Anyone but Russia is to blame

Moscow has now fed into the stratosphere every possible alternative for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the lovely city of Salisbury. First of all, of course, they are not to blame. They had nothing to do with it, neither Russia nor Russians. Never mind that the nerve agent Novichok is/was only ever made in a Russian laboratory. Among the myriad of stories coming out of Moscow about who was to blame their favourite one seems to be that the Porton Down chemical defence establishment just down the road from Salisbury had had Novichok leaking out in one way or another. So under this scenario, a little bit of Novichok seeped out and hunted down the former Russian double agent and his daughter and somehow crept into their soup or coffee or front door. We had the chief executive of Porton Down telling the world on the BBC that there was no possibility any nerve agent could have leaked out because he ran a very tight ship. Sorry, but that begs a number of questions. Does Porton Down have stocks of Novichok to make sure there's an antidote in case of a Russian biological warfare attack? If not, then why not say so? And even if they do - but don't want to tell us - why did the chief executive not say in the interview, "this is all a load of rubbish because even if there had been a leak of any type of nerve agent which there wasn't and never could be, how come only Skripal and daughter and those anywhere near him got poisoned." So, Moscow central, this alternative answer to the Novichok poisoning is totally not credible. The nerve agent was used to target a particular individual - a man who had worked against his country and sold secrets to British intelligence. In the words of any lawyer worth his salt, there is motivation, there is access, there is capability, there is previous. Prima facie, Moscow is the culprit. Not Porton Down. All the other alternatives put about by Russia are also interesting but fiction. Who else in the whole wide world would want a Russian double agent dead as a warning to other putative Russian double agents or defectors? Belgium? I'm joking. Now Moscow is being accused by America's top commander in Afghanistan of colluding with the Taliban by arming them to fight the American-led coalition. That word "collusion" gets around doesn't it? General John Nicholson, the military chief, says he has evidence of collusion. Russia says this is a fairytale, claiming the only effort being put in by Moscow in Afghanistan is aimed at forging a peace settlement. Like in Syria perhaps!!? I blame Trump. Ever since he spouted the words "fake news", Russia and in particular his "friend" Vladimir Putin, have used the same words to dismiss every accusation made against them.