Sergei Skripal: nerve agent “developed by Russia” says British PM

In a previous post I looked at the poisoning of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Yesterday British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that the nerve agent used in this event was “military grade” and “of a type developed by Russia”. Case closed one would think. Russians must be responsible. Certainly our politicians and media seem to think so. Mrs May stated in parliament: “Either this was a direct action by the Russian state against our country, or the Russian government lost control of its potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.”

There is an obvious problem with the identification of this nerve agent. The investigation was carried out by the UK’s main chemical & biological weapons research facility Porton Down. This facility not only has a controversial past involving tests on unwitting human subjects but it is also just a few miles away from Salisbury (the site of the Skripal poisoning). Its proximity alone to this event should be enough to put it on the list of potential sources of the nerve agent. Therefore it should not have been put in charge of the investigation into the substance and being a government facility it is unlikely to be impartial should the real culprits be elements of the British State or one of its allies.

Also, a couple of questions come to mind about this facility. I’m not an expert on chemical weapons but I have to wonder: is it possible that if Porton Down are knowledgeable enough about Russian nerve agents to identify them, could they also have the knowledge and capability to replicate or closely mimic them? Also, do people at the facility have the kind of contacts that might enable them to acquire a Russian nerve agent?

For those who believe that the British Government/Security State can be trusted, this latest development will be proof enough that Russia is in some way culpable. Personally I’m far from convinced. Porton Down simply doesn’t qualify (in my mind at least) as a trustworthy or impartial source.

Below Richie Allen covers the parliamentary hysteria in the wake of the PM’s statement:

For an mp3 go to the show’s podcast page here (the relevant section beginning around the 5 minute mark).

… Richie Allen continues his coverage of events:

For an mp3 go to the show’s podcast page here (the relevant section beginning around the 8 minute mark).

UPDATE: less than a week after the PM’s statement on the nerve agent it has been announced that Porton Down will be receiving £48 million from the UK Government for new facilities (but if you think that means they are not impartial you need to check yourself into the nearest mental health facility because you’re clearly a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy nut).

Also, according to former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray (and Wikipedia) the Iranians successfully produced samples of novichok nerve agents in 2016. The Soviet scientist (Vil Mirzayanov) who claims to have been involved in the development of novichoks has been living in the United States since the 1990s and, as Murray has stated, it was the Americans who decommissioned the facility in Uzbekistan where Mirzayanov carried out his work. So the Americans have had access to the scientist and to the Soviet chemical weapons facility where these substances are supposed to have been stored. Meanwhile the Iranians have independently synthesised several novichok compounds. Surely this should dispel the notion that if a novichok is used then it could only be the work of the Russians. Without any specific Russian/Soviet samples to check against, the substance used on the Skripals could have come from anywhere. To say different would be a lie. And if someone is lying then maybe they might just be the guilty party (or covering for the guilty party).

One more point that is of relevance: as we clearly find ourselves in the midst of another Cold War situation it is worth mentioning the Western powers’ previous history of Cold War atrocities carried out against their own citizens with the aim of demonizing the enemy – this is known as Operation Gladio.

In short, Gladio was a secret army connected to the Italian military/intelligence apparatus and NATO which came to light in 1990 and was originally set up in the early days of the Cold War to act as a guerrilla force in the event of a Soviet invasion. With an invasion not forthcoming they turned to interfering in Italy’s internal politics including carrying out acts of terrorism to be blamed on the left in order to create a climate of fear that would cause voters to turn away from left wing parties. They called this the “Strategy Of Tension.” Many Italian citizens were butchered by those connected to their own national security/intelligence apparatus. Gladio soldiers tended to be of the far-right persuasion and would often be members of right wing paramilitary organisations. These groups would often be used to carry out bombings in order to distance the crimes from the state itself. With NATO acting as a coordinating force, other european nations would also have Gladio-style secret armies and would be accused of similar acts of barbarity against their own citizenry. These secret armies were buried deep within the national security structures of most Western European countries often without the knowledge of members of parliament. Their existence was strictly on a need to know basis and this would give governments plausible deniability.

So what is the relevance of all this to the Sergei Skripal case? What this history shows is that members of the public are seen as expendable in the greater geopolitical chess games that are always being played by major powers and their deep state actors.

I will no doubt do a more thorough write up of Gladio in a future post but for now anyone wishing to know the basics should watch the TV documentary NATOs Secret Armies and read this summary.

The West and Russia are at war and have been for some time (even if it has not been officially declared). And with the history I just described in mind, is it such a stretch to think that the Skripal poisoning could be a Gladio-style event carried out for propaganda purposes?

UPDATE 2: Former UK ambassador Craig Murray discusses the Skripal case on BBC 5 Live, RT, and talkRADIO:

UPDATE 3: Patrick Henningsen and Mike Robinson of The Sunday Wire radio show break down the Skripal case. Stream or download the show here with the relevant section beginning around the 49 minute mark.

UPDATE 4: Patrick Hennengsen joins Ian R Crane on Humanity vs Insanity:

UPDATE 4: Porton down states that it cannot confirm the nerve agent used on the Skripal’s was made in Russia. Read Craig Murray’s response to this latest development here and here: