Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
July 04, 2018

British Government Peddles Warmed Over Novichok Muck

It seems that Theresa May felt a need to stoke some more Russia hate:

Just as the World Cup had forced the British media to grudgingly acknowledge the obvious truth that Russia is an extremely interesting country inhabited, like everywhere else, by mostly pleasant and attractive people, we have a screaming reprise of the “Salisbury incident” dominating the British media.

All British media outlets report of a middle-aged British couple, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, who fell seriously ill in Amesbury, a town near Salisbury and near the British chemical weapon site Proton Down. The couple were transported to the Salisbury hospital. They were first suspected to have taken drugs but the police now speaks (vid) of a "potential exposure to an unknown substance" and that they "remain in a critical condition". [Update - July 5: British officials now say the two were poisoned with "Novichok".]

The parallels to the poisoning of the British-Russian spy Sergej Skripal and his daughter four month ago are obvious. The government alleged the Skripals were poisoned by a nerve agent of the Novichok series.  Like back in March the British government will soon name the evildoer of this new drama.

The most curious issue of the current case is that it happened Saturday morning. A lot of local emergency action took place since then. But news of the incident emerged only early today. None of the pieces I read explains the four days long lack of reporting. The British government obviously issued a D-notice and prohibited all news of the case until early today and now prohibits to explain the censoring.

Why?

A "friend of the couple", who had been with them on Friday night and Saturday, was interviewed by several outlets:

Sam Hobson, 29, a friend of the couple, said he believed they had been struck down by a nerve agent.
...
He described how on Saturday morning Sturgess fell ill and was taken to hospital and how later that morning Rowley also became sick. He said both were in hospital in isolation and he was receiving regular calls from the authorities to check he was well. “They thought it was drugs at first. They now think it’s a nerve agent,” he claimed.

Hobson, a mechanic, said he was in Salisbury with the couple on Friday evening in locations close to some of the places associated with the Skripal case.
...
Hobson visited Rowley’s home in Muggleston Road on Saturday morning. Sturgess, who lives in Salisbury, had spent the night there. “I saw lots of ambulances there and [Sturgess] got taken out on a stretcher. She needed to be helped with her breathing,” Hobson said. Rowley came out in tears. “They said she needed to have a brain scan.”

After she was taken to hospital Hobson and Rowley went to Boots in Amesbury. Later they went to a hog roast at the local baptist church.
...
Hobson said: “We went back to his place after the hog roast. We were going up to the hospital. Then he started sweating. His T-shirt was soaking wet. He got up and started rocking against the wall. His eyes were wide open and red, his pupils were like pinpricks. He began garbling incoherently and I could tell he was hallucinating. He was making weird noises and acting like a zombie. I phoned an ambulance. At first they thought it was drugs but … they know now it isn’t drugs.”

He said the couple had been together for a few months and neither worked. Hobson said they both also had one child by other partners.

Witnesses say that people in protective suits were seen on Saturday evening:

Nearby resident Chloe Edwards described seeing police cars, fire engines and people in “green suits” on Saturday night.

"We were just eating our dinner and all these emergency vehicles turned up,” the 17-year-old student said.

"They were putting on these green suits and we thought it was the gas as our electricity was turned off as well."

Ms Edwards said the vehicles arrived at about 7pm and she and her family were told to stay inside their home until about 10pm.

How come this did not emerge in the public?

A specialist "decontamination shower" was taken to the scene by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service on Saturday, but a crew from Swindon later tweeted that “thankfully the incident wasn't serious and our decontamination shower wasn't required”. The tweet has since been deleted.

Other sources also reported the setting up of a mobile decontamination shower. Why would a suspected "contaminated drug" case require decontamination?

Some more details that might be of interest:

It has emerged Ms Sturgess lives in a homeless shelter close to the Zizzi's restaurant in Salisbury where Russian spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter Yulia were targeted four months ago.
...
Initially police believed the pair, understood to be recreational drug users, had come into contact with a contaminated batch of Class A drugs.
...
Sam Hobson, 29, said: 'Charlie was dribbling and was rocking backwards and forwards. He was in another world, he was hallucinating.

'He wasn't high or anything. He was stone cold sober. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I called the ambulance and they took him away.'

The police early on lied to the people living near the place where the incidents happened. It first pretended the issue was a gas leak. Two days ago it still told local media that this was a case of contaminated drugs. But its actions showed that something else was going on.

LeeAnn Brady said: 'I was told on the Saturday around half 6 in the evening that there was a gas leak and to close my windows. Nothing else was ever mentioned to us after that.

'But I haven't seen any British Gas vans anywhere.'
...
Lewis Foote said: 'My wife's friend lives near them and I know there was a huge police presence the other day with firefighters. They were wearing hazardous chemical suits. A lot of people think it might be related to the spy poisoning again.'

It is inexplicable that the public was not immediately informed of a new occurrence of a "nerve agent" in the Wiltshire area. If, as we are made to believe, the two persons picked up "Novichock" somewhere in a park, a warning to the public should have been the very next step. There was obviously a high risk that others might also make contact with the same substance. That no public warning was given lets me assume that the truth is somewhat different that the (censored) official story.

Since the Skripals mysteriously recovered from a "nerve agent ten times stronger than VX" and the police released a hostage video of Julia Skripal they vanished from the scene. Likewise nothing was since heard of the policeman who also fell ill at that time and recovered a few days later.

No explanations have been given for the myriad of misleading and contradicting claims the British government made about the Skripal case. Now we are getting a public rerun of the whole affair with a case which seriousness was obvious early on but which was censored for four days without giving any reason.

What happened during these four days? Who (de-)briefed the notorious Sam Hobson, the "friend of the couple", who now speaks of a "nerve agent"? Is he allowed to truthfully say what he saw and did or does he have a different role in this story?

I doubt that the currently presented version of Saturday's incident is more valid than the fairytales we were told about the Skripal case.

But what is it that really happened here?

---
Previous Moon of Alabama posts on the Skripal case:

March 8 - Poisioned British-Russian Double-Agent Has Links To Clinton Campaign
March 12 - Theresa May's "45 Minutes" Moment
March 14 - Are 'Novichok' Poisons Real? - May's Claims Fall Apart
March 16 - The British Government's 'Novichok' Drama Was Written By Whom?
March 18 - NHS Doctor: "No Patients Have Experienced Symptoms Of Nerve Agent Poisoning In Salisbury"
March 21 - Russian Scientists Explain 'Novichok' - High Time For Britain To Come Clean (Updated)
March 29 - Last Act Of 'Novichok' Drama Revealed - "The Skripals' Resurrection"
March 31 - Hillary Clinton Ordered Diplomats To Suppress 'Novichok' Discussions
April 3 - Operation Hades Blamed Russia - A Model For The 'Novichok' Claims?
April 4 - It's The Cover-Up" - UK Foreign Office Deletes Tweet, Posts False Transcript, Issues New Lies
April 5 - Novi-Fog™ In Fleet Street - Truth Cut Off
April 6 - The Best Explanation For The Skripal Drama Is Still ... Food Poisoning
April 7 - A Very British Farce
April 12 - New Developments In The Skripal Drama - Police Statement, OPCW Report Release
April 15 - Were the Skripals 'Buzzed', 'Novi-shocked' Or Neither? - May Has Some 'Splaining' To Do
April 28 - The Silence Of The Skripals - Government Blocks Press Reports - Media Change The Record
May 4 - Media Use Disinformation To Accuse Russia Of Spreading Such
May 24 - British Hostage Video Of Yulia Skripal Released

Posted by b on July 4, 2018 at 18:21 UTC | Permalink

Comments
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Applying Occam's Razor,I think the take home point is to not live near a chemical weapons lab, or you'll end up being one of the test rats.

Posted by: Michael | Jul 4 2018 18:30 utc | 1

Thanks b
Look at the timeing regards the World Cup ! Enything to take the shine of a Russian success story be it football or Syria! It's blatant
Same monkey same trick.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 4 2018 18:36 utc | 2

Russia is getting too much non-hostile media coverage at the World Cup. Too obvious!

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 4 2018 18:42 utc | 3


Here's a link to Newsnow's aggregator for the "major incident". FYI: Newsnow and Wikipedia are fighting the Copyright Directive of the European Parliament tomorrow (July 5th) - so get the news while you can...

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/?search=%22major+incident%22&lang=en&searchheadlines=1

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 4 2018 18:45 utc | 4

Sam Hobson said: “His eyes were wide open and red, his pupils were like pinpricks."
Yes, exposition to some toxic agents can make the pupils like pinpricks (and newspapers said that novichok has this effect), but this contraction is not so easy to note, because the pupil is not the whole iris and the iris doesn't contract.

Posted by: Inquirer | Jul 4 2018 18:46 utc | 5


June 30:

"A police spokesman said: "At the moment it is not a police incident it is being led by the fire and the ambulance. It appears that there are three people who have taken drugs and had a medical incident. They have all been taken to hospital."

A cordon was put in place as a precaution but police say there is "no danger" to anyone else in the area.

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service later told the Journal that only one patient had been taken to Salisbury District Hospital.

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/16325525.person-taken-to-hospital-after-incident-in-amesbury/

June 30th
---------

"An incident in the Kings Gate area of Amesbury on Saturday evening (June 30th) is thought to have been a drug-related medical episode.

...

One patient has been taken to Salisbury District Hospital by land ambulance.

They also tell us the response from the emergency services has been 'precautionary'.

Wiltshire Police have told us they are 'certain there's no risk to the public' following the drug-related incident."

https://www.spirefm.co.uk/news/local-news/2622250/incident-at-amesburys-archers-gate/

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 4 2018 18:59 utc | 6

Fascinating!

But what is it that really happened here?

Might it be useful to think in terms of the structuring of TV-novelas?

Are such media content events designed for a similiar/identical purpose?

Unlike a literary novel, a soap opera series can be produced without having
an idea as to how artistic unity will be achieved with some universal meaning.

Are serial tear-jerker episodes the product of private storyboard conferences?

Their requirements would be much simpler and less demanding than those of art.

Each episode ends with the equivalent of a lewd embrace of an illicit couple viewed
by an interested, emotionally involved third-party who happens to come in the door.
(this point-of-view would be that of peeping-tom reflex of a mass-media consumer)

The camera is focusing mostly on skin, and a tear in the eye of the intruder, or
else it is a glare of rage... An advantage to the commercial TV content producers
is that they would be able to gauge reaction before publishing succeeding episodes.

Is it the story of some homeless recreational drug users who were accidently poisoned
by a dose of novichalk that Putin intended for a spy sheltering in the British isles
accidently deposited as spare-change into guitar-case of strung-out subway musician...

?

Posted by: Guerrero | Jul 4 2018 19:03 utc | 7

Maybe it is the case that cops are trained to look at pupils and can easily determine their size. I could never do that and I doubt anyone who says so without being trained to do so, and eve then eyesight and lighting needs to be close to to ideal.

Britain must be desperate or they really believe they are pulling this off. They must be getting backing from factions in Washington, they must have unspoken permission for this. Britain doing its humble part in the Russia demonizing to support Trident spending.

Craig Murray pointed out that when actions are discussed or carried out, strategies laid out, Trident is never even mentioned.

Britain is a failing Western Democracy just as the US is - they are getting desperate and trying all kinds of stuff under the general heading of evil Russia. Britain is pathetic when you think about it hollow empty country with no vision or concern for anything but the elites. The entire Western democratic ideal has failed utterly, we live in a multi-polar world now the SCO is far more important than the G7 but May probably doesn't even know what it stands for. Without its association with the US and out of the EU the UK will be about as important as Uruguay or Nauru.

Posted by: Babyl-on | Jul 4 2018 19:13 utc | 8

So, uhm. How does a door handle on Skripal's front door end up contaminating the area near the bar. Legit curious to see how they'll spin this to tie it all together now

Posted by: GM | Jul 4 2018 19:34 utc | 9

I read some where the other day that Putin threatened to nuke enyone who messed with the World Cup.at the time I was'nt sure if it was a joke or gen? I only ask couse I live 40m from Salisbury. And have no bunker.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 4 2018 19:34 utc | 10

Another issue:
Thomas Pany from German online magazine "Telepolis" has used MoA analysis as source for Syria for quite some time.
Now in the latest article, he instead does a u turn, and mocks MoA as someone, who "always only gets applause from one side".
I wrote a posting in the forum there, if you want and speak german, please join me to speak up against this:

Here the article:
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Syrien-Die-Notwendigkeit-eines-funktionierenden-Staatsapparats-aus-israelischer-Sicht-4098761.html

Here my posting:
https://www.heise.de/forum/Telepolis/Kommentare/Syrien-Die-Notwendigkeit-eines-funktionierenden-Staatsapparats-aus-israelischer-Sicht/An-Hr-Pany-Hr-Roetzer-Seitenhieb-auf-MoA-und-die-damit-verbundene-Heuchelei/posting-32644733/show/

Posted by: SteLe/TheDarkCornerInUrBrain | Jul 4 2018 19:42 utc | 11

Hi, i'm back... paul here... do you missed me?

I know what's going on here, don't bother with wild conspiracy theories. Putin is a drug addict and has an agreement with Colombian cartels to provide him with whatever he wants. For free. In turn, he is training Colombian hackers on election interference. Now, after the defeat from England, no cartel wants to provide him with drugs because they have lost faith in him. What the hell, he can't even hack the VAR system, to help us win, the guy who's training us on election hacking? Nope. Nope dope.

So, Putin, having no drugs, loses it. He wants to nuke America, but Peskov manages to convince him not to, because US is not even in the World Cup. So he opts for the FSB operation to skripalize some folks in the UK.

Good night children, sleep well.

;)

Posted by: albagen | Jul 4 2018 19:50 utc | 12

Now that me being an ex-Junkie is out in the open here, i will provide some possible explanations:

-Contaiminated Class A drugs: Heroin sold on the street is maximum 10% heroin, and 90% various more or less toxic filler stuff. That may be strychnin (Which is used as rat poison, and fits the symptoms well expect for hallucinating, valium or related opiates, paracetamol, aspirin, or 1000 other chemicals the dealer has lying around.

-"Legal highs": in UK and in EU, those new synthetic drugs that are marketed as legal substitute for cannabis, XTC, cocaine etc. are quite popular, and they are highly dangerous because of their synthetic nature, and are known to cause severe health problems up to death. In prisons also in UK those are popular, because inmates can pass drug tests easily. This couple seems to have prison and hard drugs experience, and is therefore likely, to have known or used those substances.

Additionally, being homeless, drug users/addicts, they are likely to have trouble with police, and are an easy target for manipulation by intelligence operatives.

And why should evil Putin try to kill some UK Junkies?
Even BBC will have a pretty hard time to spin this..

Posted by: SteLe | Jul 4 2018 19:59 utc | 13

Hard to believe the Brits are going for a second bite of the poison apple. Bad TV drama released into the wild...

Posted by: the pessimist | Jul 4 2018 20:04 utc | 14

They look a bit like the couple in the Salisbury CCTV recording who were originaly identified as the Skripals.

Posted by: Brendan | Jul 4 2018 20:20 utc | 15

Oh, goody!

Now we can have another round of UK authorities spewing ominous ambiguities, full of Russia-blaming sound and fury, in the Gorgon PM and her rotten Tory government's ongoing desperate struggle to keep its depraved nose above water.

I can't wait for UK Village Idiot Laureate Boris Johnson to provide another definitive briefing.

Meanwhile, hmm... I suspect one of those lost, stolen, strayed, or liquidated Skripal pets might be the perpetrator here.

I certainly agree that this story is worth reporting as farce. At this stage, though, I hope people will resist that catnip-like intoxication of sifting through the allegations and factoids to speculate on what it's "really" all about.

I wish this latest afflicted pair well, though. And just to flout my own suggestion and engage in hypotheticals-- who knows, maybe next thing we know the UK government will pay top dollar pound to purchase the crime-scene house!

Posted by: Ort | Jul 4 2018 20:22 utc | 16

The dude sounds like me, having a good time. Eyes rolling back, dilated pupils, hallucinating.
Its my average party.
Meanwhile, in England....

Posted by: dan | Jul 4 2018 20:49 utc | 17

thanks b...

no one really believes the uk anymore... if this doesn't make them a laughing stock, nothing will..

apparently people like bad re-runs and are happy to watch them.. this is the new 2018 version of coronation street i guess..

Posted by: james | Jul 4 2018 20:49 utc | 18

Today I was totally surprised. Headline in The Guardian

There is a cloud hanging over this World Cup and Fifa must not ignore it
An otherwise brilliant World Cup has been cheapened by the kind of histrionics witnessed in England’s game with Colombia and they have become a cancer in the game

Imagine: nothing in the article refers to Russia! Additionally "otherwise brilliant World Cup".

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 4 2018 20:52 utc | 19

"...near the British chemical weapon site Proton Down".

I think you mean Porton Down.

Proton Down, as any fule kno, is the British government's high-energy physics lab.

Posted by: Tom Welsh | Jul 4 2018 20:56 utc | 20

I still stick with the food poisoning hypothesis (that doctor's letter sealed the deal for me).

Both were near the restaurant the Skripals went right before they showed their symptoms. They were homeless people. The simplest explanation is that they ate the same poisoned batch in the garbage of the restaurant; or that the restaurant has an unreliable supplier, which gave them more than one poisoned batch, or the restaurant simply pushes its luck with spoiled food which, in seafood case, can result in some kind of toxins liberation (the practice of recycling expired and sometimes even rotten expensive ingredients is common in sofisticated restaurants).

In the case of the Skripals, the British government got lucky they were Russians, and seized the opportunity. I don't see how they're going to use this now, since both victims are British. Unless they want to declare war.

Posted by: vk | Jul 4 2018 21:03 utc | 21

He described taking Mr Rowley to collect a prescription from Boots in Amesbury and on to eat lunch at Amesbury Baptist Church fair, before returning to his friend’s home in Muggleton Road.

Boots, the church and the green outside it are among several sides in the town and nearby Salisbury that have been cordoned off by police.

Mr Hobson said Mr Rowley started falling ill around four hours after Ms Sturgess was taken to hospital, while they were preparing clothes to take to her.

“He felt ill and went for a shower. Then his eyes went bloodshot and like two pin pricks, he began garbling incoherently and I could tell he was hallucinating.

"He was making weird noises and acting like a zombie. It was a zombie-like state. He slumped against the wall.”

Mr Hobson said he called an ambulance and that when paramedics arrived they initially believed the illness was drugs-related because of his friend’s struggle with addiction.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wiltshire-salisbury-amesbury-major-incident-victims-dawn-sturgess-charlie-rowley-latest-a8431376.html

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 4 2018 21:03 utc | 22

By the way, SteLe/TheDarkCornerInUrBrain @ 12,

There are a plethora of substances that have those effects. Novichock is not one. That just kills you, straight away. No passing out, no hallucinating, and definitely no park benches. Done. Finished. Dead.
Even cyanide kills very quickly. Although Jim Jones might not agree. If anybody wanted to kill anybody else through poisoning, they could do it very easily. Ratex (strychnine), takes days, weeks to kill. Whoever adds that to their product would be killing their market anyway. Capitalism hasn't gone full circle yet...

Posted by: dan | Jul 4 2018 21:03 utc | 23

Yhis "poisoning" meme is not funny anymore, nor comical, that has worn off. It is in fact tragic. It is tragic that the lies are so stupid, thick and unbelievable, that the whole narrative is so crudely pieced together, that it make Pravda' 1970 articles look like Voltaire's writings.
I can only conclude the the Ruling Class in GB looks at its own public as completely dimwitted morons, as they apparently believe them willing to swallow this crap.

Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Jul 4 2018 21:08 utc | 24

Well, it's starting - quick, fake headlines ..


Headline: "Pair poisoned by same nerve agent as Russian spy" (NOT)

"Two people found unconscious in Wiltshire were poisoned with the same nerve agent as ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, police say."

"Wiltshire Police earlier said it was "open-minded" about the cause after the pair, who are British nationals, were found at the house in Muggleton Road, Amesbury."

So I guess the police are now close-minded...

Finally, what also doesn't bear out the headline:

"A government source said: "Senior Whitehall officials are being kept informed of what is going on on the ground as we seek to establish the facts of this case.

"No definitive conclusions have yet been established."

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/361117/pair-poisoned-by-same-nerve-agent-as-russian-spy

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 4 2018 21:14 utc | 25

It is just over a week since OPCW was given more powers. Put forward by Britain and backed by the usual coalition of the killing. Pulling another Skripal so soon after that is more than a bit sus.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jul 4 2018 21:18 utc | 26

Hi All,

First post here - the only blog worth the time and effort to contribute to in my opinion.

Seems to me that as the UK and friends bought the OPCW last week, this incident has been strategically timed so that the OPCW can investigate the 'poisoning' and apportion blame to Russia just in time for the WC final, or am I being too cynical?

Posted by: Brian | Jul 4 2018 21:19 utc | 27

@ p24/25 peter / brian - no, i think one has to be especially cynical given where we are at presently...

Posted by: james | Jul 4 2018 21:21 utc | 28

Thanks b for catching the 4 days lag in timeline.

Early morning, July 4th, British time, it was on the Daily Express as "Breaking News" as in just happening.
And the unknown substance is now Novichuk.

But that 4 day lag, not to worry, 1 day ago the suspects were already identified tying in with the Skripals. The 2 Hitmen with close ties to Russia.

UK Police Allege Two Hitmen 'With Close Ties to Russia' Involved in Skripals
LINK

Britain and its allies continue to blame Moscow for being behind the March 2018 attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter with what UK experts claim was the A234 nerve agent, although the accusations have not been substantiated. Russian authorities vehemently reject the allegations as groundless.
The Sun has cited sources in Scotland Yard as saying that "a two-man hit team with close ties to Russia" orchestrated the alleged poisoning of ex-Russian security agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK earlier this year.

Posted by: Likklemore | Jul 4 2018 21:23 utc | 29

Den Lille Abe @ 23
Take it from me 90 percent of the British public are dim witted morons that's official from me! No exaggeration! Half just regurgitate what the tv / papers say with out question or thought. The other half have just switched off entirely. Tell them 8,000000 could die in Yemen. There eyes glaze over.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 4 2018 21:31 utc | 30

Babyl-on @8:

Britain was never a democracy. It was masquerading as one in order to placate the unwashed masses. They're definitely in panic mode and whatever they do makes them look insane.

I find it amusing there is no mention on why China is not part of the G7/8. If you believe the official narrative that China's economy is the second largest in the World, then one would think China would have a seat at the table. I was half expecting Russia's seat to be given to China to create a wedge between China and Russia. But we all know why.

Posted by: Ian | Jul 4 2018 21:31 utc | 31

James. How I wish nobody believed these fairy tales anymore.

I love Guerrero's concept that these stories are prepared more like Novellas... especially the implication that the script for the next episode is written after gauging reaction to the former episode.

One of the witnesses in the BBC article I read reported believing the gas leak story because electricity to the neighborhood had been cut off. Wonder what that's about?

Did y'all catch " False Flag Fail: How Syrian Civilians Derailed White Helmet ‘Chemical’ Stunt in Eastern Ghouta?"

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 4 2018 21:45 utc | 32

Once again, I'm posting OT, but this 3 minute video is just too funny to miss. Check out the response of a F16 pilot the first time he sees a Russian SU27 perform the "Cobra" maneuver.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 4 2018 21:48 utc | 33

@ Tom Welsh 19
I actually like Proton Down. It's somewhat evocative of a proton with an extra down Quark. Very unstable and would likely have even odds of ejecting an up quark and becoming a neutron or a down one to go back to a proton.

Posted by: UserFriendly | Jul 4 2018 21:53 utc | 34

ah, well...the verdict is in: ‘Wiltshire pair poisoned by nerve agent novichok, say police; Substance deemed responsible for severe illness of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley'


“Basu added: “I would add that the complex investigation into the attempted murders of Yulia and Sergei remains ongoing and detectives continue to sift through and assess all the available evidence and are following every possible lead to identify those responsible, for what remains a reckless and barbaric criminal act.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/04/wiltshire-couple-poisoned-by-nerve-agent-police-announce-dawn-sturgess-charlie-rowley

oh, that evil putin!

Posted by: wendy davis | Jul 4 2018 21:56 utc | 35

Mad cow disease again. Theresa being the lead mad cow.

Posted by: flamingo | Jul 4 2018 22:01 utc | 36

Re Michael | 1

"I think the take home point is to not live near a chemical weapons lab."

Methinks it may be worse than that: just don't live in Britain, these days.

Says this sympathetic anglophile.

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jul 4 2018 22:17 utc | 37

UK Nerve Center Porton Down: ‘Putin Strikes Again!’

The British can’t seem to put the lid back on the vial …btw was this the same one used by US Secr of State Colin Powell in 2003 at the UN Security Council before the invasion and occupation of Iraq? The Ayatollahs of Persia be forewarned!

Must have forgotten to scrub the home front door knop of the Skripals … or was Yulia’s luggage returned via FedEx? Sloppy work by British Intelligence …

Lightning never strikes twice, except near Porton Down. In fact, this second case will prove the first case was bogus. Were the two KGB agents from the Cold War still around?

Posted by: Oui | Jul 4 2018 22:21 utc | 38

After researching everything I could find on Novichok, the only rational and logical conclusion one can draw is the Skripals and this latest couple should be dead. The sad part of this incident and the Skripal affair is how many people actually believe the government's claims.

Imagine being Yulia Skripal at this moment. She had a job, a boyfriend, a dog and a home in Russia she may never be able to see again, because the UK government cannot allow her to return home and spill the beans on this sordid affair. If their is any justice in this world, every rational individual should be demanding "FREE Yulia"!

Posted by: Dick | Jul 4 2018 22:21 utc | 39

Ian @28

Oh, but a communist dictatorship can't be in a club with the superior Western Democracies. Just because they lifted over 700 million people out of poverty who tonight have something to eat while Western Democracy is starving millions of people deliberately in Yemen, clearly communists don't understand the free market.

Western Liberal Democracy is an utter and contemptible failure.

Posted by: Babyl-on | Jul 4 2018 22:37 utc | 40

>>>> Mark2 | Jul 4, 2018 3:34:26 PM | 10

That was me - I was being facetious as Putin is not into gangsterism unlike Obama, Cameron, May, Macron etc.

I don't think this latest version of the novichok case helps the British case at all as it strongly suggests that there is something else out there killing people than a military grade nerve agent. Amesbury is about eight miles from Salisbury and I just can't see how a limited release of a chemical would create a hot spot several miles away and almost four months later. A few days later perhaps but not almost four months although I doubt that'd stop some wanker a bellingcat coming up with some dumb theory that's picked up by the MSM.

As for the report in the Daily Telegraph "Salisbury couple are fresh victims of the Novichok attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal", I suspect that is pure bullshit.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jul 4 2018 22:47 utc | 41

I've been wondering how The Swamp's inner circle are feeling about the likelihood that Trump and Putin will get along like a house (of cards) on fire. It looks as though the reptiles are more than just a little bit worried...

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 4 2018 22:50 utc | 42

The capacity of some people to believe these lies is seemingly limitless, otherwise they would not bother.

Must be hundreds of people fall ill and require emergency treatment each day. Are the Russians to be suspects in each illness requiring workers to go into home wear Hazmat gear and shut down the neighborhood pending tests?


Posted by: Pft | Jul 4 2018 22:53 utc | 43

Ghost ship @ 39
Thanks for owning up to that joke ! Hell in these times a bit of humour is good therapy. So can I stop digging my bunker now !
On a serious note- whether this latest incident proves to be drug over dose or nerve agent is pretty secondary to how it's being used to beat the Russians with. What this actually is,is dog whistle politics. A deliberate attempt again to ferment Hate for Russia in the eyes of the British public. The only trick they know is hate.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 4 2018 23:13 utc | 44

The former empire known as Great Britain, was struck again by bad luck:
Novichok , the magic Russian military nerve agent jumped on another couple after it stayed low-key for weeks, in order to recover from the humiliation of being unable to kill the Skripals, in spite of being "the most powerful and deadly military agent".

Britain lost the Empire's colonies, its greatness (even if this was built on murder and theft) , its economic power, and now has lost its mind and its shame .
Britain is currently a pedophile island, full of third world immigrants and given refuge to all the dictators, criminals, crooks and terrorists in the world.
It is laundering money through its City of London, and this is the only thing keeping that island afloat.
It's a huge latrine with a Crown on top, as I like to describe it.

Now the Russians are randomly "poisoning" ordinary British subjects, because this is what Brits are.

The British government and media immediately knew it was Novichok and the Russians were behind it.
Maybe even Mr. Putin found time to do this.

The Russian team just qualified in the FIFA World Cup quarters ; like Britain did after beating Columbia.
Mr. Putin is practicing on poor Brits.
If the Russian team will meet the Brits in the finals, he may pull a Novichok on them and brazenly win this way, the finals.

I May be wrong regarding this theory, but it is highly unlikely.

https://me582.wordpress.com/
https://artisticexpressions394454247.wordpress.com/


Posted by: veritas semper vincit | Jul 4 2018 23:16 utc | 45

Brendan @ 14

I think they look more than a "bit like"!

Here are pictures of the 2 people in the latest incident:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/04/wiltshire-unknown-substance-leaves-pair-critically-ill-in-salisbury-hospital

And this is the CCTV from 4 March:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/russian-spy-poisoned-hunt-for-blonde-woman-seen-on-cctv-minutes-before-sergei-skripal-was-found-a3783386.html

The woman has the same hairline (off her forehead) and the shape of the man's face looks a reasonable match.

The CCTV is from a local gym and it was reported, back in March, that the police were only interested in that part of the CCTV. They must have known who these people were for a long time, which makes the 4 day delay even more ridiculous.

Posted by: Paul | Jul 4 2018 23:32 utc | 46

Can you imagine if they follow this up with another one in Syria? That would be too stupid but at this point not unfathomable. Seems like they would have tried to make us forget about Novichok and the lies that were told by May and the MSM about it being something only Russia could possibly produce. I guess when nobody is held accountable for spreading dangerous criminal misinformation like that than they just try it again. Even now that there is still zero evidence and no suspects in the Skirpal incident, none of the countries who expelled diplomats have apologized and the news hasn't stopped referring to Russia as the only culprit, so why not give it another go I suppose? Anything to put some smear on the World Cup maybe, though the details of this story don't seem to make sense yet. As far as Syria, the NeoCons like Bolton maybe panicking if the rumors that the Syrian government has made some preliminary deals in regards to lite-reunification and a peace plan with the YPG/SDF. They may do a "back to back" again and do something drastic in Syria while blaming both on Russia indirectly..

Posted by: Jason | Jul 4 2018 23:53 utc | 47

I've been expecting another Steele dossier. If England make the finals it wouldn't surprise me if the team get propositioned by some attractive ladies. Of course they will gallantly resist.

Posted by: dh | Jul 5 2018 0:27 utc | 48

@30 /31 daniel... one can dream, lol... thanks for the videos.. teh vanessa beeley one is very good.. which brings me to the comment peter mentioned on a previous thread, or maybe there were a few mentioning it.. the changes to the opcw - to quote the keyphrase from the usa daily propaganda briefing yesterday "The decision calls on the technical secretariat to establish arrangements for identifying the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria by using all potentially relevant information..." which essentially means this... all the money the usa/uk have spent on propaganda to fund the white helmets, syrian civil defense, 'save our syria', chatham house and etc etc - will be accepted as fact, unless proven otherwise... this will be the grounds for making war on syria with macron, may and trump being the good poodles for saudi arabia and israel, that they continue to be.. well - that is what i get from that..

https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/07/283773.htm

@34 flamingo - thanks for that! just when you think britian can't get any more crazy and whacked out then it already is - this comes along... a better view on britian at this point is the whole country has been subject to some form of mind altering drug.. we are witnessing the byproduct in their msm and political leadership vacuum...

Posted by: james | Jul 5 2018 1:38 utc | 49

The Brits were behind the Steele dossier to try and take Trump down. It seems they hate Trump and they hate the Russians. Trump meeting Putin on the 16th. Perhaps that is why they pulled the Novichok so soon after leading the charge to convert OPCW into a propaganda machine. They have to be desperate to be pulling something so obvious. And the only thing I can think of to make them so desperate at this time is the Trump/Putin meeting or the aftermath of it.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jul 5 2018 1:58 utc | 50

Two things either Putin wants to kill homeless and by that infringe on solemn duty of UK government to conduct homeless genocide or They need to improve sanitary conditions in Salisbury that is laced by Porton Downs employees on a side gigs of drug dealers.

Posted by: Kalen | Jul 5 2018 2:18 utc | 51

Well, I've got me popcorn and a cold beer...

Posted by: V | Jul 5 2018 2:30 utc | 52

Wait! What? This new “Novichok” attack was on “Muggleton Road in Amesbury, where Rowley is believed to live…”

“Muggletown?” Muggle? Where have I heard that name before?

Muggle

Originating from the Harry Potter books by JK Rowlings.

1)A non magical person
2)A 'normal' person
3) A person not involved or aware of your social circle's activities

muggle

NOUN


A person who is not conversant with a particular activity or skill.
‘she's a muggle: no IT background, understanding, or aptitude at all’

Origin
1990s: from mug + -le; used in the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling to mean ‘a person without magical powers’.

I swear, it sure looks like they’re just mocking those who actually think about the malarky the MSM feeds us.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 5 2018 2:57 utc | 53

I just read the Reuters article about this and am not providing a link

The brazen hypocrisy of saying that another two have been poisoned by a nerve agent of the Novichok series and again live.

Oh, and its Russia's fault because they are doing well in soccer and the UK must prevail..........for the Queen!!!!!

How many more are dying in Yemen while we push out our textual white noise about the latest shitload of UK propaganda?

It is the 4th of July in America and the brainwashing runs deep and loud....

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 5 2018 2:58 utc | 54

Applying Occam's Razor,I think the take home point is to not live near a chemical weapons lab, or you'll end up being one of the test rats.

Posted by: Michael | Jul 4, 2018 2:30:35 PM | 1

I am not sure if this is the best application of the principle that one should not postulate unnecessary beings. Michael would ask all inhabitants of Wiltshire, or at least large part of them, to relocate. More economical solution would be to relocate the lab into one of the islands off Scotland that do not have population anymore, but still having crofts that could be adapted for modern habitation.

More seriously, two cases using the same method that is hard to reproduce would postulate the same perpetrator with the same motivation. In the annals of murders committed by secret services, I do not recall a case of repeating the deed with victims that do not have even remote interests for the masters of such services, while this is characteristic for maniacs etc. A maniac working for Porton Down could develop some slow acting non-lethal formulation that includes minuscule amounts of Novichok or Starichok and steal few miligrams of the substance. That would be a scenario somewhat similar to Anthrax cases in USA according to the official version (which could be true even if the particular person that was identified was a patsy).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 5 2018 3:01 utc | 55

Without its association with the US and out of the EU the UK will be about as important as Uruguay or Nauru.

Posted by: Babyl-on | Jul 4, 2018 3:13:52 PM | 8

Yup, it is so much better than to have the status of Palau, Micronesia or Marshal Islands (dear friends of USA and Israel in UN General Assembly).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 5 2018 3:06 utc | 56

If authorities sincerely believe this is another case of Novichik poisoning it would be incumbent upon them to evacuate the entire area until such time they can guarantee that it is not contaminated. I mean, for God's sake, this is a deadly nerve agent "10 times stronger than VX" and it could be anywhere in the vicinity.Since they are not doing that, they must either know exactly how this came about, or that the cause is not Novichik.

Posted by: Qualtrough | Jul 5 2018 3:08 utc | 57

I'm f*ing confused. Didn't the Authorities pull up the yards and buildings affected by the "obvious" Novichok attack in Salibury? They had everything cordoned off, samples taken, the Skipals put in isolation, and yet, even now, like the Hound of the Baskervilles, more mayhem occurs 12 km away in the moors of Britain under the negligent eye of the UK Authorities. The BBC World News is now formally on the case. A RAND Corp analyst is baffled. Conclusion: the whole area around Porton Down is loaded with Novichok and is not safe. Or not.

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 5 2018 3:20 utc | 58

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jul 4, 2018 11:01:40 PM | 53

Novichok or Starichok

Slabichok. The weakest and the lamest nerve agent ever made.

Posted by: hopehely | Jul 5 2018 4:25 utc | 59

Reading this version of events, I wonder why anyone would see a logical connection to the Skripal case. If anything, it raises suspicion that the Skripals were not exposed to nerve agent. And yet, the media goes into a feeding frenzy. How long before we hear "official" intimations that Russia was the culprit, just as we do for almost anything that goes wrong in the world?

Posted by: Rob | Jul 5 2018 4:32 utc | 60

Paul @44

And this is the CCTV from 4 March:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/russian-spy-poisoned-hunt-for-blonde-woman-seen-on-cctv-minutes-before-sergei-skripal-was-found-a3783386.html

Since when did CCTVs begin to wiggle about and zoom in/out?

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 5 2018 5:38 utc | 61

cui bono?
That's what I do not get.
The world cup is a huge success both financial and public relations.
Is May really that stupid and desperate? Brexit?
Cui bono...

Posted by: V | Jul 5 2018 5:46 utc | 62

Hmmm, eating a hog roast. Didn't the Skripals also have a meal at the local pub before falling ill? Perhaps some animals used for testing of nerve agents at Porton Down have inadvertently entered the food chain?

I say the above as a semi-joke, but you never know given the price of meat, someone willing to make a quick buck takes the animal carcusses prior to incineration and on-sells.

Posted by: MrV | Jul 5 2018 5:46 utc | 63

>>>> veritas semper vincit | Jul 4, 2018 7:16:47 PM | 43

Russia play England in the semi-finals.

Putin has invited May to come and watch the remaining England matches - if she does turn up all the rabid Russophobes in the Conservative Party/English establishment will hate her (even more than they do now) - if she doesn't turn up, a large part of her national constituency will dislike her more than they do now - Jeremy Corbyn should blag seats and turn up even if she doesn't

There is no way given the last two months weather (hottest on record) that any volatile nerve agent could linger in the environment at such concentrations. My hope is that Porton Down is desperately looking for another explanation otherwise Salisbury and the surrounding area will become a ghost town. Given that novichok is supposedly made from two harmless precursors, I reckon someone's been making it accidentally.

So far all the claims that it's the Russians wot did it have been in the media and not from the government.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jul 5 2018 6:05 utc | 64

DaffyDuct @ 21:

I would not attach any credibility to anything Sam Hobson says. He appears to be the go-to man for any information the Western MSM wants.

As B indicated in his post, Hobson has been in trouble with police before and served only part of his jail sentence. What did he agree to with the police, that he was allowed early release? Is he playing a role in what may turn out be an ongoing reality-TV crime soap opera drama to drum up "ratings" for the BBC and the print news media? Is the public intended to be an unwitting and unwilling audience? Is the soap opera changing and morphing in a way intended to confuse people like us at MoA and other blogs into over-analysing the events, trying to parse what it all means and making predictions as to what will happen next?

Had Sturgess and Rowley been poisoned at another location not in Wiltshire, the connection with the Skripals would not have been made and their predicament could be written off as one of many drug overdose incidents. Could it be that their poisoning was deliberately staged? Or was their poisoning accidental but because they happened to be in Amesbury (not far from Porton Down and Salisbury), someone saw an opportunity to link their poisoning to the Skripal poisoning, in order to derail Internet chatter into seeing some sort of "connection"? Hobson would have been a useful actor in this regard as he lives in the area.

In other words, we're the targets of a particular kind of false flag attack, not the unfortunate Dawn Sturgess or Charlie Rowley. What are we not supposed to look at "over there", why are we being made to look "over here"?

Posted by: Jen | Jul 5 2018 6:44 utc | 65

...
Since when did CCTVs begin to wiggle about and zoom in/out?
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 5, 2018 1:38:11 AM | 59

Good question. Embarrassing answer?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 5 2018 6:53 utc | 66

Perhaps the authorities feel the audience is getting a little jaded and these two will sadly pass on after a suitable length, tear jerking illness, though it seems like they are using a compound that has a large window between serious illness and death.
Hits are close to Porton Down so most likely a chemical that breaks down very quickly after mixing or is extremely volatile.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jul 5 2018 7:12 utc | 67

Regardless of what happend, it is now a psyop used by gov/media to try to stop on the one hand Trump/Russia meeting and smear Russia during the football cup.

Posted by: Zanon | Jul 5 2018 7:14 utc | 68

To add to that, breakdown residues in the blood would need to look something like the breakdown residues of one of the compounds of the Novichok group.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jul 5 2018 7:16 utc | 69

Minor detail but see the witness Sam Hobson talking to the Guardian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tHIm5pWz3A "Now they know it's not the drugs" and "Dawn doesn't do drugs". Not THE drugs in english means drugs were involved but the speaker does not think they are the cause of the illness. Equally the assertion that Dawn does not do drugs only serves to imply that Charlie does do drugs and is hardly proof that Dawn does not!

Posted by: Drugam | Jul 5 2018 7:16 utc | 70

this story will grow until it reaches a crescendo right before Trump leaves for the Nato meeting and the finals of the world cup. I think a lot of people were expecting something like this to happen.

Posted by: Erelis | Jul 5 2018 7:22 utc | 71

This morning on Sky News, M.P. Ben Wallace, Home Office Security Minister, told a bare faced lie when he stated categorically that from day one of the Skripal affair the Government had requested assistance from Russian authorities in uncovering just what happened when in fact it is the U.K. Government that has consistently refused to have any dealings with the Russians.

Posted by: Brian Living | Jul 5 2018 7:55 utc | 72

Erelis

INdeed, days ago UK also mentioned that they are on the track and have 2 russian suspects for the Skripal, this will likely snowball from now.

Posted by: Zanon | Jul 5 2018 7:55 utc | 73

72

The assistance UK required was that Russia go on world media and tell UK how Russia had poisoned the Skripals

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jul 5 2018 8:00 utc | 74

Maybe they thought they'd try 'Novicoke', just for a change.

Posted by: Brian Living | Jul 5 2018 8:01 utc | 75

The Skripals were MURDERED by the Brits. Probably due to connection with Steele Dossier.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 5 2018 8:28 utc | 76

Several commenters noted the following facts :
1° Olly Field, who saw the bench scene, testified that the woman on the bench had blond hair;
2° Freya Church, who saw the bench scene, said she was 100 % sure that the man and the woman on the first published CCTV video were the same people as on the bench; since the woman on the CCTV video is blond, this implies that the woman on the bench was blond;
3° several witnesses said (and insisted) that, on the same day, the hair of Yulia Skripal was reddish brown;
4° no other testimony goes in another direction.
It suggests that the woman on the bench was not Yulia Skripal.
By the way, I don't have the impression that the persons on the CCTV video are the persons from Amesbury.

Posted by: Inquirer | Jul 5 2018 8:31 utc | 77

Maybe I am missing something, but when Trump arrives in London next week (after attending the Nato summit), will he not be asking May "why did you allow M16 to help the FBI undermine my attempt to become president by giving them the Golden Shower dossier? Why should I help you treacherous Limeys?" And all that May - who is about to cast off the UK from its European allies - will be able to do is to blush and say sorry. That's fun to think about. But this new nonsense is probably helping to prepare the ground for the Nato meeting.

Posted by: Montreal | Jul 5 2018 8:35 utc | 78

It may seem like high farce, and the most ridiculous and unbelievable rerun of four months ago, but we shouldn't take it too lightly, nor imagine this is just to "keep up the pressure" against Russia.
After the way that the "novichok" nonsense has been completely debunked - completely - along with its companion the White Helmets, their mutual resuscitation by the UK government/GCHQ can only indicate a criminality and intent that presages worse to come.
They could have let this all die, and come up with some other stuff, but no - it the old new CHOK farce again, and the Guardian and BBC will suck it all up and spew it out to the greedy hordes of addicts...

Posted by: David M | Jul 5 2018 8:39 utc | 79

It was the skripals that first introduced me to m o a. I need to write and thank them, any one got there address ? Oh wait !
V @ 52 pass the pop corn.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jul 5 2018 8:46 utc | 80

Norwegian @ 61
Hoarsewhisperer @66

You will understand the wobbling from this link: it is a video taken of the monitor playing the CCTV:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2018/mar/06/russian-spy-mystery-cctv-emerges-of-two-people-police-are-looking-for-video

The CCTV camera was monitoring the door of SnapFitness 24-7. This link will show you the outside of the gym and if you pan around you can see it is a covered walkway:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.0696997,-1.7972648,3a,75y,165.15h,70.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scbNxGqkkKjZk1pmo1m0QUg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The really interesting thing about the video, is that both of them look directly at the camera - the woman even turns her head to keep looking all the time she is in view. If you check the link above, there really is nothing else to look at. Why would they do that? Was it a signal to someone monitoring the CCTV that they were on their way - at that point they were less than 1 minute away from the park bench and the conspicuous red bag was later seen at the bench.

Posted by: Paul | Jul 5 2018 8:47 utc | 81

@ GhostShip 64
While I agree with most of your comment, I do not term ingredients in Round-UP harmless, nor some of the organ-phosphates in some pesticides (Malathion). Although not nerve agents, they are very poisonous and can harm you very seriously.
Draw a parallel to high explosives, relatively safe ingredients, but mixed very dangerous.
Search for "Things I wont work with", a humorous take on dangerous chemistry.

Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Jul 5 2018 9:17 utc | 82

Posted by: Paul | Jul 5, 2018 4:47:47 AM | 81

Norwegian's query seemed a good one. I didn't watch the video before commenting. After reading your comment I tried N's original link and got a "Not found" error. Guess how surprised I wasn't?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 5 2018 9:22 utc | 83

Aha perfidious albion is trying a different angle of approach to conceal england's culpability for the poisoning of citizens albeit impoverished non-human residents such as Charles Rowley, 45, and his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess have been characterized as being. I lifted the names and description from the torygraph, the guardian wouldn't have cast Sturgess as Rowley's possession, they would have found a less genderist way of demeaning the pair while still informing the middle class readership of their status as beings who don't matter. More references to homeless shelters and public housing thrown in with insinuations about addiction maybe even attendance at 12 step bleats with extra stress on how their alleged drinking on the night in question indicating that they weren't 'clean' forgetting that about 90% of the readership and 100% of the reporters are equally if not more unclean.

The english government is using an awful backstabbing routine to blame Russia this time. yeah what else is new.
From the Torygraph story headlined
Novichok poisoning: Minister appeals for Russia to 'fill in clues' as couple fall victim to Salisbury nerve agent :

"Amid fears the public in Salisbury could still be at risk, Ben Wallace, the security minister, confirmed on Thursday the "working assumption" is the couple taken ill in Amesbury - around eight miles from Salisbury - on Saturday were not targeted victims, but encountered the substance accidentally. Novichok can be inhaled as a fine powder, absorbed through the skin or ingested.

He called on Moscow to provide information, saying: "The Russian state could put this wrong right. They could tell us what happened. What they did. And fill in some of the significant gaps that we are trying to pursue."

Posted by: Herman J Kweeblefezer | Jul 5 2018 9:22 utc | 84

Posted by: Guerrero | Jul 4, 2018 3:03:00 PM | 7

Craig Murray points out that they are not the poor unconnected down and outs the media tries to make them.

One thing struck me from the witness accounts - the woman took a bath when she started feeling unwell, the guy a shower.

As if they knew they might have been poisoned by skin contact.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 5 2018 9:29 utc | 85

Dawn Sturgess lives at a homeless shelter which is less than 300 meters from the restaurant where Sergei and Yulia Skripal ate before they became ill. Remember that a Skripal cousin claimed that Sergei and Yulia Skripal suffered 'food poisoning.' With the poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, it points to the restaurant and there is a chance that these have been cases of food poisoning.

Posted by: Thomas Murphy | Jul 5 2018 9:34 utc | 86

Herman J Kweeblefezer | Jul 5, 2018 5:22:57 AM | 84
Not surprising the lengths to which the Brit government will go to paint guilt elsewhere; Russia of course.
Is the world going to buy this program? Problably, but; not nearly as much as say, a month ago?
Russia is winning the PR war by a wide margine; it makes the west crazy with frustration; as they slide to oblivion...
May the west not RIP...

Posted by: V | Jul 5 2018 9:37 utc | 87

The thing is...if other people start turning up with, according to the lucid eyewitness, identical symptoms to the Skripals...
“Charlie started sweating and acting strange, rocking back and forth, his eyes wide open,” "(the woman) "was foaming at the mouth".....then people might say "this is just like the Novichok business" and plant the notion in peoples' minds that the Skripals were affected by something other than Novichok. Ergo, all similar occurrences will have to be deemed by govt as Novichok related.

Posted by: Guy | Jul 5 2018 9:43 utc | 88

Yulia Skripal returning soon to Russia

Connected?

Posted by: somebody | Jul 5 2018 9:45 utc | 89

The common factor in this terrifying affair: Zizzi's Restaurant. Next time you're in Salisbury and fancy an Italian - go to Pizza Hut.

Posted by: osibisa | Jul 5 2018 9:53 utc | 90

add to 89

Not surprisingly the Tass version of Yulia returning sounds different.

But they agree that Yulia phoned Victoria and that she wants to return.

So is British police now solving the incident?

Posted by: somebody | Jul 5 2018 9:58 utc | 91

Or some chemical at Zizzi's Restaurant? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5484939/Chemical-teams-prepare-ENTER-Zizzi-spy-meal.html
And here is the video where I learned that Dawn Sturgess lives at a homeless shelter which is less than 300 meters from the restaurant where Sergei and Yulia Skripal ate before they became ill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVY7yVo2LZA

Posted by: Thomas Murphy | Jul 5 2018 10:04 utc | 92

Hoarsewhisperer @ 83

'N' had copied a link from my earlier post - something clearly went wrong. This is a working link:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/russian-spy-poisoned-hunt-for-blonde-woman-seen-on-cctv-minutes-before-sergei-skripal-was-found-a3783386.html

Posted by: Paul | Jul 5 2018 10:15 utc | 93

Yulia Skripal returning soon to Russia
Connected?
Posted by: somebody | Jul 5, 2018 5:45:11 AM | 89

The UK Media are in D-Notice lock-down and it's a UK Media report about a Russian Media rumour. Can anyone confidently rule out "concerned" virtue-signalling by Ms May's reptiles via captive UK Media stenographers?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 5 2018 10:19 utc | 94

Meanwhile the NYT says we don't know much about what is going on, but pins the deed on Russian agents sent to kill the Skipals who would have left some of their poison behind. Yawn.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/04/world/europe/salisbury-poison-skripal-amesbury.html

Posted by: fx | Jul 5 2018 10:21 utc | 95

92
Would have to be Botulism

Botulism seems to work inhibiting acetylcholine same as Novichok.

They should be able to distinguish it from Novichok in a laboratory though.

This theory would involve an accidental poisoning combined with a politically inspired spread of Novichok. And does not explain the detective.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 5 2018 10:30 utc | 96

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 5, 2018 6:19:06 AM | 94

Tass is owned by the Russian Government. If they report a rumour it is an official rumour.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 5 2018 10:33 utc | 97

94
Add to political situation.

Britain needs detente with Russia as the US - Trump - are obviously coming to an agreement.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 5 2018 10:34 utc | 98

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 5, 2018 6:19:06 AM | 94

i.e. Why bother citing a Russian newspaper when DailyMail could simply have asked the May Govt if it's true and then stenographed the reply for their readers?
Too easy, or not enough bs?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 5 2018 10:38 utc | 99

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5919211/Amesbury-couple-exposed-Novichok-poison-fight-lives.html?

90% of comments express extreme disbelief.
All subsequent articles are under moderation to control the message.
Says it all really.

Posted by: Kaiama | Jul 5 2018 10:40 utc | 100

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