Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the resulting invasion. The invasion of Afghanistan. Military action in Libya. Military action in Syria. On each of these issues, Jeremy Corbyn has been shown to be on the right side of history – and Blairite adventurists to be on the wrong side.
Seems they’ve learned nothing.
Today, a cabal of back-bench Labour MPs – names that will surprise no one – have been scrambling to put together an Early Day Motion (EDM) ‘unequivocally’ backing Theresa May in her over-eagerness to lay blame for the Salisbury nerve-agent attack on Sergei Skripal, his daughter and a police officer.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg tweeted a copy of a hastily-prepared note with the names of Labour ‘moderate’ MPs prepared to sign the motion:
Theresa May herself cannot yet ‘unequivocally’ say that Russia carried out the attack. According to the Russians, samples of ‘Novichok’ nerve agent are with government facilities all over the EU – including at Porton Down, just eight miles from the scene of the attack – and all the samples contain, perhaps unknown to those holding them, with a different signature marker, to enable samples from different laboratories to be differentiated.
The government has so far refused to provide a sample of the agent used in the Skripal attack.
If Theresa May herself cannot yet be unequivocal – then how can backbench Labour MPs ‘unequivocally accept the Russian state’s culpability’?
Labour-supporting Twitter account @EL4JC had its own interpretation of this ‘scramble’:
Whatever the MPs’ personal motivations in this unseemly rush into conflict with a nuclear-armed sovereign power, did anything ever more clearly demonstrate the nonsense of the term ‘moderate’?
By contrast, Jeremy Corbyn’s statesmanlike, measured and reasonable approach shamed not only a few of his own MPs but the behaviour and motivation of the Tory government and its MPs, as he spoke in the Commons to condemn the attack without jumping to unproven conclusions:
Corbyn:
- unequivocally condemned the “appalling act of violence” in Salisbury
- called on Theresa May to be ensure that the UK’s response is “decisive and proportionate and based on clear evidence”
- underlined the UK’s responsibility “to speak out against the abuse of human rights by the Putin government and its supporters both at home or abroad and pay tribute to the many campaigners in Russia for human rights”
- called for the government to “expose the flows of ill-gotten cash between the Russian state and billionaires who became stupendously rich by looting their country and subsequently using London to protect their wealth”
- condemned – again – the events in Salisbury earlier as “abominable and… rightly condemned across this House”
- spoke of the importance of Britain “build[ing] a consensus with our allies at this time for multilateral action, ensuring in the longer term that we strengthen the chemical weapons convention and to ensure that this never happens again”
- reminded the country of the UK’s diplomatic weakness because of Tory cuts
Inconveniently for those who might wish to dismiss his measured approach as compromised by his appearances (like many Tories and ‘moderates’) on Russia’s ‘RT’ station, Corbyn went on record eighteen months ago, on the Andrew Marr show, to condemn proven Russian human rights abuses:
Corbyn looked far more a statesman, internationalist and leader than his Tory counterpart. Of course, that has nothing to do with the anger of the misnamed ‘moderates’.
Meanwhile, the majority of people in this country will be deeply glad that the leader of at least one of our main political parties has the composure and integrity to actually moderate his behaviour and judgment until the case is properly investigated and proven – and the courage yet again to stand against the Establishment flow – rather than rushing headlong to attribute blame and indulge in posturing and sabre-rattling, as his opposite number for whatever reasons of her own is clearly eager to do.
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This does seem like a repeat of the Iraq WMD.
This is from Dr Robin Black, Head of Detection Lab at Porton Down:
In recent years, there has been much speculation that a fourth generation of nerve agents, ‘Novichoks’ (newcomer), was developed in Russia, beginning in the 1970s as part of the ‘Foliant’ programme, with the aim of finding agents that would compromise defensive countermeasures. Information on these compounds has been sparse in the public domain, mostly originating from a dissident Russian military chemist, Vil Mirzayanov. No independent confirmation of the structures or the properties of such compounds has been published. (Black, 2016)
Robin Black. (2016) Development, Historical Use and Properties of Chemical Warfare Agents. Royal Society of Chemistry
So how come Porton Down identifies the chemical in a few days – the above suggests it doesn’t even exist ? Also, Teresa May doesn’t want to get the OPCW involved, what a surprise (but did with Assad).
That list of signatories for the EDM might as well be headed “USUAL SUSPECTS”.
I watched the statement and debate on TV. The level of emotive abuse against Russia was nothing to that reserved for the “traitors within”. It was sad but very instructive to hear “moderate” Labour MP’s jumping up one after the other, seemingly called from a list the Speaker had, creaming themselves at being able to say how deeply they agreed with the PM and not their party leader. Why is it Foreign Policy sees the Labour Party so riven? It was the same in 2013 over Syria. The fact seems to be that the moderates are staunch – very staunch! – advocates of NeoCon policies with its current gaol of rendering the ME safe for Israel. Corbyn is the geopolitical Satan with his straightforward humanism.
It was all contrived Paul so as to make JC appear isolated on the one hand, and like an apologist/useful idiot for Putin on the other.
I didn’t give it any thought at the time, but it did seem weird to me the way John Bercow, the speaker, called Theresa May to make her statement (on Russia). It’s like he knew what was going to happen, and was amused at the prospect. I don’t know if it’s all on the BBC Iplayer, but the whole thing was up on youtube the last time I looked, and I urge anyone who didn’t see it to watch it. It starts with PMQs, but if you jump to 42 mins, THAT’S where Bercow calls her, and she then begins her statement.
As I say, DO check out Bercow, and if you don’t want to listen to May spouting her propaganda B/S, then jump to 52 mins, where JC starts his response. And it’s during his speech, and especially afterwards, that the set-up starts to develope, and definitely includes the SNP guy as well.
JC was making perfect sense of course about NOT rushing to judgement – and they no doubt knew in advance that he WOULD say something to that effect – but they knew those lined up tp speak after him – just after May had responded to his questions – would be totally unequivocal in blaming Russia and applauding May’s statement, and making comments to the effect that JC WASN’T giving his support to her, and was being soft on the dangerous and evil enemy that threatens each and every one of us – ie he was appeasing the enemy.
And of course it was done in the knowledge that their propaganda machine – and their shills on the box – will be portraying him as something akin to a traitor. It was a demolition job no less, which will hopefully backfire on them big time as more and more people see through their machinations and realise that they are being manipulated.
It’s another gargantuan deception – think Iraq and WMD etc – and one that would have highly impressed Hitler and Goebbels. And it’s quite clear what the objective is and where it’s headed – ie to shut down all dissent and criticism of the PTB and their policies.
The youtube vid is entitled: Theresa May Faces Jeremy Corbyn as she releases statement
And here’s a taster of how their propaganda machine is getting the narrative out there to the masses:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5815114/jeremy-corbyn-accused-of-peddling-putins-propaganda-by-labour-mp-as-his-own-front-bench-openly-defy-him-over-russia/
Is this being hyped up by the ‘usual suspects’ to test the water for a break away from Labour? – GS going and now his second in command, the ‘holding onto positions’ strategy now not viable, the Democracy Review in full swing, good Survation poll this week. Maybe time to be considering ‘new party’ options?
When a crime is committed it is usual to first find evidence before any arrest is made, yet again these moronic warmongering, so called moderates have passed judgement, based on circumstantial evidence propagated by the MSM. I am furious with them, yet again they do not represent the people.
I see the UK blocked a Russian request for the Security Council to investigate this. So the UK dont want it investigated, refuse to give Russia a sample, and prefer to make claim after claim. We have seen this before in Syria after claims of chemical weapons attacks.
We have yet to see evidence proving a link with the Russian state.
Until that evidence is provided by he Conservatives it is not possible to come to a conclusion as to who is responsible for the attack.
The Conservatives and the right wing of the Labour Party seem to taken leave of their senses and are behaving like an irrational baying mob.
Just the exact gobshites you’d expect to sign that letter…With a few names missing, surprisingly.
We all know who they are…Unless it was photo’d while it was doing the rounds?
But even the French want more ‘evidence’…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia-france/france-wants-proof-before-responding-on-britain-poisoning-affair-idUSKCN1GQ2H2
I suspect the French are delighted to see the UK face world humiliation. The old enemity, believe it or not, is not forgotten. The Vrench have semi serious ambitions to return as a power in the ME. They flaunt the Charles de Gaulle,the largest nuclear powered aircraft carrier in the World, up and down the East Mediterranean Sea. They vie with the British just as if it was 1916. Reputedly Cameron only went heavy on Libya to stop the French taking all the credit. Now they’ll squabble over the remains of Syria just as they did over the Ottoman Empire. For the French the current situation must be a bit like 1956 – except they aren’t involved!
They also refused to take part in the preparations for the Syrian war 2 years before its inception.
S.O.P for the Tories , the local elections are just weeks away and Mayhem is desperate to distract from them. What better than a bit of tub thumping British will take no crap from Russia action.
Just like Thatcher did in the mid 80’s with the Falklands ,rode to her election victory on the deaths of British soldiers and many Argentinians.
It worked tho didn’t it and now Mayhem is trying the same thing . Only thing is Russia is no longer the big bad commie country it once was , its a big bad corrupted state just like the West is ,, different cheeks of the same arse .
Why on earth we still have those who call themselves Labour politicians when they are shy Tories , I do not know , but their CLPs MUST re-select them ASAP .Otherwise I fear once we have a Corbyn Govt then this is exactly the way they will behave in undermining it and nullifying any positive effects we would have for society as a whole.
I wonder if by any chance the NEC under new management might have the power to bring them down for bringing the Party into disrepute or some other charge that could expel them from Labour.
Only have to do it once or twice to a couple of them , that’d put the shitters up the lot of them , as they’d not want to loose the gravy train income they are on
Who can have any doubt at all that all the “usual suspect” opportunist Right Labour perennial plotters gagging to sign an Early day Motion, blatantly aimed at Jeremy Corbyn much more than Putin and his cronies, would immediately “cross the floor” to a cobbled together “National Government” the moment a Corbyn-led Labour Government was under severe assault by the Money Markets and internal Big Business economic sabotage ? Deselection must come for these treacherous bozos.
And the Daily Mirror today in a poisonous defamatory article seriously demands that Jeremy Corbyn engages in empty sabre-rattling Boris-style posturing to supposedly “get rid of May” (?) , but admits in the same article that there is actually nothing such empty bombast can achieve !
The unlimited amount of dangerous war-mongering this week by Right Labour and Tory politicians and their jingoistic press jackels at a time of s many potential global flashpoints, really does remind one just how in 1914 bombast and internally targeted political point-scoriing in so many different states by irresponsible politicians in hock to their respective military industrial complexes, turned a relatively insignificant local assassination in the Balkans into a world conflict. Only Jeremy Corbyn has kept his head .
We live in a Psychopathocracy, and THEY hold all the reins of power, and they are not going to relinquish any of it, which is precisely why they concocted and contrived yesterday’s demolition job (Tories blue AND red, that is, along with others). Their propaganda machine has been hammering away at JC for two-and-a-half years or more now, with their vitriol and smears and demonisation etc, and yet the LP is still neck and neck with the Tories despite it all (and were 7% ahead of the Tories in a recent Survation poll). So yesterday they fraudulently transformed his reservations into weakness and appeasement (of the big, bad, evil enemy) and something akin to being a traitor.
THEY were all unequivocal in their belief that it was all down to Putin – knowing full well of course that he had nothing whatsoever to do with it – and knowing full well of course that the police are still continuing their investigations. It’s a complete and utter joke, and THEY are the ones doing all the laughing.
But for the psychopaths our reality and our history would be totally different.
I do so hope that Russia is proven to be innocent. How I would rejoice to see TM and all the other rabid dogs in our Parliament end up with ‘egg on their faces’, if their unfounded accusations were wrong, they are behaving like a pack of mad lunatics.
Unfortunately you can’t prove a negative. You just have to live with the outcome of shocking foreign policy decisions.See Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan.
You would think they would have learned their lesson by now. I will never forgive Hilary Benn for the speech he made for getting involved in Syria & the Tories & the usual suspects in the Labour Party applauding him, they have blood on their hands just like Tony Blair.
They make me sick, JC is correct we need Un refutable evidence of Russia’s complicity before starting something we may not even be able to finish.
We are slowly becoming the laughing stock of the world under the Tories which is probably why if it is the Russians that are to blame that they decided to attack us because of weak leadership & the weak position our Country is in due to Tory decimation of our armed forces and the police plus government department that was set up especially for this kind of incident which was axed.
May’s unequivocal statement “Novichok: a military grade nerve agent developed by Russia” seems a bit wild. Not only obviously it was developed by the Soviet Union, but according to most sources the major research and testing site for Novichok agents was at the Chemical Research Institute in Nukus, Uzbekistan – handily close to the nearby semi-desert Ustyurt plateau for testing. And the the intended Novichok weapons production site was the Pavlodar Chemical Plant, Kazakhstan – though that was only part built when demolished in 1987 due to the forthcoming Chemical Weapons Convention. So it seems plausible in the hurried closures and evacuation of 1991 not all of the binary-agent precursors were destroyed or moved to Russia. Don’t know how stable the binary-agent precursors would be, but it cannot be discounted that they are still viable after 20 odd years. May’s statement does seem premature.
… I meant to type “development and testing site” not “research and testing site” above. Sources suggest the initial research was done at the “State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology” (GosNIIOKhT), near Moscow.
I watched too as the backbendovers climbed over each other like puppies in their eagerness to suck at May’s teat – and her gracious acknowledgement of their subservient arse-licking.
I almost puked.
Coming soon to the back bedroom of a house in a town near you!
Conservatives and Newest New Labour – the coalition rebooted!
Get your tickets before they’re all gone!
Buy one get ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ three free!
See May in a tank! See May posing with our brave soldiers! See May visiting our new carrier!
(planes not included)
Doesn’t hurt Putin to remind his own plebs how ‘strong & stable’ he is ahead of his “election.”
In fact it could be an opportunity for a whole bunch of world leaders to do a bit of low-risk strutting.
You don’t think… nah, they wouldn’t do that… would they?
Parasitic neo-liberals still in the Lab party desperate to draw attention to themselves…
The Russians developed this nerve agent 40 to 50 years ago. Are we really expected to believe the Russians would be stupid enough to use a nerve agent that only they are “supposed” to have to assassinate someone in this country?
I wouldn’t trust anyone in this Tory government to tell the truth.
Why would Vladimir Putin suddenly have the idea (supposedly) to bump off a former Russian intelligence officer when he had absolutely nothing to gain from doing so, and a whole lot to lose, and as if relations between Russia and NATO countries wern’t ALREADY bad enough.
And why would he think to do such a thing just when the World Cup Football Championships were coming up in the Summer, and for it to be done exactly two days before events had been planned to mark 100 days to go until the Championships begin. Why would he want to wreck it all, in effect, and also incur the wrath of the West and their media. It makes no sense whatsoever of course.
It is of course a repeat of the situation with Assad, who had nothing whatsoever to gain by ordering a chemical attack on his own innocent civilians, and everything to lose potentially.
I have little doubt whasoever that it was all staged and that it’s a False Flag op.
Cui bono!
“Why would Vladimir Putin suddenly have the idea (supposedly) to bump off a former Russian intelligence officer when he had absolutely nothing to gain from doing so, and a whole lot to lose”. This was always the argument for why the Syrians had no reason to use chemical weapons. The attacks always came when the Syrians were winning hands down, and the rebels were desperate for US intervention. You have to look at who gains.
In his response to May, JC refers to a daughter of Sergei Skripal’s having died in 2012, but it was of course his wife. She died from cancer, and yet in the first several days, the Sun and the Mail etc were saying she was killed in a suspicious car crash, and also saying that Skripal’s son was killed in a suspicious car crash as well, last year, whilst on a visit to Russia. But other news outlets – The Guardian and Newsnight are two that I know of – were reporting that his wife died of cancer (in 2012), and that his son died of liver failure (last year). In other words, the Sun and the Mail etc disseminated the lie to their millions of readers that both his wife and his son were killed in suspicious car crashes, and did so for the obvious reason of course.
As the days went by they must have realised that too many people were getting to know the REAL version, so they changed it a few days later to his wife dying from cancer, and by way of explanation told their readers that THAT is what Skripal told his neighbours at the time she died – ie that she died in a car crash. And their readers no doubt believed it!
And isn’t it odd that they both just happened to become seriously ill in exactly the same moment (and bear in mind that trace amounts of Novichok were found at the restaurant where they had eaten earlier, or so we’ve been led to believe), the point being that if one had become ill even a minute or two before the other, the other one would of course have dialled 999 for an ambulance. But instead, we have them sitting on a bench, her with her eyes rolling in her head, and him pointing at the sky. Hmm, all seems very theatrical.
And contrary to May stating that there were only TWO possibilities regarding the Novichok, and then giving the ‘Russians’ twenty-four hours to own up to which one of them it was, I just came across this ten minutes ago in an article in the Sun, on March 8th:
‘Last night security sources told The Sun that the poison could only have been produced in a handful of labs worldwide – including the Russian government’s notorious Yasenevo complex.’
Oh dear, someone obviously forgot to brief the Sun to let them know what it says in the script!
PS Here’s a link to the article, and it’s just after the seventh picture down the page…… a photo of Sergei Skripal:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5750698/russian-spy-poisoning-sergei-skripal-yulia-salisbury-latest-nerve-agent-gift/
I just took a screenshot of that secton, just in case GCHQ – or Damian Green – get on to the Sun to amend it!
Gavin Williamson, the brand new defence secretary, now gets £48m extra for Porton Down and a scarier world that increases his profile and power.
The Whip’s office doesn’t teach double-dealing at that level so it’s obviously sheer coincidence that these events were so advantageous to his career.
Random coincidences do just happen sometimes.
It’s great that the BBC is now teaching students how to tell fake news from the genuine BBC stuff.
Bravo!
Apologies David, but was your comment in relation to mine? And whether it was, or it wasn’t – and assuming you weren;t being ironic – were you saying in effect that you don’t think/believe it was a False Flag op?
Hi Allan, no, sorry if it looked that way – hadn’t occurred to me that it might. Was only thinking about who had what to gain other than the obvious.
My irony engine clearly needs work. I think false flag is a strong possibility but I also think suspects benefiting from increased threat level are too numerous to pick just one.
Putin could hardly have failed to anticipate the response he got – and he may genuinely have decided that the upside of internal respect was worth the downside of greater isolation & sanctions – but would a sane person risk that with an ‘election’ already in his pocket?
Then again, Putin likes money and the MIC likes proxies.
If I seem like a conspiracy theorist I’m not. Well, OK, technically… but I’m just fitfully musing on the theme 🙂
If I should disappear though…
Support JC, all of this is helping Right Wing Putin beat the nationalist drum in Russia as his election approaches.
It also helps to try to make Right Wing Leaders like May, Trump and EC Leaders et al look tough.
So as the Right Wing Barbarians at the top on all sides play their infantile power games working people in every country needs statemen and women stars to emerge and remember brothers and sisters, working people of no country are your enemy.
Liam Fox, Conservative International Trade secretary said during an interview by Marr, I think that was about an condemnation by a Conservatice MP, Corbyn’s relationship with a spy in South America, said that he did not think that Corbyn was related to the spy. On the other hand, Fox praised Corbyn that Corbyn contributed a lot a relationship between Russia and Britain during the cold war and he helped the country not to enter the war. I trust Corbyn but not May. She seems for me making mistakes all the way like last general election and Brexit deal but survives,’why?. Corbyn is a real statesman, no doubt about it.
Gavin’s power play speech for a massive defence budget increase on BBC News just now.
Not exactly a natural public speaker. He’d be wise not to try to hide his Northern accent. With that and his TH fronting he’s very stilted.
WARMONGER – would escalate a spilled drink into global thermonuclear war.
Whatever happened to that good old British ‘innocent until proven guilty’ ?
Contrast and compare:
Jeremy Corbyn – Leader of the Opposition – dignified, courageous, statesmanlike, seeking sound evidence of Russian state culpability, making the case for adherence to agreed international protocols.
Theresa May – our so-called Prime Minister – a duplicitous and discredited leader of a baying mob of warmongering psychopaths bent on diplomatic expulsions and sanctions before even limited domestic investigations of the Skripol poisonings have concluded.
No prizes for guessing which one is fitted to be our Head of State and which should be summarily relegated to the back-benches of her party.
You took the words right out of my mouth Susanna!
Spot on!!
Interesting, the first UK bombing in Syria against so-called IS (supported by I believe 66 Right Wing Labour moronic MPs) was on a petrol refinery and distilling station but I posed the question then: was this occupied at the time by workers (probably trade unionists)? And if so they were likely to have been non-combatants (and if so-called IS comes to town you probably have little say in the matter) so was this a Tory Government War Crime? The Tory Defence Secretary at the time much later resigned over a lesser matter but the question I posed was met with complete silence.
With Labour’s minority of social imperialists perhaps we have seen a glimpse of the future when hopefully we get a radical Corbyn Government. I recommend Left Wing Democratic Socialists support and vote for Left Wing Democratic Socialists. Yours in international solidarity!