Media Helpfully Putting Novichok in the OPCW's Mouth

FINANCIAL TIMES EDITOR KHALAF FAKES OPCW REPORTS ON SKRIPAL-STURGESS CASES, HIDES ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

July 15, 2020

The editor of the Financial Times of London, and four of the Japanese-owned newspaper’s employees have been caught out fabricating a new story about a Russian-made and Russian- named nerve agent allegedly used to attack Sergei and Yulia Skripal, Dawn Sturgess and Charles Rowley in England two years ago.

In a report published on July 9, the newspaper claims it has “reviewed” four classified reports from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which were obtained from an Austrian fraudster named Jan Marsalek. His source for the documents, the newspaper suggests, was a Russian intelligence agency. Austrian press investigations say Marsalek’s source was the Austrian government.

75 Years After Trinity: Talk of a Nuclear Test Revival

The Human Cost Of Nuclear Tests

by John Letman, The Diplomat

via Popular Resistance

July 19, 2020

July 16 – Seventy-five years ago today, the United States conducted the Trinity test, the world’s first nuclear detonation. In the ensuing years, the U.S. ultimately conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests, half of all known tests conducted by the world’s nine nuclear nations since 1945. Now, on the 75th anniversary of the nuclear age, the United States is contemplating the resumption of live testing for the first time in nearly three decades. 

Above: The landscape at the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site 

in northeastern Kazakhstan where more than 450 nuclear tests were conducted. 

The Center for International Security and Policy.

75 Years After Trinity. Talk of new U.S. testing deeply concerns those who have first-hand knowledge of nuclear devastation.

Erdogan Faces Push-Back over Sub-Aegean Gas Field Grab

Greek, Turkish warships nearly clash in Aegean over Mediterranean gas fields

by Alex Lantier  - WSWS

24 July 2020

A Turkish naval expedition to escort oil-drilling vessels in the Aegean Sea off the Greek island of Kastellórizo this week nearly escalated into war between NATO allies Turkey and Greece.

This came amid mounting divisions inside the imperialist alliance over the civil war in Libya triggered by the 2011 NATO war that toppled Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. Backed by France, Egypt voted to approve military deployments into Libya against Turkish-backed forces, only weeks after Turkish intelligence officers were wounded in a bombing of Libya’s Watiya airbase. 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Amy Miller, Kevin Pina/Frantz Jerome, Janine Bandcroft July 23, 2020

This Week on GR

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

July 23, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s continuing efforts, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but emanating live-to-tape via skype from our home-based … studio on this date, July 20th, 2020.

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the infamous police riots that rocked the Toronto G20 manifestations. As Portland, Oregon suffers police ministrations reminiscent of the tactics deployed against citizens in Toronto back then.

Amy Miller in the first half.

And; while the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States gains support, actions of the government there make clear, “some black lives matter more than others.”

Despite wide-spread global travel bans, the US continues to deport foreign nationals, in many cases to countries whose health care systems are already challenged.

Listen. Hear.

Kevin Pina is a filmmaker, journalist, lecturer and media consultant. His documentary film credits include: ‘Haiti: Harvest of Hope,’ and ‘HAITI: We Must Kill the Bandits.’ And, Frantz Jerome is a Haitian-American political and human rights activist who has worked for democracy in Haiti since the seventies and the first Duvalier dictatorship. The retired college professor now serves as country expert for Pacifica Radio’s Flashpoints program.

Kevin Pina and Frantz Jerome on Haitians coping with Covid and more in the second half.

And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor and Green Vegan Grandma Youtuber, Janine Bandcroft will be there at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, revisiting 2010 and the G20 with independent journalist and documentary filmmaker, Amy Miller.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Trump's Declaration of Sovereignty over America's Democrat-Controlled Cities

President Trump sending federal police agents into major American cities

by Kevin Reed  - WSWS

21 July 2020

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, President Trump praised the kidnapping of protesters by unidentified federal agents in Portland, Oregon as a “fantastic job” and vowed to send similar law enforcement groups into New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland.

President Donald Trump considers a Bible June 1, 2020

Responding to questions regarding reports that the White House was sending 175 federal troops to multiple cities, Trump said, “Well, it depends on what your definition of ‘troops’ is. I mean, we’re sending law enforcement.”

Assange Brings British Justice to His Knees

Damage to the Soul

by Craig Murray

July 16, 2020

The imprisonment of Julian Assange has been a catalogue of gross injustice heaped upon gross injustice, while a complicit media and indoctrinated population looks the other way. In a truly extraordinary twist, Assange is now being extradited on the basis of an indictment served in the UK, which is substantially different to the actual indictment he now faces in Virginia if extradited.

The Assange hearing was adjourned after its first full week, and its resumption has since been delayed by coronavirus. In that first full week, both the prosecution and the defence outlined their legal arguments over the indictment. As I reported in detail to an audience of millions, Assange’s legal team fairly well demolished the key arguments of the prosecution during that hearing.

A Proposed Provenance of Covid-19

A Proposed Origin for SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Jonathan Latham, PhD/Allison Wilson, PhD - Independent Science News

July 15, 2020

In all the discussions of the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, enormous scientific attention has been paid to the molecular character of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including its novel genome sequence in comparison with its near relatives. In stark contrast, virtually no attention has been paid to the physical provenance of those nearest genetic relatives, its presumptive ancestors, which are two viral sequences named BtCoV/4991 and RaTG13.

This neglect is surprising because their provenance is more than interesting. 

Masks of Perception

Why Face Masks Don’t Work, According to Science

by RT.com

via DissidentVoice

July 16th, 2020

So much debate over whether or not we should be wearing masks in order to fight COVlD but multiple scientific studies over the past decade have already settled this question. 

Not only do medical masks not prevent the spread of the virus, but a 1995 study proves that wearing a cloth mask can put you at greater risk for infection. Ben Swann breaks down the science. 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Harry Glasbeek, Stephen Corry, Janine Bandcroft July 16th, 2020

This Week on GR

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

July 16, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s continuing Post-Covid broadcast. We are NOT broadcasting live from the basement of the SUB building at the University of Victoria, but are instead recording live to tape via Skype from our home studios this day, July 6th, 2020.

Or, put another way; 583 days since the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer, (and daughter of company founder) Meng Wanzhou’s forced stay in Canada. 

Those with long media memories may remember the tech. executive’s arrest at Vancouver International airport in 2018; an arrest made at the behest of the United States for the purpose of extradition to that country to face fraud charges.

Mung’s arrest has soured China/Canada relations and led to what Canada charges is the “arbitary” arrest of two of its citizens in retaliation. 

Listen. Hear.

Harry Glasbeek is Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School and author of books on both Canadian and Australian law. His latest book titles, (the eleventh and twelfth) are ‘Class Privilege: How law shelters shareholders and coddles capitalism’, and ‘Capitalism: A Crime Story’. Harry has written scores of articles on tort and labour law, corporate law, and on corporate criminality and social responsibility. Glasbeek’s popular articles are too published at numerous sites on the internet, including at the SocialistProject.ca where I found his recent piece, ‘Meng, Huawei and Canadian Law: Soap, Rinse and Dry-Laundered’.

Harry Glasbeek in the first half.

And; the World Wildlife Fund recently announced an astonishing development of vital import for all those concerned about the ecological survival of we and the natural world. “Suddenly” spokesperson, Sir David Attenborough informs, “saving our planet is within reach!” It’s an enticing prospect, something none in their right mind wouldn’t welcome; if only all was as is presented by Attenborough and the WWF.

Stephen Corry is CEO of Survival International, an organization dedicated to “A world where tribal peoples are respected as contemporary societies and their human rights protected.”

Corry and Survival International have interceded on behalf of the rights of tribal peoples in South America, Asia, and Africa. He’s written numerous articles on the subjects of “scientific racism” and the ideology of “fortress conservation”, and is the author of the book, ‘Tribal Peoples for Tomorrow’s World’. Stephen Corry’s articles too appear online at, among other places, CounterPunch where I found his recent article, ‘The Big Green Lie’.

Stephen Corry on Green idylls and the World Wildlife Fund’s uncomfortable allusions in the second half.

And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor and Green Vegan Grandma Youtuber, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with this week’s Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Professor Harry Glasbeek and Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, and Canadian law out of its depth and beyond its borders.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Haiti and the Black Lives that Matter Less in Ottawa

Do Black Lives in Haiti Matter to Canadian Government?

by Yves Engler - Canadian Dimension

June 3, 2020

Do black lives in Haiti matter to the Canadian government? At the time of writing, Justin Trudeau continues to back the neo-Duvalierists who are currently subjugating that country’s impoverished masses, leading to a total loss of confidence in every sector of Haitian civil society. 

People protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on February 13, 2019.
Photo by Hector Retamal.

Last Wednesday the prime minister called President Jovenel Moïse and “underscored the strong friendship between Canada and Haiti.” This is the latest instance of diplomatic support by the Liberals for a repressive, corrupt and illegitimate president who has faced massive popular protests.

U.S. Chilling Foreign Students: ICE Orders Deportations

Seventeen states and tens of universities file lawsuits against ICE attack on international students

by Sam Dalton  - WSWS

14 July 2020

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the US, on March 13, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued an exemption to its requirement that international students studying in the US on F-1 visas must attend classes in person. At that time, the government said the arrangement was “in effect for the duration of the emergency.” 

However, on July 6, ICE made an abrupt announcement reversing the exemption. The change in policy means that over 900,000 international students attending American colleges this fall will be required to take at least one in-person class to remain in the US.

Waters on Haitian Fires: "brutal and unconscionable acts"

Rep. Waters Urges U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison Not to Let Haiti Descend into Chaos and Violence

by Congresswoman Maxine Waters

May 28, 2020

“These brutal and unconscionable acts of politically motivated violence in Haiti must stop once and for all.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), the Chair of the House Financial Services Committee and a long-time friend of Haiti, sent a letter today to the Honorable Michele J. Sison, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, in response to reports that a death squad headed by Jimmy Cherizier, commonly known as “Barbecue,” has carried out violent attacks in several impoverished Port-au-Prince neighborhoods during the past week, with the support of the Haitian police.

Russia's Booze Party Politics: Isolate, Inebriate, Repeat

NO ROOM AT THE BOOZER – NEW ST. PETERSBURG LAW BANS SOCIALISM, PROMOTES CAPITALISM IN RUSSIAN DRINKING

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

July 13, 2020

It’s an old tsarist ploy. When government officials grow fearful of public protests, attacks on the authorities, and rioting, they increase the volume of alcohol for sale but decrease the number of places where drinkers can gather in public.

Vodka is the opium of the people: this has been the Russian adaptation of Karl Marx’s observation about religion; that was in 1843, long before Marx got acquainted with how things worked in Russia. 

A Little Israel in Toronto: Zionists Terrorize Hog Town Eatery

Israel lobby seeks to bankrupt progressive, pro-Palestinian restaurant

by Yves Engler

July 10, 2020

The pro-Israel community is engaged in a remarkable effort to bankrupt a small progressive Toronto restaurant. In their attack on Foodbenders, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and B’nai B’rith have once again allied with the violent, far-right, Jewish Defence League (JDL).

A member of JDL defacing Foodbenders storefront

Over the past week the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has tweeted no less than 25 times about a restaurant known for supporting indigenous rights, Black Lives Matter and other social justice causes. 

Flash Back, Flash Forward: Viral Realities

Virus of Mass Destruction

by CJ Hopkins - Consent Factory

May 4, 2020

There comes a point in the introduction of every new official narrative when people no longer remember how it started. Or, rather, they remember how it started, but not the propaganda that started it. Or, rather, they remember all that (or are able to, if you press them on it), but it doesn’t make any difference anymore, because the official narrative has supplanted reality.

You’ll remember this point from the War on Terror, and specifically the occupation of Iraq. By the latter half of 2004, most Westerners had completely forgotten the propaganda that launched the invasion, and thus regarded the Iraqi resistance as “terrorists,” despite the fact that the United States had invaded and was occupying their country for no legitimate reason whatsoever. 

Men of Steele: Taking the Pee Out of the Trump/Putin Narrative in Court (and Winning)

THE REPUTATION OF MIKHAIL FRIDMAN AND PYOTR AVEN IS WORTH £18,000 EACH, BUT IT COST SIXTEEN TIMES THAT MUCH TO DEFEND — ENOUGH TO BANKRUPT CHRISTOPHER STEELE 

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

July 9, 2020

It was the 412th of Francois de la Rochefoucauld’s maxims that doesn’t stand the test of either time or money. “Whatever degree of disgrace we may have brought upon ourselves,” he said, “it is always within our power to re-establish our reputation.”

For years Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven, the controllers of Alfa Bank of Moscow and LetterOne Holding in London, have been trying but not succeeding. This week they scored a success, but not quite of the kind they, or La Rochefoucauld, meant.

A Rae of Continuity: Canada's UN Amabassador Appointment Disappoints

New UN ambassador Bob Rae pushes pro-US, militarist and anti-Palestinian positions

by Yves Engler

July 6, 2020

Bob Rae’s appointment as ambassador to the UN is a direct result of Canada’s defeat in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. But, it suggests the Liberals are ignoring the lessons of that defeat and calls to rethink Canadian foreign policy.

Three weeks after the Trudeau government suffered an embarrassing loss in its bid to sit on the UN’s most powerful decision-making body the individual who lead the multi-year campaign is out. 

A History of the Jewish National Fund

The JNF’s sordid history: Tower and stockades, forests and Jim Crow vetting committees 

by Jonathan Cook

July 7, 2020

This is the expanded text of a talk I gave to the “Stop the JNF Campaign” webinar on Saturday 4 July 2020. The video can be watched below, or on Facebook, starting at 5.50 mins:

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) rightly presents itself as the most venerable of the Zionist institutions:

It stands at the heart of a state-building project launched more than a century ago;
It is an organisation that is today deeply embedded in the structures of the Israeli state;
It is the guardian of the Israel’s most precious resource – land;
And it is the bridge connecting Jews abroad to Israel, allowing them to become practically and emotionally involved in its continuing national mission of colonisation.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Radhika Desai, Ken Boon, Janine Bandcroft July 9th, 2020

This Week on GR

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

July 9, 2020

Welcome again to Gorilla Radio’s continuing efforts, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but emanating live-to-tape via skype from our home-based … studios on this date, June 30th, 2020.

As day by day the duration of this Covid disaster grows longer it becomes increasingly clear there will be no normal, new or otherwise, to return to; especially no economic one. What we’re witnessing, my first guest argues, is more cyclone than cyclical downturn; an effective overturning of the entire neo-liberal financial order. Not only are we not in Kansas anymore, but Kansas has done gone too!

Radhika Desai is a scholar, educator, author, editor. She is too director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group and professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, and author of the books, ‘Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire’, ‘Slouching Towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics’, and ‘Intellectuals and Socialism: ‘Social Democrats’ and the Labour Party’.

Listen. Hear.

Desai also serves as co-editor with Alan Freeman of the Geopolitical Economy book series with Manchester University Press and the Future of Capitalism book series with Pluto Press. Radhika’s many essays, primarily on the topics of political economy, culture and nationalism can be found at among other places, CanadianDimensions.com where her seven part, multi-week series, WHAT IS TO BE DONE? A MANIFESTO FOR POLITICS AMID THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND features.

Radhika Desai in the first half.

And; the people of Old Fort don’t know what to expect next. The small town in British Columbia’s Peace River Valley has been under an evacuation alert since June 19th when a landslide destroyed their only road access. It’s the second time the road has been wiped out in the last two years, and locals want to know what’s going on beneath them, but the provincial government has yet to shed light on the geological cause of the slides.

Requests for information made through channels have been refused “pursuant to section 15” of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Section 15 regards disclosure of requested information as quote, “harmful to law enforcement”. Further explanation of how that may be has not been offered, but the geological and political fragility surrounding the contentious Site C dam has long been an issue for Peace Valley opponents of the project.

Ken Boon is a Peace Valley farmer and president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association. Ken and his family have lived at the heart of the resistance to the Site C dam project from the beginning.

Ken Boon and does the Old Fort slide mean things going sideways for Site C too? in the second half.

And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor and ‘Green Vegan Grandma’ YouTuber, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around Victoria in the coming week. But first, Radhika Desai and just what is to be done in a World undone?

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Guaidó Lackey Declares War on Journalism: "There's a price on your head."

Guaido Representative Threatens FBI Investigation Into Journalists Exposing Her Dealings

by Alan MacLeod - MintPress News

July 6, 2020

 From the Twitter account of her communications firm, Asymmetrica, Vanessa Neumann accused four journalists of a “criminal conspiracy” to support Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodriguez. “There is a price on your head,” she threatened. 

Vanessa Neumann, the U.K. ambassador of self-declared President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, claims that she is working closely with the FBI in an investigation exposing a “transnational criminal network” of journalists, including John McEvoy, Pablo Navarette, independent outlet Venezuelanalysis and former MintPress News contributor Camila Escalante.