war on terror

For my Boxing Day Special I am joined by goof friend Tom Secker. We have a lengthy discussion about the year 2017, our ups and down’s, and some of our favorite and least favorite news stories of the year. We begin by discussing our favorite news stories of the year. Next Tom and I move onto what we felt was the most important news story of the year. We discuss why the War in Yemen and the defeat of ISIS constitute this title. Tom and I also discuss the significance of the #MeToo movement, and some of the problems we have with the way in which the media is covering it.

Western foreign policy and the dangerous ignorance gap
by Ian Sinclair
Morning Star
20 December 2017
While the mainstream media’s self-serving obsession with so-called fake news and Russian interference in elections looks set to continue for a long time, a far more serious problem with Western journalism is being conveniently ignored.

This week I welcome Martin Darlington, co-host of the History by Hollywood podcast, which reviews and analyses films claiming to be based on real events. We talk about Martin’s adopted homeland of Qatar, his views on history and politics, how he and his co-host Andrew prepare and produce the podcast, the power of music in […](Read more...)

Long answer: probably, with an ‘if’. Short answer: yes, with a ‘but’. A recently-published report into the terrorism in Britain in the run-up to this year’s general election has found that the Manchester bombing might have been prevented. The review says that MI5 had planned to discuss the potential threat posed by the reported bomber […](Read more...)

Lone Survivor is one of very few recent DOD-supported films that is based on real events from the war on terror.  In a period where the Pentagon is more interested in Transformers and superhero movies, Lone Survivor is an exception.  Reports from the military Hollywood offices called it ‘a two hour infomercial’ about US special […](Read more...)

We spent the day at a beach in Brooklyn. Skyscrapers floated in the distance and my toddler kept handing me cigarette filters she had dug out of the sand. When we got home, I checked my email. I had been sent a picture of a very different beach: deserted, framed by distant headlands with unsullied sands and clear waters. As it happened, I was looking not at a photograph, but at a painting by a man imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

From Ochelli.com

Newly released documents shed light on the FBI's entertainment liaison office - officially titled the Investigative Publicity and Public Affairs Unit (IPPAU), including how they work on dozens of popular films and TV shows, and reject requests for support for PR reasons, just like the Pentagon. (Read more...)

You’ve heard the platitude that hindsight is 20/20. It’s true enough and, though I’ve been a regular skeptic about what policymakers used to call the Global War on Terror, it’s always easier to poke holes in the past than to say what you would have done. My conservative father was the first to ask me what exactly I would have suggested on September 12, 2001, and he’s pressed me to write this article for years.

November 22nd is the 27th anniversary of a European Parliament resolution condemning Operation Gladio. For decades, secret armies in over a dozen NATO countries carried out terrorist attacks to influence the political landscape and manipulate elections.