The EU Parliament's call for a probe into the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, along with new sanctions against Moscow, is just a manifestation of the establishment's "anti-Russian sentiment."

That's according to Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The "obscure" case involving the alleged poisoning of Navalny has been used by the EU establishment to launch another round of Moscow-bashing, he says.

The lawmaker explained that his fellow MEPs had not, in fact, seen a single piece of evidence suggesting the Russian government might have had a hand in what happened to Navalny.

"We don't have the evidence... none of the members of parliament who today voted in favor of sanctions has seen any evidence."

Krah said it was "unrealistic" to expect that Navalny's case would not be politicized, arguing that it was "absolutely clear" it was being used to push an anti-Moscow agenda.

On Thursday morning, the EU Parliament passed a resolution calling on member states to "isolate Russia in international forums," to "halt the Nord Stream 2 project" and to prioritize the approval of another round of sanctions against Moscow.

The MEP also expressed skepticism about the prospects of the broader public ever getting to see any evidence linking the opposition figure's sudden illness to Russian foul play.

"Evidence will only get published and provided to Russia if there is public pressure," he said, adding that he does not see any such pressure building anywhere in the EU. Until that changes, Berlin is likely to continue demanding "answers" from Moscow while holding off on requests by Russian for cooperation, Krah believes.

The German MEP also weighed in on the fate of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, suggesting that the alleged poisoning could work to Washington's benefit, given that the White House has been seeking to undermine the project, linking Russian gas to Germany, for months. Krah said it was "clear from the beginning" that the US would try to use the situation to scupper the project, which he says would make Germany "more independent from American influence."

The EU resolution, which is not legally binding but acts as an advisory for the bloc's leaders, was supported by 532 MEPs and opposed by 84, while 72 abstained. Fresh sanctions against Russia have been mulled by both the EU and US since news about Navalny's alleged poisoning was made public.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed its readiness to cooperate with Germany in the probe into the incident, while stressing that the Russian medics who first treated Navalny when he fell ill found no traces of any poison in his body. The Kremlin has also repeatedly approached Berlin for data possessed by the German side, but has so far received none.

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Once his comments were shared more widely, few found legitimacy in the comparison.

"Bill Barr equates quarantine with chattel slavery as one of the greatest intrusions of civil liberties in American history. Statements like these make you realize many in this country know nothing about what it truly means to be oppressed," 'The View' co-host Sunny Hostin tweeted in reaction to the comment. Another person criticized the remarks by simply saying, "What a disgrace."

"The thing about Bill Barr's comments is that he knows better. Which is what makes them a whole lot worse," CNN political correspondent Abby D. Pillip added.

"How about WW2 Japanese Internment camps? Jim Crow laws? segregation? Tuskegee Syphilis experiments?" another commenter tweeted, while Star Trek actor George Takei posted: "As someone who spent four years in U.S. internment camps during World War II, I think Bill Barr is full of horse manure."

Barr's comments also angered lockdown supporters, but he earned a round of applause at the DC event after making them.

Some conservatives, many of whom have been critical of local governments' response to the pandemic, also showed support for Barr amidst a pushback against his coronavirus comments and other actions as attorney general.

Since there was never any national lockdown in place, but rather various stay-at-home orders and business shutdown mandates - which still continue in certain areas in most states - Barr chided governors for acting like "bureaucrats" and treating "free citizens as babies that can't take responsibility for themselves and others."

Wow: Joe Biden's staff won't even let him do a "spontaneous" Q&A session without a script. Is he really that far gone?

Obsessive scripting is the only explanation for what happened at last week's Biden question-and-answer session with AFL-CIO union members, when the candidate responded to a young barista's query with the non sequitur, "Move it up here" — then paused.

Anyone who's been following Biden's travails recognizes those words as a cue to his aides to jog the teleprompter, as he's done time and again in recent weeks. (Why an experienced politician with a top-notch staff keeps having this trouble is also worrisome.)

Anyway, after the pause, Joe launched into his "off the cuff" response — which was utter boilerplate: "You know, there used to be a basic bargain in this country, that workers shared in the wealth they helped create." It's beyond appalling that Biden would need reminding of that trope.

His aides won't even discuss the elephant in the room.

After the AFL-CIO footage made the rounds, Fox News' Bret Baier put the obvious question to TJ Ducklo, the campaign's national press secretary:

"Has Joe Biden ever used a teleprompter during local interviews or to answer Q&As with supporters?"

Ducklo ducked the question — repeatedly, before finally saying, "I am not going to allow the Trump campaign to funnel their questions through Fox News and get me to respond to that."

There's your answer.

Time and again, teleprompter troubles have exposed the fact that Biden is just reading his lines in what his campaign pretends are real conversations with supporters, like Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.

He's not even answering reporters' questions off the cuff: "Look, Venezuela topline message is . . ." he told an NBC Miami reporter — obviously just reading the talking points he was handed in advance. He's also given multiple interviews with his eyes down, clearly relying on prepared notes in his lap.

This simply is not the Joe Biden of decades past, who might put his foot in his mouth but never needed a script to say what he thinks. If he can no longer answer even softball questions without the aid of his overseers, who will really be calling the shots if he wins the White House?