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Bullseye

Best of the Web: UK claims of Russian responsibility for Skripal poisoning discredited - govt-manufacturing propaganda operation against Russia

Nafeez Ahmed
Insurge Intelligence
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:34 UTC
salisbury cleanup
© Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFPMilitary personnel investigate the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury
On Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May announced that former Russian spy, Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned with "a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia" known as 'Novichok'.

The chemical agent was identified by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down. May referred to the British government's "knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so" as a basis to conclude that Russia's culpability in the attack "is highly likely."

On these grounds, she claimed that only two scenarios are possible:
"Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others."
The British government's line has been chorused uncritically by the entire global press corps, with little scrutiny of its plausibility.

But there is a problem: far from offering a clear-cut evidence-trail to Vladimir Putin's chemical warfare labs, the use of Novichok in the nerve gas attack on UK soil points to a wider set of potential suspects, of which Russia is in fact the least likely.

Comment: See also:

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Bulb

Chris Steele admits he isn't sure the Trump 'golden showers' tape actually exists


The Daily Caller
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:23 UTC
Christopher Steele
© YouTube screen capture/CBS News'Former' British spy Christopher Steele
Christopher Steele is not convinced that the most salacious claim in his infamous dossier is accurate.

Steele's business partner at their private intelligence firm is even less certain, and the founder of Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned the dossier, also has his doubts.

That's according to a deeply reported section of "Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump," a new book by veteran investigative reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn.

"Steele's confidence in the sensational sex claim would fade over time," reads the book, which hit shelves Tuesday.

"As for the likelihood of the claim that prostitutes had urinated in Trump's presence, Steele would say to colleagues, 'It's fifty-fifty,'" it continues.

In his first memo for the dossier, dated June 20, 2016, Steele, a former MI6 officer, reported that a source inside Russia had received information that Trump took part in the tryst in 2013 while visiting Russia for the Miss Universe pageant. Steele's source told him that the Russian government has used the video to blackmail Trump.

The allegation is the most prominent allegation made in the so-called "dirty dossier," which was financed by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

Steele's business partner, Christopher Burrows, immediately questioned Steele's report, according to the book.

Comment: This is a perfect case study in how the Russian collusion narrative grew wings and dive-bombed straight into the earholes and mushy minds of millions. A benign anecdote (someone offering Trump some prostitutes, which were turned down) transmogrifies into a tale of debauched orgies, which then gets peddled around as "supporting evidence" for other signs of collusion that are equally incredible. A ton of non-evidence is seen as evidence, but in reality, there was nothing there the whole time.

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Chess

The outcome of Eastern Ghouta as litmus test for the new US policy on Syria

Maxim A. Suchkov
Al-Monitor
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:51 UTC
Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov
© REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovChief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov arrives for the opening ceremony of the International Army Games 2017 in Alabino, outside Moscow, Russia, July 29, 2017
Moscow plans to respond to any US strike on Syria and will target any missiles and launchers involved in such an attack, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian General Staff, warned Tuesday.

"The US seeks to use [any alleged] provocation ... as a pretext to strike government areas in Damascus," Gerasimov told state-operated news agency RIA.

"We have credible information that militants are now preparing to stage the use of chemical weapons on civilians by the Syrian government forces. For this goal, the militants have brought to eastern Ghouta people, including women, children and elders, from other areas. These people have to play victims of this staged chemical attack. The White Helmets with their cameramen are already there for live broadcasts," said Gerasimov.

He added that the Russian military has discovered a lab used for poisonous chemical production in the terrorist-freed town of Aftriss.
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USA

SOTT Focus: The Pentagon & Hollywood's Successful and Deadly Propaganda Alliance

Michael McCaffrey
RT
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 08:40 UTC
US militarism
The Pentagon helps Hollywood to make money and, in turn, Hollywood churns out effective propaganda for the brutal American war machine.

The US has the largest military budget in the world, spending over $611 billion - far larger than any other nation on Earth. The US military also has at their disposal the most successful propaganda apparatus the world has ever known... Hollywood.
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Black Magic

Trump boots Tillerson, Neocon Pompeo will take his place and CIA torture Queen Haspel will head CIA

Bernard
Moon of Alabama
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 11:01 UTC
Rex Tillerson
U.S. President Donald Trump just fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 12:44 PM - 13 Mar 2018
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
According to the anti Russian propagandists (vid) Tillerson got the job because Trump loves Russia and Tillerson was in good standing with Putin. The same people now claim that Tillerson was fired from his job because Trump loves Russia and Tillerson was not in good standing with Putin.

Neither is correct. The plan to oust Tillerson and elevate Pompeo to State has been rumored and written about for several months. The plan was "developed by John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff". It had nothing to do with Russia.

Tillerson never got traction as Secretary of State. Congress disliked him for cutting down some State Department programs. Trump overruled him publicly several times.

Comment: Not that Tillerson was doing anything so wonderful as Secretary of State, but replacing him with Mike "we're going to get much more vicious" Pompeo seems, well, a bit misguided. To top things off, Trump has also selected one of THE worst known personages at the CIA to head to the already too-evil organization. What the hell did they put in Trump's soda?!

See also:

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Chess

Skripal poisoning crisis: Russia rejects UK ultimatum and demands chemical samples

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 00:57 UTC
Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says UK not meeting its international obligations

Russia has now publicly responded to the British government's ultimatum - set out in Theresa May's statement yesterday - that unless Russia provides a 'credible response' to the British enquiry about Russia's custody of Novichok chemicals by close of business today, then the British government will treat the attack on Skripal as the action of the Russian state.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed Britain's claim of Russia's involvement in Skripal's poisoning as "nonsense". He has also said that Britain has refused Russia's offer of cooperation to solve the case, and has also refused what he called Russia's "legal request" for samples of the chemical used to attack Skripal so that Russia can carry out its own tests.

Comment:

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Sherlock

SOTT Focus: Russian to Judgement on the Skripal Poisoning

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 01:01 UTC
Putin Skripal
The same people who assured you that Saddam Hussein had WMD's now assure you Russian "novochok" nerve agents are being wielded by Vladimir Putin to attack people on British soil. As with the Iraqi WMD dossier, it is essential to comb the evidence very finely. A vital missing word from Theresa May's statement yesterday was "only". She did not state that the nerve agent used was manufactured ONLY by Russia. She rather stated this group of nerve agents had been "developed by" Russia. Antibiotics were first developed by a Scotsman, but that is not evidence that all antibiotics are today administered by Scots.

The "novochok" group of nerve agents - a very loose term simply for a collection of new nerve agents the Soviet Union were developing fifty years ago - will almost certainly have been analysed and reproduced by Porton Down. That is entirely what Porton Down is there for. It used to make chemical and biological weapons as weapons, and today it still does make them in small quantities in order to research defences and antidotes. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian chemists made a lot of information available on these nerve agents. And one country which has always manufactured very similar persistent nerve agents is Israel. This Foreign Policy magazine (a very establishment US publication) article on Israel's chemical and biological weapon capability is very interesting indeed. I will return to Israel later in this article.

Comment: We called it at the time: Mossad was also a more likely culprit in the assassination of Litvinenko:

Litvinenko - By Way Of Deception Part 1
Litvinenko: By Way Of Deception - Part 2
Litvinenko: By Way of Deception Part 3: The Apartheid State Of Israel

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MIB

Litvinenko redux: Theresa May's demand that Russia 'prove itself innocent' in Skripal case is completely barmy

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 12:26 UTC
Theresa May
© REUTERS/Neil HallTheresa May speaks to reporters after being confirmed as the leader of the Conservative Party and Britain's next Prime Minister outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London, July 11, 2016.
After a week of speculation and allegations British Prime Minister Theresa May has finally spoken about the murder attempt on the former British spy Sergey Skripal, which has left both him and his daughter critically ill.

This is how the Guardian reports her statement
Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at Porton Down, our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so, Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations, and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations, the government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal....

Either this was a direct act by the Russian state against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others...

Comment: Further reading: Theresa May's accusation against Russia for Skripal poisoning doesn't hold water
[I]t is absurd to conclude that it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible.

The real likeliness for that is just as high as the likeliness that Saddam could hit the UK with a chemical weapon missile within 45 minutes. That was a fraudulent claim another British government once made.

May's claims today are just as believable as the all nonsense Tony Blair said about Saddam.

Way more likely is an involvement of Skripal in the Steele dossier and the CIA/MI6 operation against Donald Trump. Was he assailed because he threatened to talk about it?
The head of the FSB has injected some logic into this nonsense by pointing out the obvious - that the UK intelligence may be complicit in this whole sordid affair. Sergei Lavrov has also responded by saying Russia won't respond May's absurd ultimatum until evidence of chemical samples have been received by Moscow.

On the more hysterical side, there is former US Sec. of State Tillerson saying that the poisoning 'clearly came from Russia'. He apparently knows that without needing any proof. He must be like a wizard or something. Even more worse than that are the ridiculous claims made by UK MPs during Parliament:
Theresa May, Prime Minister - appears to have concluded the investigation

"There are only two plausible explanations for what happened in Salisbury on March 4. Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others."

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative MP - a subtle reference to appeasing Adolf Hitler

"Russia is as close to being a rogue state as any. It occupies Crimea, it has helped occupy eastern Ukraine, it has created a hell on earth in Syria and is, even now, overseeing worse action. This is a country locking up its members of the opposition. We've learnt this lesson before, if we appease a country like this, then we [can] expect even worse."

Chris Bryant, Labour MP - used terrorist attacks against Russia as evidence of Putin's bloodlust

"I don't suppose there's a single member of this house ... that is surprised President Putin would resort to violence because he's done it so many times before. 334 killed in Beslan massacre, 170 killed unnecessarily in the Moscow theatre siege, 299 killed in the M17 airplane that was brought down by the Russians. Countless journalists, countless people who've stood up to him as political opponents in other countries around the world, murdered by him, and yes, Sergei Magnitsky."

Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP - begged NATO and the soon-to-be-abandoned EU to step in

"This, if not an act of war, was certainly a warlike act by the Russian Federation and this is not the first we've seen... Now is the time to call on our allies, to call on the EU which has worked with us so well on sanctions, on NATO and particularly on the US, to ask what they will do to assist us when we are in need?"

Rupa Huq, Labour MP - if the time for Bond clichés is not now, then when?

"Business cannot go on as usual. Can the Prime Minister take this opportunity to tighten the loopholes that do exist in the system, concerning money laundering, so that From Russia with Cash, doesn't turn into From Russia with Blood?"
Anyone with two firing neurons will recognize the above statements as purely propaganda aimed at demonizing Russia with no basis in reality. But that doesn't stop politicians from opening their mouth and letting lies spew out. See our SOTT Focus editorials:

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Attention

EU threatens countries with visa caps if they don't take more refugees


TRT World
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 12:00 UTC
The arrival of more than a million refugees from war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East since 2015 has caused political ructions across Europe.
© (Reuters Archive)The arrival of more than a million refugees from war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East since 2015 has caused political ructions across Europe.
German newspaper "Die Welt" reports the European Commission plans legislation that would use the threat of visa cuts to force countries outside the bloc to co-operate on repatriating failed asylum seekers.

The European Commission is planning legislation that would use the threat of denied visas to encourage countries outside the bloc to co-operate on repatriating failed asylum seekers, the German newspaper Die Welt reported on Tuesday.

The arrival of more than a million refugees from war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East since 2015 has caused political ructions across Europe, placing governments under pressure to send back more of those who fail to win asylum protection in Europe.

Comment: "Europe can go f*ck itself": Italy's right party leader sees rise in popularity

Also check out Sott radio's: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis

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Megaphone

Ex-spook James Clapper allegedly leaked the fake news of Russia collusion to CNN

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 20:22 UTC
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper allegedly leaked information to CNN early last year regarding the classified briefings given to then President-Elect Donald Trump and President Barrack Obama on the salacious dossier claiming the Russians had compromising information on the president-elect, according to government sources, who noted the evidence of the leak was collected during the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation.

Clapper, who was one of four senior Obama administration officials to attend the briefing with the presidents, also stated his "profound dismay at the leaks" in an official statement issued in January, 2017 and warned that the leaks were "extremely corrosive and damaging" to national security, according to his press release.

Comment: Is 'Russia Collusion' Narrative About to Come Crashing Down?

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