Media Dragon: Seeds for WWIII

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Do ships sail on railroads?
Do stones float in the air?
May meat be cut with a knife?

India and Pakistan are literally doorbell-ditching one another’s Diplomats ↩︎ Indian Express

Boris Johnson accuses Russia of stockpiling nerve agent SCMP.

Boris Johnson defends playing tennis with wife of Putin’s ex-minister in return for £160,000 Tory donation Independent

The self-blinding Russia prism The Hindu

*Donald Trump lashes out at Robert Mueller via Twitter over Russia investigation

Russia's Putin on track for commanding win

Vodka, circuses, and public libraries are in decline...

Russians love Lada (why?), microwaves, and IKEA. And contrary to what many people believe, the population is now growing.

On top of all that, Vladimir Kramnik is playing brilliantly in the Candidates’ Tournament in Berlin. I don’t know the time series on poisoning spies and double agents with WMD.

Chinese Hackers Hit U.S. Firms Linked to South China Sea Dispute

A Cyberattack in Saudi Arabia Had a Deadly Goal. Experts Fear Another Try.

*Arms trade growing rapidly in Asia and won’t stop anytime soon Asian Correspondent

N Korean minister in surprise Sweden visit BBC

France, Germany, UK, US blame Moscow for ex-spy chemical attack – joint declaration DW

The Novichok Story Is Indeed Another Iraqi WMD ScamCraig Murray (YY). See this follow-on: Bothered By Midgies Defend Democracy

Jeremy Corbyn points to Iraq WMDs mistake as he casts doubt on Russian culpability for nerve agent attackIndependent. From yesterday, still germane. But his op ed today in the Guardian is at best a mixed bag. Accepts the premise that the toxin was a nerve agent of Russian manufacture. Help me.

And from a London-based reader:

And one thing which is unbelievably anechoic. I’m actually in Salisbury today (part of a regular variant on my commute when I have to head west, the station is a large rail hub) and it’s less then 10 miles from where I live. So I know the area like the back of my hand. No-one, and I mean no-one has ever asked in the MSM just what the guy was doing living here. It’s about as unlikely a spot for anyone to end up living here as it’s possible to get. You get a few retirees, but very little influx from out the area.

But Salisbury is the epicentre for the U.K. military operations. There are at least half a dozen key installations of strategic importance (the Porton Down chemical weapons “research” facilityhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porton_Down, the army command HQ was there until 2010 when it moved to nearby Andoverhttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-land-forces-hq-fully-operational, the Salisbury plain training base http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-16653733, the Amesbury research operationhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoD_Boscombe_Down, the large Warminster Garrisonhttp://www.warminster-garrison.co.uk/Warminster-Garrison/Warminster-Garrison-Information-20012015.htm — and that’s just off the top of my head, there’s a lot more you drive past which are military facilities but not on the same scale as these.

He had no reason to live in the city and it is an unbelievable coincidence that it is so close to so many of the U.K. military high command’s sites. He was almost certainly here for a reason, and if I had to work in the area of helping the U.K. military/industrial complex, Salisbury is exactly where I’d live. No-one has mentioned in the press coverage how he supported himself, what he did in England since the spy swap and why he was swapped in the first place.

The whole thing absolutely stinks.

Putin must no longer be appeased

There is ostensibly a presidential election in Russia today, but its result is already a certainty. Authoritarian former spy Vladimir Putin, who has ruthlessly sidelined any candidates with the potential to end his 17-year reign and who exerts control ...