"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
An Alternative Explanation to the Skripal Mystery
Gareth Porter
The Russian mafia are supposed to be some of the worst criminals in the world. Putin has a lot on his plate.
ReplyDeleteRight, the KGB was holding things together in the Soviet Union, and all hell broke out when the USSR collapsed.
ReplyDeleteThe cost of "freedom." Russia is still authoritarian and will be for a long time, since most Russians are conservative, and many would like to see the return of monarchy. But it is a lot freer than the USSR. The FSB is not the KGB.
Russians like it that way. I guess if you have some of worst gangsters you're going to want the government to be tough on them.
DeleteWanting the return of the monarchy? Now that is conservative. It wouldn't suite me.