Declassified UK Profile picture
Nov 30, 2021 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Richard Moore has given his first speech as MI6 chief. It will be written up as puff pieces in tomorrow's national press.

Some observations from us in this thread.

gov.uk/government/new…
Moore said the MI6 chief giving a speech “is an important part of the way we hold ourselves to account”.

Far more important would be enabling the public to submit FOI requests on MI6, stop censoring MI6 records from national archives & being truly accountable to parliament.
Moore said what all security officials always say in every speech: threat to the UK are “growing” and our “adversaries” are “feeling emboldened”.

In other words, the security agencies need yet more public money. But the UK already has a deeply-embedded national security state.
Moore outlines “the ‘big four’ set of threats: China, Russia, Iran and international terrorism”.

These are traditional threats outlined by the UK elite: they are not those identified by the UK public, who were never asked. In whose interest are these the identified threats?
Moore said: “Everything we do is bound by UK law”.

This doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

declassifieduk.org/mi6-has-a-long…
Moore said: “I ask my officers to do things in their professional existence which they would not do in their private lives”.

Yes, we’ve noticed.

declassifieduk.org/tag/mi6/
Moore said: “A democratic society should only grant such powers to its most ethically literate citizens”.

But MI6 is almost completely unaccountable to democratically-elected officials & the public. How do we know MI6 hands such powers only to “ethically literate citizens”?
Moore said he wants “other countries” to be more aware of being vulnerable to a China “where there is no recourse to an independent judiciary or free press”.

Yet MI6 has its own special relationships with many states (eg Gulf dictatorships) just as repressive of media/judiciary
Moore stated the UK must stand up to Russian activity "which contravenes the rules-based international system”.

This is propaganda. MI6 knows full well there is no ‘rules-based international system’ and the UK violates international law as much/more than most other states.

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More from @declassifiedUK

May 20
🚨Julian Assange's final extradition hearing has just opened at the High Court in London.

Declassified is monitoring the hearing, and we'll be posting live updates here👇
A brief recap:

The US seeks the extradition of Julian Assange for 18 alleged offences relating to the obtaining and publication of sensitive information.

If extradited, Assange faces up to 175 years in a US supermax prison.
Assange's journey through the UK courts has been long and winding.

In January 2021, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled against extradition on mental health grounds. This decision was overturned in December 2021 when the US provided assurances about prison conditions.
Read 24 tweets
Mar 7
🚨A senior World Food Programme official has testified to British MPs about how an Israeli tank "opened fire" on civilians in Gaza who were "desperately trying to get their hands" on humanitarian aid.
committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1…
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"I do not think I have ever seen the speed at which the situation has deteriorated in the Gaza Strip", the official said.

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"You meet walking zombies in Gaza because people just cannot believe the situation they are living in", the official added.

The level of hunger in Gaza is now "catastrophic". Image
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Feb 21
🚨Day X: The final session of Julian Assange's extradition hearing has now opened at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Declassified is monitoring the hearing, and we'll be posting live updates here 👇
The court opens by acknowledging the numerous difficulties that journalists and members of the public had with following the proceedings yesterday, due to technical difficulties in the court.

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Yesterday, Assange was too unwell to attend either in person or online.

In December, it was reported that the WikiLeaks founder broke a rib while coughing. He suffers from a chronic lung condition.
Read 41 tweets
Feb 20
🚨Day X: Julian Assange's final hearing has now opened at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Declassified is monitoring the hearing, and we'll be posting live updates here👇
Assange is unwell and cannot attend in person or online.

In December, the WikiLeaks founder was so ill that he broke a rib while coughing.
For the defence, Edward Fitzgerald lays out grounds for appeal:
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- would breach ECHR articles 7 & 10
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Read 34 tweets
Oct 17, 2023
⚠️In Commons debate on #Gaza yesterday, both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer failed to condemn Israel for its actions in #Gaza and didn't mention collective punishment, a war crime.

Sunak delivered a series of apologias for current Israeli policies. See 🧵

tinyurl.com/2p8r7s73
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Far from highlighting Israeli crimes of collective punishment and mass bombing of #Gaza, Sunak repeatedly said Israel is "of course" acting within international law.

Image
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Sunak defended repeatedly Israel's order to forcibly move Gazans from the north of the territory, widely condemned by the UN and human rights organisations.

He claimed this is intended to "minimise civilian casualties".
Image
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Sep 8, 2023
👉NEW -- When I was censored by the British art establishment to appease Pinochet’s regime

By @peterkennardx

50 years on from the coup in Chile, the UK’s most important political artist recounts how the Barbican censored his work for Pinochet officials.
declassifieduk.org/when-i-was-cen…
In 1985, Kennard had a retrospective at the Barbican Arts Centre. The day before it opened, management told him he had to remove two images against the 1973 Chile coup.

Kennard refused, but came in the next day to see one covered with a cloth and the other unscrewed from wall. Image
The reason the Barbican wanted the Chile images gone was Midland Bank (now HSBC) had hired the Barbican cinema for a meeting between some of Pinochet’s finance officials and British bankers.

To access the cinema they would have had to walk past Kennard's exhibition. Image
Read 5 tweets

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