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False flag poisonings

News History of American False Flag Operations Recommended Links False flag operations as an important part of demonization of the enemy strategy Navalny poisoning Skripal poisoning Litvinenko poisoning
Yushchenko poisoning Douma gas attack Khan Sheikhoun gas attack White Helmets as a tool for false flag poisonings Operation Gladio - Wikipedia Color revolutions Vault 7 scandal
Deception as an art form Noble Lie Nation under attack meme Machiavellism Guardians of Power Fifth Column of Neoliberal Globalization Label "conspiracy theorist" as a form of censorship
The Deep State Media-Military-Industrial Complex The Grand Chessboard Elite Theory And the Revolt of the Elite Inverted Totalitarism Neoliberal war on reality or the importance of controlling the narrative "Seventeen agencies" memo about Russian influence on elections
American Exceptionalism New American Militarism Neoconservatism as an attack dog of neoliberalism Neo-fashism   Humor Etc
 

In the UK case the decline of neoliberalism since 2008 was closely interconnected with gradual the loss of income from former colonies and the decline of North Sea oil and gas reserves. Staying in the EU against the will of the people will continue to further drain resources to Germany, which has structurally colonialized Western Europe.  So in 2018 the UK is in deep economic trouble Brexit or no Brexit.

That's why May government resorted to creation of an external enemy such as Russia: using an incident such as the Skripal affair to deflect the people from focusing on removing their government leaders. So this is British version of Russiagate: generating mass hate of Russia to deflect people's anger  from the neoliberal politicians and use Putin as the scapegoat.

The UK Royals weddings and babies also help, but they proved to be insufficient.  Meanwhile it is clear the UK government is up to the neck in Steele dossier with the solid trail of evidence such as Christophe Steele, Joseph Mifsid, and Gianni Pittella. See for example

It is important to make those leads disappear from public attantion and Skripal affair fits the biil. 

So something like Skripal incident  was badly needed and would happened even if Skriplas did nto suffer from ffod or some other  poisoning on march 4, 2018.

 

France, like the UK, has extracted the wealth from their former colonies and facing a reduction in tribute from these sources. Macron has attempted to maintain control of some colonies such as Mali and really wants to conquer Syria. I suspect the meetings between Macron and MbS will result in an agreement for Saudi Arabia to buy French weapons while France getting financial aid to expand French troop bases in Syria.

Somehow, the current revolution in France is blacked out in the Western Media. Videos of the current revolution are common on Youtube such as: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g21_myERteQ

Almost all sectors of the French society are protesting against the neo-feudal policies of Macron, FIRE economy participants and his dwarves in the National Assembly. There are strikes among:

For a schedule of the rolling strikes in France see: http://www.cestlagreve.fr/

Macron has already deployed the CRS assassins and the street war will begin when EU police and military invade to crush to protestors. This will be far more violent than May 1968 and may usher in the 6th Republic. Unfortunately, Macron would prefer the cities to burn rather than resign and turnover the government to the President of the Senate.

The EU is also experiencing internal dissent with the Visegrad four (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) plus Italy and Austria and thus needs an external enemy to distract its members. I suspect that a Ukrainian invasion of DPR/LPR will once again be used as a flash point create "two minutes of hate" against Russia :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zYlOU7Fpk

These EU conflicts will not end peacefully as the system will fight back rather than step aside.

 

There was three high profile poisoning cases which have several characteristics of a "false flag operation":

Skripal case is the most recent.  One of the best outline of such Gladio style-operation was given in UNZ review (The Unz Review):

Lies and the unapologetic denial of reality:

In a 2015 article entitled “A society of sexually frustrated Pinocchios” I wrote the following:

I see a direct cause and effect relationship between the denial of moral reality and the denial of physical reality. I can’t prove that, of course, but here is my thesis: Almost from day one, the early western civilization began by, shall we say, taking liberties with the truth, which it could bend, adapt, massage and repackage to serve the ideological agenda of the day. It was not quite the full-blown and unapologetic relativism of the 19th century yet, but it was an important first step. With “principles” such as the end justifies the means and the wholesale violation of the Ten Commandants all “for the greater glory of God” the western civilization got cozy with the idea that there was no real, objective truth, only the subjective perception or even representation each person might have thereof. Fast forward another 10 centuries or so and we end up with the modern “Gayropa” (as Europe is now often referred to in Russia): not only has God been declared ‘dead’ and all notions of right and wrong dismissed as “cultural”, but even objective reality has now been rendered contingent upon political expediency and ideological imperatives.

I went on to quote George Orwell by reminding how he defined “doublethink” in his book 1984:

“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it (…) To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality“

and I concluded by saying that “The necessary corollary from this state of mind is that only appearances matter, not reality”.

This is exactly what we are observing; not only in the silly Skripal nerve-gas assassination story but also in all the rest of the Russophobic nonsense produced by the AngloZionist propaganda machine including the “Litvinenko polonium murder” and the “Yushchenko dioxin poisoning“. The fact that neither nerve-gas, nor polonium nor dioxin are in any way effective murder weapons does not matter in the least: a simple drive-by shooting, street-stabbing or, better, any “accident” is both easier to arrange and impossible to trace. Fancy assassination methods are used when access to the target is very hard or impossible (as was the case with Ibn al-Khattab, whose assassination the Russians were more than happy to take credit for; this might also have been the case with the death of Yasser Arafat). But the best way of murdering somebody is to simply make the body disappear, making any subsequent investigation almost impossible. Finally, you can always subcontract the assassination to somebody else like, for example, when the CIA tried and failed, to murder Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah by subcontracting his bombing to its local “Christian” allies, killing over 80 innocent people in the process. There is plenty of common crime in the UK and to get somebody to rob and stab Skripal would have probably been the easiest version. That’s assuming that the Russians had any reason to want him dead, which they self-evidently didn’t.

But here is the important thing: every single criminal or intelligence specialist in the West understands all of the above. But that does not stop the Ziomedia from publishing articles like this one “A Brief History of Attempted Russian Assassinations by Poison” which also lists people poisoned by Russians:

The only possible conclusion from this list is this: there is some kind of secret lab in Russia where completely incompetent chemists try every poison known to man, not on rats or on mice, but on high profile AngloZionist-supported political activists, preferably before an important political event.

Right.

By the way, the gas allegedly used in the attack, “Novichok”, was manufactured in Uzbekistan and the cleanup of the factory producing it was made by, you guessed it, a US company. Just saying…

In any halfway honest and halfway educated society, those kind of articles should result in the idiot writing it being summarily fired for gross incompetence and the paper/journal posting it being discredited forever. But in our world, the clown who wrote that nonsense (Elias Groll, a Harvard graduate and – listen to this – a specialist of “cyberspace and its conflicts and controversies” (sic)) is a staff writer of the award-winning Foreign Policy magazine.

So what does it tell us, and future historians, when this kind of crap is written by a staff writer of an “award winning” media outlet? Does it not show that our society has now reached a stage in its decay (I can’t call that “development”) where lies become the norm? Not only are even grotesque and prima facie absurd lies accepted, they are expected (if only because they reinforce the current ideological Zeitgeist. The result? Our society is now packed with first, zombified ideological drones who actually believe any type of officially proclaimed of nonsense and, second, by cowards who lack the basic courage to denounce even that which they themselves know to be false.

Lies, however ridiculous and self-evidently stupid, have become the main ingredient of the modern political discourse. Everybody knows this and nobody cares. When challenged on this, the typical defense used is always the same: “you are the only person saying this – I sure ever heard this before!”.

Willful ignorance as a universal cop-out

We all know the type. You tell somebody that his/her theory makes absolutely no sense or is not supported by facts and the reply you get is some vaguely worded refusal to engage in an disputation. Initially, you might be tempted to believe that, indeed, your interlocutor is not too bright and not too well read, but eventually you realize that there is something very different happening: the modern man actually makes a very determined effort not to be capable of logical thought and not to be informed of the basic facts of the case. And what is true for specific individuals is even more true of our society as a whole. Let’s take one simple example: Operation Gladio:

“Gladio” is really an open secret by now. Excellent books and videos have been written about this and even the BBC has made a two and a half hour long video about it. There is even an entire website dedicated to the story of this huge, continent-wide, terrorist organization specializing in false flag operations. That’s right: a NATO-run terrorist network in western Europe involved in false flag massacres like the infamous Bologna train station bombing. No, not the Soviet KGB backing the Baader-Meinhof Red Army Faction or the Red Brigades in Italy. No, the US and West European governments organizing, funding and operating a terrorist network directed at the people of Western, not Eastern, Europe. Yes, at their own people! In theory, everybody should know about this, the information is available everywhere, even on the hyper-politically correct Wikipedia. But, again, nobody cares.

The end of the Cold War was marked by a seemingly endless series of events which all provided a pretext for AngloZionist interventions (from the Markale massacres in Bosnia, to the Srebrenica “genocide”, to the Racak massacre in Kosovo, to the “best” and biggest one of them all, 9/11 of course). Yet almost nobody wondered if the same people or, at least, the same kind of people who committed all the Gladio crimes might be involved. Quite the opposite: each one of these events was accompanied by a huge propaganda campaign mindlessly endorsing and even promoting the official narrative, even when it self-evidently made no sense whatsoever (like 2 aircraft burning down 3 steel towers). As for Gladio, it was conveniently “forgotten”.

There is a simple principle in psychology, including, and especially in criminal psychology which I would like to prominently restate here:

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior

Every criminologist knows that and this is why criminal investigators place so much importance on the “modus operandi”, i.e. the particular way or method a suspect or a criminal chooses in the course of the execution of his/her crimes. That is also something which everybody knows. So let’s summarize this in a simple thesis:

Western regimes have a long and well-established track record of regularly executing bloody false-flag operations in pursuit of political objectives, especially those providing them with a pretext to justify an illegal military aggression.

Frankly, I submit that the thesis above is really established not only by a preponderance of evidence but beyond a reasonable doubt. Right?

Maybe. But that is also completely irrelevant because nobody gives a damn! Not the reporters who lie for a living nor, even less so, the brainwashed zombies who read their nonsense and take it seriously. The CIA tried to kill Fidel Castro over 600 times – who cares?! All we know is that the good folks at Langley would never, ever, kill a Russian in the UK, out of respect for international law, probably…

That willful ignorance easily defeats history, facts or logic.

Here is a simple question a journalist could ask: “would the type of people who had no problems blowing up an large train station, or bringing down three buildings in downtown New York, have any hesitation in using a goofy method to try kill a useless Russian ex-spy if that could justify further hostile actions against a country which they desperately need to demonize to justify and preserve the current AngloZionist world order?”. The answer I think is self-evident. The question shall therefore not be asked. Instead, soy-boys from Foreign Policy mag will tell us about how the Russians use exotic flowers to kill high visibility opponents whose death would serve no conceivable political goal.

Hypocrisy as a core attribute of the modern man

Willful ignorance is important, of course, but it is not enough. For one thing, being ignorant, while useful to dismiss a fact-based and/or logical argument, is not something useful to establish your moral superiority or the legality of your actions. Empire requires much more than just obedience from its subject: what is also absolutely indispensable is a very strong sense of superiority which can be relied upon when committing a hostile action against the other guy. And nothing is as solid a foundation for a sense of superiority than the unapologetic reliance on brazen hypocrisy. Let’s take a fresh example: the latest US threats to attack Syria (again).

Irrespective of the fact that the US themselves have certified Syria free of chemical weapons and irrespective of the fact that US officials are still saying that they have no evidence that the Syrian government was involved in any chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun, the US is now preparing to strike Syria again in “response” to future chemical attacks! Yes, you read that right. The AngloZionists are now announcing their false flags in advance! In fact, by the time this analysis is published the attack will probably already have occurred. The “best” part of this all is that Nikki Haley has now announced to the UN Security Council that the US will act without any UN Security Council approval. What the US is declaring is this: “we reserve the right to violate international law at any time and for any reason we deem sufficient”. In the very same statement, Nikki Haley also called the Syrian government an “outlaw regime”. This is not a joke, check it out for yourself. The reaction in “democratic” Europe: declaring that *Russia* (not the US) is a rogue state. QED.

This entire circus is only made possible by the fact that the western elites have all turned into “great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies” (to use the wonderful words of Boris Johnson) and that absolutely nobody has the courage, or decency, to call all this what it really is: an obscene display of total hypocrisy and wholesale violation of all norms of international law. The French philosopher Alain Soral is quite right when he says that modern “journalists are either unemployed or prostitutes” (he spoke about the French media - un journaliste français c’est soit une pute soit un chômeur – but this fully applies to all the western media). Except that I would extend it to the entire Western Establishment.

I would further argue that foreign aggression and hypocrisy have become the two essential pillars for the survival of the AngloZionist empire: the first one being an economic and political imperative, the 2nd one being the prerequisite for the public justification of the first one. But sometimes even that is not enough, especially when the lies are self-evidently absurd. Then the final, quasi-miraculous element is always brought in: hysterics.

Hysteria as the highest form of (pseudo-)liberalism

I don’t particularly care for the distinction usually made between liberals and conservatives, at least not unless the context and these terms is carefully and accurately defined. I certainly don’t place myself on that continuum nor do find it analytically helpful.

The theoretical meaning of these concepts is, however, quite different from what is mostly understood under these labels, especially when people use them to identify themselves. That is to say that while I am not at all sure that those who think of themselves as, say, liberals are in any way truly liberal, I do think that people who would identify themselves as “liberals” often (mostly?) share a number of characteristics, the foremost of which is a very strong propensity to function at, and engage in, an hysterical mode of discourse and action.

The Google definition of hysteria is “exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people (…) whose symptoms include conversion of psychological stress into physical symptoms (somatization), selective amnesia, shallow volatile emotions, and overdramatic or attention-seeking behavior”. Is that not a perfect description of US politicians, especially the (putatively) “liberal” ones? Just think of the way US Democrats have capitalized on such (non-)issues as “Russian interference” (externally) or “gun control” (internally) and you will see that the so-called “liberals” never get off a high-emotional pitch. The best example of all, really, is their reaction to the election of Donald Trump instead of their cult-leader Hillary: it has been over a year since Trump has been elected and yet the liberal ziomedia and its consumers are still in full-blown hysteria mode (with “pussyhats”, “sky-screams” and all). In a conversation you can literally drown such a liberal with facts, statistics, expert testimonies, etc. and achieve absolutely no result whatsoever because the liberal lives in an ideological comfort zone which he/she is categorically unwilling and, in fact, unable, to abandon, even temporarily. This is what makes liberals such a *perfect* audience for false-flag operations: they simply won’t process the narrative presented to them in a logical manner but will immediately react to it in a strongly emotional manner, usually with the urge to immediately “do something”.

That “do something” is usually expressed in the application of violence (externally) and the imposition of bans/restrictions/regulations (internally). You can try to explain to that liberal that the very last thing the Russians would ever want to do is to use a stupid method to try to kill a person who is of absolutely no interest to them, or to explain to that liberal that the very last thing the Syrian government would ever do in the course of its successful liberation of its national territory from “good terrorists” would be to use chemical weapons of any kind – but you would never achieve anything: Trump must be impeached, the Russians sanctioned and the Syrians bombed, end of argument.

I am quite aware that there are a lot of self-described “conservatives” who have fully joined this chorus of hysterical liberals in all their demands, but these “conservatives” are not only acting out of character, they are simply caving in to the social pressure of the day, being the “great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies” mentioned above. Again, I am not discussing real liberals or real conservatives here (regardless of what these terms really mean), I am talking about those who, for whatever reason, chose to place that label upon themselves even if they personally have only a very vague idea of what this label is supposed to mean.

Scripal case: assassination attempt without an assassin

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
 (Hamlet (1.4), Marcellus to Horatio )

  Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 11) stipulates that "everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty" - one of the core principles of modern society

SKRIPALMANIA by Patrick Armstrong

1. It’s obvious nonsense brought to you by proven liars.
2. The point of propaganda is to leave an impression after the details have been forgotten.
3. To get involved in discussing the minutiae of the story is to help the propagandists’ aims.
4. Therefore treat it as a badly constructed story that is failing to convince.
5. Do this by analyzing the comments on the news stories which (at least the ones I’ve looked at) show that people are skeptical.
6. Also mock the meanderings of the story: At the restaurant! In the car! On the doorstep! Incredibly lethal but strangely ineffective. Miraculous recovery of daughter. Baby wipes as effective protection. Reminiscent of White Helmets and their flip flops, rubber gloves and paper masks; but, come to think of it, it’s the same authors in both stories. Who, after so many lies, are becoming overconfident and sloppy.

It’s a startlingly incompetent theatrical production and should be responded to with contemptuous mockery.

Sic Semper Tyrannis, Mar 29, 2018

There are multiple signs that "something is rotten in  the Kingdom of Demark" in case of Skripal poisoning. Among the most obvious signs that this was yet another false flag operation are:

Notes:

As the UK goverment  have a history of desperate measures to cling to power, as well as history of experimenting on humans (they killed one parson by injecting him with sarin) this whole incident & investigation has a clear sign of false flag operating which would primary not secondary hypothesis

No more or less realistic timeline exists

As both Skripal and his daughter carry a cell phone (probably expensive, as Skripal drove BMW and Yulia came from Moscow and worked for foreign companies were an upscale smartphone is a viewed as a norm ;-) all movements of this couple probably could be traced with absolute accuracy via GPS data from the phones (and you bet that such data were collected for both by appropriate British agencies). So all their movements  should be completely known  and timeline should be available. This is not the case. Looks like nothing substantial was published or I was unable to find it.

Available timelines suggest that initial poisoning took around half an hour to incapacitate them if we assume that they were poisoned at the Zizzi restaurant, which is not typical for a nerve gas. Also nobody else in the restaurant was affected so the only way such a fit can be dome is via food or drink which is strange method of application of poisoness gas which is designed to be dispersed and act via air or skin contact.

But MSM do not ask such questions. They just propagate official talking points. Which also change with time.

Typical time from poisoning to death for VX type gas is a minute or two. Here we are talking about hours (in case the poisoness liquid or grease was applied to the door knob --  the most recent version of the story -- full three hours 12:55 -- 16:00 or later). That does not look plausible, even if we accept that some idiot decided to bring such a dangerous substance into what is a national security state with immense number of cameras and use it against the person who lost any significance other that a scapegoat for some provocation.

Mark Hirst‏ @Documark · Mar 29

"#Skripal was poisoned in his car... No it was from a handbag.... No it was his front door...."
Who's running this "investigation"? The Keystone Cops?
Where is the nationwide manhunt for the real perpetrators?
Where is the obligatory CCTV in the most surveilled state on earth?

Here is timeline extended from the initial short  BBC timeline ( http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43315636   )

If we assume that they were poisoned at Zizzi with fentanyl or something similar they survived for more then an hour, which is not atypical in cases of narcotics overdose. Moreover Skripal lost emotional control at the restaurant which can be  because he has "fixed time" appointment  and it was in jeopardy (that suggests staged poisoning) or because he was a narcoaddict (he suffered from chronic pain) who wants to take his fix and can't. That does not explain why the daughter was also affected, though.

Here is also another timeline from

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/03/no-patients-have-experienced-symptoms-of-nerve-agent-poisoning-in-salisbury.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01b8d2e3cc6c970c

@25 peter.. I found this sequence of events timing from somewhere else - can't remember.. it seems they visiting the pub before the restaurant...

Skripal nerve-gas assassination definitely has multiple common elements with the “Litvinenko polonium murder” and the “Yushchenko dioxin poisoning“. The fact that neither nerve-gas, nor polonium nor dioxin are in any way effective murder weapons does not matter in the least: a simple drive-by shooting, street-stabbing or, better, any “accident” is both easier to arrange and impossible to trace.

Fancy assassination methods are used when access to the target is very hard or impossible (as was the case with Ibn al-Khattab, whose assassination the Russians were more than happy to take credit for; this might also have been the case with the death of Yasser Arafat). But the best way of murdering somebody is to simply make the body disappear, making any subsequent investigation almost impossible.

Finally, you can always subcontract the assassination to somebody else like, for example, when the CIA tried and failed, to murder Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah by subcontracting his bombing to its local “Christian” allies, killing over 80 innocent people in the process.

Skripal case: assassination attempt without an assassin

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
 (Hamlet (1.4), Marcellus to Horatio )

In this case like in case on MH17 and Litvinenko poisoning Western MSM try to deceive public. No question about it. We do not know much about this assassination (if there was an assassination, which also is not given; can be completely staged event), but those tiny bits of information that we have suggest the MSM are deceiving us and treat us as idiots, who are incapable of independent thinking. 

UK financed/affiliated "White Helmets" have been routinely and regularly producing  'chemical weapons false flags' for years in Syria.

Theresa May accusations implies that the British authorities have both a control sample (to determine if the quantities found would be lethal) and samples from a few different labs to confirm that the fingerprint was from lab A not lab B for example. How did they got those ? But the whole hypotheses that a nerve gas was used is very weak even within the framework that is known from published information.  There are several questions that need to answered:

Of course we will never know preside answers on most of those question, but the list itself suggests that "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." (Hamlet (1.4), Marcellus to Horatio )

From a very scant information available the most plausible hypothesis is that it was a false flag operation which probably proceeded in two steps (with the first step not necessary accomplished by those who run the second step; it can be two different groups).

  1. Skripal visited police some time before the incident and stated that he fears for his life.  that can be an initial step for the propagation  for a stage incident or a real concerns.
     
  2. While being in the restaurant Skripal he lost emotional control.  may be he has to be at the bench at specific time and this schedule was in jeopardy.  Or he  sense some danger and wanted to leave the place (in this case why wait for the food). Or he  needed a fetanyl or some other narcotic fix (in this  case why daughter was affected too)
     
  3. A pretty plausible explanation of the  know facts for the case is that there were two different  poisons. First some poison like Fentanyl was mixed into food or drinks or taken by Skripals themselves either as masked as some other medication, or as a part of narcoaddict fix. This explains why nobody in the restaurant was affected (any military nerve gas would kill everybody in the room, so this hypothesis that the gar was "administered" in the restaurant is not very plausible; if it would be administered before that, for example in the car as the US MSM push, Skripal would never get to the restaurant and probably level get out of the car iether). That's  why the doctor who treated Skripal daughter for 30 min was not poisoned. So Skripal daughter hands and body was clean of both Fentanyl (which is highly toxic) and any nerve gas absorbed in the closing (which is deadly).  Fentanyl  is known for previous use in assassinations (for example by Israel). It killed more than 21K people in the USA in 2016

    Yulia recently lost a lot of weight which can suggest that she is on drags too. The initial reports put this hypothesis

    The two were urgently taken to hospital and in critical condition. They are supposed to have had contact with an unknown poisonous substance. According to unconfirmed information it is fentanyl. Two police officers were also hospitalized after they went to the scene of the incident.

    First responders can be affected by fentanyl too: Norwalk Reflector Norwalk officer rushed to ER after fentanyl poisoning

    A Norwalk police officers recently was rushed to the emergency room after experiencing what is believed to have been narcotic poisoning following an arrest at Wal-Mart.

    One of the scariest situation for first-responders is the possibility of drug poisoning from lethal substances such as fentanyl or carfentanil.

    Both drugs can be absorbed through the skin on contact, making them dangerous for medical and law enforcement responders to care for the increasing number of overdose patients. For non-drug users, coming into contact with even the smallest amount of either could be deadly since fentanyl is about 50 times stronger than heroin and carfentanil is considered to be 10,000 times more potent than morphine

    The incident resulted in a man’s arrest, but not before he gave officers a difficult time.

    “We arrested a guy out at Wal-Mart and (the officer) had to wrestle him around for a few minutes to get the cuffs on him,” Light said.

    Shortly after the incident, Light said, the officer said he “felt strange.” His heart rate elevated and his lips went numb. The officer was rushed to the Fisher-Titus Medical Center emergency room.

    “We’re pretty sure it was fentanyl poisoning that caused it,” Light said. “We think the possible fentanyl was on either his hands or his wrists.”
     

  4. On the second stage, which occurred when Skripals were already hospitalized a nerve agent was planted in several places, including home, somebody decided that this can be  tuned into a major attack of Russia and the false flag operation started. That's probably why the police investigator who visited Skripal home became the first victim of poisons gas.  This false flag poison plats could be performed by personnel in full protection gear, who arrived to those places.
     
  5. NHS Doctor: "No Patients Have Experienced Symptoms Of Nerve Agent Poisoning In Salisbury"
     
  6. Reaction of British authorities was pretty interesting. Especially speed. Scripals were  found unconscious March 4 around 4PM on the bench near the restaurant.  But already on March 5 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says Britain will "respond appropriately and robustly" if evidence emerges of Russia's involvement in Skripal's suspected poisoning. Of course Boris Johnson is a comic figure as the top diplomat and does not belong even to the second league in this area, but he is a long time politician and as such is not completely stupid. So there was probably a call from Washington, DC that forced this premature reaction.  Mar 21 - Russian Scientists Explain 'Novichok' - High Time For Britain To Come Clean (Updated)

    The British government is milking the incident to push Russophobia and to divert from its failure in the Brexit negotiations and all its other problems. But the diversion will only succeed so long. The NHS doctor as well as court testimony by scientists from Proton Down contradict the claims made by the British government. Let's hope that the British opposition picks up on that.

Poisoning of "opponent of the regime" provides ideal conditions for a false flag operation as the cloud of secrecy can be used to subvert the investigation and pursue the agenda with the complete impunity. The government can essentially decree the "truth" in such cases. It also provides tremendous propaganda effect.

And British are not shy from experimenting on humans with poison gases either. It took 50 years for Porton Down chemical research centre to come clean on poisoning a British soldier with Sarin telling him it was a flu test. Poor fella. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1476722/Porton-Down-unlawful-killing-verdict-opens-gates-to-claims.html

Only this sequence of events can explain what the doctor who treated the daughter for 30 min and first responders suffered no consequences.

Poisoning of the "opponent of the regime" is a known British tactics first demonstrated in full glory in Litvinenko case ("Arafat and Litvinenko: an Interesting Turn to a Mysterious Story", http://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/arafat-and-litvinenko-an-interesting-turn-to-a-mysterious-story /.)

The first step can also be plot by some group connected with William Browder of Magnitsky death fame (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25190975), Berezovsky associates or some other "Russian mafia in London" groups. The fact that Skripal has such an expensive car suggests that he was participating in some business dealings, probably as a part of some London-based exiles group. UK government is not know for extreme generosity toward such people as Skripal.

The question arise why the UK government went this path. It well might be the USA pressure (like in case of Iraq invasion) or internal considerations that such step will be beneficial to the May government survival. Or both.

My impression is that his is just a first (and somewhat clumsy executed) step in multi step gambit in which Scripals were just sacrificial lamps. Pawns is a bigger game.

The next steps might be related to Would Cup and/or confiscation of assets of Russian oligarchs in London to put pressure on Putin and possibly initiate with their hands a "regime change" in Russia.

Was everything staged with Skripals as hired actors?

Both Skripals badly needed money.  Older Skripal might be involved in some criminal or semi-criminal activity with other Russian emigrants as it often happens in London with those who expected to live a plush  life in GB and then found that founds they can get can't provide this standard of living.

without evidence to the contrary we must assume mi5 were responsible, or skripal somehow got hold of a poison and mishandled it.

there are also comments that the whole thing look like state provocation from the beginning to the end and there were not any gas or poisoning at all.

mike k , Mar 21, 2018 9:45:34 PM | 88

I cannot understand why so many commenters assume that a toxic agent had anything to do with this obvious false flag charade. I wonder if Skripal or his daughter were actually sick at all, or merely doing a crisis acting job.

Curious that they have been spirited away from anyone who might assess their condition. And the notoriously deadly nerve agent apparently did not do it's job on them. Because there was no nerve agent involved. Now after a long lapse of time some concocted nerve agent may be produced to back up the whole scam.

Meanwhile Skripal and daughter will be held away from prying eyes in "protective custody".

CUE BONO question is the key question in Skripal matter

Why such a strange and dangerous method of killing was chosen and why anybody wants to eliminate old, used man who does not have any valuable information or contacts

There is plenty of common crime in the UK and to get somebody to rob and stab Skripal would have probably been the easiest version. That’s assuming that the Russians had any reason to want him dead, which they self-evidently didn’t.

Mar 15, 2018 | www.unz.com

likbez, March 16, 2018 at 3:48 am GMT

@Kiza

Kiza,

Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked (by a Russian sounding chemical weapon Novichok), and denounce the peace makers for lack of patriotism (https://www.craigmurray.org.uk - Craig Murray has been most viciously attacked for not accepting the official story without any evidence) and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

Hermann Göring

That's a perfectly applicable variation of the famous quote.

The most plausible goal of the whole "Operation Skripal" was poisoning UK-Russia relations and hopefully bringing the US and EU to impose new round of sanctions on Russia. In this sense it reminds Litvinenko case (which brought huge propaganda benefits to the UK and the hysteria lasted several months, if memory does not fail me).

BTW exiled Russian oligarchs like Khodorkovski ( https://www.voltairenet.org/article168007.html ) also could easily stage such a false flag operation using their interconnections with both Russia and Israel.

One thing I can't understand in "Operation Skripal" is how such an assassination (if we assume that this is an assassination) was accomplished.

The gas (if it really exists, which is yet another question) supposedly is really deadly. If this was not gas but some substance infused with this agent (which would be extremely strange and risky method), you need to get it into the drinks, which means 100% chances of your detection.

Moreover in case of the gas the difficulties look insurmountable -- to get it to the victim you need to mix components and shortly after spray it from a short distance, hoping the you mixed them correctly. The place where Skripals were found unconscious is a really bad place for such an exercise as there probably several cameras which record the events on the bench.

Unless it was the daughter who did this (in this case authorities have definitely all the necessary evidence of the crime committed) chances of an attacker to survive such an attack are slim, and changes not being recorded on one or more camera are virtually non existent.

If there was a human assassin, he/she risks to be immediately dead or severely injured as even in minimal concentrations such a gas reliably kills a person within two minutes or so. Antidote might help to survive, but how effective it is depends on the dose you can get.

If some robotic disperser was used, then it will be found as unlike in case of an explosive device the activation does no destroy it.

Also unclear why target the daughter, unless we are dealing with some botched amateur false flag operation in best traditions of ISIS Syria false flag operations.

Moreover, Skripals spent around an hour on a bench in a comatose state and were helped by a doctor who was not affected in any way. See timeline at

http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-sergei-skripal-timeline-2018-3#march-3-240-pm-skripals-33-year-old-daughter-yulia-arrives-in-the-uk-via-london-heathrow-airport-relatives-said-she-was-visiting-from-moscow-17

But later a policeman was affected. Very strange.

So IMHO it looks like assassination without an assassin. There are some absurd statements that the poison was spiked in their drinks either in the pub or at the restaurant:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5742909/sergei-skripal-spy-russian-assassin-poison-hit-pub/

One possible scenario is that Skripal and his daughter were narcoaddicts and did it to themselves The initial reports (see, for example, https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5733372/ex-russian-spy-sergei-skripal-poisoned-salisbury-feared-life-cops/ ) suggested traces of the opiate fentanyl -- a synthetic toxin many times stronger than heroin -- had been detected at the scene.

Later their collapse was used to stage a false flag operation, when in fact there was no any gas involved, and at this point, a grandiose propaganda show with the decontamination of the area started.

30 questions which will never the answered by neoliberal MSM

30 Questions That Journalists Should be Asking About the Skripal Case

Mar 27, 2018 | www.theblogmire.com

There are a lot of issues around the case of Sergei and Yulia Skripal which, at the time of writing, are very unclear and rather odd. There may well be good and innocent explanations for some or even all of them. Then again there may not. This is why it is crucial for questions to be asked where, as yet, there are either no answers or deeply unsatisfactory ones.

Some people will assume that this is conspiracy theory territory. It is not that, for the simple reason that I have no credible theory -- conspiracy or otherwise -- to explain all the details of the incident in Salisbury from start to finish, and I am not attempting to forward one. I have no idea who was behind this incident, and I continue to keep an open mind to a good many possible explanations.

However, there are a number of oddities in the official narrative, which do demand answers and clarifications. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist or a defender of the Russian state to see this. You just need a healthy skepticism, "of a type developed by all inquiring minds!"

Below are 30 of the most important questions regarding the case and the British Government's response, which are currently either wholly unanswered, or which require clarification.

1. Why have there been no updates on the condition of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the public domain since the first week of the investigation?

2. Are they still alive?

3. If so, what is their current condition and what symptoms are they displaying?

4. In a recent letter to The Times , Stephen Davies, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, wrote the following:

"Sir, Further to your report ("Poison exposure leaves almost 40 needing treatment", Mar 14) may I clarify that no patients have experienced nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury and there have only ever been three patients with significant poisoning."

His claim that " no patients have experienced nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury" is remarkably odd, as it appears to flatly contradict the official narrative. Was this a slip of the pen, or was it his intention to communicate precisely this -- that no patients have been poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury?

5. It has been said that the Skripals and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey were poisoned by "a military grade nerve agent". According to some claims, the type referred to could be anywhere between five and eight times more toxic than VX nerve agent. Given that just 10mg of VX is reckoned to be the median lethal dose , it seems likely that the particular type mentioned in the Skripal case should have killed them instantly. Is there an explanation as to how or why this did not happen?

6. Although reports suggested the involvement of some sort of nerve agent fairly soon after the incident, it was almost a week before Public Health England issued advice to those who had visited The Mill pub or the Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury on the day that the Skripals fell ill. Why the delay and did this pose a danger to the public?

7. In their advice, Public Health England stated that people who had visited those places, where traces of a military grade nerve agent had apparently been found, should wash their clothes and:

"Wipe personal items such as phones, handbags and other electronic items with cleansing or baby wipes and dispose of the wipes in the bin (ordinary domestic waste disposal)."

Are baby wipes acknowledged to be an effective and safe method of dealing with objects that may potentially have been contaminated with "military grade nerve agent", especially of a type 5-8 times more deadly than VX?

8. Initial reports suggested that Detective Sergeant Bailey became ill after coming into contact with the substance after attending the Skripals on the bench they were seated on in The Maltings in Salisbury. Subsequent claims, however, first aired by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lord Ian Blair on 9 th March , said that he came into contact with the substance at Sergei Skripal's house in Christie Miller Road. Reports since then have been highly ambiguous about what should be an easily verifiable fact. Which is the correct account?

9. The government have claimed that the poison used was "a military grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia ". The phrase "of a type developed by Russia" says nothing whatsoever about whether the substance used in the Salisbury case was produced or manufactured in Russia. Can the government confirm that its scientists at Porton Down have established that the substance that poisoned the Skripals and DS Bailey was actually produced or manufactured in Russia?

10. The former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has claimed that sources within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have told him that scientists at Porton Down would not agree to a statement about the place of origin of the substance , because they were not able to establish this. According to Mr. Murray, only under much pressure from the Government did they end up agreeing to the compromise wording, "of a type developed by Russia", which has subsequently been used in all official statements on the matter. Can the FCO, in plain and unambiguous English, categorically refute Mr. Murray's claims that pressure was put on Porton Down scientists to agree to a form of words and that in the end a much-diluted version was agreed?

11. On the occasion that the FCO did attempt to refute Mr. Murray's claims , the wording they used included a straightforward repetition of the same phrase – "of a type developed by Russia". Is the FCO willing and able to go beyond this and confirm that the substance was not only "of a type developed by Russia", but that it was "produced" or "manufactured" in Russia?

12. Why did the British Government issue a 36-hour ultimatum to the Russian Government to come up with an explanation, but then refuse their request to share the evidence that allegedly pointed to their culpability (there could have been no danger of their tampering with it, since Porton Down would have retained their own sample)?

13. How is it possible for a state (or indeed any person or entity) that has been accused of something, to defend themselves against an accusation if they are refused access to evidence that apparently points to their guilt?

14. Is this not a clear case of the reversal of the presumption of innocence and of due process?

15. Furthermore, why did the British Government issue an ultimatum to the Russian Government, in contravention of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) rules governing such matters, to which both Britain and Russia are signatories, and which are clearly set out in Article 9, Paragraph ii of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)?

16. Given that the investigation, which has been described by the man leading it as being "an extremely challenging investigation" and as having "a number of unique and complex issues", and given that many of the facts of the case are not yet known, such as when, where and how the substance was administered, how is it possible for the British Government to point the finger of blame with such certainty?

17. Furthermore, by doing so, haven't they both politicized and prejudiced the investigation?

18. Why did the British Government feel the need to come forward with an accusation little more than a week into the investigation, rather than waiting for its completion?

19. On the Andrew Marr Show on 18 th March, the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, stated the following:

"And I might just say in response to Mr. Chizhov's point about Russian stockpiles of chemical weapons. We actually had evidence within the last ten years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but it has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok."

Where has this intelligence come from and has it been properly verified?

20. If this intelligence was known before 27 th September 2017 – the date that the OPCW issued a statement declaring the completion of the destruction of all 39,967 metric tons of chemical weapons possessed by the Russian Federation – why did Britain not inform the OPCW of its own intelligence which apparently contradicts this claim, which they would have had a legal obligation to do?

21. If this intelligence was known after 27 th September 2017, why did Britain not inform the OPCW of this "new" information, which it was legally obliged to do, since it allegedly shows that Russia had been lying to the OPCW and had been carrying out a clandestine chemical weapons programme?

22. Also on the Andrew Marr show, Mr. Johnson made the following claim after a question of whether he was "absolutely sure" that the substance used to poison the Skripals was a "Novichok":

"Obviously to the best of our knowledge this is a Russian-made nerve agent that falls within the category Novichok made only by Russia, and just to get back to the point about the international reaction which is so fascinating."

Is the phrase "to the best of our knowledge" an adequate response to Mr. Marr's request of him being "absolutely sure"?

23. Is this a good enough legal basis from which to accuse another state and to impose punitive measures on it, or is more certainty needed before such an accusation can be made?

24. After hedging his words with the phrase, "to the best of our knowledge", Mr. Johnson then went beyond previous Government claims that the substance was "of a type developed in Russia", saying that it was "Russian-made". Have the scientists at Porton Down been able to establish that it was indeed "Russian-made", or was this a case of Mr. Johnson straying off-message?

25. He also went beyond the previous claim that the substance was "of a type developed in Russia" by saying that the substance involved in the Skripal case "falls within the category Novichok made only by Russia "? Firstly, is Mr. Johnson able to provide evidence that this category of chemical weapons was ever successfully synthesized in Russia, especially in the light of the OPCW's Scientific Advisory Board stating as recently as 2013, that it has "insufficient information to comment on the existence or properties of 'Novichoks ' "?

26. As Craig Murray has again pointed out , since its 2013 statement, the OPCW has worked (legally) with Iranian scientists who have successfully synthesized these chemical weapons. Was Mr. Johnson aware that the category of "Novichok" chemical weapons had been synthesized elsewhere when he stated that this category of chemical weapons is "made only by Russia"?

27. Does the fact that Iranian scientists were able to synthesize this class of chemical weapons suggest that other states have the capabilities to do likewise?

28. Is the British Government aware that the main plant involved in attempts to synthesize Novichoks in the 1970s and 1980s was based not in Russia, but in Nukus in Uzbekistan?

29. Does the fact that the US Department of Defense decontaminated and dismantled the Nukus site, under an agreement with the Government of Uzbekistan , make it at least theoretically possible that substances or secrets held within that plant could have been carried out of the country and even back to the United States?

30. The connection between Sergei Skripal's MI6 recruiter, Pablo Miller , who also happens to live in Salisbury, and Christopher Steele, the author of the so-called "Trump Dossier", has been well established , as has the fact that Mr. Skripal and Mr. Miller regularly met together in the City . Is this connection of any interest to the investigation into the incident in Salisbury?


If there are any journalists with integrity and inquisitive minds still living in this country, I would be grateful if they could begin doing their job and research the answers to these sorts of questions by asking the appropriate people and authorities.

Litvinenko case

Brits have decided to raise Litvinenko’s ghost just to keep the pot boiling about the Evil One so that the whole world will rally behind the exceptional nation’s sterling effort to have him vanquished.

See also Litvinenko poisoning

PaulR says: January 23, 2015 at 1:21 pm

Latest Litvinenko revelation: Putin’s contacts with Al Qaeda: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11364724/Is-this-Alexander-Litvinenkos-beyond-the-grave-attack-on-Putin.html

 Moscow Exile says: January 23, 2015 at 1:56 pm

Yeah, Ol’ Sasha could tell a tale or two…if you paid him.

Or three or four, for that matter.

I reckon he’d have given a 5% discount on a job lot., especially when he became strapped for cash after his benefactor gave him the heave-ho in London.

Here’s Alexander MacLitvinenko in one of his fantasy modes:

Britain Cans Case Against Russia

Well not quite. They seem to have decided to raise Litvinenko’s ghost just to keep the pot boiling about the Evil One so that the whole world will rally behind the exceptional nation’s sterling effort to have him vanquished.

 Moscow Exile says: January 23, 2015 at 2:08 pm

Alexander Litvinenko: Blackmailer, Smuggler, Gangster Extraordinaire

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[Jul 14, 2021] It s now revealed that OPCW sent its team to Germany before Navalny made it to the hospital in Omsk:

Jul 13, 2021 | www.moonofalabama.org

karlof1 , Jul 10 2021 23:29 utc | 41

Speaking of always blaming Russia regardless the facts, it's now revealed that OPCW sent its team to Germany before Navalny made it to the hospital in Omsk:

"'How is it even possible?' Russia asks OPCW after report claims team was sent to Germany the same day Navalny fell ill in Siberia"!!!!

"[T]he OPCW states [Link at Original] that its secretariat 'deployed a team to perform a technical assistance visit' related to the suspected poisoning of a 'Russian citizen' at Germany's request on August 20. The problem is that on that day, Navalny was only flying from the Russian Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow. It was on that flight that he first felt ill and was then rushed to a hospital in another Siberian city, Omsk, following the plane's emergency landing ." [My Emphasis]

OOPS!!!! Someone must have put the Brits in charge. It will be very interesting to see how this gaff is spun.

[Jun 12, 2021] Latest Novichok Poisoning Originates From UK Lab, Authorities Say

Jun 12, 2021 | newspunch.com


The latest Novichok victims were exposed to the deadly agent as a result of a leak from a nearby UK laboratory, authorities have confirmed.

Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill at a house in Amesbury on Saturday, after being exposed to Novichok "" the same nerve agent that poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skirpal.

Rt.com reports: Two people, this time a British couple in their 40s with no link to Russian intelligence, were affected by a chemical substance on Saturday. Four days later, the UK's counter-terrorism chief said the chemical that hit them was the same that sent former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, into a coma in early March.

Back then, it took mere hours for the UK government to pin the blame on Moscow and unleash a massive diplomatic offensive together with its allies. Moscow, still waiting for compelling evidence to be produced, has been shut out of the investigation, and it has raised a number of questions about the poisoning "" none of which have been answered.

Linking the two poisonings "is clearly a line of enquiry" for UK investigators, but the new incident doesn't look likely to answer any of those concerns either.

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Location, location, location

The new victims, 45-year-old Charlie Rowley and his 44-year-old girlfriend Dawn Sturgess were discovered in Amesbury, some 12 km (7 miles) north of Salisbury. Both scenes, though, are located around Porton Down, which houses a secretive government chemical lab.

Porton Down has been a crucial part of the Skripal case investigation. It was there that the chemical agent was identified as Novichok in both cases. Back in March, UK officials cited this as proof that the substance came from Russia "" only to later be contradicted by the lab's chief executive, who said they weren't really able to verify the agent's origins.

As for the location of the new scene relative to the old one, 12 km doesn't seem like an improbably large distance. Plus, a friend of the victims said the couple had been to Salisbury before they fell ill. The UK Home Secretary's working theory is that the exposure was accidental, which begs the question: how would that be possible after four months and a massive clean-up operation? Also, why were there only two random people in the whole 12km radius that were affected?

Curious timing

Investigators say it's unclear if the supposed Novichok came from the same batch that poisoned the Skripals in March. But, according to experts, the nerve agents of the Novichok family lose their potency very quickly, which makes it unlikely that a trace powerful enough had survived for four months to strike again at this particular moment.

And the moment is significant for two reasons "" two events key to Russia's international image. One is the hugely successful FIFA World Cup, where the English team just secured a quarter-final spot. British fans seem to be enjoying themselves in Russia, and berating British politicians and media for their efforts to scare them away from the event.

The other is the preparations for a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin. A date and a place for the meeting "" Helsinki, Finland, July 16 "" were set just last week, and a possible rapprochement between the two rival superpowers seems to be keeping British officials up at night.

Nobody died, again

One of the key questions asked back in March was: why did the Skripals survive if they were indeed exposed to a military-grade nerve agent? While UK officials peddle Novichok as a deadly nerve agent manufactured by the Soviets, claiming its recent use was the first chemical attack in Europe since World War Two, it appears to have a surprisingly low lethality rate.

A friend of the couple described Rowley becoming increasingly ill over the course of the day, before finally being taken to the hospital. There, the supposedly deadly Novichok gave doctors enough time to treat the couple for a completely different diagnosis: the medics initially believed that the couple had taken contaminated drugs (Rowley is a registered heroin addict). Samples from the two were only sent to Porton Down on Monday, two days after they were admitted.

Back in March, the Skripals were similarly discovered slipping in and out of consciousness on a park bench. They were also treated for an opioid overdose at first, before the diagnosis switched to nerve agent poisoning. Both ultimately survived and have now been discharged from the hospital.

Analysts have repeatedly questioned the apparent low lethality of the supposed "military-grade nerve agent." Russian officials, as well, have said that if such a deadly substance had indeed been used, survival would be impossible.

British officials are still investigating the incident. However, this time "" now that Novichok has been brought up "" they seem less inclined to point fingers, even as England fans frolic in Russia and Theresa May's handling of Brexit continues to divide the public.

[May 11, 2021] Internal emails reveal that the Dutch government suppressed White Helmets' financial fraud what else are they hiding

May 11, 2021 | www.rt.com

By Kit Klarenberg , an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. Follow him on Twitter @KitKlarenberg The epic establishment clean-up operation launched in the wake of James Le Mesurier's apparent suicide was effective in the short term, but determined digging by critical journalists means the scandal definitely isn't over yet.

A Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant, has published a stunning exclusive based on internal government emails, exposing how officials conspired to prevent a minister publicly raising concerns about fraudulent activity at Mayday Rescue, the now-defunct "humanitarian" organization behind Syria's highly controversial White Helmets.

The internal communications show that, following the ever-mysterious demise of Helmets and Mayday founder James Le Mesurier in November 2019 in Istanbul, Sigrid Kaag, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, planned to formally caution parliament about financial impropriety on Le Mesurier's part. Several draft statements were produced over the ensuing Christmas period, in which Mayday was openly named.

ALSO ON RT.COM 'Humanitarian' agency USAID was 'key tool' for Washington undermining the Venezuelan government, official review reveals

Her anxieties were well-founded. On November 8, three days before his death, Le Mesurier openly confessed in an email to his organization's numerous international donors – of which the Netherlands had been but one – that he was guilty of misconduct and fraud, admitting to forging receipts to hide the disappearance of $50,000 in cash, paying himself and his wife Emma Winberg "excessive" salaries, and potential tax evasion, among other malfeasance.

While claiming this wasn't intentional, he took full and sole responsibility, and warned against further investigation into Mayday's financial affairs, fearing that continued probing could expose yet more "mistakes and internal failures."

In the wake of his apparent suicide, Volkskrant reports that donor countries – who'd collectively committed in excess of $100 million to Le Mesurier's cause – convened a crisis meeting at the Dutch consulate in Istanbul, at which diplomats concluded the Netherlands was "extra vulnerable", given all the funding it had provided to Mayday, and the organization having ostensibly been based on its soil, meaning millions in international payments had been processed through Dutch accounts.

Funding from Amsterdam had nonetheless ceased in September 2018, after a Ministry of Foreign Affairs report outlined serious concerns about Mayday's financial practices, including a virtually total lack of oversight over, and even awareness of, how its money entered Syria, and precisely where it eventually ended up.

However, top Netherlands State Department officials strongly disagreed with Kaag's proposal, arguing that if lawmakers were warned at all, it was best done confidentially, as if the allegations weren't in fact true, it could " unjustly harm" Mayday.

ALSO ON RT.COM Bogus story of Iranian interference in Scottish politics shows Western media to be the true election meddler

After some toing and froing, a compromise was struck – Kaag agreed to wait for the results of an independent audit of Mayday by accounting firm Grant Thornton to be published, whereupon a letter would be sent "immediately" to parliament. As the auditors went about their assessment, in February 2020 diplomats again travelled to Istanbul to discuss the organization's possible malpractice. Key considerations for those present were "avoiding political risks" and ensuring "minimal exposure" for Amsterdam in the case.

As luck would have it, Grant Thornton found no evidence of fraud, but did identify major failings in bookkeeping and financial supervision, with many payments untraceable. Kaag opted to keep the report private, and declined after all to apprise parliament of its conclusions. This move would be somewhat inexplicable if the auditor did indeed exonerate Mayday, but the emails unearthed by Volkskrant amply demonstrate that it didn't.

In one missive, a Dutch official states that "it cannot be established with certainty" that the Netherlands' subsidies to Mayday had in fact been provided to the White Helmets. When asked which funds in particular, they responded, " all expenses to the White Helmets."

In other words, fraud on the part of Mayday couldn't be detected only because quite literally no records relating to where any of the sums actually went existed. As such, it's unsurprising that an independent followup probe of the organization's finances was considered to be a waste of time.

The Dutch Central Audit Service, which controls government expenditure, in summer 2020 ruled that €3.6 million should "preferably" be reclaimed from Mayday. However, Grant Thornton's findings were invoked to argue there were "insufficient grounds" to pursue the matter, and Mayday was duly removed from the list of cases to be reported to parliament in July 2020.

Volksrant's seismic revelations will no doubt make extremely uncomfortable reading for a great many powerful people. After all, the mainstream media, and the numerous governments which funded Mayday, have struggled to get their story straight on Le Mesurier, his company, and the group he founded, ever since his fatal plunge. Over the final months of 2020, a concerted campaign was waged to tie up the assorted loose ends.

ALSO ON RT.COM The Syrian government has been blamed for the 2018 Saraqib chemical attack, but this time around India isn't buying it

First, in October, a fawning 6,000 word Guardian hagiography acquitted Le Mesurier on charges of fraud, being an agent of British intelligence, using the Helmets as a Trojan Horse for regime change in Syria, and affiliation with extremist groups.

The next month, a multi-part BBC World Service podcast series amplified this sycophantic apologism globally, while in the process smearing independent journalists and researchers who'd raised questions about the Helmets as agents of the Russian and Syrian governments, who bore significant responsibility for Le Mesurier's suicide by spreading malicious, dangerous "disinformation" .

Both The Guardian and BBC relied exclusively on Grant Thornton's audit to exonerate Le Mesurier of fraud charges, despite not actually having seen the findings – the former firmly contended it was just one example of how "Le Mesurier unravelled under the weight of claims that would later prove to be false."

That this fundamental aspect of the exculpatory mainstream narrative of Le Mesurier and the Helmets has now seemingly been demonstrated to be entirely bogus, one can only wonder what other elements are similarly erroneous, why, and what else Mayday's backers have to hide.

In respect of the latter question, one answer could well be direct or indirect funding of violent terrorist groups in Syria by the Netherlands if not many other Western governments, under the cover of humanitarian payments to Mayday. In December 2020, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte admitted that he blocked a parliamentary request for an independent investigation into this very question.

ALSO ON RT.COM Western media quick to accuse Syria of 'bombing hospitals' - but when TERRORISTS really destroy Syrian hospitals, they are silent

After initially attempting to deny having done so, the previous month he told journalists such a probe may result in "tensions" with Netherlands' allies, and "put the lives of former members of opposition groups at stake."

Evidently, try as the establishment might, the controversy surrounding the White Helmets isn't going anywhere, and, in fact, is gaining significantly in volume and credibility. It's anyone's guess which will be the next domino to fall. Watch this space.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


Stranded 15 hours ago 15 hours ago

The government in the Netherlands used taxpayer money to fund terrorism in Syria. This is what happened and normally if you aid terrorism there is a big price to pay. Not for politicians though its perfectly fine to stir up trouble abroad and then act oblivious when it hits home.
Vincent2000 14 hours ago 14 hours ago
This is truly very old news. We knew all along that the white helmets were financially supported by western governments. All the other intricacies of that support were irrelevant to us. The white helmets were just another tool used by western governments to topple the legitimate government of Syria.
zoombeenie 15 hours ago 15 hours ago
Thank you. I long believed the White Helmets had a connection with shady Western Governments. Did Le Mesurier have an Epstein moment? More probing needs to be done and head role
frankfalseflag 18 hours ago 18 hours ago
The West will soon discover that the Dutch - who invented civilization's first bubble of the tulip bulb - are also responsible for inventing cryptocurrencies and the bubble that will soon engulf the investors who believe in them
CrabbyB 19 hours ago 19 hours ago
Evil is exposing itself.. it's up to us how we handle it. If we get it wrong we will suffer 10 fold.
Vera Narishkin 16 hours ago 16 hours ago
Why am I not surprised? What else are they hiding? The real culprits of the downing of flight MH17, of course!
frankfalseflag 18 hours ago 18 hours ago
It's nice to be hearing about the White Helmets again. One of the CIA's recent, great successes
Roger Hudson 20 hours ago 20 hours ago
Investigate and expose the whole thing, from MI6/SIS onwards.
errovi 21 hours ago 21 hours ago
Sigrid Kaag profiled herself on "new leadership" during the recent elections...

[Mar 27, 2021] The Charite Hospital reports on his health confirmed what doctors in Omsk had discovered and b, indeed, had reported here: the man suffers from very serious health problems

Mar 27, 2021 | www.moonofalabama.org

bevin , Mar 24 2021 21:09 utc | 43

re Navalny: the Charite Hospital reports on his health confirmed what doctors in Omsk had discovered and b, indeed, had reported here: the man suffers from very serious health problems. It is a measure of the cynicism of the imperialist secret police that they have choreographed this soap opera to end up in Navalny's death in a Russian prison. Another Magnitsky for the Canadian House of Commons to fawn over as it licks Washington's ar boots.

[Mar 03, 2021] The Biden regime considers Russia its enemy Number One and Novalny poisoning false flag was created to legitimize additional sunctions on Russia

Mar 03, 2021 | www.unz.com

Originally from: America descends into virtual night, by Israel Shamir - The Unz Review

... ... ...

In this screenshot of his response in 2007, Mr Navalny bans somebody for being "a bugger and a kike". Still, Jews supported him all right when told by their betters. They didn't even mention his real anti-Jewish prejudice for they were (reasonably) afraid the Russian masses would see it as rather a feather in his cap. The Jews are in line with the obscure real power, and have to follow its demands, like the jesters before the king. The Covid plans for the world reset are more important for the Masters than Jewish sentiments, and Jewish leaders recognise that.

The Biden regime considers Russia its enemy Number One. Russia is in relatively good shape. Russians are on their way out of Covid mass hysteria. They have begun to dismantle the Covid measures. The rules are still there, but people sabotage them as they sabotaged Brezhnev's rules. They also have their own vaccine Sputnik-V which is an old-style vaccine without gene modification, as opposed to much of the Western stuff. I do not think it is necessary for health, but it could help citizens under the spell of Covid to recover and forget the lockdown nightmare.

Things began to move very fast after Biden was installed in the White House. After a year of delays caused by US sanctions, on Monday 25/01/2021 the Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna resumed its work off Denmark's shores on the undersea pipeline Nord Stream 2 to sell Russian gas directly to Europe bypassing the latest US colony, the Ukraine. The US wants Germany to stop the project and buy (more expensive) American gas instead. It would make Russia more vulnerable. Despite the sanctions, Germany refused to stop the project. At the same time, the Russians began to supply gas to Serbia creating a new line bypassing the Ukraine. At this time, the Biden regime employed the Navalny card.

The return of Alexei Navalny to Russia is part of a plan to undermine Russia. The immense power of Big Data and its social networks promoted his return as the new savior. But somehow it didn't work. Instead of the expected tens of thousands, only one or two thousand followers turned up at the airport, fewer than for a pop singer. He was promptly detained and arraigned for thirty days. It was anticipated, and his people published his new Gelenjik Palace film together with his call to demonstrate on 23/01.

The Russian internet had been saturated by YouTube pushing people to view it. The video had been offered endlessly, time after time, and the numbers of viewers allegedly grew into the billions. It was basically a psyops played by Google (the owner of YouTube) against Putin. Again, it didn't work.

I witnessed the demo on Saturday 23/01, and it was not particularly impressive. Being a day off, with a lot of people walking the streets and practically nobody carrying a poster or a slogan, it is difficult to estimate how many were actually demonstrating, but it was in the low thousands, as far as I could see. The police were well behaved; none of the rough justice we see meted out in Paris or Amsterdam, let alone Washington. The Navalny activists were also rather peaceful, excepting some marginal figures who were promptly arrested.

It seems that the Russians are not as silly as the Western planners expected them to be. In 1990 they, or their parents listened to Yeltsin's calls to throw off the privileged Communist rulers because they, the rulers, had it so good with cars, dachas, Western goods. They paid for this response with ten of the most awful years our generation experienced. Now they and their children are unlikely to smash their state and their life just because their president has (or has not) a palace. We shall see what the Russian state will do against inevitable future assaults.

Putin is a cautious statesman. He does not want to aggravate relations with the Biden regime, but the digital giants do not leave him many options. A Russian company gave a hand to the Parler social network that was deplatformed by Amazon, and it came back into being. Another Russian social network, Vkontakte , began to attract Western users. And Russia is not alone: Turkey's Erdogan hit Twitter , Pinterest and Periscope with advertising bans after they refused to follow Facebook and appoint a local representative to take down contentious posts under a new law aimed to pass the right to censure from the networks to the Turkish state. Russia plans to follow the Turks. China has its own networks and is immune to the Big Five pressure.

[Feb 11, 2021] Interestingly, the Russians did not expel any US diplomats (at least not yet) in spite of the fact that these officials all agreed that the origin of the PSYOP was from overseas and in spite of the quasi-certainty that US officials must have been present, at least in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg protests

Looks like Venezuelan scenario with Navalny as a Russian Guado...
Notable quotes:
"... we protest about "Putin murdering his own people with combat gasses" while on the other we are about to complete North Stream 2 (NS2), which we need to remain competitive; if we continue, we will lose NS2 and we will alienate Russia even further, but if we stop acting like an idiot on suicide watch, our overseas masters will make us pay. ..."
"... Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, added that "The task [of Borrell] was to carry out a public flogging, which, I think, they planned very carefully, it was a cascade of topics: talks about rallies, talks about journalists, and making [Alexey] Navalny the main theme of the discussion". According to Zakharova , this plan failed because Russia insisted on discussing the "real issues". ..."
"... Interestingly, the Russians did not expel any US diplomats (at least not yet) in spite of the fact that these officials all agreed that the origin of the PSYOP was from overseas and in spite of the quasi-certainty that US officials must have been present, at least in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg protests ..."
"... Lavrov bluntly said " We are proceeding from the assumption that the EU is not a reliable partner, at least at the current stage. I hope that in future strategic attention will be given to the EU's fundamental interest in its closest neighbours and that the talks we have held today will promote movement to a more constructive trajectory. We are ready for this". ..."
"... Translated from diplospeak into plain English, this means 1) we are fed up with you and 2) we don't need you. ..."
"... Russia does not want a constructive dialog ..."
"... In western parlance the degree of "democratism" or "authoritarianism" is solely defined by the willingness of a country to be a satrapy of the Empire. Under this definition, all sovereign countries are "dictatorships" and all AngloZionist satrapies are paragons of democracy. ..."
"... As for Navalnyi's supporters in the EU, they have decided to create a Russian government in exile . Again, this is not a joke. By the way, the "Minister of Foreign Affairs" of this "Russian Government in Exile", Leonid Volkov , initially declared that the illegal riots should be halted, only to be told otherwise by his handlers. ..."
"... We will not hold a rally next weekend The wave of protest must end at a high point. Because if we continue to decline, it will be terribly demotivating and frustrating for everyone We will prepare well and hold something big both in the spring and in the summer. We will never give up our demands ..."
"... We'll make it much trickier ..."
"... The NATO members instructed the "opposition", and in fact their agents of influence, how to continue "more cunning" to conduct subversive work. Too much money and resources have already been invested by the West in this story to wait until spring. They clearly understand: in the spring, the information campaign pumped up by Westerners will be blown away. They can no longer juggle the topic of "chemical weapons" without presenting the facts – they are pinned to the wall. So they double down. ..."
"... As for Navalnyi and his supporters, Zakarova was even more direct , saying " stop calling them opposition, they are NATO agents !". ..."
"... As I have explained many times, western politicians double down not when they feel strong, they double down when they feel weak and when they place their hopes in the willingness of the other side not to seriously further escalate. ..."
"... 'Svetlana Tikhanovskaia has appealed to the wife of Navalnyi, Iulia, to become the "she president of Russia"'. As in the case of Juan Guaido, no need for anything as old-fashioned as an election. (For obvious reasons). ..."
"... Lavrov is following Putin's line (Davos speech), ergo that Russia is ready to interact with Europe as a mutually respectful equal partner – but not with Europe as puppet of the US NWO, NeoCon , ZioGlob/CIA crowd. Hopefully the Germans are listening and can reassess their true interests. ..."
"... Israeli is changing due to massive immigration of non-Jews from Russia ..."
Feb 11, 2021 | www.unz.com

This latest PSYOP was apparently organized in the US last fall, while Trump was still in power, at least nominally. This makes sense, just like the huge "Patriot Act" was carefully prepared months, if not years before 9/11 happened. This time around, some US intelligence agency (probably the CIA) then passed the baby to the German BND which was supposed to act as an intermediary to give the US "plausible deniability". The big problem is that the Germans apparently screwed things up, and the plan was a flop: the latest sacral victim failed to die (again!). As for Putin, he used his executive power to allow Navalnyi (who was on parole) to immediately fly to Germany for treatment as soon as the Russian medics stabilized him. From there on, everything went south and Navalnyi's curators scrambled to save whatever could be saved.

They produced a movie about Putin's palace in Crimea, only to have Russian reporters film the location and prove that this movie was a total fake. Then they sent Navalnyi back to Russia figuring that if the Russian authorities arrested him huge protests would follow or, alternatively, if the Russians did nothing, Navalnyi would be able to create chaos during an important election year in Russia. This resulted in another flop, not only were the crowds in Russia small, their behavior was deeply offensive and even frightening to most Russians who have seen enough Maidans and color revolutions to know how this stuff ends. As for Navalnyi, he was arrested immediately upon landing, and his parole was revoked.

Of course, all this was reported very differently in what I call Zone A , but while this made it possible for the authors of this PSYOP to conceal the magnitude of their failure, in the rest of the world and, especially, in Russia, it was pretty clear that this ridiculous buffoonery had failed. That outcome presented the EU headless chicken with a major problem: on one hand, we protest about "Putin murdering his own people with combat gasses" while on the other we are about to complete North Stream 2 (NS2), which we need to remain competitive; if we continue, we will lose NS2 and we will alienate Russia even further, but if we stop acting like an idiot on suicide watch, our overseas masters will make us pay. EU leaders obviously failed agree on a plan so, just like a headless chicken, they ran in all directions at the same time: they publicly protested, but also sent as top official, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell, to try to appease the Russians. Borrell actually did a decent job trying to placate the Russians, but this time something went very wrong. Not only was Foreign Minister Lavrov very blunt in his public comments, the Russians also expelled 3 EU diplomats for participating in the demonstrations even while Borrell and Lavrov were talking. This is when the proverbial bovine excreta hit the fan, at least in EU whose "watchdog media" (here I use the term "watchdog" as meaning "immediately barking at anybody daring to stray from the official propaganda line") went crazy and accused Borrell of caving in to the Russians. Some even demanded Borrell's resignation. As for Borrell himself, he did what all western officials do after a visit to Moscow: he changed his tune as soon as he came back home.

Finally, Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, added that "The task [of Borrell] was to carry out a public flogging, which, I think, they planned very carefully, it was a cascade of topics: talks about rallies, talks about journalists, and making [Alexey] Navalny the main theme of the discussion". According to Zakharova , this plan failed because Russia insisted on discussing the "real issues".

Interestingly, the Russians did not expel any US diplomats (at least not yet) in spite of the fact that these officials all agreed that the origin of the PSYOP was from overseas and in spite of the quasi-certainty that US officials must have been present, at least in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg protests . To its credit, the US embassy in Moscow did recommend to all US citizens that they stay away from illegal demonstrations. This is an ongoing crisis and by the time this analysis is posted, things might have changed dramatically. My purpose today is not to look at the US or the EU, but at what I believe is a major shift in Russian policy.

At this point, we should not see the expulsions of the 3 EU diplomats as anything more than just a "shot across the bow", a way to indicate that the winds have changed. But these expulsions are not big enough to qualify as a real, painful, retaliation. Why?

Because the real slap in the collective face of the EU was the press conference of Lavrov and Borrell in which Lavrov was truly uniquely direct and candid. For example, Lavrov bluntly said " We are proceeding from the assumption that the EU is not a reliable partner, at least at the current stage. I hope that in future strategic attention will be given to the EU's fundamental interest in its closest neighbours and that the talks we have held today will promote movement to a more constructive trajectory. We are ready for this".

Translated from diplospeak into plain English, this means 1) we are fed up with you and 2) we don't need you.

This blunt statement is what triggered all the subsequent hysterics in Brussels about Borrell being ill treated by the Russians and Borrell's subsequent declaration that " Russia does not want a constructive dialog " and that the EU must now decide if it still wants to get closer to Russia or if it wants to distance itself from a country slipping into authoritarianism.

In western parlance the degree of "democratism" or "authoritarianism" is solely defined by the willingness of a country to be a satrapy of the Empire. Under this definition, all sovereign countries are "dictatorships" and all AngloZionist satrapies are paragons of democracy.

... ... ...

As for Navalnyi's supporters in the EU, they have decided to create a Russian government in exile . Again, this is not a joke. By the way, the "Minister of Foreign Affairs" of this "Russian Government in Exile", Leonid Volkov , initially declared that the illegal riots should be halted, only to be told otherwise by his handlers. He immediately made a required 180 and declared that protests will resume. This is how Maria Zakharova bluntly, and very officially, reacted on Facebook to his "change of mind": (minimally fixed machine translation)

NATO doubles down

On February 4, 2021, Volkov declared that the protests in Russia were canceled and will resume in the spring and summer. " We will not hold a rally next weekend The wave of protest must end at a high point. Because if we continue to decline, it will be terribly demotivating and frustrating for everyone We will prepare well and hold something big both in the spring and in the summer. We will never give up our demands ." Then, on February 9, 2021, Volkov changed his mind and announced that the campaign will continue in February. " We'll make it much trickier " he added. What happened between February 4 and 9 and forced the "opposition" to radically change tactics? Everything is quite simple – on February 8, 2021, an online meeting with Volkov and Ashurkov took place at the Permanent Mission of Poland to the EU in Brussels, in which EU countries, the United States, and Britain took part. And in fact-this was a meeting of the NATO countries.

The NATO members instructed the "opposition", and in fact their agents of influence, how to continue "more cunning" to conduct subversive work. Too much money and resources have already been invested by the West in this story to wait until spring. They clearly understand: in the spring, the information campaign pumped up by Westerners will be blown away. They can no longer juggle the topic of "chemical weapons" without presenting the facts – they are pinned to the wall. So they double down.

As for Navalnyi and his supporters, Zakarova was even more direct , saying " stop calling them opposition, they are NATO agents !".

As I have explained many times, western politicians double down not when they feel strong, they double down when they feel weak and when they place their hopes in the willingness of the other side not to seriously further escalate.

And, just to make sure that the Empire can win the battle for the "hearts and minds" of the Russian people, the Brits are now counting (again) on Pussy Riot to release a song in support of protests . Again, while this does sound like a joke, it is not.

Now comes the best part: there are a lot of signs that the EU will, again under the pious pretext of "solidarity" follow the 3B+PU politicians and, if not recognize such a government in exile, at least treat its members as real officials. That is also supposed to also terrify the Kremlin, I guess. But if that is the best the EU can come up with, VVP and the people of Russia, can sleep in peace.

Exile , says: February 10, 2021 at 3:32 am GMT • 1.3 days ago

America/Israel and NATO are apparently not going to change their approach despite the shift in both hard & soft power between the neoliberal/NWO and the pro-sovereignty blocs in the last two decades. And Europe is going to suffer worst from this...

Carlton Meyer , says: • Website February 10, 2021 at 5:29 am GMT • 1.2 days ago

Germany is key to Europe. The American empire ordered Germany to double its low military spending, they said no. Trump threatened to close American military bases in Germany, polls showed most Germans didn't care. They ordered Germany to cancel a new NatGas pipeline to Russia, they said no. Once they oust that Neocon puppet Merkel, the empire will be in trouble.

cranc , says: February 10, 2021 at 5:34 am GMT • 1.2 days ago
@Jay Roach

What is the status of the relationship between Russia and Israel ?

If it as simple as you say – and Saker himself seems to refer consistently to the US-NATO-EU 'Anglozionist empire', then surely Russia would recognise Israel as the key ideological opponent to its vision of a multipolar world order ?

Yet this is not what I read. Russia has deep and cordial and increasingly close ties to Israel, even as Israeli jets illegally bomb Syria on a regular basis. This is never explained.

Tom Welsh , says: February 10, 2021 at 9:03 am GMT • 1.1 days ago

'Svetlana Tikhanovskaia has appealed to the wife of Navalnyi, Iulia, to become the "she president of Russia"'. As in the case of Juan Guaido, no need for anything as old-fashioned as an election. (For obvious reasons).

Miro23 , says: February 10, 2021 at 9:44 am GMT • 1.1 days ago

For example, Lavrov bluntly said " We are proceeding from the assumption that the EU is not a reliable partner, at least at the current stage. I hope that in future strategic attention will be given to the EU's fundamental interest in its closest neighbours and that the talks we have held today will promote movement to a more constructive trajectory. We are ready for this".

Lavrov is following Putin's line (Davos speech), ergo that Russia is ready to interact with Europe as a mutually respectful equal partner – but not with Europe as puppet of the US NWO, NeoCon , ZioGlob/CIA crowd. Hopefully the Germans are listening and can reassess their true interests.

Also the Poles, who urgently need to wake up to the fact that that they have more in common with Putin's Russia than they do with ZioGlob NWO USA.

Contraviews , says: February 10, 2021 at 10:32 am GMT • 1.0 days ago

Russia of late indeed is becoming more assertive, most likely because it is confidant their military capabilities have become superior to that of their adversaries. NATO and US know that very well, but will never let on. Their provocations are nothing more than grandstanding.

However what would Russia do in Syria if confronted with increased American aggression in that country? That's what I like to know. Russia is deeply involved in Syria supporting that country in defeating ISIS. Russia has a strategically important navy base there too. Biden so it seems wants to rekindle the war in Syria supported by Israel and will find a pretext to do so.

MayRay , says: February 10, 2021 at 11:12 am GMT • 23.8 hours ago
@cranc The media or the Israeli state (the same entity in actuality) claims.

Most Israeli strikes are agreed before hand with Russia. The Israelis need to save face for their cowardly fascist habit of killing civilian Palestinians. These useless strikes against Syria are purely symbolic and are used to deceive the Israeli and US populations.

Besides, more than 60% of Israeli citizens are not Jews, let alone practicing Jews. Israeli is changing due to massive immigration of non-Jews from Russia, and in a generation will change from the rulers of the US to a Russian outpost and there is nothing the Zionists can do about it.

[Jan 27, 2021] Jailed Kremlin foe Navalny being used by West to destabilise Russia- Putin ally - Reuters

Jan 27, 2021 | www.reuters.com

Jailed Kremlin foe Navalny being used by West to destabilise Russia: Putin ally

By Reuters Staff

3 MIN READ

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is being used by the West to try to destabilise Russia, a prominent hardliner and ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, saying he must be held to account for repeatedly breaking the law.

Slideshow ( 2 images )

Navalny was remanded in custody for 30 days last week after returning from Germany where he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning. He could face years in jail for parole violations and other legal cases he calls trumped up.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council, called for Navalny to face the full force of the law in comments that offered a glimpse into the mood inside Russia's security establishment after tens of thousands of Navalny's supporters protested against his jailing on Saturday.

"He (Navalny), this figure, has repeatedly (and) grossly broken Russian legislation, engaging in fraud concerning large amounts (of money). And as a citizen of Russia he must bear responsibility for his illegal activity in line with the law," Patrushev told the Argumenty i Fakty media outlet.

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"The West needs this figure to destabilise the situation in Russia, for social upheaval, strikes and new Maidans," Patrushev said, in a reference to the 2014 revolution in Ukraine that ousted a Moscow-backed president.

When asked about Patrushev's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was up to a court to make further decisions in the opposition politician's case and that it was not a matter for the Kremlin.

Navalny faces a court hearing on Feb.2.

RELATED COVERAGE

G7 calls for peaceful Navalny protesters to be released by Russia

Police detained more than 3,700 people on Saturday as protesters called on the Kremlin to release Navalny. The Kremlin said the protests were illegal.

Peskov on Tuesday said there could be no dialogue with illegal protesters, accusing them of behaving aggressively and of using what he called unprecedented violence against the police.

He said incidences of police violence against protesters, some of which were captured on video, were far fewer and being investigated.

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In a sign that Russian authorities may crack down hard after the protests, the Kommersant newspaper on Tuesday cited unnamed security sources as saying they may open a criminal investigation that would treat the demonstrations as "mass unrest".

The West has called for Navalny's release, but the European Union has said it will refrain from fresh sanctions on Russian individuals if Moscow releases Navalny after 30 days.

[Jan 24, 2021] Widespread arrests dozens of police injured in pro-Navalny protests in Russia as organizers say MORE TO COME next weekend

Jan 24, 2021 | www.rt.com

In this headline alone there is one information that already proves beyond all reasonable doubt the pro-Navalny protests are just an artificial, pathetic color revolution attempt: "next weekend".

Didn't know revolutions had to wait for weekends to happen...

I can smell the fetid aroma of the middle class and the petite bourgeoisie from thousands of kilometers of distance - that's my gift and my curse. And I can tell you those pro-Navalny protesters stink from that smell.

[Jan 24, 2021] What poisoning?

Jan 24, 2021 | consortiumnews.com

Anne , January 23, 2021 at 12:01

What poisoning? Hmm?? Interesting that the Skripal affair and the Navalny one (the latter for sure a put up job from start to finish) did not end in deaths NOR were any other people (children, ducks, restaurant workers, hospital staff, daughter of British army nurse in first "case"; Navalny's supporters/workers what have you, hotel workers, airplane cleaners, EMS, Omsk/Tomsk (sorry don't recall) hospital workers) affected at all – but isn't "Novichok" supposed to be the deadliest of nerve agents no cure yet the Skrips and Navalny survived and NO ONE else affected

And the stories about how this so-called deadliest of poisons was administered kept changing – in part at least because not few in the public and in the none MSM kept questioning the reality of the presented story

Re Navalny: a) why would the "Kremlin" order his killing via a nerve agent that screams "Russia did it" unless you believe that Russia and Mr Putin are clodpolls?; b) Navalny only has around 3% support among some of the Russian population; c) Why, after he had been saved in Omsk/Tomsk would the Kremlin agree to his being transferred to a hospital in Germany and that Charite Hospital in particular (known to have German govt connections) had the order for his being "poisoned" gone out from the Russian govt?; d) Navalny had been charged and convicted of Fraud and his prison sentence "reduced" to monthly appearances at court – probation, essentially his five months collaborating (well the whole affair was a collaboration, and a nicely remunerated one, no doubt) with the west in Germany meant that he broke the terms of his probation/sentence which was why he was arrested on his return.

Don't tell me he and his Handlers didn't know precisely what they – he was – were doing when they had him return They knew he would be arrested (as would anyone in the west under similar judicial orders – but don't expect to hear that on NPR or the BBC World Service, oh no all confected horror and outrage )

[Jan 22, 2021] In non-binding resolution, EU parliament calls for new anti-Russia sanctions in attempt to stop Nord Stream 2 over Navalny ar

Jan 22, 2021 | www.rt.com


Sort by Best

K0ur0i 15 hours ago 21 Jan, 2021 05:54 PM

I would like to see the EU Parliament taking the same stance with US and UK concerning Assange. Until then, it is all theatre, just for the show. The danger lies in the fact that the EU might back itself in a corner if they are not careful..
GoldFeather K0ur0i 3 hours ago 22 Jan, 2021 05:38 AM
Or maybe these politicians have shares in the much more expensive US gas!!
Augustus K0ur0i 5 hours ago 22 Jan, 2021 04:07 AM
Who does the EU Parliament think they represent? This anti-Russia narrative is illegal and immoral.
Tom_Callan 16 hours ago 21 Jan, 2021 04:41 PM
"strengthen transatlantic unity in protecting democracy and fundamental values against authoritarian regimes," Indeed!...I'd vote against working with the authoritarian USA regime who use fake evidence to start illegal wars and attack sovereign countries, not to mention using politics to control energy markets to their own advantage.
Iwanasay Tom_Callan 13 hours ago 21 Jan, 2021 07:51 PM
It's winter in Europe, just turn off the gas supply and see how quickly these MEPs change their tune, the EU doesn't have sufficient LNG storage and with winter in the US it's doubtful they could supply much, businesses in Europe that depend on gas for manufacturing would be hit hard, Europe would have a major problem
ErgoSum Tom_Callan 13 hours ago 21 Jan, 2021 07:37 PM
Translation: "Grovelling to the US so they will keep their NATO forces in Germany and prop up our economy".
natalia555705 13 hours ago 21 Jan, 2021 07:23 PM
EU parliament resolution finally revealed who is Navalny : agent of influence of western politicians designated to make Russia of colony under anti-russian management . It is exactly what happened in Ukraine. He does not care about Russian citizens, he cares about his political career.

[Jan 20, 2021] It wouldn't be the first time that Navalny would seem to prefer a Russian jail to the company of his CIA "friends".

Jan 20, 2021 | www.moonofalabama.org

Cyril , Jan 19 2021 2:17 utc | 136

@S | Jan 18 2021 21:24 utc | 124

What this means is that Navalny has deliberately decided (or was told by his handlers) to be put in Russian jail.

If you are right about this, it wouldn't be the first time that Navalny would seem to prefer a Russian jail to the company of his CIA "friends". When Boris Nemtsov was assassinated, we eventually learned that Navalny had gotten himself arrested a few days before. Perhaps he considered himself safer in Putin's hands. Maybe he is thinking the same these days.

uncle tungsten , Jan 18 2021 23:31 utc | 133

downtownhaiku #130

Thank you for that post. Strategic Culture is a good read and one is mindful that it is a Russian source and no doubt has some affinity with the Russian Government and empathy for Russian people's point of view. That is perfectly fine. I don't see it as a craven mouthpiece (like the grauniad is to the UK) but rather an information source.

There is no secret about SC. John Helmer has this to say in a recent report:

Alexei Navalny believes he is throwing down a gauntlet for the Kremlin either to arrest him when he returns to Moscow from Berlin on Sunday, or to allow him to walk freely out of the airport. Either way, from behind bars as a political prisoner or from his Moscow film studio as an opposition candidate for regime change, Navalny and his supporters will announce they have shown strength, the President of Russia weakness. The one outcome Navalny hasn't counted on is that Russians will be laughing at him.

This is the strategy of Vzglyad, the Moscow online newspaper which publishes sophisticated and accurate analysis of military, intelligence and security issues unmatched by the English-language media. It is almost unnoticed in the west, except for those services who believe it reflects the thinking of key figures, past and present, in the presidential administration. Because the Russian figures don't think the way the western services or their media organs depict them, Vzglyad hasn't drawn the attention of foreign reporters as do state media like RT, Sputnik, the Strategic Culture Foundation, and the Valdai Club.

Read this Helmer report it is the style and quality of commentary that you will NEVER see in the western press.

uncle tungsten , Jan 18 2021 23:18 utc | 131

S #124

Thank you, your accuracy is a desirable trait in reporting these matters. The west has enough channels for their lying thieving pursuits and MoA should avoid being at their service.

Navalny and the west's use of him is clearly a sign of their predatory ignorance and dishonesty. I am sure they will keep up their homeside propaganda in favor of their aggressive mendacity in the world. In fact I guess Joe Biden will have little to do but ride on the coattails of a fool such as Navalny. That is about the sum total of the intellectual capacity of Xerxes Biden. Off he goes to another ignominious defeat. Imagine what it will be like after he gets sworn in!

S , Jan 18 2021 21:24 utc | 124

@vk #86:

Navalny is on parole, which was revoked the moment he fled to Germany. He was then recalled to Russia.

Not true. His suspended sentence (not parole) was not "revoked the moment he fled to Germany". He was given an explicit permission to be treated in Germany. The problem is that after he was released from the hospital he was supposed to return to Russia for his regular check-in with authorities which he had to keep doing until his suspended sentence ran out on December 30, 2020. On December 22, 2020, Lancet has published an article where they stated that Navalny had been released from hospital on September 20 and was completely healthy by October 12. That's why the Moscow office of FSIN (Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service) has publicly demanded on December 28, 2020 that Navalny immediately returns to Russia to perform his last check-in, lest his suspended sentence is replaced with a real one. Navalny's press secretary has replied on the same day that he won't comply with the demand. So on January 12, 2021, FSIN has started the legal procedures to replace Navalny's suspended sentence with a real one. What this means is that Navalny has deliberately decided (or was told by his handlers) to be put in Russian jail.

FSIN suspects Navalny of violating probation rules ( RBK , December 28, 2020)

FSIN demanded through court to change Navalny's suspended sentence to real ( RBK , January 12, 2020)

downtownhaiku , Jan 18 2021 16:47 utc | 102

latest from Helmer on Navalny

http://johnhelmer.net/navalny-s-courtroom-wager-biomedical-and-drugs-evidence-and-article-275-of-the-russian-criminal-code/

Norwegian , Jan 18 2021 16:12 utc | 96

@Tuyzentfloot | Jan 18 2021 12:41 utc | 88

that would mean the BND threatened Navalny. Quite speculative.

No such threat required. Just say "Skripal" to him.
vk , Jan 18 2021 12:26 utc | 86

Navalny is on parole, which was revoked the moment he fled to Germany. He was then recalled to Russia.

I already can imagine the dialogue the BND had with Navalny: "either you become a liberal martyr alive in a Russian prison or dead in mysterious circumstances in Germany". Navalny must've quickly found out he was actually safer in Russia.

Tuyzentfloot , Jan 18 2021 12:02 utc | 84

Navalny is aligned with the US/CIA/CHGQ. That makes him an enemy. It does not necessarily make him dishonest, and I would agree he is courageous.

It could make him a target for elimination.

The most plausible explanation for what happened to him however for me includes a lot of CIA/CHGQ deception. Pity James Randi is dead.

[Jan 20, 2021] Bear in mind on the basis of Navalny's supposed phone call with Kudryavtsev, Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law was actually accosted by Navalny groupie, lawyer Lyubov Sobol, who obtained entry into an apartment block under false pretences and then forced her way into the mother-in-law's apartment with other people illegally wearing government agency uniforms and took photos on her mobile phone. The mother-in-law has had to seek protection.

Jan 20, 2021 | www.moonofalabama.org

Jen , Jan 20 2021 2:20 utc | 78

Here is an interesting development in the saga of Alexei Navalny since he became The Human Headline in October last year. It concerns how the information about GRU agents tailing him was apparently obtained.

Russian policeman under house arrest, reportedly suspected of selling confidential flight information to Bellingcat – RBK sources

A police officer in Samara is being investigated on suspicion of leaking information from the country's centralized travel records, which registers all tickets bought in Russia, linking them to passengers' passport numbers.
Samara is a large city in the center of Russia, around 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow.

It is reported that the US and UK government-funded group Bellingcat used the data in a recent investigation into the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

That's according to Moscow daily newspaper RBK, citing a source, which revealed that authorities are clamping down on leaks from databases following the report. Bellingcat was joined by journalists from the the Russian-language outlet The Insider, America's CNN and Germany's Der Spiegel. Together, they were accessing the flight information of FSB agents they allege had trailed the anti-corruption activist around the country.

RBK's source says that the accused policeman, Kirill Chuprov, is now under house arrest, and would face up to ten years in prison if convicted. Officially, no information has been released, but the Samara District Court's press service confirmed that he was detained on suspicion of abuse of office.

The source revealed that Chuprov had accessed data from the country's travel database, which contains information about who has traveled on trains and planes. In Russia, internal flight and rail tickets are generally bought using passports, meaning that this data is highly valuable. If he is found to be the source of the information, in a challenge to Bellingcat's established narrative, the revelation would highlight that [Bellingcat] not only uses open sources for its investigations, but also buys data from corrupt officials.

According to the western state-funded outlet, leaked databases were an integral part of its investigation, allowing its team to track the locations of eight men they believe were part of a plot to poison Navalny. By accessing flight records, Bellingcat claimed that FSB agents had flown around the country to the same locations as the opposition figure.

Last month, Navalny published a recording of a telephone conversation with one of the alleged participants in the assassination attempt, a man purported to be FSB officer Konstantin Kudryavtsev. Kudryavtsev is one of the men whose movements were leaked, allegedly by Chuprov.

Well, well, who'd have thunk it? ... upright "citizen journalist" group Bellingcrap sinking to the level of Christopher Steele's Orbis Intelligence organisation in buying hacked data (which could also have been tampered with) from corrupt officials on the black market.

Bear in mind on the basis of Navalny's supposed phone call with Kudryavtsev, Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law was actually accosted by Navalny groupie, lawyer Lyubov Sobol, who obtained entry into an apartment block under false pretences and then forced her way into the mother-in-law's apartment with other people illegally wearing government agency uniforms and took photos on her mobile phone. The mother-in-law has had to seek protection.

Consider also that Bellingcrap obtained "information" demonstrating that Russian tourists Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov who visited Salisbury in March 2018, at the time of the supposed poisoning of Sergei and Julia Skripal, were actually two GRU agents from a phone database. In light of the news of the Russian police officer's arrest for selling hacked data to Bellingcrap, what credibility does that organisation still have now?

[Jan 19, 2021] Bhadrakumar sees the return of Navalny to Moscow as the opening gambit of a regime-change operation directed at Putin

Jan 19, 2021 | www.moonofalabama.org

jayc , Jan 19 2021 20:26 utc | 20

Bhadrakumar sees the return of Navalny to Moscow as the opening gambit of a regime-change operation directed at Putin. Part of this effort, he writes, will focus on the new Biden foreign policy team working on isolating Russia from China. This is replacing the Trump team's hopes to isolate China from Russia. Top notch strategic thinking there - just pretend the much publicized alliance between the two doesn't exist.
https://indianpunchline.com/us-makes-aggressive-opening-move-on-russian-chessboard/

But he also anticipates a period of retrenchment for US foreign adventurism, as the domestic problems overwhelm. Note the candid admittance that the period of post Cold War hegemony is over, made by CIA designate Burns.
https://indianpunchline.com/biden-is-shifting-leftwards/

[Jan 15, 2021] https://twitter.com/bears_with/status/1349827865710387202?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Jan 15, 2021 | twitter.com

Helmer's site (now unavailable) is here:
http://johnhelmer.net/

Posted by: downtownhaiku | Jan 14 2021 22:15 utc | 42

here is a copy of the Helmer article about Navalny which caused Helmer's website to be attacked

BERLIN CLINICAL DATA CONFIRM ALEXEI NAVALNY HAD PANCREATITIS, DIABETES, LIVER FAILURE, STAPHYLOCOCCAL INFECTION, MILD HEART ATTACK – NO NOVICHOK SYMPTOMS


Instead of "LOVE" on pill box, substitute POWER
On jar behind, instead of HYMEN'S, substitute MERKEL

By John Helmer, Moscow

The German laboratory test results for Alexei Navalny, published by a group of doctors at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin last month, reveal a surprising number of medical symptoms, but they are not those of Novichok nerve agent poisoning as Navalny and his supporters in western governments have alleged.

Clinical doctors, toxicologists, and pharmacology experts outside Germany believe the test results which the Charité group released on December 22 reveal symptoms of acute pancreatitis, diabetes, liver failure, severe dehydration, muscular rigidity, as well as a serious bacterial infection, and a possible heart attack associated with his kidney problems. According to the experts, these are not recognisable symptoms of a nerve agent attack.

The German medical publication reports Navalny's "laboratory values on admission", and toxicology and pharmacology results "in blood and urine samples obtained on arrival of the patient of the patient at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (day 3)". Accordingly, the newly available data are evidence of the condition Navalny was in during his two-day treatment in Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1 in Russia; and of the treatment he received there, as well as during his six-hour flight on a German medical evacuation aircraft from Omsk to Berlin.

The German doctors have also released a tabulation of their laboratory test results for Navalny during 33 days of his stay in the Charité hospital, and a subsequent visit to the hospital as an outpatient. The four data tables are described by the Germans as following "the supposed poisoning of the patient". The doctors don't wish to sign their names to this "supposing".
[ more]

Navalny first fell ill on the morning of August 20, during a flight from Tomsk, where he had been on an election campaign tour, to Moscow. The flight was diverted to Omsk, and Navalny admitted to hospital in Omsk in mid-morning local time. He was in intensive care there for 48 hours until he was released for German medical evacuation to Berlin on August 22.

The German doctors treating Navalny at the Charité were led by Kai-Uwe Eckardt, the chief of the Charité treatment unit whom Navalny publicly thanked on October 7. Eckardt and David Steindl are the principal authors of the December 22 report; Eckhardt is a specialist on diabetes and kidney transplants; Steindl is a specialist on musculo-skeletal pathologies.

Read their report in the British medical journal, The Lancet, here. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)32644-1.pdf A forensic analysis of the report can be read here. http://johnhelmer.net/berlin-doctors-report-on-navalny-case-reveals-new-evidence-raises-new-questions/ This exposes the many contradictions between the medical evidence now attested by the Germans and the allegations from Navalny and his supporters.


Kai-Uwe Eckardt and David Steindl -- http://johnhelmer.net/berlin-doctors-report-on-navalny-case-reveals-new-evidence-raises-new-questions/

In their 4-page case report, Eckardt and Steindl say "severe poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor was subsequently diagnosed", not by the Charité group, but by a "laboratory of the German armed forces"; that was the Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie der Bundeswehr (IPTB).

British toxicologists have repeatedly cautioned there can be many causes and sources for the cholinesterase inhibition detected from metabolites in Navalny's blood and urine, and they continue to ask the German doctors and the IPTB: "Name the compound. That would be a good start." In their publication of Navalny's test results, Eckardt and Steindl say: "results of toxicology analyses conducted in a special laboratory of the armed forces [IPTB] are not included." They don't give a reason.

In the Lancet case report, there are several references to a 4-page appendix. This contains Navalny's test results, but the appendix is not easy to find and was published separately. The Lancet editors explain: "this appendix formed part of the original submission and has been peer reviewed. We post it as supplied by the authors." It can be opened and read here. LINK.

ALEXEI NAVALNY'S LABORATORY TEST RESULTS ON ARRIVAL IN BERLIN


Source: LINK, Appendix S1.

A review of these data by a clinician with specialised training in pharmacology provided a detailed interpretation of each line of data where the reported value for Navalny was either well above or below normal.

The expert, who declines to be identified, reports that the sodium and chloride scores show Navalny was suffering from extreme dehydration on his arrival in the Berlin hospital. How this was possible after the German medevac flight is unknown.

The spikes in the tested creatine kinase-MB and myoglobin reveal that his muscle function was breaking down; the visible symptom, according to the expert, should have been muscle rigidity. According to the German doctors, they didn't see it, and neither did the Omsk hospital doctors, or witnesses of Navalny's collapse on board the flight from Tomsk. The German case report, quoting from the Omsk hospital "discharge report", says "the patient presented [in Omsk on August 20] comatose with hypersalivation and increased diaphoresis [sweating]." When Navalny reached the Charité, the doctors there reported in December, he was "deeply comatose, with mild bradycardia hypersalivation, hypothermia (33.5C), increased diaphoresis and small pupils not reactive to light, decreased brainstem reflexes, hyperactive deep tendon reflexes, and pyramidal signs."

The independent expert does not know how hyperactive tendon reflexes can have produced the abnormal MB and myoglobin test results.

The expert said the standard diagnosis which follows from the reported albumin result is chronic disease of the liver. The high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) score indicates metabolic disorders commonly seen with cancerous tumours. The amylase and lipase results signify pancreatitis, a condition which the Russian press has reported Navalny to have experienced in the past. The results for C-reactive protein, leukocytes, neutrophils, and erythrocytes all point to a serious bacterial infection. The German case report confirms that skin and rectal swabs and urine samples found staphylococcus aureus and other infectious bacteria which were treated with antibiotics, the standard procedure. How Navalny picked up the bacterial infection, and where – in Tomsk, Omsk, in the medevac flight, or in Berlin – is unknown.

ALEXEI NAVALNY'S LABORATORY TEST RESULTS DURING HIS BERLIN HOSPITALISATION -- EXCERPT


Source: LINK, Appendix S4. The table extends to Day 33 in hospital, and includes Day 42 when he returned for testing as an outpatient.

The unusually high result for the urinary protein/creatinine ratio has been diagnosed by the expert as signifying kidney failure – "clinical diabetes but not an extreme presentation." Diabetes has been reported for Navalny in the past; his staff deny it.

The abnormally high troponin-T results reported on Days 4 and 5 at Charité are puzzling to the independent expert because they signify a heart problem or mild heart attack, possibly related to the reported kidney failure. Eckardt and Steindl say in their case report that Navalny's heart was beating abnormally slowly (bradycardia – 44 beats per minute) when tested in Omsk hospital, then 59 beats per minute during the flight to Berlin. After he arrived at Charité the bradycardia worsened to 33 bpm.

The independent expert accepts that the unusually low test score for butyryl cholinesterase – 0.42 on arrival in Berlin, 0.41 at Day 3 – usually signifies exposure to a cholinesterase inhibitor. The German doctors' report says: "based on clinical and laboratory findings, severe cholinesterase inhibition was diagnosed and the patient was started on atropine and obidoxime Cholinergic signs returned to normal within 1 h[our] after the onset of this antidotal therapy." The German test results do not substantiate this conclusion, neither for troponin-T which didn't normalise until Day 7, or butyryl cholinesterase, which didn't reach normal until Day 17.

Testing for cholinesterase inhibition is the key to the allegations of the German Army laboratory, the German intelligence agency BND, and German officials that Navalny had been poisoned by a Russian Novichok nerve agent. The new data disclosure falls short of proof. Instead it reveals that in Berlin Navalny's laboratory testing revealed cholinesterase inhibition, while in the Omsk hospital laboratory reports published in part in August, revealed that "cholinesterase inhibitors were not detected in blood and urine"; for more details of the earlier test data, read this http://johnhelmer.net/brain-poisoning-by-russian-nerve-agent-alexei-navalny-infects-german-chancellery/ and this. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/09/04/highly-toxic-but-unreliable

This week the independent expert also reviewed the table of medications which testing of Navalny revealed on his admission at Charité:

ANAESTHETIC AND ANTIDOTE DRUGS NAVALNY WAS GIVEN IN OMSK AS TESTED IN BERLIN

Source: Appendix S2. LINK

According to the source, the presence of pain relieving and anaesthetic drugs, antibiotics, and atropine are conventional treatment. Amantadine is a neurological drug often used in treatment of Parkinson's Disease; lithium is a psychiatric medication for treating bipolar mood disorders and depression. Lithium, the expert says, along with the relaxant drugs recorded in Navalny's system -- diazepam, nordazepam, oxazepam -- are commonly taken orally. If Navalny had been comatose at Omsk hospital and then at Charité, then it is likely he took these drugs himself in Tomsk before his flight. The Omsk hospital testing also reported that Navalny had taken "tricyclic antidepressants" before his collapse. End+


Posted by: downtownhaiku | Jan 14 2021 23:19 utc | 50

downtownhaiku #42

Thank you for the heads up on johnhelmer. I found this just down the thread...

The USAi Joint Chiefs of Idiocy have truly lost their minds.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 14 2021 23:25 utc | 52

[Jan 04, 2021] Navalny And Handlers Lose The Plot... He Is A Convicted Felon On Probation - ZeroHedge

Jan 04, 2021 | www.zerohedge.com

Navalny And Handlers Lose The Plot... He Is A Convicted Felon On Probation BY TYLER DURDEN MONDAY, JAN 04, 2021 - 3:30

Authored by Finian Cunningham via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Russia's federal prison authorities were right to jolt Alexei Navalny this week by warning him to return immediately from Germany or else face a suspended sentence being made into jail time.

The "professional" opposition activist claims to be convalescing in Germany after he was allegedly poisoned by a Soviet-era nerve agent in August. Western news media dutifully repeat the claim that Navalny is "recuperating" in Germany after having survived an assassination plot by Kremlin agents. Navalny has personally accused Russia's President Vladimir Putin of ordering the alleged hit.

Last week, a team of medics from the Berlin hospital where Navalny had been staying published a paper in The Lancet medical journal in which they claimed he had been poisoned with Novichok nerve agent. Their findings are dubious because the medics acknowledged the involvement of German military intelligence laboratories in conducting their analysis.

But one thing the German doctors did let slip was that a 55-day follow-up check on Navalny ascertained that he had made a "near-complete recovery".

The Russian dissident figure was flown to Berlin on August 22, two days after he was treated in a hospital in Omsk, Russia. Thus, the German medical team are indicating – no doubt inadvertently – that Navalny's health recovered nearly two months ago, if not before that.

That means there is no medical reason why he should remain at large in Germany. His claims of "convalescing" and the Western media's indulgence of those claims are false, if the German doctors are correct about his "recovery".

Despite Navalny's arrogant disdain for Russian state laws, he is nevertheless answerable to those authorities as a citizen. While in Germany he was on probation for a suspended jail sentence concerning a fraud conviction in 2014. His so-called Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has a checkered history of shady financing, from allegations of foreign funding by the U.S. State Department to charges of embezzling millions of dollars. Ironically, the blogger and media activist produces slick programs accusing the Russian government of corruption.

In any case, under the laws of the Russian Federation, the 44-year-old Navalny was on probation during the past four months of his stay in Germany. For the last two months, he is in good health, according to his German doctors. So there are no grounds for why he should abscond from Russian territory and evade the laws for which he is answerable.

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Not only is Navalny living as if he above the law, he has also shown flagrant contempt for the Russian authorities.

Last week, he published a video on his website claiming that he had pranked a named member of Russia's security service, the FSB, into admitting that agents had poisoned him while he was visiting the Siberian city of Tomsk on August 20. He was later flown in an emergency to Omsk where he was treated after having apparently fallen ill onboard a flight to Moscow.

The FSB dismissed Navalny's prank telephone claim as a "deep fake". The Russian doctors who treated him in Omsk – and who probably saved his life – have repeatedly stated that their tests showed there was no poison in Navalny's body, and specifically no traces of nerve agent. They said his illness was due to a metabolic disorder. Perhaps self-induced as a ruse to later transfer to Germany?

The transcript of Navalny's purported prank call to the FSB agent reads like a comic set-up. Posing as a senior member of Russia's national security council, Navalny affects to bully the supposed agent as if he is a pathetic stooge.

A telling segment is where the self-styled super sleuth fishes for compliments about his own character from the purported FSB man, betraying the narcissism of a megalomaniac.

Again, incredibly, we are expected to believe that someone who had a near-death experience with a lethal nerve poison and who is "convalescing" still in Germany somehow managed to find the energy and mental reserves to pull off a daring 45-minute telephone sting.

If Navalny is fit enough to participate in such practical jokes – regardless of their credibility – then he is surely fit enough to abide by Russian laws and respect his probation terms. As the Russian Federal Prison Service stated this week: "The convicted man is not fulfilling all of the obligations placed on him by the court, and is evading the supervision of the Criminal Inspectorate."

One gets the unerring impression that Navalny and his foreign handlers have become so self-intoxicated with hubris that they are blind to their own absurd implausibilities.

Why was he permitted to fly by air ambulance to Berlin in the first place if the Russian authorities had evil designs against him?

While there, as a guest of the German government, Navalny has wildly accused President Putin of ordering his alleged assassination. The European governments have subsequently and rashly imposed sanctions on Russia in support of Navalny's unfounded claims. Then we have the media activist mounting further provocations parlayed into even more outlandish accusations against President Putin and the Kremlin.

All the while there has been no evidence of poisoning presented to support these claims, other than unverifiable assertions by German doctors working with German military intelligence labs, as well as two other NATO laboratories and the Organization for the Prohibition on Chemical Weapons. All of them including the OPCW (the latter compromised over complicity in NATO false-flag provocations in Syria) have refused to share their analytical data and samples with Russia, and yet they are demanding that Moscow launch a criminal investigation into the Navalny case.

The abdication by European governments of due process and of respect for Russian state laws, its government, and its president is astounding. They are indulging a foreign-sponsored gadfly as if he is the sovereign representative of the Russian Federation.

Navalny and his foreign allies have lost the plot in their own telling of an alleged assassination plot.

First things first: he is a convicted felon who is answerable to Russian law. Pushing false flags and slanderous falsehoods from abroad with the intent of damaging Russia's sovereignty is an abuse of his rights.

Arrogant and overindulged Navalny is patently incapable of even understanding his obligations under law as a Russian citizen. He evidently feels above the law, like many of his Western backers. That's why Russia is right to tell him to put up or shut up.

[Jan 02, 2021] What is it with the British obsession with underpants? All the more disturbing then that the real Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law ended up an indirect victim of British intel's stupidity, when her flat was invaded by one of Navalny's idiot groupie followers.

Jan 02, 2021 | www.moonofalabama.org

Jen , Jan 1 2021 12:37 utc | 23

J W @ 22:

I would have thought the ongoing saga of Alexei Navalny's poisoning by FSB agents with the most deadly toxin known being smeared on his underpants in the 31-hour gap between going into intensive care in the Omsk Hospital and a German air ambulance reaching the hospital and putting a doctor by his bedside was Western intelligence at its most oxymoronic. This, coming on top of the poison in the tea in the airport cafeteria, followed by the poison in the water bottle picked up by Navalny's followers wearing no protective masks or gloves.

Of course with Bellingcat (founded by an unemployed ladies-underwear sales representative) involved in the latest installment in the farce, the obsession with Navalny's underpants becomes understandable. That phone conversation Navalny had with "Kudryavtsev" surely had to be staged. What is it with the British obsession with underpants?

All the more disturbing then that the real Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law ended up an indirect victim of British intel's stupidity, when her flat was invaded by one of Navalny's idiot groupie followers.

Stonebird , Jan 1 2021 15:31 utc | 28

Jen | Jan 1 2021 12:37 utc | 23

What is it with the British obsession with underpants?

When I was a rather timid student and had a car, I took two other students and a Professor on a journey form London to Birmingham. We stopped on the way to vist my parents house. My mother, turning to the Professor, and asked in front of the others, "You do make sure he changes his underpants don't you?" I had a hard job living it down. (Maybe that's why I changed my nationality)

Navalny - don't forget that the person who was said to have carried the water bottle to Germany was photoghaphed by CCT buying the said water bottle from a vending machine in Germany after arrival. Obviously, the Russki FSB go around filling up machines with poisoned water bottles. So we must expect a massive "Novachoco" at German Airports any time now.

[Jan 01, 2021] Russian opposition figure Navalny to face new criminal case over alleged use of 'anti-corruption' donations 'for personal gai

Jan 01, 2021 | www.rt.com

The Investigative Committee of Russia announced on Tuesday that it has launched a fresh probe into the affairs of opposition activist Alexey Navalny, to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge him with fraud. According to prosecutors , Navalny spent around 356 million rubles ($4.8 million) of money raised for political and journalistic activities for "personal purposes" including "an acquisition of personal property, material assets and payment of expenses, including on trips abroad."

ALSO ON RT.COM A deadly cocktail: Spies, cell phone records and the poisoned Negroni behind Bellingcat's Navalny 'expose'

It alleges the funds came out of more than 588 million rubles ($5.9 million) in money given to groups connected to the prominent activist, including the Anti-Corruption Fund and the Fund for Organization and Coordination for Protecting Citizens' Rights. The Committee's spokesperson describes this as evidence of "fraud on a particularly large scale."

Navalny has previously been found guilty of financial misconduct and these convictions have hampered his attempts to stand for public office. In 2017, a Russian court refused to overturn a judicial decision in which he was found to have embezzled funds from a state-owned timber firm.

He had been allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral race while he appealed the verdict, attracting around 27 percent of the votes, compared to the 51 percent won by the eventual victor, Sergey Sobyanin.

Navalny has been in Germany since August, when he was transferred to Berlin's Charite hospital from a Siberian clinic. He took ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, in what his associates allege to be a poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok.

ALSO ON RT.COM Putin claims opposition figure Alexey Navalny working with American intelligence, says Kremlin not behind his alleged poisoning

Earlier this month, the US and UK state-funded investigative outlet Bellingcat claimed to have mobile phone data that placed state security agents within a few miles of Navalny the day before. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that previous similar allegations, published in London's Sunday Times newspaper, were "bulls**t."

Earlier this week, Russia's Federal Prison Service informed Navalny that he must return to Russia to comply with the terms of his suspended prison sentence for a previous conviction. It argued that he is no longer receiving hospital care and, "therefore the convicted man is not fulfilling all the obligations placed on him by the court." Earlier this month, the activist said he would return to his home country when he could.

At his annual end-of-year press conference in December, President Vladimir Putin told reporters that Navalny had links to "American special services" and that, if the Kremlin had indeed wanted the opposition figure dead, the security services would have "finished the job."

Midnight10 1 day ago 29 Dec, 2020 04:23 PM

Not to worry, Navalny is protected by Merkel, who provided a private plane to bring him to Germany. Her toyboy just wanted to remove Putin, but in Russia, he wasn't very well known. Merkel gave him the status of supposedly being a real rival. If he does return to Russia and is arrested, they better watch the skies. Merkel wouldn't be above sending a helicopter in for a jail house rescue. She evidently had fun helping to depose governments in the ME. Since then, she has championed Guaido, from Venezuela, as well as Wong from Hong Kong. Soon she may retire and can spend more time with "her boys". However, she will have to use her money instead of the German citizen's money for her rescue attempts.
Count_Cash 1 day ago 29 Dec, 2020 04:01 PM
Navalny and Fraud go hand in hand, it's his stock and trade. He is the sort of criminal that just can't stop and definitely needs a good couple of years in prison to at least punish his continual fraud offences.
Galaxy31 Count_Cash 1 day ago 29 Dec, 2020 05:07 PM
He is a fraud and criminal for sure. Little character with big ego!
TheFishh Count_Cash 1 day ago 29 Dec, 2020 04:40 PM
I just wish Russia would stop beating around the bush and just charge navalny with sedition and issue an arrest warrant for him.

[Dec 29, 2020] Der Spiegel, CNN, another media outlet and Bellingcat apparently paid Bitcoin or cryptocurrency of some sort to access the data from sources to whom the phone database information was "leaked".

Dec 29, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

Jen , Dec 28 2020 20:34 utc | 11

I might have added @ 8 also that another Navalny groupie follower, Lyubov Sobol, also a lawyer, was arrested recently for invading the apartment of supposed FSB employee Konstantin Kudryavtsev's mother-in-law (after entering the building on false pretences) and filming around the apartment. Sobol was accompanied by people illegally wearing Rospotrebnadzor uniforms.

To date there's no clear evidence that Konstantin Kudryavtsev actually did speak to Navalny on the phone and the entire phone interview (during which Navalny was told that the FSB tried to kill him a second time by putting Novichok on his underwear) may have been a stunt pulled by people who stole parts of a phone database and the metadata attached to phone transactions on that database.

Der Spiegel, CNN, another media outlet and Bellingcat apparently paid Bitcoin or cryptocurrency of some sort to access the data from sources to whom the phone database information was "leaked".

Interestingly the British Lancet magazine released a report which reveals that 31 hours after Navalny was admitted to hospital in Omsk, a German medical crew had access to Navalny. This gives a whole day and seven hours for the FSB to do its dastardly work of trying to kill Navalny a second time while he was in intensive care and receiving (supposedly) intubation.

[Dec 29, 2020] Thoroughly recommend this very significant and totally damning exposure of the beast's lies and unholy war and WhiteHelmets propaganda campaign against Syria from the superb team at the Grayzone

Dec 29, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

Barrie VV , Dec 29 2020 9:21 utc | 38

Thoroughly recommend this very significant and totally damning exposure of the beast's lies and unholy war and WhiteHelmets propaganda campaign against Syria from the superb team at the Grayzone: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/12/20/ex-uk-ambassador-war-on-syria-continues-with-us-occupation-sanctions-propaganda/

migueljose , Dec 29 2020 15:26 utc | 59

BarrieVV@38
Totally agree with your positive comment on the Grayzone and Aaron Mate's interview with former British ambassador to Syria: lots of good, accurate history with penetrating insights. B criticized Grayzone head Max Blumenthal for his initial criticism of Assaad's 2011 response to the "color revolution". I think B's arguement has some merit but overall the reports from the Grayzone are very good and I'm hoping B re-visits his position which was critical of Max Blumenthal.
Blumenthal, Mate and Anya Parampil all have interesting histories intertwined with The Nation, RT, DemocracyNOW, The Intercept and others. They are careful about their criticism of these "leftist" groups and I think their stories are very good: Syria, Europe, Bolivia, Venezuela especially.

[Dec 22, 2020] Navalny Novichok BS keeps getting stupider and stupider

Notable quotes:
"... Didn't the Germans say they found the Novichok on Navalny's water bottle? Now Russians trolling Navalny said they put it in his panties. How did the Novichok get from Navalny's panties to his water bottle? ..."
"... Thanks guys, this Navalny Novichok BS keeps getting stupider and stupider. First of all, an FSB agent is so stupid as to answer the phone from someone he doesn't know and has never heard of and spill the beans about the whole plot. I'm sure that intelligence agencies must have safeguards against enemy spies spoofing and pretending to be the agency's own people. No intelligence agency is that stupid, and the FSB is one of the best. ..."
"... Next, has anyone noticed Putin's reaction. Putin basically laughed and said, "Trust me, this guy is as insignificant as an ant. He's not even worth going to the trouble of poisoning," which is what we had hypothesized all along. ..."
"... The Russians ran a huge toxin screen and found no toxins. Yet somehow the Germans run an even fancier screen that includes "Novichok," which they find. ..."
"... Also recall that a high-ranking Polish official called the Germans to ask what was up with the Navalny Novichok thing, and he was told it was a fake attack done to implicate Russia in a depraved crime (most false flags have this M.O.). As I recall, the phone call was recorded by the Russians and played on TV. ..."
"... In addition, this "attack" came mysteriously right before the negotiations were to be finalized on the final length of Nordstream in Germany, out of which much Russian gas will flow and which they US is trying frantically to stop. ..."
Dec 22, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

Robert Lindsay , Dec 22 2020 10:02 utc | 52

Hey everybody!

Anyone have any comments about the latest "revelation" in the Navalny "Novichok" case?

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/21/europe/russia-navalny-poisoning-underpants-ward/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/21/navalny-russian-agent-novichok-death-plot

I don't know what to think about this? Anyone else? Bernard?

Jen , Dec 22 2020 10:46 utc | 56

Robert Lindsay @ 52:

The Navalny "poisoning" incident is turning into low farce.

In the meantime the Russians are expected to investigate the circumstances of Navalny's poisoning and to admit that they are responsible for Navalny falling ill on the plane and nearly dying from at least two botched poisoning attempts. How can the Russians do so, when the Germans refuse to hand over materials and information relevant to the investigation, and when the story keeps changing and becomes ever more fantastical?

Dr. George W Oprisko , Dec 22 2020 14:15 utc | 62

In the meantime the Russians are expected to investigate the circumstances of Navalny's poisoning and to admit that they are responsible for Navalny falling ill on the plane and nearly dying from at least two botched poisoning attempts. How can the Russians do so, when the Germans refuse to hand over materials and information relevant to the investigation, and when the story keeps changing and becomes ever more fantastical?

Expected by whom??? Exactly......????

If Navalny is a convicted felon..... out on parole..... Russia should put out a red notice on him... and demand his return to Russia for the purpose of completing his sentence... or.... destroy him in his house together with his family.... at 0200....

And..........

Dare NATO to do anything.....!

While.............

Cutting off all gas transit to NATO..........

Let them buy LNG........

INDY

William Gruff , Dec 22 2020 14:39 utc | 64

OT: Robert Lindsay @52 Re: Navalny farce

Didn't the Germans say they found the Novichok on Navalny's water bottle? Now Russians trolling Navalny said they put it in his panties. How did the Novichok get from Navalny's panties to his water bottle?

On second thought, maybe it's best not to think to deeply about that.

Robert Lindsay , Dec 22 2020 16:52 utc | 70

Thanks guys, this Navalny Novichok BS keeps getting stupider and stupider. First of all, an FSB agent is so stupid as to answer the phone from someone he doesn't know and has never heard of and spill the beans about the whole plot. I'm sure that intelligence agencies must have safeguards against enemy spies spoofing and pretending to be the agency's own people. No intelligence agency is that stupid, and the FSB is one of the best.

Next, has anyone noticed Putin's reaction. Putin basically laughed and said, "Trust me, this guy is as insignificant as an ant. He's not even worth going to the trouble of poisoning," which is what we had hypothesized all along.

Has anyone else ever noticed the giveaway in all of these endless NATO, US, and British false flags against Russia, Syria, etc. (mostly Russia) is that the story keeps changing? When something actually happens, the story doesn't usually change with the breeze. But in these provocations, lies, and false flags, the story changes every few weeks or so.

So far, Navalny was poisoned:

1. At the breakfast table in the airport in Russia
2. On the plane
3. Next, in his water bottle in his hotel room before the flight
4. And finally now, in his underwear!

Remember the man who invented Novichok said: It was made to be lethal, as lethal as an atomic weapon. It was never used anywhere and set aside for history. A normal dose that would always be used, is the size of a grain of salt. It kills the victim and anyone around him within minutes.

Navalny's symptoms did not resemble those of Novichok poisoning at all. In addition, even if Navalny had taken 1/200th of the standard dose (and no one would do that), his pupils would have been pinpointed when he woke up in the hospital, and they were not.

The Russians ran a huge toxin screen and found no toxins. Yet somehow the Germans run an even fancier screen that includes "Novichok," which they find.

Also recall that a high-ranking Polish official called the Germans to ask what was up with the Navalny Novichok thing, and he was told it was a fake attack done to implicate Russia in a depraved crime (most false flags have this M.O.). As I recall, the phone call was recorded by the Russians and played on TV.

In addition, this "attack" came mysteriously right before the negotiations were to be finalized on the final length of Nordstream in Germany, out of which much Russian gas will flow and which they US is trying frantically to stop.

You guys are right. Nothing adds up.

[Dec 21, 2020] As for Navalny - the indestructible kid - the only prospect of his return to Moscow is in an American tank

Dec 21, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

bevin , Dec 21 2020 17:12 utc | 110

John Helmer assumes, for the sake of argument, that the Russian Hack did place.

http://johnhelmer.net/russian-code-supremacy-means-theres-only-one-secret-the-us-government-has-left-that-the-government-has-no-secrets-from-russia/#more-45694

In any case the last of the friends of the United States in high places, the fifth column in the Kremlin, are losing their last scraps of influence. Whether Russia "attacked" the US is debatable and unlikely but there is no doubt that, once again, the US has attacked Russia. It has closed down its last two consulates and is reducing the Embassy in Moscow to skeletal staff. All the indications are that they are preparing for war, as are their NATO allies. The hyenas in Ukraine and Poland are salivating over spoils of war coming their way.

As for Navalny-the indestructible kid- the only prospect of his return to Moscow is in an American tank

[Dec 02, 2020] German 'Novichok poisoning' claims over Navalny will prompt familiar circus of sanctions Russia demonisation. But who benef

Dec 02, 2020 | www.rt.com

German 'Novichok poisoning' claims over Navalny will prompt familiar circus of sanctions & Russia demonisation. But who benefits? George Galloway George Galloway

was a member of the British Parliament for nearly 30 years. He presents TV and radio shows (including on RT). He is a film-maker, writer and a renowned orator. Follow him on Twitter @georgegalloway 2 Sep, 2020 17:55 Get short URL German 'Novichok poisoning' claims over Navalny will prompt familiar circus of sanctions & Russia demonisation. But who benefits? FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny © REUTERS / Shamil Zhumatov 135 Follow RT on RT The bizarre events surrounding Alexey Navalny, who lies stricken in a coma in Berlin, will bring forth more Cold War-style calls to isolate Russia, at the cost of further consolidating relations between Moscow and Beijing.

Ever since the man – always wrongly billed as " the Russian Opposition leader ," when in fact he polls 2% of the vote, and the actual opposition leader is a Communist who still has mass support – took ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow, the securocratic lobby in western countries has been primed.

Today, with the statement from the German government that Navalny is yet another victim of 'Novichok'-class chemical agents, active measures are already underway.

ALSO ON RT.COM Novichok-like chemical agent used to poison Russian opposition figure Navalny, German government claims

Former British intelligence officer Philip Ingram MBE, whom I interviewed today for my Sputnik TV show, had to hurry me up because " the Germans have just spoken the word Novichok and I expect to be busy with other interviews ."

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1301168741049405441&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fop-ed%2F499721-navalny-novichok-germany-russia%2F&siteScreenName=RT_com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

Wearisome though it may be to point out the bleeding obvious, I must do so.

If the Russian state had attempted to assassinate Navalny, they would never have allowed his stricken comatose body to be flown out of the country to Germany in the first place. He would have died on the operating table in Russia, where nobody could "detect traces of Novichok" in a NATO capital.

If the Russian state was responsible for trying to kill Navalny, surely the LAST weapon in the whole world it would have chosen with which to do so would be Novichok?

A butter knife, a gun, a speeding car, a car crash – any one of a hundred methods would surely have been preferable in the post-Skripal era. And more reliable, it would appear: Navalny, for now mercifully, is the THIRD Russian in a row to be attacked by a DEADLY " military-grade nerve agent " and mysteriously fail to die.

But just like with the Skripals, we come up against the question asked in every murder mystery: Cui Bono? Who benefits?

ALSO ON RT.COM Kremlin says Germany didn't inform Moscow of data showing opposition figure Navalny was poisoned with Novichok-like nerve agent

What conceivable gain would the Kremlin stand to make in the killing by Novichok of Alexey Navalny?

And the huge contradiction, the biggest of all, is that the West wants us to believe Vladimir Putin is at one and the same time a dazzling Mephistopheles capable of arranging elections in America and Britain, fixing Brexit, and fomenting separatism from Scotland to Spain, whilst at the same time being a blithering, self-harming idiot. The cop that couldn't shoot straight. The man who brought the whole western world down on his head through not one, but two failed attempts to dispose of utterly harmless marginal critics – who, in the case of Alexey Navalny, would be incapable of winning a single seat in a provincial local authority.

ALSO ON RT.COM If Navalny was poisoned, unlikely it was by Putin: Italian professor pours cold water on 'state-sponsored assassination' theory

I'm travelling at the moment, filming my forthcoming documentary on the strange death of Dr David Kelly – the British weapons inspector caught up in the Blair War on Iraq – who was found stone dead at the height of the publicity surrounding him. So I don't have my crystal ball to consult. But I nonetheless predict that what will now happen will be the familiar circus of diplomatic expulsions, sanctions and ostracism. Further demonisation of Russia. Tit for tat. As the world faces a deadly pandemic and economic collapse. Just what the doctor ordered...

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

The_Chosenites 2 September, 2020 2 Sep, 2020 03:23 PM

I'll tell you who benefits. Anyone who is seeking to debase modern societies. East vs West, Isam vs Christianity vs Judaism vs, black vs white, rich vs poor, man vs woman vs ?, left vs right and the destruction of the family units in the West is all but complete. So if you are person seeking to destabilize society on nearly all fronts, there's your benefactor cause that appears to be the goal here.
Jeff_P 2 September, 2020 2 Sep, 2020 07:36 PM
Oh puleeze! It should be intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers who benefits. The American wannabe imperium. These sort of events keep the vassal states in line and losing their shirts on US directed sanctions to play the role of US canon fodder. And the best part is that the US doesn't even have to come up with new excuses over and over again. We've been telling the same old tired lies for decades and the Europeans simply aren't smart enough to see it for what it is.
Blue8ball713 2 September, 2020 2 Sep, 2020 03:34 PM
Novichok , right from Porton Down chemical weapon lab.
Skeptic 2 September, 2020 2 Sep, 2020 02:55 PM
Apparently Russians don't die of novichok! Not so deadly after all.
Doodle_Dandy 3 September, 2020 3 Sep, 2020 03:11 AM
OPCW says it is TRUE. Must be factual...
Slavko 17 September, 2020 17 Sep, 2020 11:38 AM
Western Military Industrial Complex; as called by late most celebrater US Army general and President Eisenhower; 1% own more than 90% of western population; they own Banks, Media, The Complex with NATO, and Politicians; The wars and sanctions are means of money making for them!
Slavko 17 September, 2020 17 Sep, 2020 11:38 AM
Western Military Industrial Complex; as called by late most celebrater US Army general and President Eisenhower; 1% own more than 90% of western population; they own Banks, Media, The Complex with NATO, and Politicians; The wars and sanctions are means of money making for them!
Rohil Koovappara 3 September, 2020 3 Sep, 2020 11:07 AM
Sure the white supremacist Alexei Navalny is an "opposition leader"!!! Please that evil fascist polls from about 0-4% and has no support in Russia 🇷🇺 at all!!!!

[Nov 15, 2020] Kremlin has called Navalny poisoning an "amateurishly staged stunt" designed to justify sanctions against Russia...

Nov 15, 2020 | www.zerohedge.com

Not only has Russia been angry and frustrated over the Alexei Navalny fallout where for months Germany, European countries, and the US have accused the Kremlin of a conspiracy to assassinate the Putin critic via poisoning, but now Moscow is going gloves off in returning the favor of the pressure campaign Berlin has been waging.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Thursday plans to sanction German and French officials as retaliation for EU punitive restrictions on Russian officials related to the alleged Navalny poisoning.

Before the Aug.20 incident Navalny was a somewhat obscure opposition activist (Russian officials have routinely dismissed him as a mere "blogger), but after being emergency airlifted to a Berlin hospital became a central figure amid Western efforts to push claims of nefarious Putin-sponsored and Russian intelligence hits on "major" opposition voices, akin to the saga of Skripal poisoning.

Russian officials have long been angry at not being able to conduct their own investigation or to access Navalny in Berlin. This week France and Germany rolled out with sanctions on a who's who of top Russian intelligence and defense officials .

Russia then announced its own "reciprocal" sanctions on German and French officials :

Speaking of Russia's reciprocal sanctions against France and Germany, the [Kremlin] spokesman stressed that "one couldn't have expected anything different."

"The reciprocity principle works here rather clearly, hardly anyone could have expected that Russia would leave this without a reaction ," he explained.

In response to a question which officials from Germany and France banned from entering Russia would correspond to the level of First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia Sergei Kiriyenko blacklisted by the West, the Kremlin representative noted "One can hardly find Kiriyenko's equal but in any case, at least nominally, of course, it is easy to find a corresponding title."

The Kremlin spokesperson called the allegations related to Navalny "more than dubious."

And now Germany is upset, with a government spokesman on Friday lashing out at the "unjustified" and "inappropriate" Russian action .

[Nov 02, 2020] Bullshitter supreme talking live on air from Berlin, where he is still "recovering" from having been poisoned on Putin's orders by "Novichok", to sidekick slag Sobol in Moscow.

Nov 02, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MOSCOW EXILE October 31, 2020 at 3:56 am

Bullshitter supreme talking live on air from Berlin, where he is still "recovering" from having been poisoned on Putin's orders by "Novichok", to sidekick slag Sobol in Moscow.
A walking miracle man, liar and total tosser.

Watch it if you can -- and have vomit bags close at hand:


Последний эфир Навального

Navalny's latest broadcast
today

No English subtitles, but who needs them? He's talking shite as per usual.


[Oct 25, 2020] Monkeys Or Children- Russia Chooses Neither, Dooming Germany -

Oct 25, 2020 | www.zerohedge.com

Monkeys Or Children? Russia Chooses Neither, Dooming Germany by Tyler Durden Sat, 10/24/2020 - 09:20 Twitter Facebook Reddit Email Print

Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, 'n Guns blog,

Russia is done with the European Union. At last week's Valdai Discussion Forum Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made this quite clear with this statement.

Those people in the West who are responsible for foreign policy and do not understand the necessity of mutually respectable conversation–well, we must simply stop for a while communicate with them. Especially since Ursula von der Leyen states that geopolitical partnership with current Russia's leadership is impossible. If this is the way they want it, so be it. (H/T Andrei Martyanov)

Lavrov's statements echo a number of statements made in recent months by Russian leadership that there is no opportunity for diplomacy possible with the United States.

We can now add the European Union to that list. Pepe Escobar's latest piece goes over Lavrov's comments about the European Union and they are devastating, as devastating as when he and Putin described the U.S. as " Not Agreement Capable " a few years ago.

Lavrov reiterated this with the following comments at Valdai last week.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/zV_W3b_4G50

But as badly as the U.S. has acted in recent years in international relations, unilaterally abrogating treaty after treaty, nominally with the goal of remaking them to be more inclusive, Lavrov's upbraiding of the current leadership of the European Union is far worse.

Because they have gone along with, if not openly assisted, every U.S.-backed provocation against Russia for their own advantage. From Ukraine to MH-17, to Skripal to now Belarus and the ridiculous Navalny poisoning, the EU has proved to be worse than the U.S.

Because there can be no doubt the U.S. views Russia as an antagonist. We're quite clear about this. But Europe plays off U.S. aggression, hiding in the U.S.'s skirts while telling Russia, usually through German Chancellor Angela Merkel, "Be patient, we are reluctantly going along with this." But really they're happy about it.

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So Russia is ultimately caught between the U.S. and Europe on all basic issues of trade, politics, and international law.

Adding to Lavrov's frustration, Andrei Martyanov, as an astute analyst on Russian politics as anyone, is correct when he says (H/T to Pepe Escobar).

You do not negotiate with monkeys, you treat them nicely, you make sure that they are not abused, but you don't negotiate with them, same as you don't negotiate with toddlers. They want to have their Navalny as their toy–let them. I call on Russia to start wrapping economic activity up with EU for a long time. They buy Russia's hydrocarbons and hi-tech, fine. Other than that, any other activity should be dramatically reduced and necessity of the Iron Curtain must not be doubted anymore.

And the truth is that Russia is dealing with monkeys in the U.S. and toddlers in the EU. And Martanyov's right that it's time Putin et.al. simply turn their backs on the West and move forward.

Lavrov's statements at Valdai were momentous. They sent a clear signal that if Europe wants a future relationship with Russia they will have to change how they do business.

The problem is however, that the EU is suffused with arrogance on the eve of the U.S. election, mistakenly thinking Joe Biden will beat Trump.

Merkel has betrayed Putin at every turn since 2013. And Germany's appalling behavior over the Alexei Navalny poisoning was the last straw.

That what was another sabotage effort to stop the Nordstream 2 pipeline and add grist to Trump's re-election mill was given even a cursory glance by the highest levels of the German government was insulting enough.

That Merkel allowed her Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to run his mouth on the subject, and then throw the decision to sanction Russia (again) over this to the EU parliament and give it any kind of political play was truly treacherous.

And it proved, yet again, that Merkel's word is worth less than nothing. She tells Putin one thing and then does the exact opposite. Glenn Deisen writing for RT chalked this up to Germany's plans for domination. He rightly sees Germany using Russia to get what it wants in Europe.

Germany has taken the lead in advancing "European integration" and therefore prioritizes Eastern European member states that push for a more aggressive stance towards Russia. Economic connectivity with Russia is no longer an instrument for building trust and cooperation in the pan-European space, rather it was intended to strengthen Germany's position as the center of the EU. Moscow should work with Berlin to construct Nord Stream 2, but not forget why Nord Stream 1 was built while South Stream was blocked.

This is a point I've been making for years. Nordstream 2 is a political tool for Germany to reroute gas coming in from Russia which Merkel can use as a political lever over Poland and the Visegrads.

And it is the Poles who have consistently shot themselves in the foot by not reconciling their relationship with Russia, banding together with its Eastern European brothers and securing an independent source of Russian gas. Putin and Gazprom would happily provide it to them, if they would but ask.

But they don't and instead turn to the U.S. to be their protectors from both Russia and Germany, rather than conduct themselves as a sovereign nation.

That said, I think Mr. Diesen misses the larger point here. It is true Germany under Merkel is looking to expand its control over the EU and set itself up as a superpower for the next century. Putin himself acknowledged that possibility at Valdai. That may be more to dig at the U.S. and warn Europe rather than him actually believing it.

Because under Merkel and the EU Germany is losing its dynamism. And it may even lose control over the EU if it isn't careful. If you look at the current situation from a German perspective you realize that Germany's mighty export business is surrounded by hostile foreign powers.

  1. Russia -- Merkel cut off the country from Russian markets. Even though some of the trade with Russia has returned since sanctions over Crimea went into place in 2014 she hasn't fought the U.S.'s hyper-aggressive use of sanctions to improve Germany's position.
  2. The U.K. -- French President Emmanuel Macron looks like he's engineered a No-Deal Brexit with Boris Johnson which will put up major export barriers for Germany into the U.K. cutting them off from that market.
  3. The U.S. – Trump has all but declared Germany an enemy and when he wins a second term will tighten the screws on Merkel even tighter.
  4. China – They know that the incoming Great Reset, which will have its Jahr Null event in Europe likely next year, is all about consolidating power into Europe and sucking it away from the U.S., a process Trump is dead-set against.

However, don't think for a second that the Commies that run the EU and the World Economic Forum are teaming up with the Commies in China. Oh no, they have bigger plans than that.

And what's been pretty clear to me is Europe's delusions that it can subjugate the world under its rubric, forcing its rules and standards on the rest of us, including China, again allowing the U.S. to act as its proxy while it tries to maintain its standing.

I know what you're thinking. That sounds completely ludicrous.

And you're right, it is ludicrous.

But that doesn't mean it isn't true. This is clearly the mindset we're dealing with in The Davos Crowd. They engineered a mostly-fake pandemic to accelerate their plans to remake the world economy by burning it down.

The multi-polar world will see the fading U.S. and U.K. band together while Russia and China continue to stitch together Asia into a coherent economic sphere. Trump is right to pull the U.S. out of Central Asia and has gotten nothing but grief from the U.S. establishment while Europe, through NATO, continues trying to expand to the Russian border, now with openly backing the attempted coup in Belarus.

This was the dominant theme at Valdai and the focus of Putin's opening remarks.

[Oct 25, 2020] Navalny Goes Va Banque Part III

Notable quotes:
"... Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma believes that Navalny has been too outspoken: "This guy is a competely shamless fraud." And pointing out how much was done to save his unworthy ass: From the pilots who emergency-landed the plane in Tomsk; to the doctors and nurses who fought ferociously to intubate him; to the President himself who personally gave permission to fly this recidivist to a prestigious German clinic Dante should have designed a special circle in Hell for such an ingrate, who now spits on the entire Russian nation. ..."
"... Putin's Press Secretary Peskov: "We should clarify that CIA specialists are working with Navalny, and give him various instructions. And moreover, this is not the first time, either." ..."
"... Navalny was upset by Peskov's words, he blustered back saying that Peskov is skating on very thin ice [little joke there], and said he planned to sue the man for libel: "He must prove that I actually have ties with American intelligence." Well, that's easy: Just ask Pompeo. ..."
"... Akopov himself believes that Navalny is more than just a "CIA project", he is more like a "joint venture" with all the Westie agencies. And this project also includes the Russian Neo-Liberal elite and the Westernizing section of the Oligarchy. ..."
"... Everybody who has studied Navalny and Navalniada, know what is actually going on here: Navalny and his neo-Liberal kreakle supporters represent that class of bourgeois intelligentsia who came along maybe 5 or 10 years too late to participate in the Yeltsinite plundering of the Russian people. ..."
"... They are only millionaires now, but they want to be billionaires. [yalensis: Although some evil tongues claim that Navalny has actually lost his fortune somehow and is fleeing from his creditors; hence the current crisis.] Putin stands in the way of the kreakles because he (and his caste of functionaries) have somewhat curbed the openly pirate proclivities of the Russian bourgeoisie; partially nationalized them, made them go to Church, and forced them to follow certain rules. ..."
Jan 01, 2020 | www.bunicuta.net

Navalny Goes Va Banque – Part III

Этот Германн, -- продолжал Томский, -- лицо истинно романическое: у него профиль Наполеона, а душа Мефистофеля. Я думаю, что на его совести по крайней мере три злодейства. Как вы побледнели!..

"This Hermann fellow," Tomsky continued, -- "a truly romantic-era personality, the profile of a Napoleon, and the soul of Mephistopheles. I believe that on his conscience lie at least three crimes.

Oh my, you just turned pale!" -- Pushkin, The Queen of Spades "And that's not even counting KirovLes!" Tomsky should have added.

Dear Readers: Today concluding my review of this piece by reporter/analyst Petr Akopov.

Where we left off, we saw that Navalny may have overstepped the line (just a tad) by directly accusing Putin of poisoning him.

According to my blog-commenter James, Navalny is now busy on the talk-show circuit, doing a full Ginsburg on all the imperialist propaganda media.

Describing what it feels like to be poisoned – "Ow! it hurt so much!" in full pathos.

And Westie Navalny Goes Va Banque – burghers no doubt lapping up this farce because it's more entertaining than the circus. –Meanwhile, back in Russia, members of the government are not very happy with Navalny's wild improvised performance.

Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma believes that Navalny has been too outspoken: "This guy is a competely shamless fraud." And pointing out how much was done to save his unworthy ass: From the pilots who emergency-landed the plane in Tomsk; to the doctors and nurses who fought ferociously to intubate him; to the President himself who personally gave permission to fly this recidivist to a prestigious German clinic Dante should have designed a special circle in Hell for such an ingrate, who now spits on the entire Russian nation.

For 7 long days, Navalny lay in a fake-coma does that work for the 7 card? Furthermore, in a no-shit kind of epiphany, Volodin opines that this whole poisoning scenario was scripted by the Westies: "In order to create tension within Russia, and to prevent Belorussia from asserting its sovereignty." Captain Obvious concludes with: "Navalny himself clearly works with the special services and organs of goverments of [various] Western countries."

After such a shocking utterance, the Kremlin felt the need to clarify: Uh, it's not so much that Navalny works for the CIA; as the CIA works for him! Uh huh, that makes perfect sense. As comedian Yakov Smirnov might say: In America, Secret Agent works for CIA. But in Russia, CIA works for him!

Putin's Press Secretary Peskov: "We should clarify that CIA specialists are working with Navalny, and give him various instructions. And moreover, this is not the first time, either."

Navalny was upset by Peskov's words, he blustered back saying that Peskov is skating on very thin ice [little joke there], and said he planned to sue the man for libel: "He must prove that I actually have ties with American intelligence." Well, that's easy: Just ask Pompeo.

Akopov himself believes that Navalny is more than just a "CIA project", he is more like a "joint venture" with all the Westie agencies. And this project also includes the Russian Neo-Liberal elite and the Westernizing section of the Oligarchy.

They are all in this together as partners. [yalensis: And these knuckle-heads couldn't come up with anybody better than Navalny as their Leader?] Akopov would not even want to venture a guess, which one of these "partners" holds the "controlling interest" in Mr.

Navalny's person.

Although it is plausible that shares might be redistributed during Navalny's stay in Germany. The question du jour is whether or not Navalny will return to Russia. Gentlemen and Countesses, you are free to place your bets on this one. Akopov believes that, yes, Navalny not only will, but must, return to Russia. Why? To complete his Quest. What is his Quest? To change the internal political structure and geopolitical vector of Russia.

Here is how Navalny himself describes the pathos of the current situation: "A struggle is taking place between those who stand for Freedom, and those who wish to push us backwards. Into the Past, into that strange Orthodox imitation of the Soviet Union, only decorated with Capitalism and Oligarchs." "I win!" Hm I hate to admit it, but Navalny's words actually have a ring of truth to them, which is why, if they were to come out of the mouth of a real freedom-fighter, then they might bear some weight.

But you know what people say: If you want to sell a lie, then you have to sprinkle it with truth.

Everybody who has studied Navalny and Navalniada, know what is actually going on here: Navalny and his neo-Liberal kreakle supporters represent that class of bourgeois intelligentsia who came along maybe 5 or 10 years too late to participate in the Yeltsinite plundering of the Russian people.

They regret this, and wish for an opportunity to make their own fortunes, on the backs of said Russian people.

They are only millionaires now, but they want to be billionaires. [yalensis: Although some evil tongues claim that Navalny has actually lost his fortune somehow and is fleeing from his creditors; hence the current crisis.] Putin stands in the way of the kreakles because he (and his caste of functionaries) have somewhat curbed the openly pirate proclivities of the Russian bourgeoisie; partially nationalized them, made them go to Church, and forced them to follow certain rules.

This is what drives Navalny and his ilk crazy. They want it all, and they want it now! Putin, for his part, in his endless balancing act, trying to maintain two incompatible things, as Pushkin might have said (=capitalism and Russian patriotism) has scrambled to win the support of the patriotic bourgeoisie and the clergy, the two pillars of the Lost Russia he strives to re-build.

Navalny again:

"A part of society repeats Putin's rhetoric about how the country needs to follow its own path. They are talking about restoring a kind of monarchy, based on certain spiritual values. And against them stand such people as myself, who consider this to be a lie and hypocrisy, and who are convinced that Russia must develop only according to the European model."

Ah, Navalny! You had me at "monarchy" but lost me at "European model" – you wretch! "It's curtains for you, buster!"

Akopov, it goes without saying, is one of those intellectuals whom Navalny despises as supporting the "Putinite" model of Russian development: Rely on a strong Russian state (which Navalny mockingly calls an "imitation of the USSR"), lean on the Church, develop one's own geo-political vector, etc.

Navalny and his crowd regard these types as complete zombies, whose proposed model is worthless.

But the only thing that Navalny counter-punts are equally worn-out ideas of what Lenin would call "the highest stages of capitalism" and which would, in reality, demote Russia to the level of an American colony.

Same as the rest of Europe! Akopov concedes, however, that Navalny's "vision", if one could call it that, of a European Russia imbued with "democratic values" does, in fact, enjoy mass support -- among the Muscovite intelligentsia.

This kreakle mass [Akopov does not say, but there are estimates that the Navalnyite program enjoys as much as 30% support among the residents of Moscow, not so much in the rest of the country] believe in exactly the same things that Navalny does.

And have been "fighting" for this program (in one way or another) for the past 30 years.

This section of the Russian bourgeois intelligentsia punts against Putin's "national project" and now awaits eagerly for the return of their poisoned, and poisonous, hero. [THE END]

[Oct 25, 2020] Using covert actions, UK made Russia pay 'higher price than they had expected' for Salisbury poisoning ex Downing Street aide

So looks like Navalny poisoning was a join operation of Western intelligence agencies with MI6.
Oct 25, 2020 | www.rt.com

The explosive claim comes from Lord Mark Sedwill, who until last month served as the most senior adviser and head of the civil service in Johnson's cabinet. He held the same positions under former prime minister Theresa May, during whose term the Salisbury affair unfolded.

Speaking to Times Radio, Sedwill said Russia has "some vulnerabilities that we can exploit." So London's response to the incident included not only publicly accusing Russia of being behind the attack and expelling its diplomats, but also "a series of other discreet measures including tackling some of the illicit money flows out of Russia, and covert measures as well, which obviously I can't talk about," the former official said.

The Russians know that they had to pay a higher price than they had expected for that operation.

Sedwill would not explain how stopping illicit money flowing out of Russia would hurt the Russian government or why the UK didn't act sooner to crack down on those financial crimes. Presumably, in his view, President Vladimir Putin's power relies on allowing crooked officials and businessmen to siphon the Russian national wealth and the British government was content with it as long as the UK was on the receiving end.

A different view is taken in Moscow, where officials have repeatedly accused the British of harboring Russian criminals and welcoming illicitly gained cash.

The Times implied that the "covert measures" mentioned by Sedwill included the UK using its cyber offensive capabilities against Russia.

ALSO ON RT.COM US senators suggest going after Putin's 'personal money' in response to alleged poisoning of opposition figure Navalny

The Salisbury poisoning happened in March 2018. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were injured by what the British government described as a uniquely Russian chemical weapon, but have since recovered. London identified two people from Russia as the culprits, calling them agents of the Russian military intelligence.

Moscow denied any involvement in the poisoning and said London had stonewalled all attempts to properly investigate what had happened.

[Oct 24, 2020] Lavrov says Moscow might suspend EU dialogue over Navalny case

Video
Oct 24, 2020 | www.ruptly.tv

October 13, 2020

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow might halt dialogue with the European Union, during the online presentation of the report of the international discussion club "Valdai" on Tuesday.

"Those people who are responsible for foreign policy in the West and do not understand the need for a mutually respectful conversation, perhaps we should just stop communicating with them for a while, especially since [President of the European Commission] Ursula von der Leyen says that with the current Russian authorities, the geopolitical partnership does not work.

So be it, if that's what they want," said the Russian Foreign Minister

[Oct 24, 2020] The buzz about Navalny is that he and some partners were running an anti-corruption blackmail racket getting compromising information on various enterprises and individuals

Oct 24, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

the pessimist , Oct 23 2020 7:32 utc | 90

m@84 the buzz about Navalny is that he and some partners were running an anti-corruption blackmail racket getting compromising information on various enterprises and individuals and Navalny decided to cash out without informing or consulting with his partners. Nothing to do with the Russian government.

the pessimist , Oct 23 2020 15:04 utc | 113

m@89 I got a rather detailed explanation from a Russian friend who just spent several weeks there. Navalny started out as an anti corruption reformer but got involved with partners that figured out how to monetize the dirt he was digging up. This is over a period of years, not something recent. There is no conspiracy between the Russian government and the Germans. Navalny was not a threat to governmental power in Russia - this was strictly a business matter. See the RT article I linked to:

https://www.rt.com/russia/504238-berlin-dominates-europe-moscow/

and the Russian government is not happy about how the case was used by the Germans for their own ends.

librul , Oct 23 2020 15:06 utc | 115

Which are the dumbest false flags of recent memory?

My selections are:

#1) Journalist Arkady Babchenko - he gets every prize!
He faked his death, complete with blood soaked pictures,
and then showed up the next day alive at a news conference.
They should name a drink after him, "Noah's Ark Ark Ark"- glacier water mixed
with glacier water, stirred not shaken.

#2) Saudi Intelligence Service - they air shipped printers
with incomplete bombs in them to the US and Britain from Yemen.
The Saudi agents revealed that they kept the tracking slips of the bombs!
I'll drink to that. And the Saudis played heroes by providing the tracking
numbers to the US and Britain in the nick of time. And I'll drink to that!

#3) Just this week CrowdStrike (yes, they still enjoy "credibility" in some circles)
let us know that Iranian hackers included a video with their email threats.
And that clever video:
"The video showed the hackers' computer screen as they typed in commands to purportedly hack a voter registration system.
Investigators noticed snippets of revealing computer code, including file paths, file names and an internet protocol (IP) address."
How does the Saudi Intelligence service say, "Skol!"?

[Oct 23, 2020] The key difference between China and Russia as for US election influence: Putin apparently "interferes in US elections" but China simply buys up one of the parties and owns the candidate and his family

Highly recommended!
For all practical purposes Biden work as a well paid lobbyist for China.
Notable quotes:
"... So Navalny was "poisoned by Putin" and sent to a Berlin hospital so that conclusion could be defined ? USSR was so incompetent with bio-weapons it cannot create a lethal organophosphate poison yet US/Uk can develop VX which worked definitively on King Jong-Un's half-brother ! ..."
Oct 23, 2020 | www.zerohedge.com
play_arrow

Sandmann , 40 minutes ago

So Navalny was "poisoned by Putin" and sent to a Berlin hospital so that conclusion could be defined ? USSR was so incompetent with bio-weapons it cannot create a lethal organophosphate poison yet US/Uk can develop VX which worked definitively on King Jong-Un's half-brother !

Then again China can develop effective bio-weapons which expose the E=West and especially NATO armed forces as unprepared, incompetent, ineffectual and in Chinese terms "paper tigers"

So more and more sanctions on Russia and more and more orders for PPE and other goodies from China.

Russia is Post-Communist but China is VERY VERY Communist.

Putin apparently "interferes in US elections" but China simply buys up one of the parties and owns the candidate and his family

[Oct 21, 2020] I think the whole thing was a carefully-concocted operation that Lyosha was fully briefed-in on

Notable quotes:
"... Perhaps the plot extended beyond those who directly participated but I don't think it was a high level operation. Navalny took a gamble that his sponsors would have no choice but to follow his lead. It now makes no practical difference as to whom planned it. ..."
Oct 21, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

PATIENT OBSERVER October 18, 2020 at 4:15 pm

Navalny on CBS 60 Minutes:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexey-navalny-poisoning-putin-russia-60-minutes-2020-10-18/

A skeptical 5-year old could see through the BS but the intrepid Leslie Stahl hangs on his every word.

MARK CHAPMAN October 18, 2020 at 5:55 pm

Alexey Navalny: It's a banned substance. I think for Putin– why– he's using this chemical weapon to do– do both, kill me and, you know, terrify others. It's something really scary, where the people just drop dead without– there are no gun. There are no shots and in a couple of hours, you– you'll be dead and without any traces on your body. It's something terrifying. And Putin is enjoying it.

So am I. It's very intriguing, the constant plot twists – Navalny is recorded live 'moaning in anguish' but he was not in any pain! Perhaps the very thought of such an amazing human being and exceptional leader – himself, naturally – struck down in his prime was just so sorrowful that he could not stifle his sadness.

It's 'something really scary', is it? Why? So far nearly everyone poisoned by it has survived with no apparent medium-to-long-term damage. The deadliest toxin in the world by a wide margin has so far managed to kill one barbag who was also a drug addict, and completely incidentally – she was not ever a target.

According to the Russian record of its use as a murder weapon, though, on the sole known occasion it was so used, it killed the target in just a few hours. It also killed his secretary, who used the same phone to call an ambulance, and the pathologist who did his autopsy.

So whoever is copying Novichok for its terror effects is not doing a very good job. Like Porsche, there is no substitute.

PATIENT OBSERVER October 19, 2020 at 5:03 am

The "moaning in anguish" was likely Navalny's theatrical assumption that Novichok creates intense pain. When he learned, after his performance, that Novichok does not create intense pain, he changed his story on the fly.

This, and a few other things, brings up an interesting conjecture. The Navalny stunt may have been a free-lance operation done without prior knowledge of Western intelligence agencies. He and his posse concocted the scheme betting that the the US and Germany would be backed into a corner and had to play along. They really had no choice as they could not abandon this asset without the entire "fearless opposition to the tyrant Putin" collapsing into the cesspool it was built upon.

If so, it was an audacious move that only a sociopath could do. However, it does suggest that Navalny is finished after the last bit of propaganda value is wrung out. His future could be either termination under a convenient pretext (i.e. Putin finally got him) or to become a professor of BS at some US University or the like. The main point is that he is too unreliable to conduct further operations.

MARK CHAPMAN October 19, 2020 at 9:42 am

I think the whole thing was a carefully-concocted operation that Lyosha was fully briefed-in on. His howls and screams would have been necessary in any case, with or without pain, because it was imperative that all on board be convinced that a terrible event was taking place and that emergency actions were absolutely called for. It's hard to imagine the same dramatic effect could have been achieved by Navalny flopping out of the toilet like a gaffed bass, and whispering to the flight attendant, "I just have this feeling that says body, we are done". Everyone including the flight attendant would assume he was drunk or something that was no particular cause for alarm, and maybe even for amusement. Until they learned that the flight was being diverted so this fuckwad could get off.

ET AL October 19, 2020 at 10:57 am

I don't know and I don't care who's cuning plan this was. It's got him all the publicity he needs and also those in the west with their standard 'no smoke without fire' level of foreign policy 'evidence.' I think he's actually looking to sell his life story for a Netflix series. Nothing else makes logical sense.

MOSCOW EXILE October 19, 2020 at 10:34 am

Yes, maybe -- apart from the fact that one of his posse is British agent who has been controlling FBK investigations into corruption for quite a while now and apparently was stuck to Navalny during his last foray into the provinces like shit to an army blanket.

PATIENT OBSERVER October 19, 2020 at 10:57 am

To Mark and ME;
The Navalny show still has an ad hoc feel to it. Perhaps the plot extended beyond those who directly participated but I don't think it was a high level operation. Navalny took a gamble that his sponsors would have no choice but to follow his lead. It now makes no practical difference as to whom planned it.

MOSCOW EXILE October 18, 2020 at 9:47 pm

More proof that Trump is a Kremlin Stooge?

Навальный пожаловался, что Трамп не осудил произошедший с ним инцидент
19.10.2020 | 07:59

Navalny has complained that Trump has not condemned what happened to him
19.10.2020 | 07:59

Blogger Aleksei Navalny has expressed the opinion that US President Donald Trump should have also condemned what happened to him, as did European politicians, TASS reports.

"I think it is especially important that everyone, including, and perhaps first and foremost, the US president, speak out against the use of chemical weapons in the 21st century", Navalny said.

["Я думаю, что особенно важно, чтобы все, включая и, возможно, в первую очередь президента США, выступили против применения химического оружия в XXI веке".]

On August 20, Navalny was taken to a hospital in Omsk after he had fallen ill on an aeroplane. Omsk doctors said that the main diagnosis was metabolic disorders. Then Navalny was transported to Germany. He was in a coma for two weeks. German doctors announced that he had been poisoned with substances from the Novichok group. Russia has asked Berlin for more detailed information on the test results, but has not yet received a response.

Currently, Navalny has been discharged from the hospital and is undergoing rehabilitation.

Big gobbed gobshite shouting his big gob off -- or did his US controllers really urge him to make that statement? Is the CIA really using him as part of the Democrats "Russiagate" arsenal?

MARK CHAPMAN October 19, 2020 at 8:48 am

Got it in one; I was going to say, until I read your last couple of lines, that this is further suggestion that Navalny is a Democratic project. The US State Department is full of Democratic appointees. They want to get all the mileage out of him they can before interest fades.

MARK CHAPMAN October 19, 2020 at 9:11 am

Miraculously, he recovered from the poison that is so dangerous people fear to mention its name, for fear that doing so might encourage tongue cancer, and is today fit as a flea; can't wait to return to Russia for Round Two. If they were wise, they'd kill Lyosha themselves for his stem cells. Then world leaders could be protected against Russian assassination attempts.

MARK CHAPMAN October 19, 2020 at 9:04 am

Certainly capitalizing on his new-found fame, isn't he? Now he feels comfortable telling the US president how he ought to behave, and chiding him for not appropriately recognizing Navalny's importance to the world. Dear God, what a swellheaded prat.

If the Chief Bullshitter really feels so concerned for the safety of his family, he will leave them all abroad and return to Russia alone – I mean, he's not a bit afraid for himself, he's said as much. Go on, Lyosha – go back home and rally the great restless throng of oppressed ordinary Russians who cry out for your leadership!!

Not on your life. He's got the sweetest gig ever going on right there, newspapers beating a path to his door to find out what he likes to eat for breakfast and whose shirts he wears, no worries about income or housing, hobnobbing with world leaders who listen respectfully to his opinions, and all he has to do is rant about Putin all day long. The Americans are finally getting their money's worth out of Lyosha. Whereas what would happen if he went home?

It would quickly become clear that his support still comes exclusively from the same group – a few disaffected intelligentsia such as Boris Akunin, the Atlanticist liberatsi who endlessly predict the collapse of Putin, and the angry kiddies who feel like they are part of some great Thunberg-like global freedom movement that will bring them a comfortable life but absolve them of responsibility for working for it – you know; the way they live in America!

[Oct 20, 2020] Is Russia's Dialogue with the EU Coming to an End

EU is stronger and as such can harass Russia with almost total impunity. Navalny false flag is a proof.
Oct 20, 2020 | www.themoscowtimes.com

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, warning that Russia might halt all dialogue with the European Union. Mr. Lavrov offered no explanation for what was probably the most severe public statement on the EU of his career. Perhaps he was reacting to extended talks he recently held with EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell -- talks that, by all appearances, did not go well.

Naturally, the EU will respond to his statement with great displeasure and indignation, but Lavrov's comment was actually rooted in a process that began long before the current crisis, all the way back to when Russian-EU relations looked positively upbeat and promising.

Common, but shaky ground

The modern Russian state and the EU came into existence at practically the same time -- the former in late December 1991 and the latter in February 1992 -- and they soon laid the groundwork for their mutual relations. The two parties signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in 1994 -- and ratified it in 1997 -- that made their relations so close as to be considered "strategic" at one point.

This differs significantly from the slogan of a "Europe stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok" that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev coined in 1989 to connote a common European homeland that, in reality, had no document or agreement to back it up.

By contrast, the Russian-EU partnership was based firmly on the idea of integration. While Brussels never offered Russia full EU membership, it offered general, though indefinite assurances that its eastern neighbor would play a suitably substantial role in the "Greater Europe" that was then being built.

At the core of this "Greater Europe," as it was then envisioned, was a rapidly expanding European Union that wound up more than doubling in size from 1992 to 2007 -- and which, it was expected, would eventually include Russia as well as other Soviet republics. A sort of pan-European space was created, although Russia's status in that new entity was never described or even discussed. Both sides simply assumed that Russia would be part of Europe. NEWS EU Sanctions FSB Chief, Senior Kremlin Officials Over Navalny Poisoning READ MORE

In hindsight, it seems that Russia and the EU understood that partnership differently.

However, they agreed at the time that everything from the structure of the state to economic regulation should be based on the legal and regulatory framework of the EU -- which they both considered clearly superior. Ideally, every country that was included in that European space would have adopted European rules and regulations, after which they would either become EU members -- some, strictly due to their size -- or else, as in the case of Russia and Ukraine, associate members. Every newcomer was expected to bring its laws and regulations into line with the European standard.

And in this regard, it differed fundamentally from Gorbachev's idea of a "Europe stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok." Although the Soviet leader did not offer any details regarding the pan-European homeland, he clearly anticipated a partnership of equals.

The Soviet leader looked to a coming convergence, a mutual rapprochement in which each player -- the Soviet Union, the European Community and the West as a whole -- would contribute their strongest qualities, each somehow coming together in a whole that was more than the sum of its parts. In was, in a word, utopia, but not a tenable plan.

Significantly, it was not former President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s who made the greatest efforts to achieve Russia's integration into the European space based on European principles, but President Vladimir Putin during his first term in the early 2000s.

Yeltsin had to overcome Russia's internal crisis before there could be any talk of integrating with Europe. By the 2000s, when the state and its apparatus had stabilized and oil revenues filled government coffers, Putin searched diligently for an opportunity to implement the partnership with the EU and to further rapprochement. This continued from 2001 until as late as 2006.

The honeymoon had ended

Russia's potential had grown significantly by that time, as had its expectations for the role it would play in a partnership with the EU.

Russia rejected as illegitimate the expectation that it comply unquestionably with European norms and felt that any partnership must be based, if not on strictly equal terms, then at least on special conditions. However, the EU never even considered Russia a special case, arguing that any reconsideration of its rules violated the very principles of European integration.

For this reason, the very idea of a strategic and integration partnership between Russia and the EU began eroding around the mid-2000s. This erosion occurred very gradually, not only because Russia's domestic and foreign policy had begun to change significantly, but also because the EU unexpectedly faced a crisis, one that reached full force in the early 2010s.

By that time, although the partnership agreement first drawn up in the early 1990s remained unchanged -- as it does today -- the reality of Russia's relationship with Europe increasingly diverged from its original configuration. Both sides' objectives and, more importantly, their self-perceptions, grew further and further apart. NEWS EU's Navalny Sanctions Miss the Mark READ MORE

The most striking illustration of this was the obvious disconnect between the words spoken at the final Russia-EU Summit, held in Brussels in late January 2014, and the reality on the ground.

The Maidan protests were raging in Kiev, only three weeks remained before Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych would flee and new authorities would come to power, and relations between Russia and the EU -- that stood on opposite sides of those barricades in Kiev -- could not have been worse.

While President Putin and EU Commission President Manuel Barroso stood before the cameras and repeated the very same mantras they had been uttering for years, even decades, about partnership, a common space, road maps and so on, their faces betrayed what they were really thinking -- namely, that nothing of the sort was going to happen.

But they had no other options on the table. Pure inertia from the process begun in the early 1990s compelled them to repeat the same tired calls for a close future partnership.

Then came the game-changing events in Ukraine, and much more besides. The long-standing framework for Russian-EU relations turned into an anachronism overnight, giving way to heated antagonism and competitiveness. Nevertheless, both sides continued paying lip service to partnership, dialogue and, in general, a state of affairs that had last existed 25 years earlier.

Fast forward to the present, and we have Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indirectly acknowledging how bad things have actually become. In effect, he has simply stated what everyone already knew -- namely, that the old framework for Russian-EU relations no longer exists.

This does not mean an end to all relations, only an end to relations as they were.

The same, only different

A new framework is needed now, but it will probably be a long time in coming. And the framework Russia might want for its relations with Europe will not materialize for the very reasons mentioned above: present circumstances are simply too unfavorable.

Of course, no new Iron Curtain between Russia and the EU will fall from the sky. Their mutual humanitarian and economic relations remain very strong, despite some damage from sanctions, and cultural and even political ties remain intact. However, these are strictly utilitarian relations, without any pretense of common goals, and they take a backseat to Moscow's bilateral relations with individual European countries. Russia and Europe are devolving into coolly polite neighbors that have no real interest in each other, but who are forced to interact simply because they live next door to each other.

In fact, Russia must now focus more on its main neighbor, China. Although Russia's quarrel with the West plays some role in this pivot eastward, it is the enormously long Russian-Chinese border and the fact that China is rapidly becoming, if not a world hegemon, then at least one of the two pillars of the new world order that compels Moscow to devote far more attention to this neighbor than it is accustomed to.

More importantly, and what will cause fundamental change to Russia's relations with Europe, is the fact that, for better or worse, the global balance is shifting towards Asia. As a result, the focus that Russia has had on Europe and West for the past 300 years no longer corresponds to the global reality. Russia cannot afford to treat Asia as a secondary priority, although it often still does. If Moscow continues in this way, Russia could find itself facing a creeping expansionism from the east.

In any case, Russia's former model of relations with the European Union has clearly ceased to function, and one way or another, the two sides have started to acknowledge this openly.

This article was first published by Vtimes.

[Oct 20, 2020] Article 275 of the Criminal Code "High treason" certainly applies as regards the actions of Lyosha Navalny , as does article 128.1 of the Russian Criminal Code on "Slander"

Oct 20, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MOSCOW EXILE October 19, 2020 at 12:36 am

Article 275 of the Criminal Code "High treason" certainly applies as regards the actions of Lyosha Navalny , as does article 128.1 of the Russian Criminal Code on "Slander"

But as I have already said more than once, if Alyosha is issued with a foreign passport by the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, and Alyosha himself repeatedly violates laws and remains free whilst concurrently serving two suspended sentences, this means that someone needs him -- so much so that even these mountains of shit, which thanks to his diligence have been poured on Russia in recent months, also do not count.

There is such a term "protest sewerage". It was born of German politicians in the '50s of the last century as a tool to counter protests against social injustice and militarization. And it proved to be surprisingly effective. Roughly speaking, individual cadres were allowed a lot in exchange for their discrediting protest movements. In Russia, Navalny has long been playing this role, whilst feathering his own nest here and there. And as time passed, a big problem for Lyosha's curators was his close work with the CIA. And the threat through Navalny to such a global project as Nord Stream 2 makes not only Navalny himself, but also these very "curators" traitors to the Motherland.

source

JAMES LAKE October 19, 2020 at 5:41 am

What is all this Navalny publicity tour for?

The American/ European audience or the Russian audience

Is he going to be promoted like Juan Guaido ?

He just looks like a paid puppet on an anti-Russia tour.

All these stage managed images and interviews.

I am finding it difficult to see the point in all this.

In my view – he is best ignored by the government
Report in detail his disloyal behaviour – but nothing more.

ATIENT OBSERVER October 19, 2020 at 6:13 am

Not aimed at the Russian audience, definitely not.

It serves as a pretext for more sanctions for those looking for any excuse and to force public officials to "condemn" Russia. I am 100% sure Trump is on to the game so his decision will be solely based on political expediency. If he believes he can win the election, he is likely thinking that he can not jump on the bandwagon thus will not join the Putin bashing party.

MARK CHAPMAN October 19, 2020 at 9:50 am

Easy to say, but I'm pretty sure if you were accused of something heinous and knew you were not guilty, that ample evidence was available to prove it but that it was being kept from you while the accusations went on and on that establishing your innocence would be a priority for you. Even when your attempts fell on deaf ears. Because perhaps the hardest thing, for a group or individual accused of something, is to know you did not do it, but keep silent and allow your accusers a free hand.

I imagine Washington would love to declare Navalny the 'legitimate President of the Russian Federation", and its musing on what a wonderful world it would be if Joe Biden was President of the United States and Navalny was President of Russia might well b e a tentative trial balloon to see what public opinion makes of it. But it is not a very realistic possibility, for a couple of reasons. One, Washington already has a pair of governments-in-waiting that it is supporting, to little or no effect, and adding another risks introducing too many balls for the juggler to keep in the air, plus the resulting loss of confidence in Washington as a game-changer that makes its own rules. Two, whatever blabber the media generates, the real power-brokers know Navalny has no significant support at home, and that trying to foist him on the Russian people over their clear preference for the present leader has no hope of succeeding.

They will have to continue with the make-believe for yet awhile, and hope for an opportunity.

PATIENT OBSERVER October 19, 2020 at 6:20 am

A pretty impressive but utterly useless display:

https://sputniknews.com/world/202010191080815705-action-packed-footage-shows-royal-navy-using-iron-man-style-jet-suits-to-practice-storming-vessels/

These guys flying jet packs that require use of hands to point the auxiliary jets for a modicum of control will be more vulnerable than clay pigeons. The noise alone will alert any vessels within a few miles that they are coming.

I suppose that they could board a very large vessel at night that has been commandeered by a few pirates without certainty of being shot down.

A far more useful application would be as part of a rescue team to bring aboard a small vessel in distress urgently needed supplies or a trained EMT. Seems like a drone could do the same.

MARK CHAPMAN October 19, 2020 at 10:08 am

Wow. You can fly in still or light airs from a carrier vessel that is right alongside – I wonder what prospective boarding candidate is going to permit that? Added to the criticism you have already pointed out that the 'iron man' is already quite busy controlling his direction and altitude, and is essentially defenseless. A speed of 200 mph or less is like an engraved invitation to a Gatling-gun style air defense system like Phalanx or Goalkeeper, and you would not have to hit a man in a rubber suit very often with a 20mm round to make him lose interest – Goalkeeper is a 30mm system if I remember correctly, and consequently would be even less encouraging. For purposes of comparison, a .50 cal round that would lift you right out of your shoes is a .127mm.

There's no denying it is interesting technology that should stimulate discussion and ideas, but a clever new system which will revolutionize opposed boarding it is not, not yet. There might be rescue applications as you suggested, but it does not look like the system has enough lift to carry the operator plus average deadweight.

JENNIFER HOR October 19, 2020 at 11:55 am

The Iron Man flyboys work well in sunny weather with little wind but I wonder how well they will fare in heavier weather when visibility will be poor and landing platforms may not be stable. Shouldn't these Iron Man pilots also have better face and eye protection against the elements?

PATIENT OBSERVER October 19, 2020 at 7:03 am

Even more nonsensical that the jet-pack warriors mentioned above

https://sputniknews.com/military/202010191080813393-us-army-reportedly-developing-cannon-touted-as-able-to-blast-through-air-defences-as-far-as-moscow/

The US Army is developing a new cannon it claims will have a range of more than 1,000 miles, writes Popular Mechanics.
The Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) is touted as potentially being able to strike targets at up to 1,150 miles (1,850 km) away and fire 50 times farther than existing guns.

Earlier, the outlet had published leaked photos of the SLRC, touted as able to bring about a revolutionary breakthrough in artillery warfare.

Super duper long range artillery has been tried in the past:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_HARP

A 1,000 mile range would require a trajectory that would peak at hundreds of miles. The shell must use rocket assist and include various electronics for guidance. It would required heat shielding to resist high temperatures during reentry into the atmosphere. The shell may leave the muzzle at a few thousand mph but need to accelerate to a much high velocity using a rocket. If the shell weighs, say, 200 pounds, then warhead certainly could not weigh more than 50 pounds with the balance being the rocket, heat shield, fins and actuators for steering and guidance electronics.

You'd think they would have learned their lessons from the Zumwalt destroyer long range gun debacle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Gun_System

Up to $1 million per round for a gun with far less capability than now being proposed.

The main purposes are to keep the artillery boys happy and to keep the cash flow river to the MIC running deep and fast.

PATIENT OBSERVER October 19, 2020 at 11:01 am

It's wunderweapons to the rescue!


[Oct 20, 2020] US charges six Russian 'intelligence agents' with hacking Ukraine, Georgia, France and 2018 Olympics -- RT USA News

Oct 20, 2020 | www.rt.com

Cover up of OPSW fiasco with Douma false flag ?

US charges six Russian 'intelligence agents' with hacking Ukraine, Georgia, France and 2018 Olympics 19 Oct, 2020 21:24 Get short URL US charges six Russian 'intelligence agents' with hacking Ukraine, Georgia, France and 2018 Olympics FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich announces charges against 'six Russsian intelligence officers' at the Department of Justice, October 19, 2020. © Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS 14 Follow RT on RT The US Justice Department has announced charges against six alleged officers of Russian military intelligence, accusing them of cyber attacks against Georgia, France, the UK, the OPCW, Ukraine and the 2018 Winter Olympics.

A grand jury in Pennsylvania indicted the six men for "conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and false registration of a domain name," the DOJ announced on Monday, describing them as officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU.

The indictment identifies them as Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko, Sergey Vladimirovich Detistov, Pavel Valeryevich Frolov, Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev, Artem Valeryevich Ochichenko and Petr Nikolayevich Pliskin.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1318242413597642758&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F503953-six-russians-indicted-hacking%2F&siteScreenName=RT_com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

According to the charges, they used malware like KillDisk, Industroyer, NotPetya and Olympic Destroyer to attack everything from networks in Ukraine and Georgia to the Olympics held in PyeongChang two years ago – in which Russian athletes were not allowed to participate under their national flag, due to doping allegations made by a disgruntled doctor.

The six are also accused of undermining "efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, on foreign soil" – referring to the March 2018 claims by the British government that Russia "highly likely" used the toxin against a former spy and his daughter, an accusation Moscow repeatedly denied.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers has claimed that "No country has weaponized its cyber capabilities as maliciously or irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite."

ALSO ON RT.COM 'State actor' behind NotPetya cyberattack, expect 'countermeasures' – NATO experts

Monday's indictment is hardly a surprise, considering that NATO and US officials have blamed the 2017 NotPetya outbreak on Moscow for years, even though the malware struck numerous Russian companies – from the central bank to the oil giant Rosneft and metal-maker Evraz – as well.

The October 2019 Georgia attack was "in line with Russian tactics," declared CrowdStrike, the same security company that was tasked with dealing with the 2016 "hack" of the Democratic National Committee. CrowdStrike's president had secretly admitted to Congress that they had no actual evidence of the hack itself.

The indictment also accuses the "GRU officers" of trying to breach the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The international body faced a scandal after whistleblowers revealed that a report blaming chemical attacks in Syria on the country's government omitted details that did not fall in line with the narrative pushed by the US and the UK.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1318254380555141123&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F503953-six-russians-indicted-hacking%2F&siteScreenName=RT_com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

In announcing the indictment, the DOJ thanked the authorities in Ukraine, Georgia, New Zealand, South Korea, and UK "intelligence services" – as well as Google, Facebook and Twitter – for "significant cooperation and assistance" with the investigation.

The same "GRU unit" and Kovalev specifically were previously indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for alleged "meddling" in 2016 US elections. As with Mueller's indictments, Monday's charges have largely symbolic value; the accused are not likely to ever see the inside of a US courtroom. The only indictment that was actually contested in court – against the so-called IRA troll farm – was dropped by the DOJ in March, due to lack of evidence.

Russia's military intelligence has not gone by the name of GRU since 2010.

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14

[Oct 19, 2020] A joke circulating Russia internets today

Oct 19, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

BG , Oct 17 2020 20:24 utc | 46

A joke circulating Russia internets today:

"German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas:

"North Stream 2 will be built 100%!"

A journalist asks:

"But what about Navalny?"

Maas replies:

"Well, unfortunately Navalny doesn't produce 55 billion cbm of natural gas per year..."

___

[Oct 18, 2020] Navalny false flag as a ploy to destroy Russian-German ties using German Atlantics as a ram

Oct 18, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

karlof1 , Oct 15 2020 19:02 utc | 2

Much of importance is emanating from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Lavrov and Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. As reported by TASS :

"The statement made by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, in which he said that the situation around Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny does not form part of Russian-Germany bilateral agenda is a ploy to hide Berlin's course to destroy relations with Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during Thursday's briefing.

"'We consider such statements as some tactical ploy that serves to hide Germany's course for destruction of bilateral ties. I would like to remind you that it was Berlin that used this situation to put forward unfounded accusations, ultimatums and threats against our country, openly disregarding its own international legal obligations on providing practical aid to Russia in the investigation of the incident with the Russian citizen. Once again, it is acting as the locomotive of new anti-Russian sanctions within the EU and other multilateral structures,' Zakharova pointed out."

That followed on the heels of yesterday's activities involving FM Lavrov. I previously linked to Lavrov's interview with several Russian radio stations, and to that I add the joint presser following his session with Italy's FM:

"Question: In response to the European sanctions, which I believe will follow in the wake of the 'Navalny case,' you said yesterday that Russia will have to suspend its contacts with European foreign ministers. Does this mean that today's meeting with Luigi Di Maio may be the last with an EU foreign minister?

"Sergey Lavrov: The EU is increasingly replacing the art of diplomacy with sanctions. Clearly, the bad example of the United States is contagious. We see this not just as a bad example by the Americans, but also as a result of direct US pressure on its European allies and colleagues. Indeed, what we are saying now is that we want to understand what the EU is trying to accomplish. But this EU policy will not remain without consequences....

"With this EU approach in mind, where it completely ignores the real state of affairs regarding the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the fact that they have been blocked by official Kiev, we cannot disregard the statements coming from Brussels. In particular, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia has adopted a position that openly undermines EU interests, and that restoring the strategic partnership between Russia and the EU is out of the question before Russia changes its behaviour. I have already covered the Ukraine crisis, which is one of the key crises now, as it unfolds, and who precisely is blocking the implementation of the peace agreements.

"We are seeing similarly unfounded accusations in the case of Mr Navalny, which you mentioned. We hear our partners say that establishing the facts is of paramount importance. The trouble is that the facts concerning Mr Navalny's time in Russia, on a Russian plane and in the Omsk hospital are well known and have been established by us inasmuch as we could, since several people involved in this incident have fled to Great Britain and Germany, and we do not know of their whereabouts. We are asking to be granted access to these people, but no constructive response is coming our way. We do not have the necessary facts. The West has them, but we are denied access to them. Yesterday, during a conversation with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, and today during talks with Luigi Di Maio, we heard a reiteration of the need to establish the facts. First off, the other side has no facts. Second, as we know, during a Monday meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the participants discussed the need for imposing sanctions, but Mr Borrell assured me that before such a decision can be made, it is imperative to study the facts that Germany and France promised to provide as part of a certain technical group that is now being created . We very much hope that these facts will be presented not only to a narrow group of European countries, but also directly to the party that is being, without proof, accused of all conceivable sins and crimes." [My Emphasis]

Today sanctions were applied without the promised examination of the facts. As reported by TASS , a partial response was made by Zakharova:

"'We call on the German foreign minister to refrain from interfering in domestic affairs of our union nation, either in word or in deed. We are convinced that the Belarusians need no instructions either from Berlin or any other capital city to reach accord on socially important matters they are concerned about,' she said. 'Aggressive interventions of the collective West in the internal political processes in third countries only entail the emergence of more crisis foci on the global map.'"

Passer by , Oct 15 2020 19:44 utc | 6

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 15 2020 19:02 utc | 2

Thanks for posting russian official reactions to recent geopolitical issues with the EU, so that people can understand what is happening. And what is happening is that the EU has defined itself as enemy of Russia. Something many people could not believe it is happening.

In connection with that, i will repost a discussion of mine from another place.

Me: "Anyone who was talking about "independent EU", or "russian-german alliance", "EU rebellion against US", "Europe joining Russia and China", "European Army independent from NATO" has shit for brains and does not understand politics at all, no matter what his name or education or job was."

Commenter: "By this token, does it mean Patrick Lawrence has "sh*t for brains" for writing this piece? (About Europe allegedly moving closer to Russia in recent days)

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/10/06/patrick-lawrence-europe-going-its-own-way/
I guess I'll have to also inform Patrick Armstrong this once he writes his next Sitrep. I wonder what he'll think."

Me: "I actually saw that article of him before several days and i wondered whether to make a comment on that too, as an example of an "analyst" who does not understand at all what is happening.

Point 1: Nord Stream 2. He fails to understand that this is not a divorce with the US, rather an old german policy to buy russian energy. For example Germany approved pipelines from the USSR over Reagan's objections in the 80s. Did that mean that Germany was not hostile to the Soviet Union? Was not part of the Western block? No. It was a part of NATO containment strategies against the USSR and hoped to take over Eastern Europe after the USSR loses the Cold War.

Not to mention that there is talk that the pipeline will only be used at half capacity.

The fact that someone (Europe) likes money does not mean that that same someone does not secretly hate you, and will not stab you in the back as soon as it is safe to do so.

Point 2: more and more evidence emerges that Germany organised the Novichok incident with Navalny (see John Helmer on that).

Point 3 - failed to understand that it was Germany who pushed for sanctions on Russia after the Ukraine affair. Not to mention that Germany was involved in the anti-russian coup in Ukraine, as part of its old strategy of "drang nach osten" - "pressure to the east" - to take over Eastern Europe and its labor pool and use it the way the US uses Latin America.

Point 4 - failed to understand that the biggest force behind the colour revolution in Belarus was the EU, playing far bigger role than the US. Now, who tries to take over a russian populated country, near Moscow, histrorically part of the Russian Empire, where millions of russians died to stop the german invasion, a situation that will also seriously imperil the Kaliningrad enclave? Only someone who is hostile to Russia. This is a strategic act of hostility towards Russia.

Point 5 - failed to notice that France and Sweden recently put sanctions on aviation and industrial equipment for Russia.

Point 6 - is not aware that anti-chinese hatred in Europe has increased to all time highs, according to recent surveys.

Point 7 - mentions several empty statements from Merkel and Macron as a sign of "rebellion" without mentioning many other statements countering that - such as France and Germany saying that Russia should not be allowed back in G-7, or that Borrell (EU foreign policy chief) called Russia an old enemy of Europe, or that the french EU minister recently called on Europe to unite against Russia, or that the EU comission chief called for Europe to stand up to Russia, or that the European Parliament called the russian constitution "illegal" and called for the "democratisation of Russia" (aka colour revolution), or Germany stating recently that no european army independent from NATO is possible or will be supported by Germany, or the 5 german parties that begged the US not to withdraw troops from Germany.

Point 8 - has no idea of recent official russian statements on the EU, meaning that he lives in an alternate Universe.

"France and Germany are now leading the anti-russian block within Europe".

"There will be no more business as usual between Russia and France and Germany".

"Russia will not follow EU and US rules".

"Russia will no longer be dependent on the EU".

"Europeans have delusions of grandeur".

"Those people in the West who are responsible for foreign policy and do not understand the necessity of mutually respectable conversation--well, we must simply stop for a while communicate with them. Especially since Ursula von der Leyen states that geopolitical partnership with current Russia's leadership is impossible. If this is the way they want it, so be it. "

These are all statements by Lavrov and Zacharova.

So Lawrence does not even understand that there is a decoupling between Russia and EU taking place, and worsening of relations, instead of them getting closer, as he dreams in the daylight.

Analysts who understood the hostility of the EU towards Russia are M. K. Bhadrakumar and Alastair Crooke, and they wrote plenty on that recently."

Stonebird , Oct 15 2020 19:49 utc | 8

A supplement to Karlof1's post at no 2

This is a report from John Helmer.
http://johnhelmer.net/the-german-defence-ministry-ordered-the-swedish-defence-laboratory-to-find-novichok-in-navalnys-blood-or-else/

One part is particularly worth keeping in mind and that is the physical condition of Navalny before leaving for Germany is known to the Russians. Note the alchohol and the massive internal formation of acetone in the body

Acute metabolic disorder....

- - - -
(repeat of my post on the last open thread. No. 333)
In the meantime in Omsk, where two days of blood, urine and other biomarkers were recorded for Navalny, Alexander Sabaev issued a report on Navalny's prior medical conditions and his biomarkers after the alleged poisoning. Sabaev is head of the acute poisoning department of the Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, chief toxicologist of the Omsk region and of the Siberian Federal District.

According to Sabaev, Navalny's blood levels were "six times higher than the norm for amylase, sugar and serum lactate; twice the normal level of leukocytosis, and the maximum level of acetonuria. In addition, alcohol (0.2 ppm) was found in the urine ...These are the metabolites, the substances which have been produced. These substances in large quantities cause pathological changes." According to Sabaev, "Navalny did not suffer from diabetes, so the tests showed that he had an acute metabolic disorder. 'An increase in the level of lactate and lactic acid, its excessive formation makes acidification of the blood. It should not be in such a quantity. There should be an indicator, let's say of 2; but we had an indicator of 12, that is six times more,' he said. According to the doctor, the level of internal acetone in Navalny's body was at maximum... Normally, acetone should be negative; that is, it should be excreted from the body, the specialist added. 'In this case, the carbohydrate metabolism suffered and completely different scenarios of development occurred. The body began to destroy itself from the inside."

_________

The Germans are being trained to transport US nukes in the newest NATO exercise called "steadfast moon". I wonder what is really going on and if the total lockdown is in expectation to the programmed start to a False-flag.
(Striking Syria because of the upcoming White helmets chlorine FF, or somewhere else?)


[Oct 15, 2020] How rock star Roger Waters was hung out to dry by Amnesty and Bellingcat for his views on Syrian 'chemical attack' -- RT Op-ed

Oct 15, 2020 | www.rt.com

How rock star Roger Waters was hung out to dry by Amnesty and Bellingcat for his views on Syrian 'chemical attack' 14 Oct, 2020 14:38 Get short URL How rock star Roger Waters was hung out to dry by Amnesty and Bellingcat for his views on Syrian 'chemical attack' FILE PHOTO: Roger Waters at the 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the documentary "Roger Waters Us + Them" out of competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy September 6, 2019 © REUTERS / Piroschka van de Wouw 146 Follow RT on RT

Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist. A leaked phone call reveals that outside pressure caused Amnesty to pull its promotion of a webinar featuring Pink Floyd's Roger Waters – a vocal skeptic of the Douma 'chemical attack' that prompted Western powers to bomb Syria.

In August this year, environmental pressure group Amazon Watch broadcast an online panel discussion in support of Steven Donziger, a crusading attorney who dared try to hold US energy giant Chevron to account for widespread environmental destruction in the Amazon, and was left fighting for his life, livelihood and liberty as a result.

In February 2011, Chevron was found liable by an Ecuadorian court for contamination resulting from crude oil production in the region by its subsidiary Texaco between 1964 and 1992, in a legal action that was many years in the making and led by Donziger.

READ MORE 'Where are the headlines?' Roger Waters points to Syria gas attack 'stench' in wake of leaked report 'Where are the headlines?' Roger Waters points to Syria gas attack 'stench' in wake of leaked report

Chevron is yet to pay a penny of the settlement though, for the landmark ruling was overturned in March 2014 by a US Federal Court on highly dubious grounds – in reaching his decision, presiding Judge Lewis A. Kaplan relied heavily on the evidence of a former Ecuadorian justice who subsequently admitted to fabricating his testimony. Donziger has since been charged with contempt of court and sat under house arrest for over a year awaiting trial.

Dozinger himself was present on the Amazon Watch webinar that August evening, and was joined by a number of prominent campaigners, including Simon Taylor, founder of NGO Global Witness, and Roger Waters, co-founder of rock institution Pink Floyd.

The talk was widely promoted in advance by a number of prominent human rights activists, and NGOs, perhaps most prominently Amnesty International.

However, the organization's endorsement triggered a deluge of criticism on social media from a number of notorious advocates for regime change in Syria. This led to a post advertising the webinar published by Amnesty USA's official Twitter account the day before broadcast to mysteriously disappear without explanation.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1290928644370595845&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fop-ed%2F503461-roger-waters-douma-syria%2F&siteScreenName=RT_com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

In response to one critic , Amnesty UK Campaigns Manager Kristyan Benedict said promoting the talk was "not good at all" and confirmed that the offending tweet had "been deleted."

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1291000848798056450&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fop-ed%2F503461-roger-waters-douma-syria%2F&siteScreenName=RT_com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

A leaked recording of a September 25 phone call between Waters and two senior staffers at Amnesty International USA – Matt Vogel , head of artist relations, and Tamara Draut , chief impact officer – sheds fascinating light on the episode.

At the start of the conversation, Waters recalls he was not only informed Amnesty would promote the panel discussion on Twitter in advance, but also personally retweeted the endorsement so it reached his circa 375,000 followers at the organization's express request.

However, an associate informed him just before the webinar began that they couldn't locate the post. When the talk was over, he went about getting to the bottom of the tweet's absence.

READ MORE Susan Sarandon, Pamela Anderson & Roger Waters question silence on OPCW report on Douma 'attack' Susan Sarandon, Pamela Anderson & Roger Waters question silence on OPCW report on Douma 'attack'

After conducting "a bit of sleuthing," he determined that the removal followed pressure being brought to bear by a number of individuals, in particular his "old adversary" Eliot Higgins, founder of controversial website Bellingcat, due to Waters' views on the Syrian Civil Defense, aka White Helmets. Seeking answers, he attempted to reach out to Amnesty, but was repeatedly stonewalled before finally being put in touch with Vogel and Draut.

In response, Draut confirmed that the tweet's removal was indeed prompted by a "difference of opinion" on the White Helmets. "We believe they're really champions for human rights, and have fought for their protection and freedom. When the tweet went up on our end, it wasn't fully vetted as it should've been, and immediately we heard from folks in the White Helmets, asking why we were promoting you, due to comments you've made about them. We also heard from other Syrian human rights activists, who were quite hurt by our support of you " she began, before Waters interrupts, asking what relevance his views on the group has to "the plight of rainforest dwellers in northern Ecuador."

"People interpreted our promotion of an event at which you were speaking as promoting your position on the White Helmets. I got involved in this process too late, I wouldn't have taken down the tweet, that's not the policy I like to follow, I would've much rather dealt with this openly and honestly..." Draut explains.

Waters made headlines the world over in April 2018, when he stopped mid-set during a concert in Barcelona to talk about a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, which had allegedly taken place six days earlier.

Branding the White Helmets a "fake organization" creating "propaganda for jihadists and terrorists," he suggested that Western public opinion was being manipulated in order that "we would be encouraged to encourage our governments to go and start dropping bombs on people." Mere hours later , his prediction came to pass, as France, the UK and US carried out a series of military strikes against multiple government sites in the country.

ALSO ON RT.COM 'How do they sleep?' Roger Waters calls out US, UK & France over 'faked' Douma chemical attack

In May 2019, Waters was again the subject of intense criticism when he claimed on his official Facebook page that a leaked document had vindicated his position. The file in question was an engineering report produced by an Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding team that visited Douma in the days following the contested strike, which concluded there was a "higher probability" that cylinders found at two locations in Douma, alleged by the White Helmets to have been dropped from Syrian Air Force helicopters, were "manually placed rather than being delivered from aircraft."

Photos of the cylinders circulated widely in the Western media and on social networks in the wake of the claimed incident. Such images, along with footage of Douma residents being hosed down in hospitals, children seemingly foaming at the mouth, and piles of dead bodies in a housing complex – all produced and disseminated by the White Helmets – were all damning evidence offered in favor of the idea that the Syrian government had targeted civilians with chemical weapons, a notion which in turn provided Paris, London and Washington with a pretext for military intervention.

The OPCW team's dissenting appraisal was, for reasons unclear, entirely unmentioned in the organization's final report on Douma , published two months prior to Waters' Facebook post.

Despite making few if any public comments about the White Helmets or the ongoing crisis in Syria since, Waters has nonetheless been subject to an unending deluge of online abuse from their Western supporters.

Back on the call, an indignant Waters cites a since-deleted tweet from Eliot Higgins, which stated that Amnesty International "needs to explain why Roger Waters is an appropriate person to talk about human rights." Rather than responding constructively to the question, the organization opted to simply yield to critical pressure.

READ MORE 'Disgusting joke' & mockery of the law: Julian Assange has ZERO chance of fair trial if extradited to US, Roger Waters tells RT 'Disgusting joke' & mockery of the law: Julian Assange has ZERO chance of fair trial if extradited to US, Roger Waters tells RT

Waters said: "Why am I an appropriate person? Because I've been a great advocate for human rights all my life. The White Helmets were clearly involved in something really dodgy. Amnesty has never come out and said, 'It's been brought to our attention the video the White Helmets made in Douma was absolutely fake.'

"Doctors there have said not only were there no deaths that we know about that day, but the people in the hospital were complaining of dust inhalation, not being gassed. Do you still believe that video, do you believe that was real?"

Draut responded: "I appreciate your desire to defend your opinion, I don't think it's productive all I can tell you is you asked why the tweet was taken down, and it was taken down because of the immediate backlash we received, which is in direct opposition to our position on the White Helmets, and is very hurtful the position of Amnesty wasn't that you don't have any right or expertise or commitment to human rights to speak on that panel."

Waters then countered: "Why didn't you explain why I am an appropriate person, and say you weren't going to delete the tweet, because the webinar was important?!

"When I was growing up, you pretended to care about human rights – you've demonstrated to me in this conversation that you don't, particularly by refusing to answer my simple question about the video made by the White Helmets in Douma!" he said.

In response, Vogel hurriedly stepped in, reassuring Waters that Amnesty supports Donziger's "very critical case," and he personally considered the webinar "a very important conversation to have."

ALSO ON RT.COM Roger Waters: Neoliberal propaganda keeping voters 'asleep' like Orwellian sheep

"So this is just a blacklisting of me?! This is you blacklisting me on the basis of evidence given by a scumbag like Eliot Higgins! That's what you're telling me now!" Waters contended.

"You've made a special exception in my case?! To blacklist me, and take a tweet mentioning me down, on the basis of trolls sending in their negative feelings about me – because I don't subscribe to their opinions about regime change in Syria, and the non-existent chemical attack in Douma, Amnesty International will blacklist me and prevent me from acting for the people of Ecuador, in my capacity as a human rights activist. Wow! What a terrible indictment of your organization, if you don't mind me saying!"

Draut then returns to the conversation, apologizing outright for the tweet's removal, and claiming Waters is "in no way" blacklisted by Amnesty, despite the organization "disagreeing" with his position on the White Helmets.

Thanking her, Waters asked whether Amnesty was willing to publicly explain how and why its promotion of the webinar was retracted, an act that was "entirely outside the boundaries that Amnesty International pretends to hold sacred," and apologize to Stephen Donziger and the Ecuadorian people. No commitment to do so was forthcoming from either Amnesty representative on the call, and no explanation or apology for the deletion has been offered by the organization as of October 12.

READ MORE The UK & US alliance brings the UNSC into disrepute by banning Syria chemical weapons briefing from ex-OPCW head The UK & US alliance brings the UNSC into disrepute by banning Syria chemical weapons briefing from ex-OPCW head

While Waters' public comments in April 2018 have clearly made him a target for public vilification and censorship, a great many documents leaked since then strongly suggest his original suspicions were highly adroit – and the OPCW's conclusions that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe a chemical weapons attack had occurred in Douma, and "the toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine," were directly contrary to the overwhelming majority of the evidence which its investigators collected.

A vast number of the organization's previously suppressed internal files are now in the public domain, and while they've been universally ignored by mainstream journalists, they tell a damning story.

For instance, the documents demonstrate that in July 2018, OPCW chiefs secretly removed all staff from the investigation who had actually visited Douma, bar a single paramedic. Responsibility for completing the probe was handed to an entirely separate team, which had instead traveled to Turkey, and exclusively taken witness statements and soil samples hand-picked by the White Helmets, and staff who hadn't participated in either mission.

The conclusions drawn from this evidence differed sharply from evidence collected in Syria, and this incongruity was repeatedly noted in a draft report – references absent entirely from the version presented to the public.

Other key facts from the draft also indicate OPCW investigators quickly ruled out that a chemical attack of any kind had taken place. For one, no samples of any nerve agent – which the White Helmets, Syrian American Medical Society, Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations and British and American governments all claimed had been employed in the attack – were found anywhere on the site, and this had been established by June 2018.

ALSO ON RT.COM OPCW head FALSELY described Syria whistleblower inspectors to discredit them, new documents show

Moreover, at the OPCW's request, four chemical weapons experts conducted a toxicology review of available evidence from the incident. They concluded that the observed symptoms of alleged victims in Douma, as depicted in White Helmets-provided footage from the incident, "were inconsistent with exposure to chlorine" and "no other obvious candidate chemical causing the symptoms could be identified."

Further undermining the OPCW's public conclusions, the organization's tests of samples collected in Douma showed that chlorine compounds were detected overwhelmingly at trace quantities , in the parts-per-billion range – a finding referenced in the aforementioned draft, again absent from the version deemed fit for public consumption.

At a January 2020 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, former OPCW inspection team leader Ian Henderson, an 11-year veteran of the organization who was part of the Douma fact-finding mission's inspection team , testified that the investigation into the alleged incident unambiguously concluded that no chemical attack had taken place, and suggested it was likely staged by the Syrian opposition, in order to trigger Western military intervention.

That the White Helmets are a Western construct disseminating propaganda to facilitate governments dropping bombs on people, as per Roger Waters' phrase, was amply confirmed by the recent release of internal UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) files by hacktivist collective Anonymous.

READ MORE 'False and fabricated': Syria slams OPCW report blaming it for 2017 chemical weapons attacks 'False and fabricated': Syria slams OPCW report blaming it for 2017 chemical weapons attacks

Among other things, the documents expose a vast and extremely well-funded multi-year operation to produce propaganda targeted both at Syrians and Western populations, forging perceptions of a coherent, credible, moderate opposition to the government of Bashar Assad and extremist groups such as Islamic State alike, and to cultivate support for British-facilitated regime change in the country.

Under the auspices of this project, ARK International – a "conflict transformation and stabilization consultancy" founded by Alistair Harris, a veteran FCO diplomat – developed and ran an "internationally-focused communications campaign designed to raise global awareness" of the White Helmets.

"ARK created and continues to run a Twitter feed and Facebook page on behalf of the Syrian Civil Defense teams, posting photos and updates on their activities in English throughout the day. This has received high-profile recognition from international websites and commentators New York-based advocacy group, the Syria Campaign, reached out to the civil defenders through their Twitter feed, and following subsequent discussions with ARK, selected the civil defense to front its campaign to keep Syria in the news [emphasis added]," a leaked internal document states.

Intriguingly, ARK also extensively trained and equipped over 150 "activists" in Syria on "camera handling, lighting, sound, interviewing, filming a story," post-production techniques including "video and sound editing and software, voice-over, scriptwriting," and "graphics and 2D and 3D animation design and software."

Students were even instructed in practical propaganda theory – namely "target audience identification, qualitative and quantitative techniques, media and media narrative analysis and monitoring,""behavioral identification/understanding," "campaign planning," "behavior, behavioral change, and how communications can influence it [emphasis added]," and more.

Content produced by trainees was then fed to ARK's "well-established contacts" at media outlets including Al Jazeera, the BBC, CNN, The Guardian, the New York Times and Reuters, in some cases the firm's students were hired directly as on-the-ground 'stringers' by these organizations, producing reports and conducting interviews.

The files offer no indication that ARK's trainees were further schooled in how to stage chemical weapons attacks for a Western audience. However, the techniques they learned could clearly so easily be used and abused for such a purpose – making the question of whether they did so worthy of intensive further investigation.

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NANCY 12 hours ago I have to ask, why is Amnesty International still considered an organization advocating for human rights and political prisoners? They have shown themselves to be hypocritical phonies in the case of Julian Assange and now, the White Helmets and who knows how many other issues. Kudos to Roger Waters for his courage on calling them out. He is a true humanitarian. Reply 103 2 Show 3 previous replies Blue8ball713 NANCY 5 hours ago Amnesty is tainted and hollowed out to be a tool for the war criminals. Reply 24 1 Show 1 more replies Fred Dozer NANCY 7 hours ago They would not let the leader of the WH into the US , to accept an humanitarian documentary award. Why ? His name is on the Terrorist and No_Fly list. Reply 16 1 13Englander 6 hours ago I'm ashamed to say that this is more evidence that the West is now rotten to the core and will pressure any organisation to cooperate in maintaining the fake veneer of decency. It's a sign that the West is desperate for survival. Reply 17 TheRealElDee 9 hours ago There has been a burning desire by the US and UK to get 'boots on the ground' in Syria and for this to result in regime change. Prior to the CIA pushing for and funding this Civil War, Syria was peaceful, stable and able to export it's oil AND have good relations with both US and UK. BUT, Russia uses Syria as a base for it's navy and therefore this (in addition to all that lovely oil) is the premise they can presen to their own people for pushing the Civil War. At every step the public, and many parliaments, have spoke out to prevent war. At every step the US & UK have come up with further premise for going to full out war. 'Barrel Bombs', Chemical Weapons, indiscriminate fire on civilians and hsopitals etc etc. Likewise at every step this has, so far, been debunked - chemical weapons have been shown by our own investigators to have been placed, the inspectors were subsequently removed from being able to report. Previous to that old stock of chemical weapons had been made safe in conjunction with outside help from Russia, the only country that has any right, legally, to be in Syria militarily. The is another part of the jigsaw that wants to restart the Cold War and to close off dialogue whilst having never ending war in the middle east destabilising countries with oil and other assets. There is no other reason for it and that this should be contemplated is criminal - literally.. Reply 18 2 faireymagic 12 hours ago excellent work by Roger Waters, standing up for truth and human decency Reply 73 Tengmo 11 hours ago Amnesty was compromised long ago, so was Greenpeace, Reply 34 shadow1369 12 hours ago Almost all NGOs, originally set up by altruistic people, have been hijacked by NATO regimes. Amnesty is a stooge supporting crimes against humanity. Reply 49 1 Hazmat Fuhrer shadow1369 6 hours ago It's important for the Kremlin to obfuscate it's almost constant attrocities in Syria and those of the Gassad trtr mrdr disaster Reply 1 18 Show 1 more replies Michael Chan shadow1369 9 hours ago Many news media suffered the same fate., They too have been hijacked by the NATO regimes. The most conspicuous of them are Al Jazeera and Asia Times. Both were excellent news sources until they were bought by Western tycoons and turned into propaganda mouthpieces for the NATO regimes. Reply 25 Show 1 more replies GottaBeMe 5 hours ago No further donations to that group from me! I truly believed they were a force for good. I'm with Roger Waters. He has proven time after time that he cares about people. Bellingcat? Never! Reply 12 Wasey Cerner 8 hours ago << ...the documents demonstrate that in July 2018, OPCW chiefs secretly removed all staff from the investigation who had actually visited Douma, bar a single paramedic. Responsibility for completing the probe was handed to an entirely separate team, which had instead traveled to Turkey, AND exclusively taken witness statements and soil samples hand-picked by the White Helmets,... >> Navalny's team followed the same script from the motel to Mass. Reply 8 Sinalco 11 hours ago [1] He was telling the TRUTH [2] Bellingcat is an Establishment Creation, used to push the establishment narrative. [3] Amnesty just swallowed the lies about the White-Helmets - what shame... Reply 29 Blue8ball713 Sinalco 5 hours ago 3 Amnesty is part of this Reply 5 Truthfrees 11 hours ago All those clowns pushing for regime change have no problem with millions killed and multiple nations destroyed for the regime change whim of the day. Cowards that sit in their air conditioned living room pushing for evil destruction on nations and people they know nothing about. Reply 24 frostyboy Truthfrees 3 hours ago Madeleine Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová) "Yes, we think it was worth it" regarding civilian lives sacrificed during the US invasions of Iraq. Why is it that these people care nothing for innocence, and only crave blood ? Is this tribal ? DavidChu 11 hours ago Let's face it: Amnesty and Human Rights Watch are just too naked tools of Yankee Imperialism and Hegemony! Reply 24 decided 12 hours ago the logic of it, assad used chemical bomb , so to help the people we will bomb their country use all types of bombs and many of them as help, and im to think these politicians are not insane yea ok. Reply 9 Rustofur decided 9 hours ago It's much more humanitarian to blow children to bits than gas them. Reply 4 1 Show 1 more replies Truthfrees decided 11 hours ago Syria is a construction delay for Israel's land expansion projects. They already secured thousands of bulldozers and construction contracts and are losing money every day Syria is not falling. Poor chicken little Israeli leaders and pork project partners. Reply 11 Show 1 more replies UBV76 12 hours ago "Bellingcrap" Funded via HMG to hide-bury the truth and pedal untruths misleading "The Daily Sheep". Higgins just a "Lady's Pantyhose" seller with no experience except for telling lies..! Reply 22 frankfalseflag 9 hours ago L O L . Human Rights Watch, just another outfit, like Greenpeace, with admirable words in its name, whose agenda has been co opted by the US CIA. Another Goody two-shoes organization whose major work is to get on and off the CIA propaganda train when they are told to. You remember in 2013 when Greenpeace boarded the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Arctic? Greenpeace was so concerned about the environmental impact on the Arctic Ocean. That was 2013, before the West - and by the West, I mean Washington DC - realized that they had a vital interest in the Arctic and they would be steaming through there looking to drop anchor and start drilling for oil. Same with Human Rights Watch, who cares very little for the human lives lost in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. Lives that were lost by the murderous invasions of the Lord Defenders of Capitalism. Reply 5 Sancho Panza 10 hours ago White helmets, Brown noses and Black hearts. Reply 9 Carl Cuckproof 10 hours ago he has been a thorn in their side for a long time. the impact of goys like him can never be measured. not just another brick in the wall Reply 8 Tinkerbell_Pan 10 hours ago Thank you and good night, NO MORE MONEY for Amnesty. Reply 7 apothqowejh 7 hours ago Amnesty International is just another sell-out ngo. Reply 5 Midnight10 4 hours ago Sorry Roger, but Amnesty International has become just another tool in the US Administration's propaganda program. Although you were tight about the White Helmets as villagers from the area told the UN regarding the chemical attack, it wasn't in the script Amnesty gets from the US. Just lackeys willing to give up their integrity and the organization's reputation to get their "Atta boys" from Trump. Reply 3 White Elk 12 hours ago Their modern way to execution. Time changes, hypocrisy and envy remain the same. Possessed people at the helm, blind guiding the blind, sure shame and disaster. Reply 4 neeon9 4 hours ago This is, as always, American lies. They think the world is stupid, and blind to the endless garbage spewed forth from Washington! We all know they use torture , we all know they are guilty of war crimes, and are trying to kill Assange by slow emotional torment, for outing them for the callous killers they truly are, and that has only served only to make him a martyr. We all know it was Bush and his cronies, who bombed the twin towers to cover the theft of and 7 trillion off the US tax payers, and make their M.I.C. cohorts, many fortunes off the dead children their endless, lie based wars have killed, after fabricating an enemy, that did not exist, until they murdered their families. We all know that no claim, or attempt to over throw another foreign government, is backed up by nothing more than empirical greed, and the constant nagging fear the US has, that it is slipping into decay, and will loose it's evil grip on the world economy, and it's Ziocorp masters will will stop funding the lunacy that is US domestic politics, and the 'cult of cash' that has poluted the planet. Thank gods there are Ppl like Waters who are still brave enough to call them out for the festering boil they are, on the backside of humanity. As it stands, they are getting what they deserve . The American dream has become the worlds nightmare, and I for one, am happy to see the mourning. Reply 4 Kiro919 5 hours ago Amnesty are worse than compromised these days. Reply 3 dunkie56 8 hours ago They lied now they have to discredit those who would uncover those lies so now they lie to do this and need to lie again to cover up those lies as well and lie again to cover the latest batch of lies.........trick is can they remember the lie that got them here in the first place lying..hmmmm! Reply 4 TrishArch 5 hours ago Amnesty International is Dodgy. Reply 3 fuser 8 hours ago Amnesty and Human Rights, but some humans are more humans than the others. Reply 2 Stranded 1 hour ago Roger is forever my hero for defending Assange Reply 1 frostyboy 3 hours ago Eliot Higgins came from obscurity, and rose into Atlantic Counsel pimphood as a tool to contaminate evidence over MH17. He has only become more discredited since. Higgins is the very last level of State actor puppet - a credulous simp who takes the Kings Shilling and bends over. Reply 1 ahmed nazmy habel 4 hours ago . When the talk was over, he went about getting to the bottom of the tweet's absence Reply 1 1demeneye 7 hours ago From a psychological perspective, you have to wonder what motivates people such as Elliot Higgins. Just money? More money? Is there no point at which people like Higgins have enough money and make a decision to come clean? Has he had his life threatened if he doesn't co-operate? Has he been caught doing something that they are holding over him? Have they threatened to just make stuff up and destroy his life if he tells the truth? Is he just evil? Is he fueled by hate for someone or something? Reply 1 frostyboy 1demeneye 2 hours ago Higgins, as you already appreciate, is a shop window dummy. His 'startup' went from zero to hero under the auspices of the Atlantic Council. Bellingcat is 'trendy' and Hipster-friendly, very much cosmeticized to appeal to anew young adult generation of political naifs. The latte set. The smashed avocado grazers. Higgins is a nobody who parlayed a weak mind into the figurehead of a classic Western propaganda sewerpipe. The damage he did to the honest investigations over MH17 will not be forgotten. Reply 1 Jimbo_jones 3 hours ago Amnesty International is a joke organization controlled by Washington. Always has and always will be, Reply 1 Opus111 5 hours ago Amnesty International is a Fake News bureaucracy controlled by liberal fanatical ruling classes. Reply 2 David9220 4 hours ago follow Money Know Truth Reply 1 Head like a rock 5 hours ago not a huge fan of the music, but Roger makes Bono look like trump Reply MiloDiddlbomb 7 hours ago It still comes down to Waters getting bit by his own dog. You don't follow their rules and say the proper Woke words - seeeeeeeya. They eat their own Reply Richland Yabitches" 13 hours ago Water's being and a Man of his age should've realized by now that his Musical Talent 'Alone' didn't get him to where's he at and in fact he Participated in the Mind Altering of Social Engineering of Zombies, LSD and Dead-Beat Societies which is Awesome for those Lib-miserables, drug/alcohol rehab, mental homes and the likes however, Criticize their Destabilizing Missions and you're fuct" Reply 12 KrautMan Richland Yabitches" 10 hours ago Pretty obvious who the LSD zombie is on this thread, bubba. Reply 5 Show 1 more replies natrep 2 hours ago Just proves that NGO's like amnesty international are fake...

[Oct 11, 2020] Western Allies Block Ex-OPCW Chief's Explosive Testimony On Syria Chemical Weapons -

Oct 11, 2020 | www.zerohedge.com

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

This past Monday at the UN Security Council, the US, the UK, France, and allies blocked testimony from a former director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Jose Bustani is a Brazilian diplomat and was the first director-general of the OPCW, which was formed in 1997.

Bustani was pushed out of the organization in 2002 by the Bush administration for his efforts to negotiate with Saddam Hussein. The Brazilian was prepared to deliver testimony to the UN Security Council on Monday over the OPCW's investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria , in April 2018.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1313197827712049158&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fwestern-allies-block-ex-opcw-chiefs-explosive-testimony-syria-chemical-weapons&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

The US, UK, and France responded to the alleged Douma attack with airstrikes on Syrian government targets. After the strike, OPCW inspectors arrived in Douma to investigate.

Since the OPCW released its final report on the alleged Douma attack in March 2019, a trove of leaked documents have surfaced . The leaks, along with whistleblower testimony, suggest the OPCW suppressed evidence and ignored the findings of senior inspectors to fit the narrative that the Syrian government carried out a chemical attack in Douma.

In October 2019, Bustani attended a panel hosted by the Courage Foundation that heard testimony from an OPCW whistleblower who presented evidence that the Douma investigation was corrupted. After hearing the evidence, the panel released a statement urging the OPCW to revisit its investigation into the Douma incident.

The Grayzone published Bustani's prepared statement that he was blocked from delivering at the UN Security Council. In his statement, Bustani urges Fernando Arias, the current OPCW director-general, to hear out the inspectors who were on the ground in Douma and had their findings suppressed:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZgIDlgD_txM

https://lockerdome.com/lad/13084989113709670?pubid=ld-dfp-ad-13084989113709670-0&pubo=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com&rid=www.zerohedge.com&width=890

"I would like to make a personal plea to you, Mr Fernando Arias, as Director General of the OPCW. The inspectors are among the Organization's most valuable assets. As scientists and engineers, their specialist knowledge and inputs are essential for good decision making."

"Most importantly, their views are untainted by politics or national interests. They only rely on the science. The inspectors in the Douma investigation have a simple request – that they be given the opportunity to meet with you to express their concerns to you in person, in a manner that is both transparent and accountable."

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Read the full transcript of Bustani's testimony here .

[Oct 11, 2020] A new twist in Marina Pevchih story about the bottle

Oct 11, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MOSCOWEXILE October 9, 2020 at 12:42 pm

By the way, further to the Pevchikh saga, another twist to the tale has turned up in the Russian media concerning those allegedly "Novichok" contaminated bottles that she dutifully retrieved from Navalny's hotel room in Tomsk as soon she heard that his Moscow bound flight was making an unplanned landing at Omsk.

She couldn't fly directly to Omsk from Tomsk, so she claims she drove from Tomsk to Novosibirsk, whence she flew to Omsk, where she boarded the aircraft kindly provided by the Germans and which took Navalny and her and the bottles to Berlin.

Small problem: the investigations that have been taking place concerning her claims reveal that she had no bottles with her, either on her person or in her baggage, at the Novosibirsk and at Omsk airports when she went through security there. And there is video evidence of her baggage being opened and searched there. No bottles. But she handed over these bottles, she says, to the German authorities, which bottles were then sent to the Bundeswehr labs in Munich, allegedly.

And get this: Navalny and Pevchikh claim there was a bomb scare at Omsk airport that was intended to prevent the aircraft on board which the US agent was howling and screaming. though he wasn't in pain, he says,

This planting of a bomb at Omsk airport, according to the bullshitter, was done so that he would not be hospitalized in Omsk and would therefore die on board the aircraft.

It now turns out, according to the cops, that there had been a call claiming that a bomb had been planted at Omsk airport. And the call originated in Berlin. Nothing in the Western media about this, of course, though plenty in the Russian media.

I'd provide links but I can't be arsed because I'm writing this in bed on my iPhone.

MARK CHAPMAN October 9, 2020 at 3:44 pm

Well. Those certainly are interesting developments. Not that it would make any difference in the mainstream media, where the narrative die is already cast – just more of Russia's 'pathetic evasions' as it tries to twist out from under the weight of accumulated evidence against it.

MOSCOW EXILE October 9, 2020 at 11:46 pm

Here you go -- some linked Russian language articles concerning the Pevchikh bottle tale, still almost unreported in the free world press:

№1
VESTI.RU

08 октября 2020 16:21
Транспортная полиция: "бутылок Навального" в багаже не было, аэропорт "заминировали" из Германии

08 October 2020 16:21
Transport police: "Navalny's bottles" were not in the luggage, the airport was "mined" from Germany

[the Russian term for placing a bomb somewhere. e.g. as a terrorist act, is "to mine" a place -- ME]

The office of the Siberian Transport Prosecutor has questions for an employee of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Maria Pevchikh to answer as regards the case of the hospitalization of Aleksei Navalny. However, she evaded giving evidence and flew from Omsk to Germany. Despite a summons and communication with her lawyer, Pevchikh has not appeared at the preliminary investigation.

Maria Pevchikh has not replied to the investigator's questions about how the items allegedly taken from Navalny's room in a Tomsk hotel were removed. The transport police have reconstructed the Pevchikh route and got together all their videos concerning this, Interfax reports. And then the surprises begin, which do not fit in with the version that Maria Pevchikh took from Tomsk to Berlin a bottle, on which traces of a neuroparalytic poisonous substance from the Novichok group were later allegedly found .

Firstly, after Navalny's hospitalization, Maria Pevchikh travelled from Tomsk to Novosibirsk by car together with Georgy Alburov [Alburov is the one who, allegedly, was an FBK front man, posing as head of the investigatory section of Navalny's "fund", but Pevchik, it seems, was really the investigation boss, very likely directing investigations into corruption in "Putin's Mafia State" under the guidance of MI6, though nobody had ever heard of her at FBK until questions started being asked about her role after she had flown to Germany from Omsk with the Bullshitter -- ME] , and then flew to Omsk.

Secondly, at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport , during pre-flight checks, there were no containers and bottles of more than 100 milliliters in Maria Pevchikh's suitcase and rucksack. She did buy, however, a half-litre bottle of "Svyatoy Istochnik" ["Holy Spring" NOT "Saint Spring"! -- ME] water in the sterile zone [namely after having passed through baggage and security checks and before boarding her flight -- ME], with which she flew to Omsk.

Earlier, Anton Timofeev had said that after Navalny had been hospitalized, the people accompanying him seized three bottles of water from his room, which were given to Georgy Alburov. Alburov then flew from Novosibirsk to Omsk together with the Pevchikh. But there were no bottles in his luggage either. The moment of the acquisition of a bottle of "Holy Spring" water by Pevchikh, as well as images from the X-ray scanner installation at the airport, prove this.

In addition, Sergey Potapov, deputy head of the transport investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Siberian Federal District, announced that on the day of Navalny's hospitalization, an anonymous message had been received about the mining of Omsk airport. It was sent via a free e-mail service whose servers are located in Germany. On this issue, Russia then addressed Germany in order to establish the identity of the person who sent the message. The police believe that the message about the pseudo-mining [i.e. a bomb scare -- ME] of the airport came in order to prevent the aircraft with Navalny on board from urgently landing at Omsk. Aleksei Navalny himself thanked the pilots who landed the aircraft at Omsk, although the airport had been "mined". And here is another inconsistency: information about the "mining" of the Omsk airport was closed and was not disclosed to anyone.

[Shooting his big gob off again, see! -- ME]

The police have also to check how Aleksei Navalny, who was in a coma at the Berlin Charité clinic, got hold of this information about the "mining" of Omsk airport, at a time when he had already lost consciousness whilst on board an aircraft on August 20 and was subsequently unconscious until September 7.

180 visitors and 58 employees were evacuated from the [Omsk] airport building, excluding flight safety services. In the e-mail that arrived at an e-mail address in the district of the Omsk Leninsky District Court, there was information about the mining of the buildings of the district court, the railway station, banks, the post office and the airport. After that, a criminal case was initiated under Part 2 of Article 207 of the Criminal Code of Russia ("Knowingly falsely reporting of an act of terrorism").

The German government has said that Aleksei Navalny was poisoned with a chemical warfare agent from the Novichok group. Allegedly, in addition to the Bundeswehr laboratory, traces of Novichok were found in his analyses by military chemists in Sweden and France. Berlin sent the data of these tests to the OPCW, but ignored all Russian requests for cooperation in investigating the incident with the blogger [i.e. Navalny -- M E] . And on September 22, Aleksei Navalny was discharged from the hospital after his so-called "poisoning" with a "military grade poison". Navalny has estimated that his treatment at the Berlin hospital will cost 70 thousand euros. [Rattling his collection box already! -- ME]. He is still in Berlin as a special guest of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Moscow, meanwhile, has invited OPCW experts to familiarize themselves with the samples that were taken from Aleksei Navalny before leaving for Germany. It is curious that the doctors of the Berlin clinic also did not find traces of toxic substances in the analyses of their patient.

[A point often omitted in the free Western press: it was the Bundeswehr that stated that the Bullshitter had been poisoned by a Novichok type agent, as did the Swedish and French military -- ME.]

The above article is biased, of course, because it refers to the gobshite Navalny as a "blogger" and not as a "politician" or "leader of the opposition" etc.

But here's a source that can in no way be described as being biased against "Putin's fiercest critic": "Radio Freedom" no less!

№2
08 октября 2020
МВД: в багаже соратницы Навального Марии Певчих не было бутылки с водой

08 October 2020
Interior Ministry: there was no water bottle in the luggage of Navalny's colleague Maria Pevchikh

The Department of Transport of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Siberian Federal District, which is conducting a pre-investigation check into the circumstances of the hospitalization of the head of the Anti-Corruption Fund, Aleksei Navalny, in the Omsk hospital on August 20, published on Thursday a report on the work that has been done. According to the department, an e-mail with a message about the mining of Omsk airport, from which Navalny was taken to the hospital, was sent from a free postal service, whose server is located in Germany.

The department claims that it had addressed the law enforcement agencies of Germany with a request to provide legal assistance and to determine the owner of the email address, but had not received an answer. "We do not understand and do not accept the inaction of our foreign colleagues", the Interior Ministry said in a report.

Earlier, Navalny's associates suggested that the false mining of the Omsk airport had been carried out in order to delay the hospitalization of the oppositionist, who was on the verge of life and death -- the aircraft with Navalny on board made an emergency landing in Omsk after a sudden sharp deterioration in his condition. It is known that on August 20, in connection with an anonymous report about the bomb, the police evacuated all visitors and employees from the airport building. RBC, in turn, notes that on the morning of August 20, false reports of mining were received not only in Omsk, but also in the cities of the the Novosibirsk region, the Perm and Krasnoyarsk territories, as well as the Volga region: one of the bombs, in particular, was allegedly planted on the territory of the Samara International airport "Kurumoch".

In addition to information related to false mining, the report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that in the luggage of Navalny's colleagues Maria Pevchikh (in the original version of the message she was named Marina) and Georgy Alburov, who, after reports of the hospitalization of the head of the FBK, examined his hotel room in Tomsk and confiscated from there several objects, and then flew to Omsk themselves, no liquids with a volume of more than 100 milliliters hd been found.

As is now known, Pevchikh subsequently transported a bottle of water to Berlin, from which Navalny had drunk in a Tomsk hotel, and on which traces of a chemical warfare agent had allegedly been later found. In a report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs about Pevchikh, it is said that "for the investigation, communication with this citizen is of great interest", but she has not been responding to our summons.

Earlier, Navalny's companions, talking about the things they collected from Navalny's room, said that they were taken to Omsk to be sent to Germany in different ways (according to Maria Pevchikh, "they were strategically packaged in different places"), that is, by no means necessary, that it was Pevchikh who carried the bottle from Tomsk to Omsk.

And now, the same story from "The Insider", which most definitely is biased against the "Putin regime" and those dastardly Orcs, albeit written by an Orc, it seems:

№3
Фейк МВД РФ: Мария Певчих вывезла из России не ту бутылку, из которой пил Навальный
8 октября 2020

Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation fake: Maria Pevchikh did not take out of Russia a bottle from which Navalny had drunk
8 October 2020

[Right in your face it shouts FAKE! -- ME]

Russian media outlets are retelling a statement made by the Transport Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Siberian Federal District under the heading "Investigation in connection with Navalny's hospitalization continues", which says:

According to information published in the media, there has been carried out on the territory of Germany a toxicological study of a bottle of water that had been handed over for investigation by Maria Pevchikh and on which the presence of a nerve agent has been allegedly found.

Also in the media there was information about the transportation of these items by car and aeroplane from Tomsk to Germany. At the same time, the investigating authorities have objectively established that Maria Pevchikh together with Georgy Alburov, after Navalny's hospitalization, proceeded from the city of Tomsk to the city of Novosibirsk by road, and then by air to the city of Omsk. During the pre-flight inspection of Maria Pevchikh at Tolmachevo airport (Novosibirsk), there were no containers with a volume of more than 100 ml in her suitcase and rucksack, and no bottle of water. After having passed through pre-flight checks, whilst in the airport transit zone Maria Pevchikh then bought from a vending machine a 500 ml bottle of "Holy Spring" water, with which she flew to the city of Omsk.

According to a video posted on the Internet, after Navalny had been hospitalized, persons who had accompanied him seized from the hotel room where he had bben staying three bottles of water. In accordance with the explanation of one of the indicated persons – Anton Timofeev – he handed the seized items to Georgy Alburov, who flew with Maria Pevchikh from Tolmachevo airport (Novosibirsk) to the city of Omsk. During the inspection of Alburov's belongings at the airport, bottles with a volume of more than 100 ml were also not found.

This is confirmed by photographs from the airport security cameras, which captured the moment Maria Pevchikh bought a bottle of water, as well as from the X-ray scanner installation at the airport, where Pevchikh and Alburov went through baggage inspection.

It is worth noting the wording about "containers with a volume of more than 100 ml". There are rules restricting the carriage of liquids on aeroplanes: they can only be transported in hand luggage in containers of no more than 100 ml. Therefore, hand luggage is inspected for the presence of prohibited containers, but not luggage in which liquids can be carried freely. The bottles taken from Navalny's room in the Tomsk hotel were most likely carried by Maria Pevchikh in her luggage, which could have been taken away during the inspection of her hand luggage.

Baggage at an airport is screened using an X-ray scanner. Of course, people don't pay attention to water bottles. There is a technical ability to save images from the scanner, but there is no information about its use in practice: the luggage is scanned and examined in real time, and when suspicious objects are found, they are immediately opened. It makes no sense to store a huge amount of X-ray images of every piece of baggage passing through an airport.

The CCTV footage of Maria Pevchikh buying a bottle of water from a vending machine proves practically nothing.


Thirsty MI6 operative Pevchikh at Omsk airport -- ME

Firstly, it is not clear what kind of drink she is buying. It is unlikely that a Coca Cola vending machine exclusively sells "Holy Spring". If the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not provided footage allowing it to be established exactly what Pevchikh bought, then most likely it does not have such information at all and the statement about the 500 ml bottle of "Holy Spring" is not based on anything -- except for the fact that it is on such a bottle that traces of "Novichok" were found. Even the statement that Pevchikh brought a bottle she bought at the Novosibirsk airport to Omsk cannot be called reliable: it is likely that she, after having drunk the water, left the bottle on the aeroplane.

Secondly, FBK employees took away not one, but three bottles from Tomsk, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs also admits. If the Ministry of Internal Affairs had footage proving that Pevchikh and Alburov had purchased three bottles, it would hardly conceal them.

The certainty with which the Ministry of Internal Affairs makes statements that cannot be substantiated raises doubts about its message as a whole.

Sort of like the certainty with which Navalny makes statements that cannot be substantiated as regards Putin trying to murder him with "Novichok" or the statements made by the German authorities about his having also been poisoned by "Novichok" without their providing any substantiation?

Should these statements also raise doubts in an enquiring mind, I wonder.

[Oct 11, 2020] John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) Tweeted: Imagine prospects for world peace, prosperity, security if Joe Biden were President of the United States Alexei Navalny the President of Russia. We'll soon be halfway there.

The real question is: What John Brennan is smoking or drinking ?
Oct 11, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

JAMES LAKE October 9, 2020 at 8:48 am

I thought 2020 can't get any crazier – – but this tweet from CIA John Brennan . is right up there

https://twitter.com/JohnBrennan/status/1314587438568833025?s=20 John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) Tweeted: Imagine prospects for world peace, prosperity, & security if Joe Biden were President of the United States & Alexei Navalny the President of Russia. We'll soon be halfway there.

"Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You, you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one"

/// they really create their own reality

PATIENT OBSERVER October 9, 2020 at 9:19 am

Hmmm So Navalny is indeed a CIA asset as those lying Russians claimed.

And this impartial government official, source of unbiased intelligence, is endorsing Biden? If the above tweet is authentic, this country has reached maximum discord, betrayal and treason.

MARK CHAPMAN October 9, 2020 at 12:20 pm

Holy Jeebus. Some serious paint-chip-eating going on there.

JEN October 10, 2020 at 4:28 am

John Brennan not only eating paint chips full of lead but breathing in blue asbestos dust as well.

[Oct 11, 2020] Ministry of Internal Affairs: Maria Pevchikh, who flew to Germany with Navalny, did not have a bottle of water

Oct 11, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MOSCOW EXILE October 10, 2020 at 1:50 am

More Russia media links to the above story:

МВД: у вылетевшей в Германию вместе с Навальным Марии Певчих не было бутылки с водой
08 октября 2020 -- 20:53

Ministry of Internal Affairs: Maria Pevchikh, who flew to Germany with Navalny, did not have a bottle of water
October 08, 2020 – 20:53


London resident Pevchikh

МВД: Певчих сама купила "бутылку из номера Навального" уже в аэропорту

Ministry of Internal Affairs: the "bottle from Navalny's room" was bought by Pevchikh at the airport

The Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Transport in the Siberian Federal District has stated that Aleksey Navalny's associate Maria Pevchikh had not taken away bottles of water from his hotel room in Tomsk. These bottles, as reported earlier, the German authorities had handed over for investigation, which had found traces of poison.

The police said in a statement that Pevchikh had no bottles in her luggage during the security check at Tolmachevo airport. After having gone through the security check, she bought "a 0.5 litre bottle of water from a vending machine whilst in transit at the airport" and with which bottle she flew to the city of Omsk".

And here is the very bottle (only its top is visible) that Maria Pevchikh was secretly carrying.

The "deadly poison" was lying amongst cosmetics, laptops and underwear (it does not seem that the bottle was considered to be "deadly dangerous").. According to the data that we have available, there were no other bottles, neither with Pevchikh's nor Navalny's things. This is an X-ray of the only suitcase in which a bottle can be seen.

Earlier, the German government had stated that, amongst other things, traces of "Novichok" had been found on a bottle of water out of which Navalny had drunk.

15:17, 8 октября 2020
У соратницы Навального не нашли предполагаемую бутылку с "Новичком" при досмотре

15:17, 8 October 2020
During a search of Navalny's colleague, the alleged bottle with "Novichok" was not found

During a search at Novosibirsk airport, Alexei Navalny's comrade-in-arms Maria Pevchikh was not found to have a bottle, which, allegedly, had traces of poison from the Novichok group. This has been stated by Sergei Potapov, deputy head of the Investigation Department of the Transport Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Siberian Federal District, TASS reports.

8 октября 2020 15:45
У Марии Певчих не нашли предполагаемую бутылку с "Новичком" при досмотре в аэропорту
Бутылка, с которой она прилетела в Омск, была куплена уже в стерильной зоне

8 October 2020 15:45
The alleged bottle with "Novichok" was not found on Maria Pevchikh during a security check
The bottle with which she flew to Omsk had been bought in the transit zone


Oh shit!

I suppose this story is now being reported in the USA, UK, French, German, Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian press etc., etc.

No?

MOSCOWEXILE October 10, 2020 at 4:07 am

By the way, if you "Google" the following: "Pevchikh -- bottles -- airport" or similar, at the top of the list of links presented is one to "The Insider" article that screams out FAKE.

Only by scrolling down the list do you find Russian media articles on the Ministry of the Interior (Siberia) statement concerning Pevchikh and the bottles and the uncanny way the Bullshitter knew about the "mining" of Omsk airport even though the email from Germany warning that bombs had been planted there was closed information and when it was sent, the "Oppositionsführer" was in a state of a medically induced coma.

[Oct 05, 2020] Russia is now having fun

Oct 05, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

vk , Oct 5 2020 13:33 utc | 116

Russia is now having fun:

Lavrov: Doctors at Berlin Clinic Where Navalny Was Treated Found No Signs of Military-Grade Poisons

The question is: when will they get bored with their newest toy.

[Oct 01, 2020] 'Politicizing the issue'- Russian Foreign Ministry accuses Merkel of using Navalny's alleged poisoning for political gain -- RT Russia Former Soviet Union

Oct 01, 2020 | www.rt.com

By Jonny Tickle Angela Merkel's visit to Alexey Navalny was an attempt to politicize the situation, according to Russia's Foreign Ministry. The German Chancellor dropped in to see the Russian opposition figure when he was hospitalized in Berlin.

Speaking to Komsomolskaya Pravda Radio, the Ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the chancellor's visit had "nothing to do with the desire to find the truth" about what happened to an opposition figure who was allegedly poisoned, and was simply a political decision.

"Many people ask why," Zakharova said, when questioned about Merkel's motives. "I think these questions should be addressed to the German side we regard it as an attempt to politicize the issue."

ALSO ON RT.COM Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny confirms Angela Merkel visited him in Berlin hospital, expresses gratitude to Chancellor

The current communication between Moscow and Berlin is an "endless game of tag," with Germany refusing to use official channels, Zakharova claimed.

On Monday, Navalny confirmed that the chancellor had met with him in Berlin's Charite hospital. The opposition figure denied that the meeting was "secret," calling it a "private conversation with (his) family." The visit was also confirmed by German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert, who clarified that Berlin does not announce Merkel's private meetings. According to German magazine Der Spiegel, which first broke the news of the encounter, it "should be regarded as a clue for the Russian government that Berlin will not give in and will find out the truth [behind the incident]."

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1310485557781442565&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Frussia%2F502156-russia-blames-merkel-navalny-poisoning%2F&siteScreenName=RT_com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=219d021%3A1598982042171&width=550px

On August 20, Navalny was hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk after he became ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Two days later, after a request from his family and associates, the activist was flown to Berlin for treatment at the city's Charite clinic. Over a week later, German authorities announced that the anti-corruption activist was poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of nerve agents. The medical team in Omsk denies that any poison was found in Navalny's body. On September 23, he was discharged from hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

If you like this story, share it with a friend! Embla Bill Johnson 7 hours ago What is certain is that EUC Ursula Von der Legen was activated. At least they are two about it. So therefore the geopolitical region is covering EU member countries, not only Germany. Tor Gjesdal 5 hours ago When the Banksters, Rothschild s are your Masters you just have to obey Merkel. Besides US$ HAS much dirt on You also by their Spying on us All... Cyber criminals Supreme. Which simply put: No Real Democracy at all, Faked this also. ((( Not to mention their lies, cheating and stealing in their Medias and schools. etc.. What complete Hypocrits and how Truely Un-Godly! It is so sad to see these Leaders of the Nazto-sphere showing how sold out their Souls and Minds are. (( Galaxy31 5 hours ago The West is so desperate to make crooked Navalny look like an important fierce opposition. In reality he is far far from being important or a fierce opposition. He is simply a traitor politely said, nothing else. ariadnatheo 3 hours ago What do they and what does Angela herself mean by "a private visit"? She is the head of the German state for Zweibelkuchen sake! Private as in ... intimate? I cannot see her as a cougar. In fact I can't even imagine her in bed. No way! Please say it ain't so, Angela! armyexpat 1 hour ago I wonder what "they" have on Merkel or her gov. The German gov is spinning a fairy tail as fact.

[Sep 29, 2020] Perhaps the Skripals 'disappeared' because the British government was unsure how to present them after a supposedly-deadly poisoning attempt which they plainly are said to have survived.

Sep 29, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MARK CHAPMAN September 28, 2020 at 4:48 am

Yes, those are all good and sound arguments. The point I was trying to make, though, is that American toxicologists and field experts are astounded that anyone might survive exposure to VX; it is unaccountable not only that they could be alive, but that there is not a trail of death following the assassins as well until it kills them, too. But nobody seems surprised for Navalny to make a complete recovery and be sitting up in bed making demands and strolling around the stairwells, after exposure to a much more toxic agent that should have killed him, while nobody noticed anyone sneaking into his room dressed in a full hazmat suit with breathing apparatus and apparently others could come and go from the scene of the alleged exposure with no protection.

Perhaps the Skripals 'disappeared' because the British government was unsure how to present them after a supposedly-deadly poisoning attempt which they plainly are said to have survived. Perhaps also it is the judgment of similar authorities that the public will accept the dichotomy without demur; hence, the agent can still be nefarious beyond belief because it is so insidious and deadly, but Navalny can be alive and making noise after exposure to it.

MARK CHAPMAN September 27, 2020 at 6:26 pm

I'd like to look at the Navalny 'poisoning" from a slightly different angle, one which I think bears scrutiny. I've said several times that nobody – to the best of my knowledge – has ever survived poisoning by VX. But that's not quite accurate – the two women who thrust what was always believed to be VX in some form into the face of Kim Jong Nam (Kim Jong-Un's half-brother) at an airport in Kuala Lumpur killed him stone dead. But they themselves apparently survived with no ill effects except that one of them allegedly may have vomited.

The major difference in the way the stories are treated, then, is the incredulity with which the apparent survival of the alleged poisoners is regarded by the western press. Consider;

An amount of VX, we are told, that weighs as much as two pennies would kill 500 people. I assume that's what he meant, as he is strikingly un-eloquent for a scientist and the 'penny' is not a weight of measure. Is that a British penny, or an American one? Big difference in weight.

''The other chemical agents like sarin, tabun, those kinds of things, they're way below this. They're toxic, yes, but this is the king,'' said John Trestrail, a U.S. forensic toxicologist who has examined more than 1,000 poisoning crimes.

He said an amount of VX weighing two pennies could kill 500 people through skin exposure. It's also hard to acquire and would likely have come from a chemical weapons laboratory, making it more likely that the attack was executed by a government."

Yes, you read that right – VX is the King of vicious toxicological agents. Except for Novichok, which is ten times as deadly, and the would-be killers dusted Navalny's bottle with enough of it that the bottle was liberally covered with the dust, and his clothes apparently were as well, or so Team Navalny suspects. Say – that's a handy little timeline right there, innit? When did Navalny put those clothes on? Presumably he had a shower before going to bed; did he dress in fresh clothes before leaving for the airport, or wear the same stuff from the day before? Either way, the poisoner must have accessed Navalny's room between the time he got up and the time the plane took off – if he still had Novichok on his clothes from the day before, he'd be dead, plus would have contaminated God knows how many surfaces.

Anyway, remember – Novichok is ten times as deadly as the King of nerve agents, VX. But it has killed – according to western yarns – only one of six people exposed to it; Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Detective Nick Bailey, Navalny and Charles Rowley all survived and have apparently achieved full recovery, Navalny in only a week after emerging from an alleged coma.

Western incredulity? None. Nothing to see here, old chap.

Listen to the awful consequences of poisoning with VX, and remember the assassins only pushed some quantity of VX into Kim Jong-Nam's face; a second's contact, them they ran away, not wearing gloves or any protective gear at all.

"VX is an amber-colored, tasteless, odorless chemical weapon first produced in the 1950s. When inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it disrupts the nervous system and causes constriction and increased secretions in the throat, leading to difficulty breathing. Fluids pour from the body, including sweat, spontaneous urination and defecation, often followed by convulsions, paralysis and death. Kim Jong Nam sought help at the airport clinic and died en route to a hospital within two hours of being attacked, police said."

I don't think anyone has reported what Navalny was roaring and screaming, but perhaps it was"Get back!!! I'm shitting myself!! Jesus, I can't stop pissing!!! Help me!!" although you would think if his symptoms included spontaneous defecation and urination, someone would have said – it could be important. Different agent, I know, but the symptoms of nerve-agent poisoning are quite similar across the type. Navalny's symptoms were nothing like nerve-agent poisoning, no matter how energetically the defector Mirzayanov and his fan club try to backstop Navalny's story. The intense sweating and the obvious gross irritation of the mucous membranes would have been unmistakable to the doctors in Omsk, considering Navalny had already passed the onset of whatever symptoms he did have and was unconscious.

Kim Jong-Nam died within two hours of being attacked with a nerve agent ten times less toxic than Novichok. Navalny was definitely poisoned with a substance ten times more toxic than VX, according to the Germans and the French and whoever else swears to that ludicrous story, but was to all appearances normal at least an hour after having been poisoned, since he showed no symptoms until at least 40 minutes after the plane took off with no obvious GRU agents on board, and hung around the airport before the flight was called at least long enough to drink a cup of tea, plus however long it took for him to get from the hotel to the airport.

"The two women -- one Vietnamese, one Indonesian -- recorded on surveillance cameras thrusting a substance into Kim Jong Nam's face as he was about to check in for a flight home to Macau, apparently did not suffer serious health problems. Malaysian police have said they were not wearing gloves or protective gear and that they washed their hands afterward as they were trained to do. However, authorities said Friday that one of them vomited afterward.

Both have been arrested along with another man. Authorities are also seeking several others, including an employee of North Korea's state-owned airline, Air Koryo.

''If they used their bare hands, there's just no possible way that they would have exposed him to VX unless they took some sort of precaution,'' Goldberger said. ''The only precaution I know of would be administration of the antidote before this went down.''

Perhaps that's it; perhaps immediately after swigging from his water-bottle – which he left in the hotel room, obviously – Navalny rang room service for some Novichok antidote. Just in case. Can't be too careful, when you are the main opposition leader.

"No areas were cordoned off and protective measures were not taken. When asked about it a day after the attack, airport spokesman Shah Rahim said there was no risk to travelers and the airport was regularly and properly cleaned. But officials announced Friday that the facility would be decontaminated.

''It's as persistent as motor oil. It's going to stay there for a long time. A long time, which means anyone coming in contact with this could be intoxicated from it,'' Trestrail said. ''If this truly is VX, they ought to be calling in a hazmat team and looking at any place these women or the victim traveled after the exposure.''

A hazmat team, and looking at any place the assassin or anyone potentially exposed might have traveled. For an agent ten times less toxic than Novichok.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/02/24/banned-chemical-weapon-potent-killer-that-lingers/5bTFjBz6tJVouk4tnyaERK/story.html

[Sep 29, 2020] The Near-Global Collapse of Critical Thinking – The New Kremlin Stooge

Notable quotes:
"... Maybe Navalny had allegedly been assisted by his apparent drug of choice, cocaine? ..."
"... On the Navalny poisoning. Interesting to see that Vladimir Ashurkov is in the inner core of the Integrity Initiative. Suggesting another media-led provocation. ..."
"... Apparently, Pevchikh was given a bogus interview on the BBC and was presented as an uninteresting, nothing special sort of person, about whom rumours and innuendo were amassing for no reason whatsoever. ..."
"... The interviewer never pressed her on how long she had lived in the UK, what her business interests there were (claims have been made that she runs a book store), why she visits Russia so frequently, what indeed isher present citizenship, how she became involved with Navalny's "fund" -- she says she answered an ad., but where? In the UK? Hardly! And on and on . ..."
"... On Thursday (24 September), Christian Gramm, the president of Germany's Military Intelligence Service (MAD), was forced to resign. To many, the shake-up doesn't come as a surprise given the recent criticism over how the agency handled investigations into right-wing extremism in the German Special Forces (KSK). Gramm's term as MAD president will come to an end next month ..."
"... Verzilov is supposedly – according to one source I read – the force behind having Navalny evacuated to Germany. It will be funny now if he cannot return to Russia. ..."
"... That guy is a self-important prick with delusions of grandeur. If he is representative of the non-systemic opposition in Russia then, assuming that Putin is even aware of this guy, it would only provide a good laugh after a hard day at the office ..."
"... Verzilov is an attention junkie. He set himself up as the 'spokesman' of Pussy Riot because they were getting a lot of attention and he wanted to be part of it. He has no visible talent of his own – except perhaps a facility for languages, his English is pretty good ..."
"... His English is good because he went to school in Toronto until his somehow landing a place at MGU Philosophy Faculty, which is one of the greatest riddles of the Cosmos, in my opinion. ..."
"... I'd like to look at the Navalny 'poisoning" from a slightly different angle, one which I think bears scrutiny. I've said several times that nobody – to the best of my knowledge – has ever survived poisoning by VX. But that's not quite accurate – the two women who thrust what was always believed to be VX in some form into the face of Kim Jong Nam (Kim Jong-Un's half-brother) at an airport in Kuala Lumpur killed him stone dead. But they themselves apparently survived with no ill effects except that one of them allegedly may have vomited. ..."
"... The major difference in the way the stories are treated, then, is the incredulity with which the apparent survival of the alleged poisoners is regarded by the western press. Consider; ..."
"... It's hard to imagine the Germans poisoned his samples, although I suppose it is possible. But if Pevchik had poisoned him with something intended to incapacitate but not kill him, you'd think the doctors in Omsk would have detected it. ..."
"... It might be interesting to see what kind of deal would result from a process in which Russia has given up trying to be liked by the west, and consequently examines each negotiation on its merits alone. ..."
Sep 29, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

, "When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false."
Uncle Volodya

"Every ounce of my cynicism is supported by historical precedent."

– Glen Cook, Shadow Games

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it."

– George Bernard Shaw

I'm lazy. But vanity constrains me from admitting that, so I call it 'busy'. However I choose to label it, I haven't written anything new in a long time. It's not writer's block, because I had a couple of topics in mind; if I had to blame it on anything, I'd blame it on the comments section. We don't really have any rules here, or not many (there are a couple of people who can't comment, but that's because they cannot be trusted to not instantly return to old habits as soon as they are allowed), and things routinely drift off-topic to whatever is going on at the time. Current events; yes, that's the term I was looking for. So when new things are happening, we tend to discuss them in the comments section, instead of my writing a new post dedicated specifically to that issue. It's the primary cause, I'm afraid, of important comments you would like to be able to locate because they contain hard-to-find sources or just the information you need to settle an argument, because they are not linked by subject. Obviously I prefer the unregulated format, or I wouldn't use it, but it does have its disadvantages.

Anyway, the silver lining that comes with being late to discuss a particular current event is that you get to talk about the filtered version, after the ferment has settled down and often new facts have presented. So it is with the teapot tempest of Alexei Navalny, vaulted to international fame virtually overnight by becoming the latest victim poisoned by nefarious Soviet-era deadly nerve agents that, in their known application, have a success rate of 16.67%. A funny statistic has emerged from the absurd times we are living in – a viral infection, the 'novel coronavirus', more commonly called COVID-19, has the world shivering with terror like frogs in a glass cage with a big snake, even though its Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) compares with the annual influenza bouts we have lived with all our years. Yet an engineered nerve agent reputed to be ten times as deadly as the most toxic poison the west could come up with – one which, I might add, has a known survivor list among the exposed of zero point zero – has never killed the individual it was intended to kill, and managed to incidentally slay one innocent bystander who was also an alcoholic and drug abuser . As John Lennon remarked in "Nobody Told Me"; strange days indeed. Most peculiar, Mama.

I meant to do a post on Navalny – more correctly, my patience with the ridiculous statements made about his latest adventure finally evaporated – after reading this amazingly cheeky tapestry of fabrication; "The Kremlin, predictably, says it didn't poison Alexey Navalny. So what can the West do?"

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I looked it up so as to have an electronic link, so readers could get the full effect. But I initially saw it in the newspaper, the Canadian Globe & Mail (British Columbia edition), in which it was headlined a little differently – "Why nobody has power to make Kremlin come clean on poisoning" . So far as I can make out on initial examination, the body of the article is unchanged. Both pieces – well, the same piece with two different headlines – are by Mark MacKinnon, who is The Globe & Mail 's senior international correspondent, based in London, UK. He's quite highly-regarded by his employers , is a seven-time winner of the National Newspaper Awards (for creativity, perhaps, although they don't say), and the author of " The New Cold War: Revolutions, Rigged Elections and Pipeline Politics ". Gee, that sounds like it might be about a particular country; let's have a dekko at the writeup .

"When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed two years later, liberal democracy was supposed to fill the void left by Soviet Communism. Poland and Czechoslovakia made the best of reforms, but the citizens of the "Evil Empire" itself saw little of the promised freedom, and more of the same old despots and corruption. Recently, a second wave of reforms -- Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and Ukraine in 2004, as well as Kyrgyzstan's regime change in 2005 -- have proven almost as monumental as those in Berlin and Moscow. The people of the Eastern bloc, aided in no small part by Western money and advice, are again rising up and demanding an end to autocracy. And once more, the Kremlin is battling the White House every step of the way. Mark MacKinnon spent these years working in Moscow, and his view of the story and access to those involved remains unparalleled. With The New Cold War, he reveals the links between these democratic revolutions -- and George Soros, the idealistic American billionaire behind them -- in a major investigation into the forces that are quietly reshaping the post-Soviet world."

Because western-imposed liberal democracy has been such a star-speckled success in so many places – Libya. Iraq, Venezuela anyway, the above author information is offered to sort of set the tone for the type of worldview you might expect. And to introduce a premonition, before you even read his material, that Mark MacKinnon just might be exactly the sort of guy who would smirk with revulsion at the mention of Putin's name, and have a big ol' man-crush on Alexei Navalny. I'm not implying anything untoward, here; Mr. MacKinnon is a realist. An ideologue, yes, but a realist.

And as with others of his ideological type, I marvel that he apparently sees some sort of inspirational leader in Navalny. I'm cautiously optimistic, of course, because until international busybodies have a vote in Russian elections – as they have in other places, except it's called 'regime change' – there is about as much chance of Alexei Navalny being elected to a position of influence by a broad Russian vote as there is of you dying from coronavirus. Which you have about a 99.6% chance of surviving, if you should get it. Anyway, I'm optimistic, as I have suggested many times before, because for so long as western liberal meddlers choose to put all their eggs in the Navalny basket, for that long leaders elected by Russian votes will rule more or less unmolested. You could probably persuade Russians to dress up as Obama on Hallowe'en (well, first you would have to persuade them to celebrate it, which The Moscow Times almost reduced itself to tears trying to bring about) as you could to persuade them to vote for Navalny. And this latest escapade, which – perversely – has put him in the western hall of political fame has probably actually cost him votes in Russia, which is remarkable considering he already was about as popular as vomit air-freshener.

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Mr. MacKinnon starts off his excoriation of the Kremlin, and his apparent poignant appeal for someone to rid us of this troublesome autocratic dictator, with some lighthearted snark about how predictable it is that the Kremlin would deny poisoning Alexei Navalny. Uh huh; of course they would. Real men would immediately own up – yeah, I poisoned that motherfucker. Teach him to talk smack about me. What are you gonna do about it? You might be repulsed by the implicit evil there, but at least you could respect Putin for telling the truth.

Let's look at it a little differently. Suppose I said "Mark MacKinnon is a wife-beater". For the record, I don't even know if he is married. Or straight. But that's beside the point, which is that to the best of my knowledge, it is not true. Doesn't matter. Predictably, he would deny it. Now suppose I repeated that allegation regularly for twenty years. Might I be able to say, wearily, "the only predictable thing about MacKinnon's latest wife-beating incident is his denial of having had anything to do with it"? I think I could. But denying it is exactly the predictable occurrence if he had not done it.

How about we take a quick recap of some of the things Russia has been accused of just in the last few years. A state-sponsored doping program for its Olympic athletes, in which they were fed performance-enhancing cocktails that powered them all the way to the podium. The special investigatory body put together to look into it, headed by Canadian Richard McLaren, claimed there was so much proof that it was embarrassing. When we got down to where the rubber meets the road, said investigatory body could not prove fuck-all, their star witness fell apart in testimony , and 28 Russian athletes had their Olympic bans reversed while 7 medals were reinstated. The Nation recapped it thus ;

"How the Times could provide such minimal coverage of these important April 2018 reasoned CAS decisions on matters on which the Times had extensively reported is inexplicable. By allowing the Russian athletes, for the very first time, to confront their accusers with cross-examination, the CAS was in a position to make startling revelations about Rodchenkov and McLaren. Rodchenkov, for example, admitted that he never personally witnessed any accused Russian athlete committing doping violations themselves, including taking the illegal drug cocktail, giving a clean urine sample out of competition, tampering with a urine sample, or transmitting information to co-conspirators about the coding on the drug sample after it had been given.

Furthermore, several of Rodchenkov's explanations of events were simply not believable. For example, Rodchenkov had stated that the swapping of urine samples occurred after 1 am, but his own diary entries confirmed his bedtime by midnight each night, with two or three exceptions. When confronted with this contradiction, he made the incredible claim that he had lied to his diary."

Were the Russians guilty? Apparently not. What is the appropriate response when you are accused of something but did not do it? Denial? Damn straight. But there's another key takeaway in there – the testimonial hearing in which the athletes and their representatives dismantled Rodchenkov's self-important blathering was the very first time they had been able to confront their accuser . Uncorroborated denials are easy to brush off, which would seem to summarize Mr, MacKinnon's style.

One more. Russia was accused by the United States – whose allies quickly picked it up as one more example of the reprehensible Russian conduct that just makes you shake your head in helpless wonder – of paying the Taliban in Afghanistan a bounty to kill American soldiers.

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For starters, it would not be difficult to imagine the US Army as being so loathed in Afghanistan – considering American military operations have devastated the country for 19 years now – that jihadis in Afghanistan would be happy to kill them for free; might even pay for the opportunity, if they had any money. Some might say well, if not for the democracy-promotion efforts of America, the Taliban might still be in charge! Yeah, ha, ha; funny story about that. President Trump announced this past Spring that it was time to turn over law and order in Afghanistan to the Taliban.

He said US troops had been killing terrorists in Afghanistan "by the thousands" and now it was "time for someone else to do that work and it will be the Taliban and it could be surrounding countries".

Personally, I think it's a hell of a cheek of the Taliban to accept money from the Russians to kill Americans who just cut them such an exceptional deal – you would think they would be so happy that they would dance into the streets with their arms full of flowers and candy. Oh, wait – different democracy-promotion operation.

And I'd just like to point out to anyone who is forming the opinion that I am a sarcastic prick that the main piece of 'evidence' on which the Americans based the assessment that a mysterious Russian GRU (military intelligence) unit was paying bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers was the discovery of 'a large amount of American cash from a raid on a Taliban outpost'.

Jesus, God of our fathers – please tell me they had more than that. Quite apart from the patent rudeness of carrying out a raid on the 'outposts' of your new Afghanistan caretakers, the US dollar is the most common and widely-circulated currency in the world. Instead of leaping to the conclusion that it had to have come from the Russians – whose currency was still the ruble the last time I looked – why was the King Arthur Flour Company not immediately a suspect? After all, sourdough baking has lunged to a quivering peak during 'COVID times' (as I heard one imbecile describe the peyote cartoon we are all living); King Arthur offers a very popular sourdough starter , and the Afghans are great bakers. Maybe they were saving up to buy a couple of truckloads, give the people something to raise their morale! Get it? 'Raise' their morale? It's not funny if I have to explain it. But it makes as much sense as assuming the Russians want to accelerate the killing of American forces just as they are arranging terms for a pullout, which would surely make them stay longer.

Well, let's get back to Mr. MacKinnon's story, before we wander too far off the path. But I hope that addresses the issue of the Kremlin denying western accusations. Deny is what you do when you really had nothing to do with whatever it was you are being accused of, instead of 'manning up' and saying "Yeah; it was me". Gaddafi did that, in the hope of making peace with the Americans, and look where it got him. And America is not put off by lack of evidence – obviously.

So we're back where Russia might be believed today, if the past 20 years had never happened. At that, I would suggest he's casting too wide a net; the USA and Russia were getting along fairly well between the time the Harvard Boys were invited in to remake Russia in 1991, and the presidential candidacy of American Idiot and Venture Capitalist Mitt Romney, during which candidacy he identified Russia – for no apparent reason than that it sometimes caused headaches for the United States at the UN – as the USA's Number One Geopolitical Enemy. That was in 2012, which was only 8 years ago, and in fact the great majority of western accusations against Russia have taken place since 2014 and the US State Department's successful second run at taking over Ukraine to Make It Safe For Democracy. It's pretty hard to restore your 'credibility' when the international press whose language is foreign to your own continues to insist it has mountains of evidence that you are lying, but cannot reveal any of it because of national security. On the occasions it does publish some of its substantiation, the alternate-narrative element of the public is so scathing in its scorn – as happened when the British tried going public with their Skripals Case – that the storytellers are sent back to the drawing-board to make up something different. Otherwise they might have to explain why a poison so virulent that Sergei Skripal's house had to have its roof removed because Novichok was daubed on the front doorknob, but the same poison failed to kill not only the Skripals times two, Detective Nick Bailey, Charles Rowley and now Navalny. The Skripals came into direct contact with it while the family's roof did not, unless they had a sixteen-foot diameter doorknob, and Navalny actually drank it. So the story goes. I don't think 'absurd' is too strong a word.

Russia, we hear, denied that its soldiers were in Crimea before Russia 'annexed' the territory in 2014. Where? Russia was permitted by international agreement to base sufficient forces at Sevastopol to easily take the region away from a Ukrainian Army so useless that initial attempts to stop the unraveling were made by civilian militias. Oh, and my favourite; Russia denied shooting down MH-17 "even after the anti-aircraft system involved in the attack was detected leaving Russia then returning short one missile." Is that a fact? Well, no; it's not. That accusation was made by Bellingcat, the brain trust of former underwear-company accountant Eliot Higgins, and there was never any 'detection' of any such anti-air system "leaving Russia and returning short one missile". Bellingcat offered a potential route such a system might have taken to and from a launch site, in an animation, which was itself never substantiated by evidence – a route which took the system many vulnerable kilometers out of its way on the alleged return – and the photograph that made the cover of Paris Match is so obviously a Photoshop mosaic . And the inclusion of Ukraine, who was automatically a suspect considering the incident occurred in Ukrainian airspace, in the investigation to establish Russian guilt, together with its unsupervised access to the collected evidence, renders the whole issue farcical.

"And on it went. The official RIA Novosti newswire quoted chemical-weapon experts who said that had Novichok been used, Mr. Navalny would already be dead. It's a line Russian state media have used before, after Mr. Skripal and his daughter survived the 2018 attack, but one they dropped after 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with an unused vial of Novichok in a Salisbury park three months later."

Is that what happened, Mr. seven-times-recipient-of-the-National-Newspapers-Award? Dawn Sturgess was given the perfume bottle as a gift from her boyfriend, Charles Rowley, at his home in Amesbury, 8 miles from Salisbury. She allegedly 'immediately sprayed some on her wrists and rubbed them together' according to Rowley .

"Charlie Rowley claimed his partner, mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, fell ill within 15 minutes of spraying the bottle, which he said he had found, on to her wrists at his home in Amesbury, Wiltshire."

Couldn't ask for much more of an eyewitness than Rowley – he's kind of at the center of the story, albeit he is a heroin addict himself, according to a previously-cited reference. He claims that within 15 minutes she was stricken, claimed to have a headache, and disappeared to the bathroom, where he found her fully clothed and lying in the bath, 'in a very ill state'.

That's funny; according to Sky News, she was not so ill that she could not admit herself to hospital, which she is alleged to have done at 11 AM on Saturday, after being poisoned with a nerve agent ten times as deadly as VX, exposure to which nobody has survived.

"During their trip to Salisbury on Friday, the pair visited a number of shops during the afternoon and evening with their friend Sam Hobson.

https://c0.pubmine.com/sf/0.0.3/html/safeframe.html REPORT THIS AD

The following day, Ms Sturgess admitted herself to hospital at 11am. Mr Hobson, 29, and Mr Rowley went on to visit a number of places in the town centre."

Mr. Rowley, the poor man who 'lost so much', was so affected by his beloved's condition that he and his friend Sam Hobson went on – after she admitted herself to hospital – to see the sights of downtown Amesbury. We know they were in Amesbury because one of the locations they visited, Boots the Chemist in Amesbury, was soon thereafter closed by police as part of the investigation.

Perhaps they were looking around for the hospital. Because there isn't one in Amesbury . The closest is in Salisbury, 8 miles away, and the next-closest is in Andover, even further. So the poor woman, having passed out in a very ill state after spraying a deadly nerve agent directly on her skin, somehow roused herself for the 8-mile drive to Salisbury and then proceeded with the admittance process, while the cretins in Emergency let the two who had dropped her off head back to Amesbury for some window-shopping. The alternative is that they were not even with her, and she drove herself. Say, do you know what one of the symptoms of nerve-agent poisoning is? Blurred vision due to excessive watering of the eyes.

The 'only predictable part of the drama', to borrow from Mr. MacKinnon's introduction, is that Ms. Sturgess did not "die after coming into contact with an unused vial of Novichok in a Salisbury park", or anything close to it. Sloppy, or loyal? Which is it?

Anyway, back to Navalny; for some reason I seem to be incapable of staying on his dramatic story. So, 'predictably', there are some pretty big holes in his story. For one, he was supposedly – initially – exposed to a near-unimaginably-toxic nerve agent which he drank in tea at the airport, prior to departure. Then the same Novichok which laid out Dawn Sturgess within 15 minutes did not affect Lyosha until 40 minutes after the plane took off. Team Navalny and its backers have attempted to explain that away by suggesting this was a specially-engineered 'slow-acting' Novichok.

What use would a slow-acting military-grade nerve agent be? Want to give the enemy a fair chance before killing him stone dead? And while we're on the subject: note to the GRU, or the FSB or whoever – stop engineering Novichok to be slow-acting just to attack Navalny, and impervious to rain (like no other nerve agent ever, the immediate countermeasure is to flush the area with water and take atropine) to attack Sergei Skripal, and WORK ON MAKING IT KILL PEOPLE!!! Jesus Christ, do I have to think of everything myself?

So, obviously, the tea narrative was not going to work. Enter The Water Bottle Of Death. Allegedly, the GRU or FSB, or maybe Putin himself poisoned a water bottle and left it in Navalny's hotel room in Tomsk, where there were always people in and out and they had no clue whether it would kill Navalny or someone else. Maybe that's why they engineered it to be slow-acting and non-fatal. Then, after Navalny checked out and headed to the airport, where he hung around for at least long enough to drink a cup of tea before his flight was called, and then after takeoff and 40 minutes into the flight, suddenly, Lyosha is poisoned!! He begins to roar and scream with pain, and members of his entourage immediately go to get a lawyer to accompany them, and go to Navalny's hotel, and – wonder of wonders – not only has it not been cleaned, it is still completely undisturbed!! Fucking hotel service in Tomsk, unbelievable, I hope they don't pay them much.

So, what do we deduce from that? Not only did Navalny show no ill effects after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent for approximately an hour – rolling back the moment of his poisoning to his drinking tea in the airport before his flight was called – he survived it for significantly longer than that, because in the end the tea was just tea. He did not take the Water Bottle Of Death with him, instead leaving it in his hotel room, so he must have drunk from it before he left the room. How long was that? How far was his hotel from the airport? Well, let's see – he stayed at the Xander (four stars, not too shabby), which is 24 km from the Bogashevo Airport . I feel safe in suggesting Navalny survived direct contact with a military-grade nerve agent for at least two hours before he even showed any symptoms, and perhaps for considerably longer than that. Which sounds quite a bit like the Skripal saga, in which they were poisoned by their front doorknob – the approximately sixteen-foot-diameter one which reaches to the roof, it's a two-level home – but still managed to drive to the town center, feed the duckies in the park and then go on to a restaurant and finish dinner, before throwing a poison wobbler on a nearby bench outside. Where they happened to be discovered by the senior medical officer in the British Army. Quite by chance, she was just passing by.

So contact with the American VX agent means near-instantaneous death, but contact with a substance ten times more toxic means nothing at all for at least an hour and perhaps twice that, then an unpleasant bout of coma, then presto! 90% recovery of mental faculties – admittedly, not a high threshold for Navalny – and maybe 50% recovery of physical capability, with a cautiously-optimistic prognosis of a full recovery. Lawdy Jeebus; a miracle!

Back to MacKinnon's story for a moment. "His transfer to Berlin's specialist Charité hospital was delayed for 24 crucial hours while Russian officials floated wildly different versions of what might have happened to him." Actually, they did no such thing; the doctors in Omsk are acknowledged to have probably saved his life, there actually was something wrong with him. They stabilized him for transport rather than immediately saying "Here you go, Krauts, it's your show", so his transfer was delayed for a not-at-all-excessive 24 hours, and it was the Germans who 'floated wildly different versions of what might have happened to him', initially claiming he had been poisoned with a cholinesterase inhibitor, and only changing the story to Novichok after the Water Bottle Of Death was delivered to Berlin by Navalny's wife. And unless Lyosha had a water bottle secretly hidden on his person, they did not establish nerve-agent poisoning from his samples, either, unless the German doctors are incredibly incompetent. It would be pretty hard for a skilled medical technician to confuse a cholinesterase inhibitor with a nerve agent, and the doctors in Berlin initially had no clue what was wrong with him. They became confident after the water bottle was delivered.

Navalny's aide is shown delivering his tea to him at the airport. No gloves, no Personal Protective Equipment whatsoever. But Lyosha was already crawling with Novicok – he must have been poisoned in his room. Was the hotel closed? The airport? Was the plane impounded and destroyed? Why is Navalny's aide still alive, and not just waking up from a coma?

And now I am afraid I have some questions about Chain of Custody of important evidence in a criminal investigation. Because according to the timeline of the 'Navalny poisoning', Team Navalny back on the ground in Tomsk did not announce the discovery of a poisoned water bottle from his hotel room until September 17th – two days after the fact. Right up until then, Navalny's 'press agent' stuck with the story that he was poisoned with tea at the airport. What kind of four-star hotel does not clean the room of a guest who has checked out for two days afterward? Alternatively, what kind of political team allows a narrative to persist that their leader was poisoned with tea at the airport for two whole days before they clue the world in that they have discovered important evidence to the contrary? So far as we know, nobody had analyzed the alleged traces on the bottle while it was still in Russia – the Germans allegedly established it was Novichok. Or else Team Navalny already knew, but didn't bother to tell anyone, just assuming everyone who handled it would take deadly-nerve-agent precautions. Who else might have been inside that hotel room in two days? According to the NewsTimes , an Instagram post by Navalny claimed members of his 'team' tossed his hotel room looking for evidence only an hour after he collapsed, which is pretty impressive considering they had no real reason at that point to suspect a crime had been committed; he probably had just reached the hospital in Omsk by that point, if even that, and there had been no announcement as to his condition, But they waited until September 17th to announce they had discovered a bottle contaminated with Novichok? nearly a month later? Excuse me – some state-sponsored nerve agent – the bottle had not been tested yet.

According to the certifiable inbreeders in the European Parliament, Novichok and its family of poisons can only be made in state-owned military laboratories, and there is no way civilians could have gotten hold of it.

"MEPs have called for sanctions against Russia, saying on September 17, "The poison used, belonging to the 'Novichok group', can only be developed in state-owned military laboratories and cannot be acquired by private individuals, which strongly implies that Russian authorities were behind the attack."

Huh. That's odd. Because Alistair Hay – a toxicologist at the University of Leeds, a leading expert in the toxic properties of chemical warfare agents and a member of the British government's advisory group on chemical warfare – assessed that it could be made by "any competent chemist" . I'm pretty sure they're not all in the military, and obviously they do not need to be Russian. The principal developmental engineer of Novichok, Vil Marzayanov, published a book which contained the formula, and which sells on Amazon for less than 30 bucks. But what does Hay know, right?

"The Kremlin's latest denials should and will fall flat with Western governments. It was already clear that Mr. Putin's inner circle had ample reasons to wish Mr. Navalny harm. (The Kremlin's feelings about the anti-corruption campaigner have long been obvious. Mr. Putin has repeatedly refused to use Mr. Navalny's name, even when asked direct questions about him. On Thursday, Mr. Peskov continued that practice, referring only to "the Berlin patient.")

Ha, ha!! Oh, my God. It is clear that the Kremlin has ample reasons to wish Mr. Navalny harm, because they don't talk about him. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. That's some award-winning journalism right there.

I think we're done here; what is supposed to be a straightforward tale of the unrepentant state poisoning of a political opponent is in fact so confusing and contradictory that I cannot make any sense of it. I suspect even closer examination of it is only going to reveal further inconsistencies.

"The notion of carefully wrought bullshit involves, then, a certain inner strain. Thoughtful attention to detail requires discipline and objectivity. It entails accepting standards and limitations that forbid the indulgence of impulse or whim. It is this selflessness that, in connection with bullshit, strikes us as inapposite. But in fact it is not out of the question at all. The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept. And in these realms there are exquisitely sophisticated craftsmen who – with the help of advanced and demanding techniques of market research, of public opinion polling, of psychological testing, and so forth – dedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they produce exactly right."

Harry G. Frankfurt, from " On Bullshit ".

How many of you would describe the western media as " exquisitely sophisticated craftsmen who dedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they produce exactly right" ? Count me out. They're not even good at it. Fortunately for them, critical thinking is at an all-time low.

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Mark Chapman Posted in Politics , Propaganda , Russia Tagged Media manipulation , Nord Stream II , Propaganda , Russia .

TIMOTHY HAGIOS September 19, 2020 at 3:34 am

In the aftermath of 9/11, I never could have imagined that the US government would ever openly side with the perpetrators, much less that the public at large would be OK with it. And yet that is precisely what happened in Libya and Syria. When Trump showed signs of disengaging from Syria, some of the people protesting were themselves survivors of 9/11 or families of the victims. If they can get away with that, what can't they do? It seems like the media can claim whatever they want, no matter how ridiculous, and the public will believe them without question. Some of the things I've seen in the media look to me like experiments being undertaken to probe the gullibility of the public.

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 19, 2020 at 7:36 am

In the spirit of going off topic

I see what you just did there – inferred that 19 Arabs representing al-Qaeda were responsible for '911'.

• On the Morning of 9/11 – The Truth In 5 Minutes – James Corbett

https://www.youtube.com/embed/hgrunnLcG9Q

This is what weakens the sincerity of people like Tulsi Gabbard and retired Colonel, Senator Richard Black despite all the good that they have said and done.

Exactly – WHY would the US aid and abet in Iraq, Libya and Syria the group that 'allegedly' perpetrated the worst act of diabolical terrorism against American citizens in its history it wouldn't – unless of course the official narrative was just not true.

You only have to listen to very clumsy performance by Ehud Barak in the BBC studios on the very day, or Jane Standley declaring the collapse of WT7 23 minutes before it happened (an honest mistake according to official BBC response) or the very fact that WT7 collapsed at all to know that the 'official narrative' is Bullshit.

• 9/11 Revisited, Uncovered & Exposed – Barrett, Gage and Bollyn

https://www.youtube.com/embed/MZQKZhSPWM0

(particularly Bollyn from 54:20)

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 19, 2020 at 7:38 am

**"Tyranny requires that the truth be silenced, that real history be erased and rewritten, that speech be restricted, and that individual thought be silenced."**

*Erasing History and Erasing Truth: Censorship and Destroying Records Is the Cornerstone of Tyrants* by Gary D. Barnett

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/09/gary-d-barnett/erasing-history-and-erasing-truth-censorship-and-destroying-records-is-the-cornerstone-of-tyrants/

I have not seen it expressed better than in this short article by Gary D Barnett.

MARK CHAPMAN September 19, 2020 at 10:21 am

We have always been at war with Eastasia. It is hard to believe that Orwell almost predated television (he died in 1950), and '1984' certainly did.

American – and, in fact, western in general – manipulation of public perception almost invariably relies on values and the public's impression of what is 'the right thing to do'. Consequently, the choice is always a Manichean one; this guy is trampling on democratic values. He's killing his own people. Peaceful protests are being forcibly dispersed with machine-gun fire. An entire people cries out for freedom. Are we gonna let him get away with it? Who's with me??? Slightly more subtle is the implication of, "If you're not with us, you're against us". There is no possibility of detachment. Thus it is with the coronavirus crisis now – you and everyone else have a responsibility to public safety. If you don't do as the government says is necessary for public safety, then you are an enemy of public safety, and deserve the scorn of your fellow man. Come on; who's with me??

You simply have to make it clear that everyone must make a choice; there is no such thing as 'sitting this one out'. Then you frame the choice in such a way that choosing for the majority is easy – do you want to make the world a better place? If you say 'No', then obviously you want to make it a worse place.

Like taking candy from a baby. In Trump's case, though, he's on the wrong side of the equation, and rather than he and his administration steering the narrative, others both for him and against him are framing the choice and he is having to react to it. Those who are against him want to destroy and cast him out, and those for him want to use him as a global influence.

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 19, 2020 at 4:27 am

Thank you Mark; I'm glad to have found your blog site.

I find the format just fine- I learn a heck of a lot from the diversion onto 'off topic' topical events.

I wandered into one of my favourite bookstores a couple of times over the last week (I am in Australia). Really, the only reason for doing so is to check out the classics section (which remains authentic) or to follow up on a special order – there is nothing on the shelves these days, especially the 'latest/best sellers', that is worth burning the paper it is printed on. I get most of my books directly from the author's site or as free pdf downloads from such places as archive-dot-org. I have never, and never would utilise Amazon.

You will see books glorifying Greta, Jacinda, Hillary, Michael (sic), the Walrus, the latest ['Rage'] by Woodward or the latest obligatory 'testimony' from a 100-year-old 'survivor'.

They then have the array of trash talk vilifying, demonising and assassinating anyone with integrity who has something worthwhile to say and who cares about humanity:

"The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Andrew Wakefield's War on Vaccines"
– "Award-winning investigative journalist Brian Deer reveals the shocking truth blah "

But the centrepiece at the moment is

"The Rodchenkov Affair: How I Brought Down Putin's/Russia's Secret Doping Empire" by Grigory Rodchenkov. [Oh dear!!]

Great lines:

"exquisitely sophisticated craftsmen who dedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they produce exactly wrong [sic]"

"When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false."

This is what so impresses me – that they can produce so much bullshit that some (?many/most) people actually find credible – but when what is left of the world and humanity is based entirely on exquisitely crafted lies – then what?

PS. I see that Russia and/or China meddled in the RBG's respiratory system overnight. One commenter wrote "Weekend at Bernie's" is FINALLY over.

PPS. Russia has also denied bombing schools and hospital in Syria. Boris Johnson would know – here he is admitting that the UK openly funds terrorists – he forgot that people would actually realise who and what the 'White Helmets' are as he proudly boasts of another £65 million going the way of these "fantastically brave people".

not to mention the despicable practice of 'double tapping' by Russia and the [Assad] 'regime' – rotten bastards!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/J2mWdvgCOqs?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

featured here
https://21stcenturywire.com/2018/07/05/white-helmets-the-eton-mess/

And not one word in your article on Magnitsky and Browder, you sarcastic prick – you're slipping!

Great writing – much appreciated.

MARK CHAPMAN September 19, 2020 at 10:29 am

Ha, ha! Thanks, Julius; I thought the post just went on and on as it was, and each avenue seemed to lead into another, so that I despaired of ever finishing it. If I had brought Browder into it, I'd still be writing. But if you are a devotee of Browder and his mendacious machinations, here's a post from my old blog on 'that individual'. Get it? I'm showing how much he disturbs me by refusing to mention him by name.

https://marknesop.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/its-not-what-you-know-its-who-you-know-deconstructing-william-browder/

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 19, 2020 at 5:32 pm

Yes, I was being flippant re Browder.

Thank you for that link – a great dossier which I had already bookmarked and recommend to all.

MOSCOWEXILE September 19, 2020 at 7:05 am

Навальный симулирует – разбираем по пунктам

Navalny is simulating – we go through this point by point

Navalny came to his senses and immediately started having photos published on Instagram. Indeed, what else is there to to do in hospital? But it would have been better, of course, if he had not do this, because the public has raised many questions.

Journalist Alexander Sosnovsky has analyzed Navalny's photos and posts on social networks, coming to a rather simple and logical conclusion -- Alexey is simulating. This is hardly surprising, given Navalny and his associate's love for exaggeration, lies and fraudulent schemes.

Sosnovsky highlighted several points by which it is quite easy to realize that the blogger is lying about his "terrible" state. There is no tracheostomy mark on Navalny's neck, which means that he did not have such a serious violation of the respiratory system. And it means that there is no talk of any kind of poisoning with combat poison.

In the photo, he is walking down stairs -- after a few weeks in a coma, muscles can hardly recover so quickly. The knee joints literally "freeze", and it is simply impossible to use stairs so easily.

The same applies to sitting in the lotus position, and this is how the blogger is sitting in the earlier photo. Again, this is absolutely impossible after such a severe poisoning, as all Navalny's hamsters and his family talk about.

By the way, In the message, Navalny thanks the doctor, but he did not write about his family under any of the photos. But when a person is on the verge of death, relatives are the first ones he thinks of when he comes to his senses. And his daughter had flown from the USA, but not a word about Yulia, Dasha and Zakhara, although usually Navalny now and then shows photos and videos of his family, posing as a loving family man.

Next, we pay attention to Navalny's trainers, and they are rather heavy, not of cloth. Such footwear is not worn in an intensive care unit. It is used by patients undergoing normal treatment and who can walk about on the street, but the blogger has not been outside, otherwise his photos would have already appeared on the Web, because there are a lot of paparazzi around. By the way, the fact that he is in the "Charité" has not been in any way confirmed.

In general, there are a lot of questions about Navalny. It remains only to wait for answers from him, although he probably will not bother to devote time to this, because the blogger usually does not comment on any of his type of fraud.

JAMES LAKE September 19, 2020 at 8:55 am

By simulating do they mean lying

ET AL September 19, 2020 at 11:08 am

s t imulating? Maybe Navalny had allegedly been assisted by his apparent drug of choice, cocaine? Or, he was actually out of a coma a few days earlier (to plan how to spin things) and had access to a rowing machine

ET AL September 19, 2020 at 11:57 am

My point is that we are given a narrative but there really is absolutely nothing but his/team/Charite's word about any of this. It's annoying that we have to question everything but even then we often accept much of what is said and look at the most obvious inconsistencies rather than the much more subtle sleights of hand or sideways misdirections. It is non-stop.

What we can do is if we know the conclusion sic 'Navalny poisoned', then the narrative has to (mostly) fit in to that box/framework. So work backwards and see if the public claims fit that narrative, short of deliberate traps to to mop up the conspiracy crowd.

MARK CHAPMAN September 19, 2020 at 12:35 pm

Yes, I had to laugh when MacKinnon ridiculed the notion that Navalny might have been poisoned by samagon by invoking the image of Navalny – as painted by his 'press agent' and his 'team' – as a "near teetolaler". What are they going to say? That he is a lush who drowns kittens? Mark MacKinnon, Stenographer to the Stars, all gossip repeated.

MARK CHAPMAN September 19, 2020 at 10:36 am

What is far more likely is that he will consult with his handlers, and together they will come up with a reply stinging in its scorn, revolving around the theme, "Can you believe they are saying this??", inviting all readers to have a hearty laugh at the squalling of the conspiracy theorists. It's worked before – no reason to change the formula until it stops working.

JENNIFER HOR September 19, 2020 at 1:46 pm

In that photo, Navalny looks as if he is walking through a fire escape area. Would hospitals really allow patients to walk unassisted and unprotected through the fire escape area? Once the door into the fire escape closes, if you're in the fire escape, you cannot open it again. You'd have to walk all the way down to the exit and out into the open air – fire escapes are designed to get you out of a burning building. Once out, Navalny would be exposed to all kinds of aerosols including air pollutants, let alone the odd coronavirus spike-ball, that could sicken him in his recently recovered state.

This makes you wonder whether Navalny even set foot into any hospital in Berlin at all, and not just a medical clinic or some place where discharged patients go to recuperate after a hospital stay. (I forget the term used for such places where people receive care after being discharged from hospital.)

ET AL September 19, 2020 at 2:12 pm

Which I would say support my suposition that Berlin's Charite hospital has been rather conservative with it is press release (patient confidentialty) that has afforded FC Nav alny's PR team sufficient time to create a nice visual story fit for western consumption, nyam nyam nyam copy copy copy, snore.

JENNIFER HOR September 19, 2020 at 1:30 pm

Perhaps the category and grade of Novichok used to poison Navalny are the same as for the Novichok used on Julia Skripal. Recall that during her May 2018 interview with the Reuters reporter at USAF Fairford base in Gloucestershire or wherever, Julis Skripal looked slim and radiant and her skin was in good condition. She was able to walk unassisted to the interview as well. It seems clear to me that that Novichok stuff must actually be some Fountain of Youth elixir, that it puts its victims into temporary Snow White repose and then, without warning, not only awakens them but restores them to a better state of health and physical condition better than what they had before they were poisoned. Next thing you know, Navalny will be training for the marathon in next year's Olympic Games.

MOSCOWEXILE September 19, 2020 at 7:37 am

Блогеры отреагировали на второй после "отравления" пост Навального
19 сентября 2020

Bloggers have reacted to Navalny's second post after the "poisoning"
19 September 2020

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFUAPu8llSO/embed/captioned/

Rise, take up thy bed and walk!

OLD97POLARCAT September 19, 2020 at 8:16 am

Oh, man. New reader here. The "peyote cartoon" line made me laugh so damn hard. Thanks you for that. Nothing beats this cult-like world like a good long laugh at the cult's expense.

MOSCOWEXILE September 19, 2020 at 8:29 am

You pays yer money and you takes yer choice!

Aleksei Venediktov, touchy, feely boss of Libtard Ekho Moskvy:

Maria Pevchikh did not fly from Omsk on an ambulance flight with Aleksei Navalny.

Radio Freedom:

Maria Pevchikh: I flew in a medical aeroplane with Navalny.

GARY JACKSON September 19, 2020 at 8:33 am

That Sneaky Putin

While the western world(read fascist) was going ape over novichok-you know the Russian bio-weapon that is the most dangerous chemical known to man except it fails to kill anyone-Putin had developed and infected the entire political and mass media leaders of the west with a new bio-weapon that he created himself. It's called Notajoke and it makes those infected become babbling idiots and anyone can see that it has worked. Trump got his dose from some Las Vegas hookers who the FSB infected and they in turn pissed on him. Even worse, it eventually gives every infected person a Hitler mustache that cannot be gotten rid of. These babbling idiots are aware something is wrong but they are not sure of whats happening and they have developed a strategum. They are going to emulate certain successful comics from the past and make their adversaries die laughing. Trump becomes Moe, Boris becomes Larry and Angela becomes Curly-wise guy eh? They plan to resort to slapstick, where upon they slap you with sanctions and then stick it to you, bomb your country and everyone is in stitches(in the hospital) "Yeah that' what we'll do eh Moe?". As part of the plan the G7 mental 7 dwarfs are on board with Moe(Trump-coc) as their leader followed by Larry(Boris-sleezy) and Curly(Angela-frumpy) with those idiots True-dough(dopey) Canada, Cunte(bashful) Italy, Macaroon(creepy) France and the Jap chap Ape Abe(jappy). What a team folks- I may die of laughter before I'm finished this tirade. Their latest brilliant stroke is to put an end to Nordstream 2 so that their citizens can pay double thereby aiding Moe and getting rid of their excess money. The Baltic states are on board as well. They are afraid that Russia will steal their technology- ooops they don't have any, their natural resources- ooops ditto, their dirt-ya that's it, their dirt. Poland is worried about the theft of their telecommunications technology developed by Alexander Graham Kowalski better known as "The Telephone Pole". Ukraine got on board and has now elevated itself to the poorest country in Europe. Moe thought Putin may be behind all this so he offered a challenge. Putin responded with chess?, judo?, hockey?, Moe had in mind a pie throwing contest. "wise guy eh?"

Pompeo and Abrahms not to be outdone have become Ollie and Stan as Ollie admonishes Stan-"this is another fine mess you've gotten me into" over Venezuela and proceed to bump into one another. To add a little "stiff" competition in comes Joe "the stiff" Biden to out stupid them all.

ET AL September 19, 2020 at 11:26 am

MacKinnon is a follower. No relation to autistic hacker Gary MacKinnon.* This MacKinnon is a member of the Ford Estate, not the Fourth Estate. It's the appearance of journalism. Just because some thing is long (lots of words) doesn't make it fact. Never mistake quantity for quality, but that is the strategic propaganda goal against Russia. Bombard the public with endless long, big, stronger, higher, faster, deeper/whatever reports/investigations/studies etc. which when you actually look for the source is either anonymous/highly likely/judged to be /whatever, but you never get to read the actual source material. NEVER.

Vis the poison in the hot tea. What got me was that no-one commented that using a poison in 70c+ tea would dramatically reduce its effect (chemically break down very quickly) which is directly contrary to the claimed goal of killing Navalny). It would also have to be specifically designed to be heat resistant which is a whole other level of chemical weapons development more suitable for a sci-fi future of scorching global temperatures where the human race dwell below ground like Morlocks.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon

ET AL September 19, 2020 at 2:01 pm

Tass: Press review: EU plots own bloc-wide Magnitsky Act and Moscow, Minsk bolster defense ties
https://tass.com/pressreview/1201793

Top stories in the Russian press on Thursday, September 17

Vedomosti: Rostec to shell out $1.7 bln on creating new Sukhoi Superjet aircraft

By 2023, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) plans to create the Sukhoi SuperJet New, an import-substituted version of the short-haul Sukhoi SuperJet 100, the only civilian jet built by the Russian aviation industry. The development of the new Sukhoi Superjet New aircraft, which UAC plans to create by 2023, will cost 120 bln-130 bln rubles ($1.6-1.7 bln), Vedomosti writes, citing sources close to the corporate leadership of Rostec and UAC.

According to the newspaper, the United Engine Corporation (UEC) is developing a domestic PD-8 engine, which the aircraft will use. ..UAC will allocate at least 50 bln rubles ($664 mln) for the development of SSJ New.
####

Plenty of stuff, but as usual, put up or shut up. Russia puts up.

Vis the u-Ropean 'Magnitsky Act' no unanimity required. Russia would do well to say in advance that it would counter-act against certain senior EU officials/member states for complicity in genocide in Libya, Yemen etc.

The problem with u-Rope is that is that Brussels is a balm for the crimes of its member states. On the one hand the EU is the collective consciousness of its member states but is not responsible for their individual actions. It is yet again 'cake and eat it.' Brussels needs to be rudely disabused that it can continue to play this game without consequence (f/y European Parliament second hand, seat warming pols who are only waiting until their party wins elections back home again). Take away this option. I don't see Russia taking this new act lying down though and are deliberately playing their cards close to their chest.

Now on reflection, this act has taken a remarkably long time to come to this point. This in itself tells us that there are clearly significant misgivings behind closed doors. The fact that it has now reached his stage also tells us that Brussels/Paris/Berlin think they have come up with a cunning plan aka 'squared the circle', but it is also a significant sign of weakness. Maybe the timing is related to the almost completed NordStream 2 but that is irrelevant. This is about consequence. u-Rope is currently at its weakest (politically and economically) for a long time but for some reason it thinks now is the time for a EU Magnitsky It's really poor thinking.

So, I declare 2020 as the year of Hail Marys. The last throw of the dice. Desparation of maybe a final win, however fleeting to go out in a blaze of heavenly glory before the EU turns inward to deal with its US sponsored saboage attempts, sic the PiS run lo-land of Po-land that runs out of substantial cash on 31 December 2020 and the wheels of the bus start coming off.

The only other tidbit I've seen is about Byelorussia. In particular only Latvia has STFU about and avoided the ire of Lucky-shenko. The Brits would say that Riga is 'Boxing Clever.' Still, is it setting itself up as an EU interlocutor. Yet again, this is a story of omisson. Lucky shouldn't trust any of them. And speaking of f/kers who won't let go, Borissov in Bulgaria is still refusing to resign (who cares, they're in the EU) and Djukanovic in pro-EU Montengro remains presient despite losing parliament. But, if you are in Da Klub, however korrupt or faked (hello Romania too!), it's just not news.

MOSCOWEXILE September 19, 2020 at 10:25 pm

RBK

So it must be true! "Novichok" was used to murder the "Leader of the opposition"! Soviet developer of "Novichok" makes an apology to Navalny:

Отравление Навального , 20 сен, 00:23 179 058

Разработчик "Новичка" извинился перед Навальным
Он назвал разработку боевого яда "преступным бизнесом" и пояснил, что посвятил всю свою последующую жизнь борьбе против применения отравляющих веществ


Vil Sultanovich Mirzayanov, a Tatar now living happily in the USA, where he likes to dish the dirt on Russia as regards chemical weapons

Novichok developer has apologized to Navalny
He called the development of combat poison "a criminal business" and explained that he had devoted his entire subsequent life to the fight against the use of toxic substances

A chemist and one of the developers of the Novichok chemical warfare agent Vil Mirzayanov has apologized to opposition leader Alexei Navalny on the Dozhd TV channel.

"I sincerely apologize to Navalny for being involved in this criminal business -- the development of this substance, which he was poisoned with", said the chemist who has lived in the United States since 1995.

He noted that he had devoted himself all his subsequent life to the fight against the use of combat poisons.

In an interview with Dozhd, Mirzayanov explained that in 1993 he met a man who had survived poisoning by "Novichok". He stated that the symptoms he described were similar to those mentioned by Navalny on Instagram on September 19.

"All the symptoms are similar. He overcame, survived. Apparently, Navalny will have to be patient. But, ultimately, he must be healthy, "said the scientist. The restoration of full health to the Russian politician, Mirzayan said, could take up to a year.

In his opinion, the situation as regards the impossibility of writing words on a blackboard, which Navalny described, is associated with problems of signal transmission from the brain to functional organs -- "Novichok" molecules prevent the breakdown of the protein responsible for the transmission of such signals.

RBK calls Navalny a "politician".

"Dozhd" gave the interview.

Both are libturd organs.

Mirzayanov was not a developer of "Novichok". At one time he worked at the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in the department for counteracting foreign technical intelligence, where he rose to the rank of head of department. That is, he was familiar with what they do in laboratories, but he himself did not "invent" Novichok.

He started blowing the whistle as regards the Soviet Union allegedly working around compliancy with the proposed 1990 Chemical Weapons Accord and In 1992 published an article about the USSR and Russian development of extremely potent fourth-generation chemical weapons from the 1970s until the early 1990s. The publication appeared just on the eve of Russia signing the 1990 Chemical Weapons Convention.

Mirzayanov was arrested on treason charges but the trial collapsed. He was released, but kept under house arrest and observation. In 1995 he relocated to the United States where he presently resides, taking a position at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Mirzayanov is a professional Tatar: On October 26, 2008, was elected to the Presidium of the Milli Mejlis of the Tartar People in exile. On January 17, 2009, in an article on CNN, he published the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF TATARSTAN, adopted at a Special Meeting of the Milli Mejlis of the Tatar People on December 20, 2008] At a conference on the separation of Tatarstan from Russia, held in Ankara in the same year, Mirzayanov was elected "Prime Minister" of the "government in exile". In March 2010, Mirzayanov signed the "Putin Must Go" campaign.

In March 2018, after the alleged poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal by "Novichok", Mirzayanov spoke about how Russia had maintained tight control over its "Novichok" stockpile and that the agent is too complicated for a non-state actor to have weaponized.

"It's torture. It's absolutely incurable."

"I never imagined even in my bad dreams that this chemical weapon, developed with my participation, would be used as terrorist weapons."

Mirzayanov said only the Russians could be behind the use of the weapon and said he was convinced Russia carried it out as a way of intimidating opponents of President Vladimir Putin.

Singing for his supper in the USA?

MARK CHAPMAN September 19, 2020 at 10:47 pm

All part of Washington's momentum campaign – keep it rolling, a new atrocity by Russia every day. Mirzayanov is an American now, well established and apparently happy, and doubtless he will be well-rewarded for his storytelling. But I doubt the 'apology' to Navalny was his idea. Washington just wants to keep Navalny in the news, in the hope that the more people learn who he is and what he is all about, the greater will be his influence in Russia.

MOSCOWEXILE September 20, 2020 at 9:37 am

Кто такой Мирзаянов и почему он извинялся перед Навальным?

Who is Mirzayanov and why did he apologize to Navalny?

The mass media, which in general few people trust, continue to increase false publications about the poisoning of blogger Navalny. So, absurd information has appeared on the Web about the fact that one of the creators of "Novichok", Vil Mirzayanov, who lives in the States, has apologized to Alexei Navalny.

But the fact is that Mirzayanov is not a developer of Novichok, he has nothing to do with this poisonous substance. He was involved in some kind of indirect way with the creation of the poison, as were many others, but to call him a developer is like calling a woodworker who made a stretcher for a canvas the artist who created the oil painting that is on it.

So in general, complete nonsense. One of the direct participants in the process of creating the toxin, Leonid Rink, stated that Mirzayanov was only one of the workers on "Novichok", but did not participate in the direct creation of the poison.

He also commented on Navalny's symptoms, saying that they are in no way similar to those that should have been in the case of Novchik poisoning. Rink stressed that his "colleague" also cannot know what the real symptoms are when this toxin enters the human body. So Mirzayanov's statement is completely unfounded, and may apparently be explained as having been made because he was ordered by someone to make it.

Finally, Rink said that if Navalny had been poisoned with this particular poison, he would not have been saved.

KARL1HAUSHOFER September 20, 2020 at 10:42 am

Russia has so many internal traitors (Navalny, Rodchenko and this Mirzayanov for example) that it makes too easy for Russia's enemies to use them against Russia.

MARK CHAPMAN September 20, 2020 at 11:38 am

And is it working? Is the west achieving the goals it set for itself by co-opting these traitors? Maybe in the short term; the west was successful – using Rodchenkov – of keeping Russia largely out of a couple of Olympics series. But the overall effect, it seems to me, is that the west is increasingly revealed as a partisan liar, and consequently untrustworthy.

Why do you say, "So many"? Does Russia have more 'internal traitors' than other countries? From the point of view that they are willing to help other countries overthrow their own government, perhaps. But otherwise they are simply people who disagree with the way their country is run, by the people who run it. The rest is support offered by the west for them to air their views. Do you think Russia could make good use of Edward Snowden to bring down the United States government by starting a movement in the USA of discontented people? I do; it wouldn't even be difficult – it is a fragmented and angry country already, with several anti-government movements the government can barely keep in check. Are there any signs Russia plans to use that approach? I mean, for real, not the hysterical cries that Russia is behind Black Lives Matter and other obviously-American groups that are fed up with their lives as they are.

KARL1HAUSHOFER September 20, 2020 at 11:57 am

It is working because 95% of the people in Finland or the United States or Germany believe that Russian state poisoned Navalny. The facts don't matter as much as what people believe in.

And those who want more sanctions against Russia and isolate Russia also benefit, because they can point to Navalny "poisoning" and say that Russia must be punished.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 20, 2020 at 1:37 pm

In the US, virtually everyone has an opinion regardless of the level of familiarity with the topic. But, the willingness to suffer for those opinions is ZERO, nada, ništa.

I would appreciate a link to the information indicating 95% of the US population "believe[s] that Russian state poisoned Navalny".

Like I said before, so much US propaganda is being dispensed that its value, like an overprinted currency, is diminishing. When the US economic system collapses, as it surely will, all those opinions will be forgotten as quickly as last year's "America's Got Talent" runner-up.

JEN September 20, 2020 at 9:14 pm

I should think 95% of the population in most countries will go, "Navalny, who's he? Anyone I should know?"

MOSCOWEXILE September 20, 2020 at 10:00 pm

Where do you get the figure 95% from? Off the top of your head or, in the opposite direction, a gut feeling?

MARK CHAPMAN September 20, 2020 at 10:07 pm

And so they apply more sanctions. Has that had any measurable negative effect on Russia? What will they do, ban it from the Council of Europe again?

Look at it this way – the sanctions and the regime-change operations in neighbouring countries and the serial-lying campaigns have all been part of a plan, a plan to drive Putin from power and put a western bobblehead in his place. How many years have they been trying this, now – since 2014? Is it working? Is Russia in worse shape now than it was then, or better? Is it more independent, or less? More assertive, or less? Does it have a more diversified economy, or less?

If I had put this plan together, and poured it on as hard as I could for six straight years now and had as little to show for it as the west has, I'd be expecting to be called into the office any day now to get fired.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 21, 2020 at 3:25 am

95% of the regular commentators on this blog believe Karl is wrong.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 20, 2020 at 1:28 pm

Russia has so many internal traitors (Navalny, Rodchenko and this Mirzayanov for example) that it makes too easy for Russia's enemies to use them against Russia.

The US government/deep state leadership is traitorous to its own population. The steadily decreasing standard of living over the past 3-4 decades combined with a rapidly growing wealth inequity tell us that,

Having traitors fighting the national leadership is to be much preferred to a national leadership in the hands of traitors. More simply, the US does not have many traitors because the traitors are running the show.

Got it?

When all is said and done, the countries with the most fit population will generally prevail if left alone. The West knows that hence the continuous pressure on Russia. Still got it?

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 3:53 am

The Great Leader?


Guide us, O thou great redeemer, pilgrims through this barren land!


Follow me to the sweet summer pastures!


I shall lead you all to the Shining City on the Hill


Yay!!!! Follow the Wizard of Oz! Мы -- власть!

JEN September 20, 2020 at 9:25 pm

Mirzayanov lives in the US where he apparently was made Prime Minister in the "government in exile" for Tatarstan in 2010 . I wonder how that's been working out for him for the past 10 years.

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 6:05 am


The last photo of Alexei Navalny before boarding the Moscow bound aeroplane plane in Tomsk / Twitter

Taken after Navalny had allegedly drunk poisoned tea, they all at first howled in unison, but now they say he drank from a Novichok contaminated bottle in his hotel room, which the Navalnyites later so fortuitously recovered from Navalny's long vacated hotel room and sent to Berlin.

95% of people in the West believe this story, namely that Navalny was poisoned by Novichok?

And not only do 95% of Westerners believe that Navalny had ingested Novichok, but also, that it was a specially developed delayed action Novichok that would only take effect some 40 minutes after that photo above had been taken.

Furthermore, 95% of Westerners believe that Navalny recovered from his poisoning by specially developed, delayed-action Novichok.

Now if the story were subsequently changed and it were claimed that Navalny had been poisoned by, say, special, delayed action strychnine, AND had recovered from its effects, would 95% of Westerners believe that as well?

Well, maybe, if it were alleged that such special, delayed action Strychnine could only have been developed by evil Russian scientists, and one of those who partook in its development now showed remorse for his nefarious activities ands made a public apology to Navalny for all the bother said strychnine had caused him.

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 7:10 am

Libtard Kommersant:

21.09.2020, 14:39

Навальный потребовал вернуть изъятую в омской больнице одежду

Navalny has demanded that his clothes removed in the Omsk hospital be returned

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFZWwwdlinq/embed/captioned

Greetings from Berlin! The happy couple enjoying deutsche Gemütlichkeit . It's a miracle, I tell ya!

The above Instagram text reads:

Julia and I had our anniversary on August 26 -- 20 years of being wed, but I'm even glad that I missed it and I can write this today, when I know a little more about love than I did a month ago.

You, of course, have seen this a hundred times in films and read about it in books: one loving person lies in a coma, and the other brings him back to life with her love and incessant care. Of course, we also acted in this way. According to the canons of classic films about love and coma. I slept and slept and slept. Julia came, talked to me, sang songs to me, turned on music. I won't lie – I don't remember anything.

But I'll tell you what I remember exactly. Rather, it can hardly be called a "memory", rather, a bundle of my very first sensations and emotions. However, it was so important to me that it has been forever imprinted in my mind. I'm lying there. I have already been brought out of the coma, but I don't recognize anyone, I don't understand what is happening. I don't speak and I don't know what to say. And the whole of the time that I was there was spent waiting for her arrival. Who she is is unclear. I don't know what she looks like either. Even if I manage to see something with a defocused gaze, then I simply cannot remember the picture. But She is different, I understand that, so I lie and wait for her all the time. She comes and becomes the head of the ward. She adjusts my pillow very comfortably. She doesn't have a quiet, sympathetic tone. She talks cheerfully and laughs. She tells me something. When she is around, idiotic hallucinations recede. It's very good with her. Then she leaves, I feel sad, and I start waiting for her again.

I don't doubt for a second that there is a scientific explanation for this. Well, like, I caught the timbre of my wife's voice, my brain secreted dopamines, it became easier for me. Each visit literally became healing, and the expectation effect increased the dopamine reward. But no matter how cool scientific and medical explanation sounds, now I know for sure just from my own experience: love heals and brings you back to life. Julia, you saved me, and let it be written in the textbooks on neuroscience😍

[Wipes tear from eye .]

The body of the Kommersant article text:

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has published a blog post in which he is outraged by the lack of a criminal investigation into his poisoning. He has also demanded the return of his clothes, which may be important evidence. Mr. Navalny noted that two independent laboratories in France and Sweden, as well as a German special laboratory in the Bundeswehr, had confirmed the presence of Novichok in his body. "However, in Russian political and legal reality, none of this exists In Russia there is no criminal case, but there is a "pre-investigation check on the fact of hospitalization ". It seems that I didn't fall into a coma on the aeroplane, but slipped in a supermarket and broke my leg", wrote Mr. Navalny. He also demanded that the clothes he wore on August 20 be returned to him -- the day he felt sick. According to the politician, he was "sent absolutely naked" to Germany. "Considering that a Novichok was found on my body and a contact method of infection is very likely, my clothes are a very important piece of evidence. 30 days allotted by law for pre-investigation

Listen, arsehole: you threw a wobbler on the aircraft, howled and screamed and rolled around on the deck and then, allegedly, went into a coma. On admission to hospital, you were put into a coma and remained in an induced comatose state until your miraculous recovery in the Charité, Berlin

The reason why no criminal case has been made in the country where you were allegedly dosed with Novichock, is that there is no evidence of this being the case. Furthermore, there was no evidence of poisoning in the analyses of your body fluids and tissue done in Omsk.

German doctors say that they have such evidence, but they wont show it; likewise the Bundeswehr laboratories.

And there will be no traces of Novichok on your clothing in the Omsk hospital either. If there had been, there would have been a lot of dead people at that hospital last month.

So fuck off!

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 7:11 am

Oh, and his Instagram message above is entitled "Post about Love".

Navalny for president!!!!!

MARK CHAPMAN September 21, 2020 at 11:51 am

I think I love him best when he shows his softer side. 'Oo's just a big teddy-bear, then?

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 12:35 pm

By the way, is that an ashtray I see, tucked away on the floor near the sliding glass-door jamb?

A Russian ashtray, forsooth -- namely and old food can. Not a genuine Russkie ashtray, though, which are usually fashioned out of empty sprat cans.

Whatever, those nice Fritz doctors must have bent the rules so that the hero can go to the balcony for a quick drag between ward rounds.

Hope Mutti Merkel doesn't find out!

MARK CHAPMAN September 21, 2020 at 11:50 am

Never fear – I expect there will be plenty more idiotic hallucinations to come.

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 12:25 pm

21 сентября 2020
Стали известны результаты исследований одежды Навального

September 21, 2020
The results of investigations of Navalny's clothing have become known

Russian experts did not find traces of poison or hazardous substances on the belongings of Alexei Navalny, in which he was on the day of hospitalization. The results of the research have been made known to the TASS agency.

"In his personal belongings, no dangerous, prohibited, poisonous, other substances or their traces were found", said a source in law enforcement agencies.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health of the Omsk region told Interfax that Navalny's clothes were seized from doctors by the investigating authorities during an inspection.

On Monday, September 21, the blogger demanded that the things that were removed from him in the Omsk hospital be returned to him. According to him, these clothes could become important evidence, since there were traces of a poisonous substance on his body. "30 days of a 'pre-investigation check' were used to hide this vital piece of evidence. I demand that my clothes be carefully packed in a plastic bag and returned to me", the oppositionist said.

Yeah, deny, deny, deny! That's all that Russians do. However, 95% of Finnish people think he was Novichocked and there were traces of the most deadly nerve agent known to man on his clothes.

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 7:13 am

Call me a hard-hearted cynic if you will, for I am!

MOSCOWEXILE September 21, 2020 at 10:11 am

У РОССИИ НЕТ БУДУЩЕГО: ЛИКВИДИРОВАЛИ ПАРТИЮ НАВАЛЬНОГО
21.09.2020

RUSSIA HAS NO FUTURE: NAVALNY'S PARTY LIQUIDATED
09/21/2020

Today, September 21, the RF Supreme Court liquidated Navalny's party "Russia of the Future".

In mid-May 2019, Alexey Navalny's assistants submitted documents to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for registration of the "Russia of the Future" party. True, the ministry re-registered the "Party of Free Citizens" under a new name, but refused to register Navalny's associates, owing to the fact that a party with this name had already been registered.

Alexei Navalny filed a lawsuit trying to challenge the registration refusal. Ultimately, both the Zamoskvoretsky Court and the Moscow City Court were on the side of the Ministry of Justice.

Navalny's aide, Ivan Zhdanov, said they currently do not plan to reapply for party registration.

"Our case has been communicated to the ECHR and we are not planning new filings in the near future", Zhdanov said.

Since 2012, politician Navalny has been trying to register his party under the names "People's Alliance", "Party of Progress" or "Russia of the Future". However, all attempts to do so have been in vain.

In other words, as I have said before: "Fuck off, arsehole!"

The "politician" without a party and with statistically zilch public support in Russia.

No mass protests or civil unrest anywhere in Russia since Navalny's alleged poisoning: nothing like the massive popular protests held week in week out in support for Furgal in Khabarovsk. Sweet FA in support of the "leader of the Russian opposition" whom Putin tried to murder with Novichok!

However, I hear that 95% of people in the West believe there was indeed an assassination attempt made against the US agent using the most deadly nerve agent (weapons grade, modified) known to man and undertaken on Putin's direct order.

MARK CHAPMAN September 21, 2020 at 11:55 am

Here's a possible solution – call it "The Party of Crooks and Thieves". Subtle, innit? Then The Kremlin will think Navalny is calling himself and his fellow party members crooks and thieves, when all along he is simply planning – cunningly, as he and the US Department of State do everything – to give his signature phrase the publicity boost it deserves! Fookin' ELEGANT!

CORTES September 22, 2020 at 12:34 am

Reminds me of the faultless logic of George Armstrong Custer:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kpbq6nGbs50?feature=oembed

JAMES LAKE September 21, 2020 at 2:49 pm

Navalny would have been better off staying silent.

He just confirms by his words and behaviour what a fake this all is.

What a traitor

PATIENT OBSERVER September 21, 2020 at 3:33 pm

I wonder if the several gallons of acid will be spilled accidentally on the flight logs.

https://www.rt.com/usa/501323-epstein-flights-passengers-list-subpoena/

Bill Clinton made 24 flights on the Lolita Express to Rape Island. Hilary apparent partook of the girls as well as reported elsewhere.

Stranger things have happened:

https://www.rt.com/usa/500411-mueller-team-wiped-phones/

Over a dozen members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russiagate-investigating team "accidentally" wiped their phones before they could be inspected and "lost" the phone of disgraced FBI lawyer Lisa Page with anti-Trump texts.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 21, 2020 at 5:59 pm

Musing during an evening work break – the reason why mass rape of children by our vaunted leaders draw so little attention from the MSM has nothing to do with "protecting" those in power either due to fear or reward. Rather, Bill and Hilary do what comes natural to sociopaths. As such, their behavior is accepted, if not condoned, as normal for those in power. Us deplorables just don't get it.

CORTES September 22, 2020 at 6:24 am

He's not the Messiah – he's a very naughty boy:

https://www.rt.com/russia/501367-siberian-cult-leader-arrested/

Hopefully a US support group can negotiate for him to be freed and allowed to spread his Gospel in North America.

MOSCOWEXILE September 22, 2020 at 9:55 am

Посетивший "Шарите" журналист показал признаки отсутствия там Навального
14:55 22 Сентября 2020, Берлин, Германия

Journalist who has visited Charité has pointed out signs of Navalny's absence there
14:55 22 September 2020, Berlin, Germany

Alexei Navalny is not at the Charité clinic in Berlin. This is the conclusion reached by journalist Alexander Sosnovsky, who has visited the place.


A journalist from Berlin has shown why Navalny cannot be at the "Charité" / Collage: FBA "Economics Today"

According to the journalist, the photo of Navalny with his wife on a balcony makes one think about his whereabouts. Sosnovsky, who is familiar with the architecture of Berlin, drew attention to the strange urban landscape in the corner of the picture. He pointed out that the Charité building does not have balconies with a similar view, as it is located in the central part of Berlin with a completely different architecture.

To confirm his words in practical way, Sosnovsky personally went to the Charité and walked around the building with a camera. He drew attention to the construction work near the clinic (this would probably have got into the blogger's photo), as well as the complete absence of journalists and security. All this confirmed Sosnovsky's suspicions about Navalny's absence from Charité.

In addition to the cityscape, the journalist had questions about the can with cigarette butts on Navalny's balcony. Sosnovsky called such an object impossible in an élite medical institution in Germany with patients of this level. If Navalny himself smoked all the cigarettes in the frame, this raises even more questions about his "diagnosis" and the conclusions of German doctors.

The journalist notes that all the shots of Navalny taken after he had emerged from the coma are static and "inanimate." Sosnovsky, a person with a medical education and a practicing doctor, calls this understandable, pointing to the possibility of identifying the signs of specific diseases and influences based on movements, speech and other dynamic manifestations. For example, after a tracheostomy (artificial windpipe), a person often has voice problems.

"Any video and audio makes it possible with a high degree of probability to calculate where and how it was made. It is much more difficult from a photo. And if they hide from us the opportunity to determine the location and diagnosis, this is very significant", Sosnovsky said on the air of Soloviev Live.

Earlier, Navalny demanded that Russia return the clothes in which the blogger was hospitalized in Omsk. However, Navalny's own associates previously wrote that all his belongings were transferred to his wife, and some of the items that the blogger touched and used could have been taken out by Maria Pevchikh, a suspect in his poisoning.

JEN September 22, 2020 at 4:54 pm

Bingo! I had said a few days earlier:

" This makes you wonder whether Navalny even set foot into any hospital in Berlin at all, and not just a medical clinic or some place where discharged patients go to recuperate after a hospital stay "

– even before that photo of the Navalnys being lovey-dovey on a balcony appeared. Do hospital floor plans normally include balconies attached to patient wards? I am sure hospitals are not designed like hotels or even like educational institutions, to include balconies for individual patients or groups of patients, for possible security and liability reasons among others. (You don't want patients sneaking out at night and possibly getting run over in traffic when they are supposed to be under hospital supervision; and you also don't want to make entry easy for people looking for drugs and entering hospitals through patient wards to get drugs.)

ArchDaily.com has 50 examples of floor plans of hospitals and health clinics at this link if anyone is interested enough in scrolling through them all.

And since when do hospitals allow patients or even their visitors to smoke on their premises? Not only are they a health hazard (to smokers and non-smokers alike in sealed air-conditioned environments such as hospitals provide) but they are also a fire hazard.

MARK CHAPMAN September 22, 2020 at 11:18 pm

Navalny was supposedly on oxygen until just a couple of days ago, and firing up a lung dart around oxygen is as good a way as any to blow yourself up.

Mind you, when you have survived poisoning with enough nerve agent to kill an elephant, you're invincible.

Speaking of hospitals, how's the missus getting on?

MARK CHAPMAN September 22, 2020 at 11:59 am

It looks as if the day when the poor will no longer be needed has come.

https://www.anti-empire.com/now-for-the-real-killer-lockdown-hunger/

ET AL September 23, 2020 at 8:51 am

They've now dropped him. The S&D were upset with the EPP as they didn't do their homework.

ET AL September 22, 2020 at 1:21 pm

I can't remember where I read it (Euractiv?), but apparently the current NordStream II plan is to complete it and then apply restrictive measures such as capacity caps etc. This I can believe. A) it get's Brussels off the hook for wildly violating its own Energy Charter (private investor protections), something which you may all recall Brussels has been trying to use against Russia even though the latter did not ratify it but is technically supposed to be bound by the rules or a period; b) it looks like it has taken action; c) it can reverse at any point not to mention all the exemptions Brussels allowed for 'Field Pipes', TAP etc. and retro-actively trying to redefine its rule to be ex-territoria – i.e. apply to out pipline that are not end-to-end EU pipelines but cross outside of the EU. And finally to threaten and blackmail Gazprom in public to agree Privately mutually beneficial terms that do not contravene the Energy Charter, i.e. if Gazprom voluntarliy goes along with the new rules. Very Brussels 'squaring the circle'/presenting weakness/compromise as VICTORY!

We know from the past that Brussels imposed a 50% capacity cap on Russian gas though NS I until demand picked up and the restriction would have driven up prices for EU industry and private customers and thus magically lifted the cap, subject to 'market conditions' of course!

In other news, a PiS (Polish government) spokesman said that they didn't need coalition partners which turned out to mean that 'The PiS-led coalition would lose its parliamentary majority without United Poland, which has 17 seats. The coalition crisis came after simmering tensions spilled into open conflict when the junior members refused to support an animal rights bill. .' 'Hanging by a thread' anal-cyst looks more like projection to me.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/italy-slashes-number-of-politicians-by-a-third/

MARK CHAPMAN September 22, 2020 at 11:13 pm

Oh, what a stupid fucking plan. They're not serious, or don't realize they are not, but ENI and Uniper and Wintershall are not going to put up with that shit for a minute. They invested to make money, not lose it, and they are not remotely interested in making room for American LNG. I sometimes wonder what passes for political nous in Europe these days – it doesn't look like you have to have too many synapses firing.

ET AL September 23, 2020 at 1:22 am

Therefore it is very much a political figleaf. Something they can tell themselves and others knowing full well that they won't do it. More importantly they think it buys them time for example if t-Rump is not re-elected even though the Dems are onboard with the 'f/k NSII' plans.

I think this actually shows that they looked down the barrel of the gun (i.e. spoke to their own Legal Service) and didn't like what they saw, that Brussels would be unequivocaly on the hook for NSII not being completed. This is just like earlier when the EU Legal Services told them that they couldn't apply the Third Energy Package retroactively (as previously posted on this blog – or was it the old one?). The article below has a pdf upload of the actual EU Legal Services opinion & the German.* Bundesnetzagentur.

* https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/interview/nord-stream-2-official-we-see-a-lot-of-smokescreens-thrown-around/

MARK CHAPMAN September 22, 2020 at 11:24 pm

Oh, look at that – Mr. Less-than-5% has been 'discharged' from the hospital he probably was never in, so you journalists can stop hanging about picking the western storyline apart; he ain't here no more.

Poisoned with the deadliest nerve agent known to man, and in less than a week he's ready to hit the road (less than a week after coming out of a coma where he had to have a ventilator breathe for him, I mean). Day one, he wakes up. Day two, he's recovered 90% of his brain function and nearly all his mobility. And only a couple of days after that, he's demanding his clothes back from Russia and making plans for his glorious return, perhaps riding an Abrams main battle tank. Wasn't Detective Bailey in the hospital for weeks, with death hovering over his pillow the whole time? And HE had gloves on! Navalny is Superman. Remarkable.

https://www.rt.com/russia/501448-navalny-discharged-berlin-hospital/

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 12:58 am

Fully recovered, the Fritz miracle worker doctors say.


A golden Guinea to the swab who first spies a balcony on yon white monster! Aaaaarrr!!!

As it happens, I lived in Berlin for a while in 1988 -- in both the capitalist showcase of "West Berlin" and in "East Berlin", the capital of the former German Democratic Republic or "sowjetische Besatzungszone" as "West German" politicians liked to label the place without going into details about why exactly a large chunk of the so=called "Thousand Year Reich" was indeed occupied by the Soviet Union, and I agree with other critics: no way was that balcony shot of Bullshitter and his wife taken at the Charité, which is situated right slap bang in the middle of Berlin.

Berlin's Charité Hospital -- "Bettenhochhaus" -- was completed in 1982 and was cleaned and renovated in 2016-2017. It is around 87m tall and is Germany's largest hospital. It dominates the skyline at the Mitte Campus, nestled right in the middle of the city near the Parliament and Central Station.

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 1:18 am

The opinion of a Russian blogger who clearly isn't a Navalny kiddie:

Навальному не стоит возвращается в Россию.
Yesterday

Navalny really shouldn't return home to Russia.

Not because he is in trouble with the law here. Although a trial awaits him in order to establish the truth as regards another criminal case. Not because he can be poisoned (but who needs him), although no one poisoned him. He is either a pawn in someone's dirty game that was used on the quiet, or the initiator of this whole bad story.

If he had really been poisoned with a chemical warfare agent, then everyone who had contact with him would be in the hospital bed. And the aeroplane in which they brought the bottle on which the traces of "Novichok" were allegedly found, would have been burnt long ago. As in the case with the Skripals, the British demolished the house where they had found traces of the poison. Somehow everything turns out awkwardly.

What is it all for? By and large, Navalny does not play any role in Russian politics. An ordinary blogger who positions himself as an opposition politician, fighter against corruption. True, it is worth recalling that this fighter against corruption has himself been a defendant in a criminal case of embezzlement in Kirovles. And he received a five-year suspended sentence for embezzlement and yet more embezzlement.

Scandals are his bread and butter. The forgotten blogger decided to remind everyone about himself in this way, let's say for the sake of hype. True, it all went too far. And if the truth is revealed, and someday it will definitely come out, then Navalny will really have to worry about his health . . .

Most likely, the fugitive blogger will disappear like Skripal. It will be better for everyone. So stay there in Germany or go to the states.

And the above opinion, in my opinion, is what the vast majority of Russians think.

I live with Russians -- real Russians: I don't sit in flash cafés or bars, chinwagging with the Russian bourgeois "élite", who are ever willing to spill forth to me their tales of woe and suffering in the "regime" and their yearning for the establishment of a "liberal" Western "democracy" here, as do the likes of Independent Moscow correspondent Carroll, and Shaun "don't-give-me-no-dill" Walker, the BBC correspondent Rainsford, so full of negative spin on all things Russian, and her slimy git of a BBC colleague Rosenberg.

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 1:34 am

And now the ever truthful Frog rag "Le Monde" reports that in conversation with Macron, Putin suggested that the Bullshitter may have poisoned himself. Signal immediate heart-rending response from team Navalny -- read "Washington":

"Сварил на кухне „Новичок". Тихо отхлебнул из фляжки в самолете"
Навальный ответил на предположение Путина о том, что оппозиционер сам выпил яд

"I cooked 'Novichok' in the kitchen. I took a soft sip from a flask on the plane "
Navalny has responded to Putin's suggestion that the oppositionist himself drank poison

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has responded to the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin, published in the French newspaper "Le Monde", that he poisoned himself with a substance from the "Novichok" group. "Good version. I believe that it deserves the closest study. Cooked "Novichok" in the kitchen. Took a soft sip from a flask on the plane. I fell into a coma. Prior to that, I agreed with my wife, friends and colleagues that if the Ministry of Health insists that they take me to Germany for treatment, they would not allow it to be done. To die in the Omsk hospital and end up in the Omsk morgue, where the cause of death would be established: "had lived enough" – this is the ultimate goal of my cunning plan. But Putin outplayed me. You just can't fool him. As a result, I, like a fool, lay in a coma for 18 days, but did not achieve my goal. The provocation failed! " – ironically Navalny on his page on the social network Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFcys39FhFC/embed/captioned

Who could not feel sympathy for that bullshitting twat?

Hey, arsehole, who keeps you funded so that you may live according to the style you are accustomed?

What's your real source of income?

How do you earn your daily bread?

There are already appearing on the Russian web suspicions that the "Le Monde" story is fake.

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 1:40 am

I wonder why the silence from the usual mouthy Doctor Vaselinovaya?

The otherwise mouthy at gobshite level Sobol is keeping stumm as well.

Wonder why?

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 2:18 am

23 сентября 2020, 08:39
Заявление Макрона по Навальному и громкая публикация Le Monde

23 September 2020, 08:39
Macron's statement on Navalny and the resonating publication of "Le Monde"

The French President said that what happened to the Russian oppositionist was an "assassination attempt." Le Monde wrote about the conversation between Macron and Putin, and the Russian ambassador to Germany has said that Berlin does not want to cooperate with Moscow over the Navalny situation.

Updated at 10:07

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Russia to shed light on the situation with Navalny. Speaking at a session of the UN General Assembly, the French President called the incident an "assassination attempt": "We will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons in Europe, Russia or Syria. We need to clarify quickly and flawlessly as we will make sure that the red lines are respected. "

His video message to the UN coincided with a high-profile publication of the French newspaper "Le Monde" about a telephone conversation between Macron and Putin. Sources of the publication retell their conversation about the situation with Navalny.

According to Le Monde, it was "a conversation not intended to be heard". According to sources, Macron said that since it would be impossible for a private organization to use "Novichok" [Why? Peddling another "Novichok" myth yet again! -- ME] , an official Russian explanation is needed [Why? Presumption of Russian guilt? -- ME] . In response, Putin allegedly called Alexei Navalny "a simple internet brawler who committed illegal actions in the past and used the Anti-Corruption Fund to blackmail deputies and officials". According to the newspaper, the Russian president noted that Navalny had previously simulated various diseases and could have swallowed the poison himself. Why the politician did this, Putin did not explain, writes "Le Monde".

According to the newspaper, Vladimir Putin also noted that "Novichok" is a much less complex substance than it is believed. The lack of an official investigation was explained by the fact that the results of the French and German tests were not transferred to Russia. In addition, the Russian president, according to "Le Monde's" sources, suggested investigating other versions, leading, in particular, to Latvia, where the inventor of "Novichk" lives. As the newspaper noted, in fact, several Soviet scientists took part in the creation of "Novichk" at once, and the fact that one of them lives abroad says nothing, especially in the absence of any plausible motive. According to the newspaper, Macron rejected the Latvian trace and the version of an attempt to poison himself.

How should one feel about the publication of "Le Monde" and will it have any impact in Europe? Commentary by political scientist Georgy Bovt:

– First of all, Le Monde has just thrown shit at the Russian president, because, first of all, we do not know in what context this was said. It could have been said in such a sarcastic tone, for example, and in the context of other spoken phrases, it would have sounded different from what it sounds like now, when such a position seems rather too strange to many. This happens quite often when retelling rather frank conversations of politicians, which are then presented without understanding the tone and context. So, of course, this post will make a difference. And secondly, the fact that the Elysée Palace itself considered it possible to leak this information to the press makes it problematic in the future to communicate with Macron at the level at which it happened before.

– During his speech at the session, he also called on Russia to shed light on, as he put it, the attempt to assassinate Navalny.

– It doesn't matter much now, since it is obvious that the conversation with Putin, which took place in confidence, was leaked to the press. Usually this is not done after all. And if it is done, then the relationship that was before is cancelled out. This probably means that Macron also decided to cross out his relationship with Putin, which had developed before.

– Couldn't Putin have thus, on the contrary, been try to improve relations by recounting all Navalny's "ideas" and attempts to blackmail people close to the authorities during his investigations?

– The Kremlin's attitude towards Navalny can hardly be called exalted, and to say that the Kremlin loves Navalny would be a strong exaggeration. Therefore, the attitude to this politician there is supercritical, dismissive. Nevertheless, to seriously talk about the fact that he poisoned himself -- well, the general public will not understand this: this requires at least some additional clarification about the basis on which such statements are made, if they are made seriously, and not in such a manner as a cynical joke.

[You must be kidding, Bovt! Navalny critics -- and most Russians are! -- think he's lower than a snake's belly, that he's a TRAITOR, a FOREIGN AGENT!!!!! If the Pindosi tell him to give one for the Gipper, he'll fucking well do it! That's his nature. He's in it for the moolah!!!! Nothing else! -- ME]

Late at night, Navalny himself reacted to the publication. On social media, he wrote: "Good version. I cooked "Novichok" in the kitchen. I took a soft sip from a flask on the aeroplane. To die in an Omsk hospital and end up in an Omsk morgue, where the cause of death would be established "had lived enough" -- that was the ultimate goal of my cunning plan. But Putin outplayed me. You just can't fool him. As a result, I, like a fool, lay in a coma for 18 days, but did not achieve my goal. The provocation failed! "

Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev said that Berlin does not want to cooperate with Moscow on the situation with Navalny. According to him, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office sent requests for legal assistance to France, Sweden and twice to Germany, but did not receive a single answer.

According to the diplomat, without these samples from foreign laboratories, law enforcement agencies cannot start a criminal investigation into the incident. He said that a preliminary investigation of the situation had already begun on the part of Russia: many objects were examined, the staff of the hotel, hospital and airport were interviewed.

According to the latest data, Navalny's condition improved and he was discharged from the hospital. This was told in the Berlin clinic Charite. Doctors consider it possible that he will recover completely.

Which all begs the question that he was poisoned with "Novichok", which he clearly wasn't!

Why?

Because he is not dead!

It matters not who administered the poison or whether the bullshitting bastard took it himself: the dose wasn't lethal.

The bastard took some salts in the aircraft toilet, then put on a show for the passengers, none of whom suffered any ill effects from their having been in close proximity with a person covered with the most deadly poison known to man.

Russian doctors at Omsk know that the lying traitorous bastard wasn't poisoned.

So do German doctors in Berlin, but they have political agenda to follow.

Macron is a French excuse for a politician.

JEREMN September 23, 2020 at 1:45 am

On the Navalny poisoning. Interesting to see that Vladimir Ashurkov is in the inner core of the Integrity Initiative. Suggesting another media-led provocation.

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 3:37 am

Given "asylum' in the UK in 2015. Russian dissident Vladimir Ashurkov given UK asylum 1 April 2015

April Fool?

More fool you BBC for believing the story of such a cnut!

Ashurkov is Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. A former banker, Ashurkov was rolling the lolly in as the Director of Group Portfolio Management and Control at Alfa Group Consortium from 2006 to 2012, when he was asked to step down because of his political involvement with Alexei Navalny. So he has an axe trto grind.

As usual, the rich and privileged Ashurkov is so typical of the millions of Russians who love and adore Bullshitter Navalny.

From the Russian Wiki entry on Ashurkov, which is far more revealing than the sparse English Wiki on the thieving twat:

In April 2014, Ashurkov left Russia. On July 30, 2014, he was put on the federal wanted list in the case of fraud with the financing of Navalny's election campaign as mayor of Moscow.

In July 2014, he applied for political asylum in the UK in connection with persecution in the Russian Federation. In February 2015, he received asylum, at the same time his common-law wife Alexandrina Markvo was arrested in absentia by the Basmanny Court, whose firm Bureau 17 of the RF IC was accused of stealing several million budget funds during literary events.

In the UK, he was engaged in investment projects in the field of venture and angel investments dedicated to e-commerce. At the same time, he continued to work with Alexei Navalny. In December 2015, he launched the Sanation Law project, which analyzes the adopted scandalous bills and the process of their further cancellation, "which will become relevant when the political system is liberalized and the new government takes a course to dismantle the authoritarian regime". According to his own statements, he changed his libertarian beliefs to more leftist ones.

He gave, along with several others, testimony to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament in connection with the preparation of the latter's report "Russian corruption and the UK inquiry", which was presented in May 2018 year.

In November 2018, hackers of the Anonymous group published documents of the British project Integrity Initiative; amongst others, Ashurkov's surname appeared in the lists of participants. Ashurkov suggested that the hackers stole the Institute of Statecraft (one of the founders of the Integrity Initiative) mailing address database, which actually contains his email address. According to him, he had not heard of the Integrity Initiative.

Yes, of course he hadn't!

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 3:49 am

BBC on Navalny's discharge from hospital:

Western politicians are still undecided over their response to the poisoning , says the BBC's Jenny Hill in Berlin.

However, Mr Navalny's discharge from hospital will intensify pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has demanded – so far in vain – a full explanation from the Kremlin, she adds.

A nerve agent from the Novichok group was also used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England in 2018. They both survived, but a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after coming into contact with the poison.

Britain accused Russia's military intelligence of carrying out that attack . Twenty countries expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats and spies. Moscow denied any involvement.

And no evidence presented whatsoever for the above highlighted accusations.

But Russia, as ever, is presented as denying a fully proven fact -- a "slam dunk" accusation, as I believe Pindosi are sometimes wont to say.

ET AL September 23, 2020 at 4:10 am

Dances with Bears: NAVALNY, PEVCHIKH ARE BARKING DOGS; MERKEL AND NORD STREAM-2 ARE THE CARAVAN WHICH MOVES ON
http://johnhelmer.net/navalny-pevchikh-are-barking-dogs-merkel-and-nord-stream-2-are-the-caravan-which-moves-on/

What with all the noise of the dogs and camels, a swan song can be easily missed. But not Maria Pevchikh's (lead image, right) broadcast by the BBC's Russian Service.

For the first time, the British state propaganda organ has said too much too loudly in defence of one of its Russian assets, and confirmed the combination of celebrity, political ambition, and money which has made the poisoning of Alexei Navalny a faulty fabrication; and Navalny's attempt to make political capital out of it, a modest success for the British secret services; an immodest failure for the German Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, German Army, and the Berlin medical clinic which goes by the name of Charity

German sources close to the thinking of the Chancellery in Berlin and of Chancellor Angela Merkel believe that whatever she has been told by her subordinates and experts, her intention is to let the Navalny poisoning narrative fade away for lack of evidence of a crime the Germans are willing to publish
####

More at the link.

I concur with the conclusion. I think at some point Merkel realized she was being bumped in to action and rather than just saying 'No' against a mass of pressure and liability for her, she moved sideways and insisted on the full processes to be followed. That way she could not be accused of blocking, and secondly it affects the time frame for actions which is the whole critical point of the whole affair. Outside a certain window, proposed actions lose much of their force, are obsolete or ultimately become pointless.

As for les grenouilles, le coq is all about puffing up its chest and looking much bigger than ite really is. Maybe they've given up on their 'special relationship' with Russia. It's certainly backwards from when Putin allowed Sarkozy to dig the EU/NATO and the west out of its self-made hole of backing Saakashiti's 2008 'war of liberation.' Exactly what 'other tools' does Clément Beaune think the EU can bring to bear on Russia that would have any more effect than the current sanction etc.?* Unless he is talking about sorcery

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-hard-power-russia-turkey-france-minister/

But we were so bad at dealing with power that we just delegated it, if I may put it like that, to NATO, to the U.S., to national states, armies and so on," Beaune said.

"The EU was not about this. So the EU is learning that, hello, there are some powers on the doorstep -- Russia, Turkey, just to mention two of them, the main ones -- and they are not so nice. So we have to unite and we have to develop tools, and we don't have them at this stage," he said

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 5:09 am

Apparently, Pevchikh was given a bogus interview on the BBC and was presented as an uninteresting, nothing special sort of person, about whom rumours and innuendo were amassing for no reason whatsoever.

The interviewer never pressed her on how long she had lived in the UK, what her business interests there were (claims have been made that she runs a book store), why she visits Russia so frequently, what indeed isher present citizenship, how she became involved with Navalny's "fund" -- she says she answered an ad., but where? In the UK? Hardly! And on and on .

It was a "nothing to see here, now move along!" interview undertaken by the free of state control BBC under the auspices of the State Intelligence Service, for whom, I am sure, Pevchikh is a most willing helper, if not in its employ.

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 6:51 am

I bet 95% of Finns believe Pevchikh's version of events though!

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 7:09 am

Zakharova:

"In response to the actions of the European Union, Russia has decided to expand the list of representatives of EU member states and institutions that are prohibited from entering the Russian Federation".

She stressed that the number of people in the list is equal to a similar list compiled by the European Union, adding that the bloc has taken multiple unfriendly steps towards Russian citizens, using sanctions as an "absurd" excuse

See:

Moscow Expands Bans on EU From Entering Russia in Response to Unfriendly Gestures .
13:24 GMT 23.09.2020(updated 14:41 GMT 23.09.2020)

Fuck 'em all off!

We don't need them!

And tell the Polish and Baltic US arse-licking embassies to get the fuck out of here as well.

CORTES September 23, 2020 at 10:41 am

With his receding hairline and rapidly thinning mop Navalny has exceeded his shelf life for attracting naïve youngsters. He looks like the Russian equivalent of Rigsby, the seedy rackrent landlord in Rising Damp.

Perhaps Pevchikh is the replacement.

CORTES September 23, 2020 at 10:47 am

The Russian blogger in London:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1tO99eYWE54?feature=oembed

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 1:04 pm

Rigsby was a great snidey, lecherous, creep of a landlord

Poor old Leonard Rossiter was a good actor as well. I was rather saddened when he died unexpectedly.

One of my old workmates could take Rigsby off to a "T". He used to chat up girls using Rigsby-style creepy flattery and strangely enough, he used to hit it off with them when performing his chatting-up of them in this fashion.

MARK CHAPMAN September 23, 2020 at 11:36 am

Oh, I doubt it – Pevchikh is the exact opposite of a media personality, apparently doing her best to remain in a blurry background and not get noticed. And owing to the suspicion now surrounding her, she would never have Navalny's freedom of movement in Russia, where he is watched only by the newbies who need the training and the guys who showed up to work hung-over and are being punished.

WARREN September 23, 2020 at 4:20 pm

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ow9-w8nvJM

Did Russia really poison opposition politician Navalny? And NATO wants a color revolution in Belarus
708 views•23 Sep 2020

Moderate Rebels
20.9K subscribers
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton start off with an exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording we were leaked of Russian President Vladimir Putin's phone calls.

Then we speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald, who lives in Russia, about the very suspicious alleged poisoning of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny, and what his real, xenophobic politics are.

We also discuss the NATO/EU attempt to orchestrate a so-called color revolution in Belarus and install a pro-Western neoliberal regime.

SECTIONS
0:00 Exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording
8:33 Poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny
45:00 Belarus color revolution attempt
1:21:30 Outro

PART 1 OF 2

Follow Bryan MacDonald on Twitter: https://twitter.com/27khv

(Episode recorded on September 22, 2020)

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MARK CHAPMAN September 23, 2020 at 7:44 pm

Over at OffGuardian, a frequent contributor argues compellingly that information which supports questions as to whether face masks have any beneficial effect against an airborne viral infection is being systematically purged from the internet.

https://off-guardian.org/2020/09/23/is-evidence-masks-dont-work-being-purged-from-the-internet/

Furthermore, the comments carry on the discussion of the extent to which not only well-known corporate-friendly browsers and search engines like Google censor searches and limit access to critical information through down-ranking algorithms, but even 'independent' browsers like DuckDuckGo.

Often people who narrate tech talks seem chosen for their preoccupied monotone delivery, so that reading the phone book seems a viable alternative to listening, and this one is no exception – nonetheless, a very interesting demo of a fairly-new website known as 'Censored Search'.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/o5BDZRWRvpYs/

I think most people realize the internet is slowly but surely being taken over by corporate and one-world interests that want to shape your thinking by controlling what you read – apparently monitoring was not enough. But I would wager few grasp just how blatant and invasive it is. The internet is lost, and it is past time for an alternative that gets back to its maverick early days while maintaining its present versatility. The secret to the success of advertising – which after all, is mostly propaganda – is to prevent your ability to turn it off and not be exposed to it.

MARK CHAPMAN September 25, 2020 at 9:56 am

Which is the modern version that stands today, then? The one with balconies, or without?

According to Wiki, the Charite has four campuses, all in Berlin – the main building in Mitte (which appears to be the one in which the honoured guest was allegedly quartered and allowed to smoke and wander about the stairwells at will). the Benjamin Franklin in Lichterfelde , the Virchow Klinikum in Wedding and the Berlin Buch, in Buch. Of those pictured, only the main building appears to have balconies like a hotel. The Buch is not pictured, but was apparently acquired in 2001 by the Helios clinics Group; the Charite now uses it only for research facilities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charit%C3%A9

It's hard to know which side you're looking at, but one side appears flat right across while the sections that are balconied protrude slightly at each side. It would obviously be much easier to build them on than to blast them off, so it appears the version with the balconies is current.

MARK CHAPMAN September 25, 2020 at 10:12 am

Well, you know the official global language now is Innuendo. Russia is just late to the party.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 25, 2020 at 4:26 pm

At least they did not say "highly likely".

A doctor makes house calls? My god, Russia is backwards! That practice disappeared decades ago in the US.

Good to hear that your temperatures is back to normal. I wonder if having the virus eliminates the need for a vaccination.

ET AL September 25, 2020 at 7:05 am

Euractiv: BERLIN – Head of Military Intelligence Service to resign
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/berlin-head-of-military-intelligence-service-to-resign/

On Thursday (24 September), Christian Gramm, the president of Germany's Military Intelligence Service (MAD), was forced to resign. To many, the shake-up doesn't come as a surprise given the recent criticism over how the agency handled investigations into right-wing extremism in the German Special Forces (KSK). Gramm's term as MAD president will come to an end next month
####

Curious timing no? Surely completely unrelated to the recent likely faked Navalny 'poisoning.'

MARK CHAPMAN September 25, 2020 at 10:13 am

I'll be damned. That IS an astonishing coincidence, and they apparently felt it was enough of a glaring coincidence that a red-herring excuse was supplied. If your guess is accurate, it likely suggests there will be no flinching from Germany on supplying Navalny's samples to Russia, and no apology; the issue will just be allowed to fade away, while a few selective firings is supposed to send its own message. We'll see. Good catch!

ET AL September 25, 2020 at 12:25 pm

Well keep an eye on the follow up or far more likely the almost total absence of it.

When it is embarassing to oneself, suddenly it becomes like classic 'straight facts' reporting. When it can cause trouble for your enemies, speculation runs wild, pure Rosenford (Rosenberg/Rainsford), They can peddle all kinds of ropey speculative s/t and opinon as proper journalism because it is Russia where we all know that everything is possible.

ET AL September 25, 2020 at 7:59 am

Russia Observer: RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 24 SEPTEMBER 2020
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2020/09/24/russian-federation-sitrep-24-september-2020/

RUSSIA AND COVID. As far as I can see it's pretty much under control in Russia. CNN has a (surprisingly) intelligent discussion; counting is everything (vide: with or from?) and the Russians are stricter on their counting. They also treat early with an effective drug. Meanwhile in the USA and UK, supposedly the best prepared I recommend Stephen Walt's essay again: The Death of American Competence. And I reiterate: 2020 will go down as the year the West lost its mojo .
####

The rest at the link as usual.

MOSCOWEXILE September 25, 2020 at 9:24 am

dp.ru
24 сентября 2020, 16:49 1522
Квартиру Навального в Москве арестовали по иску Пригожина

Navalny's apartment in Moscow has been seized following a lawsuit by Prigozhin

Bailiffs have seized the apartment of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Moscow, FBK press secretary Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter.

According to her, Federal Bailiff Service officers announced a ban on registration actions at the end of August, a week after Navalny had been poisoned on board a Tomsk-Moscow flight.

"This means that the apartment cannot be sold, donated or mortgaged. At the same time, Alexey's accounts have been seized", Yarmysh explained.

She also added that the seizure was connected with a lawsuit filed by the St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who bought out the FBK debt of 88 million rubles from "Moskovskiy Shkolnik". 30 million rubles have already been collected from the fund's accounts.

In October, the Moscow Arbitration Court took the side of "Moskovskiy Shkolnik" in a dispute with FBK. The company demanded compensation for damages received as a result of the fund's investigation of poor quality food in the capital's schools.

From RIA Novosti :

Data from an extract of the Unified State Register of Real Estate, which is at the disposal of RIA Novosti, confirms that the bailiffs imposed encumbrances on Navalny's apartment, in which he owns one third of the living space.

In addition, as follows from the database of enforcement proceedings on the Federal Bailiff Service website, Navalny must pay almost 29 million rubles under a writ of execution on "other foreclosures of a property nature" in favour of individuals and legal entities, as well as pay off an enforcement fee of more than two million rubles.

Commenting on the situation with Navalny's apartment, Yevgeny Prigozhin, director of "Concord Management and Consulting", said that he would be able to give shelter the blogger for a small fee.
"As for Navalny's apartment, if he does not find shelter with his comrades-in-arms, like Lenin, then I will make him an inexpensive in the hallway", the Concord press service quotes him.

In 2019, a court in Moscow found 17 statements in a video clip and a publication on catering in Moscow schools and kindergartens as untrue and defamatory to the business reputation of "Moskovskiy Shkolnik" and ordered that there be recovered from FBK, as well as Navalny and Lyubov Sobol, in total 88 million rubles. They were also ordered to remove the subject and articles containing inaccurate information from their websites and social media accounts, as well as publish a refutation in the form of the operative part of the court decision.

In July this year, Navalny announced the closure of the Anti-Corruption Fund. In August, Prigozhine bought out the debt of Navalny, Lyubov Sobol and FBK to the Moscow Schoolboy company. After that, the right to claim passed to the businessman.

What you gonna do now, Yogi?

You should know: both you and Sobol are lawyers -- aren't you?

MARK CHAPMAN September 25, 2020 at 3:16 pm

It sounds as if 'the Kremlin' is finally going to get serious about punishing that toad. He's so used to piling up suspended sentences hat he perhaps expected another. But I suspect the purpose of the legal actions against him this time around is to prevent his return to Russia. Moscow is likely quite comfortable with the idea of him becoming another 'president in exile' like Khodorkovsky.

And Navalny has access to the finest legal minds in the west – surely they will take his case pro bono, and show up where 'the Kremlin' is acting illegally. If they cannot do that, well then what must be our conclusion?

I suspect the days of money-for-nothing for Lyosha may be over.

CORTES September 25, 2020 at 4:57 pm

It sounds like a lien or inhibition on dealing with the property – standard practice in seeking to recover monies owed in the western legal systems so admired by the blogger. A bog-standard remedy in private law disputes – i.e. NOT involving the state other than through its position to adjudicate between non-state parties in duly conducted court proceedings.

The purchase of the assignation of rights in the school services defamation case was pure genius.

"Rule of law".

MOSCOWEXILE September 26, 2020 at 1:18 pm

typos above:

Commenting on the situation with Navalny's apartment, Yevgeny Prigozhin, director of "Concord Management and Consulting", said that he would be able to give shelter to the blogger for a small fee.

"As for Navalny's apartment, if he does not find shelter with his comrades-in-arms, like Lenin, then I will fashion him an inexpensive bed in the hallway", the Concord press service quotes him.

MOSCOWEXILE September 25, 2020 at 10:44 am

Bullshit baffles brains!


Daria Alekseevna Navalnaya

Dasha studied English language in-depth at Moscow Gymnasium No. 45, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the Russian capital,

However, after graduating from high school, the girl did not want to stay in her native Moscow. Dasha has frankly admitted in her blog: she is going to study at Stanford University, one of the top universities in America, located in sunny California.

According to Daria, she will study at Stanford free of charge, since her parents' income is below one hundred thousand dollars. However, this has caused more surprise among Russians – the fact is that only US citizens on a low income have the opportunity of studying at this university without paying fees, and In any case, her parents must pay considerable expenses for her living and studying in America

source

MARK CHAPMAN September 25, 2020 at 3:24 pm

"Undergraduate admissions [at Stanford] is the most selective of any college in the United States, with an acceptance rate of 4.3% [of applicants]."

More selective, that is to say, than Harvard or Yale.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/acceptance-rates-at-harvard-other-ivy-league-schools-edge-up-11585311985

I daresay Moscow is starting a dossier on Darya, with relevant information such as this, against the day she will want to return to Russia as a celebrated dissident like Daddy.

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 26, 2020 at 2:19 am

An amusing anecdote from the past

*Pussy Riot Activist May Have Been Poisoned, German Doctors Say*

Sept. 18, 2018

BERLIN -- German doctors treating a Pussy Riot activist who lost his sight, speech and mobility after spending time in a court in Moscow said on Tuesday that it was "highly plausible" that he had been poisoned, as their tests had found no evidence that he was suffering from a long-term illness.

The activist, Pyotr Verzilov, 30, was treated for several days in the toxicology wards of two hospitals in Moscow after falling ill. On Saturday, he was flown to Berlin and admitted to the Charité hospital. His doctors in the German capital told reporters at a news conference that he was in an intensive care unit but was not in life-threatening condition.

"We are working on the assumption of a poisoning that has lasted about a week," Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt, director of the hospital's medical center, said. "Test results indicate certain active ingredients, but the exact substance has not yet been determined."

Suffer more

https://www.nytimes.com/svc/oembed/html/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2018%2F09%2F18%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Fpussy-riot-activist-poisoning.html

Every – Single – Time.

MARK CHAPMAN September 26, 2020 at 3:28 am

Verzilov is supposedly – according to one source I read – the force behind having Navalny evacuated to Germany. It will be funny now if he cannot return to Russia.

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 26, 2020 at 3:38 am

How uncanny – I was not even aware of that

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ynq-3SZFmtA?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

PATIENT OBSERVER September 26, 2020 at 10:41 am

That guy is a self-important prick with delusions of grandeur. If he is representative of the non-systemic opposition in Russia then, assuming that Putin is even aware of this guy, it would only provide a good laugh after a hard day at the office

MARK CHAPMAN September 26, 2020 at 1:51 pm

Verzilov is an attention junkie. He set himself up as the 'spokesman' of Pussy Riot because they were getting a lot of attention and he wanted to be part of it. He has no visible talent of his own – except perhaps a facility for languages, his English is pretty good – and so he must attach himself to those who either are talented, or who fancy they are and who are supported in that belief by the English-speaking media.

https://www.thelocal.de/20200822/whos-behind-the-berlin-ngo-which-rescued-russias-opposition-leader

MOSCOWEXILE September 26, 2020 at 2:38 pm

His English is good because he went to school in Toronto until his somehow landing a place at MGU Philosophy Faculty, which is one of the greatest riddles of the Cosmos, in my opinion.

I think he was at least 12 when he began to live in Canada. He lived there with his "philosopher" first wife as well. What exactly their status in Canada is, I can never clearly find out.

She dropped out of the MGU Philosophy Faculty after he had humped her when she was 18. A couple of weeks before she had the baby, he was shagging her in public -- or simulating the act -- in a Moscow zoological museum. He and his ex-wife had other fornicating accomplices during the "event".

Ars gratia artis, as they say.

MOSCOWEXILE September 26, 2020 at 9:57 am

Coming home to roost . . .?

Пора платить: на банковском счету Албурова заблокировали более трёх млн рублей
Сегодня, 18:17

Time to pay up! More than three million rubles have been blocked on Alburov's bank account
Today, 18:17


Georgy Alburov, who had previously called himself the head of the FBK investigation department, suddenly revealed his real boss to the world, when the activities of Maria Pevchikh were exposed Photo: http://www.instagram.com/alburov

It is time to pay the bills. The hand of justice has also reached out to the liberalist Georgy Alburov from the so-called Anti-Corruption Fund, recognized as a foreign agent. More than three million rubles have been blocked on his bank account. The money will go towards losses incurred by government services during last year's rallies in Moscow. Navalnyist Alburov was one of the main agitators of the disorder there.

Unlike adequate people, Navalnyists do not recognize the obvious illegality of their actions, as well as the right of representatives of the authorities to impose completely justified punishment against them. They start screaming on all their Twitter, Facebook, Telegram etc. accounts about alleged blatant injustice and, as it happens, every time, they ask for donations. Thus, they manage, of course, by manipulating the hamsters a little, to avoid financial responsibility by dumping it on their lop-eared biomass.

This method is used not only by Alburov, it is a common feature of FBK foreign agent members. First, they fuck everything up and then cry onto ther subscribers' shoulders

Tough shit, arsehole!

PATIENT OBSERVER September 26, 2020 at 10:27 am

Sabine Hossenfelder is one intelligent and charismatic physicist. She takes on established science for its tendency to pursue projects simply to create job openings for scientists as well as presenting lucid explanations of various scientific phenomenon. Here, she rants about science being used to justify political decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/nGVIJSW0Y3k?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

PATIENT OBSERVER September 26, 2020 at 12:33 pm

She also does music videos deserving of a Nobel prize IMHO:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5gmtAeqRs14?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

PATIENT OBSERVER September 26, 2020 at 12:36 pm

OK, the last one. She has a disdain for pompous academics:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/T_ckiLhppik?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

MARK CHAPMAN September 26, 2020 at 2:46 pm

Navalny is 'a ray of light emerging from the darkness'. Remarkable. Like Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show in "Cover of the Rolling Stone", Navalny will want to buy five copies for his mother.

https://emerging-europe.com/voices/navalny-must-be-the-turning-point-for-greater-consequences-for-kremlin-actions/

Ross Burley, co-founder of the 'Centre for Information Resilience', gives Navalny a slow tongue bath. Those splashing sounds are me throwing up.

Of course the message is that There Must Be Consequences. Like canning Nord Stream II.

MARK CHAPMAN September 26, 2020 at 2:57 pm

Well, well; look at that. Shale oil and gas production in the USA continues to fall, and according to BP's 2020 Energy Outlook Report, oil demand 'may never return to pre-pandemic levels'. Which would suggest we saw the peak in global consumption last year.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Shale-Production-Continues-To-Decline.html

And which, I am bound to suggest, is not the desirable state of affairs if you fancy yourself the World's Biggest Energy Exporter.

International Banker agrees, adding the gloomy forecast – depending on your point of view – that according to IATA, airline companies will require 25% fewer planes in the sky over the next 5 years. That's hardly good news for Boeing, and might mean the end of production for the 737 MAX. But it's quite a few gallons less of avgas, as well.

https://internationalbanker.com/brokerage/is-there-any-way-back-for-the-us-shale-industry/

"Can US shale bounce back quickly from this crisis? It seems unlikely. According to Ramanan Krishnamoorti, professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston's Cullen College of Engineering, the industry is in serious trouble. "You're going to see a lot of bankruptcies, a lot of furloughs, more than furloughs. You're going to see layoffs. You're going to see people leave this entire industry because there aren't going to be jobs," he told Houston's ABC13 news outlet."

JRKRIDEAU September 27, 2020 at 10:05 am

The US fracking industry has been basically a Ponzi scheme since the first well was drilled. It seems to have become the darling of the investment class who never quite seemed to realize that they were really not making much as a return on investment.

Combine that with what seems to be very short life spans for wells, and I think we probably have seen a decimation or destruction of the industry. I'm not sure but I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see that the US will not have oil " self-sufficiency" how much longer. (We will not mention the Russian and Canadian oil that is being imported.)

For Canadian readers here's an interesting essay on Jason Kenney and his delusional world of oil. Jason Kenney can't see what's right in front of him .

After putting up with Doug Ford for the last while, I have rather given up on expecting modern-day Conservatives to actually have a grasp on reality that Kenny is really a worry. It really sounds like he thinks did Alberta is going to go back to the boom days of 1970s or at least of the 1990s. He is nuts.

I was just reading about city of Shenzhan, the new 12 million inhabitant city just over the border from Hong Kong. As of this year there's 16,000+ city buses and God knows how many taxis that have all gone electric. This is just a hint of what's going to be happening around the world from the look of it. Heck, my small city has 3 electric buses on order.

The oil market is not going to disappear anytime soon but even BP is reported as saying they don't expect oil demand to come back to what it was before the pandemic

MARK CHAPMAN September 27, 2020 at 1:35 pm

Our lease ran out a couple of weeks ago on the RX-350, and we traded it in for a hybrid, the UX-250H . Below 40 kph it's all-electric, like if you are cruising around a neighbourhood looking for a particular house number. Above that the gas engine kicks in, but it is supported by the electric motor and gets more than 700 km on a tank of gas. Teslas used to be a bit of an oddity around here as recently as 5 years ago, but now they're everywhere. The Nissan Leaf is very popular as well, and the buyer base for electrics has expanded rapidly as soon as drivers realized electric vehicles do not have to be nerdy, and at the high end (Tesla) they can leave conventionally-powered cars in the dust. The Tesla is very fast and the acceleration is instant, with no throttle lag.

Losing the economic clout of the energy industry would be a blow – potentially a fatal one – to the USA. A few years ago, not many, oil and gas companies would have made up nearly half of the top ten US companies for both revenue and profit. Only one makes both listings now – Exxon-Mobil – but the industry remains tremendously influential in politics and, more importantly, is into the government for so much money in loans and investments that its collapse would imperil the government itself.

Some would be quite happy to see America with its shoulders pinned to the mat, after enduring decades of its arrogance and swaggering; I wouldn't be too sorry to see it myself. But it maintains -somehow – the world's biggest and best-outfitted military by a long shot, and when it sees itself on an irreversible downward trend, it is going to want to take its enemies with it.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 27, 2020 at 4:11 pm

It may seem like a small matter but China seems to have electrified its entire scooter fleet. Scooters often pump out more pollution than a car. Multiply that by tens of millions and you have a major pollution source. The battery powered scooters are quiet and likely maintenance-free. Compare and contrast with India and its tens of millions of two-cycle oil smoke/unburnt gasoline pollution generators a.k.a. scooters.

JRKRIDEAU September 27, 2020 at 6:37 pm

I have not heard if it is 100% but it should be close. IIRC, I have read that Shanghai is full of them and there seems to be pretty decent recharge facilities.

Given the combination of global warming and the often atrocious air quality in major cities, the Communist Gov't seems to be really pushing to get away from fossil fuels.

India might be a good market for Chinese scooters and might spur some Indian companies to get going -- well after this latest border war calms down.

Even canny Afghan opium farmers are moving to solar power. What the heroin industry can teach us about solar power

JULIUS SKOOLAFISH September 26, 2020 at 9:41 pm

I have not been worried about you ME. I am sure your prognosis is excellent – and would be even better if you actually had 'Rona.

Yolande Norris-Clark – Are You Done Yet?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7-vy-qPAxmI?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

ET AL September 27, 2020 at 3:00 am

And you won't find the u-Ropean Parliament harping much or even loudly about the authoritarian regime in Azerbaidjan because its produces good gas and it is run by our kind of dictator. That's their 'Human Rights' bulls/t in a can for you. Myanmar has also got of remarkably lightly from the west too.

JRKRIDEAU September 27, 2020 at 9:41 am

Leaving Europe behind, I have always been amazed that President Duterte of the Philippines is`not not a pariah. Declaring open season on one's citizens and letting encouraging the police to shoot anyone they want strikes me as a bit dubious for a head of state.

ET AL September 27, 2020 at 9:17 am

Neuters via Antiwar.com : Putin Calls For Mutual Ban on Election Meddling With US
https://news.antiwar.com/2020/09/25/putin-calls-for-mutual-ban-on-election-meddling-with-us/

US intel agencies claim Russia, China, and Iran are meddling in 2020 election

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the US and Russia should sign an agreement promising not to meddle in each other's elections. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-putin/putin-says-russia-and-u-s-should-agree-not-to-meddle-in-each-others-elections-idUSKCN26G1LJ

Putin proposed, "exchanging guarantees of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, including electoral processes, including using information and communication technologies and high-tech methods."..

####

That is some excellently timed next level trolling from Pootie-McPoot-Face.

MARK CHAPMAN September 27, 2020 at 6:26 pm

I'd like to look at the Navalny 'poisoning" from a slightly different angle, one which I think bears scrutiny. I've said several times that nobody – to the best of my knowledge – has ever survived poisoning by VX. But that's not quite accurate – the two women who thrust what was always believed to be VX in some form into the face of Kim Jong Nam (Kim Jong-Un's half-brother) at an airport in Kuala Lumpur killed him stone dead. But they themselves apparently survived with no ill effects except that one of them allegedly may have vomited.

The major difference in the way the stories are treated, then, is the incredulity with which the apparent survival of the alleged poisoners is regarded by the western press. Consider;

An amount of VX, we are told, that weighs as much as two pennies would kill 500 people. I assume that's what he meant, as he is strikingly un-eloquent for a scientist and the 'penny' is not a weight of measure. Is that a British penny, or an American one? Big difference in weight.

''The other chemical agents like sarin, tabun, those kinds of things, they're way below this. They're toxic, yes, but this is the king,'' said John Trestrail, a U.S. forensic toxicologist who has examined more than 1,000 poisoning crimes.

He said an amount of VX weighing two pennies could kill 500 people through skin exposure. It's also hard to acquire and would likely have come from a chemical weapons laboratory, making it more likely that the attack was executed by a government."

Yes, you read that right – VX is the King of vicious toxicological agents. Except for Novichok, which is ten times as deadly, and the would-be killers dusted Navalny's bottle with enough of it that the bottle was liberally covered with the dust, and his clothes apparently were as well, or so Team Navalny suspects. Say – that's a handy little timeline right there, innit? When did Navalny put those clothes on? Presumably he had a shower before going to bed; did he dress in fresh clothes before leaving for the airport, or wear the same stuff from the day before? Either way, the poisoner must have accessed Navalny's room between the time he got up and the time the plane took off – if he still had Novichok on his clothes from the day before, he'd be dead, plus would have contaminated God knows how many surfaces.

Anyway, remember – Novichok is ten times as deadly as the King of nerve agents, VX. But it has killed – according to western yarns – only one of six people exposed to it; Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Detective Nick Bailey, Navalny and Charles Rowley all survived and have apparently achieved full recovery, Navalny in only a week after emerging from an alleged coma.

Western incredulity? None. Nothing to see here, old chap.

Listen to the awful consequences of poisoning with VX, and remember the assassins only pushed some quantity of VX into Kim Jong-Nam's face; a second's contact, them they ran away, not wearing gloves or any protective gear at all.

"VX is an amber-colored, tasteless, odorless chemical weapon first produced in the 1950s. When inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it disrupts the nervous system and causes constriction and increased secretions in the throat, leading to difficulty breathing. Fluids pour from the body, including sweat, spontaneous urination and defecation, often followed by convulsions, paralysis and death. Kim Jong Nam sought help at the airport clinic and died en route to a hospital within two hours of being attacked, police said."

I don't think anyone has reported what Navalny was roaring and screaming, but perhaps it was"Get back!!! I'm shitting myself!! Jesus, I can't stop pissing!!! Help me!!" although you would think if his symptoms included spontaneous defecation and urination, someone would have said – it could be important. Different agent, I know, but the symptoms of nerve-agent poisoning are quite similar across the type. Navalny's symptoms were nothing like nerve-agent poisoning, no matter how energetically the defector Mirzayanov and his fan club try to backstop Navalny's story. The intense sweating and the obvious gross irritation of the mucous membranes would have been unmistakable to the doctors in Omsk, considering Navalny had already passed the onset of whatever symptoms he did have and was unconscious.

Kim Jong-Nam died within two hours of being attacked with a nerve agent ten times less toxic than Novichok. Navalny was definitely poisoned with a substance ten times more toxic than VX, according to the Germans and the French and whoever else swears to that ludicrous story, but was to all appearances normal at least an hour after having been poisoned, since he showed no symptoms until at least 40 minutes after the plane took off with no obvious GRU agents on board, and hung around the airport before the flight was called at least long enough to drink a cup of tea, plus however long it took for him to get from the hotel to the airport.

"The two women -- one Vietnamese, one Indonesian -- recorded on surveillance cameras thrusting a substance into Kim Jong Nam's face as he was about to check in for a flight home to Macau, apparently did not suffer serious health problems. Malaysian police have said they were not wearing gloves or protective gear and that they washed their hands afterward as they were trained to do. However, authorities said Friday that one of them vomited afterward.

Both have been arrested along with another man. Authorities are also seeking several others, including an employee of North Korea's state-owned airline, Air Koryo.

''If they used their bare hands, there's just no possible way that they would have exposed him to VX unless they took some sort of precaution,'' Goldberger said. ''The only precaution I know of would be administration of the antidote before this went down.''

Perhaps that's it; perhaps immediately after swigging from his water-bottle – which he left in the hotel room, obviously – Navalny rang room service for some Novichok antidote. Just in case. Can't be too careful, when you are the main opposition leader.

"No areas were cordoned off and protective measures were not taken. When asked about it a day after the attack, airport spokesman Shah Rahim said there was no risk to travelers and the airport was regularly and properly cleaned. But officials announced Friday that the facility would be decontaminated.

''It's as persistent as motor oil. It's going to stay there for a long time. A long time, which means anyone coming in contact with this could be intoxicated from it,'' Trestrail said. ''If this truly is VX, they ought to be calling in a hazmat team and looking at any place these women or the victim traveled after the exposure.''

A hazmat team, and looking at any place the assassin or anyone potentially exposed might have traveled. For an agent ten times less toxic than Novichok.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/02/24/banned-chemical-weapon-potent-killer-that-lingers/5bTFjBz6tJVouk4tnyaERK/story.html

JEN September 27, 2020 at 9:21 pm

Reading this Wikipedia account of how Kim Jong-nam was targeted and attacked by the two women, I think there are other possibilities to consider:
(a) that the substance or substances sprayed into his face was / were dangerous only if (in the case of two or more substances) combined in a particular way and then inhaled;
(b) Kim was known to be allergic to particular substances and the people who plotted his assassination knew what those substances were and used them to induce an anaphylactic shock that killed him;
(c) Kim had other health issues (he was a very tubby fellow) that should have been considered factors in his death;
(d) one of the women who attacked Kim supposedly crept up behind him, took out a cloth with chemical on it and reached around his head to smack the cloth onto his face – sounds a bit like those movie / TV show stunts where someone creeps up from behind his victim and puts a chloroform-soaked cloth onto the victim's face – and chloroform can be toxic in high doses ;
(e) Kim's treatment at the Menara clinic at the airport included atropine and adrenaline and these could have contributed to his death if the plotters had foreknowledge of what would be used to treat him were he to be poisoned and planned his assassination accordingly.

Kim's assassins need not have been North Koreans or connected to the North Korean government in any way. He also might not have been expected to die but just be given a scare, but the shock he got along with his obesity and other underlying health issues might have done him in.

MARK CHAPMAN September 28, 2020 at 4:48 am

Yes, those are all good and sound arguments. The point I was trying to make, though, is that American toxicologists and field experts are astounded that anyone might survive exposure to VX; it is unaccountable not only that they could be alive, but that there is not a trail of death following the assassins as well until it kills them, too. But nobody seems surprised for Navalny to make a complete recovery and be sitting up in bed making demands and strolling around the stairwells, after exposure to a much more toxic agent that should have killed him, while nobody noticed anyone sneaking into his room dressed in a full hazmat suit with breathing apparatus and apparently others could come and go from the scene of the alleged exposure with no protection.

Perhaps the Skripals 'disappeared' because the British government was unsure how to present them after a supposedly-deadly poisoning attempt which they plainly are said to have survived. Perhaps also it is the judgment of similar authorities that the public will accept the dichotomy without demur; hence, the agent can still be nefarious beyond belief because it is so insidious and deadly, but Navalny can be alive and making noise after exposure to it.

MOSCOWEXILE September 28, 2020 at 12:28 am

So why does a head of government visit a foreign funded foreign political agitator in hospital?

Answer: When the head of government is Merkel and the visited party is chief, Washington-hired, non-systemic political bullshitter Navalny:

Spiegel: Меркель тайно навещала Навального в клинике Шарите

08:28 28.09.2020 (обновлено: 10:10 28.09.2020)

MOSCOW, September 28 – RIA Novosti. German Chancellor Angela Merkel secretly visited Alexei Navalny while he was being treated at the Charité clinic in Berlin, "Spiegel" weekly reported, citing its own informant.

Other details are not provided.

On August 20, the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation* was hospitalized in Omsk after he had fallen ill on an aeroplane. Doctors diagnosed a metabolic disorder that had caused a sharp drop in blood sugar levels. It is not yet clear what caused this, but no poisons were found in Navalny's blood and urine.

Later he was transported to Germany. In early September, the German government announced that the Russian had been poisoned with a substance from the "Novichok" group of biological warfare agents. Moscow sent a request for more detailed information on the results of analyses from the Berlin laboratory, but there was no response.

At the same time, it is known that the German intelligence service BND has had access to "Novichok" since the 1990s. In addition, it has been studied by about 20 Western countries, including Great Britain, the USA, Sweden, the Czech Republic. Russia, in accordance with a presidential decree of 1992, stopped developing in the field of chemical weapons, and in 2017 destroyed the entire available stock of such substances, which has been confirmed by the OPCW.

On September 7, Navalny was discharged from the hospital, his condition is satisfactory.

*The Anti-Corruption Foundation is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice in the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent.

Note: the bastion of freedom and democracy has still not, as per agreement, destroyed its chemical weapons stocks -- always delays and so on, see

STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL
PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Celebrating a milestone: Russia completes the destruction of chemical weapons stockpile
29 September 2017

On Wednesday the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü of Turkey, congratulated Russia on completing the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile which originally totalled 39 967 agent tonnes (i.e. excluding munition weight). This represents a major milestone towards realizing a world without chemical weapons as envisaged by the negotiators of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)

The USA, the other major possessor of a chemical weapons stockpile (which originally totalled approximately 30 000 agent tonnes), has completed the destruction of approximately 90 per cent of its stockpile and is scheduled to finish its operations by 2023 .

Technologically backward Russia completes its task as agreed: the far more technologically advanced USA is still dawdling along

MARK CHAPMAN September 28, 2020 at 4:52 am

It's hard to imagine the Germans poisoned his samples, although I suppose it is possible. But if Pevchik had poisoned him with something intended to incapacitate but not kill him, you'd think the doctors in Omsk would have detected it.

MOSCOWEXILE September 28, 2020 at 12:51 am

Навальный подтвердил встречу с Меркель в берлинской клинике

28 сентября 2020, 11:22

Navalny confirms meeting with Merkel at Berlin clinic
28 September 2020, 11:22

Blogger Alexei Navalny has confirmed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited him at the Berlin Charité clinic, where he was being treated. Earlier, the secret visit of the politician was reported by the journal "Der Spiegel", citing sources.

"There was a meeting, but you shouldn't call it "secret " -- rather, a private meeting and conversation with the family. I am very grateful to Chancellor Merkel for visiting me at the hospital", Navalny wrote on his Twitter microblog on September 28.

At the same time, the interlocutors of "Der Spiegel" called the visit top secret, without giving details of the meeting. The publication considered this fact a sign of Merkel's loyalty to Navalny.

Earlier, the German Chancellor called Navalny a victim of an attack carried out with a substance from the "Novichok" group.

The Russian Foreign Ministry considered such statements by Berlin to be yet another information campaign against Russia, noting that the accusations were not supported by facts.

Alexei Navalny felt unwell during the Tomsk-Moscow flight on 20 August. The plane urgently landed in Omsk, the blogger was taken to the emergency hospital No. 1, and later transported to the Charite clinic in Berlin, Gazeta.ru recalls.

There, the Russian "found" signs of intoxication with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. However, Omsk doctors during the examination of the patient did not reveal intoxication with this substance. On September 23, Navalny was discharged from the hospital.

So Merkel too is part and parcel of the Navalny bullshit performance dreamt up by the US Dept. of State.

You'll pay for all of this, bastards!

JAMES LAKE September 28, 2020 at 3:15 am

This has surprised me, what is all this for?

Is it to boost him as a potential leader?

I just don't get this behaviour by Merkel.

Does she believe he is important?

Or is he going to be another Juan Guaido

MOSCOWEXILE September 28, 2020 at 1:00 am

I wonder if she "secretly" visited Yuschenko and Timoshenko and Verzilov when they were patients at the Charité

I should hardly imagine so -- they are of no importance whatsoever when compared with the "leader of the Russian opposition", albeit the Russians themselves consider the Bullshitter with the derision he deserves, but don't tell anyone in the "free world" that!

CARTMAN September 28, 2020 at 6:34 am

Kernes recently arrived at Charite for treatment of COVID:

https://112.international/ukraine-top-news/kharkiv-mayor-in-german-clinic-charite-54791.html

Germany seems to be collecting Eastern Europe's politicians. Timoshenko miraculously woke from her coronavirus coma, but I cannot find information that says she was also at Charite.

ET AL September 28, 2020 at 7:31 am

I think the clinic clones people. That's my conspiracy theory and I'm sticking to it!

ET AL September 28, 2020 at 7:24 am

Politico.eu : Polish energy deal signals a more political Vestager
https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-energy-deal-pkn-orlen-lotos-margrethe-vestager/

EU green light for merger suggests Franco-German pressure for 'champion' companies is paying off.

blah blah blah blah

The clearance could become a precedent for other political mergers -- such as the Franco-Italian tie-up between cruise ship-builders Fincantieri and Chantiers de l'Atlantique -- and the Commission will have to "limit the contagion," the first senior official said.

And the Dane has to ensure the Polish champion keeps its promises .
####

Interesting if you follow how the Brussels/EU is still struggling to adapt to the real world (i.e. outside the EU) rather than its own bubble and dreams of a western led globalization, particularly it's failure to balance consumer protection with building modern, EU based companies/organizations that can hold their own against other globocorps. It's where principles hit reality.

But, I was sure that there was something in the past about a possible Russian share in the Gdansk Lotos Refinery (I was wrong) but I did come across this in looking for further information:

BiznesAlert.com : Orlen will want to prevent Russians from buying shares in the Gdańsk Refinery
https://biznesalert.com/orlen-lotos-merger-gdansk-refinery/

13 August, 2020

Rosneft's missing link in Germany

One of the arguments for the thesis that Russians could enter the Polish market as a shareholder of one of the two biggest refineries, is supposedly the fact that they are already present in Germany. However, it is worth reminding that they slipped into Germany thanks to Venezuela's fondness towards Russian politics. Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez agreed for PDVSA, a state-owned oil company, to sell its shares in five German refineries to Russia's Rosneft. Since then, Igor Sechin's concern has been trying to acquire the missing link – the retail market and gas stations. Despite interventions, negotiations and investments, Russians have not achieved this goal yet. They have been trying to purchase gas stations in Germany for a few years. This is the next natural step for any oil company that took over shares in a refinery on a new market. After the success on the wholesale market, it wants to earn on the retail market by selling its own oil products. However, nobody wants to sell Russians, in this case Rosneft, any gas stations despite the fact they have been present on the market in Germany for years.

In January 2019, Rosneft Deutschland GmbH, Rosneft's daughter company, launched a trade and marketing business in Germany. Today it purchases products from three German refineries in which it has shares

Why would Russians want to enter the Polish market? Poland is one of the biggest importers of Russian oil. In 2019 PKN Orlen imported 8.3 m tons of oil from Russia, which makes it one of the biggest importers of this fuel. By entering the Polish market, Russians could achieve synergy by acquiring 30 percent of shares in the refinery. However,
####

Plenty more at the link.

So, it looks like this merger is to bolster the lo-land of Po-lands energy position and protect the key refinery being picked up by one means or another by Russia.

ET AL September 28, 2020 at 7:52 am

Politico.eu : Macron's Russia dialogue to be tested on Baltic trip

https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-baltics-trip-france-russia-strategy/

French president heads to Lithuania and Latvia, where discussion will focus on Russia and Belarus.

"The so-called new architecture of security that France wants to develop with Russia is sensitive for us, because it's a bilateral conversation discussing a multilateral issue," said a Lithuanian government official ahead of Macron's visit

So far Macron's team has played it coy, avoiding confirming that he will meet with Tikhanovskaya but not ruling it out either. She has expressed her desire to meet with him

Western officials have stressed that they are not in competition with Moscow over Belarus and Macron believes Russia has a role to play.
####

The €µ 'Failing at Home so preening abroad' PR campaign continues apace after his successful trip to Lebanon where he saved the country from disaster. Except he didn't!

Le Coq soit bloqué! (trans. 'cock block' ! 😉 )

What the f/k does he think he can offer? Are the Balts and Russia going to be overawed with his garlic charm before he sleeps with their wives (and husbands) before they all form a circle and hold hands merrily? No.

Yes, the only thing that makes sense is a a grand strategic treaty between the EU and Russia, but when some of its own members are actively undermining such a thing and playing with the Americans at the same time, you have to wonder what all the point of this is? Simply 'Don't you forget about me'? Russia is not going to patiently wait for the EU to climb out of its own hypocritical a**hole after years of sanctions and 'Do as we say, not as we do.'

The CFE Treaty is not fit for purpose and the permanent rotation of NATO forces on Russia's borders drives a tank through it, however clever they think this loophole is. By the time the EU is ready to talk properly and get off its high horse, the only things it will have attached to its shoulders will be its own stubby little fingers, or should that be 'cut off its nose to spite its face'? Just ridiculous!

MARK CHAPMAN September 28, 2020 at 4:29 pm

Ha, ha, haaaa!! 'Garlic charm' – I don't know if that was deliberate or accidental, but it's brilliant.

The Baltic position on Russia is well-known, and you would not have to be much of a political wunderkind to figure out that the Balts hope for a chance to shit all over any plans France might have that smack too much of rapprochement to suit them. But there is no real danger Micron would proceed with any such plans even if he made them; he is a political lightweight aching to duplicate the derring-do of Sarkozy. No political softening between Russia and Europe is possible with the current crop of European leaders, as all are committed Atlanticists to some degree and in thrall to Washington. They might pretend Washington is bullying them, but it hurts so good, daddy.

Lavrov has already announced that Russia has given up on trying to get the west to like it, and acknowledges it is not possible. Just like admitting you are an alcoholic – metaphorically speaking, I wasn't pointing at you personally -is the day your recovery begins, resolving to dedicate no more Russian effort to wooing the western delinquents is the day the west loses a shiny toy it loved to play with. Few moments were so satisfying as those dedicated to typing "Moscow denies it!" after some new fabricated atrocity was thrown in Russia's face. I recommend a macro be built into all Russian diplomatic computers' word-processor programs which reads, "Believe what you like. It is of no interest to us. Oh, and your zipper is open. Made you look!!". The last two sentences are optional, but I think they lend a certain joie de vivre .

E

MOSCOWEXILE September 28, 2020 at 9:07 am


Mutti Merkel mit Lieblingssöhnchen

MOSCOWEXILE September 28, 2020 at 9:26 am

Why the German Chancellor visited the blogger at the hospital is not quite clear. After all, if German doctors are right about "Novichok", then the head of the German Cabinet of Ministers, Bundeskanzlerin Merkel, seriously risked her life.

Armen Gasparyan* has suggested that the matter is due to the status of the patient from Russia -- after all, he is in Germany as an official guest of the Chancellor. And what kind of guest is this, with whom the hospitable hostess does not even meet?

So they decided to support this fantasy about his status in Germany by following due protocol, but with a supposedly secret visit, which secret the whole world immediately learnt about.

* Armen Gasparyan works for a Russian media outlet Sputnik and, at the same time, is a member of Russia Today board. In parallel, he is a member of Russian State Duma Youth Council and a holder of a prize from the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation for his contribution towards developing radio communication.

In December 2018, the "Russian opposition" (that's the non-systemic opposition, mind you -- the ones that no one votes for) -- has included Gasparyan in the list of "Putin's propagandists".

PATIENT OBSERVER September 28, 2020 at 10:11 am

That picture is highly disturbing. Some weirdity going on. Is that some sort of love seat?

ET AL September 28, 2020 at 11:03 am

It's a bin. Photoshop, innit?!

PATIENT OBSERVER September 28, 2020 at 1:21 pm

I thought it might be photoshopped but there seemed to be some real chemistry between the two.

MARK CHAPMAN September 28, 2020 at 4:34 pm

"Tell me, Lyosha – do you sink mein arsch is too big?"

"Not at all, Angelichka – that's just a small table."

MARK CHAPMAN September 28, 2020 at 6:22 pm

It might be interesting to see what kind of deal would result from a process in which Russia has given up trying to be liked by the west, and consequently examines each negotiation on its merits alone.

I think it might result in quite a few initial offers being rebuffed with "Uh huh. Go fuck yourself." And that would be kind of refreshing. It might usher in an international process between the two countries in which no 'deal' was possible until each side was satisfied it had gotten the better of the other. I need hardly point out these would be few and far between, and none would be arms-control agreements.

[Sep 29, 2020] What is known about Maria Pevchikh: Navalny's mysterious companion

Sep 29, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MOSCOWEXILE September 23, 2020 at 10:00 am

KP.ru

22 сентября 2020 13:18
Что известно про Марию Певчих: Таинственная спутница Навального -- связная с его иностранными заказчиками?
След Марии Певчих начинается в Лондоне и, похоже, ведет к теневым кураторам Фонда борьбы с коррупцией

22 September 2020 13:18
What is known about Maria Pevchikh: Navalny's mysterious companion – connected with his foreign customers?
The trail of Maria Pevchikh begins in London and seems to lead to the shadow curators of the Anti-Corruption Foundation

If you believe that journalists have so far been able to unearth Navalny's mysterious companion on his "last tour" in Siberia, Maria Pevchikh lives in a prestigious area of London overlooking the Thames. But her old grandmother Valentina Vasilievna – in a modest two-room apartment on the far outskirts of Moscow – in Zelenograd. Only now her granddaughter does not visit her at all, although in recent years she has flown to Moscow 64 times.

"Komsomolskaya Pravda" went to all the addresses of Maria Pevchikh in Russia – Zelenograd, Moscow State University, school, neighbours, relatives and colleagues at FBK

and discovered that Pevchikh was not only Navalny's employee, but the conspiratorial head of his investigation department, and, possibly, its curator from Western customers.

LIKE A DETECTIVE
Maria Pevchikh. A couple of weeks ago, this name was not known to anyone except to a narrow circle of people. But now it has thundered all over the world. Now Pevchikh claims to be an old and trusted employee of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (Navalny's main brainchild) with almost 10 years of experience, who has had a hand in almost all of his landmark investigations. But her name never flashed in the credits for the FBK video exposures . And the opposition blogger's associates have never spoken about her anywhere.

So after the mysterious "poisoning" of Navalny on August 20, no one let slip the fact that on the trip he was accompanied by a mysterious companion – 33-year-old Maria Pevchikh. Perhaps Maria would have remained unnoticed if the transport police of the Siberian Federal District had not found her name among those who were on that trip with the oppositionist. And it turned out – what a coincidence – she was the only one of the 6 members of Navalny's entourage in Siberia who was not interviewed: " Marina [sic} Pevchikh, who permanently resides in Great Britain, on August 20, avoided giving explanations. On August 22 the said citizen flew to Germany, and therefore it was not possible to get an explanation from her", the police reported on September 11. That is, 3 weeks after the incident! Until that moment, there was complete silence about the existence of Pevchikh.

But as soon as this name was sounded, something strange began to happen. More like a detective story.

LOOKING FOR POLICE, LOOKING FOR JOURNALISTS
The name of the Pevchikh immediately became surrounded with rumours and speculation. Who is she? Where from? FBK employees were stubbornly silent. There were only two mentions of Pevchikh in open sources. First, how about a 9th grade student from Zelenograd gymnasium No. 1528 who took part in the international (!) "Gifted children" competition. The second (from 2010) on the website of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Moscow State University: "Congratulations to Maria Pevchikh! The 5th year student has been selected as the head of the Russian delegation at the G8 Youth Forum in Canada based on the results of the All-Russian competition". And a photo of a smiling red-haired girl. And journalists also found the name of the Pevchikh in the list of students at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science.

A couple more blurry images from the Internet, where it is generally difficult to see someone (supposedly in 2013, from a Moscow hotel, where Navalny had a secret meeting with the ex-Prime Minister of Belgium). Well, Western journalists also recognized Maria as the woman caught in the lenses of cameras in Berlin next to Navalny's wife Julia. True, everywhere the "Pevchikhs" are in dark glasses and wearing a mask. From coronavirus or prying eyes? That, in fact, is all.


We congratulate Maria Pevchikh!

Such mystery only spurred interest – who is this lady?

"Investigations" began – who Pevchikh was, overshadowing even the "poisoning" of Navalny. And bit by bit the image of a certain secret agent was formed – a sort of James Bond in a skirt. With reference to a source close to FBK, a Sherlock Holmes managed to dig up from the Internet that Maria lives in a prestigious area of London overlooking Tower Bridge. Owns a chain of bookstores in Britain. And she participates in competitions under the US Special Forces program – "Navy Seals"!

And she is also a friend of Navalny's rivals and associates in the fight against the "Russian regime" who have settled in London – Khodorkovsky, Chichvarkin, Ashurkov. But bad luck – none of these figures in social networks have found a friend by the name of Pevchikh. And in the photos that appear in their social networks, none of Maria is to be seen.

Maria's story with social networks is generally amazing – they simply do not exist! In the 21st century that is simply unthinkable for a young woman. Have you at least one young woman acquaintance who has no Facebook or Instagram page, or who is in at least in Odnoklassniki or VKontakte? Quite!

Experts believe that such secrecy is one of the sure signs that a person is related to the special services. They – both in Russia and abroad – do not welcome the publicity of their employees on social networks.

However, Major General of the FSB in reserve Alexander Mikhailov admits that she might be playing a two-sided gamey:

"Apparently, this person leads a double life and, on the one hand, creates turbulence around her activities in the same social networks, but on the other hand, she does not want to attract personal attention to herself. I think this woman may have accounts, but under assumed names. Because it is impossible to imagine that she works in such a field and does not use modern technologies at all."

HER FATHER IS A SCIENTIST AND WORKS WITH VIRUSES

But a page on the social network has turned out to belong to Pevchikh's father Konstantin. No one has any doubts that he is Maria's father – both are registered in the same apartment in Zelenograd. And Konstantinovna is Maria's patronymic. At the same time, there is no Maria Pevchikh even in his photo or in subscribers! But there is information that he is the general director of the Zelenograd NIOBIS LLC, which is engaged in research in the field of virology. At the same time, he is developing the SkinPort system of painless (say, invisible) drug delivery through the skin. Which is also a very suspicious circumstance, when his daughter accompanies an oppositionist, who was either injected or not with some kind of poison. So much so that he only knew he had been poisoned when he began to feel bad.

There is not much information about NIOBIS either. In the magazine "Zelenograd Entrepreneur" of October 2011, there is an interview with the leaders of the company Grishin and Morozov (Pevchikh even then did not communicate with journalists for some reason). In it, they declare that the NIOBIS biological laboratory is a joint project of the Probe Microscopy and Nanotechnology Research and Education Centre and the Zelenograd Nanotechnology Centre. However, in these centres, no matter how many times we called, they did not tell us anything about NIOBIS, switching from one employee to another. At the legal address in Moscow on Viktorenko Street, we did not find any information.

Interestingly, the British tabloids could not find Pevchikh either. In search of at least some information, British journalists began to call Russia, former and current FBK employees.

"British journalists contacted me and found out at least some information about Maria Pevchikh", Vitaly Serukanov, the former deputy head of Navalny's Moscow headquarters and lawyer of his foundation, told KP. "This suggests that not only we in Russia do not understand what kind of person she is, but, apparently, the British themselves are not clear about what kind of activities she is involved with. Even they have nothing concrete to go on.

Of course, rumours immediately spread that Maria Pevchikh was a spy. Some even stated it openly:

"She is an undercover British intelligence agent with MI6", political scientist Vladislav Rogimov believes. "My source, a former high-ranking official of the Stasi [GDR Ministry of State Security] , immediately stated this. And Pevchikh supplied Navalny with information about the targets of his investigations, such that an ordinary person cannot get."


A couple more blurry shots from the Internet, where it is generally difficult to see anyone

MSU AND COLLEGE
Strange, but none of the graduates of those years could remember the outstanding student who glorified the faculty during her studies by becoming the leader of a youth delegation.

"Well, I seem to remember Maria – such a bright girl. We crossed paths with her in the hostel. She loved rock music and knew English well", Svetlana Cherezova, a graduate of the social faculty in 2009, told KP. [American rock music, the chief weapon of US soft power! Rock music is the bane of modern society! -- ME 😦 ]

"And how did you realise that she knows a foreign language?"

"In the summer, foreign students were settled in the hostel. And she communicated well with them. But after that I somehow didn't see her "

Another graduate of the social faculty recalled the Pevchikh, but also only vaguely.

"Yes, she studied with us. Smart, open like that. But that's all I remember about her."

And in the Zelenograd gymnasium №1528 Maria Pevchikh was not remembered at all. Even by the old-timers who have been working at the school for over 30 years.

"No, we didn't have a student with that last name."

HEAD, ABOUT WHOM NO ONE KNEW ANYTHING
Even after journalists had found out that Pevchikh has been an FBK employee since 2011, Navalny's fund employees remained silent about her. No statements! None at all.

And only on September 15, when Navalny came to his senses, and journalists and political analysts said in unison that Pevchikh herself could have organized his "poisoning", the FBK employees, as if on command "from above", began to urgently divert suspicions from her, turning everything into a joke and publishing pictures of themselves with her. Georgy Alburov, who had previously called himself the head of the FBK investigation department, suddenly revealed his real boss to the world yes, Pevchikh:

"I have been working with Maria in the Investigation Department for 8 years and for about 7 of them we constantly joked about some kind of martial art that she went to a couple of times. They teach how to fight off drunken men with the help of a hundred different techniques of hitting in the groin (we laugh at this). Our office wiretap also failed to remember the name, and now Maria is featured in the media as 'a martial arts master trained under the US Army SEAL program'. It's funny. And it's not funny that now all her relatives are hunted by the Prigozhin gangster 'media' (and the British ones are also "Prigozhin gangsters", yes, George? – author) . Not for the poisoners of Alexei, but for Maria's 85-year-old grandmother. We shall remember this and shall not forget. And I wish my fighting friend (and boss) fortitude and courage."


Georgy Alburov, who had previously called himself the head of the FBK investigation department, suddenly revealed his real boss to the world. Photo: http://www.instagram.com/alburov

On the same day, FBK lawyer Lyubov Sobol also published a photo of herself with Maria: "I know Masha as an honest and decent person. To suggest that she may have been involved in the poisoning of Navalny complete bullshit and a smokescreen to distract attention".

And not a word about why for so long all as one "fighters against corruption" were silent about the existence of Pevchikh and the fact that she was on a trip with Navalny in Siberia.

BUT WHAT ABOUT GRANDMA?
And Maria Pevchikh's grandmother really lives in Zelenograd. Not far from the local forest park. Here, apparently, the "Prigozhin gangster media" had been hunting for her.

In general, it is strange that an employee of the investigation department, who herself "hunts" for the targets of Navalny's revelations and for these targets' relatives as well, was outraged that journalists began to visit all possible addresses associated with Maria. What would have happened if the "Navalnyites" themselves had not hidden her existence hardly anyone could have "crossed her grandma's threshold", because nobody had seen her there for a long time: she dwelt elsewhere.

"Yes, I know Valentina Vasilievna. Our children studied together, in the same school. My son and her Kostya", a neighbour told the KP correspondent on the street at the entrance. "She lived here just like me since the construction of the house, since 1982. But I haven't seen her for a long time, although I had met her all the time before. She seems to be still working".

"At 85 years of age?"

"Why 85? She is 84".

"And what does she do? "

"Earlier, I believe, she was at Mikron [manufacturer of integrated circuits – author] . Where now, I do not know".

"Her son often turns up here? "

"No, I haven't seen him for a long time.

And her granddaughter Maria?

"Oh, I did not know that she has a granddaughter! I have never seen her."

No other neighbours remembered Masha Pevchikh, even from the photo. Although she, as the media has already dug up, in recent years flew to Moscow at least 64 times, but here, with her grandmother, she has not appeared. At least, neighbours have never came across her.


Georgy Alburov and Maria Pevchikh. Photo: http://www.instagram.com/alburov

"I AM SO FUCKING AWESOME" .
And only ABOUT a month after the "poisoning" of Navalny, when suspicions about Maria Pevchikh had reached their peak, she herself gave an interview for some reason to the BBC, and not to the Russian media. "I am the head of the investigation department at FBK. I was recruited by an ad (in 2011), as they say. If you've seen our investigations on Navalny's channel, then I have this or that relationship." Maria explained her incognito state in one phrase: "It was my personal choice and desire to avoid publicity". But at the same time: "Absolutely everyone in the office knew me. A huge number of people from the journalistic environment knew me. Therefore, the fact that I am somehow connected with FBK is a secret only for a very wide audience."

Investigations about herself were ridiculed by Pevchikh (a professional technique when it is impossible to refute, but it is necessary to object): "This is absolutely ridiculous. I read about myself and thought: Damn, how fucking awesome I am".

About the her scientist father: "Some creepy, crazy story has been made up about my father, with whom I have not communicated for 15 years – my parents are divorced. And he is portrayed as almost a key figure in all that has happened".

But Maria gave a lot and of details about what happened in Tomsk, about how boldly she, together with others, rushed into Navalny's room in order to collect "evidence" – bottles of water. She confirmed that she flew to Germany on the same aircraft as did Navalny and took those bottles out of the hotel to the West and on which German experts found traces of "poison". True, she did not explain why she had not y taken sheets and towels, because poison can be both solid and gaseous. The discerning Pevchikh's' suspicions fell only on liquid.

Maria tossed a few of her pictures to the BBC and a portion, apparently to dilute the avaricious photos that the media was chewed on.

Talking about everything and yet . . . again about nothing. Also a professional reception?

SECRET BRITISH FBK CURATOR
"When they began asking me about Maria Pevchikh, I also could not immediately understand who it was", Vitaly Serukanov, an FBK employee in 2013-2017, told KP. "But then I remembered that I first noticed her (although I had probably seen her many times, but had not paid any attention to her) in 2016. It was surprising to me that Navalny, who always kept his distance from his employees, behaved in a special way with her. With respectful reverence. As if they were of the same rank, as if they were of the the same position. This is generally strange and did not fit into the paradigm of his behaviour. That is to say, Maria is a person who appeared sometimes, but who had to be respected. My personal opinion is that she is a liaison agent between Navalny and foreign customers. The person who brought the invoice and, at the right time, audited the investigation department, supervised its work. Such as , you know, a British auditor who is always lurking in the shadows.

"Pevchikh told the BBC that she actually ran Navalny's investigation department.

"I have been saying for a long time that the FBK investigation department "headed by the talented Alburov" was a screen that does not represent anything. Alburov is just a drone driver who provides a naive Russian man in the street with a picture: "You see, we are not foreign agents. Our investigation department is here". In fact, there is no talented Alburov. And there are people like Maria Pevchikh who flock to Russia to promote the interests of their Russian and Western masters. That's all, no matter how tough it sounds.

"That is, all this hidden lifestyle, lack of social networks and photos are part of this opera?

"Absolutely!"

But you had some corporate parties, meetings at FBK. How did it happen that for almost 10 years Pevchikh never got into the frame?

"She very professionally avoided attracting attention to herself. Never hit the lens. And I'm sure the rest of the people made sure that this did not happen. At the same time, FBK is a special society where everyone wants to become a media and popular person. There are even internal competitions to see who is more popular on social media. The same was always demanded by Navalny. His main postulate in politics was: "I am absolutely open. I have no secrets. " But it turns out there are! Suddenly, a certain Pevchikh is presented to the world, who has never even been registered in the fund and who lives on an unbelievable income. All the stories about her business are just a way to legalize her financial situation – like 'I'm such an ordinary simpleton from Britain'. Who's going to believe that?

And they would hide Pevchikh further. But she was so very much lit up in this story with the "poisoning" that they had no other choice. I was really amused how all these clowns, such as Alburov and Sobol, on command, simultaneously began to upload their prepared photos of Pevchikh. It's funny. Why did they hide her before? Refused to answer questions about her? And then they burst through at once. Received instructions to bring Pevchikh out into the light so as to ward off the threat from her? All this suggests that Pevchikh knows more than we can ever imagine. The story is a real detective one. Even a spy one. It's very interesting what will happen next.

MARK CHAPMAN September 23, 2020 at 11:14 am

She is almost too perfect; a daddy who is both a virologist and a developer of a means of delivering a drug through the skin without a needle or any sensation likely to be noticed, leader of the effort to collect 'evidence' in the hotel room – an effort surprising in its thoroughness in that they thought to take a lawyer with them and yet still made it before the hotel had begun to clean the room, and a young woman with no social media presence when they normally cannot powder their noses without Facebooking it. Add to that the full-court press by the Navalnyites to ridicule any possibility she might be involved; especially Sobol, who as a lawyer herself would be able to more accurately appraise the weight of mounting coincidences.

But you went too far when you spat on American rock music. I will grant that at least half of it is crap, but America is the cradle of rock, more so than the UK. Your punishment is to listen to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts do "I Hate Myself for Loving You" on a volume at least 8 and preferably all the way over. This is a fine example of the genre, one I used to play for the little 'un when she actually was a little 'un, to show her that women can do anything.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bpNw7jYkbVc?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

[Sep 28, 2020] Washington's Hybrid War On Russian Energy Targets Germany, Belarus, And Bulgaria -

Sep 28, 2020 | www.zerohedge.com

Washington's Hybrid War On Russian Energy Targets Germany, Belarus, And Bulgaria

by Tyler Durden Sun, 09/27/2020 - 08:10 Twitter Facebook Reddit Email Print

Authored by Andrew Korybko via OneWorld.press,

The US is ruthlessly waging an intense Hybrid War on Russian energy interests in Europe by targeting the Eurasian Great Power's relevant projects in Germany, Belarus, and Bulgaria, banking on the fact that even the partial success of this strategy would greatly advance the scenario of an externally provoked "decoupling" between Moscow and Washington's transatlantic allies.

The Newest Front In The New Cold War

The New Cold War is heating up in Europe after the US intensified its Hybrid War on Russian interests there over the past two months. This proxy conflict is being simultaneously waged in Germany, Belarus, and Bulgaria, all three of which are key transit states for Russian energy exports to the continent, which enable it to maintain at least some influence there even during the worst of times. The US, however, wants to greatly advance the scenario of an externally provoked "decoupling" between Moscow and Washington's transatlantic allies which would allow America to reassert its unipolar hegemony there even if this campaign is only partially successful. This article aims to explore the broad contours of the US' contemporary Hybrid War strategy on Russian energy in Europe, pointing out how recent events in those three previously mentioned transit states are all part of this larger plan.

Germany

From north to south, the first and largest of these targets is Germany, which is nowadays treating Russian anti-corruption blogger Navalny. The author accurately predicted in late August that "intense pressure might be put upon the authorities by domestic politicians and their American patrons to politicize the final leg of Nord Stream II's construction by potentially delaying it as 'punishment to Putin'", which is exactly what's happening after Berlin signaled that it might rethink its commitment to this energy project. America isn't all to blame, however, since Germany ultimately takes responsibility for its provocative statements to this effect. Dmitri Trenin, Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, published a thought-provoking piece titled " Russian-German Relations: Back To The Future " about how bilateral relations will drastically change in the aftermath of this incident. It's concise and well worth the read for those who are interested in this topic.

Belarus

The next Hybrid War target is Belarus , which the author has been tracking for half a decade already. After failing to convince Lukashenko to break off ties with Russia after this summer's Wagner incident, a Color Revolution was then hatched to overthrow him so that his replacements can turn the country into another Ukraine insofar as it relates to holding Russian energy exports to Europe hostage. The end goal is to increase the costs of Russian resources so that the US' own become more competitive by comparison. Ultimately, it's planned that Russian pipelines will be phased out in the worst-case scenario, though this would happen gradually since Europe can't immediately replace such imports with American and other ones. "Losing" Belarus, whether on its own or together with Nord Stream II, would deal a heavy blow to Russia's geopolitical interests. Countries like Germany wouldn't have a need to maintain cordial relations with it, thus facilitating a possible "decoupling".

Bulgaria

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That's where Bulgaria could become the proverbial "icing on the cake". Turkish Stream is expected to transit through this Balkan country en route to Europe, but the latest anti-government protests there threaten to topple the government, leading to worries that its replacement might either politicize or suspend this project. Azerbaijan's TANAP and the Eastern Mediterranean's GRISCY pipelines might help Southeastern Europe compensate for the loss of Russian resources, though the latter has yet to be constructed and is only in the planning stages right now. Nevertheless, eliminating Turkish Stream from the energy equation (or at the very least hamstringing the project prior to replacing/scrapping it) would deal a death blow to Russia's already very limited Balkan influence. Russia would then be practically pushed out of the region, becoming nothing more than a distant cultural-historical memory with close to no remaining political influence to speak of.

Economic Warfare

The overarching goal connecting these three Hybrid War fronts isn't just to weaken Russia's energy interests, but to replace its current role with American and other industry competitors. The US-backed and Polish-led " Three Seas Initiative " is vying to become a serious player in the strategic Central & Eastern European space, and it can achieve a lot of its ambitions through the construction of new LNG and oil terminals for facilitating America's plans. In addition, artificially increasing the costs of Russian energy imports through political means related to these Hybrid Wars could also reduce Russia's revenue from these sources, which presently account for 40% of its budget . Considering that Russia's in the midst of a systemic economic transition away from its disproportionate budgetary dependence on energy, this could hit Moscow where it hurts at a sensitive time.

The Ball's In Berlin's Court

The linchpin of Russia's defensive strategy is Germany, without whose support all of Moscow's energy plans stand zero chance of succeeding. If Germany submits to the US on one, some, or all three of these Hybrid War fronts in contravention of its natural economic interests, then it'll be much easier for America to provoke a comprehensive "decoupling" between Russia and Europe. It's only energy geopolitics that allows for both sides to maintain some sense of cooperation despite the US-encouraged sanctions regime against Russia after its reunification with Crimea and thus provides an opportunity for improving their relations sometime in the future. Sabotaging Russia's energy interests there would thus doom any realistic prospects for a rapprochement between them, but the ball's in Berlin's court since it has the chance to say no to the US and ensure that the German-Russian Strategic Partnership upholds Europe's strategic autonomy across the present century.

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Concluding Thoughts

For as much as cautiously optimistic as many in the Alt-Media Community might be that the US' Hybrid War on Russian energy in Europe will fail, the facts paint a much more sobering picture which suggests that at least one of these plots will succeed. Should that happen, then the era of energy geopolitics laying the foundation for Russian-European relations will soon draw to a close, thereby facilitating the US' hoped-for "decoupling" between them, causing budgetary difficulties for Moscow at the moment when it can least afford to experience such, and pushing the Eurasian Great Power's strategic attention even further towards Asia. The last-mentioned consequence will put more pressure on Russia to perfect its "balancing" act between China and India , which could potentially be a double-edged sword that makes it more relevant in Asian geopolitical affairs but also means that one wrong move might seriously complicate its 21st-century grand strategy .

Vegetius , 4 hours ago

If you look at the three countries mentioned Belarus will likely be absorbed by Russia sooner rather than later. The push for this is underway looking at meetings taking place. For Bulgaria the US is far away and has no power to stop the Turks. It is the Turks the Bulgarians fear, with a lot of reasons, their surest way of keeping out of the Turks clutches is to look to Russia for support. Unfortunately the USA has an appalling track record of betraying countries, ask Libya.

The Germans have no choice but take the Russian gas, economically, socially and for strategic reasons. The truly big fear for the US is a German/Russian bloc. German and Russian technology with unrivaled resources. That is the future super power if they are pushed together, something that is very likely if we see a major economic contraction in the next few years.

Mustahattu , 4 hours ago

The US fear of an Eurasian alliance. The US fear Europe will create a Silicon Valley of the future. The US fear the Euro will replace the dollar as a reserve currency. The US fear Russia will become a superpower. The US fear China. There's a lot to fear yankee dear...cos it's all gonna happen.

Hope Copy , 1 hour ago

RUSSIA is content with 45 and 25nm as it can be hardened.. 14 and especially 7nm is so that the **** will wear out..

Ace006 , 2 hours ago

Instead of fretting about how this or that country or bloc will become a/an _________ superpower the US could focus on regaining its former pre-eminence.

It's a crazy thought, I know, but

  1. moving a massive amount of industrial capacity to China and fueling the rise of a communist country just might have been a bad idea and
  2. thrashing about in the international arena like a rutting rhinoceros at huge expense makes us look foolish and, in the case of Syria, petty and vindictive.

Repairing the damage from the former and stopping the hemorrhage of money and reputation respectively would be a far better objective than playing Frankenstein in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Iran, Poland, N. Korea, and Venezuela, inter alia . Mexico is a failed state right on our border that contributes mightily to our immigration, cultural, and political problems. But, no, the puffed up, prancing morons who make US policy can summon the imagination to figure out how to help our very own neighbors deal with their hideous problems. No. Let's engage in regime change and "nation building" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Belarus.

The words of the great Marcus Aurelius are on point: "Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to those to whom thou art now a beast and an ape, if thou wilt return to thy principles and the worship of reason."

Herodotus , 1 hour ago

Bulgaria must return to the protection of the Ottoman Empire.

yerfej , 4 hours ago

Easy solution, end NATO. Just have all US forces told to leave the EU and let them determine their own destiny. Then do the same with US forces in the ME, Japan, Korea, etc. EVERYONE would be better off, including US taxpayers which get nothing out of the useless overseas deployment of resources which could be better spent at home.

yojimbo , 3 hours ago

5% budget deficit, 5% military spending. Leave the world, drop 4.5% of the spending and either save money, or build infrastructure. It's so simple, I am disappointed Trump doesn't at least state it. I get he is limited by the system, and can't be a Cincinnatus, even if he wanted to, but he has his First Amendment.. though I grant him a personal fear of being Kennedied!

Bac Si , 2 hours ago

Howdy Yerfej. It sounds like you are all for Isolationism.

But Isolationism means different things to different people. Pre WW2, Isolationism in the US meant selling our products to hostile countries. In the case of Japan, oil to help them kill Chinese people. In the case of Germany and Italy, food and vehicles to help them conquer all of Europe.

Considering the ridiculous education that the US gives its children, it's no wonder that most Americans don't know much about history (I say that in general terms, not to you specifically). Henry Ford senior not only received the 'Grand Cross of the German Eagle' from Adolf Hitler in 1938, he also received a 'Congressional Medal' from the US Congress shortly after WW2 – and for the same reason. Selling trucks to help the war effort.

Even after Pearl Harbor, there were politically powerful Isolationists that did not want the US to get involved in WW2. Why? Because a lot of money was at stake. It still is. These same people will continue to argue for Isolationism even after we are attacked.

Two months AFTER Pearl Harbor, FDR made a speech that included this:

"Those Americans who believed that we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American eagle to imitate the tactics of the ostrich. Now, many of those same people, afraid that we may be sticking our necks out, want our national bird to be turned into a turtle. But we prefer to retain the eagle as it is – flying high and striking hard. I know that I speak for the mass of the American people when I say that we reject the turtle policy and will continue increasingly the policy of carrying the war to the enemy in distant lands and distant waters – as far away as possible from our own home grounds." – FDR

This radical change in our foreign policy has never been explained or even referred to in US history books. Powerful economic forces will always love the idea of "Open Trade Isolationism". But if Isolationism is ever suddenly defined by not doing business with any hostile government – those powerful forces will go ballistic. They will strongly lobby against 'Economic Warfare'. In other words, they will always want to make lots of money by selling their products to hostile governments, no matter how many people die.

Want a great example?

Right after Loral Corporation CEO Bernard L. Schwartz donated a million dollars to the DNC, President Clinton authorized the release of ballistic missile technology to China so Loral could get their satellites into space fast and at low cost. Those same missiles, and their nuclear warheads, are now pointed at the US.

The argument has always been that if we trade with hostile governments, they will grow to like us. Does anyone out there believe that if the UK and France gave pre WW2 Germany an extra $20 billion in trade, Germany wouldn't have started WW2? Anyone with a brain would tell you that Germany would have put those resources into their military (like China has been doing) and WW2 would have started earlier.

Yerfej, if we brought back the Cold War organization called the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), I would be all for Isolationism. President Clinton got rid of it in his first year, and Western weapons technology has been threatening us ever since.

BaNNeD oN THe RuN , 5 hours ago

You have to love the dynamic duo of "lie, cheat and steal" Pompeo and his "mob boss" Trump. There is absolutely no subtlety in their obvious shakedown tactics.

PrivetHedge , 4 hours ago

The mob had far more honor, and better morals.

PrivetHedge , 4 hours ago

Washington's transatlantic allies...

Hahahah, occupied vassals.
Washington has cost Germany a massive slice of GDP.

you_do , 4 hours ago

Yankee has plenty of problems at home.

Rest of the world can decide their own energy policy.

They do not suffer from the 'Russia' propaganda.

geno-econ , 5 hours ago

Let Russia, the lowest cost energy producer win energy competition in Europe as China, the lowest cost manufacturing producer is winning in America. Only difference is retailers, shippers, assembly part importers such as auto, electronics and appliance makers are making a profit and consumer gets lower prices. We should let others decide for themselves and stop meddling----only result will be a bloody nose

you_do , 4 hours ago

Yankee has plenty of problems at home.

Rest of the world can decide their own energy policy.

They do not suffer from the 'Russia' propaganda.

geno-econ , 5 hours ago

Let Russia, the lowest cost energy producer win energy competition in Europe as China, the lowest cost manufacturing producer is winning in America. Only difference is retailers, shippers, assembly part importers such as auto, electronics and appliance makers are making a profit and consumer gets lower prices. We should let others decide for themselves and stop meddling----only result will be a bloody nose

free-energy , 4 hours ago

Notice how everything the US does around the world is a WAR. War on Energy, War on Drugs, War on Birth Control, War War War... America will fall after 2020 if nothing changes for the better. Every year the world grows more and more tired of the US bs and moves further away from it. Its so bad that they choose to deal with a communist country over us.

You reap what you've sowed.

Bobby Farrell Can Dance , 3 hours ago

The Anglo American parasite pirate gangsters keep barking on about Russia bad, China bad, but I look around and I see nothing but these trouble makers waging war on anything they cannot control. The US and UK are devil nations. They will deserve all the rot they have coming their way.

Unknown User , 5 hours ago

Trump wants a trade balance with all major economies like Germany and China. If they don't buy from us, he will have to raise tariffs. In case of Germany, they need nothing from us so he wants them to buy US LNG. Merkel's position is that "there is a cheap Russian gas", while Trump is telling her "no there isn't one".

Pumpinfe , 4 hours ago

So trump loves to deep throat Russia but give Germany a hard time to Nordstream 2? Wake up fanboys, your hero is a ******. I got so much money invested in gazprom. LNG is junk and gazprom (Russian owned) is gona crush LNG and trump and his idiot following can't do a damn thing. You trump idiots will believe anything. Let me enlighten you...gazprom is the lowest cost producer of natural gas in the world...go look at the difference between gazprom and LNG and then you will realize that orange dump is an idiot along with his army of empty heads. Oh and if you think China and Russia are not friendly, go look up the Power of Siberia pipeline. That will give you a good sense of the relationship between Russia and China. America is rotting from the inside and Russia and China are eating their popcorn watching it happen.

Dabooda , 3 hours ago

I don't see Trump deep-throating anyone but Netanyahu. Sans gratuitous insults, your comment about Gazprom is spot on

Lokiban , 5 hours ago

I doubt Merkel will give in. She would commit political suicide if she did that. She knows Navalny is a US effort to stop Nordstream 2.
What is the alternative? Buying gas from the US or US-controlled oilfields in Iraq and Syria? Putin might have a say in that.

Lokiban , 5 hours ago

I doubt Merkel will give in. She would commit political suicide if she did that. She knows Navalny is a US effort to stop Nordstream 2.
What is the alternative? Buying gas from the US or US-controlled oilfields in Iraq and Syria? Putin might have a say in that.

thurstjo63 , 3 hours ago

The main fault in Mr Korybko's thinking is that he believes that European countries will not just shoot themselves in the foot but in the head to appease the US. At a european and local level, those who wanted Nord Stream 2 to be suspended or killed have failed. The costs are way too high. For that we can thank, perversely, the agreements associated with protecting investments from political decisions pushed by the US itself!!! Given that there is no proof of Navalny being poisoned, Germany knows that there is no way that they could hope to win their case for stopping Nord Stream 2 in a tribunal with persons capable of rational thought. That is why they made the deal to buy some US liquified gas for a couple of billion dollars. Because that is the cheapest way of extricating themselves from this situation. Otherwise, they are looking at orders of magnitude more compensation to russian and european firms for stopping the pipeline.

As for Belarus, barring Lukashenko doing something profoundly stupid like reacting violently to protests, that ship has already sailed. Protests are smaller every week and mainly on the weekend as now the "opposition" has been publishing people's profiles accusing them of collaborating with the government without any proof, leading to innocent people and their families to be threatened. There will be a transition from Lukashenko over the next couple of years but you can be sure that the present "opposition" given their desire to break away from Russia will not be part of the group that comes to power in the future since their base of support diminishes every week.

Finally Bulgaria already shot themselves in the foot when they backed out of South Stream and had major problems securing energy resources to meet its needs during the intervening period. Radev as any politician wanting to stay in office knows, if he doesn't go through with connecting Turk Stream to the rest of Europe that he might as well resign. So unless the US has compromising information on him that can force him from office or the Radev's administration doesn't control the US attempts to create the conditions for a colour revolution in Bulgaria, it is definitely not going to happen.

I'm sorry but Mr. Korybko is wrong on all counts!

Savvy , 4 hours ago

When the US backed Georgia's violent incursion into S Ossetia it took Russia one day to send them back.

Russians are slow to saddle but ride fast.

Joiningupthedots , 2 hours ago

That was with the remnants of the old Soviet Army too.

The new Russian Army is an entirely different beast in both organisation, training, experience and equipment.

This guy has his finger on the pulse;

http://thesaker.is/the-world-has-gone-absolutely-insane/

JeanTrejean , 5 hours ago

Are the USA really at war with Russia...and EU?

Decoupling Russia from EU, is re-enforcing the Eurasia bloc...where is the future of the world.

Russia belongs to Europa...not the USA.

BaNNeD oN THe RuN , 4 hours ago

Geographically Europe and Asia are one continent. It was "European exceptionalism" (the precursor to American Exceptionalism) that divided it as an ethno-cultural construct.

researchfix , 5 hours ago

Cancelling NS2 will chase the German industry into Russia. Cheap energy, moderate wages, Eurasian market at the front steps.

The sheep and their ex working places and Mutti will stay in Germany.

Bobby Farrell Can Dance , 3 hours ago

Do Germans want to be slaves of these abject Brits and Americans? Pffffft....gas from Russia is a NO BRAINER.

Only British and Americans rats do not like that idea. How un-selfish then, it is for these jealous, insecure morons to dictate to Germany how she should trade. That's called outright meddling. These imperialists are like entitled Karens, they think the world owes them favours at the snap of a finger.

Sandmann , 4 hours ago

Nordstream 2 has an add-on leg to UK. Germany is largest gas importer on earth and cannot run its industry without gas imports from Russia. LNG is simply too expensive unless US taxpayers subsidise it.

If US wants to destabilise Europe it will reap the consequences. Southern Europe depends on gas from North Africa - Portugal generates electricity from Maghreb Pipeline to Spain from Algeria via Morocco. Erdogan hopes to put Turkey in position of supplying gas to Europe.

Germany will not abandon Nordstream 2 but might abandon USA first.

Max21c , 3 hours ago

The US is ruthlessly waging an intense Hybrid War on Russian energy interests in Europe by targeting the Eurasian Great Power's relevant projects in Germany, Belarus, and Bulgaria, banking on the fact that even the partial success of this strategy would greatly advance the scenario of an externally provoked "decoupling" between Moscow and Washington's transatlantic allies.

It's a petty game and when it fails then the Washingtonians credibility and legitimacy just further erodes. The EU needs the energy supplies and the Russian Federation has the supplies. It's all just short term & small gain silliness by a pack of freaks in Washington DC and their freaks in the CIA, Thunk Tank freaks and freaks in the foreign policy establishment. It's just more of the Carnival sideshow/freakshow put on by Washingtonians. As usual if it's a Washingtonian (post Cold War) policy then there's little or no substance behind it and you can be sure it hasn't be thought through thoroughly and it'll eventually turn and boomerang back on the circus people in Washington, Ivy League circus people, and JudeoWASP elite circus people, CIA circus clowns and circus clowns in the Thunk Tonks and elites Fareign Poolicy ***-tablishment.

John Hansen , 3 hours ago

If all it takes is a Navaly hoax to cause this Europe isn't really worth dealing with.

propaganda_reaper , 3 hours ago

Once upon a time, a revolution occurred in a country through which passed a gas pipeline. The bad guys were vanquished. And the very good foreign guys who helped the local good guys defeat the tyrant said: "We got the same stuff, but liquid."

Any similarity with fictitious events or characters was purely coincidental.

_ConanTheLibertarian_ , 4 hours ago

Germany needs the gaz.

https://www.politico.eu/article/why-germany-cant-say-no-to-nord-stream/

Obamanism666 , 49 minutes ago

Remember the Gas to Europe still flows through the Ukraine. Russia just needs to reduce the gas Pressure and blame the Ukraine and Europe goes cold and Dark.

German People will beg for Nordstream 2 to be switched on.

lucitanian , 31 minutes ago

That's not the way Russia works. But it's the kind of blackmail that the US uses. And that's why Russia is a more dependable partner for Europe for energy.

Hope Copy , 1 hour ago

This **** goes right back to the 'DeepState' pseudo-revolution that got the Nicky-the-weak killed ,because he financed his railroads and wanted to be rich as hell as he perceived the ENGLISH monarchy to be, with a parliamentary DUMA that he could over rule if need be. I have looked 'DeepState' right in the eyes when I was young and dumb and was told that I would never go to their masion.. Nicky had family enemies. and the Czech fighting force was never going to save him.. Stalin was also double-crossed, but was well informed.. it was in his sector if one reads and believes. Cunning fox Stalin was, always playing those under him to do his bidding.. and that lesson has been well learned by a couple of the world's leaders in this day-in-age...

Herodotus , 1 hour ago

German manufacturing costs must be driven higher to take the heat off of the UK as they emerge from the EU and attempt to become competitive.

novictim , 1 hour ago

When "War" is actually not war but trade policy and financial incentives then you know you are engaged in dangerous bloviations and hyperbole.

When the shooting starts, then you can talk of War.

SuperareDolo , 2 hours ago

Russia might not want to fight these attempts to isolate it from the western economy. The collateral damage will be that much less, once Babylon the great finally falls.

LoveTruth , 2 hours ago

And US claims to be a "Fair Player," caring for freedom and democracy, while twisting arms and supporting corrupted officials.

IronForge , 3 hours ago

PetroUSD, MIC, Colonial Control of Vassals. World Domination Play by the Hegemony.

Just like the Policies of NATO: Russians Out, Germans Down, Anglo-American-ZioMasons and Vatican_Vassals In.

Policies were like this - Sponsored by Anglo-ZioMasons from Pre-WWI, continued through WWII and the First Cold War, and onwards after the Collapse of the SUN and the ensuing NeoCon Wolfowitz Doctrine and PNAC7/Bush-Cheney PetroUSD Plans.

The Hegemony Control MENA Energy Producers. The IRQ-KWT War were mishandled; and KSA demanded for the USA to Smite IRQ. The Initial War and Occupation prompted Hussein to opt the EUR for Petroleum, which Brought about the End of Hussein through the 9-11/PNAC7 Long War.

LBY opted for the Au-Dinar for Petroleum; and were Fail-Stated. IRN and RUS remain the only Major Energy Producers not Controlled by the Hegemony.

IRN were Sanctioned since removing the Shackles of Hegemonic Occupancy via Shah Par Levi; and attempts for Energy Diversification via Nuclear means raised suspicions of Nuclear Weapons Development - prompting for heavier Sanctions and 5thColumn Regime Change Operations by the Hegemony. IRN circumvented Sanctions in part by selling their Petroleum via Major Currencies and Barter. Though many Countries have reduced or maintained their purchase of IRN Petroleum via Sanctions Protocols, CHN are involved in Purchasing IRN's Output.

RUS, another Target of Ruin, Plunder, and Occupational Exploitation by the Hegemony, were Too Large a Country with Standing Armed Forces for Direct Military Invasion by the Hegemony. After the Collapse of the SUN, The Harvard/Chicago led Economic Reforms ended in Plunder - which prompted the Selection and Rise of Putin, who drove out the Plunderers. The Hegemony continue their Geopolitical War of Influence Peddling around RUS while attempting Soft War NATO Membership Recruitment and Regime Change Coups within RUS, Ex-SUN Nation-States, and Trading Partners.

RUS have endured, became Militarily mightier, have become the Major Energy Producer for North/Western Europe and CHN. In addition to the Production, RUS now have begun Trading Petroleum+NatGas outside of the PetroUSD Exchange Mechanism, opting for Customer Currencies or RUB.

RUS and IRN are expected to be Key Providers of the PetroCNY-Au Exchange Mechanism.

The Hegemony and MENA Vassals can't Compete in Combined Petroleum+NatGas Volume and Price; and DEU - by Directly Importing from RUS - will most likely become more Independent from the Hegemon.

CHN, RUS, and DEU - Major Energy, Industrial, Natural Resource, and Military Powers Decoupling from the Influences of the Hegemony, with IND Slowly coming to their Own (IND are simply Too Large to remain Vassals to the Hegemon; and Vassal GBR did so much to Oppress them in the past).

Funny that the Anglo-American-ZioMasons and VAT have brought each of these 3 Powers to Ruin and Occupation in the Past 2 Centuries.

The Ironies being Played Out are that:

1) GBR Lost their Prime Colonies - America/USA, IND, and now Trade City Colony HKG - by their Oppressive and Exploitative Occupancy; and

2) USA, after Fighting Wars for Independence from such Occupations by GBR - Once Becoming a Major Military Power, Followed in the Anglo-ZioMason Tradition of Geopolitical Conquest and Control to the Scale of pursing not only in World Domination - but in Absolute Global Rule.

Maghreb2 , 2 hours ago

Problem is demographic shift . The previous modern system dominated by Zio-Masonry was GNP and GDP where currencies were measured against global output and floated against gold and each other. Now with high inflation and demographic decline knocking out the economy is easier leading to fights between zones of influence. Petro Ruble, Euro or dollar. Dangerous commodities like kilos of heroin, trafficked humans or weapons. Zio-Masonic system has fallen to gangsterism. Hybrid Warfare is the kind of thing we saw in Afghanistan or 80s Columbia . Militarized Russian mafia vs NATO backed militarized police forces.

Once the population reaches a certain age and consumption drops there isn't much to fight over besides social control systems of the young minority. Color revolutions in Central Europe are really only effecting the long term economy of the young . Hope would be Left wing Radicals stood up to the system and aligned with right wing groups to eliminate masonic and Zionist factions and take back the command and control systems before the continet is shut down permanently.

Precision strikes and hunting down their descendents . Easy to find because Hitler and Stalin had their ancestors massacred for loyalty to Rothschild. They won't bite the hands that feed.The Vatican vassal systems was built on knowing that a Zionist is Zionist and Masons is a Mason. They are cults simply teaching them the correct way to behave can avert these political problems.

In terms of Belarus and Russia they should consider the fact the birth rate rate rose after the Soviet collapse and exodus west means many of them shouldn't have even been born in Rothschilds plan. In their " system " economic planning starts at birth because color revolutions effect long term bond issuances they control.

Stalin and Hitler both knew this and used money linked to raw marterials and goods to beat the British gold standard system. If you knew what the Western Central banks were worth you would kill people for using their money.

[Sep 27, 2020] The world has gone absolutely insane! by The Saker

Sep 27, 2020 | www.unz.com

We all know that we are living in crazy, and dangerous, times, yet I can't help being awed at what the imperial propaganda machine (aka the legacy ziomedia) is trying to make us all swallow. The list of truly batshit crazy stuff we are being told to believe is now very long, and today I just want to pick on a few of my "favorites" (so to speak).

First, of course, comes the " Novichok Reloaded " scandal around the alleged poisoning of the so-called "dissident" Alexei Navalnyi. I already mentioned this absolutely ridiculous story once , so I won't repeat it all here. I just want to mention a few very basic facts:

in my past article , if what the German authorities are claiming is true, then the Russians are truly the dumbest imbeciles on the planet. Not content to use this now famous "Novichok" gas against Skripal in the UK and after failing to kill Skripal, these stupid Russians decided to try the very same gas, only "improved", and they failed again: Navalnyi is quite alive and well, thank you! Then there is this: according to the imperial propaganda machine, Novichok was so horribly dangerous, that the Brits had to use full biosuits to investigate the alleged poisoning of Skripal. They also said that they would completely destroy the dangerous Skripal home (though they never did that). The self same propaganda machine says that the Novichok used on Navalnyi was a more powerful, improved version. Okay. Then try to answer this one: why did the Russians NOT put on biosuits, why did not a single passenger suffer from any side effects (inside a closed aircraft cabin!)? How is it that this super-dooper Novichok not only failed to kill Navalnyi (who, allegedly, ingested it!) but also failed to even moderately inconvenience anybody from the many people Navalnyi was surrounded by on that day?

I could continue to deconstruct all this nonsense, but that would take pages. I will mention two thing though:

First, the Russians have requested any and all evidence available to the Germans and to the Organization for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – but they got absolutely nothing in return. Yet the EU is demanding an investigation (which is already under way in Russia anyway!) as if the Russians did not want the exact same!

After being exposed to an improved Novichok and after weeks in coma in intensive care, here is Navalnyi trotting down stairs feeling great

Second, Navalnyi apparently has an immunity to otherwise deadly Russian biological agents, just take a look at him on this post-Novichok photo:

[By the way, the first time around the Brits also never gave the Russians any information, nevermind any kind of evidence. Apparently, to hide some super-secret secrets. Yeah, right!]

[Sep 26, 2020] Galloway- Lying industry may be the only sector of Western economies still in full production TAXPAYERS pay for it

Highly recommended!
Sep 26, 2020 | www.rt.com

If you have ever wondered why Syrian jihadists, or so-called 'moderate opposition', got support from the woke liberal West, a recent leak by Anonymous reveals it's because Western governments funded this propaganda.

In the end, it is the sheer childishness of the propaganda which amazes me most, not that our rulers lie about other countries – I have always known that. But somehow there was a kernel of truth around which the web of lies was spun, for example about life in the old Soviet Union.

I began to realise the scope of Western ability to literally invent the most baseless lies only in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, and only because I knew more about Iraq than any politician in Britain or America and ten times more than the average made-up telly-dolly chuntering through their auto-cued war propaganda. The women presenters weren't any better.

This all came flooding back to me when I received an email from Anonymous earlier this week and then read Ben Norton's excellent analysis of it all in The GrayZone.

If anyone ever wondered how the hordes of head-chopping throat-cutting heart-eating gay-murdering women-hating 'Jihadists' of the Syrian War ever managed to get a fair press in a 'woke' liberal West that gets hot under the lace collar about JK Rowling novels, the answers are all in the Anonymous leak . The principle answer is that you, the taxpayer, paid for it.

That's right. The blizzard of 'White Helmets' (who made it right up to the Oscars to thank everyone who'd helped them except those that had helped them the most), "chemical-weapons attacks" and all the paraphernalia of a newly "moderate opposition" in Syria – was all paid for by YOU. Millions of pounds of British taxpayers' money was revealed to have been spent secretly on UK support for the throat-cutting coalition of chaos, which for a decade massacred its way across Syria wearing a snow-white Western beard of respectability.

It would appear that while the US (or rather its milk-cows in the Gulf) was paying for the lethal-weapons, perfidious Albion was doing what it does best – lying through its teeth whilst making those being lied to, pay for the privilege. Now that – thanks to the leaks – we know this, it should put us on guard for the next one. Yet somehow it doesn't, at least not for the purveyors of the news.

The Lazarus-like resurrection (and photo-shoot) of Russia's opposition figure and Western darling Alexey Navalny after yet another alleged Novichok (believed to be 5-8 times more toxic than VX nerve agent) attack without so much as a tracheostomy to show for it is swallowed whole in yet another anti-Russian public relations offensive.

ALSO ON RT.COM Caitlin Johnstone: MSM smear merchants target critics of Establishment China narratives

Grown sane men call my television show to talk about 'concentration camps' in China in which, we are told, "a million Uighur Muslims" are being held and forcibly sterilised. This is despite the allegations being largely based on studies backed by the American government and statements by Western media favourite, German researcher Adrian Zenz. Zenz, who is part of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a US-backed advocacy group, believes that he is "led by God" on his "mission" against China. Meanwhile, according to China's official statistics the Uighur population in Xinjiang province increased by over 25 percent between 2010 and 2018, while the Han Chinese rose by only two percent.

The lying industry may be the only sector of the Western economies still in full production. No need for furlough or bounce-back loans. The lie-machines never still. No smoke is usually detected from their chimneys, but inside, their pants are well and truly on fire.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


[Sep 26, 2020] If you allow the hypothesis that Pevchickh she was part of a plot to get him "poisoned", lots of new questions pop up: did Navalny know, was he in on it?

Sep 26, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

Jen , Sep 23 2020 12:15 utc | 74

Thank you for the links, very interesting. I've seen several of the pics of Navalny, the heads look edited in, a bit too big, not quite aligned. This all seems very amateruish, like the Belorussian coup attempt. I'll bet they are connected more than we know.

I don't believe a bit of it. I haven't seem any evidence of life for Navalny except some not very convincing pictures.

The video of Ms Pevchickh is interesting too, she is very animated, works hard to get her point across.

If you allow she was part of a plot to get him "poisoned", lots of new questions pop up: did Navalny know, was he in on it? Was this supposed to tie in with the Belarus unrest, a distraction, something else? Who talked Merkel into going along and how? Is Heiko Maas really that dumb he thought this was going to work?

Anyway thanks.

Bemildred , Sep 23 2020 13:33 utc | 78

[Sep 26, 2020] I see that the German Parliament has NOT TAKEN its red pills these days and is reluctant to swallow the BS.

Notable quotes:
"... On rules based disorder and the capitulation of Merkel and her BND lapdogs to the 'hate Russia' fulminations of the UKUSA morons. I see that the German Parliament has NOT TAKEN its red pills these days and is reluctant to swallow the BS. ..."
Sep 26, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

uncle tungsten , Sep 22 2020 22:53 utc | 36

On rules based disorder and the capitulation of Merkel and her BND lapdogs to the 'hate Russia' fulminations of the UKUSA morons. I see that the German Parliament has NOT TAKEN its red pills these days and is reluctant to swallow the BS. It would be satisfying to see the collective wisdom of the Parliament to exceed that of the BND. But then that is a low bar.

[Sep 25, 2020] The scenes back at the hotel and the loose lipped egotistical rants from his English minder, Pevchikh and also the BBC are just one enormous debacle.

Sep 25, 2020 | www.moonofalabama.org

uncle tungsten , Sep 23 2020 10:56 utc | 73

Bemildred #71
So they say he has been discharged now, but not where he is. He said in the beginning he wanted to go home. I'm guessing he won't do that yet. In the picture he looks spooked, as one can easily understand. I think this whole thing with Navalny since he left the Russian hospital is fake, theater, sort of like Boris Johnson's bout with COVID19, which I think was also fake.

Thank you and I bet he IS spooked. It is possible that he was expatriated without his consent and that he knew what the consequences would be if he ever tried to leave apart from this fiasco. The scenes back at the hotel and the loose lipped egotistical rants from his English minder, Pevchikh and also the BBC are just one enormous debacle.

Read John Helmer's multiple posts on this entire story and it smells like a rats nest of intrigues to set him up or (a more remote possibility) to extricate him.

One thing is certain, if he tries to return to Russia the British bulldog will kill him. Time will tell.

Jen , Sep 23 2020 12:15 utc | 74
Bemildred @ 71, Uncle Tungsten @ 73:

Alexander Sosnovsky, writing for Ekonomiya Segodnya, claims Alexei Navalny was never a patient at the Charite hospital in Berlin!

"A journalist who visited Charite showed signs of Navalny's absence there"

Machine-translated from the Russian language:

... According to [Sosnovsky], the photo of Navalny with his wife on the balcony makes one think about his whereabouts. Sosnovsky, who is well acquainted with the architecture of Berlin, drew attention to the strange urban landscape in the corner of the picture. He pointed out that the Charite building does not have balconies with such a view, as it is located in the central part of Berlin with a completely different architecture.

To confirm his words in practice, Sosnovsky personally went to the Charite and walked around the building with a camera. He drew attention to the construction work near the clinic (it would probably have gotten into the blogger's photo), as well as the complete absence of journalists and security. All of this confirmed Sosnovsky's suspicions about Navalny's absence from the Charité.

In addition to the cityscape, the journalist had questions about the can with cigarette butts on Navalny's balcony. Sosnovsky called such an object impossible in an elite medical institution in Germany with patients of this level. If all the cigarettes in the frame were smoked by Navalny himself, this raises even more questions about his "diagnosis" and the conclusions of German doctors.

The journalist notes that all the shots with Navalny after he emerged from the coma are static and "inanimate." Sosnovsky, a person with a medical education and a practicing doctor, calls this understandable, pointing to the possibility of identifying the signs of specific diseases and influences by movements, speech and other dynamic manifestations. For example, after a tracheostomy (artificial windpipe), a person often has voice problems.

"Any video and audio makes it possible with a high degree of probability to calculate where and how it was done. It is much more difficult from a photo. And if they hide from us the opportunity to determine the location and diagnosis, this is very indicative," Sosnovsky said on the air of Soloviev Live.

Earlier, Navalny demanded that Russia return his clothes , in which the blogger was hospitalized in Omsk. However, Navalny's associates had previously written that all of his belongings were transferred to his wife, and some of the items that the blogger touched and used could be taken out by Maria Pevchikh, a suspect in his poisoning."

Photo of one side of Charite Hospital, Berlin

I have seen the photo of Navalny walking down a staircase with no help and a second photo of Navalny and his wife Julia out on a balcony at the hospital where he is (supposedly?) staying with the can of cigarette butts placed near the bottom of the sliding door. I had my doubts about Navalny being in hospital even before I saw the Sosnovsky article - would a hospital allow a patient just out of a coma to walk around by himself, especially down the stairs, or allow him to smoke cigarettes? Would a hospital even have balconies attached to patients' wards?

Incidentally I've just seen news that Navalny has now been discharged from hospital.

[Sep 23, 2020] It's Unrealistic To Speculate That The Kremlin Wanted To Kill Navalny by Andrew KORYBKO

Aug 28, 2020 | orientalreview.org

26/08/2020

The rapid onset of a mysterious illness that almost killed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny last week and ultimately led to his emergency airlifting to Germany for treatment while in a medically induced coma immediately prompted widespread speculation from the Western media that the authorities had tried to poison him, but it's unrealistic to imagine such a scenario since there are several compelling reasons why the government wouldn't ever want to harm him as well as some relevant arguments for why the West wants their targeted audience across the world to think otherwise. The Mysterious Illness

The Western media has been captivated by the curious case of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after the rapid onset of a mysterious illness almost killed him while he was mid-flight from Siberia to Moscow to face charges of slander after calling a World War II veteran a "traitor" earlier this summer for supporting amendments to the constitution. Navalny was ultimately airlifted to Germany for treatment while in a medically induced coma at his wife's request . Private individuals footed the bill , and the authorities didn't object to his departure. Prior to that, the Russian doctors shared their preliminary diagnosis that his illness was caused by a "metabolic disorder" which might have been triggered by a "sharp drop in blood sugar". They also confirmed that "no poisons or traces of poison have been found in his system", which is why a law enforcement source told TASS that "There are no grounds for opening a criminal case, no crime elements have been identified." An industrial chemical was found on his hands and clothes during testing, but the Omsk Regional Office of the Interior Ministry is of the belief that "it may have appeared after contact with plastic glass".

Assassination Speculations

Those are the facts as they objectively exist at the moment of this article's publication on 24 August, but the political context of the case has fueled speculation about foul play. The most popular theory is that he was poisoned after drinking a cup of tea that was handed to him by his aide while waiting for his flight at the airport. Staff at the cafe in question that were interviewed by police said that they didn't know anything about the incident, and the business has since closed . Despite the Russian doctors concluding that there were "no toxicological substances that could have been described as a poison" in his system, the Western media has speculated that he was poisoned as part of a Kremlin plot. This narrative builds upon the unproven stories of the past two decades, especially the recent Skripal case from two years ago, alleging that President Putin personally orders his critics across the world to be poisoned as punishment for bruising his ego. Despite being ridiculous to countenance for any objective observer, it nevertheless advances the information warfare narrative that the Russian leader is a "dangerous dictator" who must be stopped by all means possible.

Navalny's Real Role In Russian Society

This politically self-serving depiction of events relies on its targeted audience's ignorance of Russian domestic politics since those who are aware of everyday realities there know better than to imagine such a scenario. Navalny isn't the "opposition leader" that he's portrayed as abroad, but is more like an investigative blogger and protest organizer than anything else. His ethno-nationalist views only appeal to the extreme right-wing fringe of society, though Westerners are generally unaware of them since their media mostly only focuses on his occasional liberal rhetoric and regular criticism of the authorities. While his racial beliefs are politically dangerous in terms of threatening to unravel the cosmopolitan country's unity, they're not an electoral threat considering how unpopular they are, hence why the ruling United Russia party isn't too concerned about him. Navalny wouldn't even be that well-known at home had he not repeatedly broken the law by organizing unauthorized rallies, provocations which always receive disproportionate attention from his Western media allies. Exaggerating his political importance is therefore nothing more than a Western infowar tactic.

The "Pressure Valve"

This presumably irks the government, but it in no way threatens it. If anything, the authorities have come to accept the role that Navalny plays in society as a "pressure valve" for people's frustration with corruption and other related issues. They're used to his antics by now, and he's regarded as the "devil that they know". His departure from the scene would actually be counterproductive since it might open up the opportunity for an even more radical individual to replace him, one who's much less "manageable" and might dangerously stir up ethno-nationalist tensions in society under the cover "anti-corruption" rhetoric. Since he's so highly regarded in the West as a result of their long-running infowar, they know that they'd immediately be suspected if anything happened to him. This in turn, as is presently on display as a result of his mysterious medical crisis, could then be twisted into even more devious infowar narratives against their country such as the current one speculating that the authorities tried to assassinate him. They'd never do anything of the sort, but all that matters is that the West's targeted audience believes this false claim after being preconditioned for years to accept it.

Different Infowar Targets, Different Intended Outcomes

The non-Russian audience is having their negative views about the country reinforced by the " media circus " surrounding Navalny's mysterious illness, and their governments might potentially use the incident as a pretext for tightening the sanctions regime against Russia, and especially against specific individuals who they might eventually claim were linked to what's being wrongly portrayed as an "assassination attempt". As for the targeted Russian audience, the West might hope that this incident could spark another wave of protests in Moscow along the lines of the ongoing ones in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk and the Belarusian capital of Minsk. That wouldn't be for the purpose of overthrowing the government which is completely unrealistic, but simply to cause some more trouble for it. The German doctors' forthcoming prognosis will be crucial in determining the scenario trajectory since they'll either reaffirm the findings of their Russian counterparts and predictably lead to this manufactured scandal blowing over or possibly challenge them under pressure from Western intelligence agencies and thus exacerbate the situation.

The ambulance that transported Alexei Navalny to Charite Mitte Hospital Complex in Berlin, Germany August 22, 2020
Scenario Forecasting

There are no credible reasons to doubt the Russian doctors' preliminary prognosis that Navalny's medical emergency was caused by a sharp drop in his blood-sugar levels, but their German counterparts might publicly allege a different version of events. Should that happen, then it's almost certain that Western governments will claim that he was poisoned at the behest of President Putin, threaten to impose more sanctions against Russia (most likely targeted ones), and naturally grant Navalny political asylum. Russia would predictably object to that series of events considering the fact that its doctors concluded that there were no poisons found in his system, which would lead to yet another layer of tension in Russia-West relations. Not only that, but since Navalny is currently being treated in Germany, intense pressure might be put upon the authorities by domestic politicians and their American patrons to politicize the final leg of Nord Stream II's construction by potentially delaying it as "punishment to Putin". That would be an unfortunate twist to the situation, but one that definitely can't be ruled out after taking into account just how badly the US wants to sabotage that project.

Concluding Thoughts

As it stands, it looks like Navalny really did experience a genuine medical emergency, one which was naturally occurring and not the result of any foul play. Neither the Russian authorities nor foreign intelligence agencies attempted to assassinate him, but the German doctors might be pressured by Western intelligence agencies to contradict their counterpart's findings in order to provoke a fake crisis in Russia-West relations, one which could then potentially be leveraged to put interfere with the final stage of Nord Stream II's construction. Regardless of how this incident ends, one thing's for certain, and it's that Navalny's mysterious illness was politicized before there were any grounds to do so. The Western media has an interest in making it seem like President Putin ordered his assassination because of his bruised ego, but this is ridiculous to countenance since Navalny fulfills a useful role in Russian society by functioning as a "pressure valve" for people's frustration with corruption and other related issues. The last thing that the Kremlin would ever do is harm him since all Russian authorities already know that their government would immediately be suspected if something happened to him.

Source: OneWorld

[Sep 19, 2020] Novichok In Navalny's Water Bottle -

Sep 19, 2020 | www.zerohedge.com

Novichok In Navalny's Water Bottle by Tyler Durden Sat, 09/19/2020 - 09:20 Twitter Facebook Reddit Email Print

Authored by Stephen Lendman,

Alice's "curiouser and curiouser" remark in Lewis Carroll's Adventures in Wonderland applies to dubious twists in the Navalny novichok poisoning hoax.

No evidence or motive links Russia to what happened to him.

Was the August 20 Tomsk, Russia incident made-in-the-USA?

Was Germany pressured, bullied or bribed to go along -- at the expense of its own self-interest?

Clearly Angela Merkel, other German officials, their Western counterparts, and establishment media know the claim about Navalny's novichok poisoning is a colossal hoax.

They know that anyone exposed to the toxin, the world's deadliest, would be dead in minutes.

The same goes for others in close proximity to the exposed individual.

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Navalny is very much alive and recovering nearly a month after falling ill.

No one he came in contact with developed novichok poisoning symptoms.

Russian doctors treating him with state-of-the-art equipment and tests found no toxins of any kind in his system.

They saved his life and stabilized his condition, enabling him to travel to Berlin for further treatment.

If the Kremlin wanted him dead, he'd have been left untreated in Russia to die.

He's recovering because of heroic treatment by Russian doctors.

On Thursday, elements close to Navalny shifted the fake news novichok poisoning narrative from tea he drank in the Tomsk, Russia airline terminal to the deadly nerve agent in his hotel room water bottle.

Are other versions of what happened to him coming ahead?

Claiming novichok traces were found in a hotel water bottle he drank from doesn't pass the smell test.

The deadly substance in an opened hotel room bottle would likely contaminate and kill anyone near it.

If, in fact, Navalny was poisoned by novichok in his hotel room overnight, he'd have died in minutes, clearly not what happened.

The novichok in a hotel room bottle scenario is implausible on its face.

Claiming members of his team entered his hotel room after learning of his illness, found it uncleaned, and examined everything potentially useful for an investigation -- "recording, describing, and packing" everything would have exposed them to novichok if it existed by touching the alleged bottle with the toxin.

Whatever happened to Navalny wasn't from novichok poisoning in a bottle or from any other source.

On Thursday, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow's representative to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin requested copies of files the organization received from Germany on Navalny's condition, but got no response, adding:

"According to our data Germany and a whole number of (other Western) countries (are) cultivating the OPCW" with regard to the Navalny incident.

Since he arrived in Berlin for treatment over three weeks ago, Merkel's government stonewalled Russia by refusing to provide evidence it claims to have about novichok poisoning because there is none.

On Thursday, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "(t)here is too much absurdity about this whole situation to take anyone's word on trust, so we are not going to take anyone's word," adding:

"(T)he situation is as follows: the OPCW Technical Secretariat says 'we know nothing. Talk to the Germans,' and the Germans say 'we know nothing. Talk to the OPCW."

Russian lower house State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin suggested foreign intelligence responsibility for what happened to Navalny.

On Thursday, majority Russophobic European Parliament (EP) MPs adopted a resolution that calls for an "immediate launch of an impartial international investigation (sic)" on the Navalny incident by the EU, its allies, the UN, Council of Europe, and OPCW -- to frame Russia for what happened to Navalny.

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The resolution also calls for (unjustifiably and unlawfully) sanctioning Russia and suspending Nord Stream 2 construction.

EP resolutions are non-binding. The EP, Council of the European Union, European Council, and European Commission operate separately from individual member states.

Time and again earlier, they irresponsibly bashed Russia in cahoots with the US, adopting non-binding resolutions.

According to Zakharova earlier, anti-Russia propaganda is based on "paranoia phobias, fictitious messages (and) myths."

Interviewed by Radio Sputnik in Moscow, Sergey Lavrov said Western governments want Russia "punished both for what is happening in Belarus and for the incident with Navalny," adding:

They refuse to fulfill mandated obligations under the European Convention on Legal Aid by not responding to official requests by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for documented information on Navalny's condition.

"Germany says that it cannot tell us anything. They say, go to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)."

"We went there several times. They say go to Berlin."

"They loudly declare that the fact of poisoning has been established. Except for Russia nobody could have done it. Admit it."

"All this has already happened with the" fake news Skripals novichok poisoning incident.

Russia is a valued ally of all world community countries.

Instead of fostering cooperative relations with Moscow, actions by Germany and other EU countries risk rupturing them.

[Sep 19, 2020] Who organized this provocation? Is this a part of gas war?

Were Khodorkovsky or Browder among people involved? To what extent Trump administration and MI6 were involved? Looks more and more line a bad replay of Skripals poisoning
Notable quotes:
"... Germans and "the whole world", to quote Pompeo, know the truth: Russians simply deny the truth, and the more they deny, the more truthful the accusations appear. And the elephant in the room: Why isn't the poisoned by "Novichok" bullshitting bastard of a US agent dead? And the answer given by the Germans, that is ironic in the extreme: because Russian doctors saved his life in Omsk. ..."
"... There are undeniable advantages to accusations for which no substantiation is offered – as we saw with the Skripals, you can await public comment, identify where you went wrong from scornful rejections of the narrative, and then modify it so that it makes more sense. ..."
"... I hope Germany offers residency to the Navalnys, and that they accept. Russia can't really refuse to let him back in, he's a citizen. But as long as he is there he will cause trouble, and he'll be recharged with all the PR he has received from this latest caper. ..."
"... But it is suggested that Russia is bargaining for his return; the story also expands on Lavrov's recent statements, and introduces a villain in the woodpile I would not have personally suspected: Poland. ..."
"... I recall Lavrov querying the other day Pevchikh's presence in Germany, her refusal to be interviewed by investigators in Omsk and how come she managed to fly to Germany with Navalny? He also said that other supporters of Navalny had also turned up in Germany. ..."
"... I lay a pound to a pinch of shit that Pevchikh is a British agent. ..."
"... Looking good for almost a corpse. COVID-19, a flu virus, is a deadly killer, and Novichok, a deadly nerve agent, is not a killer. ..."
"... Dances with Bears: THE PEVCHIKH PLOT – NAVALNY BOTTLE, LONDON WITNESS FLEE THE SCENE OF THE CRIME, BERLIN TOO http://johnhelmer.net/the-pevchikh-plot-navalny-bottle-london-witness-flee-the-scene-of-the-crime-berlin-too/ ..."
"... I reckon Khordokovsky has a hand in this. He has the same moral compass as dead Berezovsky. None. And he has refused to stick to agreements (keep out of politics). If the British or someone else get fingered for this cunning plan , would they serve him up on a silver platter? Almost certainly so. ..."
"... We certainly did well to focus on Maria Pevchikh as soon as we discovered that in addition to being the one who evaded questioning by Russian authorities by flying out to Germany, she also had British residency. She certainly has become a "person of interest" and could well be the major individual in the plot to incapacitate Navalny and use him to pressure Germany over NSII and Russia over the Belarus unrest. ..."
"... It is still unknown whether Pevchikh is a British citizen. I think she is and probably must be, in fact, for if she is only a visa holder or an applicant for UK citizenship, she could be told by the Home Office to go take a hike if it is proven that she was instrumental in the poisoning plot. ..."
"... Ask Pevchikh! Only she is now probably undergoing debriefing in London at UK Secret Intelligence Services HQ, 85 Albert Embankment. ..."
"... There was considerable risk involved in the deception. I doubt that Navalny went into the deception willingly. There was a very real risk that he could have suffered some brain damage going into the first coma and that's sure to compromise his health in the long term in other ways. ..."
"... More likely it seems a lot of the deception was planned behind Navalny's back and people were waiting for an opportunity to carry it out. It may have been planned years ago for someone else and then switched to Navalny once he was in the Omsk hospital. Julia Navalnaya may have been pushed into demanding that Navalny be transferred to Berlin and while the Omsk hospital doctors were stabilising him for the transfer, the deception then started going into action in Germany. ..."
"... Lavrov smelt a rat several days ago -- last week, I'm sure -- when he stated that suspicions had been aroused by one of Navalny's gang refusing to answer investigators' questions in Omsk and then scarpering off to Germany. ..."
"... I'm quite sure the FSB already knew of Pevchikh's comings and goings between London and Moscow (over 60 flights there and back I read somewhere) and her activities with the Navalny organization. ..."
"... if Washington thinks it can actually halt Nord Stream II – with the understanding that the Russians would probably give up after such a stinging second rebuke – then the sky is the limit, and they will scornfully reject any other solution. The one who stands to get hurt the most is Europe. But I don't think they realize it. ..."
Sep 19, 2020 | thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com

MOSCOWEXILE September 14, 2020 at 11:07 pm

Russian librag Vedomosti reports NYT:

NYT сообщила о планах Навального вернуться в Россию
15 сентября 2020

NYT has announced Navalney's to return to Russia
15 September 2020

Founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny, who is undergoing treatment in Germany, has discussed his poisoning with the German prosecutor and announced that he plans to return to Russia, The New York Times has reported, citing a source in the German security forces.

According to the source, Navalny is fully aware of his condition, of what happened and where he is. In a conversation with the prosecutor, he refused that his case be jointly investigated by Germany and Russia. Navalny said he planned to return to Russia immediately after his recovery and continue his mission, the newspaper notes.

https://vedomosti-ru.turbopages.org/vedomosti.ru/s/society/news/2020/09/15/839918-o-planah-navalnogo?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=mobile

Mission accomplished.

I notice that the Navalny fake story has gone off the radar in the Western MSM.

Now there just remain the lies and innuendos fixed in the minds of the sheeple.

Only an investigation by the Germans.

No investigation by the Russians.

Germans and "the whole world", to quote Pompeo, know the truth: Russians simply deny the truth, and the more they deny, the more truthful the accusations appear. And the elephant in the room: Why isn't the poisoned by "Novichok" bullshitting bastard of a US agent dead? And the answer given by the Germans, that is ironic in the extreme: because Russian doctors saved his life in Omsk.

Other elephants lurking in the shadows:

Why hadn't everyone who had been in contact with the piece of shit, including fellow passengers on the Tomsk-Moscow flight died?

Where were the hazmat-suit-wearing specialists that should have detoxified the aeroplane on board of which the Bullshitter threw a wobbler?

So many elephants, all ignored.

Total fabrication.

When the liar returns here, how about arresting him for breach of his bail conditions?

Not technically but absolutely legally he was not allowed to leave the country.

How about arresting him for perverting the course of justice? You can get life for doing that in the UK!

He refuses to allow the Russian state to investigate his case but he and his controllers and supporters maintain that the Russian state attempted to murder him with the most deadly nerve agent known to man -- but it didn't work.

ET AL September 15, 2020 at 1:32 am

Jesus has Risen!

And on the plus side he can sell expensive 'blessed' trinkets to his hamsters help subsidize his interesting lifestyle. Think holy relics, think Medjigorje, Lourdes etc.

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 8:58 am

Having survived Novichok poisoning, is he now immune?

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 4:16 am

A long read:

VESTI RU

Навальный, "Новичок" и "белая коробка"
13 сентября 2020

Navalny, "Novichok" and the "White Box"
13 September 2020

Why is not a single Berlin doctor ready to personally confirm the announced poisoning of Navalny?

A Russian patient is recovering in the "White Box" of the Charité hospital. During the three weeks of Navalny's stay within these walls, no one shouted at the doctors that they were murderers, no one demanded from them hourly reports on the patient's state of health. At the beginning of the week, the hospital's press service informs the press that the personal guest of the Federal Chancellor has been withdrawn from an artificial coma and is reacting to other people. A couple of days later, "Spiegel" magazine publishes encouraging information: "More progress has been made. If his health continues to improve, Navalny will begin to receive more visitors". According to "Bellingcat" and "Der Spiegel", Navalny can already speak and can probably recall the events that happened before he lost consciousness on an aeroplane flying from Tomsk to Moscow.

In general, the latest Charité press releases are in clear contradiction to the horror that the German press had been gathering all week. The already poisoned underpants have been forgotten, the newspaper "Die Zeit" returns the reader to a famous photograph: morning in a café at the Tomsk airport, a passenger for the flight to Moscow flight peers into a cup that he has raised in order to drink out of it. In it,, according to a "Die " source, is not just a chemical warfare agent from the "Novichok" group: in there is a "Novichok" on steroids.

"Before this assassination attempt, the world did not know about this poison, which is said to be even more deadly and dangerous than all known substances from the Novichok group. Scientists found corresponding traces on the Navalny's hands and on the neck of a bottle from which he had drunk. This "modified Novichok" allegedly acts more slowly than previous versions. The Germans assume that one of the FSB agents monitoring Navalny, or an undercover agent, added drops of poison to his tea or applied a substance to the surface of a cup. Navalny was supposed to die on board the aircraft", writes "Die Zeit".

Everything is just fine and dandy here: for example, about agents who had to perform the necessary manipulations with a super-poison in a crowded place. A remarkable and suddenly appeared bottle -- no bottle was seen in Omsk at all. The story goes on about the fact that, apart from tea, Navalny did not drink anything. It turns out that those accompanying the blogger took the bottle out of the plane, hid it, and then transported it to Germany and handed it to Bundeswehr chemists Concealing evidence is pure criminality. But the most interesting thing is the super-"Novichok".

After the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury (let us recount the usual version of events that happened there), about 50 more people sought medical help. Houses were taken apart, pets were destroyed. But here no one except Navalny was hurt: neither the people at Tomsk airport, nor the fellow travellers with whom he, having the terrible poison in his hands, took a selfie on a bus, nor the passengers on board the aircraft, and he also touched things there. Symptoms of poisoning should have appeared amongst the passengers, but they did not. This should raise questions from the authors of the serious newspaper "Die Zeit", but it does not. A weapon of mass destruction by any reasoning, but the longer the German press examines the Navalny case, the more mediaeval and grotesque it becomes. And it works -- you can see it even from the reaction of quite moderate politicians.

Already a week and a half ago, Merkel announced the results of a toxicological examination, allegedly carried out in a secret laboratory of the Bundeswehr (yes, Navalny was poisoned), opponents of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline have intensified their onslaught against the federal government in order to stop the construction, they say, this is the only way to punish Russia. At the head of the column are the party leaders of the Greens and those associates of Merkel who are friendly with Washington and have plans for higher party or administrative posts after the Chancellor leaves.

These voices were at least heard. In an evening talk show on ZDF, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made it clear that the shutdown of Nord Stream 2 could be one response.

"We cannot say that since the sanctions do not work, then there is no need to introduce any. Sometimes we have to put up with the risk of the consequences, thereby saying that we do not want to live in a world without rules", Maas said.

Now Herr Maas, along with many members of the government and administration and the Chancellor, lives in a world of very strange rules. Merkel's press secretary Seibert reiterated that Germany will interact with Russia exclusively at the site of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), where all the documents allegedly have already been sent.

The OPCW Technical Secretariat informed our permanent representative, Alexander Shulgin, that Berlin had only sent a notification about Navalny's poisoning, a sheet of A4 paper, but there is still nothing that the experts could work on. But the Germans had to formulate a response to the proposal of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office on exchange of information: any information about the state of Navalny can be transferred to Russia only with his permission.

This was the case in 2004. The Charité clinic then diagnosed the presidential candidate of the Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko with dioxin poisoning -- no one ever saw documentary evidence. Yushchenko then for 4 years, while he was of interest he was to the public, promised to show everything, but he never did.

This trick can be repeated again, the main thing is to find the answer to an urgent task: to inflate the level of confrontation between Russia and Germany, and therefore the entire West, in order to force the Russian authorities to be as cautious as possible in their domestic and foreign policy, for example, in the Belarusian direction.

However, the fact that Nord Stream 2, for which the German federal government was ready to support unto death, suddenly became an instrument of blackmail -- admit the poisoning, otherwise we can close it down -- openly outraged German business and regional elites.

"It seems that the verdict has already been given -- there are demands that construction of the pipeline be stopped. I strongly oppose such measures", said Michael Kretschmer, Prime Minister of Saxony.

"We have had absolutely trusting cooperation with Russia in the energy sector for 50 years. And even in the most difficult political times, which were probably even more difficult during the Cold War, we managed to maintain this trust", emphasized Michael Harms, executive director of Eastern Committee of the German economy.

Even a true transatlantist, the president of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger, stood up for Nord Stream 2 (and Denmark had joined the renewed US incitement against it the day before).

Political games will not pass themselves of as force majeure. Investors will go to the German government for their money. Here you need to think ten times, because along with the demands of multibillion-dollar compensation, there will definitely be asked unpleasant questions about the reasons that made the German authorities abandon a project that was profitable to all sides. So you can go to Navalny's analyses. In a normal court, bureaucratic excuses will not work. And, by the way, in Germany there are politician-lawyers who can professionally draw up a claim and conduct a case.

"I want to investigate this. One of the developers of Novichok is in the US. It is known that many special services have this poison. Of course, the Russian have it as well, but if Putin did it, then why give Navalny to Germany? So that we can establish all this here? A crime must have some logic", says Bundestag deputy Gregor Gizi.

The logic that we now see is somehow not German. One gets the impression that the compassion and humanism of the German politician, brought up on the lessons of the past, are now being tried out by smart and cynical people who know how to competently fabricate, substitute and cover their tracks. And not too far away, we already had Britain.

At the end of May 2003, the BBC released material that Prime Minister Blair and his cabinet had made a decision to enter the war in Iraq based on falsified intelligence. The person who passed on this information to reporters was David Kelly, a leading chemical weapons specialist at the British Department of Defence. His speech at the parliamentary hearings threatened the prime minister, the military and the secret services with big problems, Hiwever, on July 18, 2003, Kelly was found dead in the woods near his home. Suicide, the investigation stated, but in 2007, a group of parliamentarians conducted an unofficial investigation -- there were no legal consequences, but now all British people know that Kelly was murdered in cold blood.

In 2015, Blair was forced to admit that he lied to citizens about Iraq, and escaped trial only because no one wanted to get involved with it. Nevertheless, Blair has gone down in history with this lie. And history is important to remember in order to do it right. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calls on the Germans to leave emotions and turn on their brains.

"I hope that these absurd actions will be stopped and Germany, at least for the sake of the reputation of German punctuality, will fulfill its obligations under the agreement with the Russian Federation. Moreover, they are demanding an investigation from us, but it turns out that all those who accompanied Navalny are slowly moving to Germany too. this is very unpleasant and leads to serious thoughts. Therefore, it is in the interests of our German colleagues to protect their reputation and provide all the necessary information that would somehow shed light on their so far absolutely unfounded accusations", Lavrov said.

Another proposal has gone from Moscow to Berlin: to send a Russian investigation team to Germany in order to jointly study the circumstances of the case, the victim of which is a Russian citizen. So far, there is no reason to believe that Berlin will respond with consent.

Some German politicians and almost all the SMS likes to moralize against Russia, periodically recalling the Stalinist repressions and the GULAG. But now Germany itself behaves like an investigator during interrogation in the dungeons of the NKVD. Confession is the queen of proof.*

https://yandex.ru/turbo/vesti.ru/s/article/2457559?promo=navbar&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com%2F%3Ffrom%3Dspecial&utm_source=YandexZenSpecial

Yeah, we got a confession in the end!

That's all the bastards demand of Russia: Confess and then we'll be pals.

*Признание -- царица доказательств

"Confession is the Queen of proof."

From Latin: Сonfessio regina probationum est)

Roman legal principle of criminal procedural law.

Слава России!

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 10:04 am

There are undeniable advantages to accusations for which no substantiation is offered – as we saw with the Skripals, you can await public comment, identify where you went wrong from scornful rejections of the narrative, and then modify it so that it makes more sense.

In this case, people wonder why such a potent nerve agent did not fell Navalny instantly like a poleaxed ox, before he ever left the terminal, instead of 40 minutes or so into the flight. Ahhh but this, we later learn, was a specially-modified Novichok, engineered to be slow-acting. Just what you want in a nerve agent. Hint – no, it isn't. Just like you don't want it specially engineered to be 'persistent', like that chemical-warfare expert tit for Bellingcat claimed was the reason the poison daubed on Skripal's doorknob did not wash away in the rain and was still deadly weeks afterward. You want a nerve agent to quickly and efficiently kill enemy troops caught in the open and unprotected, and then as quickly degrade and disperse so your own forces can move in and occupy the objective. The last thing you want is it hanging about for weeks, or being 'slow-acting' so those troops can come in and wax your ass and then later fall down dead. One of the first casualties of these silly stories must be that the agent is 'military grade'. The military would say, if you want to use that useless shite, spread it yourself – we want nothing to do with it.

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 4:46 am

Just appeared, posted from Charité -- Bullshitter with statuesque wife and kiddie acolytes:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFJwV0Dly0Z/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=12&wp=822&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fthenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com&rp=%2F2020%2F07%2F31%2Fthe-ceaseless-lies-of-eva-bartlett-or-the-partisan-scrubbing-of-western-consciousness%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A3146.465000000717%7D

Another bungled FSB wet job!

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 4:56 am

It reads:

navalny Hi, this is Navalny. I miss you all 😍. I still can hardly do anything, but yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day. Generally myself. I did not use any outside help, not even the simplest valve in my throat. I liked it very much. An amazing, underestimated by many thing. Would totally recommend.

What, no tracheotomy scar?

Why aren't you dead, you wanker?

Thinking about thanking the Omsk doctors who "saved your life" after you had taken a dose of salts in the aircraft shithouse?

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 10:07 am

"I still can hardly do anything "

I'm still waiting for the difference to become evident. Navalny does perhaps less than any man in Russia who enjoys such a leisurely lifestyle.

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 10:05 am

I take it that the kiddie Navalnyites in the above Instagram are all Russian citizens and part of the Bullshitter's entourage that turned up in Berlin, hot on the heels of their comatose hero.

So how did they get the documentation that enabled them to leave the Mafia State and enter Germany, the coronavirus shamdemic notwithstanding?

Are they all guests of Frau Kanzelerin Merkel?

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 10:34 am

I thought they were the Bullshitter's kids.

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 10:49 am

Yes, they are his children. Navalnaya clearly got permission for their son to travel to Germany. His daughter has flown in from the USA.

However, the question still remains as regards those Navalnyites who rolled up in Germany following their leader's private flight there: how did they get the appropriate documentation to do so at such short notice, not to mention Pevchikh, who flew with the comatose Navalny to Berlin -- and then vanished?.

Seibert was asked about this and said he knew nothing about her.

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 11:22 am

Ah, yes; that's a good point. I just assumed the hamsters were blathering from a distance, as in Russia. I did not realize some of them had turned up in Germany, except for the mysterious Masha.

I hope Germany offers residency to the Navalnys, and that they accept. Russia can't really refuse to let him back in, he's a citizen. But as long as he is there he will cause trouble, and he'll be recharged with all the PR he has received from this latest caper.

But it is suggested that Russia is bargaining for his return; the story also expands on Lavrov's recent statements, and introduces a villain in the woodpile I would not have personally suspected: Poland.

https://www.stalkerzone.org/lavrov-offered-merkel-a-choice-between-russia-navalny/

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 11:54 am

And get this:

Does he want to end his political ambitions? Top Eurocrat Borrell calls for Navalny's name to be attached to EU 'Magnitsky List'

https://www.rt.com/russia/500766-borrell-navalny-sanctions-russia/

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 12:03 pm

I recall Lavrov querying the other day Pevchikh's presence in Germany, her refusal to be interviewed by investigators in Omsk and how come she managed to fly to Germany with Navalny? He also said that other supporters of Navalny had also turned up in Germany.

I lay a pound to a pinch of shit that Pevchikh is a British agent.

MOSCOWEXILE September 16, 2020 at 11:35 am

Note how the monitor in the Navalny Instagram above has been censored.

It's because, they say, it displays personal data about Putin's intended Novichok victim, such as body temperature, pulse, blood pressure etc.

Wouldn't like the world to know that there is nothing wrong with him, would they?

Source:

Эксперт объяснил ретушь прикроватного экрана на фото Навального
15 сентября 2020

An expert has explained the retouching of the bedside monitor in the Navalny photo
15 September 2020

https://vz-ru.turbopages.org/vz.ru/s/news/2020/9/15/1060574.html?promo=navbar&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com

MARK CHAPMAN September 16, 2020 at 12:26 pm

Too late to get smart now.

MOSCOWEXILE September 16, 2020 at 10:51 pm

NAVALNY: HIDDEN AND OVERT SIGNALS
Stalker Zone
September 16, 2020

Staged???

Why on earth should one think that?

MOSCOWEXILE September 16, 2020 at 10:54 pm

Comment to the above C/Z article:

anymouse • 8 hours ago

Looking good for almost a corpse. COVID-19, a flu virus, is a deadly killer, and Novichok, a deadly nerve agent, is not a killer.

ET AL September 15, 2020 at 11:36 am

Dances with Bears: THE PEVCHIKH PLOT – NAVALNY BOTTLE, LONDON WITNESS FLEE THE SCENE OF THE CRIME, BERLIN TOO
http://johnhelmer.net/the-pevchikh-plot-navalny-bottle-london-witness-flee-the-scene-of-the-crime-berlin-too/

British and other international toxicological experts say that without technical reporting by the laboratory of the spectrometric composition of the chemical, and without identifying the compound by the international naming protocol there is no evidence at all;..

the US Army had recently manufactured its own Novichok types: "A230, A232 and A234 A232 has a CAS number of 2308498-31-7. A230 and A234 have no known CAS numbers."
####

A lot more at the link.

ET AL September 15, 2020 at 11:40 am

I reckon Khordokovsky has a hand in this. He has the same moral compass as dead Berezovsky. None. And he has refused to stick to agreements (keep out of politics). If the British or someone else get fingered for this cunning plan , would they serve him up on a silver platter? Almost certainly so.

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 3:29 pm

Helmer always delivers. It looks very much as if the Germans have stepped in the shit.

JEN September 15, 2020 at 7:10 pm

We certainly did well to focus on Maria Pevchikh as soon as we discovered that in addition to being the one who evaded questioning by Russian authorities by flying out to Germany, she also had British residency. She certainly has become a "person of interest" and could well be the major individual in the plot to incapacitate Navalny and use him to pressure Germany over NSII and Russia over the Belarus unrest.

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 7:17 pm

Agreed; she does indeed look to have played a far bigger part in the operation than she lets on.

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 9:44 pm

It is still unknown whether Pevchikh is a British citizen. I think she is and probably must be, in fact, for if she is only a visa holder or an applicant for UK citizenship, she could be told by the Home Office to go take a hike if it is proven that she was instrumental in the poisoning plot.

When Berezovsky got cocky in the UK after a judge there had prevented his being forced to leave Misty Albion because Berzovsky had persuaded him that were he to return to Mordor, he would face an unfair trial and his life would be in danger -- the erstwhile "Godfather of the Kremlin" had arrived in the with a 6-month visitor's visa -- he started bragging to the "Guardian" that he was organizing with his chums still in the Evil Empire the overthrow of the tyrant Putin.

The Home Secretary at the time was none other than "Jack" Straw -- another odious pile of ordure -- who promptly summonsed Berezovsky to the Home Office for an official bollocking. He was told that if, while resident in the UK, he continued to engage himself with the overthrow of a foreign head of state, he was out.

Be that as it may, I am quite sure he was working with British state security, as was his once favoured acolyte Litvinenko.

Litvinenko was poisoned. Berezovsky committed suicide -- they say.

Like

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 1:32 pm

Россия задала ЕС девять вопросов об обвинениях в ситуации с Навальным

Постоянное представительство России при Евросоюзе указало на ключевые нестыковки в версии об отравлении Алексея Навального
15 сентября 2020

Russia has asked the EU nine questions about accusations in the situation with Navalny

The Permanent Representative of Russia to the European Union has pointed out the key inconsistencies in the version about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny
15 September 2020

https://yandex.ru/turbo/tass.ru/s/politika/9466401?sign=80f97b564d197b55161b94400f4ff187026d184af0581f365926a5271a89189a%3A1600204510&utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=mobile&trbsrc=neo-news

In the eighth question, Russian diplomats drew attention to a bottle of water, on which, according to Germany, traces of poison had been found: "Not a single surveillance camera recorded how Navalny drank from a similar bottle at the Tomsk airport [before departure]. from this bottle earlier or on board the plane, how did this bottle get to Berlin? "

Ask Pevchikh! Only she is now probably undergoing debriefing in London at UK Secret Intelligence Services HQ, 85 Albert Embankment.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 15, 2020 at 4:41 pm

Navalny, if indeed he was close to death, must now realize he was set up by one of his own benefactors. What would be his next move? Going back to Russia would make the most sense as the Russians may actually protect him from another show-assassination and he would have freedom to prance around to his heart's content.

MARK CHAPMAN September 15, 2020 at 6:54 pm

I don't believe he was ever 'close to death', rather that he was an active part of the deception. He is a grifting idiot who puffs up like a toad upon being flattered. He could never win power in Russia legitimately, as he is mostly a figure of contempt in Russia save for the perennially-discontented children of the liberal elite and the few Americaphiles who don't know enough to keep their heads down. I believe he played his role by taking something that would nauseate him but not seriously hurt him, rolling about and screaming, and that the introduction of the phony 'poison bottle' was with his full knowledge. I wish Russia would just disown him and tell the Germans they can have him.

However, I could be wrong. We will know from the tone of his remarks when he feels he is strong enough to once again assume his president-in-waiting role, and starts spouting off about what happened to him. He is the most likely candidate to be selected to get the water-bottle narrative back on track, so if he comes out with an explanation for how he drank from the bottle somewhere there were no surveillance cameras, and noticed a sketchy-looking guy in a leather jacket and a "Vote For Putin!" T-shirt standing nearby just before he drank, it will be a pretty good indication that he is as full of shit as ever.

JEN September 15, 2020 at 10:53 pm

There was considerable risk involved in the deception. I doubt that Navalny went into the deception willingly. There was a very real risk that he could have suffered some brain damage going into the first coma and that's sure to compromise his health in the long term in other ways.

More likely it seems a lot of the deception was planned behind Navalny's back and people were waiting for an opportunity to carry it out. It may have been planned years ago for someone else and then switched to Navalny once he was in the Omsk hospital. Julia Navalnaya may have been pushed into demanding that Navalny be transferred to Berlin and while the Omsk hospital doctors were stabilising him for the transfer, the deception then started going into action in Germany.

MOSCOWEXILE September 15, 2020 at 11:18 pm

Lavrov smelt a rat several days ago -- last week, I'm sure -- when he stated that suspicions had been aroused by one of Navalny's gang refusing to answer investigators' questions in Omsk and then scarpering off to Germany.

I'm quite sure the FSB already knew of Pevchikh's comings and goings between London and Moscow (over 60 flights there and back I read somewhere) and her activities with the Navalny organization.

Perhaps they allowed Navalny to leave for Germany -- with Pevchikh flying out with him, I may add -- because they knew what was afoot and would later expose the Germans for liars, or if not that, then for their falling to a sucker punch off the British secret service.

They certainly allowed Pevchikh to leave Russia: she didn't sneak on board Navalny's private flight.

Just Pevchikh, note, not Navalnaya, who is not a British agent, I'm sure.

MARK CHAPMAN September 16, 2020 at 8:49 am

Certainly possible – as I say, we will know more from his blabber once he starts giving interviews, which he lives to do. His tone will have changed considerably if he believes his erstwhile chums in politics intended to martyr him. Otherwise I read his expressed desire to return at once to Russia as simply remaining in character – the selfless hero risking all for freedom and democracy.

I wonder how he will thank the doctors in Omsk for saving his life, as it is generally acknowledged they did. He cannot go into transports of admiration for their professional skills, because they claimed to have found no trace of poisoning in his samples. He faces the choice, then, of simply passing over it without mention, or accusing the people who saved his life of 'being part of the machine'. Doing either will certainly not increase his popularity in Russia. And it makes no difference at all how popular he is in the west – something the west seemingly cannot be taught.

Like

MOSCOWEXILE September 16, 2020 at 4:41 am

Die Zeit сообщила о предложении США от ФРГ по "Северному потоку -- 2"
RT на русском, 16 сентября 2020

Die Zeit announced the proposal of the USA from Germany for the "Nord Stream – 2
RT in Russian, September 16, 2020

The German government has offered the United States a deal in exchange for Washington's waiver of sanctions against Nord Stream 2.

This is reported by the newspaper Die Zeit, citing sources

It is noted that Berlin has expressed its readiness to invest up to € 1 billion in the construction of two terminals in Germany for receiving liquefied natural gas from the United States.

"In response, the United States will allow the unhindered completion and operation of Nord Stream 2", TASS quotes the text of a letter from German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, which was sent on August 7 to the head of the US Treasury, Stephen Mnuchin.

In early August, US senators sent a letter to the operator of the German port of Sassnitz calling for an end to work to support the construction of Nord Stream 2.

https://russian-rt-com.turbopages.org/russian.rt.com/s/business/news/783868-predlozhenie-frg-ssha?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=mobile

PAULR September 16, 2020 at 5:07 am

This would suggest that the Germans are not planning to cancel North Stream 2 themselves in response to the Navalny case.

MOSCOWEXILE September 16, 2020 at 5:57 am

The USA won't like the offer. Zero-Win for them -- always.

Americans have to be winners -- expect to be winners: it's their birthright and what made America great. To be a loser is un-American.

In my experience, the worst thing ever for many US citizens is to be accused of being a "loser".

PATIENT OBSERVER September 16, 2020 at 9:05 am

Very true about the term "loser" being a harsh insult for Americans. The "loser" tag starts to be applied to kids in early grade school and only intensifies from that point. The glorification of success (defined by the level of conspicuous consumption) further sharpens the divide between losers and winners. Our "feel-good" stories are often about individuals who were able to transform themselves from "losers" to "winners". American culture is one-dimensional in that way.

PATIENT OBSERVER September 16, 2020 at 5:12 pm

Building an LNG terminal is one thing, buying US LNG is another thing. In addition, I believe that Russia could provide LNG to Germany as well and likely at a substantially lower price.

The US may settle for this gesture as it does hold the door open, however slightly, for future developments to be leveraged by the US to force Germany to reduce or stop gas purchases from Russia. Having the terminal in place could make a future change in suppliers more feasible and faster but nevertheless representing an economic disaster for Germany. Lets call it step 1 in Plan B.

MARK CHAPMAN September 16, 2020 at 10:49 pm

I'm pretty sure the Americans will not take this offer, but will instead – correctly – interpret it as weakness and increase their pressure.

ET AL September 16, 2020 at 11:56 pm

On the other hand any diplomatic/economic success plays well in this presidential erection year. So a) is it worth it?; b) can they reverse the decision the day after? I assume they can have their cake and eat it as Brussels is mostly spineless. Borrell can squeal about Russia, but that's because he can do f/k all about the USA's behavior, being spokeshole and all

MARK CHAPMAN September 17, 2020 at 8:51 am

That's what people seem not to get – the decision would not ever be 'reversible' once Nord Stream II is complete. That pipeline quad alone can carry all of Europe's gas supply that it receives from Russia. None through Ukraine, not a whiff, if that is Moscow's will, although the Russians have agreed to transit token amounts, which the Ukrainians say are not enough to make the system's continued operation viable – without the large volumes they are accustomed to handling, they will have to progressively begin shutting down, bypassing and dismantling sections they can no longer afford to maintain.

So long as the pipeline's future remains in doubt, Uncle Sam can sell the philosophical possibility of supplying Europe with large volumes of cheap LNG via tankers, made desirable – although it will cost a little more, no getting around that – for political reasons. Once Nord Stream II is complete, the reality of a reliable supply of cheap pipeline gas would have to be countered with a concrete offer from the USA; this many cubic meters times this many Euros. Any housewife can do a cost-benefit analysis at that level. Do you want to pay more for American gas just because it comes from America? Well, let me think about it – what are the benefits? Well, it comes from America! What, you mean, that's it? There would be no possibility the Americans would use their status as a major energy supplier as leverage to bring about economic or political changes in Europe that they desired, would there? Well I can't guarantee that.

You know what? I'm okay with Russian gas, thanks just the same. Maybe I'll use the money I save to buy a Ford – how's that?

MARK CHAPMAN September 16, 2020 at 9:20 am

Pathetic. After declaring forcefully that American extraterritorial sanctions are illegal – which, technically, they are, only America has a right to threaten to limit European trade in America if it wishes; although that, too is illegal under WTO rules – Germany is now cowering and trying to 'make a deal'. With Trump, in case anyone missed that, whose 'Art of the Deal' consists of destroying the opponent until he is happy to have escaped with his life, and will never publicly complain about a 'deal' which came out very much to his disadvantage. Put another way, offering America a 'deal' only highlights that you believe you are in a weak position, are looking for mercy, and are ripe for the plucking. Germany was already planning to build the heaviest concentration of LNG terminals in Europe; a far better strategy would have been to threaten to cancel them all if Uncle Sam did not back off. The Americans are certainly smart enough to figure out – in about 2.5 seconds – that more LNG terminals means diddly when Russia can also supply LNG far cheaper than the USA because it has teensy transport costs by comparison, being much closer. Two more LNG terminals buys America precisely zero advantage, but the willingness to 'deal' reveals vulnerability. The only American response to rolling on your back to expose your belly is to step on your head.

I swear, it is hard to recognize Germany as the country which once frightened the world.

A Trump counter-offer might be a commitment from Germany to buy X amount of American LNG at a locked-in price, said amount to be sufficient that extra Nord Stream capacity would not be utilized. It depends on whether the Americans really think they can actually stop Nord Stream II, because even that would ultimately be a loser strategy. Unless a term far into the future were specified, the Americans know that once the pipeline is finished, their product is no longer competitive and cannot ever be unless it is unprofitable to themselves. They could satisfy themselves with gutting the Germans for a year or two (if they accepted), but it would be short-term satisfaction at best. Might be enough to win Trump the election, though.

But if Washington thinks it can actually halt Nord Stream II – with the understanding that the Russians would probably give up after such a stinging second rebuke – then the sky is the limit, and they will scornfully reject any other solution. The one who stands to get hurt the most is Europe. But I don't think they realize it.

MOSCOWEXILE September 16, 2020 at 8:31 am

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO KILL THE "OPPOSITION" TORCH-BEARER NAVALNY?
Stalker Zone
September 15, 2020

CORTES September 17, 2020 at 12:41 am

The Borgias are history. Well, obviously, they ARE history. But now they have been relegated to the Second Division/Championship (football joke) of Poisoners by Sergei Lavrov and his chef de cuisine:

Voici le mindfuck (pardon my French):

https://thesaker.is/us-deputy-secretary-of-state-was-afraid-to-eat-russian-soup-navalny-and-swift-ruslan-ostashko/

Contains a smidgeon of addled Navalny. Delish!

https://c0.pubmine.com/sf/0.0.3/html/safeframe.html REPORT THIS AD

MOSCOWEXILE September 17, 2020 at 12:53 am

Oh look! The Navalnyites have shown a video, shot in Tomsk, of Navalny drinking from the allegedly poisoned water bottle that earlier nobody had seen or made mention of before it turned up in Berlin and was sent to the Bundeswehr lab.

Recall that his loud-mouth spokeswoman had from the very start insisted that Navalny had been poisoned by laced-with-poison tea that he had drunk at Tomsk airport.

Change of story line -- as persistently happened in the Skripal fake.

Video Showing Water Bottle That 'Poisoned' Alexei Navalny Shared by His Team
17 September, 2020: 10:17

https://sputniknews.com/russia/202009171080484058-navalny-was-poisoned-by-water-bottle-in-his-hotel-room-his-team-claims/

MOSCOWEXILE September 17, 2020 at 12:56 am

That Sputnik headline should read, I think, "shared with his team".

And if that is the case, why didn't his team also start howling and screaming and rolling around on the deck some time later on board the Tomsk-Moscow flight?

MOSCOW EXILE September 17, 2020 at 3:15 am

gazeta.ru

Соратники Навального сообщили, что забрали бутылки из номера в Томске
17.09.2020 | 10:57

Navalny's companions have reported that they took bottles from a hotel room in Tomsk

Alexei Navalny's companions have said that a bottle of mineral water, on which German experts had allegedly found traces of poison from the Novichok group, had been brought from a hotel room in Tomsk.

On an Instagram, they have posted a video in which, according to them, an hour after news of Navalny's deteriorating condition, they examine the room and seize all the items which he had been able to touch.

On August 20, the aeroplane in which Navalny was flying urgently landed in Omsk, from where the blogger was taken to hospital. On August 21, doctors announced that the main diagnosis was metabolic disorders.

At the moment, Navalny is in Germany, where he has been taken out of an artificial coma. German doctors announced that he had been poisoned with substances from the Novichok group, but did not provide any relevant evidence.

So why didn't the Navalny hamsters, who dutifully sought out the poison bottle and most certainly handled it, throw wobblers as did Navalny when performing what he thought were the effects of nerve agent poisoning?

And whom did the hamsters hand the bottle to -- Navalnaya or Pevchikh? And who handled the bottle after its arrival in Berlin and before the obliging Bundeswehr said it had been dosed with the most lethal nerve agent (weapons grade) known to man?

Why isn't there a trail of stiffs from Tomsk to Berlin and beyond?

Who's going to believe this shite?

"Why, the whole world knows it's true!" will Imperial Plenipotentiary Pompeus Fattus Arsus surely say.

MOSCOW EXILE September 17, 2020 at 3:36 am

One of the developers of Novichok, Leonid Rink, commented on reports that a bottle in the Tomsk hotel where Alexei Navalny had stayed could [have been] Novichok [contaminated] .

"This is a situation where no one would have been allowed to touch the bottle -- you would have died if you had done so. If this had really been the case, then there would have basically been a deceased person, and everyone who had carried this bottle without gloves and protection would also have died", he told RIA Novosti.

Ah, but . . . Rink is forgetting that it was a special, delayed action Novichok made to take effect on "Putin's Fiercest Critic" when he was on board the Tomsk-Moscow flight.

Rink's an old Soviet has-been and knows nothing about the latest developments in diabolical weaponry that issues forth from secret Orc laboratories.

Эксперт прокомментировал сообщения о бутылке с "Новичком"
12:27

Expert comments on statements about the bottle with "Novichok"
12:27

CORTES September 17, 2020 at 6:20 am

Maybe the cunning developers have produced a Novichok variant safe to those who have sinned but fatal (or liable, at least, to provoke a severe tummy upset, occasionally) to the purest of heart?

JENNIFER HOR September 17, 2020 at 12:43 pm

I like this idea of the special edition of Novichok with the delayed kick. Maybe we could call it Brawndo and speculate that the poison only goes into action when it does because the added electrolytes take time to work to release the poison.

MOSCOWEXILE September 17, 2020 at 7:56 am

kp.ru

Alexei Navalny's team immediately after his departure from Tomsk airport, went to the hotel room in that city where he had spent the night, and packed all the items (including water bottles) so as to deliver them for analysis (of course, not in Russia). A video about this was posted on the oppositionist's Instagram.

Everything in this story is beautiful. Navalny's supporters were collecting "evidence" on a case that had not yet happened -- but it was already supposed to have happened? Together with them, there went a lawyer to the hotel -- he was also at the ready. But why were none of the "trackers" hurt if on the "evidence", as is said, they found traces of the "Novichok" military poison? And how did the "people of Navalny" end up in a room where cleaning up should have been done after the guest's departure? There are other questions as well. Some of them "KP" asked FSB reserve general Alexander Mikhailov .

MARK CHAPMAN September 17, 2020 at 9:06 am

And the person shown handling the bottle is wearing gloves – they made sure to show that. But as others have pointed out, this was well before anyone knew 'an attempt had been made on the Opposition Leader's life'. What, all Lyosha's shit was still in his hotel room, towels on the floor, the next day, after he checked out? Pretty crappy service in those Russian hotels. He didn't even leave Russia for several days, and the first suggestions he had been poisoned came from his 'press agent', who claimed he had been poisoned with tea at the airport.

Skripals II.

Like

MOSCOWEXILE September 17, 2020 at 7:26 am

Навального выдвинули на Нобелевскую премию мира

Navalny nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Sergei Yerofeyev, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA, has spoken about this.

According to Yerofeyev, Navalny has been nominated for the prize by "a number of professors from recognized universities who deal with Russia". He did not give specific names, but noted that there are "great people" amongst the scientists who have nominated Navalny.

A professor of any university in the world can nominate a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize: there are no specific requirements for a candidate. In addition, members of national governments and parliaments, heads of state and some other categories of persons can nominate candidates.

The oppositionist will have to fight for the main prize of the planet with venerable rivals.

This is, first of all, US President Donald Trump, who was nominated by Christian Tubring-Jedde, a member of the Norwegian parliament from the far-right Libertarian Progress Party. As the MP said in an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump should be awarded for his role in concluding an agreement on the full normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE.

And why not? O'Bummer was awarded the peace prize, wasn't he?

Same story in Yukie news:

Navalny nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Navalny nominated for Nobel Peace Prize – Kyiv Post

MOSCOWEXILE September 17, 2020 at 7:42 am

I wonder how the Kiev Post evaluates Navalny's position on the Crimea?

The status of the Crimea is a problem that a new democratic Russia will inherit from its former government. The Russian position on this problem will be determined by the recognition of the right of the citizens of the Crimea to determine their own destiny -- Navalny 20!8

TIMOTHY HAGIOS September 17, 2020 at 8:26 am

I say give it to him. Let him join the prestigious ranks of Obama, the OPCW, the EU.

I also propose starting a Nobel War Prize, to be awarded to whatever individual or organization is responsible for the highest body count in a given year. Although that may be redundant, considering that it would probably be given to the same people as the Peace Prize.

MARK CHAPMAN September 17, 2020 at 9:13 am

Ha, ha!! And it all descends into farce, again. Navalny has arrived – he has gone global, beyond his wildest dreams. The nothing from Wherever He Is From who could not even break 5% in presidential election polling is now a major star, glittering in the western firmament. As Saint Lily Tomlin once remarked, no matter how cynical you get, you can never keep up.

All the west is going to be able to get out of this is the satisfaction of showing its ass to the neo-Soviets, the way it does when it re-names the street the Russian Embassy is – or was – located on after some prominent Russian dissident. Beavis and Butthead level, at best.

MOSCOWEXILE September 18, 2020 at 9:17 am

On Navalny, a Russian blogger writes:

That's it! This is a farewell article. A real goodbye to the topic. More precisely, parting with Navalny as a topic. His political role has been played to the end. And even lethal doses of Novichok have not caused a mass movement. Furgal's arrest caused an explosion of civil consciousness in Khabarovsk. The poisoning of Navalny, sending him abroad, the discovery of Novichok, official accusations from Germany did not cause any rally, no procession, no movement. No excitement in civic consciousness has occurred and will never happen.

[Sep 18, 2020] Novichok, Navalny, Nordstream, Nonsense, by Craig Murray

Novichok is now a visit card of MI6
Notable quotes:
"... As soon as Novichok was mentioned, I knew it was geopolitics and not internal Russian politics. ..."
"... NOVICHOK is a highly toxic and contagious substance. The reason why "it didn't kill the Skripals" is because it was never used on the Skripals just as it has not been used on Navalny. In both cases there would have been dozens of collateral victims. From the moment Navalny started to reel with pain during the domestic commercial flight to 4 days later when amid treatment in Berlin it is reasonable to estimate that 300 to 400 people had been in his proximity. Not one of them has shown or known to have contaged symptons. Let us list the narrative. ..."
"... I think my estimate of a total 300 to 400 people within the first 3 to 4 days having been within close proximity to Navalny is quite reasonable. If he was really was infected with an horrific chemical warfare agent, why would he even be allowed into Germany ? ..."
"... In political terms he is a cult leader of an SPB/Moscow elitist metropolitan cult that does not give a damn about most of Russia. ..."
"... Who benefits? For certain not the Joe Publics of UK, Russia and Germany but maybe the likes of Exxon, chevron, bp etc might. ..."
"... I suspected Navalny may be connected to our 'trusted friend' Browder. Now I know for sure. ..."
"... At some point, as background noise, there was some news read out on the radio. After the segment about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, NordStream 2 and possible EU sanctions the taxi driver shook his head and said thoughtfully: "Yeah, mommy is stuck " ..."
"... "What mommy?" asked the taxi driver. "That same one, Angela Merkel. You know why Navalny was surrendered to Germany? Let me explain." And then, for a quarter of an hour, the taxi driver presented a coherent theory of what happened, worthy of study at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which answered all the questions that had been bothering me. ..."
"... Operatives at the German Ministry of International Affairs, who sympathized with Schröder's SPD, got in touch with Yulia Navalny (his wife) and offered to hospitalize him in a clinic in Germany. Yulia agreed, and appealed to Putin. ..."
"... The next day Berlin announced that analysis results showed poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor. This was its last warning shot. Then there was another phone call, to warn that the next time "Novichok" will be found. Moscow refused, and promised Minsk a billion dollars on that very day. ..."
"... There followed an attempt by Fritz Merz, Angela Merkel's deputy in the DCU, to lean on Merkel to shut down NordStream 2, but he swiftly got his ears boxed by the business lobby of German companies that invested in this pipeline and, whining and whimpering, crawled back into his hole. ..."
"... Then Lukashenko, being a tough nut to crack, presented an intentionally amateurish intercept of secret diplomatic communications between Poland and Germany in which they discussed their plans for poisoning Navalny. Now they are sitting in Warsaw and Berlin and have no idea how to respond to this movie -- to deny or to pretend that they didn't notice it. What a dilemma! ..."
"... If Merkel announces that it is the crime of the century in which a great Russian opposition figure has been fiendishly poisoned with "Novichok," then she would be obligated to sever all relations with the bloody regime and present evidence. But there won't be any evidence to present. And nobody will allow her to freeze the completion of the pipeline. Otherwise German companies, which invested in NordStream 2 will take the Reichstag even ahead of the irate German citizens. In either case, DCU/CSU will face a defeat. ..."
"... But what about Russia's friend Gehrhard Schröder? Being the chairman of the board of the NordStream 2 company and head of the SPD, he looks into the future with confidence and optimism. In any case, CDU/CSU will be deflated and SPD will reinforce its position in the Bundestag and either independently or in coalition with other parties will install its own leader as Bundeskanzler. NordStream 2, which has been in political limbo for a few years, will be completed and enter into service at full rated capacity very quickly. ..."
Sep 03, 2020 | craigmurray.org.uk

Matt , September 5, 2020 at 13:08

As soon as Novichok was mentioned, I knew it was geopolitics and not internal Russian politics.

Tatyana , September 5, 2020 at 17:01

Information about a mysterious woman appeared in the ru-net.
https://life.ru/p/1341159
https://aif.ru/society/people/kto_takaya_mariya_pevchih

A 33-year-old young woman who recently flew in from London. On August 15 she celebrated her birthday and then went with Navalny on the working trip. When the plane urgently landed in Omsk for Navalny's hospitalization, the woman also remained on the ground in the 'Ibis Siberia Omsk' hotel, waiting for Alexei to recover. She left from Russia to Britain on August 22.

Maria Konstantinovna Pevchikh (Мария Константиновна Певчих) born in 1987, russian. In 2010 she graduated from the sociological faculty of Moscow Lomonosov State University.

Lives in London. Fond of sports, trains under the program of "Navy Seals", an elite US military unit, owns bookstores in the UK and Australia.

Have close ties with Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yevgeny Chichvarkin. Joined Navalny's activity in 2009. At that time, she was 22-year-old and worked as an assistant to one of the British parliamentarians.

It is alleged that the family and relatives do not know this woman.

Her photo
https://static.life.ru/publications/2020/7/21/17582829481.74346.jpg
https://cont.ws/uploads/pic/2020/9/%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0.jpg

The investigation previously published a chronology of events here
https://ria.ru/20200821/khronologiya-1576110899.html
They discovered that in Tomsk the blogger's company has booked seven rooms for four people, Navalny himself spent the night in a different room that was recorded in his name.

Laguerre , September 5, 2020 at 21:13

"The USA is perfectly willing to fight Russia to the last European NATO member.." That may be right, but I don't see why you're vituperative.

Republicofscotland , September 5, 2020 at 21:23

"WTF are you talking about? The USA is perfectly willing to fight Russia to the last European NATO member.."

Peter. An Ex-CIA man, of whom I've long forgotten his name used to say the same thing about Saudi Arabia, that the Saudis were willing to fight Iran down to the last American soldier.

Squeeth , September 6, 2020 at 17:06

Myth, the US state blames the pusillanimity of the public for its tactics of ultraviolence. The Russians would be drowning in their own blood were it not for Russian military power and the Chinese alliance.

Wikikettle , September 5, 2020 at 19:25

Sorry, they had the cheek to fly over Russian Air space many times taking pics.

Peter Moritz , September 5, 2020 at 18:20

and here some info about the lovely rogue Navalny:

"Recall that Alexei Navalny has two suspended sentences and is involved in several criminal cases at once.

"In December last year, he was sentenced in the case of embezzlement of money from the Yves Rocher company to a three and a half years suspended sentence. His brother Oleg was sentenced to a real three and a half years in prison.

In 2013, Navalny, who in 2009 worked as an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region, was found guilty of embezzling property of the state-owned company Kirovles and sentenced to five years in a general regime colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom and placed in a pre-trial detention center, but the very next day the Kirov regional court changed the measure of restraint to a recognizance not to leave. As a result, the sentence was changed to a suspended one.

In addition, the Investigative Committee is investigating the case of the theft of 100 million rubles from the SPS party against Alexei Navalny since the end of December 2012.

Activists of Navalny's team – deputy of the Zyuzino metropolitan area Konstantin Yankauskas, as well as entrepreneurs Nikolai Lyaskin and Vladimir Ashurkov – are suspected of fraud related to violation of the procedure for financing the campaign in the election of the mayor of Moscow.

Navalny has repeatedly found himself in the role of a defendant in claims for the protection of honor and dignity – for throwing slanderous publications into the Internet. So, recently, the Lublin Court of Moscow satisfied such a claim by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship Igor Rudensky."

(machine translated from here: https://vz.ru/news/2015/10/8/771336.html )

https://i2.wp.com/en.eurobelarus.info/files/175/225/navalny_kollag_1_.jpeg
The last picture should make clear what type of person the West again associates with .

Border Bus , September 5, 2020 at 19:31

If it comes to it, we must make sure that the likes of steele, urban, stoltenberg etc are right out there at the FRONT

Giyane , September 6, 2020 at 05:30

Tatyana

I have the same feeling as you. Russophobia simply indicates the bastards are working together against us the steeple. Chinaphobia maybe indicates the Chinese leadership and US leadership jointly want to cull the older generation with bio warfare.

Since none of UK , US. Russia nor China are democracies, their only task is to manage the narrative they tell the people. If I was to go out and buy a product made in China, half the cost would be for transport or profit to the dealer. That is a shared enterprise. One party for example manufactures a diesel generator, while the Western parties sit on their bums and take profit.

Sounds too cosy to me.

Mr Howard S Marks , September 7, 2020 at 01:24

You are really missing the point. NOVICHOK which you should know was developed (though not originally invented) in a lab in Soviet Uzbekistan, which following post Soviet independence, was dismantled by the CIA who took the samples back home to the USA. So it is the Americans not the Russians who have the original well-spring.

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/world/us-and-uzbeks-agree-on-chemical-arms-plant-cleanup.html

NOVICHOK is a highly toxic and contagious substance. The reason why "it didn't kill the Skripals" is because it was never used on the Skripals just as it has not been used on Navalny. In both cases there would have been dozens of collateral victims. From the moment Navalny started to reel with pain during the domestic commercial flight to 4 days later when amid treatment in Berlin it is reasonable to estimate that 300 to 400 people had been in his proximity. Not one of them has shown or known to have contaged symptons. Let us list the narrative.

  1. Original domestic commercial flight, passengers, crew & colleagues travelling with him
  2. Ambulance to Russian hospital in Omsk ambulance crew
  3. Doctors, nurses, officials, press and Navalny family at hospital in Omsk
  4. German doctors arrived the next day, working along side Russian doctors whom they praised and credited with saving Navalny's life.
  5. Russian doctors agree to release Navalny for medivac transport against their own medical advice, respecting Navalny family wishes.
  6. Ambulance crew once again takes Navalny in the reverse direction back to the airport where the private jet was waiting. Introducing the patient with the "military grade nerve agent" oozing out of his skin to a new flight crew.
  7. Plane lands in Berlin and a German ambulance crew now handles the human chemical warfare torpedo. Note the German ambulance crew members had short sleeves. If the German Gov believed there was a possibility of a Novichok type substance at play why was the official greeting party not all dressed up like those Mi5 Salisbury central casting extras in Hazmat suits?
  8. The convoy arrives at the hospital in Berlin handing Navalny over to the German team no doubt comprised of endless staff members.

I think my estimate of a total 300 to 400 people within the first 3 to 4 days having been within close proximity to Navalny is quite reasonable. If he was really was infected with an horrific chemical warfare agent, why would he even be allowed into Germany ?

Howard Marks , September 7, 2020 at 01:38

As for Navalny and the Russian administration and the Russian public, they both view him as useful but not likeable. The Putin administration has made good use of reports by Navalny's anti-corruption group to expose both people in government and in business.

The Russian public watches the Youtube videos of Navalny's reports to the tune of millions of hits & clicks. However as a person Alexei Navalny is not like and for good reason. This is reflected in his 2% poll rated that due to all the current focus has moved up to 4% for Navalny as a potential "politician" (he is actually already a failed one) 4% is his high water mark.

The likes of The Guardian and The Independent have portrayed Navalny over the years as some kind of Russian Nelson Mandela when in fact Navalny is a better educated more sophisticated Tommy Robinson. Only Navalny is even more racist than so-called "Tommy Robinson" as I don't even recall him ever saying "All Muslims are cockroaches" as Navalny was once quoted to have said.

In political terms he is a cult leader of an SPB/Moscow elitist metropolitan cult that does not give a damn about most of Russia. He and his political cohorts such as Ms Sobol offer not one single policy for the people of the Russian Heartland. Who are far better cared for and better represented by Valdimir Putin, whom the Heartland people lovingly addre