• Craig Murray: Day 6 of the Assange Hearing - Railroaded
• The show trial of Julian Assange: A cruel and pseudolegal farce
• Julian Assange: Damage to the soul of a nation

• Alexey Navalny 'in coma' after falling ill on flight from Siberia, poisoning suspected UPDATES
• If Navalny was poisoned, unlikely it was by Putin: Italian professor dismisses 'state-sponsored assassination theory UPDATES'
• Merkel's guest': Army ambulances, 'deliberate disinfo' at airport reveal details of Navalny's arrival in Germany UPDATES
• German FM links Nord Stream 2 to Navalny, threatens sanctions as Moscow accuses Berlin of dragging feet on alleged poisoning probe UPDATE
• German 'Novichok poisoning' claims over Navalny will prompt familiar circus of sanctions & Russia demonisation. But who benefits?

Wearisome though it may be to point out the bleeding obvious, I must do so.

If the Russian state had attempted to assassinate Navalny, they would never have allowed his stricken comatose body to be flown out of the country to Germany in the first place. He would have died on the operating table in Russia, where nobody could "detect traces of Novichok" in a NATO capital.

If the Russian state was responsible for trying to kill Navalny, surely the LAST weapon in the whole world it would have chosen with which to do so would be Novichok?

A butter knife, a gun, a speeding car, a car crash - any one of a hundred methods would surely have been preferable in the post-Skripal era. And more reliable, it would appear: Navalny, for now mercifully, is the THIRD Russian in a row to be attacked by a DEADLY "military-grade nerve agent" and mysteriously fail to die.

But just like with the Skripals, we come up against the question asked in every murder mystery: Cui Bono? Who benefits?

What conceivable gain would the Kremlin stand to make in the killing by Novichok of Alexey Navalny?

The Trump administration called for the low-yield warhead as part of its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.

In February, the Pentagon disclosed the warhead had been deployed for the first time after reports that it deployed on a submarine at the end of 2019. But the exact timing and location of its deployment are classified.

It's unclear from the excerpts when Trump made his comments on the weapons system to Woodward. Trump conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with Woodward from December to July.
[...]
Reports later said Trump was referring to the U.S. military's hypersonic glide body and that the speed Trump disclosed referenced how much faster than the speed of sound the missile flew in a March test.

The Pentagon had announced the hypersonic missile test in March but did not disclose the speed.

• Curfew imposed on 40 towns in Israel, former defense minister urges public to DEFY orders
• 'Crime minister': Thousands protest against Netanyahu over COVID-19 and corruption

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said he believes the Iraqis welcome the U.S. and coalition troops, especially in the ongoing fight to keep IS fighters from taking hold of the country again.

Trump told reporters two weeks ago that "we look forward to the day when we don't have to be there." The comments came during an Oval Office meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. The move appears to be an attempt by Trump to make good on his promise to end U.S. participation in "endless wars."

• The Saker: A quick update on Belarus
• 'An internal issue': Russia has shown 'much more restraint' in its response to events in Belarus than EU & US - Putin
• Belarusian opposition figurehead Maria Kolesnikova is officially under arrest

• His father's son, Yair Netanyahu wants to rid Tel Aviv of minorities
• Netanyahu's son Yair gets banned by Facebook for a day over anti-Muslim messages
• Bibi's scandal-plagued son Yair Netanyahu: He'd 'prefer' if 'all the Muslims leave' Israel
• Son of Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair, under fire for social media activities