A Peculiar Coincidence 201


Today, Swedish prosecutors were meant to question Julian Assange in the Ecuadorean Embassy, something for which the Assange legal team has been pressing for years. They believe that once this step has been taken, prosecutors will no longer be able to keep from the scrutiny of Swedish courts the fact that there is no viable evidence whatsoever to back up the ludicrous allegations which have been made.

Frustratingly, Swedish prosecutors cancelled the interview last week, with no explanation given. Anyone would think they do not wish the investigation to progress… Then this same day Assange’s internet access is cut, WikiLeaks say by a state actor. To add to this string of coincidence, at the same time Russia Today has its bank accounts frozen by the Royal Bank of Scotland, again without explanation

This series of events are all aimed at those who seek to counter the neo-con narrative pumped out by the state and corporate media. It could be coincidence, but it looks like co-ordinated clampdown to me.

Liked this article? Please share using the links below. Then View Latest Posts


Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

201 thoughts on “A Peculiar Coincidence

1 2
  • RobG

    Mr Murray, they have a saying in Chicago: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.

      • RobG

        Ian Fleming didn’t quote it, he wrote it, and it’s a very widely known line from Fleming’s Goldfinger book, which is why I didn’t bother attributing it.

        But thanks for pointing out the source.

        • lysias

          Ian Fleming may have written it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was the source of the saying. Indeed, in Goldfinger, the character who says it, Goldfinger, says it is a saying:

          Goldfinger said,“‘Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action.’”

          And similar statements going all the way back to the 1920s are quoted in The Big Apple: Entry from October 21, 2010: “Once is happenstance; twice is coincidence; the third time it’s enemy action”.

          • RobG

            Iysias, that’s fascinating stuff, but the link you give doesn’t strongly attribute it to anyone else, either.

            I’ve no doubt Ian Fleming stole it from somewhere else, as many writers of fiction do.

            My immediate response to Craig’s post was to put in the quote from Fleming, where ever he got it from?!

            But let’s not detract from what Craig is saying here, which is an ongoing story as I type…

          • lysias

            I suspect Fleming picked up the saying from his stint in military intelligence, much of which took place in the U.S. And it would be a very appropriate thing to say in military intelligence. Especially the bit about enemy action.

    • Alcyone

      Especially if it all happens on your birthday.

      (Even a Goldfinger needs a jewel.)

      Except, I’m not sure that it is the “Swedish prosecutors cancelled the interview last week, with no explanation given. “, at all.

      The Guardian would have it otherwise:

      “A spokesman for Assange’s legal team said: “The attorney general’s office of Ecuador considered that a deferment was necessary to ensure the presence of Mr Assange’s attorneys.”
      https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/oct/12/questioning-of-julian-assange-by-swedish-authorities-postponed

      I hope it’s not a case of spending too much time with the Band of Neurotics here. I shall call them ‘Bon-bons’ in the future.

  • Trowbridge H. Ford

    Right, like Mike Todd, chief investigator of British involvement in rendition and torture, taking off his clothes, and dying of hypothermia while boozing it up on Mount Snowden!

    • Tom Welsh

      Not such a bad way to go, compared with what they might have done to him. I read somewhere that people dying of hypothermia are wont to take off their own clothes, as at one point you start to feel very hot. I hope he at least had a good view.

      • Trowbridge H. Ford

        What pathetic nonsense.

        Todd was set up by GMP’s CID, Mi6, and MI5 for murder in the middle of the night because of his investigation of British collusion in the kidnapping and torture of suspected terrorists,, and you act as if it was an assisted suicide of a terminal case in broad daylight at some scenic spot.

        You sound like Dr. Keith Hawton, explaining Dr. David Kelly’s murder before the Hutton Commission.

        You need a lobotomy.

  • Sharp Ears

    I hope that Julian is safe. The psychological and physical cruelty being inflicted on him by these evil states. including the UK, is extremely nasty.

  • fred

    How do you cut someone’s internet access in this day and age?

    I keep a couple of PAYG sims handy, if the phone line goes down I still have internet access. Surely someone has supplied Julian with a phone that can’t be traced back to him.

    • Trowbridge H. Ford

      You got to be kidding, Fred, for the spooks.

      Sure GCHQ has means of monitoring any calls from a given location. And cannot Wifi or the survivor involved be shut off anywhere?

      Why do you generally attempt to give the covert bastards alibis for almost anything.?

      • fred

        Monitoring the internet is not blocking it.

        They can jam mobile phone signals but not just for one person.

        Something just doesn’t add up.

        • Clark

          If state actors have one of those portable mobile base stations in the area, specific ‘phones or dongles could be recognised and blocked. Mobile network operators cooperating with the state could do the same, and probably have had Assange’s connection identified for a long time. A spare ‘phone or dongle would get around such a block, but only until it was recognised, which would only take seconds if a portable mobile base station was being used in the vicinity. If Assange has spare ‘phones, dongles and SIM cards, it would indeed take state resources to keep kicking him off the mobile broadband ‘net.

          The embassy’s ADSL could be blocked by their ISP, but that would block all Internet access from the embassy. The embassy’s router could have been compromised by some of the exploits Snowden describes such that it betrays which requests are coming from which devices within the embassy, such that Assange’s traffic could be selectively blocked. Or Assange’s devices and/or all other devices in the embassy could have been infected with malware that places tags on traffic to make it recognisable and thus selectively blockable. Again, state-level interference.

          They can’t keep him off news outlets but they can slow down his response time; recordings can still be made and carried out of the embassy. And they can degrade his access to outside information.

    • Republicofscotland

      ” I still have internet access. ”

      ___________

      Really? For someone who claims they live in the North of Scotland, that sure is a big boast, considering large swathes of Scotland still has no, or very poor internet access. Unless of course, you don’t actually live there, which would explain a lot.

      • fred

        Seems to me the only state actor capable of cutting Julian Assange’s internet access would be Equador.

        Do you think maybe Assange’s support for Donald Trump could be becoming embarrassing?

        • Andy Banks

          Nonsense. Routers can be controlled remotely as Virgin showed by recalbratibg my router today from somewhere in India

          • fred

            So plug in a router they don’t have access to. It isn’t rocket surgery. You can use any router you want you don’t have to use the one provided by your ISP.

      • Clark

        Fred certainly was in Caithness in 2013 because I stayed nearby for a couple of months. I fully expect he’s still there. It’s quite high there but not particularly convoluted terrain; line-of-sight to mobile base-stations for miles and miles.

    • Tom Welsh

      I wondered the same thing. After all, the Embassy must have Internet access and surely the British Government must ensure its integrity. So why can’t Assange piggyback on that?

    • RobG

      fred said: “How do you cut someone’s internet access in this day and age?”

      Drop a multitude of thermo-nuclear bombs?

      But World War Three apart, from what I understand it’s very easy to do.

      Thesedays everyone has a ‘box’ in their home from which they get their access to the internet. All of these boxes are compromised (which is why the various companies are so precious about their particular boxes, so that no one finds this out). The internet boxes are basically connected to two lines: the standard telephone and internet lines, and another line that goes directly to the security services. The security services control the flow of all internet traffic in and out, whether you live at 123 Arcacia Gardens or Buckingham Palace.

      I would imagine that the Ecuadorean (I still have a tough job spelling that) Embassy in London, which is basically a small flat near to Harrods, does not have highly secure telephone lines.

      With regard to mobile phone and satellite communications, these are absurdly easy both to grab and to block.

      I would guess that Assange has been relying on high encryption across the telephone cables, which according to Wikileaks has now been blocked.

      • fred

        No. You just have two pairs of wires leaving your house on a normal, not fibre optic, phone line. One for broadband download and one for telephone and broadband upload. They would be easy to disconnect or monitor at the exchange.

        Phone signals can be jammed but not just to one person, the frequency jammed would jam every phone in range.

        • Clark

          But all ‘phones in range can be intercepted, and all the ones that aren’t Assange can be passed through to the rest of the network. With a portable mobile base-station as described by Snowden, the number of ‘phones in range can be small enough to make this practical.

          No, your home line just has two wires called a “twisted copper pair” or a “subscriber loop”. They carry identical signals, but in anti-phase to make their magnetic fields cancel out to minimise inductive losses. The telephone audio and the ADSL broadband are separated by being at very different frequencies; the little “microfilter” white boxes which arrive with your router separates the frequencies.

          Such lines can be tapped anywhere between the exchange and the subscribers’ equipment. Thieves can and do connect telephones to such lines and thus make outgoing calls that get billed to the tapped user’s account. The ‘phone companies charge their users for such illicit calls regardless; they are often quite bullying about it.

          The companies all want you to have their ADSL router because they put malware in them to track your browsing behaviour. They sell that data (which they claim to be anonymised) to advertising and profiling companies. In the UK the companies are required by law to keep a record of your calls and your Internet behaviour which they give to the secret services or other authorities when demanded.

    • Scott

      Here’s some reading material. If you need more, just search for “cell tower spoofing”.

      What you have is a device that pretends to be a cellphone tower, that sits in the middle listening, forwarding cellphone traffic onto a real tower.

      If for some reason you wanted to block an individual like Assange, I imagine it would be simple on the basis that his access behaviour or even cryptographic footprints would be different from the average user in the vicinity.

      This is not new.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMSI-catcher
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/02/senators-question-fbis-legal-reasoning-behind-cell-tower-spoofing/

      And this is an easy read.

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-10/what-happens-when-the-surveillance-state-becomes-an-affordable-gadget

      Kind regards,
      Scott

  • lysias

    Interesting comment on Moon of Alabama:

    Shutting off RT (others..) is an admission of defeat. It implies that ‘free speech, free media,’ ‘balanced povs’, ‘democracy in the world’ and yada yada can only be tolerated when the Empire is on top of the game and can drown it out with their own propaganda.

    Once that fails – as it has – sharp censorship (incl. of ordinary citizens) hits. All the parties re-trench and attempt to control ‘their ppls’ opinion, at which, since 1948, all have been remarkably successful. The internet has changed things. Somewhat.

    . . .

    Posted by: Noirette | Oct 17, 2016 10:32:27 AM | 76

  • bevin

    You might add to these events, the assassination of the Ukrainian anti-fascist militia commander ‘Motorola.’
    And where does the citizen go to look for more information on these matters? Not to the NY Times or The Guardian, not to the BBC or PBS. And, increasingly, ‘alternative’ news sources in the US are turning into Clinton/neo-con relay stations.
    The sensible citizen, the building block of liberty, the independent observer has to resort to RT, Press TV and Sputnik in the hope that what is not news in the media owned and controlled by our ruling class may be reported there.

  • Roger

    RT accounts not suspended, but closed without recourse or explanation. Obviously designed to prevent RT broadcasting in the UK, one wonders which government minister gave the order. One the things about RT is the quality of its financial journalism, one often learns more from watching RT than any number of BBC financial reports, they’re the ones that broke RBS asset stripping scandal for example, maybe another reason for this action.

    The west always seems to underestimate how smart the Russians are, I suspect they’ll simply switch all their trading to a crypto currency like Bitcoin, outside the western banking system.

  • El Sid

    Peculiar indeedy.

    “Coincidence Theory” stikes again!

    Just when RT’s Max Keiser has a show dedicated to RBS.
    https://youtu.be/axJRaUkJWtY

    “We are joined by Joel Benjamin, local authority debt audit campaigner with Debt Resistance UK, and Nigel Henderson, who lost his hotel business to RBS’s restructuring division, to talk of the ‘stunned commoners’ in awe (at the brazenness) of the Royal . . . Bank of Scotland. Nigel recounts his own encounter with RBS’s smash and grab unit which saw him lose his hotel in Scotland. We discuss the tens of billions in fines the bank, the taxpayer owned RBS, faces from US authorities for the bank’s role in mortgage backed securities fraud and whether or not there will be anything left for compensation of the thousands of small and medium sized enterprises destroyed in the UK.”

    • DomesticExtremist

      RBS prolly got told by State “cut RT’s accounts or we will trump up some pretext for a Deusche Bank sized fine”.

      HRC’s fingerprints all over both of these ‘coincidences’.

    • Babushka

      The Capstone at Denver International Airport proclaims
      •There are no coincidents
      •Everything in the universe is interrelated
      •Nothing is as it seems

    • michael norton

      Fully agree with Craig.
      Only just got home, been out cycling, just missed the rain but my cycling mate and i were talking about Rt having its Nat West account closed down – without discussion.
      We thought it STRANGE.
      We also talked about J.Assange having his internet switched off
      but we did not conflate the two agendas.
      Now, I am conflating.

  • Mick McNulty

    A few years after the invasion of Iraq I said to an acquaintance who I only knew briefly that I would rather get my news from Al Jazeera (when Al Jareeza was still independent and honest). A few weeks later Al Jazeera’s Doha HQ was bombed by the mass-murderers Bush and Blair. I never saw her again to know what she thought but that bombing must have made an impression on her so soon after our chat.

    We are already in an information war and we don’t know how far and how soon it will become a hot war. They want RT silenced now.

  • Paul Barbara

    The questioning has been postponed to 14th November.

    There will be a vigil outside the Ecuadorean Embassy, 3 Hans Cres, London SW1X 0LS, on Monday 14th November 2016 between 9am and 12 noon (nearest Underground station Knightsbridge).

    This special vigil outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London is very important as this is the day the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be finally questioned enabling some progress regarding the outstanding Swedish case. Please visit http://www.justice4assange.com website for the latest developments in this case.

    Particularly, we remember the last time the Swedish Prosecutor was to proceed with questioning the meeting was cancelled at the last minute we also remember that JA’s legal team welcomed the progress of the investigation and has actively pursued it for years.

    It is also the case that the United Nations Working Group of Arbitrary Detention has examined the case from the very start of Julian Assange’s detention in 2010 and through the years’ long procrastination and inactivity by Sweden and have found that both the UK and Sweden are arbitrarily detaining him, that they should release and compensate him.

    Since neither countries have complied with their International obligations, both UK and Sweden will be under scrutiny on the subject during their UN Universal Periodic Review for Human Rights. Already UK has been chastised.

    Quote "Assange’s case "raises serious concerns regarding the UK’s ability to guarantee equal treatment and the right to a fair trial, protection against inhuman and degrading treatment and arbitrary deprivation of liberty, the right to privacy and family life and the right to health. In addition, Mr Assange’s case is emblematic of the trajectory of human rights protection in the UK, with the UK’s apparent efforts to cut off access to human rights appeal mechanisms, and demonstrates the importance of access to UN complaint mechanisms for UK citizens and residents." Unquote

    If you are unable to attend, but still wish to show your support, please share with us a statement of support special for the occasion which we can read out during the event.

    Julian Assange Defence Committee [email protected]

    • lysias

      Then there’s the U.S. bombing of the Serbian television facility in Belgrade during the Kosovo War, NATO’s first illegal war.

    • Alcyone

      Put your quotations and extracts in quotation marks in the future.

      Also minimize your extracts to support the point you’re trying to make.

      Use links for longer references.

      Do not make extracts without also making your own point clear, not just that of the author’s.

      • lysias

        The style police strikes. And, instead of making polite suggestions, he issues decrees in the imperative mood.

        Interestingly, Wikipedia gives as its example of the imperative mood the polite “Please be quiet.” A far better example of the imperative mood would be “Shut up!”

        • Alcyone

          You must be a failed or second-rate lawyer to be unable to differentiate moderation rules (the source of my comments) from ‘style’.

          And as obiter dicta, the point has been made several times before so a plea can morph into imperative in time, particularly if you are addressing Smart-Alecs.

        • Alcyone

          btw, is Barbara your client? There’s been a lot of talk about people carrying their counsel along to places…

  • Maria

    Hmmm… pretty sure this is Obama’s clampdown on foreign “interference” in our elections.

    Obama has been patient with this self-righteous hideous person because the American ppl were like .. meh.. let him talk freedom of the press etc .. but he crossed a line and now Wiki+Assange will get the BiBi treatment. Except that it will be a lot worse for Assange.. methinks.

    • Tom Welsh

      “Obama has been patient with this self-righteous hideous person…”

      I don’t know who you are, Maria, but I can’t believe that you mention Obama and then call someone other than Obama “self-righteous” and “hideous”. That’s like calling a pen flashlight “luminous” right after mentioning Rigel.

  • Culloden

    And CIA running dog Theresa May obediently shits where she’s trained to: in this instance on A/RES/36/103, the peremptory norm against coercive foreign interference.

    https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/36/a36r103.htm

    Showing that she can be every inch the cowardly bitch that Blair is, she blames the dirty tricks on a bank in breach of provision II(k). As EU pariah dogs crippled by trade, Britain’s sole use to their CIA masters is this sort of feckless trick. Why would any self-respecting Scot want to be part of this pathetic British satellite state? Savile’s load shot into a corpse is the most exact synecdoche for Britain.

    • Tom Welsh

      Yes. Boris Johnson, for whom I had a soft spot based on his amusing banter and excellent books, let himself down the moment he was given a serious job – he’s dead to me. And now Theresa May, who was doing a reasonable job of appearing fair and moderate. She, also, is dead to me.

      “I do not like [the Labour Party], but an Englishman has to have a Party just as he has to have trousers, and of the three Parties I find them the least painful. My objection to the Tories is temperamental, and my objection to the Liberals is Lloyd George. I do not think that in joining a Party one necessarily abrogates the use of one’s reason. I know that my trousers might be better than they are; nevertheless they seem better to me than none”.

      – Bertrand Russell, “Autobiography”

  • Republicofscotland

    You know what, I still don’t understand why the security services, and the Swedish prosecutor’s, don’t drop the charges and allow Assange to leave the embassy, afterall hedfar more easier to acquire out in the open.

    Maybe the security services thought Assange was going to release more dirty laundry online so they, cut his service, or it could be Swedish prosecutors had no real intention, of going to London in the first place.

    Speaking of the spooks, it appears they’ve been collecting our data for seventeen years, illegally.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/17/uk-security-agencies-unlawfully-collected-data-for-decade

    O/T but a insight into the Tory psyche, opposing Brexit should be classed as an act of treason, with a life sentence as mandatory.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/17/opposing-brexit-should-be-made-an-act-of-treason-punishable-by-l/

    Ve haf vays of locking you up.

    • lysias

      The point of the people doing this isn’t to actually stop RT, it’s to ingratiate themselves with their superiors.

      Iron Law of Institutions:

      The people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself. Thus, they would rather the institution “fail” while they remain in power within the institution than for the institution to “succeed” if that requires them to lose power within the institution.

    • Herbie

      “The CIA are planning a huge cyber attack on Russia.”

      Wasn’t aware the CIA had that capability.

      Surely that would be an NSA project, in collaboration with GCHQ.

      Perhaps there’s some sort of falling out between NSA and CIA.

      Would explain Assange and Snowden etc

  • Born Optimist

    Just another recent coincidence: John Swinney’s monochrome ‘hitlerian’ style image and the accidental replacement of an image of the First Minister by that of a Gorilla?

    Coincidences are more common than people believe but could these be intended to rile independence supporters and force an over-reaction? Or intended to demean senior members of the Scottish Government and their policies? Or as means of distracting one from more important topics?

    If accidental, then not worth bothering about but, If intentional, they are still best ignored after reaquainting oneself with one simple means by which perceptions and feelings can be influenced by sources that can readily deny any malicious intent.

  • Brianfujisan

    Tell Jullian to Escape…To this wee Gem…

    Unless of course i Buy it myself.. But Nevermind, I’ll need Sharp Ears to listen to the clamour on the mainland, and Ben fuji-san may bubble away, keep me warm, and on my toes lest i get fedup

    P.s Never Worry about a Murray… On the 17th of october— Em nor a fujisan

    Ahh well –

    http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/luxury/selfsufficient-scottish-island-for-sale-completely-off-the-grid-tanera-mor-comes-with-24hour-a105361.html

    • nevermind

      Gosh Brian, what an island, sadly beyond my meagre means, and you need a boat/helicopter to get there.
      But there are eight houses so a few could share if they are empty that is. You can’t throw folks out of their homes, so new build stone cottages would need to be part of it.

      • Brianfujisan

        Nevermind

        And there was me hoping you might be up fpr a 50’k Loan, on this project… Well At least You are a Fellow Martial Artist.. And Stone Expert.. I was Amazed walking through Luss Cemetery..Being Educated By yourself

        • nevermind

          We had a great day out at the lake, and your guidance is a grace to Scotland, thanks again, hope to see you again soon.

  • Tom Welsh

    Craig, what do you think are the odds that Sir Humphrey had “a quiet word” with someone from the RBS board? Presumably HMG has enough on various senior members of RBS to put them all away for a long, long time if they don’t play ball? I can’t believe they would attract such disastrous publicity to themselves except under compulsion.

  • John Spencer-Davis

    Urgent. I am reading speculation on line that Julian Assange has been taken by force from the Ecuadorian embassy. Also that he may have been killed. Doesn’t sound likely to me, but does anyone have better information as to his safety and whereabouts? J

    • Alcyone

      John, if you know it’s speculation, why are you resisting seeing it for what it is? i.e. unreliable. Honestly, I didn’t think you were that gullible or deserving of being classed in the Band of Neurotics here. Until now.

      • lysias

        Assange is presumably aware people are worried about his wellbeing. Under the circumstances, it is perhaps significant that he has not appeared on the balcony of the embassy, nor has the Ecuadorian embassy issued any statement about his wellbeing.

        Has anyone addressed a question to the embassy about him?

        • Tom Welsh

          It would be a peculiarly twisted “echo” of the WPC Yvonne Joyce Fletcher shooting if Assange were to be assassinated while in the Ecuadorean Embassy. As we have all been told, WPC Fletcher was killed by the horrid Libyan security people. But who are the horrid security people who have killed thousands of times as often as those Libyans?

  • mike

    Yes, a peculiar coincidence.

    Five hours ago, this happened, said the FT: “UK to write down value of RBS stake for second time in 6 months”.

    Was there any Government involvement in the RT decision, I wonder?

    Or was the write-down punishment for doing it?

    Whatever the answer, the UK has taken another step towards totalitarian control by hitting RT/Wikileaks. What are “we” afraid of?

    • Herbie

      “What are “we” afraid of?”

      Truth, I’d imagine.

      Been trying to hide that for eons these empirists.

      Under loads and loads of Kardashians these days.

  • lysias

    The Guardian: Closure of Russia Today bank accounts nothing to do with us – Treasury:

    But after several hours of confusion the Treasury said it had nothing to do with NatWest’s move. Sources said the decision to deny RT banking services was made independently by NatWest, and apparently without any official consultation.

    “This isn’t something that has come out of the Treasury,” one source insisted. The UK government had not introduced any fresh sanctions or “obligations” against Russia since February 2015, the source said.

    Yeah, a likely story. Tell me another.

    • Tom Welsh

      “But after several hours of confusion the Treasury said it had nothing to do with NatWest’s move”.

      ‘Never believe anything until it has been officially denied’.

  • Bert

    This is great. The neo-con elite are doing it in their pants and everyone can see it 😉

    There eleven simple words for Theresa May… “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.”

    Bert.

    • Kempe

      ” Account Blocking Won’t Stop Truth Seekers From Turning to RT ”

      Yes that made me laugh too.

      Their accounts have not been frozen and will remain open until 12th December so they have time to make alternative arrangements.

  • Alan

    Here is another coincidence.

    SIDtoday is the internal newsletter for the NSA’s most important division, the Signals Intelligence Directorate. After editorial review, The Intercept is releasing nine years’ worth of newsletters in batches, starting with 2003. The agency’s spies explain a surprising amount about what they were doing, how they were doing it, and why.

    https://theintercept.com/snowden-sidtoday/

  • michael norton

    I wonder if this too is also part of the ongoing disinformation war: MEP Woolfe quits ‘death spiral’ UKIP
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37682828
    A UKIP MEP who spent three nights in hospital after a row with a party colleague is quitting the party, saying it is in a “death spiral”.

    Steven Woolfe, who had been running to be the next leader, told the BBC there was “something rotten” in the party.

    He also accused fellow MEP Mike Hookem of inflicting a “blow” to his face in the row at a party meeting.

    Mr Hookem has acknowledged a “scuffle” but said he “categorically did not” throw a punch at his colleague.

    Mr Woolfe was rushed to hospital after collapsing following the incident, which UKIP described as an “altercation”, and came during a meeting to discuss reports the North West England MEP had had discussions about joining the Conservatives.

  • Alcyone

    Craig:

    “Frustratingly, Swedish prosecutors cancelled the interview last week, with no explanation given.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/oct/12/questioning-of-julian-assange-by-swedish-authorities-postponed

    From The Guardian article:

    “Ecuador’s attorney general said on Wednesday that the long-awaited interview, due to take place on Monday, would be delayed until 14 November to ensure that Assange’s legal team could attend.”

    and

    “A spokesman for Assange’s legal team said: “The attorney general’s office of Ecuador considered that a deferment was necessary to ensure the presence of Mr Assange’s attorneys.”
    ________________
    So, whose statement is true Craig, yours or The Guardian’s?

    • Tom Welsh

      “So, whose statement is true Craig, yours or The Guardian’s?”

      Obviously Craig’s. I don’t even need to see the respective statements to know that.

  • michael norton

    O/T
    Two killed BASF chemical plant explosion in GERMANY
    http://news.sky.com/story/several-missing-after-explosion-at-basf-chemical-plant-in-germany-10621116
    People who live near the plant in Ludwigshafen, western Germany, are warned to stay inside and to shut all doors and windows.
    This morning, the news was two injured, so are these two extra.

    Two other people are still missing after the blast, which happened at the Ludwigshafen headquarters of chemical company BASF at around

    • michael norton

      BBC
      Residents were told to close their windows as the cloud of smoke spread.

      The explosion happened at about 11:20 (09:20 GMT) on Monday.

      BASF officials said the fire that caused the blast began in a supply line that transported flammable liquids and liquefied gas to a tank at the harbour. Police ruled out that the incident was caused by a terrorist attack, reports said.

      Seven people were injured, six seriously. The company’s medical director said the situation was still confused and changing from minute to minute.

      Several fires broke out after the blast and there were reports of some residents living close to the port having breathing difficulties. Officials later stressed there was no evidence of a risk to public health.

      A pall of smoke rose about 100m (330ft) into the air and nearby towns and cities were all warned of potential hazards. Five hours after the incident, small fires were still burning in the area, although all were under control, officials said.

        • michael norton

          Terror could be caused by someone working for BASF or someonelse with access.

          Also may I ask,
          Officials later stressed there was no evidence of a risk to public health

          how do just a few hours after the initial eXplosion that nobody will suffer ill health?
          If people are dead/almost dead, nearby towns are being warned of potential further danger, who is this Official,
          who imagines there is no danger to health, is he breathing in the fumes?

        • nevermind

          because they are on the ball, MN, in Germany refugees are well looked after and they tend to work together with the authorities.

          Jabr al Bakr was shopped and delivered by refugees that had enough of his bomb making. If you treat people as people they will be honest and help you.

1 2

Comments are closed.