This be one of those awesome moments in history, folks, where ya just know the loonies are once agin gonna be triggered to high water and back :D Western "liberal" craving for that "evil" external 'other' never ceases of course, and so too do the fishing expeditions never cease in vain attempts to gain a smidgeon of confirmation bias on which to hang the hat of the entire Western "liberal" edifice! Once again I thank God for the plain talking, straight back at you 'shootin from the hip' Russian president, as he is one of very few on the world stage today able to demonstrate in real time the madness of the "liberal" Western regime: Putin: Navalny Wasn't Important Enough To Poison, Russia "Would've Finished The Job" https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-navalny-wasnt-important-enough-... In rare new comments in response to widespread allegations from the West that Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was poisoned by Kremlin agents, President Vladimir Putin told reporters at a major annual news conference Thursday that he simply wasn't important enough to be a target. "It's a trick to attack the leaders (of Russia)," Putin said. "But that absolutely does not mean he needs to be poisoned," he noted. "Who needs him?" https://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-report-outing-navalnys-104025821.html And in perhaps the most provocative and mocking statement, Putin added, "If someone had wanted to poison him they would have finished him off." Throughout the comments Putin avoided mentioning Navalny directly by name, only calling him "the patient from the Berlin clinic." All of this comes after a new report by self-styled 'open source' UK-based investigator Bellingcat, which alleged the FSB ran the operation. In October the EU imposed sanctions on a half-dozen top Russian intelligence officials believed to be connected to Navalny's near-death. Navalny has in recent interviews described the ordeal as a political assassination attempt which came from the top - from Putin himself. In August he was airlifted to a Berlin hospital after being poisoned, supposedly with a Soviet-produced nerve agent of the Novichok family. Putin on Thursday brushed that aside as ludicrous. This after multiple Russian media reports underscoring that much of the domestic population had never heard of Navalny before this saga, [HA! Oh that's gold!! :D Facts: you know you love 'em ;)] and certainly very few outside of Russia had. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/08/navalny-was-not-poisoned.html Further, Russian critics of German investigators and the allegations of US officials question why Russian intelligence would use an agent so "obviously" traceable to Russian military and intelligence. …Another interesting exchange with a BBC reporter during the annual press event where the Russian leader fields a variety of open-forum questions came as follows: The BBC representative asked a question about reasons for worsening relations between Russia and the West and wondered whether the Russian leader felt himself responsible for it, at least partially, or Russia is "harmless and squeaky-clean." "Now, about us being harmless and squeaky-clean. Compared to you, yes, it is a fact, we are harmless and squeaky-clean because we agreed to release from an unequivocal Soviet dictate those countries and nations that wanted to develop independently." https://tass.com/politics/1236499 He concluded with noting that the West's foremost military alliance lied about post-Cold War promises made in the 1990's. "We heard your assurances that NATO won’t expand to the East but you didn’t keep your promises," Putin charged. Welp, that's more than a charge, that's a simple fact muh wigs... On Mon, Dec 07, 2020 at 10:33:59PM +1100, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
He might be a very naughty Russian, but for the UK's defence budget bill promotion purposes, he's simply never naughty enough!
Latest UK spin rats headline:
Royal Navy Shadows 9 Russian Warships Off UK, Says "Ready To Respond" https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/were-ready-respond-royal-navy-shadows...
and what they really mean:
"Royal Navy hopeful of literally ANY excuse to demonize Russia to justify upcoming defence budget bill"
The original article continues:
"The Royal Navy has monitored nine Russian vessels around the UK in recent weeks," the statement says. "Every move made by the Russians - a surfaced submarine, destroyer, corvette, patrol ship and their supporting tugs and supply ships - was watched closely by eight RN ships from the English Channel and the Celtic Sea to waters close to the west coast of Scotland in a concerted operation over the last two weeks."
…First Sea Lord, Admiral Tony Radakin was cited in the official press release as saying, "Even with the pressures of Covid, we remain at short notice to respond to threats both in home waters and around the world. Despite the increase in Russian activity, both on the surface and underwater, we are always ready to respond."
and of course the true subtext to those last 6 words is "we are always ready to spin any slightest mistake or mishap as a THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!!!!! And if we get nothing, we might again just make up some total bullshit, wink wink nudge nugde."
Who can forget the Russian defence ministry's classic and classically flowery responses to such crap: "UK/US statement, not consistent with reality."
For we plebes in the West it's mostly shame and sheer embarrassment - all the way down.