Tag: “Humanitarian Intervention”

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Christopher Mott, Dave Lindorff January 13, 2022

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 8th and 9th, 2022

Contrary to the hoary adage, what’s old in Washington these days is just old – and getting older by the day. Unlike his democratic predecessor, America’s most seasoned president is not only willing to look back at history but seems ready to repeat it: At least as far as rerunning the long discredited Responsibility to Protect doctrine. Listeners of a certain vintage may recall the principle, dreamt up long, long ago; before the places it was applied became the smoldering ruins of where countries used to stand.

Poised right now at the heart of the Biden administration – in the perfect position to release again the Hellfire of “humanitarian intervention” – is Samantha Power, paladin of the 21st century ‘Cosmopolitan Crusade’.

Dr. Chris Mott holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of St Andrews. He says his work focuses on, “… historical geopolitics, grand strategy, and the intersection of defensive realism and conceptions of sovereignty in an era of increasing multi-polarity.” His book, ‘The Formless Empire: A Short History of Diplomacy and Warfare in Central Asia’, traces the historical “…rise of indigenous forms of geopolitical strategy on the Eurasian steppe“.

Chris also has served as researcher and desk officer for the U.S. Department of State, is a current fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy, and the author of numerous peer reviewed and general audience articles on foreign policy, including the recent Covert Action Magazine piece, ‘Samantha Power and the Cosmopolitan Crusaders‘.

Chris Mott in the first half.

And; it’s a story upon whose outcome the fate of life on Earth depended. At the beginnings of the nuclear age, two brilliant brothers were seconded to top secret US military projects. Each were determined to use their prodigious intellectual talents to help avert another disastrous World War; but by working on opposite sides of the Cold War divide.

Dave Lindorff is a publisher, Izzy Award-winning investigative journalist, author, and documentary film producer whose tentatively titled feature documentary tells the tale. Dave’s film in-progress is on Ted Hall, the American wunderkind who may well have saved Russia and the World from nuclear conflagration. Dave’s also the founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening.net, and contributor to The Nation magazine, where his latest piece, ‘One Brother Gave the Soviets the A-Bomb. The Other Got a Medal‘ reveals new evidence of how both brothers beat J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI at the height of America’s infamous communist witch hunt.

Dave Lindorff and the Teenager Who Saved the World in the second half.

But first, Chris Mott and the horrible second coming of humanitarian intervention.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone, Finian Cunningham November 18, 2021

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded November 13th and 14th, 2021.

True to its word, the Trudeau government is determined to spend billions for a revamped fighter jet force for Canada’s military. The main debate until now has been which foreign weapons-making company will get the sweet deal – a deal worth a reported 88 billion buckaroos over the next generation – and not whether Canada should be supporting such a deal in the first place.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition are joining hands in a trans-Canada effort with Canadian Voice of Women, Peace Brigades International, the Regina Peace Council, and the Victoria Peace Coalition here in Victoria among many others to mount the No Fighter Jets demonstrations at Liberal MP’s offices from coast to coast to coast November 22nd.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; more than a year after Ethiopia’s military launched a so-called “police action” to “restore order” in Tigray province, the fighting rages on. While thousands have died and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced, another casualty of the humanitarian disaster that ensued has been Western goodwill for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who now faces sanctions – along with ally Eritrea – and the threat of American military intervention should the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa nation continue.

To some on the American and European left that threat smacks of the kind of “humanitarian intervention” seen in Yugoslavia, Libya, and Syria; it’s something they say is no less than naked neo-imperialism, and prompting their support for Ahmed and Eritrean strongman, Isaias Afwerki.

Finian Cunningham is a prolific journalist and two-time Serena Shim Award for Uncompromising Integrity in Journalism recipient. His articles on international affairs appear at numerous online outlets, including Strategic Culture, where his March piece, ‘U.S. Paves Way for Intervention in Ethiopia, Horn of Africa’ is proving now to be prophetic.

Finian Cunningham and competing narratives in the ongoing Ethiopian disaster in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and just saying “NO!” to new fighter jets.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Finian Cunningham November 13, 2021

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded November 13th, 2021.

More than a year after Ethiopia’s military launched a so-called “police action” to “restore order” in Tigray province, the fighting rages on. While thousands have died and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced, another casualty of the humanitarian disaster that ensued has been Western goodwill for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who now faces sanctions – along with ally Eritrea – and the threat of American military intervention should the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa nation continue.

To some on the American and European left that threat smacks of the kind of “humanitarian intervention” seen in Yugoslavia, Libya, and Syria; it’s something they say is no less than naked neo-imperialism, and prompting their support for Ahmed and Eritrean strongman, Isaias Afwerki.

Finian Cunningham is a prolific journalist and two-time Serena Shim Award for Uncompromising Integrity in Journalism recipient. His articles on international affairs appear at numerous online outlets, including Strategic Culture, where his March piece, ‘U.S. Paves Way for Intervention in Ethiopia, Horn of Africa’ is proving now to be prophetic.

Today, Finian Cunningham and competing narratives in the ongoing Ethiopian disaster.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dan Kovalik, Janine Bandcroft October 23, 2020

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Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded live-to-tape via Skype on this date, October 21st, 2020.

Sunday’s landslide election victory of Evo Morales’ MAS party was and is cause for elation throughout Bolivia and the Americas this week; at least for those long-suffering under the heel of El Norte. But Luis Arces’ supporters can be forgiven if their celebrations are tempered with caution, considering what happened the last time a leftist government won elections there.

Daniel Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist and author. A labor and human rights lawyer since graduating from Columbia Law School, Dan has represented plaintiffs in Alien Tort Statute cases arising from human rights abuses in Colombia. He’s also a recipient of the David W. Mills Mentoring Fellowship from Stanford Law School, frequent lecturer, television and radio political commentator, and his articles appear online at the Huffington Post and Counterpunch, among other places.

His latest book is, ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian‘ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests’.

Today, Dan Kovalik and Bolivia’s second chance.