NuLab and Uncle Sam In the last issue I discussed the research by Giles Scott-Smith on the US State Department’s funding of a big freebie trip to the US for Mrs Thatcher in 1967, after the US embassy in London had spotted her as a possible future prime minister. Scott-Smith has more information on the … Read more
Benny Morris London: I. B Tauris, 2002, £24.50, h/b In report after report on the major media we hear about or see pictures of ‘refugee camps’ in Israel – and no-one ever explains from where the refugees came. Perhaps editors think we know already. Benny Morris is an Israeli historian who became well known … Read more
The Observer is a pale shadow of what it once was but it still has a lively Business section. Every fortnight Business carries a column from the American investigative journalist Greg Palast who is about as good as it gets these days on the interface between corporate interests and politicians. (1) In that Business section … Read more
The drip feed of information on the attempted assassination of President Nasser continues. In a recent episode of the Channel 4 TV series ‘The End of Empire’, Sir Anthony Nutting, former Minister of State at the Foreign Office, who later resigned over Suez, recalled that he had been “horrified” to receive a telephone call from … Read more
See note (1) Robin Ramsay The topic was suggested to me by Kevin O’Brien [of ICSA]. It wasn’t clear to me if it was simply that I was being played out a very long piece of rope with which to hang myself. At any rate, given such a wide title – and a title to … Read more
Lost plot After Lobster 35 I received a long letter from John Pilger, followed by a revised version of it, complaining about my review of his recent book, Hidden Agendas in 35. With the second version came a note asking me to publish his letter without comment. I replied that I was happy to publish … Read more
Fleshing Out Skull and Bones: Investigations into America’s Most Powerful Secret Society Ed. Kris Millegan Waterville (Oregon): TrineDay, 2003, (UK) £28.50, h/back Distributed in the UK by Gazelle Books, www.gazellebooks.co.uk As an illustration of how much the American media’s view of secret societies has changed in the last 20 years, have a look at … Read more
Someone pointed out to me that Lobster 42 ranged from Gladstone to UFOs, a spread probably unique today. But this range has a downside: things get picked up and then sidelined. One such area is the field bounded on one side by what is known as mind control and on the other by non-lethal technologies. … Read more
The Shadow Warriors Bradley F. Smith (Andre Deutsch, London 1983) The network of close personal connections established in O.S.S. (the fore-runner of the CIA) “helped bridge some of the widest gaps in American society and could be called upon in cases of need long after the war ended. For example, when in 1964 former British … Read more
Welcome to Lobster, the journal that looks at the impact of the intelligence and security services on history and politics. From espionage to dirty tricks to conspiracy theories. What else is in Lobster? Check out the keywords in the box in the sidebar, right. Lobster issues 58 and onwards are free. Earlier issues of Lobster … Read more
