I've had it out with various 'catters in these venues but with the increase in sunlight radiating into my brain I've realized that there are some big problems out there that dwarf any minor irritation any of you blighters can produce, and some profound joys and wonders that any of you fine people can and do appreciate along with moi-meme. So I hope to be entertained by the clever of any extraction and to shed more light than heat, but of course the devil over me left shoulder might encourage me to say something especially nasty now and then and I hope that the thread closers out there will look upon such mutterings as spiceful and not close-another-damn-threadful.

Right now I've taken a pill and I love you all, semi-carnally.

Now back to the subject, which is extremely interesting. Let's go with that Putin comment: "If it had been one of our nerve agents, no one would've survived."
Apparently the British have a good idea of the nerve agent and there are three casualties, all alive, but all unwell, two particularly so. I haven’t heard any details and I don’t know if this is because I haven’t read the right news feeds or because those with the facts are keeping them close, which I’m sure is what I’d do. And if I were the Russians I’d be very interested either way. Either I’ve tried to kill someone and failed, or someone has tried to kill someone and put the frame on me. Worthy of a detective novel, and sure to be one soon.
This is reminiscent, somewhat, of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, where it’s hard to believe that someone doesn’t know what happened, but it’s clearly very important to secure the means of knowing what happened.
So, clearly the UK feels justified in putting the arm on the Soviets, excuse me, the Russians. And clearly they hope they have enough of the public trust to be able to abstain from spilling the beans on all they know, which clearly the Russians would love to have in any case.
We’re living in an age of more exposure and less trust, and the two are definitely related. It’s a case of the ease of clinging to faith in darkness, and the more light that’s shed lessens the causeless fear, raises the fear with cause, and lowers respect for all the great institutions which could flourish in darkness.