Put the first comments in the December thread together in a diary …
Re: December Open Thread (none / 1)
I have somewhat been following the fall-out of the Integrity Initiative documents.
The short version is that somebody put up their documents – hacked or leaked – and the picture have emerged of a US/UK/NATO funded organisation with ties to intelligence services that under the cloak of a charity has been “countering Russian propaganda” by propaganda of their own.
So far their accomplishments appear to be getting a volunteer into the Sanders campaign, stopping an appointment in Spain, writing all kinds of “Russians are coming” articles and dissing Corbyn on Twitter.
The most comprehensive write-up I have found is this: http://syriapropagandamedia.org/working-papers/briefing-note-on-the-integrity-initiative
Anyone noticed any traditional media coverage of it yet?
by fjallstrom on Tue Dec 25th, 2018 at 03:10:57 PM PDT
Worthwhile to put contents in a diary for some visibility as this is not the end of debate …
Continued below the fold …
New to me, I’ll look into it …
From a website of Anon CyberGuerrilla the name Maria de Goeij popped up:
○ Maria de Goeij – LinkedIn
○ The Institute for Statecraft, London – fellows
Re: December Open Thread (none / 1)
Your link is already pretty comprehensive, what is your question or goal? Link also refers to Tim Hayward’s blog which supports the investigation into “Statecraft”.
I see that the Henry Jackson Society is also linked as a partner. That’s not new to me. See my earlier reporting in November on the USA Intelligence Initiative to smear Russians and legitimate bloggers in the states.
○ Khodorkovsky – The Interpreter – Henry Jackson Society (UK)
○ Unpacking PropOrNot Misinformation Site (2017)
○ PropOrNot: Identifying & Combatting Russian Online Propaganda | OUR ALLIES |I’ve been pretty much blacklisted since then @BooMan.
You should also reread diary here @EuroTrib in 2008 by djhabakkuk …
Further coverage:
○ Foreign Office denies state funds went to Twitter account criticising Labour | The Guardian – Dec 13, 2018 |
○ Newly Released ‘Integrity Initiative’ Papers Include Proposal For Large Disinformation Campaigns | MoA |The offer claims that the company can launch hundreds of “news” pieces per day on as many websites. It notably also offers to “edit” Wikipedia articles.
In short: This proposal describes large disinformation operations under the disguise of fighting alleged Russian disinformation. It is at the core what the Integrity Initiative, which obviously requested the proposal, is about.
But as we saw in the information revealed yesterday there is more to it. The Initiative, which has lots of ‘former’ military and intelligence people among its staff, is targeting the political left in Britain as well as in other countries. It is there where it becomes a danger to the democratic societies of Europe.
UK Gov: Just a Scottish Charity
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Integrity Initiative: Written question – 196177
Q Asked by Chris Williamson (Derby North) [N] Asked on: 27 November 2018
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Integrity Initiative 196177To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has (a) funded, (b) provided contracts to and (c) procured the services of the Integrity Initiative in each financial year since 2015/16.
A Answered by: Sir Alan Duncan Answered on: 03 December 2018
The Institute for Statecraft is an independent, Scottish, charitable body whose work seeks to improve governance and enhance national security. They launched the Integrity Initiative in 2015 to defend democracy against disinformation.
In financial year 2017/18, the FCO funded the Institute for Statecraft’s Integrity Initiative £296,500. This financial year, the FCO is funding a further £1,961,000. Both have been funded through grant agreements.
At the Eastern Partnership Summit in November 2017, the Prime Minister announced that the UK Government has committed £100m over five years to tackling this threat internationally.
Such funding furthers our commitment to producing important work to counter disinformation and other malign influence.
ADDED:
○ ii Integrity Initiative – Defending Democracy Against Misinformation [pdf]
To written answer, a follow-up debate in House of Commons on Dec. 12, 2018 …
Quite revealing, attacking Russia for the hack and denying what’s there for anyone to see! UK Gov transparency?
As quite long debate in the Commons pursued, this reaction was also interesting:
Layla Moran Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Education)
“In the end, this is about trust. In a recent parliamentary question to do with public money to fund social media ads to promote the Brexit deal, I asked the Government whether they would place the contents of these ads in the Library for us all to see. Unfortunately, this request was declined. Does the Minister agree that, to ensure public trust and transparency, the content and audiences of any ads paid for by public money should be published centrally as a matter of course?”
Tim Hayward’s tweet and the follow-up comments …
Also NATO is involved in the funding of Statecraft’s initiative just as Bellingcat is funded by USAID and the Atlantic Council.
In The Netherlands there was also a funded group to open windows to Russia and propaganda. An investigation by journalists uncovered a small number of Ukrainian nationals received the money for this bs operation.
As a whole, this is just part of the Cold War 2.0 and hybrid warfare. PM Theresa May shouldn’t lament when Putin reacts.
I will attempt to follow up with the political tweets of this UK and International network attacking Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party or anyone in opposition to this rightwing, militant organisation. A network of spooks, MI6 officers and former military funding young people to operate as shills on social media.
Private Eye has reported that the #IntegrityInitiative anti-propaganda unit is taking tips from the security masterminds who tried to sell the wisdom of going to war in Iraq!
And this outfit was set up by the Institute for Statecraft that's received £millions from HM Govt!!! (_link)— Chris Williamson MP #GTTO (@DerbyChrisW) December 23, 2018
○ The Deep State and Lisa Pease’s Contribution
