Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Radhika Desai, Terry Wolfwood, Gail Stevens July 29th, 2021

This Week on GR

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

 

July 29, 2021

 

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, July 21st and 22nd, 2021

 

 

 

Listen. Hear.

And welcome to a new day in Canada’s political life. Or so hope the founders of the country’s newest political entity, Green Left Canada. Announced July 16th, the “eco-socialist” Green Left says it, “…emerges from the groundswell of opposition to neo-liberal systems that threaten the survival of the planet and democracy...”

Dr. Radhika Desai is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group there. She’s also a three-term President of the Society for Socialist Studies, and a founding member of Green Left Canada. Her book, ‘Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire’ proposes “a new approach to understanding world affairs in the capitalist era…”

Radhika Desai in the first half.

And next week marks the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That tragic and senseless act will be commemorated by the Victoria chapter of the Women in Black, who will again stand vigil at the inner harbour.

Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and a writer, photographer, and long-time activist in pursuit of peace, social justice, and women’s rights. Her articles have appeared at Briarpatch, Peace News, and Third World Resurgence among other places, and as well as her many activities in support of justice and peace, she’s served as local coordinator for the Women in Black for many years.

Terry Wolfwood, remembering still Hiroshima/Nagasaki and more in the second half.

But first, Radhika Desai and a new voice being raised for a new Canadian political discourse.

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

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Nick Mottern, Tamara Lorincz July 22nd, 2021

This Week on GR

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

July 22, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded July 17th, 2021

Listen. Hear.

Almost twenty years since its beginning, America is quitting the war against the Taliban. Or so the papers say. Though it’s clearly too late for a good news spin on stories coming from what was Afghanistan – where more than a million have perished violently since 2001, with uncounted multiples more being maimed, orphaned, and rendered homeless – there is too another story not making the frontpage, or leading the evening news; that is the fact America’s president has promised to continue bombing in Afghanistan anyone, anywhere, anytime he sees fit from somewhere “over the horizon”.

Nick Mottern is a journalist, author, and coordinator of Knowdrones.com, an organization founded in 2012 expressly to “inform the American public about the illegality, immorality and dreadful human consequences of U.S. drone attacks…”

Nick’s worked as a reporter, researcher, writer and political organizer over the last 30 years, and his book, ‘Suffering Strong’ recounts his travels in Africa. His recent article, ‘”Biden Acknowledges “over the horizon” Air Attacks Planned Against Taliban’ appears at KnowDrones.com, where they’re also engaged in a campaign to keep military whistleblower, Daniel Hale out of prison. Hale’s sentencing is scheduled for July 27th.

Nick Mottern in the first half.

And; as there are no other problems in the country, the Canadian government is entertaining bids for billions of spare tax dollars from international fighter jet manufacturers. The competition is fierce, with the winner expecting to cash in on what opponents of the purchasing spree say will amount to as much as 77 billion Canadian buckaroos, with untold riches to be had for parts, maintenance, and (constant) repairs.

Tamara Lorincz is with Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. VoW are the organizers of the No Fighter Jets days of action held across Canada since the military procurement was announced. She’s also served on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and has contributed her knowledge and talents to the organizations World Beyond War, and the No to NATO Network. She and VoW joined up recently with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute to recruit more than a hundred personages of repute on both sides of border in a public campaign to kill the Liberals’ war spending plans.

Tamara Lorincz and opposing Canadian militarism in the second half.

But first, Nick Mottern and Biden’s not so sunny Afghan horizon.

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

Stopping the F-35 Purchase; Opposing Canadian Militarism

100 Public Figures Oppose Trudeau's $77 Billion Fighter Jet Purchase

by Canadian Foreign Policy Institute/Canadian Voice of Women for Peace

 via Common Dreams

July 15, 2021

 

Instead of purchasing 88 new weapons of war and destruction, let's use these resources for healthcare, education, housing and clean water. 

 

Magnified image of damage to wing surface coating
 

As wildfires blaze in western Canada amidst record breaking heat waves, the Liberal government is planning to spend tens of billions of dollars on unnecessary, dangerous, climate destroying fighter jets.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson, John Helmer July 15th, 2021

This Week on GR

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

July 15, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, July 10th and 11th, 2021.

 

 

Listen. Hear.

Crusading publisher and founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange spent his 50th birthday last week just as he had his 49th and 48th, in solitary at London’s Belmarsh Prison. Assange was snatched by British authorities from Ecuador’s London Embassy April 11th, 2019, the place he’d been granted sanctuary in 2012. He said back then he feared extradition to the United States to be punished for WikiLeaks’ release of the infamous Collateral Murder video and other revelations of U.S. criminality. Nearly ten years later, Assange waits in stir as America prepares an appeal of Britain’s dismissal on humanitarian grounds of its first attempt to have him delivered to Washington.

A major element of America’s case against Assange rests on the testimony of Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, a controversial figure who in a recent interview with Stundin, an Icelandic news site, admits to providing false testimony to the FBI. Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson co-wrote the article that has Assange allies hopeful for his release at long last.

Bjartmar Alexandersson in the first half.

And; it was an international sensation in 2018 when, as like in a Hollywood thriller; a Russian hit squad attempted to rub out a former double-agent in an audacious, broad daylight “military-grade” chemical attack in the heart of Salisbury, a town known more for its Early English Gothic cathedral than international intrigue.

Tensions got so high for a time, it was thought L’Affaire Skripal could even lead to war! And no-one perhaps was a more sympathetic character in the story than Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, collateral victim of the deathly, Novichok chemical agent. Imagine everybody’s surprise then when the now former Detective Sergeant inadvertently revealed he’d never actually been exposed to Novichok!

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’, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, and his latest, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller’. He’s also the author of ‘Skripal in Prison’ a compendium of his many articles on the Skripal case. His latest on the matter at Dances with Bears is, ‘DETECTIVE SGT NICK BAILEY HAS ANNOUNCED NOT ANOTHER WORD ON NOVICHOK AND THE SKRIPAL CASE‘.

John Helmer and the curious and curiouser case of the once talkative and now silent detective in the second half.

But first, Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson and ‘Key Witness in Assange Case Admits to Lies in Indictment‘.

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

War by Another Name: U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan is Not a Peace Agreement

Reckoning and Reparations in Afghanistan

by Kathy Kelly - The Progressive

July 15, 2021

The U.S. government owes reparations to the civilians of Afghanistan for the past twenty years of war and brutal impoverishment.

 

Girls and mothers waiting for donations of heavy blankets, Kabul, 2018
Photo Credit: Dr. Hakim 

 

Earlier this week, 100 Afghan families from Bamiyan, a rural province of central Afghanistan mainly populated by the Hazara ethnic minority, fled to Kabul. They feared Taliban militants would attack them in Bamiyan.

 

Murder and Corruption Precede Moïse Assassination (and will follow it)

Biden Continues Trump’s Policy in Haiti Despite Bipartisan Congressional Pushback

 by Jake Johnston - CEPR

 

July 6, 2021

Last week, a prominent anticorruption activist, journalist, and emerging political leader, Antoinette Duclaire was brutally assassinated in Port-au-Prince. Killed alongside her was fellow journalist Diego Charles. Duclaire was shot seven times in the front seat of her vehicle, including once in her left temple.

 

Duclaire had previously warned that she was facing death threats, and, in February, her house was shot up by unidentified gunmen.

Gorilla Radio with Martin Lukacs, Randy Caravaggio July 8th, 2021

This Week on GR

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

 

July 8, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, July 1st and 3rd, 2021

 

 Listen. Hear.

And welcome to Dominion Day 2021. While most citizens celebrate the country, an increasing number of Canadians are coming to recognize the yawning gulf between the popular imaginings and gruesome reality of Canada’s founding. But that ugliness is not confined to the brutal crimes of a colonial past. Canada’s rulers are currently up to their armpits in America’s global conquest; complicit today creating tomorrow’s regrettable history.

Martin Lukacs is a long-time journalist and author. He’s served as environmental writer for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, and contributed to the New York Review of Book, Toronto Star, and CBC News among others. His first book, ‘The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent’ is a devastating “must read” according to luminary author, Naomi Klein. 

Lukacs is also a contributing writer and Managing Editor at The Breach, a new Canadian publication that is a quote, “…independent media outlet in Canada that produces critical journalism to help map a just, viable future…” It’s where I found his recent piece, ‘Canada building global network of military bases in aggressive shift’.

Martin Lukacs in the first half.

And; there were high hopes the change of government south would mean a reversal of Trump’s draconian Cuba policy, but nearly six months later the Biden administration has yet to move on its election promise of a return to Obama’s engagement with the Caribbean island nation. Even worse, despite the United Nations General Assembly’s (overwhelming) endorsement to remove America’s sixty years-long siege against the country the blockade continues, effecting now Cuba’s ability to react to the Covid pandemic.

Randy Caravaggio is a social justice defender and organizer with the Victoria Goods for Cuba campaign, and co-ordinator with Victoria’s contribution to the Pastor’s for Peace Caravan to Cuba.

Randy Caravaggio and gathering needful things for Cuba in the second half.

But first, Martin Lukacs and Canada’s new military foreign policy self-understanding “from concept to on-the-ground execution”.

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

Afghanistan's Ever Receding Peace Horizon: Biden Promises Death from Above to Continue

BIDEN ACKNOWLEDGES “OVER THE HORIZON” AIR ATTACKS PLANNED AGAINST TALIBAN

by Nick Mottern - KnowDrones

 

July 4, 2021 

On July 2, fleeing questions from reporters about U.S. plans in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden sought refuge behind the July 4th Independence Day holiday, yet obliquely acknowledged that the U.S. will use some level of “over the horizon” air attacks to prevent the Taliban from taking power, attacks that will include drones and manned aircraft, possibly even B-52s.

Below is a portion of President Biden’s remarkable exchange with the press, which occurred at the close of his comments on the June, 2021 jobs report.

 

 

Skripal Copper Goes Mum After Interviews Reveal He Was NOT Poisoned with Novichok

DETECTIVE SGT NICK BAILEY HAS ANNOUNCED NOT ANOTHER WORD ON NOVICHOK AND THE SKRIPAL CASE

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears 

@bears_with

Wiltshire police detective sergeant (retired) Nicholas Bailey is the only government witness of the alleged Novichok assassination attempt against Sergei Skripal to speak in public describing  what he saw and experienced directly. He is also the only figure to testify from the British government’s published indictment of two Russian military intelligence agents for attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Until last week, that is.

Following a 74-minute podcast published on June 25, and then a 51-minute podcast on June 30, in which Bailey provided surprise evidence that he had not been poisoned by Novichok at all, he announced last Friday, July 1, that his tongue is tied, lips sealed. Through his press agent Peter Davies, he said he “is making no further comment on this particular ongoing case at this stage.”

 

Media's Thundering Silence on Thordarson's Assange Recantation

Key Assange Witness Recants—With Zero Corporate Media Coverage

by Alan MacLeod - FAIR

 

July 2, 2021

 

A key witness in the Department of Justice’s case against Julian Assange has admitted that his entire testimony is false, a revelation that could be the death knell for US attempts to prosecute the Wikileaks founder.

 

Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, often known as “Siggi the Hacker,” made the confession to Icelandic outlet Stundin (6/26/21) last weekend. The article details how Thordarson, a convicted felon, pedophile and diagnosed sociopath, used his position to steal money from Wikileaks, and received immunity from prosecution from the FBI in a quid pro quo. 

 

Making Sh*t of It All

We Make Everything Good Things Sh!t

The Australien Government (via JuiceMedia)

 

July 2, 2021

The Australien Government has made an ad about how it makes everything good, shit - and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.

 

For the Wizard

The Wizard (For Julian)

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

 

July 3, 2021 

 

 Multimedia piece I made for Assange's 50th birthday:

 

 

 

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dave Lindorff, Dimitri Lascaris July 1, 2021

This Week on GR

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

 

July 1, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded June 26th, 2021

Listen. Hear.
 

America’s Democratic Party may not be the “War Party”, but it certainly is NOT an agent of peace. The Biden war budget, or National Security Budget, was quietly announced late on Friday, May 28th fully four months into his administration. The war spending leaves Trump’s Republicans standing in the dust, setting new records for both peace and war time military largesse. But, even more worrying than the fantastical dollar amounts devoted to war and its preparation is where much of that money is earmarked to go – straight into Next Gen nukes development.

Dave Lindorff is a longtime, Izzy Award-winning journalist, author, and co-producer of the documentary film in-progress on Ted Hall, the American who may well have saved Russia and the World from nuclear conflagration. Dave’s also the founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening.net, where his latest piece, ‘Building more atomic bomb triggers is the ‘pits’: Time to Stop Modernizing America’s Nukes and to Start Negotiating Peace‘ appears.

Dave Lindorff in the first half.

And; seven score and fourteen years or so ago our forebears brought forth an agreement with the Crown of England wherein the entity now often known as “Canada” came into being. Just what is the state of that state now, 154 years later?

Dimitri Lascaris is a Montreal-based activist lawyer/journalist, and past Green Party of Canada leadership contender. Dimitri fell just short of securing the Green’s top spot in last year’s leadership contest; ultimately taken by Annamie Paul.

Dimitri Lascaris and whither Canada 2021? in the second half

But first, Dave Lindorff and the Biden administration getting the new nuclear arms race running.

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

Media Whites Out Key Assange Witness Recantation

A Remarkable Silence: Media Blackout After Key Witness Against Assange Admits Lying

by Media Lens

 

1st July 2021

 

As we have pointed out since Media Lens began in 2001, a fundamental feature of corporate media is propaganda by omission. Over the past week, a stunning example has highlighted this core property once again.

 

A major witness in the US case against Julian Assange has just admitted fabricat­ing key accusati­ons in the indictment against the Wikileaks founder. These dramatic revelations emerged in an extensive article published on 26 June in Stundin, an Icelandic newspaper. 

 

Needles for Cuba: Continued U.S. Embargo Hinders Island's Covid Fight

Cuba Solidarity News 

by Victoria Friends of Cuba

 

June 28, 2021

 

Because of the U.S. blockade, Cuba is having a hard time acquiring enough syringes to vaccinate all of its citizens against the pandemic. Our campaign to send syringes to Cuba continues. We are still accepting donations to purchase syringes to ship to Cuba. 

 

Last Wednesday, June 23, the resolution proposed by Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly, calling for “the necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba,” was overwhelmingly passed by 184 countries, with the usual U.S. and Israel voting against it and three abstentions from Colombia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates. Once again, for the 28th year, the world has opposed and condemned it and calls for the end of it. 

 

A Toxic Business Model: New Report Rings Warning on Pesticide Threat to Biodiversity

Toxic Corporations are Destroying the Planet’s Soil

by Colin Todhunter - CounterPunch

 

June 28, 2021

A newly published analysis in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science argues that a toxic soup of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides is causing havoc beneath fields covered in corn, soybeans, wheat and other monoculture crops. The research is the most comprehensive review ever conducted on how pesticides affect soil health.

 

 

Photograph Source: CGP Grey – CC BY 2.0

 

The study is discussed by two of the report’s authors, Nathan Donley and Tari Gunstone, in a recent article appearing on the Scientific American website. The authors state that the findings should bring about immediate changes in how regulatory agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assess the risks posed by the nearly 850 pesticide ingredients approved for use in the USA.

 

The Truth Outing: Canada's Inescapable Residential School Legacy

Sorrow, Shame and Rage: the Wretched Legacy of Canada’s Residential Schools 

by Michael Welton - CounterPunch

June 28, 2021

Canada is in the midst of a serious crisis of sorrow and shame. Recently ground-penetrating radar was used to locate the remains of 215 children, some as young as three, buried at the site of the intimidating Kamloops (Tk’emlups te Secwepemc) Residential School in BC’s dry interior.

 

Residential school group photograph, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1908.

Photograph Source: John Woodruff – Public Domain. 

 

Many Canadians know that many Indigenous children died while attending residential schools: estimates range from 4000 to 6,000. But many Native leaders query this number. It is simply too low. Now the terrible revelation of the unnamed 215 deaths in the intimidating Kamloops Residential School (1893-1973), run by the Roman Catholic church, has fueled sorrow, rage and released an angry spirit of vigilante justice into society. 

 

Heat Day: University of Victoria Issues First Ever Closure Due to 'Extreme Heat'

University closed Monday due to extreme heat

by University of Victoria

 

Alert sent: Sunday, June 27, 2021

 

Stay safe during extreme heat. The University of Victoria will be closed Monday, June 28 due to extreme temperatures.

People will not be required to work on campus or remotely except in limited situations and to maintain services necessary for the continued operation and safety of campus. Cancellations include online classes. The Student Wellness Centre will be available for limited access to clinical health services only. Please call in advance to confirm availability and appointment times.

 

Read further for more information 

 

Celebrating Toronto G20's 11th Anniversary: "The Greatest Violation of Civil Rights in Canadian History"

Toronto G20 – A Model for Repressing Mass Protest

by Paul Jay - The Analysis.News

 

June 24, 2021 

 

Eleven years ago, the mass arrests at the Toronto G20 was a model for training police across North America in techniques for repressing peaceful mass protests. Led by the RCMP, the strategy was to arrest over one thousand people and later release them once their right to demonstrate had been eliminated.

The Ontario Ombudsman called it the greatest violation of civil rights in Canadian history. Alok Mukherjee, at the time was Chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news.

Britain's Naval Escapades Embarrass Everyone

THE BRITISH NAVY’S CRIMEAN CAPE CAPER ENDS UP LIKE THE BORNHOLM BASH, BALTIC BLUFF, BLINKEN BLINK 

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

@bears_with

 

June 24, 2021

 

The British Embassy’s Press Office has stopped answering its telephones in Moscow.  It is also refusing to respond to emailed requests like the name of the Embassy defence attaché, a naval officer, who appeared at the Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday to listen to the official protest of HMS Defender’s 31-minute, 29-kilometre run into Russian territorial waters  that morning.  

It is in the small details that the meaning of the naval engagement off Cape Fiolent, Crimea,  can be found. In not lining up the small details so they corroborate the official interpretations, the British Government in London has demonstrated less competence than the Polish Government in Warsaw three months ago, when it sent fishing boats, a navy mine-layer and an anti-submarine patrol aircraft  against Russia’s Nord Stream-2 pipe-laying vessel, the Fortuna.