The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 12th October 2018
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 12th October 2018
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 12th October 2018
IMPERIALIST hysteria is reaching fever-pitch in the bourgeois media, with the Americans accusing China of interfering in their elections to oust Trump from the White House and Russia branded a “pariah state” for an alleged “global computer-hacking campaign” against the West .
In Britain the new hate-campaign, that began with the Skripal affair, has turned into a torrent of anti-Russian abuse, lies and disinformation. Hoary old Cold War lies are being repeated about Michael Foot, the 1980s Labour leader whom a Soviet defector claimed was “Agent Boot” of the KGB, whilst new revelations about “Russian agents” in parliament are being concocted to justify the stepping-up of the sanctions regime on Russia by Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialism.
In March, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were rushed to hospital after being found unconscious on a park bench near a shopping mall in Salisbury. The Skripals were said to have been exposed to Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. The police called it “attempted murder” and blaming the alleged attack on Russia.
In June, Dawn Sturgess, who lived in a homeless hostel, and her partner Charlie Rowley were hospitalised in a critical condition in Amesbury, a town a few miles from Salisbury. Shortly after, the police announced that the couple were believed to have handled an item contaminated with the same weapon-grade nerve agent, which was allegedly used in the attack on the Skripals in Salisbury. On 8th July Ms Sturgess died at the hospital, Rowley was discharged soon afterwards.
The Kremlin, for its part, has consistently denied any involvement in the Skripal affair, offering assistance in the investigation of the case. The May government has, however, ignored these proposals.
Two Russians, who were in Salisbury at the time, have been branded as Russian agents responsible for an apparently botched hit. But Sergei Skripal, the former Russian double-agent who has been living in Britain after a ‘spy-swap’ in 2010, has not been seen or heard since 4th March. Yulia Skripal, Sergei’s daughter, hasn’t been seen since a short video statement featuring her was released on 23rd May. The Skripals’ silence may suggest that they do not believe that Russia was behind the poisoning.
The Kremlin has, from the start, refused to comment on media reports in the absence of any official information from the British government about suspects in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
But last week Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out, telling the media that although Sergei Skripal was a spy, a “traitor” and “a scumbag”, Russia had nothing to do with his poisoning. <
“As for the Skripals and so on, this spy scandal has been fostered artificially. I am looking through some information sources and your colleagues are pushing the thought that Mr Skripal is almost some kind of human rights activist. He is just a spy, a traitor to the motherland … Imagine: you are a citizen of your own country and all of a sudden there is a person who betrays his motherland. How would you treat him? He is just a scumbag, that is all,” he said.
Putin also said that he was surprised to hear that anyone believed in Russia’s involvement in the poisoning incident in Amesbury in June that left one person, who was a homeless woman, dead and another injured.
“Do you want to say that we have also poisoned a homeless person? I am surprised to hear all these rumours on this case: some guys arrived in the United Kingdom and started to poison homeless persons there. That is absurd,” Putin added.