by M. K. Bhadrakumar

The United Nations Security Council turned down a compromise resolution on Syria, proposed by Sweden and seconded by Russia seeking investigation on the alleged chemical attack in Douma. Five countries supported the resolution with two permanent members – United States and Britain – opposing it. Earlier, a resolution on the same lines which was supported by Russia and China was also opposed by the US and Britain.

This is a significant political and diplomatic victory for Russia insofar as only two other countries joined the US and Britain to oppose the Swedish resolution. Six countries abstained.

The big question is whether this development portends an impending US attack on Syria, bypassing the UN. The UN has refused to confirm there has been any attack at all. Russia and Syrian government insist there has been no attack and have approached the Organization for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for an international investigation. The good thing is that the OPCW is deputing two teams of experts to go to Douma later this week. Russia has offered to give them full security protection.

So Trump has a major decision to make. Logically, punishment follows a crime that has been committed and it seems no crime has been committed. This appears to be a false flag operation – that is, a fabrication with a view to trigger a sequence of events. That was how the US invaded Iraq in 2003 and it is an established fact today that Saddam Hussein did not have any program to develop weapons of mass destruction, as then US Secretary of State Colin Power had misled the UN Security Council. (Powell later admitted that he was misled by his own administration.)

One difference in the present case is that Trump has been on record that he wants the American military presence in Syria to end. That stance and the present threat to launch an attack on Syria are contradictory. Because, a US attack on Syria will have serious repercussions, including possibly a showdown with Russia, which would mean a US drawdown in Syria may not be possible in a conceivable future.

Perhaps, Trump is indulging in doublespeak and the backdrop could be the criticality that has arisen over Robert Mueller’s investigation into his collusion with Russia, which has now dramatically expanded in scope. The FBI raid on the office of Trump’s attorney in the White House is a very serious development. Trump is just inches away from being implicated in the charges against him leveled by porn star Stormy Daniels. The CNN says, “There could be dark and unprecedented times ahead.” A US attack on Syria can distract attention from the stormy controversy that may arise if at this point Trump axes Mueller and derails the investigation against him. There are precedents when beleaguered American presidents resorted to diversionary tactic. Bill Clinton fired cruise missiles at Kandahar when the scandal over Monica Lewinsky peaked and he was facing the prospect of impeachment.

A US That brings us back to the alleged chemical attack in Douma last weekend. Who would have staged a false flag operation? The finger of suspicion points toward Israel’s role. Israel is desperately keen that the US should have a permanent military presence in Syria. To that end, Israel is fueling tensions that will take matters to a point that a US withdrawal from Syria somehow gets stalled. This is also the impression conveyed by DebkaFile, the Israeli website with links to the intelligence, which specializes in disinformation tactic.

Cont. reading: Syria – A U.S. Attack Would Be Futile – But Serve A Purpose

After last nights maintenance there still appear to be some small problems with the back-end of the blog infrastructure. I currently can not upload pictures and have difficulties editing longer text. The provider is working on these issues.

Use as open thread ..

The provider of the blog platform for Moon of Alabama announced a planned upgrade and maintenance of its systems starting tomorrow at 3:00am UTC. It is not know how long this will take. During the maintenance this site will not be available.

Update (Apr 10 11:30 UTC)

The maintenance is over and everything seems to back up and working. The necessary clean-up of the aftermath is ongoing. There may still be some glitches and small outages over the next few hours.

Yesterday's alleged 'gas attack' in east Ghouta likely never happened. A video shows a number of presumably dead kids in a basement or dark apartment. Another video shows an undamaged yellow gas cylinder which, we are told, was dropped from some unseen helicopter and crashed through a concrete roof. We do not know when or where these videos were made.

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Besides those videos of murky origin we hear claims from two 'western' paid anti-Syrian propaganda organizations, the White Helmets and SAMS, which claim hundreds were wounded in a chlorine attack.

Interestingly the MI6 outlet in Coventry, the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR), does not confirm a 'gas' incident. In its version of events some 40 people died after their shelter collapsed:

Cont. reading: Syria – Any U.S. Strike Will Lead to Escalation

Last weeks posts:

• Apr 2 – Why I Did Not Buy A Smartphone
• Apr 3 – This Washington Post Headline Is Fake News 

The false headline is still up.

Our Skripal pieces attracted a large number of readers. Many people seem to distrust the mainstream reporting and came here for an alternative view. Welcome!

• Apr 3 – Operation Hades Blamed Russia – A Model For The 'Novichok' Claims?
• Apr 4 – "It's The Cover-Up" – UK Foreign Office Deletes Tweet, Posts False Transcript, Issues New Lies
• Apr 5 – Novi-Fog™ In Fleet Street – Truth Cut Off
• Apr 6 – The Best Explanation For The Skripal Drama Is Still … Food Poisoning
• Apr 7 – A Very British Farce

The farce continues. As the Skripals are apparently alive and well the British government has a problem. When they talk and tell the world that it was actually food poisoning and not a chemical weapon attack that hit them, the government of Theresa May is toast. The Skripals have to be kept isolated and eventually vanished. The CIA might give them a new identity or lock them into one of its black sites. The Skripals house and the Zizzy restaurant are to be destroyed. (Who will kill the hospital doctors?)

The "doorknob" theory the UK spread to explain the alleged injury of one policeman is so outrageously stupid that many doubt it. To counter the mistrust, HMG comes up with an even more implausible explanation:

Russian agents watched Sergei Skripal for a fortnight and chose to strike on a Sunday morning so no postmen or delivery men would be exposed accidentally to the nerve agent. Any third parties touching the door handle before the Skripals would have required the agents to reapply the gel to the door handle, at the risk of being seen doing so.

Sure, that's why so many neighbors spoke of foreigners milling around in the street for two weeks (not). And its why there was such a large manhunt right after the incident happened (not).

Veterinarians in Salisbury post on Facebook that they had contacted the police several times immediately after they learned that the Skripals were admitted into hospital. They offered to take care of their cats and guinea pigs. The police did not react at all. One cat escaped, the guinea pigs died of thirst and the cat left behind was so starved that it had to be put down.

• Apr 8 – Syria – Timelines Of 'Gas Attacks' Follow A Similar Scheme (Updated)

Use the comments as open thread …

Updated below

An alleged new 'chemical incident' in Syria reminds of a similar series of events we saw last year. We are told to believe that each time the U.S. pulls back from the war on Syria the Syrian government is responding with a 'chemical attack' that pulls the U.S. back in.

March 30 2017
U.S. priority on Syria no longer focused on 'getting Assad out': Haley

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States’ diplomatic policy on Syria for now is no longer focused on making the war-torn country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, leave power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Thursday, in a departure from the Obama administration’s initial and public stance on Assad’s fate.

April 4 2017
Suspected gas attack in Syria reportedly kills dozens

World leaders expressed shock and outrage Tuesday at reports of a suspected chemical attack in northwestern Syria that killed scores of civilians, with one UK official suggesting the incident amounted to a war crime.

April 7 2017
Trump launches attack on Syria with 59 Tomahawk missiles

The U.S. military attacked a Syria-government airfield with 59 Tomahawk missiles on Thursday evening.

April 10 2017
US envoy Nikki Haley says Syria regime change is inevitable

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has told CNN that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power is a priority, cementing an extraordinary U-turn in the Trump administration's stance on the embattled leader.

The Khan Sheikhun incident had been faked. An international investigation found that half of the alleged casualties arrived in hospitals before the incident was said to have happened. Nothing followed after Haley's last announcement. The administration was apparently not willing to go beyond the one-off strike. The flip-flop was attributed to confusion or infighting within the Trump administration.

A year later the exactly same development can be observed.

Cont. reading: Syria – Timelines Of ‘Gas Attacks’ Follow A Similar Scheme (Update II)

Mark J. Doran wrote this very British farce. (Publish here with his permission.)

SERGEI:	I'm not dead!
MORTICIAN:	What?
CUSTOMER:	Nothing – here's your ninepence.
SERGEI:	I'm not dead!
MORTICIAN:	Here – he says he's not dead!
CUSTOMER:	Yes, he is. The 'Times' said so. March 12th. Front page. Trust me: he's dead.
SERGEI:	I'm not!
MORTICIAN:	He isn't.
CUSTOMER:	Well, he will be soon. It was a Novichok nerve agent. There's no treatment, and no recovery is possible.
SERGEI:	It was just the prawns, that's all! I'm getting better!
CUSTOMER:	No, you are not. It was 'military grade', 8 times stronger than VX. You were dead in seconds.
MORTICIAN:	Oh, I can't take him like that – it's against regulations.
SERGEI:	How's my daughter? And what about my pets?
CUSTOMER:	Oh, don't be such a baby.
MORTICIAN:	I can't take him …
SERGEI:	I feel fine! I want to go back to Russia!
CUSTOMER:	Oh, do us a favor …
MORTICIAN:	I can't.
CUSTOMER:	Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long. We've someone coming over …
MORTICIAN:	I think I'll write a letter to the 'Times'.
CUSTOMER:	No you bloody won't. Look at the trouble the last one caused.

Cont. reading: A Very British Farce

Doctors at the Salisbury District Hospital announced today that Sergej Skripal's health is rapidly improving. He and his daughter Yulia will likely be well again.

It is unlikely that any targeted poisoning with a real 'military grade' nerve agent would have allowed for such an outcome. This brings us back to food poisoning as a possible cause of the Skripals' ordeal.

A friend of this blog, Tore, sent us his considerations which we publish below. He suggest that shellfish poisoning, which is caused by a neurotoxin known as Saxitoxin or STX, is the real culprit of the Skripal incident. He explains how this would fit to the observable behavior of the British government and other participants in the drama. In my view his theory has significant merit.   

On Wednesday the niece of Sergej Skripal, Viktoria Skripal, received a phone call from Yulia Skripal. She was interviewed by a Russian TV station and suggested that food poisoning might have been the real cause of the calamities her relatives were in:

“Did they eat a dish that one cannot eat, or is it banned in England?

"The first signs when they were found were very similar to fish poisoning.”

Victoria intended to visit the UK and to bring Yulia back home to Moscow. The United Kingdom just rejected Victoria Skripal's visa application because she "did not comply with the immigration rules." No further explanation was given.

For those who have not read our previous posts on the issue we offer a short recap of the case. Regular readers may want to scroll down to Tore's part.

Sergej and Yulia Skripal were found on a public bench in Salisbury at about 4pm on March 4. They had collapsed, were conscienceless and were brought into emergency care at the Salisbury District Hospital. Local media wrote of a potential Fentanyl overdose.

Half an hour before the Skripal's collapsed they had eaten at Zizzi, a seafood and pizza outlet.

Cont. reading: The Best Explanation For The Skripal Drama Is Still … Food Poisoning

Having been caught lying and covering up its lies about the Salisbury incident, Theresa May's government peddles new unbelievable stories to the press. This may divert the immediate attention but time is not on her side. The story will further unravel. What else can she do?

The British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson decided to attack opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn:

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A pity endeavor. It were the lies of Theresa May and Boris Johnson which convinced the other countries, not any factual evidence:

BERLIN (Reuters) – Britain needs to show proof that Russia was behind last month’s poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in England, the German government’s coordinator for Russia said on Thursday.

Gernot Erler said pressure was rising on Prime Minister Theresa May’s government after Britain’s military research centre, at Porton Down, said on Tuesday it could not say yet whether the nerve agent used in the attack had been produced in Russia.

“That contradicts what we had previously heard from British politicians and will certainly raise the pressure on Britain to show further proof that the traces plausibly point to Moscow,” Erler told German broadcaster ARD.

Armin Laschet, head of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia and an ally of Merkel, also questioned (German) the British behavior (my translation):

If you force almost all NATO allies to solidarity, should you not have assured evidence? You can stand towards Russia however you like, but in my the studies of international law I learned of other ways of dealing with states.

Myth has it that a British paper once printed the headline "Fog in Channel – Continent cut off". That British view put the self-importance of the island above anything else. Throwing Novi-Fog™ at the Skripal affair will indeed cut off the continent. It will leave the British government isolated from any support.

The international loss of trust for the British claims is serious. Unless the UK government comes up with a very plausible story with some real evidence behind it no serious European official will lend it any further support.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who's skepticism convinced 165 countries to not fall for Boris Johnson's lies, says that Johnson has to answer "serious questions".

The spin-masters of the May government throw more Novi-Fog™ into Fleet Street to prevent that.

Operation 'Save Boris' feeds new sensational but implausible stories to the papers. It claims that top secret intelligence, which can not even be shown to the opposition leader, proves that Russia tested how to smear nerve agents onto doorknobs:

Cont. reading: Novi-Fog™ In Fleet Street – Truth Cut Off

It's Not The Crime, It's The Cover-Up:

When a scandal breaks, the discovery of an attempt to cover up is often regarded as even more reprehensible than the original deeds.

The British government is trying to cover-up the lies it made with its false allegations against Russia. The cover-up necessitates new lies some of which we expose below.

Yesterday the head of the British chemical weapon laboratory in Porton Down stated that the laboratory can not establish that the poison used in the alleged 'Novichok' attack in Salisbury was produced by Russia. This was a severe blow to the British government allegations of Russian involvement in the poisoning of Sergej and Yulia Skripal.

Now the British government tries to hide that it said that the poison used in the Salisbury was 'produced in Russia' and that Porton down had proved that to be the case. The government aligned media are helping to stuff the government lies down the memory hole.

We all need to make sure that the new lies get exposed and that the attempts to change the record fail.

Yesterday the British Foreign Office deleted this from its Twitter account:

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The March 22 tweet was part of a now interrupted thread which summarized a briefing on the UK government's response to the Salisbury incident given by the British Ambassador to Russia, Dr Laurie Bristow, to the international diplomatic community in Moscow.

After the silent scrubbing of the record was publicly questioned the Foreign Office admitted that it deleted the tweet:

Cont. reading: “It’s The Cover-Up” – UK Foreign Office Deletes Tweet, Posts False Transcript, Issues New Lies

(This is a 'working thread' to collect various items related to the alleged 'Novichok' incident in Salisbury and the fate of the British spy Sergej Skripal and his daughter Yulia. For a wider overview of the case please check our longer write-ups linked at the end of this post.)

The Russian government sent fourteen specific questions to the British government and thirteen questions to the OPCW. There seems to be some French involvement in the investigation of the alleged nerve agent and Russia ask why that is the case.

Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to Britain, further increased the pressure on Theresa May by publicly asserting that the Skripal case was a 'provocation' carried out by British intelligence.

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.

Time Cover August 29 1994

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, reporters dug deeper into the story, it all started to unravel.

Cont. reading: Operation Hades Blamed Russia – A Model For The ‘Novichok’ Claims?

On March 30 the Washington Post, the blog site of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, published a report about the expulsion of some 'western' diplomats from Russia. The move was an expected and proportional retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats from some 'western' countries.

The piece was originally published under the headline:

One by one Russia tells European ambassadors of latest diplomatic expulsions

This is visible in the web-address (URL) of the piece which was formed from the original headline when it was first published.

…/washingtonpost.com/world/europe/one-by-one-russia-tells-european-ambassadors-of-latest-diplomatic-expulsions/2018/03/30/…

The editors apparently disliked the original headline. It was factually correct but did not create enough reason to hate Russia. The original headline was therefore replaced with a factually false one:

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Cont. reading: This Washington Post Headline Is Fake News

This my current cell phone:

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It is an Ericsson T39M bought in 2001. I have used it since. Back then it was the top-of-the-line phone and cost, in today's equivalent, some €600-700 ($800). It has triband GMS which enabled me to use it in Europe and in the United States. GPRS and HSCSD allowed for fast 56 kbit/sec data transfers. I had also bought the wireless Bluetooth headset for the phone but soon lost it. It was anyway somewhat unpractical.

Despite daily use and rough handling the phone itself shows no sign of aging. (The light color of the phone attracts lots of dirt and I did not clean it before taking the picture.) It works very well. The rubber cable coating of the charger has fallen apart which necessitated a support construction, made from matches and tape, at the connector side.

I would love to keep the phone for another 17 years but its battery is dying on me. Originally the phone would be up for three or more days under normal use. It is now down to less than a work-day. Talk time is down to some unpredictable 3-7 minutes without recharging. This is no longer acceptable. 'New' special batteries for this phone are offered on eBay and elsewhere for €50 to €80. But their provenience is murky and the only dealers are in Turkey, Serbia, Hongkong or Indonesia.

The obvious question came up: Should I buy a smartphone to replace my trusted Ericsson?

I tested several of the current top-of-the-line smartphones – Motorola, Samsung, Apple. They were in the same relative price range as my old Ericsson was at its time. But they lack in usability. They either have a too small screen for their multitude of functions or they are bricks that require an extra pocket.

In 1999 science fiction writer David Gerrold was asked how cell phones would develop. He correctly predicted the integration of all media, communication and services into one 'smart' device:

via Esther Schindler – read the full column

But Gerrold was wrong with this part:

Cont. reading: Why I Did Not Buy A Smartphone

An idea for your next Easter brunch, or for a caption contest:

via English Russia – bigger

Last weeks posts:

• Mar 26 – Two Failures In One Day – Missile Defense Is An Embarrassment – It Won't Work
• Mar 27 – Arms Research "Watchdog Group" Lobbies For War On Yemen And Iran
• Mar 28 – Elijah Magnier – How Syria Challenges The Unipolar Order   <=== Highly recommended
• Mar 29 – Last Act Of 'Novichok' Drama Revealed – "The Skripals' Resurrection"
• Mar 31 – Hillary Clinton Ordered Diplomats To Suppress 'Novichok' Discussions
• Apr   1 – The Easter Walk

Two short items on Syria:

• The last part of terrorist bastions in east-Ghouta will shortly be handed over to the government:

Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai – 2:08 PM – 1 Apr 2018
#Duma deal:
Falyaq al-Rahman to #Idlib
Jaish al-Islam to Jarablus/#Turkey controlled area
All heavy weapons delivered to the Syrian Army
A local council with a city, unarmed, to run local needs with #Damascus approval.
End of #easternGhouta and safety to #Damascus #Syria.

• Trump's proclamation that the U.S. military will leave Syria 'very soon' is likely not serious. It is a bargaining strategy to get the Saudis to pay for the occupation they want. The Zionists, Saudis and the dimwits at the Washington Post editorial board argue that the U.S. must stay in Syria to prevent an Iranian role in that country. But the only reason why Iran is playing a security role in Syria at all is the attack on and occupation of that country by foreign forces. When the attacks stop and the occupiers leave Iran will no longer have such a role. The real intent of those who argue otherwise is 'regime change' in Syria and in Iran.

Use the comments as open thread …

Easter echoes the eons-old human festivity that celebrates the spring equinox. The cold and dark days of winter are gone, the bright time of fertility has come.

Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess of love, stepped down into the underworld of death but was revived:

Inanna-Ishtar's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from Kur, the ancient Sumerian underworld, a myth in which she attempts to conquer the domain of her older sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the Underworld, but is instead deemed guilty of hubris by the seven judges of the Underworld and struck dead. Three days later, Ninshubur pleads with all the gods to bring Inanna back, but all of them refuse her except Enki, who sends two sexless beings to rescue Inanna. They escort Inanna out of the Underworld, but the galla, the guardians of the Underworld, drag her husband Dumuzid down to the Underworld as her replacement. Dumuzid is eventually permitted to return to heaven for half the year while his sister Geshtinanna remains in the Underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.

The Christian resurrection of Jesus is probably an adaption of this old tale. Today's fertility symbols of Easter, the egg and the hare, relate to the old Germanic fertility goddess Eostre (Ostara).

When the Christian message developed from its eastern Mediterranean origin it incorporated older local gods and fables to convert the multi-theistic societies to the new monotheistic^* believe. The gods of the pre-Christian religions were not completely discarded but their tales transformed to support the new uniting message the Christian preachers were spreading.

Whatever. It's spring, the darkness has vanished and this is my favored holiday.

Happy Easter

Faberge egg with flowers – bigger

The greatest work of German literature is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust. In part one Dr. Faust and his famulus Wagner take an 'Easter Walk' (Charles T. Brooks' translation, original version). Each Easter Sunday my dad recited this poem for us. I continue that tradition.

Faust:

Spring's warm look has unfettered the fountains,
Brooks go tinkling with silvery feet;
Hope's bright blossoms the valley greet;
Weakly and sickly up the rough mountains
Pale old Winter has made his retreat.

Cont. reading: The Easter Walk