Channel 4 News: Westminster spy rowhttp://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=699597927001
The accompanying news article is at:
http://www.channel4.com/news/i-will-clear-my-name-says-russian-aide-accused-of-spying
To this news in a part of England that has already seen a lot of gnashing of teeth this year, I can only say, just when you think things have already reached rock bottom this year in Pompey... boom goes the dynamite.
Back in late October I sent a lengthy email out to friends and former colleagues in far-flung parts of the world who love and appreciate high-caliber football (soccer) titled, simply enough, "Sacha Gaydamak's demand for a ransom payment may cause Premier League club to close down and be liquidated."
That dispatch was prompted after a weekend spent watching perhaps too many SkyNews Sports reports on Fox Soccer Channel, but reading even more of the more astute British tabs and football blogs/websites than usual, where the news for the beloved ball club and its loyal fans kept getting worse and worse by the hour.
Imagine traveling a few hours for an away Portsmouth game and then hearing on the radio that it might be the last game your team will ever play?
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6462212,00.html
For the latest on what's going on with Pompey football, see the well-produced Pompey Pages at http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sectionhome.aspx?sectionID=12295
Here's the latest:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/Pompey-financial-report-to-be.6647296.jp
Lib Dem Mike Hancock's website for his constituents in South Portsmouth and Southsea:
http://www.mikehancock.co.uk/
On that site are these comments about his legislative assistant of over two-and-a-half years, Katia Zatuliveter:
http://www.mikehancock.co.uk/news/555/24/Statement-from-Mike-Hancock-about-Katia-Zatuliveter/
Not mentioned here, though, for obvious reasons, is that more than a few other MPs, even other liberal members, feel that Mike Hancock is too "soft" on Russia, and far too often, too uncomfortably close to the official Russian government position on certain issues, like what's been going on in the Republic of Georgia.
These very facts make Hancock's denials, however heart-felt and truthful, seem to some well-informed observers, perhaps a bit disingenuous, and I suspect that you will be hearing more about this as the week goes on.
The last thing in the world that members of Parliament want to consider is the possibility that there might actually be foreign intelligence agents or sympathizers working around them, with aims considerably more dire than simply bloggers or paparazzo taking snaps of embarrassing personal situations.
If you think about it logically from the perspective of the Federal Security Service, the FSB, ФСБ, the successor to the KGB, the day-to-day schedule and hours of tedious tasks on behalf of a staffer in Parliament, esp. for a member on a Defence committee like Mike Hancock, would be the perfect position for an FSB mole to gather useful info on members, staffers and myriad agency liaisons they deal with on a daily basis.
Perhaps you've heard - loose lips sink ships.
Channel 4 News: Russian spying has 'absolutely' not gone away
says Lord West.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=699578293001
The Beatles - Back In The U.S.S.R [HQ] RARE PROMO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Qk-mZjwhA
See also 'Britain is under attack from Russian spies'
http://www.channel4.com/news/lib-dem-mp-denies-his-assistant-is-a-russian-spy
and UK Border Agency http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/
From the UK Border Agency website: "Every week, our frontline officers are locating and removing migrants who flout the UK's immigration law or pose a risk to the community."
If we only had such marked vigilance here in South Florida, where the print and electronic news media is ardently pro-amnesty for all illegal aliens, especially the editorial board, columnists and reporters at the Miami Herald.
And FYI, no, I haven't forgotten about my promise here a few weeks ago about posting some very accurate and measured analysis of Herald reporter Alfonso Chardy and his consistently one-sided, factually-flawed and self-evidently biased stories about illegal immigration, so recently seen the past two weeks with seemingly daily pro-amnesty stories about the DREAM Act.
You know, those over-the-top stories of Chardy's that ALWAYS leave out inconvenient facts that hamper the story that he and the Herald want to peddle to their beleaguered readers, almost as if they really are stupid enough to think that if he doesn't mention those pesky facts that contradict what he says, nobody will be the wiser.
The same condescending way they seem to assume that nobody ever notices the compelling stories in South Florida that they have consciously ignored for years or give short-shrift
to now, like SO MANY of the interesting ones that first appear at Bob Norman's Daily Pulp blog. http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/
But fortunately, there are a lot more well-informed people like me who pay close attention to issues and public policy than you might otherwise think in South Florida, and we not only have technology on our side, in the form of blogs and websites and social media, but from past experience, we are totally hip to the tricks that Chardy and certain other reporters have long played with pesky inconvenient facts in their so-called news articles in the Herald.
PLUS, CHARDY JUST HAPPENS TO BE MORE OBVIOUS ABOUT IT, NOT TO MENTION, RIDICULOUSLY PREDICTABLE!
Those tricks of his don't change much on his stories re the South Florida transportation scene, either, the most egregious of which will also get their own analysis blog posts here, since Chardy has a LOT to account for with them, too.
Trust me, when you know the true facts, Chardy's so-called 'reporting' is even worse than you think.
It's not so much journalism as it is old-fashioned, biased stenography.
No matter how many times the Herald's management and editors tell Chardy to write about it, the DREAM Act bill in Congress is deader than dead -and rightfully so.
No matter how many times Chardy tries to insinuate that Florida's U.S. Senator George LeMieux might support it, somehow, he's a NO vote, comprende?
No means no!
