There we have it:
the German gov't referred to EU and NATO for a common response to the suspected poisoning of Alexey Navalny, and the European Parliament now passes a resolution calling for an international probe & suspension of Nord Stream 2!
The resolution has no legal bearing - it is pure political posturing intended to “continue to isolate Russia in international forums” & “to prioritize the approval of EU human rights sanctions”.
How can you call for an investigation - and already anticipate the results?
Meanwhile, the Navalny story is taking on a "Skripalesque" flavour:
now it is the bottle, left in his hotel room in Tomsk!
So, upon hearing Navalny has fallen ill, his Tomsk team rushes into his hotel room and collects items, recording this video: instagram.com/p/CFOnffrHZ0d/
(who let them in? still not cleaned? before FSB got there?)
WTF?
Three half-empty water bottles .... promptly dealt with in a Novichok-adequate way!
Then delivered from Tomsk to Berlin ...
According to Spiegel, an employee of the hotel is heard in the video: "if you want to take away something, then only via the police, the director told me".
Navalny team: "Sorry, we can't comply with that ..."
Rumours in Russian media that there is a serious conflict between Navalny and his promoter Ashurkov over the course of the FBK (Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation).
This work around for links to Southfront is necessary as @Twitter@TwitterSupport has implemented *FULL* censorship on the site, even URL shorteners don't work, - for the bogus reason it is "potentially harmful"!
Twitter - you are *deceiving* your users!
Maria Pevchikh has given an interview to BBC Russia, talking about her work for the FBK and pushing back against many rumours about her that are circulating on Russian media:
She confirms she was in Tomsk and carried those bottles to Berlin. More details how they came to search the hotel room, incl. the statement Navalny is healthy, - no diabetes as was rumoured.
In itself, the story sounds plausible to me.
Concerning the bottles, Maria is surprised by the hype around them and believes it is only relevant for the time of the poisoning.
Apparently she doesn't understand that only the traces on that bottle, not the metabolites in Navalny's body allowed to determine the substance!
I didn't expect it but my (Syria-trained!) bullshit detector remained at zero ... Maria's account appears straightforward and credible.
(Do not confuse, from a mistaken attitude, the work of Navalny and his team with as what and what for it is presented in Western media!)
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As we still don't really understand what game is played, and by whom, over troop movements on both sides of the Donbass, - here's an interesting article by @IgnatiusPost (often a CIA mouthpiece) that deserves some close reading!
"The CIA discovered something scary in October ..."
Translation: the CIA wants us to think they are "scared" (and perhaps ourselves be scared), - but for what reason?
I find it rather unlikely the CIA has real insights into *secret* Russian troop movements (esp. in Russia) ...
Remember how flabbergasted the US was when in 2014 Putin performed a masterclass in geopolitical jiu-jitsu over Crimea?
And the consternation in 2015 when Russia told the US to pleeeease watch their aircraft in Syria as they were now screened by Russian air defense radar?
Not just on Twitter - there are serious attempts, especially in Germany, to blame the 2015 refugee crisis on Putin intending to destabilize the EU internally.
In March 2015 the Nusra-led coalition Jaish al-Fateh conquered Idlib city and consequently captured all of Idlib province incl. Jisr al-Shughour in April and May.
It was the biggest opposition success since the start of the war.
Protasevich's explanation is very specific, referring to information about his flight which indeed appeared in the bomb threat email sent from a fake "Hamas" account.
The aim of the article is to bolster the rationale for why on earth would Russian intelligence blow up a munition depot in Czechia in 2014 (as the evidence-free "hypothesis" runs).
Answer: because the weapons were destined for Ukraine.
Alas, the Bulgarian arms dealer EMCO (who owned at the time parts of the munitions stored in the Czech depot by operator Imex Group) denied they were intended for export to Ukraine.
The farce continues:
Czech police name Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov - the two alleged Skripal assassins - as the Russian agents allegedly behind an explosion at a munitions dump in 2014! #Skripalsaga
They claim they have identified "various passports" the two men carried - but the connection with those explosions sounds rather speculative and more due to the desire to join in the propaganda war against Russia!
The Navalny story now overtakes the Skripal saga in absurdity:
the Western narrative managers have decided to amuse us with exciting new versions of the poisoning, - the Times excells with a theory of a double Novichok attack!