Miles Report No. 99 – Yankee go Home – F..K the USA.
…and Canada is guilty with this war crime…kind of hard to tell you to fuck off home as you are already there. However the Canadian government’s sycophantic support of US imperial foreign policy makes the government culpable in creating a situation that endangers all of the world. The same lies used to destroy Iraq. The same lies used to destroy Libya. The same lies to destroy Yugoslavia. An empire built on the lies of their Anglo heritage from the genocide of the indigenous people of the Americas to the now possible genocide of humanity.
Ottawa not looking to participate in Syria attacks – just reported on RT (19:00 2018-0413). Regardless, the culpability lies in not speaking out before hand, and in supporting the overall purpose of the military-industrial complex for petrodollar hegemony. Easy for Canada to sit back and hide behind its false laurels of peace at the same time it supports murder in Gaza and assault vehicle sales to the Saudi Arabia theocracy that supports ISIS/al-Qaeda et al.
Why the rush to war? To prevent the truth about the Skripal false flag, and the Syrian gas attack false flag from being fully exposed – and I have said dozens of times before, it is all to support US$ hegemony and the power and control of the IMC empire over the people and resources of the world. It is the US air force acting in support of ISIS/al-Qaeda. It is a strike to stop the OCPW from performing their inspection of the Douma area. It is a strike to soothe Trump’s bruised deranged ego. And don’t forget John Bolton who has been a long time warrior chicken-hawk neocon who now ‘advises’ Trump.
And now just watching (again on RT) the US military bigwigs spouting the same bullshit rhetoric concerning the supposed chemical attack. They did not notify the Russians before the actual air strike. Questions re legalities and future actions. Usual yadayada – “proportionality discrimination” meaning sure civilians will be killed but so what, including creating more poisonous results. Screw the U.S., who have yet to destroy their own chemical weapons. “Our allies – British/French have worked together through thick and thin” quote Mattis, speaks for their servility to empire.
“We expect a disinformation campaign from those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime.” So we (the US) are going to be countering that – sure more bullshit rhetoric from the U.S.
Sincerely, I hope Russia strikes back – perhaps asymmetrically against Saudi Arabia, or shutting off European gas, or maybe blowing up Dimona in Israel. But I would not be surprised if it is also asymmetrical against the suck-ups to empire that rule in Britain and France. Or maybe stopping rare earth sales, titanium sales (bye bye Boeing), rocket engine sales to the U.S. If they do nothing, empire rules. Fortunately for the world, Putin is much more clever than I am and has so far demonstrated a rather calculated steely course that continues to produce success for Russia in Syria and around the world (except of course for the sycophantic western countries).
I suppose Chrystia Freeland is panting in excitement with these developments, an aphrodisiac to her Russophobia. Chances are she has some good company among the Canadian political elites, being most MPs who support US enterprises militarily and corporately.
Interesting to see what happens…
Poison Gas – Weapon of Choice for “False News”
Poison gas, the weapon of choice for fear. Poisoning in Salisbury of the former Russian double-agent, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, visiting her dad from Moscow. Poisoning with a nerve gas, called Novichok that was allegedly made in Russia. In the meantime, we know that nerve gas made in the former Soviet Union, now non-existent in Russia, was military grade and deadly. The gas used for the alleged attack was not deadly. We also know by now that the UK – all of their highest officials, from PM May down the ladder, lied so miserably that they will have a hard time recovering. It will backfire. The foreign secretary, Johnson boy, pretended their secret bio-gas / bio-weapon laboratory Porton Down, just 13 km down the road from Salisbury, where the pair was allegedly found unconscious on a park bench, assured him the gas was made in Russia. Alas, it was a miserable lie. The laboratory’s chief chemists testified later to the media that they could not be sure that the substance was made in Russia. No, of course not.
In fact, Porton Down, working in close collaboration with the CIA, is a highly sophisticated chemical warfare facility that can easily make the gas themselves – at the grades they please, deadly or not so deadly, if it should serve a “false news” purpose – which this did. In the meantime, as reported today by RT, the entire case has been deconstructed. The components of Novichok are easy to come by, and almost every decent lab can make the poison gas, tailored to its needs.
Were father and daughter indeed poisoned? – This is a legitimate question. Who has seen them since the alleged poisoning occurred on 28 March? – They disappeared from the public eye. Apparently, they are both recovering, Yulia having been released from hospital a few days ago, but has not been seen by anyone in public, nor been able to talk to the media, lest she could say “something” the public is not allowed to know. She is being kept in a secret place. Her father is also recovering and may be released soon – released from where? – Is this all a farce?
An aunt talked to Yulia from Moscow, where she noticed that Yulia was not free to talk. The aunt wanted to visit her niece in the UK but was obviously denied a visa.
Where are father and daughter? – Washington has “offered” them a new home and new identity in the US, to avoid further poisoning attempts… how ridiculous! A blind man or woman must see that this is another farce, or more correctly, an outright abduction. The two won’t have a chance to resist. They are just taken away – not to talk anymore to anyone ever. – That’s the way the story goes. The lies are protected, and the “Russia did it” syndrome will prevail – prevail in the dumb folded public, in the herd of pigs that we all have become, as Goebbels would say.
And the saga continues. The saga to drum up war. That’s the purpose of it all. Nothing else – Russia, the evil nation, led by an evil leader, must be subdued and conquered. But the empire needs the public for their support. And the empire is almost there. It disposes of a vicious media corporate army – that lies flagrantly about anything that money can buy. It’s like spitting in the face of the world, and nobody seems to care, or worse, even to notice.
On the other side of the Mediterranean is Syria. A vast and noble country, Syria, with a leader who truly loves his people and country, a leader who has despite a foreign induced war – not civil war – a proxy war, instigated and funded by Washington and its vassal allies in Europe and the Middle East; Syria, a highly educated socialist country that has shared the benefit of her resources, free education, free medical services, free basic infrastructure, with her people. This Syria must fall. Such strength cannot be tolerated by the all-dominating west. Like Iraq and Libya, also socialist countries once-upon-a-time, and like Syria, secular Muslim nations, sharing their countries wealth with the people, such countries must fall.
According to Pentagon planners and those Zion-neofascist thinktanks that designed the PNAC (Plan for a New American Century), as the chief instrument of US foreign policy, we know since Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied commander and Chief of NATO in Europe (1997-2000) talked to Democracy Now in 2007 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8FhZnFZ6TY ), saying that within 5 years seven countries must fall, one of them is Syria. – Since 2011, the Syrian people have been bombarded by US and NATO and Saudi funded terrorists, causing tens of thousands of deaths, and millions of refugees. Now, even more blatantly, US bases are vying to occupying the northern third of Syria, totally illegally, but nobody says beep. Not even the UN.
The recent fake gas attack on Douma outside of Damascus, has allegedly killed 80 to 120 people, mostly women and children. Of course, that sells best in the propaganda theatre – women and children. But there is not proof, none whatsoever. To the contrary. People living in Douma say they haven’t heard of any nerve gas attack. Strangely, like last time, the infamous White Helmets discovered the gas victims, including a gas canister-like bomb laying on a bed, having been shot through the roof of a house… a totally unprofessionally staged event. As Russian military quickly discovered and reported. They called on an independent investigation, one that could not be bought and corrupted by Washington. President Assad invited a team of investigators to inspect the scene.
Instead of heeding this invitation, Trump, the bully, calls Mr. Assad an “animal” and a “monster”, twittering his brainless aggressions throughout the world. Tell you what, Mr. Trump, Bashar al-Assad is a far better human being than you are a monster. You and your dark handlers don’t even deserve being called human. Mr. Assad has regard and respect for his people, attempts to protect them and has so far succeeded with the help of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, recovering the last bits of Syrian territory from the terrorists, except of course, the northern part, where the chief terrorist and the world’s only rogue state has installed itself, the US of A. – Why in the world would Mr. Assad choose to gas his own people? Especially, when he is winning the war? – People, ask yourself, cui bono (who benefits?) and the answer is simple: The western aggressors, who seek a reason to mass bomb Syria into even more rubble, causing even more death and destitution. And making a shitload of money – as war usually does. That’s who.
While you, Donald, and those monsters that direct you from behind the scenes, have no, but absolutely no respect for your own people, for any people on this globe, for that matter, not even for your kind, for your greed-no-end kind of elite, as you bring the world to the brink of an all-destructive, all killing annihilating war.
Since the other fake event, 9/11, we are, of course, already in a “soft version” of WWIII, but that’s not enough, the United States needs a hard war, so badly it doesn’t shy away from destroying itself. That’s how blinded your own propaganda has made you Americans, you generals, you corporate “leaders” (sic-sic) – and all you Congress puppets. That is the sheer truth. You better read this and wake up. Otherwise your dead sentence is hastened by your own greed and ignorance.
Both Russia and the US drafted each a Security Council Resolution – which of course are both not approved, with Nikki Haley lambasting Russia, accusing them of being responsible for the countless deaths in Syria – pointing again to the children and women, making up the majority. Again, it sells best in the world of psychological propaganda, while evil Nikki Haley knows very well who has caused all these deaths by the millions, destitution and refugees by the millions, tens of millions throughout the Middle East and the world – her own country, directly or through NATO, the European puppets allies and proxy wars, paid and funded by Washington and by elbow-twisting her vassals.
On 9 April – UNSC – while Nikki Haley, repeats and over-repeats her lies and fake accusations, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Vassily Nebenzia, listens. And then in a twenty-minute statement of sheer intelligence, he dismantles all the lies, and lays bare the truth, about all the fakeness being played out internationally. The depth with which he addresses the assembly is concise and so brilliant, none of his UK, French and German counterparts could have ever come close to a statement of this magnitude and excellence. Even Ms. Haley can’t help glancing over ever-so often to Vassily Nebenzia, as he speaks (http://thesaker.is/russian-ambassador-to-the-un-vasily-nebenzea-addressing-the-un-sc-9-april-2018/ ). Her eyes reveal some kind of hidden admiration for what he says. - After all, she can't be as dumb as she is paid for to look and sound.
By now anybody who dares not just reading and listening to the mainstream presstitute “fake news”, but has the courage to dig into the truth news, RT, TeleSur, CGTN, PressTV – and a few others, or websites like Global Research, The Saker Blog, ICH, NEO, Greanville Post, CounterCurrents, Dissident Voice and many other trustworthy sources – knows about the lies and the only, but the very only purpose these false flags cum false news serve: Provoking a war with Russia, subjugating and dividing Syria, and the Middle East and the US becoming the hegemonic masters of the universe.
For the simple reason, and hardly anybody talks or writes about it - the US economy is based on war, is based on weapon manufacturing and international banking which finances weapon manufacturing and the exploitation of mineral resources coveted by weapon manufacturing.
The entire war industry with all its associated civil services and industries, of banking, electronics, aviation, mining.... makes up more than half of the US GDP - but of course, it’s never broken down that way. The chosen people will control the world. Well, they do already - financially at least the western part of our globe. But it’s not enough. They will not stop, before they burry themselves in their own-dug graves, or rather in one massive mass-grave. But, please, do take all your fakeness, from money, to lies, to hypocrisy and more lies and coercion and sanctions and blackmail with you – never to surface again. And give peace a chance – for those who survive your (almost) terminal assault on humanity.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
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THE SKRIPAL AFFAIR: A Case of Speculation, Disinformation and Flat-earth News
“Churnalism”, Flat earth News and MI6
Although there are prominent politicians, political journalists and media news outlets that are no better than PR manipulators who deliberately deceive, it is not necessary to attribute deliberate deception and mendacity to all of the media. Very often the purveyors of news and shapers of opinion may believe what they are saying and accept the dominant narrative as the truth even when the most cursory examination shows it is far from that. This may be regarded as an expression of what Antonio Gramsci referred to as the cultural hegemony of the ruling class. Ten years ago the British journalist Nick Davies wrote a brilliant, path-breaking book, Flat Earth News: Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media. It exposed the moral bankruptcy of much of the journalistic profession in a devastating critique that remains as relevant today as when it was written, despite the fact that then it dealt primarily with the print media. Davies’s case is so powerful and irrefutable because he is scrupulous in his research and adherence to the facts; in his demolition of what he refers to as “flat earth news”(which is no more than propaganda and PR hype), he eschews unsubstantiated speculation and conspiracy theories himself. He exposes the corruption of journalism by such practices, labelling its practitioners as “churnalists” - those who “churn” the output of news agencies such as Reuters and AP and regurgitate it with added slant as “news”.
Before returning to the Skripals case, it is instructive to look at what Nick Davies had to say about the British and U.S. intelligence services – MI6 and the CIA. He shows, quoting an abundance of evidence based on his extensive research, including interviews with those closely involved in the activities he describes, that the two intelligence agencies, which have always co-operated very closely, have a long history of concocting completely mendacious stories to suit whatever political purpose they want to promote. That usually means purported “facts” to strengthen an official foreign policy objective for which the government needs public support, such as the need to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein definitely has weapons of mass destruction which can reach Britain in 45 minutes. These concoctions, known to be untrue, are then fed into the media and churned out as facts. One example among many that Davies recounts is the MI6 concoction in 2002 that Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Saif, attempted to flood Iran with false currency. This story was sent to the Sunday Telegraph, where it was run by its chief foreign correspondent Con Coughlin. Saif Gaddafi sued and in a pre-trial High Court judgement the story was shown to be untrue. The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph are two titles favoured by MI6 to run stories fed to them. The foreign news bureaux most favoured by the CIA are apparently AP and UPI. According to Davies, the CIA kept no agents at Reuters as that is British owned and therefore in theory out of bounds for spying (or collusive collaboration?) by the US agency. It is MI6 territory, but this hasn’t stopped the CIA placing its own stories there. The Intelligence Operations (I.Ops) section of MI6 has had close connections with the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and the Financial Times. There is no law in Britain to prevent the intelligence services feeding stories into the media. In his book Iraq Confidential, 1998, Scott Ritter, who was one of the UN’s most senior weapons inspectors in Iraq, recounts how he met two MI6 “black propaganda” specialists in psychological warfare who were involved in something called Operation mass Appeal. Their aim was to persuade the public that the country faced a real threat from Saddam’s WMD. They did this by feeding their mendacious propaganda to “editors and writers who work with us from time to time.” Apparently the MI6 station in New York asked Ritter to try to provide unused intelligence material that could be used to persuade unconvinced countries like France and Poland to join the coalition of those willing to back the invasion of Iraq.
At this point it is worth remembering that in 2003 the British government - a “New Labour” government led by Tony Blair - deliberately misled parliament and the country on the basis of what was supposed to be irrefutable, intelligence-led information, into accepting that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, and that Britain faced a real threat of attack by such weapons that could reach their destination in forty-five minutes. The evidence on which this claim was based was false and MI6 knew it was false. The dossier that was said to support the claim had been concocted to meet the needs of the prime minister who had promised George W. Bush that he “would be with him come what may.” Parliament voted in favour of invading Iraq. All but a handful of Tories voted for it (146); a majority of Labour MPs (254) voted for it; the Liberal-Democrats voted against it (52). Crucial for many in determining the way they would vote was the supposed certainty of Saddam’s possession of WMDs and this was based on the assurance that the intelligence services knew it was true. 84 Labour MPs voted against. Most newspapers in Britain banged the drum for war before it started and supported the war fully once it started. Some indulged in the most nauseating jingoism against countries that opposed it. The lies upon which the 2003 invasion of Iraq was based are now widely accepted for what they were. Those responsible for concocting and the lies which were used to justify the invasion of Iraq with its catastrophic consequences have gone unpunished and remain at liberty. Now we are once again being told that the “intelligence services” must be trusted when they tell us that they have solid evidence that incriminates a foreign power – Russia - now designated “the enemy”, in a chemical weapons attack carried out on British soil. This time, we are assured, it is different; this is not like Iraq where the evidence about Saddam’s WMDs was fabricated. This time, the “intelligence based” evidence is entirely trustworthy. Let us return to the Skripal affair.
The Rush to Judgement
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat can be said factually about the Skripal affair without straying too far into speculation? Not really very much. In early March, two people were discovered slumped, barely conscious on a park bench in the quiet cathedral city of Salisbury. They were barely conscious and clearly very ill. They are father and daughter, Sergei and Yulia Skripal. They are Russians. Sergei, a former colonel in the Russian military intelligence agency the GRU, was recruited to work as a double agent by MI6 in Spain in 1995. He was arrested in Russia in 2004, tried, convicted of high treason and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. He was released in 2010, received a pardon from Russia’s president Medvdev and exchanged with others for 10 Russian agents arrested in the U.S. Since his arrival in England he has lived in Salisbury. It has been claimed that he continued after 2010 to supply information to MI6.
There is much about the accounts of what happened following their discovery that is odd and contradictory, raising many question but providing few satisfactory answers. It is therefore worth looking very carefully at what has been reported. Early on it was said that they had been poisoned by a nerve agent. Skripal’s daughter Yulia had arrived on a flight from Russia to visit her father earlier on the day of their poisoning. A small number of people, apparently unknown to them and presumably passers-by attempted to help them. One of these was a doctor, another a nurse and a third a police officer who was later identified as a detective sergeant. The Skripals were taken to Salisbury hospital where they remained, apparently in a critical condition for weeks. Julia is now said to be largely recovered and has been released from hospital. Her father is said to be improving. His condition is said to be no longer critical. Within days of their collapse it was announced that they had been attacked with a nerve agent called Novichok. It was soon claimed by the British government that this could only have come from Russia as that is said to be the only place it is produced, and that it could only have been administered by a representative or representatives of the Russian state. That means, it is claimed by the government, that it could only have been ordered by Vladimir Putin and it was therefore a state-sponsored assassination attempt. It constituted a “warlike act” by Russia against Britain. It was claimed by the government that there could be no plausible alternative to this explanation. The explanation has been accepted almost entirely uncritically by most of the news media. But to say that it has been accepted as a truthful and plausible account does not mean that it is truthful and plausible. “No plausible alternative” to the received story has morphed seamlessly into the absolute certainty of Russian state responsibility and therefore the culpability of Vladimir Putin in an act of war against the United Kingdom. It is accepted as such by the prime minister, the foreign and defence secretaries, all Tory MPs, most Liberal Democrats, large numbers of Labour MPs and almost all the news media. But serious standards for assessing the truth value of any statement require far more rigorous scrutiny than has been applied in this case. The story was accepted with the same unquestioning certainty as was the claim fifteen years ago that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs that could reach Britain in 45 minutes. When the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn criticised the government for “rushing to judgement” over the Skripals’ poisoning before any serious investigation of the facts, he was howled down in parliament by Tory MPs and some members of his own party, as a “national disgrace” and a “Russian stooge.” Offers by the Russian government to cooperate in the investigation of the affair have been dismissed as “perverse”. Comparisons with the intelligence services’ claims about Iraq have been brushed aside as inappropriate and irrelevant this time, with the clear implication that this time we can trust the assurances of MI6 and GCHQ. Why now but not then is not clear.
There followed, in Salisbury itself, a huge police operation. Skripal’s house was cordoned off, as was his car. Parts of the cemetery where their relatives are buried were likewise closed to the public. Later in March most of these restrictions were removed and some sense of normality restored to the town. But the house was treated as seriously contaminated and the nerve agent is said to have been most evident on the front door.
Without any serious attempt to establish the facts, Theresa May’s government has chosen to put the country on a collision course with Russia. Her appeal to the European Union for its support comes at a crucial time in the Brexit negotiations when Britain faces an uncertain future. The response has been most obliging to Mrs. May; almost every member state of the European Union has expelled Russian diplomats; several other European non-EU countries have done likewise. Canada has expelled four, Australia two; New Zealand has apparently been unable to find any spies, so has expelled no-one. In all, 27 countries have expelled 157 Russian diplomats, all of whom, according to the expellees, are spies. As Donald Trump enjoys doing everything on a bigger scale than anyone else in the world, the United States has expelled 60. Not surprisingly, in a tit-for-tat operation, Russia has reciprocated against the countries concerned.
The escalation of tension with Russia over the Skripal affair has now reached such a level of intensity that the prospect of it running out of control cannot be discounted. The possibility of a U.S.-E.U. military conflict with Russia seems closer now than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. In some ways the situation today seems even more dangerous now than then. (At the time of writing the prospect of U.S./Franco/British missiles being launched against Syria, with all the horrendous implications that implies, is still pending. That cannot be dealt with here). But the mainstream narrative on the Skripal affair which treats the Russian government as the putative perpetrator of a horrifying assassination attempt cannot be allowed to go without serious challenge. If it is swallowed uncritically it will help pave the way for a course of action by the government, its agencies and media “churnalists”, that could tip the balance into a war, with incalculable consequences.
Commitment to Truth-telling against Flat-Earth News and Wild Speculation
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the basis of the information we have, no-one knows for certain who poisoned the Skripals. Those claiming that “the Russians did it” are engaged in speculation. “The Russians” could mean simply that the perpetrators were Russian and no more than that. They want it to be understood to mean that “Putin ordered it”. They don’t know. The intelligence agencies, MI6, GCHQ and their U.S. senior “partners, the NSA, don’t know – or, if they claim to know, but for “security reasons” are not prepared to make their evidence public, then there is no more reason to believe them than there was in 2003 when they sanctioned what they knew to be lies in order to facilitate the invasion of Iraq. Likewise, those who say that it was definitely the work of western intelligence agencies are also speculating; they don’t know either. There is no point in simply adding to this speculation. All that can be done is to consider carefully what is known to have happened and to present any factual, or factually-based inferential evidence that will help to establish the truth.
Theresa May told parliament that the nerve agent used was Novichok and that it was “a nerve agent developed by Russia.” It was, she said, “of military grade” and up to 10 times stronger than VX, the agent that killed Kim Jong-nam. From that she concluded that it was “an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom. She went on to describe it as an act of war against the United Kingdom. The government claimed that dozens of people in Salisbury had been affected by the nerve agent. In this and many other statements it was said that there was no other plausible explanation than the one that attributed responsibility to “the Russians.” As for the claim that dozens of people in Salisbury had been affected by Novichok, a consultant at Salisbury hospital, Dr. Stephen Davies, in a letter to The Times wrote that “no patients have experienced symptoms of nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury”. The only people who had required treatment were the Skripals and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who, according to the Independent News on March 22nd “may have come into contact with the nerve agent at the former double agent’s home.”
Before the results of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) testing were known, it was said that the nerve agent used in Salisbury was of military grade. There has been widespread comment from various scientific sources familiar with nerve agents to the effect that if that used in Salisbury had been as strong as claimed, no-one coming into contact with it would have survived. However, two of the three people who attended them on the park seat, the nurse and the doctor (who treated the Skripals for nearly thirty minutes), suffered no ill effects at all, despite having made physical contact with them. The third person, Nick Bailey, initially described simply as a policeman, suggesting that he just happened to be in the vicinity at the time, became contaminated and had to be hospitalised. It turned out that he was a detective sergeant, which begs the question of why he was on the scene. It was later said that he may have become contaminated by the nerve agent at Skripal’s home. If he had actually entered the house (which was soon put behind a police cordon) this suggests either that the nerve agent was brought into the house by someone else, or (unwittingly?) by Yulia. Is there no CCTV footage available that might throw some light on any of this? Later it was said that the door to the house was contaminated. DS bailey soon made what appears to be a complete recovery. He made a statement to the media in which he said, somewhat cryptically, that it had been the most surreal time of his life. Puzzlingly, although he was said to have made a full recovery, his statement was read to the cameras by a superior officer.
There are other puzzling aspects of this story for which no satisfactory explanations have been offered. The Skripals house was supposedly badly contaminated. Two pets, a guninea pig and a cat were so severely affected that they had to be put down. It was said that this was because they had starved nearly to death, but how can we be sure of that. If the house was contaminated with military strength Novichok and Gregor and Yulia themselves were contaminated before leaving it, how was it that they were able to travel into Salisbury and go to a restaurant for a meal before taking a walk into the park and only then collapsing onto a park bench. Given the claimed certainty about the type and strength of the nerve agent with which they were attacked, questions such as these cannot simply be dismissed.
Boris Johnson and Gavin Williamson
Members of May’s cabinet have contributed eagerly to the demonization of Russia in parliament. A mood has been generated which is very similar to what happened in the prelude to the invasion of Iraq. It has been claimed that there is “reliable evidence” that “Russia has created and stockpiled nerve agents” in the last ten years; such phrases as “highly likely” “no other plausible explanation” “cast iron evidence” have been repeated ad nauseam. Just as in 2003, the news media have loyally followed suit, accusing Corbyn and others who have dissented, however tentatively, from the dominant chorus of “disloyalty” in a “national crisis.” The most egregious examples of this base behaviour has come from two of the most fatuous politicians ever to have been promoted to high office in Britain - the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson and the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson. Williamson displayed the level of his diplomatic skills by telling the Russians to “Go away and Shut up!” It is hard to believe that any other country could produce such breathtaking crassness in any holder of high office. But it happens here.
Johnson’s offensiveness is of a different order and far more dangerous because he acts with the impunity of one who knows that the weakened prime minister cannot fire him even if she wanted to do so. In an interview with Deutsche Welle on the 25th of March, he was asked “You argue that the source of the nerve agent was Russia. How did you manage to find it out so quickly? Does Britain possess samples of this? Johnson replied, “When I look at the evidence, the people from Porton Down, the laboratory – they were absolutely categorical, I mean I asked the guy myself, I said ‘are you sure?’, and he said ‘there’s no doubt.’ And so, we have very little alternative but to take the action we have taken.” On the 22nd of March the Foreign Office had posted a tweet which read “Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) made clear that this was a military grade novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.” This tweet was deleted on the same day. Porton Down then issued a statement saying “Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as novichok. It is not, and never has been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent.” The deletion of the Foreign Office tweet and the discrepancy with the statement from the DSTL has been highlighted by the Russian embassy that has demanded explanations. Johnson has further displayed his brilliant diplomatic skills and sensitivity to the realities of twentieth century Russian history, by likening the forthcoming FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Russia in June to the Nazis’ 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Although he differs from Donald Trump in that he affects a permanent mood of mock geniality lacking in the U.S. President, he is similar in that they are both masters of vacuous phrase-mongering and both are compulsive liars.
Are we really expected to trust the “Intelligence Agencies”?
Two cases from the past are worth recalling.
In his book Spycatcher published in 1987, former MI5 agent Peter Wright claimed that the agency had kept a surveillance file on Harold Wilson who was Labour Prime Minister three times between 1964 and 1976. He was, incidentally, a right of centre social democrat. But the spy agency regarded him as a security risk and suspected that he was a secret Soviet agent. Wright’s book was banned in Britain, though it was brought in from abroad and even from Scotland. In 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told parliament that “The Director General (of MI5)...has advised me that Lord Wilson has never been subject to Security Service investigation or of any form of electronic or other surveillance by the Security Service.” The Director General had lied. It was revealed in 2009 by The Independent that MI5 kept a secret file on Harold Wilson throughout his years as an MP, including the time he was prime minister. “The official history of the service , serialised in The Times, discloses that the file was first opened when he first entered parliament in 1945 and maintained throughout his premiership, 1964-1970 and 1974-1976.”
More recently, the case of a courageous young woman, Katherine Gun, from 2003, has greater resonance for today in view of the likelihood of Britain joining the U.S. and France in bombing Syria. Gun worked for the British spy agency GCHQ. In January 2003 she received an email from the U.S. government requesting an “intelligence surge” at the U.N. – the National Security Agency (GCHQ’s sister organization in its “special relationship” with the U.S.) was ordering the intensification of espionage at the U.N. headquarters in New York to pressurise the Security Council to authorize the invasion of Iraq. The email named six non-permanent member states. Only the U.K. was exempt from the “surge”. GCHQ was being asked to seek personal information in order to blackmail diplomats in New York, that is, to undermine the democratic process at the U.N. Nun passed the email to friends in the anti-war movement. The information was leaked to The Observer whose editor had decided that the paper would support the war. But the paper’s U.S. correspondent, Ed Vulliamy was opposed to the invasion and persuaded the editor to splash the story in the Observer in March 2003. Katherine Gun was arrested and tried under the official secrets act for leaking the NSA document. Fortunately, she was acquitted.
In both the Skripal case and the increasing likelihood of western military intervention in Syria the claim is being made that the “intelligence agencies” have solid evidence that Russia is guilty of using or abetting the use of chemical weapons in Britain and in Syria. The attempt made here has been to consider this claim without engaging in speculation based on insubstantial facts or evidence. On that basis, the charges levelled against Russia are insupportable. The historical record of the western intelligence agencies expose them as organizations systematically committed to the most unethical practices, including lying, deception on a global scale in the interests of waging aggressive imperialist wars, and mass surveillance of the people whose interests they pretend to serve. This is not to suggest that the intelligence agencies of other countries, regarded as hostile to their interests – and that includes Russia - behave essentially differently.
In Conclusion
Given all that is known about the operations of MI5, MI6, GCHQ, the CIA and the NSA, it is highly likely that Yulia Skipal is now being closely guarded by MI6. Her brief statement made a few days ago in which she turned down any meeting with the Russian embassy and any visit from her cousin Viktoria, suggests this strongly. She said “I have specially trained officers available to me, who are helping to take care of me and to explain the investigative processes being undertaken.” She says that she has access to friends and family and has been made aware of specific contacts at the Russian embassy who have kindly offered her their assistance in any way they can. But, she says, “I do not wish to avail myself of their services, but, if I change my mind, I know how to contact them.” It all sounds so carefully prepared that one can almost hear the voice of “specially trained officer” dictating it to her.
Mike Faulkner
13.04.2018
Mike Faulkner is a Senior Contributing Editor and our London Correspondent. He is a British citizen living in London. For many years he taught history and political science at Barnet College, until his retirement in 2002. He has written a two-weekly column, Letter from the UK, for The Political Junkies Magazine since 2008. Over the years his articles have appeared in such publications as Marxism Today, Monthly Review and China Now. He is a regular visitor to the United States where he has friends and family in New York City. Contact Mike at mikefaulkner@greanvillepost.com
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
By the World Socialist Web Site (wsws.org) editorial board The World Socialist Web Site condemns the strikes against Syria carried out Friday night by US, French and British forces. The attack is a flagrant and illegal act of aggression. The administrations of American President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May are guilty of a war crime, which poses the danger of triggering a conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. The pretext for the attack on Syria is unproven allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military forces used banned chemical weapons against US-backed rebel militias in the city of Douma. Russia, which has significant military contingents in Syria to support Assad’s government in its seven-year civil war against predominantly Islamist-based militias, has categorically rejected the US and allied propaganda. It has openly accused British intelligence of pressuring Syrian rebel organisations to manufacture a video that purports to show victims of a chemical weapons attack. A team from the ostensibly independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was scheduled to arrive in Douma to carry out an inspection of the alleged site this weekend. Trump’s order to initiate strikes was calculated to pre-empt such an inspection and a confirmation by the OPCW that the entire pretext for any attack on Syria was a lie. The fraudulent basis for the assault was underscored shortly after Trump’s broadcast, during the subsequent press briefing by his defense secretary, General Jim Mattis. Mattis could not provide any coherent details as to the US accusations. Moreover, contradicting the president’s vow of a protracted campaign against Syria, the general appeared to indicate that there would be no more action apart from the missile strikes that had already taken place. If this does prove to be the case, the action ordered by Trump will fall far short of what was being demanded within the American political and media establishment. Given the extreme vitriol directed against Bashar al-Assad, there is no doubt that advocates of a military strike expected that any attack would include an attempt to assassinate the Syrian president. A column in the German journal Die Welt provided one indication of the homicidal nature of what large sections of the imperialist ruling class internationally want unleashed against Syria. It declared: “War against Assad should be guided by one goal… Can the Assad regime be exterminated (auslöschen) with a missile strike?” In using the term “auslöschen” to refer to the Syrian president, the German publication adopted a term associated with the extermination of the Jews under the Nazis—that is, using language that could have appeared in Hitler’s Völkischer Beobachter . Far from the destruction of the Assad government, however, the strike against Syria appears to have had minimal impact. The Russian military has boasted that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles fired into Syria, and that none of its personnel or assets in the country were impacted. Bashar al-Assad reportedly walked to his office on Saturday morning. At this point, the attack has served primarily to underscore the debacle facing the US-led imperialist intrigues for regime-change in Syria. It will most likely not be long before sections of the American political and media establishment are accusing Trump of a climb-down and capitulation to Vladimir Putin. Demands will inevitably be made for far more extensive, and murderous, operations. The propaganda campaign justifying the attack on Syria was concocted to provide a pretext for a massive military onslaught—not one-off missile strikes. Facing the prospect of a military rout of its Islamist proxy forces fighting to overthrow the Syrian government, the decision for an escalation was made in Washington and London, and it was left to the CIA, MI6 and their Syrian agents to manufacture a pretext. On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense provided the most coherent and logical account given so far regarding the incident in Douma on April 7, which the Western press has unanimously proclaimed a chemical weapons attack on civilians by the Assad government. “We have irrefutable evidence that it was another staged attack, and the special services of a state which is in the forefront of the Russo-phobic campaign had a hand in staging it,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. The Russian Defense Ministry showed a video interview with two people, one of whom was a medical student working at Douma’s only operational hospital. The witnesses said that after a Syrian Army artillery barrage hit a building, people suffering from smoke inhalation were being treated at a hospital. Then, unknown individuals—later revealed to be associated with the CIA-backed Syrian rebel “White Helmets”—ran into the hospital screaming that there had been a chemical weapons attack. They encouraged the victims to douse each other with water, which they then proceeded to film. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov stated: “We know for certain that between April 3 and April 6 the so-called White Helmets were seriously pressured from London to speed up the provocation that they were preparing.” RT.com reported: “According to Konashenkov, the group, which was a primary source of photos and footage of the purported chemical attack, was informed of a large-scale artillery attack on Damascus planned by the Islamist group Army of Islam, which controlled Douma at the time. The White Helmets were ordered to arrange the provocation after retaliatory strikes by the Syrian government forces, which the shelling was certain to lead to, he said.” Despite vehemently denouncing the Russian claims, neither Washington nor London made any attempt to factually refute them. In contrast to the categorical statements of the Russian government, backed up by video testimony, Theresa May has only claimed it was “highly likely” that Syria carried out the attack. But even that was more definite than the statements of Defense Secretary Mattis, who declared the United States was still “looking for the actual evidence.” With the initiation of attacks on Syria, the US and its allies have signaled that the unravelling of the nominal reasons for war is irrelevant. Their onslaught is driven by far deeper causes than the lies used to justify them. What is taking place is directly in line with the analysis of imperialism made by the great 20th century Marxists, Lenin and Trotsky. World imperialism is undertaking a new re-division of the world. Britain and France want to be recognized as full-scale participants in the new carve-up of the Middle East and its effective recolonization: their oil corporations do not want to be left out of the plunder. All of the governments participating in this new onslaught are crisis-ridden and lack any electoral legitimacy. The vast gulf between them and their populations is expressed in the fact that none of them has been able to create any broad-based support for war. According to one YouGov poll, only 22 percent of the British population supports a military strike on Syria. Moreover, the launching of a major new military campaign is seen in London, Paris, and Washington as a means of implementing police-state rule, including mass censorship, to prop up their crisis-ridden governments in the face of mounting popular opposition and a growing strike movement by the working class. This new conflict will not stop with the attack on Syria, just as the expansion of war did not stop with the invasion of Iraq. The stage is being set for a confrontation with Iran, Russia and, ultimately, China. More and more, imperialist policy is acquiring a completely reckless and unhinged character. So far, the ruling class has been able to rely on the absence of any organized resistance to war. But popular anti-war sentiment will inevitably take on active forms and meet up with rising opposition to austerity and the destruction of democratic rights. —The World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board —The Greanville Post concurs 100% with this analysis. While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented. Parting shot—a word from the editors In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report US and imperialist allies launch strikes against Syria
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The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
Freedom Rider: Yaser Murtaja and Marie Colvin
By Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
“The corporate media share in the culpability.”
Yaser Murtaja was a Palestinian journalist acting in his professional capacity when he was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was covering the second Great Return March in Gaza and was clearly identified as press when an Israeli sniper fired a fatal shot.
Yaser Murtaja should not be forgotten. His death must be uppermost in our minds when the Syrian government is accused of deliberately murdering a journalist and is sued for $300 million in a United States court. Marie Colvin was covering the Syrian war in 2012 for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. She was killed when the Syrian army shelled the building where she and others were embedded with the Free Syrian Army, a group committed to regime change. The court filing claims that the Syrian government tracked Colvin’s movement and assassinated her. Ordinarily foreign governments can’t be sued in United States courts but as a designated “terrorist” state the rule does not apply to Syria.
“We are told to believe that President Assad would carry out these attacks on the same day that United Nations inspectors arrive or whenever he is winning on the battlefield.”
War propaganda is the order of the day in the ongoing effort to continue war in Syria. President Bashar Assad has been accused of carrying out chemical weapons attacks against his people ever since the American backed effort began in 2011. We are told to believe that he would carry out these attacks on the same day that United Nations inspectors arrive or whenever he is winning on the battlefield.
The real issue is that Assad is still the president of Syria with the help of his Russian and Iranian allies. He has defeated the terrorists sent to unseat him and he and his allies are forces to be reckoned with. NATO governments know that their people will not support war against his country unless they believe that he is an evil dictator who gasses babies every day.
His opponents are armed with money and contacts at the highest levels of the American and European governments. There is an entire media industry devoted to disparaging him and in so doing making the case for continued war. The White Helmets are a fiction, a creation of al Qaeda, an organization we are otherwise told to hate and fear. Far from being disinterested rescuers the White Helmets are part of the terror network that has nearly destroyed Syria and killed thousands of people. They routinely stage footage of their rescues and of gas attacks but only the leftist media dare to point out that easily provable fact.
“War propaganda is the order of the day in the ongoing effort to continue war in Syria.”
The White Helmets are not alone. Every anti-Assad lie comes with the seal of approval from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Despite the grandiose name the SOHR is just one man living in the U.K. named Rami Abdel Rahman. Rahman is a native Syrian who actually hasn’t been inside his homeland in 16 years.
This week the SOHR reports chlorine gas attacks carried out against the civilian population by the Assad government. The moment is very opportune but there is no evidence that the latest reported attack took place at all. The terrorists use these charges to regroup and to be given safe passage so that they may attack another day. The lies are not just propagandistic. They are tools for continuing this horrible conflict.
The corporate media share in the culpability. They have chosen sides and repeat verbatim every outlandish fiction that will make the case for imperialism. None of them allow a counter narrative to see the light of day. There are many knowledgeable people whose expertise would call into question charges of gas attacks and assassinated reporters. But they are disappeared from discourse and casual followers of the news have no idea that they exist.
“The White Helmets are a fiction, a creation of al Qaeda, an organization we are otherwise told to hate and fear.”
The lawsuit in the Marie Colvin case is nothing but war propaganda. Her family will never collect from the Syrian government but that isn’t the point of this case. Is it meant to create a compliant population who will believe anything they are told and not ask questions when the United States starts a hot war with Syria and its Russian and Iranian allies.
Who will file a lawsuit on behalf of Yaser Murtaja? He died covering protests that Palestinians have a right to hold according to international law. But Israel doesn’t need to respect the law because of American financial and military support. If there were justice both of those governments would be sued or better yet their leaders would be tried at the Hague as war criminals.
The Israelis brag that they “know where every bullet lands.” This ghoulish statement is a confession that they knowingly shot and killed a member of the press corps. His family will have no right to sue that government or its patron the United States. There is no hand wringing for Murtaja in the corporate media or from liberals who think themselves humanitarian.
“Israel doesn’t need to respect the law because of American financial and military support.”
Marie Colvin was killed because she was covering a war zone and was embedded with a group devoted to Assad’s overthrow. Ms. Colvin had already lost the sight in one eye after covering another war in Sri Lanka. She knew the risks of her profession and continued to take them. There is no comparison between her death and Murtaja, a man who was trapped in Gaza with 2 million other people and who devoted himself to chronicling their oppression.
Some victims are considered worthy and others are thought to be unworthy. Some are ignored and others are elevated so that the rulers can get away with advocating evil deeds. Of course no one would have died in Syria if Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hadn’t joined with NATO and monarchy states to destroy another nation after their gruesome success in Libya. Perhaps the next lawsuit should target them and their cronies. That would be true justice.
Appendix Imperial propaganda by the herd, and the unreliability of supposed "progressive" sources. After the Skripal sordid affair—as transparent a Western false flag as any—the imperialist media herd are suddenly trying to muster another uproar, striking in unison to disseminate wide and far their latest fabrication against Bashir al-Assad, this time as a cold-blooded killer of journalists. Thus the Marie Colvin story is suddenly in the news again (was originally reported in July of 2016 by the WaPo, see image), but is being resuscitated precisely at the moment of renewed pressure on Russia and Assad. Those who pay attention to these things and are not on the pay of the empire know that this kind of thing will continue because it stems from the innermost dynamic and perceived need of an amoral ruling clique that depends on lies to advance its fortunes (literally) in collaboration with their revoltingly ignorant and servile media. That the fix is in is rather undeniable. Observe how everyone seems to be using almost the same headlines, obviously carefully calibrated for maximum effect. Do a Google search and you'll find literally dozens of such entries on the Internet alone, while print and television presstitutes are contributing their usual load to give further traction to this loathsome fabrication. Amid the noise, the unkindest cut is to find The Intercept, again, among those shouting the loudest. And yet, we also see in the same issue other stories, filed by other reporters who seem to maintain an anti-imperialist viewpoint. What gives? Is this some sort of a trap? The Intercept is not talking, and neither is Glenn Greenwald, the maverick star reporter that first made this outfit famous by striking a deal with billionaire backer Pierre Omidyar, a silicon valley tycoon who struck gold on eBay's IPO. The deal was, if we are to believe the rumor mill, that Omidyar would provide funding for a truly independent journalistic collective, free from the usual pressures encountered in most corporate media venues. And that supposedly would include him, the boss, yes, no meddling by the owner. If so, this may have been a fool's errand, or call it a Faustian deal for Greenwald, since it is becoming clear Omidyar is somehow exerting pressure on the editorial mix, perhaps arguing for a "diversification" of viewpoints, that old shibboleth about "objectivity" requiring two different viewpoints, and the rest of that shopworn mythology. Some, including this writer, believe that a mix of stories like this is calculated to create legitimacy and credibility to use the resource successfully later, only on issues that matter the most (to the plutocracy), while sacrificing others that may have no significance, tactically or strategically in the empire's eternal war on truth. —P. Greanville BELOW: The Intercept's jarring piece on Colvin, joining the mainstream, nay, lending them credibility. Maybe that's what it's all about.
Is The Intercept really to be trusted?
The pack is saying Pres. Assad deliberately tracked and murdered an intrepid war correspondent, Marie Colvin. A lawsuit against Syria has been filed in the US
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found