Category Archives: Society

Britain, Government, Society

Britain’s betrayal in Afghanistan

TROOP WITHDRAWAL

WITH hubris and complacency, former British prime minister Tony Blair dragged Britain to war in Afghanistan with three overarching objectives: to crush the Taliban, eliminate the opium trade and promote democracy.

To the people of that benighted nation, he also made a solemn pledge: “We will not walk away.”

As a symbolic ceremony marked our final withdrawal after 20 bloody years, those words should make him and the entire political class cringe with shame.

For all the heroism of our at times woefully equipped troops, the mission – just as it was in Iraq – was an unmitigated disaster.

More than 450 British soldiers lost their lives, with thousands more maimed or broken mentally.

And for what? As Coalition forces have pulled out early, the Taliban is resurgent. Opium production flourishes, and rather than reducing the terror threat, our intervention has increased the danger.

As for not walking away from the Afghans, words cannot express the dismay and futility of the situation left in the wake of our withdrawal: thousands who risked their lives serving our troops, including interpreters, are terrified of being left to the mercy of the vengeful Islamists. These men and their families need and deserve asylum in the UK.

The British Government promised not to abandon them. Cutting them adrift would be another unforgivable betrayal.

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Arts, History, Society

Former-MI6 chief tells tale of Cold War double agent

HISTORY FESTIVAL

SIR Richard Dearlove, the former-MI6 chief, has given a rare, personal insight into how he handled one of the West’s most important double agents during the Cold War.

He is not meant to talk about Secret Intelligence Service – the formal name for MI6 – operations, but said he has “licence to describe certain cases” if the material is “already to an extent in the public domain”.

He also revealed at a History Festival how the double agent’s daughter ended up very wealthy after receiving the thousands he was paid and hid in a London bank.

The case unfolded after Sir Richard was posted to the British embassy in Prague earlier in his career as a first secretary in communist Czechoslovakia in 1973 with his wife Rosalind.

“I had obvious diplomatic tasks, but I was there essentially as a member of SIS under diplomatic cover. My main job was to run an espionage case,” he said.

It involved what is called a “walk-in” – a man who had indicated to the British authorities he wanted to spy for them.

“He was a Czech intelligence officer in charge of the operations that the Czechs were running to try and penetrate British intelligence,” Sir Richard said.

He did not name the man but referred to how information about the case from the Czech archives had been publicised – a reference, it is understood, to reports about Miloslav Kroca, codenamed “Freed”, who was a KGB-trained major in the Czech secret-police force.

Sir Richard told the festival: “Running a case like this was a great risk – not to me, but to the source. If he were caught, he would be executed.

“Yet we were able to meet him regularly over a number of years. Because he himself was an intelligence officer he knew in detail the forces that were deployed against me by the Czechs on a continuous basis.

“If you were a young energetic diplomat in the British embassy who spoke Czech you were suspected of being a spy. You were constantly being examined to see if you were running a case like this.”

But when the Czech officer suffered a heart attack and ended up in hospital, his Russian wife handed a bundle of secret papers into his office – among which was one that revealed instructions for his next rendezvous with Sir Richard.

Sir Richard said the meetings were carefully planned so he and the source came independently from different directions. Because of his training, Sir Richard knew the surveillance on him would be in front of, rather than behind, him, “i.e., cars parked at strategic places”.

“We’re deep in the Czech countryside and I recognise them immediately because I know all the number plates that these are surveillance cars,” he said. “They’re clearly trying to find out who’s going to the meeting. Of course, the agent doesn’t turn up and eventually he dies of natural causes.”

But Sir Richard, who was head of MI6 between 1999 and 2004, said the story had a “wonderful ending”. The source’s motivation had partly been revenging on his colleagues but he also wanted his daughter to have a different life.

“He earned a lot of money that he never touched and went into a bank in London. Compound interest can make you very wealthy over a significant period of time,” he said. Years later, a British intelligence officer went to Prague to see the president Vaclav Havel and said: “I want you to find this girl.”

Sir Richard added: “She’s had a terrible life; she didn’t know what had happened to her father other than something catastrophic.

“She is summoned to meet Havel and he hands her a cheque which is her father’s money – many, many thousands of pounds. She is now a very, very wealthy Czech businesswoman.”

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Britain, Government, Politics, Society, United States

The New Atlantic Charter

US-UK ALLIANCE

EARLIER this month, Britain and the United States agreed a new “Atlantic Charter”, committing both countries to building a renewed alliance to meet the challenges posed by China, Russia, and climate change.

In what was seen as a highly symbolic act, the Prime Minister and the US President revived the original charter signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, which is credited with laying the foundations for the post-war settlement.

President Biden said the world was at “an inflection point in history”, adding: “A moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies will not just endure – they will excel as we rise to seize the enormous opportunities of this new age.”

He said the charter would address the “key challenges of this century – cybersecurity, emerging technologies, global health and climate change”.

Following the symposium between the two leaders, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t think it is any exaggeration to say that the relationship between the UK and the US is – the relationship between North America and Europe – incarnated in that Atlantic Charter of 1941, which we’ve renewed, is of massive strategic importance for the prosperity, the security of the world, for all the things we believe in together – democracy, human rights, the rule of law – the US and the UK stick up for those things together. It’s incredibly important that we should affirm that.”

The eight-point charter commits the two nations to pursuing broad aims to defend and promote democracy around the world, while combating challenges such as climate change and the pandemic.

It was accompanied by a lengthy joint statement in which the two leaders pledged a range of actions to push back against the growing power of the world’s authoritarian regimes, including “practical efforts to support open societies and democracy across the globe.”

On defence, the two powers agreed to not only step up conventional military co-operation, but also on cybersecurity, an area where Russia and China are seen as major threats.

The agreement says the two countries should work together to tackle a range of new threats, including those associated with “cyberspace, foreign interference, harmful influence, illicit finance, violent conflict and extremism, and terrorism in all its forms”.

Mr Biden paid tribute to the UK’s military role in joint operations around the world over decades. Commenting on the two countries’ withdrawal from the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the President said: “The UK was with us from the start – they always are.”

The agreement also binds both nations to striking a “technology partnership”, including efforts to build up stronger capabilities in areas currently dominated by China, such as batteries.

Trade talks have taken a back seat since the departure of Donald Trump from the White House six months ago.

But No10 has said the two leaders had agreed to work towards a free trade deal “which would create jobs and bring new opportunities to both of our countries”.

The joint statement also commits both sides to strengthening trade ties, including settling a long running dispute over aerospace subsidies, which has led to tit-for-tat tariffs.

The new charter warned that climate change had reached a “critical point” and committed both countries to decarbonising their economies and helping others around the world do the same.

The declaration also included a lengthy section on tackling the Covid crisis and creating a “Global Pandemic Radar” early-warning system. The agreement will see increased co-operation on accelerating scientific research into vaccines capable of fighting dangerous variants.

The PM hopes to secure agreement among other leading nations to donate one billion doses to poorer countries in the hope of “vaccinating the world” by the end of next year.

The two men also agreed to create a “travel taskforce” aimed at restoring UK-US travel “as soon as possible”. Government sources said the unit, led in Britain by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, would “help accelerate” the resumption of flights between two of the world’s best-connected countries.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Hope For The Future, the title of the document released in updating the original 1941 Atlantic Charter, contains the following eight provisos:

. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to defend the institutions of open societies, including upholding the rule of law and an independent media.

. They will strengthen international bodies to tackle threats such as “the peril of emerging technologies” and to encourage trade.

. In an apparent rebuke to Russia, the US and UK declared nations must have a right to self-governance and should resolve disputes peacefully. They also stated their opposition to interference in elections.

. Technology will be used to improve security and deliver jobs, while investment will aid research into the biggest challenges facing the world.

. The importance of the NATO alliance in a nuclear world was highlighted. The two nations said they remained committed to countering terrorists and cyber threats.

. The leaders said they wanted the global economy to be “inclusive, fair, climate-friendly and sustainable”. They will fight corruption and seek high labour standards.

. On the climate, they warned the world has reached a “critical point” where urgent and ambitious action is needed.

. They recognised the “catastrophic impact of health crises” following Covid and the need for strong collective defences.

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