WikiLeaks is vilified by governments (and increasingly by journalists) for its exposures, including of the U.S.-UK “special relationship” in running a joint foreign policy of deception and violence that serves London and Washington’s elite interests, says Mark Curtis.
By Mark Curtis
Middle East Eye
Twelve years ago this month, WikiLeaks began publishing government secrets that the world public might otherwise never have known. What it has revealed about state duplicity, human rights abuses and corruption goes beyond anything published in the world’s “mainstream” media.
After over six months of being cut off from the outside world, on Oct. 14 Ecuador has partly restored Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s communications with the outside world from its London embassy where the founder has been living for over six years. (Assange, however, later rejected Ecuador’s restrictions imposed on him.)
The treatment – real and threatened – meted out to Assange by the U.S. and UK governments contrasts sharply with the service Wikileaks has done their publics in revealing the nature of elite power, as shown in the following snapshot of Wikileaks’ revelations about British foreign policy in the Middle East.
Conniving with the Saudis
Whitehall’s special relationship with Riyadh is exposed in an extraordinary cable from 2013 highlighting how Britain conducted secret vote-trading deals with Saudi Arabia to ensure both states were elected to the UN human rights council. Britain initiated the secret negotiations by asking Saudi Arabia for its support.
Hague: ‘World needs pro-American regime’ in Britain. (Chatham House)
The Wikileaks releases also shed details on Whitehall’s fawning relationship with Washington. A 2008 cable, for example, shows then shadow foreign secretary William Hague telling the U.S. embassy that the British “want a pro-American regime. We need it. The world needs it.”
A cable the following year shows the lengths to which Whitehall goes to defend the special relationship from public scrutiny. Just as the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War was beginning in 2009, Whitehall promised Washington that it had “put measures in place to protect your interests”.
American Influence
It is not known what this protection amounted to, but no U.S. officials were called to give evidence to Chilcot in public. The inquiry was also refused permission to publish letters between former U.S. President George W. Bush and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair written in the run-up to the war.
Also in 2009, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised the prospect of reducing the number of British nuclear-armed Trident submarines from four to three, a policy opposed in Washington. However, Julian Miller, an official in the UK’s Cabinet Office, privately assured U.S. officials that his government “would consult with the U.S. regarding future developments concerning the Trident deterrent to assure there would be ‘no daylight’ between the U.S. and UK.” The idea that British decision-making on Trident is truly independent of the U.S. is undermined by this cable.
The Wikileaks cables are rife with examples of British government duplicity of the kind I’ve extensively come across in my own research on UK declassified files. In advance of the British-NATO bombing campaign in Libya in March 2011, for example, the British government pretended that its aim was to prevent Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on civilians and not to overthrow him.
However, Wikileaks files released in 2016 as part of its Hillary Clinton archive show William Burns, then the U.S. deputy secretary of state, having talked with now Foreign Secretary Hague about a “post-Qaddafi” Libya. This was more than three weeks before military operations began. The intention was clearly to overthrow Gaddafi, and the UN resolution about protecting civilians was simply window dressing.
Another case of British duplicity concerns Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean, which is now a major U.S. base for intervention in the Middle East. The UK has long fought to prevent Chagos islanders from returning to their homeland after forcibly removing them in the 1960s.
A secret 2009 cable shows that a particular ruse concocted by Whitehall to promote this was the establishment of a “marine reserve” around the islands. A senior Foreign Office official told the US that the “former inhabitants would find it difficult, if not impossible, to pursue their claim for resettlement on the islands if the entire Chagos Archipelago were a marine reserve.”
A B-1B Lancer unleashes cluster munitions. The B-1B uses radar and inertial navigation equipment enabling aircrews to operate without the need for ground-based navigation aids. (U.S. Air Force photo)
A week before the “marine reserve” proposal was made to the U.S. in May 2009, then UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband was also conniving with the U.S., apparently to deceive the public. A cable reveals Miliband helping the U.S. to sidestep a ban on cluster bombs and keep the weapons at U.S. bases on UK soil, despite Britain signing the international treaty banning the weapons the previous year.
Miliband approved a loophole created by diplomats to allow U.S. cluster bombs to remain on UK soil and was part of discussions on how the loophole would help avert a debate in Parliament that could have “complicated or muddied” the issue. Critically, the same cable also revealed that the U.S. was storing cluster munitions on ships based at Diego Garcia.
Spying on the UK
Cables show the US spying on the Foreign Office and collecting information on British ministers. Soon after the appointment of Ivan Lewis as a junior foreign minister in 2009, U.S. officials were briefing the office of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about rumors that he was depressed and had a reputation as a bully, and on “the state of his marriage.”
Washington was also shown to have been spying on the UK mission to the UN, along with other members of the Security Council and the UN Secretary General.
In addition, Wikileaks cables reveal that journalists and the public are considered legitimate targets of UK intelligence operations. In October 2009, Joint Services Publication 440, a 2,400-page restricted document written in 2001 by the Ministry of Defence, was leaked. Somewhat ironically, it contained instructions for the security services on to avid leaks of information by hackers, journalists and foreign spies.
Millions worldwide are demanding the release of Wikileaks founder Assange after six years of what the UN calls “arbitrary detention.” (New Media Days / Peter Erichsen)
The document refers to investigative journalists as “threats” alongside subversive and terrorist organizations, noting that “the ‘enemy’ is unwelcome publicity of any kind, and through any medium.”
Britain’s GCHQ is also revealed to have spied on Wikileaks itself – and its readers. One classified GCHQ document from 2012 shows that GCHQ used its surveillance system to secretly collect the IP addresses of visitors to the Wikileaks site in real time, as well as the search terms that visitors used to reach the site from search engines such as Google.
Championing Free Nedua
The British government is punishing Assange for the service that Wikileaks has performed. It is ignoring a UN ruling that he is being held in “arbitrary detention” at the Ecuadorian embassy, while failing, illegally, to ensure his health needs are met. Whitehall is also refusing to offer diplomatic assurances that Assange will not be extradited to the US – the only reason he remains in the embassy.
Smear campaigns have portrayed Assange as a sexual predator or a Russian agent, often in the same media that have benefitted from covering Wikileaks’ releases.
Many journalists and activists who are perfectly aware of the fake news in some Western media outlets, and of the smear campaign against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, are ignoring or even colluding in the more vicious smearing of Assange.
More journalists need to champion the service Wikileaks performs and argue for what is at stake for a free media in the right to expose state secrets.
This article originally appeared on Middle East Eye.
Mark Curtis is an historian and analyst of UK foreign policy and international development and the author of six books, the latest being an updated edition of Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam.
If gold medals were awarded for deceit, hypocrisy, double standards, outright lies and backstabbing, Britain would have a chest full of them.
WikiLeaks ever find any dirt on Putin?
They have exposed some aspects of the Russian government regarding spying on their own citizens. I don’t think they’ve uncovered anything particularly “dirty” regarding Putin personally. Maybe that’s one of the reasons he’s enjoyed between 60 and 80 pct approval ratings inside Russia during his entire tenure.
I guess there have been thoughtful books and other information formats addressing why those investigating and reporting news have become so compliant to those in power. Reasons I would suggest the fallout from Vietnam and the telling photos, like executions and kids set on fire by the good guys. They were powerful statements damaging government policies and actions. The response was to have, I forget the term, watched over by the military. Imbedded, that’s it. I think the governments have been very sophisticated as to who gets the scoops and leaks, so access to critical information can only be obtained surreptitiously, which puts the journalists at risk of being blocked from future access or worse. It also puts those providing such information at risk, including jail time. High paid journalists, remember the images of dedicated, underpaid journalists searching for the big story. If that happened now, his or her story might never come to light because of powerful interests with financial control of the media. So many obstacles, I am sure there are more that makes truth seekers and finders not at the top of the heap but buried beneath it. Assange is one of the victims of all that. But victims are becoming more scarce all the time, because the pros and cons are tipped overwhelmingly to the cons side and not many want to live there.
… for Lois Gagnon,
— Recommended Reading;
The Anglo-American Establishment.
by Carroll Quigley
We should take notice that the just-concluded four-nation Turkey-Russia-Germany-France summit on Syria did not include US-UK specifically because it has been “running a joint foreign policy of deception and violence” as Curtis says. So as US-UK slips from being a world hegemon we can expect more of this sort of pragmatism: If you want a positive result don’t invite US-UK. Spread the word!
Sad to see the U.S. -UK alliance having such a destructive focus. But it is important that we know this.
The ideology and tactics of the elites in control of the US/UK governments and their so called allies are a Frankenstein’s monster of the Nazis and Soviets, all hiding in plain sight behind a thin veneer of propaganda called ‘freedom and democracy’, neither of which actually exists outside the media and political classes.
It is a situation which cannot be maintained indefinitely and will lead to a systemic socioeconomic collapse in the West unless people wake up to the dystopian reality under which they labour and seek a true change in the course of their governance and a fundamental reform of both corporate controlled politics and establishment serving journalism.
US presidents issue dozens of proclamations annually, for Father’s Day, World Hepatitis Day, National Maritime Day etc, but never one for Independence (from UK ) Day. (I just checked.) . . .Now we know why, the U.S.-UK “special relationship.”
I wonder if that’s one of the reasons America’s road signs are still in miles. Australia changed to kilometers in the 1970s, and they’re still being ruled by queen Lizzie! (To be fair, the population of Australia is less than a tenth of that of the US, but still, what gives?)
I don’t really think this “special relationship” is anything new; IIRC America’s entry into WWI was justified with some sort of “British origin”. Before America entered WWI, one of the largest ethnic groups were German-Americans. Eventually, after America declared war on Germany, millions of German-Americans had their lives ruined due to lynchings, arrests and/or raids. Not only did non-German Americans murder millions of Dachshünde and other German dog breeds, they also had Sauerkraut renamed to “Liberty cabbage”. (remember “Freedom Fries” in 2003?)
Suzie Dawson on WikiLeaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oINQxhrmhiU
Thanks for the link!
OFF-TOPIC
The Israeli government is opening a new front in its war against Iran. Shurat-Hadin, a Mossad “lawfare” front organization, has just released a video appealing to President Trump to “order” [sic] social media companies to block Iranian government and government official use of social media, outright censorship.
https://www.facebook.com/shurat.hadin.israel.law.center/videos/182038502674362/
Imagine if Russia or China trapped someone in an embassy in their Country, blatantly violating their human rights and with the exception of limited visitation them being basically cut off from contact with the outside world.
Add to that reports from a visiting physician to the embassy that the person, or persons needed medical attention available only outside of the embassy, psychologists speaking of the mental trauma from isolation over such an extended time as a form of torture and a study by the UN saying the ‘detention’ is “arbitrary”, aka illegal under international law.
Then note that the only charge against the subject (or subjects) is a minor Civil law violation whose maximum penalty is a very small percentage of the time already spent in refuge in the embassy.
Add to all this situation the awareness that the person (s) had previously greatly contributed to society as a whole with revelations with which major media people and their organizations had won multiple awards, information which no one could dispute.
I could go on but I believe there is no doubt that the person (s) seeking refuge in the embassies would be the hot topic 24/7 on every form of media in the ‘western world’, groups would form to heighten public attention and famous people in politics and in entertainment would be doing public appearances in support for international pressure to end the confinement of the person(s) held in those embassies.
Diplomats from Russia and China would be expelled from each host Country with strong sanctions being levied and the UN would hold a hearing on it. All while major powers would speak of a possible military answer to the problem on ‘humanitarian’ grounds.
I don’t know how any rational person, organization, or media enterprise can dispute this hypothetical scenario regarding Russia and China ,if asked, and that shows you all you need to know about the rank hypocrisy of the whole of the servants of the ruling class.
A ‘class’ whose nakedness about their true purpose of ruling for their personal enrichment/power at the expense of everyone below themselves and their highly paid courtiers has become so burdensome for those outside that circle of wealth and comfort that no amount tailor made images can hide from the general public the naked facts about what really makes their lives so hard.
Julian Assange and Wikileaks have done more, and continue to do more in exposing the ‘proverbial naked emperors’ around the world than any other organization the world has ever known, and for that they are the enemy of the ruling classes and their sycophants.
Julian Assange is truly a real hero.
“…and that shows you all you need to know about the rank hypocrisy of the whole of the servants of the ruling class.”
Terrific comment.
I agree. Therefore we all benefit from his knowledge . Sad that U.S.-U.K. are so fearful of him as we know what this means as a threat to democracy.
There was a similar case in China. A dissident called Wei Wei or something similar who had tax dodging charges against him took refuge in the US Embassy in China. After a short while the Chinese allowed him to leave and go to the US.
What they should have done was surround the embassy with a cordon of police for 6 years, announce that he would be arrested as soon as he tried to leave, with Chinese politicians at the highest level declaring him a traitor and threatening to “whack the son of a bitch” at regular intervals.
Tyrants hate the truth.
It is curious to see the tribalism within government agencies spread to include mass media. Those in government agencies pretend that they have a divine right to rule, that the people cannot be trusted to make policy or laws, that policy should be secret and determined by “us” not “them.” When the US is sued for obvious and undeniable wrongdoing, the DOJ lawyers scream hysterically that anyone suing the US must be disloyal, even while they attack the US Constitution themselves. The US secret agencies just assume that “we” are right and that all government acts should be kept secret from We the People. US judges routinely contradict the Constitution for money, and pretend to be loyal in doing so. Nearly all government officials have only false loyalty, and actively subvert its Constitution and laws for the promise of career gains, and indirect benefits from their political party and donors.
The basic functioning of American society is through endemic corruption. Those at the top of our pyramid of lies are the most corrupt. The US Government operates as a vast Mafia.
Yes, as do the mass media and many businesses, serving to teach, apprentice, select, and fund the most corrupt as the gangsters of oligarchy. I am presently investigating state and local government corruption in Florida, just one branch of one class of thieves of government funds. So far no federal agency has expressed any interest in my investigations, but we will see when it is further along. The crooks are dedicated believers in corruption.
In retrospect, WikiLeaks’s partnership with the Guardian and other mainstream media was the last time the corporate media wasn’t totally subservient to NATO interests and actually sought to provide the truth. Today, candidates in the US and Europe pledge not to use “leaked information,” and any knowledge disclosed by leakers is considered “hybrid war.” Back then, it was different. TTIP leaks, Afghan War Logs, Diplomatic Cables leak…. the leaker was seen as heroic. Now, as in 2003, “patriotism” is in vogue, and the Collateral Murder is rewritten by fake left neocon apologists as “fake news.” Bellingcat, funded by Atlantic Council and Google, is seen as the “exposer of power.” We can always come here for real journalism though….
It is curious to see the tribalism within government agencies spread to include mass media. Those in government agencies pretend that they have a divine right to rule, that the people cannot be trusted to make policy or laws, that policy should be secret and determined by “us” not “them.” When the US is sued for obvious and undeniable wrongdoing, the DOJ lawyers scream hysterically that anyone suing the US must be disloyal, even while they attack the US Constitution themselves. The US secret agencies just assume that “we” are right and that all government acts should be kept secret from the We the People. US judges routinely contradict the Constitution for money, and pretend to be loyal in doing so. Nearly all government officials have only false loyalty, and actively subvert its Constitution and laws for the promise of career gains, and indirect benefits from their political party and donors.
I believe the coopting of the MSM really gained strength after the Vietnam War. The Oligarchy realized that coverage of the atrocity of war, along with the draft, was largely responsible for the Peace movement. So we get movies like “Top Gun” to make young men want to be like Tom Cruise, and Teddy Bear Shwarzkopf with his pointer instead of burnt little girls running down the street naked. And of course the loss of the Fairness Doctrine was huge as well. The MSM is now a propaganda tool for the Oligarchy, and all its lackeys are are well paid and fully vetted.
Very true; oligarchy control is the downfall of democracy. It is understandable that the US Constitutional Convention neglected to protect our federal institutions from money power, as there were no concentrations of economic power in the 18th century beyond plantations and small ships. The emerging middle class was too preoccupied to take more decisive action, and by 1947 the situation was pretty hopeless. Since the Vietnam War, consolidation of the mass media by our anti-constitutional oligarchy has been completed.
The Fairness Doctrine was abolished in 1987, or so I read, so (since I wasn’t born until 1999) I’m assuming that the American MSM has gone down the tubes (no pun intended) ever since. Why the heck did they abolish it?
Then again, was there still bias on the MSM even before they put the kibosh on the Fairness Doctrine?
Yes, Operation Mockingbird began in the 1950’s, and even before then propaganda was part of the picture. They abolished the Fairness Doctrine to allow for more complete control of the propaganda narrative. The Fairness Doctrine demanded that opposing points of view be allowed equal time whenever the news was editorialized. When I was growing up, nine times out of ten I would agree with “Joe Blow” when he presented his opposing viewpoint to the previous night’s editorial. Reagan getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine put an end to all that, and now the propaganda goes unchallenged. Enter Rachel Madcow, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh.
Yes, the economic forces controlling the mass media and politicians were closing their grip during the Reagan admin. There were still some progressive voices in mass media (such as Robert Parry and others) and politics, who steadily became fewer.
The label “secret” is largely used by governments to cover up blunders and what would be regarded as dark practices from their own citizens.
This is especially true for a government like America’s which constantly is doing dirty deeds and manipulations for its huge empire.There simply is no other way to have an empire, a fact Ithink most ordinary Americans still have no appreciation of.
Britain has become a kind of constant maidservant in the effort, demonstrating no independence at all.
WikiLeaks effectively has worked against this practice, and with considerable effect.
That’s why Assange Is so hated and under threat, even though they try to be restrained and not make too much public noise. They work behind the scenes as with pressure against Ecuador’s government. Assange has a gained a good deal of almost-mythical hero status, and going after him too openly looks bad.
WikiLeaks truly has only done what old-fashioned investigative reporting did.
But we don’t have investigative reporting anymore. We have a consolidated corporate press working loyally to protect the privileges and prerogatives of empire.
Yes, without amendments to restrict funding of mass media and political campaigns to limited individual contributions, the corporate press will be protecting oligarchy long after the empire is gone.
If you use an animal analogy to describe these two Nations of America & the UK, they would be described as dogs & rabid dogs at that?? Both Countries behave like mongrel dogs, with the US as a American Pitbull in lockstep with the British poodle! But in this day & age, the famed British Bulldog has been reduced to a sycophantic, cowering mutt, a lapdog poodle to America & it’s perverted interests! And just as dogs do things pertaining to their breeding & nature, these two Hegemonic mongrels act like depraved animals, because it’s in their warmongering nature to act that way!
Here are some cables that Wikileaks released showing us how the Saudi royal family tries to control the world’s media:
http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2016/01/how-saudi-arabia-controls-its-own-media.html
The Saudi Royal Family has bottomless pockets when it comes to controlling the negative press coverage, an issue that has become increasingly apparent thanks to the Khashoggi murder.
Thanks Mark share useful information.
Most of those “journalists” aren’t. They have little taste for holding power to account and really qualify as stenographers and not journalists.
as quoted above
“In addition, Wikileaks cables reveal that journalists and the public are considered legitimate targets of UK intelligence operations. In October 2009, Joint Services Publication 440, a 2,400-page restricted document written in 2001 by the Ministry of Defence, was leaked. Somewhat ironically, it contained instructions for the security services on to avid leaks of information by hackers, journalists and foreign spies.”
Perhaps the pressure on MSM journalists is too much for most to resist. Who wants MI6 or the CIA to take a “special interest” in them?
Perhaps the pressure is just too much for the most journalists but do you seriously think we should be kind to these weak kneed purveyors of lies and half-truths?
The information which gave him the idea for Russiagate was relayed to the CIA’s John Brennan by the UK’s GCHQ.
This information was initially discovered by the Five Eyes network, most likely Estonia, from routine SIGINT.
This was all reported in real time, as summarized here:
Whose Stoopid Idea Was This Anyway?
Great link. Thanks.
It took awhile for me to get a handle on the American mind. People are batshit crazy here. On one hand, Americans believe government is bad. So we should destroy it. Shrink it. Blow it up. On the other hand, Americans are as patriotic and nationalistic as they can be. Flag waving. Military loving. But… but… but… we hate the government but… but… the military IS the government… but… but… the flag IS the symbol of the government… but… but… government programs help me and my fellow Americans… but it is my patriotic duty to own lots of firearms and rebel against them! Ow, my head hurts.
How can someone overthrow the government while singing the National Anthem at the same time? Batshit.
Then I discovered this book. James Buchanan. The Koch brothers. John Calhoun.
None of this is coincidental. It is intentional. Been going on for decades. It’s a coordinated effort, not random.
Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America
> Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America
Wow! Thanks for that info.
Looks like “Democracy in Chains” should be made required reading for everybody who is politically active in any way …
I believe so. The Kochs are not just some rich guys who buy politicians to do them favors. They organize their fellow politician owners, like so:
https://gazette.com/news/billionaire-conservative-funder-koch-takes-on-trump-over-trade-at/article_69baf1c8-94f2-11e8-a2d5-a390ce7b7a51.html
They imploy a strategy to destroy the government at the local, state, and federal levels. Judicial, legislative, and executive branches. All of it.
Their think tanks publish stuff which makes it all sound intellectually sound. Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, George Mason Univ.
Tea Party, Freedom Caucus, Libertarian Party, they are responsible for all of it.
Mike Pence. Paul Ryan. On and on. They’re stooges. Koch employees really. The Kochs own all the Ayn Rand selfishness is a virtue wing nuts.
They invented American libertarianism with Crane and Cato using Buchanan’s blueprint.
The irony is they trick the average guy with platitudes about liberty. No regulations. No nothing except the few laws which protect and enforce personal property. Wild wild West cowboy fantasy.
Average guy thinks it sounds like heaven! No government. Government is bad. Just a military and cops to defend property.
You see the problem, right?
It’s a certain recipe for a gawdam Mad Max post-apocalypse world, in which whoever controls the finite natural resources wins everything. Authoritarianism ruled by the monopolists forever.
No idea how the average guy American doesn’t catch on to where he’ll end up on the food chain in this right-wing extremist “Utopia” where government doesn’t exist except as a military to keep you from walking on the rich guy’s golf course, but he doesn’t.
What a “free market” really does is make the monopolists – Carnege, Rockerfeller, Walton, Koch, the ruler forever.
He who controls the spice controls the universe.
Issues with the comments section are continuing! I posted about WikiLeaks’s role and the return to “patriotic journalism” with Bellingcat/NATO (see this new piece for exposure of neocon Higgins promotion of ISIS against YPJ http://exiledonline.com/shamiwitness-when-bellingcat-neocons-collaborated-with-the-most-influential-isis-propagandist-on-twitter/). I can’t see my post now, even after I refresh the page by clicking on the banner. I also posted on another article recently, it has disappeared. This site needs technical fixes.
I am experiencing the same technical difficulties you are experiencing, Anne.
Here’s the link to my letter to the moderator (if you can see it):
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/24/facebook-censorship-of-alternative-media-just-the-beginning-warns-top-neocon-insider/#comment-343564
MSM journalists with integrity and any kind of pretense at exposing wrong doing by government and NGO’s etc, are as rare as hen’s teeth. Frankly, they just don’t exist anymore. MSM journalists aren’t there to expose state secrets they are there to protect them and to defend the state as well. MSM journalists have never had it so good. All they do these days is quote worthless outfits like Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council, the idiot in Coventry who calls himself the Syrian Observatory for human rights and of course, those ever magical “sources” that consist of nothing more than lies and innuendo. I’m afraid Mr Curtis is deluding himself if he thinks MSM journalists have any inclination to do even the remotest kind of investigative journalism or any other kind of independent journalism for that matter. Why would they? They get a good salary and job security just obeying orders and writing what they are told.
They are gate keepers of the global empire.
Journalists who didn’t toe the line became ex-journalists and then the word went forth — toe the line or else. Norman Solomon wrote a book on it — “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.”