Humanitarian Intervention B.S.

New World Notes #421, 27:43 (March 29)
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Belgrade, Serbia, 1999: NATO humanely intervenes--protecting civilians in Bosnia by killing civilians in Serbia

Radovan Karadzic's conviction for genocide and war crimes brings to mind the US's disastrous "humanitarian intervention" in Bosnia and Serbia in the 1990s--and more recent disastrous interventions in Libya and Syria.

In almost every case in recent history, "humanitarian intervention" has been a pretext for illegal aggression by a major power.

Brief reflections by KD are followed by a fine talk, on the same subject, by Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky spoke in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in early October, 2013.  Recording courtesy of Chuck Rosina. I have snipped out a few stumbles; the talk is otherwise uncut.

Vice and Folly--At Home and Abroad

New World Notes #420, 28:56 (March 22)
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Trump; the panicking Republican "elders," the corporate-controlled press, Hillary Clinton, the Presidential campaign, U.S. foreign policy, U.S. domestic policies--how many disasters can we take all at once?

We explore, with some help from commentators William Blum and Glen Ford and singer David Rovics.

Glen Ford's talk courtesy of Black Agenda Report.

William Blum's essay (condensed by me) courtesy of Counterpunch (March 11, 2016).

Afghanistan: Won't Get Fooled Again!

New World Notes #419 (#93), 29:34 (March 15)
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Why are at war in Afghanistan? Four figures (including me) explore. Steve Fournier questions why H. Clinton called suicide bombers "cowards" while the US is bombarding wedding parties by remote control. David Model (read aloud) lucidly explains the real reason for this war. In a brilliant speech, Afghan activist Malalai Joya denounces the cruelty and hypocrisy of Bush, Obama, Karzai, NATO, the warlords, and the Taliban.

This program was previously broadcast (as NWN #93) in December 2009. Alas, hardly a word needs to be changed! A couple names are now different--e.g., the president of Afghanistan is now named Ohani, not Karzai.

Afghani proverb: "Same donkey, new saddle."

Credit where due:

Steve Fournier's jeremiad recorded exclusively for New World Notes. Read Steve's "Curent Invective" at www.currentinvective.com

David Model's essay, "NATO's Chimerical Enemy in Afghanistan," from CounterPunch, condensed & edited for radio by K.D. http://www.counterpunch.org/model11132009.html

Malalai Joya's November 14 speech in Vancouver recorded for CFRO by Alex Smith--www.ecoshock.org. See also www.stopwar.ca. Joya's speech edited by KD.

Obey and Keep Calm

Part 1: New World Notes #417, 27:56 (March 1)
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Part 2: New World Notes #418, 29:25 (March 8)
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Temujin Doran (pronounced TEM-yu-jin, I think)

Temujin Doran's film, Obey: How the Rise of Mass Propaganda Killed Populism, adapted to radio.  It's about the military, political, and economic crimes of the Corporate State. It features readings from from Chris Hedges' 2010 book, Death of the Liberal Class.

Part 1 features the first half of Obey and then also--to cheer things up a bit--a sweet short film by Doran on the poster and slogan, "Keep calm and carry on."

Part 2 features the second half of Obey--but first some words about our Syria war-fever and a reading of Chidanand Rajghatta's essay, Why America Cannot Live Without Wars.

These two installments of New World Notes were originally broadcast (as #287-288) in September 2013.

Temujin Doran's Web site is http://studiocanoe.com .