Thought you ought to know this.
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January 21, 2016
Putin ‘Probably Approved’ Murder Of Baby Jesus
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Jeez sorry bout all the typos and spelling above. I thought I had fixed them all but musta pasted the original instead of the edit. It’s funny yet failing eyesight is a pain in the ass.
Posted by: Debs is dead | Jan 23 2016 4:01 utc | 101
To Debs is dead a@ 100:
I used to read The Guardian and used to post quite a lot there but since it opened offices in the US and Australia, and likely even before then, the paper was definitely moving in a neocon direction.
It now partners with the New East Network and several other media outlets, some of which have ties to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/09/post-soviet-states-new-east-network-guardian-welcome
One media outlet partner is The Interpreter whose founders include Michael Weiss who covers news on Russia and Syria and who I have heard does not speak Russian or Arabic, and has never set foot either in Russia or Syria.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-weiss-7b585051
There was a period also before The Guardian opened its Sydney office when its London staff was being subjected to a “voluntary redundancy” scheme and that may have something to do with how The Guardian’s standards, if there were any in the first place, have fallen precipitously in the last few years.
If you have had problems with comments being deleted by The Guardian, you should go to Off Guardian at http://www.off-guardian.org and let Vaska or Black Catte there know. Off-Guardian runs an ongoing feature on censorship of CiF comments.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 23 2016 5:08 utc | 102
Litvinenko Inquiry: Death of Justice in the United Kingdom
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2016/01/22/litvinenko-inquiry-death-of-justice-in-the-united-kingdom/
All of the hokum aimed at painting a smiley-face on a verdict containing the word “probably” conveniently overlooks the FACT that the British, and just about every other legal system on Earth, requires that a case be proven “beyond reasonable doubt” – meaning that a case which is only “probably” proven is NOT proven, and must therefore be dismissed for lack of evidence.
Whether the judge was under duress, or merely availed himself of the opportunity to have the last laugh, by delivering a non-verdict, we’ll probably never know.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 23 2016 11:24 utc | 104
@104 HW, you might find it interesting to read the link in the post before yours.
It makes an important point: there should have been an coronial INQUEST, the purpose of which is to establish cause-of-death.
There wasn’t.
Instead the British govt decided to substitute in an judicial INQUIRY, the purpose of which can be, well, pretty much anything the British govt wants it to be. Which in this case is to Pin Blame On Putin.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 23 2016 12:24 utc | 105
re DiD and the Graun.
It’s not quite so simple as all comments critical of Israel being deleted. You have to be subtle, but you can get away with it. It’s quite a good intellectual exercise, actually, wording the most cutting remarks in such a way as they won’t be moderated. But I wonder whether it’s worth the effort, as the most awful anti-Muslim libels, poorly thought out, are left up. In any case, there’s been a big move towards bigotry since Britain has been up for an EU referendum, and since the Paris attacks in November, and it’s become uninteresting to comment there.
In the specific case of the subject of Israel, I think the source of the problem is a hasbara organisation called CiFWatch, who seem to have watchers on every thread, waiting to complain about every post which might be negative about Israel. A complaint is launched about every single one, and I should think the moderators get tired of it. The moderators do, or did, include one agent of the hasbara who massacred comments on threads about Israel, but since the new editor they don’t open comments about Israel any more. Makes you think that Rusbridger wasn’t so bad after all!
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 23 2016 13:28 utc | 106
CiFWatch is called called UKmediawatch now, http://ukmediawatch.org/, but it’s the same stuff, complaining about every single comment that might be construed as anti-Israel.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 23 2016 13:33 utc | 107
The link won’t work, cos the comma after got incorporated. Should be http://ukmediawatch.org/
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 23 2016 13:34 utc | 108
somebody @ 93. Thanks for the reminder, I had completely forgotten, only the pellet of ricin brought up faint memories of this case. And sure enough, there’s the British Umbrella!
===============
Afaik, the only other person in history who was deliberately poisoned with polonium is Arafat.
Which would seem to be ….interesting. Two people, just two, in history?
Hmm, provided that Litv was poisoned on purpose, maybe he was careless, clueless, whatever? The whole story is ultimate weird.
note: some ppl have died accidentally, in tests, etc.
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 23 2016 13:53 utc | 109
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 23, 2016 7:24:17 AM | 105
I did read it, after I posted my comment. I’ve no quibbles with any of it. It covers a lot of legal and procedural conventions which were side-stepped in the interests of feigning curiosity and diligence.
The only thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that the Prime Suspect(s) weren’t represented in any of the proceedings – designed to find him/them guilty. Which is a few steps too many beyond cute, imo.
My interest in the law has always focused on the grass-root basics:
– Innocent until proven guilty.
– Arriving at decisions which are seen to be Fair & Reasonable (there’s some wiggle room in that one, but not much).
– Beyond reasonable doubt.
There’s also the No 1 rule for resolving non-criminal disputes…
– STAY OUT OF COURT, SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE, AND NEGOTIATE!!! (because only the lawyers win and it costs both parties an arm and a leg just to educated them in the jargon and technicalities relevant to the dispute – before the dispute itself can be aired).
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 23 2016 15:50 utc | 110
Noirette @109
The poisoning of Vicktor Yushchenko with Dioxons is also a possible false flag poisoning and is especially noteworthy given that there is a connection to Berezovsky:
… in September 2005, former president Leonid Kravchuk accused exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky of financing Yushchenko’s presidential election campaign, and provided copies of documents showing money transfers from companies he said were controlled by Berezovsky to companies controlled by Yushchenko’s official backers. Berezovsky confirmed that he met Yushchenko’s representatives in London before the election, and that the money was transferred from his companies, but he refused to confirm or deny that the money was used in Yushchenko’s campaign.
He was poisoned just before very close elections (each side at about 39% in first-round voting). They tried to pin the blame on Russia/pro-Russians. But the chief beneficiary was Yushchenko/Yulia because they got enough sympathy that they were expected to win in a run-off. Yanukovych resorted to election malfeasance to overcome this sympathy vote but that only made his side look more culpable, so that:
After thirteen days of massive popular protests in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities that became known as the Orange Revolution, the Supreme Court overturned the election results and ordered a re-vote of the run-off election … [Yushchenko won] with 52% of the vote.
There are serious questions about whether Yushchenko really was poisoned or by how much. Blood/fluids test samples are said to have been tampered with, and:
… chief medical director [of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic where Yuschenko was treated], Dr. Lothar Wicke, … stated there was no evidence of poisoning other than the severe chloracne visible on Yushchenko’s face, and claimed to have been forced to resign because of his disagreement. Wicke also claimed to have been threatened by Yushchenko’s associates.
… in September 2009, a special commission, created by the Verkhovna Rada, came to a conclusion that the Yushchenko dioxin poisoning was falsified to strengthen his positions during 2004 presidential elections.
However, the former head of Ukraine Security Services fled to Russia where he was given citizenship and thus could not be extradited for questioning.
About a year into his term, Yushchenko fell out with Yulia due to her corruption. He appointed pro-Russian Yanukovych (whom he had been in the 2004 election) as Prime Minister to replace her. This was hailed as a reapproachment with Russia but was a strange move for someone that had supposedly been poisoned by Russia/pro-Russian forces and caused him to lose favor with pro-Western Ukrainian movements.
Yushenko’s personal connections are also quite interesting:
[Yushchenko is]… married to a Ukrainian-American born in Chicago who received a degree in Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. She also studied at the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard University. Her resume includes working for the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the Bureau for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the U.S. State Department, the Reagan White House, the U.S. Treasury Department, and the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. In Ukraine she first worked with the US-Ukraine Foundation, then as Country Director for KPMG Barents Group.
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko is godfather to the children of Yushchenko.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 23 2016 18:38 utc | 111
London definitively is a dangerous place for anybody connected to Russia.
“On paper, it was a good idea but they got sucked in, as did others.”
He said this was the reason Mr Young was given a warning by the Russian mafia two years ago, when he was hung out of a hotel window and told he would be dropped if he did not come up with some money.
“Robert was terrified,” he added. ”He knew how serious it was. These are frightening, frightening people.”
Last month, a fifth member of the circle, Johnny Elichaoff, 55, the former husband of the television presenter Trinny Woodall, died after falling from Whiteleys shopping centre in west London, although it is not known if he was involved in Project Moscow.
A sixth man, lawyer Stephen Curtis, who introduced Mr Young, My Curtis and Mr Castle to his Russian contacts, died in a mysterious helicopter crash, a week after telling friends he feared for his life…..
Posted by: somebody | Jan 23 2016 18:55 utc | 112
Some info about Berezovsky (for those who are now already aware):
In 2012, Berezovsky lost a London High Court case he brought over the ownership of Sibneft against Roman Abramovich, in which he sought over £3 billion in damages.[23] The court judged Berezovsky as an “inherently unreliable” witness, who “regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes” and that “At times the evidence which he gave was deliberately dishonest; sometimes he was clearly making his evidence up as he went along in response to the perceived difficulty in answering the questions.”
In 1996 the Russian-American journalist Paul Klebnikov wrote a highly critical article entitled “Godfather of the Kremlin?”[229] on Berezovsky and the state of Russia more generally, in response to which Berezovsky sued Forbes in the UK[230] (see above); in 2001 he expanded his article into a book entitled “Godfather of the Kremlin”, alternatively subtitled “The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism and Boris Berezovsky and the looting of Russia”.[152][153][231] On July 9, 2004, while leaving the Forbes office in Moscow, unknown assailants fired at Klebnikov from a slowly moving car. He was shot four times and died later in hospital.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 23 2016 19:07 utc | 113
Litvinenko. (dead thread but took time to put it together and read a few new docs..)
Jackrabbit, yes, thx for the recall.
Nov 1. 2006
(morning …> very early aft.) Litv goes to see Lugovoi in his room at the Millenium. Another man – Kovtun (Litv doesn’t remember him / knows him a bit / much confusion in many different accounts) is present. They talk. Litv leaves for a date w. Scaramello. This account has the poisoning occurring in the room, not the bar. —> from account Volodarsky that does not match well with others.
Guardian, MSM:
15.00. (uncontested.) Scaramello has late lunch with Litv at Itsu (Picadilly.) Scaramello eats nothing drinks water. —> On 1 to 3 dec. he is diagnosed with polonium poisoning. Is discharged from hospital on 6 dec. Apparently the diagnosis was a mistake.
15.40. Lugovoi calls Litv for the nth time to meet that day.
Tea time! Pine Bar at the Millenium Hotel. link guardian for CCTV from hotel
(no cam in the Pine Bar.) Sokolenko, friend of Lugovoi, appears (both were there with their families w. children in the Millenium.)
Afternoon. Lugovoi, Litv: The tea pot is almost empty when Litv arrives. He doesn’t order anything else, but accepts the dregs of the tea, and drinks some. Then Kovtun arrives at the table. They talk.
The bar bill for that ‘tea’ is impressive (if correct.) Reportedly (?? – not sure, account Volodarsky) Kovtun drank the 6 gin and Ts. If that bar bill is just for the ‘tea’ there was maybe another person present whom Litv did not see? The absent person smokes cigars. I think we need Hercule Poirot!
sidebar: According to Litv’s father (official testimony), Sokolenko was also present, and Litv met Kovtun for the first time that day. The father has Litv going elsewhere after the Scaramello date, i.e. the poisoning took place before 15.00, at the Millenium. (Some readers may recall that Litv first accused Scaramello.)
https://www.litvinenkoinquiry.org/files/2015/04/COM00011001wb.pdf
from the public docs of the Inquiry: https://www.litvinenkoinquiry.org/evidence
Litv’s father’s hypothesis: the murder had to do with Beresovky’s activities and Litv needed to be silenced. The polonium was used to mislead, as a *spectacular* obfuscation, and traces were purposely placed at spots where Lugovoi had been. He also says Goldfarb’s (side kick B) wife told him that Alex (Goldfarb) killed Litv. I find all this quite seductive.
Night. Litv is sick, vomits.
———
4 Nov. After 3 days of illness Litv is admitted to hospital, dies 23 Nov.
gen time line http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30929940
Guardian http://tinyurl.com/hadzx4n
Volodarsky account Telegraph http://tinyurl.com/y87c6vr
wiki Goldfarb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Goldfarb_(biologist)
Goldfarb and Litv widow Marina have co-authored a book “Death of a Dissident.” By several accounts, and to put it gently, Marina was how to say it, not a nice person.
note: there are many other avenues to explore. See for ex here, the brother: Berlusconi, arms shipments to Ukraine, more on Scaramell0, etc.
https://www.litvinenkoinquiry.org/files/2015/07/COM00012001.pdf
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 24 2016 14:29 utc | 114
In 2008, the Guardian was quite sure why Litvinenko was killed
When Alexander Litvinenko fled Moscow for Britain, he found it hard to find work; London was awash with former KGB agents. So he turned to Italy, where he found a ready market for intelligence, not all of it real. What happened next was to make him some dangerous enemies
That inquiry must have cost a lot of money, in whose interest?
Posted by: somebody | Jan 24 2016 15:17 utc | 115
Noirette @ 114: Alexander Litvinenko dictated a statement to Alex Goldfarb, which the latter wrote down, on 21 November 2006, two days before his death.
Do you think that a man, having been ill since 1 November 2006 and deteriorating quite rapidly, and losing senses like sight and hearing, would have been able to dictate this statement to Goldfarb?
“I would like to thank many people. My doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are doing all they can for me, the British police who are pursuing my case with vigour and professionalism and are watching over me and my family.
I would like to thank the British government for taking me under their care. I am honoured to be a British citizen.
I would like to thank the British public for their messages of support and for the interest they have shown in my plight.
I thank my wife Marina, who has stood by me. My love for her and our son knows no bounds.
But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death.
I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like.
I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.
You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.
You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value.
You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women.
You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.
May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.
Alexander Litvinenko
21 November 2006”
Posted by: Jen | Jan 24 2016 22:07 utc | 116
jen at 116. The circumstances around that declaration, as well as of the ‘last photo’ (the well known one in hospital) are very suspicious. Imho, maybe not specifically that Litv agreed / signed – he might himself by then be convinced /coerced by ppl close to him or whatever – but because of the great amount of posturing around them, Goldfarb and others (wife also), MSM, make a big deal of these and those *in the know* look like deers in the headlights (it is quite comical) when they mention them. Also of course he didn’t write (dictate) it himself, it is pure Brit boilerplate, he wasn’t capable of that even when in full health.
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 25 2016 14:55 utc | 117
Also of course he didn’t write (dictate) it himself, it is pure Brit boilerplate, he wasn’t capable of that even when in full health.
Great remark, Noirette. Absolutely true – that is a native English speaker.
Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 25 2016 18:41 utc | 118