British author Matt Kennard has come out with a new book calling out the United States for what it is: “the major impediment to human progress.”

Kennard fills 442 pages of his latest tome with details of how he has witnessed US political maneuverings, which has led to overthrowing governments and state leaders. These witness reports came about when he was a journalist with London’s Financial Times (FT) newspaper serving in various countries.

However, the stories were never published in the FT because they did not fit the narrative of the US government. He complained that when he was with the FT in South America, “I couldn’t write about the US subversion of Bolivia, which I was seeing, and if you had a free media, you would be able to write about this stuff.

“If I wanted to publish stories about China’s or Russia’s interference in a country, they’d (FT) welcome it and promote it and pay me for it. But when it comes to US subversion, I was getting nos from all editors,” he said in a media interview. Before the FT, Kennard had worked on other UK publications, including the New Statesman, The Independent, and The Guardian. The frustrations he suffered watching one of the world’s most respected publications, the FT, kowtowing to the US subversion tactics forced him to join forces with fellow British journalist and historian Mark Curtis to form an investigative journalism center, Declassified UK, in 2019. Its actual location is hidden from its website.

When he was with the FT, he saw the “real window” into how the US empire operates through an assortment of so-called benefit and welfare organizations, which he called “an empire of acronyms” — NED (National Endowment for Democracy), USAID (United States Agency for International Development), DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), etc.

Kennard dedicated a chapter of his book, The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs The American Empire, to Bolivia when Evo Morales won the presidential elections in 2005 and transformed society by nationalizing various industries. However, in 2008, there were attempts at subversion when he heard USAID officials talking about seeding eastern provinces and “getting rid” of Morales.

So, he started investigating NED activities there and realized that their programs did not promote democracy. Instead, they funded groups opposing Morales and tried to bring him down. USAID was doing the same thing.

WikiLeaks cables from 2005 to 2010 confirmed the plans and what the US was up to, not only in Bolivia and Latin America but worldwide. According to Kennard, the US is the most significant impediment to human progress, and we are constantly told, “Oh, socialism doesn’t work. You can’t run an economy based on the needs of the people. You need foreign corporations to come in to develop resources.”

In 2019, there was a CIA-backed coup with other organizations, such as the Organization of American States, which saw the ousting of Morales. But he made a comeback the following year and restored democracy to Bolivia.

“Whenever a left democratic leader comes along and wants to use their resources, the NED, USAID, and DEA are mobilized,” said Kennard.

Kennard is a key follower of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, whom he called “heroes”. He added that WikiLeaks was the best repository for historians and journalists to understand the global system. He also believes in alternative and social media as ways to circumvent the mainstream media.

He recalls being in Washington for the FT when the WikiLeaks cables were released. At an editorial board meeting, everyone attacked Assange and dismissed the cables.

“And I was just thinking, wow, if that is their reaction to the revelations that might give us some clue about how the system works, then they don’t see their role as exposing power. What they see their role is, is that they project an image of that through covering frost stories and scandals like small fry, but never, ever do stories that impact our understanding of how the system works at a much deeper level. That’s the red line for these journalists because they essentially believe in the system and have to believe in it to get where they are.

“So, I think the WikiLeaks cables are hugely significant, and they just appear all throughout the book,” he said in an interview.

He said it was “outrageous” that Assange should have been kept in Belmarsh prison in the UK for five years without a trial. When the Council of Europe voted that he was being held as a political prisoner, “it was incredible that not one UK newspaper has written a single word about it.”

Kennard attributed this to Assange being branded as “the enemy” because he took journalism too seriously and exposed the mainstream media and the American empire for what they were.

The author is a former chief information officer of the Hong Kong government, a PR and media consultant and veteran journalist.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.