A look back at developments around the world in the last year by the editors of Signs of the Times. In Part 1, we look at changes in Britain since the Tube bombings one year ago, the open warfare against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories waged by Israel, and the continuing resistance of the Iraqi people against the US invader in Iraq. Like the proverbial frog in boiling water, the heat is being turned up one degree at a time. How close are we to being cooked?
Running Time: 00:44:46
Download: MP3
IT IS a tale of secret agents and surveillance that could have come straight out of the BBC's classic John le Carre spy drama, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Confidential papers show that the BBC allowed Britain's domestic security agency, MI5, to investigate the backgrounds and political affiliations of thousands of its employees, including newsreaders, reporters and continuity announcers.
The files, which shed light on the BBC's hitherto secret links with MI5, show that at one stage it was responsible for vetting 6300 BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce.
Comment: You see? There is no control of the press, there is no such thing as conspiracy.
STRASBOURG, France, July 6 (Xinhua) -- European Parliament (EP) President Josep Borrell, who will leave for China on Friday for a seven-day visit, on Wednesday hailed the rapid economic growth of China.
Comparing China to an "awakening lion," Borrell said China has undergone "huge" changes over the past 13 years.
You may have missed it, and I wouldn't blame you if you deliberately ignored it, but 'Osama' released a new audio message two days ago...
Headline by headline, a trickle of news leaks on Iraq and the anti-terror campaign has grown into a steady stream of revelations, and from Pennsylvania Avenue to Downing Street, Copenhagen to Canberra, governments are responding with pressure and prosecutions.
The latest target is The New York Times. But the unfolding story begins as far back as 2003, when British weapons expert David Kelly was "outed" as the source of a story casting doubt on his government's arguments for invading Iraq, and he committed suicide.
And it will roll on this fall, when Danish journalists face trial for reporting their government knew there was no evidence of banned weapons in Iraq.
Comment:
"Systematic surveillance is becoming one of the most worrying features in relations between authorities and media worldwide," said the journalist federation's White.
This is about more than just a battle between state and media, security and the people's right to know. It is perhaps the greatest battle for what remains of "democracy" in many Western countries. If the pathocratic government officials win, freedom of speech will be
officially gone. Governments will be able to operate with impunity. If a reporter - or anyone else - finds out that his government lied to get that nation involved in some crazy imperialist scheme, too bad! He'll either keep his mouth shut, or go to prison. Welcome to the New World...
Joe Quinn
Sott.netThu, 29 Jun 2006 12:00 UTC
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert came out and
publicly stated something that every
unbiased observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has privately known for many years: that, to the Israeli oligarchs, the life of an Israeli citizen is "more important" than that of a Palestinian.
Rima Merriman, a Palestinian American living in Ramallah, wrote this series, "Portraits of Palestinian Resistance", telling the stories of the four Palestinians killed and one of the 57 wounded in Ramallah on 24 May 2006, as they struggled to protect a Palestinian activist and political prisoner from an Israeli undercover unit.
This week, we interview Lisa Guliani of WING TV. WING TV has recently created quite a stir in the alternative media and the so-called "9/11 Truth Movement" with its hard-hitting questions about people like Alex Jones and Jeff Rense. Lisa's expose on Jeff Rense resulted in quite an uproar, including threats of legal action to silence her and her source. In part two of our phone interview with Lisa, we discuss the co-opting of 9/11 and alternative media researchers through clever and subtle divide-and-conquer COINTELPRO tactics.
Running Time: 00:38:59
Download: MP3
Simon Tisdall, Ewen MacAskill, Robert Tait
The GuardianSat, 24 Jun 2006 12:00 UTC
The US is determined to topple Iran's Islamic government whether or not the crisis over the country's nuclear activities is resolved, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said yesterday.
US enmity towards Iran was entrenched, Mr Larijani told the Guardian. "The nuclear issue is just a pretext. If it was not the nuclear matter, they would have come up with something else."
The compromise package offered by the west on Iran's nuclear activities amounted to a "sermon", he said, rejecting outright President George Bush's demands this week that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment.
This week, we interview Lisa Guliani of WING TV. WING TV has recently created quite a stir in the alternative media and the so-called "9/11 Truth Movement" with its hard-hitting questions about people like Alex Jones and Jeff Rense. Lisa's expose on Jeff Rense resulted in quite an uproar, including threats of legal action to silence her and her source. In part one of our phone interview with Lisa, we dive into her experiences with COINTELPRO related to the 9/11 Truth Movement.
Running Time: 00:48:59
Download: MP3
Comment: You see? There is no control of the press, there is no such thing as conspiracy.