By Ray McGovern and William Binney
https://consortiumnews.com/
Probable Western Responsibility for Skripal Poisoning
Who Poisoned the Skripals, and Why? Was it the Usual Suspects in Her Majesty’s Service?
By former UK Ambassador Craig Murray, April 28, 2018
https://www.craigmurray.org.
By former UK Ambassador Craig Murray, April 28, 2018
https://www.craigmurray.org.
Ambassador Murray quit Her Majesty’s Foreign Service at the height of his early career because it condoned torture by Uzbek thugs doing the bidding of CIA thugs. The British Establishment did all it could to award Murray pariah status — with steadily diminishing success. In contrast, Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) presented Amb. Murray in 2005 with its annual Sam Adams Award. ( See:
http://samadamsaward.ch/craig-
It is particularly good to see Clive Ponting back in the public eye. For those unaware of Ponting’s own courageous whistleblowing, it had to do with the torpedoing and sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano by a UK submarine on May 2, 1982 during the Falklands War.
In July 1984 Clive Ponting, at the time a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defense, sent two classified documents to a Labour MP, showing that the General Belgrano was well outside the “exclusion zone” declared by the British, when then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered the attack anyway. Of those aboard, 323 were killed.
Ponting admitted revealing the information and was charged with a criminal offense under the Official Secrets Act. He argued that his leak was in the public interest, but fully expected to end up in prison. The jury acquitted him. Ponting has since authored several books on British and world history.
Full disclosure: Craig Murray is not only an unrelenting pursuer of the truth, he is a close friend of Ray.
Madam of House of Torture/Thailand, Gina Haspel, has her CIA PR minions working overtime, explaining to insouciant “mainstream” reporters why she should be able to (1) keep the Stay-Out-of-Jail card that scaredy-cat Obama gave her and her co-thugs; and (2) become CIA director. Ray discusses this on “Loud and Clear.”
https://www.spreaker.com/user/
April 26, 2018 (11 minutes)
Ray calls attention to fresh news of a detailed report just issued by the National Security Archive of GW University, which contains chapter and verse about Madam Haspel’s unsavory role. ( See:
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/
Here are the summary conclusions it documents:
— CIA nominee supervised detainee torture at Thailand black site,
— Drafted cable to destroy videotape evidence,
— Helped feed repeated lies about effectiveness of torture to CIA superiors, Congress, two Presidents.
Odds are that Sen. Richard Burr, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, will give all the soap he can to help the Madam wash the blood off her hands.
Hollywood’s malicious propaganda dehumanizes all Russians
By Michael McCaffrey, April 17, 2018 (mpmacting.com/blog/)
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/
(Hollywood has always played a huge role in the conditioning of impressionable Americans.)
Ray interviewed yesterday by David Swanson on Talk Nation Radio regarding the bizarre goings-on in U.S. foreign policy, especially vis-a-vis Russia
http://davidswanson.org/talk-
April 23, 2018 (29 minutes)
Ray began by addressing how the “mainstream” media, the “blood-drenched arms merchants,” and “the crazies” (like national security adviser John Bolton) have put the kibosh on President Trump’s fledgling efforts to respond positively to President Putin’s offer to talk arms control. Also discussed: how many of those U.S., UK, and French missiles were shot down on April 14 before they reached Syrian targets; the buffoonish l’Affaire Skripal with chemicals “of a type developed by Russia;” drivel from McCain and John Bolton about alleged “Russian cyber-attacks” being an “act of war;” and a dose of nostalgia as Ray sings “Once in love with Amy.”
Just When You Thought ‘Russiagate’ Couldn’t Get Any Sillier …
By Thomas Knapp, April 23, 2018
https://www.counterpunch.org/
https://www.counterpunch.org/
Knapp nails it.
Nunes Finds No Legal Predicate for FBI Investigation of Trump Campaign; Hints At Pretext “Predicate” Manufactured by Clinton Confidant Sidney Blumenthal, Archdeacon of Bogus “Predicates” (as in Libya)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/po
April 22, 2018 (11 minutes)
April 22, 2018 (11 minutes)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said yesterday, “We now know that there was no official intelligence that was used to start this investigation.”
“We know that Sidney Blumenthal and others were pushing information into the State Department. So we’re trying to piece all that together and that’s why we continue to look at the State Department,” Nunes told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures.
The California Republican said he is now investigating the State Department amid signs of “major irregularities,” in an effort to figure out how information about former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was obtained by the FBI.
“We know a little bit about that because of what some of the State Department officials themselves have said publicly about that,” Nunes said, adding that “We have to make sure that our agencies talk and they work out problems. We have to make sure that they don’t spy on either American citizens or that we’re not spying on British citizens.”
Still, Nunes doesn’t know whether the former secretary of state and then-Democratic challenger to Trump in the election, Hillary Clinton, was pulling the strings of the investigation launched against her political opponent. However, he said it is known that two long-time Clinton associates – including Sidney Blumenthal – were “actively” giving information to the State Department, which “was somehow making its way to the FBI.”
Surprise, surprise! The NY Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal printed neither predicates, verbs, nouns, adjectives, or adverbs about any of this today.
On the Criminal Referral of Comey, Clinton et al: Can the Constitution Hold? and, Just Curious, How Much Longer can the Media Suppress This News?
https://consortiumnews.com/
By Ray McGovern, April 19, 2019
Are you hearing about this here for the first time?
On April 11, 2018 one of Turkey’s major TV channels, “A Haber,” Skype-interviewed Ray on a number front-burner issues, including Syria, Israel, Skripal, Bolton, Russia-China and — not least — how to explain U.S. policy and involvement in Syria (here’s a one-word hint: Israel).
The wide ranging interview aired in two relatively short segments:
The first segment (minute 00:00 to 10:20) deals with:
— John Bolton; the known “crazy” now advising President Donald Trump;
— How U.S. policy toward Syria is a creature of Israel’s interests;
— The critically important change in the strategic environment, with China in full support for Russia on key issues — like Syria, and Ukraine. A two-front war, anyone?
(Those who understand Turkish, can watch the minute and a half of commentary that follows.)
The second segment (minute 00:20 to 10:45) includes:
— The Skripal poisoning in London, amid signs that the evidence-impoverished campaign to “blame the Russians” was already falling apart;
— Are the Marine generals working for Trump sane, smart, and courageous enough to stop “crazies” like John Bolton, and others motivated mostly by Israel’s interests, from starting a major war?
— How does current tension with Russia compare with the Cuban missile crisis of 1962? Short answer: JFK was sane, smart, and listened to advisers who, thankfully, were also sane of mind. Comparisons with today are as obvious as they are invidious.
— How did senior Israeli officials describe to the NY Times their “preferred outcome” in Syria? This is key to understanding the U.S. role.
(The following portion — minute 10:45 to 14:21 — is in Turkish.)
The interviewers are: ERGÜN DİLER and BEKİR HAZAR. “A Haber” aired the interviews several times.
Ray on Prime-Time Sunday TV — in Russia
Last night’s Rossiya–1 TV program, Вести Недели (News of the Week), hosted by Dmitry Kiselyov, included clips of Ray commenting on President Donald Trumps national security adviser, “crazy” John Bolton, and comparing current U.S.-Russian tensions with those of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
April 15, 2018 (8 minutes)
One very important difference from Cuba -1962 that Ray noted, was JFK’s sang froid — his ability to host and heed sane advisers — like long-time U.S. Ambassador to the USSR Llewellyn Thompson — to help him make an end-run around “crazies” on the JCS — in particular, Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay. LeMay and his fellow JCS members (whom Under Secretary Secretary of State, who at the time had to deal with them, called a “sewer of deceit”) made no bones about how they saw the Cuban crisis as a golden opportunity to nuke the Russians.
Tens of millions of dead? No problem. Had mad-dog LeMay gotten his way, the U.S. Air Force would have destroyed much of the world — but, heck, in the process, would have saved it from Communism. (If you find that mentality hard to believe, you must read Dan Ellsberg most recent book, the work of a lifetime: The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner.)
Comparisons are invidious, so I suppose it might be best not to cite the current overabundance of know-nothing, martinet generals — not to mention the alarming dearth of sober, Llewellyn Thompson-type diplomats, and advisers who actually know something about Russia. As for Russian experts in the intelligence community, by all indications they are either hiding in the library, assigned to targeting drone strikes, or regurgitating drivel from their bosses, infected as they seem to have been by superannuated guidance from the top. Self-styled Russian expert and long-time former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, himself a former AF general, “knows” — like LeMay — that Russians are “typically, almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever.” Yes, Clapper appeared to be serious when he said that; he might even believe it. And others like him have bubbled to the top and are still in key positions.
Segments of Ray’s interview — improvised in his garden on Friday afternoon — appear at the beginning and the end of what was aired — amounting to more air time than the customarily highly abbreviated clips Ray’s recent interviews have been given on other Russian domestic channels for Sunday evening programs. The English can often be heard underneath the dubbing; “sumashedshi” — Ray’s first word, is Russian for “crazy.” He had been talking about Bolton.
The host on Rossiya-1, Dmitry Kiselyov, is not simply the presenter of this one weekly show. He is Russia’s top news director, in charge of news management on Russian domestic television, with a watching brief over RT, as well. Rossiya-1 is one of the two top Russian national channels owned by the Russian government (the other is Pervy Kanal (Channel 1).
With 24-hour coverage, Rossiya-1 is the top news station A reasonable estimate of Sunday’s “News of the Week” viewers would be in the low millions. It is broadcast domestically in evening prime time from Moscow and is also put on the Russian satellite channel Vesti 24 and aired twice in the evening. In addition to satellite, the show goes out “live” by video streaming on youtube and then enters the youtube archived materials within an hour or two. The youtube version itself may get half a million views. The TV version, in addition to reaching a few million in Russia, also reaches a large number of viewers across the band of the satellite, meaning at a minimum all of Europe.
Meanwhile, Back in Germany
The progressive “NachDenkSeiten” this morning rose promptly to the occasion, this time in new-record time, translating/publishing Ray’s Saturday morning article, “Attacking Syria: Thumbing Noses at Constitution and Law”
https://consortiumnews.com/
The NDS posting bears the title, “Der Angriff auf Syrien: Wie man Verfassung und Recht verhöhnt,” and can be read at:
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/
(Some will recall that NDS published, less than a week after it was posted, Ray’s piece on John Bolton, one of “the crazies” as “Die kommende Attraktion: Der Irre ist los im Westflügel” — https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/
https://raymcgovern.com/2018/
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This morning’s NachDenkSeiten article begins:
“Es war ein trauriges Spektakel, zu sehen, wie die USA die Verfassung mit Füßen traten und versuchten, die Kritiker des Luftschlages auf Syrien zum Schweigen zu bringen, sagt Ray McGovern in diesem Kommentar, den Josefa Zimmermann für uns aus dem Englischen übersetzt hat.
“Die Verfassung der USA und das Völkerrecht erlitten letzte Nacht einen schweren Schlag durch die Hand einer seltsamen Koalition, die man als Goldlocke und die zwei moralischen Zwerge, die sich als Marinegeneräle ausgaben, bezeichnen könnte, zusammen mit der Schreckschraube aus “Right Dishonorable” (Satirewebsite, d. Ü.) und einem jungen französischen Pudel. …”
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Yesterday, Ray sent NachDenkSeiten a note (see below), in which he included quotes from the lead editorial in Sunday’s Washington Post, in an attempt to help provide Germans with some feel for how bad the propaganda has become — and how reminiscent of the media performance in drumming for war on Iraq. Ray has just been told that his comments have already been translated into German and may also be posted by NDS.) Here’s my note from yesterday:
________________
April 15, 2018
The Washington Post (also known as “Pravda on the Potomac”) led its coverage this morning with President Trump’s tweet “Mission Accomplished.” DOES HE NOT KNOW THAT THIS SLOGAN WAS USED BEFORE WITH REFERENCE TO THE “VICTORY” IN IRAQ, on May 1, 2003, by President George W. Bush speaking from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln? Below is the link to the WaPo lead editorial:
It is bad enough that some presidents have no sense of history — BUT THAT WAS ONLY 15 YEARS AGO! And before hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed and millions displaced.
Not only Nikki Haley, but also the Washington Post, warns today that the U.S. is willing and ready, at a moment’s notice, to repeat the performance of early Saturday morning. So, anticipate additional “false-flag” chemical attacks.
The role of the Washington Post and other prominent media is a carbon copy of their performance in the months before the attack on Iraq. The only notable difference is that the lead WaPo editorial today says:
“… it was wrong for Mr. Trump to call Friday’s operation a ‘Mission Accomplished’ … the U.S. mission there [in Syria] is far from accomplished.”
The editorial sharply criticizes President Trump’s “minimalist approach to Syria, [saying] that, ‘no amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East.’ That fatalistic view is misguided, as is the president’s chimerical notion that [increased involvement by other countries] can prevent Iran from entrenching in Syria if the United States pulls out.”
The editorial calls (again) for “the departure of the Assad regime.” It adds: “The United States must use the leverage it has on the ground, by maintaining and, if necessary, fortifying its position in the country. It should work to stabilize eastern Syria under local authorities, including Kurds, while demanding an acceptable political settlement brokered by the United Nations.”
Finally, and ominously, The Washington Post editorial adds ” … if Russia takes retaliatory action, including in cyberspace, the United States must be ready to respond.”
_______________
We all know how easy it is to set-up a false-flag attack in cyberspace and blame it on Russia.
Can anyone give Ray the name and contact info for a U.S. “mainstream” journalist who might be interested in any of the above?