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This is impressive journalistic work. If you are a fan of such type of open-source intelligence, I highly recommend the Arms Control Wonk podcast and blog, who

by andr 8y ago

This is impressive journalistic work. If you are a fan of such type of open-source intelligence, I highly recommend the Arms Control Wonk podcast and blog, who have done amazing investigations into North Korean missile development (https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/ https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/). Yet, with so many obvious giveaways, I find it hard to believe Russia ever wanted to get away with the Skripal poisoning. From using a very exotic Russian-made poison to the absurd Salisbury Cathedral story, it looks like a provocation or trolling. Of course, the Russian government will officially deny any involvement, but they are doing it with an obvious wink.

GW150914 8y ago
I forget the word, but there is a Russian word that sums this up. It’s about saying things thst are over-the-top to accentuate reality. In the same way that Stephen Colbert pretended to be a kind of hyper-Bill O’Reilly as a way of pointing out the ridiculousness and hypocrisy of some aspects of the Republicans in the US. It also applies to someone with a record of torturing and killing pets who is accused of murder, grinning and saying, “Everyone knows I would not hurt a fly.” A couple of Russians saying that they found the wintry weather in the UK challenging? Well...
- vtail 8y ago
  The Russian word you are looking for might be "фарс", very similar meaning to "farce".
- DenisM 8y ago
  Probably "Эпатаж". There is no good translation, not even for the wikipedia article itself. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B6 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0...
- cuboidGoat 8y ago
  Sounds similar in meaning to the Yiddish word 'chutzpah', which was once defined by Leo Rosten as; "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan"
krn 8y ago
> Yet, with so many obvious giveaways, I find it hard to believe Russia ever wanted to get away with the Skripal poisoning. Russian killings in the UK are nothing new, and there were plenty of evidences in many previous cases. What's new here, is that the UK decided to make this particular case public. Unlike, for instance, in 2012[1]: > Perepilichnyy, who faced repeated threats after fleeing to Britain, was found dead outside his home in Surrey after returning from a mysterious trip to Paris in 2012. Despite an expert detecting signs of a fatal plant poison in his stomach, the British police have insisted there was no evidence of foul play, and Theresa May’s government has invoked national security powers to withhold evidence from the inquest into his cause of death – which is ongoing. > The prime minister directed the government’s successful bid to withhold documents from Perepilichnyy’s inquest on national security grounds, and as home secretary her department oversaw the police force that concluded the whistleblower’s death was not suspicious. [1] https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/poison-in-the-system https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/poison-in-the-system
- emmelaich 8y ago
  "Borishov" was awarded for a "peace project" in 2014. In 2014 Scot Young died after falling/jumping from window. He said he'd been dangled out of windows by Russian heavies previously. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scot_Young https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scot_Young
pvg 8y ago
of such type of open-source intelligence Key bits are not entirely from open sources, particularly the passport application that directly connects the apparently real identity they dug up to the new undercover one.
- Muromec 8y ago
  The basically found right person in a database leak (which can be considered open source) and then verified their hypothesis by doing probiv, which is not open source, but is available for anybody with some money for the right person.
  - pvg 8y ago
    which can be considered open source How can it be considered open source? None of the reports (from several publications) involving the passport applications have identified the source.
    - catskul2 8y ago
      The method of investigation was to use (mostly) open available sources. There's a name collision where "open source" means something different in intelligence and reporting than it does for software and technology.
      - pvg 8y ago
        I don't see how the 'name collision' is related. It wasn't a fully open source investigation and one particular key source, which the comment I replied to called 'open' is very much not open.
deleted 8y ago
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by andr 8y ago

GW150914 8y ago

I forget the word, but there is a Russian word that sums this up. It’s about saying things thst are over-the-top to accentuate reality. In the same way that Stephen Colbert pretended to be a kind of hyper-Bill O’Reilly as a way of pointing out the ridiculousness and hypocrisy of some aspects of the Republicans in the US. It also applies to someone with a record of torturing and killing pets who is accused of murder, grinning and saying, “Everyone knows I would not hurt a fly.” A couple of Russians saying that they found the wintry weather in the UK challenging? Well...

vtail 8y ago
The Russian word you are looking for might be "фарс", very similar meaning to "farce".
DenisM 8y ago
Probably "Эпатаж". There is no good translation, not even for the wikipedia article itself. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B6 https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0...
cuboidGoat 8y ago
Sounds similar in meaning to the Yiddish word 'chutzpah', which was once defined by Leo Rosten as; "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan"

krn 8y ago

> Yet, with so many obvious giveaways, I find it hard to believe Russia ever wanted to get away with the Skripal poisoning. Russian killings in the UK are nothing new, and there were plenty of evidences in many previous cases. What's new here, is that the UK decided to make this particular case public. Unlike, for instance, in 2012[1]: > Perepilichnyy, who faced repeated threats after fleeing to Britain, was found dead outside his home in Surrey after returning from a mysterious trip to Paris in 2012. Despite an expert detecting signs of a fatal plant poison in his stomach, the British police have insisted there was no evidence of foul play, and Theresa May’s government has invoked national security powers to withhold evidence from the inquest into his cause of death – which is ongoing. > The prime minister directed the government’s successful bid to withhold documents from Perepilichnyy’s inquest on national security grounds, and as home secretary her department oversaw the police force that concluded the whistleblower’s death was not suspicious. [1] https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/poison-in-the-system https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/poison-in-the-system

emmelaich 8y ago
"Borishov" was awarded for a "peace project" in 2014. In 2014 Scot Young died after falling/jumping from window. He said he'd been dangled out of windows by Russian heavies previously. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scot_Young https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scot_Young

pvg 8y ago

of such type of open-source intelligence Key bits are not entirely from open sources, particularly the passport application that directly connects the apparently real identity they dug up to the new undercover one.

Muromec 8y ago
The basically found right person in a database leak (which can be considered open source) and then verified their hypothesis by doing probiv, which is not open source, but is available for anybody with some money for the right person.
- pvg 8y ago
  which can be considered open source How can it be considered open source? None of the reports (from several publications) involving the passport applications have identified the source.
  - catskul2 8y ago
    The method of investigation was to use (mostly) open available sources. There's a name collision where "open source" means something different in intelligence and reporting than it does for software and technology.
    - pvg 8y ago
      I don't see how the 'name collision' is related. It wasn't a fully open source investigation and one particular key source, which the comment I replied to called 'open' is very much not open.

deleted 8y ago

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