The American Republic vs. the British Empire - Freedom or Slavery
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Source: RT News
By Kit Klarenberg, an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. Follow him on Twitter @KitKlarenberg
Source: RT News
FILE PHOTO. MI6 building in London. © Reuters / Toby Melville
By Kit Klarenberg, an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. Follow him on Twitter @KitKlarenberg
Millions was spent clandestinely setting up and paying a network of 'journalists' to pump out anti-Assad, pro-opposition content as directed by a shadowy firm run by the UK foreign intelligence service's counter-terrorism ex-head.
In July 2019, an arresting image of two young Syrian girls entombed in rubble in opposition-occupied Idlib attempting to haul their sister to safety as she dangled off the precipice of a bombed out building, their panic-stricken father looking on from above, went viral the world over.
The photo, disseminated by Syrian news service SY24, subsequently featured in countless Western media outlets, and was even discussed during a United Nations Security Council session. What very few knew however, was SY24 was created and funded by The Global Strategy Network, founded by Richard Barrett, a former MI6 Director of Global Counter Terrorism Operations. The photo had been taken by one of the firm's trained "stringers" across Syria, who were charged with creating "wildly impactful" and "engaging" content for "defined target audiences" both inside and outside the country.
Global Strategy is one of several contractors bankrolled and directed by the UK Foreign Office to conduct information warfare operations in Syria over the grinding course of the decade-long crisis. These efforts, costing millions annually, sought to destabilize the government of Bashar Assad, convince Syrians, Western citizens, foreign states, and international bodies that the Free Syrian Army was a legitimate, "moderate" alternative, and flood media the world over with pro-opposition propaganda.
More: UK to leave small number of elite troops in Afghanistan as ex-MI6 chief warns of likely civil war – media
Leaked files indicate that the company's "core Syria media team" has been working in the country "since the earliest days of the revolution" – and boasts of their work being "wildly (sic) impactful" on perceptions internationally. A cited example of its cloak-and-dagger work in practice was a wide-ranging psyop launched in the wake of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani's murder via US drone in January 2020, which "significantly shifted the ongoing conversation around Syria and Iran."
The team "coordinated their in-country network and remote media production," and created a video showing citizens of Aleppo handing out sweets in celebration within mere hours of his death. The clip was purportedly retweeted by prominent activists and journalists "in and beyond Syria," including then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and picked up by TV station Al-Arabiyya, in the process being broadcast "to its 22.5 million followers."
Global Strategy also boasted in classified documents that media brands it founded had over one million followers in Syria and the UK, their output generating "huge global coverage" and being seen by "many hundreds of millions of people." The "powerful moderate platforms" were allegedly among "very few" covering developments in opposition-occupied Idlib, using a variety of equipment, such as cameras and video editing software, provided by the company.
The company's news outlets and constellation of citizen journalists was said to constitute a clandestine "network of networks", enabling the firm to "drive stories into the mainstream," and its own staff were described as "key influencers in their own right," appearing "several times per week" on TV channels such as Al Jazeera and BBC Arabic. Global Strategy's relationship with these stations meant it could "place video footage at no cost" while "[drawing] attention" to "project content and campaigns."
One such campaign was to "contest local extremist narratives" and undermine the "ideology, brand, propaganda and global influence" of terrorist groups in Syria, conducted for the Foreign Office's Counter-Daesh Communications Cell. Under its auspices, Global Strategy proposed running a number of "community activities" in order to surreptitiously extol the values of democracy, equality, and non-violence to Syrians young and old.
Please go to RT News to read more.
In July 2019, an arresting image of two young Syrian girls entombed in rubble in opposition-occupied Idlib attempting to haul their sister to safety as she dangled off the precipice of a bombed out building, their panic-stricken father looking on from above, went viral the world over.
The photo, disseminated by Syrian news service SY24, subsequently featured in countless Western media outlets, and was even discussed during a United Nations Security Council session. What very few knew however, was SY24 was created and funded by The Global Strategy Network, founded by Richard Barrett, a former MI6 Director of Global Counter Terrorism Operations. The photo had been taken by one of the firm's trained "stringers" across Syria, who were charged with creating "wildly impactful" and "engaging" content for "defined target audiences" both inside and outside the country.
Global Strategy is one of several contractors bankrolled and directed by the UK Foreign Office to conduct information warfare operations in Syria over the grinding course of the decade-long crisis. These efforts, costing millions annually, sought to destabilize the government of Bashar Assad, convince Syrians, Western citizens, foreign states, and international bodies that the Free Syrian Army was a legitimate, "moderate" alternative, and flood media the world over with pro-opposition propaganda.
More: UK to leave small number of elite troops in Afghanistan as ex-MI6 chief warns of likely civil war – media
Leaked files indicate that the company's "core Syria media team" has been working in the country "since the earliest days of the revolution" – and boasts of their work being "wildly (sic) impactful" on perceptions internationally. A cited example of its cloak-and-dagger work in practice was a wide-ranging psyop launched in the wake of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani's murder via US drone in January 2020, which "significantly shifted the ongoing conversation around Syria and Iran."
The team "coordinated their in-country network and remote media production," and created a video showing citizens of Aleppo handing out sweets in celebration within mere hours of his death. The clip was purportedly retweeted by prominent activists and journalists "in and beyond Syria," including then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and picked up by TV station Al-Arabiyya, in the process being broadcast "to its 22.5 million followers."
Global Strategy also boasted in classified documents that media brands it founded had over one million followers in Syria and the UK, their output generating "huge global coverage" and being seen by "many hundreds of millions of people." The "powerful moderate platforms" were allegedly among "very few" covering developments in opposition-occupied Idlib, using a variety of equipment, such as cameras and video editing software, provided by the company.
The company's news outlets and constellation of citizen journalists was said to constitute a clandestine "network of networks", enabling the firm to "drive stories into the mainstream," and its own staff were described as "key influencers in their own right," appearing "several times per week" on TV channels such as Al Jazeera and BBC Arabic. Global Strategy's relationship with these stations meant it could "place video footage at no cost" while "[drawing] attention" to "project content and campaigns."
One such campaign was to "contest local extremist narratives" and undermine the "ideology, brand, propaganda and global influence" of terrorist groups in Syria, conducted for the Foreign Office's Counter-Daesh Communications Cell. Under its auspices, Global Strategy proposed running a number of "community activities" in order to surreptitiously extol the values of democracy, equality, and non-violence to Syrians young and old.
Please go to RT News to read more.
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The White Helmets operating in Syria were an extension of British intelligence:
The White Helmets operating in Syria were an extension of British intelligence:
More diplomacy from the UK:
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