Declassified UK February 2022
Posted: 1st March 2022
February 2022
Hi everyone,
Everything going forward is sure to be consumed by Vladimir Putin’s reprehensible and illegal invasion of Ukraine. Our latest article analysing the conflict, written on Wednesday by peace studies expert Professor Paul Rogers, has already been overtaken by the terrible events. We will continue to cover the conflict as best we can and its profound implications for British foreign policy.
This month also saw our first interaction with the D-Notice committee. Our editor Mark received an email from an official on the UK military-run body that is set up ostensibly to prevent disclosures which could damage national security or put UK personnel in danger.
The official asked Declassified to modify an article written by our chief reporter Phil Miller on UK support for Africa’s oldest dictator, and take out the name of a UK soldier involved.
Our work this month
Our chief reporter Phil Miller began the month with a story on the intelligence connections of those in charge of investigating the “Partygate” scandal at No 10.
Later in the month, Phil wrote a fascinating obituary of Erik Bennett, a secretive British air force officer who advised the Middle East’s longest-serving dictator. The Times and Telegraph wrote puff piece obituaries, but Phil provided the full picture of what his military and political life entailed.
One characteristic of the UK mainstream media is they don’t apply the same analysis to our own establishment as they do to those of enemy states. So Russian information operations are covered extensively, but British ones are barely mentioned. I wrote an article about how the UK has spent over £80m on media in 20 countries around Russia since 2016. None of these programmes has ever been mentioned in the UK press.
I wrote another piece related to the Ukraine crisis, this time concerning its National Guard, who claimed that in a meeting last year the UK military agreed to start training its forces. This is controversial because Ukraine’s National Guard includes a neo-Nazis unit. The Ministry of Defence disputed the claim to me.
Richard Norton-Taylor wrote an important piece about the US quietly preparing to upgrade its presence in Britain in moves with huge implications for UK security and vulnerability in an international crisis. There is a £2.8 billion project to upgrade US military and intelligence-gathering bases in Britain.
Anne Cadwallader wrote another brilliant piece, this time on a damning new report on police collusion with murders in Northern Ireland. It shows Whitehall knew for decades that the UDA paramilitary group was carrying out wholesale murder – yet ministers long refused to ban it as a terrorist organisation and officials continued to meet its leaders.
Antony Loewenstein, co-founder and co-editor of Declassified Australia, wrote a new revelatory piece on a little-known aspect of the disastrous Western occupation of Afghanistan, namely that UK and Australian companies sought to access the country’s $3 trillion worth of untapped minerals – with little regard for the welfare of Afghans.
Please become a supporter this month
With current events being as they are, independent, critical and accountable reportingare needed right now more than ever. We don’t just cover foreign policy in a crisis, it’s our area of expertise. We do need more people to support us. We rely on you and independent trusts and foundations to do what we do.
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Best,
Matt
Matt Kennard
Chief Investigator, Declassified UK
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