Aaron Franz joined in the conversation as we looked at the film The Recruit, which more than any other film we’re covering in this season was moulded by CIA entertainment liaison Chase Brandon. Like so many films, it tells the story of a young person inducted into a secret world with secret rules and codes of thinking and behaviour, and in doing so inducts the audience into that same world. We discussed this dynamic from various angles – black operations, secret societies, occult or mystery school philosophies – before studying Brandon’s appearance in the most fascinating ‘making of’ documentary ever made.
Guillermo Jimenez joins us for this episode to talk about Robert De Niro – a man whose relationship with the CIA spans two decades. We look at four films – Wag the Dog, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and The Good Shepherd, the latter three of which have documented CIA assistance in their production. We discuss Robert De Niro’s transformation from a serious dramatic actor into a kooky comedy figure, and the CIA’s apparent involvement in that. This led to us asking whether the three comedy films are trojan horses for a sneaky CIA agenda, and talking about how The Good Shepherd has many flaws but this did not stop the CIA themselves from praising it as ‘probably as good as any film on the Agency’.
In this opening episode of the new series Pearse and Tom look into the CIA’s adaptations of George Orwell’s two most famous novels – Animal Farm and 1984. We focus primarily on Animal Farm, a revolutionary animated film in several senses of the word, produced by Louis De Rochemont – a man who had worked with several other government agencies prior to making Animal Farm with the CIA. The animation was does by British firm Halas and Bachelor, and we also discuss their background. This episode also examines the paper trail, looking in Orwell’s FBI file and the MI5 records on actor Michael Redgrave, who starred in 1984 despite being a suspected Communist. We conclude that the CIA had something of an obsession with Orwell at this time, and were subverting his works quite radically in these films.
On this long-awaited episode Christoph and I begin with a close look at the recent assassination of Russian politician Boris Nemtsov. We analyze this bizarre case and the myriad explanations given by the Russian government as to who was really behind it. Christoph and I discuss the links between Nemtsov’s alleged killers and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Christoph breaks down how this killing has exposed the deep divisions between the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Kadyrov and his cronies. We explore why the FSB has been behind all of the major news leaks relating to this case, and what this means for Kadyrov going forward. Before rounding out this segment, we also take a look at the 15-day disappearance of Putin and offer our own interpretations of what may have been going on.
In our second segment we turn once again to Georgian politics and dissect Mikheil Saakashvili’s latest attempts to bring about a Georgian Maidan. We discuss the pro-Saakashvili demonstrations that took place in Tiblisi recently and what they really mean going forward for Georgia and NATO. Christoph points out that while Saakashvili is still very useful for Washington, they have no desire to overthrow the government again. We also look at the recent scandal that developed when a government-funded group screened a graphic anti-Saakashvili documentary before school children.
For our third segment we turn once again to the Turkmen-Afghan border, where the violence and tension continues to rise. Christoph offers his analysis on several interesting new developments including: the murder of ethnic Turkmen by Afghan police, the continued incursions into Afghanistan by the Turkmen army, and the so-called threat of ISIS to Turkmenistan. We touch on how Turkmenistan is using the alleged threat of ISIS to clamp down on any and all dissent with in the nation. Later we question the validity of a report stating that Russian advisers and Uzbek troops are actually on the Turkmen-Afghan border. Lastly we update our listeners on the latest developments in Afghanistan itself. Christoph and I look at President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to the US where he pleaded yet again for Obama to order US troops to remain even longer. Christoph also updates us on the negotiations currently underway between the Taliban, China and Pakistan.
In our closing segment Christoph and I take a look at the latest shenanigans of journalist/freedom fighter/CIA agent/filmmaker Mathew VanDyke. We focus on VanDyke’s most recent business venture, Sons Of Liberty International, a “non-profit” military training firm which is building a Christian Army in Northern Iraq to fight ISIS.
Tom Secker and I had the great pleasure of joining Kira Young on her radio show The Bridge. This time around we continued our discussion of cults by focusing on those within the alt-media. We took at a look at how and why cults seem to flourish within the alt-media, with a particular focus on the role that the Internet plays in reaching out to potential members.
Later we looked at the cult of personality around people such as Alex Jones, and how he is able to operate at the level he does today. We then moved onto a well known figure in the alt-media, Stefan Molyneux, and delved deeply into the cult he has created with the Free Domain Radio community. Tom and I discussed the fact that much of Molyneux’s cult activity is masked by his libertarian/anarchist ideology. We zeroed in on his obsession with destroying one’s own family structure (De-Fooing) so that one can join his own digital family where he is the guru in charge. We also discussed whether or not Molyneux is a psychopath.
Later the three of us explored how many of the more extreme views in alt-media (reptilians, ancient aliens) tend to isolate people from their families and friends, which ultimately makes them vulnerable prey for cults. I rounded off our discussion with a look at the role that cults such as the Moonies and The Church Universal Triumphant have played in crafting and co-opting the alt-media community.
In this interview Pearse Redmond shares some of his research and thoughts on Scientology and cults in general. What is a destructive cult, and why would anyone join one in the first place? A better question might be: what pseudo-cults have I, myself been involved in, and to what extent? Human nature is ours, but it is also the Garden from which the guru attempts to pick Forbidden Fruit.
On Saturday, February 21, Tom Secker and I had the great pleasure of joining Kira Young on her live radio show The Bridge. We started out with a discussion of the recent surge of neo-nazism within the alt-community and what this means for alternative media. Later on, we explored the fascination the Left has with Vladim Putin and all things Russian. We then moved on to the subject of cults and their connections with the intelligence services. I went into some detail regarding Scientology and various cultic connections to the CIA. In particular, I discussed psychic research being conducted by the CIA at Stanford Research Institute, headed by two high-ranking Scientologists, Harold Puthoff and Ingo Swann. I related how the CIA was funding this research while the FBI was deeply involved in infiltrating and arresting high-ranking members of the cult. Later, we explored the LSD movement and the CIA orchestration behind it, as well as the interesting Scientologists who were part of that movement. We rounded off the conversation by looking at the current drug culture within the alt-movement. All three of us gave our thoughts on the popularity of DMT and ayahuasca, and how the promotion of these power psychoactive drugs may be part of a much wider plan to derail the alternative community. We also reflected on how cannabis culture has changed from a movement promoting personal freedom into a cult of getting stoned all the time. Finally Tom and I talked about our new podcast series The CIA and Hollywood, and what to expect from it.
For this month’s episode Christoph and I start by taking a look at a very important aspect of Gladio B, the East Turkestan Project, and specifically the terrorist smuggling rings that are active in bringing Uyghurs to Turkey. We start by taking a look at the most recent example of this type of operation which was just discovered in Shanghai. Christoph breaks down how widespread these large and sophisticated human smuggling rings are. We also touch on how the ongoing battle between Erdogan and Gulen has affected the political debate about the Uyghur issue in Turkey. Christoph and I highlight this point by discussing the rare admission by World Uyghur Congress President Reba Kadir that there are in fact Turkish smugglers sending Uyghurs to Syria and Iraq, and the interesting response in the Islamist Turkish media calling Kadir an “infidel” and “American agent for sale.”
Next we move on to Azerbaijan and discuss the the most recent attempts by the South Caucus nation to crack down on foreign-funded media and NGO’s. This time we look at the recent closing of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) offices in Baku and the arrest and detention of RFE/RL journalists and staff. Christoph breaks down how this recent crackdown is being spun in the West as a geopolitical shift away from NATO and the West, and into the arms of big, bad, evil Russia. Christoph and I explain how even though the rhetoric of Azerbaijan may be hostile, behind the scenes, particularly with regard to NATO, everything is going splendidly. We finish out the segment by dissecting one aspect of the Azerbaijan issue that continues to flare up, the ongoing crisis in breakaway region Nagorno-Karabahk, and how this relates to Azerbaijan’s increased “anti-Western” actions.
In our next segment we move on to the other actor in the Nagorno-Karabahk region, the small South Caucus nation of Armenia. Christoph and I start by discussing Armenia’s recent entry into the Russian-led economic bloc, the Eurasian Economic Union. Christoph explains why Armenia chose to join the EEU despite Europe’s desires to the contrary. We discuss how Armenia is stuck in a difficult position when it comes to EEU, as Russia , which they depend on to militarily back up their de-facto control of Nagorno-Karabahk, is their sole protective ally in the world. Christoph relates how Armenia’s membership in the EEU has led to the closing of the National Democratic Institute, which signals a tacit defeat for the American Deep-State’s “democracy promotion” agenda. We finish out this section on Armenia by focusing on the recent brutal murder of a family of seven by a Russian solider in the city of Gyumri and how this complicates Russian-Armenian relations.
Closing out this episode of PGG Christoph and I update the listeners on the Tajik-Afghan border crisis and the pipeline politics of Russia and Ukraine. We also comment on the recent Charlie Hebdo killings by looking at it from a geopolitical perspective. Christoph and I discuss how bizarre it is – – casting the already dead Awlaki and the practically dead Zawahiri as the masterminds of the attack. I also give my take on the situation in Yemen and how the Houthi led takover of the nation might be part of a much larger plan to get former president Saleh back in power.
Joining me for this discussion is Guillermo Jimenez along with regular guest Pearse Redmond. We talked about three recent examples of the crossover of popular culture and politics – the film The Interview, the attack on Charlie Hedbo magazine in Paris, and American Sniper. We talked about how the popular dialogue around these events has diluted and degraded the notion of freedom of speech, and outline a more careful and refined version of the same idea.
Launching in April of this year The CIA and Hollywood is a new series by Pearse Redmond and Tom Secker. The first season will have seven episodes where we will mostly focus on modern films, with guest appearances on five of the shows.
The full list:
Episode 1: The CIA and George Orwell
Pearse and I introduce the series and look at how George Orwell’s two major works – 1984 and Animal Farm – were both adapted into 1950s films by the CIA for propaganda purposes. Using files from MI5, the CIA and the FBI we outline in detail the people involved in the productions and how they fit into a wider picture of what was going on in Hollywood at the time.
In the first guest episode we welcome Guillermo to talk about Robert De Niro’s lengthy connections to the CIA. From Wag the Dog, where he plays a character based on CIA Entertainment Liaison Chase Brandon to the Meet the Parents film franchise which was assisted by Brandon, to his epic rewriting of CIA history in The Good Shepherd, De Niro has for nearly 20 years had some kind of relationship with the Agency.
Episode 3: The CIA and The Recruit – Guest: Aaron Franz
From one screen legend to another, Aaron joins us to discuss The Recruit starring Al Pacino. This film was co-written by Chase Brandon and the character Pacino plays is clearly based on Chase Brandon. This tale of a young man inducted into the secret world of the CIA is a perfect set up for inducting the audience into that same world, though what we find there is simply more layers of manipulation and doublethink.
The film that predicted the entire Edward Snowden story is next on the list, when Adam joins in the discussion. The Gene Hackman character, based on a role he played in the 1970s thriller The Conversation, foreshadows everything about Snowden, including his name and where he grew up, and the film’s depiction of mass surveillance has much the same effect on audiences as Snowden’s ‘revelations’ some 15 years later.
Episode 5: The CIA and The Social Network – Guest: Thomas Sheridan
The only film featured in this series that was not explicitly sponsored by the CIA, but which bears all the hallmarks of CIA involvement. Thomas Sheridan joins us to examine this fictionalised account of the founding of facebook, possibly the world’s greatest ever surveillance tool. We examine Aaron Sorkin’s career and the key information he left out of his screenplay about the early investors in facebook.
Episode 6: The CIA and Charlie Wilson’s War– Guest: Sibel Edmonds
One of Chase Brandon’s final films mythologised one of the most important events in understanding modern history – the Soviet-Afghan War and the CIA’s support of the Mujahideen. Sibel lends us her expert knowledge as we dismantle this piece of CIA unhistory – which is also scripted by Sorkin – and construct a true version in its place.
Episode 7: The CIA and Argo
To round of this season Pearse and I take a look at the Oscar-winning Argo, produced by the unholy trio of Clooney, Heslov and Affleck, all of whom have long-standing ties to the CIA. We examine the film not only as a deliberate mis-telling of real historical events but also as a celebration of the CIA’s very useful relationship with the Hollywood dream factory. We reflect back on what we have learned through doing this first season, and briefly explain what to expect from season two.
Porkins Policy Review 