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<\/a><\/p>\nElizabeth Vos
\nDisobedient Media.<\/p>\n
In April last year, Disobedient Media broke coverage of the British involvement in the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, asking why\u00a0All Russiagate Roads Lead To London<\/em><\/a>, via the quasi-scholar Joseph Mifsud and others.<\/p>\n The issue was also raised by WikiLeaks\u2019s\u00a0Julian Assange<\/a>, just days before the Ecuadorian government silenced him last March. Assange\u2019s Twitter thread cited research by\u00a0Chris Blackburn<\/a>, who spoke with\u00a0Disobedient Media<\/a>\u00a0on multiple occasions covering Joseph Mifsud\u2019s ties to British intelligence figures and organizations, as well as his links to\u00a0Hillary Clinton\u2019s Presidential campaign, the FBI, CIA<\/a>\u00a0and the private cyber-security firm Crowdstrike.<\/p>\n We return, now, to this issue and specifically the research of Chris Blackburn, to place the final nail in the coffin of the Trump-Russia collusion charade.\u00a0Blackburn\u2019s insights are incredible not only because they return us to the earliest reporting on the role of British intelligence figures in manufacturing the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, but because they also implicate members of Mueller\u2019s investigation. What we are left with is an indication of collusion between factions of the US and UK intelligence community in fabricating evidence of Trump-Russia collusion: a scandal that would have rocked the legacy press to its core, if Western establishment-backed media had a spine.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Disobedient Media\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0previous coverage of Blackburn\u2019s work, he described his experience in intelligence:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been involved in numerous investigations that involve counter-intelligence techniques in the past. I used to work for the\u00a09\/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism<\/a>, one of the biggest tort actions in American history. I helped build a profile of Osama bin Laden\u2019s financial and political network, which was slightly different to the one that had been built by the\u00a0CIA\u2019s Alec Station<\/a>, a dedicated task force which was focused on Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Alec Station designed its profile to hunt Osama bin Laden and disrupt his network. I thought it was flawed. It had failed to take into account Osama\u2019s historical links to Pakistan\u2019s main political parties or that he was the figurehead for a couple of organizations, not just Al-Qaeda.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI also ran a few conferences for US intelligence leaders during the Bush administration. After the 9\/11 Commission published its report into the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon it created a public outreach program. The US National Intelligence Conference and Exposition (Intelcon<\/a>) was one of the avenues it used. I was responsible for creating the \u2018View from Abroad\u2019 track. We had guidance from former Senator Slade Gorton and Jamie Gorelick, who both sat on the 9\/11 Commission. We got leaders such as Sir John Chilcot and Baroness Pauline Neville Jones to come and help share their experiences on how the US would be able to heal the rifts after 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe US intelligence community was suffering from severe turf wars and firewalls, which were hampering counter-terrorism efforts. They were concentrating on undermining each other rather than tackling terrorism. I had mainly concentrated on the Middle East, but in 2003 I switched my focus to terrorism in South Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n Counter Terrorism, Not Counter Intelligence, Sparked Probe<\/strong><\/p>\n In an article published by\u00a0The Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0last November, the paper acknowledged the following:<\/p>\n \u201cIt forces the spotlight on whether the UK played a role in the FBI\u2019s investigation launched before the 2016 presidential election into Trump campaign ties to the Kremlin\u2026 Mr. Trump\u2019s allies and former advisers are raising questions about the UK\u2019s role in the start of the probe, given many of the key figures and meetings were located in Britain\u2026\u00a0One former top White House adviser to Mr. Trump made similar insinuations, telling this newspaper: \u201cYou know the Brits are up to their neck.\u201d The source added on the Page wiretap application:\u00a0\u201cI think that stuff is going to implicate MI5 and MI6 in a bunch of activities they don\u2019t want to be implicated in, along with FBI, counter-terrorism and the CIA.<\/strong>\u201d [Emphasis Added]<\/p>\n The article<\/a>\u00a0cites George Papadopoulos, who asked why the \u201cBritish intelligence apparatus was weaponized against Trump and his advisers.\u201d\u00a0Papadopoulos has also addressed the issue at length via Twitter. In response to the Telegraph\u2019s coverage of the issue, Chris Blackburn wrote via\u00a0Twitter<\/a>: \u201cThe Telegraph story on Trump Russia acknowledges that activities involving counter-terrorism are at the heart of the scandal\u2026not counter-intelligence. If the [London Centre for International Law Practice] was British state, not private, some Commonwealth countries are going to be seriously pissed off.\u201d<\/p>\n Blackburn spoke with Disobedient Media, saying: \u201cIf you factor in the dreadful reporting to discredit Joseph Mifsud and leaks, it is pretty clear something rather strange happened to George Papadopoulos during the campaign while he was shuttling around Europe and the Middle East. He was working with people who have intelligence links at the London Centre of International Law Practice. A recent article in\u00a0The Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0also alludes to MI5, MI6, and CIA using counter-terrorism assets which would tie into the London Centre of International Law Practice (LCILP), and its sister organizations, doing counter-terrorism work for the Australian, UK and US governments. They quote anonymous officials who believe that their\u00a0intelligence agencies used counter-terrorism personnel to kick start the investigation\/scandal.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0[Emphasis Added]<\/p>\n Blackburn discussed this differentiation with Disobedient Media: \u201cCounter-terrorism is obviously involved in more kinetic, violent political actions-concerning mass casualty events, bombings, assassinations, poisonings, and hacking. But, the lines are blurring between them. Counter-intelligence cases have been known to stretch for decades- often relying on nothing more than paranoia and suspicion to fuel investigations. Counter-terrorism is also a broader discipline as it involves tactical elements like hostage rescue, crime scene investigations, and explosive specialists. Counter-Terrorism is a collaborative effort with counter-terrorism officers working closely with local and regional police forces and civic organizations. There is also a wider academic field around countering violent, and radical ideology which promotes terrorism and insurgencies. Cybersecurity has become the third major discipline in intelligence. The London Center of International Law Practice, the mysterious intelligence company that\u00a0employed both Papadopoulos and Mifsud<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0had also been working in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n Continuing, Blackburn pinpointed the significance of defining counter-terrorism as the starting point of the investigation, saying: \u201cIt shows that there is a high probability that intelligence was deliberately abused to make Papadopoulos\u2019 activities look like they were something else. As counter-terrorism and counterintelligence are close in tactics and methods, it would seem that they were used because they share the same skill sets \u2013 covert evidence gathering and deception. It\u2019s basically sleight of hand. A piece of theatre would be more precise. However, we don\u2019t know if the FBI knew it was real or make-believe. It\u2019s more likely that the CIA played the FBI with the help of close allies who were suspicious and frightened of a Trump presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n Mueller\u2019s Team And Joseph Mifsud<\/strong><\/p>\n Zainab Ahmad<\/a>, a\u00a0member<\/a>\u00a0of Mueller\u2019s legal team, is the former Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. As pointed out by\u00a0Blackburn<\/a>,\u00a0Ahmad attended a Global Center on Cooperative Security event in 2017.\u00a0In recent days, Blackburn wrote via\u00a0Twitter<\/a>: \u201cZainab Ahmad is a major player in the Russiagate scandal at the DOJ. Does she work for SC Mueller? She was at a GCCS event in May 2017. Arvinder Sambei, a co-director of the [London Centre of International Law Practice], worked with Joseph Mifsud, [George Papadopoulos] and [Simona Mangiante]. She\u2019s a GCCS consultant.\u201d<\/p>\n Blackburn told this author: \u201cZainab Ahmad was one of the first DOJ prosecutors to have seen the Steele dossier. In May 2017, she attended a counter-terrorism conference in New York with the Global Center on Cooperative Security (GCCS), an organization which Joseph Mifsud, the alleged Russian spy, had been working within London and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRichard Barrett, the Former Chief of Counter-Terrorism at MI6, Britain\u2019s foreign intelligence department traveled with Mifsud to Saudi Arabia to give a talk on terrorism in 2017. Ex-CIA officers, US Defense, and US Treasury officials were also there. The\u00a0London Centre of International Law Practice\u2019s relationship to the Global Center had been established in 2014. The\u00a0Global Center on Cooperative Security made Martin Polaine and Arvinder Sambei consultants, they then became directors at the London Centre of International Law Practice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Global Center on Cooperative Security\u2019s first major UK conference was at Joseph Mifsud\u2019s London Academy of Diplomacy (LAD). Mifsud then followed Arvinder Sambei and Nagi Idris over to the London Centre of International Law Practice. Sources have told me that Mifsud was moonlighting as a specialist on counter-terrorism and Islamism while working at LAD which explains why he went to work in counter-terrorism after LAD folded.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a coincidence that Global Center on Cooperative Security is connected to various elements that popped up in the Papadopoulos case. The fact that a prosecutor on Mueller\u2019s team was at Global Center before Mueller was appointed as special counsel is also troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n Days ago,\u00a0The Hill<\/a>\u00a0reported on Congressional testimony by Bruce Ohr, revealing that when served as a DOJ official, he warned FBI and DOJ figures that the Steele dossier was problematic and linked to the Clintons. Critically,\u00a0The Hill<\/a>\u00a0writes:<\/p>\n \u201cThose he briefed included Andrew Weissmann, then the head of DOJ\u2019s fraud section; Bruce Swartz, longtime head of DOJ\u2019s international operations, and\u00a0Zainab Ahmad<\/strong>, an accomplished terrorism prosecutor who, at the time, was assigned to work with Lynch as a senior counselor. Ahmad and Weissmann would go on to work for Mueller, the special prosecutor overseeing the Russia probe.\u201d [Emphasis Added]<\/p>\n This point is essential, as it not only describes Ahmad\u2019s role in Mueller\u2019s team but places her at a crucial pre-investigation meeting.<\/p>\n Last year,\u00a0Blackburn<\/a>\u00a0noted the connection between Mifsud and\u00a0Arvinder Sambei<\/a>, writing: \u201cLCILP director and FBI counsel, works with Mike Smith at the Global Center. They ran joint counter-terrorism conferences and training with Mifsud\u2019s London Academy. Sambei then brought Mifsud over to the [London Centre of International Law Practice]. [Global Center works with Aussies, UK and US State too.\u201d<\/p>\n Sambei has been\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0elsewhere as a\u00a0\u201cFormer practising barrister, Senior Crown Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service of England & Wales, and Legal Adviser at the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ), Ministry of Defence.\u201d [British spelling has been retained]<\/p>\n That Sambei has been so thoroughly linked to organizations where Mifsud was a central figure is yet another cause of suspicion regarding allegations that Joseph Mifsud was a shadowy, unknown Russian agent until the summer of 2016. She is also a direct link between Robert Mueller and Mifsud.<\/p>\n Blackburn wrote via\u00a0Twitter<\/a>: \u201cArvinder Sambei helped to organize LCILP\u2019s counter-terrorism and corruption events. She used her contacts in the US to bring in Middle Eastern government officials that were seen to be vulnerable to graft. Lisa Osofsky, former FBI Deputy General Counsel, was working with her.\u201d Below, Arvinder is pictured at a\u00a0London Centre of International Law Practice (LCILP) event.<\/p>\n As Chris Blackburn told this author: \u201cMifsud and Papadopoulos\u2019s co-director Arvinder Sambei was also the former FBI British counsel working 9\/11 cases for Robert Mueller.<\/strong>\u00a0She also runs a consultancy which deals with Special Investigative Measure (SIMs) which is just a posh description for covert espionage and evidence gathering. She has worked for major intelligence and national law agencies in the past. She wore two hats as a director of London Centre and a consultant for the Global Center on Cooperative Security (GCCS), a counter-terrorism think tank which is sponsored by the Australia, Canada, UK and US governments. Alexander Downer\u2019s former Chief of Staff while at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade now works for the Global Center. Mifsud was also due to meet with Australian private intelligence figures in Adelaide in March 2016. So. Australia is certainly a major focus for the investigation.\u201d [Emphasis Added]<\/p>\n Below,\u00a0former FBI Deputy General Counsel Lisa Osofsky is pictured at a\u00a0London Centre for International Law Practice event<\/a>. Osofsky also\u00a0served<\/a>\u00a0as the Money Laundering Reporting Officer with Goldman Sachs International. Since 2018, she has served as the\u00a0Director of the\u00a0UK\u2019s Serious Fraud Office<\/a>\u00a0(SFO).<\/p>\n An Embarrassment\u00a0For John Brennan?<\/b><\/p>\n Disobedient Media<\/a>\u00a0previously reported that\u00a0Robert Hannigan, then head of British spy agency GCHQ, flew to Washington DC to share \u2018director-to-director\u2019 level intelligence with then-CIA Chief John Brennan in the summer of 2016. This writer noted that \u201c\u2026\u00a0The Guardian<\/a>\u00a0reported Hannigan\u2019s announcement that he would step down from his leadership position with the agency just three days after the inauguration of President Trump, on 23 January 2017. Jane Mayer, in her profile of Christopher Steele published in the\u00a0New Yorker,<\/a>\u00a0also noted that Hannigan had flown to Washington D.C. to personally brief the then-CIA Director John Brennan on alleged communications between the Trump campaign and Moscow. What is so curious about this briefing\u00a0\u201cdeemed so sensitive it was handled at director-level\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is why Hannigan was talking director-to-director to the CIA and not Mike Rogers at the NSA, GCHQ\u2019s Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partner.\u201d<\/p>\n Blackburn told Disobedient Media: \u201cFormer Congressman Trey Gowdy, who has seen most of the information gathered by Congress from the intelligence community concerning the Russia investigation, said that if President Trump were to declassify files and present the truth to the American public, it would \u201cembarrass John Brennan<\/a>.\u201d I think that is pretty concrete for me, but it\u2019s not definitive. I know the polarization and spin in Washington has become perverse, but that statement is pretty specific for me. If Brennan is involved, it is most probably through Papadopoulos who sparked off the \u2018official\u2019 investigation at the FBI. He also made sure the Steele dossier was spread through the US government.\u201d<\/p>\n Blackburn added: \u201cChris Steele was also working on FIFA projects, and a source has told me that he was working to investigate the Russian and Qatari World Cup bids. The\u00a0London Centre of International Law Practice has been working with Majed Garoub, the former Saudi legal representative of FIFA, the world governing body for soccer. He\u2019s also been working against the Qatari bid. Steele likes to get paid twice for his investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMifsud has also been associated with Prince Turki the former Saudi intelligence chief, Mifsud and the London Academy of Diplomacy used to train Saudi diplomats and intelligence figures while Turki was the Saudi Ambassador to London. Turki is a close friend of Bill Clinton and John Brennan. Nawaf Obaid was also courting Mifsud and tried to get him a cushy job working with CNN\u2019s Freedom Project at Link Campus in Rome. He also knows John Brennan. Intelligence agencies like to give out professional gifts like this plum academic position for completing missions. In the US, it is widely known that intelligence agencies gift the children of assets to get them into prestigious Ivy League schools.\u201d<\/p>\n At minimum, we can surmise that Mifsud was not a Russian agent, but was an asset of Western intelligence agencies. We are left with the impression that the Mifsud saga served as a ploy, whether he participated knowingly or not. It seems reasonable to conclude that the gambit was initially developed with participation of John Brennan and UK intelligence. Following this, Mueller inherited and developed the Mifsud narrative thread into the collusion soap opera we know today..<\/p>\n Ultimately, we are faced with the reality that British and US interests worked together to fabricate a collusion scandal to subvert a US Presidency, and in doing so, intentionally raised tensions between the West and a nuclear-armed power.<\/p>\n