[Update-1]
END OF UPDATE
Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to "weaken Russia," leaked docs reveal. by Max Blumenthal
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have sponsored Reuters and the BBC to conduct a series of covert programs aimed at promoting regime change inside Russia and undermining its government across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to a series of leaked documents.
The leaked materials show the Thomson Reuters Foundation and BBC Media Action participating in a covert information warfare campaign aimed at countering Russia. Working through a shadowy department within the UK FCO known as the Counter Disinformation & Media Development (CDMD), the media organizations operated alongside a collection of intelligence contractors in a secret entity known simply as "the Consortium."
Chris Williamson, a former UK Labour MP attempted to apply public scrutiny to the CDMD's covert activities and was stonewalled on national security grounds, told The Grayzone.
From the link ...
The Integrity Initiative is a UK government-funded 'counter-disinformation' project with links to the intelligence community. And it has published comments and retweets against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his associates. Corbyn ally Chris Williamson, meanwhile, has been a leading parliamentary voice trying to hold the secretive initiative to account.
'An Updated Understanding of the Communications Landscape in Lebanon'. It was prepared by the intelligence cutout ARK headed by ex-MI6 officer Alistair Harris.
Alistair Harris is founder of UAE-based counter-extremism consultancy ARK and a former army colleague of James Le Mesurier.
Andy Pryce is a career diplomat who ran the UK's Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme from 2015-2019
Further reading ...
UK media is about to take Noam Chomsky's 'manufacturing consent' to a whole new level
h/t b @MofA
New Documents Reveal More British Efforts To Undermine Russia
Note that 'Russian disinformation' is whatever Britain does not like about Russia. 'Exposing' such 'disinformation' is best done by spreading one's own. These are not defensive programs but attacks on Russia.
Projects to achieve the above were to be implemented in nearly every country that borders Russia and has a Russian speaking minority as well as in Russia itself.
The British government does not want you to know about such projects. The 'Supplier Event' sheet says:
Security
No unauthorised disclosures of activity on this work. Contract will need to take a look at who we are working with. Basic IT security reasonable steps should cover our requirements but the FCO may request an explanation of wat steps have been taken to ensure security and Duty of Care.
It should be noted that for security reasons, some grantees will not wish to be linked to the FCO. It should be noted that the Programme Team would prefer the programme documents do not end up in the Russian media. We know that they are following us, and we are expecting an expose soon.
In the recent past I have written about Legatum at a time Anne Applebaum found her employ at the think tank. The red alert signs and alarm bells were up at the time and I gave some background information.
EU/NATO Propaganda It’s About Daesh and Russia [Update5] | Nov. 2016 |
Legatum: the Brexiteers’ favourite think tank. Who is behind them? | Open Democracy – Nov. 17, 2017 |
It's arguably the most influential think tank in the country, pushing a free market pro-Brexit vision and enjoying privileged access to media and ministers. But what does their background in 'disaster capitalism' tell us about Legatum's Brexit agenda?
In June 2016, the Legatum Institute was just another free market think tank floating around the edges of Westminster. If you'd heard of it at all, it was probably for its regular 'prosperity indexes', which provided fodder for countless news stories about the happiest, richest and even the 'most hard-up' places to live.
Fast forward less than eighteen months. Legatum is now the Brexiteers' think tank of choice.
Funded by a Dubai-based, New Zealand-born billionaire as well as around 40 mostly anonymous donors and based in plush Mayfair offices, Legatum has the ear of large sections of the British media and government.
But former Legatum employees and others we spoke to called into question the think tank’s experience and raised concerns about the burgeoning influence of the group. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw recently called for the UK government "to look at the Legatum Institute, its relationship with the Government, and the background of its founder and main funder, Christopher Chandler."
Legatum’s belief that Britain should remove all tariffs has almost become an article of faith for leading eurosceptics, including Brexit minister Steve Baker. In a recent Times op-ed Shanker Singham, chairman of Legatum's self-styled 'special trade commission', wrote that Britain could "maximise the benefits and minimise the disruptions of Brexit" by leaving the EU as soon as possible and removing tariffs.
The Irish border is a mere bagatelle, easily resolved by drones and ‘creative thinking’.
From the diaries …
Wanker of the Day … A Blogger by Oui @BooMan on July 4, 2017
Counterinsurgency Cyberwarfare NATO vs. Russia – Part 3 | Jan. 2018 |
East-West Schism: Destruction Process Inside Europe | Dec. 2019 |
Do we need a reminder both Brexit and the Presidential Election 2016 were thrown by the rightwing mob through disinformation and exploiting privacy via Facebook and Cambridge Analytica algorithms. Same actors from the States, the British Empire and new Arab allies in the Middle East. UAE and Saudi Arabia in the lead together with Netanyahu’s Israel. The Consortium most likely extends across the intelligence lines of Five or Nine Eyes.
Anne Applebaum’s Confession …
Anne Applebaum: how my old friends paved the way for Trump and Brexit | The Guardian – July 2020 |
Mrs. Sikorski, your old friends were never friends of mine, neither have you gained my trust today! Sounds similar to the Op-Ed written repentance of former Dutch FM and NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer. Once the tred mill of evil is engaged, it will be nearly impossible to stop the brainwashing of most Europeans.
Anglo-American Values Don’t Fit Europe, Time to Protest NATO Aggression
