According to the below, there are other suspicious deaths (no cause determined, or conflicting info on cause of death) in countries like the US & Greece:
So they're also responsible for killing their own people
currently holding state positions and appointed by them? Even when the killer is e.g. a Turkish policeman?
I purposely avoided mentioning / implying blame in any way. I merely pointed out what appears to be a comprehensive list of POTENTIALLY SUSPICIOUS deaths of Russian diplomats etc.
We're not supposed to ask these questions. After all several agencies have hand waived long enough, and would government agencies deeply tied to national interests ever lie?
Like with WMDs (and tons of other things), when a target du jour has been selected and hammered with BS, anything goes, and those who question it are considered fringe (or "paid", nowadays they don't even the courtesy of people considering they believe what they write).
If the "Russians did it with a rare/obscure/unusual signature method because that's what they do" idea was too crude and for the masses, the "they did it so as a message" is for gullible people of higher IQ.
- Russia has been into poisoning since the days of Stalin. Some of the poisons (Polonium) would be very hard for anybody else to get hold of, let alone use.
- London is a city where a lot of wealthy Russian ex-pats live.
Being skeptical of everything is just as corrosive to realism as being overly credulous. Just look at Alex Jones.
>Some of the poisons (Polonium) would be very hard for anybody else to get hold of, let alone use.
But trivial for any false flag state actor.
>- London is a city where a lot of wealthy Russian ex-pats live.
Yes, but how is this relevant to whether Russia as a state (that is, not them) is involved? Unless they are those giving the command, or the targets...
>Being skeptical of everything is just as corrosive to realism as being overly credulous. Just look at Alex Jones.
Sure, but this is basic due diligence. I'm not going to take the assurances of this of that state agency - without public proof besides what their "experts" say-- at face value, like, ever.
What would this proof look like to someone with your perspective? I’m genuinely curious what they could provide that you couldn’t/wouldn’t hand wave away as fake news.
I think you're misunderstanding how propaganda works. Certainly, states lie, and certainly, states commit false flag actions. However, it's much more common that they frame narratives or manipulate news cycles to get their ideas across. In a case like this, where they have no reason to lie, they're almost certainly telling the truth.
It's also far more common that they provoke and propogate skepticism and conspiracy theories, so citizens don't react on information they obtain, since they are skeptical of everything.
The ideal mindset for a propagandaist is not certainty, but rather universal cynicism. Elections are rigged? Maybe. Extra-judicial executions? Sounds probable. Aliens? Who knows?
In a country where the basic values of truth and honesty are undermined, the state will always win - because it has the resources to drown out opposing narratives.
I suppose this explains the rather weak response to Russia's numerous transgressions over the years. I mean, they shot down a fucking passenger flight full of civilians and the best response that we could muster was to file a "claim" against Putin with the European Court of Human rights.
Their message is pretty clear: they can cause mass civilian casualties anywhere they want, and probably get away with it. So it's best not to push Russia too hard.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 36.8 ms ] threadYet seemingly none in other nations.
How do we know this attack isn't a false flag attack?
https://www.axios.com/russian-diplomats-keep-dying-unexpecte...
Like with WMDs (and tons of other things), when a target du jour has been selected and hammered with BS, anything goes, and those who question it are considered fringe (or "paid", nowadays they don't even the courtesy of people considering they believe what they write).
If the "Russians did it with a rare/obscure/unusual signature method because that's what they do" idea was too crude and for the masses, the "they did it so as a message" is for gullible people of higher IQ.
- Russia has been into poisoning since the days of Stalin. Some of the poisons (Polonium) would be very hard for anybody else to get hold of, let alone use.
- London is a city where a lot of wealthy Russian ex-pats live.
Being skeptical of everything is just as corrosive to realism as being overly credulous. Just look at Alex Jones.
Unlike say the US, France, or Israel? E.g.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Fide...
>Some of the poisons (Polonium) would be very hard for anybody else to get hold of, let alone use.
But trivial for any false flag state actor.
>- London is a city where a lot of wealthy Russian ex-pats live.
Yes, but how is this relevant to whether Russia as a state (that is, not them) is involved? Unless they are those giving the command, or the targets...
>Being skeptical of everything is just as corrosive to realism as being overly credulous. Just look at Alex Jones.
Sure, but this is basic due diligence. I'm not going to take the assurances of this of that state agency - without public proof besides what their "experts" say-- at face value, like, ever.
Various kinds of isotope analysis can be done to identify where a material was originally sourced, and the results are quite hard to fake.
It's also far more common that they provoke and propogate skepticism and conspiracy theories, so citizens don't react on information they obtain, since they are skeptical of everything.
The ideal mindset for a propagandaist is not certainty, but rather universal cynicism. Elections are rigged? Maybe. Extra-judicial executions? Sounds probable. Aliens? Who knows?
In a country where the basic values of truth and honesty are undermined, the state will always win - because it has the resources to drown out opposing narratives.
Their message is pretty clear: they can cause mass civilian casualties anywhere they want, and probably get away with it. So it's best not to push Russia too hard.
I thought that applies even more to the USA running assassination programs[0] in over 76 countries now.
[0]: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/the-drone-preside...