Weekly Review And Open Thread 2018-13

March 25, 2018

The last week at Moon of Alabama was again dominated by the Skripal incident. Another long piece about a different issue is still on hold. This week thus saw less posts than desirable.

Mar 19 – NHS Doctor: "No Patients Have Experienced Symptoms Of Nerve Agent Poisoning In Salisbury" and
Mar 21 – Russian Scientists Explain 'Novichok' – High Time For Britain To Come Clean (Updated)

I had added additional historic information on the chemical agents in question in a comment to the March 21 piece.

The British government is milking the incident to push russophobia and to divert from its failure in the Brexit negotiations and all its other problems. But the diversion will only succeed so long. The NHS doctor as well as court testimony by scientists from Proton Down contradict the claims made by the British government. Let's hope that the British opposition picks up on that.

Mar 20 – Cambridge Analytica And The Manipulation Of People by Debs is Dead

Mar 23 – John Bolton – The Man With A Hammer Is Looking For Nails

The one man now seen as the most 'moderate' on war issues in the Trump administration is a retired four star marine general with the nickname "mad dog" who was fired by the Obama administration for being too aggressive towards Iran.

Mar 25 – Syria – The East-Ghouta-Afrin Exchange Is Complete – Where Will The SAA Go Next?

Use the comments as open thread …

Posted by b on March 25, 2018 at 16:06 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Petri Krohn @25:
IF, and a big IF, the US unilaterally remove all Russian UN diplomats, it would start the process of relocating the UNHQ. It would set the precedent of allowing the future host to do the same to the US. Images of the US military storming the UNHQ (highly doubtful), which sits on “international territory”, would be the final nail in the coffin for the US on the World stage.

Posted by: Ian | Mar 27 2018 4:51 utc | 101

An interesting Brexit theory with ‘plausible’ written all over it.
Two points to note:
1. Under this theory the UK’s ‘Gibraltar’ will become little more than a northern hemisphere ‘Diego Garcia’ base controlling far more than its tiny land mass suggests.
2. The author is not entirely correct in the final paragraph “… as the long-suspected US plan to make the UK its 51st state may be much nearer fruition by that time, in fact if not in name.” Under this scenario the UK will be little more than a US Dominion — a Puerto Rico at best.
gibraltar-the-real-reason-for-brexit-finally-revealed

Posted by: imo | Mar 27 2018 8:34 utc | 102

Posted by: imo | Mar 27, 2018 4:34:51 AM | 102
BREXIT is a multi-headed beast. It was sponsored by parts of the finance industry and will be done for parts of the finance industry including Russian and other oligarchs whose money will be free from EU controls.
Remarkable about the Skripal ‘solidarity’ is how limited it is. The EU needs May for a negotiated BREXIT.

Posted by: somebody | Mar 27 2018 9:24 utc | 103

Putin ate my homework,
Putin crashed my car.
That bloody rotter Putin
Has really gone too far.
A keen-eyed neighbour saw him
Pissing on my roses.
He clearly is much worse
Than everyone supposes.
With his ruthless cyber army
He meddled in our election.
And when I see his face
It interferes with my erection.
Those poor, poor Russian people
Stuck with this evil strongman.
They’ve been taken for a ride
And foisted with the wrong man.
So come on Terry and Boris!
Start up our planes and tanks!
And get those Trident launch codes
From our friends the Yanks.
We must tell this would-be Tsar,
Who thinks he’s God almighty,
That he’d better stop and think
Before messing with Old Blighty!

Posted by: Willy Wobblestick | Mar 27 2018 9:25 utc | 104

WW
You made my day!

Posted by: Mina | Mar 27 2018 10:36 utc | 105

@104
“And when I see his face
It interferes with my erection.”
Well, not being gay, he has no effect either way on my erectile material.
Theresa May, on the other hand, positively dysfunctional!

Posted by: imo | Mar 27 2018 11:48 utc | 106

Congratulations b for your elevation to Exceptional Status over at SST – at the end of the “Closed” Richard Sale claptrap thread.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 27 2018 16:51 utc | 107

I think I read the first few lines of that junk post which was enough for me. A supposed thinker getting his impressions from junk movies or even bother watching them was an insight into his thinking ability.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 27 2018 17:58 utc | 108

b – that thread at sst – stalin, richard sale article… bizarre!! i liked what you said! i was thinking put in the usa for richards description of stalin and i could live with it..
i was thinking if that article was an attempt to get a response? i was also wondering if pat is close to completely abandoning his website? he seems to be stepping back…
the thought crossed my mind that it was an experiment to see what kind of reaction that article would solicit.. the article was very bizarre.. i was thinking it was an intentional manipulation of readers, but that is just an intuitive guess on my part with nothing to back it up..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2018 17:59 utc | 109

@ peter… we posted at the same time… i read the whole piece… it was bizarre.. i was thinking it was some sort of manipulative post, but i could be mistaken..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2018 18:03 utc | 110

interesting article..
http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/25/george-papadopoulos-london-emails/

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2018 18:18 utc | 111

james, Lang will go whatever way his country goes. he article may have been designed to clean house? The anti Russia stuff will only get worse. It has also started China.
In looking into SCL/Cambridge Analytica, most western governments have over the last few years, studied that style of pysops in a big way to use on their own populations. There have been a number over the last few years but these will become more and more refined.
Those who don’t have time to do the research and understand that these are pysops will be carried along by the pysop operations, which includes most younger people busy living their lives. My children are all stating families no and the thing that worries me most is that if the US is not collapsed or destroyed soon, my grandchildren will be growing up in a world and with a world view completely devoid of reality.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 27 2018 18:59 utc | 112

peter – i share you overview on all this.. as for pat – cleaning house.. maybe… i think he is behaving like he wants to pack it in with his site… i don’t have kids, but i have a few nephews… the younger generation are an interesting group.. hard to get a read on how they see things, but generally the 24/7 propaganda seems to seep thru and affect them as well..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2018 19:17 utc | 113

@112 Oh come on grandad….those are just conspiracy theories. 🙂

Posted by: dh | Mar 27 2018 19:40 utc | 114

@114 So I’ve been told.

Posted by: dh | Mar 27 2018 19:55 utc | 115

WW
You made my day!
Posted by: Mina | Mar 27, 2018 6:36:59 AM | 105
More, I want more! WWII and WWIII!
Right now, Europe is a divided continent. Most of it (at least, population-wise) stands on the side of light, wisely appreciating the argument that requiring some kind of proof of the Russian guilt is “falling into Putin’s trap”. Who cares for a proof when he have solemn words from the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and War Minister of Her Majesty Government! Sadly, the recalcitrant minority is larger than Russia and Belorus. One such country is Bulgaria, and it does not follow any particular pattern other that having independence gifted to them by Russian Empire etc. More interesting pattern contains Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. What do they have in common? Being ruled by the house of Hapsburg in the past! In fact, this is not the first case of Hapsburg-Romanoff collusion against England. For shame, Hapsburgs, for shame! What is it with the sissy motto “Bella gerunt alii, tu felix Austria nube” (Let the others wage wars, you lucky Austria marry). An inspiration to search for common interests? It is a trap, a trap!

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 28 2018 0:32 utc | 116

I appreciate and value many of the trains of thought proposed and explored at SST, by PL and his guest writers. But his ‘management’ philosophy is drawn from the top-down Ivory Tower school of thought. Ivory Tower works OK and saves time when everything is running to plan but falls short in a crisis due to its (intentionally) insular & privileged nature.
But I love his swashbuckling writing style and I never feel the need to comment there because there’s usually at least one comment which reflects my view reinforced, somewhat, when PL disagrees with it…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 28 2018 1:42 utc | 117

Speaking of a world devoid of reality, back in the weeks after MH17 I read this article at RT. https://www.rt.com/news/178948-russia-block-ceasefire-ukraine/
Russia had put forward a draft resolution to ensure the ceasefire zone around the crash site of MH17. At this stage, early August, the US, UK backed coup regime had pushed into the crash zone and no investigation could be undertaken due to sporadic fighting in the area.
At the time, I looked up the UN website and found Russia had indeed put up the draft resolution and that it had been opposed by Australia, US and Lithuania.
Several times in the last couple of years I have again looked for those UN documents and not found them. I thought perhaps I was using the wrong search terms.
Today I used the search term “draft resolution 2014” as the search term. This brought up ‘US west’ draft resolutions for that time frame but not the draft resolution by Russia relating to the MH17 crash/debris zone.
Both the draft resolution and the transcript of Australian, US, Lithuania objections to it have been wiped from the UN record or at least, the online UN record
We are now living in world devoid of reality.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 28 2018 3:13 utc | 118

I know this is quite deep in the comments thread here but I’ll post these interesting links on journalism at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and how these organisations’ staff is dominated by people with elite “educational” backgrounds.
Reed Richardson (Global Research), “Journalism of, by and for the Elite: How the New York Times and Wall Street Journal mirror the 1% they cover”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/journalism-of-by-and-for-the-elite/5633479
Jonathan Wai and Kaja Perina (Journal of Expertise, 2018, vol x[x]), “Expertise in Journalism: Factors Shaping a Cognitive and Culturally Elite Profession”
https://www.journalofexpertise.org/articles/JoE_2018_1_1_Wai_Perina_Mar3.pdf
Much information to keep in mind in future when the NYT and the WSJ continue reconstructing the world according to the paradigms decreed by their masters.

Posted by: Jen | Mar 28 2018 3:25 utc | 119

@PP 120
The British Commonwealth lives on as the Five Eyes, now with the US as controlling member, except when the UK takes over the reins as on Skripal.
The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries, with a similar common law legal inheritance, are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
It works especially well with US-UK in Europe, and US-Australia in Asia. At least the US thinks so. The US can keep US-occupied Germany in line and Australia is a fine patsy. Oz tried to kick over the traces once. Bad idea. It culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. Queen Elizabeth did the deed on US insistence when Whitlam tried to go another way, and put Australia’s needs above US needs. That case serves a s a fine example not only to Australia but to others.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 28 2018 4:25 utc | 120

Don 123
Thanks for that post.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 28 2018 4:43 utc | 121

Germany green-lighted North Stream 2 yesterday:
Germany fully approves Russia-built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Germany has approved the construction and operation of the Russia-built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, its operator and the German maritime authority said on Tuesday.
The Nord Stream 2 operator said it expected that other four countries along the route of the undersea gas pipeline – Russia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark – will issue permits in the coming months.
The “scheduled construction works are to be implemented in 2018 as planned” it added.

here:

Posted by: arbetet | Mar 28 2018 6:22 utc | 122

I doubt if you will see this sort of report from Western news. Read it and understand that the US is toast in Asia, it just doesn’t know it yet.
Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un hold talks in Beijing
The world is going to move forward in spite of the huffing and puffing of dying empire.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2018 6:56 utc | 123

According to the State briefing yesterday:
>Sixty Russians spies have been expelled and the country is now safer.
>that includes 12 from UN HQ “because they were abusing their privilege of residence under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement”
>what Russia should do: “Russia should apologize for its actions that it took in the UK. Russia should stop and cease that kind of activity. While they’re at it, by the way, they should stop bombing innocent civilians who are suffering so horribly in Eastern Ghouta and throughout the rest of the country in Syria. There’s a lot that they can do, and I would suggest that they start there.”
>could there be more expulsions? “MS NAUERT: I’m not going to go there. I’m not going to go there with a hypothetical. We’ll wait and see what happens.”
>The expelled Russian “spies” come from a mix of areas — ” I’m not sure the entire mix – how many spies they had operating in Seattle versus in Washington versus New York. I don’t have that breakdown.”
>Can these Russian spies be replaced? MS NAUERT: I don’t believe so, but let me double-check on that.
>Last summer it came out that Russia has 455 diplomats in the US, and yesterday senior administration officials complained that 100 of Moscow’s diplomats were intelligence agents. So that suggests that something like a quarter of the Russian diplomats here were intelligence agents operating under diplomatic cover, and now nearly half of them are being expelled. Is that a reasonable estimate of the situation? MS NAUERT: I appreciate the question and I understand the interest in asking it. I’m just not going to confirm anything that has to do with intelligence.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 28 2018 13:27 utc | 124

@Peter 124
You’re welcome. Fascinating story, I glad you picked it up. Explains a lot, doesn’t it. The CIA must have something on the Queen, is my guess.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 28 2018 13:33 utc | 125

sst and pat lang…
i see my post never made it thru yesterday… i posted it again!! i am posting it here as it seems pat lang is loath to post it!
“”It is an indication of how low we have sunk as a nation….” the last post from richard sale is another example…
the truth will get out regardless whether my posts make it thru…”

Posted by: james | Mar 28 2018 16:20 utc | 126

Ecuador has cut communications to Julian Assange. This follows critical comments he made about the Skripal false flag and Spanish actions in Catalonia. There is an online vigil with Ray McGovern, Caitie Johnstone Kim Dotcom, Kiriakou and others here:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/ReconnectJulian?src=hash

Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 29 2018 0:22 utc | 127

uk – police state that silences any opposition to it’s fascist and draconian ways… hey – but all the poodles and the usa re okay with that!!! in a voice of solidarity they are all united under the 5 eyes agreement in going after whistleblowers and etc, while supporting their military and financial corporations… now, that is some dumbocracy for ya..

Posted by: james | Mar 29 2018 3:13 utc | 128

Ring
Ring
Hello, This is James Bombardier, Please leave a message and I will call you back.
“…have received a legal petition notice against your name for tax violation and willful fraud. Before this matter goes to federal court or before you get arrested call on 541 603 0994 Do not disregard this message and do return the call as soon as possible, thank you.”
This is today’s America………

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 29 2018 5:11 utc | 129

BREAKING: France to send troops to Syria to block Turkish advances.
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/01ae994c-01b0-4e2b-b009-e8509777de46
France getting directly involved now against Turkey. Interesting…

Posted by: David | Mar 30 2018 8:04 utc | 130

Yesterday’s morning news on French gov radio (France inter), interviewing Kurds who have fled Turkish owned Afrin and are now in a refugee camp near Kobane. The journalist does not identify them as Kurds, just as Syrians who have fled from the Turkish troops and their allies, although you can here that all the interviewed ppl speak Kurdish and not Arabic.
As it happen, Kurdish representatives of the FDS were received by Macron yesterday and we have now conflicting reports (according to RFI, another gov radio): according to the Kurds, France is going to send military help to Manbij to prevent Erdo taking it (or to have a place from which they can exfiltrate their special forces now in Idlib?) while France’s official refuse to confirm.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they soon start to remind us that Erdo and Putin are allies. Today, Trump is said by RT to have decided to move out Syria and ‘let others deal with it’. This meaning France? with a tight US/UK leash?

Posted by: Mina | Mar 30 2018 8:22 utc | 131

Assange’s internet blackout & Skripal case part of propaganda war that risks real one – John Pilger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9n5irwWHfI

Posted by: Anon | Mar 30 2018 11:02 utc | 132

There is a dementi.

France said on March 30 it is not planning a unilateral military operation in Syria outside the international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after senior Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) officials claimed Paris was planning to send troops.
“France is not planning any new military operation on the ground in northern Syria outside the international coalition against ISIL,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement.

The international coalition against ISIL involves Turkey
In other news France offered to “mediate” between Turkey and YPG and Erdogan angrily refused to talk to “terrorists”.
If you ask me I would say NATO will not risk Turkey’s membership by supporting Kurdish independence. They will all withdraw.
Kurdish sources are trying to pretend otherwise as this will question the wisdom of their leadership to throw in their lot with the US.
Erdogan and Assad will have to come to an agreement on Idlib and YPG. At the moment they have Turkish proxies fight it out.

Posted by: somebody | Mar 30 2018 11:51 utc | 133

add to 133
John Bolton: The US has no post ISIS caliphate strategy

Posted by: somebody | Mar 30 2018 12:17 utc | 134

Back to Main