Hess: A Tale of Two Murders Hugh Thomas Hodder and Stoughton, London 1988 This is an update of Thomas’ 1979, The Murder of Rudolf Hess. Thomas argues (a) that the ‘Hess’ in Spandau prison wasn’t Hess at all but a double; and (b) that both the real and false Hess were murdered. The first proposition … Read more
Edward S. Herman (with illustrations by Matt Wuerker) South End Press, Boston, USA, 1992, $13.00 (USA). The passing of the Bush regime is a good time to pause and express thanks to one of those American writers who have tenaciously dug out the reality behind the business-sponsored counter-revolution that has largely formed the politics of … Read more
Elite Jottings Fascinating letter in the Daily Telegraph (see 4 January and 9 January 1985) on the career of Dom Mintoff, recently retired as Prime Minister of Malta. Mintoff was a Rhodes Scholar (1939-41) and the 4 January letter informs us that “in the flush of the George Cross award (to Malta) he wanted integration … Read more
‘Let me through! I’m an academic conspiracy expert.’ Peter Knight London and New York: Routledge, 2000 p/b £16.99, h/b £60 Page one of this book or, rather more accurately, page ix, the first page of text, saw my heart sinking. There, above the preface, was a quote from Don DeLillo’s novel about Lee Harvey … Read more
Non-lethal weapons This is a scam, essentially. A smoke-screen of wacky bits and pieces – sticky stuff and gooey stuff and slippery stuff – conceals the real agenda, the development of various form of energy weapons. There was a big conference – billed ‘secret US only’ – in June this year, a ‘Detailed review of … Read more
Mark Felt is ‘Deep Throat’. Bob Woodward says so, and his word is law in this particular arena. No matter that Woodward had a dozen sources, some of whom may have been more important than Throat himself. The point is that ‘Throat’ is anyone Woodward says he is, and he says he is Felt. In … Read more
The Real Odessa: How Peron Brought the Nazi War Criminals to Argentina Uki Goni London: Granta Books, 2002, £20 If there was a category of work called Detective History, Uki Goni really ought to be awarded Book of the Year. Undeterred by the shredding and incineration of key documents, rebuffs from the supporters of Peron … Read more
A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility Taner Akcam London: Constable, 2007, 576 pp., £9.99, p/b The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition Desmond Fernandes Apec Forlag: 2008, 309 pp., £16.99, p/b Denial of the Holocaust is very much the preserve of the fascist right and … Read more
Bombing your way to the negotiating table? What follows, by ‘Owen Catchpole’, was distributed by Dr Sean Gabb on the Net in February. It has been slightly edited. In Northern Ireland, by law, compensation for damage caused by terrorist bombs always has been payable by the government. For that reason commercial insurance policies in NI … Read more
According to the Dublin magazine Magill (August 1984), Frank Terpil was ‘kicked out’ of the CIA in 1972. He apparently admitted this while visiting Beirut in the autumn of 1980. He also claimed to have worked for the UN in New York and to have been Idi Amin’s advisor there. These ‘revelations’ were made at … Read more
