Whether or not you believe the official preliminary conclusion of the Skripal investigation, what is undeniably interesting and hugely revealing is the people who have jumped in to defend Putin: Trumpsters, alt-right, Assange disciples, anti-West far left. Fascinating bedfellows.
For what it’s worth, I think the preliminary conclusion is genuine and based on the best available evidence. This doesn’t make it unbiased or certain, but in my view a politician as risk-averse as May would not pick a fight with Russia on anything other than compelling evidence.
The reaction goes a long way to confirming what I suspect was (and has consistently been) Putin’s message and how it is useful to all the disparate factions he has actively given succour to. It is: liberal democracy is weak and impotent; authoritarianism is strong and masculine.
That’s not a small thing or easy to dismiss. It connects everything. It’s the global war being fought. It’s the reason tyrants help each other dismantle democratic institutions and drive wedges in peace pacts. Strongmen get one another. Their motives align. Chaos is their friend.
Still, I guess it’s only fair for Russia - where the Rule of Law is so rigorously observed, evidentiary rules are the global gold standard, and investigations of political assassinations are famously exacting - that they demand the same of others. Oh wait.
