Living History: The Jackals' Wedding - American Power, Arab Revolt

URGENT LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE ON THE UKRAINE AND SYRIA FRONTS – HOW THE US GOVERNMENT AIMED AT DESTROYING THE ARABS, KILLING THEIR LEADERS, PAYING PROXIES TO DO THEIR DIRTY WORK, REWRITING THE HISTORY OF THE GENOCIDE CRIME – NEW BOOK OUT TODAY

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

  @bears_with

 

February 22nd, '22

 

For eighty years since the US invaded Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in 1943, American spies have targeted the Arabs for destruction, marking their leaders for assassination, stripping their people of the power to govern themselves.  The US government agents planned the sabotage of Arab oilfields and theft of their water. They bribed the Arabs to fight each other.  

 

 

Convinced of American exceptionalism, lobbied by Israel, and bribed by US corporations, the OSS, CIA, Pentagon, State Department, and every president since Roosevelt have imposed their protectorate over the Middle East. 

 

Fighting Invocation of Emergencies Act in Court

CCLA Will Fight Invocation of Emergencies Act in Court

by Canadian Civil Liberties Association

 

February 17, 2022 

 

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) announced today that it will pursue litigation to challenge the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act.

 

Police Horses trample elderly demonstrators in Ottawa

(Screengrab)

“We have retained Ewa Krajewska of Henein Hutchison LLP to take the federal government to court. We have said all along that the federal government did not meet the high burden necessary to invoke the Emergencies Act,” said Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, Executive Director of the CCLA.

 

JTF2 and the Truckers' Protest in Ottawa

Special forces members’ support for Ottawa protest frightening

by Yves Engler - YvesEngler.com

 

Reports that members of Canada’s elite special forces are supporting the right-wing anti-vaccine mandate protests in Ottawa are troubling. The federal government has invested heavily in training these individuals and they likely have experience in violent situations.

 

On Sunday leading military reporter David Pugliese revealed that two Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) are under investigation for their involvement in the Ottawa protests. The serving members of the JTF2 join a longer list of Canadian Forces personnel being investigated for assisting the trucker protests in the nation’s capital.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Julia Barnes, David Rovics February 17th, 2022

This Week on GR

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

 

February 17, 2022

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 12th, 2022.

Listen. Hear.

Not content with the massive ecological damage created by land-based metals mining, industrial interests are now viewing the oceans of the world as the next frontier. Deep-Sea Mining, known too as Sea Bed Mining, is the next big thing – and we’re told it will be a part of the solution to humanity’s carbon pollution problem. Once again, technologists promise they’ll fix the environmental problems they and modern society has created with technology, with technology. But, not everyone is convinced.

Julia Barnes is an environmental champion and award-winning filmmaker of the documentaries Sea of Life and Bright Green Lies. Julia is aligned now with an array of ocean defenders, contributing her talents to the effort to kill Deep Sea Mining in the cradle.

Julia Barnes in the first half.

And; the Great Spotify Debate rages on, gathering adherents and detractors by the moment. You’ve likely heard of the furore Canadian rock legend, Neil Young began with his ultimatum to the online audio content streaming behemoth, saying its platform wasn’t big enough for both he and talk show giant, Joe Rogan.

Spotify replied to Mr. Young’s demands by removing what music of his it had – doing little, incidentally to cool his spleen – so good for Neil. But, what about the majority of musicians whose music appears on the platform for a pittance; what does Spotify mean to them?

Rabble-rousing, anarcho-socialist type, David Rovics, whose frequent essays on political issues and societal observation are featured at CounterPunch and Dissident Voice.org among other places describes himself as a broadcaster, musician, blogger, and author of the novel, ‘A Busker’s Adventures’. But, he’s more than just those things. 

David is also a husband and parent, alt-media maven, resident of the famously restive Portland, Oregon, and man with a special talent for pissing people off. His weekly program, This Week with David Rovics can be found through his website, DavidRovics.com, where you can read his essays, listen to his hundreds of original songs, or catch some of his hundreds of interviews. David also has picked bones with Spotify Inc. for years, and assays into it again in his latest essay, ‘Neil Young, Joe Rogan, and a Swedish Billionaire‘ with a twist.

David Rovics and picking again at that pustule of the modern music reality, Spotify in the second half.

But first, Julia Barnes and smashing the Deep Sea Mining Pandora in its box.

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.ca/

 

Defending Defiance

Leftists Must Oppose the Suppression of Dissent - Even When We Disagree with the Dissenters

by Dimitri Lascaris

 

February 15, 2022

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

- Evelyn Beatrice Hall, The Friends of Voltaire

 

 

 

On Valentine’s Day 2022, Canada’s federal government declared a “public order emergency” under the federal Emergencies Act. That legislation, which has never been used before, constitutes a frontal assault on Canadians’ right to protest. That is precisely why leftists must oppose it.

 

Saving the Ocean from Deep Sea Mining

Deep Sea Mining is Not Needed, Not Wanted, Not Consented!

by Pacific Blue Line

 

The Ocean is the living blue heart of our planet. It is our common heritage, but also our common responsibility. We are its guardians. We recognize its significance and its essence as the basis of our Pacific identity and well-being. We Are the Ocean. In its preservation, we are preserved. 

 

 

For millennia, our ancestors have held this mantle of stewardship, embedding the wisdom of their resource management and conservation practices into their culture and traditions. Their vision was always beyond their temporal needs; the survival and well-being of future generations was central to their view of the world. 

Hearing Afghanistan: Need Dire Amid Winter Shortages, Covid Outbreaks & Continued Sanctions

‘Thank You for Hearing Our Afghan Pain’

by Kathy Kelly

February 10, 2022

People in the United States must recognize the suffering their country continues inflicting in Afghanistan.

 

During visits to Kabul, Afghanistan, over the past decade, I particularly relished lingering over breakfasts on chilly winter mornings with my young hosts who were on their winter break from school. Seated on the floor, wearing coats and hats and draped with blankets, we’d sip piping hot green tea as we shared fresh, warm wheels of bread purchased from the nearest baker.

 

Listen to Kathy Kelly discuss the situation in Afghanistan here.

 

But this winter, for desperate millions of Afghans, the bread isn’t there. The decades-long U.S. assault on Afghanistan’s people has now taken the vengeful form of freezing their shattered, starving country’s assets.

 

Deep Seabed Mining: The Environmental Disaster We CAN Still Stop Before It Starts

Deep Seabed Mining

by Julia Barnes

 

 

 

 

TAKE ACTION Pacific Blue Line Statement: https://www.pacificblueline.org/pacif... 

Blue Planet Society Petition: https://www.change.org/p/internationa... 

Canadian Petition for a moratorium on deep seabed mining: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Pe... 

Deep Sea Mining Campaign: http://www.deepseaminingoutofourdepth... 

Deep Sea Defenders: https://www.facebook.com/Deep-Sea-Def... 

LEARN MORE Report on the impacts of deep sea mining: https://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/... 

Biological effects 26 years after simulated deep sea mining: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159...

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Kathy Kelly, Ivan Katchanovski February 6, 2022

This Week on GR

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

 

February 6, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 5th, 2022.

 

Listen. Hear.

War and rumours of war are filling the headlines, and lede news broadcasts. Whether stories in the press are about a war recently past and its aftermath, like in Afghanistan, or a feared future war, as featured by sabres-rattling over Ukraine, what seems inescapable is war: War ever-present. This is perfectly illustrated in Afghanistan, where the end of war brings no peace, and in Ukraine where the killing and dying long preceded the rumour of fighting to come. So what’s left to do but work for peace – and keep on working for peace.

Kathy Kelly is a long-time peace and justice activist, essayist, author, and recipient of numerous awards for her peace service; including multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace prize. She’s a founding member of Voices in the Wilderness and Voices for Creative Nonviolence, co-authored the book, ‘Prisoners on Purpose: a Peacemakers Guide to Jails and Prison,’ and wrote, ‘Other Lands Have Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison.’

Kelly has made numerous trips to Afghanistan as an invited guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers and has lived alongside ordinary Afghan people in working-class Kabul.

Kathy Kelly in the first half.

And; American and Canadian efforts to bring diplomatic and military pressure to bear on Russia over Ukraine may seem a mystery to those in the West who rarely receive context with their newspapers, or as part of their nightly newscasts. But worse still than the dearth of factual background information on critical issues available to readers and viewers from the media, the analysts and opinion-makers presented here more often than not represent those that profit most from the modern warfare economy. For those persevering though, it is still possible to glean sense from the chaos and even sometimes discern the hand behind the mayhem.

Ivan Katchanovski is a scholar, essayist, and author teaching at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. He’s the author of ‘Cleft Countries: Regional Political Divisions and Cultures in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova’ and co-authored the books, ‘Historical Dictionary of Ukraine’ (Second Edition) and ‘The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do, But Join Much Less’. His articles feature at Canadian Dimension.com, where his recent piece, ‘The Hidden Origin of the Escalating Ukraine-Russia Conflict‘ appears.

Ivan Katchanovski and returning to Maidan to unwind the true origin story behind the current Ukraine-Russia conflict.

But first, Kathy Kelly and the war not over in Afghanistan.

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.ca/

General Interrupted: The Problematic History of Smedley Butler

Smedley Butler Wasn’t Kidding

by David Swanson - Dandelion Salad

Let’s Try Democracy
 

February 4, 2022

 

Smedley Butler is generally left out of U.S. history. If you bring up a guy who prevented a Wall Street coup against FDR, you do real damage to the tale of peaceful respect for government from the beginning of time up through January 6, 2021. 

 

If you mention the scandal that erupted when he recounted how Mussolini had run over a little girl with his car, it’s hard to leave out the U.S. government’s friendly relations with Mussolini.

New Release: The Trial of Julian Assange

Book release: The Trial of Julian Assange

Out February 8, 2022

February 3, 2022 — UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer’s The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution will be released by Verso on February 8, 2022. In May 2019, Melzer visited Julian in prison and was shocked at what he found: that Julian Assange had been psychologically tortured.

Melzer gives a full recounting of how he came to discover just how misinformed he and the rest of the public had been about Assange’s case, and how a close examination reveals the extent of Assange’s mistreatment by the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Ecuador. 

 

“When Ecuador finally turned [Assange] over to Britain in 2019, the US immediately demanded his extradition and threatened him with 175 years in prison. Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, initially declined to get involved. Only when he visited Assange in prison and researched the facts did he begin to see through the deception and recognize the case for what it really was: the story of a political persecution.

Melzer’s findings are explosive: in all four states involved, Assange has faced grave and systematic due process violations, judicial bias, and manipulated evidence. He has been exposed to constant surveillance, defamation and threats.

Melzer also gathered consolidated medical evidence proving that Assange has suffered prolonged psychological torture. Melzer’s compelling investigation shows how—through secrecy, impunity and, crucially, public indifference—unchecked power risks annihilating Western democracy and the rule of law. The case of Julian Assange sets a chilling precedent: for when telling the truth has become a crime, we will all be living in a tyranny.”

What Young-Spotify Spat Means for Other 99.9% of Musicians

Neil Young, Joe Rogan, and a Swedish Billionaire

by David Rovics - CounterPunch

February 1, 2022

I have written a lot about Spotify over the years, but I never feel like I’m communicating effectively. I’d like to thank Neil Young for having a little tantrum and putting the corporation back in the news cycle for the past few days — an especially impressive accomplishment, given the prevalence of other big news stories at the moment, such as all those Russian troops massing near Ukraine, and some of the highest numbers of people dying of Covid every day here in the US since the pandemic began.

 

Photograph: Per Ole Hagen
– CC BY-SA 1.0

I think part of the reason why I feel like I’m not communicating well when I write about Spotify is I focus so much on the negative aspects of the operation. Another reason is I tend to forget that just because it is by far the most popular music streaming platform on the planet, what this means in practice is that there are hundreds of millions of mostly young people around the world for whom listening to music means opening Spotify, but then there are billions of other people around the world, largely middle-aged or older folks, who have never used a music streaming app of any kind.

Home News Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Richard Sanders, Jeremiah Hayes February 3rd, 2022

This Week on GR

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

 

February 3, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 29th, 2022

Listen. Hear.

While the press here is doing its utmost to create panic at the prospect of a war with Russia in Ukraine, two things Canadians should know are: The war against Russia began in the West a century ago; and, it never stopped. The latest iteration of western hostility towards Russia – using Ukrainian fascists as a Cat’s-paw to occupy its vast neighbour’s attention – is an old gambit and, as the CBC might say, one “with a Canadian connection”.

Richard Sanders is a full-time, full-on antiwar activist. He is a researcher, writer, campaign organizer and founder of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, or COAT. He’s been at it since Ronald Reagan’s Dirty Wars in Latin America in the 1980’s, and continues the fight today. COAT’s publication, Press for Conversion! has documented Canada’s role in supporting far-right East European émigré groups; the same “rooted in fascist, ethno-nationalist movements that aided and abetted Nazi Germany…”.

Richard Sanders in the first half.

And; the Victoria Film Festival is back, running from February 4th through the 13th, with a hybrid model of in-person and online screenings. One of this year’s offerings is Jeremiah Hayes’ Montreal International Documentary Festival’s People’s Choice Award-winning ‘Dear Audrey‘, an at once ethereal reflection on the enduring power of love, and unblinking revelation of life’s sometimes steel-cold realities.

Jeremiah Hayes’ Dear Audrey, “an invitation for all of us to take better care of each other” in the second half.

But first, Richard Sanders and Canada’s role revealed in the multi-generational war to divide and conquer Russia.

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.ca/

From Turds to Eternity: By Their Droppings You Will Know Them

THE DONKEY TURD BOMB AND THE US EMPIRE IN EUROPE – HOW IT BEGAN, HOW IT IS ENDING

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

  @bears_with

 

January 30, 2022

 

During the US Army invasion of Morocco and Algeria in 1943, enroute to the invasion of Italy, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), as the CIA was called then, came up with the donkey turd bomb for destroying the enemy. 

 

Since 2014, the CIA has come up with the modern equivalent – it’s called the Ukrainian bomb. The first was designed to kill Germans. The second is designed to kill Russians. Both of them, donkey turds and Ukrainians, are failing to hit their mark.

An Open Letter to the Prime Minister Re: Canada's Decidedly Undiplomatic China Olympics Boycott

Open letter to PM Trudeau re: diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics

by Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War et al

 

January 24, 2022

Today, the Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War sent an open letter to the Office of the Prime Minister encouraging him to rescind his diplomatic boycott and get into the spirit of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. The open letter was sent with the co-sponsorship of a number of other organizations and individuals.

Text of open letter below and attached.

Peace Solution a Ukrainian Bridge Too Far for Blinken

CONTENT ANALYSIS OF SECRETARY BLINKEN AT GENEVA REVEALS PSYCHOPATHOLICAL INCAPACITY TO NEGOTIATE WITH RUSSIA

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

Moscow

  @bears_with

 

 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed publicly in Geneva on Friday, January 21,  that he will not negotiate a no-war agreement with the Russians because he cannot. This is already understood by the Russians; by the French and Germans; and by several senior officials of the Biden Administration.

The evidence of Blinken’s incapacity is in the words he says.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Tamara Lorincz, Glenn Michalchuk, Ken Stone January 22nd, 2022

This Week on GR

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

 

January 22, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22nd, 2022

 

Listen. Hear.

Unsurprisingly, Canada has joined America’s sabre-rattling chorus in issuing threats against Russia should it behave as the U.S. says it shouldn’t. It’s a very old song and overplayed song. And, just like those once catchy radio tunes whose ubiquity condemns them to background oblivion, Ottawa’s reflex bellicosity is in danger too of becoming just more white noise static in the martial cacophony. Today’s selection may be Ukraine – but we’ve heard the lyric and the tune again and again and again.

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; her research focus the climate and environmental impacts of the military. Glenn Michalchuk is Chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg and has been active in anti-war and peace movements going back to the Reagan Era of the 1980’s.

Tamara Lorincz and Glenn Michalchuk in the first half.

And; Canada’s dyspeptic diplomacy is not limited to Russia; China too is disfavoured by the Trudeau government’s truculence. Its latest ill-mannered gesture is an announced boycott against February’s Beijing Olympics, which the prime minister says without irony is due to the concern of his “many partners around the world” for “repeated human rights violations” alleged against the People’s Republic.

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 launching two petitions and one statement next week regarding the dismal state of Canada-China relations under Trudeau.

Ken Stone and reigning in Canada’s running dog diplomacy in the second half.

But first, Tamara Lorincz and ending Canada’s military support of the civil war in Ukraine and its cheerleading for a broader war against Russia.

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

Is There a Place Left for State Media?

Save The BBC? In Whose Interests?

by Media Lens

 

January 19, 2022

 

There has been much gnashing of ‘liberal’ teeth and pulling out of ‘centrist’ hair following the Tory government’s announcement that the BBC licence fee will be abolished in 2027.

 Alerts

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries declared via Twitter, with a dash of right-wing relish:

‘This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over. Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content.’

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, John Helmer, Molly Murphy, Jen Gobby, January 20th, 2022

This Week on GR

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

 

January 20, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 15th and 16th, 2022

 

Listen. Hear.

Last week, Russian and American diplomatic representatives met in Geneva for talks ostensibly aimed at forestalling an escalation of political manoeuvrings into open warfare over NATO expansion into states bordering Russia, and America’s demand Russia return military units standing at the ready on their frontier with Ukraine back to barracks. Different now to long ongoing diplomatic friction between the nations, is a palpable sense of surrender on the Russian side – that is, the apparent abandonment of the hope America and its allies are capable of a reasoned solution.

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 Thriller’, and his latest, The Dances with Bears Comic Book’. His recent article, ‘Is Geneva 2022 Munich 1938 without Chamberlain’s Piece of Paper? How to Read the US Paper for Peace in Our Time‘ breaks down the current diplomatic breakdown.

John Helmer in the first half.

And; you may have noticed police in Canada look a lot like soldiers these days. Especially if you’re within an “exclusionary zone”. It’s a place where the police uniforms go green as the law goes grey, and where citizens opposing extractivist business as usual get the “insurgent” treatment.

Molly Murphy describes herself as “a front line activist, builder, settler, and mother of three“. She’s also a BIPOC social justice warrior who counted as one among the more than 1,200 citizens arrested at Fairy Creek, (just up the road from Victoria). She’s also co-author of the Mudgirls Manifesto, and author of the recent Briarpatch Magazine article, ‘The C-IRG: the resource extraction industry’s best ally‘.

The piece is a disturbing exposé of the RCMP practice of collusion with industry, and was produced in association with Research for the Front Lines, a new initiative, led by activist, researcher, educator and author, Dr. Jen Gobby. Research for the Front Lines “connects grassroots communities and organizers on the front lines of the fight for environmental and climate justice in Canada with researchers with skills, time, and labour to offer.”

C-IRG at Work, Fairy Creek Photo Colin Smith. Briarpatch

Jen Gobby and Molly Murphy taking to the Front Lines in the second half.

But first, John Helmer and another front line, between America and Russia.

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

Canadian Peace and Social Society Orgs Coalition Calls for Disengagement from Ukraine Conflict

National coalition releases statement and petition calling on Trudeau government to stop arming Ukraine, end Operation UNIFIER and demilitarize Ukraine crisis

 by Canadian Voice of Women for Peace et al

 

January 18, 2022

As Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly is in Europe this week to speak to her European counterparts about the crisis between NATO and Russia over Ukraine, a Canadian coalition has released an open statement calling on the Minister to demilitarize and peacefully resolve the crisis.

 

The coalition is comprised of several peace and justice organizations, cultural groups, activists and academics across the country. It includes the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians Winnipeg Council, Artistes pour la Paix, Just Peace Advocates and Science for Peace among many others.