Re: [A-List] UK Labour Party: Propaganda Matrix article

["annewilliamson" <annewilliamson@xxxxxxx>]

Michael:

Am I am one of the "US libertarians," who you advise to
be wary of the Propaganda Matrix I posted yesterday?
Please understand that I am not familiar enough with the
intricacies of British politics - right, left, or center - to
draw any conclusions regarding this matter.  The story
simply came my way, and naturally I recalled the earlier
discussion on the A-List, noticed your name and quotes,
and subsequently posted it for general knowledge/discussion.
I did not post it to make any statement about the story or you -
again, I simply do not have the knowledge to play such a
role.  Certainly, there was no intent to challenge or offend
you.  And thanks for pointing out the liberties and "false
bridging" in which the author engaged.  Heretofore, I have
had no knowledge of Propaganda Matrix.

Anne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>
To: <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 6:38 AM
Subject: Re: [A-List] UK Labour Party: Propaganda Matrix article


> According to Mike James:
>
> The rumours and allegations concerning Lord Robertson's ties to Hamilton,
> and the possibility that the American intelligence services may be
> blackmailing Tony Blair into continued support for a U.S. invasion of
> Iraq, have been given fire by internet investigator and intelligence
expert
> Michael Keaney:
>
> ------
>
> Aside from making no claims to intelligence expertise, I have not in any
way
> touched the story concerning the Dunblane massacre, as a quick trawl
through
> the archives would confirm. Therefore it is not accurate to say that I
have
> "given fire" to specifically those rumours and allegations. In fact the
> connection between the two stories was one I had not made, and one that I
> would be extremely sceptical of. That does not mean that there does not
> exist some kind of organised effort to smear Robertson, whose tenure at
NATO
> has hardly been successful and who has managed to ruffle the feathers of
> those at the Pentagon he thought he was obediently serving. The blackmail
> possibility I have raised, specifically in connection with the Sunday
Herald
> article of 19 January. But the more that "emerges" on this subject leaves
an
> even stronger bad taste, and serious analysts would be better basing their
> analyses on more solid ground than unattributable sources cited in
newspaper
> reports.
>
> Meanwhile:
>
> "I have come to the considered conclusion," says a correspondent of
> Keaney, William Palfreman, "that the events surrounding the Dunblane
> massacre, and
> the subsequent submissions to the Cullen enquiry that have been put under
to
> 100 years of secrecy, far out weigh in political significance issues such
as
> our opposition to the EU [and] what it entails. ...
>
> -----
>
> Firstly, I have no idea who "William Palfreman" is, or that we were
> corresponding. Secondly, based on what he is quoted as saying above, I
would
> be highly unlikely to have anything to do with him. Aside from stating the
> obvious -- that his and others' opposition to the EU is outweighed in
terms
> of its significance by something else (most everything else, probably) --
> the fact that this position is regarded as a defining feature of his
> politics means that already I am convinced I share little, if anything, in
> common with him. In fact, as a quick trawl of the internet reveals,
> Palfreman is involved with organised euroscepticism, having participated
in
> rabid anti-EU online discussion for some years and being involved in an
> outfit called Youth for a Free Europe, whose homepage can be found at
>
> http://www.free-europe.org.uk/
>
> While attracting some unreconstructed national Keynesians within the
Labour
> Party and elsewhere on the left, the most enthusiastic participants are
the
> usual punk Thatcherite suspects.
>
> This sort of sensationalist and inaccurate reportage does not help us to
> understand better what is going on. It is better understood as the
> manifestation of a right wing political tendency that will stop at nothing
> to unseat Blair the europhile "socialist" and to replace him with some
> unreconstructed empire loyalist relic. It is easily manipulated by
> intelligence officers planting stories in the media (including internet
> discussion forums hosted by newspapers) calculated to excite such
> sensationalism. US libertarians who swallow this stuff beware.
>
> Michael Keaney
>
>
>
>
>