Craig Murray — Dawn Sturgess

Dawn Sturgess is the Salisbury woman who just died after allegedly being poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent.

Craig Murray Blog
Dawn Sturgess
Craig Murray, formerly British ambassador to Uzbekistan and Rector of the University of Dundee

See also by Craig Murray

Thoughts Inspired by Julian Assange

Gareth Porter — An Alternative Explanation to the Skripal Mystery

"Compounding factors."

For weeks, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have insisted that there is “no alternative explanation” to Russian government responsibility for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last month.

But in fact the British government is well aware that such an alternative explanation does exist. It is based on the well-documented fact that the “Novichok” nerve agent synthesized by Soviet scientist in the 1980s had been sold by the scientist–who led the development of the nerve agent– to individuals linked to Russian criminal organizations as long ago as 1994 and was used to kill a Russian banker in 1995.

The connection between the Novichok nerve agent and a previous murder linked to the murky Russian criminal underworld would account for the facts of the Salisbury poisoning far better than the official line that it was a Russian government assassination attempt.

But in fact the British government is well aware that such an alternative explanation does exist. It is based on the well-documented fact that the “Novichok” nerve agent synthesized by Soviet scientist in the 1980s had been sold by the scientist–who led the development of the nerve agent– to individuals linked to Russian criminal organizations as long ago as 1994 and was used to kill a Russian banker in 1995.

The connection between the Novichok nerve agent and a previous murder linked to the murky Russian criminal underworld would account for the facts of the Salisbury poisoning far better than the official line that it was a Russian government assassination attempt....

Consortium News
An Alternative Explanation to the Skripal Mystery

Gareth Porter

Intel Today — Sergei & Yulia Skripal — UK Scientists Unable to Pinpoint Origin of Novichok

Let me add that I have a really bad feeling about this development. The last time a scientist from Porton Down told the truth to a journalist, it did not end very well for him. Dr David Kelly soon met an extremely suspicious death. Let us hope that nothing of the sort will happen to Dr. Gary Aitkenhead.…

Intel Today
Sergei & Yulia Skripal — UK Scientists Unable to Pinpoint Origin of Novichok

L

See also

Craig Murray Blog
Of A Type Developed By Liars
Craig Murray, formerly British ambassador to Uzbekistan and Rector of the University of Dundee

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"The gang that couldn't shoot straight."

Zero Hedge
UK Foreign Office Denies Claiming Russia Responsible For Nerve Agent, Deletes Tweet

Tyler Durden

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Global Research
U.K. is Lying: If Skripal was Poisoned at His Home, The Agent Used against Him Cannot be Nerve Gas

Bassim al-Khalili

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Disobedient Media
All Russiagate Roads Lead To London As Evidence Emerges Of Joseph Mifsud’s Links To UK Intelligence

Elizabeth Vos

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Moon of Alabama
"It's The Cover-Up" - UK Foreign Office Deletes Tweet, Posts False Transcript, Issues New Lies

b

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RT
Russia calls for UN Security Council meeting over Skripal affair

Moon of Alabama — Operation Hades - A Model For The 'Novichok' Case?

What is Operation Hades you ask? I confess to never having heard about it. It was a false flag operation conducted by the German intelligence and b, who is German, gives the details. Apparently, it was not reported in the US and a search on Operation Hades Germany turns up only a few hits in English, mostly later.

Here is b's account.

Telepolis points out (in German) that this would not be the first time that a 'western' service would stage such a 'provocation'. The Skripal case is indeed quite comparable to Operation Hades.

On August 10 1994 German officials in Munich 'found' 363 grams of plutonium on a plane coming from Moscow. They immediately asserted, that the plutonium 'must' have come from a Russian reactor. There was a lot of media panic, international political noise and condemnation of Russia.

This put pressure on the Russian government to increase its security at its nuclear sites. The U.S. offered to 'help' with nuclear security and thus got easy access to Russia's nuclear secrets. The case broke in the mid of the federal election campaign in Germany and helped chancellor Kohl to get re-elected.

Months later first leaks appeared, enterprising reporters dug deeper into the story and it started to unravel.

Der Spiegel filled ten pages (in German) with the explosive story.

It turned out that the plutonium was not from Russia but had been planted by the German equivalent of the MI6, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). Later leaks and counter-leaks created a convoluted story to hide the truth behind it. A parliamentarian commission investigated the case but the Kohl government eventually shut it down without any political consequences. Shortly thereafter the deeply involved BND head, Bernd Schmidbauer, was sent into retirement.

The Russian depict the 'Novichok' case as a staged 'provocation'. There is a historic antetype for such a 'provocation' by a 'western' intelligence service. That gives the Russian claim some significant merit....

More about the Skripal case in the post.

Moon of Alabama
Operation Hades - A Model For The 'Novichok' Case?

Moon of Alabama — Hillary Clinton Ordered Diplomats To Suppress 'Novichock' Discussions

More info raises more questions.

Moon of Alabama
Hillary Clinton Ordered Diplomats To Suppress 'Novichock' Discussions

b

See also

Russia Insider
Skripals Are a Case of Implausible Deniability for the Brits
David Macilwain

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Sputnik International
Russian FM Releases 14 Questions Addressed to UK on 'Fabricated Skripal Case'

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The Unz Review
Assange’s internet blackout & Skripal case part of propaganda war that risks real one

John Pilger

Moon of Alabama Russian Scientists Explain 'Novichok' - High Time For Britain To Come Clean (Updated)

More information if you are following this closely. The plot thickens.

Moon of Alabama
Russian Scientists Explain 'Novichok' - High Time For Britain To Come Clean (Updated)

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Russia Insider
30 Questions Journalists Should Be Asking About Skripal Case
Rob Slane

Craig Murray — First Recorded Successful Novichok Synthesis was in 2017 – By Iran, in Cooperation with the OPCW

The line that novichoks can only be produced by Russia is now proven to be a complete lie. As I previously proved by referencing their publications, in 2013 the OPCW scientific advisory committee note the evidence was sparse that novichoks had ever been successfully produced, and in 2016 that was still the line being published by Porton Down in 2016. You can find the hard evidence of all that here.

I have now been sent the vital information that in 2017, Iranian scientists set out to study whether novichoks really could be produced from commercially available ingredients. Iran succeeded in synthesising a number of novichoks. Iran did this in full cooperation with the OPCW and immediately reported the results to the OPCW so they could be added to the chemical weapons database.

This makes complete nonsense of the Theresa May’s “of a type developed by Russia” line, used to parliament and the UN Security Council. This explains why Porton Down have refused to cave in to governmental pressure to say the nerve agent was Russian. If Iran can make a novichok, so can a significant number of states.

While Iran acted absolutely responsibly in cooperating with the OPCW, there are a handful of rogue states operating outwith the rule of international law, like Israel and North Korea, which refuse to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, join the OPCW or destroy their chemical weapons stocks. Russia has cooperated in the OPCW destruction of all its chemical weapons stocks, completed last year, which included regular OPCW inspection of all the sites alleged to have been in the original “novichok” programme. Why nobody is even looking at the rogue states outwith the OPCW is a genuine puzzle.…

If others, which others and cui bono?

Israel/Mossad immediately comes to mind. Israel has stated that it is preparing for hostilities with Iran and soliciting the West for support, while Russia is standing in the way. The means and motive are clear, and Mossad has a long record of such operations.

Craig Murray

First Recorded Successful Novichok Synthesis was in 2017 – By Iran, in Cooperation with the OPCW

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RT
UK, Slovakia, Sweden, Czech Republic among most probable sources of ‘Novichok’ – Moscow

‘Not proxy’: Lavrov says US, British, French special forces ‘directly involved’ in Syria war

BREAKING: Sergey Lavrov states Syria partition plans must be foiled

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TASS
Neither Soviet Union, nor Russia perform research codenamed Novichok - diplomat

The Duran
Maria Zakharova blows apart poisoning hoax: US should “be put under question 
Alex Christoforou

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21st Century Wire
OPCW: ‘Soviet Toxins Were Smuggled Out and Continued in Other countries, Including US’

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RT
UK reluctance to file request to Russia under OPCW indicates their case is weak – Lavrov

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Paul Craig Roberts
War Is On The Horizon

Moon of Alabama — Theresa May's 'Novichok' Claims Fall Apart

The story May wants to tell has way too much holes to be sustainable. No international support is coming for her. The British opposition leader Corbyn was right today when he demanded that she produces evidence for her claims. A few more pushes and her house of cards will surely come down.

Moon of Alabama
Theresa May's 'Novichok' Claims Fall Apart

b

Nafeez Ahmed — The British government’s Russia nerve agent claims are bullshit

On Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May announced that former Russian spy, Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned with “a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia” known as ‘Novichok’.

The chemical agent was identified by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down. May referred to the British government’s “knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so” as a basis to conclude that Russia’s culpability in the attack “is highly likely.”

On these grounds, she claimed that only two scenarios are possible:

“Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.”

The British government’s line has been chorused uncritically by the entire global press corps, with little scrutiny of its plausibility.

But there is a problem: far from offering a clear-cut evidence-trail to Vladimir Putin’s chemical warfare labs, the use of Novichok in the nerve gas attack on UK soil points to a wider set of potential suspects, of which Russia is in fact the least likely....

It may turn out that Russia did indeed carry out the Novichok attack. But at this time, the British state has no real basis to presume that. Which implies that the state has already decided that it wants to manufacture a path to heightened hostilities with Russia, regardless of the evidence. And that does not bode well.

INSURGE intelligence - Medium

The British government’s Russia nerve agent claims are bullshit
Nafeez Ahmed

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Craig Murray
Russian to Judgement

Craig Murray | British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010

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In short, both parties appear to be doing everything in their power to get as many people killed as possible, and nobody seems to have their foot anywhere near the brake pedal. Heads up.

The Greanville Post
Trump Promotes Longtime Russia Hawk Just As Russiagate Loses Momentum

Caitlin Johnstone

RT — Novichok – toxic questions about chemical at center of Skripal saga

Backgrounder.

RT
Novichok – toxic questions about chemical at center of Skripal saga

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Wikipedia — Novichok Agent

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Introduction to Novichok Agents

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One News Network
Only Russia could be behind U.K. poison attack: toxin’s co-developer

Joseph Ax

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Pravda
Poisoned Russian spy Skripal and his daughter will never recover if they stay alive