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Whatever your views on Russia and our own government, the use of a nerve agent to attack British residents should be condemned without hesitation.
andyp-
Totally, it's the super quick demands without proof from MayBot that irk me a bit.
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Whatever your views on Russia and our own government, the use of a nerve agent to attack British residents should be condemned without hesitation.
I'm sure he said more, but isn't this a full condemnation?
Corbyn called the incident “an appalling act of violence”, saying on Wednesday: “Nerve agents are abominable if used in any war. It is utterly reckless to use them in a civilian environment.”
Corbyn then also repeated a standard point that he makes all the time, which is an appeal to international law and international institutions:
In the Commons, Corbyn stressed the need to gather evidence and abide by international law, underlining the role of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague.
He said: “If the government believes that it is still a possibility that Russia negligently lost control of a military-grade nerve agent, what action is being taken through the OPCW with our allies?”
Now, I have no idea what international law actually exists on these issues, but I do agree it's important that these issues be treated in an internationalist way. Obviously, international institutions led by the UN have been weakened at least since the Iraq war (but in smaller ways undoubtedly for much longer), but one country like Britain alone couldn't stand up to Russia, and any sabre-rattling is pointless. There is still at least a hope that consensus in the international community could make a difference.
Then (assuming the reporting here is accurate, I have no wish to watch this in its usual excruciating rubbishness) we get another instance of not answering the question:
Corbyn then asked: “How has she responded to the Russian government’s request for a sample of the agent used in the Salisbury attack, to run its own tests?”
May attacked Corbyn, saying the Russians had already been given the chance to explain where the nerve agent had come from and that the government had sought consensus.
And then we get some usual suspects being splitters (again), attacking Corbyn, seemingly over points made by Seumas Milne outside the chamber. Really quite boring and predictable, and about as stupid as Hilary Benn's speech about airstrikes on Syria.
JWestland
Oliver Schick
"Russia meddling with our democracy" has now become the go-to deflection for any criticism of our failed political and economic models. Good to see Corbyn not breathlessly running into the breach behind our government of unaccountable fuckwits.