fact that a British “tout” planned the Provisional IRA deadly attack on Frizzell’s chip shop on the loyalist Shankill Road in1993 – and the British also had an agent in the gang that killed the Unioninst MP, the Reverend Robert Bradford in 1981. One of the most heartening news stories I came across over the last 10 years was the coming together of relatives of the victims of the Shankill Road attack and relatives of the victims of Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, to demand inquiries into British state involvement in these terrorist attacks. The Dublin and Monaghan attacks were claimed by the UVF – but are widely (and in my view, correctly) believed to have been a British deep state job – as so many loyalist attacks appear to have been. That coming together is for me true anti-sectarianism in action. Also worth noting that the sister of the notorious loyalist killer Billy Wright, said that Mi5 directed his activities – and that in latter times he sought to break free from their clutches – which, if true, may well be why he ended up being killed in prison.
Jude 93: “Andrew, Surely the British intelligence services, and their assets in the media and online, should avoid making serious and completely unsubstantiated accusations of sexual crime against Russians”.
100% agreed, and if true proves I’m not …..
Sorry called you Albert. Andrew H.
1. Yes flouted, they were refused access from day 1 before anything known. That is against international norms , try that the other way round if a British subject was poisoned in Russia. Also why was her cousin denied a visa to see her? Your refutations are always partial, avoiding questions you don’t like to answer.
2. Strawman. I have never anywhere suggested that PM was implicated in any murder especially as there is no murder as far as we know. The Skripals are alive we are told. PM and Steele may be implicated in the intrigue in other ways.
By the same token your accusations against Boshirov, Petrov , Chepiga and Mishkin are all based on circumstantial selective evidence and the say so of a blogger, and a partial and unreliable one at that.
3. The OPCW were asked to identify a chemical and came up with something like: “We have identified a poison and we confirm it is what PD says what it is but we will not tell you what it really is”. Bearing in mind that PD called it a ‘novichok ‘ a meaningless term as we both agree then we are no wiser. The OPCW is supposed to be impartial and not speak in riddles, that is not what a scientific report looks like, unless you tell me that it is never written in thier charter that they have to be scientific but just a political organ.
4. You may have a point as lethal can be defined as anything that can kill you. For example a bus is lethal if you come in contact with it at 40 MPH but not if stationary. But by all accounts this poison is not so lethal as to kill all those that get a small dose, something which military grade nerve agents should do and I am talking 100% mortality within a few minutes. It is very clear from all the narrative that all those exposed lived within the time scale of at least 15 minutes of exposure, some much longer , before they even got ill. Logic dictates that this is a really lousy agent to use in a battlefield when you want to neutralise large numbers instantaneously. So whatever was used was not a highly lethal military grade agent. I hope we can agree with this simple point.
5. It is difficult to get into a heated argument about whether the GRU or our security services are more or less amateurish than should be. Judged by the amount of money spent on both sides this rules out amateurs as they are well paid and funded. However one thing we can safely agree on is that the role of the police in this case has been severely undermined. Time does not permit to expand on this but I hope you agree.
6. I shall not try to emulate your football supporter like analogies but as far as I know nothing has been settled and as this is not a football game with a referee blowing a whistle, the endgame has not been reached. But your declared highly jingoistic agenda is well taken by your final two words, and may not be well received in this blog in another context.
1. The UK government suspected the Russians were involved at the start (well before Yulia woke up from coma). This would be grounds for Yulia not wanting to talk to the Russian consulate, because they might threaten her with harm to family members. Is this not entirely obvious to you? As far as we are told it was Yulia’s decision to not talk to the Russian consulate and they have no fundamental rights in this. Yulia on the other hand has a right to life. I cannot even understand what aspect of this you don’t get. Do you think it is normal to allow a mob-boss to talk to someone who authorities think the mob have tried to kill just so they can mention that their cousin is in danger? Her cousin was denied for exactly the same reasons of a) Yulia requesting her not to visit b) the potential for Russian government to convey threatening message. This is called taking all reasonable precautions.
3. The OPCW is not talking in riddles. The chemical composition and structure of this novichok is highly classified and doesn’t have a name (The UK may call it one thing, the US another and Russia another). The only way to identify it is by its full chemical description. This cannot be included in any report, because then anyone with access to the report could synthesise it, especially as a report could be given to many people to read and only one of them has to let it fall into the wrong hands. Again I don’t know what you want. You are suggesting the completely crazy.
I very much doubt many OPCW member states know the formula for the same reasons. I don’t even know if the Swiss lab that tested it would have known the formula before Porton Down sent them an encrypted file of the information and perhaps that is why they said it is what PD says it is. [One might argue that PD could have sent them the chemical formula for anything like perfume and the Swiss lab would just have confirmed that the substance does indeed have exactly the same formula.]. I don’t see this as a riddle at all. There is no central database of nerve agents – some like VX and Sarin are well known and will have CAS numbers, but the Novichoks are not catalogued (and the few CAS numbers floating around appear to have been deliberately linked with incorrect formulas, so they are no more meaningful than the word Novichok).
Also bare in mind you have not read the OPCW report so you really cannot comment on its contents. I am sure it is very precise and quite unambiguous as most scientific reports are. It is the politicians who often cannot read them correctly without misinterpretation. I am of the belief that most of the information you are spewing out about the report is likely incorrect – for example your statement about 98% purity sounds like utter bullshit that either comes from your misunderstanding or some other fools misunderstanding. Show me where in the scientific report it actually says that.
2. Disagree.
4. Disagree.
5. Disagree.
6. “, the endgame has not been reached”
Disagree.
FFS. Yawn. Give it a break!
andrew h – ”In the case of Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga it is obvious from their pictures that they have that same look as all the other perverts that hang around children’s playgrounds”
yikes, i don’t see a resemblance to jimmy saville or a royal myself andrew h, are you sure this isn’t just self projection on your part? do you have extensive experience monitoring children’s playgrounds andrew h?. what qualifications do you have to do so, if yes?
who has alleged they were child molesters and on what grounds?
So they are alleged child molesters…..alleged by YOU
because YOU think they look like some type of children molester YOU believe hangs around childrens playgrounds? Jesus wept. Memo to self: Ignore all your posts in future.
Reply to Andrew H
“The identities of B&P have been established as GRU agents almost irrefutably.”
Woe, ‘almost’ is doing an awful lot of work in that claim above!
” French lawmakers vote for bills on ‘fake news’ during election campaigns ”
“France’s broadcasting authority will also have the power to take any network that is “controlled by, or under the influence of a foreign power” off the air if it “deliberately spreads false information that could alter the integrity of the election.” The opposition has criticized the bills as an attempt to create a “thought police,”
https://on.rt.com/9g76
That seems a bit futile since there has been the Freedom of the press law since 1881, “La publication, la diffusion ou la reproduction, par quelque moyen que ce soit, de nouvelles fausses, de pièces fabriquées, falsifiées ou mensongèrement attribuées à des tiers lorsque, faite de mauvaise foi, elle aura troublé la paix publique, ou aura été susceptible de la troubler, sera punie d’une amende de 45 000 euros.”
What is Radio Moscow’s opinion?
So it’s a defence to claim that in publishing black propaganda to undermine the public peace one was acting in good faith?
It would only be a defence to demonstrate good faith, surely?
Merely claiming it would be no better than asserting, say, that the Bataclan massacre never happened, that earthquakes are caused by radio waves, or that His Excellency Dr Bashar Al Assad is a benevolent leader and the UK is a fascist state run by a foreign power (or other such engaging hypotheses as are frequently presented as established facts on these very pages).
Iain Stewart
Tit for tat I guess (radio moscow) and freedom of speech wont matter in the future for this elite, if its even is respected today..
Then it’s au revoir BBC.
Netanyahu’s still got his eyes on the Golan Heights. Anybody else’s land will do for him.
Netanyahu wants to redraw map in the Golan, Russia says – go to the UNSC
Recognizing the illegally-annexed Golan Heights as part of Israel would be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, Russia’s foreign minister has said, in an apparent rebuke to an appeal made by Israel’s prime minister.
https://www.rt.com/news/440874-golan-heights-moscow-israel/
Wonder how Netanyahu’s wife is getting on in her fraud trial.
Of course Israel wants recognition of its annexation of the Golan. The claim will be repeated without end.
While the displaced villagers wait in southern Syria to return, because Russia has an agreement with Israel and Iran to respect ‘existing borders’. If either attacks the other, Russia will not protect them from retaliation. (Source Times of Israel, around the time of the Skripal event). And Israel is selling mineral rights in the disputed Golan Heights to get more boots on the ground, and profit from land which is not theirs under international law. And what happens in Syria stays in Syria. The push to expel Daesh still leaves the unresolved question of 2 pipelines
Russia has a strong hand to play at the UN when condemning the annexation of land, provided that Russian actions in the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are ignored.
And should the West’s backing for the overthrowing of the existing Ukraine government be ignored too? This, after all was what led to the people of Crimea voting as they did.
The latest version of Skype shows every chatpost made by the other party as ending with a smiley, like this 🙂
If people think this isn’t important, they’re not paying attention. It’s another nail in the coffin of communication and individual self-respect. Many years ago Microsoft introduced squiggly-underlining in its word processing program Word, thereby making the world’s office workers feel as though they had someone looking over their shoulder the whole time, and further alienating them from their work. This was the “function” whereby words that a person typed wrong, or which for some reason wasn’t recognised by Microsoft Word’s dictionary, got underlined with a squiggle as soon as the person hit the space key or entered a punctuation mark to end the word.
With this latest change, people are going to feel as if the other person with whom they are chatting, who might for example be a close family member or an old friend, is a retarded village idiot, or perhaps a hebephrenic, who beams with a beatific smile at EVERYTHING. E.g. “My brother died this afternoon 🙂 ” or “So it was a complete disaster 🙂 ”
Millions of people must be experiencing this assault on them, perhaps hundreds of millions. Up to now, a few, perhaps about 10, have posted to the web to say they are displeased with it. So at least I am not at the time of writing the only righteous man in the city. But as far as I am aware, the others who have criticised it online have all called the responsible parties working at Microsoft who actually took the decision stupid.
They’re mistaken.
This is what is called ENTRAINMENT. If this is not mindcontrol and personality engineering, nothing is. And it will get worse. Just try predicting something for 2028.
If you use Skype, you force your correspondents to use Skype because Skype communicates by a proprietary protocol, so don’t use Skype.
There are free as in freedom protocols. Use Ekiga or other free as in freedom software.
True enough, but some of the people I chat with wouldn’t listen if I encouraged them to install something that requires a bit of effort to get working. And they’d have switched off long before I got the chance to explain that “convenience” is a common con used in advertising. But I will check out Ekiga. Thanks for this recommendation. If I can get people I know to install it too I’ll be well happy.
I know; it’s an uphill battle; people trade their autonomy for trinkets and self-assimilate into consumerism. Here’s a list:
https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:Windows
Another bot, Christopher Steel has surfaced with his ‘unpalatable truths to power’ piece in the Mail Online: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6259823/Ex-M16-spy-Trump-dirty-dossier-breaks-18-month-silence.html
Posted to France in 1998 with diplomatic cover, bigot ‘death squad’ Steele neglected to “speak truth to power” when his so called ‘buddy’ David Shayler was arrested in France for exposing MI6 crimes…. Bastard! Fuck off!
It doesn’t seem as if the hack pack were in attendance when he made his video statement. It looked more like a number of “take 1″….”take 2″…….”take 102″……”can we try that one more time with a different angle Chris”
Pleased to know that he is still gainfully(sic) employed…_
’15 years after the invasion of Iraq, and now largely out of the glare of the media, US and UK oil corporations start to flaunt the spoils of imperial conquest.’
https://amityunderground.com/15-years-after-the-invasion-of-iraq-and-now-largely-out-of-the-glare-of-the-media-us-and-uk-oil-corporations-start-to-flaunt-the-spoils-of-imperial-conquest-bp-rumaila-oil-field-extraction-contract-jo/
‘After 15 years of repudiating claims that the invasion of Iraq was only initiated to seize Iraqi resources, large oil corporations fronted by former architects of the war who vacated to the private sector are flagrantly advertising their contracts for exploration and production of Iraqi oil fields to potential investors.
The British oil and gas company BP won the contract to operate the Rumaila Oil Field back in 2009, and now proudly boast of its new drilling capabilities on Twitter. Rumaila is simply huge; by some measures it is the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet, and is currently extracting 100 million dollars worth of oil every day – enough to cover the annual health budget of Iraq under the wartime rule of the US coalition every five days…..’
Venezuela is next on their plunder list.
Paul, you somehow forgot to include the fact that the operators of Rumaila, BP and CNPC recover a renumerated fee of $2 per barrel in profits which represents a 15%-20% return on investment. The oil field itself is owned by the Iraqis.
Contrast that to the model employed in the UK where the exchequer (if he’s lucky) receives a few million £’s in tax………
@ Al Dossary October 11, 2018 at 03:50
I didn’t forget, I didn’t know. I just linked the article.
But even if Iqaq owns the field, it’s the contractors that reap the benefit, and I’m sure the Iraqis were negotiating with a gun at their heads.
They aren’t even allowed to grow crops except those specified by the US.
Of interest: a cross-party group of Lords and MPs have come up with the Act of Union Bill (2018), which was introduced in the House of Lords where it had its first reading yesterday (Wednesday).
At long last they have realised what I said a long time ago, namely that it is idiotic for the British central bank to be called the “Bank of England”. If a British government were serious about keeping and strengthening the Union, it would rename it to the “Bank of Britain”. That change costs hardly anything. There are also other things that could be done that I do not wish to mention here at this time.
Unfortunately, the Bill proposes renaming the bank as the “Bank of the United Kingdom” or “Bank UK”, presumably to give it a Saudi or Qatari flavour.
But still, to some extent they are beginning to wake up and smell the coffee.
The group is called the Constitutional Reform Group. They write:
“Westminster politicians who wish to retain the Union have responded in ways which make them appear reactive to current events instead of deliberating and proactively strengthening the Union.”
They are quite right about that.
“The Constitution Reform Group would like to give a voice to such people. We recognise that the British now need a national debate which aims to build a consensus for a new Act of Union. This new Act must not be the product of arcane discussions between experts and academics. It must be clear enough in its principles and provisions to command the understanding and support of the British public in all corners of the kingdom. The experts and the academics can act as the legislative housemaids on the detail.”
The only thing wrong with this is their assumption that the country’s regime ought to be the mediaeval one known as a “kingdom”. Jousting tournaments, anyone?
“The Group already has the interest and support of parliamentarians in both houses and we hope that, as momentum builds, the Government will see fit to respond, perhaps by establishing a Speaker’s Conference to agree the terms of a new Act of Union. This Act, once passed, could then be put to the electorate in a post-legislative referendum.”
Interestingly one member of their Steering Committee is Daniel Greenberg, an adviser in the Office of Speaker’s Counsel (a state job) who is also consultant Parliamentary Counsel at Berwin Leighton Paisner (a private sector job for the Z__nist firm that handles Tony Blair’s private money). You would have thought that would be a conflict of interest. Before then he worked at the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, which is the part of the Cabinet Office that drafts all government bills.
We’ll be hearing more of this group and its bill.
“a new Act of Union”
Yeah, that’ll work. lol.
“Please don’t go, baby, I promise I’ll stop blackening your eyes… you’ll see, everything will be different this time. Please, give it one last try…”
You really have no idea how resentful of Britishness many people are up here. Nobody on the Scottish independence side of the equation will want anything to do with that crap.
You might think first before you tell me I have no idea of how things are in Scotland where I live.
Your final sentence is akin to the observation that rain is bits of water that fall out of the sky. Of course hardcore supporters of Scottish independence will not support the strengthening of the Union and of Scotland’s position within the Union.
BTW if you’d read the Bill rather than responding like a teenage girl in a shopping centre typing “Yeah, that’ll work. lol” on your mobile phone, you might have noticed that it proposes to give the Scottish parliament the right to hold an independence referendum without having to seek the consent of the British parliament.
The Barnett formula is more like a bowl of cherries than a black eye.
The medieval term kingdom is entirely appropriate for a country partly governed by a house of lords.
You might find the Bill interesting. It proposes a referendum on abolishing the House of Lords.
The first step is voting reform. Proportional representation ensures all national parties have representation throughout the nation, at local and national level, resulting in an inbuilt bias to represent all the nation. The conservatives claim to be a Unionist party but would forsake Scotland, and Labour would forsake most of England outside the big cities rather than change the first past the post system. Its self-serving, but Labour appear more likely to support reform than the conservatives, which, not that I support Labour, would win them the election.
By “win the election” I think you mean Labour would form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, because this kind of voting reform would be unlikely to give Labour or any other party a seat majority. Support for PR in Britain is roughly coterminous with support for the Liberal Democrats. That was illustrated in the 2011 referendum. The main exceptions were pockets of support among deluded dons at Oxford and Cambridge who bought into PR because a few influencers spread the idea that it’s clever.
Well a PR manifesto promise would win them an outright majority in the General Election and if honoured, a similar promise by New Labour/Blair wasn’t, it would result in coalition politics thereafter, throughout almost all local and national government.
Trust me, naming it Bank of Britain wouldn’t fool or help convince anyone in Scotland who supports independence. And in actual fact, it is a given that Britain really means England for us; they’re at least interchangeable terms, even in England. You must think people are stupid.
If you cared to look into it, one of the big grievances up here recently concerned the trend of putting Union Jacks on everything in supermarkets etc. For us that’s offensive and many including myself are boycotting provisions that bear the British flag.
The Union Jack is offensive to half the population in Scotland. As is the British construct which we didn’t choose to be part of and want nothing to do with. The Treaty of Union was a fraudulent sham.
I’m so looking forward to that revolting flag being decommissioned.
Perhaps we should just call it Royal Bank of Scotland. Would that help?
Military flags, being emblems of power, are hung in the odious morgue St Pauls Cathedral like wraiths to rot. I confess I haven’t been there for 40 years because it is no more than a heathen, imperial charnel-house. If it’s so dulce et decorum to die for the pagan ambitions of one’s country against the true religion of Islam after 30 years of continuous neo-colonial war against Islam, why do they now employ proxy, brain-washed terrorists against the Muslims of Libya Somalia, Afghanistan and Libya?
Brexit , like WW1 and 2, is a case of too many crooks spoiling the brothel, the EU muscling in on the pursuit of colonial destruction at the expense of British imagined monopoly of colonial interest in the Middle East. Tory MPs in apoplectic rage at the idea of the UK helping Germany to extract the spoils of war from Syria, such as a new Silk Road bringing in produce from China and a million cheap refugees.
There never was any jihad in Syria , but a jihad against the fake (i.e. political ) Muslims might be a good idea. The arch arrestor and murderer of journalists Erdogan is surely pushing his luck too far by professing indignation at Saudi political murder. Little bit of dagger sharing more likely aka -“et tu brute”. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudi Salafists, and the combined forces of neo-colonial greed think they can refrain from pushing the nuclear button on eachother, much like Britain and Germany thinking they were deep friends at the start of the war.
These whisky-sodden Tories poke their global rivals while the blood-drunk jihadists hope they will cross the line from friendship into full-scale war. Cui bono? the mutual self-destruction of the major super-powers.
“it is a given that Britain really means England for us; they’re at least interchangeable terms, even in England. You must think people are stupid.”
You are indeed bloody stupid if you think that. Ever see any vandalism at your local military memorial flying the Union Jack?
Like any rabid national chauvinist, you can’t appreciate the difference between the country Scotland and your own extreme patriotic movement. Stop saying “we” for Scotland when you mean “we” for the nationalist party and its fellow travellers. Unscrupulous nationalists in Scotland will come out with any unscrupulous argument, any bunch of lies, if they think it helps things along towards the glorious day of total nationalist rule. For most of their members and supporters they are like an echo chamber.
You seem to have difficulty distinguishing between “Union” and your adolescent Hollywood-influenced fantasy of English colonial rule from which imaginary position you seek a liberation brought about by some kind of tartan Fianna. Wanting to deprive foreign-born citizens in Scotland of the vote makes you a racist, as does your obvious belief that anyone of English heritage living in Scotland only thinks what they think because they are English. Yours is the politics of the racist football yob, the Scottish analogue of the EDL.
When anyone proposes strengthening the Union and Scotland’s position within it, you react by saying it’s the English bosses, or parents or something, trying to get one over on you, boss you around, and tell you what time to go to bed. Grow up!
I’m a fan of strained rationalisation in small doses. So please can you tell us, as a Scottish nationalist, why Shetland, where no natives think of themselves as Scottish and no Scottish flags are flown, should remain under what a rabid nationalist might call the iron heel of Scottish colonial rule? 🙂
N_, 5,669 Shetland people voted for independence in 2014, many of whom fly the Scottish saltire. If you’re going to type crap, please get your facts right. Yawn
My oh my we have Andrew H truly rattled. He attempted to selectively answer 3 of my 6 points but got a bit waylaid by the novichok formula. He even manages to accuse me, for the second time of saying something I never said and in so doing he actually refuted something which was said by the OPCW.
So it really shows up doesn’t it.
Sorry should have said they rather than he. Must not assume as the username on this blog may not nescessarily be gender specific.
While you’re waiting for him to recover, try this scenario: Sergei Skripal stole something from DSTL. Petrov & Bashirov were the designated couriers who were sent from Russia by the customers to collect the goods. Yulia was sent on ahead to establish the good faith of the deal in advance, being known by both sides. P & B smelled a rat at the bottom of Skripal’s residential close, and thus dodged a trap set for them by Pablo MIller and the counter-espionage team, who were waiting for them. Sergei & Yulia were punished with a stiff dose of BZ each and are under continued detention for attempted treason and attempted espionage respectively. Pablo was just playing with them when he gave them lunch beforehand, and even took a photograph of them with himself in it. We know what he looks like, because we were conveniently given a picture of him, quite early on in the game. Who gave us that picture, please? Does anyone know?
Maybe the stuff on the door handle was meant to poison Petrov and Boshirov.
Indeed. The possibilities are endless. I want to dwell on that photo for a moment, though. This photo, slightly compressed so needs a bit of stretching vertically.
https://everipedia.org/wiki/pablo-miller/
It really does match the reflected face of the photographer in the restaurant, in my opinion. And that is because he wanted to be recognized by all his ex-agents as being the author of the cat & mouse scenario which was about to unfold, whereby the Skripals would meet their just deserts, as a warning to his other ex-agents. I am therefore interested to know whether he deliberately put that photo into circulation, or not. Where did it come from?
https://everipedia.org/wiki/pablo-miller/
Rowan, what difference does it make?
“Who gave us that picture, please? Does anyone know?” I think I can answer my own question: it was on his LinkedIn page, which was deleted as soon as he became an object of interest to the likes of moi.
Here are three images: man with camera, Miller, and Steele. The man with the camera could be Miller. That’s about as far as I would go. (It doesn’t look like Steele: the hair could be a match but the nose and forehead are wrong.) It’s not Ross Cassidy, who drove Sergei to Heathrow and then Sergei and Yulia back to Salisbury.
Press captions say the photo of Sergei and Yulia was taken in Zizzi’s. Has that been confirmed? That shouldn’t be too difficult, from the mirror, the wall, and the label on Sergei’s glass.
Miller’s postings up to 1997 include Abuja, Lagos and Tallinn, and then in 2010-13 he was at the British embassy in Warsaw. He doesn’t seem to be on the list of 276 MI6 officers posted here. That’s a composite of three lists, the latest from 2005. The only person on that list with postings in both Nigeria and Warsaw is Timothy Clayden, who is currently the bursar of Green Templeton College, Oxford University.
@Rowan
The photo of the Skripals in the pub or restaurant was published very soon after the poisoning. I always wondered where it came from. As you say, it was probably a warning to other ex-agents who might be thinking of defecting. I think it’s quite possible that Sergei was going to hand over some documents to Petrov and Boshirov but MI6 got to him first.
Cadbury’s US owners paid ZERO corporation tax in UK despite making £185million profit
Mondelez UK Ltd – the biggest British offshoot of the US owner of chocolate giant Cadbury – managed to offset its profits to help wipe out the potential £35million tax bill
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cadburys-owners-paid-no-corporation-13396542
How many times have we heard from this government that this tax evasion by large foreign owned corporations is going to be stopped?
Boycott them.
Mondelez was formerly known as Kraft Foods.
For the bankers and corporations there has been no austerity just tax breaks and handouts. Now according to TM PM questions yesterday austerity is over as she found some money for the NHS from the magic money tree, in fact busloads of it, rattling figures of billions of pounds whilst the nodding donkeys on either side almost dislocated thier necks and her hectoring reached frantic levels.
Mark Urban was presenting Newsnight last night. He’s coming on nicely at the Beeb.
He introduced the addition of. ‘third Russian’ into the Salisbury ‘affair’. A member of the BBC’s Russian service spoke to him in the studio to add weight to his supposition.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bnb45y
16.40 in
Nothing much seems to have changed at Westminster Council since the days of Shirley Porter, the Tesco heiress. Is she still in Tel Aviv?
‘A leading Conservative councillor criticised for receiving hospitality or gifts 893 times over six years, frequently from property developers seeking planning permission, has resigned after an internal investigation found he breached the authority’s code of conduct.
The Guardian revealed in February the extent of the hospitality lavished on Robert Davis, who was the deputy leader of Westminster city council and until last year the chair of its planning committee, overseeing billions of pounds’ worth of new property developments.
Sir Stephen Lamport, the independent person overseeing the investigation, said Davis’s judgement was found “wanting” and his “acceptance of gifts and hospitality from developers before or after a planning decision may … have placed him in a position in which people might seek to influence him in the performance of his duties.”’
/..
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/10/tory-westminster-councillor-resigns-after-hospitality-inquiry
Takes a lot to make these crooked troughers resign. Yet Joe Bloggs on the Parish Council will record the gift of something like a new shovel.
Shame on him.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Davis_(politician)
Lady Porter who went to live in Tel Aviv, is now 88. She is probably back in the UK.
She has a son, John, who is active. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Robert_Porter
This from 2000 makes interesting reading especially his interests in the US defence industries.
http://newsconfidential.com/FS/FS_Story.php?RequestID=60000
Good point made by Misha Glenny this morning on R4 pointing out in a subtle way how his ‘MacMafia’ has been used by the BBC to only target Russia and ignoring the wider message. We have now suddenly discovered that a lot of ill gotten money from friendly and unfriendly countries have rather innocently found their way, through the offshore colonies, to property markets in U.K.
Daily Mail has story today on 3rd Russian spy who was in UK at same time as Borishoff and Petrov. Link below, includes comment that their visas were issued following “pressure on British Embassy in Moscow”. Anyway for what it is worth, and bear in mind the DM has broken some interesting info on this story, here is the link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6262055/Did-two-Russian-spies-poisoned-Skripals-accomplice.html
“Earlier today, there were claims citing Czech secret services alleging that GRU agents using the names Petrov and Boshirov had visited Prague in 2014 at the same time Skripal was in the city.” (DM article).
If this is right .- who knows – then it may rather suggest that their visit in Salisbury had more to do with cooperation than the opposite. ( Did the old fox always maintain contact with his old employer, or was it perhaps some kind of illegal business going on between him and corrupt members of the organization?).
In any case worth keeping in mind how utterly ridiculous the idea is (on many levels!) that this should be a professional GRU liquidation operation.ordered by Putin/the government.
As think tank after think tank releases evidence that Brexit will be a disaster, the calamitous PM Theresa May has appointed a Suicide minister.
First she appointed a Famine minister now this, what next, a Workhouse minister? Is it a sign of things to come in Britain? Probably.
Meanwhile Tory Peer Lord Heseltine is appalled at the thought of Scottish independence. Heseltine who favoured the EU in the Westland Affair said, it would result in Whitehall being substituted by Edinburgh.
Yes Michael you catch on quick.
£18m to police Trump’s visit. What a waste when there are very pressing needs in this country. Bill the US for it.
Donald Trump’s UK visit cost police ‘almost £18m’
Security costs for the presidential trip were more than four-times higher than they were for the royal wedding in May.
https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trumps-uk-visit-cost-police-almost-18m-11523288
Ref that wedding, we have another one on Friday when ‘security’ for the wedding of the royal arms salesman’s daughter in Windsor will cost £2m, so we are told.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a21931305/princess-eugenie-wedding-cost-who-pays/
Harry and Meghan are off to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. I am sure the people in those countries are totally delighted at the prospect. The trip will coincide with the Invictus Games in Australia, another of those constructs that glorifies our offensive wars and the ‘sacrifices’ made.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a21273366/meghan-markle-prince-harry-first-royal-tour-2018/
Excuse the link. It was either this or Hello Magazine.
No taxpayer funding for Eugenie’s Royal Wedding
To: House of Commons of the United Kingdom
We petition the House of Commons to urge the Government to commit no public money to the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, and to publish a report of all costs to taxpayers.
https://www.republic.org.uk/petition/royal-wedding-eugenie
It seems to be Prince Andrew who has been shilling Eugenie’s wedding to the media. The common explanation is that he does not feel his daughters get the same “respect” and “coverage” they are due as Royal princesses. This is of course true, since Prince Charles decided a few years back to narrow the focus of the Royal family to slough off the lesser royals.
Where Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice are concerned, they are kept at arms length from the “royal” Royal so if, as recently, the Royal press office is asked what they do for a living, the response is a stiff No comment “. Still should not judge too harshly, Kate Middleton has never had a normal job either.
There was a short segment on the One Show just now about Stella Rimington, late of MI5. She spoke to camera about her career and how it started, a woman in a man’s world. She was then shown speaking to students at Kings College who are going into jobs in the ‘security world’. G.d help them.
She has become a novelist. Her first book is entitled ‘Moscow Sleepers’.
In my days on twitter I would tweet incessantly on #gmo and would praise the Russians for their rejection GM crops. I wasn’t a Russian bot. I was (and am) an Australian, very annoyed by my country’s subservience to and co-operation the US’s GM food aggression (see wikileaks cables), and the sham regulators that approve GM crops. I thought Russia looked like a pretty good place. Go the bears!