Theresa, Sergei and the nerve stuff

How dumb does the British government think people are? Yes I know – there are so many possibilities to choose from, it’s hard to know where to start. I’m starting with Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Sergei, you’ll know, was a British-Russian spy, and when he and his daughter were in Salisbury, they were subjected to a nerve agent attack  that has left them in critical condition. Theresa May gave the Russians until midnight last night to ‘fess up and vow to amend their ways, so I don’t know if at this moment tank-loads of British soldiers or maybe the Parachute Regiment aren’t headed for Moscow.

But I do know without a shadow of doubt that this case stinks. Think about it. The Russians, Theresa pronounces, done it. So as I said in a FB/Twitter comment, have the Russians run out of guns? Knives? Bags for putting over people’s heads before bundling them into a car and dropping them, with concrete shoes, into a secluded river?

Here’s the situation. You’re a Russian agent. You want to kill this guy and you want to get away. Do you choose the method that will associate the crime with Russia, or do you use a method that won’t? Sorry, no prizes for right answer.

In addition, here are a few questions on the subject:

1. Is it possible that this nerve agent material Novichok was exported illegally from Russia by criminal elements? There are enough shady Russian oligarchs with huge financial resources knocking around London for that to happen. Do we know it was Putin and not one of them engaged in some vendetta?
2. Is it possible that this nerve stuff was manufactured outside of Russia? Like, say, in Britain? For example, Porton Down is very near Salsibury. Porton Down is the site of the British Ministry of Defence’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, which has for over one hundred years been one of the most secretive and controversial military research facilities. Not too far from that base there is a chemical-biological-radiological-nuclear training facility called the Defence CBRN Centre. Coincidence? 
3. The Tory government gave Russia until midnight to explain itself. That’s like saying “You killed my cat – prove that you didn’t”. The onus is on the accuser to prove guilt, not the accused. You remember that quaint old British dictum “Innocent until proven guilty”? It seems it doesn’t apply when it comes to the Russians.
4. Could this be a distraction from the Brexit balls-up? All those guys lumbering around in space suits (great television images), all those instructions for Salisbury people to wash their clothes and wrap stuff in plastic and look out, you’re in mortal danger but we’ll save you. It’s a ploy as old as the `British empire and, suspicious bastard that I am, I wouldn’t put it past the Tories. Why? Think of the shady manoeuvres and lying pronouncements we’ve been subjected to over a thirty-year period. You don’t really need to ask why.

Take Theresa’s word for it? You’ve got a nerve to even ask.