Wednesday, May 9, 2018

PCW corrects its own chief’s bizarre claim that ‘50-100 grams of Novichok’ were used on Skripals



Off-Guardian

Raising the serious possibility even the director-general of the OPCW doesn’t really know what Novichok is supposed to be, Ahmet Uzumcu, incumbent of that post, claimed May 4 that a “quarter cup to a half cup” of Novichok had been used to attack the Skripals in Salisbury. This, of course, would be enough to kill every man. woman and child in the city. This led into an even odder “clarification” from the OPCW within hours, which didn’t so much correct Uzumcu’s strange claim as pretend it had never happened and replaced it with the statement that the amount used in Salisbury was presently unknown but would be measured in “milligrams”.

5 comments:

Konrad said...

State propaganda functions by making the peasants argue about lies. That is, propaganda works by creating division, distraction, and confusion.

For example, nobody has ever proven that “Novichok” actually exists, and yet people bicker about how powerful it is. Nobody has ever proven that the Skripals were poisoned in the first place, or even that they were in the UK. And yet the bickering continues.

OPCW chemical weapons experts are highly dubious that “Novichok” exists. No one has ever seen it. They say that “Novichok” is a fantasy, just like “Iraqi WMDs.”

No proof. No evidence. Only a nothing-burger.

And yet the empty chatter continues.

Konrad said...

With state propaganda, if only 20% of the peasants believe the lies, they will keep all of the masses divided and distracted.

If only 20% of the peasants believe the lies, then each peasant will call everyone around him a “conspiracy theorist.”

Kaivey said...

Some guy on twitter was saying that he would trust the BBC a lot more than RT when arguing with people about fake news. Yep, he thinks the BBC is trustworthy, after all, it's British.

These types of people are authoritarians and will blindly follow the establishment whatever and they make up 25% of the population. With the swing voters and a controlled media it's possible for the neoliberal right or left to be in power all the time.

Konrad said...

"Yep, he thinks the BBC is trustworthy, after all, it's British."

I wonder if such naïveté helps people sleep at night.
Perhaps it's just a Band-Aid to cover their anguish.

Kaivey said...

Do you what, Konrad, I came to the disturbing conclusion recently that that we instinctively believe that "we" are the good guys, and that our tribe is good, so we can believe in the myth that the world is fair and just and this helps us to sleep at night, and also allows us to plunder while believing we are good. And this makes it so easy for the elite to manipulate us. But try to convince the authoritarians otherwise.