Another Russian spy hit?

[agricola]

It's the former, Tess. Never mind though, I'm sure you're going to give them a strong telling off; maybe expel a couple of their chaps, they'll expel a couple of ours, then we can all get back to business as usual.

If the Russians have any sense of humour at all, they should say that the only remaining unaccounted for vial of the substance was given to an unnamed agent of a then-allied intelligence service in late-80s London who said he wanted to see whether it would work on his allotment.

 

[cupid_stunt]

It's the former, Tess. Never mind though, I'm sure you're going to give them a strong telling off; maybe expel a couple of their chaps, they'll expel a couple of ours, then we can all get back to business as usual.

The Spymaster knows best.

 

[DotCommunist]

If the Russians have any sense of humour at all, they should say that the only remaining unaccounted for vial of the substance was given to an unnamed agent of a then-allied intelligence service in late-80s London who said he wanted to see whether it would work on his allotment.

McDonnel has sworn on his mams life that he is never going to appear on RT again.

 

[donkyboy]

isn't it funny how friendless we are at the moment. zero comment from trump (so much for the 'special relationship') macron and merkel. cant see us taking decisive action. didn't last time the russians did it. cant see it being any different now

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Woodcock and Leslie really are the most disgusting human beings ever to grace Parliament.

I fear this lacks historical perspective.

 

[agricola]

Have just watched the speech again - I wonder why she never mentioned the MH-17 shootdown? You'd think that an incident where Russia's armed forces almost certainly caused the death of British citizens would have made that list of stuff that Putin had done.

 

[cupid_stunt]

isn't it funny how friendless we are at the moment. zero comment from trump (so much for the 'special relationship') macron and merkel. cant see us taking decisive action. didn't last time the russians did it. cant see it being any different now

Considering May has only just announced it's likely to be down to Russia, it's hardly surprising other leaders haven't commented, that would be jumping the gun somewhat.

 

[donkyboy]

Considering May has only just announced it's likely to be down to Russia, it's hardly surprising other leaders haven't commented, that would be jumping the gun somewhat.

jumping the gun? trump has a history of 'jumping the gun'. just look at his numerous stupid tweets on sadiq khan during the terror attacks. he certainly wasted little time to get his twitter fingers going.

 

[cupid_stunt]

jumping the gun? trump has a history of 'jumping the gun'. just look at his numerous stupid tweets on sadiq khan during the terror attacks. he certainly wasted little time to get his twitter fingers going.

My comment was more about Macron and Merkel, I tend to ignore Trump the cunt.

 

[2hats]

Have just watched the speech again - I wonder why she never mentioned the MH-17 shootdown? You'd think that an incident where Russia's armed forces almost certainly caused the death of British citizens would have made that list of stuff that Putin had done.

It is still the subject of an on-going criminal investigation in Holland so there is perhaps that. However that sorry episode did underline the quite brazen lengths the Russian military and authorities would go to to blatantly lie and try to misdirect and confuse the public/media.

isn't it funny how friendless we are at the moment. zero comment from trump (so much for the 'special relationship') macron and merkel. cant see us taking decisive action. didn't last time the russians did it. cant see it being any different now

The WH press secretary has just, finally, made a supportive statement (scroll down the thread).

 

[agricola]

It is still the subject of an on-going criminal investigation in Holland so there is perhaps that. However that sorry episode did underline the quite brazen lengths the Russian military and authorities would go to to blatantly lie and try to misdirect and confuse the public/media.

I doubt it - the Intelligence and Security Committee has already said in its 2016/17 Parliamentary report that the Russian Government is responsible for it "beyond all reasonable doubt".

 

[donkyboy]

if this was any hint Iran was behind something like this, I guarantee you france, germany and trump would not have wasted a second to comment. but hey, that's realpolitik for you.

 

[Spymaster]

What would be a reasonable response to this?

How about letting our own assassins loose in Moscow? Whack a few FSB dudes with something better than whatever they used? In McDonalds? I'm pretty sure they don't have Zizzi's. Moscow restaurants are generally pretty shite.

 

[LDC]

What would be a reasonable response to this?

Not what you then suggest methinks. A strongly worded letter and the odd angry speech or two, but mostly ignore it would be my suggestion.

 

[donkyboy]

What would be a reasonable response to this?

How about letting our own assassins loose in Moscow? Whack a few FSB dudes with something better than whatever they used? In McDonalds? I'm pretty sure they don't have Zizzi's. Moscow restaurants are generally pretty shite.

the russians have a history of doing this on british soil. I guess our morals prevent us doing the same to them. i would love us to target the oligarchs who love to buy homes here and send their kids to private schools and fancy universities in the UK. kick them out and freeze their assets. but May was not interested in taking tough actions when she was home secretary, so i have little faith in her now.

 

[ddraig]

"our morals" really?

 

[vanya]

Agreed - attack these Russian oligarchs over here. Put the pressure on them.

 

[teqniq]

'Our morals' indeed haha, it's a bit rich ascribing such things to the UK establishment, who let's face it call the shots over this. Some response is needed however but what options are available and feasible is not something I would claim to know about.

 

[not-bono-ever]

its election time

Putin needs to put some iron behind his words

maybe skripal was just a name on a list of publicly know traitors that served a purpose to show vlad has a long memory. its could be that random. that unlucky

 

[Jon-of-arc]

It's the former, Tess. Never mind though, I'm sure you're going to give them a strong telling off; maybe expel a couple of their chaps, they'll expel a couple of ours, then we can all get back to business as usual.

A kind of taunt, to Vlad, maybe? Did you do this, or are you just so incompetent that you can't even look after your own chemical weapons?

Or an easy out, offering a lie we'd be prepared to swallow, to avoid a big diplomatic kerfuffle?

Only two rational reasons I can think of for saying it...

 

[donkyboy]

'Our morals' indeed haha, it's a bit rich ascribing such things to the UK establishment, who let's face it call the shots over this. Some response is needed however but what options are available and feasible is not something I would claim to know about.

trying to think when we last used nerve agents to kill anyone on foreign soil-unless you want to dig up Churchill and of course our not too bothered about attack on Kurds by mr hussien...

 

[teqniq]

We supplied some of the chemicals to them that made it possible, so much for morals eh?

 

[donkyboy]

thought so.

Edit. Probably morals is indeed the wrong word to use. On reflection we wouldn't dare try it on russian soil as we are scared of the russian reaction. they don't seem to give a shit about doing anything anywhere.

 

[Spymaster]

A kind of taunt, to Vlad, maybe? Did you do this, or are you just so incompetent that you can't even look after your own chemical weapons?

Or an easy out, offering a lie we'd be prepared to swallow, to avoid a big diplomatic kerfuffle?

Only two rational reasons I can think of for saying it...

Well it's all just bollocks isn't it? Everyone's doing this silly little political dance for the sake of the media whilst everyone knows full fucking well what's happen here. More to the point, Putin WANTS the whole world to know that the Kremlin did it. They're not even holding their hands behind their backs whilst they're denying it with their fingers crossed. They are very openly taking the piss.

 

[not-bono-ever]

What would be a reasonable response to this?

How about letting our own assassins loose in Moscow? Whack a few FSB dudes with something better than whatever they used? In McDonalds? I'm pretty sure they don't have Zizzi's. Moscow restaurants are generally pretty shite.

the FIB took the arse out of our russian setup a while ago by all accounts. there are no false passports and wigs being used theses days , the assistant trade attache at the Moscow embassy ( not really , but YKWIM) is under 24/7 surveillence. as are pretty all of his once extensive contacts , we couldnt arrange much more than a piss up in an irish pub in Russia now

 

[agricola]

'Our morals' indeed haha, it's a bit rich ascribing such things to the UK establishment, who let's face it call the shots over this. Some response is needed however but what options are available and feasible is not something I would claim to know about.

Indeed.

One can even read May's speech as a deliberate attempt to minimize the likely response - it was a mix of things we have done ourselves (invading / interfereing militarily in other countries, Parliamentary approval for extrajudicial killing of terrorists and dissidents), things that are in vogue at present (fake news, election interference) and things that are frankly bizarre to include at a time like this (hacking the Danish MoD and the Bundestag). The most relevant act - Litvinenko's assassination - only made it in right at the end (and she said "and of course Russia used radiological substances in its barbaric assault on Mr Litvenenko", which is an odd way of describing his murder), and as I said above the killing of 300 entirely innocent people (including Brits) by blowing their airliner out of the sky never made it in at all.

 

[2hats]

the FIB took the arse out of our russian setup a while ago by all accounts. there are no false passports and wigs being used theses days , the assistant trade attache at the Moscow embassy ( not really , but YKWIM) is under 24/7 surveillence. as are pretty all of his once extensive contacts , we couldt arrange much more than a piss up in an irish pub in Russia now

Maybe threaten them with some plastic rocks?

PS Ex-KGB intelligence officer Boris Karpichkov was on TV earlier today stating that a source of his in the FSB warned him last month that he and Skripal were, along with others, going to be targeted.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Maybe threaten them with some plastic rocks?

PS Ex-KGB intelligence officer Boris Karpichkov was on TV earlier today stating that a source of his in the FSB warned him last month that he and Skripal were, along with others, going to be targeted.

aha, i missed this - so it could have been a name on a list then.

 

[2hats]

aha, i missed this - so it could have been a name on a list then.

Supposedly, besides him and Skripal:

Oleg Gordievsky
Bill Browder
Christopher Steele
Igor Sutyagine
Yuri Shvets
Vladimir Rezun (aka Viktor Suvorov)

 

[agricola]

Supposedly, besides him and Skripal:

Oleg Gordievsky
Bill Browder
Christopher Steele
Igor Sutyagine
Yuri Shvets
Vladimir Rezun (aka Viktor Suvorov)

Suvorov's been here for forty years, they would have to either be very bloodthirsty or very concerned about the declining quality of historical research to go after him.