England vs Russia on Russian soil in the football World Cup this summer would have been more entertaining than the dreary, farcical charade the two countries have been playing out since March.
The Skripal Saga - The Salisbury Poisonings - Putin's personal chemical warfare attack on the UK... The only thing really worth saying about it is that it's just more sound and fury, signifying nothing. Be that as it may, the mainstream anglophone media has capitalized on this mendacity because it's a useful distraction from the major geopolitical changes underway, as well as the socio-economic and planetary upheaval resulting from, or mirroring, the chaotic world system transition we're undergoing.
Flush with
paranoid conspiracy theories and
lewd speculation, what the media's narratives about this nonsense lack - as usual - is all-important context. In 2003, the US and UK launched a reckless invasion and occupation of Iraq
under the pretext that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (which, specifically, included chemical weapons) aimed at London. Russia demanded evidence of such before that war, warning that chaos would result from such a flagrant breach of international law, and was ignored.
The US and UK later launched a proxy war against neighbouring Syria by funding, arming and training an 'internationalist brigade' of 'Muslim liberators', and, once that 'softened up' the country, the anglo-American establishment were 'weapons-hot' to swoop in and 'decapitate the regime' in August 2013
under the pretext that Bashar Al-Assad had 'used chemical weapons against his own people'. Russia again intervened, but this time was listened to (likely because Russia already had a military foothold in the country via its long-term air defence contracts, not because the US Congress and UK Parliament suddenly 'saw the light' and agreed to adhere to international law). The OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) certified that the Syrian state was chemical weapon-free, and the matter was apparently dropped.
Comment: It's measure of Putin's ability to forbear in the face of his own constituency baying for revenge. You can be sure Israel is being forced into many concessions behind the scenes in exchange for that forbearance. The Russian government is playing a long game. A hot war serves no one, friend or foe, no matter how satisfying it might seem to be in the short term