BBC News’ 10pm programme tonight started with a striking assumption on the part of the BBC:
Within seconds of announcing that the critical illness of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley was caused by exposure to the same Novichok nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal in nearby Salisbury, Hugh Edwards was telling us, as if simply factual, that the Skripals were the victims of a ‘Russian attack’.
Yet neither Porton Down nor the OPCW were able to pinpoint a source for the toxin that poisoned the Skripals and it is now well known that Novichok has been successfully manufactured in other countries.
The BBC is not the only media outlet leaping to assumptions with unseemly haste. Although we were told at the time that Novichok has ‘very limited’ durability outdoors and the UK has experienced both heavy rain and a weeks-long heat-wave, a Murdoch journalist has already concluded that ‘residue’ of the Skripal attack is ‘the most likely explanation’:
The government’s Porton Down chemical weapons research centre, which is analysing the compound, lies almost exactly between Salisbury and Amesbury:
The OPCW identified the Salisbury Novichok as being of an extremely pure grade – more likely to be a laboratory sample than mass-produced, which is why the organisation could not narrow down the likely source of the toxin.
The residents of Pitton could be excused if they’re feeling nervous tonight, in case the Russians target them next.
But why is the BBC, along with other ‘MSM’, already guiding us to a Russian source instead of behaving like journalists and laying out the facts and a range of realistic possible scenarios?
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Quite frankly,the BBC ,and the government it serves are both a standing joke.
As Boris has recently been singing the praises of the OPCW and now that the OPCW have the international authority to apportion blame I trust there will be no delay in calling them in (unlike last time)
Craig Murray is an excellent source on this. Everyone should be reading his blog
Seconded.
In an article in The Independent yesterday, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu was quoted as saying:
“I appreciate that there will be a great deal of speculation as to whether this incident is linked to the events in Salisbury in March. I would add that the complex investigation into the attempted murders of Yulia and Sergei remains ongoing and detectives continue to sift through and assess all the available evidence and are following every possible lead to identify those responsible, for what remains a reckless and barbaric criminal act.’
So “…. the complex investigation into the attempted murders of Yulia and Sergei remains ongoing and detectives continue to sift through and assess all the available evidence and are following every possible lead to identify those responsible…”
B..b..b..but Theresa May and Co figured it out in a matter of hours, so it can’t be THAT complex: It woz Putin wot done it! And of course it doesn’t make sense that those carryng out the investigation into the Skripals haven’t just asked Theresa May et al for the evidence they have that Putin was behind it, or the Government themselves given THEM the said evidence months ago.
And in the Indy article it also says the following:
‘Early investigations have not suggested the British couple, who collapsed within hours of each other on Saturday, were likely the targets of an assassination attempt, police said.’
Ah, so they didn’t collapse at exactly the same moment like the Skripals. Well given that the odds of THAT happening even once is absolute zero – ie two people who were (supposedly) contaminated at the same time collapsing at exactly the same moment hours later – it does sound infinitely more plausible that these two collapsed hours apart. But if the Skripal poisoning was staged and pure fiction, as I have no doubt whatsoever that it was, then of course the odds are that this is just a repeat performance.
So will they make a miraculous recovery like the Skripals, or will one or the other or both be ‘dissapeared’, and the PTB and the fascist controlled media be telling us they died.
I mean are we really expected to believe that in the four months since the ‘Salisbury poisoning’, that no-one else happened to be in exactly the same spot where these two were supposedly contaminated?!
The psychopaths in power and their psychopath minions are more than capable of inventing and fabricating all of this. Inconceivable? Yes, to most people of course. But then it would be inconceivable to them that the accusations made against Ken Livingstone and Kelvin Hopkins – to name just TWO – are false and manufactured, let alone all the smears aimed at Jeremy Corbyn during the past two years or more.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/amesbury-poisoning-latest-novichock-metropolitan-police-neil-basu-professor-dame-sally-davies-a8431916.html
Actually, on second thoughts, the “collapsed hours apart” line doesn’t really sound very plausible. Somewhere between a few minutes and thirty/forty minutes yes, but not “hours”. They’ve gone too far the other way this time! No doubt they’ll get it right the next time!
New Scientist, 7 September 2007:
“A faulty drainage pipe was the most likely source of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain on 3 August, official investigators concluded today.
The pipe connected two world class research facilities on the same Pirbright facility in Surrey. One, Merial Animal Health, is a manufacturer of foot and mouth and other animal vaccines. The second, the Institute of Animal Health (IAH), is the world’s foremost reference laboratory for identifying and monitoring outbreaks of foot and mouth.”
Our “world class research facilities” have quite a bit of form when it comes to accidents:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/09/safety-blunders-expose-uk-lab-staff-to-potentially-lethal-diseases
And Porton Down dates back to 1916 – WW1 ffs.
We can pretty much guarantee an official finding that Russia’s to blame though, not least because the Tories couldn’t survive anything less.
Porton Down is the link no one in incompetent May regime, Parliament or failing main media dares mention. Amesbury is even closer than Salisbury to the shady facility at Porton Down.
Lest we forget this May regime forced through an illegal change (against their charter) to OPCW remit to add the power to apportion blame, which immediately makes OPCW subject to risk of coercion to apportion blame to the designated enemy of the most powerful block… US/UK/France/EU.
“Lest we forget this May regime forced through an illegal change”
Would that be the vote that was agreed by 75% which is well in excess of the 66% required to change their constitution. Do you have a problem with democracy?
SteveH the OPCW was set up to investigate suspected chemical weapons use not to apportion blame. Do you have any idea of the coercive forces that UK and western powers exert on many countries in the international systems?
If you believe that vote was truly non coerced ‘democracy’ then just watch how this unfolds… Russia… guilty, Syria… guilty… next allegations against a designated enemy or regime change target… guilty.
OPCW will no longer be able to function, countries will start withdrawing from it…
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-douma-gas-attack-a-false-flag-operation/5645086?utm_campaign=magnet&utm_source=article_page&utm_medium=related_articles
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/431595-opcw-chemical-syria-blame/
SteveH “Do you have a problem with democracy?”
You appear to forget that “democracy” is always controlled and manipulated by ruling elites.
“You appear to forget that “democracy” is always controlled and manipulated by ruling elites.”
Hence the reason it required a duper-majority to change its constitution. However if you are looking for a text book example of what you describe then you need look no further than Putin’s Russia
Ah, I see. it’s an anti-Russian thing then…
“Ah, I see. it’s an anti-Russian thing then.”
I suggest you re-read my post because that isn’t what I said, is it?
World Cup going so well better invent another Russian outrage. It’s almost laughable.
This book is well worth reading although it does not cover this story:
https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510730328/the-plot-to-scapegoat-russia/
It’s also available on Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plot-Scapegoat-Russia-Conspired-Vilify/dp/151073032X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530808198&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Plot+to+Scapegoat+Russia
Police have stated that Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess did not visit any of the sites decontaminated after the previous incident. Given the couple are unconscious how can they be so sure?
It was in the script.
Apparently a friend who was with them that day – ie last Saturday – took them round all the places they visited (but she herself obviously didn’t get contaminated). How fortuitous that they just happened to have a friend with them who could tell the police where they went that day.
I thought it was amusing that they sent a sample to Porton Down for analysis, since that’s probably where the stuff came from in the first place.
BBC broadcasts a lot of Government propaganda?
They must have been eating Russian pies at half-time.
The usual BBC Fake News. It was only a matter of time before Russia/Corbyn got yhe blame!
One senses the highly unstable govt need a diversion of gigantic proportions to draw attention away from their total failure on everything. What better than ANOTHER such event? One potential false flag they might get away with, but two….?
The World Cup in Russia has been going so well; many people saying it’s the best ever and that they like the country and its people. I must say I was expecting something anti-Russian but thought they would leave it until after the end of the World Cup?
Well no official dignitaries will be going to support England if they reach the final, May regime has banned therm. What a joke this incompetent minority regime propped up by DUP is.
This new outbreak of BS does serve to bolster what would otherwise have been a plainly ludicrous unwillingness on the part of UK “dignitaries” to attend the footy.
The timing is also good for setting the tone of some upcoming geo-war gatherings.
It is becoming a joke now. They made such a mess of the last investigation nobody believes a word they say. And as for the BBC well they’re just so afraid of being privatised they’ll agree to anything the government says
Just on BBC news I think they said that a plastic bag and syringe had been picked up in the park where the Skripals were found and brought home by the couple who are now in hospital.
Leaving aside the profound stupidity of such an act if it’s true… (surely only addicts would pick up and keep a dumped syringe?)
if the Skripal door handle was actually contaminated by the attackers wouldn’t that imply that they must have coated the handle, waited, followed them to the park and deliberately left the bag and syringe near the scene once the Skripals showed symptoms?
Not impossible obviously but unlikely surely?
I’ve always doubted the precision of delayed-action needed to cause the simultaneous symptoms necessary to support the door handle theory.
I may have misheard but I think it was said today that this couple became ill at home on their return from finding the plastic bag in the park. Seems to me more likely that they’d have opened the bag at home and been affected almost immediately.
The syringe being found in the park seems to reinforce my original assumption that the Skripals were most likely attacked there and that their door handle was inadvertently contaminated by a policeman wearing gloves.
Now why would anyone pick up a plastic bag with a syringe in it, take it home, and then open it. It’s too absurd for words. And does it seem likely that the bag has just sat there for four months and no-one else noticed it and, as such, picked it up and put it in a rubbish bin. And given all the dozens of police and army and whoever that swarmed the whole area, it is of course inconceivable that they wouldn’t have come across the bag anyway. And why on Earth would any assassin(s) sent to bump off the Skripals (supposedly) throw it on the ground, and not just put it in a rubbish bin.
Allan: “Now why would anyone pick up a plastic bag with a syringe in it, take it home, and then open it.”
No reason… unless maybe a habitual user hoped it had been dumped by another user running from the cops?
I watch a LOT of tv… 🙂
I’m not sure how much it helps to indulge in victim blaming.
How would you describe it then, ‘Idle speculation prejudiced by the knowledge that one of the victims is a recovering addict’?
I’m just checking out the news this moment, and what they said is that these two picked up a “contaminated item”. They didn’t say where.
So anyway, can you (or anyone else) answer my main point, as I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t address it – ie Is it really plausible that none of the dozens and dozens of police and army personel etc sent in to comb the area didn’t come across the bag in the days and weeks after the Skripals were (supposedly) poisoned (assuming it was in “the park”)?
The chances of that are absolute zero of course.
And what victims were those Steve?.
And I just came across the following in an article on the BBC News website:
Repeating advice from Public Health England (PHE), Mr Javid said there was “no significant risk to the wider public”, adding: “The risk to the public remains low.”
Security minister Ben Wallace told the BBC he could not guarantee people were “100% safe” from further contamination.
And predictably, Javid and Co are laying in to RT……
PS David: Given that on both the BBC and Sky news they are saying a “contaminated item”, and NOT that it was a syringe in a plastic bag, either you DID hear right earlier, and the line has now changed, or you DIDN’T, and somehow imagined that they said that, which I would be concerned about if I were you. Then again, it would be inconceivable that any Novichok substances would still be active if they were out in the open once it rained, so – if one is to believe all this, which I don’t – then the Novichok MUST have been ‘protected’ from the weather one way or another. Anyway, we’ll see what unfolds in the coming days.
You were right about the syringe in a plastic bag David. I just did an internet search, and THAT is what daily newspapers were reporting this MORNING. So it does seem incredibly odd that both the BBC and Sky News were only referring to a “contaminated item” when I checked an hour or two ago – ie more than eight or nine hours after newspapers were reporting the syringe in a plastic bag. It doesn’t make sense.
And how do you account for the Novichok traces they supposedly found at the restaurant where the Skripals dined?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43360420
I wasn’t victim blaming SteveH, just couldn’t think of another explanation for picking such a thing up and taking it home – if that’s what happened.
Can you?
Plod size 13s? There’s no theory I’ve heard that accounts for every contradictory detail.
Some details are just more of a stretch than others.
The BBC piece was on while I was working about fifteen feet away and I haven’t seen the same talking head since. He was introduced as an expert but may have been theorising the bag & needle that I took for a statement of fact.
But if what you heard earlier was an ‘expert’ theorising, then where did you get the bit about them having picked it up in the park where the Skripals were (supposedly) contaminated.
Allan, I’ve heard the place referred to “(something) Gardens” since I think – like I said I was working so glued to an oscilloscope screen not the TV screen. Maybe I made five from 2+2 on that but plastic bag and needle or syringe were definitely mentioned by the second interviewee the presenter introduced, I think, as a chemical weapons expert. Came on after the guy whose double-barrelled name I’ve also forgotten.
You heard right David (see my comment above). And it WASN’T an expert theorising.
Now according to the Evening Standard, they found the syringe in a bush (well you would wouldn’t you):
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/amesbury-novichok-poisoning-kremlin-must-tell-the-truth-as-it-emerges-killer-nerve-agent-was-dumped-a3880186.html
It just gets more and more preposterous!
As I said above, this is just getting more and more absurd. The Evening Standard article which I linked to has the following headline:
‘Amesbury Novichok poisoning: Police hunting for syringe or vial that could ‘kill anyone who picks it up”
And yet in the article itself it says:
‘She probably took it home or handed it to her partner, Mr Rowley, who was contaminated in turn.’
Well if she took it home, then it would of course be there and, as such, the medics who attended, and the police afterwards, would have found it there. So why would they say “probably”. It doesn’t make sense of course. Either she did AND it was found at her home, or she didn’t, and it wasn’t!
Allan, I’ve just found online newspapers have been referring to Mr. Rowley as a “registered heroin addict” – possibly the Beeb is worried someone might accuse them of victim blaming if they mention it?
Don’t mean to be pedantic David, but it’s one thing to mention the syringe, and entirely another to mention that the woman is a recovering addict.
Allan, I know this is a seriously jumbled thread now … but it was SteveH who referred to someone as a recovering addict 🙂
And I think I was the target of his victim blaming jibe – although I suppose he could have meant both of us.
For the record I blamed neither victim – I was just looking for a reason somebody might pick up a syringe and not blunt it, box it and bin it.
A minute ago I read in the online papers that Ms. Sturgess was described as a recovering alcoholic.
The Times:
“The evacuation of John Baker House in Amesbury, Wiltshire, a hostel for the homeless and those struggling with addiction — where Ms Sturgess had been staying — began this morning.”
Still not blaming…
There’s no “almost” about it!
This is the sort of contempt for our intelligence that led to the Brexit vote. They have learned nothing.
Dunno what this is doing down here. It was supposed to be a reply to Jim (5 July @5.40am) “World Cup going so well better invent another Russian outrage. It’s almost laughable!”.