Charity. My ageing Collins English dictionary defines charity as "love, kindness, disposition to think kindly of others, practical kindliness and alms giving".
Jumping to 2018, Wikipedia defines a charity or charitable organisation as "a non-profit organisation whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being".
So far so good, with just one little question: What type of charity would be funded by the British and French governments and be heavily into promotion of defence industries? Have we found new philanthropic ways of killing mankind? Enter the Franco British Council (FBC).
The UK Column has covered this pernicious little 'charity' before under the title 'Franco British Council's Plan To Destroy Britain's Military Capability.' Our warning was simple: in secretive closed door meetings the Franco British Council was drawing the UK ever deeper into EU military unification.
So devious were proceedings that senior British military officers present wore lounge suits rather than their national uniform. As the man on the Clapham omnibus might believe, presumably this was to help take the edge off the idea of treason, for few British omnibus passengers would doubt that selling your country and military to a foreign power, the EU, behind closed doors - must constitute treason.
Time moves on and there is also no doubt that the FBC has continued to be very busy as a charity. Aside from its charitable works to "promote constructive dialogue between France and the UK for enhanced future collaboration" - their words not mine, the FBC also states that while the UK and France "enjoy a long history of alliance and friendship, there is also a persisting cultural mistrust, a perception, often hidden behind jokes and clichés, that the nations can’t understand each other. The Council was formed to help confront these preconceived notions and encourage a better understanding between the two nations, leading to a more positive relationship, a greater dialogue and a more productive collaboration."
You see it's all done with the best of philanthropic intentions to help us silly little people get over our 'persisting cultural mistrust' of the French.
So what has the FBC been doing to help us get along with the French in a charitable way? They have been aggressively pushing bi-lateral defence collaboration with the French, and in doing so creating a wedge to help drive UK ever deeper into full EU military unification. Forget Brexit - Theresa May's plans and discussions are just the public theatre, whilst UK military and defence industries continue to be subsumed into full EU military unification.
But there's more, FBC has been creating the Franco-British Young Leaders and Local Leaders Programmes. As they say ...
History has taught us that whatever the challenges we have faced, France and Britain have remained close. The stronger the ties between the leaders of the two countries, the more prosperous the relationship will be. With this in mind, the Council selects the best talents on both sides of the Channel and gives them the opportunity to meet, share their experiences and join a transformational network with access to excellence. These young leaders will shape the future of Franco-British relations and the programme provides a unique platform of influence. The programmes were announced by Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande at the Amiens Summit in 2016.
Just a pity that the UK public was never told of the Cameron government plan to create a 'transformational' network of specially chosen young leaders to shape the future of Franco-British relations and thus our lives.
To summarise: the British tax payer helps pay for a 'charity', the FBC, to create new chosen leaders and a unified EU defence structure to include Britain, despite 17.4m British voters voting to come out of the EU as soon as possible.
Before we move on to look at the FBC defence efforts in more detail lets put some facts on the page. Here is an excerpt from the FBC Charity Commission return on accounts.
Alongside British and French government funding and 'in-kind support from the British and French Embassies', we see private funding. Strangely the private funders are not declared. Transparency shines through the charitable intent.
The FBC explains that "Since 2010, the Franco-British Defence Conference has brought together high profile representatives from the military, government, industry and academia from both sides of the Channel to share ideas and discuss current issues in the defence arena." Not bad for a charity.
The UK Column highlighted in 2011 that the FBC had been a key driver in helping to shape UK defence policy and most importantly the UK's Strategic Defence Review. Few members of the British public were invited to contribute to SDR - in fact none. That was 'pas de probleme' for the FBC. They brought their representatives and collaborators together in the opulent residence of the British Ambassador in Paris.
In 2018 the FBC is still a powerful hidden hand in shaping UK defence in a very pro EU fashion. Let's take a look, and no better way than examining their own words about their defence efforts.
The wording is smooth, comforting, intellectual and poisonous. Consider: "Themes discussed enthusiastically at the last conference included: bilateral security cooperation after Brexit, the prospects of a shared defence culture in respect of Europe and NATO, the setting up of mutual dependency in industrial domains of sovereignty and the added value of the Franco-British partnership in the fight against terrorism." It sounds good, but it's easy to miss what is really being said. Let's reword it.
After Brexit, which should be Britain regaining full independence as a sovereign nation state, the FBC has been helping to create a shared defence culture - EU military unification, camouflaged under European defence and NATO, as best suits the public deception agenda. In place of an independent Britain free of EU control structures, Britain is to be made 'mutually dependent' upon other EU members states with regard to air sea and land military forces, and other military strategic industrial capability. The Franco British partnership will also use the propaganda of fear of terrorism to further cement Franco British defence capability and infrastructure, as one major component of 'mutual dependency.' Once Britain is mutually dependent upon France for defence - where in reality France is the EU, neither Britain or France exists as an independent Nation State. The EU has successfully and covertly subsumed both. Bye bye Brexit. Bye bye British Armed Forces.
Boasting of their September 19-20 2018 conference, we see that the FBC charity provides the stage for powerful actors in this deceit against the British nation. Present as speakers are Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Ambassadeur de France au Royaume-Uni and the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, British and French Chiefs of Defence Staff: General Sir Nicholas Carter and Chef d’Etats-Major des Armées Génėral d’Armée François Lecointre, Colonel Armel Dirou, French Military Attaché, London, Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson and Ministre des Armées Florence Parly, Sir Simon Bollom, Chief Executive, Defence Equipment & Support and Joël Barre, Délégué Général pour l’Armement and Sir Simon Bollom, Chief Executive, Defence Equipment & Support and Joël Barre, Délégué Général pour l’Armement. Oh, and not to forget Antoine Bouvier, CEO of MBDA.
Not bad for a charity is it? Defence Ministers, the most senior military officers, Heads of Defence Equipment and Support, and representatives of the industrial military complex to give the 'industrial perspective.' Of course we have little idea as to what was said - by invitation only and no minutes - just the FBC produced (and censored) notes in due course.
So peering into the very murky FBC charitable pond the best indication we get of the real agenda is from Antoine Bouvier, CEO of MBDA. But you've never heard of MBDA? Then here it is ...
What can be seen immediately is that British companies, key to our strategic defence interests - BAe Dynamics and GEC-Marconi Radar & Defence, have been quietly subsumed, firstly into bi-lateral 'partnerships', and then into an all embracing single European sector, controlling missile system design and production throughout Europe.
We should not be surprised therefore to see the FBC chose MBDA's CEO Antoine Bouvier to speak on that 'Industrial Perspective' - more correctly called EU military unification i.e. the full integration of defence design, manufacture and procurement in Europe, ultimately backed by an EU treasury.
So what does Antoine Bouvier tell us in the brief quote provided by FBC to big up their charity image and darker closed door dealings? In fact quite a lot. His first statement is this ...
MBDA is seen as a European (not British) defence industry leader, and is the champion of European industrial cooperation and sovereignty. By his own words Bouvier is clearly driving the EU military and defence sector unification strategy, by means of industrial cooperation, bi-lateral collaboration i.e. Franco British collaboration in this instance, but he also clearly states that the objective is EU sovereignty. A 'sovereign' EU super state with a fully unified military, and military industrial complex, and of course, treasury.
Brexit? That's just for the 17.4 million little people. Theresa May and her treasonous government know full well what is being created here, full EU military unification, which is why Gavin Williamson Secretary of State for Defence is attending the deceitful Franco British Council magick circkel.
Bouvier says more ...
Mr Bouvier is worried. He is worried because he states that "we [the EU] have to prepare for all the potential outcomes [of Brexit] to ensure that all the good that has come to date from Franco_British industrial cooperation under the Lancaster House Treaty, and more generally between the UK and its European partners, is not compromised." What Bouvier is really saying is that whatever the Brexit result, unification of the EU nations and their military capability achieved to date, including the UK, must be protected and must continue. In addition, Bouvier stresses Franco British collaboration knowing that this is, in reality, soft sell propaganda for the intended full EU military unification. He gives a further clue here by speaking of the launch of the "common strategic FC/ASW programme' - where 'common' is a full EU wide military procurement programme.
Further details can be seen here ...
At the start of this article I questioned the real 'raison d'etre' of the Franco British Council. A little research shows that the FBC cannot be considered a real charity or charitable. It is a devious and pernicious political tool, funded by the British and French governments and others unknown, working behind closed doors to help build the EU superstate, and to exist that EU superstate must have its own military, defence procurement and production capability, and treasury. That is the Franco British Council's true objective.
All these pieces are rapidly being assembled, and whatever the claims by our duplicitous Prime Minister Theresa May about Brexit, the truth is that the UK military is not only locked into the EU unified structure, our wider defence infrastructure is also clearly included.
Most dangerously Britain's nuclear deterrent is also being subsumed into that same EU unified military structure. That aspect deserves a separate evidence based analysis which we will complete in due course.
What can be done? Major press and media exposure and for the 17.4 million Brexit voters to stand up and demand of their MPs that this betrayal is exposed and stopped. The Franco British Council should be shut down, and its trustees and officers should face public examination in Westminster on camera.
