The Green Ribbon

Government responds to Freedom of Information petition

The Prime Minister's Office has issued a response to the Downing Street petition against the proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act, which received 1,609 signatures:

The Government recognises the importance of public participation and understanding of the functions of Government. The intention of the changes proposed is not to hinder legitimate requests for information or to reduce the effectiveness of the Act. An independent review commissioned by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs to look at the impact of the Freedom of Information Act showed that a small minority of requests and a small minority of requestors account for disproportionate amounts of the cost of answering FOI requests. The proposals are designed to address this issue and to ensure public authorities can balance access to information for all with the delivery of other public services.

On 14 December 2006 the Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs, opened a public consultation on the draft fee regulations. The Government is keen to engage as many stakeholders as possible in this consultation. The consultation paper is available at: http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/dpr2007/cp2806.htm. Responses should be sent by 8 March 2007 to:

Department for Constitutional Affairs
Information Rights Division
6.16 Selborne House
54-60 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 6QW

email: informationrights@dca.gsi.gov.uk

Salmond's vision for The Isles

Alex Salmond has revealed some more details of the SNP's plan for a Council of the Isles:

The SNP bases the plan on the current British-Irish Council, formed after the Good Friday Agreement, which involves ministers from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England meeting to discuss areas of concern. After Scottish independence, Salmond envisages the convening of a 'beefed-up' version, which would be modelled on the Nordic Council.

In that case, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden have joined together to introduce a common labour market, social security and free movement across borders. (Scotland on Sunday)

Personally, this is how I've always seen the future of relations within these islands, although I'm not sure how much enthusiasm there would be in Ireland for deeper East-West co-operation. I suspect much will depend on how North-South relations develop.

Sy Hersh on Covert Ops

Another key passage from Hersh's latest piece:

Saudi money was involved in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal, and a few of the players back then—notably Prince Bandar and Elliott Abrams—are involved in today’s dealings.       

Iran-Contra was the subject of an informal “lessons learned” discussion two years ago among veterans of the scandal. Abrams led the discussion. One conclusion was that even though the program was eventually exposed, it had been possible to execute it without telling Congress. As to what the experience taught them, in terms of future covert operations, the participants found: “One, you can’t trust our friends. Two, the C.I.A. has got to be totally out of it. Three, you can’t trust the uniformed military, and four, it’s got to be run out of the Vice-President’s office”—a reference to Cheney’s role, the former senior intelligence official said. (New Yorker)

Sy Hersh: America's strategic shift.

The latest New Yorker piece from Seymour Hersh is absolutely indispensible reading. In a wide-ranging overview of the current situation in the Middle East, Hersh highlights the basic underlying contradiction of US policy:

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East...

...A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

One contradictory aspect of the new strategy is that, in Iraq, most of the insurgent violence directed at the American military has come from Sunni forces, and not from Shiites. (New Yorker)

      

US Covert Action in Britain Today: Index

Introduction
1. Infrastructure
2. Agents of Influence
3. Front Organisations
4. Propaganda
5. Strategic Aims

US Covert Action in Britain Today: Propaganda

Front Organisations | Index | Strategic Aims

Covert propaganda refers to information, ideas, and symbolic actions whose sponsor remains unknown. The sponsor may judge that anonymous propaganda is more effective, or that at worst it can be disowned. Covert propaganda can be black (well hidden) or gray (disseminated with a thin veil of cover). The propaganda itself may be truthful or intentionally false.(Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards, p151)

Grey propaganda often involves a 'fig leaf approach' not necesarily apparent to the general public but detectable by informed observers.Because there is a high chance of such operations being blown, they need to be relatively defensible.

Conversely, an agent engaged in outright disinformation or black propaganda must be careful to conceal his role.

Stormont election competition

Northern Ireland elections guru Nicholas Whyte has launched his predictions competition for the assembly elections due on 7 March. Some of the early predictions have been posted on his site and may prove a useful guide to the outcome.

This could be a tricky election to call because of the political shifts by the DUP and Sinn Fein, which have provoked anti-agreement challenges from Bob McCartney's UKUP and a number of independent republicans. (One example of the latter is Gerry McGeough who has sent us details of his new campaign blog.)

On the unionist side, the trend in recent elections has been for the DUP to gain at the expense of the Ulster Unionists. I expect that trend to continue although it will be interesting to see if the DUP loses any anti-agreement votes over the prospect of power-sharing.

On the nationalist side, a similar trend in favour of Sinn Fein has shown signs of slowing in recent years, perhaps in the wake of the Northern Bank/Robert McCartney episodes in 2005. Although SF will hope to resume its growth ahead of this year's elections in the Republic, there aren't that many obvious targets out there this time, and one seat, Alex Maskey's in South Belfast, could even be vulnerable. Nevertheless, I expect Sinn Fein to emerge with net gains as well.

Blogger Sammy Morse has some excellent profiles of the North's 18 constituencies and the coverage at Nuzhound and Slugger is indispensable as ever.

24 hours to sign Freedom of Information petition

The Downing Street petition against the proposed restrictions to the Freedom of Information Act closes tomorrow (Friday 23 January). Please consider signing if you haven't already.

US Covert Action in Britain today - Front Organisations

Agents of influence | Index | Propaganda

Another covert political tool is to influence institutions that effect either the balance of power in a given region or the key political decisions of local actors. (Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards, p145)

As with agents of influence, it is relatively easy to channel money to favoured organisations. One method is to conduct business transactions at inflated prices. According to Godson, this method was used by the Soviet Union to subsidise the Italian Communist Party through its agricultural co-operative.

Support can also involve technical assistance and media and political training. Perhaps the best example of this kind of thing is the wave of colour revolutions in Eastern Europe, which were heavily influenced by American expertise in non-violent direct action.

Witness: Britain approved Wonga Coup

Interesting details are emerging from a court in South Africa where some of the mercenaries involved in the failed 2004 'Wonga Coup' attempt in Equatorial Guinea are on trial.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: South African president Thabo Mbeki was regularly informed of the progress of an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea which was also sanctioned by the United States, Britain and Spain, a state witness testified Friday.

Sean Abdinor told the Pretoria Regional Court that Simon Mann, the alleged British coup leader, had assured him the governments of these countries were involved, the South African Press Association reported. (International Herald Tribune/PA)