Theresa May reveals suspects in Skripal poisoning

Finally, after 6 months, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has revealed the names of the 2 suspects wanted for the alleged Novichok attack on the Skripals.

Her announcement in the house of commons today gave an account of the movements of the suspects from when they arrived at Gatwick airport on 2^nd March and left from Heathrow 2 days later. May’s account was littered with phrases like “hard evidence” and “body of intelligence”, yet contained anomalies that appear to undermine the story the British public are being asked to believe. In particular:

• On the day the suspects allegedly arrived in the UK, they travelled from London Gatwick airport to Victoria station by rail. Why then, did they make the detour to Waterloo station when it would have been far easier for them to board an eastbound District line train to get to their hotel in Bow? 
• May goes on to say that traces of Novichok were found at the hotel. Given that this is supposed to be a highly toxic military grade chemical weapon, why were no hotel staff or other guests taken ill?

Later in her speech to the house, May accused Russia of failing to account for what happened in Salisbury. What exactly are Russia supposed to respond to? The UK government has, up until now, failed to provide Russia with any evidence that implicates them. Ahh, but May’s government were still “right to say it was Russia” – so that’s alright then.

May then went into full anti-Russia propaganda mode, stating that the Skripal attack was part of a wider pattern of Russian aggression. She cited fomenting conflict in the Donbass, annexation of Crimea, cyber espionage, election meddling and the downing of flight MH17 as examples of this behaviour. Let’s look at those allegations more closely:

1. The allegation that the Russians are fomenting conflict in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine is an inversion of the truth. It is the CIA who have been stirring up ethnic tension in the region as this article written by John Pilger for The Guardian explains.
2. Crimea has spent far more years under Russian than Ukrainian control. Indeed, most of the population consider themselves Russian. As annexations go, it has a rather different feel to it than say, Germany marching into Poland in 1939.
3. According to the Washington Post, the Muller Investigation spent $16.7 million in a year searching for evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. 18 months later, what have they found? Oh yes, that’s right nothing. NOTHING. Wrong again Theresa May.
4. The official investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Eastern Ukraine points the finger at Russian separatists funded by Moscow. However, the official investigations into the MH17 disaster, formally delegated to the Netherlands, were profoundly compromised by granting the coup government in Kiev a veto over any outcomes, a novelty in history of aviation disaster investigation that was considered shameful even in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government and its western backers have far more to gain from staging a false flag attack as this article by Professor Kees Van Der Pijl suggests.

To conclude, May’s speech to the House of Commons today was just another exercise in demonising Russia and forms part of a wider pattern of behaviour exhibited by the mainstream media on both sides of the Atlantic. Could it be she is desperately trying to deflect attention away from her disastrous handling of Brexit negotiations? You can decide.