[Sooty25]

As a former Russian double agent now living in exile, he was always going to have a target on his back, and I'm sure he knew it.

What I find unacceptable is the collateral damage that we have to clear up.

[Korenwolf]

I'm getting worried, there's been a few people "disappeared" from here over the years...

[IMCR]

Hit gone wrong. If they had died in the house then the spooks would have known all about it, but no one else, collateral contamination was not the objective.

[OCB]

Sounds like a hit that has gone really well if you ask me.

The assailants have deployed a military grade weapon of mass destruction in a sleepy English Shire, with the ensuing FUD that follows.

Presumably the wet-ware mob who delivered the goods were sufficiently field savvy as to not be caught on CCTV etc.

I have absolutely no doubt the goods came from a Govt lab, or at least those who are ex-Govt who had the means to replicate such high hazmat conditions.

Would I be surprised if Trump’s allies did it? Of course not. False Flag ops aren’t exactly new. Oh, and possibly Putin is a good mate of Trump, so....

One thing is sure. Compared to the British Govt of several decades ago, this one will undoubtedly throw their toys out the pram with added vigour, but do the square root of ferk all to check (in military terms) the assailants.

[IMCR]

The party involved dont want civil collateral damage, it causes to much unpredictability. Their objective is to control each step, its far to dangerous when events over take the operation.

[OCB]

The party involved dont want civil collateral damage, it causes to much unpredictability. Their objective is to control each step, its far to dangerous when events over take the operation.

..da...fu???

Under which circumstances would anyone, State sponsored or rogue, deploy such a vicious nerve agent and not expect collateral damage?

I’ve spent most of my teens and adult life training and trained by folks who “would do harm”.

Under zero circumstances would anyone I’ve known, military or civil, from the plethora of countries I’ve trained with, go anywhere near nerve agents.

Maybe a few would, but certainly the vast majority that I trained with were at their heart “regulars”.

It’s a lot easier to kill someone than many think. Probably just as well it’s not such a given “fact”

Whoever did this hit knew fine well that using such an exotic and potent agent was for more than whack value. A nasty punch, done right, will kill. A car crash wouldn’t even be noticed.

Use of a WMD was enough to flatten Saddam’s Iraq, even though Hans Blix was in country and clearly stated there was nothing found, and he should be left to get on with his job.

Then again, I am a near savant when it comes to recall of certain things , seems that about 99.98% of the human population have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimer’s.

[PaulB]

It was said on the (BBC One) news earlier this evening that the daughter had arrived from Russia the day before the incident.

Is it possible that she unwittingly brought the agent with her and when they opened whatever it was it contaminated them?

(Or is my imagination on overtime?)

[Charles Hunt]

What are the chances of medical recovery?

[Paul_Sengupta]

There's a lot of it about....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43385998

Counter-terror police are leading an investigation into the "unexplained" death of a man in London.

He is believed to be Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who claimed political asylum in the UK after being convicted of fraud.

Mr Glushkov, 69, is the former deputy director of Russian state airline Aeroflot.

He was jailed in 1999 for five years after being charged with money laundering and fraud.

After being given a suspended sentence for another count of fraud in 2006, he fled to the UK to seek political asylum and became a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Glushkov also had a close friendship with fellow Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who came to the UK in 1999 after falling out with Mr Putin.

Mr Berezovsky was found hanged in the bathroom of his Berkshire home in 2013 and an inquest recorded an open verdict.

[PaulB]

It was said on the (BBC One) news earlier this evening that the daughter had arrived from Russia the day before the incident.

Is it possible that she unwittingly brought the agent with her and when they opened whatever it was it contaminated them?

(Or is my imagination on overtime?)

...on the other hand, the Today programme has just reported that a paper (possibly the Times) has suggested that the poison was smeared on the door handles of Skripal's car.

[defcribed]

Yes of course the Russians did it.

Here's why they did it:

1. As a warning to any other would-be traitors
2. To demonstrate that they can 'take the ****' anywhere they like
3. To strain relationships between the UK and its allies in terms of to what extent said allies feel able to condemn Russia over it
4. To build a bit more anti-Russia sentiment in the west and so feed Russian nationalism ahead of Putin's upcoming 'election'

The point of using a nerve agent like this is so that they can deny it in public but leave no-one with half a brain cell in any doubt as to who was responsible. If they'd just shot him, the danger is that people might believe the denial (see point 1 above).

It's fairly clever actually. The Russians are masters at this - causing maximum outrage without quite being naughty enough to cause a coordinated international response.

Expelling diplomats doesn't achieve much. It would be interesting to try taking the **** on their territory as a response. The only problem with that is that our government hasn't mastered the 'denial that no-one is supposed to believe' yet. When we deny something, either we didn't do it or it's a proper lie that we're meant to believe.

[kanga]

..

Expelling diplomats doesn't achieve much. ...

<former military historian with relevant interests >

Expelling all or most of the identified undeclared intelligence agents (ie, FSB or GRU masquerading as Political, Trade, Culture, even chauffeur, etc) can have a considerable effect where it hurts immediately (FSB/GRU HQs) and long-term. First, Western capitals like London are plum postings, especially for dependents, and provide career cachet on return. Then, breaking the continuity of contacts with 'sources' and 'agents' can have an important operational effect. Soviet defectors have revealed the consternation and damage caused by the 1971 expulsions, which also had the effect of forcing the (then) KGB and GRU to 'subcontract' some of their most sensitive work and sources to the intelligence agents in the London Embassies of their Warsaw Pact allies, who were neither as competent nor as secure as their Soviet equivalents. Such allies (with possible exception of Belarus) are no longer available.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/49648.stm

</mode>

[Paul_Sengupta]

So "displomat" is code for "spy"?

[Pete L]

So "An honest man sent abroad to lie for his country." is a lie, or at least doesn't tell the whole truth.

All Cretans are liars.

[JoeC]

Why don't we just send James Bond over to bof Putin's daughter before a protracted dinner with Vladimir to obliquely threaten each other whilst sipping fine Beluga Goldline vodka, naturally not touching the silver plated caviar, before a hi-octane tank/jet/skidoo/camel chase around Red Square and a final dispassionate watching of Vlad falling to his death from the highest dam/building/mountain/treehouse in Russia after desperately reaching to grab the incriminating nerve agent from Bond's bloodied and tired hands and a final, laconic call to HQ to report that " I don't think he was very vlad to see me, M".

Wouldn't that be easier than all this posturing?