The British state can maintain its spies’ cover stories for centuries. Look up Eldred Pottinger, who for 180 years appears in scores of British history books – right up to and including William Dalrymple’s Return of the King – as a British officer who chanced to be passing Herat on holiday when it came under siege from a partly Russian-officered Persian army, and helped to organise the defences. In researching Sikunder Burnes, I discovered and published from the British Library incontrovertible and detailed documentary evidence that Pottinger’s entire journey was under the direct instructions of, and reporting to, British spymaster Alexander Burnes. The first historian to publish the untrue “holiday” cover story, Sir John Kaye, knew both Burnes and Pottinger and undoubtedly knew he was publishing lying propaganda. Every other British historian of the First Afghan War (except me and latterly Farrukh Husain) has just followed Kaye’s official propaganda.
Some things don’t change. I was irresistibly reminded of Eldred Pottinger just passing Herat on holiday, when I learnt how highly improbable left wing firebrand Simon Bracey-Lane just happened to be on holiday in the United States with available cash to fund himself, when he stumbled into the Bernie Sanders campaign.
Recent university graduate Simon Bracey-Lane took it even further. Originally from Wimbledon in London, he was inspired to rejoin the Labour party in September when Corbyn was elected leader. But by that point, he was already in the US on holiday. So he joined the Sanders campaign, and never left.
“I had two weeks left and some money left, so I thought, Fuck it, I’ll make some calls for Bernie Sanders,” he explains. “I just sort of knew Des Moines was the place, so I just turned up at their HQ, started making phone calls, and then became a fully fledged field organiser.”
It is, to say the least, very interesting indeed that just a year later the left wing, “Corbyn and Sanders supporting” Bracey-Lane is hosting a very right wing event, “Cold War Then and Now”, for the shadowy neo-con Institute for Statecraft, at which an entirely unbalanced panel of British military, NATO and Ukrainian nationalists extolled the virtues of re-arming against Russia.
Nor would it seem likely that Bracey-Lane would be involved with the Integrity Initiative. Even the mainstream media has been forced to give a few paragraphs to the outrageous Integrity Initiative, under which the MOD-sponsored Institute for Statecraft has been given millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money by the FCO to spread covert disinformation and propaganda, particularly against Russia and the anti-war movement. Activities include twitter and facebook trolling and secretly paying journalists in “clusters of influence” around Europe. Anonymous helpfully leaked the Institute’s internal documents. Some of the Integrity Initiative’s thus exposed alleged covert agents, like David Aaronovitch, have denied any involvement despite their appearance in the documents, and others like Dan Kaszeta the US “novichok expert”, have cheerfully admitted it.
The mainstream media have tracked down the HQ of the “Institute for Statecraft” to a derelict mill near Auchtermuchty. It is owned by one of the company directors, Daniel Lafayeedney, formerly of D Squadron 23rd SAS Regiment and later of Military Intelligence (and incidentally born the rather more prosaic Daniel Edney).
By sleuthing the company records of this “Scottish charity”, and a couple of phone calls, I discovered that the actual location of the Institute for Statecraft is the basement of 2 Temple Place, London. This is not just any basement – it is the basement of the former London mansion of William Waldorf Astor, an astonishing building. It is, in short, possibly the most expensive basement in London.
Which is interesting because the accounts of the Institute for Statecraft claim it has no permanent staff and show nothing for rent, utilities or office expenses. In fact, I understand the rent is paid by the Ministry of Defence.
Having been told where the Institute for Statecraft skulk, I tipped off journalist Kit Klarenberg of Sputnik Radio to go and physically check it out. Kit did so and was aggressively ejected by that well-known Corbyn and Sanders supporter, Simon Bracey-Lane. It does seem somewhat strange that our left wing hero is deeply embedded in an organisation that launches troll attacks on Jeremy Corbyn.
I have a great deal more to tell you about Mr Edney and his organisation next week, and the extraordinary covert disinformation war the British government wages online, attacking British citizens using British taxpayers’ money. Please note in the interim I am not even a smidgeon suicidal, and going to be very, very careful crossing the road and am not intending any walks in the hills.
I am not alleging Mr Bracey-Lane is an intelligence service operative who previously infiltrated the Labour Party and the Sanders campaign. He may just be a young man of unusually heterodox and vacillating political opinions. He may be an undercover reporter for the Canary infiltrating the Institute for Statecraft. All these things are possible, and I have no firm information.
But one of the activities the Integrity Initiative sponsors happens to be the use of online trolls to ridicule the idea that the British security services ever carry out any kind of infiltration, false flag or agent provocateur operations, despite the fact that we even have repeated court judgements against undercover infiltration officers getting female activists pregnant. The Integrity Initiative offers us a glimpse into the very dirty world of surveillance and official disinformation. If we actually had a free media, it would be the biggest story of the day.
As the Establishment feels its grip slipping, as people wake up to the appalling economic exploitation by the few that underlies the very foundations of modern western society, expect the methods used by the security services to become even dirtier. You can bank on continued ramping up of Russophobia to supply “the enemy”. As both Scottish Independence and Jeremy Corbyn are viewed as real threats by the British Establishment, you can anticipate every possible kind of dirty trick in the next couple of years, with increasing frequency and audacity.
So its emerged that the BBC already controls 42% of the market with regards to news in Scotland, and the BBC’s new Scottish news programme will see that grow to over 50%.
Bear in mind, that Rupert Murdoch was refused by Ofcom on merging Sky because he already had a 10% share across all platforms, and it becomes patently obvious that the BBC is flooding Scotland with its propaganda more than ever.
Will Ofcom refuse the BBC more airtime? And will this man’s challenge win?
Do we even trust Ofcom to start with?
https://www.thenational.scot/news/17301085.independent-tv-producer-in-effort-to-stop-new-bbc-scotland-news-service/?ref=mr&lp=10
Ofcom?
Open for back-handers any day of the week. So long as nobody gets pregnant who’s to know who’s legs are opening for whom?
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Ha ha, nice. Coarse but funny. Sláinte, you.
.
.
I’ve been arguing with Ofcom for years. In theory, it’s a regulator but it doesn’t actually do any regulating. All it does is to produce reports and then forget about them.
Craig, I have long suspected (after all it is their job) that UK Spies Inc., will have placed ‘sleepers’ in the SNP. Would you say that was fair, given that they see the SNP as a clear & present danger to the UK’s establishment’s power base?
(So much so that ‘the Queen’ was happy, before Indyref1, to forget her place and tell Scotland ‘to think very carefully’ about voting YES. She made no such intervention before the Brexit vote).
There is no doubt whatsoever the SNP is penetrated substantially by the security services.
I genuinely wonder how you have arrived at this conclusion. Is it because countering the threat of “Celtic nationalism” is a traditional priority of these services and their predecessors for ca. 300 years, or because you have spotted something more concrete?
I am equally as worried about the American infuence withi the SNP – particulalrly the involvment/influence in NHS Scotland.
Watching the “news” became so much easier after Integrity initiative infiltration exposure…
BBC Stringer Admits Channel Craving Any Proof of Russian “Role” in Paris Rallies
https://sptnkne.ws/kqp2
Hasn’t it ? So many dots now connect .
But interesting that matters which many of us have been suspicious about are now proved to be happening in real time. And BBC apparently found to be up to it all as far as its proverbial eyeballs.
@Molloy, this comment is for you. I can’t stand it any more and I hope the readers of this blog forgive me for the off-topic.
Molloy, you are boring me with your statements. You are following me, waving ‘racial abuse’ banner over my comments.
I’m not a racist, nor I am a bigot.
I’m a normal human being with normal human internals.
Educate yourself, learn more about Russia and russian people.
Try your best to imagine what it’s like to be born and brought up and to live in a multi-national, multi-religions, multi-cultural post-USSR country.
You can get the idea from this video, where religious and non-religious people of diffrent nations sing the popular russian children’s song
https://youtu.be/AwfR5RjeOwc
I’ve got no problem with pronouncing the names of any nationality, be it Jews, Germans, French etc. I do not intend to offence people by mentioning their ethnicity. If you think I’m deceiving and pretending to be naive and have some hidden agenda – it tells more about you, Molloy, than about me.
Here you are, exactly what I think about YOU. Weird way to entertain oneself, playing people’s emotions and be legally not an abuser.
https://youtu.be/IcBCy5SYEps
—
I am never tired to say “I’m sorry if accidentaly I hurt someone’s feelings”
Tatyana,
I think Russia is coping better with the 21st century than Britain is. We’ve over-compensated and we need to move back a bit.
I’m not sure about Molloy. Is he criticizing you or is he being ironical?
I wish Molloy comes and explains, but no hope for such an action, he didn’t answer my challenge in previous discussion.
I’ve copied my above comment to the next discussion, may be Molloy will see it there ane grant me with the answer.
Blunderbass,
Re. Sleeping Beauty joke. And how do you like this?
https://www.newsweek.com/minnesota-eric-sprankle-virgin-mary-impregnated-without-consent-minnesota-1248801?amp=1
You mean the poster that’s like
.
blah
.
blather
___________
blah
.
=======
?
I’ve been ignoring it, sort of automatically, subconsciously.
Have recently noticed a lot of ‘unionist ‘ attacks on independence supporting websites! Seemed to be remarkably ‘informed ‘ with misinformation decrying anything good, bad or indifferent the SNP Scottish government did! Also seemed to be a lot of posts by Orange Order members – the bully boys of British nationalism!
Sorry to quote such a large chunk, but relevant:
…………………………………………………………….
Tatyana
December 16, 2018 at 01:07
Oh, just found it translated, here you are:
“The real art of negotiations. Level: God.”
Henry Kissinger was once asked to explain what shuttle diplomacy is.
– Oh! It is a never-failing old Jewish method. Let me give you an example. Suppose you want to marry Rockefeller’s daughter to a lad from a Siberian village.
– How would you do that?
– Easy. I go to a Siberian village, find there a young man and ask him, “Would you like to marry an American Jew?”
He says, “Why?! We’ve got awesome girls here!”
“Well, but she is the daughter of a billionaire.”
He says: “Oh! This changes everything…”
Then I go to Switzerland, walk into a large bank’s board meeting and ask, “How would you like to have a simple Siberian man to be your bank’s President?”
“Oh, hell no!”
“What if I told you he is Rockefeller’s son-in-law?”
“Oh! This changes everything…”
So then I go see Rockefeller and ask, “Would you like your daughter to marry a Russian peasant?”
“What do you mean?! Everyone in my family is in banking.”
“I should mention that, he is actually a Swiss bank President.”
“Oh! This changes everything… Susie, come here, my child. Mr. Kissinger found you a good fiancee. He is the president of a large Swiss bank.”
“Ew! All big bankers are punies or gays!”
And I say, “Well, this one is a strong Siberian macho-man.”
“Oh! This changes everything…”
…………………………………………………………….
Frightfully accurate!… Just reading one of the documents (cnd-paris–bxl-may-2016-v2) where they talk of possible targets to influence. Influencing the influencers. They even want to be in schools. They even boast “Note that as an independent NGO we
can do things they [defence circles and political circles] can’t do and national governments can’t do.”
But in relation to Tatyana’s story, they go on to say:
“Potential to use former NATO ASGs, eg Jean Francois Bureau, who’s wife’s sister is married
to Bernard Kouchner and whose son has a media company”
Hilarious!
‘They even want to be in schools’. – Well, have a read……
https://www.sharedoutcomes.org/about
“We are a charitable programme run by the charity The Institute for Statecraft’ .
To deliver our programme we partner with local community groups and schools across the UK.
Thank you for this.
So yes, they are already in our schools and targeting the vulnerable.
I agree with educating people, but when the culprits are the ones doing the educating??! Why the cloak and dagger. If it were open, transparent, accountable and unbiased I would probably support it but it is clearly none of these things.
I saw a picture of them presenting a PowerPoint to a school, can’t find it now though, where they were teaching children how to pic out the fake news/tweets next to “true” ones. I keep deleting what I want to write next. Lets just say it makes me extremely angry to think what they are doing to our kids.
Is Avisa the French version of Institute for Statecraft? I believe “combatting-russian-disinformation.pdf” is a proposal from them. Though I’m often wrong. Anyway, in that document they give a list of partners and also “The strategic committee of the group, includes, among others, Lynton Crosby, Boris Johnson and David Cameron’s election strategist, Joe Trippi… it goes on.
Ah good find ! I read the slideshow and reminds one of bell Pottinger . I didn’t realise all those politicians were involved in the company .
aye, it never stopped.
Another one I found amusing for names “00-ngw-seminars-invitation-list”. I assume this is IfS holding a Seminar. Invited include, among many others, 3 MPs, 2 Cons, 1 Labour (anti Corbyn), assistant to Lord Ashcroft, loads of MOD and of course the BBC. Oh and Igor Sutyagin, guy who was swapped at same time as Skripal.
I should point out, Tatyana already highlighted the link between Igor and IfS on previous page with more evidence.
This makes me think that the agency that funded the Institute for Statecraft is the current reincarnation of the Ministry of Silly Walks. A grant to develop a British version of La Marche Futile that would improve upon the original.
Watch yer back Craig
raig.
Is the Chris Hernon up to his neck in the digital development of the BBC monitoring department
http://bbcnewslabs.co.uk/projects/summa/
http://summa-project.eu/userdayagenda/
the same Chris Hernon who is a senior fellow at the Institute For Statecraft
https://www.statecraft.org.uk/fellows
A wilderness of mirrors indeed.
The BBC used as cover for spotting unpalatable foreign news, and the mouthpiece to counter it with lies.
Who would have though it….
The first duty of the Government is to protect the public. That is what we are told all the time when yet another war has to be fought or laws passed to curtail our freedoms. The Secret Services are a law unto themselves, with unaccountable budgets. They smear, blackmail, overthrow and kill. All in the name of National Interest. This is a big lie. If the government and its agents were doing their job, we would not be in the mess we are in or the chaos we have inflicted on other countries. Blow Back and bad consequences are the result of their actions. Far from protecting the public all they have done is to make us and the whole world less safe.
LOL If they keep telling themselves this, it must be true. Says a lot about the British sheeple.
Guardian most trusted newspaper in Britain, says industry report
News outlet reaches more than 23m UK adults every month, helped by free website
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/dec/17/guardian-most-trusted-newspaper-in-britain-says-industry-report
The Murdoch take on the IoS. ‘You must not believe these lies about it’.
December 17 2018,
Don’t swallow Labour’s claims of ‘black ops’
Edward Lucas
We’re playing into the Kremlin’s hands by letting it undermine our anti-propaganda institute
The deep state’s machinations have been exposed. The government is secretly funnelling taxpayers’ money to a “black ops” propaganda unit that meddles in friendly countries’ affairs and spreads disinformation about the Labour Party leadership.
That is the gist of the accusations against the Foreign Office-funded Institute for Statecraft and its counter-disinformation “Integrity Initiative”. Left-wing media outlets have been making hay with the story, which at first sight confirms every conspiracy theorist’s suspicion of how Britain really works: invisible networks of spooks, journalists and political operatives, hypocritically pulling strings behind the scenes.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, raised the issue in parliament last Wednesday, and followed up with sharply phrased written questions to the Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan. In particular, she doubts his….paywall
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/don-t-swallow-labour-s-claims-of-black-ops-dqgdszw30
The author. Well in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lucas_(journalist)
‘Don’t swallow Labour’s claims of ‘black ops’ — my weekly@thetimes column defends InitIntegrity and urges EmilyThornberry to focus on countering fascist plutocracy rather than barking at shadows.’
https://twitter.com/edwardlucas/status/1074582015935160320
He is challenged in detail.
IfS not IoS – Institute for Statecraft.
and a comment today on the TLN about the ‘mill’ and Edney.
From the centre of anti- Russian Psyops, Scotland..
http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/msg/1545009565.html
Late last November . Again Browder , Collins and Carole Cadwalladr . Bill Browder main figure of f U.K. cluster , Collins who accepted testimony of Spanish cluster and who has knowledge of when my Pikini travels to U.K. and Carole again in the middle of it abd wuoting WMD liar Robert Muller .
Coincidence ? Cervantes , very aptly .
“Yo no creo en brujas, pero que las hay, las hay“
“Trump, Putin & the Great Brexit Robbery: with Carole Cadwalladr, Damian Collins, David Lammy, Bill Browder and Guests on why Britain Needs a Mueller Inquiry
at”
Greenwood Theatre
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trump-putin-the-great-brexit-robbery-with-carole-cadwalladr-damian-collins-david-lammy-bill-browder-tickets-51659625330
Re-published here: http://veaterecosan.blogspot.com/2018/12/spies-and-lies-british-security-service.html
chathamhouse.org looks suspicious
“A world-leading policy institute with a mission to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world.”
“A key part of Chatham House’s work is producing high quality, independent commentary from our extensive network of experts”
Expert “independent” opinion produced on their site from John Lough and James Sherr (of UK cluster, inner core)
https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/skripal-attack-test-uk
The BBC have gone full Monty Python-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46567364
Damn Russkies must have acquired The Joke-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeMnPyusuBE
I see Craig has worked with at least Chris Donnelly, and Ian Bond of the UK cluster so looking forward to fresh eyes on this file dump and Craig’s experience and findings.
Another good article on the matter by Grayzoneproject.
https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/12/17/inside-the-temple-of-covert-propaganda-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/?fbclid=IwAR37rD4SsXdkxm6bYKI5kJ6SapryOI_ftHZWVBQTHRxt762svZJjCaqFv1A
Yes. A good one by Max Blumenthal and Mohammed Elmaazi
Inside the Temple of Covert Propaganda: The Integrity Initiative and the UK’s Scandalous Information War
17th December 2018
The Grayzone entered the carefully concealed offices of a covert, British government-backed propaganda mill that is at the center of an international scandal the mainstream media refuses to touch.
Recent hacked documents have revealed an international network of politicians, journalists, academics, researchers and military officers, all engaged in highly deceptive covert propaganda campaigns funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), NATO, Facebook and hardline national security institutions.
/..
https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/12/17/inside-the-temple-of-covert-propaganda-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/
The Times and Sky news journalists caught aiding Integrity Initiative
https://sputniknews.com/world/201812181070789490-mod-integrity-ukraine-visit/
Of course MSM wont do a write up on Integrity Initiative, they ARE Integrity initiative!
Corbyn tables no confidence in PM. Don’t know the ins and outs, but if that comes to a vote, then there are over 100 Cons that cannot justifiably vote for confidence in May to lead the country when they have voted no confidence in her to lead the party.
Personally I think Corbyn has played a blinder.
We need him in, if anyone can rid government of this nasty deep state corruption and corruption of the people and our children, he can. We can be strong, actually stable, and a beacon for how it is done.
The state broadcaster has just said on the 10pm ‘News’ that such a motion of no confidence is meaningless and can be ignored by the Tories and May!!
‘HACKERS UNCOVER MORE DOCUMENTS THROWING LIGHT ON BRITISH PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN AGAINST RUSSIA’:
https://southfront.org/hackers-uncover-more-documents-throwing-light-on-british-propaganda-campaign-against-russia/
Some of this has been covered on this blog,I followed up and downloaded this pdf:
‘Private – in Confidence: second draft for comment
The Institute for Statecraft
Private Report. The Challenge of Brexit to the UK: Case study – The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’:
https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/13/brexit-fco-update-02-02-2018/brexit-fco-update-02-02-2018.pdf
It is remarkably similar, with the II ‘Clusters’, to what Gerry Docherty and Jim Macgregor call, in their book ‘Hidden History’ the ‘Secret Elite’ (Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Milner, Arthur Balfour, Prince (later King) Edward, Nathaniel Rothschild and others), planning the Boer War, and then WWI. I am only a little into the book (page 90) but it is truly mind-blowing stuff. As Balfour and Natty Rothschild are in the ‘Magic Circle’, I expect the group were the planners of the ‘grant’ of Palestine to Is^ael, and not just Balfour – I expect to find info on that later in the blockbuster book.
The reason I downloaded that particular pdf is because the Director of the Institute for Statecraft, Chris Donnelly, wants the Foreign Office to be under HIS control!!
‘..Firstly, a private report is provided that suggests reforming the British Foreign Office to become under the supervision of the director of the Institute of Statecraft –…’
Excellent article and research by Kit . Thank you !
https://sputniknews.com/world/201812181070789490-mod-integrity-ukraine-visit/
OMG!!! We’re not going to have any clean drinking water unless we take May’s deal! What are we going to do!???
Propaganda would be hilarious if so many of our people didn’t gobble it all up.
Any challenge to the neolib/neocon cult is frequently challenged with ‘it could not remain a secret’
Please tell why MASSES of books written over about a century on Queen Victoria neglected to mention The Munshi
‘It’s been over a month since hackers began exposing the Scotland-based ‘Integrity Initiative’ as a UK government-funded propaganda outfit — and gradually new details of the organization’s clandestine activities have come to light.
The documents were leaked by a group which claims to be associated with the Anonymous hackers. The first batch of leaks revealed the Integrity Initiative (II) was stealthily operating “clusters” of influencers across Europe working to ensure pro-UK narratives dominate the media. The second batch showed that the organization was also running disinformation campaigns domestically — specifically a smear campaign against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn; all done under the guise of combatting “Russian propaganda.”
Now, a third batch of leaks has exposed that the project allegedly operated much like a modern-day version of Operation Mockingbird — a secretive 1950s project whereby the CIA worked hand-in-glove with willing journalists in major media outlets to ensure certain narratives were adhered to. Only this time, it’s a UK-funded organization with deep links to the intelligence services and military passing itself off as a non-partisan “charity.”’
Do it CIA style: UK-funded ‘Integrity Initiative’ planned to infiltrate European media, leaks reveal
18 Dec, 2018
https://www.rt.com/news/446809-integrity-initiative-third-leak-uk/
This must be the worst government this country has ever had the sooner they have gone the better. Their aim is to belittle JC and keep us in the EU I don’t like junker but when he said Teresa may was vague I agree with him.
Social media is a hive of bullshit. Like this, recommend that, CurrentHotSite the other. It’s long since been gamed, and only morons can’t see it. There was a good NPC meme, satirizing the David Brock media matters bots that infest Twitter, FB, and everywhere else. #Imwith her. #Believeallwomen. Rather hilarious actually, with the NPC avatar, slyly mocking all the SJW’s.
Of course the spooks have their little troll bots telling us about feminism, Hillary, and OrangeManBad. Basically, it’s Mission Accomplished. Social Media is now utterly useless for actually getting non-globalist news, unbiased information and, frankly, even rumor and gossip. Swarms of Trolls, lit like fireflies, drawing attention. Why bother?
And I don’t. Bother that is. Cancelled FB, and Twitter. Sometimes click on a Twitter link, but no sign in. And Instagram? I can’t even. Imagine the collapse of Rome, and having that minutely detailed in photos and videos. Instagram may well prove a valuable source for Historians, as they contemplate The New Weimer Republic which proceeded The Fall. They’ll shake their heads at the education levels, the spelling, the morals of whores, and the whole Chasm City era more generally. Hopefully, they’ll then ban social media for the disgrace it is, and think long and hard about privacy vs the state. But only after The Fall of course, probably coming soon, with a nuke. I welcome the cleansing fire.