US Private Military Companies Plunder Syrian Oil Facilities — Russia’s General Staff

The US has been training up to 2,700 militants near al-Tanf base

in Syria, the Russian General Staff stated

Russian Ministry of Defence, Moscow

Does anyone have the nerve to ask the government,

or the US media, if this is factual?

MOSCOW  /TASS/. US private military companies numbering over 3,500 personnel are plundering Syrian oil facilities under the cover of the international anti-terror coalition’s aircraft, Head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Department Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi told a Defense Ministry press briefing on Monday.

"Aside from training militants, the US structures in Syria are involved in plundering oil facilities and deposits in the area across the Euphrates that belong to the legitimate Syrian government. Lately, US private military companies have been observed to actively beef up their personnel. Today, the mercenaries of the private military companies in Syria exceed 3,500 people," the Russian general stressed.

Specifically, the US military structures have organized the production and sale of Syrian oil from the Conaco, al-Omar and Tanak oilfields located east of the Euphrates River, the Russian general pointed out.

"A criminal scheme of Syrian crude cross-border deliveries is in effect. Actually, Syrian national wealth is being plundered," Rudskoi stated.

A considerable part of revenues from the hydrocarbon smuggling is spent on maintaining illegal armed formations, bribing sheikhs of tribal unions and instigating anti-government sentiments, according to the Russian general’s data.

"All this activity by US private military companies is conducted under the cover of the international anti-terror coalition’s aviation. In actual fact, this is smuggling business seized by the Americans from the IS [the former name of the Islamic State terrorist organization outlawed in Russia]," Rudskoi explained.

The US incessant deliveries of armament and military hardware to the area across the Euphrates also cause concern, the Russian general added.

"In exchange for assistance in oil smuggling, the United States is beefing up both Kurdish and Arab formations with arms and they subsequently use them against each other," Rudskoi said, adding that "all these factors are only exacerbating the situation in the war-torn region."

Training of militants

The US military are training up to 2,700 militants from different groups at the al-Tanf base in Syria, according to Rudskoi.

"Within the 55-km zone around al-Tanf, US instructors are training a large armed formation, Magavir al-Saura, and some small militant groups for the so-called Army of Arab Tribes. The militants’ total numerical strength is 2,700 men," the Russian general reported, providing footage obtained from drones.

A part of the militants trained at the al-Tanf base is being airlifted by US combat helicopters beyond the Euphrates, the Russian general added.

"The most trained saboteurs are being delivered to the territories controlled by the government troops to destabilize the situation and prevent the strengthening of the Syrian government’s positions there," Rudskoi commented.

The basic goals of the militants trained by the US military instructors are to carry out subversive operations, destroy Syrian oil and gas infrastructure facilities and conduct terrorist attacks against government troops, he pointed out.

"Such groups have been spotted in the areas of the communities of al-Suwayda, Palmyra and Abu Kamal," the Russian general specified.

The US military base near the settlement of al-Tanf is located at the junction of the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan. It also embraces the 55-km zone around the town.

Colombia Charges 13 ex-Chiquita Executives of Financing Death Squads

Squads accused of killing more than 4000 people

By Ray Downs

Former Chiquita executives face new charges of funding terrorism in Colombia after the company admitted to the same crime in 2007 when it settled with the U.S. Justice Department. File Photo by Aaron Kehoe/UPI | License Photo

(UPI) -- Colombia's Attorney General's Office on Friday charged 13 former Chiquita executives for financing paramilitary death squads that are accused of killing more than 4,000 people.

Between 1997 and 2004, the executives of the Florida-based corporation paid $1.7 million to the United Self-Defenders of Colombia, or AUC in its Spanish initials, prosecutors said. The company already admitted to making the payments in 2007 in U.S. court when it settled with the Justice Department for funding terrorism and paid a $25 million fine.

Chiquita has said that it was "forced" to pay off the AUC.

"To be clear, there is no allegation that Chiquita itself committed any of the crimes perpetrated by the Colombian terrorist groups," the company said in a statement at the time. "The only allegation is that Chiquita should be held responsible for these crimes by virtue of the money that it was forced to pay."

Does forced to pay mean they were held at gunpoint, or that it was the cost of doing business in an extremely corrupt country? If it was the latter, then the cost was too high. Decency would demand that you just cut and run. No business is worth financing assassination squads.

Friday's announcement opens the case in Colombia, where the killings took place, and is the result of Prosecutor General Humberto Martinez's efforts to investigate and prosecute corporate funding of paramilitary squads, in what has become known as "para-economics," according to Colombia Reports.

Of the 13 former executives charged, three are American: Dorn Robert Wenninger, John Paul Olivo and Charles Dennis Keiser.

All of the former executives are accused of financing death squads that are accused of killing 4,335 people, disappeared 1,306 people and forced the displacement of 1,675 others.

They are accused of crimes against humanity and "aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime."

It seems the current government is trying to clean up the horrendous mess of corruption in Colombia. God help them; they need it.

Contract Security Firm Sallyport - No Scruples, No Oversight

US firm at Iraqi base hushed up probe into human trafficking & alcohol smuggling – report

Joint Base Balad, Iraq. © Sgt. Quentin Johnson / Wikipedia

A US firm, paid $686 million to secure an Iraqi base for F-16 fighter jets, ignored security violations, human trafficking allegations and alcohol smuggling by its staff, according to an AP investigation. Those who uncovered the wrongdoing were fired.

The investigation centers on Sallyport Global, which was contracted by the US government to help secure Iraq's Balad Airbase by keeping F-16s and their Iraqi pilots safe.

The $686 million contract also required investigations into potential crimes and contract violations, and for any breaches to be reported to the US government.

However, Robert Cole and Kristie King, the investigators tasked with that job, would soon realize their findings were extremely unwelcome by Sallyport.

The news agency interviewed two former internal investigators who were fired by Sallyport, as well as a half-dozen former or current staff members. It also obtained documents as part of the probe.

Alcohol smuggling

Although alcohol was restricted at the base, Cole and King discovered that staff frequently flew in smuggled alcohol in such large volumes that a plane once “see-sawed” on the tarmac due to the weight.

According to documents and witnesses, alcohol was everywhere on the base. Empty suitcases were reportedly loaded on to Baghdad-bound round-trip flights, returning with booze-filled plastic water bottles which evaded security – a serious risk in a war zone.

Steve Anderson, who worked on flight logistics for Sallyport, said he was told by managers to sign off on manifests he knew had been falsified to hide alcohol and guns.

When he raised concerns, it was suggested that he find a new job. His position was soon eliminated.

In one allegation, informants told the investigators that “flight line” staff responsible for directing airplanes on the runways and handling cargo, were showing up to work drunk. At one point, they reportedly passed around a bowl of gummy bears soaked in vodka.

Prostitution

When Cole and King were aiming to get to the bottom of the alcohol smuggling, they came across a prostitution ring in Baghdad, the customers of which included Sallyport employees, according to informants.

They also learned that four Ethiopians who had previously worked as prostitutes at a hotel had moved to Balad and were plying the same trade while also working as housekeepers for Sallyport.

That investigation, along with the alcohol smuggling probe, was shut down by a Sallyport executive in Virginia before it could continue.

However, Sallyport Chief Operating Officer Matt Stuckart said the prostitution allegations were not substantiated.

“It is absurd to suggest that the company would shut down an inquiry into a matter of such gravity,” he said.

There were also allegations that Sallyport staff members were involved in human trafficking for prostitution.

Theft & security breaches

The AP investigation details an incident which occurred on July 13, 2015, in which a truck driver lost control of his vehicle, taking it onto the tarmac and stopping about 45 yards from a jet in the “no-go area."

Three months later, Cole reported the theft of an armored Toyota SUV assigned to VIPs. His chief suspect was a Sallyport bodyguard. However, the Toyota was recovered within days and Cole was called off the case.

A former senior manager for Sallyport defended taking Cole off the case, telling AP that negotiations with militias were sensitive and needed Iraqi cooperation. Although he said the chief suspect – the bodyguard – was ‘banned’ from the base, Cole later saw him walking around freely.

On November 15, 2016, rogue militia stole three enormous generators using flatbed trucks and a 60-foot (18-meter) crane, driving directly past Sallyport security guards unchallenged.

Despite requirements to report major security breaches, none of the incidents were reported to the US government until earlier this year, after an auditor began asking questions.

‘We knew too much’ 

After uncovering the information, Cole and King reported it to the correct channels. However, those channels never reported it to the US government and the two investigators were abruptly fired on March 12 and immediately flown out of Iraq.

At the time of their sacking, King and Cole had been looking into allegations that Sallyport manager were falsifying timesheets and people were getting paid without working. They were set to interview those whom they considered to be suspects.

The investigators said company lawyers had ordered them to keep two sets of books at the time, which they believed to be an attempt to deceive auditors.

“One for the government to see and one for the government not to see,” King told AP.

“I feel like they got us out so quickly because they feel like we knew too much,” he said.

King said he and Cole eventually realized that Sallyport was hiding all of the information from the US government, calling the revelation “mind-blowing.”

Meanwhile, Sallyport's COO Stuckart says the company stands by its security procedures and received “high marks” from the US Air Force.

He said the company has a “strong record of providing security and life support services in challenging war zones like Iraq and plays a major but unheralded role in the war against ISIS [Islamic State/IS].”

“The company takes any suggestion of wrongdoing at Balad very seriously,” he added.

Balad Airbase is controlled by the Iraqi government, and has hosted US forces off and on since 2003. The base was evacuated in June 2014, when IS began overrunning Iraqi territory. Sallyport was tasked with keeping the base safe after the Americans returned.

Anti-Migrant Soldiers of Odin Patrol Estonian Streets

Estonian Defense Ministry doesn't want anti-migrant groups patrolling streets

© Sam KIingsley / AFP

Activists who want to make the streets of Estonian cities safer should address the national police volunteer organization instead of joining anti-migrant patrols organized by suspicious organizations with questionable aims, the country’s defense minister said.

The organization Soldiers of Odin that first emerged in Finland is now also gaining popularity in Estonia. According to the Delfi media outlet, its members are planning to conduct regular street patrols to keep a close eye on refugees. 

The country has received fewer than 1,000 since the 1990s, and none of the current EU-established quota of 550.

According to open data on Facebook, there are up to 5,000 members of Soldiers of Odin in Estonia. Some of them, Eesti Päevaleht newspaper reports, are high-ranking military officials and members of Kaitseliit (Defense Union), Estonia’s volunteer paramilitary unit and an integral part of the national military.

Estonia’s Minister of Defense Hannes Hanso has spoken against the members of the national military joining groups with “unclear goals.”

Law enforcement functions should be reserved for state structures, Hanso said.

“Those eager to contribute to the security of the society should side with police voluntary helpers, which stand guard over the values of democratic society, have fulfilled the necessary training and have no criminal past,” the minister said.

Hanso made a point that every serviceman and Kaitseliit member has sworn to protect the Estonian state and all of its citizens not selectively but as a whole entity, stressing that patrols of self-proclaimed groups would never help to ensure the feeling of safety of the citizens, and lead “rather to the contrary.”

When the Soldiers of Odin opened a subsidiary office in Tallinn, they announced the preconditions for those wanting to join the organization: the potential recruits must be above 18-years-old, and neither be Muslim nor an “all talk couch warrior.”

The group insists that a member should not have a criminal record of proven violence against women and children, although other convictions are not as relevant.

The group plans to form squads of 10-20 vigilantes to patrol rough parts of Estonian cities, Eesti Päevaleht reports. The group has  Muslim refugees’ violations of order top on its agenda, but it is not their only concern.

The Soldiers of Odin group is planning to hold a presentation torchlight procession on February 24.

The Complex Mess in the Middle East

Erdogan uses ISIS to suppress Kurds, West stays silent – Turkish MP

Buildings which were damaged during the security operations and clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants, are pictured in Sur district of Diyarbakir, Turkey February 11, 2016 © Sertac Kayar 

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been using ISIS to advance his Middle East policy and suppress the Kurds, and Ankara’s elite maintains vibrant economic ties with the terror group and harbors its militants, a Turkish MP has told Russian media.

“Erdogan uses ISIS [Islamic State/IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL] against the Kurds. He can’t send the Turkish Army directly to Syrian Kurdistan, but he can use ISIS as an instrument against the Kurds. He has a greater Ottoman Empire in his mind, that’s his dream, while ISIS is one of the instruments [to achieve it],” Selma Irmak, a Turkish MP from the Peace and Democracy Party told RIA Novosti on Monday.

There are many signs that the Turkish leadership is aiding Islamic State and benefiting from it, Irmak argued.

“Wounded militants are given medical treatment in Turkey. For ISIS, Turkey is a very important supply channel. They are allowed to pass through the Turkish border, being given IDs [and other documents],” she added.

“ISIS has training camps in Turkey,” Irmak stressed, citing other examples of Turkey providing IS with certain capabilities, including the fact that all militants go back and forth into Syria through Turkish territory.

Both the Turkish elite and the terrorist group enjoy economic ties as well," Irmak argued.

“ISIS’ oil is sold via Turkey. All of ISIS’ external [trade] operations are being carried out via Turkey and involve not only oil.” Part of the terrorist group’s criminal business trafficking hostages as well as female slaves of Yazidi and Assyrian minorities, while “the government is, of course, well aware of it,” she added.

More proof could be the absence of any violence between the Turkish military and Islamic State militants.

“ISIS never attacked Turkish positions and claimed no responsibility for terror attacks in Turkey’s cities. There were three large terror attacks [in 2015] in Diyarbakir, Suruc and Ankara. Each attack caused harm to the Kurds and opposition activists supporting them,” the MP noted.

Turkey only intervened when the Kurds retook territory from the IS-held Kurdish city of Tell Abyad in northern Syria.

“Turkish warplanes formally bombarded the ISIS-held territory and conducted two airstrikes to show it fights the Islamic State. And in the meantime, Turkey made 65 airstrikes on Qandil [the PKK stronghold in mountainous northern Iraq].”

According to Irmak, Ankara feels free to take on the Kurds because the West is unwilling to harm its interests in the region and beyond.

“Unfortunately, the international community is indifferent towards these events. Turkey has taken Europe prisoner by using Middle Eastern refugees as an instrument of blackmail. The US keeps silent too, having common interests with Turkey. For instance, the US wants to keep using the Incirlik airbase […] and the Turkish Army is emboldened by such impunity.”

The Canadian angle
Another problem with Turkey's determination to eliminate the Kurds is that the Canadian Government has decided to triple the number of trainers and support personnel working with the Kurds. What happens when a few of them are blown-up by Turkish bombs?

Chechen leader: Saudi-led coalition protects ISIS from full destruction

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov © Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s Chechen Republic, has said that the latest actions by pro-Western military forces in Syria show that in reality they do not intend to fully destroy ISIS and return power to the legitimate government of the country.

Kadyrov issued the comment Monday, soon after news agencies reported about planned military exercises by the Saudi-led anti-terrorist coalition, which includes over 20 Muslim nations. “We cannot exclude the possibility that by these exercises they are preparing themselves for active operations in Syria,” the Chechen leader said in an Instagram post.

“But the [real] goals and tasks of this coalition lie on the surface. They want to prevent the full defeat of the ‘Iblis State’ and the restoration of peace in the region,” Kadyrov said. He used the expression “Iblis State,” or “Devil State,” referring to the Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIL and ISIS. Such a replacement has been proposed and promoted by Russian imams, who noted that using the word “Islamic” to describe terrorists was insulting to their faith.

“The plans of the authors of Middle Eastern wars and overthrows do not include the full liquidation of IS and the strengthening of Bashar Assad’s power,” Kadyrov wrote. “But they will have to put up with the fact that the rules of the game are now dictated not by the West and not by the United States.”

He also warned that the simultaneous use of many military contingents and air forces from various nations in one region would inevitably lead to various incidents that could provoke larger conflicts. “Instead of a real struggle against international terrorism we will have some settling of accounts between various members of this so-called coalition,” Kadyrov wrote. “This is an open threat to peace in the region and the world as a whole.”

In November 2015, Kadyrov addressed all Muslims in the world with a call to unite and destroy IS, adding that no one has the right to remain neutral after the atrocities committed by the extremists. In the same address, he reiterated his point that the current Middle East crisis was masterminded by the West. “Special services from the US and other Western states have cheaply bought the leaders of terrorist groups and ordered them to constantly shed Muslim blood, destroy stable countries and blacken the reputation of Islam,” he wrote.

Of course, Kadyrov, being a Muslim would blame the west for the atrocities of Islam even though such atrocities have been committed in over 600 wars in the 1400 years of Islam's sorry existence.
But he is right in at least two areas: "pro-Western military forces in Syria show that in reality they do not intend to fully destroy ISIS and return power to the legitimate government of the country." If the west wanted ISIS gone it would have been gone a long time ago.

The other area he is right about is that special forces, and/or special interests from the west are most likely complicit in the mess over there. 

In 2014, Kadyrov vowed to destroy IS after the group threatened to attack Russia. He also said that he had repeatedly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Chechen infantry and himself to Syria to take part in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria, or any other part of the world.

‘Dogs of war’: Profiteering military contractors must be regulated, warns charity

© Stringer / Reuters

Private firms based in Britain (and the US, for that matter) are reaping huge profits by exploiting conflict and instability around the world in the absence of proper regulation, a British charity has warned.

The remarks were made by War on Want, following the charity’s release of a report examining the devastating impact of private military and security companies (PMSCs) around the globe.

Writing on War on Want's website, the charity's communications chief, Ross Hemingway, called for an “end to the privatization of war.”

“For too long this murky world of ‘guns for hire’ has been allowed to grow unchecked, and in letting the industry regulate itself the UK government has failed,” he said.

“Binding regulation is long overdue. The Swiss government has already banned all PMSCs based in Switzerland from operating in conflict; it is time the UK followed suit.”

Profiting from instability and turmoil 
Hemmingway’s analysis drew from research that scrutinizes the legacy of PMSCs operating in Britain and beyond.

PMSCs first appeared in their current form 15 years ago, after Washington and Westminster declared a “war on terror” and subsequently invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Although they initially were contracted for security-based services, they are often hired today to provide combat roles in wars in Africa and the Middle East.

Although they profit directly from war and conflict and have been accused of multiple human rights abuses in conflict situations around the world, Hemingway notes that they are currently unregulated. He said that British firms G4S, Aegis Defence Services, Control Risks and Olive Group currently regulate themselves.

Hemmingway argued that this trend is unsurprising, given the revolving door that exists between PMSCs and the military, intelligence and corporate sectors.

He said the biggest market for British PMSCs is in Iraq, where the provision of private security is common. One such firm is G4S, which the charity accuses of profiting from turmoil in Iraq and the oppression of Palestinians.

Violating international law
PMSCs are also increasingly exploiting legal loopholes concerning the use of arms on ships in international waters, according to Hemmingway.

Although Iraq and Afghanistan are longstanding markets for British-based PMSCs, instability in resource-rich parts of northern and western Africa has also been capitalized on by these firms, he says.

Despite the fact that private armed forces on ships can violate domestic and international law, G4S says the securitization of trading ships in the Indian Ocean is a large-scale “commercial opportunity.”

Firms that make use of such floated armories can operate freely, without the threat of investigation, according to War on Want. In August 2013, the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills issued 50 licenses for floating armories operating in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. War on Want’s research reveals that Royal Dutch Shell, BP, ExxonMobil and other energy giants also pay PMSCs to secure their operations.

Speaking earlier this month, War on Want’s executive director John Hilary said private military contractors “ran amok in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving a trail of human rights abuses in their wake.”

“Now we are seeing the alarming rise of mercenaries fighting on the front line in conflict zones across the world," he said. 

"It is the return of the ‘Dogs of War’.” 

Colombian Bringing Oil Justice into the British Museum

Is it time for multi-nationals to be slapped down?

By Jess Worth  
New International

Gilberto Torres tells the story of his horrific ordeal at the
hands of paramilitaries acting for oil companies, including BP.
Location: British Museum. by Kristian Buus

Yesterday, a Colombian survivor of kidnap and torture confronted one of the companies behind it, and its cultural champion, with the help of a troupe of 'actor-vists'. Jess Worth was there.

We are standing in the Mexico room of the British Museum, surrounded by mysterious stone statues and exquisite Aztec turquoise mosaics. And we are hearing about death – in modern-day Latin America.

Gilberto was abducted after organizing a strike in response to the murder of his
 friend and fellow trade unionist. Location: British Museum. by Kristian Buus

Gilberto Torres, a Colombian trade unionist and former oil engineer, who has been through an unimaginable ordeal while standing against environmental and human rights abuses committed by petroleum giant BP, is telling the crowd about his friend – another prominent oil union organizer – who was murdered by paramilitaries. He shows his friend’s photo. Young museum-goers stare, struggling to understand.

We’re not just here in solidarity with Gilberto. We are here because there’s compelling evidence that BP had a role in his kidnap and torture. And BP sponsors the British Museum.

The museum is the jewel in BP’s crown of sponsored British cultural institutions and regularly bestows the legitimacy, trustworthiness and high profile it commands on BP, the world’s biggest corporate criminal. The museum willingly launders the oil giant’s image for a surprisingly small amount of money, amounting to just 0.8 per cent of its annual income.

Which is why we are here with Gilberto. We started in the museum’s vast Great Court. We gathered a crowd from the thousands of Sunday afternoon museum-goers with a performance by the activist theatre troupe I am part of, BP or not BP? I played the role of one of two vaudevillian street performers, the ‘Truth Translators’, in possession of a mighty ear trumpet that could magically find the truth behind any lie. We tried it out on a ‘representative’ of BP, whose lies and spin gradually imploded when confronted with the truth, leaving her gasping for air, dribbling ‘oil’ from her mouth, and sinking to the ground, defeated.

BP's lies are exposed in the British Museum. by Kristian Buus

All this was an attention-grabbing way of creating space and an audience so that Gilberto could speak. Standing below BP’s name, carved permanently onto the gleaming white marble of the Reading Room, Gilberto told his harrowing story. He was abducted and tortured by paramilitaries in the pay of a joint-venture oil company, Ocensa, in which BP was a partner.

‘When I was kidnapped I knew what was going to happen to me. I knew I was going to be murdered and left by the side of some road. But thanks to people’s solidarity, both national and international, to an oil workers’ 24-day strike, and to demonstrations by communities in Colombia and human rights organizations, I was not executed. Instead, I was held for 42 days, then finally released.'

Gilberto is one of only two trade unionists to ever survive being ‘disappeared’ by Colombian death squads. He is now taking legal action against BP in the UK courts, for the company’s role in his ordeal.

It is notoriously difficult to hold transnational corporations to account for human rights abuses, as they invariably work through a network of subsidiaries and front companies that do their dirty work for them. But Gilberto and his determined British lawyer, Sue Willman from Deighton Pierce Glynn, believe that they have enough evidence to prove BP’s ultimate culpability:

‘I believe that British justice will rule in my favour,’ Gilberto concludes. ‘Not only in favour of myself, but also in favour of justice, in favour of this not happening again. And, as a person who has been kidnapped, who has suffered and has been on the edge of death, I am here to tell the public in London, and those who make the laws: please legislate. Pass a law that prosecutes the human rights violations committed by corporations from this country, in this case BP.’

People applaud. They take museum feedback forms and fill them in, calling for an end to the 5-year deal with BP, which is up for renegotiation in the coming months. We hand out letters to staff explaining who Gilberto is and why we are there. We parade, singing ‘BP must go!’, around the museum, playing cat-and-mouse with the security guards – who hurriedly close doors as we approach them, only to send us on a more circuitous route past even more visitors. We make it to the Mexico room and do the whole thing again – partly to draw attention to the fact that BP is pushing for drilling rights in Mexico, in partnership with the human-rights-abusing Mexican government.

Protest on steps of British Museum

Our theatrical protest group has now performed many times inside the museum, bringing to life the reality of BP’s destructive operations: oil-choked pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico; deepwater wells in a whale nursery in the Great Australian Bight; tar sands, fracking, Arctic drilling and climate change.

But this time was different. Meeting Gilberto, and hearing his story inside the museum, made the true cost of oil so much more real. I tried to imagine this man, chained up in an insect-infested pit, convinced he was going to die, but not until he had been tortured again. This man who was so warm and funny, who insisted on hugging every member of our group in turn after our debrief in the pub. Who strongly encouraged us to use humour in our performance, despite the deadly seriousness of what he and so many others have been through.

I tried to connect the sordid reality of BP’s brutality with the clean green power of its brand, as marketed through places like the British Museum. How did this come about? Museums are supposed to deepen our knowledge of our – and other cultures' – history, to help us better understand the present. Why don’t the museum’s staff and trustees care that they are supporting such a ruthless, destructive company, one that is using them to help rewrite recent history, and help shape a corporate-dominated future? There is a direct relationship between BP’s impunity and its cultural champions. Its sponsorship deals feed its social licence to operate, and let it get away, repeatedly, with murder.

But I hope we have started to hammer some cracks into the deceptive façade. We will continue to try to find creative ways to undermine BP’s sponsorship of arts institutions like the British Museum, in solidarity and partnership with those on the oil and climate-change frontlines. And Gilberto will continue in his quest to hold BP to account, and blow apart its cosy culture of impunity, with far-reaching consequences for other British companies operating abroad.

Gilberto needs help with legal fees, as well as support on this long and lonely journey against one of the world’s most powerful companies. He is here in the UK for the ‘Oil Justice Now’ tour, organized with War on Want, to raise money and awareness about his case against BP, and other oil companies. He will be in London, Brighton, Bristol, Oxford, Cardiff, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Cambridge. Please go and see him if you can.