Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Diana Johnstone, Ingmar Lee April 15, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

April 15, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 15th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

The World is changing – fast! And, nowhere is that more evident perhaps than in Europe, where the political class has decided to ditch liberal democracy in favour of an authoritarianism not seen there in almost a century. Germany and France are leading the regression, with policies and actions that have brought the citizenry into the streets demanding the restoration of rights and freedoms – so far to no avail.

Diana Johnstone is an author and journalist. Her book titles include ‘ From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning,’ ‘Circle in the Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher,’ and ‘Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusion.’ Diana’s articles can be found at ConsortiumNews.com, where her recent piece, ‘Germans Down & Russians Out: Anti-War Views Criminalized in Germany‘ appears.

Diana Johnstone in the first half.

And; regardless of which level of government or party affiliation, the political process in Canada is incapable of preventing the rampaging destruction of what remains of the natural ecology here. Though the people say they want to protect and preserve the environment, what they’re offered from on high is silence, or worse yet, dismissive lip service. On Vancouver Island, this means the destruction of trees and ecosystems more ancient than human history.

Ingmar Lee is a long-time BC-based environment defender who describes himself as a “rotten, belligerent, iconoclastic, ungrateful, unrepentant, and unpleasant treehugger.” He’s has spent a life-time making enemies of the “greedhead political fraudsters, money-grubbing business leaders, spinmeisters and journalistic hacks” working in the service of rapine corporations and their captured legislators.

Ingmar’s latest article, ‘Voracious Industrial Logging Between Klaskish & Klaskino Inlet’ recalls just what’s being sacrificed and on whose altar.

Ingmar Lee and the destruction of the final forest frontiers in the second half.

But first, Diana Johnstone and a resounding echo of Europe’s political past ringing ominously in the streets of Berlin and Paris today.

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ingmar Lee (Stand-Alone) April 15, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

April 15, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 15th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

Regardless of which level of government or party affiliation, the political process in Canada is incapable of preventing the rampaging destruction of what remains of the natural ecology here. Though the people say they want to protect and preserve the environment, what they’re offered from on high is silence, or worse yet, dismissive lip service. On Vancouver Island, this means the destruction of trees and ecosystems more ancient than human history.

 

Brooks Peninsula Cut Block Map

Ingmar Lee is a long-time BC-based environment defender who describes himself as a “rotten, belligerent, iconoclastic, ungrateful, unrepentant, and unpleasant treehugger.” He’s has spent a life-time making enemies of the “greedhead political fraudsters, money-grubbing business leaders, spinmeisters and journalistic hacks” working in the service of rapine corporations and their captured legislators. Ingmar’s latest article, ‘Voracious Industrial Logging Between Klaskish & Klaskino Inlet’ recalls just what’s being sacrificed and on whose altar.

Brooks Peninsula as Google Maps Sees It

Today, Ingmar Lee and the destruction of the final forest frontiers.

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone, John Helmer April 12th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

April 12, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 12th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister’s office announced “more support for Ukraine”. Goodhearted Canadians concerned about the well-being of that country and its citizens will be disappointed however to discover just what “support” in the parlance of Ottawa’s current rulers translates as. In bullet points, it means:

⦁ Tens of thousands of weapons
⦁ Millions of rounds of ammunition
⦁ And the unaccountable “dispersal” of more billions of Canadian dollars to the Kyiv regime

In simpler terms, the Liberal government is guaranteeing more war and more destruction in Ukraine for the months – and perhaps years – to come even as it wages a sanctions war against the only party that can stop the war; Russia. Some “support”.

Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement International and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Coalition are pleased, they say, to participate this month in kicking off the Canadian tour of “Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy.”

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; if the Ottawa weather vane Globe & Mail is any indication, its chief political scribe, Steven Chase’s recent article headed, ‘Pro-Kremlin Twitter Accounts ‘Weaponizing’ Fringe Users to Erode Canadians’ Support for Ukraine, study finds’ signals a new Canadian understanding of citizenship with an unmistakable McCarthyite overtone.

John Helmer is a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. The principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, Helmer has too been a professor of political science, sociology and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels. Among his many book titles are: ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’ and his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts,’.

John Helmer and fighting the Canadian think tanks and troll armies in the war for truth-telling in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and fighting Canada’s Sanction Warriors.

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, Helen Caldicott, Nils Melzer (redux) April 2nd/5th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

April 7, 2023 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 2nd and 5th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

Just thirty years since the fall of the USSR and end of the Cold War, the atomic Mexican stand-off between East and West is hotter than its ever been. At this moment, nervous fingers hover above buttons and toggles that once triggered mean the end of everything we know. Worse, with the advent of AI, human agency is no longer required; its messy, indecisive moral acid removed from the Earth-ending equation.

Dr. Helen Caldicott is a physician, author, and lecturer who has for more than forty years studied, written, and campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their derivatives, delivering impassioned speeches and making imprecations to both the politicians and power-brokers overseeing the precarious atomic tinderbox, and more importantly, imploring the people step up to stop the madness.

Helen Caldicott’s book titles include: ‘If You Love This Planet,’ ‘Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer,’The New Nuclear Danger,’ ‘Depleted Uranium: Metal of Dishonour,’ ‘If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth,’ and her most recent, ‘Sleepwalking to Armageddon’ in which she assembles contributions from the world’s leading nuclear scientists and thought leaders to “assess the political and scientific dimensions of the threat of nuclear war today.”

Helen Caldicott in the first half.

And; Reporters Without Borders was to pay a visit to Julian Assange, the journalist wasting in Belmarsh Prison, London this week but in yet another example of arbitrary cruelty at the last moment authorities refused the RSF visit, barring too for good measure Assange’s wife, Stella.

April 11th marks the four year anniversary of Julian’s incarceration, under the harshest measures the British penal system can mete out. He’s held not for any crime committed in Britain, or against Britain, but because an American warrant seeking his extradition is “in process”.

June 6, 2019, I recorded an interview with Nils Melzer, then the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Melzer visited Assange in May of that year and subsequently issued a public call for Assange’s immediate release, along with a searing rebuke of both his current jailors in Britain and those in America who would be if their extradition petition is executed.

Nils Melzer and the continued call for Julian Assange’s release in the second half.

 

Song: Behind These Prison Walls

Artist: David Rovics

 

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Yves Engler, Pitasanna Shanmugathas March 29th/April 2nd, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

April 3, 2023

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 29th/April 2nd, 2023.

 

 

Listen. Hear.

 And welcome to the Spring of discontent! While leaders In the capitals of Europe and America promise to carry on the Ukraine proxy war no matter the price, the People are already in the streets protesting the real and rising costs of that belligerence. For Canadians, whose government is already full-throatedly behind: the bellicose stance against Russia, prospects of an expanded war against China and Iran, battles by sanction in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and elsewhere, there is too Haiti.

Last week, the Trudeau Liberals blithely announced another $100 million dollars to be delivered to the tiny island nation’s military and police effort to keep the restive population under heel. This on top of millions already delivered. It’s almost as if Ottawa believes the fatted tax goose’s golden eggs will never flag.

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 government prioritizes war over climate crisis‘ is a troubling portrait of a country few here in our home and native land would recognize.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; just what is Canada’s place in the world? Generations of us have been taught we are global agents of good; fair-minded, and justice-seeking. You know, “Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, we’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy“, etc., etc.

It’d be a great story, if only it were true.

Pitasanna Shanmugathas completed an advanced degree at one of Canada’s world-class Universities but found, beyond Canada’s “two solitudes” another bifurcation – one not in the curriculum – separating the real from an imagined nation. And so, he says, he set out on an epic three year journey of discovery, from coast to coast to coast, and across the tractless prairies. He documented his Canadian quest in the film series, ‘Truth to the Powerless: An Investigation into Canada’s Foreign Policy‘.

Pitasanna Shanmugathas and the hunt for Canada’s elusive identity in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and Trudeau of the Tropics, taking Haiti.

 

Song: The Panic Is On

Artist: David Rovics

 

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jillian Maguire, Paul Watson March 22nd, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

March 22, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 22, 2023

 

Listen. Hear.

This weekend past, the British Columbia Federation of Teachers held its Annual General Meeting. On the agenda: the election of a new president, and an opportunity the BCTF Divest Now campaign to platform its efforts to pursue a practical pathway to cease their pension plan’s investments in “fossil fuels, and other life-killing industries.”

Jillian Maguire was a presidential candidate in the poll, held March 21st. Maguire’s a longtime teacher who over a 27+ year career estimates she’s launched more than 5,000 students into the World. She says she was shocked to discover the teachers’ pension plan was heavily invested in some of the most ecologically destructive businesses, and so co-founded BCTF Divest Now.

Jillian Maguire in the first half.

And; we often forget, everything beginning on the land ends in the sea. As desperate the situation of terrestrial pollution is, in the ocean the effects are amplified, concentrated, and brought back to us as inevitably as the tides.

Paul Watson has spent a lifetime on and in the service of the ocean. A founding member of Greenpeace, he left that iconic organization at the height of its effectiveness to found the Sea Shepherd Society. Renowned for its direct action against whaling, most spectacularly intercepting the massive factory fleets of Japan, Norway, and Russia, Sea Shepherd has also exposed and shut down hundreds of other ecologically destructive commercial ventures and activities.

Now Watson is helming another venture, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, whose mission to save life in the sea is simply stated: “If the Ocean Dies, We Die!”

Paul Watson and finding a way to protect and defend life in the sea in the second half.

But first, Jillian Maguire and British Columbia’s teachers instructing their union to listen and learn to divest.

Song: Captain

Artist: Tiny Milkshake

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dimitri Lascaris, Brad Wolf March 15th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

March 15, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 15th, 2023.

Listen. Here.

Last week, Canada’s Ministry of National Defence announced a “review of our Defence Policy”. Though only five years into the Liberals’ 20-year Defence Policy Update, or “(DPU”, DoD insists a new DPU is necessary if Canada is to, “be ready, resilient, and relevant to meet any threat in this changed global security environment”.

Dimitri Lascaris is a Montreal-based activist, journalist, and lawyer. He served as Justice Critic in the Shadow Cabinet of the Green Party of Canada and likewise for the Green Party of Quebec (PVQ). In 2020, Dimitri very nearly became leader of the Green Party of Canada, finishing second in a tightly-contested race with the now-departed Annamie Paul. Dimitri’s interviews for TRNN are at TheRealNews.com, and his articles appear at his website, DimitriLascaris.org.

This Saturday, March 18th, Dimitri will host ‘The Art of Peace: Seeing the World Through the Eyes of Our ‘Enemies’. The Special Webinar is his way of engaging with Canadians before embarking on a mission of peace to Russia next month.

Dimitri Lascaris in the first half.

And; there was a time, not so long ago, war profiteers where held to be exemplars of humanity’s basest instincts: Antitheses of Virtue, the very worst of the worst of Evil Doers, they were rightly and roundly despised. Now though, CEO’s of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon and Boeing and Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics and all their lesser factotums are welcome and well-treated in the halls of power and major media teevee studios alike.

Today, the profiteers need never fear official opprobrium, or being called to account for the bitter harvest of their dark seeds – at least not in the courts of the land. But there’s another weighing of justice at hand.

The Merchant of Death War Crimes Tribunal is coming – soon – and it promises to hold accountable the manufacturers of the weapons that kill combatants and non-combatants alike through the testimony of witnesses to the destruction wreaked and the crimes committed against Humanity with them.

Brad Wolf is co-founder of the Peace Action Network of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, an affiliate of Peace Action and a partner of World BEYOND War. He’s a lawyer, former prosecutor, professor, community college dean, and full-time activist for peace and justice.

His writings are published at The Progressive, Common Dreams, CounterPunch, Antiwar.com, Consortium News, and Dappled Things among others. He recently authored a book on former priest, Philip Berrigan’s collected writings, ‘A Ministry of Risk’. He’s also a key organizer with the Tribunal.

Brad Wolf and attaching the human costs to the Merchants of Death in the second half.

But first, Dimitri Lascaris and seeing the World and ourselves through the eyes of our “enemies”.

 

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, Ken Stone, Dan Kovalik March 8th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

March 8, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio recorded March 8th, 2023.

 Listen. Here.

March 20th marks the twentieth anniversary of America’s second invasion of Iraq. Despite the tens of millions of people across the globe coming into the streets to hold at bay the dogs of George Bush’s “generational war” Operation Iraqi Freedom’s “shock and awe” – called “blitzkrieg” in another era – was launched.

We all know what happened, and the failure of the People to stop the slaughter then and in Afghanistan in 2001 seemed to be the end of hope for the Peace Movement; but the flame for a World without War didn’t die, and has in fact recently been spotted flickering in the capitals of Europe, Canada, and even in Washington, D.C.

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; far from fulfilling its mandate to first be an agent opposing war in the World the United Nations’ repeated failures in that seminal mission are now manifest in its endeavoring the opposite, the promotion of economic sanctions and military intervention. At least the recently released ‘Group of Experts on Human Rights on Nicaragua’ report leaves little else to conclude.

Dan Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. His book titles include: ‘Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture,’ the “Plot to” series on American efforts to undermine the governments and economies of Iran, Venezuela, Russia, (and the World generally) and ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest.’

His latest is the recently released, ‘Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance‘, which “explores the pernicious nature of US engagement with Nicaragua from the mid-19th century to the present in pursuit of control and domination rather than in defense of democracy“.

Dan Kovalik and the latest chapter in the hybrid war* against Nicaragua in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and the smouldering desire for peace.

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/

Correction: The U.S. House APPROVED a resolution to MAINTAIN the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (2019) by an “overwhelming” margin (414-2), and not DEFEAT a motion to LIFT sanctions as reported. See: https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/02/house-overwhelmingly-approves-resolution-to-maintain-syria-sanctions-after-earthquake/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ray McGinnis, Robert Freeman March 4, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

March 4th, 2023 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 1st and 4th, 2023.

 

 Listen. Hear.

Last month, Justice Paul Rouleau held his nose and blessed Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to shut down the Ottawa Anti-Vaccine Mandate protest in 2022. This though none of the “tests” within the Act for doing so were met by the actions of ‘Freedom Convoy’.

And, though providing a post-imprimatur to the government’s actions, even Rouleau says the means used to punish Canadians exercising their “democratic rights” to express political opposition to government policy, (like freezing bank accounts of participants’ non-participating spouses) was “flawed”, he provides no legal remedies.

Ray McGinnis is an author and retired educator. He says he “became concerned” with the disconnect between mainstream media and alternative livestream coverage of the Freedom Convoy. He subsequently attended the Public Order Emergency Commission hearings for a week in Ottawa last November, and his article on the event and its aftermath, ‘Commission Reveals that Trudeau Government Lied About Nature of Truckers Protests in Ottawa Last February to Justify Invocation of Emergencies Act‘ is published at CovertAction Magazine.

Ray McGinnis in the first half.

And; much has been made of the first anniversary of Russia’s so-called “Special Operation” in Ukraine by the western press. Countless hours of television, and oceans of ink have been spilt to convince citizens in NATO nations of the righteousness of Kyiv’s cause – and more importantly – of “our” noble motives in supplying its army with billions of dollars and an incomprehensible amount of high-tech weaponry.

Robert Freeman is Founder and Executive Director of The Global Uplift Project. He’s a past educator, and author of ‘The Best One Hour History’ series of books covering history from ‘The Renaissance’ and ‘The Scientific Revolution’ to ‘The Protestant Reformation’, ‘French Revolution’ and great wars of the last century.

Robert’s recent article, published at CommonDreams.org, ‘Ukraine and the Tunnel at the End of the Light‘ is a hard-eyed assessment of both the disaster that is the Ukraine/Russia war, and the doomed political and economic dynamics behind the conflict.

Robert Freeman and shedding the rosy aura around Ukraine’s war prospects in the second half.

But first, Ray McGinnis and the Freedom Convoy’s hard-learnt lessons for Canadians.

 

Song: After the Revolution (from the album Return)

Artist: David Rovics

 

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Rovics (extended) February 25th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

February 25, 2023 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 25th, 2023

 

Listen. Hear.

 On February 9th, a train derailed outside East Palestine, Ohio. The toxic cargo, purposefully ignited in a disastrously ill-advised attempt at environmental remediation.

David Rovics‘ new song, East Palestine is a modern ballad of an old American story of the venality and base corruption culminating in the Ohio catastrophe.

David’s recent article too, ‘Communications for Indy Musicians, Then and Now‘ is a reflection not only on his quarter century making a living as a touring musician, but of living and working in our mediated times. His new album, Killing the Messenger is due out any day, telling the stories of East Palestine and others.

David Rovics, Robert Hoyt, and Claude share a moment.

Today, David Rovics on Killing the Messenger in these end days of media in an extended talk.

 

Artist: David Rovics

Song: East Palestine from the album, Killing the Messenger

 

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, David Rovics February 25, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

February 25th, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 25th, 2023

 

 

Listen. Hear.

 Last weekend saw mass anti-war demonstrations around the United States and Europe. In Washington, DC ‘Rage Against the War Machine‘ manifested in the very heart – if not the soul – of the nation with speakers and activists from a variety of pursuits and political persuasions agreeing to forego their disagreements on other issue for the moment to focus on the rolling disaster that is the global war machine.

Jeremy Kuzmarov is a journalist and author who also serves as Managing Editor at CovertActionMagazine.com and he was there at the turning point of the new Peace Movement.

graphic: Monte Wolverton

Jeremy Kuzmarov and dispatch from DC in the first half.

And; On February 9th, a train derailed outside East Palestine, Ohio. The toxic cargo, purposefully ignited in a disastrously ill-advised attempt at environmental remediation. David Rovics‘ new song, East Palestine is a modern ballad of an old American story of the venality and base corruption culminating in the Ohio catastrophe.

David’s recent article too, ‘Communications for Indy Musicians, Then and Now‘ is a reflection not only on his quarter century making a living as a touring musician, but of living and working in our mediated times. His new album, Killing the Messenger is due out any day, telling the stories of East Palestine, and the other on.

David Rovics, Robert Hoyt, and Claude share a moment.

David Rovics on Killing the Messenger in these end days of media in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and raging for peace in America.

 

Artist: David Rovics

Song: East Palestine from the album, Killing the Messenger

Artist: Robert Hoyt

Song: This Star from the album, Mind’s Eye

 

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, John Helmer (Extended) February 19th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

February 20, 2023

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 19th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

On February 8th of this year, Dutch police presented new evidence to the District Court of The Hague regarding the July 17th, 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

Upon entering their evidence, the Dutch government and an Australian investigator on the case admitted to having held American military satellite images from the court, the press, and defence lawyers throughout the two-year trial for the wrongful deaths of the two hundred and ninety-eight people who perished aboard that ill-fated flight.

John Helmer is a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. The principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, Helmer has too been a professor of political science, sociology and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels. Among his many book titles are: ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts,’ and ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’.

His recent article on the latest from The Hague and the MH-17 disaster is, ‘US SATELLITE PHOTOS REVEALED AT LAST – NOW THEY INCRIMINATE THE DUTCH POLICE, PROSECUTORS, AND JUDGES IN THE MH17 SHOW TRIAL‘.

Today, John Helmer and the JIT’s latest shot in the West’s war against Russia.

 

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, John Helmer, Jennifer Tynan February 19, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

February 20, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 18th and 19th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

On February 8th of this year, Dutch police presented new evidence to the District Court of The Hague regarding the July 17th, 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

Upon entering their evidence, the Dutch government and an Australian investigator on the case admitted to having held American military satellite images from the court, the press, and defence lawyers throughout the two-year trial for the wrongful deaths of the two hundred and ninety-eight people who perished aboard that ill-fated flight.

John Helmer is a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. The principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, Helmer has too been a professor of political science, sociology and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels. Among his many book titles are: ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts,’ and ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’.

His recent article on the latest from The Hague and the MH-17 disaster is, ‘US SATELLITE PHOTOS REVEALED AT LAST – NOW THEY INCRIMINATE THE DUTCH POLICE, PROSECUTORS, AND JUDGES IN THE MH17 SHOW TRIAL’.

John Helmer in the first half.

And; BC’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has granted permits for the Ministry of Forests to begin a Spring spraying campaign across swathes of Vancouver Island. The plan is to use Foray 48B, (better known as Btk) in an attempt to eradicate the “Spongy Moth”; and though the ministries say Btk is “harmless”, there is contention to those claims.

Dr. Jennifer Tynan is a physician and radiology specialist. Jennifer’s also a mom whose child’s school is in one of the proposed spray zones, and serves as spokesperson for Communities United for Clean Air, a grassroots initiative to stop the spray.

 

Contact: communitiesunitedforcleanair@gmail.com

Jennifer Tynan and fighting to keep Vancouver Island’s air clear of Btk in the second half.

But first, John Helmer and the JIT’s latest shot in the West’s war against Russia.

 

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/

 

Song: Work for Peace

Artist: Gil Scott-Heron

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Yves Engler, Tyan Cherepuschak, Tyson Strandlund February 11th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

February 11, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 11th, 2023.

 Listen. Hear.

This past week, Canadian Forces redeployed a CP-140 Aurora surveillance plane from its dedicated mission assisting U.S.-led drugs smuggling interdiction efforts in the Caribbean to spend two days flying reconnaissance over Haiti. Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Joly characterized the escalation of Canada’s military involvement in the country as a “demonstration of Canada’s commitment to Haiti”. Last month, Canada demonstrated that commitment in the form of an unspecified number and type of armored vehicles being sold to a government that has already called for foreign military intervention to quell wide-spread public discontent with its corrupt and entirely unelected leadership.

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, ‘Ottawa’s support for repressive Haitian police grows as democracy fades’ appears at his website, YvesEngler.com, and puts to the lie – again – Canada’s “concern for the people” of that benighted island.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; the University of Victoria’s Student Union has become another front in the Ukraine/Russia war. Last month, UVic’s Ukrainiain Students’ Society alleged harassment of its members and intimidation in the form of “hate crime” graffiti scrawled on one of its posters. They’ve also made allegations of “ongoing hate and harassment demonstrated by the YCL [Young Communist League]…” UVic’s USS is, with similar student societies on campuses across the country, associated with the politically influential Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

Tyan Cherepuschak is an undergraduate student at the University of Victoria, and is a Ukrainian-Canadian who until recently served as Vice-President to the UVic chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Students Union (SUSK).

And; Tyson Strandlund is a member of both the UVic chapter of the Young Communist League and the Vancouver Island Peace Council, a local chapter of the Canadian Peace Congress. He too is a Canadian of Ukrainian descent, who has studied in and visited Ukraine both before and after the 2014 Maidan coup.

Tyan Cherepuschak & Tyson Strandlund on bringing the Ukraine conflict to Canadian campuses in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and Canada’s caring military gestures to Haiti.

 

Song: Watch the Buildings Crumble

Album: May Day

Artist: David Rovics

 

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 4th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

February 4, 2023

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

 

 Listen. Hear.

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 vice-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/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Saul Arbess, Ken Stone January 28th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

January 28, 2023

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22 & 28th, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

More than two years after BC’s former premier, John Horgan’s re-election promise to implement the recommendations of his own government’s Old Growth Strategy Review panel it’s business as usual in the woods. While some of the OGSR’s 14 point plan was implemented, big trees are still falling and the forests are in peril. The NDP also, after Horgan’s snap election win, ceded policing authority to deal with old growth forest defenders near the capital to the federal RCMP, whose paramilitary tactics and brutality at the Fairy Creek encampments elicited international expressions of disgust and condemnation.

Now, a grand manifestation of First Nations, conservation organizations, ecological agencies, and citizens concerned about the loss of an irreplaceable biological legacy is planned to surround the seat of government to state demands for policy change in more fervent language.

Saul Arbess is a long-time peace, justice, and environmental champion. He describes himself as a cultural anthropologist and futurist, dedicated to “creating a new architecture of peace in the world“. Saul served as National Co-chair of the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative, was co-founder and chair of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, and currently works for peace, non-violence, and protecting the wildlands around his home city of Victoria.

Photo: Bill Johnston

Saul Arbess in the first half.

And, January on Canada’s west coast means Season’s change is soon; but even as we ready for Spring, east of here the cruelest months of Winter still lay ahead. That cold reality isn’t however deterring citizen demonstration of dissatisfaction with the ongoing NATO wars and occupations.

Monday, January 23, as part of the week-long protests around North America, Hamiltonians picketed the prime minister’s cabinet meeting taking place in the Hamilton Convention Centre. One focus of their vigil being the “purchase of the obscenely-expensive F-35 fighter jets”.

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

Ken Stone and Canada’s Winter war resisters in the second half.

But first, Saul Arbess and Uniting for Old Growth in British Columbia.

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, John Helmer January 23rd, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

January 23, 2023

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22, 2023

 

 

Listen. Hear.

Approaching the first anniversary of Russia’s “Special Operations” in the Donbass region of Ukraine prospects for Russia’s proposed ceasefire are tremulous, and the chance of peace breaking out soon remote. The problem for those seeking an end to the killing is, as ever, finding willing partners on both sides of the conflict. For now, Ukraine’s backers in the United States and the NATO countries seem content to allow the war continue, sapping Russia’s political and economic resources while providing a lucrative market for their weapons-making industries.

But, and it is an enormous one, elements within Germany’s uber military echelons are pushing America to put an end to its project in Ukraine – before it’s too late!

John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past professor of political science, sociology, and journalism and has served as advisor to governments at the highest level.
Helmer has spent decades living in and reporting from Russia, and among his many book titles are: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, and his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts.’.

John’s recent article at Dances with Bears, ‘GERMAN GENERAL TELLS U.S. GENERALS TO LOSE THE UKRAINE WAR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO PREVENT LOSING THE EMPIRE IN EUROPE‘ reveals Germany’s evolving position on the Ukraine conflict.

Today, John Helmer and abandoning the Ukraine battle to save the Russia war.

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/

Spoils of the Fight: Winners and Losers in the Sanctions War

SPOILS OF THE SANCTIONS WAR – NATO LION MEETS RUSSIAN TIT FOR TAT

by John Helmer, Moscow

  @bears_with

 

January 18, 2023

 

As democracy goes in states at war, in Russia  there is more of it —  faction fighting, public criticism,  media debate — about battlefield operations, wins and losses, than there is on the NATO side, in the US, Canada, Germany, France or England.

By contrast, on the conduct of domestic economic policy, in Russia there is much less open argument than there is on the other side. 

 

Gorilla Radio with Mickey Z. and Me, Kim Goldberg January 17th, 2023

This Week on GR

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

 

January 17, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 14/15, 2023.

 

Listen. Hear.

My old friend and frequent interview victim, Mickey Z. proposed turning the tables and interviewing me for his excellent Substack podcast, Post-Woke. The entire interview is available at https://mickeyz.substack.com/

Mickey Z. talking to an Ape in the first half.

And; it’s been three years now since the great global unraveling wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic began. In Canada, part of that meant changes to the laws of the land – changes Canadians are yet to resolve properly in Parliament and the courts, or among a polity divided in unprecedented ways.

Kim Goldberg is a Nanaimo-based poet, journalist, and author. She’s written 8 books of poetry and nonfiction, including her most recent collection ‘DEVOLUTION: poems and fables of eco-pocalypse‘. She covered BC current affairs for Canadian Dimension Magazine for many years, most recently on the Fairy Creek blockade. Kim’s writing is featured at Substack, and can be found again, after some rude interruption, on Twitter @KimPigSquash.

Kim Goldberg and emerging the emergency in the second half.

But first, me and Mickey Z. talking about alternative media and Gorilla Radio at twenty-four.

 

Song: Pure Mirror of the Beloved

Artist: Siddartha Corsus

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/