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Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

bbc.com

91–100 of 371 posts

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#91
If you ever wonder about the extent of Russia's online efforts consider that the comments on this HN thread might be part of things.

Not saying anything in here is good/bad/other but you rarely see this level of flagged and down-voted comments in a HN thread.

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#92

Maybe I'm too skeptical, but this seems a bit too obvious to me. Why would you try to poison someone with no real threat to you and risk him becoming a martyr, using a method that immediately brings you to mind, with a nerve agent that is also strongly linked to you?

He's not even trying to be a threat. He supports the annexation of Crimea. Generally isn't too critical of Russia on any big geopolitical issues. Doesn't even poll that well. Only his anti-corruption activism might have made him some enemies. But politically he only makes Putin look moderate.

Not fair to call it a "false flag" though as there's no obvious "flag" attached to this event. It's not like anybody has claimed the attack. There's a whole world of possibilities beyond "Putin ordered it" and "false flag". But whoever did it, it does seem like Kremlin is covering for them so at least partially morally responsible.

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#93

This guy has gotta be one of the bravest and most principled people out there. Almost anyone else would have determined that fighting this fight has no practical utility, since nothing short of a massive popular uprising could unseat Putin at this point, and Russians apparently have no appetite for such an uprising today. Hard enough to risk your life for something that might have a good outcome. To me, it's almost i…

Would you support Navalany if you were aware he is a nationalist?

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#94
post #42

Stupidly to poison someone, and then give them to other country.... 0_0 Say someone is a leader this less then 2% stupidly too...

Not if your objective is to send a public message. Putin isn't afraid of the foreign response. He's afraid of domestic enemies gaining enough confidence to attempt a coup. Domestic enemies are the sole threat to Putin. He wants them terrified; he wants them to understand that he will kill them as necessary. Putin knows very well the first rule of being a dictator (which Lukashenko has forgotten): if you want to be di…

> Domestic enemies are the sole threat to Putin. He wants them terrified;

NATO has enough commandos to take down Russian political leadership in a single evening.

NATO is a big gun, but it has no trigger.

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#95
post #59
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The attempted murder of Sergei Skripal by Russia is a conspiracy theory? Who else would poison him with a nerve agent? Who else would have the motive? Who'd have access to such an agent?

All of the evidence that it was Russia is entirely circumstantial, if we're being strictly accurate here, which is... convenient. On the other hand, exactly zero other groups seem to be using those nerve agents to assassinate people, so it's a great calling card if they wish to discourage others from following in the victims' footsteps.

They know who did it - two colonels and a general in the GRU. I suppose you can say it was circumstantial in that nobody caught them actually putting the poison on their doorknob, but it's pretty well accepted that 3 officers from Russian intelligence travelled to Salisbury using false identification on the day of the poisoning and then left the country. Unless you believe their explanation that they were there to "see the cathedral."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48801205

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#96
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 4 years break Right...

Wasn't he the 'prime minister' during those 4 years? I thought he more or less just switched positions with Medvedev for those 4 years.

Yes. Who do you think was really in charge

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#97
As far as I'm concerned, the Germans are about as trustworthy as Russia. They are currently closing the investigation around the Breitscheidplatz[1] terror attack, which has uncovered massive tampering with evidence and more open questions than answers. And let's not forget their history of false flag attacks.[2]

Most of you will likely disagree, based on their current public image vs. Russia's, but ask yourselves what the known facts are.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_truck_attack

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celle_Hole

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The man is ex-KGB, installed himself in power for life and somehow his critics have a way of getting killed or tripping on some soviet nerve agents.

Merkel of Germany has been chancellor since 2005 (15 years) Putin has been president since 2000 with 4 years break (16 years). So technically he is not THAT bad in comparison.

Except she was voted without cheating, never killed the opposition or controls all branches of government and media.

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#99

If you ever wonder about the extent of Russia's online efforts consider that the comments on this HN thread might be part of things. Not saying anything in here is good/bad/other but you rarely see this level of flagged and down-voted comments in a HN thread.

Seems like that's exactly what you are insinuating.

Re: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

#100

If you ever wonder about the extent of Russia's online efforts consider that the comments on this HN thread might be part of things. Not saying anything in here is good/bad/other but you rarely see this level of flagged and down-voted comments in a HN thread.

I'm training a machine learning model that honeypots commenters like you with provocative news articles. Next, the comments section is cleaned up to eliminate commenter spam. It works amazingly well!
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