Leading us into climate extinction

August 15

GUEST: Chuck Kaufman, long time activist and editor of NicaNotes, a blog for those interested in Nicaragua, published by the Nicaragua Network/Alliance for Global Justice, talks about how the US suppresses popular movements for democracy in Latin America.

NicaNotes is a blog for Nicaragua activists

Chuck and I have a lot in common. We both spent time in Nicaragua during the Contra War, and will never forgive our government for what it did to the Sandinista revolution. In those days, the US media was captured by the Pentagon, much the same as it is today. The New York Times shuffled its reporters until each and every one of them parroted government talking points: that the Sandinistas were Communists and a danger to democracy.

Those years helped both of us in understanding how a false narrative is created and then sold to the American public. If a Latin American leader supports US big business interests, why anything goes no matter how many are tortured and killed. If a leader supports equality and true democracy, why it is time for the CIA assassins.

We both knew about the School of the Americas, even though our government has changed its name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. That is where dictators and death squad assassins have been learning their trade for the last 40 years. Of course, that truth is not part of the accepted story being so skillfully fed to us.

When it comes to empire, the truth never dares raise its head in the nation's schoolbooks or newspapers. Like a nation of sheep, millions of Americans don't really want to spend time researching a different narrative. And there is always a price to pay for truth telling that runs counter to what is red, white and blue.

Maybe that is how empires have always been. The Germans cheered while a racist madman led them into a disastrous and unwinnable war. Our own madman president is leading us into climate extinction, another unwinnable conflict with our life supporting mother earth. Isn't it time we created a new narrative of what our country is, and what is should be?


The CIA is not a consequence

August 8

GUEST: Moss Robeson, activist, political researcher and recent panelist at the Left Forum, talks about the CIA's legacy in Ukraine, and about the 5th anniversary of the House of Trade Unions Massacre.The World Banderite Council

Looking into any complex political movement can be disorienting. And in fact, most movements contain many often contradictory forces. Added to this complexity is the censorship of our nation's media, ever willing to present coups and uprisings through the prism of the Pentagon.

Ukraine is a perfect example: a US inspired coup involved thugs from various far right nationalist groups including the Nazi Party. The CIA working with Neo-Nazis? That is where the empire's media is at its weakest. Why most Americans don't know that the CIA has been working with such groups since the end of World War II.

Moss takes us down the rabbit hole of Neo-Nazi groups and the CIA. Yes, the CIA has a history of favoring Nazi sympathizers in Greece, Italy and other countries. After the war, the CIA immediately sided with the Nazi collaborators in hunting down and killing thousands of Greek patriots who had resisted the German occupation. If you do find that in our nation's history books, it will be categorized as one of the unfortunate consequences of the Cold War.

The CIA is not a consequence. It is the tool of empire, ever willing to torture and kill in the service of our nation's disastrous ambition to control the world. Empires have always behaved in that way, and we the people will ultimately pay the price for ours.

Further victims of our nation's imperialism

August 1


GUEST: Ellie Bernstein, human rights activist and film producer whose credits include “Closing the Open Door – The Fight for Higher Education,” “Waiting for Mercy- The Case Against Mohammed Hossain and Yassin Aref," and “We Are Still Standing: Stories of Women in Black,” will talk about her latest documentary, “The ISIS Trial” which will be showing Friday, Aug 9 (7 pm) at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills, 320 Sawkill Rd, Kingston.

FBI Entrapment and Targeting of Muslims

This story is compelling. At a recent movie showing, the audience discussed racism, FBI entrapment, and empire. Almost all the victims of the FBI stings are poor, uneducated, and Black. They are also young Muslims looking for a father figure. Father figures get paid especially well for their skills in leading vulnerable teenagers to the bait. In the documentary The Isis Trial, the provocateur was paid over $119,000.

The long term effect on Muslim communities is incalculable. Teens face 35 years in prison for bragging about joining ISIS and playing paintball. The trials were tainted by endless videos showing Muslim atrocities. Some of the teenagers were tried for murder, simply because the provocateur was able to convince them to travel to LA to buy a fake passport.

In years to come, this will be part of the shame of US racism, FBI abuse and yes, empire. By provoking wars in Somalia, millions of its citizens are on the move and desperate. Some end up in the "land of the free," only to end up as further victims of our nation's imperialism.