KEEPING CONSPIRACIES UNDER CONTROL

Nick Redfern. Control: MKUltra, Chemtrails, and the Conspiracy to Suppress the Masses. Visible Ink Press, 2018.

If you are worried about the state of the world and the way it is going, reading Nick Redfern's controversial new book will not provide much relief, if any, although it is very readable, well-written and thoroughly researched. It provides plenty of food for thought about hidden influences behind recent world-changing events, and what they may be leading to. 

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While I believe that it is important to consider all possibilities with an open mind, the main issue I have with this book is its pessimistic viewpoint. Redfern offers neither hope nor strategy for avoiding his worst-case scenario of civil unrest and violent uprisings.

For some, the title alone will indicate 'conspiracy theory'. That phrase, now highly pejorative, often provokes a dismissal of any further discussion or consideration of the available facts. However, it is facts, not opinions, that matter when sorting out what is true from what is false. With complaints of increasing cases of 'fake news' appearing in the mass media, and in the alternative media, that task is often confusing. Redfern maintains clarity and credibility, for the most part, in his handling of difficult and murky subjects by presenting the facts, as far as they can be known from reliable sources, and forensically weighing up the evidence.

The author's premise is that the world is run by an elite that is either behind the scenes or hidden 'in plain view'. Globalisation, the media, international corporations, the banking and financial system and the 'military-industrial' complex that President Eisenhower warned about are all obvious examples of the levers of power that are used to keep control. As to who these people are, they are rarely identified personally. Redfern calls them 'the Controllers', whereas other authors in this field of research, such as David Icke, call them 'the Illuminati'.

Redfern outlines an elite agenda being gradually unfolded to create ever-increasing conflict, disorder and disease to reduce humanity's resistance to being controlled. This proposition may seem simply too shocking to accept, and the human mind naturally baulks at the implications. So we need to look carefully at what evidence there is for such an agenda being real and not mere fearful expectation.

A good place to start is MKUltra, the mind-control programme that is a key part of the title of this book. As the author explains in the introduction to the chapter entitled Mind Warping: "On April 13, 1953, CIA chief Allen Dulles ordered the creation of a program of mind control known as MKUltra to be conducted by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb. Rumors and half-truths about new mind-control techniques being used by Soviet, Chinese and North Korean interrogators on U.S. prisoners of war panicked the CIA into a search for its own sure-fire method of questioning captives."

Numerous methods were used, such as hypnosis, sensory deprivation and torture. Mind-altering drugs, such as LSD, were given surreptitiously to unwitting subjects to study the effects, which were lethal in some cases. Research was conducted in institutions such as pharmaceutical companies, prisons, universities and hospitals using front organisations to conceal the CIA's direct involvement. Related to MKUltra were Project Monarch and Operation Spellbinder, both of which were Top Secret. The former project was about techniques of behaviour modification, and the latter was set up to create 'sleeper' assassins (i.e. "Manchurian candidates") who could be activated by a specific word or phrase implanted previously in a post-hypnotic trance. There is no reason to assume that such techniques, and more, are not used in the present day when deemed necessary.

'Chemtrails', the other key word in the book's title, is perhaps the best example of 'conspiracy theory' where no absolute proof can be offered to support the proposition. In the chapter Dangerous Skies the author examines claims and counter-arguments for and against the deliberate seeding of harmful chemicals and viruses in the skies. Under an inset photo of an aircraft flying at high altitude with vapour trails emerging from it is the following caption: "Contrails form when vapor from airplane exhaust crystallizes at higher elevations because the air is cold. Some suspect that chemicals such as barium are also being deliberately released into the atmosphere disguised as contrails." His concluding sentence in this chapter is "The end of the contrail controversy, it seems, is nowhere in sight."

Redfern is on strong ground when he discusses subjects such as: mass surveillance; 'dumbing down' of education; the 'Men in Black' phenomenon; weather manipulation; advanced technology for control and dispersion of crowds; genetic engineering; increasing obesity and resultant health issues, such as soaring rates of diabetes, heart disease, and so on. He describes an 'Orwellian' world already here in the form of smart TVs that can be used externally to listen in to conversations in the room, and cameras in laptops that can be remotely activated to spy on the user. His solution to that? Stick a piece of black tape over the camera lens. If that seems far-fetched and paranoid, even Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, has said he does just that.

There is a most useful and revealing chapter on 'false flag' operations and how they are used. One example is the Reichstag fire in 1933, evidently an inside job that was blamed on the communists and led to virtual martial law and absolute power for Hitler. Likewise, the so-called 'Gleiwitz Incident' in September 1939 when seven members of the German SS, dressed in Polish military uniforms, attacked a German radio station in Upper Silesia. The outrage that was provoked gave the justification for the German invasion of Poland. Then there is evidence that the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 may have been allowed, despite warnings given by code-breakers that an attack was imminent, as an excuse for the USA to go to war against Japan with the full backing of public opinion.

In the chapter 'Orchestrated Attack's there is information on unfamiliar aspects of '9/11', the attack on the twin towers in New York on 11 September 2001. Referring to Steve Alten, an author who disputes the official version, Redfern states: ". . . on the morning on which more than three thousand people died, Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a series of complex, computerized war games, the scenario of which was the hijacking of aircraft. Alten believes that those same war games 'purposefully diverted all of our jet fighters away from the Northeastern Defense Sector (NEADS) where the four hijackings took place, sending them over Alaska, Greenland, Iceland and Canada.'"

In addition: "One of these exercises, Vigilant Guardian, was a hijack drill designed to mirror the actual events taking place, inserting twenty-two false radar blips on the FAA's radar screens so that flight controllers had no idea which blips were the hijacked aircraft and which were the war game blips." Redfern also relates evidence of highly unusual option trading in the stock market just prior to the attacks. Steve Alten himself says that we don't know the half of it, probably much less than that. All we can say is that the world changed that day, and the 'war on terror' began and is still continuing, with all of its dire consequences.

There is only one absurd statement in this book, and it concerns the incident known as '7/7', the coordinated bomb attacks on London Underground on 7 July 2005. Here is the sentence: "The day started as almost all days start on the London Underground: people were jostling for space on the train, hot tea was being drunk, and the daily newspapers were being read." Mr Redfern ought to know better, being British, although he has apparently lived in Texas, USA, for many years. I have lived in London for most of my life and I can say that never once, in more than forty years of travelling regularly on the London Underground, have I ever witnessed anyone drinking hot tea, at any time of day, on a train. In rush hour it would be positively dangerous, as well as impossible. You would not have the room to raise a cup to your lips!

The most important revelation on this matter concerns a security exercise that was being conducted on London Underground on the morning of 7 July 2005. The outlines of unusual circumstances appeared on Channel 4's website shortly after the terrible events of that day. "Nicholas Glass told Channel 4's readers : 'It began when Peter Power, one time high ranking employee of Scotland Yard and member of its Anti-Terrorist Branch, reported in two major U.K. media outlets that his company Visor Consulting had on the morning of 7th July been conducting 'crisis exercises' whose scenarios uncannily mirrored those of the actual attack.'" The exercises were reported as having close to one thousand participants. What is most uncanny is that the stations where the exercises were taking place were the exact same stations that the terrorists had chosen for their attacks.

In the best British tradition during a crisis, as the famous slogan says, keep calm and carry on

Glass reported that 72 hours after the bombings took place, Peter Power was in Toronto, Canada, attending the 15th World Conference in Disaster Management. Catching the attention of the local media, Power appeared on CBS: Sunday Night. Pressed for answers, he said that the coincidence of the exercise versus the real bombing was both "extraordinary" and "spooky". Referring to what seemed like a lack of interest on the part of the media, Power said: "They were trying to keep it quiet." If so, why? No one outside of the loop can possibly know all of the facts. All we can do is to 'join the dots', as they say, to see if there is a pattern.

There are a few chapters on UFO phenomena, sightings and encounters. The gist of the 'conspiracy' aspect is that some UFOs may be of a super-advanced technology developed here on Earth. Many sightings do occur near high-security military bases. 'Alien abductions' are now generally thought to have been the work of certain intelligence operatives. The 'paranoid' theory is that the 'Controllers' may use an apparent 'alien invasion' to declare martial law to gain total control of the population. All of this is speculation, but they may not need such a ruse if things continue as they are.

In the penultimate chapter 'Mind Manipulation in the 21st Century' the author discusses the alarming increase in the use of pharmaceuticals to treat mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. More and more people, even schoolchildren, are presenting with stress-related mental conditions. Doctors rarely have the time to treat the causes with talking therapy, and resort to the 'quick fix' of antidepressants and addictive opioids, which often result in 'zombification'. The modern world is really taking its toll. Redfern concludes that "The days of the government planning to control all of us is largely gone. The grim fact is that we are knowingly doing it to ourselves - and in the millions too."

Nick Redfern obviously believes that worse is to come. The final sentence of this book reads: "The Controllers are clearly aware that civil unrest is rising, that we are far from happy with the way the world is becoming a huge prison, and that more people are determined to put us back on the track we should be on. When it comes to the inevitable confrontation and meltdown, there is only one side to be on - and that's ours. Not theirs."

He may be right, and his book provides important and useful information. But I cannot agree with his conclusion. I would always hope and advocate that the change we need will come from peaceful means. After all, it is peace that we want, not more violence and wars. Worrying does not help, in fact it makes the situation worse. Fear is inclined to weaken whatever personal power we have to do something positive. Even small acts of kindness to others make a difference. The best thing we can do is to stay aware and carry out our daily activities as well as we can. In the best British tradition during a crisis, as the famous slogan says, keep calm and carry on. 

• Kevin Murphy.