Saturday, December 29, 2018

Grasping the Breadth of the Integrity Initiative

Integrity: Grasping The Initiative

by Tim Hayward


December 15, 2018


This is my first personal blogpost since April. At that time I referred to a ‘coordinated smear campaign’ against anti-war journalists, tweeters and academics, whose number included myself and other members of the SPM Working Group.

The portrayal of us as “useful idiots” for some or other official enemy, I suggested, was evidently a strategic communication. We now know a lot more about the coordination of that strategy, thanks to recently accessed documents exposing the Institute for Statecraft’s "Integrity Initiative" (here, here and here).

Numerous points of interest and concern emerge, one of which regards the high profile attack launched at our Working Group on the front page of The Times. Two of its authors, we learn, are named in the newly available documents. They – Deborah Haynes and Dominic Kennedy – have not so far responded to invitations to clarify their association with the “Initiative”.

What we do know from the documents is that a coordinated network was very closely following all public comments on such critical events as the Skripals poisoning in Salisbury, on which SPM produced its first Briefing Note, and the chemical attack in Douma this year, which was the focus of SPM’s second Briefing Note.

The working group’s third Briefing Note will be released soon [update, 21 Dec 2018, it is now published here]. Meanwhile, for anyone wishing to catch up with others’ comments on the “Integrity Initiative”, links to discussions of the issue will be maintained here below.

Briefing Note on the Integrity Initiative: comments and discussion

December 21, 2018 

This page is for public comments and discussion relating to the Briefing Note on the Integrity Initiative, by Paul McKeigue, David Miller, Jake Mason, Piers Robinson, for the Working Group on Syria Propaganda and Media.

The Briefing Note is work in progress, and the Working Group can be contacted at piers.robinson@sheffield.ac.uk. For further information about the Working Group visit http://syriapropagandamedia.org/

Read the full Briefing Note



[Update 22 Dec 2018: currently the full set of II documents is available at https://fdik.org/Integrity_Initiative/]

Discussions of Institute for Statecraft’s “Integrity Initiative”


Mark Curtis (28 December 2018) Twitter and the smearing of Corbyn and Assange: A research note on the “Integrity Initiative”, Mark Curtis: British foreign policy declassified

Free West Media Staff (28 December 2018) UK info war against Russia targets young children, Free West Media

Derek Royden (28 December 2018) The new Agitprop? The Integrity Initiative exposed, Nation of Change

David Miller, with Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton (26 December 2018) Inside the Integrity Initiative, the UK gov’s information war on the public, Moderate Rebels

Constanze Kurz (25 December 2018) Der hausgemachte Desinformationsskandal, Frankfurter Allgemeine [in German]

Russia Today (24 December 2018) Why is paid Integrity Initiative hitman Ben Nimmo still used as ‘independent’ expert by MSM? RT Question More

Johanna Ross and Kit Klarenberg (24 December 2018) UK academics unveil report on Integrity Initiative as Sunday Times attacks Sputnik journalists, Radio Sputnik

Chris Donnelly (Director of Institute for Statecraft and its “Integrity Initiative”) On Disinformation, Youtube video

The Bulgarian Times (23 December 2018) The British Integrity Initiative as an attempt to enforce global censorship, The Bulgarian Times [in Bulgarian]

John Pilger (22 December 2018) A Look Back at 2018, Look Forward to 2019, Going Underground, RT

Paul McKeigue, David Miller, Jake Mason, Piers Robinson (21 December 2018) Briefing note on the Integrity Initiative, Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media [readers’ comments on the Briefing Note are posted here]

Jens Berger (20 December 2018) Die Infokrieger im Dienste ihrer Majestät, NachDenkSeiten [in German]

Alan MacLeod (19 December 2018) The Integrity Initiative in Context, Conversation with Slava Zilber

Russia Today (19 December 2018) ‘Striking images to help public relate’: UK Integrity Initiative’s post-Skripal psyop leaked, RT

Mark Galleotti (19 December 2018) The Integrity Initiative and Me (and Jeremy Corbyn), In Moscow’s Shadows

David Jamieson (19 December 2018) State-backed Integrity Initiative confirms meeting with Herald journalist for Scotland briefing, CommonSpace

Margaret Kimberley (19 December 2018) Freedom Rider: UK and US PSYOP Collusion, Black Agenda Report

Piers Robinson (19 December 2018) Interview: There’s desire to ramp up public perception of Russia being a threat in the international system, Radio Sputnik

South Front (19 December 2018) British Foreign Secretary Confirms Integrity Initiative Documents, Blames Russia For Everything, South Front

RT (19 December 2018) Do it CIA style: UK-funded ‘Integrity Initiative’ planned to infiltrate European media, leaks reveal, RT News

Piers Robinson (18 December 2018) On the emerging Integrity Initiative scandal, Fault Lines

Kit Klarenberg (18 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: The Times Meets Ukrainian Kidnappers, Propaganda Follows, Sputnik

South Front (17 December 2018) Hackers Uncover More Documents Throwing Light On British Propaganda Campaign Against Russia, South Front

Johanna Ross with Kit Klarenberg (17 December 2018) Anonymous leaks 3rd batch of Integrity Initiative documents, Radio Sputnik

Mohamed Elmaazi and Max Blumenthal (17 December 2018) Inside the Temple of Covert Propaganda: The Integrity Initiative and the UK’s Scandalous Information War, Grayzone

Edward Lucas (17 December 2018) Don’t swallow Labour’s claims of ‘black ops’, The Times [making a case in favour of the II, behind a paywall]

Ian Shilling (17 December 2018) The #Russiagate Hoax and the “Integrity Initiative” to Gaslight the public with more “Russia Threat” lies, Investment Watch

David Scott (16 December 2018) Half a League Onwards: A glimpse of the policy protocols of the Integrity Initiative, UK Column

Mail Opinion (16 December 2018) Minister’s flimsy defence of infowars attack on Jeremy Corbyn as embarrassing as Tory leadership farce, Daily Record

John Ferguson (16 December 2018) Tory minister ‘misled Parliament’ over Government-funded infowars attack on Jeremy Corbyn, Daily Record

David Scott (15 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: Ministry of Defence Parliamentary answer now in doubt, UK Column

Moon of Alabama (15 December 2018) The ‘Integrity Initiative’ – A Military Intelligence Operation, Disguised As Charity, To Create The “Russian Threat”

Ally Tibbitt (15 December 2015) Scottish charity at centre of ‘propaganda’ row probed by regulator, The Ferret

David Miller (14 December 2018) interviewed by George Galloway, Mother of All Talk Shows, Talk Radio [item from 23 minutes; interview from 27 minutes.]

Kit Klarenberg (14 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: Spanish Cluster Misled UK Parliament Over Assange, Russia, Sputnik

Anonymous (14 December 2018) The documents of ‘Integrity Initiative’, Part 3

Moon of Alabama (14 December 2018) Newly Released ‘Integrity Intitiative’ Papers Include Proposal For Large Disinformation Campaigns

Craig Murray (13 December 2018) British Security Service Infiltration, the Integrity Initiative and the Institute for Statecraft

Kit Klarenberg (13 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: Foreign Office Funded, Staffed by Spies, Housed by MI5? Sputnik

Emily Thornberry (12 December 2018) Letter to Alan Duncan, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

David Miller (12 December 2018) (Interview:) Integrity Initiative Operations Are ‘Outrageous in Democratic System’, Sputnik News

George Galloway (12 December 2018) A very British coup: The spies who went out to the cold – by George Galloway, RT [Yes, Russia Today. Where is the Western media coverage?]

UK Parliament (12 December 2018) Institute for Statecraft: Integrity Initiative, Hansard

Stephen Daisley (11 December 2018) The deep state needs to step up its campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, Spectator Blog [defending II]

South Front (10 December 2018) British Anti-Russian Propaganda Network Is Now Used To Target Jeremy Corbyn And Labour Party, South Front

David Scott (10 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: Just how well connected are the “Gateside Three”? UK Column

Aaron Bastani (10 December 2018) Undermining Democracy, Not Defending It: The ‘Integrity Initiative’ is Everything That’s Wrong With British Foreign Policy, Novara Media

James Landale (10 December 2018) Russia hack ‘bid to discredit’ UK anti-disinformation campaign – Foreign Office, BBC [Note the perspective adopted in this piece. See also how the report was edited to shift the perspective (courtesy News Sniffer)]

Emily Thornberry (9 December 2018) Response to reported government funded attacks on the Labour Party, Labour Party

John Ferguson (9 December 2018) Secret Scottish-based office led infowars attack on Labour and Jeremy Corbyn, The Daily Record

Conrad Landin (9 December 2018) Researcher at government-funded think tank behind fake news story that Kremlin aided Corbyn’s rise, Morning Star

Ben Gelblum (9 December 2018) Labour demand government explains £2m taxpayers’ cash funding infowars unit which smeared Corbyn and Labour, The London Economic

Alejandro López (6 December 2018) Hackers reveal British government’s interference in Spanish politics, World Socialist Web Site

David Scott (5 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: Follow the money, UK Column

Mike Robinson (2 December 2018) Integrity Initiative: A Look Into the Deep State? UK Column

John Ferguson (2 December 2018) Derelict Scottish mill is shadowy hub in UK’s fight against Putin’s propaganda machine, Daily Record

Anonymous (29 November 2018) Documents of “Integrity Initiative” Part 2, live link at SPM site

Chris Williamson MP (28 November 2018) UK Government ‘Black Propaganda’ and Scrapping Universal Credit, Going Underground, RT (video)

David Miller (26 November 2018) The Integrity Initiative is a British state-funded propaganda operation, Radio Sputnik podcast

Integrity Initiative (26 November 2018) Statement on Russian media publication of hacked II documents

Moon of Alabama (24 November 2018) British Government Runs Secret Anti-Russian Smear Campaigns

South Front (23 November 2018) Documents Confirm: UK Is Engaged In Large-Scale Secret Propaganda War Against Russia, South Front

Anonymous (5 November 2018) Documents of ‘Integrity Initiative’, Part 1

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