Gill Bennett
@gillhistory.bsky.social
Intelligence historian, music-lover
Reposted by Gill Bennett
RIP the greatest British playwright of our time on.ft.com/4anfEQJ
British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard dies
[FREE TO READ] Czech-born author of witty, cerebral plays was also an award-winning screenwriter
on.ft.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:15 PM
RIP the greatest British playwright of our time on.ft.com/4anfEQJ
Sorry to hear about the death of Tom Stoppard, a truly great playwright. I have memories connected with all his plays, beginning with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead which i saw at the NT with John Stride and Edward Petherbridge. Also Hordern/Rigg in Jumpers . . could go on but run out of...
November 30, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Sorry to hear about the death of Tom Stoppard, a truly great playwright. I have memories connected with all his plays, beginning with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead which i saw at the NT with John Stride and Edward Petherbridge. Also Hordern/Rigg in Jumpers . . could go on but run out of...
Reposted by Gill Bennett
How future generations will remember Pete Hagueseth:
BREAKING: In its best scene yet, South Park just humiliated Pete Hegseth. This is amazing.
November 30, 2025 at 8:14 AM
How future generations will remember Pete Hagueseth:
Reposted by Gill Bennett
It's Black Friday. You might as well pre-order the first mainstream published version of the Church Committee Report. Abridged to its most essential findings, this 1975 report reads like the very best investigative journalism mixed with a spy novel covering assassinations, surveillance, sabotage.
The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation Into the National Security State
Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation Into the National Security State
bookshop.org
November 29, 2025 at 3:40 AM
It's Black Friday. You might as well pre-order the first mainstream published version of the Church Committee Report. Abridged to its most essential findings, this 1975 report reads like the very best investigative journalism mixed with a spy novel covering assassinations, surveillance, sabotage.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
NEW: The New York Times got a State Dept. cable telling diplomats to destroy visas that had been approved and printed to give to Afghans. And diplomats are told to do scheduled interviews but not grant visas. US shuts all legal entry routes for Afghans. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Trump Pauses All Asylum Applications and Halts Visas for Afghans
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
NEW: The New York Times got a State Dept. cable telling diplomats to destroy visas that had been approved and printed to give to Afghans. And diplomats are told to do scheduled interviews but not grant visas. US shuts all legal entry routes for Afghans. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Reposted by Gill Bennett
CSE Chief Caroline Xavier interviewed by Wesley Wark
thewalrus.ca/canada-fight...
thewalrus.ca/canada-fight...
Canada Fighting “Billions” of Attacks a Day, Cyber Agency Says | The Walrus
In an exclusive interview, CSE chief Caroline Xavier warns adversaries are growing faster, smarter, and more aggressive
thewalrus.ca
November 27, 2025 at 5:55 PM
CSE Chief Caroline Xavier interviewed by Wesley Wark
thewalrus.ca/canada-fight...
thewalrus.ca/canada-fight...
Reposted by Gill Bennett
Excellent piece as usual.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
November 27, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Excellent piece as usual.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
A vicious, orchestrated, and unchecked campaign of violence by weak men against women and girls is raging like wild fire.
As we start 16 Days of Activism, we must stand with survivors, with partners supporting them, and hold perpetrators to account. #16Days
As we start 16 Days of Activism, we must stand with survivors, with partners supporting them, and hold perpetrators to account. #16Days
November 25, 2025 at 10:54 AM
A vicious, orchestrated, and unchecked campaign of violence by weak men against women and girls is raging like wild fire.
As we start 16 Days of Activism, we must stand with survivors, with partners supporting them, and hold perpetrators to account. #16Days
As we start 16 Days of Activism, we must stand with survivors, with partners supporting them, and hold perpetrators to account. #16Days
Reposted by Gill Bennett
New post just out:
"MAGA Meltdown?"
With Trump's approval ratings collapsing the Republicans are starting to realise they're in serious trouble.
Here's why it's going to get worse for them.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/m...
"MAGA Meltdown?"
With Trump's approval ratings collapsing the Republicans are starting to realise they're in serious trouble.
Here's why it's going to get worse for them.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/m...
MAGA Meltdown?
Why the Republicans are in serious trouble
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 AM
New post just out:
"MAGA Meltdown?"
With Trump's approval ratings collapsing the Republicans are starting to realise they're in serious trouble.
Here's why it's going to get worse for them.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/m...
"MAGA Meltdown?"
With Trump's approval ratings collapsing the Republicans are starting to realise they're in serious trouble.
Here's why it's going to get worse for them.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/m...
Reposted by Gill Bennett
This is so important. People who study international relations love to fight over whether interests or values define relationships. It is both. An interest is something you define. And your values come into the equation. It is not either or.
What Trump has made me realise is how much the post-Cold War relationship hinged on shared values rather than shared interests. Trump is illustrating how, whether on Ukraine and Gaza, our interests diverge and, absent those values, there's not much holding us together.
November 25, 2025 at 9:38 AM
This is so important. People who study international relations love to fight over whether interests or values define relationships. It is both. An interest is something you define. And your values come into the equation. It is not either or.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Reposted by Gill Bennett
Fiona Hill, geopolitical strategist: 'The US is giving Russia tremendous influence over Europe'
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Fiona Hill, geopolitical strategist: 'The US is giving Russia tremendous influence over Europe'
According to the former Trump adviser, 'This White House wants Ukraine to capitulate to Russian demands to end this war, without proper consideration of all the factors at play.'
www.lemonde.fr
November 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Fiona Hill, geopolitical strategist: 'The US is giving Russia tremendous influence over Europe'
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Essential reading, and an antidote to complete depression!
Another post on the new peace plan assessing how Ukraine should respond - don’t rush, don’t agree to a package and then wait for more Russians demands, keep up pressure, ask questions, cherry pick. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/h...?
How should Ukraine respond?
And more details on the "peace plan"
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Essential reading, and an antidote to complete depression!
Reposted by Gill Bennett
European sycophancy towards Trump has won very little. it has telegraphed weakness and invited more punches. Interesting to compare the respect he shows those who stand up to him rather than the repeated, escalating humiliation he dishes out to Europe.
on.ft.com/4prynPF
on.ft.com/4prynPF
Trump flattery will get you nowhere
Fawning after the US president is not only humiliating — it doesn’t work
on.ft.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
European sycophancy towards Trump has won very little. it has telegraphed weakness and invited more punches. Interesting to compare the respect he shows those who stand up to him rather than the repeated, escalating humiliation he dishes out to Europe.
on.ft.com/4prynPF
on.ft.com/4prynPF
Reposted by Gill Bennett
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services is not a fan of the Trump admin’s Ukraine peace plan.
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services is not a fan of the Trump admin’s Ukraine peace plan.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
Another biting and detailed critique. The more one sees of the reported detail, the more this "plan" does indeed seem to have been the work of people with only the vaguest idea of what they are talking about. Hard to imagine it has been near any of the professionals in the State Department.
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
The Witkoff-Dmitriev peace plan annotated
We now know a bit more about the process which led to the new peace plan and we now have a copy of its contents, to which I will turn soon.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Another biting and detailed critique. The more one sees of the reported detail, the more this "plan" does indeed seem to have been the work of people with only the vaguest idea of what they are talking about. Hard to imagine it has been near any of the professionals in the State Department.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
The Witkoff-Dmitriev peace plan annotated
We now know a bit more about the process which led to the new peace plan and we now have a copy of its contents, to which I will turn soon.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
Reposted by Gill Bennett
'The current Labour government does make considerable use of the NSC, but has made some structural changes which have created more distance between policymakers and the intelligence agencies' writes @drceliap-v.bsky.social in latest RUSI Commentary.
Learning from Canberra: A Smarter Vision for UK Intelligence and National Security
Without adopting Canberra's policies wholesale, the UK's intelligence-policymaker network would benefit from making some of the changes Australia has implemented, particularly the designation of a principal adviser to the Prime Minister on intelligence ...
www.rusi.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
'The current Labour government does make considerable use of the NSC, but has made some structural changes which have created more distance between policymakers and the intelligence agencies' writes @drceliap-v.bsky.social in latest RUSI Commentary.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
🚨New article in our KCSI Insights blog by our core team member Dr @paulineblistene.bsky.social and KCSI Co-Director Dr @drichterova.bsky.social on “Strategic Vandalism: Decoding the French ‘Red Hands’ Trial.”
🔗 Link: kcsi.uk/kcsi-insight...
🔗 Link: kcsi.uk/kcsi-insight...
Strategic Vandalism: Decoding the French 'Red Hands' Trial
kcsi.uk
November 21, 2025 at 10:57 AM
🚨New article in our KCSI Insights blog by our core team member Dr @paulineblistene.bsky.social and KCSI Co-Director Dr @drichterova.bsky.social on “Strategic Vandalism: Decoding the French ‘Red Hands’ Trial.”
🔗 Link: kcsi.uk/kcsi-insight...
🔗 Link: kcsi.uk/kcsi-insight...
Very wise words here.
Far too much credibility is being given to the new ‘Trump peace plan’ that would be tantamount to Ukraine’s capitulation. Here I explain why this new plan is far less than it seems and is unlikely to lead to anything. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/y...?
Yet another peace plan?
What's going on with leaked proposals for a new US/Russia deal
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Very wise words here.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
Latest post returns to the battle for Pokrovsk and the pressure on Kyiv to order a withdrawal. I look at the factors influencing a decision, including the temptation to deny Putin a victory he has already claimed (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...?
Retreat, Defeat and the Sunk Cost Fallacy
Ukraine’s choices on Pokrovsk
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Latest post returns to the battle for Pokrovsk and the pressure on Kyiv to order a withdrawal. I look at the factors influencing a decision, including the temptation to deny Putin a victory he has already claimed (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...?
Reposted by Gill Bennett
I see from a recent answer to a PQ that the UK has supplied 85,000 drones to Ukraine in the past six months. That is rather impressive - not least for it happening with little publicity. It's the right approach: do more, shout about it less.
November 19, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I see from a recent answer to a PQ that the UK has supplied 85,000 drones to Ukraine in the past six months. That is rather impressive - not least for it happening with little publicity. It's the right approach: do more, shout about it less.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
Join us on 15 December for the Chief of the Defence Staff Lecture, an established RUSI tradition. This year, we welcome Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton following his September appointment.
Annual CDS Lecture 2025 by Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton
Join us for the annual Chief of the Defence Staff Lecture by Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton
my.rusi.org
November 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Join us on 15 December for the Chief of the Defence Staff Lecture, an established RUSI tradition. This year, we welcome Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton following his September appointment.
Worth watching.
The OSS made an incredible TRAINING FILM, directed by JOHN FORD, about the dos and donts of nonofficial cover. It’s great!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
World War 2 Spy Training Film: Undercover | OSS Film | ca. 1944
YouTube video by The Best Film Archives
m.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Worth watching.
Reposted by Gill Bennett
Megapost on the appearance of unapologetic racism on the New Right open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
Graham and the Groypers?
Overt racism and the transatlantic New Right
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Megapost on the appearance of unapologetic racism on the New Right open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...