© Strategic Culture Foundation
The timing of the official disclosure and its very public, emotive nature raise questions about the motives of the British authorities. The news of the death comes at a critical moment when London and other European capitals seem desperate to sabotage efforts by U.S. President Trump to find a peaceful settlement to the nearly four-year conflict.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer led tributes in the British Parliament on Wednesday to Lance Corporal George Hooley, who was described as a "hero" who "served our country in the cause of freedom and democracy."
The British media were plastered with fond photos and sentimental commendations of the dead paratrooper.
Britain's Minister of Defense [sic] John Healey added: "George's tragic death reminds us of the courage and commitment with which our outstanding armed forces serve every day to protect our nation."
How exactly British soldiers in Ukraine are "protecting" Britain is not explained.
The Sun newspaper went further to whip up anti-Russian feelings when it subsequently reported that the Kremlin made "disgusting" comments about the death of the soldier. Moscow had simply dared to ask what the British soldier was doing in Ukraine in the first place, and pointed out that British personnel have been participating in "terrorist" attacks on Russian civilian centers along with Ukrainian military units. That much is fact. Ukrainian forces have been firing UK-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russian territory over the past two years. These missiles could not be operated without British personnel on the ground. Similarly, American-made HIMARS and ATACMS, which have also targeted Russian territory, have also necessarily involved U.S. personnel for operation.
It is an open secret that British, French, American, Polish, German, and other NATO forces have been deployed in Ukraine to fight against the Russian military. Up to now, the NATO authorities have maintained a cynical silence about their involvement, pretending that the estimated 30,000 foreign soldiers in Ukraine are "private mercenaries" who have no official affiliation. Russia's warnings about NATO being a direct participant in war have been dismissed as "Kremlin propaganda".
But Moscow's claims have been previously corroborated. Pentagon classified documents leaked in 2023 indicated that 50 British special forces were deployed in Ukraine, making up the biggest contingency of other NATO commandos in combat with Russia.
In March 2024, a leaked audio recording of Germany's Luftwaffe commander, Lt Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, was released, in which he told other top officials that the British forces were on the ground operating Storm Shadow missiles.
British elite forces from the SAS and SBS (Special Boat Service), which work in conjunction with the paratroop regiments, are known to operate underwater drones in the Black Sea to target Crimea.
It is estimated that 40 British nationals have been killed in combat in Ukraine, along with other NATO nationals. However, the American, British, French, and other authorities have kept a stony silence about the identities and circumstances, implying that the casualties were private mercenaries and "soldiers of fortune".
Logically, the NATO powers want to deny the depth of their involvement in the conflict. They are supposed to "merely" support Ukraine with the supply of weapons to defend against "Russian aggression." The admission of NATO armed forces on the ground is an acknowledgment of the reality that the U.S.-led military alliance is at war with Russia. Of course, many independent observers know that already as fact, as does Russia. Still, it behooves the NATO states to suppress the truth and maintain plausible deniability.
Russia has said, with justification, that all combatants in Ukraine are legitimate targets. That includes members of armed forces who claim to be "peacekeepers" or acting as "military advisors".
Given the secrecy that Britain and other NATO nations have maintained about deployment in Ukraine, and over previous military casualties, it does seem strange that this week saw such a very public announcement about the death of the paratrooper.
The British authorities claimed that Lance Corporal Hooley was killed in an accident "far from the frontlines" while overseeing the testing of an "air defense system".
That disclosure appeared to be aimed at portraying the soldier in a minimal role working on "defense". Together with effusive eulogies in the British media for the paratrooper as an honorable person, the intended effect was to rally public sympathy and anger towards Russia.
Britain's Starmer has been a leading voice, along with France's Macron and Germany's Merz, for the deployment of so-called peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee for Ukraine in the event of a peace settlement. The real agenda, however, is to sabotage any peace deal because the Europeans know full well that Russia would never accept such a presence, seeing it as a backdoor for escalating NATO participation in the conflict.
U.S. President Trump has belatedly realized that the proxy war is a dead-end for NATO, especially as Russian forces speed up their advances following the capture of key bastions, including Seversk, Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), and Kupyansk. The British and the Europeans are in panic mode to keep the proxy war going because of their vested interests. They can't accept defeat because of the fatal loss to their political image and fallout from the false narrative they have been spouting to justify a criminal proxy war.
One can expect various provocations and maneuvers to escalate the conflict to avoid peace. Declaring the death of a British soldier should be a damning admission of NATO being at war behind the backs of the public of NATO states. But rather than an admission of culpability, the British authorities, as with other European NATO leaders, are trying to rouse public support for escalation. The civilian head of NATO, former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, gave a speech in Berlin this week in which he stated that European nations must be ready for full-scale war with Russia, like "our grandfathers endured". The insane European losers want to save their political necks with World War III.
Reader Comments
A kind of "predictive programming", to get the population accustomed to that kind of "news".
However, a kinetic conflict with Russia would not at all develop as the EU rump-Nato intents. All the great failures of "Ukrainian counter offensives" the last 3 years were planned by Nato high command.
I was thinking that as I read the article. Are they trying to start something? Or is this a distraction from what is happening at home?
The UK monarchy is for show only. They hold little power, a lot less than people think they do. The military swear to the king in order to instill some sort of (false) patriotism in order to give them the will to fight. In the USA, you swear to the country and the flag, not the politicians. But as most of us know, the military is fighting and dying for the politicians and their friends. No flag, no king, just corruption, greed and power-hungry devils.
What finally matters is what people believe to matter. The engine halts when the slaves collectively stop to grease the wheels. While it sounds like copied from Marx' communist manifesto, it is still true. As the plandemic scare took hold because the majority chose to believe in it, the tables can be turned as well. The average English - in contrast to myself - still seems to hold the royals in high esteem.
And if not, the UK runs the risk of being removed from the map by a few Oreshnik missiles and Poseidon drones.
I've seen it reported elsewhere that this guy was on the phone when hit, the Russians have long used phone signals for targetting. Away from the front he may have thought it safe to have a long conversation???
But every propaganda and societal trance will fail as soon as certain life-threatening issues come into play - hunger, cold, and fear.