I do not know who
committed the crime against Sergei Skripal. I have not seen the crime scene, I
have not examined the victim and I haven't even followed the story in the news.
I have no doubt
that the Russian (or whichever other) secret service is not above killing a double agent (or whichever undesirable person) by using nerve gas or whichever
other suitable method.
That said, I was
stupefied by this article in The Guardian by Haroon Siddique and Luke Harding.
I double-checked that it was not published on 1st April. No, it was 6th April.
That article is so
incredible that I actually took screenshots, so in case the
newspaper eventually realised what earth-shattering foolishness they had published, and
altered the article, they wouldn't be able to deny that they had originally
published what I am saying they had.
The article begins
with:
Two guinea pigs
belonging to Sergei Skripal died and his cat was put down after the Salisbury
nerve agent attack, the government has revealed.
Note the word
"after". Of course the journalists can say they never said
"because". But 90% of the readers who read the words "dead after
the nerve agent attack" assume that the animals died as a result of the
nerve agent attack. Messrs. Siddique and Harding know that perfectly well. This
is a brilliant example of how journalists put thoughts in people's heads while
being able to insist afterwards to be as innocent as Caesar's wife.
But that is a
trifle compared to what comes next.
A spokeswoman for
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the dead
guinea pigs and a "distressed" cat were discovered when a vet was
able to enter Skripal’s home, which had been sealed off during the police
investigation. Defra said it believed the guinea pigs had died of thirst.
I re-read
those sentences several times and I still can't quite believe my eyes.
Let's recapitulate
what that paragraph says:
1. Home was sealed
off.
2. After a period of time, a vet was able to enter the home. (Meaning, he
wasn't until then.)
3. When he did, he
found dead guinea pigs.
4. The guinea pigs
had died of thirst.
Now ask yourself
(or anyone else) these question:
1. What causes
thirst?
a) nerve agents
b) lack of water
2. When you lock up
an animal without water, what is the likely result?
3. Who is to blame
for the death of the guinea pigs?
a) Russian secret
agents
b) the British
police who sealed off the home, leaving the animals inside
You might think
the story can't possibly get any absurder. You would be wrong. It
does:
The Sun reported
that Skripal’s black cat, Nash Van Drake, was put down after being tested at
Porton Down, where he was found to be severely malnourished.
What would you do
when you found a malnourished cat? Would you put it down to end its suffering,
or would you... well... um... FEED it?
It seems to me that
some kind of a nerve agent has damaged not only Mister and Miss Skripal, but
also an unknown number of British scientists and journalists.
