Coincidence? - Chief Nurse Of British Army Was First To Arrive At Novichoked Skripal Scene
On March 4 2018 the British/Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found incapacitated on a bench in Salisbury. The British government asserts that they were affected by a chemical poison of the so called Novichok group. The case led to a diplomatic conflict as Britain accused Russia of an attempt to kill the Skripals. No evidence was provided by the British government to support those accusations. The Skripals have since been vanished.
Today an intriguing new detail of the case came to light. Spire FM, a local radio station in Salisbury, reports of a young woman, Abigail McCourt, who was given a 'Lifesaver Award' for her involvement in the Skripal case:
The 16 year old, from Larkhill, was the first to spot two people collapsed on a bench in the Maltings on March 4th and didn't hesitate to help. Abigail quickly alerted her mum, a qualified nurse, who was nearby and together they gave first aid to the victims until paramedics arrived.It soon became clear this was no ordinary medical incident, but the poisoning of a former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, with Novichok.
...
Immediately following the incident and with the world's media focused on Salisbury, the pair didn't want any want press attention and kept their involvement quiet.But Abby's mum now feels the time is right for her daughter to be recognised for the "incredible" way she dealt with the scenario. Alison nominated her for the Lifesaver Award at Spire FM's Local Hero Awards, and the judges were unanimous in their decision that Abigail was a very worthy winner.
Earlier reports mentioned that a 'military nurse' had attended to the Skripals. Following the above report Elena Evdokimova checked the name of the young woman's mothers and found a curiosity:
Elena Evdokimova @elenaevdokimov7 - 10:50 utc - 19 Jan 2019We were right, it was Alison McCourt who was that"unknown military nurse" who, absolutely randomly, happened to be near the bench where #Skripals collapsed . Spire FM alleges that it was her daughter Abigail alerted her, but no one mentioned her before ...
Here is the thing. Alison McCourt is not just one random 'off-duty army nurse'. She is the Chief Nursing Officer for the British Army in the rank of Colonel:
Colonel A L McCourt OBE ARRC QHN - Assistant Head Health Strategy / Chief Nursing Officer (Army) - Senior Health Advisor (Army) Department.
Colonel McCourt was appointed Chief Nursing Officer on February 1 2018, just one month before the Skripal incident happened. Colonel McCourt lives in Larkhill, a garrison town some 11 miles from Salisbury. She is known to visit elsewhere.
Colonel McCourt at Downing Street 10
via QARANAC Association
Alison McCourt with her daughter Abigal receiving the Livesaver Award
There is a discrepancy between the Spire FM report and Alison McCourt's narrative of the event in the video [Update Jan 21 - the video has been taken down] posted with the Spire report. The written report only mentions Abigal McCourt and her mother. But in the video the mother speaks of "Abigal and the rest of our family" who were the first to arrive at the Skripal poisoning scene. She continues to contrast "Abigal" and "we" and later again "Abigal" and "the rest of us" meaning that there were more persons on the scene than just the mother and the daughter. In a recorded interview at the bottom of the Spire FM page Abigal says that it was her brothers birthday and that "we" were out celebrating it. (She also mentions that "the woman [Yulia Skripal] was not breathing at the time we found her." How then could she vomit?)
In 2014 the Daily Mail reported (video) on Colonel Alison McCourt's deployment as British mission leader to Sierra Leone where she helped to fight the highly infectious Ebola disease. According to that report McCourt is married and has two children. Her son must by now be fourteen. There is no further information available about her husband.
via Daily Mail - bigger
Neither Colonel McCourt nor her daughter were affected by the extremely dangerous Novichok with which the Skripals were allegedly poisoned. But what about the other persons, her son and her husband, who were also at the scene? What were they doing?
No additional information about the McCourts has so far come to light.
Isn't it an extremely unlikely coincidence that the first person who 'by chance' attends to the Skripals is the top nurse of the British army? An experienced officer, highly connected, who is also know for handling highly infectious patients? Who wrote the script for this enthralling saga (rec.)?
This is one of the many, many 'coincidences', curiosities and lies that make the official Skripal poisoning narrative so unbelievable.
There are also many indications that the case is related to other British government operations. Indeed the whole Skripal incident might well have been staged.
Pablo Miller, the MI6 agent who recruited, handled and befriended Sergei Skripal, also worked for Orbis Ltd. Orbis is the company of the 'former' MI6 agent Christopher Steele who was paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign to write the 'Dirty Dossier' about alleged Trump connections to Moscow. Soon after the Skripal incident happened, the British government released a D-Notice that prohibited British media from further mentioning Pablo Miller's name and thereby the relation of the two cases.
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Long before the Skripal incident happened an experienced Russia scholar asserted that the Steele dossier was written by someone trained by Soviet intelligence. It is thus quite possible that Sergej Skripal, the former Russian spy, was an informant or even author of the Steele dossier about Trump.
The recently exposed British military intelligence operation Integrity Initiative has shown extensive interest in the media echo the Skripal case had in various countries. Curiously one of its papers lists Pablo Miller, the Skripal handler, as a contact of the Integrity Initiative's leader Colonel Chris Nigel Donnelly.
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There is additional suspicion that the Integrity Initiative, whose primary function is to stoke Russophobia, was one of the brains behind the Skripal incident.
The Initiative was also involved in the Steele dossier and the russophobic anti-Trump campaign. Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Moscow, is employed by the Institute for Statecraft, the shadowy parent organization of the Integrity Initiative funded by the Ministry of Defense and Foreign Office. It was Andrew Wood who helped to disseminate the Steele dossier to U.S. Senator John McCain. McCain then gave the dossier to FBI Director James Comey. The FBI used the dossier first to get FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign, and, after Comey was fired, to launch a counter-intelligence investigation (section 3) against Trump himself.
Here is a theory how all this may come together. Back in 2015 the Institute of Statecraft and its russophobic director Colonel Donnelly discussed how to increase sanctions on Russia. In 2016 the Steele dossier was created in an attempt to connect Trump to Russia. Steele's colleague Pablo Miller and his spy Sergei Skripal were quite likely involved in creating the dossier. The dossier was disseminated with the help of Donnelly's Institute of Statecraft.
For some reason the Skripals had to be taken out. Sergei Skripal probably threatened to spill the beans about the dossier after it became public. The highly scripted 'Novichok' incident in Salisbury was staged to remove Skripal and to smear Russia with an alleged murder attempt. Colonel McCourt, the trusted army nurse, was asked to help on the scene. After the Skripal incident, and with no evidence shown, Russia was blamed and massive sanctions followed. The Integrity Initiative, the propaganda arm of the Institute of Statecraft, analyzes the media results of the Skripal affair and continues to stoke the anti-Russia campaign.
It might be possible that Steele's 'dirty dossier', the Skripal case and the Integrity Initiative operation are unrelated. But that chance for that now tends towards zero.
Posted by b on January 19, 2019 at 19:41 UTC | Permalink
next page »As I read this I had two thoughts. The first one is that the Brits have lost the competence they once had with this stuff. "Operation Mincemeat" was, according to all accounts, a marvel in planning, execution, and getting the desired reactions from the German High Command. The "Double-Cross System" turned the extremely risky invasion at Normandy into a success. The recent stuff is a comedy by comparison.
Second thought: Obama was - either willingly or otherwise - a jackass.
Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jan 19 2019 20:17 utc | 3
Thanks for continuing to pursue this b
I am wondering why Jeremy Corburn didn't bring May down this past week when he had the perfect chance. It has made me wonder if there is any hope for UK governance.
/snarkon
But see, it is just like if Trump were to be impeached. The stock market would crash and we can't have that.....
/snarkoff
The house of cards is shaking.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 19 2019 20:17 utc | 4
"blushing"
I was writing about England but thinking of Syria when I spoke of Obama. BHO was not the President in 2018.
Posted by: Zachary Smith | Jan 19 2019 20:23 utc | 5
The Skripal operation was clearly a false flag planned by UK military intelligence. As more in the UK decline into poverty the UK elites are ginning up war to deflect the people from assigning blame to those very same elites.
Posted by: AriusArmenian | Jan 19 2019 20:35 utc | 6
Here's one way she could have made it on time:
https://mobile.twitter.com/RoyalNavy/status/1086623282831523840?s=09
Posted by: Jetpack | Jan 19 2019 20:39 utc | 7
excellent reporting.. still we have little written collaborative evidence.. just as in 9/11 just top dogs saying improbable things.
What seems to me important now is to develop as you have done a set of hypotheses. and to hack at them until we hit the ones which all evidence cannot dispute. Using your summary I rewrite in hypothesis form,
hypothesis 1: Steele's dirty dossier is not related to the Skripal case.
hypothesis 2: Steele's dossier is not the result of an integrity initiative.
hypothesis 3: Downing street personnel were not involved in integrity initiative
hypothesis 4: media reported only supportable facts.
hypothesis 5: Neither the USA or any of its agencies were involved
hypothesis 6: Neither Israel or any of its agencies were involved
hypothesis 7: Neither Saudi Arabia or any of its Arab partners were involved
hypothesis 6: Neither Republicans or Democrats in America were involved.
hypothesis 8: the FBI had no part in this.
hypothesis 9: Developing sufficient misinformation to justify attacking Nord 2
pipeline was not one of the objectives of the integrity initiative.
hypothesis 10: No private interest supported organizing a false flag op against Russia
Posted by: snake | Jan 19 2019 20:39 utc | 8
Too good. That is such a great article b. I have had a great wry chuckle at the folly of human hubris. Fancy setting up your own daughter for an award.
Certainly looks less and less like novichok and more like novifraud with every passing day.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 19 2019 20:44 utc | 9
from the Daily Mail:
Not only is the military mother Britain’s most senior soldier on the virulent battlefield against ebola, she is also the last line of defence for the Army medics and other healthcare workers fighting the deadly disease.
what a stroke of luck Britain’s most senior soldier on the virulent battlefield against ebola was there, arguably the most qualified person in all of Britain to attend to the Skripals.
Posted by: annie | Jan 19 2019 21:06 utc | 10
Coincidence? Probably like most here, I think not. But isn't this something of an own goal? If indeed things are as we suspect, why would you put the daughter up for an award? Wouldn't you want the can of worms this presents to remain unopened? Can they be this incompetent? Well, looking at the Brexit process, I guess we know the answer to that last by now rhetorical question.
Posted by: brook trout | Jan 19 2019 21:10 utc | 11
The story of the heroic Abigail McCourt in helping to save the Skripals must be too good for the likes of The Fraudian and other so-called "progressive" MSM outlets to resist. Strange that such a narrative was not brought up until now, coming close to the anniversary of the poisoning and the deadline for Britain's exit from the EU.
Curious that Abigail McCourt received basic first aid training at school (in which she would have been taught CPR) yet when Spire FM hosts spoke to her, she says that her training was not needed. In almost the same sentence, she says Julia Skripal was not breathing.
https://www.spirefm.co.uk/news/local-news/2782928/exclusive-teenage-girl-describes-moment-she-found-collapsed-skripals/
Off-Guardian on Twitter wonders if Alison McCourt had been involved in Exercise Toxic Dagger (chemical weapons training exercise) staged by The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the Royal Marines in February 2018:
https://twitter.com/OffGuardian0
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/exercise-toxic-dagger-the-sharp-end-of-chemical-warfare
Posted by: Jen | Jan 19 2019 21:22 utc | 12
b, you are too suspicious. Nothing to see here.
Clearly way beyond a serious matter, this dastardly attack on Skripals by the Soviets, er, the Russians, er, Putin.
In Canada our eloquent foreign Minister, in a barrage of outraged talking the talk that was accompanied by making four Russian diplomats walk the walk home, said in words that will surely take their high place in the history of inspired speeches, along with Churchill's 'Never have so many done so much for so few', and MLK's 'I have a nightmare':
Posted by: Robert Snefjella | Jan 19 2019 22:10 utc | 13
And her words re the March 4 nerve agent attack on a close ally and partner of Canada "a despicable, heinous and reckless act" that potentially endangered the lives of hundreds"
Posted by: Robert Snefjella | Jan 19 2019 22:11 utc | 14
brook trout 11
Brexit if handled correctly is a rational move for England. The EU can only be successful as a FEDERAL system - not going to happen . Of course the English need to be more adroit and socially inclusive in their new structures . Import / export systems are now prepared for either hard or soft Brexit ; notice media never mention this !
Posted by: ashley albanese | Jan 19 2019 22:26 utc | 15
Strange - no military hospital in Salisbury but then there aren't military hospitals in Britain anymore. Instead the military use civilian hospitals with a Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit attached but none near Salisbury. The Ministry of Defence Hospital Units do not treat operational casualties who are treated at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Birmingham. You'd think the Chief Nursing Officer for the British Army, Colonel McCourt would work out off the most important site for defence medicine in the UK (QEH in Birmingham) but instead she's based at Larkhill which from memory is where the Royal Artillery is located.
Not so strange - The area inhabited by the British Army north of Salisbury (more specifically north of the A303 road was classified as deprived because of the lack of shopping facilities, so most residents of this area do their shopping in Salisbury which has the best shopping in the area. There are now a Tesco superstore and a branch of Lidl in Tidworth so perhaps it's not so deprived anymore. The main area for shoppers to park in Salisbury is just north of the Maltings (site of the alleged attack) so it's not surprising that someone shopping in Salisbury would pass the bench the Skripals were found on. What is surprising it that none of the family seems to have suffered any effects from the Novichok.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 19 2019 22:26 utc | 16
The Skirpal case, the Maidan coup and the related MH17 downing, the various gas attacks in Syria, the most recent bombing incident also in Syria, the Mueller investigation in its entirety - the sheer incompetence shown by the US and British deep states is simply staggering, and in sharp contrast to the investigative ability of this and other sites.
The US is fracturing, the EU is fracturing, and therein lies the greatest danger. With the overplayed sanctions only making the sanctioned effect work arounds to the point that the primacy of the US dollar is threatened, with the contain China train having left the station and recently pulling into a station purpose built on the dark side of the moon, their only options look to be to either go nuclear or go away.
2019 looks to be a most interesting year!
Posted by: Hal Duell | Jan 19 2019 22:39 utc | 17
@ 4 Psychohistorian
I'm sorry to go a bit off topic, but in the above post, Psychohistorian wrote:
"I am wondering why Jeremy Corburn didn't bring May down this past week when he had the perfect chance. It has made me wonder if there is any hope for UK governance."
Given that the Conservatives and the DUP together have a majority of the seats in the Commons, and that the members of those two parties don't want May's government to collapse, how exactly was Corbyn supposed to "bring May down" last week?
Posted by: Glenn Brown | Jan 19 2019 22:56 utc | 18
It all adds up to stasi state bullshit. They are so arrogant and cocksure of the controlled media that they can even draw attention to the provocation by seeking an award for a family member despite the prominence of the mother and her role in the power structure. Knowledge, of course, will remain limited to those who are canny enough not to believe the received propaganda wisdom of the five eyes spy state.
Posted by: exiled off mainstreet | Jan 19 2019 23:05 utc | 19
So in all the police press briefings and all of the political posturing it was not deemed to be important to mention that the Skripals-on-the-park-bench were attended to by the Chief Nurse Of the British Army?
Even though this could have gone a long, long way to explaining the biggest discrepancy in the government narrative (i.e. Novicock is way, way deadly only, err, umm, they didn't die)
How odd.
How very, very odd.
You'd almost think that the government considered that acknowledging that fact would open up more questions than it would answer.
Hard to see why.....
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 19 2019 23:12 utc | 20
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 19, 2019 5:26:11 PM | 20
She lives in Aldershot like Sergeant Bailey. There is a field hospital based there,
she is the chief officer
Posted by: somebody | Jan 19 2019 23:17 utc | 21
Posted by: somebody | Jan 19, 2019 6:17:21 PM | 26
Bailey lives in Alderholt. Aldershot is an hour by car from Salisbury.
Posted by: somebody | Jan 19 2019 23:37 utc | 22
I am beginning to wonder if Sir Humphrey Appleby and some of his colleagues are conducting a deliberate hoax, piling impossibility upon impossibility and contradiction upon contradiction, just to see how long it takes the unbelievably gullible British public to get the joke and start throwing cabbages and rotten fruit.
Not so funny for the poor woman who died - but then, as Sir Humphrey has often been heard to remark, one cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs.
Posted by: Tom Welsh | Jan 19 2019 23:38 utc | 23
Recall that it was recently established and published that the Steele Dossier was compiled to act as an Insurance Policy in the event Trump won the election. See here. I posted this news as a comment and b picked up on it too, but that aspect of the Dossier is omitted from his essay above. We can see that the Dossier--like Blair's Dodgy Dossier to sell the illegal war on Iraq--has had a massive impact on Trump's presidency, which, whether you like Trump or not, is a matter of grave concern for the institutions of governance of the USA, and IMO is very close to treason.
Sure, the nurse revelation is curious to say the least, but I'm far more interested in the entire disinformation network built by the British along with previous and current versions operated by CIA here in USA. Think back to what Bill Casey said, "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false," then Rove's boast:
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
Add those to all the 100% evidence free accusations made against Russia, China, Venezuela, Syria, other nations and private individuals--the "universal sports doping" by Russian athletes was a massive smear proven to be 100% false--and you can understand why I call it BigLie Media. Clearly, the Skripal story's utter fantasy. But the Brits will kill their own to insure the story isn't compromised--Dr. David Kelly, Dawn Sturgess, and quite likely Sergei Skripal, and likely others from incidents in the further past.
So, while it seems comical, this is all deadly serious.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 19 2019 23:57 utc | 24
The Integrity Initiative was also heavily involved in promoting an anti-Russian agenda such as the Skripal affair.
Either Chris Donnelly of the Institute for Statecraft (IoS), (formally of the British Army’s Soviet Studies Research Centre at Sandhurst), or UK General Sir Richard Barrons reportedly stated that “if no catastrophe happens to wake people up and demand a response, then we need to find a way to get the core of government to realise the problem and take it out of the political space.”
UK
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/01/07/inte-j07.html
Posted by: Krollchem | Jan 20 2019 0:03 utc | 25
@ 3
Zachary Smith: Most parts of “the competence” of British Intelligence are illusory. Check out the Foreword to Norman Lewis “Naples ‘44” in which he describes the alllocation of talent - HUMINT in today’s terms - and then consider a reassessment of the historic merits of the “Intelligence” agencies of HMG.
In passing I note that the noms de guerre of the individuals associated with the farrago of nonsense are biased towards the Irish. Funny that, eh? Almost like the “War Nerd” was correct in his analysis of the works of the “great battler for liberty “ George Orwell...
Posted by: Cortes | Jan 20 2019 0:29 utc | 26
" ...am wondering why Jeremy Corburn didn't bring May down this past week when he had the perfect chance. It has made me wonder if there is any hope for UK governance." Psychohistorian.
Don't worry (and the name is Corbyn) if he had had it in his power he would have brought down the government. He didn't. The reason he could not was that there is a majority in Parliament more afraid of a Corbyn government than anything else.
It is a bit harsh to blame him for that!
"Recall that it was recently established and published that the Steele Dossier was compiled to act as an Insurance Policy in the event Trump won the election."
Suppose that, to the contrary, the dossier was fabricated in order that, once Trump had met his inevitable defeat, the Clinton administration could turn its attention to pursuing its vendetta against Putin- before the Russian election- using Trump's 'collusion' as a prime piece of evidence.
In the ensuing crisis- which Russiagate would have been if the White House were behind it- the need for evidence would be even less than it has been, thus far, Trump would have been intimidated into going away and the Russian opposition could campaign on the basis that, if Putin were defeated, all sanctions (imposed by President Hillary) would be lifted and a new era of prosperity...
I'm not suggesting it was a good plan. Or that it had any chance of success but that the Dossier could have served both purposes, including that of an Insurance policy in the event of Clinton's defeat.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2019 0:31 utc | 27
great coverage b.. thank you... it's either a coincidence theory, or a conspiracy theory... no other choices, until the uk gets down to doing an open investigation on integrity initiative...the investigators investigating the investigators.. ain't going to happen... similar deal in the usa now.. basically this will be when hell freezes over - a very long time if ever.. meanwhile the skripals are persona non grata... it would be very interesting to find out where they are kept... it looks like their is no chance for any type of normal life for them here on out... even if the novihoax didn't kill them, the uk has done the equivalent.. it is hard not to tie operation toxic dagger into all of this... the coincidences are just too great..
@ petri.. thanks for the that.. how did you manage to figure that one out? does that mean that allison mccourt is the daughter of pablo miller, or was allison from another relationship/marriage? of course m16 and some folks know the answer to this amazing coincidences and probably are unable to openly say..
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2019 0:51 utc | 28
@ Glen Brown and bevin with their correction to my comment.....thanks
I was not in my best of mind and along with misspelling his name I projected my desire for more movement by the UK opposition in light of having the government paying folks to work against them.....my bad idealism........
If it is true that Alison McCourt is married to Pablo Miller as Petri Kohn asserts in comment #1 then it looks like the daughter is being groomed for big things in the UK government.....16 years old and already an award for criminal complicity.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 20 2019 0:58 utc | 29
reminds me of the kuwaiti ambassador's daughter in the runup to the first gulf war.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 20 2019 1:02 utc | 30
Petri Krohn@1 - ? Only thing I could find is a reference to her husband Hugh - a prison officer - and her two kids, Abagail (now 16) and Cameron (now 14). That was from a DailyMail article (I know...) from Dec. 20, 2014. She was spending time away from them during Christmas when she was sent to Sierra Leone for the Ebola outbreak. The article also mentions time away from Hugh and Abagail in 2003 when she was deployed to Iraq. Couldn't find anything about Pablo Miller being married or having kids, but many mentions of his home in Salisbury.
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 20 2019 1:10 utc | 31
bevin @32--
Nice conjecture, except that those who devised the Dossier specifically said it was to be used as insurance in case Trump won. Please see article I linked to in my comment.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 20 2019 1:11 utc | 32
The daughter is what's know as a "cutout". You can't have the "nurse of all nurses" be the first on the scene. But, they didn't even bother with the daughter having to call mama at home. She was luckily "nearby", presumably lurking behind a tree.
Posted by: Bart Hansen | Jan 20 2019 1:30 utc | 33
bevin: Suppose that ...
Suppose that ... CIA-MI6 were trying to ensure the election of Trump, not Hillary. As I described in previous comments, Trump's election followed a logical progression that, in sum, indicate manipulation on his behalf.
Hal Duell @21 mentions some of the psyop reality-making: White Helmets, MH-17, Skripal, etc.
Karlof1 @30 notes the absolute hubris of the Empire's "we make our own reality".
Lets say Integrity Initiative, working with CIA and MI6, wanted to use the 2016 election to cast aspersion on the Russians. A populist running against Hillary was the logical choice. The narrative: only with Russian help could a challenger hope to win against Hillary. "Russian meddling" and Wikileaks as Russian agent are major "wins" for the establishment.
Integrity Initiative was formed soon after Kissinger's Op-Ed in August 2014 and before Trump began his run for President.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 1:32 utc | 34
>>>>: somebody | Jan 19, 2019 6:17:21 PM | 26
She might have been the commanding officer of 22 Field Hospital but now she's moved on.
From the QARANC website:
Following promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 2011, Alison attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course. Her initial SO1 appointment was as Chief of Staff, Headquarters 2nd Medical Brigade in York in Aug 2012. Alison assumed Command of 22 Field Hospital in July 2013 and deployed the Unit to Sierra Leone on Op GRITROCK in Oct 14. She was awarded an OBE for her leadership of 22 Field during Op GRITROCK.On promotion to Colonel in Dec 2015 she assumed an appointment in the newly established Senior Health Advisors department and has been the lead for Assurance and now Health Strategy in that area.
Alison assumed the appointment of Chief Nursing Officer for the Army on 1 Feb 18.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 20 2019 1:43 utc | 35
@1 petri... unless they hooked up after 2014, your theory doesn't look very likely...
further to @36 paveways comment from the daily mail dec 20 2014 article - Even though Lieut Col McCourt is a veteran of campaigns in Iraq and the Balkans, she admits this tour of duty has taken a toll, and that she has depended on the support of her husband Hugh, a prison officer, to help her through it. While this is her first Christmas apart from her children, she is accustomed to leaving them and her husband behind. In 2003, she left Abigail, then aged just eight months, in Hugh’s arms while she went to Iraq to treat British soldiers wounded in the Gulf War. She returned there in 2008 for a second tour of duty.
Lieut Col McCourt said: ‘I have a very supportive husband. On both occasions I went to Iraq he took sabbaticals from his job to ensure that our family life was maintained. Yes, it was hard to say goodbye so soon after having my first child but you immerse yourself in your work, and on an operational tour everyone is missing someone. This Christmas he’ll be with the children and my mum will join them at the family home in Aldershot. Of course I miss them all but our focus has to be saving lives here.’
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2019 1:57 utc | 36
brook trout @11
Suppose you were Russian and believed that the west would not attack because of the checks and controls that exist in western democracy. Suppose a deadly incident occurred and Russia was blamed and an attack became more lightly. Suppose that (as a Russian) you knew Russia wasn't involved and that the evidence was very sketchy and didn't make sense. Suppose this was was all in the public domain but instead of the incident being questioned it was just accepted and Russia was sanctioned and other western and allied countries (despite knowing it was nonsense) joined in.
You might as a Russian come to believe that evidence didn't matter, that the west could manipulate their populations at will and the idea that there was some "restraint" on western attacks would be shown to be fanciful. You might, as a Russian, become very concerned that you might be attacked and there was a lack of restraint on the west.
The west are blaming Russia for something they didn't do but, also, showing that they know that Russia didn't do it and, more, letting Russia know they framed them, and showing Russia that the evidence doesn't matter.
Perhaps, not UK incompetence, maybe, it's all psyops.
Posted by: ADKC | Jan 20 2019 1:58 utc | 37
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Like everyone here, I've been missing debisdead, and his kosher wisdom, but it looks like we have might ourselves a new prophet, and his name is Bobby Peru
Hey, man, you don't talk to Bobby Peru. You listen to him. The man's already enlarged my mind. He's a poet warrior in the classic sense.
I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say "hello" to him, right?
And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, "Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life?
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"... I mean I'm... no, I can't...
I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's...he's like, he's like... debisdead... yes....Bobby Peru is a great man!
I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas...
Posted by: Long Time Lurker | Jan 20 2019 2:18 utc | 39
Mr Moon, you have excelled yourself! A brilliant article, worthy of a standing ovation!
'So in all the police press briefings and all of the political posturing it was not deemed to be important to mention that the Skripals-on-the-park-bench were attended to by the Chief Nurse Of the British Army?'
And how embarrassing for our 'fearless' journalists and tabloid truth seekers! Let the crowd cry out 'shame'!
Posted by: Ric G | Jan 20 2019 2:23 utc | 40
karlofi @37
I've read the Washington Times piece. I had read it before I think. And it is OK but it is not very convincing. It depends upon the fiction that Steele was just a freelance working for campaigns.
I don't think he was: I don't think he ever stopped working for MI6. And that the British government's Security Services were involved in doing a job that the CIA didn't want to get caught at. That is one of the prime roles of MI6 doing dirty jobs for US favours.
The "insurance policy' scenario presumably was to work as blackmail which makes one wonder why there wasn't any real evidence there. Just vague scary allegations which dissolve as soon as examined- a nothingburger.
An insurance policy would have included some fabricated evidence but so far after two years of leaks and media promoting the 'collusion' theory we've seen nothing approaching serious evidence.
Why? Because it was never meant to be examined: Trump loses the election, these allegations are made, the lynch mob is ready and Russia is the designated victim. Trump wasn't important. He was bound to lose. He came very close to doing so. It almost was a cakewalk for Hillary.
One thing we can be sure of this was not an insurance policy in the sense that it would have led either to the election result being thrown out or an impeachment. If it had been you can bet that Pence would have been assigned a starring role in the conspiracy. Instead he hardly figures, except that he would be President.
But that's a side issue: impeachment on the basis of Russiagate was never really likely, Trump is as sleazy as Bill Clinton (and that is really sleazy) but there is no impeachable offence to pin on him.
I think you just have to bear in mind that the big game here is Putin- get rid of him the deep state reckons and we are back to bozoes like Yeltsin who will do anything for approval, money and an easy life.
And splitting Russia from China is an existential matter for the Empire- hence wave after wave of attacks on Russia and Putin, most of them involving British Intelligence for hire.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2019 2:47 utc | 41
John Helmer raises an important question, why does the roof of Sergei's house need to be removed? Tongue firmly planted in cheek. The air leakage through the front door of Sergei's house must be through the roof! How else does the fumes from novichok get from the front door handle to the roof? Sure hope they do a proper energy efficient rebuild. Can't go wasting that soon to be arriving at Perfidious Albion's shores horror of horrors, Russian gas. North Sea gas wont last much longer.
Posted by: Tom | Jan 20 2019 2:50 utc | 42
bevin @48
Yes. Not an "insurance policy" for overturning the election. But I'd say that how they used the dossier was exactly how they intended to use it:
- to get wiretaps from the FISA court;- to poison Trump campaign media relations;
- to justify a cloud of suspicion (17 intelligence agencies agree!) over the Trump Administration that prompts a special council investigation after Trump fires Comey.
But there is a more basic problem with your analysis: You think personalities matter. You think it is absurd that the establishment would choose Trump as President over Hillary.
That is their firewall. What you and millions of others think is impossible is a lever for manipulation/psyop. Constitutional lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama can be nothing but good! Western democracies are trustworthy! Well funded humanitarian organizations working in a war zone are heros! Etc.
(Repeating:) MAGA is a Deep State/establishment POLICY CHOICE as much as it is Trump's campaign slogan. A populist nationalist is exactly what they wanted to lead the Empire (just as a populist socialist was what was wanted when Obama was elected.) Trump "unlikely" win was conveniently pinned on the Russians and Wikileaks.
How else does one explain Trump's Deep State/establishment nominations that further the agenda of people that are supposedly against Trump:
VP Pence
Besties with McCainJohn Bolton
Most neocons are 'Never Trump' (or pretend to be)Gina Haspel
Brennan's acolyteWilliam Barr
Long time friend of Bushes, Mueller, and Comey (Comey is Mueller's pal)
Welcome to the rabbit hole.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 3:25 utc | 43
So, where are the Skirpals these days? Inquiring minds want to know!
Posted by: Roy G | Jan 20 2019 3:53 utc | 44
Jackrabbit @50,
You called Obama a socialist?! Are we just making up definitions for words now? Are we letting industrialist think-tanks decide what our words mean now? Perhaps you've been over-served?
Posted by: Jonathan | Jan 20 2019 3:56 utc | 45
re steele dossier, karlof1, bevin and jr... i tend to agree with bevin, steele probably still works for m16.. insurance policy in the case trump won - maybe, but as jr notes - why does trump always hire the most rabid nutjobs for the gig?? now maybe trump is in on the game too and is playing some role that looks more good cop / bad cop routine, but in reality as b noted in a previous thread - none of the sanctions, or actions against russia have stopped.. in fact, they continue to be ramped up..so where does that leave us?
everything seems to be moving in the same direction regardless whether trump or clinton won, although maybe this mueller side show would have been avoided.. either way i agree with bevin, the end game here is to get rid of putin.. the skripal story gets weirder and weirder, but most people have moved on.. in this regard it is as karlof1 says in his quote of karl rove - they just create reality to suit the occasion... facts be damned.. win win for the military and financial complex either way..
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2019 4:28 utc | 46
Thanks b, excellent report. I was having fun reading it until I got to the word ebola. Now there's a rabbit hole of global proportions.
This is all very surreal. I don't feel there can be quite as much incompetence as it seems in these affairs. It's more a case that these false flags have been going on for generations, and the institutional culture of pretense has simply never had to contend with the level of forensic examination that today's Internet users can bring to them.
I also suspect that, just as we see several interconnected plays being revealed in this one case, perhaps there are several more also, and the sloppiness of the cover-ups in part betrays the existence of even more plays and covert situations that can't be revealed. In plain words, the secret actors are caught in the many tangled webs they've woven routinely for decades, and it's difficult for any subset of them to serve up a tidy slice of story that holds water and yet doesn't betray yet more secrets.
God only knows what virological warfare or even population-reduction schemes, experiments and actual field trials weave through all this.
Posted by: Grieved | Jan 20 2019 4:41 utc | 47
First thing to understand is that both the UK and US Deep State are like identical twins. Their actions are coordinated and their goals are the same, and thats been true since Rhodes Round Table recovered America over a century ago. Both are engaging in a war on their middle class. Poverty rate in UK is 25% and that will climb with a hard Brexit. At some point people in both countries will welome a real war with the likes of Russia as an escape from the nonsense that is todays reality. Of course, the purpose of the war will not be to win but to deopulate and condition a disaster weary people to welcome a New World Order, which will be some form of Global Green Techno-Fascism. Thats what the Russia game is all about, and I wouldnt be surprised if Putin is in on the game. Every leader needs enemies, fake or otherwise, to keep support among the disgruntled masses. Putin and Xi are no exceptions
My take on Trump is he was a faux populist Trojan Horse for the unelectable neocons and Koch Brothers so they could take power to execute the plan. He was also likely an intelligent asset since 1987 when he first began going to Russia and about the time his Casinos were bailed out by the Rothschilds, just like his former Bayrock business partner that he cant remember clearly (Felix Sater) . He is someone who can easily be brought down should he go astray over taxes and money laundering given his shady business associates and practices, or as they say in Russia he is Kompromat , and thats what any President must have to be certified by the elite as a candidate. Hillary was Kompromat as well.
These apparent conflicts of Trump vs the Deep State and Democrats is just part of a Fake Wrestling strategy IMO. Keeping people distracted as Trump destroys the worlds respect for Nationalism, Democracy and Capitalism (competitive capitslism fairly regulated actually works). This is necessary to get the world on board for the New Order which will have none of that. Might be the biggest reason the Deep State (which includes the global elites) chose Trump
Remember the Steele Dossier was not released until after he was elected. Why keep it as insurance. Also Comey coming out days before the election saying he was reopening the Hillary investigation lost her some votes. And if Russia didnt leak the emails it was the Deep State controlled DNC or the Deep State themselves.
How has the Deep State made out under Trump? Draining the Deep State swamp?Bolton, Barr, Devos, Pompeo, Mnuchkin, Acosta, Haspel, Ross, Mulvaney, Pruit,etc. More like filling it with sewage. Phew, whats that Deep stink? Trumps been a Deep State Dream. Huge tax cuts, more military spending, etc
So whats the future look like? Who knows? As indicated above maybe a war, fake or not. Perhaps they take down Trump and trigger a Civil War. Maybe both. After they will have to make a sacrifice of the US and UK to show the world the Empire is finished while the elites simply move their base of operations elsewhere. USD/Petrodollar replaced by the Carbon Credit. Tributes to the World Government will be paid with Carbon Taxes. US sells off its military to Global Government in exchange for carbon credits which will be in short supply for population centers whose living standards need to be brought down. Since no more wars military become police to keep the outraged herd under control after they find out they were duped.
Same folks will rule the New World Order as are ruling this one. They will be hidden behind the green curtain doling out the carbon credits and focusing on evolving themselves to become supermen using eugenics , gene editing and epigenetic’s, while limiting resource depletion by the herd with population control measures.
Posted by: Pft | Jan 20 2019 4:58 utc | 48
Jonathan @52
Yeah, Obama was no socialist. But he was ASSUMED to be the embodiment of goodness and was accused of being a socialist Muslim, in much the same way that Trump is now accused of being "Putin's puppet".
Such accusations are part of the faux populist leadership model that I've been describing for months.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 5:07 utc | 49
So McCourt was in fact the unnamed blonde-haired woman who initially attended to the Skripals? Very odd ... it might be a coincidence, like the two Russian blokes in the vicinity might be a coincidence...
I think it goes down much as proferred by ADKC in #44...
Posted by: jayc | Jan 20 2019 5:12 utc | 50
In charge of hospital unit in Kosovo in 2001 when joint UK/US unit set up at Camp Bondsteel. When was Le Mesurier there?
Became Chief Nursing Officer just a week before Operation Toxic Dagger in Salisbury, involving emergency response training for a CNBR incident; would she not have been there, with Miller and H d BG and friends.
Pablo Miller lived nextdoor to Skripal by various accounts. So in that case, young Abigail might have said to her mum - "come quickly, something's happened to Mr Skripal and his daughter". It's possible Pablo is not her husband, if she lives in Aldershot. But that doesn't exclude her from being part of the team. It was vitally important that someone in the operation was on the scene to take charge when Sergei and Yulia started showing symptoms, to avoid some undesired attention, or even administer some other substance. SHE contacted suitable paramedics....
But I think Skripal was a collaborator in the scheme, perhaps unwillingly with his daughter as ransom. I think the whole Steele dossier is a distraction, and the justification for this whole elaborate deception of millions of UK citizens could only be in connection with the criminal operations of the White Helmets and IS mercenaries in Syria.
Posted by: David M | Jan 20 2019 5:16 utc | 51
I can't find anything linking Pablo Miller to Alison McCourt as claimed in the 1st post. I guess we'll find out if b addresses it here or on his twitter site.
Posted by: Sharon | Jan 20 2019 5:17 utc | 52
james @53
i tend to agree with bevin, steele probably still works for m16..
Steele may well still work for MI6. It's really irrelevant. Whether he formally leaves or not, he's probably always going to be loyal to MI6.
What really matters is this: Was MI6 trying to influence the election (probably under CIA direction)? And if they were, which candidate was meant to win?
mueller side show would have been avoided
Mueller investigation is a feature, not a bug. It one of many aspects that give credence to the "Russia meddled" hysteria.
none of the sanctions, or actions against russia have stopped.. in fact, they continue to be ramped up... everything seems to be moving in the same direction regardless whether trump or clinton won
Right. Even in Syria, USA refuses to give up northeast to R+6 despite Trump's having said during the campaign: "Let Russia take care of ISIS".
agree with bevin, the end game here is to get rid of putin..
Putin spent years trying to work out an accomodation with the West. I'm not so sure it is as simple as getting rid of Putin. They need to split Russia and China, or SCO. They need to foster internal divisions. Disrupt commerce, block North Stream and South Stream, etc. And Putin will retire at some point - they must be working on what comes after Putin.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 5:27 utc | 53
@49 Tom. The answer is obvious. DS Bailey attended the Skripal house after the Chief Nurse of the British Army rifled through ol' Sergei's wallet for an address.
DS Bailey then tried the front door handle (thereby contaminating himself) only to find it locked. But being the resourceful lad that he is (was?) he scrambled onto the roof and shimmied down the chimney, Santa-Claus-Fashion.
This, unfortunately, meant that the roof became contaminated and he crawled across it on (contaminated) hands and legs and therefore has to be removed, err, even though one of the narrative talking points is that Novicock is denatured by rain and, well, you know, it's a f**king roof....
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 20 2019 5:39 utc | 54
@ Jackrabbit and bevin with the end game in Russia being to get rid of Putin
End game is always a questionable attribution in geo-politics and if Putin is replaced with someone like him, the elite won't like it. The what of Putin is that he has put the nation ahead of the oligarchs and the elite don't want that to continue. Private Central Bank control must be returned to Russia before the elite will be happy with the "end game" status.
Its all about extension, maintenance and management of the jackboot of global private finance tools.
In the new world order will the elite behind empire find a new host for their God of Mammon religion in the consort with the elite of China and Russia? If the reality of the facts behind this posting by b are any indication, we are reaching a credibility crash point that will test that possibility.
And so we wait and watch what seems to be a slow motion train wreck.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 20 2019 6:03 utc | 55
Jackrabbit, I except, and pretty much believe, you've hit the nail on the head, describing the DJT phenomenon.
Posted by: ben | Jan 20 2019 7:12 utc | 56
@ 60 jr... i suppose you are saying some of this because you believe it matters whether m16 and the cia were or weren't pushing the election for a particular outcome.. just like the mueller investigation does or doesn't matter because it is either another constant focus on that evil country russia, or not... frankly, whether trump or clinton was meant to lead, or whether the cia/m16 did or didn't try to push a particular outcome doesn't change anything as i see it.. we are still on track for ww3.. that's the unfortunate part... none of these details matter as i see it..the big picture is ww3 is coming down the pike..
now, maybe i am wrong and mueller comes out and says no trump/russia collusion to steal the election.. or m16, or the cia cook up something that is friendly to the planet earth about russia and ww3 is avoided.. i would be happy if that were to happen.. i just don't see it and ultimately don't think the mueller investigation or the thought of m16 or cia manipulating important issues matter in the long run... the big picture which is - the west continues to move towards a war with russia.. and maybe it doesn't matter if putin is leading either, but it seems to me things haven't went according to plan since the clean break idea that karlof1 talks about, with the advent of the fall of the ussr... they didn't go according to plan and they are too late to get it all back on track as i see it.. now, maybe i am naive and this developing dynamic on the world stage is also part of the big plan.. if so, we are really not going to survive as a planet or species..
one possibility that would be really refreshing is if one of these 2 timing weasels that were on the inside of any of this were to squeal... the chance of that happening are remote as they were bought off a long time ago, but it is possible.. someone higher up wants to divert ww3 and they have the means to throw a really bad light on the behind the scenes games that have been played.. i am not counting on it.. thanks for your posts jackrabbit...
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2019 7:18 utc | 57
Alison McCourt is married to Pablo Miller thanks Petri that is hilarious,on the day this false flag story broke a BBC viewer made a comment what a shame we had been getting on so well with Russia recently.
Posted by: andre | Jan 20 2019 7:34 utc | 58
@60 "What really matters is this: Was MI6 trying to influence the election (probably under CIA direction)?"
M'Lord, I wish to introduce as evidence Exhibit A. It is the letter of resignation by the head of GCHQ Robert Hannigan, said sudden and unexpected resignation to be effective late January 2017 i.e. coinciding with the taking of office one Trump, The Donald.
"And if they were, which candidate was meant to win?"
M'Lord, may I direct your attention back to Exhibit A, and remind the learned judge that the date of resignation of the head of GCHQ coincides with The Donald taking the office of President of the United States of America.
Because, no shit Sherlock, Exhibit A suggests to me that
(a) British Intelligence was balls-deep in attempting to influence the US election at the behest of US intelligence agencies and
(b) notwithstanding the above the wrong f**king candidate won the f**king election, at which point
(c) the s**t hit the fan and the British made a furious attempt to separate themselves from that astonishing lack of, well, intelligence.
Which reminds me: has anyone seen or heard a peep out of Pablo Miller since 2017? Or Steele?
Where, exactly, is The Proof Of Life for either of those gentlemen?
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 20 2019 8:07 utc | 59
@Petri Krohn @1 Dig deep enough and you will find that Alison McCourt is married to Pablo Miller
There is ZERO evidence to support that claim. It is very unlikely that Miller, who for many many years lived abroad, has a longterm relation with a career military like McCourt.
John Helmer raises an important question, why does the roof of Sergei's house need to be removed?Perhaps the owner is just making use of the situation. The roof was due for renovation anyway and either the insurance or the government is picking up the tab for replacing any part of the house allegedly contaminated.
Posted by: Joost | Jan 20 2019 9:29 utc | 62
There is ZERO evidence to support that claim.
Posted by: b | Jan 20, 2019 4:04:25 AM | 63
Actually Alison McCourt is married to prison officer Hugh McCourt. What I mean to say is that if you dig into this and other similar cases you will find strange connections. Pablo Miller is highly connected to this case, as well as to the Integrity Initiative etc. (But that already came out in your post.)
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jan 20 2019 9:29 utc | 63
there is also zero evidence to support pfft's claim that the well understood physics of climate change is somehow part of the integrity initiative, but people gotta get paid in this gig economy.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 20 2019 9:43 utc | 64
james @59
There are still millions of people that really believe that "this time is different!" The focus on Party and Personality engages an emotional response. Then each side of the duopoly reinforces the other.
And it's not just in USA. What I call the "dreamers" (those with pro-Trump or pro-Russian views) are in other countries also. They see Trump as hero or savior.
If WW3 is going to be averted, people have to wake up.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 9:59 utc | 65
Yeah, Right @61
"Exhibit A" is not conclusive.
What would Hillary have done differently than Trump?
1) She probably wouldn't build a wall on Mexican border.
2) The fear that she would start WW3 is overblown.
Which of them (Hillary/Trump) are a more effective messenger for MAGA?
I think it is Trump. Hillary is too establishment and has too much baggage.
Which makes a great foil?
Hillary, the "most qualified candidate for President in history" and media darling wins this category hands down.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 10:08 utc | 66
>>>>: Petri Krohn | Jan 20, 2019 4:29:27 AM | 65
You're not suggesting that the Skripals are banged up in some maximum security prison somewhere in the UK to keep them away from the media (a la The Man in the Iron Mask) and Hugh McCourt is one of the prison officers looking after them - keeping it in the family.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 20 2019 10:25 utc | 67
Petri Krohn @ 65: Your comment @ 1 was a good laugh and I'm sure it woke up a lot of people on Sunday morning.
Still, I would not be surprised if Alison McCourt and Pablo Miller happened to know each other ... maybe not "biblically" perhaps. :-)
Posted by: Jen | Jan 20 2019 10:28 utc | 68
Any comments geniuses?
China capitulates to the US. Offers to eliminate the huge trade deficit. To buy 400 billion in US goods annually. That could be only the beginning.
Bye Bye Trade War? China Plans $1 Trillion Buying Spree to Reduce US Trade Deficit
So from 2024 China will be buying additional 360 $ billion in US goods. This is the value of the trade deficit. Actually that number is larger, as it is based on the current trade deficit. As US China trade grows with time, this would mean buying 400 $ billion US goods in 2024. Anually after that. Every year. This number is huge. And not only this, but predictably that was not enough for the US and they have many other demands on China. Including forcing the deficit elimination to happen for mere 2 years.
This will substantially eliminate the US debt that you hoped so much to bring down the US.
Of course when you give, they will demand more..and more. The Chinese are strupid. They are empowering the country that will seek to destroy them later. As the US will not tolerate another superpower under any circumstances and will never stop with its attacks and demands on China. Idiots.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 20 2019 10:47 utc | 69
Part of the series of events , the fake staged murder of babchenko and I do wonder is there an integrity initiative hand in that as well ,
Posted by: ISA | Jan 20 2019 10:48 utc | 70
If Wall Street and the hedge funds really wanted to go back to raping Russia, they wouldn't bother with all the aggression and sanctions, they'd be nice and kind to Russia to persuade Putin that he no longer needs to protect it from the hyenas of Wall Street and he can retire, then get to work on his successor. There are enough Atlanticist neo-liberals in Russia to make it work as it did in Ecuador when that pig Lenin Moreno replaced Rafael Correa.
On the other hand the hyenas of Wall Street are such greedy fuckers that they're not prepared to wait to rip the Russian economy apart again and they know the soon-to-arrive next crash (bigger than 2008) makes it imperative they start chewing on Russia's bones asap.
BTW, when talking about the deep state in the United States, it's important to understand that it's run by and for the hyenas of Wall Street and Connecticut (hedge funds) with the CIA, FBI, State Department, Pentagon, etc. being just the hired help who are well rewarded for being the soldati of the criminal conspiracy that is the United States government.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 20 2019 11:09 utc | 71
One has to wonder at the threads that run through life. Larkhill? This was the scene of the military run gruesome bio-warfare experiments that took place in 'V for Vendetta' where the director was a woman. All we need now are some red Carson roses somewhere in the scene.
Posted by: Cliff | Jan 20 2019 11:27 utc | 72
Somehow, all the assumptions are based on the "fact" that Novichok was used. The only real "proof" of that is May's words and subsequent backup by the British state propaganda apparatus.
A simple alternative scenario: The object of the "poisoning" was to fake Skripals "death" or "near death". This was to hide the link to the Steele dossier, Pablo Miller and avoid any possibility of directly questioning Skripal (father). (The whole western intelligence effort against Trump depends on "not being able to identify the source" of the dossier)
An incapacitating agent(but similar to a Poison) was used, and then rapidly the victims were saved by the close proximity of a qualified nurse (over-qualified?).
Skripal and daughter were then whisked away to be hidden and used later. "Novichok was then "applied" later to various items to be used as "proof" when found. Russia was then accused and tracks covered by a wish-wash of statements about "Novichok" etc. from the UK.
Simple - except that Abigail said that Yulia "was not breathing" when found. I take this to mean that Yulia will soon be announced dead, as she apparently does NOT want to remain in the UK and is therefore a liability.
Posted by: stonebird | Jan 20 2019 11:31 utc | 73
@68 Jackrabbit
"What would Hillary have done differently than Trump?"
Irrelevant.
The question was asked: were the British attempting to influence the outcome of the USA election.
The resignation of the Head Spook in the most important British Spook Organization suggests very strongly that the answer is "Why, Yes. Yes, they did".
"Which of them (Hillary/Trump) are a more effective messenger for MAGA?"
Again, irrelevant to the question that was asked, which was: were the British interference intended to promote Hillary, or to promote Donald.
The resignation of the Head Spook in the most important British Spook Organization suggests very strongly that the answer is "Hillary, otherwise he would not have resigned".
You are asking a completely different question: who is more venal, Hillary or Donald?
That is an interesting question, no doubt about it, but it is also a DIFFERENT question to the ones that I attempted to answer.
Which, one more time, yet again, were these:
a) did British Intelligence interfere in the US election and, if so,
b) who were they attempting to promote.
I will say it again: the resignation of the head of the GCHQ coincidentally with the inauguration of Donald Trump suggests that the answers are
a) "Yes" and
b) "Hillary".
Feel free to disagree, but don't do so by erecting straw men.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Jan 20 2019 11:32 utc | 74
Just been over at The Grauniad and came across an article about the the South African Institute for Maritime Research and its involvement in the assassination of Dag Hammarskjöld and 15 other people in a mysterious 1961 plane crash:
“Anybody that resisted any white form of manipulation on the African continent, SAIMR was prepared to go and quell those for a price,” Jones said. “And that is one thing that Dag Hammarskjöld was totally against. He wanted every country for the people of that country. He was killed because he was going to change the way that Africa dealt with the rest of the world financially, and he was a threat.”Jones was tracked down by the makers of a new documentary, Cold Case Hammarskjöld, who were looking into SAIMR because of documents handed to South Africa’s truth and reconciliation commission by the country’s National Intelligence Agency two decades ago.
Unveiled at a press conference by the commission chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, they purported to detail how SAIMR had masterminded the crash in coordination with UK and US intelligence services. Investigators were never able to examine the papers, though, because soon after they were returned to the archives, and the South African authorities have been unable or unwilling to retrieve the originals. The United Nations, which has reopened its investigation into Hammarskjöld’s death, has criticised South Africa for its lack of cooperation in finding the file.
Investigators have been working from poor quality photocopies of just eight documents, and for years there were questions about whether SAIMR even existed. In the UK, the Foreign Office suggested the papers were hoaxes planted by Soviet agents in a disinformation campaign, and added that British spies “do not go around bumping people off”.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 20 2019 11:40 utc | 75
Putting aside the identities of those who were first on the scene for a moment, what is the first thing that a trained first responder does when faced with someone unconscious who is not breathing? Among the things that come to mind are opening the mouth and possibly sticking the fingers inside to see if there is an obstruction, CPR, performing mouth to mouth resuscitation to get them breathing again, etc. All of them involving close physical contact. How then is it possible that those treating the two victims were not affected by this super deadly nerve agent?
Posted by: Qualtrough | Jan 20 2019 11:55 utc | 76
The Skripal/novichok story breaks down entirely when you examine the Story put out by Charlie Rowley, one of the two drug addicts who was supposed to have been poisoned with novichok.
Rowley's story about where he found the bottle of perfume that was supposed to contain novichok is ludicrous. First we hear he found it in the park then in a dumpster and finally in a charity shop bin, whatever that is. He tells us that the package containg the perfume bottle is wrapped in cellophane thereby suggesting that it is new. Now why should he tells us this and why later does he tell us he cut the cellophane of the package? He takes the perfume home as a present for his friend Dawn Sturgess, but he apparently doesn't give it to her directly, because as mentioned above, he says he cut off the cellophane. Rowley now tells us (his interview on TV remember) the bottle of perfume was in two parts which he assembles and then gives it to Dawn. Dawn sprays a fine mist of the stuff on her wrist and then for some reason, gives it back to Rowley. Rowley now tells us that he broke the bottle which in his words, splintered and he spilled some of the contents on his hands. The amount he spilled on himself was such that he had to wash it off. He also sniffed the stuff, because he said it had no smell or scent to it. So Rowley has now spilled this DEADLY WEAPONS GRADE NERVE AGENT on his bare skin and actually drawn this nerve agent into his nasal passages, olfactory system and inevitably his lungs yet he is not taken ill until nearly ten hours later. Jesus H Christ, he should have dropped on the spot shouldn't he?!! Dawn on the other hand, who merely had a fine mist of on her wrist from the same bottle is feeling unwell in 15 minutes and is a hospital case in 30 minutes and dies later in hospital. Rowley recovered from his so called dose of novichok in a few days and was discharged from hospital in a couple of weeks or so. The Skripals were supposed to have just touched a door handle with novichok on it and they were in hospital for months and in a coma at that!!
Now Rowley has in his hand a dud bottle of perfume which is broken and has no smell or scent to boot. Common sense dictates that Rowley would pour the dregs of the bottle down the sink and drop the bottle into the nearest waste container. But he doesn't do this. He puts the bottle back in the box and puts it outside in the garage, because that's where the police say they found it. Why does Rowley do this? Is he hiding the bottle or saving it? What does Rowley tell the ambulance crew who come to pick up Dawn? The first thing the ambulance crew would ask is; "what happened"? So what I wonder did Rowley tell them? This case is about drugs and only drugs. Mr Skripal is alleged to be a drug taker so if you really believe that the two Skripals after some four to five hours going around the town are stricken down at the same time with nerve agent poisoning, she a fit young woman in her prime and he a late middle aged man with some health issues, then you are gullible to the point of stupidity !!
Posted by: john wilson | Jan 20 2019 12:06 utc | 77
John Helmer's blog Dances with Bears makes some good points about the demolition/reconstruction of the Skripal house that are worth noting.
Posted by: Deb | Jan 20 2019 12:08 utc | 78
Can anyone locate, during say the new millennium, any example of a forthright, honest official statement coming from the British government? Okay, maybe that's too tough. How about an official statement that isn't an outright lie? Too tough still? How about one example of an intelligent lie? Too tough still?
Okay, an easier task: find an example of a lie or stupid statement by a British official that has the merit of being delivered with an accomplished, convincing posture and perhaps a reasonably dignified poker face.
Posted by: Robert Snefjella | Jan 20 2019 12:39 utc | 79
Posters don't seem to ask the obvious questions regarding this case. Why wasn't the army nurse her daughter contaminated with novichok? Mrs Skripal was in the ambulance for just ten minutes yet they buried the ambulance because it was so contaminated with novichok. Of course, the ambulance crew, the helicopter crew, two full teams of medical staff in accident and emergency department, ancillary staff in accident and emergency department, other patients in nearby cubicles and their relatives, the staff in intensive care where the Skripals would have gone after A and E treatment, at least one other patient who was picked up later by the ambulance that Skripal was in and lastly, all the families of the staff who went home at the end of their shift on Sunday. NOT ONE OF THESE PEOPLE WERE CONTAMINATED WITH NOVICHOK. So why did they bury the ambulance in land fill. I suggest it was for dramatic effect. By the way, they didn't bury the helicopter in land fill. Too expensive? When the hue and cry went up on Monday about novichok, why did a senior doctor at Salisbury hospital say "no patient in Salisbury hospital was in any danger of nerve agent poisoning" ? Lastly, if the ambulance, the restaurant and Skripals house was so contaminated, WHY DIDN'T THEY SHUT DOWN THE ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATELY?? I will tell you why, because the original blood sample most likely showed that the Skripals had taken drugs and that was the basis of the treatment on the Sunday. Of course, this is only my opinion and a suggestion.
Posted by: john wilson | Jan 20 2019 12:43 utc | 80
Grieved | Jan 19, 2019 11:41:22 PM | 49
Y'know that the US holds the patent on the Ebola virus.
Posted by: William Bowles | Jan 20 2019 13:25 utc | 81
Passer by @ 71
Just as the geniuses' rhetoric is overheated in one direction, so is yours in the opposite direction.
China and the US need each other as partners in the global domination game. Geniuses who really should know better ascribe so much baloney, it is true, to the perceived Chinese "nobility," "humanism", the wonders of the BRI, etc etc ad nauseum. I've even read zen buddhism to describe Xi, for goodness sake. Forever Lmao about that one.
Then on the other hand, you seem to think the US is hellbent on destroying China. Also overheated bunk. That's not how the global capitalist game works. Too much of the US and China both rely on each other's multinationals in the production chain. China relies on the US consumer. This is Trump's trump card in the current negotiations and why Xi will back down, at least superficially.
Like it or not, until the global system is destroyed there is too much business synergy that it makes no sense to the elites to simply put to a self-defeating end simply to please the "deplorables". Ain't gonna happen. Sorry. Nationalism is buttfaced illusion fed to the poor by some hack political opportunists who actually won and whose illusions are now thoroughly exposed.
Trump's tariffs are a complete one-off for the US just as Brexit is for Britain. No one besides Trump and his base in the US believe in these completely jack-off "solutions" that anyone with an ounce of financial and economic understanding (and not drinking Genius Kool-aid) knows will never deliver the fake benefits as lyingly promised by the opportunists. The fact is without a working class revolution to confiscate and redirect the oligarchic wealth equitably there exists no solution for the plight of first world working classes in globalism. It is that simple and it is that difficult.
The grievances are real but the populist's solutions aren't. The geniuses should already know that but, y'know, shared Kool-aid tastes too good and digests too easily.
The geniuses deep down may even know the truth but are also co-opted far more than they will admit by the very same system they rail against to actually, y'know, do anything except rail.
Posted by: donkeytale | Jan 20 2019 13:29 utc | 82
Alison Price married on Hugh K.P.McCourt in 1996 in Wales. Abigail, their daughter, was born in 2002 in Salisbury. Hugh McCourt is a Prison Officer.
Going to Family Search and searching for relevant data one can find such information available. Then plugging Hugh McCourt's name into google an item from a 2014 Daily Mail (UK rag) informs of his occupation in a piece about his wife going off to fight Ebola while leaving him and their two children behind in Salisbury.
This whole Skripal thing is nauseatingly atrocious propaganda and right out of the UK ruling elite-secret service agency playbook. Anything that might cause the Brits and the rest of the west to view Russia as the danger... That anyone can believe this codswallop is beyond me. Perhaps those who, like my brother, don't listen, watch or read the "news = propaganda" as disseminated by the UK's MSM remain skeptical (he doesn't believe the story).
Why the UK imperialist-corporatist-warmongering ruling elites have continued, since at least the mid-19th century (including the period when one of Victoria's daughters was a Tsarina) to loathe and detest, viscerally, Russia/USSR is inexplicable. Or perhaps not to those who so hate.
Posted by: AnneR | Jan 20 2019 13:38 utc | 83
ADKC@39.
Exactly. The aim was to humiliate Russia - “we are the big swinging d*cks and if we say Russia novichocked the man, that’s all you need to know”. Thereafter, it was a lot of contradictory teases (some, like the perfume bottle, taken from a BBC thriller series.) The rationale is to keep the message “Russia = Nerve Gas” in front of the public and a new horror story (“Skripal’s roof is radioactive!”) has been released every time tensions increase in Syria.
Horrible! (And shameful, and dishonourable).
Posted by: Montreal | Jan 20 2019 13:43 utc | 84
As usual things are getting very complex here.
Jackrabbit, if the Deep State had wanted a 'nationalist populist', Sanders was a much better bet than Trump.
Passer by, Trade is the primary means of exploitation: if China commits to spending $x billion the important thing is what she chooses and what price she agrees to.
By the way someone said that all this is premissed on the assumption that Novichok was used on the Skripals. Does anyone else believe that? Does anyone believe that the most dangerous nerve agent ever devised was involved in this case? If it had been most of these heroes who keep popping up would have been long dead.
The Novichok came from a TV thriller, I thought that had been established.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2019 13:54 utc | 85
Also Passer by @ 71
This will substantially eliminate the US debt that you hoped so much to bring down the US
The debt related to the Chinese held US government bonds will require the liquidation of the global system (including China itself) in order to "bring down the US". The ties are inextricable. Besides, the Chinese want nowhere else to go with their excess capital. Propping up the dollar is in their best interest long term.
Thus, the RMB as world currency is also a fake dream.
It's easier and much more effective for the elites of all countries to keep feeding the rest of us their respective lines of BS to distract with newer and better culture industry games than it is to reform the current system against the status quo which enriches them at our expense.
Posted by: donkeytale | Jan 20 2019 14:02 utc | 86
Who better to administer fake novichok than the brits chief medical officer. Drugged once to bring them down, then perhaps again with something more exotic while on the park bench.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jan 20 2019 14:15 utc | 87
Qualtrough 78 "How then is it possible that those treating the two victims were not affected by this super deadly nerve agent?"
But a policeman was affected by something. The Skripals and the policeman had to go through the public hospital system
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jan 20 2019 14:23 utc | 88
Posted by: AnneR | Jan 20, 2019 8:38:55 AM | 83
"Why the UK imperialist-corporatist-warmongering ruling elites have continued, since at least the mid-19th century (including the period when one of Victoria's daughters was a Tsarina) to loathe and detest, viscerally, Russia/USSR is inexplicable. Or perhaps not to those who so hate."
That is the interesting question. I guess competition.
British policy used to ensure there would be no dominant continental power. They used to ally with Russia, you know.
They would ally with the Ottomans against Russia, though. So the classical lines of conflict are the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus.
Posted by: somebody | Jan 20 2019 14:23 utc | 89
@donkeytale
If elites were all in cahoots there wouldn't be World Wars, the Cold War against the USSR or the current Cold War against Russia.
Interdependency? The world was becoming very interdependent just before World War 1 started. Trade dependence does not eliminate wars. Only the rise of atomic weapons managed to do that among the Great Powers. But now these wars still continue, via hybrid ways/proxy ways.
Btw did China lose, or not? First you say "Xi backed down", then you say that does not matter. You can't have it both ways. If that concession is meaningless, then obviously it isn't backing down.
As for RMB being a reserve currency this is more about multipolarity and a basket of currencies detroning the dollar and not about the RMB taking the role of the dollar.
And yes, there is conflict going on. The current conflict betwen the great powers is about a world ruled by the US (Unipolarity) vs the concert of powers concept (Multipolarity).
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 20 2019 14:50 utc | 90
Yeah, Right @76: the resignation of the head of the GCHQ[!!]
I agree with you about MI6 involvement. The resignation of the head of the head of the GCHQ is relevant to THAT.
However, IMO the resignation would've happened whether they were trying to help Hillary OR Trump. Just as the poisoning of the Skripals would've also happened. Both of these events are related to the Steele dossier, not the US candidate.
=
stonebird @75: A simple alternative scenario
Yes! We have to question everything. The is very possible that the primary objective was to squirrel away Skripal. And the Skripals may have participated.
=
bevin @85: if the Deep State had wanted a 'nationalist populist', Sanders was a much better bet ...
Sanders is a socialist-leaning progressive. He's not credible as a nationalist.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 20 2019 15:15 utc | 91
@ Grieved who wrote:
"
God only knows what virological warfare or even population-reduction schemes, experiments and actual field trials weave through all this.
"
I saw/read the link and recalled your comment....
Johns Hopkins, Bristol-Myers Face $1 Billion Suit For Infecting Guatemalan Hookers With Syphilis
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 20 2019 15:50 utc | 92
If Abigail happens to wander into the whiskey bar here, I want to wish her congratulations on the Lifesaver Award. Never mind all the drama as we pick apart the preposterous British intelligence schemes to start WWIII. But a piece of advice: NEVER work for the government. You seem smart - it would be such a waste. With due respect to your mother's service, of course.
Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 20 2019 16:00 utc | 93
oh oh, obsession with details, i’ve been accused.
The descriptions of passers-by of the Skripals ‘on the bench’ or ‘passed out’ etc. were quite consistent. I collected them.
Several mention the discrepancy between Skripal dress - upper - and druggies usual clothing.
Freya Church:
It was a young, blonde and pretty girl and it was definitely the man that’s been pictured in the news – the guy that’s a spy …. To be honest, I thought they might be homeless but they were perhaps better dressed.
Anon:
He had a jacket and some smart trousers on. He didn’t look like the type to get high.
Surprising for ‘druggies.'
// Not treated here. Yulia is consistently a blonde or ‘has her hood up’. Her hair was according to all others, plus pix e.g. at Moscow Airport, deep reddish brown. //
Other:
Oddity: Five ppl describe nerve-agent type poisoning symptoms (foaming mouth ..), as opposed to opioid, e.g. heroin, fentanyl, other, appearance / state / symptoms.
They offer NO description(s) of the people on the bench at all, beyond pronoun use.
Dr No-Name. Treats Yulia on the ground for 30 mins! (This persona may be a legend, confused with the Nurse?)
Nurse No-Name. -> now identified!
Holmes. first name Dan. (symptoms not clear..so ?)
Jamie Paine:
.. raised the alarm in the southern English city. "It was like her body was dead," he said, of the woman, who police says was known to Skripal. "Her legs were really stiff... you know when animals die, they have rigor mortis. Both her legs came together when people pulled (her), and when she was on the floor her eyes were just completely white. They were wide open but just white and frothing at the mouth. Then the man went stiff: his arms stopped moving, but he's still looking dead straight.
Pearson, Emma. Can’t find the details, report gone.
just one link w. - photos by Thom Belk.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/08/russian-spy-new-photo-police-sergei-skripal
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20 2019 16:02 utc | 94
All those fotos of people in biohazard suits, it's all bollocks! Pure theatre for public consumption.
Demolish the roof? It's devolving into farce!
Posted by: William Bowles | Jan 20 2019 16:50 utc | 95
@ Passer by / Donkeytale
Check on M1, M2 money stock / Velocity of M1, M2 money stock for the US here:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
and on Treasury holdings by China:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/fixed-income
http://ticdata.treasury.gov/Publish/mfh.txt
These are official numbers that might tell a different story. I certainly do not know but it's possible that the Chinese do have other plans.
Posted by: Hmpf | Jan 20 2019 18:11 utc | 96
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jan 19, 2019 8:43:51 PM | 37
It is an extremely British institution
Posted by: somebody | Jan 20 2019 18:15 utc | 97
"Sanders is a socialist-leaning progressive. He's not credible as a nationalist." Jackrabbit@93
He is a radical nationalist- Medicare for all is a classic demand. So are all his other popular policies: you call Trump and Obama populists, albeit faux, but Sanders is the real populist. And his campaign was a populist campaign.
The truth is that the Deep State is scared to death by populism of any kind. This was not always true, the said State was born in WWII and built by New Dealers with populist socio-economic platforms.
Your Deep State is an imaginary construct run by wise old Macchiavellians like Kissinger of Brezinzki and their sharp, scholarly acolytes. The real Deep State is a bunch of greedy thugs headed by bozoes like Brennan, who can barely read, Bill Krystol and other second and third generations renegades advised by the sweepings of academia and penny a liners in a news industry which no longer has the money to pay decent salaries.
And it shows- the Deep State is dumb, it has been defeated so often that it pretends that it doesn't exist. These are people who believe that Scoop Jackson was a profound philosopher.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2019 18:48 utc | 98
From the memory hole: UK’s May: Poisoned spy, daughter may never recover,/A>
According to BBC initial assesment of staff at SDH was drug poisoning
Posted by: dgnl | Jan 20 2019 19:08 utc | 99
You'd have a trickier scenario with Sanders. Sanders would have had to shown much more consistency with his stated positions (and the D Party which postures as defender of the commons). Trump as a Republican was EXPECTED to cut taxes further (Obama, fake populist D Party, permanented the Dubya tax cuts which were set to expire 10 years out) and reinvigorate basic trickle down, pro-corporate, pro-capital, anti-labor economic policies. These are soup d'jour for the PTB.
Trump was a much better fit also regarding New World Order because as he fakes Nationalism, he wrecks labor/working class (as they applaud in the trailer parks! Let's get rid of minimum wage and social security!). It's all the fault job-stealing Mexicans crossing the border! And cross dressers feminizing our boys in public schools (which DeVoss is dismantling!).
Trump - like OBama, totally lacking in morals or principles - is the perfect fox in the hen house.
Posted by: fast freddy | Jan 20 2019 19:34 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Dig deep enough and you will find that Alison McCourt is married to Pablo Miller
[The above claim is wrong - b.]
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jan 19 2019 20:12 utc | 1