Tag: UCC

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone, Yves Engler June 21, 2023

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 21st, 2023

Last week, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice-President, Josep Borrell emcee’d the EU’s 7th Brussels Conference on the Future of Syria and the Region. Alert listeners may recall Senor Borrell as the malapropist who in an address last year to the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges made plain his – and presumably his organization’s – view of the World. It’s worth repeating. The World according to Borrell consists of a garden, (Europe) perennially threatened by the persistent blight of an expanding jungle. Says Josep,

“The jungle could invade the garden… walls will never be high enough in order to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle… Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us by different ways and means”.

Well the European gardeners have been busy in Syria over the last dozen years, slashing and burning and doing their darnedest to cultivate a new nature for one of the planet’s oldest – and most stubbornly recalcitrant – patches of land. And they’ve not been alone; Canada too has inserted it’s green thumb into the Syrian plot.

Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement International and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; as terrible as NATO’s landscaping has been in Syria (and “the region”) it’s small potatoes compared to the planned project for Europe’s bread basket. Canada recently announced more hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars be dedicated to scorching the Ukrainian soil, with nary a word piped up against it in either the House or main media.

Yves Engler is an independent, Montreal-based journalist and author. He’s written twelve books on Canadian foreign policy, including ‘Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority’, co-authored with Anthony Fenton.

His recent article, ‘Canadian ‘progressives’ suffer bad case of war fever psychosis’ recognizes the Green Party of Canada’s thumb in the Ukraine war pie.

Yves Engler and Canada’s deeply rooted war ethos in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and Europe making the Syria “jungle” bloom.

Song: Work for Peace

Artist: Gil Scott-Heron

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Glenn Michalchuk, Tamara Lorincz February 4, 2023

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 4th, 2023.

Last month, the German government of Olaf Scholz relented to NATO pressure, agreeing to donate Leopard 2 tanks to the Kiev regime’s war effort. The United States was quick to follow, delivering the first 60 of a promised 109 Bradley M2A2-ODS Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine. Canada’s Trudeau administration in the last week too pledged tanks, the minister of defense, Anita Anand saying four Leopard 2’s would be given over, including ammunition, parts, and a deployment of Canadian soldiers to “train” Ukrainian tank crews. This while countries like Turkey work for a ceasefire agreement to end the near year-long conflict between Ukraine and its neighbour, Russia.

Glenn Michalchuk is chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg, and president of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. Glenn’s been active in the peace movement since the Dirty Wars of Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s.

Glenn Michalchuk in the first half.

And; throwing tanks, ammunition, spare parts, and soldiers onto the fires of a hot war is not the only evidence of Canada’s new self-understanding as a warrior nation. In January too the contentious purchase of a fleet of American F-35 jets was approved by the Trudeau government.

A press release from Public Services and Procurement Canada reads in part, “Through Canada’s defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, the Government of Canada is acquiring modern military equipment to keep Canadians safe and protected, and to support the security of our international allies and partners.”

The release did not explain just how expediting nuclear winter makes Canadians strong, safe, or protected.

Tamara Lorincz is a fellow with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, and a PhD candidate in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University, where her thesis focus is climate and the environmental impact of the military. Tamara’s also served on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and contributed her knowledge and talents to the organizations World Beyond War, and the No to NATO Network.

Tamara Lorincz and militarism’s two ecological doomsday scenarios in the second half.

But first, Glenn Michalchuk and Canada’s all-in move on Ukraine.

Artist: David Rovics

Song: 116 Degrees

Album: May Day

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/