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Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
@carolecadwalla
Mar 6, 2022 • 11 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
This twitter thread crystallised for me why Lebedev coverage today so frustrating.

Russian soldiers are killing women & children trying to flee.

And our prime minister's relationship with the son of an ex-KGB agent is deeply problematic.

AS WE HAVE KNOWN FOR YEARS
1/
To be clear, @Gabriel_Pogrund's story in ST following up @pcaruanagalizia revelations is important.

A breakthrough moment.

But we have been trying to tell story not just of Lebedev but of Johnson's Russian links FOR YEARS
2/
 thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-…
In July 2019, @nickhopkinsnews did pair of jaw dropping stories. Johnson had attended a NATO summit on sanctions post-Skripal.

He threw off security detail, flew to Italy & partied with Lebedev.

And then the photos turned up: Johnson, a hungover mess
3/
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
Then @TownsendMark & I revealed extra gobsmacking detail.

It wasn't just Evgeny Lebedev at party. His father, Alexander, the ex-KGB agent flew in from Russia.

Reminder: this was immediately after Putin used a prohibited chemical weapon on UK soil.
4/
 theguardian.com/media/2019/nov…
Russia attacked one British citizen. And killed another. With a banned unconventional weapon. An act of aggression that led to sanctions & UK & US & EU expelling dozens of Russian spies.

And Boris Johnson's response was to leave a NATO summit to meet an ex-KGB spy? WHAT?!?
5/
Is there even any such thing as an ex-KGB agent?

Litvenko (FSU) was poisoned with radiation. Skripal (GRU) was Novichocked.

And what does Lebedev Snr do now? Well here he is spreading Russian propaganda in newspaper his son owns.
6/
 independent.co.uk/voices/comment…
What are Alexander Lebedev's views on illegal annexation of Crimea? They're Putin's views.

Unsurprisingly. He has business in Crimea. Remember, Russia didn't invade Ukraine last week. Crimea IS Ukraine. And it invaded in 2014.

So what on earth is Johnson deal with him & son?
7/ Image
We don't know. Because despite major investigations by Jim Cusick, @lukeharding1968 & @johnsweeneyroar, it was buried.

Because in Britain, if r/w media & BBC ignore. It's not a story.

Yet it was. In plain sight.

opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

8/
Will BBC finally now cover it? When we broke the above, @amolrajan was media correspondent. He was also close to Lebedev, his former boss. As former editor of the @Independent, he'd had to publish his pro-Putin propaganda.
9/
standard.co.uk/comment/commen…
It's why MPs @BenPBradshaw & @RhonddaBryant & @IanCLucas are speaking out. Why I can't handle A Neil's hypocrisy. And why after seeing footage of mother & children, I wanted to set this down.

It's not peevishness. It's frustration & sadness & fear.

It's just all so late.
10/ Image
If only there had been some sign.

11/ Image

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More from @carolecadwalla

Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Mar 28
NEW: I’ve found an opaque financial vehicle owns a large chunk of the Observer. And neither it or the Guardian will say who it is. Why?

Well there is a clue. Which goes by way of Saudi Arabia…
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The capture of US media orgs is accelerating. And the UK is next in line. The BBC has fallen to an AI hype guy. And my old newspaper, the Observer, is publishing Palantir puff pieces.

But why? I set out to find out..
2/
open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…
In Companies House I found the Observer has a mystery investor: the North Hatley Trust.

Who is the North Hatley Trust? Good question!

There’s only the tiniest bit of public info about it. With one important clue..
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Read 12 tweets
Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Mar 25
NEW: Will Google's AI hype man kill the BBC?

I've written about Matt Brittin because the coverage of his time at Google is shockingly naive.

The BBC's next DG made his career as a yes man at a rapacious AI monopoly that preys on news journalism in order to destroy it.
1/ Image
Out of a shortlist of 5, 4 were women with decades of experience of public service broadcasting. And one man with none at all: Matt Brittin.

But that maybe the least of his problems...
2/
 thenerve.news/p/matt-brittin…
The BBC's profile quotes sources "close" to Matt Brittin to deliver a fawning portrait of an "inspirational leader". Only he's never led anything.

Brittin is a middle manager whose job was to stop Google being regulated and grow the business like late stage cancer.
3/ Image
Read 8 tweets
Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Mar 17
Distracted by the slaughter of children in Iran & Lebanon? Me too! But what better time could there be for govt to quietly relaunch its Digital ID plan?

Missed it? Me too! But look who’s celebrating…

The director of ‘govt innovation’ at the Tony Blair Institute!
1/
The govt noisily scrapped Digital ID after huge pushback when nobody bought its ‘it’ll solve immigration’ bollocks. But as markets tanked last week - kudos to the comms team! - it was discreetly re-launched with all-new messaging: a ‘common sense solution to everyday probs’
2/
Darren Jones, Cabinet Office secretary, put out a press release claiming the govt will be holding a ‘consultation’.

NOT: ‘Do you want the govt & unknown tech companies to have all your data?’

BUT: (I kid you not): ‘At what age should you be able to get a digital id?’ 🤔
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Read 10 tweets
Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Feb 28
Congrats to all the news orgs that signed syndication deals with this company. You’ve licensed your journalism to be a core component of Trump’s illegal war machine. Great job everyone 👏
A special shoutout to the editor-in-chief & CEO of the Guardian, Kath Viner & Anna Bateson. The deal with OpenAI was an unforced error which legitimised OpenAI’s illegal scraping of Guardian data & IP. In exchange for a quick buck. The NYTimes, in contrast, chose to sue.
Anthropic stood up to Trump. But OpenAI has capitulated. And now all its ‘partners’ are complicit in the consequences.

That includes Guardian. It will financially benefit from its journalists’ work - inc mine - being used to support Trump’s illegal wars & ICE’s reign of terror.
Read 4 tweets
Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Feb 19
PREDICTION: If Andrew is charged (no assumption of guilt etc), we are going to have a crisis of both the press & judiciary.

In Britain, it is an offence to publish ANY info on defendant beyond bare facts.

But! US outlets can print whatever they like…
1/
Contempt of court is foundational principle of British justice: press must not prejudice a jury trial.

Editors risk a prison sentence if found in breach.

Even in digital age, the law held…but how could it possibly withstand deluge of US coverage in a case like this??
3/
Short answer: it won’t. Far right agitator Tommy Robinson weaponised UK laws on contempt as a ‘cover up’ over grooming scandal. And the New Yorker ignored & published on Lucy Letby.

If Andrew is charged, it’ll trigger a crisis for both the press & judiciary
4/
Read 4 tweets
Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Jan 28
NEW: Our investigation for @thenerve_news reveals not only that Peter Thiel’s Palantir is completely enmeshed in our critical national infrastructure.

It’s also the ‘cloud support’ for our nuclear weapons system
1/ Image
Palantir’s stated mission is to defend America. Peter Thiel is a radical libertarian who does not believe ‘freedom & democracy are compatible’.

Yet, the UK is overwhelmingly dependent on Palantir’s services. As a national security threat, this is off the charts.
2/ Image
Please read the piece with comments from tech & national security experts.

We have no national security while we rely on highly political US Silicon Valley firms that are enmeshed in Trump’s increasing fascistic administration.
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Read 4 tweets

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