A thread. The Telegraph's Defence Editor churns out Saudi propaganda after going to a Saudi party.
He is married to Katherine Bergen who worked for Meade Hall & Associates, paid lobbyists for Bahrain's dictatorship, which was propped up by a 2011 Saudi invasion.
He is married to Katherine Bergen who worked for Meade Hall & Associates, paid lobbyists for Bahrain's dictatorship, which was propped up by a 2011 Saudi invasion.
Katherine Bergen is a former journalist who wrote pro-Bahrain propaganda for publications ranging from The Daily Mail to Standpoint Magazine. (standpointmag.co.uk/dispatches-jul…, dailymail.co.uk/travel/article…)
Bergen has emailed journalists from a Bahrain Embassy email address. She is still either directly or indirectly working for Bahrain's repressive regime. (One senior journalist says they think directly).
According to Amnesty International, Bahrain has "launched a large-scale campaign to clamp down on all forms of dissent by repressing the rights to freedom of expression and association of human rights defenders and government critics." amnesty.org/en/countries/m…
Bergen's shadowy PR firm, abruptly apparently dissolved in April this year, was founded by Patrick Meade, the 8th Earl of Clanwilliam, a former Conservative councillor. In 2014 he sponsored a £1,000 per head table at a Conservative fundraising dinner.
Guests on the table included Philip Hammond and his wife; Tory MP Conor Burns - chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Bahrain; and Dr. Afnan Al Shuaiby, the Saudi chief executive of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce. theguardian.com/politics/ng-in… 
Con Coughlin himself has a history of churning out pro-Bahrain propaganda. In a now deleted Telegraph blog headlined 'Why is Britain harbouring Bahrain's dissidents?' (referred to in the book 'Oil States in the New Middle East') he fawns over Bahrain's ruling dictator.
Con Coughlin wrote this deleted blog after attending a "seminar" paid for by Bahrain's Embassy. He denounced "a group of Islamic radicals who are trying to overthrow the Bahraini government... one of our key allies in the Gulf region." (from Martin Williams' 'Parliament Ltd')
Bahrain's "seminar" took place in Parliament and was sponsored by Lord Inge, head of the British Army between 1992 and 1994, who Coughlin's own newspaper revealed was a paid adviser to the King of Bahrain when he was brutally suppressing protesters. telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/…
Con Coughlin's output on Saudi Arabia is ludicrously Pravda-esque fawning. Scan through the articles he's written here: it is beyond belief. Seriously, have a sickbag ready.
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Here is a fawning interview Coughlin conducted with Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in March, who he describes as a "human dynamo". He concludes: "With this young royal at the helm, Saudi Arabia’s future prospects clearly know no bounds." 🤢 telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/0…
All Coughlin does is churn out Saudi propaganda and Saudi talking points. Check this out when Saudi Arabia and its allies clashed with Qatar. Is this news reporting, or a de facto press release Saudi Arabia might as well have written? telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/2…
As well as The Telegraph, Con Coughlin writes for @TheNationalUAE, which is owned by UAE's deputy prime minister, a member of UAE's ruling family, who are key Saudi allies. Almost all his articles present Iran - Saudi Arabia's key foe - as a mortal threat thenational.ae/topics/Author/…
A 2000 article reveals Coughlin was fed material by MI6 for years, which he then turned into Telegraph news articles. (theguardian.com/media/2000/jun…) One false story fed to him by MI6 about Saif Gaddafi led to the Sunday Telegraph apologising for libel (telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/13…)
Stories published by Con Coughlin include a front page splash: 'TERRORIST BEHIND SEPTEMBER 11 STRIKE WAS TRAINED BY SADDAM'. It was based on a forged letter which had been fed to him. newsweek.com/terror-watch-d…
Con Coughlin went on NBC to tell viewers that the (forged) letter was "really concrete proof that al-Qaeda was working with Saddam". This false claim was invaluable: it justified one of the Bush administration's false pretexts for the invasion of Iraq.
As Newsweek notes, Coughlin's "story was apparently written with a political purpose: to bolster Bush administration claims of a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam's regime." No kidding.
As his "story" fell apart, Coughlin said: there's "no way of verifying it. It's our job as journalists to air these things and see what happens." Errrrr.
A book by Pulizter-winning journalist Ron Suskind claims the Bush administration forged the evidence. theguardian.com/books/2008/oct…
A book by Pulizter-winning journalist Ron Suskind claims the Bush administration forged the evidence. theguardian.com/books/2008/oct…
According to Suskind, Coughlin was "a journalist whom the Bush administration thinks very highly of" and was "a favourite of neoconservatives in the U.S. government." Suskind says Coughlin got the letter from the former CIA and MI6 agent, former Iraqi exile Ayad Allawi.
Remember the discredited 45 minute claim? Conveniently after the invasion of Iraq Coughlin went to Iraq and found a source who claimed it was "200 per cent accurate." I'm sure that the scandal-hit British intelligence services were delighted. telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews…
This morning, Coughlin posts a hatchet job on Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, suspected to be murdered by the Saudi regime.
And here's another article in the Spectator he approvingly posts.
And here's another article in the Spectator he approvingly posts.
Read through this thread, and bear this mind. Con Coughlin was Foreign Editor, and is now Defence Editor of one of Britain's main broadsheet newspapers. He is treated as a respected journalist. What does this tell us about the British media?
Con Coughlin has just had another load of shameless Saudi propaganda published by the @Telegraph, it is utterly remarkable telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/1…
