March 5 -- In an online conference on February 27 sponsored by the Schiller Institute, Mike Robinson, a journalist and radio talk show host from the United Kingdom, presented a compelling overview of how the U.K. Foreign Office and British intelligence services have been using leading British media to target Russia and other countries for regime change. While anyone who is aware of the role media have played in the post-World War II world in manipulating popular opinion would not be surprised by his report, what is shocking is how successful the sponsors of these programs have been in keeping the story out of the press. The suppression of this story has been necessary for this operation to achieve its goal, of building an "enemy image" of Russia as an aggressive, authoritarian "malign" actor, to justify a continuing policy of imperial geopolitical confrontation and military buildup, which threatens to break out into a general war.Robinson began by pointing to a 2018 article in the {Daily Express} which reported that the Foreign Office set up a Department of Counter Disinformation and Media Development, to serve as a "counterstrike against Russian propaganda." Its purported mission was "to constrain the Russian government's ability to use disinformation and propaganda." With a relatively modest sum of 100 million Pounds to spend over five years, its mission was to "counter disinformation" coming from the Russian government. Its mission included laying the groundwork for isolating Russia, by building "independent media" in the Baltic states, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, so that "independent media serving Russian-speaking audiences can flourish." The {Daily Express} article was followed by leaks of additional documents hacked by "Anonymous", which exposed the "Institute for Statecraft" as a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) umbrella for an operation called the "Integrity Initiative" (II). The II, according to the documents released by "Anonymous", recruited and deployed "clusters" of "influencers", which operated out of British embassies in many European countries -- including Germany, France, Spain and Italy -- as well as in the U.S. and Canada. These influencers are described in internal documents as "competent, committed and well-connected individuals", who were deployed to accomplish "anti-Russian goals," such as exposing "Russian propaganda". Included in II's operations was a plan "to inform Russian citizens, [to] reinforce democratic opposition." As for its domestic operations, the II produced concocted stories to convince people in government, think tanks and journalism that the U.K. is "under concerted, deliberate hybrid attack by Russia."Robinson reports that the initial exposure of this operation, including that done by himself and some colleagues, resulted in shutting down the II. Yet, the FCO has not only continued such operations, but has been expanding them, contracting with British media giants Reuters and the British Broadcast Company (BBC). Recent stories placed in the BBC claim to expose Russian agents targeting COVID-19 vaccine development, and include typically unsubstantiated charges that Russia was involved in trying to rig the 2014 referendum vote on Scottish independence, and the 2016 Brexit vote. These charges were contained in a July 2020 report, the "Russia Report", which was presented to the Parliament, with "evidence" provided by the usual cast of anti-Russian operatives, including Chris Donnelly, the former head of the II; Bill Browder, the City of London-backed swindler responsible for fraudulent charges against Russia, which led to passage of sanctions under the "Magnitsky Act"; MI6 mouthpiece at the {Guardian}, Luke Harding; and Christopher Steele, the notorious liar whose "pee-pee dossier" was at the heart of the phony Russiagate narrative used in a four-year campaign to remove President Trump, in which he portrays him as a blackmailed "puppet of Vladimir Putin." After II was shuttered, this network continued its work through a "Rapid Response Unit" in the British cabinet, claiming that it was countering narratives planted by "Russians" in social media. The "77th Brigade" was specifically established to monitor social media, and was staffed by the same people who previously working for II. BBC and Reuters: Arms Of FCO And MI6 Robinson's reporting incorporated that done by Grayzone founder and investigative journalist Max Blumenthal, an American, whose article "Reuters, BBC in Covert UK Program to Push Western Agenda" was published on February 22 in {Consortium News}.
