JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE ALEXEI NAVALNY AFFAIR – NONE OF THE FACTS THAT WE HAVE SO FAR SUPPORT ASSERTIONS OF POISONING – THIS IS BEGINNING TO RESEMBLE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY’S DISGRACEFUL PERFORMANCE IN THE SERGEI SKRIPAL AFFAIR OF 2018 – DARK SUGGESTIONS AND NAME-CALLING WITH NO PROOF – HYSTERIA AND NO INFORMATION – ANYTHING IS GOOD ENOUGH TO SMEAR SOMEONE THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT LIKE, AND IT REALLY HATES RUSSIA ABOUT THE SAME WAY ROME HATED CARTHAGE – THERE CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH RUSSO-PHOBIA – THE SUSPICIOUS-SOUNDING OUTFIT THAT WENT TO THE HUGE COST OF BRINGING NAVALNY TO GERMANY FROM SIBERIA BY AIR AMBULANCE

John Chuckman


EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS


“Comatose Russian dissident Alexei Navalny stable upon arrival in Germany”

“Supporters of fierce critic of Vladimir Putin believe his tea was laced with poison”


We are experiencing almost total misinformation in our press about Navalny and this incident.

First, from the Russian doctors’ information, it seems likely that what he experienced was diabetic shock (Hypoglycemia). Tests were conducted in both countries, Russia and Germany, and there is a problem with one of his systems, as they found alcohol in his urine, but that problem has many potential causes, including some drugs, and no agent has yet been identified.

Russia has nothing to hide. It allowed Navalny quickly to be taken to Germany, and the Siberian hospital shared all of its information about the patient.

Second, he has never been a threat to Putin. He is not taken seriously by great numbers of Russians. He's regarded as a bit of a flake. Yet our press suggests that he is more important than he is.

Third, the only thing he ingested before the incident was tea, and it came from the hands of his own companion. The airport restaurant or bar where it was purchased had absolutely no idea for whom it was intended. Security cameras recorded the purchase.

Russia has announced a preliminary investigation, but it is largely to please Angela Merkel who insisted on it.

All the dark suggestions and name-calling we read have no basis in fact. The approach is starting to resemble former British Prime Minister Theresa May’s disgraceful handling of the Skripal Affair, the supposed poisoning of former-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yullia, in Salisbury, England by means of an exotic nerve agent. No proof ever was supplied concerning a single claim about that mysterious event, and the supposed victims literally disappeared at the hands of British security services.

The outfit that promptly sent an air ambulance all the way to Siberia to bring Navalny to a hospital in Germany is called the Cinema for Peace Foundation, a rather odd-sounding and well-financed entity based in Germany with a rather vague declared purpose. Its web site says, “We are here to encourage greater awareness of global social, political and humanitarian challenges of our time through film.”

I know nothing about the organization and make no claims, but its odd name and declared purpose and its richly-resourced activity in this case do remind one of the CIA’s many well-financed front organizations, which include NGOs abroad.

These events are typical of what we see so often these days. Hysteria with no information. Just so someone whom the United States doesn’t like can be smeared or belittled. As far as American authorities are concerned, there can never be enough Russophobia.

A final note, Navalny is no hero. The very fact that he is promoted that way is suspicious. He has publicly compared migrants to cockroaches.


LATER UPDATE

“The German government says tests performed on samples taken from Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny showed the presence of Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent”

I simply do not believe this report. Why?

Because military nerve agents like Novichok kill within minutes, and they do so after the tiniest drop of exposure. That is not at all what happened to Navalny.

This is a cheap reprise of Britain’s phony Skripal Affair of a couple of years ago. Something indeed happened to Sergei Skripal and his daughter, but it was definitely not exposure to nerve agent.

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/07/13/john-chuckman-comment-trump-wants-extradition-of-ex-british-spy-christopher-steele-the-problem-with-america-is-much-bigger-than-trumps-many-stupidities-the-same-kinds-of-things-a/