Puppet Masters
"I have done work for RT, the former head of the Scottish Parliament Alex Salmond has a program on RT," Pilger said, adding that the channel has some "very distinguished" people working for it.
"The campaign against RT, against people working on RT, is McCarthyite," he added. "It is a part of this propaganda, of this carefully constructed drama, of trying to discredit RT."
He spoke specifically of RT London, "which I know very well, as I'm often there." Pilger said RT is run by "highly experienced, respected people" who previously worked for other major outlets, including the BBC.
He called the campaign against RT by British media a "disgrace," and said part of the reason for the "drama in Salisbury" is to block a critical view - a move that he said is reminiscent of what happened during the Cold War.
Pilger's comments about Salisbury were made in reference to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 4. The UK has blamed the poisoning on Russia without providing any evidence.
In a separate interview with RT, Pilger said that most people in the UK and the US don't understand the "dangers of this propaganda."

Members of the emergency services wearing protective clothing work near the bench where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found poisoned in Salisbury, Britain, March 13, 2018.
On Monday, the European Council, which represents the heads of governments of the EU states, issued a statement that it "takes extremely seriously the UK Government's assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible" for the March 4 attack.
The Council went on to say that it was "shocked at the offensive use of any military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, for the first time on European soil in over 70 years" and it called on Moscow "to address urgently the questions raised by the UK and the international community and to provide immediate, full and complete disclosure of its Novichok programme to the OPCW."
Comment: See:
- 'Till Moscow bows and kneels': West wages multi-front, multi-domain campaign
- Blimey! ANOTHER Russian Exile Turns up Dead in UK - Suspicious Pattern Emerging
- Mercouris on the Skripal crisis: Russia asked to "prove innocence" while UK unable to provide any proof
- MI5 Poisons Another Russian Asset to Smear Putin in Ongoing Propaganda War
- "Absurd...the same kind of canard that led us to the disaster of the Iraq war" - George Galloway on Skirpal (VIDEO)
- Russian to Judgement on the Skripal Poisoning
- Theresa May disgraced! Recipe for 'mysterious' nerve agent Novichok can be bought for $30 on Amazon
- There's more to the Sergei Skripal story than meets the eye

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad visits the front lines in the East Ghouta region
Yesterday he made a surprise visit to the frontlines of East Ghouta where the Syrian Army are currently smashing terrorist forces. This was in an effort to thank the brave soldiers for their duties on behalf of all Syrian people and to motivate the troops to continue their successful struggle against terrorist formations.
After meeting soldiers, he then met civilians who fled the war zone in East Ghouta, to the east of Damascus city center, he was widely praised and held by the people.
On Saturday evening, media icon Matt Drudge reminded us all why Mueller is "hardly a saint."
Mueller is hardly a saint. Wrongfully accused Hatfill of anthrax attack back in the day. Cost taxpayers millions in damages. https://t.co/zyalxF6ji3 https://t.co/zgjDz2hiXO
- MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) March 18, 2018
Comment: Apparently Drudge is not the only one who holds a poor opinion of Mr. Mueller
- Mueller should resign: Dirty cops Mueller and Comey had secret meeting before Comey testified to Congress
- Robert Mueller a profoundly corrupt person
- Robert Mueller is unfit to be Special Counsel
- Authoritarian special prosecutor Mueller is a political hack

Sen. Lindsey Graham warned Sunday “it would be the beginning of the end” of President’s Trump’s presidency if he fired special counsel Robert Mueller.
"As I said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency," Graham, R-S.C., said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"Because we're a rule of law nation. When it comes to Mr. Mueller, he is following the evidence where it takes him and it's very important he be allowed to do his job, without interference. And there are many Republicans who share my view."
Comment: See also:
- Three-quarters of respondents say Trump should fire Mueller, Drudge poll
- Trump hasn't fired Mueller even after angry Tweet sparks concern
- Trump hints at firing Mueller during tweetstorm against Comey, McCabe
- Political war in America: Fired FBI chief McCabe gave Mueller his memos on Trump
- Dangerous times: Mueller widens the Russiagate dragnet by invoking unusual 'conspiracy to defraud government' charge
Mueller is currently investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Moscow.
The online poll, which was posted on the site on Saturday, had surveyed fewer than 500,000 people on Sunday.
The poll comes after Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over the findings of an internal review that said he provided unauthorized information to the press and was not forthcoming with investigators during the investigation. McCabe said he was fired as an attempt to undermine Mueller's investigation.
Comment: See also:
- Trump hasn't fired Mueller even after angry Tweet sparks concern
- Trump hints at firing Mueller during tweetstorm against Comey, McCabe
- Political war in America: Fired FBI chief McCabe gave Mueller his memos on Trump
- Dangerous times: Mueller widens the Russiagate dragnet by invoking unusual 'conspiracy to defraud government' charge
The plausible connection is this: the attempted smearing of Russia over the apparent poison-assassination plot in Britain is being used by Britain and the United States to push their desired military intervention in Syria to topple the Assad government.
Both scenarios involve staged provocations employing chemical weapons. Less coincidence; more synchronicity.
In Britain, the apparent poisoning of a former Russian spy living in exile with a nerve agent is being sensationally blamed on Moscow. Moscow has rejected official British allegations that its state agents were responsible for the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the southern English town of Salisbury on March 4.
The whole affair smacks of a psychological operation orchestrated by British state agencies with the premeditated objective of incriminating Russia. Suspicion stems from the whirlwind speed with which the British authorities have formulated their charges against Russia through a saturated media campaign.
Comment: See:
- Skripal Likely Poisoned by British Intelligence in Effort to Smear and Silence Russian World View
- British Skripal narrative falls apart: Boris Johnson invents new story on 'Russian novichoks'
- "Absurd...the same kind of canard that led us to the disaster of the Iraq war" - George Galloway on Skripal (VIDEO)
With so many doubts expressed about Moscow's complicity in the Salisbury spy poisoning, the leaders of the UK, the US, Germany and France - the big four - made an unprecedented joint statement putting the blame on Russia. They did not find it necessary to wait for investigation results to say Moscow had violated the international law and threatened their security. The statement says Russia did not cooperate with Britain. It does not mention the fact that Moscow was ready to meet London halfway but received no requests in line with the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The only thing Russia can be blamed for is its policy of refusing to communicate in the language of ultimatums.
Everything has suddenly become clear. Russia's guilt is evident despite the fact that nothing new has been revealed since French President Macron's spokesman warned the UK on March 14 against "fantasy politics". The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapon had not investigated the case but the verdict was handed down. UK PM Theresa May was quiet happy about the statement as it showed that the allies "are standing alongside us".
On March 15, the US introduced new sanctions against Russia to punish it for alleged election meddling and cyberattacks. The announcement came together with the statement of the Big Four. As usual, the move is the result of allegations and claims not based on solid proof and established facts. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer believes it's still "not enough". He demands that President Trump introduce more sanctions and publicly denounce Russian President Putin. It's just the first step, chimed in Senator Mark Warner of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He wondered why it had taken so long.
Now, ask yourself a simple question: What sort of war requires no sacrifice? What sort of war requires that almost no one in the country waging it takes the slightest notice of it?
America's conflicts in distant lands rumble on, even as individual attacks flash like lightning in our news feeds. "Shock and awe" campaigns in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, initially celebrated as decisive and game changing, ultimately led nowhere. Various "surges" produced much sound and fury, but missions were left decidedly unaccomplished. More recent strikes by the Trump administration against a Syrian air base or the first use of the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, the MOAB super-bomb, in Afghanistan flared brightly, only to fizzle even more quickly. These versions of the German blitzkrieg-style attacks of World War II have been lightning assaults that promised much but in the end delivered little. As these flashes of violence send America's enemies of the moment (and nearby civilians) to early graves, the homeland (that's us) slumbers. Sounds of war, if heard at all, come from TV or video screens or Hollywood films in local multiplexes.
Comment: No one is being required to sacrifice a thing. It is precisely what we ARE sacrificing (and don't know it) that is the problem. There would be no approval, no funding, no willingness to murder masses of people for some fake ideal or strategy or someone's neocon agenda.
The speed with which Britain's political class has descended into jingoism and anti-foreigner hysteria in the wake of the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury has been extraordinary. In mere days, before we have proof of Russian state involvement, before we know the full facts of who was behind this attempted murder, virtually every section of our political and media elites was hollering for confrontation, demanding punishment of the Russian beast, and wailing, yet again, about the threat this warped eastern entity poses to Western stability and democracy. That such an evidence-lite outburst of nationalistic and militaristic fervour has come from those who have spent the past 18 months lecturing the little people about our alleged disdain for truth and our Little Englander paranoia should be lost on no one.
We are living through a desperate, hammed-up re-enactment of the Cold War era. 'Christ, I miss the Cold War', said Judi Dench's M in Casino Royale when one of her missions proved rather more complicated than she had expected. She could have been speaking for much of the 21st-century Western political establishment who, feeling all at sea, and bamboozled by a contrarian electorate that refuses to vote in the way they're meant to, seem to long to wrap themselves in the comfort blanket of old Cold War certainties from that era when the world was binary and our politicians didn't have to say much more than 'I hate the USSR' to win applause. Post-Salisbury we've had Theresa May doing a bad impersonation of M, telling us it is 'highly likely' the Russian state was behind this poisoning and that Britain will confront the evil east head-on over this matter. Hey presto, suddenly 'Maybot', this PM so ridiculed by the press as flat and uninspiring, looks strong. This is the magic dust of Cold War nostalgia.
Comment: The delusional and paranoiac British government has lost the plot and become certifiably insane. The danger is in the escalating hostilities and Russia is meeting this challenge head on. The bear has begun to roar.












Comment: See also:
- Putin: 'Absurd' to believe Russia poisoned Skripals ahead of elections & World Cup
- Finian Cunningham: Britain's Skripal-Syria synchronization
- Britain's presumption of guilt towards Russia invites conflict and chaos
- Skripal Likely Poisoned by British Intelligence in Effort to Smear and Silence Russian World View
- UK claims of Russian responsibility for Skripal poisoning discredited - govt-manufacturing propaganda operation against Russia
- British Skripal narrative falls apart: Boris Johnson invents new story on 'Russian novichoks'
- "Absurd...the same kind of canard that led us to the disaster of the Iraq war" - George Galloway on Skripal (VIDEO)
Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Doing Putin's 'Dirty Work': Barmy British Incite War With Russia