Once again, the duplicitous fact-free concept of intelligence “assessments”, now a traditional anti-Russian substitute for due process and real intelligence activities, comes to the fore. The following incongruous quote appeared in an article on point in today’s Guardian, “[t]he use of Novichok – a deadly nerve agent developed in the 1970s and 1980s by the Soviet Union – will be seen as a brutal calling card. It was inevitable that the poison would be discovered, with a trail leading straight back to Moscow”, see “Russian spy poisoning: Theresa May issues ultimatum to Moscow”.

So, … as in the case of allegations of alleged Syrian government gas attacks and Russian theft of Clinton, DNC and Podesta emails, apparently clearly illegal activities accompanied by virtually signed confessions by the alleged perpetrators raise no eyebrows.  Of course!  “…. and the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction and the dog ate my homework and fool me again, it’s kind of fun”.

Are we really that stupid, that easy to manipulate over and over and over again; “remember the Maine”?  Well, we can’t blame our crafty old intelligence agencies for trying; after all, “tried and true virtually every time so why change”?  After all, as old Honest Abe is said to have observed, … “you can fool all of the People [at least] some of the time”.

“The Russians are coming; the Russians are coming, increase defense and intelligence spending, bar the doors, hide the women and children!”

“Snicker, snicker”.
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2018; all rights reserved.  Please feel free to share with appropriate attribution.

Guillermo Calvo Mahé (a sometime poet) is a writer, political commentator and academic currently residing in the Republic of Colombia although he has primarily lived in the United States of America (of which he is a citizen).  Until recently he chaired the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales.  He has academic degrees in political science (the Citadel), law (St. John’s University), international legal studies (New York University) and translation studies (the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies).  He can be contacted at guillermo.calvo.mahe@gmail.com and much of his writing is available through his blog at http://www.guillermocalvo.com.