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Second Salisbury Alleged Poisoning: Still More Questions than Answers

James O’Neill

Sajid Javid, British Home Secratary, speaking from Amesbury. Source: BBC.

It is symptomatic of the level of desperation being felt by the British government that the illness of two known drug addicts (Rowley & Sturgess) in the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, only a few kilometres from Porton Down and the site of the Skripal incident in March of this year, is immediately attributed to Russia by the British Home Secretary Sajid Javid and the Minister of State for Security Ben Wallace.

Speaking in the House of Commons on 5 July Javid referred to the “decision taken by the Russian government to deploy [chemical weapons] in Salisbury on March 4 was reckless and callous……. It is now the time for the Russian state to come forward and explain exactly what has gone on.” Wallace for his part suggested that Russia “fill in the gaps” of what happened to allow the United Kingdom authorities to pursue their investigation and keep people safe.

What we most need to be kept safe from are the bizarre and groundless allegations made about the Skripal incident on 4th of March 2018 and the even more bizarre attempts to link that event with what may have happened to Rowley and Sturgess on 30 June 2018.

Making unfounded allegations, blatantly false statements, giving rapidly changing ‘explanations’ as to how the Skripals became affected, and disregarding all the basic rules is to evidence, logic, scientific principles and the fundamental precepts of what used to be called ‘British justice’ were certainly characteristics of the Skripal case.

Equally disregarding these same basic principles has been true of the failing government of Britain’s Theresa May, as well as some of its apologists such as the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter article of 6 July that was so riddled with false assumptions, fake ‘facts’ and unsupported conclusions it may well have been drafted for its author by MI6.

The English poet William Taylor Coleridge described poetry as “the willing suspension of disbelief” and it is clear that the UK government and certain sections of the media in both the UK and Australia see the willing suspension of disbelief is the modus operandi in promoting yet another anti-Russian storyline.

There was a four-day gap between what happened to Rowley and Sturgess and the first reports of this appearing in the UK media. Given the unusual activity where the pair were found, in a local park, and at the respective homes by people in chemical hazard suits, and the absence of reporting strongly suggests that the UK government had issued yet another ‘D’ Notice to prevent reporting of the events.

The police initially lied to neighbours and other witnesses about what was going on. This fact alone makes the ‘Novichok’ story highly implausible. If the highly dangerous ‘Novichok’ class of nerve agents were in fact at random locations in the greater Salisbury area, then public warnings would and should have been given at the earliest opportunity.

The attempts to link what has allegedly happened to Rowley and Sturgess in June 2018 with what allegedly happened to the Skripals and Detective Sergeant Bailey in March 2018 is a sure sign of the desperation attached to the British government.

I say “allegedly” because if what the scientific literature tells us about substance A234 (allegedly used in the Skripal case) is correct, and there has been no scientific rebuttal of that well established evidence, then none of the victims would be alive today.

That is quite separate from the reported findings of the Spietz Laboratory in Switzerland that carried out analyses of samples collected more than three weeks after the Skripal incident that were entirely inconsistent with A234 being the actual cause of their illness (or that of Bailey).

The police on this occasion have been more cautious than some of the journalists or politicians. Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu of the Metropolitan Police stressed the importance of the investigation “being led by the evidence available and the facts alone,” a wholly welcome degree of caution on a topic more marked by political hysteria and manifestly false information than a cool appraisal of the classic means, motive and opportunity approach to crime solving, with a heavy emphasis on actual evidence as opposed to politically inspired rhetoric.

Even with that welcome degree of caution by the police, there are still some very curious elements to this latest case. If the Novichok class of nerve agents are as dangerous as the scientific literature incontestably describes them, why was there a four day delay between Rowley and Sturgess being found and hospitalized and the announcement of the cause of the illness? That delay would surely have exposed others to random phials of nerve agents carelessly left in public spaces.

The second curious element is that the nerve agents in question, the inappropriately labeled ‘Novichok’, have, again according to the scientific literature, a very limited life if exposed to the vagaries of the elements. Yet the Evening Standard in the UK quotes an unnamed and unaffiliated ‘security source’ as saying that “the poison could be kept deadly for decades” if kept dry. That complete contradiction of the known facts is simply ignored by the rest of the media.

The third puzzle is why, if the current explanation for the poisoning of the Skripals was an infected doorknob of Sergei’s home (as highly dubious as that claim is) why would the same nerve agent in an as yet undisclosed container be found in a public park well away from the Skripal House and any likely escape route for would-be assassins, four months later in a public park in a still dangerous state, and not noticed by any member of the public or the park’s maintenance workers?

Some long overdue skepticism about the whole Skripal saga and its alleged links to the latest incident in the mainstream media is to be found in an article by Simon Jenkins in The Guardian on 6 July 2018. Jenkins correctly points out many of the absurdities of the Skripal story and its many still unanswered questions. He points out that where knowledge is non-existent (as in both of these cases) ignorance is bliss. He says that does not apply to government ministers, for whom ignorance is not a sufficient condition for silence.

Apart from the aforesaid Mr Javid, most politicians have been relatively restrained in their public reactions to the latest incident. One might hope they learned something after the frankly hysterical and ill-informed over-reaction to the Skripal incident.

That may be unduly optimistic. The willingness to blame Russia in the absence of even remotely compelling evidence is a political instinct deep within the western political psyche. On the other hand, the Skripal experience and the British refusal to acknowledge the implausibility of the Skripal’s alleged poisoning and its even more implausible aftermath may have led to an awakening realization that it is one’s supposed allies and friends that pose the greatest dangers.

James O’Neill is a Barrister at Law and geopolitical analyst. He may be contacted at [email protected]

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Ross Hendry
Ross Hendry
Jul 30, 2018 1:03 PM

The whole Salisbury/Amesbury saga seems have gone the way of all dodgy government narratives – down the collective memory hole.

Still, poor Dawn Sturgess is being cremated today and the MSM reports that her coffin will have no pall bearers. Why? Surely there can’t be any risk of poisoning from the coffin? I wouldn’t put it past the buggers to wring every bit of terror out of this affair even now.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Jul 20, 2018 6:14 PM

Charlie Rowley released from hospital. After being dosed with nerve agent and, according to his brother a couple of days ago, on death’s door? Really? Really? As my mother used to say “I’m not as green as I’m cabbage looking”. This is truly going to take some explaining.

kingfelix
kingfelix
Jul 12, 2018 3:48 PM

“… if the current explanation for the poisoning of the Skripals was an infected doorknob of Sergei’s home (as highly dubious as that claim is) why would the same nerve agent in an as yet undisclosed container be found in a public park well away from the Skripal House and any likely escape route for would-be assassins, four months later in a public park…”

The most suitable explanation is that the doorknob was not the source of the Novichok. The details of the second attack destroy the official narrative anent the first attack.

The discarded Novichok would presumably be close to where the attack on the Skripals took place. Note, the Queen Elizabeth gardens are 8 mins walk from bench where Skripals were found, but far further from the doorknob of their home on the outskirts of Salisbury.

It is therefore far more probable that the attack happened at the bench. This has always seemed the most likely explanation, with the Skripals potentially meeting with a third party/parties at the bench who then poisoned them, but the narrative has been switched to excise that.

Jerry Alatalo
Jerry Alatalo
Jul 12, 2018 2:36 AM

Meanwhile, Yulia and Sergei Skripal have vanished down the memory hole, never to be seen, heard or experiencing otherwise normal human contact on this Earth – apparently forever.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Jul 12, 2018 5:09 AM
Reply to  Jerry Alatalo

It was their wish to just disappear, away from the prying eyes of the media. Their final wish.

Michael McNulty
Michael McNulty
Jul 11, 2018 5:05 PM

Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with Britain’s secret services.

Cherrycoke
Cherrycoke
Jul 11, 2018 11:30 AM

Not being a chemist, I tend to believe people who seem to know what they are talking about. Still, even if labs did such things (could anyone clear this up? RTJ1211?), the OPCW would/could not have added freshly produced A-234 to the samples it sent to the labs.

To me this means that the “virgin” as well as the “degraded” A-234 was present in the authentic sample/authentic samples (whether biomedical or environmental, we don’t know).

As I said before, the OPCW does not call into question the authenticity of the passage from the Spiez report which was quoted by Lavrov. It merely states that BZ was contained in the control sample.

As the OPCW would/could not add A-234 to the samples it forwarded to its designated labs, it follows that the “toxic chemical” detected by the OPCW and identified in the confidential report which was sent to all member states must have been A-234. On this subject, Lavrov states:

“In that report, in accordance with the OPCW way of conduct, the chemical composition of the agent presented by the British was confirmed, and the analysis of samples, as the report states, was taken by the OPCW experts themselves. It contains no names, Novichok or any other. The report only gives the chemical formula, which, according to our experts, points to an agent that had been developed in many countries and does not present any particular secret.”

I repeat, according to all we know, this must have been A-234 as detected by Spiez.

To confuse matters further, the OPCW had stated in the published summary:

“The name and structure of the identified toxic chemical are contained in the full classified report of the Secretariat, available to States Parties.”

https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/S_series/2018/en/s-1612-2018_e_.pdf

Which means that either Lavrov or the OPCW is lying (the OPCW, however, may have changed its mind about naming the substance).

The samples forwarded to the designated labs included splits of samples provided by the British authorities.

If I understand you correctly, niqnaq, you believe that the OPCW is lying when it says that BZ was contained in the control sample only?

George Cornell
George Cornell
Jul 11, 2018 12:06 PM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

I believe they are lying because that is what they do. And this all happens very near the facility having and testing for Novichok? Duhhhh.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Jul 12, 2018 5:12 AM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

So you believe a Western-controlled organ headed by a Turkish former NATO apparatchik. Credulous or disingenuous?

Dave m
Dave m
Jul 11, 2018 6:38 AM

Just a point- Amesbury not Amersham (Bucks) – Or I’ll be very worried living there!!

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Jul 11, 2018 5:28 AM

Again the MSM has missed the actual story.

Some how Novichok has leaked into May’s cabinet and the Brexiteers are dropping like flies.

Superintendent Commissioner Plod said the first signs are a ghostly white pallor and dilation of the pupils. Followed by a weakness in resolve to see any task through, and then running away screaming paranoid obscenities about foreigners controlling Britain…

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
Jul 11, 2018 8:14 AM
Reply to  tutisicecream

How could the MSM miss a story which they have made up themselves from the outset? :-)) Even the Daily Torygraph have booted this pile of russophobic cobblers off their front page now. (To make room for Why You Should Not Go To Russia, however).

Panopticon
Panopticon
Jul 11, 2018 2:07 AM

At the risk of being overtaken by events… an idiot’s guide to Salisbury Poisoning #1:

https://syrianobservatoryforhumanwrongs.wordpress.com/

vexarb
vexarb
Jul 11, 2018 9:09 AM
Reply to  Panopticon

@PanOptician. A little masterpiece of Logic in Verse. Could have been written by Lewis Carol himself — except that Prof.Ludwig Dodgson was a Conservative who would not have dreamt of applying cold Logic to statements from Her Majesty’s Government.

Thom Prentice
Thom Prentice
Jul 10, 2018 9:01 PM

Did Theresa May authorize it to save her regime’s ass?

bevin
bevin
Jul 10, 2018 8:14 PM

The WSWS has a useful summary of the story:
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/07/10/stur-j10.html

Nitecore
Nitecore
Jul 10, 2018 4:47 PM

Call me a con****** theorist but I doubt there has ever been any Novichok.
I believe the Skripals were somehow contaminated with an opiate type substance administered by persons unknown (couple in the cctv footage…red bag etc????) for nefarious purposes. The Novichok came into play to blame Russia for reasons i think we all understand.
Then the poor couple this time around unfortunately came across some bag drugs (cut with fentanyl/opiate of some kind) and the powers that be saw a way to shore up the narrative that had fallen by the wayside and produced novichok pt2.
The whole story is too sketchy but for me but the lack of nerve agent symptoms (and the presence of opioid overdose symptoms) are the giveaway. Severe muscle contraction, loss of bodily functions and the onset of a very quick death did not occur in any victim.
For what it’s worth.

oldnis
oldnis
Jul 13, 2018 4:33 PM
Reply to  Nitecore

For what it’s worth?

If the reader is of any reasonable level of intelligence, this theory is worthy of the most careful consideration. I, for my part, think this is probably spot-on.

johnplatinumgoss
johnplatinumgoss
Jul 10, 2018 3:42 PM

A good article though I suspect the author means Samuel Taylor Coleridge rather than William. My own view is that the Skripals are dead. We will never hear from them again. Yulia Skripal was probably dead at the time her statements in English and Russian were made public and her scripted announcement broadcast. It struck me that they were probably made at the same time as the police statement was issued which is almost identical to Yulia’s script. The secret services have no compunction in killing when it is not in what they perceive to be the national interest to keep people who know too much alive.

wardropper
wardropper
Jul 10, 2018 3:16 PM

On a somewhat related note, this amazing picture was created using the Blender 3D app. We really must consider what an app like this might be, and almost certainly is, doing in the hands of dishonest media organizations… You can practically smell the mildew on these ancient shelves, and our expertise in perceiving the difference between such a picture and what we know to be reality is really going to be tested. I have worked with this app myself, in an abstract-artsy sort of way, and know something of its potential.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BZVdl

wardropper
wardropper
Jul 10, 2018 3:19 PM
Reply to  wardropper

Correction, this may have been one of the other 3D apps. I found the picture on a Blender-related site.

Jo
Jo
Jul 10, 2018 3:08 PM

James…as a barrister…there is no way Russia ???? can be accused of this being a murder of a British citizen surely ie a deliberate attempt by a perpetrator…an inquest verdict would surely be death by misadventure due to her habits and no known means of delivery yet discovered. Apart from Russia laughing her head off and letting UK make utter fools of themselves…does Russia have any legal redress against the claims…eg slander…libel or an equivalent or other diplomatic forms of redress because say 100 years ago this would lead to military action maybe…..betchya UK is going to add this to their previous list of 14 so claimed assassinations but as now there is a deceased victim ….one wonders what will happen with the revisions to OPCW recently pushed through(how convenient for that too)…..

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
Jul 10, 2018 4:27 PM
Reply to  Jo

Oh, Russia can be accused of the murder… because a bent Home Secretary, without a shred of legal experience in his multi-billion pound banker’s career, can accuse anyone, anywhere, of anything, and not face the slightest comeuppance for his lies.

If Russia dared to remonstrate, the fireplace salesman would simply call the one-time failed Health Minister (with no international credentials) in support of the billionaire banker.

That’s how Britain is run.

By twits.

tick-tac-toe
tick-tac-toe
Jul 10, 2018 2:44 PM

still more questions than answers ?….then lets look here .
Charles Rowley = Crowley (Alistair) Thelema….”Dawn” Sturgess = Golden “Dawn” (Hermetic order – Geomancy/Patterns)….”Sturgess”, Preston “Sturges” – who’s mother, Mary Estelle, had an affair with Crowley – also worked/collaborated with him (Rituals) on his treatise on Magick.

do you think nothing ?….then return to the Parsons Green train attack. Jack Parsons (Rocket engineer) converted to Thelema – Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis. Then there’s the two (msm) witnesses = Peter “Crowley” and a Lauren “Hubbard” – see his and Parsons friendship and Crowley’s (O.T.O) influence on L Ron Hubbard and his scientology.
as for the bucket with Burning Lidl shopping bag = Samuel “Liddell” Mathers, one of the three founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

nothing more than a coincidence ? – or are these pretenders conducting, manipulating rituals….constructed to lead and feed, the need – direction theirs, If, you follow.

IAN COLVILLE
IAN COLVILLE
Jul 10, 2018 1:00 PM

There’s a typo in the article, right up front in the first paragraph; it was Amesbury, not Amersham.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 11, 2018 12:16 AM
Reply to  IAN COLVILLE

Not even just the end of the wrong line but not the end of no line either. Things keep on getting worser.

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
Jul 10, 2018 12:57 PM

Sadiv Javid is utterly unqualified to be Home Secretary – a job he only picked up at all, due to the firing (ooops, no, it was ‘resignation’, wasn’t it?) of eager-beaver deporter-deceiver Amber Crudd. Prior to that, Javid was busy raking in banking billions in Singapore – where he claimed his Islamic birth ‘didn’t help him in the slightest’. As the head of Britain’s legal activities, he hasn’t even got a GCSE in law, let alone a single day’s experience. Another Conservative grandee fraud. His lifelong bigotry and hatred of Russia lie behind his asinine accusations.

Boris Johnson had no qualifications to be Foreign Secretary, but this didn’t halt the rank imposter. It remains unclear if he still holds an American passport. His replacement Hunt has no qualifications whatsoever. Apparently he has been on a school cross-channel ferry trip to Calais. But he knows how to kow-tow to Donald Trump and Netanyahu, which are the only qualifications a spineless Brit needs in any kind of job.

The new Health Minister knows nothing whatsoever about the Health Service, and has no experience whatsoever.

But now some chinless gammon chump will shout “One word! Oxbridge! Eh what?”

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Jul 10, 2018 7:29 PM
Reply to  reinertorheit

No, not really to do with Oxbridge, we just don’t like experts, because they know too much and tell us truths we don’t want to hear. We prefer dumb inbred toffs to rule over us, opportunists, vicar’s daughters and ex carpet salesmen.

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
Jul 10, 2018 11:11 PM

Theresa May = St Hugh’s College, Oxford
Boris de Pfeffel Johnson = Balliol College, Oxford
Jacob Rees-Mogg = Trinity College, Oxford

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 10, 2018 11:55 PM

It all comes down to schpelling. The 99% schmexperts are to the 1% experts what Chris Rock is to blacks

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 11, 2018 12:03 AM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

Or maybe that should be “the 1% experts are to the 99% schmexperts”?? Mixed metaphor brainsprain.

rilme
rilme
Jul 11, 2018 2:58 PM
Reply to  reinertorheit

“Amber Crudd”?
My kid had that in his ears.

Paula C Williams
Paula C Williams
Jul 10, 2018 11:16 AM

If the first incident was without evidence blamed on Russia and the second even less plausible, similarly blamed,then I personally, see the British Government as the instigator.

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Jul 10, 2018 7:31 PM

Or the CIA or Mossad

theroyalsecretinfo
theroyalsecretinfo
Jul 10, 2018 10:35 AM

I have a feeling that somehow these two Salisbury drug addicts found the alleged Novichok substance in the now disappeared red bad seen with the Skripals in the park and may also be the two people mistaken for the Skripals who mysteriously could not be traced. Worse might be that the two drug addicts are being used to continue the ant-Russian hysteria.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Jul 10, 2018 11:17 AM

In the comments section of Craig Murray’s website, under his analysis of the Amesbury incident, one of the earlier contributors does a compellingly convincing comparison of the CCTV images and the photos of Sturgess and Rowley. To those who argue that Rowley is much younger than the CCTV image would indicate, we have to bear in mind that we don’t know when any of the published photos of Rowley were taken – they could be ten years old for all we know. I myself am coming round more and more to my previous suggestion that ‘S&R’, who were known to the police, were bribed (either through money, or promises to overlook their illegal activities or to ensure they had continuing supplies of drugs to feed their habits) to keep quiet but possibly, having seen how much money was reportedly being paid to the Skripals and DS Bailey, threatened to tell their story to the papers if they weren’t paid vastly more. Imagine how much the papers would have paid for their story. Or maybe they simply were too much of a liability in sustaining the official narrative.

The other point in all this is that we have to factor in to the scenario that an eye witness to the ‘Skripal’ incident was adamant that the couple in the CCTV images were the couple on the bench. The fact that the Skripals were – if we are to believe reports – in Zizzis at about that time would suggest the whole incident was pre-planned to make us think they were involved but how, why and by whom remains subject to conjecture. Certainly, the couple on the CCTV look straight at the CCTV camera, smiling, and you could get the impression they are thinking they are participating in some sort of ‘drama’. Sergei would have been aware of the plan and the timing of it so he knew that he and Yulia would HAVE to be in the vicinity ( in their case at the duckpond) in time to see ‘S&R’ get to the bench in order for them to disappear from the scene (with DS Bailey in attendance?) in order for the story to hold up. We would have to be able to fill in some gaps in order to get the full story, but this is my starter!

JudyJ
JudyJ
Jul 10, 2018 11:57 AM
Reply to  JudyJ

Just a further thought. Was the ‘air ambulance’ deployed to remove the unaffected Sergei and Yulia to a secret location?

Ross
Ross
Jul 10, 2018 5:13 PM
Reply to  JudyJ

Hi Judy – you will find a more detailed explanation along these lines in the comments on the moon of alabama blog: British Government Peddles Warmed Over Novichok Muck:

The one thing we can be sure of is that the Skripals have disappeared (subject to the veracity of the reports above about Yulia returning to Moscow). It is therefore reasonable to assume that their disappearance was the desired intention all along.

If Sergei was the author of the Steele dossier there would be a lot of people who would want him silenced – including May who knew the dossier was fake when she signed the FISA warrants. So, what if Sergei, fearing for his life, did a deal to disappear. What if, Yulia knew about her father’s role and the ‘disappearance’ had to wait until Yulia was in the UK. The only thing needed was a way for them to disappear that would stop anyone looking for them.

What if the original plan was for ‘a couple’ to be seen collapsed on a park bench and a few days later, it was to be announced that they had died. It would be a local news story and anyone looking for Sergei Skripal would end their search with a local newspaper obituary.

What if the couple in the video were recruited as patsies. “Take this bag. We will be watching you. Go to the park bench. You will be approached by a man and a woman wearing a white coat. When they come, you get up and walk away. Leave the bag on the ground.”

It all went to plan, the couple smiled at the camera, went to the bench … but THEY were the ones poisoned. (Freya Church was sure the people on the bench were the ones in the video).

The air ambulance was called, Sergei and Yulia got in and were flown to who knows where.(Wiltshire air ambulance has confirmed neither Skripal was taken to Salisbury District Hospital. Also, the transponder on the helicopter did not transmit for the duration of the incident – but we know it was in Sainsbury’s carpark as it was pictured there).

Sergei had kept an insurance dossier of old drafts etc. of the report. When he was sure MI5/6 had not double-crossed him, he told DS Bailey where the dossier was hidden. DS Bailey went to the house recovered the dossier and destroyed it.

The Skripals had disappeared – and events leading up to the disappearance left a local newspaper story and a dead end trail. It all went wrong on Monday morning when DS Bailey drove himself to hospital. That was picked up by the local paper and went national within hours. A media circus ensued and a ridiculous official cover up began.

Initially nobody suspected a crime, it was just a local paper story – that all changed on Monday morning.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Jul 10, 2018 6:53 PM
Reply to  Ross

Hi Ross,
This fills in a number of my ‘gaps’! The only thing unclear to me is exactly how the mysterious DS Bailey would actually be involved insofar as him purportedly taking himself to hospital. At what point, and how, would he have been affected by any opiate or BZ? Probably impossible even to suggest a theory for this. Perhaps he was just suffering from the onset of flu but, presuming he was probably directly involved in organising the charade with the couple on the bench, he feared he’d been contaminated. Perhaps he was genuinely contaminated at some point with the agent/drug used to incapacitate the couple on the bench. Any thoughts? Poirot would have enjoyed working on solving this case! Unfortunately these days he’d be the mastermind behind it.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 10, 2018 9:50 PM
Reply to  Ross

“If Sergei was the author of the Steele dossier there would be a lot of people who would want him silenced – including May who knew the dossier was fake when she signed the FISA warrants.”

Why would May feel inclined to sign any “United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act” Court warrants? Slow Brexit day? GCHQ on strike again?

nwwoods
nwwoods
Jul 10, 2018 5:36 PM
Reply to  JudyJ

Recent CCTV video of Rowley here: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44768229

nwwoods
nwwoods
Jul 10, 2018 5:37 PM
Reply to  nwwoods

Sorry…I meant Sturgess

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 11, 2018 12:37 AM
Reply to  JudyJ

“In the comments section of Craig Murray’s website, under his analysis of the Amesbury incident, one of the earlier contributors does a compellingly convincing comparison of the CCTV images and the photos of Sturgess and Rowley.”

Precise citation is usually more compellingly convincing than unreferenced assertion.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Jul 11, 2018 9:21 AM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

OK. As I’m not proficient at putting links into my posts, I shall give you the details. Several contributors allude to the likeness but it is ‘Jack’s’ post at 11.14 on 9 July (page 1 of the comments) who provides a link to his comparison which itself iscomment image. Craig Murray’s article is entitled “Dawn Sturgess”.

Democritus
Democritus
Jul 10, 2018 8:01 AM

Everything points to fentanyl being the agent in both the Skripal and Sturgess/Rowley incidents. The Skripals were probably attacked but it’s most likely the other incident was simply one of the growing number of opioid overdoses among heroin addicts.

Crucially, the UK security minister, Ben Wallace, twice referred to the alleged agent as “novi-ckeck” in a BBC radio interview last week.

https://quadranting.com/2018/07/09/novichok-novicheck-the-uk-government-cant-even-get-the-name-of-the-alleged-salisbury-nerve-agent-right/

If that wasn’t a case of deliberate signalling, I’ll eat my gas mask.

Since that interview, some BBC journalists appear to be back pedalling on the Russian state blame story (see above link) though they haven’t yet dared to suggest the novichok story is a lie – even though Ben Wallace seemed to be suggesting they should “check” the claim.

Maggie
Maggie
Jul 10, 2018 9:09 AM
Reply to  Democritus

As you say Democratus, This latest ‘Russian poisoning farce’ is definitely a bad batch of Spice or some such insidious drug…. I tried to open this page in the Newbury Post only to be told that it cannot be accessed???????

Sting nets 14 drug arrests in Salisbury | Local News …
Updated: June 27, 2018 @ 4 … Sting nets 14 drug arrests in Salisbury … Those with information concerning individuals selling drugs in Salisbury should contact …
newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/sting-nets-dr <<<

>

Maggie
Maggie
Jul 10, 2018 9:25 AM
Reply to  Maggie

More Newburyport NEWS that cannot be accessed??????
If this isn’t suspicious, I don’t know what is.

Salisbury woman gets jail time after drug plea | Local News …
NEWBURYPORT — A Salisbury woman charged with selling drugs and … Salisbury woman gets jail time after drug … Cast your vote for the best of The Daily News 2018.
newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/salisbury-woman-gets-jail…
Salisbury: Three arrested on drug charges | Local News …
Updated: February 17, 2018 @ 4:54 pm. … Salisbury: Three arrested on drug charges … Police also received tips about drug use at the Housing Authority, …
newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/salisbury-three-arrested-…
Cocaine seized in drug bust | Local News – newburyportnews.com
Cocaine seized in drug … in an attempt to break up the drug purchases. That night, a Salisbury police officer met Castillo in … 2018 The Daily News of Newburyport …
newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/cocaine-seized-in-drug-bu…
Suspected Salisbury drug dealer arrested, but not for drugs …
Suspected Salisbury drug dealer arrested, but not for drugs By Dave Rogers Staff Writer; Mar 8 … Cast your vote for the best of The Daily News 2018.
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Salisbury woman pleads guilty in drug death | Local News …
CONCORD, N.H. – A Salisbury woman is likely facing five years in federal prison after pleading guilty Thursday to drug charges in connection with the death of a 17 …
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Two face drug, gun charges after Salisbury manhunt | Local …
Two face drug, gun charges after Salisbury … resulted in the capture of two New Hampshire men caught with drugs and a … 2018 The Daily News …
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Heroin’s rise tied to ‘script drugs | Local News …
Updated: June 15, 2018 @ 9:54 am. Full Forecast; … Heroin’s rise tied to ‘script drugs … People dying from illegal drug use is far from foreign anywhere, …
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Police arrest father and son in drug bust | Local News …
SALISBURY — Acting on a tip from a concerned citizen, police confiscated thousands of dollars in prescription drugs, marijuana and hashish from a Lafayette Road …
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Police: heroin use on the rise | Local News – newburyportnews.com
Updated: May 16, 2018 @ 6:54 pm. Full … local police are in the process of revisiting crime prevention methods related to drug use, … MA 01950 Phone: (978 …
newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/police-heroin-use-on-the-…
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Maggie
Maggie
Jul 10, 2018 9:56 AM
Reply to  Maggie

Oooops! Just realised the reason I couldn’t access…. because it was Aylesbury USA…. :-/

A case of trying too hard.. anyway, that is my excuse.

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 10, 2018 11:49 PM
Reply to  Maggie

It’s not even Aylesbury in the UK (so what’s your excuse for your excuse? 🙂

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 11, 2018 12:47 AM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

Missing closing “:)”

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Jul 10, 2018 10:17 AM
Reply to  Democritus

He definitely got it wrong, it’s not even “novi-ckeck”, it’s a new nerve agent with incredibly highly variable properties vary according to the political agenda. The scientists that created it are amazing. Let’s call it Portonchok from now on.

vexarb
vexarb
Jul 10, 2018 7:40 AM

Can you taste the difference?
comment image

Cherrycoke
Cherrycoke
Jul 10, 2018 7:34 AM

The author writes: “That is quite separate from the reported findings of the Spietz Laboratory in Switzerland that carried out analyses of samples collected more than three weeks after the Skripal incident that were entirely inconsistent with A234 being the actual cause of their illness (or that of Bailey).”

This is false. What we know about the Spiez report, we know from Lavrov. This is the pertinent quote:

“Following our analysis, the samples indicate traces of the toxic chemical BZ and its precursor which are second category chemical weapons. BZ is a nerve toxic agent, which temporarily disables a person. The psycho toxic effect is achieved within 30 to 60 minutes after its use and lasts for up to four days. This composition was in operational service in the armies of the US, the UK and other NATO countries. The Soviet Union and Russia neither designed nor stored such chemical agents. Also, the samples indicate the presence of type A-234 nerve agent in its virgin state and also products of its degradation.”

http://www.mid.ru/en/press_service/video/-/asset_publisher/i6t41cq3VWP6/content/id/3169545

This invites many questions, of course, but how is it “entirely inconsistent with A234 being the actual cause of their illness (or that of Bailey)”?

Admin
Admin
Jul 10, 2018 7:47 AM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

If some of the novichok (A234) was in a virgin state doesn’t this imply it has been freshly added to the sample?

Cherrycoke
Cherrycoke
Jul 10, 2018 9:14 AM
Reply to  Admin

Yes. If this is what the author meant, he should have said so.

To expand a little, under the assumption that the OPCW does not knowingly lie: The BZ mentioned in the Spiez report has been explained by the OPCW as having been part of the control sample:

“The Labs were able to confirm the identity of the chemical by applying existing, well-established
procedures. There was no other chemical that was identified by the Labs. The precursor of
BZ that is referred to in the public statements, commonly known as 3Q, was contained in the
control sample prepared by the OPCW Lab in accordance with the existing quality control
procedures. Otherwise it has nothing to do with the samples collected by the OPCW Team in
Salisbury.”

https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/EC/M-59/en/ecm59dg01_e_.pdf

This also means that the authenticity of the quote from the Spiez report is not being called into question.

Therefore the A-234 must have been contained in a different sample which must have been the authentic sample. Whether this was an environmental sample or a blood sample, we don’t know. We cannot even be sure whether the OPCW has taken the samples from the Skripals themselves, as the OPCW summary says the team “collected” the samples — which according to some might mean that they collected them from the experts from Porton Down present in the hospital rather than from the Skripals themselves. Note that they “conducted on-site sampling of environmental samples”. Do native speakers see a difference between “collect” and “conduct” here?

https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/S_series/2018/en/s-1612-2018_e_.pdf

Why has the OPCW said nothing with regard to the A-234? The media?

Back to my point: Spiez talks about traces of A-234 in a “virgin state” as well as its degradation products. This is not “entirely inconsistent with A234 being the actual cause of their illness”. In fact it seems that A-234 has been added to the samples in order to make it appear as if A-234 is the culprit. The degradation products, as far as I can tell from the quote, could come from the freshly added A-234 or from an earlier contact with A-234. In any case, the Spiez results are not entirely inconsistent with A-234 being the cause of the Skripals’ illness. The symptoms are.

Disclaimer: I am not a native speaker and writing in a hurry.

Cherrycoke
Cherrycoke
Jul 10, 2018 10:33 AM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

I realize that it has been a little rude to jump in here and start critizising the author instead of first thanking him for his valuable take on the subject. So, thank you, James O’Neill. Please view my criticism as part of a collaborative effort to get the facts straight in order to be able to more convincingly argue against the official narrative.

rtj1211
rtj1211
Jul 10, 2018 10:45 AM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

Actually, addition of pure samples of known chemicals to samples to be tested is a standard analytical technique to ensure that assay systems are functioning properly. It does not imply foul play in of itself. The problem is that partial leaking of information does not tell the public the context of why A234 and BZ were detected in the way that they were.

We do not know if BZ was used as a control analyte in some samples to show that lab protocols could distinguish between BZ and A234, we do not know if BZ was detected as being present in crucial field samples and we do not know if the ‘virgin’ Novichok was added to certain samples by OPCW or not.

All in all, we have difficulty reaching judicious conclusions as we are not in receipt of crucial information.

Cherrycoke
Cherrycoke
Jul 10, 2018 11:05 AM
Reply to  rtj1211

Thank you.

“Actually, addition of pure samples of known chemicals to samples to be tested is a standard analytical technique to ensure that assay systems are functioning properly.”

So, where did the OPCW get the pure samples of A-234/Novichok?

“All in all, we have difficulty reaching judicious conclusions as we are not in receipt of crucial information.”

Yes. It is maddening. Why on earth could the OPCW in their summary not just provide the information everybody was waiting for: Is the “toxic chemical” a member of the Novichok family of nerve agents? Is it a nerve agent at all? I can see no reason why they could not do this.

We know, however, that the “toxic chemical” has not been in the OPCW database before the Skripal incident. The OPCW said so:

https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/EC/M-59/en/ecm59dg01_e_.pdf

In the light of what you say, Lavrov’s remarks are also not very helpful.

JudyJ
JudyJ
Jul 10, 2018 11:28 AM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

Personally, I have more faith in what Sergey Lavrov says than anything the OPCW come out with.

mog
mog
Jul 10, 2018 11:45 AM
Reply to  rtj1211

Thanks for clarifying that rtj

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
Jul 10, 2018 4:28 PM
Reply to  rtj1211

Just down the road from Britain’s primary chemical weapons centre.

niqnaq
niqnaq
Jul 11, 2018 4:22 AM
Reply to  rtj1211

This comment by RTJ1211 strikes me as just authoritative-sounding nonsense. Labs don’t add one poison to another in a sample “for control purposes” before testing it! This is just desperate fobbing-off to escape attention regarding the anomalous report of BZ, which is potentially fatal to the whole deception..

Dave m
Dave m
Jul 11, 2018 6:54 AM
Reply to  Cherrycoke

Cos they didn’t die – Only the cat and rodents

Rob Simley
Rob Simley
Jul 10, 2018 5:56 AM

Sorry but in this case the blaming of Russia has much more to do with American deep state requirements than Western disaffection with that nation. May is nothing, but an American puppet and she is going to pay for her perfidy! Just as Assange was forced into a diplomatic prison by May’s predecessor, Cameron, a fool, if there ever was one, she is playing the part of obsequience to American power. It is totally destructive of British sovereignty. I bet the Queen would bristle at what her government is doing!

Frankly Speaking
Frankly Speaking
Jul 10, 2018 10:30 AM
Reply to  Rob Simley

May and her bunch of danegerous idiots is ruining the country internally and externally. Equally the opposition are a generally waste of time, either navel gazing or equally arguing over Brexshit. Perhaps it’s time for Liz to assert authority with her Generals for say 6-12 months to stabilise the country and send the traitors to the Tower?

In that time they’d write a real constition, introduce a new and more democratic way of choosing MPs (just one example being as we choose people for jury service), remove the corrupt foreign-owned media and replace it with a free press with no more than 5-10% ownership by any individual or company, no political donations allowed, no politician to be able to work in business for 5 years after serving their term and instead they could be employed as civil servants or do community service.

I know it’s pie in the sky and partly tongue in cheek, but we really do need a new start in order to save this country and unfortuniately I can’t see any of the current crop of politicians on either side bing capable of it. Jezza is OK but he’s not sharp or quick enough to lead the country. Even if they were capable, the corrupt media would cut them down in no time at all.

Einstein
Einstein
Jul 10, 2018 1:42 PM
Reply to  Rob Simley

Why indeed doesn’t the queen “bristle”?
She has the lawful authority to dissolve a parliament.
This may be the one time during her reign where it would be appropriate, given May’s launching of war without the permission of parliament (which even B’liar got – by lying).

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Jul 10, 2018 5:43 AM

If a member/s of the public raised a hoax scare, like both sides of Government and attendant secret police have with this Novichok scare, they would be arrested under the anti-terror laws and promptly put in chokie.

Yet the show still goes on and is symptomatic of a cynical and deeply corrupted governmental system and its backers.

Who knows what will happen next. The English team now unfettered from any political intervention could do even better! Like some Latin American state where the government is in turmoil and country in chaos while the people entertain themselves with the football.

John O'Donnell, Brisbane
John O'Donnell, Brisbane
Jul 10, 2018 5:26 AM

Off course it was Putin. If your team was knocked out of the world cup, wouldn’t you want to kill a couple of addicts in another country with a super deadly nerve gas and prolong their agony from seconds to several days. Mr Putin has obviously also convinced the UK foreign secretary to resign and run for the PMs job. He is an evil calculating mother. I wonder if he was involved in the Brexit vote in the same way he managed to get D Trump elected.

ps. I heard someone ask how many Russians actually voted in the US election.

Antonyl
Antonyl
Jul 10, 2018 11:01 AM

Even worse, Putin had foreseen Russia loss to Croatia and therefore was fearless to murder two druggies in the UK countryside to get back at NATO…

Einstein
Einstein
Jul 10, 2018 1:46 PM

And the Russians burnt my toast this morning.

Arthur Cadbury
Arthur Cadbury
Jul 10, 2018 4:17 AM

Well, now that Russia won’t be appearing at the World Cup Final at least that will save Gavin Williamson the bother of ordering an air-strike – and the money saved there can be donated to the Soros Foundation – more on page 92 . . . . . . . . .

Gary Weglarz
Gary Weglarz
Jul 10, 2018 3:14 AM

It just goes to show how utterly evil that Mr. Hitler-Putin guy is that he would so mysteriously, and without any plausible motive whatsofreakingever, poison two known drug addicts – apparently just because he has nothing better to do with his time! I mean how evil can an evil guy be?! Luckily Boris Johnson’s resignation will now free Boris up to continue investigating this matter – which will of course allow him to pull yet more amazing mind bending revelations from deep within his ample derrière!

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 10, 2018 2:57 AM

“Apart from the aforesaid Mr Javid, most politicians have been relatively restrained in their public reactions to the latest incident.”

Javid “thinks” too much. One can tell that by the way his hair has worn out from the “brain” side up (see photo).

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Jul 10, 2018 7:11 AM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

Don’t be intolerant-that’s how Sontarans prefer it. They think it attractive, although they are all merely clones.

PeaceCora
PeaceCora
Jul 10, 2018 8:28 AM
Reply to  Robbobbobin

Mr Javid was merely making his claim for the party leadership and Position of PM. He is aware that the majority of Tory voters just love to project and deflect. Its what makes Britain ‘Great’!

Robbobbobin
Robbobbobin
Jul 10, 2018 2:42 AM

“…the nerve agents in question, the inappropriately labeled ‘Novichok’, have, again according to the scientific literature, a very limited life if exposed to the vagaries of the elements. Yet the Evening Standard in the UK quotes an unnamed and unaffiliated ‘security source’ as saying that “the poison could be kept deadly for decades” if kept dry.”

Simple confusion. That particular sheep was thinking (insofar as “thinking” is not an inappropriate label) of anthrax.

Michael Hartley
Michael Hartley
Jul 10, 2018 2:40 AM

Drug addicts can come into contact with cylinders that are used to store hazardous biological waste and needles etc; – Is it possible that a new company has been employed this year by Porton Down and that their procedures have resulted in ‘Cross Contamination’ leading to these accidents?

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Jul 10, 2018 7:14 AM

Even junkies are not so daft as to inject some greasy substance that they find lying about. I did like the short-lived wheeze that the deadly Russkie stuff might have been on a cigarette butt. Brilliant!

Nicolette Meeres
Nicolette Meeres
Jul 10, 2018 2:29 AM

Maybe it’s Soros and his mates up to their destabilising activities as usual

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Jul 10, 2018 7:22 AM

The Lowy propaganda tank is run by Frank Lowy, a ‘local’ Zionist billionaire grandee, one of the ‘lucky’ recipients of the 9/11 insurance pay-outs. He ‘fought’ as a Hagganah operative during the Nakbah cleansing of the Palestinians in 1947-8, and the dominance of him and his Zionist confreres over Austfailian politics is near total. You can see the power in the current Federal regime’s vicious antipathy towards the imprisoned Palestinians, and groveling adoration of Israel. Hardly surprising as the regime’s capo, Turnbull, represents the richest electorate in the country (he himself is a multimillionaire bankster formerly of Goldman Sachs)with a very high population of rich Jewish people, and he has always tugged the forelock to that particular constituency with touching obsequience.

bevin
bevin
Jul 10, 2018 2:06 AM

It looks as if the May government is about to fall, unless it is preserved by Blairites. This story in the Morning Star helps put the nonsense in context.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nothing-about-latest-novichok-attacks-adds
Craig Murray is also very good today, pointing out that the government should not be allowed to pre-emptt the proper inquest process as it did in the, equally fishy David Kelly death.

George Ebers
George Ebers
Jul 10, 2018 2:49 AM
Reply to  bevin

Oh I think it is time to call the Kelly death a murder, which it so obviously was.

Deborah Harris
Deborah Harris
Jul 10, 2018 2:50 AM
Reply to  bevin

Thanks for that link. I read a comment from an Amesbury local that mentioned they had only recently found out about those training exercises mentioned but they didn’t link to any article.

vierotchka
vierotchka
Jul 10, 2018 1:48 AM

I reckon these two simply overdosed on drugs, and were seized upon by the UK authorities to provide two more “victims” of Russia – just before the semi-finals and final at the World Football Cup, Trump’s visit to the UK and the upcoming meeting of Trump with Putin in Helsinki.

Smacks of desperation…

Kaiama
Kaiama
Jul 10, 2018 2:27 PM
Reply to  vierotchka

Absolutely connected to preserving sanctions against Russia for Ukraine, Syria, North Korea. The scary thing is that they killed someone to make a point. Never believed the David Kelly suicide either. Russia has a lot to lose i.e. its not them.

Deborah Harris
Deborah Harris
Jul 10, 2018 1:18 AM

One dead and Boris Johnson has resigned since this article was written, that said it still doesn’t point towards Putin/Russian state as responsible.