Paul Todd, Jonathan Bloch, and Patrick Fitzgerald London: Zedbooks, 2009, £14.99, p/b, £39.95 h/b This book is published as the debate rages in America about whether or not the activities of the Bush regime, specifically the torture of various combat detainees and suspects rendered from various parts of the world, should be subject to … Read more
Lost plot After Lobster 35 I received a long letter from John Pilger, followed by a revised version of it, complaining about my review of his recent book, Hidden Agendas in 35. With the second version came a note asking me to publish his letter without comment. I replied that I was happy to publish … Read more
[…] is a political animal and his (left) radical political views run through this. He made his film ‘Walker’ (which I haven’t seen) in Nicaragua while the US-supported contras were attacking the country. But the politics are mostly part of the background and the occasional aside. This is centrally about his becoming a filmmaker and […]
Web update Jane Affleck Thanks to Terry Hanstock and David Turner for contributions. Comments and details of interesting websites are welcome: my email address is 101521.3515 @compuserve.com Freedom Of Information Campaign for Freedom of Information http://www.cfoi.org.uk ‘The Campaign for Freedom of Information campaigns against unnecessary secrecy and for greater public access to official and other … Read more
[…] to a 21-year veteran of the newspaper.’(10) While visiting Parry’s site, take a look at ‘Gary Webb’s death: American tragedy’,(11) Parry’s admirably succinct summary of the CIA-cocaine- contras story which led to the suicide of the American journalist, Gary Webb, who was the first to break it in the major media. An even dodgier […]
Obituaries Ace Hayes (1940-1998) by Daniel Brandt Ace R. Hayes, 58, an activist and political researcher who was well-known in the Portland, Oregon area, died on February 13, 1998 from an aneurism in the brain. Corruption and conspiracy in high places is the name of the game, but Ace was on the case. His broad … Read more
This arrived from David Guyatt, prefaced by the following message: ‘Robin: This is being published on a couple of Internet sites shortly. I’ve given up trying to sell it or get any responsible journo/editor to carry my work forward. They all have chickened out, mostly without an explanation or even a courtesy call/reply. Fuck ’em … Read more
[…] of accusing your enemies of running drugs into the otherwise innocent bodies of the US citizenry (China, Cuba, Nicaragua), while allowing your political allies (KMT, anti-Castro Cubans, Contras) to fund-raise by dope-dealing. This essay focuses on Anslinger as manipulator of Congress, media and the American public, rather than the content of his anti-communist bullshit […]
[…] history and inspired by a passion for freedom, idealism and realism were closely interwoven’. Subsequently, as Grandin remarked in an interview, () Reagan was to elevate the Contras – the Nicaraguan anti-communist paramilitaries – into the ‘moral equivalents of the US founding fathers’. Readers will have to decide on Grandin’s case for the continuity […]
[…] the word slips from executive vocabulary. For the moment at least, it maintains ownership of the term ‘rogue state’. A previous US administration managed to support the Contras, as well as organised crime, without being so described, so that it can continue to determine the criminal: e.g. those involved in drug distribution but not […]
