For those who wonder why Russia persists in using the established mechanisms of international relations, organizations like the UN and OPCW, citing international law, etc, when the western countries lead by the US and UK so clearly try to subvert, obstruct, and circumvent them I believe the answer is very clear. Either one has faith in morality, rational objective thinking, and the basic humanity of people or you don’t. If you don’t then humanity is doomed to war or subjugation by immoral forces. The US and Europeans are partners in this dance whether they acknowledge it or not, whether they choose to participate or not. If Russia gives up then we are all screwed. I believe they are making progress. We will see.
Excellent comment – could not agree more! Russia’s actions are creating a vital legacy for humankind. Sanity and clear-headedness is needed in times of delusions, deceit, immorality.
Indeed creating a working frame for historians later and hopefully a new Nurnberg tribunal soon!!!
I hope sooner than Assad will go :-) or Russia will shut up and go.
Just let them dream on,
from behind the bars…
I think Russians should intercept OPCW communication with outside world, like in Ukraine with Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador. Never know what kind of surprises they might get.
I don’t trust any organization. Even OPCW can be later captured by CIA, MI6 and Pentagon. Just look what happened to Amnesty. What really means something is economic and military power securing real independence. Western people and ruling class don’t really act based on truth.
-The Deep State advanced Trump to the WAR CRIMINAL POSITION
-A real American president now ,believing absurdities and committing atrocities ,the Donald is very proud
_Trump ,the American Yeltsin ,who wanted to be Gorbachev
-Trumptards are delirious , they are still in the Trump sect cult
-The nation gasped , the majority in delight ( we are number 1) ,very few in horror , (number 1 criminals indeed)
-The world trembled with hidden disgust , while laughing in private
-This is how we roll , Tomahawk diplomacy,Mission accomplished
– Bush 5.o has risen ,praise SATAN
-The animal Assad had almost freed his country : he had it coming
-Americans sighed : they can finally watch ,in peace , Dancing with the Stars
– America wanted to start the beginning of the end ; could not finish it ;incompetence is a national trait now
-Iran and Russia will rearrange the board now ,Iran invented the chess game and Russia plays it well
-Mr. Putin has a new powerful weapon now : the world’s indignation
-America ,invest in body bags and yellow ribbons ; it’s all you have left
-The religious scholars are thrilled : the mystery of “The MYSTERY BABYLON” was revealed ; we even have a Beast presidential limousine
– America ,America , how ugly you have become : judge , jury and executioner
-The Empire lives now in a twilight zone , where reality is created from scratch ,but the episodes are poorly written ; PNAC , The Grand Chessboard and Which Path to Persia had better writers ,even if the script remained the same
-Reality and truth are fashionable again thanks to the Russians
Russia has to use the existing international institutions , while trying to change them . Other way , Russia will be completely isolated . Until China and Russia finish creating the new alternative systems , there is no other choice.
But that is exactly what Russia and China are doing : developing an alternative system to every Western ( read AAZ empire institution ). And they are quite advanced now.
And what the Evil empire is doing through all these little or big games all over the world , is trying to prevent the implementation of the alternative.
China and Russia decided that there is no way to reform the system and cooperate with somebody that can not keep his word for 1 single day . They decided to by pass the evil empire.
You can not do business with somebody that doesn’t keep his word , has no honor and you can not trust . You ignore him . The problem is he has big guns and decided to force himself on you and shot your partners and prevent your business. You now have to deal with him in such a way as to prevent that everybody ends up dead. Difficult but doable.
Not sure where to post this translation of this rant on quite a good, but still gate keeper Dutch, site. Here my translation and I hope I can translate the humor in it better then an online translation tool since great.
Hi Hugo – for future knowledge all off-topic comments go to the Moveable Feast Cafe (MFC). Mod
The Russians come! Again! Digitally!
Untrustworthy foreign intelligence services are in place in all our digital systems. Them, of all untrustworthy foreign intelligence agencies who want to get into our digital system Yeah. Whatever. Who cares.
American and British intelligence services who call to their big tech companies to get secret back doors installed into the soft- and hardware. The ones that declare whisle blowers that are concerned about that enemies of the state are now the hypocrites that warn us about the Russians.
You know what? We dont care about the Russians trying to do the same with their hacking toys and troll fabrics. If only the (western) intelligence services were only busy with keeping the Vodka brigades from out WLAN’s instead of getting all our data and absolute distrust in the digital activities of our own citizens and thus cast their digital drag net.
Only then we would not have to worry about who knows what about us and thus we all can freely do with the Internet of things we want. For now, our own Western intelligence agencies are the ones that tap in to our data traffic, analise it and more. Thats why why have to put ducktape over our webcams. Because we are afraid the spies in Zoetermeer (where the Duch spy HC is located)
The Russians are amatures compaired to them (as in what they can do in Holland). Besides that, their aircraft carrier isnt state of the art either, it is prehistoric. See the bollowing smoke clouds it proces. Our F-16’s are like trolls with their fly by’s when they pass the English channel on route to Syria. On thing is for sure, we should not fear the Russians spying on our tax reports, looking for not paid value added tax, nor extra kilometers driven with your company car for private use. They surely wont send CDA (a ”Christian” party) commando’s to arrest someone who draws political cartoons (I kid you not, that happend here). Nor would the Russians send the police to facebook users who are politically upset. Or even worse, some inappropriate pics grandpa and grandmom took of their grandchilderen when spending time with them while looking at meta data if there was possible an illegal hemp growing place in the area. Troll wise, we have Dotan (Dutch affair, cannot explain it and doesnt matter) Sounds Russian enough.
To summarise, who cares about wifi sniffing vodka drinkers? Or did they remotely set fire to the AIVD (name of the Dutch Intelligence agency) ”technical space”
Well, that was a worthwhile watch. Several phrases to be struck from my vocabulary now, ‘highly likely’ and ‘there is no other plausible explanation’ which will rapidly become memes and signifiers for ‘basic BS.’
The Soviet Union lost the Cold War because it did not believe in it’s own rhetoric. In this new and as yet unsettled situation Russia will have to believe in the values it is espouses so as not to lose again. This will be the greatest challenge of all because aside from Putin, Shoigu and precious several others, the oligarchical elite and it’s representitives in government still do not believe.
Sergei Sobyanin now heads the war cabinet and although this is seen as a compromise by some, very soon we will see if such figures as Mevedev, Peskov and amongst oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska, make the cut by the time Putin announces his new government in a few weeks time.
However, as we have seen many times before, The Hague only jails non-western leaders. It does not trial real criminals of the world.
Clintons, Blair, Bushs, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rassmussen, Tusk, Netanahyu etc… should have rotted in jail by now although they are really just a front for the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and their CIA, MI6, Mossad agencies.
If we assume, first, that the Russians are innocent of the Skripal nonsense but simply wrong about the veracity or authenticity of the Spiez lab leak, this would reflect very poorly, I think, on the competence of FM Lavrov and the Russian Foreign Ministry, the RF intelligence services and chemical weapons analysts, or, given Putin’s background in the KGB, Putin himself.
The same withering evaluation could be made if we assume that they were deliberately misled–indeed “punked” by a maliciously inaccurate leak.
Given that either was always obviously a possibility, they could have played their cards more cagily, asking pointed questions of the OPCW about whether other substances such as BZ were found, without disclosing their source, potentially burning him or her, and putting Spiez into full damage-control mode.
But to attempt to be fair, this may have been a resort of desperation, the home-court advantage here being overwhelming, even without reading actual ill intent into what appears to me to be a very strange interpretation of OPCW obligations. The confidentiality of the findings (setting aside an understandable policy of protecting the labs from public exposure) and the incompleteness of what *is* disclosed strike me as entirely bizarre. I mean, we can’t even name unequivocally what the substance was? And on what basis is the UK automatically the wronged party, and the accused the guilty party, for the purposes of investigation?
What if Russia had demanded a challenge inspection of Porton Down right off the hop (which if the Russians had actually planned it, they might have been clever enough to have considered). Or at the very least Russia could have been the accusing party. A Russian citizen (or citizens) were attacked on British soil, by what looks like a chemical agent, with what would appear to be covering actions by the British state, etc.
Honestly, though, if the OPCW handling of this case is a contorted as it seems to my inexpert eye, would Russia itself not be filing some sort of formal protest (already or soon, if they were hoping to wrangle it out of them tactically, or are playing with an eye to East Ghouta)?
But if the OPCW is being as duplicitous as I suspect (based on recent form in Salisbury and in Syria last year), the Russians might very well believe the Salibury battle is lost, but may be hoping that the OPCW might throw them a bone in Ghouta…
Given the UK’s control over the crime scene (a crime of some sort has doubtless been committed), over the media (as with the BBC partisans in the “Information war with Russia” as it’s been put), over the precise form of technical assistance they were able to insist on, the OPCW’s apparently arbitrary control over procedure and disclosures, Russia simply can’t win, and by now if not from the outset, knows this.
Still their handling of the “leaked” Spiez report is not a good look. If the goal was at least for the OPCW to discredit itself in the eyes of the world (or at least the chemical warfare and weapons interdiction communities), which may have been happening, the Spiez report was an own goal. Or what am I missing?
At this point, though, still presuming Russia’s innocence, as one used to do with the accused, and feeling a little sad for them (and sadder still for us), I find myself trying to recall the details of the Dan Rather blockbuster disclosure of Dubya’s appalling National Guard service record.
If I recall, Rather’s report was factually impeccable–every dereliction claimed on the record actually happened, but the physical report itself was a forgery. That is, a perfect or near-perfect forgery, entirely factually accurate, indistinguishable except in the smallest detail (say chemical composition of the paper), in ways Rather’s team could not be expected to have the means of detecting, for the authentic original, which documented these same derelictions.
But Rather’s report, and its accusations against a sitting President, were now demonstrably based on a forgery. (I know, it was a simpler time, when fake accusations against a President were considered a bad thing.)
And the substance of the report could now be summarily dismissed, as if it had become the task of journalists not to present evidence and claims offered in good faith as possibly true, in order to have the powerful answer to them, but now the standard morphs into a guarantee that every word is incontrovertible before it can be disclosed to the public.
The most powerful investigative journalist in America destroyed by the intelligence agencies in a master stroke. Sometimes when I ask myself how the media became so servile, so fast, I wonder if they were broken by the Rather frame-up. An inflection point, at least.
What journalist could ever again feel that they could stake their reputation on a document.
It’s entirely possible that the leaked Spiez lab report is essentially correct in all its relevant details, but may have been altered just enough in some insignificant respect that the Spiez lab could claim that it does not conform to the format that they use (for a single line item or paragraph, for example). Once the authentic provenance of the document is discredited, the entirety of the (perhaps essentially accurate) BZ findings are tainted, much as the samples themselves may have been. Where, for example, BZ was added to the control samples, to match its presence in the test samples. All Spiez said was the former, and no one will ever force them to answer regarding the latter, now that the Spiez leak is seen as an embarrassing flop
We cannot answer your query without knowing the truth of the matter and thus cannot reach a conclusion. Please read the statement by Shulgin to the OPCW linked below (not just the summary posted on rt).
“The UK’s narrative in the Skripal case is a “story woven with lies,” with London continuously trying to “deceive” the international community, Russia’s OPCW envoy said, highlighting eight examples of such misinformation.
“We’ve tried to show that everything our British colleagues produce is a story woven with lies,” Russia’s permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Aleksandr Shulgin told reporters on Wednesday, following the organization’s meeting on the Skripal case.
“And, unlike the British, who aren’t used to taking responsibility for their words and unfounded accusations, we showed specific facts why we believe our British partners, to put it mildly, are ‘deceiving’ everyone.” The official provided eight examples of UK-pushed misinformation, surrounding the March 4 events, when the former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the town of Salisbury.”
“I have given just a few examples of how the British authorities spread disinformation and blatantly lie. This list of disclosures could, probably, go on, but we should probably stop here. It is typical that the United Kingdom is not even thinking about refuting any of their theses, despite the fact that they are completely unfounded.
I have no doubts that in the future, we can await new waves of disinformation, pseudo-leaks to the media, insolent attacks on us by the British officials. But no real evidence will ever be produced.
The United Kingdom demonstrates clear unwillingness to adequately cooperate regarding the investigation of this obscure story. This convinces us that the United Kingdom does not want any truth. They cannot allow it to come to light.
The report presented by the Technical Secretariat concerning the British specialists’ findings poses a number of questions and calls for additional detailed examination, including by the British side. Any specialist would understand that the final conclusions can be made only having before your eyes the materials of the chemical and spectral analysis of the mentioned samples. And the Technical Secretariat has passed these materials only to London.
We underscore, Russia will not take at face value any conclusions regarding the “Skipal case” until one simple condition is met: the Russian experts will be provided with access to the victims, as well as to the mentioned materials of the OPCW expert analysis and the entire volume of the real information regarding this incident London has at its disposal.
We have solid grounds to believe that all of this is a gross provocation against Russia by the special services of the United Kingdom. And if the British side continues to refuse to cooperate with us, it will only reaffirm our conviction that this is exactly the case.
Mr. Chairperson,
One cannot help but recall the following saying: for some people lying is not a means of justification, but a means of defence. On April 16, we heard yet another strange statement: the G7 calls upon Russia to respond to the legitimate questions of the United Kingdom regarding the “Skripal case”. You can consider this statement our response.
At the same time, we would like to hear from the British side the answers to the numerous and specific questions of the Russian Federation regarding the incident in Salisbury. Moreover, we would be grateful if the representatives of the G7 could explain to us why their countries launched a diplomatic war against Russia based on some fakes.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
Please, circulate this statement as an official document of this special OPCW Executive Council session.”
On the main page of OPCW where the speeches are, Russian speech is missing.
Among the rest, speech from Cuba is the only one which is not translated in to English. What is more, speech from Cuba in published as a picture PDF not text PDF so you can’t copy/paste text to Google translate and read what Cuba has to say. Someone from craigmurray site used OCR and than Google translate for the last paragraph. It says:
“Mr. president:
We must preserve the technical character of the OPCW, the international body mandated to ensure compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. We deeply regret the politicization of the debates. Unfounded accusations against the Russian Federation are inadmissible. Cuba reiterates that cooperation must prevail over confrontation, while rejecting the application of unilateral measures, which undermine international stability.
Breaking: Belgium delivered chemicals to Syria illegally
Three companies from Belgium illegally delivered hundreds of tons of industrial chemicals to Syria. And one of the substances can be used for the production of chemical weapons. Why didn’t anyone notice anything suspicious for so long?
Douma Chemical Attack False Flag Operation EXPOSED!. (Translated)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=vSrRV-zdNic
For those who wonder why Russia persists in using the established mechanisms of international relations, organizations like the UN and OPCW, citing international law, etc, when the western countries lead by the US and UK so clearly try to subvert, obstruct, and circumvent them I believe the answer is very clear. Either one has faith in morality, rational objective thinking, and the basic humanity of people or you don’t. If you don’t then humanity is doomed to war or subjugation by immoral forces. The US and Europeans are partners in this dance whether they acknowledge it or not, whether they choose to participate or not. If Russia gives up then we are all screwed. I believe they are making progress. We will see.
Excellent comment – could not agree more! Russia’s actions are creating a vital legacy for humankind. Sanity and clear-headedness is needed in times of delusions, deceit, immorality.
Power to you both!
Indeed creating a working frame for historians later and hopefully a new Nurnberg tribunal soon!!!
I hope sooner than Assad will go :-) or Russia will shut up and go.
Just let them dream on,
from behind the bars…
My thoughts exactly for quite a long time.
I think Russians should intercept OPCW communication with outside world, like in Ukraine with Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador. Never know what kind of surprises they might get.
I don’t trust any organization. Even OPCW can be later captured by CIA, MI6 and Pentagon. Just look what happened to Amnesty. What really means something is economic and military power securing real independence. Western people and ruling class don’t really act based on truth.
” Western people and ruling class don’t really act based on truth.”
For everyone practicing evil hates the light ( truth ) and does not come to light,lest his deeds should be exposed.
-The Deep State advanced Trump to the WAR CRIMINAL POSITION
-A real American president now ,believing absurdities and committing atrocities ,the Donald is very proud
_Trump ,the American Yeltsin ,who wanted to be Gorbachev
-Trumptards are delirious , they are still in the Trump sect cult
-The nation gasped , the majority in delight ( we are number 1) ,very few in horror , (number 1 criminals indeed)
-The world trembled with hidden disgust , while laughing in private
-This is how we roll , Tomahawk diplomacy,Mission accomplished
– Bush 5.o has risen ,praise SATAN
-The animal Assad had almost freed his country : he had it coming
-Americans sighed : they can finally watch ,in peace , Dancing with the Stars
– America wanted to start the beginning of the end ; could not finish it ;incompetence is a national trait now
-Iran and Russia will rearrange the board now ,Iran invented the chess game and Russia plays it well
-Mr. Putin has a new powerful weapon now : the world’s indignation
-America ,invest in body bags and yellow ribbons ; it’s all you have left
-The religious scholars are thrilled : the mystery of “The MYSTERY BABYLON” was revealed ; we even have a Beast presidential limousine
– America ,America , how ugly you have become : judge , jury and executioner
-The Empire lives now in a twilight zone , where reality is created from scratch ,but the episodes are poorly written ; PNAC , The Grand Chessboard and Which Path to Persia had better writers ,even if the script remained the same
-Reality and truth are fashionable again thanks to the Russians
Russia has to use the existing international institutions , while trying to change them . Other way , Russia will be completely isolated . Until China and Russia finish creating the new alternative systems , there is no other choice.
But that is exactly what Russia and China are doing : developing an alternative system to every Western ( read AAZ empire institution ). And they are quite advanced now.
And what the Evil empire is doing through all these little or big games all over the world , is trying to prevent the implementation of the alternative.
China and Russia decided that there is no way to reform the system and cooperate with somebody that can not keep his word for 1 single day . They decided to by pass the evil empire.
You can not do business with somebody that doesn’t keep his word , has no honor and you can not trust . You ignore him . The problem is he has big guns and decided to force himself on you and shot your partners and prevent your business. You now have to deal with him in such a way as to prevent that everybody ends up dead. Difficult but doable.
hi there,
Not sure where to post this translation of this rant on quite a good, but still gate keeper Dutch, site. Here my translation and I hope I can translate the humor in it better then an online translation tool since great.
Hi Hugo – for future knowledge all off-topic comments go to the Moveable Feast Cafe (MFC). Mod
The Russians come! Again! Digitally!
Untrustworthy foreign intelligence services are in place in all our digital systems. Them, of all untrustworthy foreign intelligence agencies who want to get into our digital system Yeah. Whatever. Who cares.
American and British intelligence services who call to their big tech companies to get secret back doors installed into the soft- and hardware. The ones that declare whisle blowers that are concerned about that enemies of the state are now the hypocrites that warn us about the Russians.
You know what? We dont care about the Russians trying to do the same with their hacking toys and troll fabrics. If only the (western) intelligence services were only busy with keeping the Vodka brigades from out WLAN’s instead of getting all our data and absolute distrust in the digital activities of our own citizens and thus cast their digital drag net.
Only then we would not have to worry about who knows what about us and thus we all can freely do with the Internet of things we want. For now, our own Western intelligence agencies are the ones that tap in to our data traffic, analise it and more. Thats why why have to put ducktape over our webcams. Because we are afraid the spies in Zoetermeer (where the Duch spy HC is located)
The Russians are amatures compaired to them (as in what they can do in Holland). Besides that, their aircraft carrier isnt state of the art either, it is prehistoric. See the bollowing smoke clouds it proces. Our F-16’s are like trolls with their fly by’s when they pass the English channel on route to Syria. On thing is for sure, we should not fear the Russians spying on our tax reports, looking for not paid value added tax, nor extra kilometers driven with your company car for private use. They surely wont send CDA (a ”Christian” party) commando’s to arrest someone who draws political cartoons (I kid you not, that happend here). Nor would the Russians send the police to facebook users who are politically upset. Or even worse, some inappropriate pics grandpa and grandmom took of their grandchilderen when spending time with them while looking at meta data if there was possible an illegal hemp growing place in the area. Troll wise, we have Dotan (Dutch affair, cannot explain it and doesnt matter) Sounds Russian enough.
To summarise, who cares about wifi sniffing vodka drinkers? Or did they remotely set fire to the AIVD (name of the Dutch Intelligence agency) ”technical space”
Regards,
Hugo
source, ofcourse in Dutch, https://www.geenstijl.nl/5141631/the-enemy-within/#comments you have to scroll a bit to above since it starts with comments on it
Well, that was a worthwhile watch. Several phrases to be struck from my vocabulary now, ‘highly likely’ and ‘there is no other plausible explanation’ which will rapidly become memes and signifiers for ‘basic BS.’
I hope this gets a wide airing.
We have officially returned to a bipolar world order.
Washington forces its allies to accept a bipolar world
http://www.voltairenet.org/article200729.html
The Soviet Union lost the Cold War because it did not believe in it’s own rhetoric. In this new and as yet unsettled situation Russia will have to believe in the values it is espouses so as not to lose again. This will be the greatest challenge of all because aside from Putin, Shoigu and precious several others, the oligarchical elite and it’s representitives in government still do not believe.
Sergei Sobyanin now heads the war cabinet and although this is seen as a compromise by some, very soon we will see if such figures as Mevedev, Peskov and amongst oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska, make the cut by the time Putin announces his new government in a few weeks time.
http://johnhelmer.net/good-friday-resurrection-sunday-russias-new-war-cabinet-to-be-headed-by-sergei-sobyanin/
http://johnhelmer.net/unalloyed-reform-six-point-plan-for-russian-aluminium-to-prosper-without-oleg-deripaska/
Thank you for posting this.
“If you persist we’ll see you in the Hague ”
Money quote/paraphrase.
I admire Russia’s courage.
However, as we have seen many times before, The Hague only jails non-western leaders. It does not trial real criminals of the world.
Clintons, Blair, Bushs, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rassmussen, Tusk, Netanahyu etc… should have rotted in jail by now although they are really just a front for the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and their CIA, MI6, Mossad agencies.
If we assume, first, that the Russians are innocent of the Skripal nonsense but simply wrong about the veracity or authenticity of the Spiez lab leak, this would reflect very poorly, I think, on the competence of FM Lavrov and the Russian Foreign Ministry, the RF intelligence services and chemical weapons analysts, or, given Putin’s background in the KGB, Putin himself.
The same withering evaluation could be made if we assume that they were deliberately misled–indeed “punked” by a maliciously inaccurate leak.
Given that either was always obviously a possibility, they could have played their cards more cagily, asking pointed questions of the OPCW about whether other substances such as BZ were found, without disclosing their source, potentially burning him or her, and putting Spiez into full damage-control mode.
But to attempt to be fair, this may have been a resort of desperation, the home-court advantage here being overwhelming, even without reading actual ill intent into what appears to me to be a very strange interpretation of OPCW obligations. The confidentiality of the findings (setting aside an understandable policy of protecting the labs from public exposure) and the incompleteness of what *is* disclosed strike me as entirely bizarre. I mean, we can’t even name unequivocally what the substance was? And on what basis is the UK automatically the wronged party, and the accused the guilty party, for the purposes of investigation?
What if Russia had demanded a challenge inspection of Porton Down right off the hop (which if the Russians had actually planned it, they might have been clever enough to have considered). Or at the very least Russia could have been the accusing party. A Russian citizen (or citizens) were attacked on British soil, by what looks like a chemical agent, with what would appear to be covering actions by the British state, etc.
Honestly, though, if the OPCW handling of this case is a contorted as it seems to my inexpert eye, would Russia itself not be filing some sort of formal protest (already or soon, if they were hoping to wrangle it out of them tactically, or are playing with an eye to East Ghouta)?
But if the OPCW is being as duplicitous as I suspect (based on recent form in Salisbury and in Syria last year), the Russians might very well believe the Salibury battle is lost, but may be hoping that the OPCW might throw them a bone in Ghouta…
Given the UK’s control over the crime scene (a crime of some sort has doubtless been committed), over the media (as with the BBC partisans in the “Information war with Russia” as it’s been put), over the precise form of technical assistance they were able to insist on, the OPCW’s apparently arbitrary control over procedure and disclosures, Russia simply can’t win, and by now if not from the outset, knows this.
Still their handling of the “leaked” Spiez report is not a good look. If the goal was at least for the OPCW to discredit itself in the eyes of the world (or at least the chemical warfare and weapons interdiction communities), which may have been happening, the Spiez report was an own goal. Or what am I missing?
At this point, though, still presuming Russia’s innocence, as one used to do with the accused, and feeling a little sad for them (and sadder still for us), I find myself trying to recall the details of the Dan Rather blockbuster disclosure of Dubya’s appalling National Guard service record.
If I recall, Rather’s report was factually impeccable–every dereliction claimed on the record actually happened, but the physical report itself was a forgery. That is, a perfect or near-perfect forgery, entirely factually accurate, indistinguishable except in the smallest detail (say chemical composition of the paper), in ways Rather’s team could not be expected to have the means of detecting, for the authentic original, which documented these same derelictions.
But Rather’s report, and its accusations against a sitting President, were now demonstrably based on a forgery. (I know, it was a simpler time, when fake accusations against a President were considered a bad thing.)
And the substance of the report could now be summarily dismissed, as if it had become the task of journalists not to present evidence and claims offered in good faith as possibly true, in order to have the powerful answer to them, but now the standard morphs into a guarantee that every word is incontrovertible before it can be disclosed to the public.
The most powerful investigative journalist in America destroyed by the intelligence agencies in a master stroke. Sometimes when I ask myself how the media became so servile, so fast, I wonder if they were broken by the Rather frame-up. An inflection point, at least.
What journalist could ever again feel that they could stake their reputation on a document.
It’s entirely possible that the leaked Spiez lab report is essentially correct in all its relevant details, but may have been altered just enough in some insignificant respect that the Spiez lab could claim that it does not conform to the format that they use (for a single line item or paragraph, for example). Once the authentic provenance of the document is discredited, the entirety of the (perhaps essentially accurate) BZ findings are tainted, much as the samples themselves may have been. Where, for example, BZ was added to the control samples, to match its presence in the test samples. All Spiez said was the former, and no one will ever force them to answer regarding the latter, now that the Spiez leak is seen as an embarrassing flop
We cannot answer your query without knowing the truth of the matter and thus cannot reach a conclusion. Please read the statement by Shulgin to the OPCW linked below (not just the summary posted on rt).
Russia’s OPCW envoy exposes ‘eight UK lies’ in Skripal case
https://www.rt.com/news/424537-russia-opcw-uk-skripal-lies/
“The UK’s narrative in the Skripal case is a “story woven with lies,” with London continuously trying to “deceive” the international community, Russia’s OPCW envoy said, highlighting eight examples of such misinformation.
“We’ve tried to show that everything our British colleagues produce is a story woven with lies,” Russia’s permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Aleksandr Shulgin told reporters on Wednesday, following the organization’s meeting on the Skripal case.
“And, unlike the British, who aren’t used to taking responsibility for their words and unfounded accusations, we showed specific facts why we believe our British partners, to put it mildly, are ‘deceiving’ everyone.” The official provided eight examples of UK-pushed misinformation, surrounding the March 4 events, when the former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the town of Salisbury.”
You really should read the full original statement linked in the RT piece:
https://netherlands.mid.ru/en_GB/web/netherlands-en/-/statement-of-a-shulgin-at-the-opcw-ec
Concluding paragraphs:
“I have given just a few examples of how the British authorities spread disinformation and blatantly lie. This list of disclosures could, probably, go on, but we should probably stop here. It is typical that the United Kingdom is not even thinking about refuting any of their theses, despite the fact that they are completely unfounded.
I have no doubts that in the future, we can await new waves of disinformation, pseudo-leaks to the media, insolent attacks on us by the British officials. But no real evidence will ever be produced.
The United Kingdom demonstrates clear unwillingness to adequately cooperate regarding the investigation of this obscure story. This convinces us that the United Kingdom does not want any truth. They cannot allow it to come to light.
The report presented by the Technical Secretariat concerning the British specialists’ findings poses a number of questions and calls for additional detailed examination, including by the British side. Any specialist would understand that the final conclusions can be made only having before your eyes the materials of the chemical and spectral analysis of the mentioned samples. And the Technical Secretariat has passed these materials only to London.
We underscore, Russia will not take at face value any conclusions regarding the “Skipal case” until one simple condition is met: the Russian experts will be provided with access to the victims, as well as to the mentioned materials of the OPCW expert analysis and the entire volume of the real information regarding this incident London has at its disposal.
We have solid grounds to believe that all of this is a gross provocation against Russia by the special services of the United Kingdom. And if the British side continues to refuse to cooperate with us, it will only reaffirm our conviction that this is exactly the case.
Mr. Chairperson,
One cannot help but recall the following saying: for some people lying is not a means of justification, but a means of defence. On April 16, we heard yet another strange statement: the G7 calls upon Russia to respond to the legitimate questions of the United Kingdom regarding the “Skripal case”. You can consider this statement our response.
At the same time, we would like to hear from the British side the answers to the numerous and specific questions of the Russian Federation regarding the incident in Salisbury. Moreover, we would be grateful if the representatives of the G7 could explain to us why their countries launched a diplomatic war against Russia based on some fakes.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
Please, circulate this statement as an official document of this special OPCW Executive Council session.”
Here is the link:
https://netherlands.mid.ru/en_GB/web/netherlands-en/-/statement-of-a-shulgin-at-the-opcw-ec
On the main page of OPCW where the speeches are, Russian speech is missing.
Among the rest, speech from Cuba is the only one which is not translated in to English. What is more, speech from Cuba in published as a picture PDF not text PDF so you can’t copy/paste text to Google translate and read what Cuba has to say. Someone from craigmurray site used OCR and than Google translate for the last paragraph. It says:
“Mr. president:
We must preserve the technical character of the OPCW, the international body mandated to ensure compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. We deeply regret the politicization of the debates. Unfounded accusations against the Russian Federation are inadmissible. Cuba reiterates that cooperation must prevail over confrontation, while rejecting the application of unilateral measures, which undermine international stability.
Thank you very much.”
https://www.opcw.org/special-sections/salisbury-incident/related-official-documents/
Breaking: Belgium delivered chemicals to Syria illegally
Three companies from Belgium illegally delivered hundreds of tons of industrial chemicals to Syria. And one of the substances can be used for the production of chemical weapons. Why didn’t anyone notice anything suspicious for so long?
https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/04/breaking-belgium-delivered-chemicals-to-syria-illegally/