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posted by martyb on Tuesday March 13 2018, @10:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the or-else? dept.

The UK says that a Soviet-developed Novichok nerve agent was used against Sergei Skripal, his daughter, and bystanders, and has given Russia "until midnight tonight" to explain how it came to be used:

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Tuesday that Russia has "until midnight tonight" to explain how a lethal Novichok nerve agent that was developed in Russia came to be used on U.K. soil. Johnson said Britain is preparing to take "commensurate but robust" action.

Reiterating British Prime Minister Theresa May's statement that it was "highly likely" Russia was to blame for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, Johnson said, "the use of this nerve agent would represent the first use of nerve agents on the continent of Europe since the Second World War."

Meanwhile, police are probing the death of a Russian exile living in London:

Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian exile who was a close friend of a noted critic of President Vladimir Putin, has died from an "unexplained" cause in London, police say. The Metropolitan Police says that its counter-terrorism unit is handling the case "because of associations that the man is believed to have had."

Glushkov, 68, was a close friend of former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a prominent critic of the Kremlin who was found dead in 2013. At the time, an inquiry found he had hanged himself — but Glushkov publicly disputed the idea that his friend and former business ally would have killed himself.

As British media began reporting Glushkov's death, the police issued a statement saying, "An investigation is underway following the death of a man in his 60s in Kingston borough."

Previously: Former Russian Spy Exposed to "Unknown Substance" in Salisbury, England
Use of Nerve Agent Confirmed in Skripal Assassination Attempt


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:54PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:54PM (#652063)

    I tough that Trump threat to north Korea were pragmatic, as a Canadian I hate the Trump man but I think that you read him well in your post about pragmatism. Yet you says never threaten period....

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday March 14 2018, @12:49AM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 14 2018, @12:49AM (#652083) Journal

    The pragmatism post was posted because I thought it was interesting, not so much because I entirely agree with it.

    As for threatening: Have you ever watched a fight between two boys or young men develop? He insults, he responds with a threat, a stronger threat is made, more and more bluster, until finally, one or the other of the fools involved feels compelled to take a swing, or a kick, or whatever. Spectators and participants to the fight all know that neither party REALLY wants a fight, they are both scared. The bluster helps to build up courage. The participants are trying to cover up their fear of each other.

    For my part, if I know that action is required, I prefer to take a shortcut, and act. There's no point in talking about it, until everyone is tired of talk. Just "git 'er done", and it's finished, then you can move on to more interesting things.

    I suppose that perspective is related to the fact that I am far less of a social animal than most people.

    Want a sea story to go with that? As a young man, fresh aboard ship, I was promoted to third class. Another, slightly older sailor, who was a Viet Vet resented the fact that I had won a promotion, and tried to make my life miserable. So, Bill is harassing me just a couple weeks after my "crow" was "tacked on"* and I decided that Bill was going to have to be dealt with, one way or another. We exchanged a single round of insults - and I nailed him. Didn't manage to "deck" him, bastard was tougher than he looked, and I also just missed his nose. Within about 45 seconds, onlookers had grabbed both of us, and stopped the fight.

    Bill came to me later, and apologized. His entire problem centered around the fact that he was a Viet veteran, and I was not - he thought I was a candy ass, or a pussy. Apparently, he decided that if I were ready and willing to attack a war veteran, then maybe I wasn't a pussy after all.

    TBH, I never thought I could beat Bill, and I wasn't sure that I could make a decent showing against him in a fight. The whole thing, from my point of view, was that if I was going to get my ass beat, I might as well just get it over. No point in trying to avoid a fight that was going to happen anyway. Where do you hide aboard a little destroyer, anyway?

    * The Navy has a tradition, where your peers "tack on" your new insignia with a punch. The "crow" is hammered into your upper arm repeatedly the first couple days you wear it. The first few punches don't amount to much, but the next fifty tend to make the bruises last for quite awhile. Alas - the tradition seems to have died off. In fact, from what I hear, the Navy is doing away with rank and rating insignia.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 14 2018, @11:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 14 2018, @11:10AM (#652278)

      The USAF was still tacking on insignia in the mid to late 2000s, but seemed to be declining. My last promotion was in 2007, and I was hit a lot less than my promotion in 2006. I was only an E-5, so folks higher on the chain than me were in good supply. I got out in 2010, so I can't say whether or not they are doing it at all anymore. A lot can happen in 8 years. I'm not big on traditions and rituals, so I could care less either way. What drove me out was the BS and a lack of focus on training. I'll spare the details, as this is off topic as it is.