America's Venezuela Coup Footsoldiers Find Home in ICE Detention

Pro-Coup Venezuelan Soldiers Who Fled to the US Now Locked Up in ICE Detention Center

by Alan Macleod  - MintPress News

December 27, 2019

In an ironic twist worthy of an Alanis Morissette song, participants in U.S.-backed coup are now in an ICE detention camp.

Klowns That Would Be Kings: Wad Guano and Puppeteer Lopez

The Venezuelan soldiers who participated in the U.S.-backed coup attempt in April of this year and subsequently fled to the U.S. have been incarcerated in ICE detention camps ever since. Telemundo, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, secured an interview with Major Hugo Parra, the highest-ranking of the handful of soldiers who answered self-declared President Juan Guaidó’s call to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro.

Re: Pepe Escobar's You Say You Want a (Russian) Revolution?

PEPE ESCOBAR: You Say You Want a (Russian) Revolution? – Consortiumnews

by Michael Major

December 26, 2019

A very good article. What worries me is that most of the comments seem to presume that Russian is preparing to attack the USA in a ritualized replay of the Cold War. However, it could not be more obvious that Russia is saying quite simply in unexaggerated concrete terms that they do not agree to be dominated and ruled by and integrated into the USA or its empire and that Russian sovereignty is not transactable. 

The USA is saying get used to being dominated and learn to assume the surrender position and by the way your acquiescence is not transactable. It would seem the negotiation frame begins with the USA indicating it will not desist from domination, and with Russia indicating it will not desist from resisting domination.

The Stain: Shutting Up Bleeding Heart Mouths

“Opposing Interventionism In Nation X Means You Love Nation X’s Government!”

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist 

December 27, 2019

Every time you speak out against western imperialism in a given nation or question western propaganda narratives about that nation’s government, you will inevitably be accused of loving that nation’s government by anyone who argues with you.

When I say “inevitably”, I am not exaggerating. If you speak in any public forum for any length of time expressing skepticism of what we’re told to believe about a nation whose government has been targeted by the US-centralized empire, you will with absolute certainty eventually run into someone who accuses you of thinking that that government is awesome and pure and good.

The Fall & (Media) Resurrection of James Le Mesurier

After His Mysterious Death, the Media Scrambles to Get its Story Straight About White Helmets Founder James Le Mesurier

by Vanessa Beeley  - MintPress News

December 2, 2019

Almost immediately after Le Mesurier’s alleged plunge to his death, reports began to emerge of tampering and the removal of details about the controversial “private security” operative’s career.

Graphic by Claudio Cabrera 

On November 11, 2019, the British founder of the notorious White Helmets, James Le Mesurier, died in Istanbul, Turkey. The circumstances surrounding his death immediately elicited a flurry of Turkish and corporate media reports, many of them contradictory, as the details of his final hours came to light.

Mark Urban, the diplomatic editor at BBC Newsnight, immediately tweeted that “a former colleague” had told him it was impossible to “fall from that balcony,” referencing Le Mesurier’s reported cause of death and intimated that there may have been “state involvement.” Urban did not identify his mysterious “former colleague” or explain what made him sufficiently qualified to conclude that Le Mesurier’s death may have been a state-sanctioned hit.

Urban, declaring ignorance over Le Mesurier’s suspected ties to Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency, then suggesting that a “black propaganda campaign by Russian and Syria media and their social media acolytes” against Le Mesurier was “a prelude to murder” (emphasis added). Extraordinary claims for a journalist to make prior to the publication of any official autopsy.

Gorilla Radio 2019 Year Ender Show with Chris Cook, Andy Worthington, John Helmer, Nils Melzer, Andre Vltchek Dec. 26, 2019

This Year on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

December 26, 2019

Well, it's another year come and gone, and this - the twentieth for Gorilla Radio - has spun faster than all the rest. Naturally, that's what the older set always say; and to the youngsters out there, their eyes all a-roll I say, "You'll see!" Or will you?

If the climate crisis is what is promised, perhaps there will be no more "some days" to come; but to those that believe that's the case, I can only remind of my own experience. When I was young, so long ago, the threat of instant immolation in the nuclear fires of America and the Soviet Union hung over our young heads, a Damaclesian nightmare that made planning our bright future's difficult, and sometimes seemingly pointless.

But here we are nearly forty years after Ronald Reagan, and in many ways the World is a better place than it was then.

Listen. Hear.

UNwitting Ethnic Cleanser: How United Nations Resolution Aids Israel's Dispossession of Palestinians

From a Blessing to a Curse: How UN Resolution 2334 Accelerated Israel’s Colonization in the West Bank

by Ramzy Baroud - PalestineChronicle.com

December 18, 2019

Three years ago, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2334. With fourteen members voting in favor and one abstention, the Resolution was the equivalent of a political earthquake. 

 

Indeed, it was the first time in many years that Israel was roundly condemned by the international body for its illegal settlement policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Unlike previous attempts at holding Israel accountable, this time the Americans did nothing to protect its closest ally. What has happened since then, however, has been a testimony to the failure of the UN to furnish meaningful mechanisms that would force violators of international law, like Israel, to respect international consensus.

Naughty and Nice: Lies Meant and Liars by Omission

FATHER CHRISTMAS MAKES A PROMISE TO DELIVER THE TRUTH, BUT FIRST TO TIE UP THE LIARS

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

@bears_with

“From now onwards you tell the truth, and that’s it”, Robert Fisk, one of the few British journalists who do, explained recently for a television documentary that this was the credo he learned from his job.

Moscow - He’s still being published in a London newspaper controlled by the Lebedev family; their capacity for printing lies has not been dissuaded or diminished by Fisk’s example.

Still, it’s the time of the year when you and I wish each other the hope that the future will turn out better than it’s proved to be recently; and when we take time for reflection on the likelihood of this; also the time to gather the energy to cope with the greater unlikelihood.

A Coup Foretold: Counting Down Mexican Democracy

Chronicle of a Coup Foretold 

by Brian Mier - CounterPunch

December 20, 2019 
 

Will the US left work to normalize the impending coup attempt in Mexico the way it did for Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil and Nicaragua?

 Photograph Source: U.S. Department of State – Public Domain 

Last July I gave a speech in the Left Forum in Brooklyn. When it was over, a young activist stood up and announced, in perfect English, that they were an anarchist from Mexico who had traveled to the Left Forum to speak out against the human rights abuses being perpetrated by “neoliberal” Mexican president Lopes Obrador against protesters.

Since the panel I participated in had nothing to do with Mexico, I imagined an entire battalion of self-proclaimed Mexican vanguard leftists changing the subject in panel after panel at the left forum to damage AMLO’s image by exaggerating the connection between the Mexican president and local police forces under the control of opposition governments, as had happened to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff during the lead up to the World Cup. ‘So it begins’, I thought. As we say in Brazil, ‘I’ve seen this movie before’.

The Portents of Prolonged Assange Assailment: Specific Torture Leading Inevitably to Greater Tyranny

UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer: “With censorship inevitably comes tyranny”

by Johannes Stern  - WSWS

9 December 2019

On November 28, the World Socialist Web Site spoke with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, (left) in Berlin.

Melzer is playing a central role in the defence of Julian Assange. The day before the interview, he took part in the unveiling in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate of the art installation “Anything to Say,” with sculptures of Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.

He also participated in a hearing on Assange in the German parliament (Bundestag).

In this interview with the WSWS, the Swiss lawyer, who teaches international humanitarian law at the University of Glasgow, speaks of his work on the Assange case and the perilous condition of the WikiLeaks founder, who is languishing in the Belmarsh maximum security prison in London.

He denounces the role of governments and the mainstream media in the persecution of Assange and warns of the dangerous consequences of the far-reaching erosion of democratic rights.

Paper Tiger: "Afghanistan Papers" As Establishment Balderdash

The Afghanistan Papers Are Establishment Whitewash BS

by James Corbett - The Corbett Report

December 20, 2019

The Afghanistan Papers! The Afghanistan Papers! Everyone is talking about the Afghanistan Papers! These “incredible” documents must be full of “explosive revelations” about the US-led NATO invasion and 18-year presence in Afghanistan, right? That’s what everyone is saying, after all. But what if I were to tell you that this “bombshell” report from The Washington Post isn’t just a Nothingburger, but is actually an establishment whitewash? You better brace yourself, because that’s exactly what I’m going to tell you on this week’s edition of The Corbett Report podcast.

For those with limited bandwidth, CLICK HERE to download a smaller, lower file size version of this episode.

For those interested in audio quality, CLICK HERE for the highest-quality version of this episode (WARNING: very large download).

Deja Vu All Over Again: Hong Kong Rebel's Blinkered Reality

Washington's Refined Art of Torturing China May Ignite a War

by Andre Vltchek - NEO

December 19, 2019

When visiting China, when working there regularly, things all of a sudden appear to be extremely familiar. I feel here like I did in Russia, during the end of the reign of Boris Yeltsin. Many people then, used to welcome everything European and North American with open arms. All that the Soviet Communists used to say was suddenly considered wrong; all that the West bombarded people of Eastern Europe with, was taken as a pure gold. Individuals questioning the Western narrative were considered purely ignorant.

We all know what followed: workers and miners had to block railways tracks, because their wages were not paid for months, even years. Grandmothers were tortured, literally ironed, so they would reveal passwords to their bank accounts. People were dying behind closed doors, many freezing to death in sub-zero temperatures. Life expectancy dropped to that of Sub-Saharan Africa. Everything was privatized.

Life in the Time of Neo-Liberalism: Colombia

COLOMBIA: Where Life Has to Defeat Death

by Andre Vltchek - 21st Century Wire

December 22, 2019 
 

In one of the poorest neighborhoods of Bogota, Belen, I saw two people bleeding in the middle of the road. One person was clearly dead. A group of onlookers were moving frantically, shouting loudly. There was an attempt to resurrect an injured man. I asked the driver to inquire whether our help was needed, but he was told something insulting by the locals, and insisted that we leave the scene immediately.

 Colombia: a country struggling to redeem itself 

(Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©

Was it a traffic accident? Or a murder? The driver did not know. He actually did not want to know.

“Look,” he said. “You may be a Russian or Chinese Communist, or whatever, but here, in the middle of this slum, you kind of look like a gringo and that is a damn big disadvantage to both of us, and to my car. So, if you don’t intend to bury your bones here, we should not stop in the middle of this neighborhood for too long.”

“I thought they love Gringos in Colombia,” I uttered, sarcastically.

“Down there, yes,” my driver waved his hand towards the financial center of Bogota. “But not here. Not up here.”

Going Underground & Taking the Shine Off Crazy Diamonds with Roger Waters

Going Underground with Roger Waters

by Afshin Rattansi - RT

December 21, 2019

We speak to Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters on the UK general election results. He discusses the media’s campaign against Corbyn, anti-Semitism allegations against Corbyn and the Labour Party, why he believes Boris Johnson is an “oaf and a complete buffoon,” why the national security state feared Jeremy Corbyn and more! 

http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT

https://www.youtube.com/user/GoingUndergroundRT

http://twitter.com/Underground_RT

http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi

https://soundcloud.com/rttv/sets/going-underground

Taking All the Right Lessons from Corbyn Defeat, (and getting it all wrong)

Corporate Media Find All the Wrong Lessons for US Left in Corbyn’s Defeat 

 by Alan MacLeod - FAIR

December 21, 2019

Conservative leader Boris Johnson swept to power in the UK’s December 12 elections, winning 365 of a possible 650 seats. Labour’s socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his resignation, after a bitterly disappointing night for his party.

Across the spectrum, corporate media all came to the same conclusion regarding the election: Corbyn’s loss spells the end for the US left and a “crushing defeat” (New York, 12/13/19) of the discredited policies of socialism. The press was filled with variations on the same reflexive warning to the Democrats: Don’t go left.

Andre Vltchek's World: Fragments Through a Lens Darkly

I Never Saw a World So Fragmented!

by Andre Vltchek - Dissident Voice

December 19th, 2019

It is amazing how easily, without resistance, the Western empire is managing to destroy “rebellious” countries that are standing in its way.

I work in all corners of the planet, wherever Kafkaesque “conflicts” get ignited by Washington, London or Paris.

What I see and describe are not only those horrors which are taking place all around me; horrors that are ruining human lives, destroying villages, cities and entire countries. What I try to grasp is that on the television screens and on the pages of newspapers and the internet, the monstrous crimes against humanity somehow get covered (described), but the information becomes twisted and manipulated to such an extent that readers and viewers in all parts of the world end up knowing close to nothing about their own suffering, and/or of the suffering of the other.

Assange Testimony at Westminster Magistrates Court December 20, 2019

People Speak Outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in Support of Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange - Video

by Sputnik

December 20, 2019

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Andy Worthington, Nils Melzer Redux, Janine Bandcroft December 19, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

December 19, 2019

Last week, Britain followed America's lead in electing an ultra-conservative, faux populist based on the single premise of, if not making Britain Great again, at least carrying through with the years-old promise to take the country out of the European Union.

The great mystery to those looking from outside the country is why?

Why, following the divisive and ill-defined scheme dreamt up by the David Cameron Tories of yore, did the people of that green and pleasant land, rather than punishing the authors, and bungling executors of the disastrous Brexit debacle, decide instead to reward them with massive electoral success?

And for Britons, the greater question now is, what's going to happen next?

Listen. Hear.

Andy Worthington is an investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. A recognized authority on the American prison at Guantánamo Bay and the “war on terror”, Andy is co-founder of the Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker campaigns, both dedicated to bringing justice for inmates of that terrible place past and present.

The London-based Worthington is also a singer, songwriter, founding member of the band, The Four Fathers, and urban photographer whose State of London series is a seven plus years-long daily chronicle of that great city. In 2017, Andy became very involved in housing issues, and is the narrator of the newly released documentary film, ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, about "the destruction of council estates, and the inspiring resistance of residents."

Andy Worthington in the first half.

And; it's that time of the year again: Winter has set in, and the short, dark days of the northern hemisphere are beginning to grow old. And so, we hurry home through the cold, seeking comfort in the warm embrace of family and friends, and bask in the solace afforded by the hearth. So, to honour that sentiment, a small hiatus from the usual format to acknowledge our collective desire for a peaceful World and support of those sacrificing so much for it 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 and around our town in the coming week. But first, Andy Worthington and the Day After for Britain.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://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.ca/

"The Most Powerful, Refined [Arrogant] Propaganda System in the World"

The Arrogance Of BBC News

by Media Lens - Alerts

19th December 2019

When we started Media Lens in 2001, we had a rather naïve expectation that journalists might: a) want to respond rationally to reasoned criticism; and b) have privileged access to unparalleled journalistic resources, experts and arguments that would enable journalists to respond with serious points to our challenges. In particular, we imagined that BBC journalists and editors – being funded from the public licence fee – might actually feel obliged to respond.

We were quickly disabused of such notions. Reasoned debate with journalists employed by the misleadingly-termed ‘mainstream’ media is as rare as a newspaper editorial in support of Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to last week’s General Election. The dearth of such media debate – in fact, the arrogant and condescending dismissal of vital truths – has been highlighted as never before by recent pronouncements from senior figures in BBC News.

Where Labour Went Wrong

Where Did Labour Go Wrong? 

by Kenneth Surin - CounterPunch

December 18, 2019 

The scale of the Tory victory in the UK general election last week is known to all who read a half-decent newspaper or news site—the biggest Tory win since Mrs Thatcher’s success in 1987, and the biggest Labour loss since 1935.

Photograph Source: Garry Knight – CC BY 2.0

As a member of the Labour party I of course found the loss shattering. It is no consolation that although Corbyn’s Labour obtained 2 million fewer votes than in 2017, he still gained more votes than the 3 previous Labour leaders in their elections: Ed Miliband (2015), Gordon Brown (2010), and Tony Blair (2005, but not 1997 and 2002).

Britain Buys Boris (Toxic No Deal Brexit & All)

Boris Johnson’s Election Victory: A Truly Depressing Day for Britain, But Now He ‘Owns’ the Toxic Brexit Nightmare

by Andy Worthington

14.12.19

The only positive message that can be taken from the otherwise almost insanely depressing outcome of Thursday’s General Election — in which the Tories, under Boris Johnson, a lying and thoroughly untrustworthy philandering narcissist, secured an outright majority — is that Johnson now ‘owns’ Brexit, the toxic destroyer of the UK, and both he — and the fawning mainstream media that was so shockingly biased in his favour throughout the election campaign — will be unable to blame Britain’s slow, agonising and inevitable collapse on anyone other than themselves. 

Boris Johnson in a bike helmet during his eight useless years as London’s Mayor. Now, absurdly, promoted to Prime Minister of the UK, he is intent on turning the British economy into a car crash via his enthusiasm for a no deal Brexit.