Bruce Gagnon on Endless War and the Economy

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New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 21 -- May 23, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #116-117, May 25 & June 1:

Bruce Gagnon on
Endless War and
the Economy

In brief

Anti-war and anti-nuke activist Bruce Gagnon (pronounced GAG-non) explains how militarism and endless war are detroying the American economy and the lives of Americans.

In Part 1 (NWN #116), he discusses his radicalization during his own military service . . . and the connections among our crumbling infrastructure, increasing unemployment, decreasing educational opportunities for working-class kids, the increasing militarization of our society, the export of weapons (our #1 export), aggressive U.S. foreign policy, corporate globalization, our ruling elites' desire to control the world's oil supply, . . . and the wisdom of Progressives' forming alliances with the "Tea-partiers."

In Part 2, (NWN #117), Gagnon discusses the destabilization of the world by (a) the globalization and expansion of NATO and (b) the US's encircling Russia and China with "missile defense" installations. He discusses the increasing dependence of public universities on funding from the Pentagon (in exchange for secret war research); ... the joint support by Republicans and Democrats alike for "free-market" capitalism, oligarchy, and military empire; ... how spending on peaceful projects creates many more jobs than "defense" spending; ... and why his nickname for Obama is "The Magician."

Top: Gagnon in 2004. Bottom: Aegis-class destroyer USS Oscar
Austin leaves the Bath (Maine) Iron Works. Balloons for the kiddies
of Gagnon's home town. Maine's principal exports appear to be
Aegis destroyers and potatoes. Most graphics: Click to enlarge.

Notes and credits

No song on #116 (apart from a bit of Little Stevie Wonder on the "outro"). #117's song: David Rovics, After the Revolution

Recorded live at Saint James Church, West Hartford, Connecticut, by moi, on April 16, 2010. Bruce's talk was sponsored by the West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice (http://www.westhartfordpeace.org/ ).

#117 includes only one question from the very good Q&A. The entire Q&A (34 minutes--uncut & unedited) will be uploaded as a separate file along with #117 (link at the top of this page).

Bruce Gagnon is Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "unisex bathroom") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

To send feedback, you can post a Comment to this page or else email kdowst at hotmail period com.

Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Top: Aegis-class destroyer Decatur touches off an SM-3 "missile defense"
missile. Bottom: Why "we" are in Afghanistan. The red curve shows the
desired oil and gas pipeline from the Caspian Basin to the Sea of Arabia.
A shorter route through Iran seems to have been Not An Option.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

• June 2 -- Civil-liberties activist Paul Siegel on Gay Rights As a First-Amendment Issue.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Bruce Gagnon in South Korea, 2009. I'm not sure what "UFG" stands for,
but it almost certainly involves more US military/naval bases in that
small & oppressed country. When will the U.S. government withdraw
its troops from Iraq? Hell, after 57 years, it still hasn't withdrawn them
from Korea!
Postscript, May 24: A friend, knowledgeable about Korea, sent a
newspaper story on UFG. It stands for Ulji Freedom Guardian. It's a
joint training program for South Korean and "allied" (U.S. and/or NATO)
troops. Officially, they're training to defend South Korea from invasion
from the North. Skeptics believe that they're actually training to invade
North Korea. In either case, UFG is further destabilizing a region that had
little stability to begin with.

Chris Hedges on The Empire of Illusion

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See "Notes and credits," below, for a link to the uncut speech.

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 20 -- May 16, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #115, May 18:

Chris Hedges
on The Empire
of Illusion

Executive summary

In a brilliant and brilliantly interconnected talk, journalist-prophet Chris Hedges discusses the pacification of the exploited citizenry by the corporate media, the fraud at the heart of the national economy, Wall Street's destruction of the U.S.'s manufacturing sector, "Brand Obama," the perfidy of Obama and of other "courtiers" to the real power, the failure of the Left to challenge Obama's Bush-ist policies, & the funeral of Michael Jackson. Our best hope, Hedges concludes, is a revival in the U.S. of Democratic Socialism.

Top: Chris Hedges. Bottom: Abandoned factory.
All photos: Click to enlarge.

Notes and credits

This week's song: Leonard Cohen, Democracy (is coming ... to the U.S.A.)

This program contains half of Hedges' 50-minute talk in Winnipeg. The full-length original is here: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/36777. (This link is to the Program Information page at the archive. There's a download link near the bottom.) Thanks to producer Ethan Osland & Black Mask Winnipeg (http://blackmask.ca/).

Thanks to (and please help support) the invaluable radio archive, the A-Infos Radio Project / radio4all.net, whence I obtained the original recording.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "oppressive yoke") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

New World Notes installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. This URL should get you a listing: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%22New%20World%20Notes%22%20AND%20collection%3Aopensource_audio&sort=-date .

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

• May 18 & 25 -- Peace- & anti-nuke activist Bruce Gagnon on Endless War and the Economy (2 parts). Recorded live in West Hartford (by moi) on April 16.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Suppressed by The Press

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New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 19 -- May 9, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #114, May 11:

Suppressed by
The Press

January 3, 2006: The press got the story right, apart from one small
detail: the vitality of the trapped miners. The venerable Rocky
Mountain News (right column) is no longer alive, either. Credit to the
Boston Globe, though (left column), for refusing to treat unconfirmed
assertion as fact. (Note the "reportedly" in the headline.)

In brief

The commercial press continues its tailspin descent--a problem largely of its own making (and also of Wall Street's making). While commercial newspapers (to say nothing of TV news) have served the public poorly, when they're gone, whatever good they did provide will be missed.

Following a brief rant by me, I read Robert Freeman's interesting essay, "The Real Top Ten Stories of the Past Decade"--none of which received much honest press coverage. I'll supplement Freeman's tragicomic catalogue with Robert Parry's expose', "Gore's Victory"--story #1 on Freeman's list.

By any sane criterion of ballot inclusion or exclusion, the majority of voters in the state of Florida voted for Albert Gore in 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court prematurely halted the State-Supreme-Court-ordered recount of Florida's ballots. That effectively gave Florida to Bush, hence a majority of Electoral votes, hence the Presidency. The major news media know who won the popular vote because they paid the Roper Organization to do a thorough recount of Florida's ballots. The commercial press either suppressed the story or else grossly misrepresented Roper's results.

Freeman's list of uncovered crucial stories includes the failure of "the free market" to sustain properity, ... the collapse of the media, ... Bush's prior knowledge of 9/11, ... the destruction of civil liberties, ... the meaninglessness of elections (notably 2008's), and others.

We end with a few words by Australian filmmaker and media critic John Pilger on professional journalism as propaganda.

Notes and credits

This week's song: David Rovics, Evening News

John Pilger's remarks courtesy of democracynow.org

Robert Freeman's "The Real Top Ten Stories of the Past Decade" from Common Dreams, January 1, 2010. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/01-0

Robert Parry's "Gore's Victory" is from consortiumnews.com, November 12, 2001.

Fun Web page: "25 Weirdest Newspaper Headlines" -- http://www.masalatime.com/?p=501 . These are photos of newspaper clippings, with headline and at least part of the story. My favorite: "Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find Weapons" (see below).

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "bad influence") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Free weekly NWN email newsletter on request.

Series Overview -- Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

• May 18 -- Chris Hedges on the Empire of Illusion

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Michael Parenti vs. God and His Demons

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Part Two is now available! See link, above.

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 17 & 18 -- April 25, 2010

This Fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #112 & 113, April 27 & May 4:

Michael Parenti
vs. God and His Demons

Good guy, in Parenti's book:
unorthodox thinker & monk Giordano Bruno
(burned at the stake by the Inquisition in 1600)

In brief:

In a telephone interview with me of April 6, political scientist Michael Parenti discusses his new book, about Organized Religion, God and His Demons (Prometheus Books). We'll replay the conversation over two installments of the radio program.

In the first part (NWN #112), Parenti talks about rampant child sexual abuse by the Christian (and other) clergy and the coverup thereof--and now, at the Vatican, the coverup of the coverup. He talks about the oppressive Buddhist theocracy in Tibet before the Chinese Communists took over. He talks about our society's ignoring some sins frequently denounced in the Bible--e.g., charging high interest rates ("usury")--while we piously condemn "sins" the Bible never mentions (gay marriage, abortion). And he rebuts creationism, "Intelligent Design," . . . and some of the conclusions of Charles Darwin.

In the second part (#113), Parenti discusses the unholy alliance of the Church, the nation-state, and economic power; ... FEMA's enlistment of the clergy to preach obedience to authority if and when martial law is imposed; ... and the Christian Right's takeover of the Air Force Academy. He ends with praise for 2 unorthodox 16th-century Christians--Montaigne and Giordano Bruno--and explaining why, despite everything, he's not an atheist.

Bad guys, in Parenti's book: Televangelist Robert Tilton, Cardinal
William Levada. For his services in protecting pedophile priests as
Archbishop of Portland (Oregon, 1986-1995) and then Archbishop
of San Francisco (1995-2005)--and in bankrupting the Archdiocese
of Portland--Levada was promoted to Cardinal and given a very
high church office in Rome--Head of the Inquisition. Sorry: "Prefect
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."
As for Tilton, that "giant sucking sound" you hear is money being
removed from the wallets of the poor and desperate.

Notes and credits

http://www.michaelparenti.org/
http://www.prometheusbooks.com/

This week's song: Roy Zimmerman, Creation Science 101
Next week's: Roy Zimmerman, Jerry Falwell's God

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "very noses") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com. Free weekly NWN email newsletter (which much resembles the weekly blog entry) on request.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

• May 11 -- Suppressed by The Press. The top 10 vitally important stories (2000-2009) that commercial journalism didn't want you to worry your pretty little head about. With contributions by Robert Freeman and Robert Parry.
• May 18 -- Chris Hedges on the Empire of Illusion

Parenti & dust jacket

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

The Unheard Voice of the Majority

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The Internet Archive.

New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 16 -- April 18, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #111, April 20:

The Unheard Voice
of the Majority

Joe Bageant, with crummy truck, posssibly at Gunther's Garage

In brief:
Social critics from both Left and Right feel that we're lonely kooks muttering in the wilderness. That's what the Powers That Be want us to feel and, through their mass-media, make us feel. Guess what: (1) We're right & they're wrong; (2) we're the majority; and (3) Leftists and Tea Partiers agree with each other on many issues. More than we agree with the Powers That Be.

By way of proof, the show offers words by "minority" types the "mainstream" media seldom quote: African-Americans Mumia Abu-Jamal & Glen Ford, Afro-Caribbean Englishman Benjamin Zephaniah, Appalachian White Joe Bageant, & moi. (Yes, I know, it's an All Male Cast this week.)

Does any articulate thoughts & feelings close to your own?

The show courageously declines to play the song, "Smile on your brother / Everybody get together, / Try to love one another right now." However, we do go out on a bit of "Fingertips, Part 2" . . . .

Top: Mumia Abu-Jamal. Bottom: Glen Ford (at MIT, in January 2010)

Notes and Credits

The video of Benjamin Zephaniah's "Rong Radio Station" is worth a look. Thanks to fellow radio guy Tereza Coraggio, producer of Third Paradigm, for turning me on to it.

New World Notes installments from #10 are archived at A-Infos Radio Project/radio4all.net. Installments beginning with #90 are archived also at The Internet Archive, in a variety of file formats. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments.

Series Overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Executive Dining Room") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Coming soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

• April 27 & May 1 -- Two-part interview with Dr. Michael Parenti on his new book about organized religion, God and His Demons

Top: Dr. Kenneth Dowst. Bottom: Benjamin Zephaniah

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Reproductive-Rights Crusader Bill Baird

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New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 15 -- April 10, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #110, April 13:

Reproductive-Rights Crusader
Bill Baird

Moments before the bust: Baird tests Massachusetts' crimes-against-chastity
law at Boston University, April 6, 1967. Most graphics: Click to enlarge.

In (not overly) brief:

What John Brown was to Abolition, Bill Baird was and is to reproductive rights, including the right to abortion and the right to purchase contraceptives. The latter was still illegal in Massachusetts (and elsewhere) in the 1960s! Seeing a woman die from an attempted coat-hanger abortion changed his life. He determined to change the law.

One way to do this is to break the law, get convicted, appeal the conviction, and invite the Supreme Court to declare the law you broke unconstitutional. This method is probaby easier than persuading the Massachusetts legislature to vote in favor of any bill that even hints at encouraging "sin." So, in a talk at Boston University in 1967, Baird methodically broke just about every provision of the law that prohibited transfer, possession, display, or even discussion of contraceptives.

For reasons unknown, the authorities had neglected to bust Cardinal Cushing--even though the Archdiocese of Boston had been flagrantly violating the law for years by distributing a pamphlet titled "The Rhythm Method." They didn't neglect to bust Baird for displaying a contraceptive diaphragm and giving a can of Emko Foam to an undergraduate.

Baird had to explain to the arresting officers what a diaphragm was. None had ever seen one. One guessed that it was a large rolled condom.

Top: IUDs make great tie clips. I won't spoil the story by retelling it here.
Hear it from Baird at about 25:30 [min:sec] into the show. Actually, the
now-notorious Dalkon Shield (left) made a better tie clip than
contraceptive device.
Bottom: Fellow-traveller Michael Luckman at Saint Patrick's Cathedral,
in 1968, protesting yet another anti-birth-control encyclical from the
Vatican (Pope Paul VI).

It worked. After a fashion. Baird v. Eisenstadt became a milestone in the struggles for reproductive rights and privacy rights. Roe v. Wade cites the decision five or six times.

Baird also founded the nation's first abortion clinic.

He survived assassination attempts, 8 criminal convictions, prison brutality, the firebombing of his clinic, the breakup of his family, and the absence of any help from Planned Parenthood, NOW, ACLU, & other potential allies.

A scary, stunning, and often very funny story, well-told by Baird himself.

Notes and credits

Baird's words were recorded at a panel discussion on civil liberties--titled Courageous Convictions--held at the University of Hartford on February 16, 2010. Edited for radio by moi.

Baird's Web site: http://prochoiceleague.org/

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "imprimatur") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Top: The Massachusetts jury agreed with Baird, convicting anti-abortion
terrorist John Salvi of murder in 1996.
Bottom: Reproductive-rights rally at Union Square, September 2009.
Women's-health-care pioneer Merle Hoffman stands at the mic (left).

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

• April 20 -- The Unheard Voice of the Majority

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Except in Massachusetts (and other states) in the 1960s--where
education was considered a "crime against chastity." The "chastity-
through-ignorance" movement flourished again in the W. Bush
years with the preposterous & discredited (but that never stopped
'em!) "abstinence-only sex education." When it comes to anti-sex
lunkheadedness, the Evangelical Protestants have reached parity
with the Catholic hierarchy. (In my experience, the Catholic
congregants are a good deal saner than the Pope, Cardinal Cushing,
Jerry Falwell, Joe Biden, & the entire Bush Administration, combined--
including former Postmaster-General John C. Potter!)

False-Flag Operations, Part 2

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New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 14 -- April 3, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, radio program #109, April 6:

False-Flag Operations,
Part 2

Spanish Plots . . . Spanish Treachery . . . England Believes It
Foul Play . . . Crisis Is At Hand. . . . Any resemblance to the media's
role in the invasion of Iraq is strictly coincidental. Somebody check to
see if Judith Miller's grandfather worked for Hearst. . . . The Maine
exploded in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898.
Most graphics: Click to enlarge.
A current U.S. Navy history of the Maine notes that "The survivors
of the disaster were taken on board . . . Spanish cruiser Alfonso XII. The
Spanish officials at Havana showed every attention to the survivors of the
disaster and great respect for those killed. The court of inquiry convened
in March was unable to obtain evidence associating the destruction of the
battleship with any person or persons, but public opinion in the United
States was so inflamed that the Maine disaster led eventually to the
declaration of war on Spain 21 April."
That last sentence is disingenuous. In fact, the McKinley
Administration had decided to go to war with Spain long
before the Maine exploded and used the misfortune to rouse
public support for launching a war that had few justifications.

In brief:

"False-flag" ops are incidents used to justify war or abolition of civil liberties. These incidents are staged, or misrepresented, or imaginary.

This week I review the major types of "false-flag operations"--with details on the battleship Maine (1898) and U.S. Air Force provocations of the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). Guess who saved the world in 1962. Nikita Khrushchev! Then ex-MI-5 agent Annie Machon discusses terrorism by both sides in Northern Ireland (1990s), operations Gladio (post-WWII) and Northwoods (1962), and 9-11. Last, she details the huge loss of civil liberties in the U.K. following 9-11.

Top: Sheet music. Bottom: New York Journal and Advertiser.

Notes and credits

Annie Machon speech of May 14, 2007, courtesy of London Sound Posse. The complete speech (1h, 8m) is available here.

See also last week's installment, #108: False-Flag Operations: An Introduction (scroll down).

This week's song: Chumbawamba, Passenger List for Doomed Flight 1721. Download your own copy for free from Chumba's Web site (scroll to bottom of the page).

Correction: In the program I state that the Maine probably exploded from spontaneous combustion of damp "black powder" (gunpowder). The Navy has concluded that spontaneous combustion of coal ignited the powder in an adjacent storeroom. The Navy's brief & good history of the Maine is worth a look.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "nihil obstat") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

While Annie Machon smiles (top, with fellow spy David Shayler),
the Goddess of Liberty weeps at Spanish perfidy.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut dates shown:

• April 13 -- Reproductive-Rights Crusader Bill Baird
• April 20 -- The Unheard Voice of the Majority

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH-FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT) & http://wwuh.org/
• Saturdays, 5:00 to 5:30 PM, WHUS-FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT) & http://www.whus.org/
• Saturdays, 7:00-7:30 PM, KRFP-FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) & http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/
• Any time: Listen to or download any installment ... or subscribe to a podcast ... at A-Infos Radio Project: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=result&action=series&series=New+World+Notes

Top: Secret pen-pals Nikita Khrushchev and JFK. It was the chubby bald guy on the left who, at the expense of his career, prevented the World War III that the generals on both sides (especially ours) were trying hard to bring about. For details & more illustrations, see this site's post, The Story Behind the Greatest Speech You Never Heard.
Bottom: Back in the old days, though, the entire commercial media did not march in lock-step to the rulers' drummer. The waiter depicted is President McKinley. Hey! Those traitorous socialists at the Boston Globe are failing to Support Our Troops!
Cuba was a cakewalk, but the conquest of the Philippines--the U.S.'s main objective--proved a bloody and long struggle. The fiercest opposition to the Yankee invaders was mounted by Muslim insurgents, the "Moros." Some empires never learn--or, more likely, don't give a damn. Mark Twain scathingly denounced the campaign in "A Defence of General Funston" and other essays.

False-Flag Operations: An Introduction

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New World Notes News
Vol. 3, No. 13 -- March 27, 2010

This Week in New World Notes, program #108, March 30:

False-Flag Operations:
An Introduction

Former MI-5 spy--and now whistleblower--Annie Machon.
Most graphics: Click to enlarge.

In brief:

"False-flag" ops. are incidents used by the authorities to justify war or the revoking of civil liberties. These incidents are staged, or misrepresented, or imaginary. Ex-MI-5 agent Annie Machon discusses the London IRA bombings (1990s) and the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in London (1994). The latter, it turns out, was done by . . . Israel itself--for a purpose. I discuss the faked Polish invasion of Germany (1939), Gulf of Tonkin incident (1964), bombing of 3 Russian apartment buildings (1999), and the Underwear Bomber scam (December 2009). I try my hardest not to call 9-11 a false-flag op. Plus expert Rufus T. Firefly.

Notes and credits

Annie Machon speech of May 14, 2007, courtesy of London Sound Posse. Their recording of the complete speech (1:08:28, 31 MB .mp3) is available here.

Dialogue and song ("We're Going to War") from The Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933). See the unedited video segment.

Credit to Wikipedia for several of the facts I relate on false-flag ops in Germany, Vietnam, and Russia, 1939-1999.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "average quality") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford. Feedback to kdowst at hotmail period com.

Top: the Reichstag fire, the morning after it began. The German parliament building was set ablaze on the night of February 27, 1933, possibly with the connivance of the NSDAP (Nazi party). Newly-installed Chancellor Hitler and cohort blamed the arson on the communists, persuaded President Hindenberg to suspend civil liberties (cf. the USA-PATRIOT Act), unseated and imprisoned left-wing MPs, and consolidated their own power. By removing the communist MPs, the Nazi party increased its lead in parliament from a plurality to a majority.
Bottom: On August 7, 1964--following in imaginary attack on a U.S. naval ship in Vietnam--Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution giving the President carte blanche to wage war against the Vietnamese. A massive escalation of the war followed.

Coming Soon -- Tuesday debut date shown:

• April 6 -- False-Flag Operations, Part 2. K.D. discusses the battleship Maine, the reasons the U.S. started the Spanish-American War, and USAF attempts to provoke the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). Annie Machon explains false-flag terrorism in Northern Ireland (1990s), operations Gladdio and Northwoods, and the great loss of civil liberties in the U.K. following 9-11.

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In September 1999, Russian state security forces bombed apartment buildings in three cities of the Russian Federation, including Moscow. Blamed on "Chechen terrorists," the incidents were used to justify Russia's invason of the troublesome Republic of Chechnya at the end of September. For some reason, the "Chechen terrorists" chose to bomb only low-rent apartment buildings.
Top: Propaganda photocollage. Note sinister "terrorist" in the center. Doesn't look at all like President Putin. Bottom: First-responders carry one of the 300 murder victims.