COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Nerve agent in our
midst is haunting, dangerous — and divisive
“Deterrence,
investigation by independent watchdog crucial to defeat skeptics”
There is a national secret service whose motto is "By
way of deception."
It is the same country which we know, as documented in a
book just published, that has conducted 2,700 assassinations. 2,700
assassinations.
A grim toll indeed.
Now, it so happens that the same country has a very deep
resentment over Russia's defense of Syria. Russia, in assisting an ally
fighting genuine terror, has not only spoiled this other county’s dream of a
smashed and broken Syria but disturbs its claims to an even larger slice of
Syria than it already illegally holds.
An operation like this one in Salisbury is perfect for
casting dark clouds over Russia and further marginalizing it in Europe. And who
cares about an old ex-spy, a convicted felon, or any others, such as his
daughter, who happened to be around? Certainly not an outfit that has conducted
2,700 assassinations.
The plans for Syria were for its government to be overthrown
and the country to be broken into pieces, and a long time and a lot of
resources were spent on trying to achieve that. As it happens, both Britain and
the United States were partners in Syrian dirty work which also included Saudi
Arabia and France.
This same country which has assassination as a minor
industry also has nerve agents, and it could easily obtain samples of any it
does not have. We know that to a certainty because in 1992, an El Al transport
plane crashed near Amsterdam.
The clean-up was nasty indeed because the plane, against all
of international flight rules, was carrying a big load of the chemical
components for just such a nerve agent.
So, the nerve agent used in Britain certainly could have
come from places other than Russia, including from Ukraine, which holds some
supplies from its Soviet past. Ukraine was forced to give up its Soviet nuclear
weapons after the fall of the USSR, but nothing prevented it from keeping nerve
agents, which are widely viewed in the world as the poor man’s deterrent
against neighboring states with nuclear weapons.
Of course, Ukraine itself could be responsible - its
coup-installed government literally chokes with resentments towards Russia -
but that government has proved so incompetent in all its military and economic
moves – from causing its own provinces to secede over unjust laws to shooting
down a civilian airliner and to putting their own economy into a tailspin -
that one has some doubt in their ability to carry any scheme off. But supply
material? Sure, gladly.
The likelihood of this or some other variation of events is
far greater than May’s implausible assertion that a clever, highly-skilled
chess player like Putin waited years to poison an old spy just before his own
national election. And that he had it done in such a truly sloppy and
suggestive way with signature chemicals?
After all, Russia's secret services also have or can obtain
different nerve agents. They wouldn’t have to use a known Russian version.
Suggesting that they did, much resembles the FBI’s past implausibly finding
passports conveniently after a terrorist operation. The whole idea is almost
ridiculous, but there's Theresa May pushing it for all she's worth.
