For decades, London sought to create a rift between Moscow, Beijing, the Arab world and Africa through fake news, a researcher has claimed.
A secret unit fighting inside the British Foreign Office “Black promotion” From the 1950s to the 1970s, the USSR campaigned against China and China to reduce their global influence, the Guardian reported, quoting a researcher who studied a trove of recently released intelligence documents. Academics claim that London did not shy away from inciting anti-Semitism, racism and Islamism in order to achieve its goals.
“These releases are the most important in the last two decades. It is now clear that the United Kingdom was engaged in more black propaganda than historians had imagined, and that these efforts were more systematic, ambitious and aggressive. “ Rory Cormack, a professor of international relations at the University of Nottingham, told the Guardian.
According to the newspaper, the documents were published “Hundreds of massive and costly operations” Operated by the Information Research Department (IRD) – a secret unit set up primarily by the post-WWII Labor government to deal with communist propaganda. Single “The Soviets have gone far beyond just expressing confusion.” Cormac said, Dr. UK “Of course intended to deceive viewers to get the message.”
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The IRD had a separate highly confidential special editorial unit responsible for the so-called “Black propaganda,” A special kind of fake news is designed in such a way that it is produced by a nation or organization that wants to disrespect the real creator.
Something “Report” The analysis, which was sent to the Western government and the media, was supposed to come from an independent organization, which was secretly run by the IRD and warned Western countries about the allegations. “The Soviet catastrophe.” According to the Guardian, the British unit falsified at least 11 reports published by Soviet state-run news agencies.
London sought to sow discord in the Arab world between Moscow and its allies, especially in the eyes of the Arabs, by discrediting the Soviet Union and creating false news by inciting Islamic sentiment among them. One such report, presented from the USSR, was the explosion of Soviet military aid in Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel. “Waste.” British activists also produced Islamist literature, including the Muslim Brotherhood – a group that had significant influence in the Arab world at the time.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been seen calling on the Soviets in fake IRD statements “Atheist in dirty language” And accused them of being perceived as Egyptians “Farmer” Follow “Reactive Islamic Superstition.” The IRD is a completely fictitious Islamist group – the League of Believers – that attacked the Soviet Union for its atheism and blamed a lack of faith for the Arabs’ defeat in the war against Israel.
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The British propaganda campaign incited the genocide of communists in Indonesia in the 1960s, according to declassified documents.
The British unit also reportedly did not hesitate to stir up anti-Semitic sentiment. One of its leaflets persuaded the Egyptians to invade Israel by asking: “Why don’t they direct their army against the Jews?”
The IRD was similarly active in Africa, where it repeatedly sought to paint a picture of the Soviet Union that saw Africans as barbaric. In 1963, the IRD World Federation of Democratic Youth – an organization affiliated with the USSR – issued a statement calling itself African. “Primitive.” Other frauds included statements that the Soviets condemned “Backwardness” And “Political immaturity” In Africa, while criticizing the skills of black African students enrolled in Soviet universities.
The reclassification in 2021 and the documents seen by the Guardian also show that British propaganda had a role in the genocide of communists in Indonesia in the 1960s. According to various estimates, between 500,000 and 3 million Communist Party supporters were killed at that time.
According to Carmack, these efforts had the full support of several successive British governments. In 1964, the Conservative Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Hom, directed the IRD to target Ghana for its alleged inclination towards Moscow. A few months later, Labor Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker called on the unit to create a black campaign. “Occasionally” And creates ethnic tensions, especially among Africans and Chinese.
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Cold War style UK Saip unit targets Russians – media
Although the unit was officially dismantled in 1977, similar efforts have continued for nearly a decade, the Guardian alleges. Now, the British government is still employing one “Information War” According to Cormac.
In February, just days before the start of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss revealed that the United Kingdom was building a new unit for the war. “Rumor” From Moscow. In March, the Telegraph reported that a unit known as the Official Information Cell had reached out on Russian social media to spread London’s views on the conflict in Ukraine.
“Liz Truss has a ‘government information cell’, and defense intelligence sends daily tweets to ‘pre-but’ Russian plots and tops the information war, but the United Kingdom used much more confusing methods for most of the Cold War.” Researcher Dr. “Especially significant as a precursor to a more modern effort to establish intelligence in the public domain.”
