Archive Articles and Interviews by John Robles From July 01, 2010 to December 29, 2011
On this page you will find interviews with, and articles by: The Occupy Movement, Michael John Smith, Giovanni Di Stefano, Captain John Cox, Polish Air Crash, NATO First Strike, Douglas Moss, Professor Thomas Johnson, Dr. Alon Ben Meir, J.M. Berger, Rick Rozoff, Professor Anita Dancs, Ivan Eland, Irene Steffas, John Robles, Michal Olszacki, Suzette Bronkhorst, Professor Marjorie Cohn, Omar Turbi, Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia, Professor Gary G. Sick, Professor Kevin Barrett, Bill Csapo, Nabil Rajab President Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Marisa Holmes, Sarah Page, Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour, Deacon Youssef Hanna, Jordan LeDoux, Noah Rothman, Tim Summers, Artyom Raskin, Professor David Post, Kelly Meers, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin, Sarah Page, Calvin Tucker, Noah Rothman Spy Games Michael John Smith
John Robles links up with Michael John Smith, who was convicted of being a soviet spy in England, on a recent arrest of 11 individuals in the USA on supposed spying charges. John Robles links up with Michael John Smith, who was convicted of being a soviet spy in England, on a recent arrest of 11 individuals in the USA on supposed spying charges. 5 August 2010, 13:28 Moved to DiStefano Page John Robles interview with the international lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano on the Yevgeny Chichvarkin extradition. John Robles : “Voice of Russia” world service. This is John Robles. I’m speaking with the international lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano on the Yevgeny Chichvarkin extradition. Praise for Russian Professionalism in the Smolensk Crash Investigation
12-20-2010
Moved to John Cox Page Interview with Captain John Cox, the chief executive officer of Safety Operating Systems in Washington DC and a world renowned aviation expert, on the Katyn air disaster draft report and the reaction by Polish authorities. Blame for Polish Crash Lies in the Cockpit
01-13-2011
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Interview with Douglas Moss, President of AeroPacific Consulting in Torrance, Callifornia on Smolensk air disaster which led to the death of Polish President
US Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan Prof. Thomas Johnson , the Director of the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies at the Naval Postgraduate Institute in Monterey, California, and the topic is the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that was announced last week by President Obama.
Our today’s guest is Prof. Thomas Johnson, the Director of the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies at the Naval Postgraduate Institute in Monterey, California, and the topic is the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that was announced last week by President Obama. Middle East perspectives Our guest is Dr. Alon Ben Meir , a Middle East Expert and Professor from the Center for Global Affairs at the New York University. We’re discussing the situation in the entire Middle East and particularly in Afghanistan. Our guest is Dr. Alon Ben Meir, a Middle East Expert and Professor from the Center for Global Affairs at the New York University. We’re discussing the situation in the entire Middle East and particularly in Afghanistan.
Interview with J.M. Berger, the editor of INTELWIRE.COM and the author of the book Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam . My first question for you is regarding the new counter-terrorism strategy of the US. What does the new strategy entail for the Middle East and the US overall?Interview with J.M. Berger, the editor of INTELWIRE.COM and the author of the book Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam . My first question for you is regarding the new counter-terrorism strategy of the US. What does the new strategy entail for the Middle East and the US overall?
Interview with J.M. Berger, the editor of INTELWIRE.COM and the author of the book Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam. My first question for you is regarding the new counter-terrorism strategy of the US. What does the new strategy entail for the Middle East and the US overall? The new strategy is in some way more of the same. But in other way there are some interesting shifts. The new focus of our counter-terrorism strategy is now on the homeland as opposed to the war on more broad war on terrorism terminology that has been used before. And specifically it is targeting al-Qaeda, as it was said at the conference, at which it was announced that this is the war on al-Qaeda, it’s not a war on terrorism. That said, the strategy is unveiled as some very broad definitions of what is al-Qaeda, and its affiliates, and its adherents. So, there is a lot of latitude for the US government, and they are going to go after that under this policy. What condition is al-Qaeda currently in? Al-Qaeda is somewhat weakened at the moment, relatively for the last couple of years, since the death of bin Laden. Exactly how much is not clear, and it will not be clear for some time. For some time, obviously, since September 11, al-Qaeda is fractured into a number of organizations that have presence in countries that it did not have strong presence in previously, though there is no one-to-one comparison. The Core al-Qaeda, the actual al-Qaeda that carried out September 11 attack is certainly under a heavy pressure right now. But it’s definitely unraveling in a lot of places, including in Yemen, where the civil War is providing them a lot of room to operate and to increase their support. There were reports that, for example, in Libya there were al-Qaeda affiliated mercenaries that were actually being supported by the US government and, I believe, NATO. Can you say anything about that? There are elements within the Libyan opposition that have historical links to al-Qaeda. The question is what happening there now. The Libyan Islamic fighting group has largely been defunct prior to the revolution, and some of the people involved with that group, which is closely linked to al-Qaeda, now have a role in what’s going on. We are also hearing reports – and it’s very hard to verify these – that al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, in North Africa is taking advantage of the chaos to arm itself and siphon off weapons and supplies from the legitimate opposition in Libya itself. What changes can we expect for example in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East overall with the new changes in strategy? Is there anything we are going to see in the near future because of that? The new strategy does have a very wide definition of groups that are affiliated with al-Qaeda and that the state is reserving the right to strike against, and that probably had the most bearing on pact stand. There are a lot of Jihadist groups in Pakistan – some of which are very loosely connected to al-Qaeda – that could be considered part of al-Qaeda under this strategy. And it’s not clear in terms of where we are going to be headed in terms of dealing with these groups or taking action in Pakistan and in the border region along Afghanistan and Pakistan. Are there going to be internal changes in the country? Nothing visible. There is certainly an increase focused on homegrown extremism. We’ve had a lot of cases very recently, in which American citizens have taken up arms and are carrying out terrorist attacks with little links to al-Qaeda overseas. That’s the big concern right now, and there’s a big focus on that. However, so far, US law enforcement has been very effective against these guys. The FBI have been very aggressive in moving on them. They have very good relationships in the community and people come forward and report when they hear someone is planning violence. And basically, if you have four guys in the room talking about Jihad, one of them is an FBI informant. I’ve read the term “the lone wolf terrorist” on the net – someone who is being indoctrinated or driven by somebody online, al-Qaeda or something. Is that a real threat for America? It’s a concern. This hasn’t occurred so far, but, I tell you, there is a movement towards “lone wolf terrorist”, which something called individual Jihad or vigorous Jihad. Al-Qaeda has been pushing for some time. It’s been trying to get people step up and take action with no contact to al-Qaeda at all. This hasn’t been dramatically successful. This principle is based on something that happened in White Supremacy’s communities in this country some years back. It offered rigorous resistance in the 1980s and was a real failure. Is there anything you’d like to add? I think this policy is pretty broad, and I think we need to start nailing down what the parameters of a war on terrorism are, because it’s not clear to me where we draw the line, how far we are willing not to go in fighting al-Qaeda. I think it’s been brought from the very beginning that technically terrorism is a method – it’s not a group or an individual. The difference now is that it’s officially very broad. The definition for al-Qaeda affiliates in this strategy is really extraordinarily broad. At the same time we are refocusing on homeland. We are also widening the arch of targeting people we consider to be terrorists. I’d like to see more precision in how we talk about this issue, and I don’t think the new strategy does that. Why do you think it’s so broad? Could it be that they don’t know who they are fighting against? You have to give some credit to the nature of terrorist network. Terrorist networks are by design shadowy and difficult to evaluate. So, I think they are ok with dealing the death mission abroad. But it’s really not just a government problem. The trick of working on a project about this right now is that there are really no two people talking about al-Qaeda necessarily mean the same thing when they say al-Qaeda. And I think that it’s something that we – the media, academics, journalists, scholars and government –need to come together and really agree on what we are talking about. What would cause an American to go on a Jihad against America? There are a lot of reasons. They are a very diverse group. There is no single profile for them, but the one thing that almost everybody who takes part in it shares – is the belief that Islam is under attack. People, doing the attack, change over the years. It was the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the Serbs in 1990s, and today it’s perceived to be the US. Rightly or wrongly, these guys believe that Islam and Muslims are under deliberate attack. And they are responding to that.
Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to the web site Global Research.ca. My first question regards Russia, and NATO, and the integrated ABM shield that Russia has been, for want of a better word, pushing for. Implementing a sectoral defence architecture is what Russia was looking for.
Who Benefits from the Midddle East Wars? Professor Anita Dancs
NATO and the Militarization of the Arctic Rick Rozoff Interview with Rick Rozoff , the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca Canada has announced that they will be conducting large-scale exercises in the Arctic. NATO also announced claims on the Arctic. What can you say about the militarization of the Arctic?
Dr. Alon Ben Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Centre for Global Affairs at New York University. I have some questions today regarding the situation in Egypt. Why have tensions escalated again? There is general dissatisfaction with the way things have been developing since Mubarak’s departure.
14 July 2011, 13:02 Middle East Still Far from Stability Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Centre for Global Affairs at New York University. There is no shortage of goods in Gaza, right? Absolutely not. And I want to emphasize that even Hamas will tell you that there are no shortages of medicine or food in Gaza.
Afghanistan: "It’s going to get worse" Ivan Eland Download audio file
21 July 2011, 17:57 Irene Steffas
22 July 2011, 15:04 US Afghan strategy: senseless and merciless Rick Rozoff Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca in Canada. I want to ask you some questions about the transfer of command in Afghanistan from General Petraeusto General Allen. Do you see any definitive change in the situation in the country in the near future?
27 July 2011, 16:47 John Robles
Western Double Standards in Terrorism Cases Ivan Eland Download audio file .
2 August 2011, 19:25 Multiculturalism is the Future Dr. Alon Ben Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East Expert and Professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. I want to ask you some questions regarding the situation in Norway, in particular about islamophobia and the rise of anti-Islamic sentiments in Europe. Can you give us your insights into that?
Polish Air Crash: It Was the Pilots' Fault Michal Olszacki Download audio file Interview with Michal Olszacki, a Polish Political Analyst with the University of Reading . You did your dissertation in politics after the Smolensk air crash which killed the Polish President and more than 95 of the top government officials at the time. What was going on in Poland right after that? And why did they decide to politicize this disaster?
Suzette Bronkhorst
Pilot Error Cause of Smolensk Disaster Captain John Cox Download audio file Interview with Captain John Cox, Chief Executive Officer of Safety Operating Systems in Washington D.C. and a world renowned aviation expert. My first question was regarding the Polish report.
16 August 2011, 13:18 Obama and His Illegal Extrajudicial Killings Professor Marjorie Cohn
19 August 2011, 16:28 Attack in Israel: who is to blame? Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East expert and professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. You’ve heard about the events in Israel. Do you think these terrorist acts were organized by Hamas and what’s the possible Egyptian connection here?
23 August 2011, 17:31 Israel Seeks to Deny Palestine UN Recognition Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. Please, update the listeners on the situation in Israel and the truce with Hamas. Will the truce hold, in your opinion?
Omar Turbi Interview with Omar Turbi, a Libyan expert and an advisor to the National Transitional Council in Libya. My first question – and I’m sure this is a question everyone wants to know as the eyes of the world are right now on Libya – what exactly is going on in Libya at the present time? Interview with Omar Turbi, a Libyan expert and an advisor to the National Transitional Council in Libya.
My first question – and I’m sure this is a question everyone wants to know as the eyes of the world are right now on Libya – what exactly is going on in Libya at the present time? As you know, today marks about 187-189 days since the birth of the Libyan revolution and, six months in the making, Tripoli has fallen in the hands of freedom fighters, so-called ‘rebels’ by many people. In my opinion, that’s not the right designation. Is this actually a revolution or is this some sort of western-backed insurgency? Definitely not western-backed insurgency. It’s a mistake to call them ‘rebels’: ‘rebels’ is usually a designation for ‘rebellion’ – people that have rebelled and took up arms or have had arms and rebelled against the authority. The Libyan history and the Libyan revolution took a completely different beginning, emerged and unfolded in different ways. You are an advisor to the National Transitional Council. What I’ve seen is that they are extremely disorganized right now. What do you see as their future now that it’s pretty clear Gaddafi is out? What do you see happening in Libya in the next six months, in the near future? Let me make something clear. First of all, I’m an unofficial advisor to the Council. But I can be very objective and I can tell you the truth: it’s extremely difficult to manage the warfront, to manage foreign affairs, to have lack of resources and continue to do what they’ve done, and reach the point of success that has been reached. But I must tell you that the impression that you might have or some people around the world have about the Transitional National Council as being in disarray or disorganized is not the case. Most people don’t think of the details of what they deal with. They dealt with and managed bureaucratic requirements within the eastern part of the country, which represents more than a half of the country, not only the execution of the war or procuring weapons and supplies, and fuel. They had to deal with a large number of Libyan refugees that left Ajdabiya or were coming from the neighbouring towns because of the Gaddafi war machine. What do you think is going to happen to Gaddafi if he falls into their hands? There was a rumour just a few minutes ago that he is in some armored vehicle crossing the border. Nobody can confirm that but that might be the case. He was crossing the border into where? Possibly Algeria, in the western part of Libya. Can I ask you one question about oil and oil production in Libya? A lot of people have said this was all someway for the West to get their hands on Libyan oil? What would you say to that? If you want the truth, the world community has become smaller and smaller over the past nine years that I have frequented Libya. I’m originally from Libya, I grew up in Benghazi, I was absent from Libya for over 25 years, because I was outside as a human rights activist, fighting for Libyan people’s rights, when I was able to get in and work from the inside. The last nine years that I spent as a student and a scholar in Libya I resisted temptations to make money there. I was offered positions within the Libyan government – I declined them. But it was very, very exciting for me to spend time on the inside and learn everything that was going on. And to answer your question with respect to oil, the Libyan people and the Libyan government needed oil companies substantially more than oil companies needed to be in Libya. It’s a mistake and it’s really wrong to think that these oil companies, oil giants – and I don’t care if they are French, or American oil giants, or any of the oil companies around the world – are clamoring to get into Libya. What’s your opinion about NATO bases being installed in Libya after this all is over? Will the Libyan people welcome them? That’s not going to happen. It’s never been part of the agreement. You say your interests are only in the liberation of the Libyan people? My interest– and it’s something that’s known about me – I’ve spent a large portion of my life advocating human rights and democracy in Libya. I engaged the Libyan regime in 2000 against the wishes of many of my Libyan friends that were members of the opposition outside. I negotiated with the Libyan regime the release of 413 political prisoners. One of them – my own brother, Dr. Turbi, – was in Gaddafi’s jail for 18 years. When I met with Gaddafi – I met with numbers of the Libyan regime – my mission was to ask for allowing Libyans from outside into the country and work in their own country. In my opinion they worked very well. You met Gaddafi personally? Yes. What kind of a person was he? What was your impression? Very tall. Most people didn’t’ know he was a smoker. And the most interesting part about meeting him was that I had a feeling I was talking to someone who was not from this age, not from this era. He seemed to me to be from the era of 800-900 years ago. I mean in the course of the meeting I had with him there was a focus on what it is that can be done for him: can you take my kids and introduce them to members of Congress in the United States? There was a point where the relations between the West and Gaddafi softened for a while. Sometimes governments like the US pursue engagement for what they classify as ‘national interest’. As long as a regime like the dictatorial regime of Gaddafi provided it with intelligence on terrorist activities. And if there were people like at Guantanamo – people that the US didn’t want to deal with – they sent them off to Egypt, and to Syria, and to Libya for an execution – they didn’t even want to deal with that. So, that was a period where the West felt a sense of coziness with the Libyan regime.
Assad Easier to Manipulate Than Gaddafi Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia
Interview with Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia, Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Texas in St. Antonio in the United States . My first question is regarding Libya: what do you see as the outcome of the situation in Libya? Where do you see Libya in the next month, two months, half a year? Interview with Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia, Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Texas in St. Antonio in the United States.
My first question is regarding Libya: what do you see as the outcome of the situation in Libya? Where do you see Libya in the next month, two months, half a year? In the next year, maybe two years, Libya will be so struggling with the post-Gaddafi system. We know that Gaddafi left a system, which has no institutions to depend on. They have to reconstruct everything from scratch and that’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be very, very difficult indeed, with issues like that of legitimacy of the Council, which has promised to hold elections in nine months, although I don’t think it’s going to happen in nine months. But there are going to be many problems ahead. How do you see the situation in Libya? Some have said it was a US-backed insurgency, others said it was a true revolution. In your opinion, what was the real situation there? The truth is that it was really a popular insurgency against the regime that has denied Libyans their freedom for many years. I assure you the US could do without the Libyan revolution and it was getting along splendidly with Gaddafi. But Libyans were not. And it was about time that they had done it. Yes, that was a curious thing, because even a year ago it seemed like relations had normalized, the US, I think, removed Libya from the terrorist list. I thought everything was going well. And then all of this happened. What information do you have on the current situation? Just this morning I talked to some people in Libya and they tried to claim that Gaddafi’s forces are still down, that there is still some fighting going on. His forces still hold up in the city ofSchertz and they think that Gaddafi might even be there too. So you have no problems with the bombings, with the air strikes, with support for the insurgency in Libya. I mean that was not really part of the resolution. The resolution was to enforce a no-fly zone. The resolution was on protection of civilians. Backing up a little bit. At the beginning of the interview you said – I think everybody would agree with this – that the US had very good relations with Gaddafi until the insurgency. Why wasn’t the West interested in a regime change before that? This is the same question I asked them. I don’t particularly have much faith and trust in Berlusconi. The only person perhaps who was a little bit more sincere about this whole issue is Sarkozy and, to some extent, even more perhaps Obama. But Obama’s hands are tied by Congress. Sarkozy is less tied by the Parliament in France. But the Europeans look for the interest, and Gaddafi was part of their interest. Now they saw the regime toppling and they were smart enough to jump on the wagon. Ultimately, you and I know – and de Gaulle said it very clearly – that there are no friends in international systems, there are only interests. That’s kind of cynical. But what about the protection of civilians, the will of the Libyan people and all that? That’s not important when there is interest involved? In this case you need to be Machiavellian. In this case, as long as it protects the lives of civilians, it doesn’t matter what you call it. On Syria – in a repeat of the Libyan situation – and also on the subject of interests, what are the interests of the West in Syria? Quite honestly, Russia and the Soviet Union in the past were a very good friend of Syria’s. They have in fact helped Syria a great deal, they helped Arabs a great deal. And I think the time for this type of regime is over. Ultimately, we know that Israel plays a very important role in all of this. They much prefer to have the 40-year peace that they had with Assad than to have a new regime that perhaps might emerge as an anti-Israeli regime. So, the regime might emerge as anti-Israeli. There is no doubt about that. And so the US is basically trying as much as it can to influence events within Syria itself to ensure that the new regime that emerges will not be anti-Israeli. I don’t know how successful they will be. So you are saying that a very important part of the US foreign policy on Syria is the interests of Israel? I’ve always said that when we look at foreign policy in the Middle East, the North Africa – Egypt, Libya, or Syria – it’s really not determined by the US. It has never been. It’s determined in Jerusalem, not in Washington. And I don’t think the regime change in Syria will be any different. So all of the policies in the Middle East are dictated by Israel? Very interesting. My last question is regarding the resolution to the situation in Syria. Should there be more pressure put on Assad or should there be more pressure put on both sides to enter a substantial dialogue? I think in this case Russia should in fact play a leading role and it should do it with the US, and they should all actually tell Assad it was about time he either got out or changed the system fundamentally to allow for greater participation. And that’s where you can assure at least that a democratic system might emerge in Syria, which would be beneficial not only for Syria, but also for the US and Russia as well. So you are basically saying more pressure for dialogue and for the opposing sides to be able to participate in the process? No, I mean more pressure for opening up the system, I’m talking about pressure to allow for a greater transparency, for a greater participation, to end oppression – all this Russia can do and play an important role in all this. It’s what the world is saying – disintegrate power, because a huge power is still a hegemon in its own right. I know that. What I am saying is that not just a dialogue but a meaningful dialogue and changes that are actually going to happen. You think that’s more important than just putting pressure on Assad? I think so, as long as he is amenable to that. Gaddafi was not. Gaddafi was not willing to do anything. You know, he thought he could just stay in power. Assad seems to be more amenable to dialogue and constructive changes.
31 August 2011, 18:23 Libya: Another Country for NATO Rick Rozoff Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca.
NATO Involvement in Libya: "Now we own it"
Professor Marjorie Cohn Interview with Marjorie Cohn, a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School in San Diego and the editor of The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse . I’d like to ask you a few questions about the situation in Libya. What are your views on the future of Gaddafi? What do you think will happen with him?
Interview with Marjorie Cohn, a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School in San Diego and the editor of The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse.
Iran and US at Impasse Over Uranium Enrichment
Professor Gary G. Sick
Download audio file Tehran has recently announced they can enrich uranium to up to 20% and that their production exceeds the country’s demand. Iran’s atomic chief also stated Iran will no longer negotiate a nuclear fuel swap with some of the world powers.
Neo-Nazi English Defense League Suzette Bronkhorst Download audio file http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Suzette_Bronkhorst.html
9 September 2011, 13:28 US Advances Reagan’s Star War Plans for Global NATO and Global Military Domination Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca. They tried to shut you down over the weekend. Can you tell us what happened? Yes, thank you for asking.
14 September 2011, 21:32 On Who Benefitted from the Tragic Events of 9/11 Professor Kevin Barrett Interview with Dr. Kevin Barrett, Doctor in Arabic and Islamic Studies, and a Co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish Christian Alliance for Truth, he is also the owner of Truthjihad.com. Today I would like to ask you some questions on 9/11. My first question is - who benefited from the tragic events of September 11 2001?
15 September 2011, 18:02 Israel and Turkey: Tensions Escalate Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. Unfortunately, we have some more distressing matters to discuss. Can you fill us in on the situation between Turkey and Israel? In particular statements regarding supporting the Kurds by certain elements in Israel?
19 September 2011, 20:04 Occupy Wall Street (First Occupy Interview) US Needs “Democracy and not Corporatocracy” Bill Csapo One of Occupy Founders Interview with Bill Csapo, an activist with OccupyWallstreet.org, one of the organizations responsible for organizing the protests, taking place in New York.
20 September 2011, 14:39 US Weapons Used Against Protesters in Bahrain Nabil Rajab President Bahrain Center for Human Rights Interview with Nabil Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation of Human Rights.
22 September 2011, 17:04 "Palestine and Israel should choose quality of coexistence" Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East expert, talks about possible scenarios and impact of the Palestinian bid for statehood.
22 September 2011, 21:44 Occupy Wall Street Protests Will Hit Wall Street Hard Marisa Holmes Interview with Marisa Holmes, a member of the New York General Assembly and a participant in the occupation of Wall Street.
29 September 2011, 17:00 Occupy SF "We Want True Democracy" Say SF Protesters Sarah Page Interview with Sarah Page, one of the organizers of the Occupy San Francisco movement. Interview with Sarah Page, one of the organizers of the Occupy San Francisco movement.
3 October 2011, 10:29 Israel Wants Negotiation for the Sake of Negotiation Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour Interview with Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour from the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations. http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Riyad_Monsour.html
10 October 2011, 13:10 Israeli Agression: A War That Makes No Sense Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East Expert and Professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. Recently you wrote a piece called The Inevitability of Coexistence, in which you detailed some of the things that could or should take place for the Israelis and the Palestinians to understand each other better. What can Palestinians and Israelis do to foster better understanding between their peoples?
18 October 2011, 16:46 Occupy Wall Street Wall Street Occupation Continues Marisa Holmes Interview with Marisa Holmes, a member of the New York General Assembly and an organizer in the occupation of Wall Street. http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Occupy.html
19 October 2011, 15:58 Are US Accusations Against Iran Reasonable? Dr. Alon Ben-Meir
Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.
19 October 2011, 16:02 NATO Planning First-Strike Again Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca.
19 October 2011, 16:49 Justice Will Prevail Deacon Youssef Hanna
Interview with Youssef Hanna, a Deacon with the Coptic Church of Florida. Can you give our listeners a quick overview of the Coptic-Christian faith? Well, the Coptic-Christian faith dates back to the first century. And the Coptic-Orthodox Church was established in Alexandria by Saint Mark the Evangelist, precisely in 45 AD and it has been surviving until this date. Now, for hundreds of years Coptic Christians have lived in Egypt rather peacefully, I believe. What can you tell us about the recent violence? There is a report, says it's been sanctioned by the Government. Have you heard anything about that? I don't know about the report by the Government but all what I know is that our Church or the Coptic Church or Christianity in general - it's a church of persecution. So, we know all this is expected. And, as we know, it is expected, and even the Coptic year it is, I've been about the Coptic calendar, I'm sorry, it's the calendar of the barters. When you say that the year we revive here in 1728, you see, is after martyrdom, you know. So, that's the Coptic calendar. So, martyrdom has been known since the beginning of Christianity. And about the above situation in Egypt, actually the Copts, basically everyone who lives in Egypt of any religion or any sect should be called Coptic because the word "Coptic" itself is a nationality. Coptic means Egyptian, you could call the Christian Coptic as well, the Muslim could also be called Coptic, but to differentiate here I have to say Christian or Muslim, that's the difference. But all of them are Coptic and they mingled they mixed, so many, many Copts or Muslims are of Coptic origin or many Christians are from Muslim origin. So, it had been going on for the past centuries and everything was fine and actually the Muslims with the Christians, they've been living in peace but sometimes you get those people who are fanatic or who is serving certain objective and would like to stir a kind of, you know, misunderstanding or a storm, you know, between parties. So what do they say? They come and they play on both sides, you know, just to let the Muslim conflict with the Christian, but all this God is watching over us all whether we are Muslim or whether we are Christian. And you will never allow, you know, evil to get its way. So, at the end the truth will be known and I hope and I believe that in appearing year everything would be settled in Egypt. What connections or what is your Church doing or are you doing anything to support the Christians in Egypt? Well, we do of course. We send a lot of monetary help whenever we can. I mean supporting with subs the Church as the Church, we do a lot, it's up like cheer supporting. This is individual effort. Are we paying our ties? So everyone is free to pay whoever you want, sometimes I can put my ties for the construction of new church or sometimes I can write my check and say this is for the poor in Egypt, so it's oft like an organized thing, you know. Everyone, every member of the congregation is free to direct his finances to whatever you want. So, more than that, I can assure you this is exactly what's happening and this is what I know. But of course the best help that you are doing is that you are praying for them and we are quite sure God will listen to our prayers and will restore the peace in Egypt and I'm saying peace between everyone, I'm sure and very optimistic because there're so many of the good, moderate Muslims who would like to live in peace. Actually they are backing the Christians and even we will stand, all the Christians will also stand by the Muslims if they have to face any kind of trouble. Between these people there are some fanatics, as I said earlier, and those people, they would like to create some conflicts and it's happening in all the world. Can you say anything about the churches now, apparently two churches were destroyed. What can you tell us about the churches? I haven't heard about this news. I only heard that there was a church in Southern Asia that was burnt or destroyed. It was done illegally. And the only problem there is why would people themselves, they would do that with their own hands and why they would not let proper authorities to intervene, that's the whole issue. Oh, there are a lot of issues here because I have, apparently, the reports of a scene, that the churches there were actually two and they had been there for a very long time and this was apparently... Yeah, I heard that the church had been there for a long time, but I don't know exactly about the sanctions, I don't know about the Government's decision about that, because you asked me and I never heard of that. What connections are between the Orthodox Church, for example of Russia, and the Coptic Church? It's exactly the same, the same rights, the same rituals and whether it's Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian Orthodox, we call all of them "brothers of faith". And all the people of Egypt including the Muslims, the good people, the good Muslims they want to live in peace. And, let me tell you, many of them are there. And justice will prevail. No one will intervene except God in this kind of conflict.
22 October 2011, 11:42 Download audio file Interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and the contributing writer to www.globalresearch.ca.
Gaddafi: The End of the Era Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Alon Ben-Meir, US expert on the Middle East and the professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.
27 October 2011, 19:05 "Gaddafi was fighting till his last minute." Omar Turbi
Interview with Omar Turbi, a Libyan expert and an advisor to the National Transitional Council of Libya.
What do you see as the future holding for Libya now that Gaddafi is gone? Do you see this as the end to an era or the beginning of a new era? It’s a transition. Definitely, we’ve gone through many-many different transitions in the last 8-9 months. This particular one is very important because it closes a chapter on Gaddafi’s regime. And I may add that it didn’t end in a way that conveys to the world the level of civility as far as capturing and dealing with Gaddafi. I’m one of those people who really wanted to try him and give him a fair trial. And the Council in particular called for catching him alive and trying him. But the world doesn’t recognize that the Council can only do so much in making different councils around the country do what they want them to do, because there is no elected body yet. And the country is moving forward as best as it can. When you have lived over 40 years with a regime that was so brutal to people and deep in crime and corruption to an unbelievable level, you can help to say that when you live by the sword like Gaddafi had you die by the sword. In other words, right till the last second of his life, he was fighting. He has a gun on him, he had people around him that fought for him. He had many opportunities to escape the country or go to some places in Africa, but he chose to stay. You don’t agree with the way he was killed? Not at all. I don’t think a good number of people in Libya, at least civilized ones, in the NTC or in the interim government that didn’t like the way he was finally captured and killed. So that was not ordered by the Council? The Council had nothing to do with it? It’s terrible to think that a fair and just democracy could be started with such an act of barbarism, in my opinion. You know you are right. I think the world is looking at Libya and says: what are you guys doing? You are trying to take a dictator from brutal dictatorship and replace him with another one that imprisons people and kills people. But I mean you can for a moment excuse the accident that has taken place because you can consider them acts of war, because when you have two warring parties. Even under the Geneva Convention, you can detain people, you can treat them right. Nobody stops you from killing your enemy that holds a high level of animosity against you and wants to kill you. That’s where I’m getting at. But if you are civilized and you are trying people, I think, because we don’t live alone – you know, we have neighbors around us, we have the world community, we want the world to trust us and trust our judgment, trust our character – the thing that was out of character is to hold Gaddafi in the freezer for several days and let people look and look at him, because in the Arabic tradition you bury the body as quickly as possible. Those are mistakes and those are things that I do strongly believe were beyond the control of the NTC. They didn’t really announce that and didn’t talk about that simply because they were in a really precarious situation. They can’t tell the public: hey, you know, you shouldn’t have done that, because everybody is happy, because they finally got the man that was after them and killing them for the last several months. Have you talked to the council recently? Yes, I talk to them on a regular basis. This has frightened many people – the statement that Sharia law will be implemented in the country and not only Sharia law but a very strict form of Sharia law. What can you say about that? First of all, Libya is a Muslim country – Sunni, Maliki. So the religious aspect of Libya cannot be taken away from Libyan. But I think that Libyan people are very progressive. They are not isolated from the world around them. There is a constitution that has been largely adopted, except for a couple of articles in it, that dictates rule of law, that dictates judicial system, that dictates that elections must be implemented. Although Islam is a very important component of Libya and the Libyan people, most definitely Sharia law is not going to be applied in its strictest fashion. You say it’s not going to be? No, I can’t say yes or no, because it remains to be seen who are the members of the parliament, who is going to be the prime minister. All I can establish is – and that is very important – they usually apply their way of thinking in the process. I can’t say it’s not going to, but, from understanding the psyche of the Libyan society, I don’t believe that this will be the case. So, taking a word out of the context of Abdul-Jalilm would not be a good thing. So what he said is not the council’s official stand? No, definitely not the council’s, as not of many people. if this guy remains in power and remains someone who hands down decisions, then we are in big trouble. Who are we talking again? What’s his first name? Mustafa Abdul-Jalil. You are saying he won’t be in power. So, those are his own, personal statements. That’s not the position of the council. Let’s hope. We’ve had enough – I mean we’ve had a share of people handing down decisions without the consensus of the people, without due democratic process. God, we’ve had a lot of that in the Middle East. That’s why I used the world “dictatorship.” Do you see a position for yourself in the new Libya? Would you like to return when things stabilize in the country? I don’t know, to be honest with you, because when you’ve lived in the West, lived in the US for a long time, based on studies and statistics and experiences, these people say that people who have lived outside the country are not proper rulers. People who are inside should. I mean we will be allowed to stay around to help them out. If they ask me to take a role or provide a public service I’ll have to do that and I will do that. But you know, there is a definite misunderstanding with the definition of “public service” in the Middle East and North Africa, even in Libya, for sure. A public service is an opportunity to bring in your relatives, friends and everybody you know and an opportunity for you to make money. You are really hired to service people in the proper way, you can’t view a public service as an opportunity to make money. Right now there are just people who are clamoring to take the position within the new regime. But they may see that as being an opportunity to personally and financially grow. I don’t think you would do that, would you? Of course, not.
Gaddafi was Main Target of US Libyan Operation J.M. Berger Interview with J.M. Berger of INTELWIRE.com and the author of the book Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam.
The Libyan situation has changed drastically in the last few weeks. Where do you think the country is headed? It’s very difficult to say right now. From a western perspective. We really don’t know a lot about the rebels. We don’t know what kind of plans they have for a political transition. This is all being decided now. We did have the announcement this week that the new government will be based on Sharia law and whether that means it is going to be a full-fledged Islamist government or something more in the model of Iraq, where the constitution is based on Sharia but there is still a strong democratic elements. So we are in a waiting mode to see what happens with this. Depending on if they are going to take a parliamentary route or not. But clearly it’s going to be more Islamist than it currently is. How do you think it’s going to play out with the US in the region? What we lack right now is a really clear political consensus in this country on what our position is regarding Islamist states and whether they are conducive to our national security and our foreign relations. We are seeing the emergence of a lot of different kinds of Islamist movements, which are more moderate than some of the Islamic governments we’ve seen in the past. But there is really no consensus in our political process about what kind of end states we’d like to see for these Arab spring countries, other than very idealistic, pie-in-the-sky dream of democracy everywhere. No one is really prepared to have that kind of conversation here and I think it’s going to be a while before anybody can really approach the subject this way in the country. One of the problems with our foreign policy is that we don’t have clear reasons why we intervene in one place and we don’t in another. The situation in Syria is certainly very bad for the people of Syria. I don’t want to hazard a guess as to whether Assad can survive this. It seems to me and to a lot of people around the world that the whole operation was just to get and kill Gaddafi. What do you think about that? I think that was clearly the goal of the operation. I mean Gaddafi’s presence in the country as a threat to his population was the stated reason for this. So, with Gaddafi gone and no visible loyalists stepping up to take his place, it is appropriate, within the context of the rationale that was given, that we are leaving. What do you think about the way he was killed? I think it was pretty unfortunate. I think a trial would have been better. It was pretty ugly thing. But that’s not something we could control and the leadership of the rebels couldn’t stop that either – there was a lot of pent-up emotion that came out. But it was certainly not in keeping with the international standards and really not an ideal resolution for this. A trial would have been better. I don’t know if you can counteract or speak to the statements made by John McCain – I’m sure you’ve heard of them – threatening other world leaders. John McCain is not in the position to make decisions about the foreign policy in this country, nor is he going to be. I hope not either. Sure not. He is not a player in the current presidential election, you know. He is expressing his view but he is not going to decide anything. You don’t think he’ll end up in the White House next time? He is not even running. It’s too late in the process for him to jump in. The thing I found strange was: Obama comes out – he makes statements about victory, McCain comes out – he makes threats, and the White House says nothing. They didn’t say anything about it. So, basically, in the minds of many, they are supporting what he said. How could they claim the death of Gaddafi as their own victory if apparently it was carried out by independent rebels in the street? I think it is important actually to the US that this not be seen as the US having taken out Gaddafi. We provided support to the population and they did the work. We just provided air cover. And even the United States relative to Europe, had a relatively lower role in this. So, I think it was important in the minds of the people crafting this policy that, whatever change happened in Libya, it would be owned and operated by the Libyan people. It just seemed to be: we took him out, we’re going to take you out if you don’t follow our line. And that’s what it came across as with McCain and all his statements about victory and “We did it!” and everything else. I don’t think that reflects the Obama administration’s view on foreign policy. Based on what the Republicans are saying, I don’t think that there is any thirst for that kind of foreign policy either. I think that America has certainly learnt from what’s happened in Iraq and what happened in Afghanistan and I don’t think we are looking to pick fights. But certainly the Obama administration has outlined what it has called its responsibility to protect the policy and it’s going to lead to more interventions. I think the idea is that it’s going to be more limited and they are going to be focussed on taking out specific bad actors. Again, taking out actors. You don’t have a problem with that? I wouldn’t say that I endorse that policy. I’m just saying what this policy looks like. But what I think is that I would like to see a public dialogue in this country that better defines how and where we use legal force in the world. I am open to different approaches to using our military strength. But I don’t think that we’ve seen a clear statement of principles that would guide how that strength is used. And I think that’s a real problem for us. And I think that’s not just a foreign policy problem. I think, generally speaking, US policy in the recent years has been very ad hoc. It’s just pretty much opportunistic taking action for the sake of taking action. I am not seeing a scheme of thoughts that goes behind this and allows us as Americans and the rest of the world to understand how the US is going to act in any given situation. Like a bunch of builders, building a building, without an architect. Right. Something like that. Since September 11 we’ve had a very reactionary set of policies and we’ve seen this within our country in terms of how we handled the banking crisis, for instance. And we’ve seen it in our foreign policy. What I think we would benefit from is for the president to come out and outline in very clear terms what we feel our scope of authority to act outside of the country is.
31 October 2011, 16:01 Occupy Portland "The American system is broken" Jordan LeDoux Interview with Occupy Portland media liaison Jordan LeDoux.
3 November 2011, 18:53 Occupy Oakland Protests in Oakland: are they revolutionary? Noah Rothman Interview with Noah Rothman, a politics news editor at Ology.com.
"No one wants another war in the Middle East" Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East Expert and a Professor from the Center For Global Affairs at New York University.
10 November 2011, 17:22 Iraq 2003/Iran 2011: Parallel Can't Be Missed Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca. You’ve read the IAEA report on Iran. Can you give us your quick overview?
Capitalism Has Grown Parasitic Tim Summers
Interview with Tim Summers, the former National Campaigns Officer with the Green Party of England and Wales in the UK, and a former political cartoonist and a current political activist.
I’d like to ask you a few questions on the Occupy movement, which started in Madrid and has become a worldwide phenomenon. Do you think this will be a flash in the pan or are they here for a long run? Well, I think that the system, the police, the governments are doing everything they can to resist. The Church of England is in crisis at St. Paul’s regarding the occupation of their forecourt there. The occupations will have to keep taking new forms, new venues, new sites for occupation, but the energy is mounting – it’s not diminishing. Last week, there was a big occupation of Oakland docks, the big docks of Oakland, California, by a mass movement calling itself “99%.” That relates to a statistic of wealth in America, and, they closed down the whole port of Oakland for a day. The strange thing is that all these movements have different names for themselves but the focus comes down to the same thing – the injustice in capitalist economics, which is structural, of course. It focuses a lot on the banks and the corporations, naturally, but, of course, as capitalism moves deeper and deeper into crisis, so its bare bones are revealed. Would you say this is a lesson that might be learned by the Russian Federation as a new democracy? Do you think this is a warning of the dangers of capitalism? Yes, absolutely. It’s an interesting sign of this period – that the old left, the old left-wing of the world is pretty well irrelevant to the anti-capitalist actions that are sweeping the world today. Why do you say that, why do you say they are irrelevant? Well, that they have so little to offer politically. The youth, the young people who are so motivated in a spirit of self-sacrifice, or self-liberation to take part in these things that have worked out a sort of ethos for themselves outside and perhaps even despite of the old left. The first wave of socialism that broke after The First World War has now atrophied into just crumbling sects of the old Labour Party, or Stalinist kind of formations, and it’s going nowhere, recklessly trying to keep up with the pace of developments. What do you think about their organization? They seem lost to me, I don’t know. Yes, I do agree with you. The protest movement isn’t anti-capitalist in the sense that they want to actually change the capitalist regime. They want to stop the bonus culture of the banks. They want banks to be restricted by governments, to be more modest in their self-payment and more cooperative in loans to the first-time house buyers, small businesses and so on. Capitalism in its evolution has become a system dominated by the banks. For example, they’ve just determined that the government of Italy and Greece should fall and be replaced by something else. That’s bankers’ power, it’s not any other form of power. It comes from a troika of the International Monetary Fund and other sort of big international banking groups. They’ll have to think of something better than capitalism if their wishes are going to be sustained in the longer term. Yes, all the comforts and expectations of the long capitalist boom that followed The Second World War are now coming to an end and all those, sort of, the way of life almost of people expecting to be employed having got a qualification are ending. The whole expectation of further and higher education that became a way of life is ending with tuition fees in Britain and other impediments internationally. A lot of the comforts of the rich countries in the post-war period are now grinding to a halt. That’s why so many people are getting angry and calling themselves “99%. Who would you blame for this? I would blame the structural nature of capitalism itself in its final phase, but late capitalism is a fading, rotten parasitic system that is addicted to oil and constant war. The anti-war movement is very strong in Britain and internationally I think, and yet war clouds hang over Iran every day. This need of capitalism to fight wars is to seize the depleted natural resources of the planet in a very desperate way. In Afghanistan, they need the rare earth metals and minerals that are to be found in that volcanic part. In Iraq, for example, it was a massive oil theft. The countdown now to war with Iran is also a planned massive oil theft because the world’s resources are depleting fast and the corporations only understand growth. Capitalism can’t take a position in its board rooms for zero growth, as any ecologist will spell out to you is necessary. It has to go on plundering the Earth’s resources for its profitability. It is an out-of-date system. It’s going into complete crisis and meltdown. What’s going on with the Church of England, with the activists? They were at St. Paul’s Cathedral, apparently, and they were going to call the police or something. It caused a terrific crisis in the Church of England because they had to start debating what they were there for. Are they there as property owners and revenue raisers? Or are they there as addressing the spiritual needs of the people? The Church of England itself has become a very Establishment organization. But the leading cleric, the Archbishop of Canterbury, took the moral high ground, I’m pleased to say, so the protesters haven’t been moved on yet.
Occupy Wall Street US is Not a Democracy Bill Csapo OWS organizer Interview with Bill Csapo, an Activist and Organizer with OccupyWallStreet.org. http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Occupy.html
19 November 2011, 13:25 SOPA: The U.S. Censoring the Internet John Robles A Senate committee passed an act recently called the Protect IP Act but then, just as quickly, a Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden, put the bill on hold because as he said, it would “muzzle speech and stifle innovation and economic growth.
21 November 2011, 16:11 What's Behind Katya Zatuliveter's Story? Michael John Smith
IAEA resolution on Iran: questions remain Alon Ben-Meir
Download audio file Interview with Alon Ben-Meir, one of the leading US experts on the Middle East and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University in the US.
23 November 2011, 15:53 Occupy UC Davis U.S. A Pepper Spray Democracy Artyom Raskin Interview with Artyom Raskin, a media contact and an activist with the Occupy UC Davis and the Occupy Davis movements in Davis, California. (His personal views) http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Occupy.html
23 November 2011, 16:08 U.S. SOPA will lead to Internet lawlessness Professor David Post Interview with Prof. David Post, Professor of Law at the Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and one of the authors of an open letter to the US House of Representatives signed by over 100 noted US law professors protesting the SOPA Act. http://www.jar2.com/Topics/SOPA_TPP_NWO.html
28 November 2011, 18:23 Hypersonic Missile: To Target Russia Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca. The first thing that is on everybody’s minds is President Medvedev’s statement regarding NATO. Why at this late date exactly, at this juncture?
29 November 2011, 18:36 Does the West Want Arms Race in Europe? Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to GlobalResearch.ca. About a month ago, NATO tested first-strike capabilities of using mobile radar in Turkey. Why would a defensive system need to test offensive capabilities? We have the cyber warfare center. You said it also can be used as an offensive tool by the US. We have hypersonic missile tests and the Prompt Global Strike system. I think these are pretty good reasons for the Russian Federation to be worried, to put it mildly, as to the intentions of the West. Why would the West want to start an arms race in Europe? Why would this be profitable? Why not include Russia as part of the sectoral approach system? It’s probably a rhetorical question but can you touch upon it?
2 December 2011, 12:36 Occupy LA: "We want our democracy back" Marilyn an LA protester Interview with Marilyn, activist with the Occupy LA movement in Los Angeles, California, USA. http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Occupy.html
8 December 2011, 17:00 "U.S not in a position to criticize Russian elections" Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff , the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca. Mr. Rozoff also worked "against the Chicago political machine" for approximately 25 years, from 1976-2000, including as: a ward-wide voter registration coordinator, the founder and leader of an independent ward organization, a congressional district coordinator for Mayor Harold Washington's 1987 reelection bid, a campaign manager in two state representative and one alderman election, and as a third party candidate for state office.
12 December 2011, 12:12 Occupy DC: "We will occupy DC until we are heard" Kelly Meers Interview with Kelly Meers, one of the protesters at Occupy DC in the United States. http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Occupy.html
12 December 2011, 14:13 From Sanctions to Negotiations: US Strategy Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.
13 December 2011, 11:17 Climate and Economy: Two Crises Tim Summers Green Party
Interview with Tim Summers, the former national campaigns officer with the Green Party of England and Wales in the UK, a former political cartoonist and a current political activist.
You said there is a very close tie between the ecological situation right now and the global economic crisis. How are those affecting each other? Well we've recently had the Durban conference, unable to really make any world decision to save the planet from particularly carbon emissions but also other emissions. All the problems of climate change that are affecting huge changes now that are so demonstrable, I think the argument has been settled, and the melting of the polar ice caps, the floods that are being caused in some parts of the world, the general disturbance. I think it is time to draw a line and say clearly the efforts of humans have badly disturbed this planet, particularly now its climate. And that this is a problem of the profit motive continuing to log forests, the breathing lungs of the planet, continue to carry on with ecologically damaging forms of accumulation all over the world. One can say that capitalism can’t save the planet and that the Durban conference and previous attempts underline that. Can you give us some information about the rising ocean levels? I don’t have any figures, but certainly the lobbying of those small island communities faced with imminent flooding was a factor in the last day of the Durban conference, where some kind of schema was put forward for most of the world most of the time. The plight of so many low-lying countries now is simply a question of survival. The whole of Bangladesh is faced with going under water soon. It really is that dire. The Maldive Islands and other islands are actually going under water now as we speak, having to be evacuated. The problem is with us, though I haven’t got a clear time scale. What did they come up with at the Durban conference? Was there anything concrete that they were able to resolve? There was a general world agreement, but excepted by America, China and India, which is rather contradictory really to talk about a world decision with those three huge industrial powers absenting themselves from it, showing my point that capitalism is so addicted to fossil fuels, especially oil, that it just simply can’t face the priority of saving the planet because it simply must accumulate. Capitalism simply can’t operate on a no-growth or very low-growth basis. The UK’s GDP is likely to only grow at 1% - I hear tonight - in future. Capitalism can’t operate on that basis. That’s part of the reason why capitalism is going into deep crisis. What is the Green Party doing in the UK currently? We’ve been in the forefront of warning of climate change for the last 30 years. We continue to do that: to oppose wars, to campaign for low growth, or a no-growth economy, and that we want green jobs. We want a whole change in industry for a green economy. We want to start building our own wind turbines, instead of importing them from abroad. We want much greater targets adopted across the UK for carbon dioxide emissions and other dangerous emissions. We want a complete radical transformation of the whole economy. What would you say to people who say that global climate change and rising sea levels is something that’s not real? The Koch Brothers, the second largest industrial conglomerate in America, has been heavily funding climate change denial in America that has been very successful. The embarrassment of evidence disorders at East Anglia University discredited the climate change campaign movement, if you follow me, avidly used by the climate change deniers to argue that the whole business of climate change was simply another move for increasing taxation, was a con in other words, and so on. This climate change skepticism through its enormous funding is a major force in America. It’s a considerable force in Britain, particularly when at a time of growing economic hardship the climate and the global ecological questions tend to take a back seat. I didn’t mention, as regards the oceans, not only their rising levels, but also the poisoning of the oceans, its ecosystems, by the increasing acidity of the oceans. This again is a byproduct of carbon dioxide emissions. This is destroying the whole life of the oceans. All our fishing expectations now have to be cut short. Britain eats more fish from fish-farming than it does from catching them out in the oceans. These are the kind of changes that invisibly are going on, that are bringing the whole planet to a crisis similar to the financial crisis of the capitalist system. Last time we talked about the Occupy movement. Can you give our listeners an update on what is going on? Well there’s been an enormous smear campaign to allege that drug addicts and people defecate in local alleyways, have made the site a terrible abomination. This is nowhere true, it’s tightly organised, it's brilliantly organized to the very highest of standards. And this smear campaign, particularly in the Evening Standard, was answered fully. But there is a campaign by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, the City of London, with all its power, and the central government itself to force an eviction upon the protest Occupy movement at St. Paul’s, London, and that the police will service this eviction. So it’s coming to an end at that particular site, but it’s not coming to an end in London. Already the protesters are occupying other buildings in London and the struggle will take new forms in new locations. The struggle against capitalism, and to unmask its structural deficiencies, is only just beginning in London and across the world. Over 80 countries have now taken actions.
14 December 2011, 16:09 Russian Aid Needs Escort?
Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin
http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Alexander_Konuzin.html
16 December 2011, 15:21 Russian Aid Convoy in Serbia Given Green Light Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin
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16 December 2011, 15:24 Occupy SF: Occupiers shut down West Coast ports Sarah Page Interview with Sarah Page , one of the organizers of the Occupy San Francisco movement, www.occupysf.com . Yesterday, Occupy Oakland kicked off the West Coast Port shutdown, which had been planned for weeks. http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Occupy.html
Transparency International Distorts Data in Favour of its Western Paymasters Calvin Tucker
21 December 2011, 14:18 Middle East tensions: Forecast for 2012 Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir , a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.
23 December 2011, 15:52 Arab World: Forecast for 2012 Dr. Alon Ben-Meir Download audio file Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir , a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.
26 December 2011, 16:12 The Troy Case: Voter Fraud Scandal in the US Noah Rothman Interview with Noah Rothman, a political news editor at Ology.com.
Why is Fox News reporting the scandal in Troy, New York, the way they are? Normally, Republican scandals are not covered as much as they’ve been covering this one. This is actually a Democratic scandal, which probably accounts for why it has been so widely covered. In Troy, New York, four Democratic officials pled guilty. They were earlier indicted to trying to manipulate a Working Families Party primary in order to change that elections results in favour of the Democrats, which goes to a larger narrative that’s dominating the conversation in a lot of Republican-led states, where they are attempting to enact a sort of idea to reduce the incidents of actual election fraud, which was in this case rather blatant, and the officials that admitted to it. It’s a fairly large scandal, including the City Council President, the county elections commissioner, City Council members and 50 other people. This is a rather large scandal. And it goes to support the Republican narrative that there is voter ID fraud and there needs to be a significant reform. New York is a very special case. New York has laws on the books to allow officials to run on two-party lines. So, a Democrat can run under the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party, a Republican can run as a Republican and a Constitution candidate. All the votes go to that particular candidate. So, why would Democratic officials want to manipulate a Working Families Party primary? So that they could get their candidate on the ballot and he could benefit from that. In this kind of a situation, it’s really only good for a primary low-turnout election, where you can manipulate the rates with just a couple of votes. Actually, a similar scandal – not a voter ID fraud but a similar scandal – took down one of New York City Mayor’s Mike Bloomberg’s very close associates, who was indicted and convicted on embezzling money from the Independence Party, which is New York State’s third largest party. Mayor Bloomberg has actually donated several million dollars to it over the course of many years. So, New York is a special case in this situation. It’s a rampant problem especially when it comes to primary candidates and operatives manipulating these elections. What about nationwide and Republican scandals that Fox News is not reporting? Cable news bias is rather baked in the cake. I think voters for the most part are smart enough to understand that there is a coverage bias when it comes to Fox News and NBC, so you know what you are getting. Obviously, this scandal in particular supports the Republican agenda, which is probably going to be a bigger news story in 2012 than we are led to believe now. Actually, the Justice Department just struck down today voter ID laws in South Carolina. That made it very clear that they are supportive of the position that the voter ID law would disenfranchise minority voters. In order to have a voter ID and go to the poll, they say it’s an undue burden on those particular voters. And, in the event that you’d have to pay for a voter ID, that can amount to a poll tax, which is something that, according to Jim Crow Law, is a racial insensitive policy. If there’s a free ID however that gets a little more ambiguous. The Democratic argument is twofold. One is that there isn’t a significant amount of ID fraud enough to merit significant reforms. And when it is, the burden of having to have a voter ID disenfranchises the poor minority. But in the Troy case, which is actually quite interesting as one of the indictments is that the operative told the press after he pled guilty that what they were doing was specifically to target poor minority voters in order to fake their signatures on absentee ballots and then the operatives would work in the rest of the information. So, they had the signatures of registered voters in poor minority neighbourhoods because they tend not to speak up, because, they say, they are more intimidated and they don’t go to the press, they don’t go to the authorities if they vote at all. On both sides of the aisle, there is a little bit of disingenuousness here and it has all to do with the poor minority voting population, who are being disenfranchised, frankly, in two different ways. Whether one is more serious than the other will have to be decided, obviously, by voters next year. How would you characterize the entire US elections system? Do you think that the US is in a position – in light of the fact that the US doesn’t allow, for example, international observers – to criticize other countries, for example the Russian Federation? I couldn’t say. There are real internal political concerns. It plays politically to criticize for example the recent Russian elections. When it comes to these voter ID fraud cases, you can manipulate around the edges. For example, if you have a very close election, then, yes, systemic election fraud would be a significant issue and the worst case scenario that hasn’t happened yet is the discovery of fact that of that election fraud within the margin that could swing an election. That would be a very significant problem, because what would happen after the election is that it would essentially put elections to the courts. That hasn’t happened yet. To allow international observers in this country would be politically a very dangerous move for any politician to accept because it’s so deeply unpopular here, so that, if there were ever to be a platform, it would have to take place in a particularly liberal international city, for example. Just to have it anywhere else in the country would be politically damaging for anyone who’d embrace that. What do you think about the George Bush’s election in 2000? Do you think there were actual cases of fraud going on there? That goes back to the point of moving an election to the courts. There have been studies upon studies upon studies, and you can argue as to whether or not the court had stopped the recount that would have overturned the popular vote. The most studies were suggesting that that would not be the case. The elections would have turned out even if they had gone forward with the recounts data in other counties. However, the way it was decided in the Supreme Court where the Supreme Court had essentially have to stop the recounting has created that uncertainty that persists to this day. Only an election can bring about a fair outcome that can’t be argued. And when it goes to the courts – the issue never dies. That’s really why we want to stand election fraud as much as possible as soon as possible because, if it ever goes to the courts, it creates a much bigger problem. These things don’t come to light until well after the fact. And they are usually well underreported. There can be a broader, much more systemic election fraud that we just don’t know about.
29 December 2011, 20:18 Where Will America’s Imperial Hubris Lead To? Rick Rozoff Download audio file Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca. Can you give us the latest on NATO and your predictions for 2012, as far as the ABM system in Europe and NATO global expansion in general? I know it’s a big question. |
