Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. The show is archived at: www.gorilla-radio.com. The GR blog is at: gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com, and you can find and support the program at GRadio.Substack.com. Financial support is also possible through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PacificFreePress, or via e-transfer to: lex@gorilla-radio.com. Tweets found at @paciffreepress. Some past guests include: Jennifer Abbott, M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Ramzy Baroud, Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley, Christopher Black, Kristina Borjesson, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Paul Cienfuegos, Radhika Desai, Joe Emersberger, Yves Engler, Laura Flanders, William S. Geimer, Denis Halliday, John Helmer, Sam Husseini, Kim Ives, Dahr Jamail, Robert Jensen, Malalai Joya, Kathy Kelly, Dan Kovalik, Dimitri Lascaris, Jonathan Latham, Ingmar Lee, Dave Lindorff, Tarek Loubani, Stefania Maurizi, Nils Melzer, Glenn Michalchuk, Sharmine Narwani, Stavroula Pabst, Michael Parenti, John Pilger, Mazin Qumsiyeh, Andy Lee Roth, Richard Sanders, Pitasanna Shanmugathas, Vandana Shiva, John Stauber, Ken Stone, David Swanson, Andre Vltchek, Andy Worthington, Alfred de Zayas, Howard Zinn and many others.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 10th, 2022
Twenty-five hundred years or so ago, storied Chinese general and reputed author of The Art of War observed, “There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.” Today, twenty and some years into George Bush’s “generational war”, Sun Tzu’s wise maxim seems to have eluded the modern masters of war. The NATO Alliance has spent the 21st Century hopscotching from country to country dealing death and destruction as it goes with the abandon of a malicious child on an ant hill, wantonly thumbing flat people, nations, and the very concept of International Law until. In 2022, we find ourselves on the threshold of another global war, one leading through Russia to a final confrontation with China.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past scholar, and advisor to government at the highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt‘ is newly out.
His recent article, ‘The Coming Verdict in the MH17 Trial is Certain, and Double Dutch’ reminds, NATO’s determination for a war against Russia in Ukraine is a multi-layered operation, predating anything Russia has done.
Today, John Helmer and Dutch courts doing double duty and NATO’s media doing its damnedest to get and keep the war on Russia going.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 7th, 2021.
80 years to the day from FDR’s famous “day that will live in infamy“, marking America’s entry into World War II the current U.S. president had a virtual sit-down summit with former ally Russia, ostensibly to discuss way of avoiding another war. The fire this time is Ukraine, and whether Russia, as the western press charges, is readying an invasion. For its part, Russia says its concern is with NATO expansion and the emplacement of offensive weapons by the alliance in bordering countries. Meanwhile, behind the media static is Nord Stream 2, the massive gas pipeline project from Russia that though completed is yet to transport a puff of power to energy hungry Europe.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’ ‘Skripal in Prison’, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thrill
er’, and the just hot of the presses, ‘Complete Dances with Bears Comic Book’. His recent article ‘A NEW RUSSIAGATE COMPENDIUM TURNS OUT TO BE A CAT IN A SAKWA’ outs the western media layering of attacks designed to keep Russia on a permanent back-foot.
Today, John Helmer and of summits and the journalistic nadir in Russia reportage.
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, July 10th and 11th, 2021.
Crusading publisher and founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange spent his 50th birthday last week just as he had his 49th and 48th, in solitary at London’s Belmarsh Prison. Assange was snatched by British authorities from Ecuador’s London Embassy April 11th, 2019, the place he’d been granted sanctuary in 2012. He said back then he feared extradition to the United States to be punished for WikiLeaks’ release of the infamous Collateral Murder video and other revelations of U.S. criminality. Nearly ten years later, Assange waits in stir as America prepares an appeal of Britain’s dismissal on humanitarian grounds of its first attempt to have him delivered to Washington.
A major element of America’s case against Assange rests on the testimony of Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, a controversial figure who in a recent interview with Stundin, an Icelandic news site, admits to providing false testimony to the FBI. Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson co-wrote the article that has Assange allies hopeful for his release at long last.
Bjartmar Alexandersson in the first half.
And; it was an international sensation in 2018 when, as like in a Hollywood thriller; a Russian hit squad attempted to rub out a former double-agent in an audacious, broad daylight “military-grade” chemical attack in the heart of Salisbury, a town known more for its Early English Gothic cathedral than international intrigue.
Tensions got so high for a time, it was thought L’Affaire Skripal could even lead to war! And no-one perhaps was a more sympathetic character in the story than Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, collateral victim of the deathly, Novichok chemical agent. Imagine everybody’s surprise then when the now former Detective Sergeant inadvertently revealed he’d never actually been exposed to Novichok!
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, and his latest, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller’. He’s also the author of ‘Skripal in Prison’ a compendium of his many articles on the Skripal case. His latest on the matter at Dances with Bears is, ‘DETECTIVE SGT NICK BAILEY HAS ANNOUNCED NOT ANOTHER WORD ON NOVICHOK AND THE SKRIPAL CASE‘.
John Helmer and the curious and curiouser case of the once talkative and now silent detective in the second half.
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, April 18th and 26th, 2021.
Contained within his 17th State of the Nation address President Vladimir Putin delivered the unambiguous warning that efforts by the United States and its allies to undermine the country’s security, sovereignty, or well-being of its people would not be tolerated. The speech came just a month after President Biden labeled his Russian counterpart a “killer”, and only three days after a report detailing the foiled assassination plot against the Belarus president, allegedly engineered at “the highest levels” of the Biden administration. The report follows too tit for tat diplomatic expulsions, leading to what my first guest calls the “nadir” of U.S./Russia relations.
Christopher Black is a Toronto-based criminal lawyer specializing in international war crimes cases. He’s also an executive member of the Canadian Peace Congress. Black’s articles on international law, politics, and World events appear at New Eastern Outlook among other places, where I found his latest, ‘Biden, The Killer President‘. His timely novel, ‘Beneath the Clouds’, “a story of how people, acting collectively, can defeat tyranny” is published by Badak Merah and is newly out.
Christopher Black in the first half.
And; when long-time friend and frequent guest of the show, Dr. Pablo Ouziel suggested one of his promising, graduated political science students collaborate with Gorilla Radio as part of his entrance prerequisite for London’s prestigious Goldsmiths’ University journalism program, I was only too happy to help. Denver Willson-Rymer II is a Victoria/Vancouver-based street and fine art photographer, political blogger, short story author, and principle behind the website, Indulgent.online.
Denver Willson-Rymer’s interview with Victoria activist, Caleb Asfaw in the second half.
But first, Christopher Black and Joe Biden’s promising “killer” presidency.
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded on this date, December 9th, 2020.
While elections-manipulating mastermind, Vladimir Putin has fallen off the front pages in America, across the pond in Jolly Old, ‘Evil Russia’ still serves as nemesis and fictional bete noire for scriptwriters and semi-autobiographical memoirists alike. A case in point is former GCHQ honcho, Sir David Omand’s hot New Cold War release, ‘How Spies Think, Ten Lessons in Intelligence’. To hear Sir David tell it, the West is at war with disinformation artists who would have us believe: “…Ukraine was responsible for downing Malaysian airliner MH17 and there are fascist roots to the government in Kiev; COVID-19 was actually covert bio-warfare by the US against China; AND, NATO isn’t an instrument of peace, but is really planning aggression against Russia…” Imagine!
Well, if I’m to apply the time-tested axiom, “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied…” David Omand’s non mea culpa may teach us more than his Ten Lesson’s intended.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, the two-plus year chronicle of the Skripal case, ‘Skripal in Prison’, and his latest, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH17’. His recent article, ‘THE ENRICHMENT OF BRITISH INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS – HOW THEY THINK THEY ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT ABOUT THE RUSSIANS, NEVER DO, BUT GROW RICH TRYING’ is a revelation of the disquieting future currently being prepared by the folks of the Intelligence Community.
John Helmer in the first half.
And; if the measure of a society is how its weakest are treated then do we deserve more than the precipitous societal decline witnessed these last decades?
As millions careen into extreme poverty and the Bastille is full to bursting, while the very few accumulate vast wealth undreamed of by either the Captains of the Gilded Age or courtiers of Versailles, the real impoverishment of our civilization is a terminal dearth of popular conscience and abandonment of the moral compass. Nowhere is that better evinced than in Guantanamo Bay, the 21st Century’s Devil’s Island.
Andy Worthington is an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too, co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign, and successfully completed, We Stand With Shaker campaign. Worthington’s book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’. His articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where he is preparing 2021’s version of the annual Close Guantanamo effort.
Andy Worthington and a framework for a new president to finally Close Guantanamo in the second half.
And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good going on in and around our town, and virtually too, in the coming week. But first, John Helmer in search of British intelligence on Russia.
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded on this date, December 9th, 2020.
While elections-manipulating mastermind, Vladimir Putin has fallen off the front pages in America, across the pond in Jolly Old, ‘Evil Russia’ still serves as nemesis and fictional bete noire for scriptwriters and semi-autobiographical memoirists alike. A case in point is former GCHQ honcho, Sir David Omand’s hot New Cold War release, ‘How Spies Think, Ten Lessons in Intelligence’.
To hear Sir David tell it, the West is at war with disinformation artists who would have us believe: “…Ukraine was responsible for downing […] Malaysian airliner MH17, [and…] there are fascist roots to the government in Kiev, […] COVID-19 was covert bio-warfare by the US against China, and that NATO is planning aggression against Russia…”
If I’m to apply the time-tested axiom, “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied...” David Omand’s book may have more to teach us than his Ten Lesson’s intended.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, and his latest, the two-plus year chronicle of the Skripal case, ‘Skripal in Prison’.
His recent article, ‘THE ENRICHMENT OF BRITISH INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS – HOW THEY THINK THEY ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT ABOUT THE RUSSIANS, NEVER DO, BUT GROW RICH TRYING’ is a revelation of the disquieting future currently being prepared by the folks of the Intelligence Community.
Today, John Helmer in search of British Intelligence.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio’s continuing efforts, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but emanating live-to-tape via Skype from our home-based … studios on this date, April 25th, 2020.
The latest attempt by lamentable Keystone coupster, Juan Guaido to crown himself King of Caracas cracked up on the rocks of a Venezuelan beach, where his army, a motley collection of hapless foreign mercenaries and disgruntled Venezuelan nationals was taken into custody by a combination of police and local fishermen. The entire latter day Bay of Pigs fiasco would have been laughable but for the eight men killed, and the potential mayhem those men had hoped to unleash on the already crisis-stricken country. All that was made clear when the contract Guaido had taken out on elected president, Nicolas Maduro was made public by his accomplices at Silvercorp USA, the outfit hired and disgruntled by Juan’s failure to make good on payment promised.
Dr. Alan MacLeod is an educator, essayist, and author whose research interests include media theory, propaganda, social media and South American politics. He’s a staff writer at Mintpress News, a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and author of the book, ‘Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting’. His recent article at the Grayzone is, ‘Guaidó’s mercenary hit contract on Venezuela’s Maduro mirrors official US bounty, authorizes death squad killings‘.
Alan MacLeod in the first half.
And; if I’m to follow to its logical conclusion the advice of the World Health Organization and, (quote) “limit [my] worry and agitation by lessening the time I spend watching or listening to media coverage I perceive as upsetting…” I’d be forced to in good conscience close shop too, putting an end to twenty-one years of Gorilla Radio’s dedication to (quote) “increasing agitation by presenting media designed to be upsetting”. And that I refuse to do; allowing the virus victory is not an option on my watch, as the grating saying goes.
So in this I take departure of the WHO, thank you. And, it appears I’m not alone in finding fault with they and their medical minions: The United States of America too is out of sorts with the UN agency, as is its ally, Australia the two leading a chorus of boos for the WHO’s failure to affix “proper” blame in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak. All proving that, even in a World where everything is changed, some songs remain the same.
John Helmer’s a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to governments, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. He’s also one of the most widely read Russia specialists in the business world for his news-breaking stories on Russian base and precious metals, diamonds, mining, shipping, insurance, food trade, and business policy. Helmer’s book titles include: ‘The Deadly Simple Mechanics of Society’, ‘The Jackal’s Wedding – American Power, Arab Revolt’, (co-authored with Claudia Wright), the political memoir, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, and his latest, the two-plus year chronicle of the bizarre and completely unprecedented case of a Russian father and daughter disappeared by the British state for “their own protection”, ‘Skripal in Prison’. His recent article, ‘SKRIPAL SHOWDOWN, NOVICHOK PAYDAY — LONDON LAWYER THREAT TO CALL SERGEI AND YULIA SKRIPAL TO TESTIFY IN OPEN COURT FOR THE FIRST TIME’ continues presenting the upsetting facts behind the official Skripal fiction.
John Helmer and no men being islands in the Covid-19 stream in the second half.
And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Alan MacLeod and the latest sad chapter in the sorry life of Juan Guaido, Venezuela’s little coupster that couldn’t.
From the barricades of France’s Gilets Jaunes and America’s Black Lives Matter marches, to Venezuela’s Bolivarian reactionary mobilizations, and the “coloured revolutions” manifesting around the globe, it’s clear: we’re living in an age of political upheaval. But are scenes of the People taking to the streets an ominous precursor of chaos and civilization’s end to come, or hopeful sign of civic renewal and democratic vibrancy?
Astra’s also the American Book Award-winning author of, ‘The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age‘, and an essayist whose writing has appeared at The New York Times, London Review of Books, and The Walrus among other places. Her new book, ‘Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone’ is due out any day.
Astra Taylor in the first half.
And; the long-running fiasco that has become Great Britain’s political reality may prove H.L. Menken’s maxim: “Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right.”
John Helmer is a journalist, former academic, government policy advisor, author, and broadcaster. He’s the longest-serving Russia-based foreign correspondent, and sole western journalist directing his own news bureau, independent of any single national or commercial encumbrance, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears, where his recent article, ‘Novichok Full O’Nuts – In the Case of Sergei Skripal Police Commissioner Angus MacPherson Lifts the Lid‘ is one of a series chronicling the continuing inability, or unwillingness, of the May government to provide a consistent narrative surrounding the case that strained Anglo-Russian relations to breaking point.
Helmer’s titles include, (with Max van der Werff) ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH17 – The True Story of Who Did’, Grand Strategy for Small Countries, Case Studies in Transforming Weakness into Power,’ Russian State Strategy on the Cheap,’ among others. His latest, newly released book is his political memoir, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia‘.
John Helmer and clearing finally the malodorous May miasma shrouding the sinister Skripal affair in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in the coming week. But first, Astra Taylor asking, “Just What Is Democracy?”
Early last week the Skripal Affair emerged the Memory Hole just long enough to pique viewer curiosity, and reiterate the anti-Russia meme, naturally.
On October 4th, seven months to the day of the now infamous Salisbury poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, Dutch Defence Minister, Ank Bijleveld held a press conference to announce the April 13th arrest of four Russian agents in the Hague, near the offices of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body investigating the case.
As for why her ministry would make the “highly unusual” announcement, and do so nearly six months after the fact, the minister says it was necessary to:
“[S]end a clear message to the Russian military intelligence service that it must put a stop to its undermining cyber operations.”
John Helmer is a long-time, Moscow-based journalist, author, and essayist whose website, Dances with Bears is the only Russian-based news bureau “independent of single national or commercial ties.” He’s also a former political science professor who’s served as advisor to governments on three continents, and regularly lectures on Russian topics. His book titles include: ‘Uncovering Russia,’ ‘Urbanman: The Psychology of Urban Survival,’ ‘Bringing the War Home: The American Soldier in Vietnam and After,’ and ‘Drugs and Minority Oppression’, among others.
Gregg McElroy is with the Canadian Orca Rescue Society, and the long-time environmental frontline activist says something must be done, and done now to save the Southern Resident Orca and their habitat. With that in mind, he and the Society launched a 17 Day Vigil last week to emphasize the urgency of the situation and marshal support.
Gregg McElroy and standing for the Orca in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with this week’s Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, John Helmer and spinning the Skripal tale in the Netherlands.
The American coup machine has taken its efforts to topple Nicaraguan democracy to a higher level. Addressing the UN Security Council yesterday, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley said, “With each passing day Nicaragua travels further down a familiar path. It is a path that Syria has taken. It is a path that Venezuela has taken.”
That “path” to which the Ambassador refers in other quarters is called national sovereignty and self-determination; something anathema to the United States now in Nicaragua, as it has been, as Haley reminds, in Venezuela, a country currently suffering a vicious financial sanctions attack, and in Syria, a place America has done its utmost to destroy, and even now occupies militarily.
But it’s not just hawks like Nikki Haley gunning for Nicaragua; in a cunning bit of wordplay, Leila Swan of Human Rights Watch slays two recalcitrant Latin American birds in one sentence saying, “It’s hard not to think about the early stages of Venezuela’s crisis while watching the brutal crackdown unfolding in Nicaragua.” So what’s really going on?
And; Britain’s prime minister addressed the nation’s Parliament yesterday saying she had solved the Skripal poisoning case. Her accompanying presentation featured photos and maps and other visual aids, but contained little a prosecutor could use to justify charges being brought, let alone the actual evidence needed in court to secure a conviction. But no matter, the case is meant to tried in the court of public opinion, an arena Theresa May is desperate to “court” these days.
John Helmer is a long-time, Moscow-based journalist, author, and essayist whose website, Dances with Bears is the only Russian-based news bureau “independent of single national or commercial ties.” He’s also a former political science professor who’s served as advisor to governments on three continents, and regularly lectures on Russian topics.
Helmer’s book titles include: ‘Uncovering Russia,’ ‘Urbanman: The Psychology of Urban Survival,’ ‘Bringing the War Home: The American Soldier in Vietnam and After,’ and ‘Drugs and Minority Oppression’, among others. His latest article, ‘The New Allegations in the Skripal Case and the Standard of Proof‘ takes aim at the latest media muddling of the Skripal case.
John Helmer and trying days for England’s Queen of Hearts in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week.
But first, Daniel Kovalik and the plot to attack Nicaragua and vilify Daniel Ortega.
Good news out of Britain: Former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, apparently poisoned in Salisbury a little more than a month ago, are still alive. Sergei is said to be in critical but stable condition still, and it seems Yulia is strong enough to speak, though is as yet being held incommunicado.
While being of particular relief to the friends and families of the stricken, the recovery of the three provides too much needed diplomatic space for a thus far vitriolic Prime Minister Theresa May to climb down from her government’s vilification campaign against Russia – at least long enough to ascertain why the Skripal’s fell sick in the first place, and then determine the provenance, if any, of alleged agents, chemical and otherwise involved.
After all, no-one wants to create an international incident of it – do they?
Michael Jabara Carley is an author, educator, and essayist. A professor of history at the Université de Montréal, his research and writing focuses on relations between Russia, the USSR, and the “West”. His book titles include: ‘Revolution and Intervention: The French Government and the Russian Civil War, 1917-1919’, ‘1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II’, and his latest, ‘Silent Conflict: A Hidden History of Early Soviet-Western Relations,’ and he’s in the process of writing a book chronicling the “serendipitous” creation of the “Grand Alliance,” key to the defeat of Hitler in World War II.
And; it’s said, “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan” and no axiom fits more aptly the situation with Cannabis in Canada today. While Johnnie-come-lately former police officials and politicians join the boards of newly formed weed corporations, hitching their wagons to the shooting star of profitability legal access affords, the people who fought the law to help the sick watch on. But not to be sidelined, in its 23rd year, the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyer’s Club is still going strong and ready to continue the fight for truly unfettered access.
Ted Smith founded the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyer’s Club to provide cannabis-based products to people with terminal and incurable medical conditions. He faced harassment and arrest, and took his case all the way to Canada’s Supreme Court – and won!
Ted Smith and Canada’s new legal understanding of cannabis in the second half.
And; long-time Victoria activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good to get up to in and around Victoria in the coming week. But first, Michael Jabara Carley and stoking a hotter Cold War 2.0 with Russia.
It’s not the Ides Iraqis are wary of in March, but the 20th day. That marks the date in 2003 their lives changed forever. It was of course when America and its allies, its “Coalition of the Willing”, launched the infamous, ‘Operation Iraqi Liberation’.
You may recall the shock and awe of watching a nation blown to pieces LIVE on CNN; not in living colour, but rather transmitted in the eerie iridescence of infrared night vision?
Despite serial declarations to the contrary, the “operation” in Iraq never really was accomplished and fifteen years later the country, with its cities in shambles, millions killed, maimed, or driven into exile is, like fellow invadee Afghanistan, still a chaos; is still at war.
David Swanson is a peace and political justice activist, journalist, radio host, and author whose book titles include: ‘War No More: The Case for Abolition,’ ‘When the World Outlawed War,’ ‘War Is a Lie,’ and ‘The Military Industrial Complex at 50’ among others. He’s director of WorldBeyondWar.org, blogs at Let’s Try Democracy (DavidSwanson.org) and WarIsACrime.org, and hosts the public affairs program, Talk Nation Radio.
David Swanson in the first half.
And; as though tensions between the World’s nuclear titans weren’t taut enough, a bizarre alleged poisoning in Britain has Western fingers pointing again at a Russian conspiracy. Former spy and exile, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia were discovered collapsed on a Salisbury park bench a week past Sunday last.
John Helmer and uncertain certainties in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and CFUV Radio broadcaster at-large, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin. But first, David Swanson and the enduring legacy of war in Iraq and beyond.