Media: Agents of Toxic Nerve

Image from The Daily Blog, New Zealand

Previously on YYC:​
Who Stands to Gain From "Novichok" Incidents?
Novichok Opportunities Abound

Media: Agents of Toxic Nerve​

Independent: Salisbury poisoning: Woman among Russian hit squad of four identified as key suspects in Skripal novichok probe

• CCTV footage shows two people carrying and administering the nerve agent and others providing back-up

Where's the footage?  We're seeing a lot of footage of Dawn Sturgess' trip to the liquor store, and there are people hanging around her the whole time. I suspect they were friends who were looking forward to an evening of tossing back a few.

They might even have been the kind of "friend" who wouldn't turn down a windfall from "security" agents to do a little job.  And if Rowley's brother Matthew was one of the inebriated, he might have been induced to remember just about anything, including the fantasy of the perfume bottle and how Sturgess sprayed the contents on her skin.

Reports suggest that Rowley was never alone; even accompanied the next morning to a pharmacy (for an unstated medicine) and then to the Baptist church (for an undefined event). But you don't need Russians to bribe a couple of erstwhile drinking buddies.

The media must be desperate out of their minds to sell copy, judging from the inflammatory lead-ins followed by weasle words in the body of the article.

If you saw anything being "administered" in any videos, will you let me know?  Because, if they're suggesting it was the same with Dawn Sturgess as with what they're now saying about the Skripals, I certainly saw no bottle other than the large one she took from the shelf in the liquor store to add to quite a stash in her bag at the cashier's counter.

I have no trouble believing that the people hanging around Sturgess in the store were drinking buddies looking foward to sharing what was in the bag she filled up. Like kids hanging around the kid who has a big bag of candy.

Nobody has said yet who was partying with the couple the night before Sturgess died, but there's absolutely nothing to suggest they were Russian. Anyway, does their nationality matter now? They've reportedly left on a jet plane like John Denver and can only be convicted in absentia.

I think it's pretty clear that Sturgess and Rowley were alcoholics. They may also have used drugs once in a while, though probably wouldn't have the money for it on a regular basis. They were living off welfare and may well have been considered expendable in the UK's mania to get something solid on the Russians.

Note (below) how positive the BBC appears in its headline and then how less-than-positive in the actual text. They should be ashamed of themselves for this flim-flam approach to news.

BBC: Salisbury poisoning: Police 'identify Novichok suspects'

• Police are believed to have identified the suspected perpetrators of the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in March, reports say. [Therefore, you must believe as well.]
• ... the pair had left the UK after the attack.

Almost haddem, eh?  Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador says:

• ...A lot of versions that we hear in newspapers, they are not supported by the Foreign Office

And ...

• writing on Twitter, security minister Ben Wallace called the reports "ill informed and wild speculation". 

And ...

• The Met Police, who is leading the investigation, and the Home Office have both declined to comment.

So ...

• The BBC has not been able to independently confirm the story.

Here's more nonsense:

• An inquest into the death of Ms Sturgess was opened and adjourned on Thursday. Coroner David Ridley said the cause of death would not be given until further tests are completed.

But ...the victim's sister, Stephanie Burgess, said she had visited her hours before she died.

• In a statement read at the inquest, she said: "I was informed that a decision had been made that the medical staff were going to turn off or reduce oxygen and this would likely result in Dawn's death."

​I wonder who informed her of that.  No doubt there were some undercover people hanging around the bed for this event. And an inquest can take a mighty long time.

Everything points to this couple being considered expendable in order to help the UK save face in its failure to convince the public about a Russian attack on the Skripals.

And now I'm thinking: what if the Skripals weren't poisoned at all, but simply given a deal to go to the US under new names if they first went along with the plot.

I don't know how anybody can give credence to any of this hoopla, and if Sturgess and Rowley were just considered useful idiots, the UK has a lot to answer for, and let's hope it weighs heavily enough on someone that they finally admit the truth.

​But it sells copy, doesn't it? And maybe people won't read down far enough to figure out they're talking through their hats.  Hats are big in Britain.
​