Posts tonen met het label D. Raab. Alle posts tonen

zaterdag 13 maart 2021

Bolivia: de staatsgreep in 2019 werd uitgevoerd door de CIA, Groot-Brittannië en de OAS met hulp van grote bedrijven

De staatsgreep in 2019 tegen de democratisch gekozen regering Morales in Bolivia was vooral ingegeven door de 'wereldhonger' naar lithium, de belangrijkste grondstof voor accu's, niet voor niets wordt lithium witgoud genoemd.

Declassified UK heeft een uitvoerig schrijven van Matt Kennard gepubliceerd (door mij overgenomen van Information Clearing House) waarin hij beschrijft welke rol Groot-Brittannië heeft gespeeld in deze smerige coup, die zoals zo vaak werd georganiseerd en geregisseerd door de CIA......

Overigens stond het hele westen inclusief de reguliere media achter deze coup, met grote graagte werden in november 2019 de leugens overgenomen van de Organisatie van Amerikaanse Staten (OAS) als zouden de zojuist gehouden verkiezingen in Bolivia zijn gestoken door de partij van Evo Morales.....(zo heeft Trouw en VPRO correspondent, zijne kwaadaardigheid Edwin Koopman, fiks lopen liegen over wat er wel en niet zou zijn gebeurd in Bolivia*) Die media en politici in het westen durfden zelfs te stellen dat er geen sprake was van een staatsgreep, maar dat Morales zelf was opgestapt na 'massale protesten' (waar het overgrote deel van het Boliviaanse volk niet aan meedeed.....), terwijl het leger hem heeft ontvoerd en met een militair vliegtuig deporteerde naar Mexico.....

Deze gang van zaken geeft ten overvloede nog eens aan dat de zogenaamde onafhankelijke (massa-) media, in handen van oligarchen en steenrijke investeringsmaatschappijen, de neoliberale status quo propageren en daar maar al te graag voor liegen (dat het gedrukt staat...)..... Schande overigens dat westerse regeringen (inclusief het disfunctionerende kabinet Rutte 3) zich achter deze coup schaarden, immers zij moeten via hun eigen geheime diensten hebben geweten dat e.e.a. op grove leugens was gebaseerd..... (zo niet zijn die geheime diensten geen knip voor de neus waard... oh wacht even, dat zijn ze 'ook niet...')

Evo Morales was de eerste president van de oorspronkelijke bewoners nadat witte psychopaten een paar eeuwen geleden het land innamen..... Hij was uiterst succesvol en heeft de arme oorspronkelijke bevolking (de meerderheid in Bolivia, dit in tegenstelling tot andere Latijns-Amerikaanse landen) uit de armoede getrokken, heeft deze bevolking verder onderwijs, medische zorg en zoveel mogelijk goede behuizing gegeven. De economie draaide prima, ondanks het nationaliseren van een aantal bedrijven door Morales, bedrijven die tegen een appel en ei de grondstoffen van Bolivia hebben gestolen...... (die nationalisaties waren mede een reden voor de staatsgreep)

Oké het was voor de mensen die verder nadenken dan de neus van de westerse media lang is al duidelijk dat hier een heel smerige staatsgreep werd uitgevoerd en waarbij schandelijk genoeg ook nog eens een aantal mensen van de oorspronkelijke bevolking werden vermoord door politie en leger, echter dat in feite de regering Johnson en de geheime dienst van Groot-Brittannië zo'n grote rol hebben gespeeld was althans voor mij een openbaring, wat een geteisem!!

Gelukkig heeft de partij van Morales de verkiezingen van 2020 ruimschoots gewonnen, echter het leed wat er werd aangericht met de coup is daarmee niet weggewist.....

Lees het artikel van Kennard en zegt het voort, daar men in het westen nog steeds volhoudt dat de coup van 2019 wettig was...... (hoe zot in je kop moet je zijn om dat te beweren.....)

Revealed: The UK supported the coup in Bolivia to gain access to its ‘white gold’

By Matt Kennard

After a coup in the South American country of Bolivia in November 2019, democratically elected president Evo Morales was forced to flee. Foreign Office documents obtained by Declassified show Britain saw the new military-backed regime, which killed 18 protesters, as an opportunity to open up Bolivia’s lithium deposits to UK firms.

Lithium – known as ‘white gold’ – is a key metal used in batteries and increasingly important to the world car industry
Britain’s Foreign Office appears to have paid Oxford-based company to optimise ‘exploitation’ of Bolivia’s lithium deposits the month after Morales fled country
UK embassy acted as ‘strategic partner’ to coup regime and organised international mining event in Bolivia four months after democracy overthrown
UK firm founded by British Army veteran was ‘now in line to offer its services’ to mining companies, Foreign Office noted after event
UK embassy provided data for the now discredited international report which was used to justify 2019 coup
UK embassy brought cybersecurity company with close links to the CIA to Bolivia in March 2019, eight months before the military takeover

March 09, 2021 "Information Clearing House" - On 10 November 2019, after the head of the army called for his resignation, Bolivia’s socialist president, Evo Morales, stepped down. It followed weeks of protests after the release of a report by the Organisation of American States (OAS) alleging irregularities in the election Morales had won the previous month.

Persecution from the new regime forced Morales to flee the country and an “interim president”, Jeanine Áñez, was installed. Widely condemned as a coup, resulting protests were met with lethal force.

Days after taking power, on 14 November, the Áñez regime forced through Decree 4078 which gave immunity to the military for any actions taken in “the defence of society and maintenance of public order”.

The following day, on 15 November, Bolivian military forces shot and killed eight protesters in the city of Sacaba. On 21 November, regime forces killed another 10 protesters in the neighbourhood of Senkata just outside the capital La Paz.

Despite the deadly violence, which was condemned by human rights groups, the British embassy in La Paz moved quickly to support Bolivia’s new regime, Declassified can reveal from documents we have obtained.

We have seen a project list for a Foreign Office programme in Bolivia called “Frontline Diplomatic Enabling Activity”, which the UK government describes as a “small pot of money that [embassies] receive and have authority over to spend on projects supporting [embassy] activity”.

‘Interim President’ of Bolivia Jeanine Añez speaks during a press conference at the presidential palace on 15 November 2019 in La Paz, Bolivia. (Photo: Gaston Brito Miserocchi / Getty Images)

The deposits

Bolivia has the world’s second-largest reserves of lithium, a metal that is used to make batteries and which has become increasingly important due to the burgeoning electric car industry.

The UK government has stated that lithium battery technology is a priority for its “industrial strategy”. In June 2019, it announced it was investing £23-million in “electric car battery development”.

The government has further noted: “It’s estimated that South America holds 54% of the world’s lithium resources, which are increasingly in demand to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles and energy diversification programmes.”

It added: “The UK aims to have a thriving, sustainable battery industry, which would translate to a £2.7 billion opportunity … and our bilateral partnerships are essential to ensure this.”

In February 2019, Evo Morales’ government had chosen a Chinese consortium to be its strategic partner on a new $2.3-billion lithium project which would focus on production from the Coipasa and Pastos Grandes salars (salt flats under which the lithium is deposited).

But after the coup, the regime’s new minister for mining cast doubt on whether the deal would be honoured by the new government.

These particular salt flats were of interest to the UK embassy.

One project it co-funded from 2019-20 sought to “optimise Bolivia’s lithium exploration and production (in the Coipasa and Pastos Grandes salars) using British technology”.

After the coup, this project was quickly moved forward.

The abstract for the project was authorised by its main funder – the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) – on 25 November 2019, two weeks after the coup and days after the Senkata massacre.

The project gained full approval for funding of $100,000 weeks later, in mid-December 2019.

The IADB told Declassified: “The implementation of [grant] activities are conducted in close coordination with designated government authorities and their technical teams.” At that point its “close coordination” would have been with the Áñez regime.

A woman shouts anti-regime slogans in front of a police line during a funeral procession of the victims killed during clashes with police at the Senkata fuel plant on 21 November 2019 in La Paz, Bolivia. (Photo: Gaston Brito Miserocchi / Getty Images)

Satellite Applications Catapult

The British embassy in La Paz provided £5,000 towards this lithium project in 2019-20, but the Foreign Office refused to tell Declassified if these funds were disbursed after the coup in November 2019.

The goal was to “design and implement a satellite data-based application that can optimise exploration and exploitation of large/best lithium sources in the Coipasa and Pastos Grandes salars in Bolivia”, the documents outlined.

The Foreign Office noted that the project was to be implemented by Satellite Applications Catapult, an Oxford-based organisation “helping organisations harness the power of satellite-based services”.

The company receives about a third of its funding from the UK government but it did not respond to Declassified’s questions about the Bolivia project.

However, we found that on 19 December 2019 – two days after the IABD gave final approval to the project – the UK Foreign Office transferred £33,220 to Satellite Applications Catapult, in a payment listed as “programme spend”.

The department refused to tell Declassified if this funding was for the lithium exploitation project in Bolivia. The IADB told us: “Coordination with the British Embassy has been particularly cooperative in search for synergies”.

A picture of the Coipasa salt flats in Bolivia, photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station. (Photo: Nasa)

International seminar

Then, in March 2020, four months after the coup, the British embassy in La Paz partnered with the regime’s Ministry of Mining to organise an “international seminar” for more than 300 officials from the global extractives sector.

A British company, Watchman, was brought in by the UK embassy to give the keynote presentation and outline the “creative solutions” it had enacted in Africa to bring local communities onside with mining projects.

The Foreign Office documents note: “Watchman UK and other consultancies are now in line to offer services in this important field to a number of Bolivia mining companies who wish to achieve win-win solutions to their controversies with indigenous inhabitants and towns located in the area of influence of their activities”.

Watchman is a risk management company set up in 2016 by Christopher Goodwin-Hudson, a nine-year veteran of the British Army who was later executive director of global security for the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The company supports corporate clients “across the extractive, agribusiness and capital project sectors” who are having trouble operating because of local resistance. Watchman’s website carries the logo of the UK Foreign Office.

The firm’s associate director, Gabriel Carter, has held a number of senior roles in the private security industry and in 2012 founded an Afghanistan-focused security company that “supported numerous British and US development projects”.

Carter, also a veteran of risk management at Goldman Sachs, is a member of the Special Forces Club, an exclusive and secretive private members’ club for senior intelligence and special forces veterans in Knightsbridge, London.

Watchman did not respond to Declassified’s questions about the event and the UK Foreign Office refused to answer questions related to it.

Voor deze documenten waar ik vreemd genoeg geen werkende link kan maken naar het PDF zie het origineel op Declassified UK. (en veiligheidsgordels vast voor je gaat lezen!!)

UK Foreign Office documents from 2015-20 documenting a range of programmes run by the British embassy in Bolivia.

A long courtship

The quick moves of the British embassy on the lithium project followed years of trying to court Bolivia’s socialist government over the country’s reserves of the metal, the new documents show.

Morales had moved Bolivia away from the country’s traditional reliance on Western corporations since taking power in 2006. His government was widely praised for reducing poverty and increasing investment in schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

The Foreign Office notes that its “first engagement with the Bolivian Lithium Company”, known by its Spanish acronym YLB, was in 2017-18 when it paid £31,500 to organise a scientific UK mission. It focused on training the YLB on new technologies to explore and produce lithium in a “sustainable” way.

The documents note this project “allowed British organisations … to carry over projects on lithium in Bolivia with [Inter-American Development Bank] and [UK government] funding in the following years”.

The UK government noted: “Relationship with the Bolivian Lithium Company might also prove relevant as Bolivia becomes a supplier of lithium (a critical material) to the UK”, and referenced its “effort to connect Bolivia, Chile and Argentina (ie the Lithium Triangle) with the London Metal Exchange”.

The following year’s programme notes that “stronger links” developed between the YLB and the British embassy in Bolivia.

The documents also outline how in April 2019, the British embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, hosted a “high-level technical meeting” with the mining and lithium authorities of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, as well as senior representatives of the London Metal Exchange.

Those three countries together share ownership of the “lithium triangle”, the region of the Andes rich in lithium reserves. At the time Argentina and Chile had right-wing governments friendly with the UK.

Also in attendance was Bolivia’s vice-minister of lithium and the chief executive of YLB. “The project from the British Embassy in Bolivia … consisted in securing and facilitating the presence of the Bolivian authorities in the meeting”, the Foreign Office documents note.

It added that, after the meeting, the Bolivian government was now “aware of the relevance of the London Metal Exchange” and particularly “its interest to establish a lithium standard” which was to be based upon the lithium triangle production. Such standards serve “to promote understanding and communication between metal producers and users”.

The following sections in this passage are redacted under two exemptions related to “international relations” and “commercial interests”. These are the only redactions made on the programme documentation for the five years of operations seen by Declassified.

The London Metal Exchange, the world centre for industrial metals trading. (Photo: UK government)

Darktrace

There is further evidence Britain was always priming the country for a change in government. In the year before the coup, the British embassy was promoting the UK cyber sector, bringing a company to Bolivia founded by the UK intelligence community, and with close links to America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In 2009, Morales had expelled a US diplomat who he claimed was a CIA asset heading an operation to infiltrate Bolivia’s state-owned oil company.

Eight months before the coup, the UK embassy spent more than £4,500 organising a “major event” in Laz Paz on cybersecurity for financial institutions, attended by 150 executives and senior officials from the Bolivian financial sector, according to the Foreign Office documents.

Delivered in coordination with the Bolivian Stock Exchange, Bolivian banks were said to “now be acquiring specialised services to protect their systems from cybercrime”. Further, the bankers were now aware that fighting cybercrime had to be “based upon adequate and state-of-the-art technology”.

Presentations were delivered by British company Darktrace, a cybersecurity firm set up by Britain’s domestic security service, MI5, and its signals intelligence agency, GCHQ. The company was incorporated the day after the first of whistle-blower Edward Snowden’s exposures was published in The Guardian.

Since its founding, Darktrace has hired personnel from the US intelligence community, including directly from the CIA and the National Security Agency, where Snowden used to work.

Recruits from the CIA

Alan Wade, who sits on Darktrace’s advisory council, is a 35-year veteran of the CIA and its former chief information officer.

Darktrace also recruited Marcus Fowler, a former US Marine and 15-year veteran of the CIA, as its “director of strategic threat”. At the CIA, Fowler worked on “developing global cyber operations and technical strategies” and “conducted nearly weekly briefings for senior US officials”, he says.

In July 2013, Evo Morales’ presidential plane was grounded in Austria after US intelligence agencies suspected it had Snowden on board.

Bolivian President Evo Morales (C) speaks to the media at the airport in Vienna, Austria, 3 July 2013. Morales’ plane landed in Vienna after the aircraft was denied access to French and Portuguese airspace over suspicions that US whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board. (Photo: Helmut Fohringer/EPA)

Morales blamed the US and other international actors for the November 2019 coup. “It was a national and international coup d’état,” he said soon after. “Industrialised countries don’t want competition.” He added: “I’m absolutely convinced it’s a coup against lithium.”

The WikiLeaks diplomatic cables show that the US embassy in La Paz worked closely with the political opposition in Bolivia to remove the Morales government after it took power in 2006.

Morales expelled the US Drug Enforcement Agency in 2008 and the US Agency for International Development in 2013, accusing them of “conspiring” against his government.

For the March 2019 event, the UK embassy also brought an expert from the London-based think tank Chatham House, whose co-president is Eliza Manningham-Buller, a former director-general of MI5.

Its funders include the US State Department, UK Foreign Office, the British Army, and the oil companies BP and Chevron.

After the event, Britain’s Foreign Office noted that “several companies in the field [are] now being hired and consulted”. It is not known if Darktrace was one of them.

The embassy kept up the engagement soon after. “New dialogue with the Bolivian government on cyber”, notes the Foreign Office in its 2019-2020 programme. It is unclear if this referred to the coup regime.

‘Important input’

The day after the Bolivian election on 20 October 2019, the Washington-based Organisation of American States – the grouping of countries in North and South America – released a report on the vote which Morales had marginally won. It cited “an inexplicable change” that “drastically modifies the fate of the election”.

It also raised doubts about the fairness of the vote and fuelled a chain of events that led to the November coup.

However, a subsequent study by independent researchers using data obtained by The New York Times from the Bolivian electoral authorities found that the OAS statistical analysis was flawed.

Its conclusion that Morales’ share of the vote jumped inexplicably in the final ballots relied on incorrect data and inappropriate statistical techniques, the researchers found.

Declassified can now reveal that the British embassy provided data for the OAS’s discredited report.

The British embassy spent £8,000 putting together an alliance of civil society organisations which “coordinated an operation for citizens’ observation of the elections in 2019”.

This alliance carried out a survey on voting intentions before the elections, which “was an important input for the OAS mission report, which identified irregularities in the process”, the Foreign Office notes.

The OAS failed to respond to Declassified’s questions about the UK embassy’s role in its discredited report and the Foreign Office refused to answer any questions about it.

The British embassy’s projects to prepare for the election went even further. In February 2019, it spent £9,981 to bring the Thomson Reuters Foundation to the country to train 30 Bolivian journalists on “verification techniques and pre-planning an election on coverage that is balanced, accurate and free of polarisation”.

The Foundation said that “ahead of the elections in Bolivia” it was teaching “practical skills and tools to recognise fake news and attempts to influence the electorate with false information”.

Declassified previously revealed how the British government is using journalism as an influencing tool in Latin America. Also recently revealed was that the British government secretly funded Reuters in the 1960s and 1970s at the behest of an anti-Soviet propaganda unit linked to British intelligence.

‘Marxist solidarity’

Days after the November coup in Bolivia, the UK Foreign Office released a statement saying: “The United Kingdom congratulates Jeanine Áñez on taking on her new responsibilities as interim President of Bolivia.” It added: “We welcome Ms Áñez’ appointment and her declared intention to hold elections soon.”

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab arrives at 10 Downing Street on 3 February 2021 in London. (Photo: Hollie Adams / Getty Images)

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stated: “We hope that the current crisis in Bolivia can now be resolved swiftly, peacefully and in a democratic way. The Bolivian people deserve to have the opportunity to vote in free and fair elections.”

Then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn offered a completely different view, saying: “I condemn this coup against the Bolivian people and stand with them for democracy, social justice and independence.”

Raab proceeded to attack Corbyn, quote-tweeting him and stating: “Unbelievable. The Organisation of American States refused to certify the Bolivian election because of systemic flaws. The people are protesting and striking on an unprecedented scale. But @jeremycorbyn puts Marxist solidarity ahead of democracy.”

But Raab and the Foreign Office made no further comments as the new regime’s forces carried out the Sacaba and Senkata massacres the following week.

Jeff Glekin, Britain’s ambassador to Bolivia since January 2019. (Photo: UK government)

In March 2020, four months after Morales was overthrown, the new regime was organising a series of new initiatives “with the UK as a strategic partner”, the documents note.

That same month, Britain’s ambassador during the coup, Jeff Glekin, offered a glimpse of the UK interests involved in backing the new regime.

Glekin spoke to the Bolivian media about British Week, which was bringing 12 British companies to the country for the first time.

“Many are looking for new markets in the world and Bolivia can be an opportunity to grow,” he said. “Due to the political changes in Bolivia, a more open environment for foreign investment is perceived and I believe that this will open new doors to companies that want to share their technology, their products and make alliances with different companies.”

Glekin, who remains in post, added: “We are working with the Santa Cruz Mayor’s Office … and we invite Santa Cruz corporations to participate in the event.”

In the documents seen by Declassified, a disproportionately high number of UK embassy projects have focused on the eastern city of Santa Cruz, which was the centre of opposition to Evo Morales’ government.

Glekin continued: “The previous government was not very in favour of foreign investment. So, with the changes that we are going to see, it will be easier to enter the market and do business. The companies to come are from different parts of Great Britain and from various sectors. They are modern firms that are doing innovative things and want to enter the market and share their services and products in Bolivia.”

Glekin added: “The demand for lithium is growing and Bolivia must take advantage of that opportunity.”

When new elections took place in October 2020, Evo Morales’ Movimiento al Socialismo won 55% of the votes against six rivals on the ballot, easily avoiding the need for a runoff. The runner-up was former President Carlos Mesa with just under 29%.

A Foreign Office spokesperson told Declassified: “Presidential elections held in Bolivia in October 2020 were free and fair. There was no coup. The UK has a strong and constructive relationship with current and former Bolivian administrations.” DM

Matt Kennard is head of investigations at Declassified UK, an investigative journalism organisation that covers the UK’s role in the world.

Follow Declassified on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Sign up to receive Declassified’s monthly newsletter here. You can become a member and supporter of Declassified by visiting here.

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* Zie ook wat Edwin Koopman heeft durven zeggen over deze coup: 'Bolivia: een jaar na de coup wint de socialistische partij alsnog de verkiezingen' Met daarin hetvolgende plus link naar een bericht van Trouw met daarin een voorbeeld van foute berichtgeving over Bolivia, geschreven door de neoliberale fantast Edwin Koopman (werkt ook voor de VPRO) die een uiterst gekleurd verslag gaf over de situatie voorafgaand aan de verkiezingen in Bolivia, waarbij hij verzweeg dat de OAS de coup van 2019 organiseerde op basis van de uitslagen (waarbij Koopman de overwinning van Morales als dubieus durfde neer te zetten) Zie ook andere fratsen van Koopman door op het label met zijn naam te klikken, direct onder dit bericht....): 'Bij de verkiezingen in Bolivia worden de kandidaten met stenen bekogeld en gaan aanhangers met elkaar op de vuist'

Zie verder 'Bolivia: de coup is voorbij, tijd om secretaris-generaal Almagro van de OAS af te zetten en te berechten'

'Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, en massamedia doodstil over moord op journalisten in Bolivia'

'Bolivia: CIA en OAS hebben op valse gronden een coup tegen de Boliviaanse president Morales opgezet'

'Bolivia: OAS heeft gelogen over verkiezingen: Evo Morales onterecht afgezet middels staatsgreep!'

'Bolivia: de coup heeft alles te maken met grondstoffen'

'NOS liegt weer over Evo Morales (Boliviaanse president) die met coup werd afgezet'

'Bolivia coup een 'CIA job', aldus anonieme Duitse veiligheidsanalist, met lessen voor de toekomst'

'Bolivia: misdadigers die vechten voor het kapitalisme'

The US EMBASSY in Bolivia continues carrying out covert actions to support the coup d’état against President Evo Morales.

'NOS met fake news over Bolivia'

'Bolivianen eisen hun president terug'

'Bolivia: staatsgreep maakt eind aan succesvol presidentschap Evo Morales'

'Bolivia: bewijs op tafel dat VS aanstuurt op een coup''

Bolivia's Evo Morales 'unhurt' after helicopter emergency landing

Bolivia Closes 2018 Among The Highest Economic Growth Rates

Bolivia’s Remarkable Socialist Success Story: President Evo Morales has transformed his country’s economy with an unapologetically left-wing agenda.

'NAVO gaat VS helpen in Zuid-Amerika terreur uit te oefenen: Colombia lid van de NAVO........'

'VS couppleger in Venezuela belooft VS Venezolaanse olie als hij de macht heeft overgenomen'

'Halliburton en Chevron hebben groot belang bij 'regime change' in Venezuela' (zie de links in dat bericht naar meer artikelen over Venezuela)

'9 'ex-FARC rebellen' vermoord door leger Colombia: FARC-EP opgericht'

'Mensenrechten- en milieuactivisten worden massaal vermoord in Brazilië en Colombia, waar het laatste land NAVO bases heeft.......'

'Koenders heeft vrijlating gegijzelde Spoorloos makers in Colombia bewerkstelligt....... AUW!!!'

'Paus Franciscus in Colombia om vrede te prediken......'

'People of Brazil: my sincere condolences with 'your' fascistic, psychopathic president Bolsonaro......'

'VS commando's vechten o.a. in Midden- en Zuid-Amerika, aldus het VS ministerie van oorlog.........'

'NAVO naar Zuid-Amerika? Weg met dit agressieve, terroristische bondgenootschap, NU!!!'

'Bolton geeft toe dat de VS een fascistisch beleid voert......'

'Bolsonaro, de fascistische nieuwe president van Brazilië, werd volgens Avaaz en fake news brengers als de NYT gekozen door manipulatie via WhatsApp'

'Bolsonaro wint Braziliaanse verkiezingen >> weer zijn we een fascistisch geleid land 'rijker...''

'Braziliaanse verkiezingen: democratie versus (neo-) fascisme, ook een groot gevaar in Europa'

'Katy Sherriff (Radio1 correspondent Z-Amerika) brandt socialistische partij Brazilië af......' (Sherriff was destijds correspondent voor de zogenaamd onafhankelijke NOS (!!), ze beschuldigde o.a. Lula da Silva, de voormalige socialistische president van Brazilie af als corrupt, toevallig werd afgelopen week, het is nu 13 maart 2021, bekend gemaakt dat Lula is vrijgesproken door het Hooggerechtshof in Brazilie!! Sherriff is nu werkzaam voor...: Amnesty International >> hoe is het gvd mogelijk..??!!!)

maandag 8 februari 2021

Britse leger bezig met o.a. cyber-operaties in burgerleven met het Coronavirus als 'legitimatie'

Naar aanleiding van een Brasscheck TV artikel, waarvan de video in Nederland weer eens werd gecensureerd, kwam ik middels een link op de site Declassified UK. In dit artikel van 30 september 2020 wordt uitvoerig beschreven hoe het Britse leger zich bezig houdt met het beïnvloeden van de Britse bevolking door 'misinformatie' op de sociale media te tackelen, maar ook door het tegengaan van 'desinformatie.....' (zie niet wat het verschil is tussen desinformatie en misinformatie, 'maar goed....') Eén en ander wordt gedaan door de geheime 77ste Brigade....... Uiteraard zijn begrippen als misinformatie en desinformatie onderhevig aan wat het leger daaronder verstaat, niet wat het grootste deel van het volk daaronder verstaat, laat staan wat critici daaronder verstaan.......

Uitermate schandalig zeker daar het hier gaat om het Britse leger >> op grond van wat o.a. de reguliere media (fake news en smerige propaganda) en de geheime diensten, waaronder die van dat leger zelf, bij elkaar durfden te liegen voorafgaand aan de illegale oorlogen van de VS, telkens weer met deelname van het Britse leger, oorlogen waarbij alleen deze eeuw al meer dan 5 miljoen mensen werden vermoord........ (nogmaals: massamoorden 'gelegitimeerd' door smerige leugens en vuile propaganda....)

Mensen de haren rijzen je te berge als je leest hoe men doet alsof het de normaalste zaak van de wereld is dat het leger de vrije meningsuiting van burgers denkt te kunnen manipuleren....... Op een gegeven moment wordt in dit uitvoerige artikel zelfs gesteld dat mensen niet begrijpen hoe ernstig de 'Coronapandemie' is en dat men daarom de mensen bewust angst moet aanjagen......

In Nederland werd in november bekend gemaakt dat het LIMC, een legeronderdeel, bezig is geweest om hetzelfde in Nederland te doen, volkomen illegaal wel te verstaan, waarbij Patrick Dekkers, de commandant van dit onderdeel, gvd nog pissig was ook dat er ophef was ontstaan over zijn illegaal handelen, pas ruim een week later heeft de zwaar disfunctionerende CDA minister van Defensie Bijleveld ingegrepen, echter het zal me niet verbazen als dit onderdeel stiekem gewoon doorgaat met de illegale praktijken....*

Toevallig was er op WDR 5 een 'journalist' te horen, terwijl ik het artikel las, die in feite bepleitte dat er ingegrepen moet worden op de sociale media..... Volgens hem moeten meningen bestreden worden die niet gebaseerd zijn op feiten (m.i. zijn meningen nooit gebaseerd op feiten, 'maar goed...'). Al grinnikend en lachend liet deze kwezel weten dat men zich terugtrekt in de eigen kring en alleen wil lezen/horen wat men al denkt en dat is volgens deze 'journalist' gevaarlijk, het veroorzaakt agressie, zo liet hij weten...... Alsof dat geen mening is, immers 'gedragswetenschappen' zijn allesbehalve wetenschappelijk te bewijzen......

Door het Coronavirus naderen we steeds dichter een maatschappij zoals beschreven in het boek 1984 van George Orwell 'Vreemd genoeg' heb ik de laatste weken al 2 keer gehoord dat men het boek 1984 maar een matig boek vindt, wars van de werkelijkheid...... ha! ha! ha! >> Duidelijk figuren die er niets van begrijpen, of schoften die willen maskeren dat we inderdaad in zo'n maatschappij belanden als het zo doorgaat.......)

Lees het volgende artikel en geeft het door, we moeten ons voorbereiden op een tijd waarin de democratie wordt omgevormd tot een politiestaat, wellicht met voor de vorm nog verkiezingen, die echter niets veranderen aan wie er werkelijk aan de touwen trekt.... Met manipulatie van de bevolking door de media, politiek en het leger (in GB), zal men proberen duidelijk te maken dat veiligheid een prijs heeft: totale afhankelijkheid van een dictatoriale staat.........

UK information operations in the time of coronavirus

By Chris King and Professor David Miller• 30 September 2020

General Sir Nick Carter, UK chief of the defence staff, speaks at a government press briefing during the coronavirus crisis, 22 April 2020 (Photo: Crown Copyright)

At a Downing Street briefing in April, UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab paid a lengthy tribute to the “amazing work” of the British army during the coronavirus pandemic. His praise was likely well-received by the individual standing two metres to his left – General Nick Carter, the UK’s most senior military officer, who appeared at the briefing for the first time.

In a speech afterwards, General Carter outlined various ways in which the military was supporting the government and, crucially, noted that the highly secretive 77th Brigade was “helping to quash rumours from misinformation, but also counter disinformation”.

Carter did not elaborate, but two weeks later armed forces minister James Heappey – himself a former army officer – confirmed that the 77th Brigade was playing a key role in Whitehall’s battle against coronavirus.

Among other things, the Brigade was said to be “supporting the government’s Rapid Response Unit in the Cabinet Office”– a body set up in 2018 “to identify and rebut disinformation and misinformation”, according to the government.

Little is known about the role or rationale of the British army’s 77th Brigade, which is based at Denison Barracks in Berkshire, southern England. In a 2018 speech, however, General Carter dubbed it an “information warfare” initiative, affording the military “the capability to compete in the war of narratives at the tactical level”.

Prior to Carter’s April speech, the government’s long-held position was that propaganda operations by the British military are never waged domestically. But less than a year after this was last publicly affirmed in August 2019, the policy has been avowedly reversed.

This compromises the vital dividing line between military and civil power which has endured as long as British parliamentary democracy. But not a single voice in the mainstream, as far as we know, has mentioned this disturbing shift, much less questioned it.

Carter has some cause to know about the 77th Brigade. We can reveal that in 2012, he was appointed “Honorary Colonel Commandant” in the British army’s “Media Operations Group” – one of the four units which were merged to form the Brigade in 2015, which was called its ‘Number 5 Column’.

For reasons that are unclear, Carter’s official biography makes no mention of his tenure in the unit. In November 2019, he was succeeded in this role by Alexander Aiken, the executive director for government communications, the most senior spin doctor in Whitehall. Aiken’s position with the Brigade is, again, unmentioned in his official biography, although it does note he oversaw the creation of the Rapid Response Unit.

In a recently deleted article on the government’s website, Aiken acknowledged “alternative news sources” were one of the unit’s key targets, on the basis that such outlets were “biased” and focused on “sensationalism rather than facts”.

(Credit: UK Army)

Shaping behaviour

Some indications of the Brigade’s operations can be found in the media coverage of its launch in 2015. A Channel 4 article referred to “Twitter troops… shaping behaviours through the use of dynamic narratives” and the army was said to be specifically recruiting individuals with “journalism skills and familiarity with social media”.

There has been virtually no serious reporting on the Brigade since, although in 2018 the publication Wired was granted exclusive access to its Denison Barracks headquarters.

While a textbook example of ‘embedded journalism’, Wired’s article did highlight soldiers using advertising industry phrases such as “key influencers”, “reach” and “traction”, as well as a sign on the wall declaring “behavioural change is our USP [unique selling point]”.

“One room was focused on understanding audiences: the makeup, demographics and habits of the people they wanted to reach. Another was more analytical, focusing on creating ‘attitude and sentiment awareness’ from large sets of social media data”, the article continued. “Another was full of officers producing video and audio content. Elsewhere, teams of intelligence specialists were closely analysing how messages were being received and discussing how to make them more resonant.”

The 77th Brigade shrouds its activities in neutral language to describe its operations. While the 15th Psychological Operations Group was among the four units merged to form the Brigade, it does not publicly acknowledge that “psyops” form part of its remit.

Instead, the Brigade is said to employ “non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers”, while the term “information warfare”, referenced by General Carter in 2018, is absent from its listing on the Ministry of Defence (MOD) website.

More forthcoming UK military doctrine is, however, regularly published by the MOD. A 2018 document updated in January 2020 reveals that “deception” is a core practice for the armed forces, stating “it’s critical we develop mindsets and capabilities that deny information to our adversaries – to degrade their understanding – … incorporating both passive and active measures”.

Deception is defined as “measures designed to mislead adversaries” with information “used to create deception or as ‘camouflage and concealment’ to support deception”.

The document adds this can “range from encouraging the responsible use of social media by our own personnel through promoting and developing and continuous reinforcing of a security culture, to camouflage, concealment and deception techniques”.

The 77th Brigade has no admitted social media presence, but indications the unit is widely active on such networks were boosted in September 2019 when senior Twitter staffer Gordon MacMillan was exposed by Middle East Eye as a lieutenant in the Brigade.

MacMillan’s promotion of puff pieces reporting on the Brigade’s creation, and interactions with its now-dormant Twitter account the next year, strongly suggest he has been involved with the unit – which seeks to weaponise the platform for which he works – for quite some time.

Twitter has made much of its commitment to ridding the platform of networks of “coordinated accounts” engaged in state-backed “information operations” and “platform manipulation”, and has conducted regular mass purges of such accounts since October 2018. However, not once have the purged users been based in the UK.

The (now deleted) LinkedIn page of Gordon MacMillan, a senior Twitter staffer who was exposed by Middle East Eye as a lieutenant in the 77th Brigade. (Screengrab / Middle East Eye)

‘Highly organised’

The 77th Brigade has been accused by a member of parliament of targeting the Scottish independence movement and its supporters. In 2019, Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Douglas Chapman repeatedly claimed on Twitter that the Brigade was “working against elected MPs and parties” in a “highly organised” manner, “attacking and undermining our democratic choices”.

Chapman’s tweets prompted such a deluge of abuse from other users that he deleted some of the postings.

Opposition to Scottish independence is a viewpoint shared by some of the Brigade’s known members who serve as reservists in the unit. These include former Conservative MP and armed forces minister Mark Lancaster (the unit’s Deputy Commander) and current Conservative MP and chair of the House of Commons defence committee, Tobias Ellwood (a Lieutenant Colonel in the unit).

Both Lancaster and Ellwood have voted consistently against all legislation transferring further powers of any kind to the Scottish parliament.

Also reported to be part of the Brigade is Kate Watson, Labour’s unsuccessful candidate for Glasgow East in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. She was formerly the operations director of Better Together, the principal “No” vote campaign group in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

The MOD website states the Brigade is involved in “collecting, creating and disseminating digital and wider media content”. Could this entail managing real, fake and automated social media accounts disseminating pro-government messages and discrediting those critical of Downing Street’s handling of the pandemic?

Apparent attempts to “game” social media platforms by using covert and fake social media accounts in these ways have been repeatedly documented in the UK in recent months. A significant example occurred in May when a brief statement adapted from a post on an obscure blog circulated far and wide on both Facebook and Twitter.

It read: “Journalism is missing the ‘mood’ in this great country of ours – the United Kingdom. We do not want or need blame. We do not want constant criticism of our Government who are doing their very best in a very difficult and unprecedented global emergency.”

This was shared without attribution by, among others, prominent businessman Sir Alan Sugar, although many users posting the message had only recently registered, or had little to no followers or ‘friends’ – key potential hallmarks of inauthenticity. Several users were subsequently “restricted” by Twitter due to “unusual activity”, meaning the accounts were either automated or suspected of being so – or run from the same IP address.

It is not possible to connect the 77th Brigade with this potentially coordinated effort. However, academic Marc Owen Jones – who conducts detailed analysis of social media posts – told us that it is “plausible” the unit is “adapting legitimate content seeking to diminish blame directed at the government during the crisis”.

He explains: “It would certainly make sense to adopt, adapt, or appropriate legitimate sentiments expressed by real people that appear popular and boost them in order to ensure maximum reach.

“As that tweet was popular, and also sought to deflect blame from the government, it would be a prime choice to adapt for an information operation that had a veneer of authenticity. This way, whoever is amplifying this content can claim it was grassroots, as opposed to top down.”

In other words, even if this was not the 77th Brigade’s work, it is likely other content circulated during the pandemic has been. Given Twitter staffer Gordon MacMillan’s role in the unit, the weaponisation of the platform by the military is surely a matter for future investigations into Whitehall’s handling of the pandemic.

It may also be significant that in February this year, Whitehall convened a behavioural scientist collective, the Scientific Pandemic Influenza group on Behaviour (SPI-B), to advise its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) on how to, among other things, increase public adherence to social distancing measures.

One solution offered by the group was to increase the “perceived level of personal threat” among British citizens. One document states: “A substantial number of people still don’t feel sufficiently personally threatened… The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging.”

It went on to recommend that such messaging be circulated via “targeted media campaigns, social media, apps and websites”.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood during a reception at No 10 Downing Street in London, 23 May 2018. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Will Oliver)

‘Civilian army’

The MOD is not a designated lead department for responding to emergencies such as pandemics. However, government policy since the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review – which placed military planners in key government ministries – has given the army a “wider and more formal role in supporting national resilience contingency planning”.

The then vice chief of the UK Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, wrote in 2017: “Defence has a key role to play, supporting lead government departments, devolved administrations and civil authorities as they prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive challenges and major national events.”

He explained: “Defence is now no longer seen as the ‘last resort’ option; rather, it must now be ready and configured to play an early role in providing civil resilience.”

But more recent attempts to use the coronavirus pandemic in order to blur the distinction between military and civil power have surprisingly provoked no alarm.

For example, SNP MP and defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald has proposed establishing a “national resilience force”, which he describes as “a civilian army that would be deployed at times of national crisis”.

Under the plans, which McDonald intends to have adopted as party policy, school leavers, graduates, retirees and those taking career breaks would be offered incentives to enlist. School leavers would receive a year’s training in responding to a range of crises.

In an interview with the Times, McDonald suggested the scheme could be further expanded post-independence or even adopted by the UK government on a “larger scale”. He also dismissed obvious comparisons with national military service, suggesting the scheme was merely a way of engaging citizens “to deliver the resilience needed to meet modern threats and challenges”.

However, McDonald acknowledged his thinking was “heavily influenced” by the Modern Deterrence Project of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), an influential think tank with close ties to the British defence establishment.

The proposal was greeted warmly in the New Statesman which noted that the project’s director, Elisabeth Braw, was liaising directly with McDonald on the issue. Braw called for all government agencies linked to national security, including the National Health Service, to be able to select 18-year-olds for training in a variety of disciplines.

Integrity and statecraft

Before joining RUSI, Braw was a “non-resident senior fellow” at NATO-connected think tank, the Atlantic Council. During this period, she also became involved with the Integrity Initiative, a covert Foreign Office-funded military intelligence operation.

The extent of Braw’s relationship with the Integrity Initiative is unclear, but a leaked document dated 2018 indicates she was listed as one of 14 members of its North American “cluster” – a clandestine network of journalists, academics, and military and intelligence operatives maintained by the organisation to spread pro-Western propaganda and encourage more assertive government policies towards Russia.

Earlier this year, Braw was a panellist at an event convened by New Bletchley, a shadowy “network of thinkers, leaders, and stakeholders” co-founded by Paddy Nicoll, a former officer in the Black Watch army battalion and member of the Integrity Initiative’s UK cluster whose name appears in a number of its internal files.

Fellow speakers at the meeting, which was held in London’s Churchill War Rooms under the banner of ‘UK Defence Priorities’, included a host of current and former senior US and UK military veterans, among them 77th Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Tobias Ellwood.

The need for the UK government to “find ways of building national resilience, especially in young people” was one of the panel’s “key findings”. Strikingly, in 2009 Ellwood authored a paper on “bridging the gap between military and civilian affairs on the modern battlefield”, indicating the lengthy history of these concerns in elite security circles.

Despite Integrity Initiative files making clear the organisation is no friend of Scottish independence, that Stewart McDonald’s thinking has been guided by one of its cluster members is unsurprising. McDonald denies having any connection with the organisation, but his political adviser and close friend Neal Stewart has given secret briefings at the offices of its parent “charity”, the Institute for Statecraft.

The Institute for Statecraft has proposed a number of plans to increase the armed forces’ role and presence in Britain, and instil a military ethos at every level of British society.

Scottish National Party MP and defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald. (Photo: UK Parliament)

One such clandestine endeavour, called CyberGuardian, was an information technology education initiative targeted at “initially 12-18-year-olds, but spreading to younger children as the programme evolves”. The project’s executive summary had clear echoes of McDonald’s “national resilience” plan, including similar phraseology.

CyberGuardian seemingly never came to pass, but other Institute for Statecraft militarisation endeavours have – and received Whitehall funding. In response to a parliamentary question in 2018, Tobias Ellwood, then a defence minister, confirmed that in 2016-18 the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s Local Grants Programme awarded £177,650 to 12 separate projects run by the organisation.

One of the projects was called “Shared Outcomes”. Ellwood painted an idyllic picture of the endeavour, stating that its programmes “enable young people to take part in challenging activities such as assault courses, night navigation exercises and camping while visiting an Army base, and other activities designed to improve community cohesion”.

However, a leaked Institute for Statecraft internal file authored by the organisation’s co-founder Dan Lafayeedney reveals that its real aims were “counter-radicalisation”, with a pernicious focus on a so-called “Muslim mindset”.

He wrote: “We have a programme exploring the fundamental cause of radicalisation, i.e., the Muslim mindset and how we tackle that in our Muslim communities in the UK and elsewhere… We engage directly with the various UK Muslim communities, using adventurous training laid on by the Army to teach young people leadership, life skills, other skills and encouraging them to undertake the national Duke of Edinburgh Award challenge.”

Lafayeedney added: “This helps build trust and confidence in the communities and to integrate their young people into mainstream British society. But we… make no mention of deradicalisation… If it were badged counter-radicalisation, no one would participate in it [emphasis added].”

The same document shows that the Institute for Statecraft also played a role in the formation of the 77th Brigade.

Lafayeedney continued: “[We] help the Forces become more competent to fight modern war with all kinds of weapons and do so on the budget the state provides. To that end we’ve supported the creation of special Army reserve units – 77th Brigade and Specialist Group Military Intelligence – with which we now have a close, informal relationship [emphasis added].

“These bring in, as reservists with special status, individuals who are very senior civilian experts in some relevant area, such as hedge fund managers, senior bankers, heads of public affairs companies… people whom the Army could never afford to hire, but who donate their time and expertise as patriots.”

Specialist Group Military Intelligence

The Specialist Group Military Intelligence (SGMI) was founded the same year as the 77th Brigade and is also based at Denison Barracks in Berkshire.

But even less information on this unit is available than its neighbour at the base. It has not been mentioned in a single UK mainstream media article as of September 2020 and even lacks an official British army website listing.

An MOD recruitment page for the SGMI, however, makes reference to it conducting “intelligence focused activity for not only military but also civil contingency operations”.

The ‘hacktivist’ collective, Anonymous, has published a list of over 50 alleged SGMI operatives, some who are full-time in the military, others who are reservists working day jobs in various sectors including banking, tech industry, lobbying, consulting, and secondary and university education.

The Institute for Statecraft’s co-director Chris Donnelly is an “honorary colonel” in the SGMI. Leaked recruitment slides shown to prospective SGMI operatives – who are allegedly selected and interviewed by Donnelly at his organisation’s offices – make frequent mention of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This was the secret army created by Winston Churchill in July 1940 to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in Nazi-occupied Europe, and which also served as a “stay-behind” military force in the event of a Nazi invasion of Britain.

Other leaked documents shed light on the “intelligence focused activity” of SGMI reservists. For instance, while serving as Global Head Market Structure & Execution Strategy at HSBC Global Asset Management (and also chair of the HSBC Military Network), Ian Cohen was a captain in the SGMI’s financial intelligence (‘FININT’) division.

Files released by Anonymous indicate that Cohen’s role included advising the unit on optimal ways of identifying Russian state or corporate funding of UK organisations such as “a university with an anti-fracking agenda”.

Cohen also wrote an extensive report on a Moscow Exchange Forum event in London he attended in December 2017, and personally hosted a conference at the Institute for Statecraft’s offices in January 2018 on “China’s strategy for achieving a competitive advantage over the West”.

We emailed Cohen, and his former employer HSBC, to ask whether this dual position led to other HSBC staff knowingly or unknowingly assisting him in his military intelligence responsibilities, or if the bank’s commercial activities were in any way influenced by the role.

No reply was received from Cohen, and HSBC said he had now left the organisation, ignoring subsequent requests for clarification.

A leaked recruitment slide shown to prospective Specialist Group Military Intelligence operatives.

Zie voor het vervolg het originele artikel.

===============================

* Zie: 'LIMC (leger) nu pas door minister van Defensie Bijleveld op non actief gesteld, na ernstige inbreuk op privacy en schending mensenrechten'

'LIMC (landmacht) gaat haar boek wel heel ver te buiten, misdadig en mensenrechtenschendend ver!!'

Zie ook: 'Coronacrisis: de grootste internationale oefening ooit van politie, geheime diensten en de landstrijdkrachten'

'Jan Paternotte (D66 Tweede Kamer) maakt zich druk om Chinese spionage, terwijl de VS alweer door de mand valt als spion'

'Nijntje populair in China, pas op Trump!!'

'Trumps kruistocht tegen Huawei waar GB in de G5 val van de VS is getrapt' (en zie de links in dat bericht)

'Coronavirus spionage door Rusland: een beschuldiging zoals gewoonlijk zonder enig bewijs'

'Vodafone wil voor Groot-Brittannië G5-netwerk Huawei, een netwerk waarmee niet kan worden gespioneerd'

'Duitsland roept Russische ambassadeur op 'het matje' vanwege vermeend hacken van Duits parlement'

'Het meest gecensureerde nieuws van deze eeuw: het proces tegen journalist Julian Assange' (en zie de links in dat bericht met meer artikelen over Assange en Chelsea Manning, die o.a. met info kwamen dat de VS op grote schaal spioneert)

''Geheime diensten in westen geven toe dat spioneren via het G5 netwerk praktisch onmogelijk is........' (!!!!)

'Israël houdt 24 uur per dag Palestijnen in de gaten met gezichtsherkenningsapparatuur en hulp Microsoft' (!!!!)

'Epstein was een agent van de Mossad en werd gebruikt om politici te chanteren

'Remdesivir, het middel tegen Ebola en ook tegen COVID-19 opgekocht door de Trump administratie: een zware misdaad'

'Spanje, Italië en anderen: EU 'solidariteit' i.v.m. de Coronacrisis alleen als het land zich tot de nek in de schulden wil steken: 'DASLIEF' of.....'

'Kabinet en regeringspartijen hebben geen behoefte om zorgverleners vanwege hun inzet op de Coronacrisis structureel meer te waarderen'

'KLM krijgt 3,4 milard euro voor vliegtuigoverlast, terwijl zorgmedewerkers kunnen barsten, een applausje vindt men in Rutte 3 voldoende' (en zie de links in dat bericht over de politieke leugens aangaande Schiphol, KLM en Lelystad Airport)

'Pandemieën zijn het resultaat van natuurvernietiging, een waarschuwing van de VN, de WHO en het WWF'

'Corona-angst: psychologische oorlogsvoering tegen de bevolking'

'Coronavirus: de sanitaire voorzieningen van campings per vandaag open: het hapsnapbeleid van de 'Coronataskforce'' (en zie de links in dat bericht, anders dan de hierboven en -onder getoonde)

Hier een paar links naar voorbeelden waaruit blijkt dat het met het inperken van burgerrechten allesbehalve gaat over 'samenzweringstheorieën': 'Psst.nl, oplichters uit het leger die het volk proberen op te jutten meer geld voor Defensie te eisen' (o.a. voor 'extra taken.....')