The Nerve Agent Poisoning in England Was a Message to the Rest of the World

I suppose this explains the rather weak response to Russia's numerous transgressions over the years. I mean, they shot down a fucking passenger flight full of civilians and the best response that we could muster was to file a "claim" against Putin with the European Court of Human rights.

Their message is pretty clear: they can cause mass civilian casualties anywhere they want, and probably get away with it. So it's best not to push Russia too hard.

> that the power behind the attack — Russia, according to the UK — doesn’t think anyone else is ruthless enough to retaliate effectively.

I thought that applies even more to the USA running assassination programs[0] in over 76 countries now.

[0]: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/the-drone-preside...