Many thanks, as always, to Terry Hanstock for contributions. Comments and contributions welcome. My email is ‘War on Terrorism’: Repercussions of 11 Sept. 2001 The Sept 11 2001 attacks on the US and subsequent ‘war against terrorism’ have provided law enforcement/intelligence agencies with an opportunity to push for sweeping new powers, plus fast-tracking of … Read more
From Garrick Alder Re: John Newsinger’s ‘Orwell and the IRD in Lobster 38 The appearance since Lobster 45 of further details of Orwell’s dealings with the IRD has reminded me how very interested I was by Mr Newsinger’s admirable reappraisal of the Orwell/IRD incidents. Two things have struck me that seems to have escaped comment … Read more
[…] of covert and clandestine politics which are directly relevant to this study. See, for example, Gary Marx, ‘Thoughts on a Neglected Category of Social Movement Participant: The Agent Provocateur and the Informant’, American Journal of Sociology 80:2 (September 1974), especially pp. 402-3. One of the few dissertations dealing directly with this topic, though not […]
[…] Czech intelligence officer Husack to the MI5 officer attached to his Ministry did not prevent MI5 later using those contacts to try and portray Stonehouse as an agent of the Soviet bloc. Charles Laughlin MP reported contacts from another Czech official but MI5 did not tell him that the official was an intelligence officer […]
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy Vincent Bugliosi New York & London: W. W. Norton, 2007 xlvi + 1612 pps. + CD-ROM End Notes and Source Notes (958 + 170 pps.). Illustrations, bibliography, index, $49.95. ‘Reclaiming History is important not just because it’s correct, though it is. It’s significant not just … Read more
[…] the Munster and Leinster Bank to handle funds from the North for weapons purchases. Having drawn a blank at weapons supplies from America, and uncovered an MI6 agent called Captain Peter Markham-Randall who came to Dublin posing as an arms dealer, Northern representatives began negotiating with a Hamburg arms dealer called Otto Schleuter and, […]
[…] is certain. I do not see what is accomplished by suggesting, as he does here, that Martin Bright of The Observer might (or might not) be an agent of the state. Except to irritate Bright – and maybe send him looking for a libel lawyer – if he ever hears of it. Notes from […]
[…] day of Kennedy’s killing.(12) His father never admitted to any involvement in the assassination, but did hint at some inside knowledge. He linked Lyndon Johnson with CIA agent Cord Meyer, who in turn was linked to a CIA black-ops specialist, David Morales. The latter was connected to – in Hunt’s words – the ‘French […]
Denis McShane Clarendon Press, Oxford, £37.50 The origins of the Cold War in Europe has been a major battle ground now for nearly 40 years. The first version of the story, written while the Cold War was still going on and produced as part of the ideological struggle, was a simple folk tale of evil … Read more
[…] – with fascinating material on the fuzzy alleged 1963 assassination attempt on JFK planned for Chicago, and the role in exposing it of the black Secret Service agent, Abraham Bolden. Every time I come across Bolden I am reminded what a great story this is. First black Secret Service agent; after the assassination, seeking […]
