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UK Foreign Office deletes tweet stating nerve agent from Russia, claims it was 'inaccurate'


RT
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 15:35 UTC
Salisbury poisoning
© I-Images / Global Look Press
The UK Foreign Office denies claiming the nerve agent used in the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals came directly from Russia. Despite admitting it sent a tweet saying exactly that, and Boris Johnson making the same claim.

The UK Foreign Office has admitted it deleted the tweet which directly stated that the nerve agent, identified by the UK as A-234 - also known as Novichok- used in the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals, came direct from Russia.

This week British government scientists admitted they couldn't tell where the poison came from, undermining a number of claims to come out of the Foreign Office.

London has directly accused the Kremlin on at least three occasions of being behind the chemical attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.


Bizarrely, the Foreign Office denies Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson claimed the novichok "categorically" came from Russia, despite a recorded interview clearly showing he did.


Comment: There is no 'appears to be' questioning of the 'official' story. It is being questioned - from the beginning. It's so full of holes that one would think a 5-year-old put it together. And now that they were caught red-handed.... "that's Russia's fault too! They keep changing the story!" No, actually, that's what the UK has been doing throughout the whole time. As for Boris, looks like he's already in hot water.

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Sherlock

The Skripal case and UK's flagrant misuse of 'intelligence'

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 20:10 UTC
MI6 headquarters Britian spies
© Laurie Nevay/WikipediaThe SIS Building or MI6 Building at Vauxhall Cross houses the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, MI6), the United Kingdom's foreign intelligence agency.
As the Novichok 'evidence' collapses, the criminal investigation into the Skripal attack has become corrupted

The events of the last few days in the Skripal case provide an object lesson of why in criminal investigations the rules of due process should always be adhered to. The reason the British now find themselves in difficulties is because they have not adhered to them.

This despite the fact that - as they all too often like to remind us - it was the British themselves who largely created them.

The single biggest unexplained mystery about the Skripal case is why it attracted so much attention so quickly.

Within hours of Sergey and Yulia Skripal being found passed out on a bench the British media were feverishly speculating that they had been poisoned by Russia.

This despite the fact that no information at that point existed which warranted such speculation, and despite pleas for the investigation to be allowed to take its course from the police and from the government minister responsible for the police, Home Secretary Amber Rudd (who has ever since been conspicuously silent about the whole affair).
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Russian Flag

Best of the Web: Russophobia in the New Cold War: Interview with Stephen Cohen


The Nation
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 17:09 UTC
cold war propaganda russia
© Republic Pictures
Several factors make this US-Russian Cold War more dangerous than its predecessor. Is "Russo-madness" one of them?

Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian Studies and Politics at NYU and Princeton, and John Batchelor continue their (usually) weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments, now in their fourth year, are at TheNation.com.)



Cohen has previously explained why the new Cold War is potentially even more dangerous than was its 40-year predecessor, citing factors such as the political epicenter's now being on Russia's borders, lack of a mutual code of conduct, and the unprecedented demonization of the Kremlin leader. He had not much considered the role of Russophobia because he thought it had not been a large causal factor, unlike anti-Communism, in the preceding one, recalling an episode in his own family and, more importantly, the words of George Kennan, the architect of containment, in 1951, about the Russian people: "Give them time; let them be Russians; let them work out their internal problems in their own manner... towards dignity and enlightenment in government."

Comment: We've read Mettan's book; it's excellent.

The short answer is that russophobia isn't so much a phenomenon about Russia as it is one about the West and its founding myths.

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Attention

How John Bolton could sabotage the Korea peace talks

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
JohnBolton
© AP/Seth Wenig
Regardless of how much North Korea may capitulate to U.S. demands in negotiations, the threat of war will remain - the calling card of Bolton's version of "diplomacy."

While the administration of President Donald Trump has made a point of threatening other countries and their leaders, few countries have been menaced like North Korea. Last August, Trump threatened to attack North Korea with "fire and fury unlike the world has ever seen," apparently suggesting that any U.S. attack would dwarf the devastation wrought by the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the close of the Second World War. A month later, during his debut speech to the United Nations, Trump threatened to "totally destroy" the country if it failed to end its nuclear weapons program.

Since then, the threats have continued in some form or another, with the Pentagon telling Congress that a full-scale invasion of the isolated country was the only way to destroy its nuclear weapons and with the White House seeking to begin a "limited" war on the Korean peninsula by launching a "bloody nose" attack - plans that experts have long maintained are as dangerous as they are deluded.

Despite all the fear-mongering and threats of "extinction" and annihilation, North Korea and South Korea have agreed to high-level talks that, unsurprisingly, will also involve the U.S., in order to resolve the solution peacefully.
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Pirates

Pentagon keeps ISIS alive so it can claim Syria job not done

Marko Marjanović
Checkpoint Asia
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
US Special Forces
© NBC News
Trump has publicly let it be known he wants to leave Syria. Moreover it has been reported that he has been privately talking up a withdrawal for months. This goes a long way towards explaining a most peculiar situation in eastern Syria.

As you will recall much of the fighting in 2017 in Syria was marked by the steady rollback of ISIS by the Syrian army on one side, and the US-backed Kurdish-dominated SDF militias on the other. At the final stages of that fight there even developed "the race for Euphrates". The race to see which of these two faction would capture more of eastern Syria, particularly the oil-rich land just east of the Euphrates.

As it was the final delineation more or less ended up following the river, with the Russian-backed Syrian army to the east and Americans and the Kurds to the east. In fact, now the US military insists that Syria to the east of the Euphrates falls into its occupation zone and has twice lashed out against the Syrian army (and Russian contractors) to the east of the river with force, killing a hundred of them.

Comment: The existence of a holdout ISIS contingency in the middle of various military holdings has no other logical explanation than the one above. ISIS' recruiting of children to come under military fire is an abomination. The US military was created to serve the American people and the safety of the nation, not as an independent faction that has its own agenda and nefarious ways of keeping it.

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Star of David

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince recognizes Israel


Press TV
Mon, 02 Apr 2018 08:10 UTC
SaudiCrownPrince
© Press TVSaudi Crown Prince meets pro-Israel lobbyists in the US.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recognized Israel, stressing that Israelis are entitled to their own land.
"I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation. I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land," said bin Salman during an interview with the Atlantic published on Monday. "But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations," he added.
He added that kingdom has no problems with Jews and that "there are a lot of interests we share with Israel." He further noted that Saudi Arabia would establish economic ties with the Tel Aviv regime after conflict with the Palestinian Authority is settled. The announcement is the latest step in the kingdom's path moving towards normalization of diplomatic relations with the Tel Aviv regime.

Comment: Israelis may be 'entitled' to their own land, not someone else's. Does MBS have enough 'Israel-value' to broker the peace agreement between Israel and Palestine? Bets are off on this one. Israel has always been a 'shyster' nation, only self-served and frankly relishes its tyrannical domination over Palestine. SA is most useful in an alliance against Iran, especially with Israeli-cooked intelligence.

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Arrow Up

Russian Ambassador to UK urges OPCW probe results to be made public


RT
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 12:07 UTC
Yakovenko
© breakingnews.syRussian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko
After a failed OPCW vote on transparency, it is up to the UK to make public all material relevant to the investigation of the Salisbury poisoning affair, the Russian ambassador said. Russia strongly urges the British to do so.

Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko called for the investigation into the case of Sergei Skripal to be made as transparent as possible after the governing body of the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted against a Russian-Chinese proposal. The initiative called for the full cooperation of both the UK and Russia in the ongoing probe and have the results presented to the whole world.

The vote was 15 to 6 against the initiative. The Russian ambassador pointed out that the UK's opposition to the proposal was backed mostly by members of the EU and NATO. But 17 other nations abstained from the vote, rejecting, according to Yakovenko, the incredible "pressure" put on them by London and its camp, distancing themselves from the accusations against Russia.

The votes for the proposal and those who abstained constituted all representatives from Latin America and Africa and the majority of the representatives from Asia at the table.

Comment: So, who got to those countries that abstained and what was the leverage?

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Jet1

While Trump wants to pull out of Syria, the military wants the opposite


Sputnik
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 18:58 UTC
USTanks
© AP/APTV
Last week, Trump said that the United States would leave Syria "very soon," however, CNN reported that this decision is probably opposed by some high-ranking officials in the president's administration.

Incoming US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford have recommended that President Donald Trump not immediately withdraw troops from Syria, as the move would go against national interests, local media reported on Thursday.


Comment: Being in Syria was always for US national interests.


According to the CNN broadcaster, which cited officials familiar with the matter, during Trump's Tuesday meeting with US security officials, Pompeo and Dunford advised the president against an immediate withdrawal of troops from Syria.

Upon Trump complaining of the amount of money the United States is spent on operations in Syria and Iraq without gaining anything in return, the officials said that an immediate withdrawal would be a mistake, as it would allow Russia, Turkey and Iran to freely pursue their own interests in the region, something which runs counter to the US agenda.

Comment: Trump has a fight on his hands. Hopefully he will stand his ground. It is time to stop 'agenda wars' in someone else's country.

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X

Iran's Defense Minister Hatami: US attempted to play 'controlled chaos' amongst Muslim nations and lost


RT
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 20:38 UTC
Hatami
© Ground ReportIranian Defense Minister, Amir Hatami
The rise and fall of Islamic State in Syria was a classic game of US 'controlled chaos' in the region, Tehran believes. The Middle East needs to block such meddling with new security architecture, based on mutual dependence.

Today the Middle East is in constant turmoil because several key players like Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran are in a constant antagonistic confrontation with one another. This situation only fosters extremism and prevents regional integration, which allows foreign players like the United States stir trouble in the region while pursuing its self-interest, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami told a security conference in Moscow.

Unless the Muslims of the region are able to overcome their differences, they will be victimized, the Iranian official said. The current transition of the world towards multipolarity, which tilts the balance of power away from the West, offers a chance to do that.
"The most important result of the change is the transition of political and economic power from the Western hemisphere to the Eastern one, from the Atlantic to East Asia. For the first time in four centuries [changes] are not dependent on West's will only," he said.

Comment: Defense Minister Hatami is calling out the sins of the West, with conference attendees in consensus. The times have changed for Western hegemony and the shrinking exit window should be respected and utilized wisely.

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Handcuffs

Lawyer Alex van der Zwaan is jailed for 30 days, Mueller's first conviction

Ben Jacobs
The Guardian
Tue, 03 Apr 2018 12:17 UTC
Alexander van der Zwaan
© San Francisco ChronicleAlexander van der Zwaan
A Dutch attorney was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 days in prison for lying to federal agents, in the first formal conviction obtained by Robert Mueller in his investigation of Russian election interference and alleged collusion between aides to Donald Trump and Moscow.

A federal judge in Washington sentenced Alex van der Zwaan, a 33-year-old lawyer who previously worked with Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Van der Zwaan had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with another former Trump adviser, Rick Gates, and a person the FBI has assessed as being tied to Russian military intelligence.

Although the Dutchman was the fourth person to plead guilty in the Mueller probe, he was first to be formally sentenced. Gates, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos have entered plea deals.

A former lawyer at the prominent firm Skadden Arps, Van der Zwaan worked on a 2012 report commissioned by Manafort to defend former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych from international criticism.

Comment: Van der Zwaan's incarceration is meant as 'an example' to influence future testimonies. Nice little blemish on his record, too. His actions, so far, have nothing to do with the Russiagate investigation.

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