Bringing Light Into Darkness - News & Analysis

Julian Assange: If WikiLeaks had Revealed the War Horrors of a US Adversary Would Assange be a Hero and Not a Criminal?

Julian Assange Australian born editor, publisher, and activist founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published, along with its mainstream media partners, a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and they were picked up by news outlets around the world.

Prosecutors allege that Assange unlawfully helped former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal thousands of classified diplomatic cables and military files, which were published by WikiLeaks in 2010. Assange appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court in June 2012, he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy, where he remained for seven years until the country revoked his asylum status. Following his removal from the embassy in 2019, Assange he has since been held at a high-security prison in Belmarsh, southeast of London, In 2019 was in that year that U.S. Department of Justice requested his extradition, which had until recently been blocked by the courts.

The US media presentation of the Assange case has been prejudicial. Wikileaks revealed civilian deaths, acts of torture and clandestine military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the release of thousands of documents. It also released diplomatic cables that reveal truths about our real foreign policy motives that are in stark contradiction to what the American people are told.

Tonight our guest Kevin Gosztola addresses a host of such concerns. Kevin is managing editor for Shadowproof and curates the subscription newsletter, “The Dissenter" (https://thedissenter.org), which covers whistleblowers and the latest in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's case helps us understand the full ramifications of Julian Assange case and its impact on freedom of the press. Kevin is author of the forthcoming book Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange, which will be released in February 2023.

Don’t Be Late! Please join us tonight.

siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/22/2022 [email protected]

Why Should we Believe the Dominant Narratives of the Russian – Ukraine Military Conflict? (with special guest Scott Ritter)

Trying to get at the truth of unfolding events in world news such as Ukraine, is like eating at a buffet. Every position is presented with equal gusto regardless of the fact that all versions cannot possibly be true because so many directly contradict each other. Remember the Russian Bounty story? campaigning for President Joe Biden treated as fact that the US intelligence agencies determined that Russia had paid the Taliban bounties to kill Americans in Afghanistan. Here on Bringing Light Into Darkness we questioned the claim even though it was repeated ad nauseum by the Mainstream Media (MSM) and became a false "fact" accordingly. Yet at the same time, while Biden was a candidate, Pentagon officials would not substantiate that such payments were made. In other words, what most Americans were taught to believe, and did believe, namely that these evil Russians were up to no good once again was unsubstantiated slander.

In August 2013, just a few years earlier, John Kerry lied to the American public, claiming with absolute certainty that President Assad of Syria was responsible for the 8/21/2013 sarin gas attack in which he killed hundreds of his own people. BLID pointed out the absence of evidence to support the certainty Kerry was presenting and that therefore denied certainty.

We went to war in Iraq, 10 years earlier based on lies that were uncritically accepted and perpetuated by our MSM and that the majority population of our country continued to believe years later. 'Saddam Hussein had WMD'; 'Saddam was harboring al Qaeda'; 'Saddam was responsible for 9-11'; all lies. There are so many other similar examples such as in Viet Nam, and Afghanistan. We bring this up to share that the same misrepresentation and confusion around the truth of the US-NATO vs Russia roles in the Ukraine dominates our news coverage today since and before the February 2022 Russian invasion. Tonight Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector that correctly warned us of the false nature of the (Iraqi) WMDs, returns to BLID to address many of the dominant narratives that have led us astray rather than towards the truth of the unfolding events in the Ukraine that due to our MSM one-sided coverage are difficult to decipher." What are the real ballpark casualty numbers of combatants vs civilians in Ukraine? What is the military situation on the ground and who poses the greatest war criminality threat to the civilian population? What percentage of our military equipment reach Ukrainian forces? What is nature and role of the Wagner Group in the conflict? What are the changing military objectives of Russia in response to sophisticated military equipment being provided by NATO? siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/15/2022 [email protected]

Why Should we Believe the Dominant Narratives of the Russian – Ukraine Military Conflict? (with special guest Scott Ritter)

Trying to get at the truth of unfolding events in world news such as Ukraine, is like eating at a buffet. Every position is presented with equal gusto regardless of the fact that all versions cannot possibly be true because so many directly contradict each other. Remember the Russian Bounty story? campaigning for President Joe Biden treated as fact that the US intelligence agencies determined that Russia had paid the Taliban bounties to kill Americans in Afghanistan. Here on Bringing Light Into Darkness we questioned the claim even though it was repeated ad nauseum by the Mainstream Media (MSM) and became a false "fact" accordingly. Yet at the same time, while Biden was a candidate, Pentagon officials would not substantiate that such payments were made. In other words, what most Americans were taught to believe, and did believe, namely that these evil Russians were up to no good once again was unsubstantiated slander.

In August 2013, just a few years earlier, John Kerry lied to the American public, claiming with absolute certainty that President Assad of Syria was responsible for the 8/21/2013 sarin gas attack in which he killed hundreds of his own people. BLID pointed out the absence of evidence to support the certainty Kerry was presenting and that therefore denied certainty.

We went to war in Iraq, 10 years earlier based on lies that were uncritically accepted and perpetuated by our MSM and that the majority population of our country continued to believe years later. 'Saddam Hussein had WMD'; 'Saddam was harboring al Qaeda'; 'Saddam was responsible for 9-11'; all lies. There are so many other similar examples such as in Viet Nam, and Afghanistan. We bring this up to share that the same misrepresentation and confusion around the truth of the US-NATO vs Russia roles in the Ukraine dominates our news coverage today since and before the February 2022 Russian invasion. Tonight Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector that correctly warned us of the false nature of the (Iraqi) WMDs, returns to BLID to address many of the dominant narratives that have led us astray rather than towards the truth of the unfolding events in the Ukraine that due to our MSM one-sided coverage are difficult to decipher." What are the real ballpark casualty numbers of combatants vs civilians in Ukraine? What is the military situation on the ground and who poses the greatest war criminality threat to the civilian population? What percentage of our military equipment reach Ukrainian forces? What is nature and role of the Wagner Group in the conflict? What are the changing military objectives of Russia in response to sophisticated military equipment being provided by NATO? siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/15/2022 [email protected]

Was the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal an Honest Diplomatic Effort or a Diplomatic Ploy?

Tonight's show explores when is foreign policy diplomacy not diplomacy and further explores if diplomacy can instead be a disingenuous attempt pointed more at seeking to deceive the US public into believing we are making a good faith diplomatic effort when in fact we are not but instead are seeking to appear diplomatic while deceitfully setting up a diplomatic trap in which agreement compliance by the country (Iran) is not possible?

The US sanctions close to 1/3 of the world’s population. Before we can get public support to sanction, before we can engage in the affairs of another nation by promoting civil strife or outright military support or a miltary attack, we must convince the average US citizen that our actions are just, that the country whose sovereignty we are compromising, has violated the "rules based international order" .

Tonight we will visit US sanctions against Iran over the last few decades or so and we will let you judge if our foreign policy motives have been driven by democratic interests or by something else. Joining us as our guest is Dr Muhammad Sahimi, nuclear engineering expert, professor inChemical Engineering at USC and US-Iranian relations expert, who is an Iranian born US citizen of the past 40 years and shares with us the historical context of US Iranian relations since the 1953 coup.

Dr Sahimi analysis includes and overview of the JCPOA, signed by the United States and Iran along with other participating nations (the UK, EU, Germany, Russia, China, and France) in 2015 and formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement offered Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curb its nuclear program.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/8/2022 [email protected]

Was the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal an Honest Diplomatic Effort or a Diplomatic Ploy?

Tonight's show explores when is foreign policy diplomacy not diplomacy and further explores if diplomacy can instead be a disingenuous attempt pointed more at seeking to deceive the US public into believing we are making a good faith diplomatic effort when in fact we are not but instead are seeking to appear diplomatic while deceitfully setting up a diplomatic trap in which agreement compliance by the country (Iran) is not possible?

The US sanctions close to 1/3 of the world’s population. Before we can get public support to sanction, before we can engage in the affairs of another nation by promoting civil strife or outright military support or a miltary attack, we must convince the average US citizen that our actions are just, that the country whose sovereignty we are compromising, has violated the "rules based international order" .

Tonight we will visit US sanctions against Iran over the last few decades or so and we will let you judge if our foreign policy motives have been driven by democratic interests or by something else. Joining us as our guest is Dr Muhammad Sahimi, nuclear engineering expert, professor inChemical Engineering at USC and US-Iranian relations expert, who is an Iranian born US citizen of the past 40 years and shares with us the historical context of US Iranian relations since the 1953 coup.

Dr Sahimi analysis includes and overview of the JCPOA, signed by the United States and Iran along with other participating nations (the UK, EU, Germany, Russia, China, and France) in 2015 and formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement offered Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curb its nuclear program.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/8/2022 [email protected]

Cuba: Revolutionary Principles & Behavioral Deeds as a Democratic Barometer

On the 69th anniversary of the failed military takeover of the Moncada Military Barracks in the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba by Fidel Castro and his 26 de Julio revolutionaries, and as we approach Fidel Castro’s 96th birthday, Bringing Light Into Darkness (BLID) invites listeners to humbly reconsider the pejorative presentation of the Cuban Revolution that our culture has promoted deep into our psyche from a different perspective.

A perspective seeped not in words of political prejudice but one measured in revolutionary principles of honesty and integrity. Is there a record of promises made by the Cuban Revolution? Is there a record of whether such promises were kept? What does examples of revolutionary principles look like and what examples of such principles empirically reflect or contradict such a behavioral integrity?

How did Fidel define the Revolution and its intentions? Based on more than a half dozen visits to Cuba and personal visits and interviews with government and medical Cuban leaders and workers Pedro Gatos shares and invites you to consider a different way of looking at the Cuban model and US foreign policy toward it, before rushing to judgment.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/1/2022 [email protected]

Cuba: Revolutionary Principles & Behavioral Deeds as a Democratic Barometer

On the 69th anniversary of the failed military takeover of the Moncada Military Barracks in the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba by Fidel Castro and his 26 de Julio revolutionaries, and as we approach Fidel Castro’s 96th birthday, Bringing Light Into Darkness (BLID) invites listeners to humbly reconsider the pejorative presentation of the Cuban Revolution that our culture has promoted deep into our psyche from a different perspective.

A perspective seeped not in words of political prejudice but one measured in revolutionary principles of honesty and integrity. Is there a record of promises made by the Cuban Revolution? Is there a record of whether such promises were kept? What does examples of revolutionary principles look like and what examples of such principles empirically reflect or contradict such a behavioral integrity?

How did Fidel define the Revolution and its intentions? Based on more than a half dozen visits to Cuba and personal visits and interviews with government and medical Cuban leaders and workers Pedro Gatos shares and invites you to consider a different way of looking at the Cuban model and US foreign policy toward it, before rushing to judgment.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 8/1/2022 [email protected]

Col. Richard Black: Syrian US Foreign Policy Lies & Betrayal of 9-11 Families Pt II

The lies and misrepresentations of our media abandoning journalistic responsibility of our democracy continues to create US public ignorance and was indispensable to pave the way for the additional unjust US intervention policies our guest continues to share regarding US Syrian foreign policy since 2011, and before.

Tonight, in Part II, Colonel Richard Black the former VA lawmaker, Vietnam veteran and legal expert who twice visited Syria and Assad in April 2016 and Sept of 2018, continues to explain why he is "appalled at the indecency of US aggression towards Syria" and provides evidentiary observations from his unique Pentagon Intelligence experience.

The legitimacy and the US media blackout of the electoral and constitutional legitimacy of Syrian civil society is revealed. Why has there never been a popular opposition candidate to Assad yet Assad is so popular according to all polling data since 2012? Why is all the news made for US public from “Syrians” outside of Syria? The lawless and illegal occupation of Northeastern Syria by US forces; the successful resistance of Syrian government forces against the military leverage representing 2/3 of the world’s military power; the intentional infliction of hunger and poverty upon Syria and the impact of the US 2019 Caesar Sanctions; Assad gassed his own people in 2013; that ‘Assad started the Syrian conflict’ in 2011 by suppressing demonstrations; the impact the 2015 Russian military air war intervention vs the US air war that began a year earlier played in seeking to neutralize al Qaeda forces; and a detailed account of how US and NATO powers funneled thousands of terrorists from all over the world to fight Assad are all addressed in Part I of II by our guest who challenges common deceits generated by a mainstream press in the service of wealth and power rather right vs wrong.

Col. Richard Black: Syrian US Foreign Policy Lies & Betrayal of 9-11 Families Pt II

The lies and misrepresentations of our media abandoning journalistic responsibility of our democracy continues to create US public ignorance and was indispensable to pave the way for the additional unjust US intervention policies our guest continues to share regarding US Syrian foreign policy since 2011, and before.

Tonight, in Part II, Colonel Richard Black the former VA lawmaker, Vietnam veteran and legal expert who twice visited Syria and Assad in April 2016 and Sept of 2018, continues to explain why he is "appalled at the indecency of US aggression towards Syria" and provides evidentiary observations from his unique Pentagon Intelligence experience.

The legitimacy and the US media blackout of the electoral and constitutional legitimacy of Syrian civil society is revealed. Why has there never been a popular opposition candidate to Assad yet Assad is so popular according to all polling data since 2012? Why is all the news made for US public from “Syrians” outside of Syria? The lawless and illegal occupation of Northeastern Syria by US forces; the successful resistance of Syrian government forces against the military leverage representing 2/3 of the world’s military power; the intentional infliction of hunger and poverty upon Syria and the impact of the US 2019 Caesar Sanctions; Assad gassed his own people in 2013; that ‘Assad started the Syrian conflict’ in 2011 by suppressing demonstrations; the impact the 2015 Russian military air war intervention vs the US air war that began a year earlier played in seeking to neutralize al Qaeda forces; and a detailed account of how US and NATO powers funneled thousands of terrorists from all over the world to fight Assad are all addressed in Part I of II by our guest who challenges common deceits generated by a mainstream press in the service of wealth and power rather right vs wrong.

Col. Richard Black on Syrian US Foreign Policy Lies & Betrayal of 9-11 Families

The lies and misrepresentations that led us to unjust sanctions and war in Iraq are relatively well known despite the fact they are largely forgotten. They are largely forgotten because of our media complicity in the failure to keep those important lessons in our rearview window. This failure of journalistic responsibility helped pave the way for the additional unjust US intervention policies regarding Libya and Syria in 2011, that just like in the lead up to the criminal 2003 Iraq invasion, the media, through omission and misrepresentations, once again acted as an invaluable co-conspirator, allowing the repeat of criminal US foreign policy outcomes resulting in the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians while displacing and impoverishing countless millions more. all as an outcome of illegally seeking to overthrow the legitimate governments of both nations.

Tonight, Colonel Richard Black the former conservative VA lawmaker, Vietnam veteran and legal expert who twice visited Syria and Assad in April 2016 and Sept of 2018, and one of the most credible voices of the counter dominant narrative regarding US foreign policy in Libya and Syria explains why he is "appalled at the indecency of US aggression towards Syria" and provides evidentiary observations from his unique Pentagon Intelligence experience that clearly implicates the US as being indispensable to helping and empowering terrorist organizations in Syria, rather than prioritizing the elimination of those responsible for 9-11.

That Assad gassed his own people in 2013; that ‘Assad started the Syrian conflict’ in 2011 by suppressing demonstrations; the impact the 2015 Russian military air war intervention vs the US air war that began a year earlier played in seeking to neutralize al Qaeda forces; and a detailed account of how US and NATO powers funneled thousands of terrorists from all over the world to fight Assad are all addressed in Part I of II by our guest who challenges common deceits generated by a mainstream press in the service of wealth and power rather right vs wrong.