Fast and Furious: The Hidden History of the Drug War

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research

As US troops deploy to the Mexican border to deal with the fallout of Fast and Furious, details continue to emerge about this flagrantly illegal operation to arm Mexican drug lords in a supposed sting operation. But as veteran investigative journalist Bill Conroy points out, operations like this were going on years prior to Fast and Furious and this latest scandal is just another example of a drug war that is not what it is believed to be. This is the GRTV Feature interview with your host James Corbett and our special guest, Bill Conroy.

 

Who's Afraid of War Crimes Prosecution? Dick Cheney Cancels Toronto Speaking Event

Source: Corbett Report

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Elizabeth, have cancelled a planned speaking engagement at Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre next month, citing safety concerns. According to the president of the promotion company that booked Cheney for the April 24th speech, “He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high. They specifically referenced what happened in Vancouver.”

The reference is to a fierce protest of Cheney’s speech in British Columbia last September which necessitated the use of Vancouver riot police and kept Cheney locked inside the speaking venue for seven hours while crowds were dispersed.

Uganda, AFRICOM and the Kony Boogeyman

Source: Corbett Report and GRTV

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

When oil executives announced the discovery of the largest onshore oil reserves in the Lake Albert region of Uganda in July 2009, the landlocked, oft-neglected East African nation of Uganda went from relative obscurity to a key partner for multi-national oil conglomerates.

Although buoyed by the news, the people of Uganda were naturally cautious, having seen how oil finds in Nigeria and Angola have brought more violence, bloodshed and instability than peace or prosperity.

Pentagon Admits Desecration of 9/11 Remains

Source: Corbett Report and GRTV

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

A new report released on Monday by the Pentagon reveals that some of the unidentifiable remains from victims at the Pentagon and Shanksville sites on September 11th were disposed of in a landfill.

The details come from the findings of a review committee examining operations of the Air Force Mortuaty division at Dover Air Force Base. In the report, it is noted that before 2008, disposal of unidentified remains was delegated of by subcontractors. The guidelines at the time called for the contractors to incinerate the remains and dump the ashes in landfills.

Language Imperialism - Dr. Thorsten Pattberg on GRTV

Source: GRTV

As China, Russia, and the other so-called BRICS nations rise in economic and geopolitical power, interest in these countries' language and culture is increasing in the West. Dr. Thorsten Pattberg of Peking University examines the ways that translation of certain key concepts misrepresents history and culture.

This is the GRTV Feature Interview for Global Research TV with host James Corbett and guest Dr. Thorsten Pattberg.

Beyond SOPA: The Past, Present and Future of Internet Censorship

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research
James Corbett

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

When legislators in the US abandoned their support of SOPA and PIPA in the wake of mass popular protest earlier this month, many of those who had been mobilized by the legislation–which would have granted the US government almost total power to block access to foreign websites accused of so much as linking to copyrighted material–did not have long to enjoy their “victory.” The very next day the New Zealand police swooped in to the million-dollar estate of MegaUpload.com founder Kim Dotcom, arresting him and three others at the US government’s request for alleged racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering. The Department of Justice is now seeking the MegaUpload CEO’s extradition to the US.

India Fingerprinting, Iris Scanning Over One Billion People

Source: Global Research and Corbett Report
James Corbett

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

The Indian government is ramping up efforts to fingerprint and iris scan the entirety of its 1.2 billion citizens in an ambitious scheme to issue national ID cards with biometric details. The plan has so far already enrolled 110 million people and issued 60 million numbers, with the aim of enrolling 200 million by this March and 600 million by 2014.

The project stems from two separate, overlapping schemes, the Unique Identifcation program (UID), aimed at providing India’s 200 million poorest citizens with failsafe access to the country’s welfare system, and the National Population Register (NPR), aimed at providing a national ID card to help identify and deport undocumented immigrants.

Indefinite Detention: The NDAA and the Enemy Expatriation Act

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

Each year, the United States Department of Defense budget and expenditures are approved by Congress, which must pass a National Defense Authorization Act in order to fund the DoD.

The most recent bill, however, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, shocked many by containing an extraordinary provision allowing for the indefinite detention without trial of anyone even suspected of providing support to individuals or groups identified as terrorists. Although this represents little change from the US government’s modus operandi in waging the so-called war on terror, many were amazed to discover that this provision specifically applies to American citizens, who can now be detained by American military personnel anywhere in the world, including on US soil, and held indefinitely without trial.

Mass Panic Over Bird Flu Experiments

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research
James Corbett

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: 

The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity made the unprecedented decision last month to call for the censorship of a pair of papers in scientific journals that describe how to make a novel, human transmissible form of bird flu that could kill unprecedented numbers of people.

The studies, conducted by two independent teams of researchers in the Netherlands, the US and Japan, concluded that it was possible to mutate ordinary H5N1 avian flu virus into an aerosol-transmissible form that could spread easily and rapidly through the air. According to Dr. Ron Fouchier at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, “We have discovered that this is indeed possible, and more easily than previously thought.”

Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War

Source: GRTV and Corbett Report
James Corbett

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

As the drums of war begin to beat once again in Iran, Syria, the South China Sea, and other potential hotspots and flashpoints around the globe, concerned citizens are asking how a world so sick of bloodshed and a population so tired of conflict could be led to this spot once again.

Military Buildup Across The Globe

Source: Corbett Report

The world's attention is increasingly focused on Syria and Iran as the region continues to move toward military confrontation. Less noticed, however, is that the pieces are being put into place for a truly global conflict, with military buildup taking place in every region and threatening to draw in all of the world's major powers.

AFRICOM and the Recolonization of Africa - Cynthia McKinney on GRTV

Source: Corbett Report and GRTV

Established in 2007, the United States African Command (AFRICOM) has been at the heart of the US agenda to secure the continent and its resources America's supposed enemies. Now, many are questioning AFRICOM's role on the continent at all.

Find out more about the race for Africa's riches in this week's GRTV Feature Interview with former congresswoman and 2008 presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

End Of Nations: Canada, the U.S. and the "Security Perimeter"

Source: GRTV and Corbett Report



TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US President Barack Obama announced the much-anticipated border agreement between the two countries at a press conference in Washington last week, those mainstream media outlets that bothered to cover the story at all compensated for the lack of details about what specifically is going to be accomplished by this accord by focusing on issues of no practical significance.

New Documents Expose Police Spying at G20

Source: Global Research and Corbett Report
James Corbett


TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

Documents released under the Access to Information Act in Canada earlier this month reveal what Canadian activists have long known: that a massive RCMP-led intelligence dragnet worked for 18 months to infiltrate, surveil, and ultimately arrest activists across the country for their participation in Vancouver Olympic and Toronto G20 activism.

War With Iran: History and Consequences

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research
James Corbett


TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

This month’s release of a new International Atomic Energy Agency report into Iran’s nuclear energy program has caused a flurry of diplomatic activity, political posturing, and breathless news headlines about the supposed imminent threat of an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program.

China, the U.S. and The Next Cold War

Source: Corbett Report  and Global Research
James Corbett


TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

President Obama flew from this weekend’s APEC summit in Honolulu to Canberra, the Australian capital, to meet with Prime Minister Gillard on a range of bilateral issues. He is expected to give a speech on a “deepening of the alliance” between the two countries on Thursday, even as details begin to emerge about growing US/Australian military cooperation.

Diplomatic sources indicate that the plan for an increased American military presence in the region–including a marine task force of 2500 troops, more ships and nuclear-powered submarines, and a greater number of joint military exercises–have been conveyed to the other Asia-Pacific powers, including China.

The move comes as Secretary of State Clinton gave her own address to the APEC conference last weekend stressing that the Asia-Pacific region is becoming the world’s new “center of gravity.” Her remarks were interspersed with tough words for China regarding the valuation of its currency.

The increasing US military involvement in the region, combined with the tough talk on China’s economy, serve to highlight the growing turbulence in the region exemplified by China’s own increasing military presence in the South China Sea.

Now, Pentagon officials are warning of the early stages of a new Cold-War style era in US-Chinese relations, with one military official telling the Washington Times that the Pentagon’s new plan, known as The Air Sea Battle concept “is to China what the maritime strategy was to the Soviet Union.”

Iceland's Debt and the People's Revolt - Michael Hudson on GRTV

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research.ca

Iceland was one of the hardest hit nations in the immediate aftermath of the September 2008 economic meltdown. Asked by their own government to pay Britain and Holland for bailing out their Icesave-exposed banks, the people overwhelmingly said “no.” Do the actions of the Icelandic people present an example for the rest of the world as we see the global economy teetering on the edge of collapse? Find out on this week’s GRTV Feature Interview with Michael Hudson.

The Assassination of Gaddafi

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research.ca
James Corbett

The killing of Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of NATO-backed, Al Qaeda-linked forces marks the end of a campaign expressly aimed at the assassination of a head of state and overthrow of a sovereign country in direct violation of international standards that have held sway since the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II and the establishment of the Geneva Conventions.

The NATO campaign, known as “Operation Unified Protector,” was a continuation of the US-led Operation Odyssey Dawn. It formally began on March 23rd, 2011 and was ostensibly an operation to enforce United Nations Security Council resolution 1973. From the outset, the NATO coalition partners insisted that the aim of the mission was not to assist a rebel insurgency in overthrowing the Gaddafi government, but to “protect civilians” in accordance with UN resolutions.

The real intention of the operation was revealed shortly thereafter, however, in a joint op-ed in the pages of the International Herald Tribune penned by Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy:

“Our duty and our mandate under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 is to protect civilians, and we are doing that. It is not to remove Qaddafi by force,” they wrote in their editorial. “But it is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Qaddafi in power.[...]It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government.”

Within a month, the true aim of the intervention to assassinate Gaddafi was confirmed when NATO forces bombed the personal residence of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi, Muammar’s youngest son in an admitted attempt to kill the Libyan leader himself. While Gaddafi himself was not caught in the strike, his son and three of his grandchildren were killed in the bombing.