Something about this Russian spy and his daughter doesn’t add up for me. Since I wrote my previous posts, it has transpired that the two were attacked with a nerve agent. This makes things doubly serious, firstly because nerve agents are so deadly that collateral damage is hard to avoid – and with 21 people now said to be affected, there has been plenty of that – and secondly because nerve agents, compared with poisons, are generally only accessible to state bodies. This puts the attack on Skirpal in the same bracket as the one which killed Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with polonium-210. Nerve agents and polonium are not things you can buy in a shop or make at home – at least, we hope not.
So all the fingers are pointing towards a Russian government operation. But if that’s the case, the rules of the game have changed:
It seems to reflect a breakdown in the old etiquette of espionage, not only foreshadowing an even more vicious “shadow war” to come, but also challenging Western states to come up with new ways to respond to and deter these kinds of outrages.
…
In itself, former spies are not usually considered targets, according to the old rules. It’s assumed that they will be debriefed, squeezed of all remaining information of value they may possess, but typically they then semi-retire into grateful obscurity, their knowledge increasingly dated.
So either the Russians have blatantly broken the rules – which served them equally well as us, and were maintained throughout the Cold War – or it was not a Russian government operation. Or put another way, if something doesn’t follow the normal rules of a government operation then it probably wasn’t a government operation.
So let’s suppose it was carried out on Putin’s orders. Why would he do this? The easy answer is “to send a message”. Okay, to whom? For what purpose? To discourage spies within his ranks? Sure, but Putin grew up in the KGB during the Cold War and they’d have been equally motivated then, but they stuck to the rules. What has changed that would make someone versed in old-school spycraft deviate so drastically from the rules? Did this Skirpal still have valuable information to disclose? If that’s the case, why was he wandering around Salisbury eating in restaurants and loafing around with his daughter on park benches?
Perhaps it was for personal revenge. If so, why Skirpal? Of all the people on Putin’s shit-list, was he really that high up? And worth risking a massive diplomatic rift with Britain over? People need to stop looking at Putin as some sort of pantomime villain. He’s a smart man and although his methods of running a country are dubious at best and his morals non-existent, he is not some irrational lunatic who lashes out for reasons of personal revenge without thinking through the consequences. If Skirpal was killed on Putin’s orders, it would not have been to satisfy his ego. We need a better explanation than that.
Some are saying he is sending a warning to Britain. I don’t know why: other than having a vote on the UN security council and (for now) having a say in any sanctions passed by the EU, Britain isn’t much of a threat to Russia. For Putin, it is better to have Britain on-side, or luke-warm, or perhaps even cool rather than dead-set against them. Nothing Putin has said or done suggests he has some huge chip on his shoulder about the UK, in the way he does the United States. Britain and Russia clash over certain policies for sure, e.g. Syria, but I can’t see how murdering Skirpal in such a manner would help with that. Again, we need to stop thinking of Putin as a cartoon villain, coming up with elaborate plans to warn or punish his enemies.
So even though this looks like a Russian government operation, I believe we need to come up with a plausible theory as to why they’d have carried it out as they did, risking an extremely serious rift with the UK. How would it benefit Russia? So far, most commentary has been of similar quality to that which supposes Putin swung the US election for Trump, i.e. implausible and often demonstrable nonsense. And as I said in my previous post, that’s half the problem: having been sold the idea that Putin is a Bond villain working endless nefarious schemes, we’re now incapable of thinking rationally on any subject remotely related to Russia. Here’s what the Russians themselves say:
Russia was not involved in the attempted murder of an ex-spy and is willing to help with a UK inquiry, the country’s foreign minister has said.
Are the Russians playing an exceedingly clever game here, helping out in the inquiry knowing full well they did it? This is a bit risky, isn’t it? When Russian agents allegedly went about assassinating people in Turkey, they didn’t rush to help Ankara with any investigation. They either denied it or said nothing. When they assassinated a Chechen in Qatar and their guys got caught, they defended them to the hilt. When the Israelis assassinated someone in a Dubai hotel room, they denied everything and went quiet. The only times I’ve heard of a criminal assisting the police in their investigation has been in fictional stories or on those TV shows which show the guy in prison having been remarkably stupid in not making himself scarce. My guess is that if the Russian government did order this hit, they’d have in place a very well thought out plan of how to handle the resulting diplomatic crisis, and it would not have involved cooperating with the investigation.
A lot of this doesn’t make sense to me, and only fits the “Putin did it” narrative if we assume he’s the evil genius desperate politicians and the idiotic media say he is. I don’t mind the Russian government being the primary suspect, but I’d like to see a proper theory advanced that stands up to scrutiny, and all other possibilities explored and ruled out, before we decide to close the Russian embassy in London and send them all packing.
What I’m saying is I am not very happy with politicians, the media, and a lot of the public simply saying “Putin did it, obvs” and demanding retaliatory actions without having anything to support the allegation other than the absolute mountain of shite that’s been written about the man in the past 18 months.
It is Surkovian perception disintegration. It is designed to confuse the hell out of everyone so we dont know up from down, who is who, who is enemy or friend, what motivation was driving what, whether it was rational, irrational or irrationally rational.
It is what has occurred in Russia with funding and defunding domestic groups, it is what is being used in the Ukrainian War, it is probably now being used in the spying game.
Therefore, so far as I understand (utterly willing to be corrected with other information or more informed perspectives*), this indicates that they are somehow involved as it fits the modern tactics of the Russian state.
It is very impressive and very daunting.
*A warning here, often ‘experts’ are the easiest to mislead and fool as they often do not doubt themselves and have pre-existing assumptions that die hard. Therefore, you may indeed know more than me, but dont be too cocky that this means you are right.
Thne USSR have definitely killed their agents who have been about to defect and who have incredibly important information, such as the identities of traitors in MI6. For example, Konstantin Volkov.
But it make much less sense to kill this guy who they agreed to swap a few years ago, and who now posed no great threat.
I’ve also seen a theory that they had the nerve gas on them without realising what it was, and opened it unwittingly. No idea if this is credible.
You’re not wrong, but, unfortunately, the good ship SS Common Sense and Rational Behaviour sailed some time ago. The media, and establishment generally, have lost all sense of reason and proportion about Russia and Putin, and the Clinton/Fusion/Steele shenanigans have not helped.
It’s a thing of wonder that all those who were ambivalent at best about the real and genuine threat from the USSR and, in other instances, in a state of absolute denial about that threat,are now convinced we should go to war with Russia.
It is designed to confuse the hell out of everyone so we dont know up from down, who is who, who is enemy or friend, what motivation was driving what, whether it was rational, irrational or irrationally rational.
Yes, Russia has been a practitioner of disinformation and disruption as a matter of course since 1917. This does not adequately explain why Skirpal was attacked.
“This does not adequately explain why Skirpal was attacked.”
No but it suggests that you/I/everyone will find it exceedingly hard to understand why and that just because it is hard to explain and doesn’t appear to make conventional sense does not reduce the likelihood that they did, as it would in any other aspect of life.
A false flag operation by the EU!
No but it suggests that you will find it exceedingly hard to understand why
I disagree. Whenever the Russians have been caught shooting down airliners or annexing peninsulas, they’ve embarked on a colossal campaign of bullshit and disinformation that can be seen from space. On this issue there has been almost nothing, which is out of character to say the least. Of course, one could say that this just proves how crafty they are, but then we’re back to cartoon villains again.
A false flag operation by the EU!
Mossad, surely?
If Russia wanted to send a message it would have had a show trial and made it very public that he was rotting in some shit hole and that they’d turned down his freedom in a spy swap.
Having swapped him for their own spies and then attempted to murder him they’ve made it less likely they’ll get a future deal to get their own guys back.
That’s not to say I think the Russian state or rouges within it are innocent, but the waters here are a damned sight muddier than some of the more excitable members of the press are making out.
If it was a professional hit, then it wasn’t very successful as far as I know they are still alive, ie its not a hit yet. Personally I can’t see it being Russian state as you would have thought that they would be dead by now and they would have done it in a far less obvious manner, an accident a violent robbery etc. Then there is his daughter just arrived from Russia why try to off her in that way at the same time. Doesn’t make sense, plus someone needs to do the maths on his net worth and where it came from he apparently only got 100k for the spying he was done for.
So that leaves his connection to the Trump Dossier compiler and the town of Salisbury. See the connection named here in this Meduza article.
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/03/06/a-hundred-grand-and-hundreds-of-betrayed-agents
I’ve also seen a theory that they had the nerve gas on them without realising what it was, and opened it unwittingly. No idea if this is credible
Who can honestly say the same thing hasn’t happened to them?
>are now convinced we should go to war with Russia.
No-one seriously believes this, though, whatever they’re pretending. It doesn’t matter how far you think Russia has fallen, invading Russia is never a good idea. Britain can barely manage invading third-world shitholes without America doing most of the work.
And you’re hardly going to drop bombs on a country that can drop them back. Not over this, even if it did turn out be Putin himself who did it.
Hector
Oh I know that. It’s hyperbole on my part. And theirs.
The trouble is that my hyperbole is limited to this blog, theirs is shouted from the rooftops by organs of the state and mass media. And their language about Russia and Putin, even though hyperbolic, is likely to have unforeseen consequences that may be particularly unpleasant
” What has changed” – that’s an easy one: unlike in the olden days, the West has not shown up for the war. The Russians have slowly and cautiously tested this hypothesis to their satisfaction and found they can act with impunity like they are used to back home. And so they do.
Recusant, I wasn’t criticising you, you’re right that there are people acting now is if they think we should go to war with Russia. But I don’t think they really believe that (and it sounds like you don’t believe them either). They’re just talking tough for the cameras.
“nerve agents, compared with poisons, are generally only accessible to state bodies.”
Not sure about this. Sarin was used by a religious fringe group to kill 20 and injure hundreds in Japan in the 1990s.
“Mossad, surely?”
They are WAY too busy. Have you seen what they get up to?
Sarin was used by a religious fringe group to kill 20 and injure hundreds in Japan in the 1990s.
That’s a good point. But the Japanese can probably make nuclear reactors in their bedrooms that operate flawlessly.
What about the CIA and other anti-Russia loonies?
Putin is a very bad man no doubt. But if we keep the Internet free then I think he will get his eventually. But the anti-Trumpers are nutso enough for an exercise in Russian blaming–even one as crazy as this seems to be. The CIA were the ones talking about blowing their own passenger aircraft up as a false flag as far back as the early 60s.
Quite simple people – as much as Putin would like to see NATO gone, he is far more interested in breaking up the EU. After the last expansion of both organizations, in 2004, he was asked whether he would cooperate with both and he replied that he couldn’t imagine not working with them. He changed his tune in 2005 after the EU commission starting talking about bringing an anti-trust case against Gazprom. Since then his entire focus has been on funding nationalist parties throughout the EU.
The UK will feel it has to respond to this provocation, but the continental Europeans want to build Nordstream 2, and therefore won’t help the UK diplomatically – furthering the divisions within both the EU and the various nation states. The US has hardly any trade with the Russians, so they can’t help the UK.
Quite simple people – as much as Putin would like to see NATO gone, he is far more interested in breaking up the EU.
Then why create a gigantic diplomatic row with the country that is in the middle of doing far more than any other to disrupt the EU? I don’t see how killing Skirpal results in the EU being broken up.
Since then his entire focus has been on funding nationalist parties throughout the EU.
That would be UKIP in the UK, then. I doubt they were funded by the Russians.
There is a difference between, “Russia killed…” and “Russia had killed…”
These agencies still sub contract and there are quite a few governments still eager to do the Kremlin’s work.
“It wasn’t me, Guv. I was miles away at the time with a shed load of witnesses.”
There is a difference between, “Russia killed…” and “Russia had killed…”
Yes, but I’m not making that distinction: if I’m suggesting that Putin didn’t have anything to do with it, or the Russian government was not involved, I mean just that. Meaning, if it wasn’t a Russian government operation it was somebody or some people acting on their own, without orders or blessing from the government.
Perhaps Russian people freelancing?
There again the prime victim “had links” to Mr. Steele who composed that dodgy dossier for Hilary using Russians as sources. Could the Russian victim be one of the sources?
More seriously we should shy away from the assumption that absolutely everything done by a Russian is on Putin’s orders.
Nerve gas = state actor.
And probably Russian because… who else? So maybe the question should be “does Putin actually control his security services?”
If someone in government wants bad relations between UK & Russia, for example to justify more state spending on X rather than Y, I can think of few better ways than this jolly jape. And unlike pulling this stunt against the Americans, I doubt the people running the UK today will reply in kind. Trump on the other hand…
I’m with Bardon on this. The collateral damage doesn’t sound like the Russians. It was botched and badly so. On a low-value target.
To attempt a targeted killing in a public place with an indiscriminate means of distribution just sounds wrong for the Russki’s. Unless the Russian FSB really are that inept.
From this week’s Economist [my emphsis]:
Interesting choice of words there and you have to wonder if they are ever really pardoned?
They make a fair point here as well:
Because the thought of independent actors running around with nerve gas is quite terrifying.
Sorry Rob Harries, I don’t buy your Le Carre fantasies. This nonsense is the result of old-timers in fading nations fighting yesterday’s war, badly. Although I’m sure the Kremlin will be delighted to hear that you think them fucking up offing some bloke is in fact a cunning plan.
A far more pertinent question is, why are we bothering to turn Russian double agents? Why are we spying on Russia in anything more than the most cursory fashion? I suspect it is simply because that is what the infrastructure was set up to do and the state is too useless to change.
Is Russia a military threat? Is it fuck. What does it have that we want? Oil & gas and leggy hookers – they’ll sell us those. Rich shits to buy overpriced Mayfair property? No shortage of them even now.
There are people who claim Russia is a threat to the UK. They only make these claims because “Look! A squirrel!” has failed and they hope “Look! A bear!” might work better. Sadly, no-one cares.
It does seem that some sad old mentals at MI6 are still briefing the Telegraph but this should only concern people wasting their money on that rag.
The rozzers should spend no more time on this than any other attempted murder.
@Bloke in North Dorset
Cheers for that article, reading it reminded me of the fact that it was Sir Robert Owen that came to his own personal conclusion that it was the FSB and also that Putin “probably” ordered the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. His conclusion was the outcome of an Inquiry that is not subject to the normal rules of evidence and was based purely on circumstantial evidence. Yet, with the passing of time it seems to have been now generally accepted that Putin done it.
Here are Sir Robert Owens last two summary conclusions where he accuses Putin.
“10.15 When Mr Lugovoy poisoned Mr Litvinenko, it is probable that he did so under the direction of the FSB. I would add that I regard that as a strong probability. I have found that Mr Kovtun also took part in the poisoning. I conclude therefore that he was also acting under FSB direction, possibly indirectly through Mr Lugovoy but probably to his
knowledge.
10.16 The FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493860/The-Litvinenko-Inquiry-H-C-695-web.pdf
I agree with Mr Ecks (2:52pm): this has all the hallmarks of a CIA dirty tricks action to smear Russia and move the world nearer to the nuclear annihilation their paymasters seemingly desire.
@Pat on March 9, 2018 at 4:55 pm said:
“There again the prime victim “had links” to Mr. Steele”
Correct. DM had an article on the Skirpal-Steele links and possibility Skirpal was involved in writing the dossier.
State actor assassination – another one for the Clinton body count list?
Another question to ponder.
Are we absolutely sure the daughter wasn’t involved in anything that might upset anyone. Perhaps she was the prime target?
How come this one is breaking the rules but Litvinenko (spelling?) wasn’t? I don’t understand.
Also:
He’s a smart man… he is not some irrational lunatic who lashes out for reasons of personal revenge without thinking through the consequences.
Why not? I agree with you, mind, but I don’t think it’s impossible for him to be a nut or a tit. There are plenty of Western politicians who are as thick as two fucking short planks. Why not the East as well?
Everything to do with spies is turtles all the way down, glimpsed through smoke and mirrors.
It was definitely John Major who did it. Or Michael Heseltine.
I disagree with Perry De Havilland. Nerve gas is a relatively simple organo-phosphate and a crude but effective type is easily made. The Tokyo underground Sarin gas attack was most likely made from easily available components and likely a binary method – you keep two sets of relatively safe chemicals separately, mix them on the spot and you have your nerve agent. Most chemically filled artillery shells are binary types and the rotation of the shell as it leaves the barrel mixes the components.
As to the source of the chemical agent, they are many and varied.
Firstly, Assad was (and still is) winning against his opponents and they were on their last legs. Why should he use chemical weapons at that stage? It is far more likely that ISIS/the rebels etc. actually DO have chemical weapons – they took over vast areas with military installations and plundered them for anything useful. Saddam Hussein had CW filled artillery shells and he likely moved them for safe keeping to Syria and/or the northern border of Iraq where they most likely were found by the people that did use them. They have nothing to lose, have a long and bloody record of random killings and atrocities and if they wait for a air strike and then release the nerve agent, then to all appearances, it looks like the CW agent came from the air strike. What better way to eliminate Assad AND get the Great Arch Satan, America to do it?
As for the area that the CW attack took place, it is essentially under ISIS control and the fact that there were sufficient cameras, reporters and medical personnel to record and verify the CW agent is a bit suspicious, no? The lack of CW protection used by the medics is also highly suspicious and not sensible practice for anyone, let alone people not trained in NBC decontamination. There is also no evidence of the casing or other debris from the CW “bomb” – it doesn’t explode like a conventional munition and the casing etc. would be largely intact. Pictures of the munition would make it easily identifiable as American, Russian or other. No such verification has taken place and no Westerner would be able to do so. It seems to a cynic like me that it has been carefully stage managed.
So buying a ready made nerve agent from such people is not only possible but I should imagine fairly easy.
Secondly, you need to understand how the Russian army trains and what happened in Russia when the regime collapsed. The Russians practice chemical warfare REALLY seriously. During the cold war era, they lost about two battalions of men A YEAR in training and have vast CW ranges. Watching someone die from nerve agent poisoning is likely to impress everyone of the need to practice proper NBC precautions. Undoubtedly, a certain percentage of shells will fail to explode and still contain the agent and are recoverable if you REALLY want to go that route.
They exercise under wartime conditions and equipment is lost regularly (including tanks in river crossings).
When the regime collapsed, Army officers were not paid for years on end. Units and officers retained equipment in a slush fund that was officially “lost” during training manoeuvres as a source of replacements for missing kit and needed for the Russian equivalent of UEI’s (Unit Equipment Inspections) or for sale to anyone with cash or food to stop their families starving was not unknown. The Taliban didn’t capture ALL their kit that they used against the Russians.
I am certain that if anyone wanted kit (anything from an AK47 to a full on main battle tank) could obtain one for enough cash and the right contacts. People such as the Russian Mafia, as a for example.
if you want to read the details, look for books by Vladimir Bogdanovitch Razun under his pen name of Viktor Suvorov.
In short, the world is awash with all sorts of interesting stuff like that and if the guy pissed someone off severely enough, then the Russian State need not be involved at all.
I believe Putin on this one.
As
The sarin used in the attack perpetrated by Aum Shinrikyo in the 90s was only about 30% pure, which was the best they could do. Thank god, or the death toll would have been much higher.
Aim shinrikyo were unusual in that they had a Lot of money. crazy rich. They also had very intelligent and accomplished scientists, many who were poached from the Soviet union, working for years to create the sarin. my point is that I wouldn’t use the sarin gas attack as an example of nerve gas being created easily. If aum shinrikyo could not easily create sarin with all their resources, I would have thought it pretty difficult for any other non government backed group. That’s not to say they couldn’t, but the thought of another ‘unknown’ group having the capability to make a nerve agent is really scary.
The poison was pre mixed and contained in sealed plastic bags. It was released by cult members ‘subtly’ stabbing the bags with umbrellas in a certain way to avoid detection and being exposed to the agent. They still took antidotes straight away after exiting the trains. Not to say that sarin can’t be mixed at the time of use, as philB suggests (I have no idea) but it wasn’t done in this case.
There are plenty of Western politicians who are as thick as two fucking short planks. Why not the East as well?
Because climbing to the top of Russian politics and staying there for the past 18 years requires smarts and ruthlessness, mainly aimed at your own personal (literal) survival. Western politics doesn’t require anywhere near the same skills: just an ability to lie through your teeth and pander to special interests with taxpayers’ money.
Is Russia a military threat? Is it fuck. What does it have that we want? Oil & gas and leggy hookers – they’ll sell us those. Rich shits to buy overpriced Mayfair property? No shortage of them even now.
There are people who claim Russia is a threat to the UK. They only make these claims because “Look! A squirrel!” has failed and they hope “Look! A bear!” might work better. Sadly, no-one cares.
It does seem that some sad old mentals at MI6 are still briefing the Telegraph but this should only concern people wasting their money on that rag.
Yup. And I see The Times has come out and unequivocally announced that Putin is behind it, because Stalin had Trotsky knocked off.
For books on Chemical warfare, you can read these:
Yellow rain by Sterling Seagrave
https://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Rain-Journey-Through-Chemical/dp/1539784614
A Higher Form of Killing by Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman (yes, HIM!)
https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Form-Killing-Chemical-Biological/dp/0812966538/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0812966538&pd_rd_r=1N1EH7ARH2D1M6B7B12N&pd_rd_w=vb2lH&pd_rd_wg=knzkm&psc=1&refRID=1N1EH7ARH2D1M6B7B12N
Both books complement each other as Seagrave has greater emphasis on the mechanism of how CW kills and their effects, Paxman and Harris on the history and who does what in the scheme of things (America manufactures (at Pine Bluff, Britain does research at Porton Down and Canada provides the wide open spaces for testing on chemical warfare ranges near Medicine Hat). The chapters about “Wild Bill Donovan” of the OSS (the forerunner of the CIA) is hilarious if you have a macabre outlook on life (using cats strapped to bombs to guide the bombs onto ships as the theory was that cats are afraid of water and would want to land on the deck of the ship. It was a failure for some peculiar reason as the cats passed out on their descent). Not for nothing was he named Wild Bill.
The other monumental tome is the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute – an oxymoron if I never saw one in my entire life) publication “The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare” which is an extremely detailed piece of research on the effects and mechanisms of chemical warfare. It has been out of print for a long time but is available from libraries if you are really interested and probably want to be put onto some kind of watch list. Or buy it as a CD here:
https://www.sipri.org/publications/2000/problem-chemical-and-biological-warfare
I read it a long time ago but is considered the go to reference. That lot, plus training in CW in the British Army, is my source of knowledge of CW.
Yep – I’m a boring anorak. Never denied it.
Since then his entire focus has been on funding nationalist parties throughout the EU.
That would be UKIP in the UK, then. I doubt they were funded by the Russians.
– – – – – – – – – — – — – – – – – – – –
Oh come on! Tim Worstall was the UK press officer for UKIP & has Russian connections go back years. His new Continental Telegraph gig is, no doubt, a disinformation platform for the FSB. It’s all part of the Great Scandium Oligopoly. Just look at his massive property developments in Portugal & ask where the money came from.
How much evidence do you need?
@Phil B. Fascinating what people around here know.
A lot of overthinking going on here. I think it best to stick to the OP judgement:
‘So all the fingers are pointing towards a Russian government operation’
At this point, thinking otherwise, after Politkovskaya, Nemtsov, Litvinenko etc., involves giving the benefit of the doubt to the Kremlin. What have they done to deserve the benefit of the doubt? I’m sure it’s just amazing coincidence that people Putin has cause to dislike keep dying mysteriously. Of course you can find stuff that doesn’t add up in any specific case; but that involves focussing on detail and ignoring the wider pattern. The gangster mentality of the people in the Kremlin is not that hard to understand.
I’m sure it’s just amazing coincidence that people Putin has cause to dislike keep dying mysteriously.
It isn’t, but it doesn’t mean Putin is to blame. As I said in an earlier post, if Putin doesn’t like you so will an awful lot of other people, many of whom will be more dangerous than Putin. Putin not liking someone is more likely to be an indicator than a danger in itself – with the exception of the oligarchs who challenged him directly.
I think the nerve gas element is precisely the thing that makes it NOT a State ordered operation. If someone like Putin wanted those two dead, they’d be dead right now. No, someone wanted it to LOOK like it had to be a State ordered killing, and thus must be Russia. Hence the ‘Oooh, nerve gas!’ theatre.
There must be any amount of nerve gas agents floating around in the right places for the right amount of money, or as suggested it could even be home made.
The question is, who want to make Russia look bad, and for what purpose?
“The question is, who want to make Russia look bad, and for what purpose”
A more intriguing question is, who thinks Russia needs to be / can be MADE look bad. A drop of rain does not make the ocean look wet, does it?
On a second thought, a drop right on the nose might indeed serve as a hint for someone otherwise too thick to recognize the wetness of the ocean. We’ll see.
The Russians go after their traitors. If you betray the Motherland eventually you will pay the price. As far as the means go the Russians have always had a flair for the dramatic in assassinations. It’s their message.
“And I see The Times has come out and unequivocally announced that Putin is behind it”
The UK has announced recently that it will fall in line with the US and change their defensive strategy whereby terrorism is no longer the threat and it’s back to the old enemies which in this case is Russia. The UK press will need to do some very heavy lifting and much more so than they have done in the past (Saddam) in turning public opinion around to accept the newfound threats identified by the US and the resultant need for increased spending, especially given the UK’s very high disapproval rating of the current US leadership, unlike Blair sucking up to Bush which was lapped up at the time. You can count on The Times to play their part in facilitating the public’s perception and newfound need for increased spending to combat this new bogeyman.
They haven’t said anything about what the nerve agent was, exactly. It’s quite easy to make a lot of nasty stuff if you have some basic chemistry knowledge. I have to regularly dissuade bored housewives from accidentally killing themselves with cyanide :/
I agree with Tim on this one, but I think the most likely explanation is that Skirpal was killed for reasons that have nothing to do with anything that’s publicly known.
The UK press will need to do some very heavy lifting and much more so than they have done in the past (Saddam) in turning public opinion around to accept the newfound threats identified by the US and the resultant need for increased spending, especially given the UK’s very high disapproval rating of the current US leadership, unlike Blair sucking up to Bush which was lapped up at the time. You can count on The Times to play their part in facilitating the public’s perception and newfound need for increased spending to combat this new bogeyman.
This is possibly the most astute comment you’ve made on this blog Bardon, and I mean that in a good way.