Ep 210 Information Warfare Networks feat Kit Klarenberg & Mohamed Elmaazi

Guests: Kit Klarenberg & Mohamed Elmaazi. New documents that appear to be from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have been leaked by a group that identifies as "Anonymous" and is allegedly the same group that has published leaked documents over the past two years about UK Foreign Office covert programs. This batch of documents shows that Whitehall uses private contractors to infiltrate a variety of media (including smaller, "independent" media and social media influencers and civil society. In this case the stated noble objectives are things like improving literacy, ensuring balance in reporting and countering disinformation. The real objectives revealed in the documents are something else entirely. There is also a bonus episode for patrons about how this seems like an evolved, 21st century Operation Mockingbird. 

Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist who explores the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions and he currently writes for RT. Mohamed Elmaazi is a journalist with experience in human rights law who is currently writing for Sputnik International. 

FOLLOW Mohamed on Twitter at @MElmaazi. Find his writing at Sputnik News, The Canary and visit his blog The Interregnum. Follow Kit's work at RT. 

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at aroundtheempire.com. 

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Recorded on March 3, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Leaked papers allege massive UK govt effort to co-opt Russian-language anti-Kremlin media & influencers to 'weaken Russian state', Kit Klarenberg, RT
2. From Telegram to elections: Leaked documents expose sinister workings of UK government's anti-Russian 'troll factory', RT, Kit Klarenberg
3. UK Foreign Office Docs Reveal 'Full-Spectrum' Psyops to 'Destabilise Russia', Journalist Says, Mohamed Elmaazi, Sputnik
4. ATE Ep 83 Temple of Covert Propaganda (Part 1) feat Mohamed Elmaazi
5. ATE Ep 84 Temple of Covert Propaganda (Part 2) feat Mohamed Elmaazi
6. On Contact: British government psyops with Mohamed Elmaazi
7. Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to "weaken Russia," leaked docs reveal, Max Blumenthal, The Grayzone
8. PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century