Scotland Must Defend Carla Ponsati; Sturgeon Cannot Play Pontius Pilate 1033


It is sickening that Spanish courts continue to jail, and remove from political life, Catalan politicians who are the victors in democratic elections. That the European political class and media is almost entirely complicit and supportive in this truly vicious repression of the Catalan people, has shocked many of us to our core, and made us realise how thin is the veneer of democracy and how fragile are the rights we believed we held.

If the UK were any kind of a democracy, opposition parties would have held firm against the rush to conflict with Russia, until serious and thorough investigation of the Skripal case had yielded real results. At the very least, you would expect to see a select committee of the House of Commons call the head of Porton Down to give evidence and quiz him about the level of certainty they have of the identity and the Russian manufacture of the substance which poisoned the Skripals.

Instead, we have seen all the establishment parties fall over themselves to appear as belligerent and faux-Churchillian as May and her pipsqueaks, in order to placate the tabloids. This is ludicrous. You cannot out-jingo the Tories, and the rush to increase international tension benefits nobody except the armaments and security industries.

I am obliged to say I was disgusted by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP leadership and their premature condemnations of Russia. By coincidence I spent much of last week at pro-Indy events and I have to say I found this disgust almost universal.

The odd voice was prepared to offer the usual Nicola excuse of “She is trying not to alienate the Unionists”. But what is the point of not alienating the Unionists by, to all intents and purposes, becoming a Britnat yourself? The continued failure – for years now – of the SNP to argue to the public the case for Independence, the attempt to dodge Indyref2, all of it leaves me to feel that the SNP leadership have got their feet under the table within the UK, as a form of controlled opposition.

The SNP leadership are far happier talking about which powers devolve to Holyrood from Brussels, and which stay at Westminster, than they are talking about Independence. I don’t give a damn about the precise contours of the devolution settlement; I want my country to be free of Westminster entirely, and soon.

We are not yet subject to the extreme state repression afflicting our counterparts in Catalonia, but you can be certain the Tories have noted the template, and that other Western political leaders will support them if they start putting people like me in the pokey for thirty years for sedition. Sadly it has become abundantly clear that there is no danger of the highly paid SNP elected representatives, their SPADs, and party bureaucrats, ever putting themselves in that position.

They would be with those handing down the sentences, as their attitude to Carla Ponsati shows.

Just as MEPs lined up one after another in the European Parliament to defend Francoist thugs batoning grandmothers trying to vote as the “rule of law”, and use the same excuse for lengthy sentences for political prisoners, so there was an echo of this distancing in Nicola Sturgeon’s response to the extradition of Catalan campaigner Carla Ponsati through the Scottish courts, potentially to spend the rest of her life in a Spanish jail just for peacefully campaigning for freedom for her country.

Nicola referred to “the fact our justice system is legally obliged to follow due process in the determination of extradition requests”. She too is hiding behind “the rule of law” and thus turning a blind eye to the Francoist attack on fundamental rights.

Very few voters of the SNP put Nicola Sturgeon into parliament in order to warm her toes at the Robert Adam fireplaces at Bute House, while Catalan leaders are dragged from Scotland to a terrible repression. The SNP leadership have become far too adept at speaking with British Establishment voices and thinking with British Establishment minds.

At some stage they have to accept that achieving Scottish Independence is in itself a revolutionary act, and that it will never be achieved without real constitutional conflict with the UK, the sort of political conflict which has attended the birth of every independent state. If you are afraid to do something “unconstitutional” under the present repressive system, you have no right to pretend to be a part of the Independence movement.

For Sturgeon to hide behind the Edinburgh High Tory Scottish legal establishment and wash her hands, Pontius Pilate like, over the extradition of Carla Ponsati is simply unacceptable.

Saving this brave woman is as noble a cause to launch a constitutional crisis as one might wish for. The Holyrood parliament must pass a Bill forbidding the extradition of Ponsati and the Scottish government must order Police Scotland to enforce it. We need finally to show we are serious about challenging the UK. If Sturgeon declines, then the Scottish people must physically defend Ponsati. And the Independence movement must fundamentally reconsider its leadership and strategy.


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1,033 thoughts on “Scotland Must Defend Carla Ponsati; Sturgeon Cannot Play Pontius Pilate

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  • Crackerjack

    France enters the fray

    https://www.rt.com/news/422871-russia-questions-uk-skripal-case/

    This would be the France that concluded that Assad was responsible for the Sarin attack in KS by comparing samples with the still unattributed attack in Ghouta.

    The fact that both attacks occurred in areas controlled by Nusra and at a time that would be of considerable damage to Assad (the infamous red line and just at the point where Trump was about to pull the US out of Syria) seems to have passed these clowns by

    • N_

      Thank for this. See my post on Toxic Dagger. Maybe France had observers in that exercise. Or maybe “France” did but they weren’t there for France. Watch this space.

      **********************
      List sent to British Foreign Office.
      1. Why has Russia been denied the right of consular access to the two Russian citizens, who came to harm on British territory?
      2. What specific antidotes and in what form were the victims injected with? How did such antidotes come into the possession of British doctors at the scene of the incident?
      3. On what grounds was France involved in technical cooperation in the investigation of the incident, in which Russian citizens were injured?
      4. Did the UK notify the OPCW of France’s involvement in the investigation of the Salisbury incident?
      5. What does France have to do with the incident, involving two Russian citizens in the UK?
      6. What rules of UK procedural legislation allow for the involvement of a foreign state in an internal investigation?
      7. What evidence was handed over to France to be studied and for the investigation to be conducted?
      8. Were the French experts present during the sampling of biomaterial from Sergei and Yulia Skripal?
      9. Was the study of biomaterials from Sergei and Yulia Skripal conducted by the French experts and, if so, in which specific laboratories?
      10. Does the UK have the materials involved in the investigation carried out by France?
      11. Have the results of the French investigation been presented to the OPCW Technical Secretariat?
      12. Based on what attributes was the alleged “Russian origin” of the substance used in Salisbury established?
      13. Does the UK have control samples of the chemical warfare agent, which British representatives refer to as “Novichok”?
      14. Have the samples of a chemical warfare agent of the same type as “Novichok” (in accordance to British terminology) or its analogues been developed in the UK?

      **********************

      The questions asked of the French Foreign Ministry include

      7) What expertise does France have in the field of chemical weapons of this or analogous type?

      Q12 asked of Britain takes a more specific form when asked as Q8 of France:

      8) Based on what attributes (markers) did the French specialists establish the ‘Russian character’ of the substance used in Salisbury?

      They also ask (Q10) whether what the Brits call “Novichok” or analogous types of chemical weapon have been developed in France.

  • N_

    Some points not made elsewhere…

    Toxic Dagger

    Which countries had official observers at, or participated in, exercise Toxic Dagger?

    Recall that Theresa May has called Britain an “ally” of I___el. The treaty of alliance must be secret, because it’s never been published. And since Britain was neutral during the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur war, it must have been agreed after 1973 . Anyway, allies invite each other to observe exercises, don’t they? Officers below a certain rank could be told the observers were “Canadian”, “Belgian”, “Qatari” or whatever.

    She also declared at the centenary celebration of the Balfour-Rothschild letter (let’s call it by its proper name for once) that “(British and I___eli) security services will continue to deepen their already excellent co-operation“. So was there any reason not to invite the British government’s CW-savvy IDF buddies to “observe” Toxic Dagger?

    Russian intelligence of a “false flag” chemical attack

    General Valery Gerasimov said the US was planning to carry out a chemical attack in Syria and then use it as a reason to bomb government positions in Damascus, possibly including where there are Russian forces.

    I was expecting that to happen. It may still happen.

    Or might the Russian information have derived from forward intelligence about the Salisbury attack that got garbled? We can be sure that the idea didn’t arise from nowhere.

    Another possibility is that the location of the attack could have been changed in response to an intelligence failure.

    • BrianFujisan

      James

      I had seen refference to H Clinton Elsewhere… But did not go into it… Eyes nipping with trying to keep up with all the Shit that’s going on Jeez…

      From one of MoA’s Commenters –

      ” Even before the ‘nerve agent attack’ there were letters and phone calls made to FIFA, from the likes of neo-cons, McCain for one, saying the World Cup should not be allowed there, it ‘will give Russia prestige and better optics on the world stage’.

      I hadn’d heard that.. Effin McCain ??

      • james

        hi brian,

        it is nice to be able to follow a few sites where informed commentary is going on…craig murray and b at moa have been very good on the topic of skripal and etc…

  • Charles

    I am not surprised Craig;s blog is under attack, the stakes have gone crazy.

    I predict a wave of Straw Men, Disinformation and Distraction to Follow. The following is true and I can provide verifiable sources. I do despair though.

    The police have created a mystery around Bailey, why? Because they have something to hide I guess. We don’t know when, where or how he was contaminated or with what ……… why?

    It reminded me of the mysteries that were thrown up around the Dr Kelly cover up, some have not been cleared up but some have. I was reminded today that 10 years after the death of Kelly that Andrew Gilligan revealed that the police actually knew Kelly was dead before the body was found. Gilligan knew Kelly was dead before the body was found and the Head of News at the BBC (Richard Sambrook) also knew that painkillers were involved in the “suicide” at 10am (the body was found at 9:20am), many hours before the forensic team arrived at the scene (2pm). It was the forensic team that found blister packs in Kelly’s coat pocket.

    A communications blackout was thrown around the scene that morning, the ambulance crew were detained at the scene for over an hour after they had completed their task, they were refused access to their radio equipment to call in their report to their control centre. Yet the BBC knew Kelly was dead before the body was found and what had allegedly killed him many hours before the forensic team gained access to the site and made the painkiller discovery.

    Not only did the police know that Kelly was dead there is evidence that they knew where the body would be discovered. The police identified 6 locations that they thought were priority search sites, they had the available resource of over 24 search volunteers and several trained search and rescue dogs at their disposal.

    The police chose only to call up two volunteers and one dog, they were sent to the precise spot where Kelly was discovered, the location was no.2 on their list of likely locations.

    The point is that 10 years on the key mysteries surrounding the circumstances of Kelly’s death started being Deliberately Leaked.

    How long will it be that before the truth of the Skripal poisonings is leaked? Nothing adds up. Things are looking extremely grim for Mrs May. The players including Bailey are either with the dark actors or they are with the decent honest people of this country. Things are now dangerous for those with secrets.

    Those with any secrets, incl Bailey and Davies, should start shouting them out for very simple reasons; it isn’t just their safety that is now at risk or the safety of their families or even their country, these lunatics have now put the safety of the world at risk.

    Use this blog, use any blog. The police, the MSM and MP’s can’t be trusted. The situation could not be more dire.

    • Charles

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10192271/The-betrayal-of-Dr-David-Kelly-10-years-on.html

      “I still remember, of course, how I heard about David Kelly’s death. It started with an early-morning phone call from my friend Mick Smith, then defence correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. Dr Kelly had gone missing, and the police were looking for a body.

      Even then, I couldn’t really believe that he had died. Surely it was some sort of misunderstanding? Perhaps he’d just decided to go off for a few days and would turn up in some hotel, à la Stephen Fry? As soon as I got to the BBC, the director of news, Richard Sambrook, called me to his office. While I had been on the way in, he said, not sounding like he believed it himself, Dr Kelly’s body had been found, and it looked like suicide. He’d taken painkilling tablets and slashed one of his wrists.”

    • Crackerjack

      Charles I agree Bailey is the key. He is the only other person in all of Salisbury to come into contact with the poison. The latest narrative is that he came into contact at the house. We now have to go with the notion that the poison was on the door handle (outside). So one of the Skripals picked up the poison from the door handle after closing it (who put it there and when?) and what? contaminated the other by holding hands? And Bailey picks it up by visiting the house many hours later and opening the door? This poison that degrades in contact with water? Far fetched doesn’t quite do it

      • Charles

        My research points strongly to a CIA involvement in Kelly’s death (anybody who wants the indicators I am happy to provide) the UK authorities slavishly attempted the cover up and failed miserably.

        I would therefore not be surprised if there was a US involvement in the Skripal poisoning, the UK incompetent cover up has all the hallmarks.

        Several reports immediately after the news broke said Skripal had made it known he was in fear of his life (this of course may be part of a cover up distraction tactic). If there is a Steele / Orbis connection then Skripal may have had genuine fears. What we do know is that the UK is conducting a childish and transparent cover up that is fooling nobody. We last saw this when the US were determined to close Kelly down. Kelly had revealed a number of US secrets to the media he had humiliated the President when he contradicted Bush’s claim that mobile weapon labs had been discovered. In the final week of Kelly’s life the US revoked Kelly’s Security Clearence, Jack Straw responded by refusing to share French Intelligence on Iraq with the US, Straw also publicly ridiculed CIA director George Tenet in the same week.

        There are staff at Salisbury hospital that are angry and afraid, the same is true of Porton Down and the police. It won’t be long before it all starts to unravel. Then things become extremely dangerous for the planet.

        • lysias

          They waited to kill Kelly until Blair was in the U.S. Then they used the male prostitute Guckert/Gannon to put Blair into a compromised position where he had to go long with a cover up. I can’t prove if, but that’s what I suspect.

          CIA may not have done the actual killing. There’s always the rogue state Israel to do the plutocrats’ dirty work.

      • Bunkum

        For my two penneth Baileys statement from the met was similar to Trevor Rees Jones when they killed Diana. It has bugger all to do with Syria, it’s all about the exposure of SCL and all the association companies that have tried to manipulate governments all over the world.

  • Charles

    In the midst of madness.

    The Brave DS Bailey went home to the village of Alderholt after he was contaminated.

    The army turned up to make everything safe. They weren’t allowed to burn the house down so they took his car away and picked up some litter.

    One squaddie was upset because they had used all the gas masks, paper suits and marigolds in Salisbury but he stuck to his guns and demanded safety kit, so the looked in the Personal Protective Equipment Cupboard (PPE – NBC) to see what was left and found a Working at Height Harness

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/nintchdbpict000392454240.jpg?strip=all&w=960

  • BrianFujisan

    Israel admits guilt and to having intimate knowledge of each, and every bullet used to kill these innocent Palestinians.

    1) Wahid Nasrallah Abu Sammour, 27, Khan Younis, southern Gaza. 2) Mohammad Kamal Najjar, 25, Jabalia, northern Gaza. 3) Mohammad Naim Abu Amro, 27, Sheja’eyya, Gaza city. 4) Amin Mansour Abu Moammar, Rafah, southern Gaza. 5) Ibrahim Abu Sha’ar, 22, Rafah. 6) Abdul-Fattah Bahjat Abdul-Nabi, 18, Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. 7) Mahmoud Sa’adi Rohmi, 33, Gaza. 8 ) Sari Waleed Abu Odah, Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza. 9) Hamdan Ismael Abu Amsha. 10) Jihad Ahmad Freina, 34, east of Gaza city. 11) Ahmad Ibrahim Ashour Odah, 16, northern Gaza. 12) Abdul-Qader Merdhi al-Hawajri, 42, Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza. 13) Jihad Zoheir Abu Jamous, 30, Khan Younis. 14) Mosab Zohair Salloul 15) Bader Faeq as-Sabagh 16) Naji Abdullah Abu Hjeir, 25, al-Boreij, central Gaza

    • Anon1

      “innocent palestinians”

      Unfortunately for you, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigade releases photos of all their “martyrs”, and they are rather at odds with your “innocent palestinians” in that they are all armed jihadists dressed in military uniform.

      Yet again Hamas embeds terrorists in the crowds and Israel surgically removes them.

      • N_

        People who fight back with weapons against an occupying army that has put them in the world’s biggest concentration camp are “terrorists”? Are you complimenting them? What would you do?

  • giyane

    I remember as a teenager having to force myself to look miserable on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then force myself to look happy on Easter Sunday. I didn’t understand the first thing about why, but that’s not the point. My point is, that none of the people involved in the Skirpal false-flag have the foggiest idea why a cloak-and-dagger anti-Russia political ritual is being enforced. All they know is that it’s all bollocks but necessary.

    Of course I was later informed by Islam that Jesus pbuh did not die; nor was he resurrected; nor did he therefore die for my sins, nor was he a sacrificial lamb for the sins of my brutal, colonial country. I feel sorry for all those who have to believe all the tripe out of social pressure, and for all those who believe a word spoken by Mrs May. I just want to say that there is life after lies. This country will eventually manage to shed its artificial monarchy and their artificial religion, their artificial belief in their own exceptionalism and their allies exceptionalism.

    if you like lies, think the world needs lies, think it’s important to maintain the state-seal of deceit, then please remember two things: Human beings are the only creatures who are unable to hear the cries of the liars as they are tortured in their graves. The angel whose sole task is to sound the trumpet on the day of Judgement permanently has his lips pressed onto the mouthpiece of the trumpet, ready to blow it.

    • BrianFujisan

      Or A Katana is There To Stop your Trumpet….. It’s an Amazing Rock we are on..I Fully agree with you giyane ..Lets Preseve it.

    • iain

      She’s showing she’s tougher than any man. A Tribute to her psychopathic heroine HRC.

  • BrianFujisan

    March Against Corruption ; This was about local “news” stations in the US owned by Sinclair. The BBC is great compared to pretty much anything else we get in the US.

    Brian –
    First Thank you for replying…. I am in Scotland….I’m Sorry..But Under international Law..BBC ..And pretty much all of U.S media..are War Criminals.. That’s Fact…NOT Fake

    • BrianFujisan

      Thanks SharpEears..Yes I pass Saviles OLD house Quite often… When I’m headed to The ocean.

  • Sharp Ears

    Saw this –

    UK police hold training exercise to prepare for chemical attack on Israeli embassy
    First drill of its kind in the capital
    11 December 2017
    Members of the police, fire brigade and ambulance service during a joint exercise to test their response to an incident involving a hazardous substance at the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, London.
    Police have carried out a training exercise to prepare for a chemical attack on the Israeli embassy in London.

    The drill, which was the first of its kind to take place in a foreign embassy in the capital, also involved firefighters and paramedics who rehearsed their response to “casualties affected by a noxious substance”.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israeli-embassy-chemical-attack-london-metropolitan-police-a8102751.html

    • N_

      That’s interesting. Where did the antidotes come from in that exercise?

      And, a question I’ve already asked, did I__el participate in, or observer, the Toxic Dagger exercise?

  • MU

    Agree that the “premature condemnations of Russia” with no evidence sound ridiculous. All this diplomatic scandal that followed is a great shame

    • N_

      It would be great if you could summarise in 2-3 sentences. DId you see my speculation about Toxic Dagger?

      • TomGard

        No, didn’t see it. Please provide a link.

        Gist: Seems, as if british special forces / MI6 were caught red handed in Ghouta either with powerful chemical agents or with documents / communications which proved their leadership in a planned false-flag-attack of significant magnitude. For the imperial fraction, that opts for an all out war in Syria with implication of the russian troops, this implicated a serious risk to get isolated within the western camp. All of the burden would have fallen on the UK, because Israel also in Russia is TABU. Britisch bargaining positions in Brexit could also suffer given the efforts to tighten the alliance of Germany and France. The US would foreseeable stay out of the picture, because EUCOM is no official US-address. On the political level EUCOM is not accountable to Pentagon, but the Department of State and Tillerson is fired. US permanent representative to NATO is one Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is just – well, can I say “stage front”? for General Dunford – and nobody can fire General Dunford, because … but that is another story …

        • N_

          Many thanks. That info about them British forces being caught red-handed in Ghouta is dynamite if it can be backed up.

          On Toxic Dagger: here and here.

          @Sharp Ears also refers to a British exercise in Dec 2017 simulating a response to a chemical attack on the I___eli embassy in London. That must surely have involved cooperation with I___eli experts in CW (including in antidotes), which makes it more likely that I___elis were involved, at least as observers, in Toxic Dagger.

      • TomGard

        Irrespective of what you’ve written about “Toxic Dagger”, there couldn’t be a connection to a planned false flag in Ghouta – british forces can’t be flown in there, can they. So either it was a mere Public Relation – event, or there were also considerations of staging the thing in Turkey. Because Israel doesn’t need any help in this respect.

        • N_

          There may be a connection to Salisbury, is what I was thinking.

          Regarding the Russian warning about Ghouta, they could have got their intelligence mixed up.

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      TomGard,
      I agree that there seems to be a connection of the Salisbury affair with the outing of Brit/US help to the groups that have held the eastern suburbs of Damascus /Ghouta including some of the ‘dirty tricks ‘brigade. Release of the news of the killing of one SAS guy by an IED last week could be a softener for the public to disclosure of more of what has been going on. As you point out, the parallels with the downing of MH017 are striking. It was then declared straightaway by the BBC etc.that the Russians had shot down the plane

    • Kempe

      ” known for his ties to #FSB ”

      Yes I’m sure that makes him very reliable.

      • TomGard

        Like RIAC, Suchov covers an intermediate position between Russian government, so called Siloviki and a lot of civil interested parties within Russia, who try to protect their businesses with the west from damages. That makes Suchov a reliable source – he wouldn’t back unsubstantiated claims with his reputation of an intermediary. So he himself will have an official source in the Russian government, whom he trusts. Obviously the Kremlin is not up to escalation, so the fact of captured british special forces would be correct. Their implication in a chemical false flag is no information, but an informed guess on the basis of official statements of the Russian DoD.

        • Kempe

          For which read conduit for Kremlin propaganda. Like the four versions of what happened to MH17 put out by Sputnik and RT I wouldn’t believe a word of it.

          • TomGard

            That’s a funny statement. If there is only ONE version – but no proof – you are held to believe in it. If there are four (don’t know, if this true), than you are held to consider, to which amount they cover the known facts …

            Besides: The generals Dunford and Scaparrotti (SACEUR) weren’t commanded to phone with Russia’s Chief of Staff for no thing. The regular communication line of Russian military and Operation OIR in Syria goes through Brett McGurk (who still isn’t fired, despite demands of the DoS-establishment) and CENTCOM commander General Votel (dito).

          • Kempe

            Simple fact that liars give themselves away by changing their story. Through their usual propaganda outlets (RT and Sputnik etc) the Kremlin first claimed it was a Ukrainian Buk missile, then it was an interception by a ground attack aircraft followed by the fabricated satellite pictures of a fighter aircraft and then finally that there was a bomb on board!

            An online search ought to produce the necessary evidence but all can be disproved quite easily but as I say the fact that four conflicting stories were put out at all is sufficient proof of falsehood.

          • knuckles

            Kempe says

            ”Simple fact that liars give themselves away by changing their story. Through their usual propaganda outlets”

            But you claim the British Gov can be trusted with the poisoning. Where are we now? Park bench? Car vent? Door handle? The library with the candle stick?

            You really should think your nonsensical observations through……….

          • Kempe

            Russia and MH17 was a cover-up; a reaction to events they weren’t expecting. That’s very different from the alleged false flag of the Skripal poisoning. If it were a false flag they’d have worked out major details like how the nerve agent was administered well in advance and not left the police floundering and looking incompetent.

    • SA

      Tom Gard
      That is very interesting. I have always thought that this is connected with Syria:
      1. There was a huge outcry by Western Governments and MSM when the Damascus Steel operation started just under a month ago there was daily coverage od supposed atrocities and mounting casualties amongst civilians, This was similar to the outcry during the liberation of Aleppo last year. I have always suspected that the liberation of E Ghouta would divulge a much deeper involvement of western operatives on the ground. In this case I think the Syrian Army very speedy and efficient campaign caught the adversaries on the backfoot.
      2. The use of a supposed ‘nerve’ agent’ in this case is calculated to link the supposed use of Sarin by the SAA in Ghouta in 2013 and in KS last year. On many occasions the US always accused Russia even when there was no proof, and linking Russia’s help for Syria with the established myth of the use of Sarin by the SAA has a dual purpose of confirming this myth.
      3. John Helmer seems to believe that this whole incidence was used to lift May’s flagging ratings and toget the nation to rally around the essentially dismal mess that is Brexit. If she comes out of this as a strong leader she will most likely win the next election. Just to add bolts and braces, the attack on Corbyn has not only been restricted to this affair but also to rake up and keep stoking, the accusations of antisemitism.
      http://johnhelmer.net/the-business-of-sergei-skripal-did-he-spill-the-beans/
      https://soundcloud.com/user-918579032/two-criminal-accusations-against-russia-probing-the-skripal-affair-and-flight-mh-17

    • TomGard

      I’d like to add a comment and perhaps somone could answer the question at the end of it, because my English skills are overstrained by this topic 🙂

      “I feel uncomfortable about lots of people reading this entry without commenting, asking questions or objecting, because I know, there will be a prevalent misunderstanding, that I propose an assumption or hypotheses about „what really happend“. I do not! What I posit is a phase space argument in a quite technical sense.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_space
      I will give an example to illustrate what I mean by that.

      Someone could argue, it could be a „russian propaganda trick“ to invite the public to connect russian warnings about a planned false flag attack in Damascus with the credible information, that british agents were captured in Damascus. (This information is credible, because it had happened before – in Aleppo and elsewhere – without western denials (which could have led Russia or Syria to present the captives).

      This argument would be perfectly valid!
      But you have to mind, why it would be valid. It’s based on the supposition, that relevant parties in the West – including a relevant portion of the public – know and accept the plausibility of a false flag attack as a pretext for a decapitation of the Syrian Army. This plausibility includes knowledge about former false flags of this kind (Al Ghouta 2013, Khan Sheikun 2017, or even MH17, 7/7, 9/11, not to mention all those „small scale“ false flag operations like the Maidan – massacre or the shootings of protesters and police /army alike in Libya and Syria). And it includes knowledge of the antagonism of fractions of the ruling classes in the West whether to stop the war on Syria at the present partition of its territory, or continue it to a complete denationalization (failed state) like in Somalia and Libya. Possibly even knowledge of the antagonism within the zionist camp.

      And there you are! My argument is valid in any case. A russian psyop could only be effective under the supposition, that the UK has the motive and the means to herd the rulers of the other western capitals behind their position in respect to Syria and within NATO. The means would be either the possibility of a british led false flag attack in Damascus or the possibility and the determination of the UK to act militarily against its adversaries in the western camp, especially in Europe, also in respect to „Brexit“.

      Did I make understood, what I mean by „phase space“ (of the empire)?”

      • SA

        Yes I understand what you mean. And it is also about the interconnectedness of all events despite the fact that they may appear to be completely unconnected. The process is also a long drawn one. It is not possible to put start dates on such long drawn geopolitical scheming, but the current phase of the campaign started with the dismantling of the Soviet Union and the subsequent first of all of the dismemberment of the USSR, followed by the attempt to completely destroy the economic and political structure of the resulting Russian federation. Of course what was not foreseen was that when the West cheered Yeltsin into changing the Russian constitution to give himself absolute power, that this power would pass on to his successor who is not as pliable as Yeltsin was. The same happened in Iraq when the removal of Saddam has actually strengthened Iran rather than weaken it. Back in Russia which became for a while a Mafia state during the Yeltsin years, is slowly transforming back to a more stable state that is struggling to get back to become a world power again after the depredations of the West.
        The big fault line in the West’s policy is that it uses a lot of proxies without acknowledging that these proxies also have an independent agenda. The more the involvement with proxies is strengthened, the more the tail starts wagging the dog. Apart from examples above, there is now Ukraine dictating the most aggressive anti-Russia policy, the ‘Islamic’ terrorists in Syria being protected, the Kurds, who have been used as cats paws and even Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It is this inconsistency of supporting the indefensible because they are ‘our sons of a bitch’ that is at the root of this situation which has led to a constant distrust of everything the west is doing amongst those who retain a power of analysis. The presence of the extremely pliant media and the lack of challenge to this system add to this false air of self-righteousness.

        • TomGard

          Thank you for your feedback, SA. For the record I want to contest two points.
          It wasn’t the “Chicago boys plus Yelzin” who plundered and destroyed the wealth of the SU. That wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration and connivance of a whole lot of Russians, especially the officer corps of the Red Army.
          And Putin is far from having or enjoying “absolute power”. To put it the other way round: As far as he has it – by the power to intervene personally or by aides like Vladislav Surkov on every level – he deplores it,because it is a necessity and a symptom brought about by the patchy separation of powers and the deficiencies of power sharing rendering the administration of the federation uneffective and expensive.
          That is important, becaus it’s not so much about the pliability of a Russian leader, but about the resurgence of Russian patriotism, that is unacceptable to the West.
          By the way: I do not endorse patriotism, it’s a horrible thing, but thats another topic.
          Again, thank you very much.

          • SA

            TomGard
            It was not the Chicago School, it was the Harvard School. I agree that you could not do it without acquiescence from the of the existing power structure. But the power structure had been fatally fractured and there was a sudden acceptance that market economy had to be introduced but without any experience or history within that power structure of how to bring this about and hence the ‘reformers’ depended and trusted the Harvard school and the other institutions..
            Yes like you I do not endorse patriotism which often appeals to very basic chauvinistic tendencies, which incidentally is very strong in the US with its exceptionalism. Anyway Russia under putin is moderately patriotic but try the real nationalist for comparison.

  • Republicofscotland

    Now as far as I know this isn’t an April Fool.

    Walter Litvenenko, on RT, openly blaming UK/US/Israeli security services for killing his son.

    Walter Litvenenko, also claims that those Russian that fled the country and are living in Britain are all on the British payroll.

  • N_

    On Easter morning, BBC radio are broadcasting the accounts of plummy-voiced English army officers bragging about how they conquered Basra in 2003. All the usual themes are expressed: they understand the w*g mind, they help people, they want the good w*gs on their side, the white man’s burden, they get going when the going gets tough, a few dozen Britprole lives are a price worth paying, etc.

    It’s clear from these c****’ accents that they wouldn’t have the mentality to be able to keep up an equal-to-equal conversation with a British person they met at a bus-stop, let alone with brown-skinned Muslims in Arabia. But of course, Brit poshboys have to know it all, to have been born with the knack of understanding how to run things and what needs to be done. They got it at boarding school. They didn’t need their mummies and daddies. They have “character”, as they call their particular kind of mental illness.

    One posh guy even said he was so impressed at how “public-spirited” some people in Basra were. No, he didn’t mean the looters. Do you know he meant? He meant bank managers, who had hidden all their files. Why did they do it? He said it was so that people would know how much money they had. That’s how out of touch with reality these killing machine pseudo-men are.

    Happy Easter, everyone.

    The main thing I got out of listening to thi highly offensive muck is that the Britgov narrative about SW Asia is changing again. Full-scale British involvement in war in Syria looks likely.

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      Was there any reference to the Brits ‘rescue’ ,by knocking down the prison walls, of their unfortunate bros caught carrying explosives around Basra?

      • N_

        Another thing I forgot to mention: the plummy-voiced British army officers also spoke with disdain of the “palatial” residences of some of the members of the Iraqi elite who were beneath the very top. Describing the homes as garish, their attitude was basically “ugh, how common!” They also mentioned how the buildings may have been superficially splendid but the pipework was rubbish.

        Obviously although one needs the “clever w*gs” on the British side, even the “clever w*gs” mustn’t get too many ideas, especially any ideas that they’ve permanently arrived.

        The cosseted British army officers must have felt like Waitrose shoppers forced to go to Aldi!

        Or like dwellers in large homes in the stockbroker belt who glimpse a Croydon council estate once every few years, thinking “How shortlived this socialist decision to increase the prole population was! It was never going to last. Those buildings are rotting into the ground! I couldn’t live like that. What disgusting animals!”

        The fanatical self-love of the English ruling caste fires them up to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of “natives” without batting an eyelid.

      • N_

        Another thing I forgot to mention: the plummy-voiced British army officers also spoke with disdain of the “palatial” residences of some of the members of the Iraqi elite who were beneath the very top. Describing the homes as garish, their attitude was basically “ugh, how common!” They also mentioned how the buildings may have been superficially splendid but the pipework was rubbish. The word “bling” was used.

        Obviously although one needs the “clever w*gs” on the British side, even the “clever w*gs” mustn’t get too many ideas, especially any ideas that they’ve permanently arrived.

        The cosseted British army officers must have felt like Waitrose shoppers forced to look at an estate agent in a shiny suit who can’t stop saying “to tell you the truth” and “obviously”.

        As for the majority of the population, when the poshboy killers encountered any of those subhumans they must have felt like dwellers in large homes in the stockbroker belt who glimpse a Croydon council estate once every few years, thinking “How shortlived the virtue-signalling socialist decision to increase the prole population was! It was never going to last. Those buildings are rotting into the ground! I couldn’t live like that. What disgusting animals!”

        The insane self-love of the English ruling caste – a nuclear and chemically-armed group to which most people in England would love to administer a richly deserved f***ing good kicking – fires them up to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of “natives” without batting an eyelid.

        • SA

          There is an underlying racism in the colonial venture which has now mutated to this self righteous export of democracy everywhere. Unfortunately whenever I mention this , my posts get deleted.

  • Jo

    A few things Craig.

    Ms Ponsati’s situation is dire. For me, therefore, it would be reckless indeed for the SNP to exploit her as some sort of political pawn. Actually, it would be worse: it would be disgusting.

    Second, Sturgeon was absolutely right to point out that this case is with the courts. It is therefore extremely risky for the SG to seemingly be involved in trying to influence the judiciary over a particular case. Those SNP politicians who have tried to do that are, to me, doing this lady no favours. They are using her abominably.

    The other thing is that, while there’s Scots Law to consider here, the SG isn’t the EU member involved here, the UK government is. The UK government has already backed Spain as, sadly, have most countries in the EU. I really hope a Scottish court will defend this lady. But I also fear that the case will end up in the UK Supreme Court on appeal and ultimately Spain could prevail.

    The way to go is with a public campaign, not a political one and one where, ultimately, the whole of the UK could participate in order to defend political freedoms. Making it about the SNP and Scotland is irresponsible and fails to put this lady’s welfare and freedom first.

    • fred

      Ironically it’s the people who call the Spanish government Fascist who don’t want Scotland to have an independent judiciary.

      • Republicofscotland

        Scotland does have a independent judiciary, and unlike England at present, judges do not for the moment need to declare their interests, though they soon will.

        As for fascists, well the Spanish ones screamed embezzlement.

        “Now confirmed by both Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Prime Minister and Cristóbal Montoro, Minister for the Treasury: “Not even an euro from the Catalan government’s budget has gone to finance the 1st of October referendum”. So no misuse of public funds.”

        https://mobile.twitter.com/_PaulMonaghan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwingsoverscotland.com%2Fbloody-rebels%2F

        • fred

          And what about the unofficial 3% of total cost people who get contracts for public works in Catalonia have to hand over to the government in a brown paper envelope?

          • N_

            I thought it was more like 10%. Corruption is out in the open across the whole of Spain including Catalonia.

  • Agent Green

    Has Craig been served with a ‘D Notice’ in relation to the Skripal affair?

      • Kempe

        D Notices haven’t existed for years, they’re now referred to as DSMA Notices and as the system is voluntary there are no penalties for violating one. In 2017, a DSMA Notice was issued against British journalists revealing the identity of the British author of a controversial dossier alleging collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election. Multiple British outlets ignored this advice and revealed his name anyway, including BBC News, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.

        • SA

          Kempe
          I will need to check this but my belief is that the notice was not ignored initially but only after the name was revealed in the US.

          • SA

            Extract from the Wikipedia page on this subject.

            “Authorship
            When CNN reported the existence of the dossier on January 10, 2017,[60] it did not name the author of the dossier, but revealed that he was British. Steele concluded that his anonymity had been “fatally compromised”. He realized it was “only a matter of time until his name became public knowledge”, and, accompanied by his family, he fled into hiding in fear of “a prompt and potentially dangerous backlash against him from Moscow”.[61][62][15] The Wall Street Journal revealed Steele’s name the next day, on January 11.[63] Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd, for whom Steele worked at the time the dossier was authored, and its director Christopher Burrows, would not confirm or deny that Orbis had produced the dossier.[60][2] On March 7, 2017, as some members of the U.S. Congress were expressing interest in meeting with or hearing testimony from Steele, he reemerged after weeks in hiding, appearing publicly on camera and stating, “I’m really pleased to be back here working again at the Orbis’s offices in London today.”[64]

            Called by the media a “highly regarded Kremlin expert” and “one of MI6’s greatest Russia specialists”, Steele formerly worked for the British intelligence agency MI6. He entered MI6 in 1987, directly after his graduation from Cambridge University.[65] He currently works for Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd, a private intelligence company he co-founded in London.[66][63][67]

            Former British ambassador to Moscow Sir Andrew Wood has vouched for Steele’s reputation.[32] He views Steele as a “very competent professional operator … I take the report seriously. I don’t think it’s totally implausible.” He also stated that “the report’s key allegation—that Trump and Russia’s leadership were communicating via secret back channels during the presidential campaign—was eminently plausible”.[68] FBI investigators reportedly treat Steele “as a peer”, whose experience as a trusted Russia expert has included assisting the Justice Department, British prime ministers, and at least one U.S. president.[69]

  • reel guid

    Tory Shadow Tourism Minister at Holyrood Rachael Hamilton and her husband were fined £52 500 by the Pensions Regulator last year reports the Herald. The Hamiltons own a hotel in Melrose that employs staff.
    Rachael Hamilton is also well known to be opposed to a minimum wage.

    Elsewhere in Scots Toryland there is no shortage of inductees into the Ruth Davidson Hall of Shame. Racism, sexism, Islamophobia, sectarianism, homophobia, gypsy hating, BNP sympathising. You name it some North British Tory elected to office can supply it.

    While the Tory High Command plots the undermining of the Scottish Parliament. Grabbing powers on spurious excuses and claiming they’ll eventually be returned from Westminster. They’ve got no intention of doing that. When did Tory governments voluntarily give up powers to Holyrood? They intend to keep those powers and add more later. And if you believe the Tories on this then you probably believed The Vow too.

    No longer the party that listens to the concerns of businesses, the Tories bring hard Brexit because the vast army of reactionary xenophobes in England demand nothing less. Despite the damage to commerce and trade and jobs. Scotland will do what it’s told so we’re told (in more euphemistic language).

    The shape of what people who voted No in 2014 really chose is becoming clear. As the Holyrood block grant gets repeatedly reduced to keep in line with the reduced spending in the all but fully privatised English NHS.
    The shape of what Better Together actually meant is evident as the unionist repeal of OBFA brings the Union Bears, or as we ought to say, the paramilitary wing of Better Together on to Scottish streets.

    If Scotland remains in the UK then our politics will be increasingly influenced by the likes of Rachael Hamilton. And Ruth Davidson and her Hall of Shamers.

    • fred

      “You’re kiding right? I mean that’s a April Fool’s joke yeah it must be.”

      You just posted evidence what I said was true.

      So how much of the Kickbacks the Nationalist parties ruling Catalonia received went to finance their illegal referendum?

      • Republicofscotland

        “You just posted evidence what I said was true.”

        No I posted evidence that corruption is widespread in Spain, and even in Rajoy’s party.

  • Sharp Ears

    Elsewhere N_ I commented.
    ‘The Reunion. Radio 4
    Don’t read this or listen on the link if you already feel queasy. It was emetic stuff.

    ‘Battle for Basra
    The Reunion
    Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Battle for Basra.

    In early 2003, Britain, as part of the Coalition invastion of Iraq, agreed to take responsibility for the toppling of Basra. The country’s regime would be removed, weapons of mass destruction would be located and the Iraqi people would establish a new democratic and safe administration.

    Despite considerable resistance, the city was taken within a matter of weeks. Troops were welcomed loudly and flowers were thrown as they entered the city. But within days, joy at being freed from Saddam’s cruel oppression was replaced with mistrust and instability.

    Mass looting erupted and the local population grew angry at the failure to sort out irregular water supplies and patchy electricity provision. British soldiers were seen by many as useless infidels. Hopes of leaving Basra quickly were shelved as British troops tried to keep the peace.

    At the same time, the pressure was on in Helmand. Troops were spread too thin and were “running hot”. Basra went from being a potential showcase for military intervention to a thorn in the Coalition’s side. Instead of being over within weeks, it dragged on for years.

    Joining Sue to discuss the invasion and the subsequent difficulties are:
    Lt General Robin Brims who masterminded the land operation,
    Lt Gen Sir James Dutton who led the British Marines and also commanded US marines,
    Major General Graham Binns who headed the powerful 7th (UK) Armoured Brigade,
    the BBC’s former defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt who was embedded with British troops,
    and Rory Stewart MP who was just 30 when he took on the role as a Coalition deputy Governor in Southern Iraq.

    Producer: Karen Pirie
    Series Producer: David Prest
    A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09xctwq

    Towards the end the military were congratulating themselves on their prowess and success. One of them even said that Iraq is a better country than it was then. He said ‘I should know. I go there on business’.

    He is Graham Binns.
    ‘In June 2010, Binns became chief executive of Aegis Defence Services, a private military and security company.’

    Aegis was founded by Tim Spicer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis_Defence_Services
    That says it all.

    PS
    Rory Stewart the spooky little wanderer/traveller is now a Justice Minister under Gauke. No irony there.

    Caroline ‘Embedded’ Wyatt became the BBC’s religious affairs correspondent until she was diagnosed with MS. Hope it was nothing to do with the depleted uranium or any of the other stuff we were poisoning the Iraqi people with.

  • mike

    Kids being shot in the back by IDF snipers and the corporate media chooses to have another go at Corbyn, this time with help of arch-luvvie-Blairite Eddie Izzard.

    Never thought I’d see such an abject surrender to power in my lifetime. But it’s here. Our state broadcaster is the worst of the lot.

  • SA

    Why is the UK government only extremely vocal against annexation when it applies to Russia ‘annexing’ Crimea, which was historically part of Russia until 1953 and contains lots of ethnic Russians who voted to join Russia after the coup in 2014, but not at all bothered when our allies continue to occupy parts of Syria and Palestinian lands and to occupy a whole nation?

    • N_

      Agreed, the British position on Crimea is utterly absurd. The vast majority – and I mean an overwhelmingly huge majority – of people there are Russians who want to live in Russia. The referendum wasn’t fake. Some people insist otherwise because the television has told them Putin is a baddie, or because their fevered Scottish nationalism makes them imagine that the Crimea is full of Ukrainians who are being banned by Russians in jackboots from wearing blue and yellow, etc.

      The comparison with the Sudetenland is also trite. Some parts of that region were majority German, so the idea that they should be in Germany was wrong for what reason exactly? “Because the Nazis were bad” isn’t a good answer to that question. If telly watchers want to be experts on the Sudetenland they could perhaps learn about the utterly unjustifiable expulsions of large numbers of Germans from that region by allied forces after 1945. That’s called “ethnic cleansing”, a crime against humanity. It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now. Is that what they want for the Crimea? No? Right.

      • N_

        Ethnic cleansing was wrong when Hitler did it (to Poles) in Poland, wrong when Stalin did it (to Tatars) in the Crimea, and wrong when the US and Czechoslovaks did it (to Germans), with British support, in the Sudetenland.

  • Sharp Ears

    Sky News are scraping the barrel today.

    Charles Crawford was brought on online from Oxfordshire to give his views on UK/Russian relations. Apparently we have to be grateful that the spat is only on diplomatic levels currently. He reminisced about his time in Moscow and the Cold War at the time. Pleased that other nations are coming together to heap opprobrium on Russia. He brought up Ukraine and Crimea, much bigger crimes in his view.

    What a ….!

    I expect they paid him for the short interview.

    • N_

      Anybody who uses the phrase “Cold War” should be asked when it ended. If they say it ended when the USSR did, give them a withering look and say “SALT2? Apollo-Soyuz? Détente?” Then ask “where’s your funny bone?” If they point to their elbow, say “Strange. You do seem to know your elbow from your arsehole in the literal sense.”

      • SA

        N_
        The Cold War did end or was temporary put on hold when the West triumphantly tried to end any Russian hope of being a rival by the administration of shock therapy and introducing anarchy to Russia during the Yeltsin years. Like all of the projects of the ‘empire of chaos’ this has badly backfired when Putin took over and started turning the table.
        So the Cold War resumed in 2000.

          • SA

            N-
            It depends what your definition of ‘Cold War’ is. Do you mean that this was transformed into a hot war beneath the surface?

  • Ben

    https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/04/01/did-ecuador-gag-julian-assange-for-interference-in-spain-and-the-us/

    “This sounds like more than a tweet suggesting the Germans are acting like Nazis. It sounds like the ConFraudUs language we’ve seen Mueller’s team to use.

    And while the gag closely followed Assange’s tweet, it also followed the detention and questioning of Trump advisor Ted Malloch when he arrived in Logan airport Tuesday. Among the questions the FBI asked Malloch, they asked about his contacts with Roger Stone and Wikileaks.”

  • reel guid

    Lib Dem leader Vince Cable hasn’t said anything on twitter about Puigdemont, Ponsati and the EAWs.
    Neither have Scottish Lib Dem MPs Jo Swinson, Alastair Carmichael and Christine Jardine. Nothing at all, like it never happened. Strange they call themselves Liberals. They can’t so much as raise a voice in protest at Clara Ponsati’s persecution by Francoists.

    Nothing from other prominent Lib Dem MPs like Tom Brake and Norman Lamb.

    There might be genuine Liberals at the grass roots of the Lib Dems. But if you want to get a parliamentary seat anywhere for that party you have to be very SDP. The Owenite SDP were neither liberal or social democratic, but just Tory lite. At best. David Mundell was in the SDP before joining the Tories. Enough said.

  • Paedo Hunter

    Craig…..you there???….BBC 9pm tonight……Conspiracy in Washington…..it’s about your mate Seth Rich….wonder if you get a mention

    • glenn_nl

      Oh Jesus, isn’t he the guy Hillary Clinton shot straight through the head, while cackling away as she arranged something about pizzas while staving off Parkinson’s before deciding on nuclear war?

      Ask Trump fans – there are an unbelievable number of them around here – if they can take a moment from toasting the appointment of John Bolton as the new adviser for war.

      • SA

        No . It is the same HRC who said
        “We came, we saw, he died” leaving Libya a failed state after being a one that was the best records in Human development index in the region.
        Sadly two wrongs do not make a right.
        And incidentally the appointment of Bolton is a mere reflection of the charade that is the US presidential system.

        • glenn_nl

          Unfortunately, “I want a pony” wasn’t on the ballot paper. The choice was between HC and Trump. Don’t want the one? Then you get the other. The purity brigade might not have liked Trump that much, but their actions are indistinguishable from Trump’s biggest fans as far as the vote is concerned, if they failed to vote for his opponent.

          • SA

            Glenn
            I am not a supporter of either party here. I am a long term observer of US politics and have always been disappointed whenever hope was raised as certain candidates were touted as agents of change, notably Clinton 1 and Obama.
            What you have said confirms what I said also, there is no real choice. I am not sure that the election of HRC would have altered much except unity of the establishment and a much quicker march to aggressive action and war. In other words democracy in US is a sham.

  • kweladave

    Not strictly on subject but you ought to know – really SCARY.
    Seems that Frankenstein is doing well – religious head-choppers in Syria created & now ultra nazis taking control of Kiev. Not-smart but expensive uniforms, PLUS the very latest ant-tank weapons supplied by…?
    What could possibly go wrong?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Uf7aooxvE

    The EU (& NATO) know what’s going on. BREXIT anybody?

  • Survivors of child sexual abuse

    Let’s get to 5,000 signatures! Please share the petition link via social media and encourage your contacts to sign:

    Westminster must investigate evidence of MPs raping children

    Click:

    change.org/p/we-call-on-the-parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards-to-direct-the-conservative-party-labour-party-and-lib-dems-to-launch-investigations-into-allegations-that-mps-and-peers-from-said-parties-raped-and-assaulted-children-throughout-the-1980s-and-19

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