Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 23rd, 2022

The principle behind America's infamous military industrial complex isn't complicated. The formula is as predictable a process as making brunch; a simple recipe anyone can replicate - given the right ingredients. Step 1. Identify an enemy and stir up the people against him. Step 2. Set temperature to boil and allocate money through congress to fight enemy. Step 3. Cycle said funds through baked-in process of weapons procurement, and voila! It's so simple a child could do it.

Thursday, Joe Biden announced a further 800 million dollars worth of U.S. military aid for the Ukraine pot. This comes atop the roughly billion and half American bucks officially devoted to the war effort there - and brings the grand total of monies delivered or promised to more than $13.6 billion. That's some brunch! But then that's only the amount they've told us about: The real cost of this meal is much, much dearer.

Dan Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, award-winning journalist, union activist, human rights and democracy defender, filmmaker, and author. His book titles include: 'No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using 'Humanitarian' Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest,' 'Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture,' and the "Plot to" series on American efforts to undermine the governments and economies of Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and to control the World entirely.

Dan Kovalik in the first half.

And; for two years now the planet has been held in thrall by a triad of media, the international medical community, and Big Pharma. We've all been told ad nauseum to follow the advice of the experts, sacrifice for the greater good, and most importantly of all, trust and follow the science. But can we safely put the World in the mouth of what my second guest calls "an outdated medical system invested in archaic practices"?

Gary Charbonneau is a Vancouver-based independent filmmaker whose first film, Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered made news in part for defeating attempts by that cetacean harbouring entity to use the courts to have his film quashed. Now Charbonneau is back and taking on another sacred cow with his timely documentary, The Medical Illusion: A Health Care in Crisis.

Gary Charbonneau and making the necessary transition to a new health care paradigm in the second half.

But first, Dan Kovalik and the bitter harvest of America's long plotting against Russia being reaped now in Ukraine.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 16th, 2022.

Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque during Friday prayers last week. It was the culmination of attacks against Palestinians in towns, villages, and cities across the West Bank during Ramadan. Palestinian attacks within Israel since the beginning of the holy fasting month have too increased. As of writing, thirty people are dead on both sides, and it's feared this could be a prelude to a larger conflict. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative says the confrontations over these two weeks "could become a wide-ranging Intifada."

Last year, military raids against worshipers in Al-Aqsa escalated to an eleven day conflict that included Israel's air force bombing Gaza killing hundreds, including at least sixty-five children.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author, and editor of The Palestine Chronicle at PalestineChroncile.com. His book titles include, ‘My Father Was a Freedom Fighter’, ‘The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story’, ‘These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons,’ and his latest, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, 'Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.' Ramzy’s articles also appear across the internet and at his website, RamzyBaroud.net, where I found his recent piece, ‘Gaza’s Forthcoming Crisis Might Be Worse than Anything We Have Ever Seen.’

Ramzy Baroud in the first half.

And; April begins the eighth year of the World's most dire humanitarian disaster, the asymmetrical conflict in Yemen. There, backed by western nations, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of wealthy Arab states in a protracted war that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians; and threatens millions more.

Azza Rojbi is a social justice and anti-racism activist, author, and secretary of Mobilization Against War & Occupation, Vancouver's anti-war coalition. She's also with the Canada-wide #CanadaStopArmingSaudi campaign against this country's contribution to the suffering in Yemen, and works in solidarity with Latin America movements, including being a coordinator with Friends of Cuba Against the U.S. Blockade. Azza too serves on the Editorial Board of the Fire This Time Newspaper. Azza Rojbi's 2019 book, 'U.S. & Saudi War on the People of Yemen' is published by Battle of Ideas Press.

Azza Rojbi and Canada feeding the fire of war in Yemen in the second half.

But first, Ramzy Baroud and Gaza without water.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio broadcast on CFUV.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 9th, 2022.

The Trudeau administration has again demonstrated the elasticity of its commitment to the "international rules-based order" extends too to domestic jurisprudence. This time, the federal Liberals are turning a blind eye to the blatant recruitment of Canadians to fight in Ukraine. This flies in the face of the Foreign Enlistment Act, which clearly specifies those engaging in such activities are breaking the law, but as of this writing no arrests have been made or charges filed.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Coalition have released the statement on the government's latest failure to uphold the law, ‘Illegal Recruitment of Canadians for War in Ukraine’.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; as British Columbia's helicopter-assisted wolf culling season picks up, questions again are being raised about both the efficacy of the program and veracity of its claim to be necessary for saving the endangered Northern Caribou.

Eddie Petrashyn is an East Kootenay conservationist with Wildsight, an organization working to quote, "protect biodiversity and encourage sustainable communities in Canada’s Columbia and Rocky Mountain regions". Eddie's investigation into BC government-approved forestry practices in the Wood River basin, north of Revelstoke challenge the logic behind the BC NDP's conservation practices.

Eddie Petrashyn and saving northern caribou habitat in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and Canada's would-be foreign legionnaires.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded April 2nd, 2022

Mid-March marks the anniversary of what's been called the World's greatest humanitarian crisis. While that somber appellative may be moot, the war against Yemen continues into its eighth year with exactly the same horror and heartbreak you've seen amply depicted coming from Ukraine these past weeks - and rightly so - the difference though being the dearth of media coverage of Yemeni suffering. Pictures of schools and hospitals bombed, or the stories of parents and children maimed, killed, and rendered homeless still find little purchase in Canadian media.

But just because Canada's business, government, and media elite ignore the suffering of those in that benighted place does not mean Canadians don't care. Last week, members of the Victoria Peace Coalition took part in the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network event, Canada Stop Arming Saudi Arabia. It's an effort to end Canada's role in "fueling the war in Yemen", as the United Nations has repeatedly charged.

Colin Stuart is with the Victoria Peace Coalition, and is a supporter too of the Canadian Friends Service Committee, and a serving board member of World Beyond War.

Colin Stuart in the first half.

And; the wars in Yemen and Ukraine are not the only ways Canada's new self-understanding as a 'warrior nation' manifest. Right here at home the militarization of the nation is moving forward on the double. Last week, the Trudeau government, newly reinforced by the party formerly known as the New Democratic Party, announced it would go ahead with its plan to spend billions on Lockheed Martin's F-35 attack jet. The purchase guarantees monies needed for the health and well-being of Canadians will instead be devoted to enriching one of the World's biggest purveyors of death and misery - for generations to come. And, it couldn't come at a worse time.

Glenn Michalchuk is chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg. He's been active in the peace movement going all the way back to the era of Ronald Reagan's Dirty Wars in Latin America.

Glenn Michalchuk and Canada becoming a force against the people internationally in the second half.

But first, Colin Stuart and Canada's part in Yemen's "forgotten war".

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 26th, 2022

Fortified with the assurance of a majority government, Canada's prime minister jetted off to Europe for "emergency" meetings at NATO's HQ in Brussels last week. It's fitting too in this instance that Justin Trudeau's political mandate, like that of the Kiev regime, was neither poll earned, nor an expression of the country's confidence in his leadership, but rather wrested from an NDP leadership too weak to defend democracy. In Ukraine, power was seized the old-fashioned way - from the barrel of a sniper rifle - as democrats bled in the streets. For Canadians, already hemorrhaging treasure in support the fascists over there, the real bleeding is perhaps yet to come.

Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist, and author of 12 books, mostly on Canadian foreign policy, including his latest, 'Stand on Guard For Whom? A People’s History of the Canadian Military'. He's also a prolific essayist whose many articles appear at numerous sites online, including at his website, YvesEngler.com, where his recent articles have focused on Canada's growing involvement in the crisis in Ukraine, including 'Ukraine No-Fly Zone "Could Lead to End of Human Civilization".'

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; a too brief ray of light shone down on journalist and publisher, Julian Assange last week. The world's preeminent political prisoner wed behind the walls of London's Belmarsh Prison, where he's been held contrary to all norms of British and international justice for nearly three years. The saga of Assange's struggle for freedom is well known to listeners of my second guest's Pre-News News Program, Slow News Day, available at Rokfin. It's where you go to get informed BEFORE the s*it hits the fan!

Steve Poikonen is an activist, documentary filmmaker, contributor to the Union of the Unwanted and MCSC Networks, and host of Slow News Day. He’s also been an organizer with Action4Assange, co-host of the #FreeAssange Vigil, and has participated in and helped organize multiple actions for Assange's release in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the U.S.

Steve Poikonen and justice denied again for Julian Assange in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and the dreadful inertia dragging Canada further into the mire of war.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 19th and 20th, 2022

Two years along and the Covid-19 epidemic is deemed done, by omission. Though the sickness goes on, Big Media has dropped the topic like a hot, rotten potato. But, before moving on, there's still a few questions of interest yet to be answered about the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak and its provenance; questions demanding more than an empty declaration of victory and tantalizing suggestions of a brand-spanking new war to follow, "after these brief messages from our sponsor".

Johnny Vedmore is an Investigative Journalist, Musician, Activist, Presenter of the Fungi Monkey Podcast, Video Creator, and Writer for UnlimitedHangout.com. His investigations and films can be found at his website FungiMonkey, and JohnnyVedmore.com, where I discovered his recent article, 'The Wellcome Five - The Proximal Origin of Covid Control'.

Johnny Vedmore in the first half.

And; Britain's Supreme Court last week refused to hear Julian Assange's appeal of a High Court ruling allowing afterall his extradition to the United States. Assange has been imprisoned without trial in London's Belmarsh Prison since his unprecedented expulsion from asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy April 11th, 2019. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer visited Assange during his first month at Belmarsh and described conditions of his incarceration in blistering terms in a statement released to the media. By all accounts, things have not improved for the prisoner.

UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer in place of Steve Poikonen in an interview we recorded in September of 2019 on Julian Assange's long punishment by process in the second half.

But first, Johnny Vedmore and Wellcome Trust, the "uncontrollable behemoth" in our midst.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

 

GR 11-67 Funding Drive 2022 Show CFUV 101.9 FM cfuv.ca

(airdate/time) Thursday March 17th, 2022

11:00:00 2:30 Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 12th, 2022

And Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate Ireland's great, green saint. Today I'm leaving the usual show format for my contribution to this year's Funding Drive. If you've listened over the last week you know, today is the penultimate day for our annual outreach. I'll talk a little more about that as we progress, and about stories of the year past, the strange two years done, and Gorilla Radio after 23 years. And play some music too.

If you can help the station, go online to supportcfuv.ca, or phone us up - operators are standing by at: 250-721-8700 locally, 1-250-721-8700 from elsewhere on the island, in the nation, or across the World.

Meanwhile, listen to this....

11:02:00 6:00 Music: Benjamin Zephania - Naked - Rong Radio

11:08:45 2:40 Blatherskite - (bg: Benjamin Zephania - Naked - You Dream)

The great Benjamin Zephania, from his album 'Naked'. That's Rong Radio. You too may have been listening to the wrong radio stations. You may be listening to just that now...With that in mind, better cover our...bases....

11:09:15 :30 CFUV Disclaimer - Elephant Talk

One of the enduring gifts of the Covid-19 pandemic is the intense focus it has trained on our societal institutions: Not least of these being media. But, and it is an enormous but; the real penetrating, laser-like, lethal dosage attention has been much less on THE media, the dominant, near monopolies of information that is the legacy press, with its papers of record, or the state-sponsored broadcasters, and corporate allieged and aligned television network monolith media. No, it's the "social media" the matter. It is you and me, and the little people speaking to each other representing the real danger to democracy.

In their kindliest incarnation, the teevee personalities shake their talking heads sadly, and from their gilded studios in the sky look down upon us and say, "Forgive the transgressors, they know not what they transmit. It's the Russians you see, and those extreme populists that's got a-hold of their tongues and minds..." "Just a little reeducation's needed to bring them around, and some time away from Twitter, and Facebook, and Youtube. Soon enough, they'll be seeing things rightly, and singing again from the right hymn books."

Yeah; or maybe not.

11:11:00 5:00 Music: Transglobal Underground - Impossible Broadcasting - Radio Unfree Europe

16:40:00 :29 CFUV Funding Drive Announcement - Truth

17:10:00 3:00 Blatherskite

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio's special Funding Drive 2022 show. The impossibly good, Transglobal Underground and Radio Unfree Europe from their Impossible Broadcasting album of some years ago now. So, the pandemic is over! Well, maybe not so fast...but the mask mandates are dropping in BC, as are requirements for so-called vaccine passports - at least as of this date. Is it because the virus disappeared, surrendering the fight against humanity - a fight we never asked for? No. The mandates and ersatz vaccine passport regimes are going, for now, because legal challenges are primed and ready. Just more than a month has passed since the government here demanded health practitioners - including chiropractors, dentists, and all others subject to B.C. health-care colleges be vaccinated by March 24th or lose their license to practice. Last week, the provincial government changed their orders - while not, as Health Minister, Adrian Dix insists, backing down - saying health professionals must declare thier vaccine status to colleges, and those colleges informed they must now collect information on their membership.

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 5th, 2022

Though not said in so many words, Canada is at war. Years of Canadian military support for the coup government and its successors in Ukraine has bolstered efforts to bring to heel the breakaway Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Up until a couple of weeks ago, that one-sided backing of Kiev in its civil war was officially limited to "non-lethal" aid and providing military "training", but that all changed on St. Valentine's Day. Then, as the Trudeau government's unprecedented enactment of the Emergencies Act was declared, a small announcement outlining the lethal change of policy, allowing machine guns, pistols, carbines and ammunition be shipped by Canadian companies into Ukraine was slipped past the Ottawa press gallery.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Coalition have released the statement on the situation, 'Ukraine: The US & NATO Created This Mess'.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; the last two years has proven a challenge to all of us. As individuals, the degree of that challenge has varied, for all the usual reasons life is more difficult for some than others - and for some new reasons too. But, more importantly, the pandemic, piled on top of the already present stressors of poverty, pollution, war, and ecological collapse, has made evident the fragility of our societies, and even that of human civilization.

In these early years of the 21st Century, the failure to maintain public trust has cascaded from all corners; from corporations and the government, to the church and even philanthropic institutions, all have lost favour in the public mind. None of these however are as mistrusted as Media. From "All the News That's Fit to Print" to "fake news" unfit for human consumption, there is a crisis of communication that today threatens as surely as any war or impending natural catastrophe.

Andy Lee Roth is the Associate Director of Project Censored and coordinates the Project's Campus Affiliates Program. His writings and research are published across the internet and in a variety of print publications. Andy's co-edited a dozen editions of Project Censored yearbooks, including the 2022 version, 'State of the Free Press 2022'. It's now out and available from 7 Stories Press.

Andy Lee Roth in the first half.

But first, Ken Stone and Canada marching into another war of empire.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 23rd and 26th, 2022

As Canada stands on the precipice perhaps of war, what more timely moment could there be to examine Canadian foreign policy past and present, with an eye cast to a hoped for future?

The fire this time is burning in Ukraine, a country in which Canadian objectives - at least those of the political class - has played an instrumental role in the tumult there since 2014, leading to the crescendo of violence and uncertainty being seen today. The intrigues of Canada and its larger allies has ensnared Russia, as intended, and could lead next to similar conflict with China. But is this what Canadians want; following along in an endless parade of NATO-enforced wars and police actions in support of a failing U.S. empire?

John Price is professor emeritus at the University of Victoria, and member of the Advisory Board of the newly formed Canada-China Focus, a project of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and UVic's Centre for Global Studies. He is too author of the book, 'Orienting Canada,' and his essays appear at Canadian Dimension.com, where I found his eight-part series "investigating the crisis in Canada-China relations."

John Price in the first half.

And; John Helmer and I spoke on the eve of what Russia is now calling its "military-technical" operation in Ukraine. Events, as John subsequently said, seem to have overtaken our conversation. Even so, the context he provides is invaluable, especially given the media landscape in this country, Canada where official sources do little more than parrot militarists in Ottawa and Washington - and, truth be told, they have been just that for some time longer.

John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He's a past scholar, and advisor to government at the highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,' 'The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, 'The Jackals' Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt' is newly out. His recent article, 'The Body Language of the Speech - Putin has Repudiated Lenin, Stalin, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, & Mobilized Russia's Defence Against U.S. Attack As Never Before' he compares to the great rallying speeches of Lincoln, Churchill, and even Shakespeare's Henry the fifth. It is he says, "the most extraordinary [speech] in Russian history"

John Helmer and our most dangerous days ahead in the second half.

But first, John Price and decolonizing Canadian foreign policy in the face of a new global war.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 23rd, 2022

John Helmer and I spoke on the eve of what Russia is calling its "military-technical" operation in Ukraine. Events, as John subsequently said, seem to have overtaken our conversation.

Even so, the context he provides is invaluable, especially given the media landscape in this country where official sources are little more now than parrots of the militarists in Ottawa and Washington - and truth be told they have been just that for some time longer.

John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He's a past scholar, and advisor to government at the

highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,' 'The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, 'The Jackals' Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt' is freshly out now.

John Helmer and the most dangerous days ahead in Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the World.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio and serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/