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[martinuzz]

Heh, the police officer that was first at the scene at the poisoning site has also been admitted to hospital with symptoms of nerve toxin poisioning.
The British authorities have put hundreds of police officers, forensic specialists, and members of the intelligence agencies on the case immediatly.
Back with the Litvenenko case, the British government was blamed for finding out it was actually a poisoning case with nuclear material way too late.
It took several weeks before it was even discovered Litvenenko had been poisoned with polonium.

Skripal and his daughter are still in critical condition in hospital. Their clothes and other posessions have been taken to a top secret defense laboratory in Porton Down, where it was discovered that the two have been poisoned with an unknown nerve agent, instead of what initial speculations by the media said to be opiates.

[smjjames]

You know, a reporter earlier wondered why they'd use something so easily traceable since there are so few with the capacity to even make nerve agents. So, yeah, it does seem like something that is rather sloppy work. Either that or like NK, they don't care about the reprucussions. editwhiletyping: OR they think that they won't have much consequence over it.

[ChairmanPoo]

What consequences did they suffer for Litvinenko?

[smjjames]

Not much apparently, on wiki, the UK tried to get Russia to extradite some people (not sure why they even bothered to try if the Russian constitution or law prevents it from happening) and when that failed, they expelled some diplomats.

[ChairmanPoo]

So they kind of have a point then. So far there have been  no significant consequences for their actions.

[martinuzz]

Well, except bringing UK-Russia relations to an all-time low.
Scotland Yard found out that there were actually 3 attempts with polonium-210 on Litvenenko's life. The first two failed, but did leave radioactive trails in the suspects' hotel rooms.
Russia has refused to extradite the two suspects, former KGB agents Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun. I believe Putin even awarded one of them with a medal of honour (albeit not for murdering Litvenenko).
Back then, UK did not want to escalate the situation, so no repercussions followed. I wouldn't be so sure that they will be so diplomatic if Scotland Yard can prove again that this attack comes from Russia.

[smjjames]

Given that it's basically a spy vs spy type drama, I wouldn't be surprised if there was stuff that happened that the public wouldn't be aware of

The fact that a nerve agent was used might actually be a bigger deal than the attempt itself. But still, what exactly can the UK do publicly? Put sanctions on Russia maybe? None of us know why the UK government didn't go further than trying to extradite some people and then expelling some diplomats. ninja'd somewhat.

Well, except bringing UK-Russia relations to an all-time low.
Scotland Yard found out that there were actually 3 attempts with polonium-210 on Litvenenko's life. The first two failed, but did leave radioactive trails in the suspects' hotel rooms.
Russia has refused to extradite the two suspects, former KGB agents Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun. I believe Putin even awarded one of them with a medal of honour (albeit not for murdering Litvenenko).
Back then, UK did not want to escalate the situation, so no repercussions followed. I wouldn't be so sure that they will be so diplomatic if Scotland Yard can prove again that this attack comes from Russia.

Not to mention different government and different geopolitical climate.

[hector13]

I think Russia is still under sanction after Crimea so there’s not much else that can be done.

[ChairmanPoo]

Plus with the current crisis on top of them I very much doubt that  the British goverment is willing to carry out significant efforts in that regard

[smjjames]

I really doubt the whole Brexit business would have any affect over what they can do about the assassination attempt (well, they're calling it attempted murder, but same thing legally) of the ex-spy. The effects of an unnegotiated (or 'hard') Brexit won't happen until 2019 (summer of, I think) and it only affects economic policy.

[ChairmanPoo]

Political turmoil is happening already

[smjjames]

Even if theres political turmoil happening, all it takes is for the PM to be willing to act against Russia.

Outside of expelling some diplomats, maybe some sanctions, and whatever cloak and dagger activities, I don't see what they can about it anyway. Call the UN Security Council over it?

[Sheb]

Even if theres political turmoil happening, all it takes is for the PM to be willing to act against Russia.

Outside of expelling some diplomats, maybe some sanctions, and whatever cloak and dagger activities, I don't see what they can about it anyway. Call the UN Security Council over it?

Nah, the real impact of Brexit is that the UK finds itself needed to negotiate market access to a bunch of countries, both to replace the EU trade deal its going to loose, and to cushion the loss of access to EU market. This mean, generally, that the UK can't really afford to antagonize anyone.

BTW, isn't it funny how a lot of people complained about the Queen potentially meeting Trump, but no one bat an eyelid when she meets the Saudi crown prince? Maybe the power of the awesome Saudi propaganda trucks?

[martinuzz]

Some Dutch universities are considering a halt on accepting foreign students.
Dutch universities have become so internationally renowned, that 210 of our academic studies now have more than half of their class filled with foreign students.
70 studies even have more than 3/4 foreign students.
Some of those come for a 1 year exchange program, but the vast majority are going to do the full 4 to 8 years here.

The TU Delft even broke national law by instating a full stop on students from outisde the EU for their bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering, because they had just too many applications.
This is illegal, but they got special permission from the minister of Education.

Dutch universities have become so popular because of their high quality, affordability, and because nearly all academic studies are taught 100% in english, contrary to universities in other EU countries like France and Italy.

For years, the internationalization has been promoted and encouraged by the universities, but now they fear it has gone too far.
Especially restricted studies with a numerus fixus are worried that national applicants will be ousted by foreign applicants. There's no evidence that this is already the case, though.

Universities have joined forces now and asked minister van Engelshoven to make a law that requires at least 50% of all spots for a studies be reserved for national applicants.

It is unlikely that the minister can comply though. Refusing students based on nationality is discrimination, and in contradiction with our Constitution.

[Sheb]

It is unlikely that the minister can comply though. Refusing students based on nationality is discrimination, and in contradiction with our Constitution.

That's odd. Can't you discriminate on residenceship though?