Thread by @jnpaquet

This!
As @theresa_may tells @HouseofCommons it's 'highly likely' Moscow ordered the attack on former Russian spy in Salisbury & most MPs show support to HMG to take strong action against Russia together with West & EU...
Remember this from @Nigel_Farage?
theguardian.com/politics/2014/…

What's the common point between:
- Farage: theguardian.com/politics/2014/…
- Le Pen: ft.com/content/010eec…
- Germany's AfD: time.com/4955503/german…
- Holland's Geert Wilders: forbes.com/sites/melikkay…
- Italy's Lega Nord: ft.com/content/0d33d2…
- Hungary's Orban: thedailybeast.com/how-putins-usi…

European far-right parties & their populist leaders love the idea they are the real & only patriots. Usually great orators, they focus on negative emotions: fear, resentment, nostalgia of a time that never was. But ask them about their relationship with Russia and they go silent!

Their great eloquence is no more.
They speak same language though: When Putin says transnational consumerism erodes “traditional identities: national, cultural, religious...”
MLP says: “A new world is emerging, based on affirmation of identity and national sovereignty.”

Despite Marine Le Pen struggling in her endeavour to change her party's name, already her father Jean-Marie told journalists today that he has the intention of taking over the name Front National as soon as it is available, calling the name changing "stupid, useless & shocking".

The decision to change the name of her party came minutes after her defeat against Macron. She wanted to deflect responsibilities & blame her father & his openly xenophobic legacy rather than her awful performance in debate before the 2nd round of the 2017 Presidential election.

What about her niece, Marion? Well, betrayal runs strong in the Le Pen family it seems. MLP knows she is her number 1 threat. And she got her to exile herself from politics last year. But Marion is on stand-by mode...

(Excerpt from my book: BrexitBegins.com)

Marion, extremely popular with the Front National's base and far more conservative & religious than MLP, was recently a guest speaker at the #CPAC in the US and was recently hailed as a rising star by the very Steve Bannon who was MLP's Party Conference guest speaker! #Awkward

- Italy's M5S: theguardian.com/world/2017/jan… & cnbc.com/2018/03/06/rus…
- Poland's Law&Justice: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
- Czechia's Zeman: observer.com/2018/01/how-cz…
- Austria's FPO: dw.com/en/putins-frie…
- Slovakia's Fico: spectator.sme.sk/c/20005088/fic…
-Serbia's Vučić: foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/31/is-…

- Donald Trump: edition.cnn.com/interactive/20…
- Catalan independence: elpais.com/elpais/2017/10… & theguardian.com/world/2017/nov…
- Greece's Syriza: ft.com/content/a87747…

- European radical Left parties, members of the 'European United Left–Nordic Green Left' group in the EU Parliament (Syriza, Die Linke, La France insoumise, Podemos...): opendemocracy.net/od-russia/pete…

This!
Very interesting piece by @elisabethbraw, "Putin seeks to influence radical parties in bid to destabilise Europe" from back in 2015.
All these years, the West simply missed the signs...
newsweek.com/2015/01/16/put…

Some interesting links exist as well between Texas & California separatists and Russia. They were invited, together with other separatists groups and parties, to a Kremlin-funded conference in 2016 (with free flights and accommodation - paid for by Putin): abcnews.go.com/International/…

Sinn Fein attended conference in 2015: theguardian.com/world/2015/sep…
Again 2016 (all paid by Moscow) irishtimes.com/news/politics/…
Despite good intentions not to let Putin "impose ideas" abcnews.go.com/International/…
Sinn Fein refused to censure Russia over Syria war crime: independent.ie/irish-news/pol…

Conspiracy theory lovers: Sinn Fein's 7 MPs could ensure the government’s defeat on Brexit by voting together with the opposition. Defeat of HMG could trigger a general election, Jeremy Corbyn becoming PM & Brexit being halted... which would leave a bad taste in Putin's mouth. 🤔

This!
Interesting read: "The Sinn Fein question: could the party stop a hard Brexit?"

newstatesman.com/2018/03/sinn-f…

This!
Because going to see #BorderWall prototypes is more important than showing US fully support Britain or calling out Kremlin as “an irresponsible force of instability in the world.” (words of fmr Secretary of State Tillerson sacked by #Trump today.)

External Tweet loading...
If nothing shows, it may have been deleted
by @realDonaldTrump view original on Twitter

This!
Very interesting piece by @RichardJMurphy on Russia's #MoneyLaundering activities in the UK and what could be done about it.
Must-read!
vip.politicsmeanspolitics.com/2018/03/14/to-…

John Whittingdale asking PM @HouseofCommons to protect BBC (subliminally asking no ban on RT). MP who admitted having close ties to Putin's 🇺🇦 fmr president's acolyte, Firtash independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Himself involved with a biz owned by... Paul Manafort! nbcnews.com/news/us-news/d…

Interesting read as well is this interview of John Whittingdale on Russian news service Sputnik (back in Feb 2018) and how the MP tries to be very careful with each answer he gives to specific questions on the UK-Russia relationship:
sputniknews.com/analysis/20180…

April 2016 @DailyMirror claimed "Commentators believe MI5 & MI6 may be speaking to “friendly” liaison intelligence officers in US & other friendly countries like Poland to see whether any agency such as #FSB (former KGB) have tried to influence (him)."
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/j…

"Ex-UK spy: “His tastes would be of interest to hostile intelligence agency like Russia. Not necessarily what position he is now, it’s what job he might have in future. Could somebody outside UK influence him in a way that put him in a position where he’d be of use?"

John Whittingdale isn't the only MP who may have deep links with Russia and Putin. In Aug 2012, a group of Tories launched the "Conservative Friends of Russia" at the Embassy of Russia in London. Set up by Richard Royal, a professional political consultant theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Aim: "improve UK-Russia relation, provide forum for open debate & help inform decision making in business & politics."
According to @peterpomeranzev leaked e-mails from Russian officials appeared to say they were urged to use CFor to campaign against Magnitsky Act in Westminster.

(Magnitsky Act expands the definition of unlawful conduct to include human rights abuses & applies to those who financially profited from or materially assisted in abuses. Protects whistleblowers & is inspired by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in Moscow prison in 2009.)

In the @LRB, @peterpomeranzev explains that CFoR became "Westminster Russia Forum" (bi-partisan) & organised discussions/speeches with various speakers: Peter Tatchell, John Redwood or even Jack Straw.
Did they know what Westminster Russia Forum stood for?
lrb.co.uk/blog/2015/02/2…

Just 2 weeks ago, WRF posted a blog "Is there anything we can’t blame on Russia?"
Author basically explained the West has tendency to blame Russia for everything, "when #Putin has plenty to deal with at home & on his immediate borders."
That has a different feel since Salisbury!

It ends with "Almost by the day, a think tank or branch of western government declares a new military threat from Russia without bothering to corroborate their claims," blaming "exiled oligarchs, the US and UK defence industries, and the #Visegrad Group."
westminster-russia.org.uk/anything-cant-…

Today, the Westminster Russia Forum released a 'pre-statement', explaining they await Moscow's response to Britain's statement over the Salisbury attack before releasing their own full statement. In the meantime, they have "suspended WRF public events for a one month period."

HMV?

External Tweet loading...
If nothing shows, it may have been deleted
by @georgeeaton view original on Twitter

2 days later... The Westminster Russia Forum finally released a statement on the UK-Russia situation and where the organisation stands. FYI, Nicholas Cobb is the Chairman of WRF and a "Russophile who has headed the Westminster Russia Forum since January 2014."

Does it really take 2 days to write a statement on UK-Russia crisis, though? Since WRF is based in UK and its "sole aim is to promote bilateral commercial, cultural and political ties between the UK & Russia", it should have been prompt to unequivocally support the British PM.

Whilst Jeremy Corbyn (no bias here: I'm no fan of JC!) has been accused of not standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Theresa May & called names by right-wing press & Tory MPs ("Kremlin stooge", "Putin's puppet"...) because he urged the UK Gov to take a “calm, measured” approach...

... no #DailyMail, no #TheSun, no Tory MP is today calling the Westminster Russia Forum "Putin's poodle" or the "Kremlin's Voice in the UK".
Why should they, anyway?...
Why should they?... 🤔

Wait... What unequivocal support?
WRF: "Both exact motive & identity of those behind this criminal act remain unclear."
@BorisJohnson: "We think it overwhelmingly likely that it was (Putin's) decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on streets of UK."
standard.co.uk/news/uk/boris-…

It is interesting that when #Corbyn makes his statement, almost everyone in #Conservatives nearly calls him traitor & unfit leader, but when WRF (mostly a Tory organisation 'transformed' into bi-partisan group) releases a statement that goes further than JC, everything is fine...

Where WRF counts one line, I count at least three.🧐

The statement is indeed otherwise supportive of the UK Gov, but it also shows the WRF is walking on eggshells and does not want to cross the line @theresa_may, @BorisJohnson or even @gavinwilliamson crossed in the last 24h.

Trolling, no.
Trying to understand why some people get unfairly portrayed compared to others, yes.
An unbiased #press and unbiased #journalists would have made the very same point after reading the WRF statement today.

As for the WRF membership...

-Mark Izatt, fmr Tory candidate as MP in Clydesdale
-Steven Lacey, fmr Tory candidate as cllr in Hounslow, London
-Morgan Brobyn, worked on campaigns for Tories in Wales & London
-Nigel Sussman, fmr UKIP candidate as MP for Westminster North
-Ian Morse, Scottish Tory supporter

"The forum is the successor to the Conservative Friends of Russia, which had to disband in 2012 after a number of MPs resigned from its board amid allegations that it amounted to “Tories for Putin”." (@mragilligan in @thesundaytimes)

thetimes.co.uk/article/reveal…

This is not really about questioning the WRF on Russia, but rather questioning the difference of treatment in the press/Tory/social media between @jeremycorbyn's stance on Russia & the WRF's.