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In early May, Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel returned the diplomatic favour, hosting his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Havana. The two signed various agreements tying the two nations closer, while AMLO used the opportunity to further criticize historical US foreign policy in the hemisphere, reminisce about Mexican support for Castro and the Cuban revolution, and to call for the lifting of the decades-long blockade against Mexico’s “sister nation.” None of this likely pleases the United States, but worse still for the Biden administration is Obrador’s hardly veiled threat to boycott next week’s Summit of the Americas confab in Los Angeles.
Tim Boultbee is a long-time activist for Latin American human and democratic rights. From Ronald Reagan’s Dirty Wars against the people of Nicaragua and El Salvador to the financial annexation of Mexico by means of the NAFTA agreement he has borne witness as an international observer at the front lines of the fight for justice. Tim is currently a member of CASC, the Victoria Central America Support Committee, assisted the Building Bridges Human Rights Project in Chiapas, and worked to raise funds for the Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center in San Cristobal.
Tim Boultbee in the first half.
And; just as Canada has supported US belligerence in Latin America, (earning for the trouble exclusion from CELAC, the organization likely to determine the cultural, political, and economic future of the hemisphere) the current administration too has gone along with its larger neighbour’s campaign to isolate China. The lengths Trudeau’s government is willing to go to please Uncle Sam was made painfully obvious in its two-plus years contralegal persecution of Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou. Now, it has announced the exclusion of Huawei from this country’s 5G communications network development.
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 Coalition fought tooth and nail against the incarceration of Meng Wanzhou and extradition efforts by the United States, and they’ve opposed the odious AUKUS military pact threatening war with China in the Pacific. The danger AUKUS presents to World peace ramped up last fall with the deal to provide nuclear powered submarines to Australia, and more lately with the announced rapid development of hypersonic missile technology and expanded electronic warfare aimed at the People’s Republic.
Ken Stone on Huawei in Canada, and AUKUS going over the top in the Pacific in the second half.
But first, Tim Boultbee and Biden’s Summit of the Americas proving a low point in hemispheric interrelations.
Chris Cook has hosted Gorilla Radio since 1999. Check out the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com
In February of 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched assaults against indigenous land defenders resisting TC Energy’s plans to run the Coastal Gaslink pipeline across their Yintah, or traditional territory. The raids came as organized solidarity actions across Canada – and outside the country too – had garnered broad support, and forced government concessions. The burgeoning campaign however was abruptly derailed by the emergence of Covid just as it was proving most effective. But despite the rude interruption the Wet’suwet’en’s fight never stopped, and it continues still.
Stephan Spirodan Christoff is a Montréal-based community activist, artist, and media maker whose Free City Radio program broadcasts from CKUT and CJLO radio in Montréal, and features across the internet. Christoff too coordinates Musicians for Palestine and serves on the board of the Immigrant Workers Centre in Côte-Des-Neiges and with the Cinema Politica Network. Stephan’s articles also appear at, among other places, Breach Media and CanadianDimensions.com, where I found his recent article, ‘Divesting from Colonialism: A Call for McGill University to Respect Wet’suwet’en Self-Determination.’
Stephan Christoff in the first half.
And; the good people of Asheville, North Carolina spent their Earth Day disrupting number one global arms dealer, Raytheon’s local evil-doings project turning ploughshares to spears by building a weapons plant on top of the state’s famously fecund farmland.
Ken Jones is a retired educator and lifelong anti-war activist. The former University of Southern Maine professor of teacher education and middle school teacher is too a proud draft resister of America’s war against Vietnam and is currently an active associate member of Asheville’s chapter of Veterans for Peace.
Ken Jones and Rejecting Raytheon in the second half.
But first, Stephan Christoff and decolonizing McGill, and ourselves.
Chris Cook has hosted Gorilla Radio since 1999. Check out the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com
Niccolo Machiavelli, were he alive today, would likely beam with pride viewing the political progress of Justin Trudeau; recognizing at once the seed of his most famous work, The Prince bearing full fruit in the person of Canada’s current prime minister. Five centuries since his seminal work, Machiavelli’s name has added an “ism” and come to epitomize cold-hearted deceit, manipulation, and the zero-sum pursuit of ones goals irregardless of law, custom, or the plague of moral conscience.
Last week, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Kiev to meet up with post-Maidan Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trudeau’s entourage included his #2 deputy and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, foreign affairs minister, Melanie Joly, and various security state apparatchiks. According to the Canadian state broadcaster, in pursuit of peace Trudeau said Canada would increase weapons supplies and funding aid to Ukraine, while expanding economic sanctions against “Russian individuals and entities…complicit in Putin’s war.” Of Canada’s complicity in fomenting the current crisis and its support of one side of the seven years-long civil war in Eastern Ukraine, Trudeau remained tactfully silent.
Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, journalist, advocate, activist, and former front-runner for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada. His articles are available across the internet and at his website, DimitriLascaris.org where he writes on the political vagaries of Canada’s twenty-third prime minister, and other matters of the moment.
Dimitri Lascaris in the first half.
And; the nuclear “option on the table” the Ukraine proxy war represents is slowly dawning on America’s polity following comments by Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov who recently said during an interview, while his country was “doing everything to prevent nucelar war…those risks are now considerable.” Incredibly though, reaction in some quarters of the US punditocracy has been to present nuclear war with Russia as both a surviveable and winnable strategy. But, is the ultimate threat of threats merely overblown?
Dave Lindorff is a publisher, Izzy Award-winning investigative journalist, author, and documentary producer whose in-production film tells the tale of Ted Hall, the American wunderkind who may well have saved Russia and the World from nuclear conflagration. Lindorff’s also the founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening.net where his recent article, ‘Putin’s Threat to Use Nuclear Weapons Is Not New: The US Nuked Two Cities in World War II and Has Threatened to Use Them Often Since Then’ appears.
Dave Lindorff and addressing the nuclear chicken in the middle of the Ukraine crisis in the second half.
But first, Dimitri Lascaris and calculating the limits of Canada’s Liberal governors.
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/
Though most Canadians don’t know it they and their country are at war. And, it’s not merely a war against “Putin’s Russia” (started in response to the invasion of Ukraine). While it’s true, Canada has been actively engaged in undermining Russia, it has not been doing so exclusively – at the same time it has in turn tried to undermine China, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria, and a host of other nations, (all conveniently catalogued for it by our friends and neighbours south). Only difference is, now the military aspect of Ottawa’s international campaign of belligerence is glaringly apparent.
Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist, and author of 12 books, mostly on Canadian foreign policy, including his latest, ‘Stand on Guard For Whom? A People’s History of the Canadian Military’. He’s also a prolific essayist whose many articles appear at numerous sites online, including at his website, YvesEngler.com, where his recent articles have focused on Canada’s growing involvement in the crisis in Ukraine, including ‘Harper pushed conflict with Russia long before invasion.’
And; while investigations by Canada’s Department of National Defense exonerate itself of allegedly training Nazi’s to kill Russians in Ukraine, (and presumably elsewhere) none are disputing the fact Canada’s government is not only training, but also supplying the successors of Kiev’s coupsters with the materiel vital to accomplishing that. And they’re not alone. But, what remains the burning question of the moment is, “Where’s the voice of global peace in this: Where’s the United Nations?”
Last week, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres made his organization’s position clear – sort of – by not only refusing to censure Ukraine’s military for intentionally hiding its forces behind human shields in Mariupol, but possibly too, as my second guest reports, committing a war crime by taking part in a scheme to use those civilians as cover in an attempt to extricate combatants from the besieged Azovstal steel plant.
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, ‘Did UN Secretary-General Guterres Commit a War Crime at Azovstal?”
But first, Yves Engler and Canada’s long subterranean warmaking breaking cover.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/
May 4, 2022
The more western politicians announce pledges of fresh weapons for the Ukraine, the more Russian military analysts explain what options their official sources are considering to destroy the arms before they reach the eastern front, and to neutralize Poland’s role as the NATO hub for resupply and reinforcement of the last-ditch holdout of western Ukraine.
God knows there’s plenty to be afraid of on this planet of mad apes, not least of which are the agents of doom who would use the power of government agencies to create fear and panic in the public mind to further their political agendas, or merely line their own pockets. An abject case in point is the 2020 plot to kidnap and murder Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer by a hapless gang of local stooges on the eve of the presidential election. But all was not as advertised by the prosecution, or their star witnesses in the FBI. Last month, jurors threw out the case against two of those accused, and the jury hung on charges against two other “conspirators” when the extent of the FBI’s role in fomenting and realizing an attack against the governor was revealed.
Jeremy Kuzmarov is a journalist and author who serves too as Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine. He’s the author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including: ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, and ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’ co-authored with John Marciano. His latest piece at CovertAction is, ‘Michigan Bomb Plot: FBI Scheme to Create False ‘Domestic Terror’ Cabal Exposed in Court‘.
Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.
And; incredibly, two and half years since the believed emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic uncertainty still surrounds the deadly pathogen’s proximal origins. Instead, what exists now is a stand-off between two schools, each defending opposing theories that seem more politically doctrinaire than scientifically determined. But, nearing the third Summer of the pandemic, a third way, a novel phylogenetic method of analysis has emerged that promises to finally determine just where Covid-19 came from, and more importantly, how it came to dominate the course of human events.
Dr. Jonathan Latham holds a Masters degree in Crop Genetics, a PhD in Virology and is, along with Dr. Allison Wilson, co-author of a series of articles seeking to discover the origins of Covid-19. Latham is too co-founder and Executive Director of the Bioscience Resource Project, and Editor of Independent Science News, where his and colleague Allison Wilson’s latest article, ‘Delete, Deny, and Destroy: Chinese and Western Strategies to Erase Covid’s Origin are Being Exposed by Independent Research‘ appears.
Jonathan Latham and the last gambit of the Great Virological Game in the second half.
But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and the FBI’s use of entrapment as part of a strategy designed to sow public fear and render support for draconian anti-terrorist legislation.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
The principle behind America’s infamous military industrial complex isn’t complicated. The formula is as predictable a process as making brunch; a simple recipe anyone can replicate – given the right ingredients. Step 1. Identify an enemy and stir up the people against him. Step 2. Set temperature to boil and allocate money through congress to fight enemy. Step 3. Cycle said funds through baked-in process of weapons procurement, and voila! It’s so simple a child could do it.
Thursday, Joe Biden announced a further 800 million dollars worth of U.S. military aid for the Ukraine pot. This comes atop the roughly billion and half American bucks officially devoted to the war effort there – and brings the grand total of monies delivered or promised to more than $13.6 billion. That’s some brunch! But then that’s only the amount they’ve told us about: The real cost of this meal is much, much dearer.
Dan Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, award-winning journalist, union activist, human rights and democracy defender, filmmaker, and author. His book titles include: ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest,’ ‘Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture,’ and the “Plot to” series on American efforts to undermine the governments and economies of Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and to control the World entirely.
Dan Kovalik in the first half.
And; for two years now the planet has been held in thrall by a triad of media, the international medical community, and Big Pharma. We’ve all been told ad nauseum to follow the advice of the experts, sacrifice for the greater good, and most importantly of all, trust and follow the science. But can we safely put the World in the mouth of what my second guest calls “an outdated medical system invested in archaic practices“?
Gary Charbonneau is a Vancouver-based independent filmmaker whose first film, Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered made news in part for defeating attempts by that cetacean harbouring entity to use the courts to have his film quashed. Now Charbonneau is back and taking on another sacred cow with his timely documentary, The Medical Illusion: A Health Care in Crisis.
Gary Charbonneau and making the necessary transition to a new health care paradigm in the second half.
But first, Dan Kovalik and the bitter harvest of America’s long plotting against Russia being reaped now in Ukraine.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque during Friday prayers last week. It was the culmination of attacks against Palestinians in towns, villages, and cities across the West Bank during Ramadan. Palestinian attacks within Israel since the beginning of the holy fasting month have too increased. As of writing, thirty people are dead on both sides, and it’s feared this could be a prelude to a larger conflict. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative says the confrontations over these two weeks “could become a wide-ranging Intifada.”
Last year, military raids against worshipers in Al-Aqsa escalated to an eleven day conflict that included Israel’s air force bombing Gaza killing hundreds, including at least sixty-five children.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author, and editor of The Palestine Chronicle at PalestineChroncile.com. His book titles include, ‘My Father Was a Freedom Fighter’, ‘The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story’, ‘These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons,’ and his latest, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, ‘Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.’ Ramzy’s articles also appear across the internet and at his website, RamzyBaroud.net, where I found his recent piece, ‘Gaza’s Forthcoming Crisis Might Be Worse than Anything We Have Ever Seen.’
Ramzy Baroud in the first half.
And; April begins the eighth year of the World’s most dire humanitarian disaster, the asymmetrical conflict in Yemen. There, backed by western nations, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of wealthy Arab states in a protracted war that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians; and threatens millions more.
Azza Rojbi is a social justice and anti-racism activist, author, and secretary of Mobilization Against War & Occupation, Vancouver’s anti-war coalition. She’s also with the Canada-wide #CanadaStopArmingSaudi campaign against this country’s contribution to the suffering in Yemen, and works in solidarity with Latin America movements, including being a coordinator with Friends of Cuba Against the U.S. Blockade. Azza too serves on the Editorial Board of the Fire This Time Newspaper. Azza Rojbi’s 2019 book, ‘U.S. & Saudi War on the People of Yemen’ is published by Battle of Ideas Press.
Azza Rojbi and Canada feeding the fire of war in Yemen in the second half.
But first, Ramzy Baroud and Gaza without water.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
The Trudeau administration has again demonstrated the elasticity of its commitment to the “international rules-based order” extends too to domestic jurisprudence. This time, the federal Liberals are turning a blind eye to the blatant recruitment of Canadians to fight in Ukraine. This flies in the face of the Foreign Enlistment Act, which clearly specifies those engaging in such activities are breaking the law, but as of this writing no arrests have been made or charges filed.
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 Coalition have released the statement on the government’s latest failure to uphold the law, ‘Illegal Recruitment of Canadians for War in Ukraine’.
And; as British Columbia’s helicopter-assisted wolf culling season picks up, questions again are being raised about both the efficacy of the program and veracity of its claim to be necessary for saving the endangered Northern Caribou.
Eddie Petrashyn is an East Kootenay conservationist with Wildsight, an organization working to quote, “protect biodiversity and encourage sustainable communities in Canada’s Columbia and Rocky Mountain regions“. Eddie’s investigation into BC government-approved forestry practices in the Wood River basin, north of Revelstoke challenge the logic behind the BC NDP’s conservation practices.
But first, Ken Stone and Canada’s would-be foreign legionnaires.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 2nd, 2022
Mid-March marks the anniversary of what’s been called the World’s greatest humanitarian crisis. While that somber appellative may be moot, the war against Yemen continues into its eighth year with exactly the same horror and heartbreak you’ve seen amply depicted coming from Ukraine these past weeks – and rightly so – the difference though being the dearth of media coverage of Yemeni suffering. Pictures of schools and hospitals bombed, or the stories of parents and children maimed, killed, and rendered homeless there still find little purchase in Canadian media.
But just because Canada’s business, government, and media elite ignore the suffering of those in that benighted place does not mean Canadians don’t care. Last week, members of the Victoria Peace Coalition took part in the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network event, Canada Stop Arming Saudi Arabia. It’s an effort to end Canada’s role in “fueling the war in Yemen”, as the United Nations has repeatedly charged.
Colin Stuart is with the Victoria Peace Coalition, and is a supporter too of the Canadian Friends Service Committee, and a serving board member of World Beyond War.
Colin Stuart in the first half.
And; the wars in Yemen and Ukraine are not the only ways Canada’s new self-understanding as a ‘warrior nation’ manifest. Right here at home the militarization of the nation is moving forward on the double. Last week, the Trudeau government, newly reinforced by the party formerly known as the New Democratic Party, announced it would go ahead with its plan to spend billions on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 attack jet. The purchase guarantees monies needed for the health and well-being of Canadians will instead be devoted to enriching one of the World’s biggest purveyors of death and misery – for generations to come. And, it couldn’t come at a worse time.
Glenn Michalchuk is chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg. He’s been active in the peace movement going all the way back to the era of Ronald Reagan’s Dirty Wars in Latin America.
Glenn Michalchuk and Canada becoming a force against the people internationally in the second half.
But first, Colin Stuart and Canada’s part in Yemen’s “forgotten war”.
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/
