Palestinians, both in Palestine and those among the diaspora, and their allies observed Palestine Land Day March 30th. It was the 50th commemoration of the 1976 murder of six people protesting the State theft of land in Galilee. Israel chose the same date to pass in its Knesset the ‘Death Penalty for Terrorists Law’, an infamous, one-sided statute codifying capital punishment (for some) while providing only limited recourse to appeal, or commutation. Worse, the “Gallows Law” is expected to apply equally to Palestinian children.

Hanna Kawas is chairperson of Vancouver’s Canada-Palestine Association. He’s too a long-time radio journalist whose program, Voice of Palestine had been a beacon for the city’s diaspora community, and others facing both Canadian state repression, and media marginalization.

Hanna and the CPA will be front and centre this Friday, April 17th in Vancouver, at Creekside Park for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Hanna Kawas in the first half.

And; last week I sat down for an extended interview with John Helmer. We covered the Iranian resistance to American and Western belligerence, Russia’s role and reaction to that, and the release of John’s new book, ‘The Coroner is Guilty’.

John’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism.

Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out’, and ‘Long Live Novichok: The British Poison Which Fooled the World’.

Global chaos, Part II with John Helmer in the second half.

But first, Hanna Kawas and remembering the hostages held by Israel on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘262’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Today is 911. That is, the nine hundred and eleventh day of Israel’s genocide in Palestine, 33rd day of its renewed attempt to annex southern Lebanon, and 36th day of America and Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran. Employing the same methods, materiels, and mindset used to flatten Gaza, what you are seeing culminating in Iran is, my first guest insists, the “most consequential war of our lifetime.”

Dimitri Lascaris is a journalist, activist, lawyer, broadcaster, and co-founder of Canada’s Disruption Network. His online show, Reason2Resist is available on Rumble, Youtube, and at Substack along with his many articles “focusing on Western government criminality”. Dimitri’s spent the last couple of years surveying and reporting on the destruction by the US and its vassals of West Asia.

Dimitri’s just out of Iran, where he spent 11 days visiting the places western bombs and missiles land with deadly effect.

Dimitri Lascaris in the first half.

And; as we record, we’re less than hour away from the American President’s threat to annihilate the Persian civilization, and all Iranians with it if needs be. The only pertinent question now: Is Trump crazy, or crazy like a fox? The Madman Doctrine is as old as Kissinger and Nixon, and it was meant to solve the last century’s Cold War dilemma of convincing ones nuclear opponent your leaders were crazy enough to push the button, sealing their own fate rather than losing an atomic faceoff. But Iran is not a nuclear-powered rival, or even philosophical counterweight to the capitalist system, it merely exists independent of Western diktats; and, that is its irredeemable crime.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism.

Among Helmer’s many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out’, and his latest, the newly released, ‘The Coroner is Guilty’, a chronicle of the two-year forensic investigations to uncover the cause, and role of the treating doctor, in the death of his wife, Tatiana Turitsyna. His latest article at Dances with Bears is, ‘WHAT THE CAPTURED RYDER DOCUMENTS REVEAL OF THE US-ISRAELI PLAN TO DESTROY IRAN — AND WHAT COMES NEXT’

John Helmer on the truths and lies of life and death writ large, and larger in the second half.

But first, Dimitri Lascaris and real news from Iran.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘AWOL’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Today is 911. That is, the nine hundred and eleventh day of Israel’s genocide in Palestine, 33rd day of its renewed attempt to annex southern Lebanon, and 36th day of America and Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran.

And, as we record, we’re less than hour away from the American President’s threat to annihilate the Persian civilization, and all Iranians with it if needs be. The only pertinent question now: Is Trump crazy, or crazy like a fox? The Madman Doctrine is as old as Kissinger and Nixon, and it was meant to solve the last century’s Cold War dilemma of convincing ones nuclear opponent your leaders were crazy enough to push the button, sealing their own fate rather than losing an atomic face-off. But Iran is not a nuclear-powered rival, or even philosophical counterweight to the capitalist system, it merely exists independent of Western diktats; and, that is its irredeemable crime.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism.

Among Helmer’s many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out’, and his latest, the newly released, ‘The Coroner is Guilty’, a chronicle of the two-year forensic investigations to uncover the cause, and role of the treating doctor, in the death of his wife, Tatiana Turitsyna. His latest article at Dances with Bears is, ‘WHAT THE CAPTURED RYDER DOCUMENTS REVEAL OF THE US-ISRAELI PLAN TO DESTROY IRAN — AND WHAT COMES NEXT’

John Helmer on the truths and lies of life and death writ large, and larger.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Today is 911. That is, the nine hundred and eleventh day of Israel’s genocide in Palestine, 33rd day of its renewed attempt to annex southern Lebanon, and 36th day of America and Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran. Employing the same methods, materiel, and mindset used to flatten Gaza, what you are seeing culminating in Iran is, my first guest insists, the “most consequential war of our lifetime.”

Dimitri Lascaris is a journalist, activist, lawyer, broadcaster, and co-founder of Canada’s Disruption Network. His online show, Reason2Resist is available on Rumble, Youtube, and at Substack along with his many articles “focusing on Western government criminality”. Dimitri’s spent the last couple of years surveying and reporting on the destruction by the US and its vassals of West Asia.

Dimitri’s just out of Iran, where he spent 11 days visiting the places western bombs and missiles land with deadly effect.

Dimitri Lascaris, Canadian journalist standing alone in Iran.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘AWOL’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Nearly three months since his abduction - in a raid Venezuelan authorities say killed more than 75 people - Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro stood in a Brooklyn court before Judge Alvin Hellerstein in his second appearance, charged with “narco-terrorism” and drug trafficking.

The case can be seen as a bellwether of the Trump administration’s new understanding of international law. In that, Maduro’s fate is likely being closely watched by other leaders called out by the American president. Leaders like Colombia’s Gustavo Petro who is currently the subject of two Department of Justice investigations.

Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. Dan represented unions whose membership were targeted by Colombia’s death squads, served as a foreign observor to elections in the country, and is now President Petro’s legal representative in the United States.

Kovalik’s book titles include: ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’, and his latest, co-authored with Jeremy Kuzmarov, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’.

Dan Kovalik in the first half.

And; following an epic seven months-long campaign, the NDP has elected a new leader. Avi Lewis, former television host and son of NDP icon, Stephen Lewis won convincingly on the first ballot over the weekend. And already he’s making all the right enemies for voicing support of the humanity of Palestinian and Lebanese populations being bombed by Israel.

Yves Engler is an activist, journalist, and author of countless articles and essays detailing Canada’s foreign policy history. He’s written a dozen books on the subject, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’, and his latest, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’, co-written with Owen Schalk.

Yves was too famously an aspirant for the leadership of the NDP, whose campaign to be included in the debates challenged the party’s commitment to the democratic process. It proved a challenge the backroom rulers of the party couldn’t meet. His latest article at YvesEngler.com insists, ‘As right leaps to pressure Lewis, we must push left’.

Yves Engler and what next for a Lewis-led NDP, and more in the second half.

But first, Dan Kovalik and trying to read the mixed American messages on Colombia’s outgoing president, Gustavo Petro.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Fighting and Dying for the Billionaires’

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/world/americas/gustavo-petro-colombia-president-us-charges.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/26/venezuelas-maduro-set-to-again-appear-in-us-court-how-strong-is-the-case

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/03/the-weight-on-delcy-rodriguez/

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

And welcome to the first show of the Vernal New Year! Yes, Spring has done what it ever does and sprung. No matter the madness of the human moment we can be assured, Nature will continue to turn with the eternal regularity marked by its seasons. But surety shouldn’t encourage complacency; it is up to us to prepare for the vagaries contained within those regular seasons as a matter of collective survival.

That is in part the message of Agriculture Engineer Fuad Srouji. Fuad is a member of the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, and author of the book, ‘The Oak Tree: A Word of Wisdom from the Plant Kingdom’. Fuad will be in Victoria presenting “An Evening in Palestine” this Friday at the former First United Met Church at Quadra and Balmoral Road, speaking on the “need for food security”.

Fuad Srouji in the first half.

And; if the men who ordered the destruction of Iran’s civilian infrastructure have any regrets for the lives lost in the process they’re concealing their sorrow well. When questioned about the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab, author of the atrocity, US President Donald Trump denied US involvement saying, “We think it was done by Iran...”, while trigger man Pete Hegseth, who knew otherwise, told Americans, “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”

Dave Lindorff is an Izzy Award-winning investigative journalist, author, and founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening. Dave’s book titles include: ‘’This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy,’ ‘Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal,’ and his latest, ‘Spy for No Country: The story of Ted Hall, the teenage atomic spy who may have saved the world’.

Dave’s recent article at This Can’t Be Happening’s Substack site, ‘Trump and Hegseth: Two Soulless Men Incapable of Remorse or Even Pity’ chronicles America’s wars without tears.

Dave Lindorff and Evil’s transcendence of banality in the second half.

But first, Fuad Srouji, protecting nature and providing a real Green Revolution for human security.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘First We Have to Form a Choir’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

This week delegates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda will meet in Washington, ostensibly to discuss the lack of progress in the “peace” brokered between them by Donald Trump late last year. The meetings come two weeks after the US sanctioned Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Defence Force for continuing atrocities committed against civilians by M23, its proxy force in eastern Congo. The faltering peace doesn’t surprise my first guest, whose article, ‘No End in Sight to Rwanda’s War in Congo, Despite Peace Deal’ predicted as much in December.

Judi Rever is a Montreal-based journalist and author, whose book, ‘In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front’ chronicles the decades-long, genocidal career of Rwandan strongman, Paul Kagame. Her freshly off the presses book, ‘Rwanda’s 30-Year Assault on Congo: The Crimes, the Criminals and the Cover-up’ further exposes the Western-nation complicity and corporate collusion that initiated and sustains Kagame’s reign over Congo’s riches.

Judi Rever in the first half.

And; as the Western War against Iran enters a third week its belligerent is having trouble finding friends. None among the European countries canvassed, nor any of the Gulf States invited to, have so far forwarded once more unto the breach. But, what of Canada? From regretful support of American and Israeli bombing of Iranian civilians and their infrastructure, to vowing “never to participate” in the same, prime minister Mark Carney is performing a circus act; contorting in the process our foreign policy - and both official languages - into pretzels, et bretzels as Canada’s public frenemy #1, Donald Trump twists in the wind.

Yves Engler is an activist, journalist, and author of countless articles and essays detailing Canada’s foreign policy history. He has too written a dozen books on the subject, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’, and his latest, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’.

Yves’ recent article at his site, YvesEngler.com, ‘Time to finally say no to a US-led naval operation’ follows Mark Carney’s bouncing Iran war policy position ball - as best as it can be.

Yves Engler and saying “Just, NO!!!” to Donald in the second half.

But first, Judi Rever and the making of Rwanda’s monster, Paul Kagame.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Last Morning’

Susan Williams’ ‘White Malice’ as recommended by Judi.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

It may or may not be World War III you’re seeing, or not seeing on your teevee screens, but what IS certain, is an energy war in full swing. America has hijacked trade routes, forcibly removed unfriendly governments’ leaders sitting on American oil and, as Senator Lindsey Graham gleefully expounded, “...blow[’n] Hell out of” those in Iran who don’t concede America owns everything. Where does this all lead? To Senator Graham’s Hell for us all of course but the question remains, Who’s hand-basket will get there first?

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism.

Among Helmer’s many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out’, and his latest is the newly released, ‘The Navalny-Novichok Complex: Chronicle of a Staging’. His latest article at Dances with Bears on the subject is, ‘BONFIRE OF THE GRAND STRATEGIES – SO LONG NETANYAHU, TRUMP, MODI, XI, PUTIN’.

John Helmer in the first half.

And; the United States announced a closer-to-home front for its project of Global Domination over the weekend. President Trump gathered a faker’s dozen of Latin American heads of state at his golf course near Miami to present, ‘Shield of the Americas’ a program promising more misery than a hurricane to come for the region’s poor.

Karen Spring is Coordinator for Honduras Solidarity Network, the “… decentralized network of approximately 30 organizations from across Canada and the United States […] committed to demonstrating and advocating for solidarity with the Honduran social movement.”

Karen’s just back from Honduras, where the sad anniversary of murdered human rights and environment defender, Berta Cáceres was marked.

Illustration: Berta Cáceres by Erin Currier.

Karen Spring and the eternal fight for justice in Latin America in the second half.

But first, John Helmer and separating the predators from prey in the World Energy War.

Documentary Water for Life “surveys the struggle for water protection in the Americas, including the work of Cáceres and COPINH…”

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘Epstein Empire’ ‘If Wars Were Engineered in the Belly of the Beast’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

That February 28th, 2026 will live as a date in infamy is certain. But in an age of so many infamies, “What difference” - the mighty in Washington and Tel Aviv, Berlin, Paris, London and ... Ottawa may ask - “does one more orgy of destruction make?” That hubris and viciousness, revealed by America and its enablers in the course of these last terrible years, has led to this reeking fin-de-siècle to end all fin-de-siècle today.

Andy Worthington’s an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too a co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield. Andy’s articles appear at: AndyWorthington.co.uk, where I found his recent piece, ‘Trump Isolated as His Illegal and Unprovoked “War” on Iran Backfires’.

Andy Worthington in the first half.

And; none of the new horrors has altered the genocidal intent of the Jewish State in Palestine. Nominal ceasefires may have slowed the rate of the slaughter, but the killing continues and spreads. Outside of the Gaza Strip, the pogroms in cities, towns, villages, and the countryside conducted by settler/soldiers have escalated with thousands murdered, injured, and imprisoned. And as in Gaza and Lebanon, and now Iran, hospitals and other civic infrastructure are targets of a military that knows no limits.

Salam Hamdan is a Palestinian political activist and Social-Feminist from Ramallah in the West Bank. She’s been in Canada for some time, watching from here her home set fire to.

Salam Hamdan and the other side of the Palestine genocide in the second half.

But first, Andy Worthington and the wages of America’s latest sin.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Misanthropic’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, delivered yesterday, brought to mind his Republican antecedent’s prescient SOTU. Twenty years ago, four and half years into the Afghanistan military occupation, and following nearly three years of an insurgent war in Iraq, George W. Bush - evoking predecessors Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Reagan - declared,

“Our own generation is in a long war...a war that will be fought by Presidents of both parties...and lead this world toward freedom.”

And he was as good as his word: Twenty years and millions killed later, America is still at war for freedom - a freedom shining rainbow-like, leading the nation towards an endless horizon of fear, pain, and despair.

Diana Johnstone is an American journalist and author who’s lived and worked in Paris for decades. She’s spent that time chronicling, among other things, America’s destructive follies from the Pentagon’s doomsday preparations to its wars of empire. Diana’s books include: ‘Circle in the Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher’, ‘Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions’, ‘From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning’, (co-written with her father, Paul H. Johnstone), and now her newly released, ‘World Watcher: On Manufacturing War’, an anthology of some of her many essays on global affairs.

Diana Johnstone in the first half.

And; this month marks the sixth anniversary of another declaration of war - of a sort. On the fourth of February, 2020 Donald Trump’s first administration activated the “Emergency Use Authorization Act”, and the “PREP Act”; precursors to ‘Operation Warp Speed’, the Covid-19 response resulting, my second guest says, “in the worldwide forced vaccination of billions of people, millions of whom were injured or killed”.

That “operation” was curiously lauded recently by the man who launched it as, “one of the greatest military feats ever!”

Debbie Lerman is a retired medical writer and current investigative researcher. She has focused on all things Covid-related since 2022 independently, and with the Brownstone Institute as of 2023. Many of her articles on the topic feature in her book, ‘The Deep State Goes Viral: Pandemic Planning and the Covid Coup’. Her recent article, ‘Cheering the Militarization of Everything: Reflections on the 6th Anniversary of When Covid Was Declared a “National Security Threat”’ follows the thread.

Debbie Lerman and from Hiding to Celebrating the Military/Corporate Covid Convergence in the second half.

But first, Diana Johnstone and manufacturing an American Century of War.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘A Whistle and a Phone’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

This past Valentine’s Day, Transnational Institute leading light Susan George died.

The TNI says,

“TNI joins the rest of the progressive world in mourning the passing of Susan George at the age of 91. She passed peacefully with her family around her. Susan was the President of TNI, an honorary position in recognition of her role in creating and sustaining TNI from its earliest days.”

Susan graciously appeared on Gorilla Radio in its earliest days, show #69, back in September of the year 2000; almost 1400 programs ago.

We talked then about ‘Free Trade’ deals, the defeat of the MAI, (Multilateral Agreement on Investment), the Battle of Seattle, imposition of the Tobin Tax on financial markets, the fight against transglobal corporate efforts to take over trade and the World democracy, and her then-recently released book, ‘The Lugano Reports - On Preserving Capitalism in the 21st Century’.

I wrote then:

“Susan George is the Associate Director of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam and President of the Observatoire de la Mondialisation, or Global Observatory. Her books include: “How the Other Half Dies”, “A Fate Worse than Debt”, “Ill Fares the Land”, and “The Debt Boomerang”. Her latest book, “The Lugano Reports-On Preserving Capitalism in the 21st Century” is a fictional account too real for comfort.”

In its obiturary for Susan, TNI quotes her saying,

“Either we achieve together a new level of human emancipation, and do so in a way that preserves the earth, or we shall leave behind us the worst future for our children that capitalism and nature can deal them. No one knows in which direction the balance will tip, nor does anyone know which actions, which writings, which alliances may achieve the critical mass that leads us one way or another, backwards or forwards. I am acutely conscious of the precariousness of our moment, and my much-loved grandchildren give me added resolve to address it.”

Susan George Presente!

https://www.tni.org/en/article/susan-george-obituary

https://www.tni.org/en/profile/susan-george

Gorilla Radio #69 (special) CFUV 102FM ‘cfuv.uvic.ca’

Monday, Sept. 25th, 2000

5:00:00 2:00 Welcome to Gorilla Radio, etc.

The defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment

by the legions of little people proved democracy is still alive, if

only as a cyber ghost prowling the ones and zeroes of the internet.

But transnational corporations and their truckling, lick-spittle

government peons fronting the Neo-Liberal agenda are not ready to

surrender the vision of a New World Order, yet.

Susan George is the Associate Director of the Transnational

Institute in Amsterdam and President of the Observatoire de la

Mondialisation, or Global Observatory. Her books include: “How the

Other Half Dies”, “A Fate Worse than Debt”, “Ill Fares the Land”, and

“The Debt Boomerang”. Her latest book, “The Lugano Reports-On

Preserving Capitalism in the 21st Century” is a fictional account too real

for comfort.

The American blockade of Cuba is not news, it’s been going on from the early days of the revolution more than sixty-five years ago; what is new is an American desperation that now threatens friend and foe alike with its economic nuclear option. The latest iteration of the threat to Cuba’s survival - the energy embargo - is one none have so far dared challenge for fear of the hegemon; including stalwart allies Venezuela and Mexico.

Randy Caravaggio is a long-time organizer with the Victoria Friends of Cuba. Begun as the Victoria Goods for Cuba Campaign, Randy and his comrades have worked to supply the embattled Caribbean island nation with vital medical and other necessary supplies for the last thirty-three years, and more. And they’re just back from the latest mission there.

Randy Caravaggio in the first half.

And; last week Russian Embassy officials in Cuba said Russia “planned to deliver oil and oil products to Cuba as humanitarian aid.” Just when and how those shipments were to begin was left hanging; described by embassy staff to the Tass news agency only as occurring sometime “in the near future”.

But can Russia afford to take on another front in the undeclared War America and its vassals are waging against it, and the rest of an uncooperative World?

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism.

Among Helmer’s many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the Skripal sequel, ‘LONG LIVE NOVICHOK! The British Poison that Fooled the World’. His latest is the newly released, ‘The Navalny-Novichok Complex: Chronicle of a Staging’. John’s latest article at Dances with Bears is ‘THE PESKOVITES ARE DESPERATE AS PUTIN PLACES HIS BIGGEST BET’ a behind the scenes look at the diplomatic dynamics determining war and/or peace between the atomic superpowers.

John Helmer and the global war you’re not seeing in the second half.

But first, Randy Caravaggio and Cuba’s friends in deeds.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘In the Moments Before the Third World War’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Five weeks after the United States’ murderous assault against Venezuela it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish resistance from acquiescence. As with Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, acting Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez has too halted energy exports to Cuba and gone further, agreeing to onerous US-dictated terms for access to Venezuela’s oil resources, dressed up in the country’s recently reformed Hydrocarbon Law. And now reportedly beginning exports to Israel.

So what of the popular outrage and demands for resistance to what looks like an armed take-over of the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement and all those fighting for a better World new order?

Alison Bodine is an activist, author, researcher, and contributing editor for the Fire This Time Newspaper. She’s too an activist with the Venezuela Solidarity Network and Vancouver’s Mobilization Against War and Occupation. Alison served as an election observor in Venezuela in 2024 for both communal and presidential elections campaigns, and authored the book, ‘Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Venezuela’, published by Battle of Ideas Press.

Alison Bodine in the first half.

And; activist, journalist, author, and legitimate BAU disruptor, Yves Engler is in B.C. this week, presenting ‘The Failure of Social Democracy: NDP Support for Militarism and Imperialism’. He’s written a dozen books, 11 of them being on the perfidious history of Canadian foreign policy, the latest, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’, co-written with Owen Schalk.

Yves’ tour will land in Victoria February 16th, cross the strait to Powell River on the 17th, and down to Surrey and Burnaby on the 18th and 19th, before heading inland to the Okanagan for Kelowna’s Friday, February 20th event.

Yves Engler on a political structure to succeed where the NDP continues to fail in the second half.

But first, Alison Bodine and the Revolution’s darkest days.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Songs: ‘In Venezuela’

‘Watching the World Burn’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

The tediously familiar clamour for yet another “humanitarian intervention” is currently disturbing the cobwebs of the abandoned house on the hill legacy media has become. This time it’s Iran - or Iran again this time - and suddenly war hawks and vitriol spitters are burning with indignation for the well-being of the people they’ve cheerfully championed sanctioning “till their economy screams” for years.

Ken Stone is an activist and author who’s worked tirelessly for peace with the Syria Support Movement International, Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, and Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, among others. His book, ‘Defiant Syria: Dispatches from the Second International Tour of Peace to Syria’ is a compilation of reports from his 2016 mission to that then-besieged nation.

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; last year Canadian political activist extraordinaire, Yves Engler was charged by Quebec’s judiciary for harassing the Montreal police service. The risible charges followed a letter-writing campaign urged by Engler in response to his arrest on spurious charges - since thrown out for a second time - brought by an online Zionist activist. The court’s ruling is a shock to Canada’s legal system, but not entirely a surprise to those paying attention to the abuse of process employed by Israel’s defenders in this country.

Alex Tyrrell is leader of the Green Party of Quebec. An activist and ecosocialist, Alex also hosts the bilingual Youtube podcast show, La Mentalité Verte, or The Eco Mindset in English, and contributes essays to a variety of publications in French and English in print and online; including GlobalGreenNews where I found his recent article, ‘Yves Engler Found Guilty in Letter-Writing Case: A Full Account’

Alex Tyrrell and the Engler verdict reshaping “legal boundaries of activism, journalism, and democratic participation in Canada” in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and to the ramparts again to prevent further war against Iran.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Song: ‘In This Very Old New World Order’, ‘Our Oil’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

There’s been much speculation, both here in Canada and elsewhere, regarding recent remarks by Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney at the Davos World Economic Forum last week. Addressing the global business elite, Carney played harbinger of doom, announcing “a rupture in the world order” and declaring the “useful fiction” of values, like “respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the various states” dead; killed - it’s implied - by America’s new Imperial self-understanding.

But does Carney’s lament signal a “fundamentally shift[ed]...strategic posture” so long in lock-step with the U.S.; and if so, where’s the proof of Canada’s new-found “value-based realism”?

My first guest’s recent article, ‘Canada Follows U.S. Lead in Preparing for World War’ beggars belief in the prime minister’s much celebrated sudden Damascene conversion.

Professor Jeremy Kuzmarov is contributing Managing Editor to Covert Action Magazine. His book titles include, ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’, (written with John Marciano) ‘Warmonger. How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the U.S. Trajectory From Bush II to Biden’, and his latest, co-authored with Dan Kovalik, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; Mark Carney’s call for “middle power” solidarity in the face of America’s unhinged hegemonic impulses carries with it implicit caveats; the most glaring of those made apparent in the aftermath of the lethal kidnapping raid against Caracas and Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro. When first made aware of the clearly illegal attack against that country’s sovereignty and the person of the president Carney responded saying,

“Canada has not recognised the illegitimate regime of [Nicolás] Maduro since it stole the 2018 election.” Adding, “The Canadian government therefore welcomes the opportunity for freedom, democracy, peace, and prosperity for the Venezuelan people.”

A brave New Order indeed.

Chris Gilbert is professor of political studies at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas. He’s too an author and contributing editor at Monthly Review, and co-hosts the Marxist educational program, Esceula de Cuadros. Gilbert’s lastest book is, ‘Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and Its Socialist Project’.

Chris Gilbert in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and America’s “Willing” Coalition mobilizing at the Gates of World War III.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Song: ‘Another War for Oil’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Daily America resembles more the totalitarian states of the last century than the beacon of liberty it once represented to the World’s tired, hungry, and huddled masses. As shocking as that truth is - as revealed in myriad cell phone videos of ICE brutality performed in places like Minnesota and everywhere else its thugs are deployed - it can’t be a surprise. America’s drift towards fascism has been foretold by marginalized, and some more mainstream, media voices for at least as long as Kennedy’s assassination, (and anchored in George W. Bush’s post-911 “reforms”).

But, so much for history.

Now, the marginal voices are being systematically muted by concentrated Internet corporations, while Legacy press outlets, like once vaunted CBS News, are swallowed whole by the defenders of genocide abroad and destruction of the American way at home.

Jim Kavanagh’s a former college professor cum online Cassandra, publishing his political and social analysis at The Polemicist on Substack. His articles too appear on occasion at The Greanville Post, and Counterpunch, among other places.

Jim Kavanagh in the first half.

And; if Americans wonder why their domestic political descent doesn’t garner more international calls of unity and support - as after the 9/11 attacks of 2001 - perhaps it’s due to global schadenfreude; a collective sense of America getting back some of what it’s dished out.

Few enjoy seeing the poorest of Americans targeted for collective punishment at the hands of racists more properly belonging in Dixie in another century; but, when considering the horrors committed by it in the last decades...

Andy Worthington’s an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too a co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield. Andy’s articles appear at: AndyWorthington.co.uk, where I found his recent piece, ‘Photos and Report: 19 Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on the 24th Anniversary of the Prison’s Opening’. In it he writes,

“Between Saturday January 10 and Monday January 12, an impressive 18 vigils for the closure of the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay took place across the US and around the world, marking the 24th anniversary of the opening of the prison, with a 19th taking place on January 15.”

Andy Worthington and America’s 21st Century Devil’s Island in the second half.

But first, Jim Kavanagh and dismantling the Bill of Rights, one Amendment at a time.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Songs: ‘That Island’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Well, the secret is out! The Western World, led by America and its colourful leader, has slipped into tyranny. But - and it is a huge but - Donald Trump can’t take all the credit. Authoritarian crackdowns have been cracking - in myriad places and ways - for a long time.

One of the methods of shutting up critics in the European Union for example is “Sanctioning”. As with that favoured economic instrument orchestrated in hundreds of variations to punish Putin’s Russia, EU sanctions now target not just Russian oligarch’s, but European citizens with the temerity to criticize Brussels’ pathological foreign policy - among other things.

And what this portends the Continent today a famous, long-dead Veronese gentleman explains is: “No sudden mean of death, though ne’er so mean, But “banishèd”...”

Diana Johnstone is an American journalist and author who’s lived and worked in Paris for decades. She has too in that time served as press secretary to the Green Group in the European Parliament - an experience recounted in her latest book, ‘Circle of Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher’. Johnstone’s other book titles include: ‘Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions’, and ‘From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning’, (co-written with her father, Paul H. Johnstone). Her many essays on global affairs can also be found at ConsortiumNews.com.

Now, Diana has taken up the cudgel in defense of author and frequent foreign policy media interview subject, the former Swiss military colonel and intelligence officer, Jacques Baud.

Diana Johnstone in the first half.

And; for his part, Donald Trump’s wars rage at home, abroad, and everywhere in-between; including a battle for global trade routes using the last sure thing America thinks it has, Naval Power. Whether Caribbean cigarette boats, or internationally flagged super tankers, none are safe when the Emperor’s boom lowers.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, and has too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels.

Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘SOVCOMPLOT: How Pirates Tried to Capture the Treasure of the Russian Seas, and Were Caught Out’, and his latest, The ‘Skripal in Prison’ sequel, ‘Long Live Novichok! The British Poison Which Fooled the World’.

John Helmer and World War Sea rising in the second half.

But first, Diana Johnstone on Jacques Baud; alive but not well, and living in Brussels.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Songs: ‘In the Moments Before the Third World War’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

The weekend raid against Venezuelan sovereignty launched by the Americans raises numerous questions; questions like: Law, what law? Does the United Nations matter? And most importantly, How can the World operate when a single entity claims conqueror’s rights to all it desires?

The murderous kidnapping operation and flagrant subsequent brutalization of President Maduro and First Lady, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro offers bleak confirmation of the Trump administration’s answers to these question; but what of the international community?

Given the chance to condemn another in the long string of criminal actions undertaken by the United States, how that community of nations reacts now is - more than mere political barometer - it’s a signal moment in how the rest of this decade, and perhaps century will unfold, or perhaps unravel.

For its part, Canada has proven a bellwether for the Anglo-American Axis, (including its willing NATO accomplices). Delegitimizing the Maduro government was Prime Minister, Mark Carney’s opening observation; and it only gets worse from there.

Yves Engler is an activist, journalist, and author of countless articles and essays detailing Canada’s long, dark foreign policy history. Yves’ written a dozen books on that subject, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’, and his latest, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’, co-written with Own Schalk.

Engler is too an aspirant for the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party whose campaign to be included in the debates challenged the NDP’s commitment to both the democratic process and desires of its rank and file members. It’s a challenge the backroom rulers of the party have so far failed to meet.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; even as the World watches Venezuela, getting an accurate picture of what’s happened, what is happening, and how Venezuelans think and feel about it through the lens of an increasingly propagandized media is difficult, if not impossible.

Ricardo Vaz is a journalist and political analyst. He’s a contributor to the communication collectives Tatuy Tv and Utopix, and his articles appear regularly at Venezuelanalysis. His latest piece there is, ‘Venezuela: Brazil to Send Medical Aid Following US Bombing’.

Crowds in Caracas defend the Bolivarian Process. (photo: Rome Arrieche)

Ricardo Vaz and life in Wartime in Venezuela in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and Canada’s Premier, first among Quislings at the feet of Empire.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Songs: ‘They’ll Starve the Children’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

The ascendancy of the American president is the largest story of last year. Fear, loathe, or fear and loathe him, Trump’s retaking of the Imperial seat of power - and concomitant immiseration of much of the World this past year, and doubtless more to follow in the next - must be that. Because behind the suffering in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen; underlying the destabilization wars of Africa, and South America; pulling the strings of Ukraine and the disintegration of the European Union is Trump’s America. All these, and others besides, are the works in concert, building toward the completion of their Magnum Opus: Bringing down China to restore unrivaled World dominance.

The booty and loot pillaged along the way is all so much gravy for the Coalition of Killers; the blood and horror the costs to be borne by the people trammeled under the boot of the grander ambitions of greater men. Or so they would have it.

But before getting to tales of the plotters; as promised, a musical punctuation with David and Ai Tsuno.

David Rovics & Ai Tsuno - ‘Class War Zone’ - Class War Zone

History instructs, “Empire always comes home”, and perhaps for the first time Americans are experiencing what American power feels like for those in the far-flung lands where their men and women in uniform operate?

Lawlessness and criminal impunity reign for agents of ICE, the so-named border patrol tasked with protecting the homeland from foreign hordes; the “invaders” constructing America’s houses, working in its factories, picking its produce, slaughtering the livestock, and generally doing the necessary dirty work making a middle-class, affordable life, possible.

Daily, stories of raids on schools, churches, grocery stores, and workplaces by masked goons with guns appear on social media. Clips of these yahoos pointing weapons at citizens, blasting those recording their recklessness with tear gas and pepper spray, and running them off the road are legion online too.

But it’s much worse than just the 1st and 4th Amendment breaches committed by these mouth-breathers; kidnappings of citizens and migrants, legal and unpapered alike, with victims being disappeared and transferred - in many cases contrary to court orders - to who knows where are becoming common. As are cases of copycat criminals, impersonating the masked men to target women and children. It’s beginning to look a lot like Damascus in America today - running full trot to reproduce at home other of the Empire’s grim outposts tomorrow.

Orbital - ‘The Box’ - The Fire This Time soundtrack (b/g)

David Rovics/ Ai Tsuno - ‘Amazon’s Army of Robots’ - Army of Robots

Israel seems to have succeeded. After twenty-seven months of horror in Gaza, the wanton murder and destruction carried out by the combined powers of the West and its Arab satraps have produced the desired effect: the Gaza Strip is uninhabitable, and the West Bank and Jerusalem are fast being “cleansed” of Palestinian natives. Likewise, Syria and Lebanon are defeated, with the high-ground and borderlands being destroyed and depopulated to make room for colonization. Only lran remains functionally intact.

It’s a New Year’s celebration for the Empire, but beneath the popping champagne corks resentment seethes, and the real cost of “victory”: alienation of the Global South, sacrifice of international law, and immolation of all pretense to moral authority is yet to be calculated.

Meanwhile the killing continues apace, while survivors are left exposed to the merciless elements. A million will be among the 21st Century Holocaust in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria when the dead are finally counted.

David Rovics/Ai Tsuno - ‘To Hide a Genocide’ - Army of Robots

Worse than the current genocide of Gaza is the Holocaust to come. That is enabled by a population which remains sanguine, largely, as a million people are slaughtered; brutalized and starved before their eyes. Next it will be tens of millions - then hundreds. But for now there are the relatively few who rail into the maelstrom warning and damnation; fewer still who throw their bodies into the gears of the machine; and fewest who go to the killing floors to save what can be saved from the Gaza atrocity.

Dr. Deidre Nunan is a Canadian orthopaedic surgeon who has spent years in humanitarian medicine, working in the field in Central and West Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. She spent three weeks of her Summer in Nasser Hospital, Gaza, and came back to tell Canadians from coast to coast to coast just what the cost of their nation’s continued support of Israel means for the people where its bombs land. I spoke to Dr. Deidre in September of 2025.

Dr. Deidre Nunan from September 2025

David Rovics/Ai Tsuno - ‘We Say Cease, They Say Fire’ - Army of Robots

In another age, another American president promised to make of the USA again what it had never truly been; an exemplar of peace and liberation for oppressed peoples - a net exporter of the promise of equality and opportunity, where each could enjoy the basic human hopes of dignity and the chance to raise oneself and ones family to fulfill their greatest aspirations free of favouritism, prejudice, and corruption.

But what had been slick, if cynical, salesmanship in Ronald Reagan’s time, forty years later has recurred as a deadly, cancerous malignancy metastasizing now from Central America, aiming straight for the heart of Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuela.

I spoke with Ricardo Vaz in mid-November this year. Ricardo is a journalist, political analyst and contributor with the communication collectives Tatuy Tv and Utopix, and his articles appear regularly at Venezuelanalysis. Though events are evolving rapidly, his assessment of the big picture there, and Venezuelan attitudes towards the threatened invasion remain cogent.

Ricardo Vaz from November 2025

David Rovics/Ai Tsuno - ‘Terrorizing Venezuela’

Volodymyr Zelenskyy breezed through Canada last week en route to Mar-a-Lago. While here, he met with Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney who pledged further billions to the Ukrainian dictator’s war chest. This despite the constant peace refrain heard in the press.

In reality, none profiting the death and carnage in distant Ukraine and Russia care for an end to the war as it nears the start of its fifth year - least of all “peace president”, Donald Trump, who said after his meet-up with the Ukrainian proxy a deal with Russia was, “getting a lot closer, maybe very close.” Meanwhile both the graves and oligarch’s bank accounts continue to overflow.

I spoke with Russia expert, John Helmer last February, when peace was too “at hand”. Helmer is the most-frequently appearing guest in Gorilla Radio’s history. He’s too a frequently sought out commentator on all things Russia, appearing on myriad online programs. His analyses can too be found at his website, Dances with Bears. Here’s John on prospects for peace back in February, 2025.

John Helmer from February 2025

David Rovics - ‘Invisible Rulers’ - Songs for Zahid

Gaza is not the only place visited by the plague of Western interests. Millions have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the service of transnational capital. The Rwanda dictator, Paul Kagame is the spear’s point, who’s military and its militia groups - most notably the savage M23 - has murdered more than ten million Congolese in pursuit of the country’s immeasurable mineral wealth. His overseeing the slaughter has continued unabated through the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and as he’s done in other conflict zones of America’s making the current president Trump has promised “peace”, on his terms, even as the outrages go on.

Judi Rever is a Montreal-based journalist and author. We spoke in December about Kagame and DRC president, Felix Tshisekedi meeting-up with Trump in Washington to talk peace, and her Canadian Dimension article, ‘No End in Sight to Rwanda’s War in Congo, Despite Peace Deal’. Rever’s book, ‘In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front’ examines the Rwandan genocide of the last century and subsequent flourishing of its primary progenitor, Paul Kagame.

Judi Rever from December 2025

David Rovics/Ai Tsuno - ‘Little Orange Toys’ - Best of Ai Tsuno

Early in his second administration, Donald Trump forced the takeover of TikTok, the popular, Chinese-owned international online app with millions of American users. Most are familiar with the dance videos, and other kooky stuff uploaded. But TikTok too served as a platform for subversive political messaging outside the purview of the online monopolists, Google/Youtube, Facebook/Meta, and Twitter/X. This was especially irksome to Israel-defenders who couldn’t control the withering posts regarding that entity’s genocide-cum Holocaust in the Gaza Strip. So, owners ByteDance were forced to cede control of US operations to companies acceptable to the government.

First among these is Oracle. Oracle-owner Larry Ellison is a big supporter of Israel, and especially the IDF, or Israeli Defense Forces. He’s doled out hundreds of millions to both it and the rogue nation. Oracle, the same that through subsidiary, Skydance/Paramount recently purchased CBS News, (and is reportedly vying for CNN too) is now TikTok America’s “trusted security partner”, charged with, “securing and auditing the social media platform’s algorithm and user data”. To aid in that task, Oracle has hired on teems of apparatchiks from Israel’s notorious military intelligence outfit, Unit 8200. (Past Gorilla Radio guest, Alan MacLeod has written on this at MintPress News).

What it means is a further fettering of information through algorithmic and editorial gatekeeping policies guaranteeing the platforms employing Unit 8200 alumni don’t feature the crimes committed by Israel and its Western sponsors; platforms like: Google/Youtube, Facebook/Meta, Twitter/X and TikTok USA.

You may have noticed familiar voices disappeared from your TL’s; you may have disappeared yourself, like David Rovics, author of all the music on today’s show. David, who’s been on this program many times over the years, had his entire catalogue wiped from Youtube without so much as a “how do you do?” recently. If you consider his immense musical prolificacy, hundreds of songs and commentaries, the scope of the erasure begins to become clear. David says,

“In so many ways I’m unable to effectively promote gigs -- barred from using the “Invite” feature on Facebook Events, [and] catalog of albums deleted from YouTube Music, creating a whole cascading effect of suppression in terms of where my gigs are listed and how likely people are to hear about any of them...”

David Rovics/Ai Tsuno - ‘They Deleted David Rovics’ - Best of Ai Tsuno

That’s a wrap for Gorilla Radio’s Year-Ender. Of course there was lots more happening this year past; go to GRadio.Substack.com for the complete story. Happiest New Year’s to all, and “Adio to you, 2025!”

David Rovics/Ai Tsuno - ‘Watching the World Burn’ - Army of Robots

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Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Yet another armed attack against an oil tanker - this time in the Mediterranean Sea - confirms America’s decision to play its strongest card, maritime military power, in vainglorious hopes of making Unipolarity great again. From the Caribbean, to the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and the Baltic Sea, it’s to be a “golden” US Navy, (or its remotely controlled proxies) ruling the waves from now on. Or so declares the man who would be emperor.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, and has too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels.

Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, and most cogent today perhaps, ‘SOVCOMPLOT: How Pirates Tried to Capture the Treasure of the Russian Seas, and Were Caught Out’. Helmer’s recent article at Dances with Bears, ‘MERZ’S WAR AGAINST RUSSIA IS SPLITTING THE EUROPEANS – GREEK ROLE IN TANKER ATTACK EXPOSED’ gets below the surface of the ‘Ukraine drone’ cover story.

John Helmer standing alone on the bombing of the Qendil, and more.

Music: Ai Tsuno/David Rovics

Songs: ‘Hiding a Genocide’

‘Watching the World Burn’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, on the internet at: GRadio.Substack.com.

Check out GRadio on Telegram:

https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

and the blog’s at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/