Extinction/Rebellion Meeting, London 9 January 2019

8 January 2019 — Extinction/Rebellion

[ Not sure where this thing is going. Is it another Occupy? What’s the programme? WB]

Dear London Rebels,

The XR London meeting will be this Wednesday 9 January at 7pm, SOAS, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG.

It will be in the Brunei Gallery, opposite the main University building, Room B103.

Hope to see you there.
Regards,
Roman

Interested in doing more with Extinction Rebellion?

Sign Up Here.

No one rules Britain By Anthony Barnett

8 January 2019 — open democracy uk

A first hand account of a country and an economy led by lemmings taking the wider public with them over the cliff edge.

Reckless Opportunists is an astonishing account of the British ruling class in decomposition. It is the result of twenty years of intense research, over 350 interviews with the heads of corporations, senior civil servants, journalists, politicians and public relations firms.

Continue reading

The Institute for Statecraft Exposed

26 November 2018 — williambowles.info

Update 8 January 2019

Here are Part 3 and 4 of the files ‘liberated’ from the Institute for Statecraft

integrity initiative part 4 (43.4mb zipped)

Integrity Initiative part 3 (40.1mb zipped)

I came across the graphic below released by the ‘Integrity Initiative’ [sic]  which I think is worth adding in here. BTW, apparently, according to this graphic, this and other lefty websites are now part of the Russian ‘propaganda’ offensive.

And it since emerged that same duo of Institute for Statecraft/Integrity Initiative has been putting out disinfo on Jeremy Corbyn as well! This from The Canary:

The Conservative government is funding a ‘monitoring group’ that’s carrying out disinformation attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and Labour. The foreign office has now admitted providing £1.96m of public money to the Institute for Statecraft’s Integrity Initiative in the 2018/19 year. Military specialists run the unit, which has posted smears about Jeremy Corbyn and his team on social media. ‘The Canary‘, 9th December 2018

A number of documents from the Institute for Statecraft and its propaganda machine, ‘Integrity Initiative’ [sic] have been uncovered by ‘Anonymous’ (whoever they are) that reveal the objectives and the scale of this sophisticated enterprise. But already I read that some individuals are questioning the validity of these documents, that they are some kind of ‘plant’ designed I’m told, to confuse and neutralise Russian propaganda, but you be the judge (all in PDF format). For myself, it’s clear that they are real and not bogus.

Continue reading

Back to the USSR: How to Read Western News By Patrick Armstrong

8 January 2019 — Strategic Culture Foundation

The heroes of Dickens’ Pickwick Papers visit the fictional borough of Eatanswill to observe an election between the candidates of the Blue Party and the Buff Party. The town is passionately divided, on all possible issues, between the two parties. Each party has its own newspaper: the Eatanswill Gazette is Blue and entirely devoted to praising the noble Blues and excoriating the perfidious and wicked Buffs; the Eatanswill Independent is equally passionate on the opposite side of every question. No Buff would dream of reading the “that vile and slanderous calumniator, the Gazette”, nor Blue the ”that false and scurrilous print, the Independent”.

Continue reading

Washington’s Backfiring Bombing By Brian Cloughley

8 January 2019 — Strategic Culture Foundation

Washington’s Backfiring Bombing

Wikipedia tells us that “The Times Square Ball is a… prominent part of a New Year’s Eve celebration commonly referred to as the ball drop, where the ball descends 43 metres in 60 seconds… to signal the start of the new year.” It’s one of these silly things that is quite appealing in the spirit of the Christmas-New Year season, and most of us have a chuckle and consider ourselves slightly foolish for enjoying it.

Continue reading

Chinese scholar offers insight into Beijing’s strategic mindset By Pepe Escobar

8 January 2019 — Asia Times

Essay by security expert Professor Zhang Wenmu gives a glimpse of China’s geostrategic outlook, from the ‘Western Pacific Chinese Sea’ to the far side of the moon

The top story of 2019 – and the years ahead – will continue to revolve around the myriad, dangerous permutations of the economic ascent of China, the resurgence of nuclear superpower Russia and the decline of the US’s global hegemony.

Continue reading

Bolton walks back Trump’s Syria troop withdrawal

8 January 2019 — WSWS

US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have embarked on what could be described as a “walk back” tour of the Middle East. Its purpose is to assure US regional allies that Washington is not about to implement the decision announced by President Donald Trump last month to carry out a speedy and total withdrawal of US troops from Syria.

Continue reading