This Week on GR

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

January 21, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, January 18/19th, 2021.

And Happy Martin Luther King Day to all who admire the man murdered for opposing the military-industrial complex. Today, almost fifty-three years after that tragic event, Canada is intent on following full-heel America’s lead deeper into the Big Muddy of forever war and preparation for war.

In the House of Commons, despite pleas for sanity from the commonality, all parties there agree on the course charted by militarists and empire builders.

Nowhere is this sad fact more egregiously demonstrated than in the Canadian government’s determination to sink billions into a new generation of war ships that will, in part, conduct “freedom of navigation” exercises meant to “counter China’s growing influence in Asia.”

Listen. Hear.

Dimitri Lascaris is a Montreal-based activist lawyer/journalist, past Real News Network correspondent, Green Party of Canada member, and very nearly its leader, falling just short of taking the job after eight ballots in last Fall’s leadership contest.

Dimitri Lascaris in the first half.

And; last November, Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan announced the federal government’s action plan for Small Modular Reactors. The ministers says in a time of climate change, he sees no way to “get to net zero-carbon emissions by 2050 without nuclear power.” While that’s a hotly debated opinion, no-one doubts the down-sides of atomic power: cost, pollution, and the dangers of reactor meltdowns as seen in Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Professor M. V. Ramana serves as the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security. He is too Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC. His recent article, ‘Why the Liberals’ Nuclear Power Plan is a Pipe Dream‘ warns, “small” does not make Modular Reactors less nuclear.

M.V. Ramana and nipping Canada’s nuclear reactor renaissance in the bud in the second half.

But first, Dimitri Lascaris and halting Canada’s march into the mire of endless warfare.

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.ca/

This Week on GR

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

January 14, 2021

An astonishing week past in the United States guarantees, if nothing else Donald Trump’s place in history is assured. Democratic legislators have promised impeachment should the president not resign “imminently” rather than finish out the nine days left in his term; while others are calling for the invocation of the 25th amendment to have Mr. Trump forcibly removed. Either way, America finishes in 2021 where it began four years ago; a divided nation fighting over the legitimacy of its new leader.

Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita of law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego. A past president of the National Lawyers Guild, Cohn currently serves on the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and writes, lectures, and provides legal clarity to local, national, and international media outlets when invited to do so.

Listen. Hear.

Early in her career, Cohn worked with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and participated in delegations to Cuba, Russia, and Yugoslavia. Her writing can be found at her website, MarjorieCohn.com, and for more than two decades at Truthout.org, where her series, Human Rights, Global Wrongs chronicling the abuse of both people and the legal process has appeared since, 2014.

Marjorie Cohn in the first half.

And; six and half years after departing Amsterdam bound for Kuala Lumpur, the cause of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17’s fiery crash in a Ukrainian farm field remains shrouded in mystery and misinformation. The criminal phase of the trial began in The Netherlands last Spring, but few in the country showed interest, thinking there’s nothing new to learn about the disaster that took the lives of 193 of their compatriots. And that, according to Eric van de Beek is the fault not only of the Dutch press, but a shadowy British internet news outlet known as Bellingcat.

Eric van de Beek is a freelance journalist based in the Netherlands who worked for several years at the leading Dutch weekly, Elsevier. His articles are published at his site, Ericvandebeek.nl and at The Grayzone.com, where I found his recent piece, ‘Bellingcat disrupts MH17 trial‘.

Eric van de Beek and digging through the wreckage of media disinformation and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service’s tangled MH17 investigation in the second half.

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.ca/

This Week on GR

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

January 7, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition recorded on this date, January 4th/5th, 2021.

Today, Magistrate of the Crown, Vanessa Baraitser stunned Assange case followers, delivering a finding refuting American demands for the WikiLeaks publisher’s extradition to that country to face espionage charges. Despite the ruling, Julian Assange is still held in London’s Belmarsh Prison. Outside the court, Assange’s partner, Stella Moris told reporters now is not the time to celebrate saying, “I had hoped that today would be the day that Julian would come home…Today is not that day, but that day will come soon.”

Steve Poikonen is a columnist, broadcaster, and host of the ‘Slow News Day‘ podcast available on Patreon.com. Steve’s also an organizer with Action4Assange, and co-host of the #FreeAssange Vigil. He and a retinue of activist have returned to Washington, D.C. to make again as public as possible in the American Capitol the miscarriage of justice being perpetrated in England against Julian Assange and all he represents.

Listen. Hear.

Steve Poikonen in the first half.

And; A hundred years old is great for a bottle of fine cognac; okay for a stately home; and fairly good for a collector’s piece of furniture but when it comes to nuclear reactors like romantic interests, you’re probably best to keep them under ninety, and certainly less than a century old. It seems something that needn’t be said but tell that to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who’re currently toying with the idea of extending the operating licenses of atomic power plants from the previously stretched 80 to 100 years.

Karl Grossman is professor of journalism at State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, and author of, ‘The Wrong Stuff: The Space’s Program’s Nuclear Threat to Our Planet’, and ‘Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power. He’s also an associate of the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), whose articles too appear at CounterPunch.org, where I found his latest, ‘Inviting Nuclear Disaster’.

Karl Grossman and the NRC playing doorman to an atomic apocalypse in the second half.

And; sad news to relay: CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will no longer maintain the Left Coast Events Bulletin, heard here weekly since 2002. But, you can still catch her show, Plant Powered Radio every Tuesday at 11am pacific time right here at CFUV.ca.

But first up, Steve Poikonen from Washington, D.C. and staying on the Assange case.

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.ca/

It’s fitting now to focus on finishings as this over-long year two thousand and twenty slouches toward its unlamented finale. And what better emblemizes the demise of the Covid Year 2020 and what it represents than the parallel curtain call of the Donald J. Trump presidency; unwanted yet stubbornly clinging to both the body politic and global consciousness burr-like, or perhaps better sticking as a wad of chewed gum on the sole of our collective boot?
 

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.ca/

To believe what the US State Department is saying officially, and the Department is doing, the US is now at war with Russia; withdrawing from Russia as many of its personnel as possible; keeping this quiet. 

This Week on GR

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

December 24, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded on this date, December 15th, 2020.

Last month, the federal government of Ethiopia attacked the newly elected provincial government in the country’s northern Tigray region. Acting prime minister, Abiy Ahmed said the reason for the military action was in response to a raid on a federal army base within Tigray by the regional government as part of its plan to secede. But there’s much more going on behind the scenes than what’s reported by Abiy; and much more behind his rise to power too.

Listen. Hear.

Finian Cunningham is a long-time and prolific journalist who worked as an editor and writer for major U.K. media outlets The Mirror, Irish Times, and Independent. The two-time Serena Shim Award for Uncompromising Integrity in Journalism recipient’s articles on international affairs appear at numerous online outlets, including RT, where I found his article, ‘Nobel-winning Ethiopian PM has overseen country’s descent into barbarity and madness‘ written as the conflict was beginning in early November.

Finian Cunningham in the first half.

And; though the desperate situation for Ethiopia’s Tigrayan population worsens, their story has largely disappeared from Western media reports. The Abiy government has tried to stem the flow of refugees into neighbouring Sudan, even as it renews its promise to settle militarily differences outside observors say could make the country “the Libya of East Africa”.

Selamawit Gebremeskel and Selam Randall are Ethiopian emigres. Both are long-time Canadian citizens who now call Victoria home.

Selam Gebremeskel and Selam Randall anxiously watching developments in Ethiopia from afar in the second half.

But first, Finian Cunningham and Abiy Ahmed ushering chaos in Ethiopia.

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.ca/

This Week on GR

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

December 17, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded on this date, December 9th, 2020.

While elections-manipulating mastermind, Vladimir Putin has fallen off the front pages in America, across the pond in Jolly Old, ‘Evil Russia’ still serves as nemesis and fictional bete noire for scriptwriters and semi-autobiographical memoirists alike. A case in point is former GCHQ honcho, Sir David Omand’s hot New Cold War release, ‘How Spies Think, Ten Lessons in Intelligence’. To hear Sir David tell it, the West is at war with disinformation artists who would have us believe: “…Ukraine was responsible for downing Malaysian airliner MH17 and there are fascist roots to the government in Kiev; COVID-19 was actually covert bio-warfare by the US against China; AND, NATO isn’t an instrument of peace, but is really planning aggression against Russia…” Imagine!

Well, if I’m to apply the time-tested axiom, “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied…” David Omand’s non mea culpa may teach us more than his Ten Lesson’s intended.

Listen. Hear.

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 Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, the two-plus year chronicle of the Skripal case, ‘Skripal in Prison’, and his latest, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH17’. His recent article, ‘THE ENRICHMENT OF BRITISH INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS – HOW THEY THINK THEY ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT ABOUT THE RUSSIANS, NEVER DO, BUT GROW RICH TRYING’ is a revelation of the disquieting future currently being prepared by the folks of the Intelligence Community.

John Helmer in the first half.

And; if the measure of a society is how its weakest are treated then do we deserve more than the precipitous societal decline witnessed these last decades?

As millions careen into extreme poverty and the Bastille is full to bursting, while the very few accumulate vast wealth undreamed of by either the Captains of the Gilded Age or courtiers of Versailles, the real impoverishment of our civilization is a terminal dearth of popular conscience and abandonment of the moral compass. Nowhere is that better evinced than in Guantanamo Bay, the 21st Century’s Devil’s Island.

Andy Worthington is an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too, co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign, and successfully completed, We Stand With Shaker campaign. Worthington’s 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’. His articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where he is preparing 2021’s version of the annual Close Guantanamo effort.

Andy Worthington and a framework for a new president to finally Close Guantanamo in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good going on in and around our town, and virtually too, in the coming week. But first, John Helmer in search of British intelligence on Russia.

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.ca/

This Week on GR

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

December 10, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded on this date, December 7th, 2020.

A year into this pandemic and amazingly there are fundamental questions about the origins and nature of the SARS-CoV-2, or Covid-19 virus still unanswered. Uncertainty, mistrust, and disinformation abound, and every day that goes by provides new opportunities for scammers, mountebanks, and scoundrels to dream up ways to turn the chaos to their advantage. But, there’s much more than PPE price gouging and toilet paper riots going on here. Over at the World Economic Forum, founders Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret see the pandemic as accelerant for the World Order paradigm change they’ve promoted in recent years.

Listen Hear.

Diana Johnstone is an author whose books include: ‘Fool’s Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO, and Western Delusions’, ‘Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton’, and her latest, ‘Circle in the Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher’. Her essays feature online at Consortium News, where her latest piece, ‘The Great Pretext…for Dystopia’ appears.

Diana Johnstone in the first half.

And; the Trump administration’s hard line on Cuba undid the diplomatic and economic advances of the Obama years. There’s hope in the long-besieged Caribbean island nation the inauguration of the 44th president’s vice-president, Joe Biden will signal a return to political rapproachment and removal of trade restrictions imposed by the departing Republicans. But, it’s no sure thing. Though the president-elect promised a return to Obama era policies while campaigning, specifics are uncertain, and media and Senate pressures are already being applied.

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. He’s also been a constant champion of the revolutions in Venezuela and Bolivia, and long-time supporter of Palestinian sovereignty.

Randy Caravaggio and cautiously watching the tides of change in Cuba and Latin America in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, 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 our town, and virtually too, in the coming week.

But first, Diana Johnstone and Covid as pretext for a dystopic Great Reset.

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.ca/

This Week on GR

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

December 3, 2020

Donald Trump has ordered a reduction in numbers of American soldiers currently in Afghanistan. This fulfills some conditions of a so-called “peace” deal signed with Taliban representatives in February. 

But, peace has proven elusive, with ever more deadly attacks taking place in the country, and as ever, civilians paying the greatest price.

Kathy Kelly is a long-time peace and justice activist, essayist, author, and recipient of numerous awards for her peace service, including multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace prize.

Kelly's also a founding member of Voices in the Wilderness and Voices for Creative Nonviolence, co-authored the book, ‘Prisoners on Purpose: a Peacemakers Guide to Jails and Prison,’ and wrote, ‘Other Lands Have Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison.’

Listen. Hear.

Her recent article, ‘Like a Rocket in the Garden: The Unending War in Afghanistan’ chronicles the legacy of twenty years of America’s forever war in Afghanistan; an effort she describes as, “illegal and immoral”, bankrupt[ing] our economy and our society…”

And; in early November, Victoria City police enforced an order to tear down public showers installed by citizens concerned for the health and well-being of unhoused people living in tents in Beacon Hill Park.

//www.flickr.com/photos/148642734@N02/albums/with/72157671983896648">Pete Rockwell is a Victoria-based photographer who began recording the city’s burgeoning unhoused residents in 2005. His pictures have featured in local publications like Focus on Victoria and the now defunct Victoria Street Newz and B-Channel News collective, among other places.

And; CFUV broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good going on in and around our town, and virtually too, in the coming week.

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.ca/

Celebrating 1,300 Days of My Photo-Journalism Project ‘The State of London’

by Andy Worthington

December 2, 2020

Sunday marked 1,300 days — over three and a half years — since I first began posting a photo a day (plus an accompanying essay) on my Facebook page ‘The State of London.’ 

Double standard blatant on Israel and China ‘foreign influence’ in Canada

by Yves Engler

November 20, 2020

Foreign influence in Canada is bad if it comes from China, but not even worth mentioning if it comes from Israel. That seems to be the position of the Globe and Mail.

Canada’s ‘paper of record’ is so gripped with anti-Chinese fervor that it is blind to a blatant double standard. Contrasting the Globe and Mail’s reporting on Canadian groups close to China and Israel highlights the xenophobic nature of their coverage.

This Week on GR

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

November 26, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition recorded on this date, November 26th, 2020.

Eighteen years ago this month, a group of Hamiltonians joined together in efforts to avert a calamitous war. The Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War were not alone in that; in cities around the World tens of thousands fretted and strategized and organized, trying to stand between the United States and the object of its next “war this time”, Iraq.

That collective effort to belay the disaster failed, but the Coalition has continued working to bring to a halt the “generational wars” George W. Bush promised following the 2001 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist, serving as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. 

Listen. Hear.

In 2016 Ken participated in the Second International Tour of Peace to Syria, sending back home his column, Dispatch from Syria. Those dispatches are now collected in the book, ‘Defiant Syria: Dispatches from the Second International Tour of Peace to Syria’.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; On December first 2018, Meng Wanzhou, Huawei executive and daughter of the Chinese telecom giant’s chairman, was detained, interrogated, and arrested at Vancouver International Airport. She has been living ever since under house arrest in one of her Vancouver properties as the courts there hear arguments for her extradition to the United States for fraud.

John Philpot is a Montreal-based defence attorney in International Criminal Law. Long active in Palestinian and African support organisations, and the peace movement, Philpot is too a distinguished panel member of the Cross-Canada Campaign to Free Meng Wanzhou.

John Philpot and Canadians standing up for Canadian Justice in the Meng Wanzhou case in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events bulletin of some of the good things ou can get up to in and around Victoria, and virtually, in the coming week.

But first, Ken Stone and searching still for a Canadian route to peace.

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.ca/