UK CHEMISTS: ITS NOT NOVICHOK ,CAN’T IDENTIFY SOURCE; PROBABLY NOT RUSSIANS

UK’S MAY WAXED HYSTERICAL, FINGERING “NOVICHOK” AND RUSSIANS WITHOUT EVIDENCE SHE CAUESD A MAJOR AND DANGEOURS DIPLOMATIC RIFT—EXACERBATING COLD WAR-LIKE—TENSIONS AND ENCOURAGING CONFLICT WITH A POWERFUL NUCLEAR ARMED NATION—-ALL WITHOUT EVIDECNE AND WITHOUT NEED. NOW THE TRUTH STANDS AS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO HER AND HER NATION. It was just about a month ago that Col Sergei Skripal (a former Russian intelligence agent—then British spy) and his daughter were found in a catatonic state on a park bench in the village center of Salisbury, UK. It soon became apparent that the duo were poisoned. It was British Prime Minister Theresa May who jumped to the conclusion that the Russians did it. She claimed the poison was “Novichok” a volatile nerve poison known to have been produced by the USSR (now defunct Soviet Union) during the Cold War era. Mrs. May pointed her finger with little evidence to support her charges, at Mr. Putin and the modern Russian state. It may have served her immediate political purposes to do so. Her charges were seen, in the current state of tension between the USA, EU and Russia, as politically astute. But now, with the recent evelation about the way in which the poison was administered and the chemical and physical properties of the substance, derived from her own nations chemists, she seems unhinged and hysterical. Not characteristics one would prefer in the leader of a nuclear armed state. May, without any firm evidence of culpability and many reasons to suspect otherwise, continued to blame the Russians. She jumped into a punative response, expelling 23 Russian diplomats (claimed as spies) diplomats from the nation. President Trump who, at first showed some judgement and spine claiming he would wait for proof of Russian involvement before he acted, but soon gave in and in like manner expelled 60 Russian diplomats. Other nations around the world like lemmings followed suit. Perhaps 150 Russians were sent home. It was a humiliating for Mr. Putin. He will retaliate. This was not what we would hope to see from our diplomatic corps. It is dangerous in a nuclear armed world. The sophisticated and vaunted British chemists at Porton Down Near Salisbury in the UK have just determined, after a month of investigation, that the poison used to sicken Colonel Skripal, the former turncoat Russian spy, and his daughter WAS NOT IDENTIFIABLE AS TO SOURCE, AND (IT WAS NOT STATED BUT IMPLIED) NOT NOVICHOCK. The revelation suggest strongly that the Russians had nothing to do with the Skripals’ poisoning. Several facts revealed during the intensive British investigations make that clear. It appears now, as a result of professional British investigations that Skripal and his daughter (and a British police officer) were poisoned with a now “unknown” subsstanc “smeared” on the front door handle of the Skripal’s home. They were poisoned when one of them touched the front door handle. The British police officer seems to have been infected at the same place when he returned to the Skripal home to conduct an investigation after they had been rushed to the hospital. After coming in contact with the poison, the pair left their home, dined at a local pizza restaurant, then spent time at a local pub. They became only became ill after several hours of contact with the so-called “nerve agent”. They finally succumbed to the poison on a near by park bench. The described circumstances suggest something other than Novichok..a nerve active agent which would be readily absorbed though the skin or its vapors inhaled and affect one almost immediately. The detective and about 20 other first responders and investigators were also poisoned by the same substance. So far all of those affected have either been released from care or had little response and are now alive and well. Only Skripal himself is still comatose. These facts and the report from Porton Down obviate the rushed conclusion by PM May and her advisors that the substance was Novichok. That chemical would have killed instantly. It would not have been able to be used to smear on a door handle. The active substance has been reported (yesterday) to have been “unidentifiable” as to source nation and suggesst the lab may have no knowledge of its origin. Now with the awful and dangerous bruhaha that PM May has generated with her careless and unsubstantiated charges against Russia, how will the truth ever be revealed? A full honest accounting is too embarrassing and thus not likely. The story will be buried by the British who have the only samples of this poison and are not sharing the substance with anyone. Mr.Trump should take notice as well. His planned meeting with PM Putin is a good idea. Perhaps these two can lessen the dangerous tensions between two powerful nations armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.