OF THE
TIMES
Ties between London and Moscow are badly strained by the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who remain in critical condition after being exposed to a powerful nerve toxin in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Britain blames Russian President Vladimir Putin's government, but Moscow claims it was not involved and has repeatedly demanded that London provide more evidence.
"An analysis of all the circumstances...leads us to think of the possible involvement of the British intelligence services," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on March 28.
"The scale of it is surprising indeed, but it is just proof that hysteria is contagious. What we've witnessed in Britain in the last two weeks has been a classic case of hysteria whipped up by the government and fanned by the, mostly right wing, press"According to Ford, the events of the unfolding crisis are actually "the reaction of elites to the loss of power":
"The elites have lost in recent years in several contests, Brexit referendum, notably, and the elites seat very much on the defensive against the forces of so-called populism, which is democratic movements that the elites don't like"Former US diplomat Jim Jatras call the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats 'political warfare':
"It's global in scale, and it really has nothing to do with Salisbury, that's a pretext. And, to tell the truth, what Mr. Trump wants or doesn't want is not really relevant as far as this aspect of US policy in global policy goes, he might as well not be the president at all."
"This is a political pretext, like the kind of accusations we have seen against Syria and chemical weapons, [it's designed] to ratchet up the pressure on Moscow to discredit the recent Russian election, and also I think it's aimed at the World Cup this summer."
Comment: See also: