Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Rovics, Victoria Gaza Solidarity March (Day #317 Streeters) August 21, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

August 21, 2024

 

 Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 21st, 2024

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The Democratic National Convention commenced Monday in Chicago. The convention looks to be a coronation of vice-president Kamala Harris, who steps into the role Joe Biden vacated suddenly and strangely. The whole business is shady, and there's a lot of grumbling among rank and file Democrats, but Harris seems assured to stand against Donald Trump in the November poll.

There are too comparisons being made to the infamous DNC convention 56 years ago, when thousands of Americans opposing the continuation of America's war in Vietnam travelled from across the nation to demonstrate. There are thousands there again, this time to try to stop the genocide in Palestine; responsible now for the death and maiming of hundreds of thousands, and displacement of millions more.

David Rovics is a self-described: "Singer/songwriter, writer, anarchist, dad, and lover of life". David is in Chicago right now, singing at the centre of history as usual; this time in Union Park as The Ministry of Culture with Kamala Emanuel.

David's newest album, 'I Heard a Rumor' is freshly out and follows closely his twenty-song compilation, ‘Notes from a Holocaust’, written he said to, "...bear witness to the genocide of the Palestinian people that continues by the hour as I publish this album." Incredibly, that genocide grinds on still.

David Rovics in the first half.

And; some of Victoria's good people have gathered in protest on the lawns of British Columbia's seat of power, the Legislative Buildings every week since October. They've speechified, rallied, and marched through the downtown streets to bring attention not only to what Israel is doing in Palestine, but also to make more widely known what Canada is doing to support the slaughter of innocents.

I joined the march this past Sunday, Day #317 of the horror and talked to some of those taking part.

Marching in solidarity with Palestine in the second half.

But first, David Rovics not fearing loathing at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

 

Song: Boycott, Sanction, and Divest

Artist: The Ministry of Culture

(David Rovics & Kamala “The Good” Emanuel)

 

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, Yves Engler, Joe Emersberger August 14, 2024

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 

August 14, 2024 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 14th, 2024

 

Listen. Hear.

The everyday horrors visited upon the civilians of Gaza and the West Bank, and neighbouring Lebanon and Syria by Israel is difficult to keep up with. It muddles the mind and shocks the consciousness of those trying to first stop the massacres, and secondly catalogue the atrocities so those committing these heinous crimes are called to book. That confusion is not an accident, it's a strategy; a cynical ploy to ensure the killing can go on for as long as the rest of the World allows. It's clear: Israel will not stop; it must be stopped.

 

Oppose Israel Before It’s Too Late

We Must Oppose Israel’s Dangerous Gamble Before It’s Too Late

by Kathy Kelly - The Progressive.

 

Failure to stop Israel’s genocide of Palestinians gambles with the fate of humanity as a whole.

 

Following World War II, Albert Camus posed a “formidable gamble” to those who had survived a tragedy of immense proportions. “We’re in history up to our necks,” he observed, yet we must wager that “words are more powerful than munitions.” 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dave Lindorff, Andy Worthington August 7, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

August 7, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 7th, 2024

 Listen. Hear.

Washington says it was made aware ahead of time of the assassination of high-ranking Hezbollah co-founding member and senior commander, Fuad Shukr in Beirut last Tuesday, but was entirely ignorant of the attack six hours later that killed Hamas political leader and lead peace negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday the United States, “had not been involved in, or even informed of, the operation in Tehran.”

As of writing, Israel has not confirmed it was responsible for killing Haniyeh, but Iran's leadership is in no doubt as to who pulled the trigger and vows its revenge on Israel for murdering an honoured guest. And it's not alone in believing Israel did it. But, what does Blinken's assertion mean, if true, and if Israel did kill Haniyeh, about the state of relations between the two inseparable allies?

Dave Lindorff is an Izzy Award-winning investigative journalist, author, and founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening. Dave's latest article at This Can't Be Happening's new Substack site is, ‘Has the US 'Lost Control' of the Israeli war on Gaza, Lebanon and possibly Iran?’

Dave Lindorff in the first half.

And; today marked another vigil in London to Remember the #Guantanamo 16, men still held at the infamous American prison for years, even after having received approval for release. Included at that place are also three men, so-called "high value" prisoners, who had struck a plea deal for release after having spent decades incarcerated there. The deal for alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and two others, who confessed to being behind the World Trade Center attack plot following extensive "enhanced interrogation" sessions had their hopes of release quashed in the eleventh hour by the American Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. Austin's interference has elicited reaction from both civil liberties organizations, and constitutional scholars in the US.

Andy Worthington is an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’. Andy’s articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where I found his latest, ‘Lloyd Austin Cynically Revokes 9/11 Plea Deals, Which Correctly Concluded That the Use of Torture Is Incompatible With the Pursuit of Justice’.

Andy Worthington and resisting still the legal barbarism of the Global War on Terror in the second half.

But first, Dave Lindorff and has Israel slipped the American leash?

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/

 

Ode to the Israeli Economy on the Occasion of Its Dying

Ode to the Israeli Economy

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

 

August 1st, 2024

 

Down the rat-lines they ran, headed for New York, London, & Milan.

But, no matter how fast they fled, the economy bled freely;

Pools of money streaming down the drain, stained and stinking, 

As they stood watching the wretched ship reeling, and

Sinking, silently to the bottom of the sea.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dan Kovalik, Laith Marouf July 31, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

July 31, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 31st, 2024

 

 Listen. Hear.

Sunday past in Venezuela was doubly blessed; being both the birthday of the late Hugo Chavez, leader of the Bolivarian Revolution there, and the scene of the reelection of his successor, Nicolas Maduro to the Presidency. It was no sure thing, though in the end Maduro's nearly 7 percentage point lead won the day; but that doesn't mean the fight is over. Maduro is not Washington's man; nor is he the man for Washington's client states, who sicced their media machines and NGO democracy "guardians" on Venezuela before and during the election, and have continued now, hoping to thwart the victory after the count.

Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. He's also served as an elections and human rights monitor in South America before, though he was on assignment in Cairo Sunday, where we'll too talk to him from today.

Dan's 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, and Russia, ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, and ‘Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance’. His latest is the recently released, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’.

Dan Kovalik in the first half.

And; not content with the fires set in Gaza and the West Bank, Yemen, Iraq, Venezuela, and elsewhere, the World's greatest arsonists now seem determined to burn down Lebanon. Yesterday, the regional aggressor bombed again its northern neigbour, this time in Beirut's Haret Hreik neighbourhood, in an apparent attempt to assassinate Hezbollah military commander Muhsin Shukr. And last night assassinated Hamas leader, and lead peace negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Hezbollah has promised to match attacks against it, and now people on both sides wait for Iran and the next bomb to drop in a disastrous escalation.

Laith Marouf is founder and Executive Director of FreePalestine.Video. He's a long-time multimedia consultant, producer, and frontline reporter who's been chronicling this burgeoning calamity from his base in Beirut. Free Palestine Video says its purpose is to provide coverage of the region, “…in the absence of media supporting the resistance forces in the English language due to the ban in the West.”

 

Laith Marouf in Beirut in the second half.

 

But first, Dan Kovalik and Venezuela's still standing Bolivarians.

 

Song: ‘Lines Are Drawn’

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, Tim Norman, Dorotea Gucciardo July 24, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

July 24, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 24th, 2024

 

  

Listen. Hear.

"Where's Yulia?" is a question the answer to which could uncover much more than the fate of a Russian woman disappeared from the public eye by the UK government more than six years ago. Knowing what happened to Yulia and her father, Sergei Skripal could too begin to reveal the machinations creating the conditions for the war in Ukraine, currently grinding up the flower of a generation there, and threatening too an escalation of possibly nuclear proportions effecting everywhere.

Tim Norman is a veteran English journalist and editor, working in local, national and international media for daily, weekly and monthly publications. Tim's followed the Skripal case from its beginnings, and his recent article at Propaganda in Focus, 'The Tragedy of Yulia Skripal' picks up the thread six years on, as the story heads again for the frontpages in Britain with the commencement of the Sturgess Inquiry, scheduled for the Fall.

Tim Norman in the first half.

And; polio has been detected in water samples taken in half a dozen locations in the Gaza Strip. Friday, Gaza's Ministry of Health said "highly infectious poliovirus had been identified at six locations in sewage samples collected by UNICEF on June 23 from Khan Younis and Deir al Balah." UnicefUSA blames the "ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip" which has targeted and destroyed more than two-thirds of the enclave's water and sanitation infrastructure. But, Israel's introduction of one of the most-feared human pathogens into the genocide struggles today to find press exposure amidst the daily atrocities being committed against the captive population.

Dr. Dorotea Gucciardo is Research Coordinator for the Starling Centre for Just Societies and Technologies at Western University, where she also teaches History. Dorotea too volunteers with the Glia Project, serving as its Director of Development, overseeing "capacity building" projects in Gaza. She writes, her latest project, The Open Gaza Initiative was "interrupted by Israel's genocidal war on Gaza...shift[ing] much of her focus on organizing and leading medical missions into the besieged Gaza Strip."

Dorotea Gucciardo and Gaza from eye level in the second half.

But first, Tim Norman and finding Yulia Skripal.

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, Victoria Gaza Solidarity, Glenn Michalchuk July 17, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

July 17, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 17th, 2024

 

Listen. Hear.

Impossibly, the genocide in Gaza grinds on; killing now for more than nine months, leaving scores of thousands dead, and many hundreds of thousands more wounded, made homeless, and facing the prospect of death themselves through privations created by Israel and its allies, including Canada.

Citizens in Victoria gathered at the seat of the provincial government Saturday for the fortieth week in a row to express their disgust and outrage at the ongoing crime of crimes being enacted before the eyes of World. Gorilla Radio too went down to bear witness with between 150 and 200 other stalwarts.

Victoria’s Gaza Solidarity demonstrated at the Legislative Buildings in the first half.

And; the Canadian political class support of the genocide in Palestine is reiterated in its active collusion in starting and sustaining the Ukrainian conflict, currently wiping out a generation. Prime Minister Trudeau recently bolstered further that support with promises of hundred of millions more Canadian dollars to ensure the fighting will continue for another year; and, at last month’s G7 meetings in Italy promised “$5 billion to [the] G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine” fund.

Meanwhile, inheritor of the 2014 coup Canada helped engineer, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shuttered Ukraine’s political opposition parties, and nixed elections entirely; while too closing down all but regime-friendly media outlets, and criminalizing online critics.

Glenn Michalchuk is President of both Peace Alliance Winnipeg, and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, or AUUC. He’s been active in the peace movement for forty years, going back to Reagan’s Dirty Wars in Latin America.

Glenn Michalchuk on how Canada effected Ukrainian democracy, and vice versa in the second half.

But first, marking Day #281 of the slaughter of innocents in Gaza.

 

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, Andy Worthington July 9/10, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

July 10, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 9th and 10th, 2024

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Summer was once called Politics’ “silly season”, but that was before irony died and silliness gave way to the ludicrous killing joke passing for leadership today. Beyond tragically comic, President Joe Biden’s disastrous first debate with Donald Trump last week makes the former president appear Napoleonic; destined to return to the throne on the Potomac in November.

Not wasting a moment, Trump has promised to settle the Russia problem upon election, (before even Inauguration Day) and the rest of the World’s issues by Easter following, (or some such). It’s a message Americans, and the rest of the World wants to hear, weary of the wars and rumours of which have smoldered and raged for the entirety of our 21st Century. But there are others, powerful interests profiting immensely the immiseration and martial ruination of the people and planet who like things just the way they are.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, and 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: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, the lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’, and ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the first and perhaps only book to follow the Skripal saga from its beginnings through to the Sturgess Public Inquiry. His recent article at Dances with Bears is, ‘NATO’S Plan for Permanent War in Ukraine and on the Fareast Front — Putin Has Stalin’s Hitler Problem‘.

John Helmer in the first half.

And; because people have better things to do this time of year, general elections are seldom held in summertime; but, these are no ordinary times. Both Britain and France have held snap elections over the last week, the results of which could have far-reaching global consequence – moreso than the two former colonial Titans have exerted in more than a century.

Andy Worthington is an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’. Andy’s articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where I found his latest, ‘Despite the Landslide, Labour Have No Vision and Only Won the UK General Election Because the Tories Lost So Spectacularly‘.

Andy Worthington and Whither Albion under Starmer? in the second half.

But first, John Helmer and NATO making the forever 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/

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, Yves Engler July 3, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

July 3, 2024 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 3rd, 2024

Listen. Hear.

While the Democratic Party machine churns still for the President’s reelection, those believing Joe Biden’s impersonation of a head-lamped deer during his first, and possibly final presidential debate last week spells his demise are likely right, but only partially so. Yes, Biden’s performance was less politically survivable than a Boeing one-point landing, but what dies with him too is a taproot running deeper than just the 50-plus year career of a single servant to Big Business in Washington.

Jeremy Kuzmarov is a scholar, journalist and author. He holds a Ph.D. in American history, and has taught at various institutions of higher learning across the U.S. Jeremy too writes for Covert Action Magazine, and serves as its Managing Editor. Kuzmarov’s book titles include, ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’, (written with John Marciano) and his latest, ‘Warmonger. How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the U.S. Trajectory From Bush II to Biden’. His recent article at CAM is, ‘Joe Biden’s Mentor, Father of Original Cold War, Was Traitor to U.S.: Family Company Sold Fuel Additive to Nazi Air Force’ examines the political provenance of the current President.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; as Canada observed it’s colonial foundation, one of its past foreign government assets settled into his new life in an American penitentiary. Strangely, few Canadian media outlets reported former Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez’s sentencing in the Southern District Federal Court of New York for his role in importing 400 tons of cocaine into the US while in office, (among other things). But then, perhaps that’s not such a surprise given the role Ottawa played in securing Hernandez’s – and his predecessors’ – questionable tenures in Tegucigalpa?

Yves Engler is a Montreal-based political activist and the author of thirteen books, including ‘Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority,’ (with Anthony Fenton), and his latest, co-authored with Owen Schalk, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’, which he’s recently toured across the country. Yves’ also a prolific essayist, whose writing appears across the internet and at his website, YvesEngler.com, where I found his recent piece, ‘Canada’s ‘guy’ in Honduras sentenced to 45 years in prison‘.

Yves Engler and Canadian political interference at work abroad in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and the man who made Joe Biden.

 

Song: Since Long Before October

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/

Cabinet Order to Annex Entire West Bank, Eliminate Palestinian Authority Palestinian National Initiative Says

Cabinet Order to Annex Entire West Bank, Palestinian National Initiative Says

by Palestinian National Initiative

 

June 28, 2024 

Ramallah

 

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) said that the recent decisions of the Israeli cabinet are a  declaration of Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which is the most dangerous challenge facing the Palestinian people since the Nakba.

 

Israeli cabinet decisions approve an unprecedented expansion of illegal settlements and practical measures to Judaise the entire West Bank. The decisions include the complete seizure of the civilian powers of the Palestinian Authority in the so-called "B" areas and their subordination with “C” areas (82% of the West Bank in total) to the control of the settlers led by the Israeli finance minister and the de facto governor of the West Bank Smotrich.

 

The security authority of the PA in the so-called areas (A) were already cancelled by Israel , and this is an affirmation of Israel's termination of all the remains of the problematic Oslo Agreement. 

 

The most dangerous aspect of the cabinet’s decisions is that they legalise and change the nature of the West Bank from being an occupied Palestinian territory with foreign illegal settlement bodies in it, to an annexed Israeli territory in which settlements and their roads are besieging Palestinian cities, villages, and refugee camps and turning them into isolated and persecuted ghettos.

Barghouti said that Netanyahu and his fascist fundamentalist allies are implementing Netanyahu’s dreams to eliminate all possibilities for an independent Palestinian state, liquidate the entire Palestinian national rights, and to complete the implementation of the colonial settler project in all of historic Palestine.

Barghouti pointed out that the cabinet's decisions include not only the construction of more illegal settlements , but also the extensive demolition of Palestinian homes and facilities in most of the West Bank.

Barghouti stressed that the fascist decisions of the racist Israeli government and the war of genocide it is waging in Gaza are the most dangerous challenge the Palestinian people have faced since the Nakba in 1948.

He said that given the risks presented by the decision of the Israeli cabinet, the duty of Palestinian forces, factions and authority is to put aside their differences and conflicts and to accelerate the achievement of national unity and unified national leadership to addresses these unprecedented challenges.

He said the Israeli government will not be deterred from the dangerous  path they are taking without  the wide and serious sanctions from the International community and Arab countries.

Any one who claims to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state will be accused of hypocrisy unless they: call for the immediate end of Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza and the removal of Israeli illegal settlements; and participate in the imposition of sanctions on the Israeli government to force the retraction of their recent decisions.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Laith Marouf, Salam Hamdan June 26th, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

June 26, 2024

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 26th, 2024

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The ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has forced evacuation of colonial outposts along the border region. Meanwhile, the release last week of drone footage of sensitive Israeli targets taken over Haifa by Hezbollah has shaken confidence in Iron Dome defenses, making a settler return to the northern occupied zone unlikely in the near term. Israel’s leadership, such as it is, promises escalation with Lebanon as a solution, warning it will make another Gaza of Beirut. For its part, Hezbollah says it will retaliate to attacks on it from where ever they emanate.

Laith Marouf is founder and Executive Director of FreePalestine.Video. The Palestinian-Canadian is a long-time multimedia consultant and producer, and Canadian broadcast law expert, currently chronicling the burgeoning regional disaster from his base in Beirut. Free Palestine Video says it’s meant to provide coverage of the region, “…in the absence of media supporting the resistance forces in the English language due to the ban in the West.”

Laith Marouf in the first half.

And; headlines of serial refugee massacres and famine rife across the Gaza Strip hardly seems to raise eyebrows now, as Israel’s genocide grinds towards its ninth month. It’s almost as if the latest are meant to obscure the recent, as the number of atrocities, and their degree of depravity multiplies. But, it’s not confined just to Gaza. The Occupied Territories are also subject to horrors inflicted daily by the IDF, police, and settler goon squads.

Hundreds in the West Bank have been killed since October, thousands more wounded, or snatched up into Israeli prisons and detention camps. Representatives in the United Nations Security Council expressed their concern yesterday, the Algerian envoy Amar Bendjama saying, “The situation in the West Bank will deteriorate further if the occupying power does not cease its policy of terror, of expansion of settlement…“.

Salam Hamdan is a Palestinian political activist and Social-Feminist from Ramallah in the West Bank. Salam recently spoke here in Victoria on ‘Two States in Palestine: Solution or Fantasy?’. She’s back at home in Ramallah, where the situation is getting more dangerous, as the outrages of the occupying military and their Palestine Authority collaborators grow.

Salam Hamdan and the war at home, in the West Bank in the second half.

But first, Laith Marouf and Hezbollah, eyeing the neighbours warily.

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 June 24th, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

June 24, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 24, 2024

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Almost six years since her death in Amesbury, Wiltshire mystery still surrounds the demise of Dawn Sturgess. The stuff of spy fiction, Sturgess, in life as far from international intrigues as anyone could be, in perishing was placed at the heart of the infamous Skripal Affair; a case that back in 2018 threatened relations, and perhaps even armed conflict, between Russia and Britain.

The Sturgess Inquiry, begun then belayed in 2021, and scheduled to begin again in October, was in the news last week as UK government-appointed solicitors for Sergei and Yulia Skripal submitted “their clients'” refusals to participate in the forthcoming public inquiry. The Skripals, father and daughter, are integral to the explanation of the cause of Sturgess’ death, as laid out by the Coroners Service: Novichok poisoning. Its reasoning makes Sturgess and her surviving partner, Charlie Rowley collateral victims in an alleged Russian assassination plot against former GRU agent, Sergei Skripal carried out in Salisbury months before her death.

But, the case, rife already with irregularities, a dubious origin story, and obvious geopolitical complications will call into question any conclusions the inquiry can possibly arrive at.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, and 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: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, ‘SOVCOMPLOT: How Pirates Tried to Capture the Treasure of the Russian Seas, and Were Caught Out’, the lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’, and ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the first and perhaps only book to follow the Skripal saga from its beginnings. His recent article at Dances with Bears is, ‘BRITISH GOVERNMENT INVENTS PHANTOM SKRIPALS TO REFUSE TO TESTIFY IN THE NOVICHOK INQUIRY‘.

 

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, Viviana Herrera June 19th, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

June 19, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 19th, 2024

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It’s been almost 22 years passed since a group of concerned Hamiltonians assembled the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Then it was their hope to help belay the coming Iraq invasion, or pressure Ottawa to stay out of it if the invasion came. The Coalition’s foundational document reading in part,

“The burning question in the world today is War or Peace. America seems to know no bounds in pursuit of its agenda. […and…] we are hearing the drumbeat of illegal and immoral wars become louder and louder.”

Well that applies even moreso today than all those years and shattered lives ago.

Ken Stone is an activist and author working for peace with the Syria Support Movement International. He was one of those founding the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War in 2002. His book, ‘Defiant Syria: Dispatches from the Second International Tour of Peace to Syria’ is a compilation of his dispatches from his 2016 visit there. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition abide, and are at the fore of Canadian resistance to militarism yet. Currently ramping up for the No To NATO! counter-summit in Washington, D.C. they will too be hosting Israeli anthropologist and Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Jeff Halper as part of his North American book launch and lecture tour in early July.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; Canadian mining interest, Quantum Minerals is back in business in Panama. Its massive open-pit copper mine had been ordered shut by that country’s Supreme Court; found to be operating against the “public good” in 2021. But, a new deal cut with a corrupt government got the wheels churning again.

Viviana Herrera is Latin America Program Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada. They are part of an international alliance of environmental and ecology organizations who, along with Panama Vale Más Sin Minería, recently presented the report, ‘Human Rights Violations, Abuses, and Incidents Registered During the Protests Against the Mining Contract in Panamá, October-November 2023‘ detailing the negative impacts of Quantum’s Cobre Panama operation.

Cobre Panama (Image Franco-Nevada assets handbook.)

Viviana Herrera and Cobre Panama, snake in the heart of Panama’s threatened rainforest, in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and the Hamilton Coalition, still saying NO! after all these wars.

 

Song: ‘Divide and Rule’

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, Dan Kovalik, Dimitri Lascaris June 12, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

June 12, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 12th, 2024

 

 

Listen. Hear.

 

The 76th anniversary of the Nakba was commemorated last month. “Nakba” is roughly translated from Arabic as “the catastrophe” and refers to the campaign of murder and destruction that drove the native Palestinian population from their towns, villages, and lands to make way for the nascent Zionist state now known as ‘Israel’. That entity celebrates every May 15th its 1948 “independence”, sharing the infamous date forever with the commemoration of Palestinian determination to be joined again with that which was stolen.

As terrible as the initial ethnic cleansing of the last century was – seeing as many as 800,000 people killed, injured, or made homeless – what is happening today is by magnitudes worse; and though it’s been called the second Nakba, (or Nakba 2.0 in triumphalist graffiti scrawls found among the ruins of Gaza) another word being invoked to describe the current horror is: Holocaust.

Dan Kovalik’s 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, and Russia, ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, and ‘Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance’. He was in Palestine last December, meeting Palestinians and researching his recently released book, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’.

Dan Kovalik in the first half.

And; Israel’s martial bellicosity is no revelation to its neighbours, all of whom have been attacked, or experience still: regular bombing by its air force, assassinations, and acts of either direct, or sponsored terrorism. None arguably moreso than Lebanon. As Gaza burns, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem are assailed by settler fanatics and their government allies, a broader war between Israel and Lebanon smoulders.

Dimitri Lascaris is an activist, journalist, and lawyer. Dimitri too served as Justice Critic for both the Quebec provincial Greens and the Green Party of Canada, narrowly missing leadership of the latter in 2020. He’s been traveling extensively in and reporting from West Asia for several months, most recently in Lebanon. His video reports and articles from the Middle East are available at his site, DimitriLascaris.org, where I found his recent piece, ‘Israel’s War Against Nature‘.

Dimitri Lascaris and the fires of war burning across the border in the second half.

But first, Dan Kovalik making The Case for Palestine.

 

Song: ‘Once the Last Palestinian’s Killed’

Artist: David Rovics – Songs from a Holocaust

 

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 June 5, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

June 5, 2024

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 5th, 2024

 Listen.Hear.

Britain’s political-military nexus has been on full display in recent weeks, as past and prospective prime ministers assail media, their sabre din adding now to the sound and fury of the country’s newly-called general election Kabuki. Former Tory bosses, Boris Johnson and David Cameron, along with unelected prime minister, Rishi Sunak are now enjoined by Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer in doing their collective utmost to hasten nuclear winter through the fomenting of World War Next with Russia.

The former porcus amorató and current UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron led the charge to Armageddon in early May, opining to the press the appropriateness of Kyiv’s use of British weaponry against Russia in any manner it sees fitting saying Ukraine, “…absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia“.

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, better known as BoJo, in a private London club speech honouring the “heroes of the Azov Brigade” reiterated over the weekend, allowing Ukraine a free hand was, “…the single best investment we can make in the defense of the whole Euro-Atlantic area…”
Not to be outdone, Labour Pretender, Sir Keir Monday insisted “security will always come first“, reassuring the electorate he was ready to push the nuclear button saying, “This is a changed Labour party and the most important thing is I voted in favour of a nuclear deterrent.”

For its part, the target intended, Russia warned again, “This is a direct escalation of tension around the Ukrainian conflict, which would potentially pose a threat to European security.”

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, and 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 Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, ‘SOVCOMPLOT: How Pirates Tried to Capture the Treasure of the Russian Seas, and Were Caught Out’, and his lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’.

Today, John Helmer and Life During (Hybrid) Wartime.

 

Song: The Ballad of the USS Liberty

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, Yves Engler, Andy Worthington May 29, 2024

This Week on GR

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

 

May 29, 2024

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded May 29th, 2024

Listen.Hear.

Israel answered last Friday's International Court of Justice order it "halt its military assault on the Rafah Governorate in the southern Gaza Strip and reopen the Rafah border" with scores of aerial bombings over the weekend, one of which immolating refugees in one of the myriad tent encampments surrounding the besieged city of Rafah.

Hellscape phone images of the aftermath of that horror have spurred hope Western sponsors and suppliers of scofflaw Israel will either voluntarily, or through the political force of their democratic constituents, quit their material support, without which the carnage cannot continue long.

Yves Engler is a Montreal-based political activist and the author of thirteen books, including 'Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid'. His latest, co-authored with Owen Schalk, is ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’, which he's currently touring across the country. Yves' also a prolific essayist, whose writing appears across the internet and at his website, YvesEngler.com, where I found his recent piece, 'Ironically, genuine internationalism must be nationalistic'.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; "We go to bed in horror and awake to horror" is how Al Jazeera journalist, Laila Al-Arian describes the churning, directed catastrophe inflicted on Palestinians. Though she refers here to reports of Israeli bulldozers desecrating the cemeteries of Jabalia refugee camp in the north the day after the Lag B'omer massacre in Rafah, she could say the same any day, every day in these long months and years of death and cruelty in Gaza; and in the Occupied Territories beyond the wall.

But, essential journalist, Jonathan Cook transcends the banality of the Occupation's everyday brutality in describing Israel's "Bagram", Sde Teiman. Cook's article, 'The message of Israel’s torture chambers is directed at us all, not just Palestinians' is a portrait immediately familiar to any who have studied the Nazi camps, and especially students of the medical atrocities of Dr. Joseph Mengele.

Andy Worthington is an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’. Andy’s articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where I found his latest, 'Ending Israel’s Impunity for Genocide in Gaza, and the Threat to Those, Like Joe Biden, Who Are Most Complicit'. 

Andy Worthington and Nuremberg's to come in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and Canada's time to stand finally strong and free.

 

Song: Forever Prisoner

Artists: The Four Fathers

 

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, Christopher Black, Salam Hamdan May 17/22, 2024

This Week on GR

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

May 22, 2024

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded May 17th and 22nd, 2024

 Listen. Hear.

Nearly eighty years after D-Day, the World seems no nearer peace. Serial wars since, none of them arguably “good” have come and come again, in a pattern of what the Declaration of the Soviet Government on General and Complete Disarmament of 1959 described as a ‘chronicle of sanguinary wars’. But is the concept of disarmament, in a time of heightened martial bellicosity, where belligerents race to develop new and terrifying technologies and in every quarter are seen practicing and preparing for war, possible; can there be finally peace in our time?

Christopher Black is a Toronto-based criminal lawyer specializing in international war crimes cases. He’s also an executive member of the Canadian Peace Congress. Black’s writings on international law, politics, and World events appear at New Eastern Outlook among other places, it’s where I found his recent article, ‘Peace In Our Time: Complete And General Disarmament’. Christopher Black’s novel, ‘Beneath the Clouds’, “a story of how people, acting collectively, can defeat tyranny” is published by Badak Merah.

Chris Black in the first half.

And; overshadowed by the horrors in Gaza, in Palestine’s West Bank a modern day pogrom is being carried out by both the Israeli government and its “settlers” against the indigenous Palestinian population. Hundreds have been killed, and thousands summarily arrested and imprisoned through so-called ‘administrative detention’ measures; denied charge, trial dates, access to either lawyers or legal remedy, all while suffering grotesque abuses at the hands of their captors.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society says nearly 8,000 from the West Bank and Jerusalem are held in Israeli custody of one sort or another, including women and children, with reports of physical and sexual abuse cited by Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Council, who says,

“…[T]hese alleged acts may constitute grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and amount to serious crimes under international criminal law that could be prosecuted under the Rome Statute.”

Salam Hamdan is a Palestinian political activist and Social-Feminist from Ramallah in the West Bank. She recently spoke at UVic with Prof Martin Bunton about Palestine on ‘Two States in Palestine: Solution or Fantasy?’

https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/ramallah-palestines-de-facto-capital/

Salam Hamdan and Palestine’s other humanitarian disaster in the second half.

But first, Christopher Black and tolling the Peace Bell in the face of World War Next.

 

Artists: David Rovics

Songs: ‘The Last Time the U.S. Invaded 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/