Former Russian spy in 'critical condition' after being exposed to unknown substance

[madd0ct0r]

Anyone else think the Russians are losing their touch? Not only do they spontaneously decide that a spy they turned over in a prisoner exchange almost a decade ago needs to be offed in a needlessly convoluted and unsubtle way to send some sort of message, the only person the harebrained scheme actually kills is some innocent bystander who picked up the extremely incriminating evidence someone left lying around in the bloody street.

I find it kinda strange to see such a terribly planned operation from the heirs of the KGB, which was pretty much everywhere just 30 years ago and had planted high profile moles in dozens of key posts. I'd even say that it looks too amateurish for both the Russian secret services... And for the British police and intelligence. Now, who's lying, who's just being terrible at their job? That's a whole different topic.

Either this, or it's just political saber rattling to get more funding for the defence companies, because while the British political scene is barking at Russia along with other European leaders there and there, the NASA is buying Russian rocket engines, NATO operations in Africa and the Middle East regularly hire Russian cargo airlines for transport duties, most European big companies have opened branches in Russia to avoid sanctions and Russians are buying real estate all over the EU and USA. Don't believe me?

Im having trouble stitching your last paragraph into a narrative.

Could you explain the links as you see them?

[The Romulan Republic]

It sounds like it might be the makings of a conspiracy theory about how the chemical attack was really a false flag to get more defense spending, but its hard to tell.

Personally, I think that its pretty clear who did this. Its sloppy, yes, but intelligence fuck-ups are nothing new. At the same time, I also think that it probably wasn't really meant to be entirely covert. If Putin wanted to make a death look like an accident, he could probably have arranged that. Or, you know, used any method less attention-grabbing and outrage-provoking than chemical weapons. This attack, like using Polonium to slowly poison a guy, comes off as intended to be flashy. Oh, sure, they have a veneer of "plausible deniability" as a matter of course, and so that gullible idiots will insist Russia didn't do it. But everyone with a brain knows who did it, and that's part of the point- to send a message to Putin's enemies: No matter where in the world you go, I can find you, and kill you and your families horribly. That I am so powerful that I can get away with assassinating you with chemical weapons on the soil of a hostile nuclear power.

That's why I call this terrorism- because I believe that part of the point of trying to kill someone in such a conspicuous and outlandish manner was almost certainly intimidation. And that only works if people know who was behind it.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

US to hit Russia with sanctions over Skripal nerve agent attack

The United States will impose sanctions on Russia after determining that it used a nerve agent in an attempt to kill a former Russian spy and his daughter in the UK.

The State Department said the sanctions will be imposed on Russia because it used a chemical weapon in violation of international law.
These sanctions could reinforce President Donald Trump's claim that despite investigations into Russian election meddling and accusations of collusion, his administration has in fact clamped down on Moscow.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent, in Salisbury in March.
Britain has accused Russia of being behind the attack, which the Kremlin vehemently denies.

Downing Street welcomed the move by the US, with a Number 10 spokesman saying: "The strong international response to the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of Salisbury sends an unequivocal message to Russia that its provocative, reckless behaviour will not go unchallenged."

Announcing the move, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "The United States, on August 6, 2018, determined under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act) that the Government of the Russian Federation has used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law, or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals."
Since the March attack, two other British nationals with no ties to Russia have been poisoned by the substance.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, and partner Charlie Rowley, 45, both came into contact with the substance which left them hospitalised at the end of June in Amesbury, Wiltshire.

Ms Sturgess died eight days after being poisoned with Novichok, but Mr Rowley survived the ordeal.

Mr Rowley said the nerve agent took just 15 minutes to poison Ms Sturgess after she sprayed the “oily” substance onto her wrists, believing it was perfume he had given her as a gift.

Following a 15-day congressional notification period, the sanctions will take effect on or around August 22, according to a statement from the State Department.