Russia does this all the time. They did it to Litvinenko in a very similar fashion. The upside is that it sends a message to what they perceive to be traitors. Cross us and we'll murder you and your family in an extremely nasty way. It's been one of their methods since the days of the KGB.
Classic FUD tactic. You may be killed on a whim long after some event, when there is no material gain in doing so. I am surprised they just don't make it look like some Hoodie stabbing for money rather than a Bond movie. Then again, perhaps "tradecraft" means these former spies never actually move around in a way where that is ever possible.
Litvinenko was an example for sure and there are others, but to copycat that model with so much downside risk, means intelligence sources are widening their field of vision. There are many other more publically subtle ways that could have been used - and the same message would have been picked up by others in the crosshairs. May be as blatant and shameless as it appears, but the public pronouncements over the next few days and weeks will be revealing - as will any lack of comment....
A random stabbing would defeat the point, though I'm sure those happen too when it's more appropriate. This is sending a message. Where's the downside? They've been doing this for ages and nothing obvious happens in return. Now that Trump and Tillerson are refusing to put on additional sanctions, despite them being legally obliged to, there's no reason not to do this. Those currently under the spotlight from Mueller will have seen this happen.
Because it's International Women's Day the Tories are once again trying to trot out the foolish idea that the Dire Leader is some sort of feminist based solely on her (supposedly) owning a pair of ovaries, which in turn has led to all manner of Tory columnists trying to accuse Jeremy Corbyn of mansplaining to her at PMQs yesterday - because correcting somebody when they said something that is patently not true is apparently "mansplaining" now...
The Prime Minister of Luxembourg sums up the Britait shambles more succinctly than a very succinct thing
A comment I heard on the claim that there was nothing unusual about the Stormy Daniels pay-off. "Who among us has not used their home equity line to pay off a porn star a couple of days before an election?"
The only job he is likely to get is as a fence post and then he would want supporting from both sides with some decent Scandinavian timber. What is he doing supporting a football team with all those foreign players taking his job.
I ran across this recently again, and think it seems relevant. It's Charlie Chaplin's speech at the end of the great dictator, and it seems a bit astounding that no one is saying anything like this anymore. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness — not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world — millions of despairing men, women and little children — victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say — do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed — the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes — men who despise you — enslave you — who regiment your lives — tell you what to do — what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men — machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate! Only the unloved hate — the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" — not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power — the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!"
Because it seems that East London found a way to be even scummier, letters have been posted advertising Punish A Muslim Day on April 3rd, complete with a list of suggestions for how the recipient could punish said Muslims - complete with the number of points earned for performing these tasks. The Metropolitican Police are investigating these letters as "a possible hate crime." "POSSIBLE" ****ING HATE CRIME???
Trouble is, this is the behavioral ‘norm’ in that area and the Old Bill are as anaesthetised as the rest of the public.
The most ludicrous thing about these leaflets is it tells the recipient to not act like a sheep, and instead go out and either torture a Muslim (worth 250 points), murder one (worth 500 points) or bomb a mosque (worth 1000 points) all because a leaflet told them to. Suffice to say there's already tweets from pudgy white people whose profile pics have them in camo gear posing with machine guns saying it's a false flag...
Tommy Robinson has uploaded a video of him being attacked by four "far-left extremists" as he walks out of a branch of McDonalds, before fighting back and sending them all packing. Simple question: why was there a camera crew set up outside the door of a random branch of McDonalds to catch him walking out, which just so happened to be in the perfect position to film this "attack" with his "brave" fightback that showed who the "real" "man" was? I guess I need to put on 20lbs, buy some camo gear and hold an M16 for my avatar pic...
It's as fake as ****. The police turn up and he suddenly doesn't want them involved, for some reason. Can't think why... He should take some lessons from the pro-wrestling lot. At least some of their punches and kicks make contact.
Let me just check, has The Sun devoted a front page to the story that the Tory party have accepted donation of over £800,000 from Russian oligarchs, including one who paid £30,000 to have direct access to then-Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson? Or do they think that doesn't interest the British public, who'd rather read easily-debunked nonsense from a deluded Czech fantasist about Jeremy Corbyn selling secrets during the Cold War? In other news, irony struck a pro-gun activist from Florida in the lower back from point-blank range https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/09/us/gun-activist-shot-florida/index.html
