Johnson, Putin, Lebedev, chemical weapons have already been used.

Excuse my language but bl….y hell that is serious.

OMG !

Johnson and his cronies cannot be trusted. Johnson is no stranger to telling the public untruths (lies) eg partygate. This is corruption of our democracy on an international level.

A number of Conservative MPs have been given money by a variety of Russian donors. Why?

It also begs the question as to why all our public services are being hived off out of sight. In my opinion it began with the Conservative government in the 1980s. Destroying our coal and steel industries, selling off our public utilities and relying on the market. The following Labour government continued in this vein with the PFI initiative, leaving rising costs and unbreakable contracts behind them.

Our system of government seems rotten to the core although I realise there must be some honest MPs out there.

Johnson however is rotten to the core. The jovial buffoon? I think not. More a traitor to this country along with his close friends. Yes, GillT57 I agree with your original post.

I just didn't know what to say when I read it. I know a lot of people mutter about what you read on social media ( as if the printed media is all truth and honesty!), but I follow Carole Cadwalldr, and she comes across as a person of great integrity who has been banging her head on the wall for years. She was even pursued through the courts by Aaron Banks who was incensed at her suggestion that he was funded by Russian dirty money (hollow laugh), but he seems to have called his dogs off. The statement about the Skripol poisoning not being a failed assassination attempt, but a failed mass poisoning is chilling. I am not sure that we all knew just what the implications could have been.

Extraordinary.

I don’t think that we should ever underestimate Putin.

We know that when generals play their war games with Putin as the adversary, they do so with the knowledge that he is almost sure (>90%) to use WOMD. Nuclear included.

That is why they are refusing to go into Ukraine.

That Putin has been using chemical weapons at a personel level and killing opponents has been well known for ages. Not just Skripol. Before that there was Litvinenko and whatever politicians say, there was a general acceptance that Russian security would be interfering in our elections, or trying to.

This article is well drawn together and explained, but there is nothing in it that was not already well known.

I think the judgement in the Banks / Cadwalladr case has not yet been made? (Unless I have missed it).
She is amazing.

Many people have not underestimated Putin, but a frightening number of people, including members of the Tory party who elected him as leader have seriously underestimated just how corrupt Johnson is. In this report, he didn't just appear 'alone and dishevelled' at Lebedev Jr's Italian villa, he also met Lebedev Snr, one of Putin's KGB officers.

Interestingly, the Chinese are very much on the fence with this.

I was reading a report by a Chinese official whose conclusion included the following.

There is a possible escalation of the war beyond Ukraine
Will lead to Putin’s defeat.
This will mean that the USA will regain world leadership and a very United west.
A new iron curtain, between democracies and authoritarian states

Growth in the power of the West, in both military strength and the strength and importance of western institutions. Greater hard power and soft

Further isolation of China, as the US, Europe, and also Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia turn against China.

"China will not only be encircled militarily ... but also challenged by Western values and systems."

He closes by saying that China has 1-2 WEEKS in which to make a choice. And basically says that China should choose the West, and use its influence over Putin to end the war and bring him to heel. It says that China is the only nation that can.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and watch to see if China does indeed put pressure on Putin to end the invasion.

I think the point is though M0nica that although the threads of knowledge were there about the things that have been happening, the article brings all the parts together in a way that I haven’t seen before so the jigsaw fits together - in a chilling way.

Sorry to have gone off on a tangent there, but I read it and thought it worth noting.

With regard to Johnson, There is more and more information coming out. This would imo never been given traction if it wasn’t for the Russian invasion.

Casdon

I think the point is though M0nica that although the threads of knowledge were there about the things that have been happening, the article brings all the parts together in a way that I haven’t seen before so the jigsaw fits together - in a chilling way.

Yes that is right. I’m not sure that the link was ever mentioned about Salisbury and the military though. I certainly never read that. Perhaps I missed it.

Mamie

I think the judgement in the Banks / Cadwalladr case has not yet been made? (Unless I have missed it).
She is amazing.

No, I don't think it has, but I think Aaron Banks may be pulling back a bit. One of his great supporters Isobel Oakeshott has issued a statement stating her great surprise (yeah right) at the content of the emails produced as evidence in court which show unequivocally that Banks is Russian funded, therefore, so was Brexit. That's Oakeshott, of Cameron biography fame, and Richard Tice's lover, pal of Farage. God, what a shower. Carole has had to wade through the sewers.

Whitewavemark2

Casdon

I think the point is though M0nica that although the threads of knowledge were there about the things that have been happening, the article brings all the parts together in a way that I haven’t seen before so the jigsaw fits together - in a chilling way.

Yes that is right. I’m not sure that the link was ever mentioned about Salisbury and the military though. I certainly never read that. Perhaps I missed it.

Well, the link was certainly mentioned on the local west country news.
How did others miss it?

As M0nica says, there are no revelations at all in the article, nothing new, but all the known facts have been pulled together in one compelling article.

Let us hope that one day someone will sling BJ in the nick and leave him there.

I agree there are no new revelations in this article, but when joined up, the truth is even worse, so bad that even the right wing press can no longer ignore it.
The meeting that Johnson had with Lebedeve Snr, you know the KGB officer, isn't just a scandal it is a national security failure. The meeting took place without a security protocol, the knowledge of his department officials, or, we must assume, the PM Teresa May. When it became known, Johnson should not have just been sacked, he should have been questioned by the police and the Prime minister. The problem is that by the time The Observer revealed it, Johnson was the Prime Minister

Some poster are assuming that Mi5/Mi6 share all intel with foreign secretaries and Prime Ministers.? Mmmmm.

MerylStreep

Some poster are assuming that Mi5/Mi6 share all intel with foreign secretaries and Prime Ministers.? Mmmmm.

Perhaps, from your obvious position of superior knowledge, you'd like to explain what the purpose of 'intel' is if it isn't shared with at least the PM?

Actually, when she was PM, Teresa may instructed the security services not to share all information with Johnson, then her Foreign Secretary.

M0nica

That Putin has been using chemical weapons at a personel level and killing opponents has been well known for ages. Not just Skripol. Before that there was Litvinenko and whatever politicians say, there was a general acceptance that Russian security would be interfering in our elections, or trying to.

This article is well drawn together and explained, but there is nothing in it that was not already well known.

I agree Monica.

I think we have all become desensitised to the things that Putin does, or at least we were until now. In fact I ‘m ashamed of the fact that I didn’t react to the poisonings. In retrospect it’s totally chilling.

Whitewavemark2

Interestingly, the Chinese are very much on the fence with this.

I was reading a report by a Chinese official whose conclusion included the following.

There is a possible escalation of the war beyond Ukraine
Will lead to Putin’s defeat.
This will mean that the USA will regain world leadership and a very United west.
A new iron curtain, between democracies and authoritarian states

Growth in the power of the West, in both military strength and the strength and importance of western institutions. Greater hard power and soft

Further isolation of China, as the US, Europe, and also Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia turn against China.

"China will not only be encircled militarily ... but also challenged by Western values and systems."

He closes by saying that China has 1-2 WEEKS in which to make a choice. And basically says that China should choose the West, and use its influence over Putin to end the war and bring him to heel. It says that China is the only nation that can.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and watch to see if China does indeed put pressure on Putin to end the invasion.

I was just listening to a news report about China's view Whitewave and they are not overly happy with Putin. They see him shifting the possibilities for them to do what they want to do in forming or holding at a distance the relationships with the West.

They have so far not agreed to his request to them for arms. They want Taiwan but they do not see it as the same as Ukraine and see him, I understood, as undermining their position.

They could replace the "Swift" system but who would want to be paid in either Chinese or Russian currency.

There is a lot going on.

Although shocked to read the detail about his behaviour, I am not surprised about Johnson and the Skripal affair. I'm afraid I have long thought he has no allegiance to anyone or anything, including this country. I hold allegiance in higher regard than the popular patriotism that we have thrown at us all the time. If you look up the meaning of allegiance, it starts with loyalty, faithfulness and fidelity. I wouldn't associate any of those with Johnson.

And the company that fitted all the electrical things in the No 10 briefing room is based in Moscow.