Starmer‘s Labour party had said it would seek a security and defence treaty with Germany if it won the July 4 general election, which it did by a landslide — propelling him to the premiership.
Archiv: MI6
Scoop: Senior U.S. general to visit Israel to coordinate on Iran attack threat
Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the U.S. Central Command, is expected to meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Israel Defense Forces officials.
Israeli officials say they are preparing for a possible unprecedented direct attack from Iranian soil using ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles against Israeli targets.
In such a scenario, Israel will retaliate with a direct attack against Iran, the officials said.
Biden promises Israel ‚ironclad‘ support against Iran reprisals
The US has been tight-lipped in its public reaction to the Apr 1 strike, saying it has not determined whether Israel struck a diplomatic facility, which would breach international agreements on the inviolability of embassies and consulates.
US Sees Imminent Missile Strike on Israel by Iran, Proxies
The US and its allies believe major missile or drone strikes by Iran or its proxies against military and government targets in Israel are imminent, in what would mark a significant widening of the six-month-old conflict, according to people familiar with the intelligence.
I sued the government over ‚extremism‘ and I know the game Gove is playing
The British public should realise that Muslim scapegoats today, much like the Jewish, Irish or Black scapegoats used by demagogues yesterday, are not their enemies
UK government targets Muslim groups with new definition of extremism
In an earlier statement, Gove‘s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said the definition had been updated to respond to an “increased extremist threat since October 7 terror attacks in Israel”, citing an increase in reported antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes.
It said the new definition would be used by government departments and officials to help them decide which groups they should engage with and fund, and to identify “extremist organisations, individuals and behaviours”.
But it said: “This definition is not statutory and has no effect on the existing criminal law – it applies to the operations of Government itself.”
Where Is Hamas Getting Its Weapons? Increasingly, From Israel.
But recent intelligence has shown the extent to which Hamas has been able to build many of its rockets and anti-tank weaponry out of the thousands of munitions that failed to detonate when Israel lobbed them into Gaza, according to weapons experts and Israeli and Western intelligence officials. Hamas is also arming its fighters with weapons stolen from Israeli military bases.
Intelligence gathered during months of fighting revealed that, just as the Israeli authorities misjudged Hamas’s intentions before Oct. 7, they also underestimated its ability to obtain arms.
A staggering intelligence failure. Hard to comprehend how this was missed. Expect a massive military response in Gaza, including possible ground invasion, and potential for further escalation. All eyes on Iran as well. Thoughts with friends in Israel.
‘A colossal failure’ as Gaza’s Hamas terrorists infiltrate, catch Israel unprepared
“All of Israel is asking itself: Where is the IDF, where is the police, where is the security?” agreed Eli Maron, the former head of the Israeli Navy, alongside him in the studio. “It’s a colossal failure; the hierarchies have simply failed, with vast consequences.”
Amos Yadlin, a former IDF intelligence chief, invoked echoes of the Yom Kippur War — another attack marked by “intelligence failure,” with the enemy initiating conflict.
Britischer Geheimdienst – London: Militärisches Patt bei Ukraine-Krieg
(21.01.2023)
Im russischen Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine herrscht nach britischer Einschätzung derzeit ein militärisches Patt. Das britische Verteidigungsministerium teilte am heutigen Samstag mit:
„Der Konflikt befindet sich insgesamt in einer Sackgasse.“
Britain warns Russia against escalating the war in Ukraine after false ‘dirty bomb’ claim
Ben Wallace refutes General Sergei Shoigu‘s allegations that the UK is helping Kyiv gather nuclear material to use on the battlefield
Destined for Downing Street? Rishi Sunak could be named PM TODAY after Boris Johnson pulls out of Tory leadership contest and Penny Mordaunt well short of the 100 supporters she needs ahead of 2pm deadline
– Rishi Sunak, who launched his bid yesterday morning, has received public backing of more than 150 Tory MPs
– As of last night, 155 MPs said they are backing Mr Sunak, while 25 had spoken out in support of Ms Mordaunt
– A further 54 who were hoping Mr Johnson would return are yet to publicly reveal to whom they will now back
– Mr Johnson earlier said he had in fact reached the ‚very high hurdle of 102 nominations‘ as he bowed out
– Ms Mordaunt‘s team, though, believe his decision to pull himself from the race will ‚propel her over the line‘
Der Fall „Curveball“: Wie ein BND-Informant den Irak-Krieg auslöste
(28.8.2011)
Diese bis heute verbreitete Darstellung ist unangenehm für die Bundesrepublik. Deutschland steht da als ein Land, das ein Doppelspiel betrieben hat: nach außen den Pazifisten geben – und hintenherum über seinen Geheimdienst einen entscheidenden Grund für die militärische Intervention liefern. Der Bundesnachrichtendienst nahm die Vorwürfe schweigend hin.
We got Brexit done – now we must capitalise on the freedoms it gave us
Second, the government would also remove the burdens of GDPR, creating in its place the most dynamic data protection regime in the world.
The EU’s Byzantine rules are preventing British tech companies from innovating and public services from sharing data to prevent crime. As any internet user can see, GDPR – with all its bureaucratic box-ticking – is clearly not working and needs to be replaced.
UK officials in line for immunity in assisting crimes overseas, say critics
Exclusive: Draft security bill would let spies and ministers enable killings and torture, warn charity and ex-minister
USA gegen Julian Assange: Jedes Mittel recht
Dabei geht es einerseits laut der Aussagen geschützter Zeugen um eine Person, die für die Sicherheitsabteilung der Firma Las Vegas Sands gearbeitet hat. In dieser Position soll sie Mittelsmann für die Weiterleitung der Informationen zwischen UC Global und der CIA gewesen sein. Zudem verlangt das Gericht die Identität der Besitzer von IP-Adressen zu erfahren, die von den USA aus auf den Server im UC Global Hauptquartier in Spanien zugegriffen haben. Zum derzeitigen Zustand Assanges erklärte Martínez, der den Inhaftierten vor dem Interview am 27. März in Belmarsh besucht hatte: »Er ist geistig und körperlich sehr schwach. Um es deutlich zu sagen, er ist am Ende.«
New Spycatcher affair at the BBC as Government scrambles for gagging order to stop story the broadcaster insists is ‚overwhelmingly in the public interest‘
The BBC declined to comment on the details of the story, but told the Telegraph that its reporting was in the public interest.
A BBC spokesman said: ‚The Attorney General has issued proceedings against the BBC with a view to obtaining an injunction to prevent publication of a proposed BBC news story.
Dominic Raab will ‚investigate‘ claims that people were told to go to airport ahead of attack
(01.09.2021)
Chris Bryant then asks about reports that British officials told people to go to the airport on the very day of the terrorist attack.
Dominic Raab says the travel advice was changed the night before the attack, and people were told not to come to the airport. The team was shifted from the Barons Hotel through to the airport to protect them.
He says he saw the report and „I need to investigate it“, but doesn‘t reject the possibility.
Afghanistan: Dominic Raab’s answers to five questions from MPs
(01.09.2021)
The foreign secretary promised he would investigate a serious allegation that British officials told Afghans to proceed to the airport’s Abbey gate on Thursday last week, despite a specific warning that Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) was preparing a terror attack that day.
Nearly 200 people were killed in a double bombing at and near the gate used for the British evacuation – but BBC’s Newsnight has reported that Afghans were sent emails earlier that day asking, in one case, if they were “at the correct gate? Abbey gate”.
Afghan interpreter ‘told by UK to go to Abbey Gate’ before Kabul attack says ‘if I’d listened I’d be dead’
(01.09.2021)
“Please advise that you are at the correct gate? Abbey Gate on hawa on Shawasi Street,” one UK staff member wrote to the interpreter in an email seen by the BBC.
The interpreter decided not to go to Abbey Gate because he felt the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous and said that had he followed the advice he was given, he would “be no more”.
Afghanistan: UK embassy told Afghans to go to Abbey Gate before suicide attack
(01.09.2021)
Emails seen by Newsnight show that even though the UK and US deemed a threat to the airport to be imminent, the British embassy told people to „use the Abbey Gate [near] to the Baron Hotel“.
Almost 200 people were killed in the explosion, including two UK citizens.
The UK government said it was investigating the emails.
Raab rejects US claims Britain indirectly to blame for Kabul attacks
(31.08.2021)
“We coordinated very closely with the US, in particular around the Isis-K threat, which we anticipated although tragically were not able to prevent, but it is certainly right to say we got our civilians out of the processing centre by Abbey gate, but it is just not true to suggest that other than securing our civilians inside the airport that we were pushing to leave the gate open.
“In fact, and let me just be clear about this, we were issuing changes to travel advice before the bomb attack took place and saying to people in the crowd, about which I was particularly concerned, that certainly UK nationals and anyone else should leave because of the risk.”
US military ‚blames BRITAIN for making Kabul suicide attack death toll worse‘: Leaked Pentagon papers say airport gate had to be kept open for UK evacuees – as questions grow over how many were killed by panicked troops firing on civilians
(30.08.2021)
The British Ministry of Defence declined to respond to allegations they were to blame for keeping the gate open, but said in a statement: ‚Throughout Operation Pitting we have worked closely with the US to ensure the safe evacuation of thousands of people.
Report reveals US decision to keep open Kabul airport gate before attack
(30.08.2021)
The Pentagon criticised the leaking of the call details reported in Politico, telling the news website: “This story is based on the unlawful disclosure of classified information and internal deliberations of a sensitive nature.
“As soon as we became aware of the material divulged to the reporter, we engaged Politico at the highest levels to prevent the publication of information that would put our troops and our operations at the airport at greater risk. We condemn the unlawful disclosure of classified information and oppose the publication of a story based on it while a dangerous operation is ongoing.”
Exclusive: Pentagon prepared for ‘mass casualty’ attack at Kabul Airport hours before explosion
(30.08.2021)
Commanders calling in from Kabul relayed that the Abbey Gate, where American citizens had been told to gather in order to gain entrance to the airport, was “highest risk,” and detailed their plans to protect the airport.
“I don’t believe people get the incredible amount of risk on the ground,” Austin said, according to the classified notes.
On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel.
IS-Terror am Flughafen Kabul
Die US-Botschaft hatte US-Bürger, die sich am Abbey Gate, East Gate oder North Gate aufhielten, in der Nacht zu Donnerstag dazu aufgerufen, das Gebiet „sofort“ zu verlassen. Großbritanniens Staatssekretär im Verteidigungsministerium, James Heappey, sprach noch am Morgen von der Drohung eines „ernsthaften, unmittelbaren, tödlichen Angriffs“ binnen Stunden auf den Flughafen oder die von westlichen Truppen genutzten Zentren.
Afghanistan: US, allies warn of ‘terror threat’ at Kabul airport
(26 Aug 2021)
The US Embassy in Kabul issued an alert advising US citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately. It cited unspecified “security threats”.
The British Foreign Office issued a similar advisory, telling people in the area of the airport to “move away to a safe location”, adding, “There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also urged Australians and Afghans with a visa for Australia to leave the area, warning of a “very high threat of a terrorist attack” at the airport.
Afghanistan: First British troops begin deploying to help evacuate remaining UK nationals
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: „Protecting British nationals and ensuring their safety as they leave Afghanistan is our top priority.
„Over the next few weeks, we shall all do our very best to support the Afghan government and those that have worked with us over 20 years.“
Der Fall „Curveball“: Wie ein BND-Informant den Irak-Krieg auslöste
(28.8.2011)
Diese bis heute verbreitete Darstellung ist unangenehm für die Bundesrepublik. Deutschland steht da als ein Land, das ein Doppelspiel betrieben hat: nach außen den Pazifisten geben – und hintenherum über seinen Geheimdienst einen entscheidenden Grund für die militärische Intervention liefern. Der Bundesnachrichtendienst nahm die Vorwürfe schweigend hin.
Egypt’s intelligence chief holds talks with Hamas in Gaza Strip
(31.05.2021)
Khalil al-Haya spoke after meeting Abbas Kamel, who visited Gaza after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a trip aimed at shoring up an informal ceasefire brokered by Cairo.
UK intelligence reassesses COVID lab leak theory, now says its ‘feasible’
British intelligence services are now reportedly reassessing their position on the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A Sunday report from the Sunday Times of London quotes British spies who initially dismissed the lab leak theory, but now say it is „feasible.“
UK Government Announces New National Cyber Force
(21.01.2021)
The four organisations will collaborate under one unified command for the first time. The Ministry of Defence’s official tagline for the NCF is, “A Defence and Intelligence Partnership”, to emphasize the fact that there is no other organization like it anywhere else on the globe, to date.
New leads suggest CIA spied on Assange to secure his extradition to the US
The Spanish High Court’s investigation is currently stalled. Six months after Judge De la Mata requested judicial cooperation from US authorities, asking them for identifying information about the IPs that accessed UC Global’s servers, the US justice system has yet to respond. US prosecutors demanded to know the judge’s sources, and De la Mata sent additional information, but no reply has been forthcoming.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has also failed to comply with De la Mata’s request to take statements from the lawyers who were spied on while working with Assange.
Der Fall „Curveball“: Wie ein BND-Informant den Irak-Krieg auslöste
(28.8.2011)
Diese bis heute verbreitete Darstellung ist unangenehm für die Bundesrepublik. Deutschland steht da als ein Land, das ein Doppelspiel betrieben hat: nach außen den Pazifisten geben – und hintenherum über seinen Geheimdienst einen entscheidenden Grund für die militärische Intervention liefern. Der Bundesnachrichtendienst nahm die Vorwürfe schweigend hin.
Why a U.S.-led Coup Seven Decades Ago Still Matters to Young Iranians
A nationalist and champion of secular democracy, Mossadegh (also spelled Mosaddegh and Mosaddeq) gained prominence in Iranian politics by focusing on two key issues: devolving more power from the monarchy to parliament, based on Iran’s 1906 constitution; and wresting back control of Iran’s oil industry, which had been dominated by the British.
In 1949, Mossadegh formed the National Front Party and spearheaded protests against Iran’s reigning monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the ongoing involvement of the British Empire.
By early 1951, the Shah was overwhelmed by widespread public demonstrations.
CIA ‘Obsessed’ With Former UK Envoy Who Will Testify in Spying-on-Assange Case
The former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a close associate of imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange says he was the “top target” of the 24/7 surveillance of Assange at Ecuador’s embassy in London by the Spanish security company UC Global, which, according to press reports and court documents, shared the surveillance with the CIA.
Craig Murray said he has been contacted by an attorney in the spying case on Assange and that he will be going to Madrid to testify. The founder of UC Global, David Morales, was arrested over the surveillance (including privileged Assange-lawyer conversations) and is on trial.
Murray told former CIA analyst Ray McGovern in an email, shared with Consortium News with Murray’s permission, that the CIA was “obsessed” with him.
Ein Jubiläum und zwei Todesfälle
(22. Juli 2004)
Welch ein Kontrapunkt zu einem anderen Tod, der den Beginn von Blairs Laufbahn markiert hat. Im Mai 1994 erlag der Labour-Vorsitzende und Oppositionsführer John Smith überraschend einem Herzinfarkt, und nach gebührender Anstandsfrist wurde Blair sein Nachfolger. Den 21. Juli 1994, als dies geschah, wird man vielleicht einmal als den Gründungstag von „New Labour“ feiern. Doch heute macht die Partei möglichst wenig Aufhebens davon, denn im verflixten siebten Jahr der Regierung Blair muß man die Leute nicht auch noch mit Gewalt zum Nachsinnen bringen, wie grandios alles einmal begonnen hatte und wie viele Hoffnungen seither enttäuscht worden sind.
David Kelly/Assassination: Unanswered Questions
1. Operation Mason, the police code-name for the search for Dr Kelly, was officially started before his family had reported him missing. The official explanation is that operation start times are often made retrospective to cover any preceding period relevant to the operation; but if this were the reason in this case, then the start time would need to be weeks, not hours earlier. Who authorised the opening of documentation on the operation and at precisely what time?
2. Why were there no fingerprints on Dr Kelly‘s knife, pill packets, water bottle, glasses, mobile or watch? He wore no gloves. Police knew this when they gave evidence to Hutton but the absence of prints wasn‘t mentioned.
3. Lord Hutton said photographic evidence showed Dr Kelly‘s body was found propped against a tree, yet the first paramedic to reach the scene said he was originally flat on his back. Who moved the body and why?
………..
R.I.P. the truth about Dr David Kelly: Lord Hutton was accused of whitewashing his inquiry into the death of a scientist – and the ‚sexed-up‘ Iraqi dossier. Now, as he dies at 89, MILES GOSLETT recalls one of the great political scandals
Dr Kelly had been unmasked by officials a week previously as the assumed source of a highly damaging BBC report which suggested Blair‘s government had ‚sexed-up‘ the case for the Iraq war.
He always denied being the BBC‘s prime source, yet its report added to mounting questions about the existence of the infamous weapons of mass destruction (WMD), used by the then Prime Minister to justify sending British troops into the conflict.