[[File:Downer-and-halper.jpg|right|250px|thumb|[[Stefan Halper]] and Alexander Downer, along with [[Joseph Mifsud]], were recruited by [[John Brennan]] to frame [[George Papadopoulos]] and [[Carter Page]]. [[Richard Dearlove]], the head of UK's [[MI6]] also worked closely with Brennan. They didn't like Donald Trump's talk of making [[NATO]] allies pay more for their own defense. The future of the [[military industrial complex]] was at stake.]]
'''Alexander Downer''' was the longest-serving foreign minister of Australia, serving from the election of the [[John Howard|Howard]] Government in March 1996 to its defeat to [[Kevin Rudd]] in November 2008.
After the landslide election in 1996 Downer became foreign minister, a position he held for a record 11 and a half years. One of the key features of his time was the re-strengthening of ties with the [[United States of America]] which had been neglected by the [[Bob Hawke|Hawke]] and [[Paul Keating|Keating]] Governments which had primarily focused on Asia. Downer is credited with being a master of foreign affairs as he was able to ally Australia closely with the US, as well as getting Australia a seat at Association of Southeast Asian Nations - something Australia has not had since the organization was formed in 1967 - to the surprise of most critics who said that focusing on the US would come at the expense of regional relations. Downer was a strong support of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
On July the 3rd 2008, following the defeat at the November 2007 election, Downer announced his retirement from parliment parliament and said he would give his resignation as the Member for Mayo to the Governor-General on the 14th of July.<ref>http://www.alexanderdowner.com.au/Pages/Article.aspx?ID=2366</ref> He was made Visiting Professor of International Politics at the University of Adelaide's School of History & Politics<ref>http://www.adelaide.edu.au/adelaidean/issues/28301/news28381.html</ref> by the Vice Chancellor Professor James McWha. The position entitles him to call himself Professor Downer. He was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as "Ambassador" in American media, and served from 2014 to 2018.<ref>Technically, the Queen of England is the [[Head of State]] of Australia, so Downer is not really the representative of a "foreign" government, as Americans would know it. Hence Downer's title is High Commissioner, representing the interests of Australia in London. American media know him as "Ambassador," a distinction without a difference.</ref> ==Huawei==The [[Chinese]] telecommunications giant Huawei was the subject of a [[House Intelligence Committee]] investigation in 2012. U.S. intelligence experts have deemed Huawei a security threat to the United States and other nations. Alexander Downer was a board member of Huawei until 2014, when he accepted the position of Australian High Commissioner in London. According to Canada's ''Globe and Mail'', “Since at least 2016, U.S. authorities have been reviewing Huawei’s alleged shipping of U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws.” On Dec. 1, 2018, Wanzhou Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei was arrested in [[Canada]] at the request of U.S. authorities on suspicions that she violated U.S. trade sanctions against [[Iran]]. The investigation into Huawei is run out of the U.S. attorney's office in [[Brooklyn]].<ref>https://m.theepochtimes.com/string-of-indictments-by-doj-point-to-multiple-global-operations_2758670.html/amp</ref>
==Trump-Russia hoax==
:''Main article:'' [[Trump-Russia collusion hoax]]
The shadowy private security firm of [[Hakluyt]] colluded with [[John Brennan]] to bring about an FBI [[counterintelligence]] investigation of the [[2016 Trump campaign]] and rig the American election.
===George Papadopoulos===
The meeting between [[George Papadopoulos]], a low-level Trump campaign volunteer, and Alexander Downer was portrayed in American [[fake news]] media as a chance encounter in a London pub.<ref>https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/us/politics/how-fbi-russia-investigation-began-george-papadopoulos.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur </ref> It wasn't. It was an entrapment sting designed to justify [[FBI]] surveillance of the Trump campaign.<ref>https://nypost.com/2018/05/19/cambridge-professor-outed-as-fbi-informant-inside-trump-campaign/ </ref>
A lawyer from the Australian embassy contacted Papadopoulos fours days in advance and asked to arrange a meeting between Papadopoulos and Downer. At the meeting, Papadopoulos was ordered to "leave [UK Prime Minister] [[David Cameron]] alone." Papadopoulos had suggested in a London newspaper that Cameron owed Trump an apology for comments critical of Trump.<ref>Papadopoulos said, "I can't speak directly for him but it would seem that if Prime Minister Cameron is serious about reaching out, not only to Mr Trump's advisers but to the man himself, an apology or some sort of retraction should happen.<br>"To see Mr Cameron come out as the most vocal opponent was uncalled for. Considering that we believe that the UK-US relationship should be a cornerstone, not just of [[Nato]] policy but elsewhere, it would be wise for him to reach out in a more positive manner to Mr Trump." Cameron earlier described Trump as "divisive, stupid, and wrong."<br>https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/03/david-cameron-should-reach-out-and-apologise-to-donald-trump-his/</ref> Cameron colluded with [[Hillary Clinton]] and [[Barack Obama]] to murder [[Muammar Gaddafi]]<ref>https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hillary-clinton-libya.html</ref> - an ally of the UK and the US,<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/19/extent-of-uk-cooperation-with-gaddafi-regime-libya-mi6-revealed </ref><ref>https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09TRIPOLI677_a.html </ref> - an action that caused the resurgence of black-[[Africa]]n [[slavery]] in [[Libya]]. Obama said at the time it was done for "humanitarian" purposes.<ref>https://blackagendareport.com/remembering-muammar-qaddafi-and-great-libyan-jamahiriya </ref>
At the time Papadopoulos quit the [[Ben Carson]] campaign to volunteer for Trump, Papadopoulos was lured to London with an offer on a board of a front group known as the London Centre of International Law Practice (LCILP) which he unwittingly accepted to pad his resume. Italian spy <ref>https://medium.com/@Brian_Whit/the-trump-russia-affair-and-an-odd-company-in-london-9437e0343db2 </ref> Prof. [[Joseph Mifsud]] also worked with the group. Mifsud introduced Papadopoulos to Russian nationals living in the UK and working with retired UK intelligence officials.<ref>Mifsud told the [[Italian]] publication ''Repubblica'': “I am a member of the European Council on Foreign relations”, he adds, “and you know which is the only foundation I am member of? The [[Clinton Foundation]]. Between you and me, my thinking is [[left-leaning]]. But I predicted Trump’s victory as well as [[Brexit]]. Everyone of us wants peace. If the governments don’t talk each other, we citizens must keep talking”.<br>https://archive.is/uWdib#selection-623.1-623.356 </ref> One pretended to be [[Putin]]'s neiceniece, and the other worked with a Russian think tank in London. According to a court document presented by the Al-bab blog, written by the Mueller Investigation and signed by one of its chief prosecutors [[Andrew Goldstein]], Mifsud claimed to have access to Hillary Clinton's emails.<ref>http://al-bab.com/blog/2018/03/saudis-russians-and-italians-murky-world-joseph-mifsud</ref>But in the record of Mifsud's FBI interview (the Form 302 summary),<ref>https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/1300998748722601984</ref> on February 11, 2017, he said he had no advance knowledge Russia had DNC emails and did not make any offer to Papadopoulos. The e-mail documents were released on [[Wikileaks]].
In September Papadopoulos was lured back to London by [[Stefan Halper]] with a promise of $3000 and airfare to write a paper. Halper and Downer have connections to the shadowy UK security firm of Hakluyt (Halper wrote two books with the Hakluyt representative in the US and Downer sat on its advisory board).<ref>https://themarketswork.com/2018/05/09/dearlove-connections-uk-intel-firm-hakluyt-alexander-downer-stefan-halper-papadopoulos/ </ref> Halper, who publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, asked Papadopoulos about the emails Hillary Clinton stole from the State Department and National Archives and Records Administration.<ref>https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/05/25/inspector-general-emails-n2168766?amp=true</ref>
Downer's reliability as a source is further tainted by his securing $25 million from the [[Clinton Foundation]] while Foreign Minister.<ref>https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/alexander-downer-dragged-further-into-trump-russia-probe/news-story/ceadb8c9446fd496a8d8dfdb033fdf08 </ref> The information [[James Comey]] and [[Peter Strzok]] used to initiate a counterintelligence investigation and secure [[FISA]] warrants - labeling members of the Trump campaign as "agents of a foreign power" - did not come from allied intelligence agencies as [[John Brennan]] claimed. It came by a circuitous and illegal route that violated American law and was used to strip American citizens of their [[Constitutional]] protections.
==Further reading==
*[https://medium.com/@the_war_economy/spygate-part-4-foreign-intelligence-921c0accb9c2 Spygate, Part #4: Foreign Intelligence], The_War_Economy, February 11, 2019.
*[https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/downer-papadopolous-trump-mueller-russia?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharetwitter Australia Says It's "Ready To Confirm" A Key Meeting That Led To The Investigation Into Trump's Russia Links], [[BuzzFeed News]], April 18, 2019.
==See also==
*[[Spygate]]
*[[Clinton email investigation]]
*[[Stefan Halper]]
*[[John Brennan]]
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[[Category:International Political Figures]][[categoryCategory:Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax]]
[[Category:Australia]]