Alternative routes from China to Europe - Source: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik
UK and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan: A Pawn on the West’s Chessboard? https://lauraruggeri.substack.com/p/azerbaijan-a-pawn-on-the-wests-chessboard by Laura Ruggeri - Jul 28, 2025 - Substack - Archive https://archive.ph/9gfpA
When we look at Azerbaijan it’s impossible not to notice the elephant in the room: the UK is the largest investor in Azerbaijan’s economy, followed by Türkiye and Hungary.5 More than 450 UK companies operate in Azerbaijan. In the last 33 years BP, together with its co-venturers, has invested more than $87 billion in oil and gas exploration, development and transportation projects in Azerbaijan.6 In addition to oil and gas, UK companies are active in areas such as construction management and design, waste management, retail and education.
…
BP, Azerbaijan’s largest investor, plays a role that extends far beyond the economy. The energy giant is deeply involved in the country’s politics and society, both through its outreach organizations and initiatives, and collaboration with the local British Council, universities and various Azerbaijani ministries, including the Ministry of Education. BP has always been contiguous with Britain’s MI6 and Ministry of Defence. Not only are they working closely at the highest levels, the revolving door between BP and British military and intelligence apparati never stops turning. Senior officials who became advisers to BP include former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers, who joined the corporation as a non-executive director, its former head of counterterrorism Sir Mark Allen who joined BP after leaving government service. General Nick Houghton, the former chief of the defence staff, and Lord George Robertson, the former Secretary of State for Defence and NATO secretary-general, also became advisors to BP.
The case of Mrs Emma Briant
The first two articles by Klarenberg and Miller on the UK intelligence involved with media and willing academics. The last two articles David Miller go in more depth into Mrs Emma Briant’s activities:
(Klarenberg 2022a) British security state collaborator Paul Mason’s war on ‘rogue academics’ exposed https://thegrayzone.com/2022/06/21/british-security-state-collaborator-paul-masons-war-on-rogue-academics-exposed/ by Kit Klarenberg And David Miller - The Grayzone - June 21, 2022 - Archive https://archive.ph/DFUUS
(Klarenberg 2022b) BBC assault on antiwar academics was apparent product of UK intel plot https://thegrayzone.com/2022/08/21/bbc-antiwar-academics-uk-intel/ by Kit Klarenberg And David Miller - The Grayzone - August 21, 2022 - Archive https://archive.ph/EduWr
(Miller2025a) Disinformation “Maven”: Emma Briant’s Troubling Apparent Recruitment as an Intelligence Asset https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/disinformation-maven-emma-briants-troubling-apparent-recruitment-as-an-intelligence-asset By Prof. David Miller - UK Column - 27 November 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/Kv1PU
(Miller 2025b) Emma Briant Shills for the Azov Brigade in Ukraine https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/emma-briant-shills-for-the-azov-brigade-in-ukraine By Prof. David Miller - UK Column - 10 December 2025 Archive https://archive.ph/8UGuK
Comment: I have a feeling that Mrs Emma Briant will end up in King’s College London.
Untitled, 2025 - Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
UK Gov War Planning
(SDR 2025) The Strategic Defence Review 2025 - Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-strategic-defence-review-2025-making-britain-safer-secure-at-home-strong-abroad UK Ministry of Defence - 2 June 2025 - PDF 144 pages
(DIS 2025) Defence Industrial Strategy 2025: Making Defence an Engine for Growth https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-industrial-strategy-2025-making-defence-an-engine-for-growth UK Ministry of Defence Policy paper - 8 September 2025 - PDF 112 pages
(Prashad 2025) NATO Is the United States https://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/19/vijay-prashad-nato-is-the-united-states/ by Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research - Consortium News - June 19, 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/Rk0Kb
The British government’s Strategic Defence Review 2025 is basically a recipe for bankruptcy. Britain simply does not have the resources to build a new “hybrid navy” with ‘”hybrid airwings,” provide housing for the working class, or refurbish its health care system. It is easy to write about a “whole-of-society” approach but hard to find the money to build a society strained by so many afflictions.
On the other hand, the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) make a perfectly reasonable case for “human security and common security,” as they write it in their Alternative Defence Review.
(ADR 2025) Alternative Defence Review Calls To Invest In ‘Welfare, Not Warfare’ https://cnduk.org/alternative-defence-review-calls-to-invest-in-welfare-not-warfare/ May 30, 2025 - https://cnduk.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ADR-digital.pdf PDF 46 pages.
(Todhunter 2025) Land of Confusion: The Great Reset in Motion https://off-guardian.org/2025/12/23/land-of-confusion-the-great-reset-in-motion/ by Colin Todhunter - Off-Guardian - Dec 23, 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/oY1XJ
Under this regime of ‘permanent emergency’, any industrial action, protest or systemic critique can be branded as malign foreign influence or subversion, allowing the state to use new, expansive policing powers to suppress internal friction.
To justify the redirection of billions in tax revenue away from failing public services and into the military-industrial complex to create ‘growth’ in a failing economy (a desperate attempt to revive a collapsing neoliberalism—see chapter two here), the state must maintain a high-decibel level of existential fear. In the UK, the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 explicitly frames militarisation as an engine for growth, using the spectre of a Russian invasion to legitimise a state-subsidised transfer of wealth to high-tech defence contractors.
The Ditchley Foundation
(Anderson 2025) The Ditchley Foundation: A Lesser-Known But Strong Factor in World Governance Circles https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/the-ditchley-foundation-a-lesser-known-but-strong-factor-in-world-governance-circles by Mark Anderson - UK Column - 25 November 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/fmFDI
This UK Column writer, a follower of the Bilderbergers’ machinations since 2010, also found that, while Ditchley’s ideological kinship with Bilderberg resembles the Trilateral Commission’s relationship with Bilderberg — as if the Trilaterals and Ditchley are its younger philosophical siblings — Ditchley has its own distinct flavour and is seen as a ‘magnificent crucible of ideas’.
Previously:
- UK Security Update - May 6, 2025
Started: Fri, Feb 6, 2026
