The Skripal Poisoning - A Very Deep British Affair

[Peter Lemkin]

Senators from the opposition Mayors and Independents Party want to proposea treason charge against President Miloš Zeman over his claim that thenerve-gas Novichok had been produced and tested in the Czech Republic. The party's senators' club announced the news at a press conference onThursday, adding that by disclosing classified information from a militaryintelligence report, the president has threatened the security of Czechcitizens.

Peter, would you see this as a kind of color revolution or regime change agenda? It just seems weird. Why make these absurd charges?

No. But what is happening [mostly internal - I see no US hand in this - except perhaps in the latest denials] is very much more complex and crazy then it looks if you don't follow [and who does but me] Czech Political things. Zeman is a right-wing idiot, with policies and ideas close to Trump. He is also, it seems, a heavy drinker and often says things he should not for political or security reasons. He also often makes statements that shows his rabid ultra-right ideas and prejudices. However, in this matter, he seems to have told a truth his military [which is close to NATO - Zeman is not especially] felt should not even have been mentioned. To confuse things further, there were statements from different secret agencies here - both saying that Novichok had been produced here in the not too distant past, but differing GREATLY in the amount produced. Now, everyone but Zeman are trying to call those 'stories' false - and claim that NO Novichok was produced here at all - or that the kind that was produced in minute amounts and then immediately destroyed was a different type than could have been involved in the Skripal matter. Stranger still, and not fleshed out, is the story that Skripal came to Prague and met with intelligence agencies here and told them a lot of important things [on what is not really addressed]. It is hard to confirm 100%, but to me it seems obvious that no one here would make the mistake of saying that Novichok nerve agents [there are several variants] were produced here unless they were. The issue of when might vary, but again I'm guessing. As to the two stories that differ in the amount and which agent...again, hard to tell which is correct, but I sense the larger amount is most likely. Remember that Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet bloc until 1989 and the military and intelligence agencies here were connected at the hip to those of the USSR. Now, the military and intelligence agencies are officially connected at the hip to NATO and the USA. However, Zeman is very close to Russia. This story is FAR from clear or settled here and I'm afraid is about to just die an unnatural death here - as far as investigative reporting goes. It is interesting thought and goes a LONG way to proving some of the assumptions being stated by UK and USA as false - that ONLY Russia could have [and implied is DID] produce Novichok nerve agents. Zeman is [to me, sadly] fairly popular here. About half of the voters like him. The other half hate him with a passion and voted for a progressive scientist from the academy of sciences here, who was not a politician, but ran recently and just lost by 2-3%, to stop a Zeman-Trump clone from being President here. There is no attack on the country or stability of it. The structure here is entirely different than in the USA and the President doesn't have the same powers as in the USA. It is also a multi-party system in the Parliament. So, in short, different factions of government here are close to the UK and USA [read also MI5-6/CIA] and others are not very close - but none are outright hostile to them. How this turns out, if it turns out at all rather than just dies in the news, I can't predict. If Zeman is removed from office [here one can force a President into an early new election - unlike in the USA] it will likely not be over this. Here few care about this at all, as far as I can tell. This kind of internecine battle is fairly common here. Who is telling the truth in this case is unclear to me. Czech intelligence and Czech military intelligence are very opaque agencies and they don't leak but rarely. Clear is that some Novichok was produced and likely stored - to be known is if that was before or after [or both] 1989. It also shows that you don't need to be a superpower to produce this agent. If the UK and or US leaned on someone to withdraw their statements on production of Novichok agents is unknown - and unlikely to surface here. This is a client state. Once of the USSR, now of the USA/NATO. While individuals and agencies often [and may have in this case] spoken out without asking permission beforehand, they may have decided under pressure to deny their own reports. It is all very unclear and getting more cloudy with time. I do not do research on the deep political workings within this country - as it would not be a healthy thing for me to do! - so I am using public sources and my own gut feelings based on past events.