Moscow on Thames: Neva say Neva

[Kevin S]

Incident in Wiltshire - couple found unconscious, in a critical condition on Saturday. Initially thought to be drugs but now said to be an unknown substance.

[ursus arctos]

Police confirm that the victims were exposed to Novichok

[diggedy derek]

Someone more informed than me hazard a guess at what happened?

cc Boycotters thread in WC 2018

[The-Reverend]

I've read that they have recently moved to the address. If this was my investigation I'd be looking to rule out the fact that the asset who is assumed to have carried out the first attack resided there previously.

Struggling to see an immediate connection or line of enquiry if I'm honest.

[The-Reverend]

Lady has unfortunately died.

[ad hoc]

So, while I am entirely prepared to believe that Putin was behind this (though I still don;t really get the motive), and that these two guys being fingered for it are in fact the perpetrators, what's the deal with this time stamp thing? It seems so fucking cack handed to have released these photos with this error knowing that of course it is going to fuel the argument that there is an element of framing up going on here.

In case you've not seen it here it is on Craig Murray's blog (note: linking to this blog does not imply agreement/sympathy with everything that has ever been written there. By any means)
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archi...ossible-photo/

[Muukalainen]

Judging by the content of the extreme top left corner of the two photographs, they were taken by two different cameras of two different channels. It would hardly be uncommon for two people that were travelling together to walk through the airport side by side. On approaching these gates they simply take two adjacent channels, and then carry on afterwards walking side by side. It would be more suspicious if the two time stamps weren't the same.

[Snake Plissken]

There are several "lanes" at that point - at least in Manchester. Funnelling everybody on a plane through a single exit point would be terrible for throughput. It isn't inconceivable that two people travelling together are walking side by side and enter different lanes at precisely the same time.

Statistically very likely, in fact.

[Felicity, I guess so]

to the exact second..?

[Tactical Genius]

Two Spies getting off the plane together and walking side by side through airport security multiplies their likelyhood of getting made
Some people are so desperate to believe something, they are prepared to suspend common sense.

[ad hoc]

to the exact second..?

This. That doesn't seem "statistically very likely" at all

[Snake Plissken]

to the exact second..?

Why not? Have you ever walked through these things with someone else?

[Snake Plissken]

Two Spies getting off the plane together and walking side by side through airport security multiplies their likelyhood of getting made
Some people are so desperate to believe something, they are prepared to suspend common sense.

And going through the train barriers together and travelling back together.

They (and Russia) didn't give a shit about being caught.

[beak]

They (and Russia) didn't give a shit about being caught.

That, or they just aren't very good at this type of thing anymore, cf. shoddy nature of how the lads who killed Litvinenko handled and disposed of their polonium, and that whoever did whatever in Salisbury disposed of their neurotoxin casually enough to poison two unrelated people three months later.

[Tactical Genius]

And going through the train barriers together and travelling back together.

They (and Russia) didn't give a shit about being caught.

If that's the case, why didn't they just go to their house, knock on the door and blow their brains out?

[Tactical Genius]

That, or they just aren't very good at this type of thing anymore, cf. shoddy nature of how the lads who killed Litvinenko handled and disposed of their polonium, and that whoever did whatever in Salisbury disposed of their neurotoxin casually enough to poison two unrelated people three months later.

You don't need specialist training to know it's best practice to limit your public interactions with your co-conspirators.
Surprised, your so easily convinced.....

[beak]

You don't need specialist training to know it's best practice to limit your public interactions with your co-conspirators.

Oh absolutely.

Surprised, your so easily convinced.....

I'm not convinced of owt, mate.

[Snake Plissken]

If that's the case, why didn't they just go to their house, knock on the door and blow their brains out?

More fun this way. Also, he knows that we'll go overboard and, I dunno, ban bottles. And clothes. And breathing.

Look, Putin does this stuff for shits and giggles. He knows there will be no comeback. He's managed to shoot down an civilian airliner full of passengers and invade two entire countries and the worst he has got is a bit of tutting. He's even managed to do this before to Litvinenko. Theresa May stands up and gives her Very Sternest Words in Parliament and the Russian response to this is to take the piss out of her dancing.

The only thing he's worried about is the US and UK suddenly stopping him and his mates laundering billions. And he knows that we don't have the balls to do it. He knows we're no longer a serious country.

[Eggchaser]

With that sort of attitude towards this mighty country, it's people like Snake that will ensure Brexit is a failure.

[Tubby Isaacs]

More fun this way. Also, he knows that we'll go overboard and, I dunno, ban bottles. And clothes. And breathing.

Look, Putin does this stuff for shits and giggles. He knows there will be no comeback. He's managed to shoot down an civilian airliner full of passengers and invade two entire countries and the worst he has got is a bit of tutting. He's even managed to do this before to Litvinenko. Theresa May stands up and gives her Very Sternest Words in Parliament and the Russian response to this is to take the piss out of her dancing.

The only thing he's worried about is the US and UK suddenly stopping him and his mates laundering billions. And he knows that we don't have the balls to do it. He knows we're no longer a serious country.

Yep.

Given all this, you really don't have to worry about people getting photographed together at the airport.

[Tactical Genius]

There was a time on OTF when people would critically analyse news stories and suspend belief if the story didn't make sense. Government officials must read the post of Snake and Tubby and think, "these idiots would believe anything about Putin and Russia".

[Moonlight Shadow]

Conspiracy theories about this story could be believable if we had not witnessed for ourselves the sheer ineptitude displayed by the governement in the last two years dealing with Brexit. This notion they can run a black op in order to smear innocent Vlad is really one for people with way too much imagination...

[Tactical Genius]

So me not believing the official story makes me a conspiracy theorist?

Even the Tony Blair dodgy dossier was more believable that this nonsense.
We still don't know what evil Vlad's motive was behind this killing and how one of the most deadliest toxins know to man turns out to be not very toxic at all.

Also, not I did not offer a theory or claim to know what's going on here.
When did OTF descend into people peddling gossip and passing it off as reasoned considered debate. I have noticed this on the Brexit and the Trump threads.

[Muukalainen]

We still don't know what evil Vlad's motive was behind this killing and how one of the most deadliest toxins know to man turns out to be not very toxic at all.

Hell's teeth TG, not very toxic at all? The victim sprayed a small amount of what she thought perfume onto her wrist and died. How much more toxic do you want? I'd also guess that those that survived owe a lot to the particular hospital to which they were taken, rather than any lack of efficacy of the toxin.

Also, not I did not offer a theory or claim to know what's going on here.
When did OTF descend into people peddling gossip and passing it off as reasoned considered debate. I have noticed this on the Brexit and the Trump threads.

I cannot see that anyone here is claiming to know what's going on. The government has advanced a theory of who tried to kill the Skripals, why and how. While it has a certain degree of plausibility about it, the [meaning Putin's as put forward by the UK government] motive is little more than conjecture, and the rest is based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence. Another possibility is that the UK government, knowing full well that Russia doesn't permit extraditions of its citizens, has ploughed ahead with a political agenda against Putin, secure in the knowledge that it's never going to be tested in court. As Snake noted above, Putin's behaviour, past and present, at least gives the UK government's accusations an air of credibility.

[ad hoc]

One of the members of Pussy Riot who was one of those who rushed the field during the WC final is now in critical condition having apparently been poisoned