On this episode we talked with Casey Gane-McCalla all about his new book Inside the CIA’s Secret War in Jamaica. We began with an overview of the geopolitcal situation Jamaica found itself in during the Cold-War. Casey explained how the Caribbean nation was one of the premier battle grounds for US imperialism throughout the 1970’s-1980’s. Casey breaks down how the two dominant political parties, the Jamaican Labour Party, headed by Edward Seaga and backed by the CIA, and the People’s National Party, headed by Michael Manley and aligned with Cuba, fought a bloody struggle for dominance. We then discussed the CIA’s use of anti-Castro Cuban terrorists and economic warfare to destabilize the country. We also touched on the racial politics which dominate Jamaica to this day.
Later we moved on to the introduction of cocaine and arms trafficking into Jamaica. Casey explained how, with the help of the CIA, Edward Seaga was able to build up his own well-armed drug-dealing militia, The Shower Posse. We explored how gangs in Jamaica are fully integrated into the Jamaican political system. Casey also talked about the links between Iran-Contra and Jamaica. We also discussed Jeb Bush’s deep connections to the Jamaican drug trade and right-wing Cuban terrorists.
We finished off the conversation by looking at the 2010 Tivoli Gardens Incursion which resulted in the eventual extradition of Shower Posse leader, Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Casey and I talked about the reasons that the CIA may have turned on their asset in the island nation. We also examined the larger issue of Drug War as it effects us as a society today.
We closed out by briefly discussing Casey’s next project, a book dealing with The Boston Bombing and the brutal murder of Casey’s friend, Erik Weissman, by Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
I was recently on The Afternoon Commute with Chris Kendall and John Adams to discuss my new show, The CIA and Hollywood. We discuss the first season of the show and what to expect for upcoming seasons. We focus on the culture creation aspect of the CIA, and how they are influencing not only societal norms, but influencing our opinions on events and people. Later we move onto a wide variety of topics including: Chase Brandon,George Orwell, 1984, Animal Farm,The Congress for Cultural Freedom, Peter Wright, Spy Catcher, Ben Afleck, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie The Quiet American, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Chuck Barris, Operation Mockingbird, CBS, The Social Network, Hill and Knowlton, Wag the Dog, Weaponized Culture,Judd Apatow, Modern Art, Presidential Elections, Shepard Fairey, Paul Begala, K Street, Pro Wrestling, The Clintons, Boston Bombing, Sandy Hook, Reality Television, The OJ Simpson Trial,Duck Dynasty,Libertarianism, Anarchism, The Gold Standard, Ron Paul, the Constitution, John Bush,September 11.
This is a wide ranging and long podcast (nearly three hours) We don’t agree on everything, but it is well worth a listen.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am no longer associated with Sibel Edmond, or BoilingFrogs/Newsbud. I think she is a con-artist and a petty and vindictive individual. If you want to know more about why I broke off all ties with Sibel you can find out more here:
On this week’s episode we continued our roundtable discussion on Gladio B with Sibel Edmonds and Tom Secker. Picking up where we last left off, the three of us explored some of the reasons for Russia’s presumed intransigence in the face of mounting NATO and Gladio operations in their backyard. As a case study for this we looked at Ayman Al Zawahiri’s little-discussed imprisonment by the Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Chechnya in 1996 while traveling with four diplomatic passports and a laptop. We discussed why the FSB captured him as well as why they let him go. Tom provided the context of the geopolitical situation in Russia at the time, and how this directly relates to the FSB’s actions with Zawahiri; with a defeated Soviet Union, Russia had to bide its time and begin to piece together what the new NATO strategy represented. Sibel expanded on this by discussing similar “diplomatic” incidents that she saw take place while at the FBI, dealing with foreign nationals caught in counterintelligence operations in the US using “diplomatic passports” who, like Zawahiri, were quietly released back to their home nation.
Later we explored the recent uptick in violence in Chechnya and how this relates to an increase in NATO operations meant to destabilize Russia. I discussed how fragmented ISIS is and how easy it is to turn on the Chechen terrorist movement’s switch. Tom asked both Sibel and me how we thought we ought to feel towards the Chechen terrorist movement: Should we support them because of their desire to seek independence from an authoritarian state? Or instead, should we oppose them as they are a tool of NATO power? Sibel explained how the choices are always the lesser of two evils, and how both NATO and Russia are bad choices. Sibel explained Gladio’s desire to break up areas such as Chechnya and Dagestan into autonomous states so that ultimately chaos will reign supreme. We talked about the prospects for Chechnya to become one of these autonomous NATO-backed nations complete with Gulen-style schools and a Gulen power base. Sibel later spoke about the threat of Russian nationalism to Putin’s tight grip on power. Sibel explained that while NATO despises Putin, they ultimately need him in place as the alternative; strong Russian nationalism would be much more detrimental to the Gladio Deep State. We ended the conversation on a philosophical note when Sibel asked Tom and me whether we would want to live in a unipolar world dominated by NATO, or in a bipolar world dominated by NATO and Russia. This was a wide-ranging discussion that ended with more questions than answers, so we will be continuing our roundtables on these topics — and more — next month.Quick note: There is a special announcement at the end of the show about a new podcast series that Tom and I are working on. It will be dealing exclusively with our research on the CIA and Hollywood and should be out in about two months. Check out Porkins Policy Review for more updates on this.
Quick note: There is a special announcement at the end of the show about the new podcast series that Tom and I are working on. It will be dealing exclusively with our research on the CIA and Hollywood and should be out in a bout two months. Check out Porkins Policy Review for more updates on this.
In our first episode of 2015, Christoph and I look at the most recent attack in the Chechen capital of Grozny. We focus on who may have been behind the hours-long gun battle that left nearly 30 people dead. First we consider the support that neo-nazis in the Ukrainian parliament have been lending to the Chechen militants, both in rhetoric and possibly in material support as well. We also speak about the recent capture of a high-ranking Chechen terrorist trying to enter into Crimea from Ukraine. We then move on to the role that Turkey is playing in protecting and using Chechen’s in Gladio B operations. Christoph breaks down his recent article in Boiling Frogs Post which details several interesting Gladio operatives discovered in Turkey in recent months and years. We talk about the recent capture of Ayman Al Zawahiri’s man in Libya, Abd al-Baset Azzouz, while he was staying in a resort town in Turkey. Christoph explains Azzouz’s connections with the recently deceased Abu Anas Al-Liby, and how Azzouz worked for NATO during the overthrow of Gaddafi. Christoph also examines the assassination of prominent Chechen Medet Onlu, and how this may have been the work of the Turkish government in an attempt to silence a critic of the “Jihadist highway to Syria” . We end this segment by discussing a recent article by Brookings president Strobe Talbott, in which he predicts that 2015 will be the start of the Third Chechen War, and how a “prediction” by a deep-state actor like Tablott is really an announcement.
Our second story focuses on the demise of the much-lauded Russian-led natural gas pipeline known as South Stream. We discuss how US and EU pressure on Eastern European nations led Russia to cancel construction of the pipeline into Europe, and to declare instead that it will rote this gas to Turkey. Christoph and I discuss how Turkey is gradually positioning itself to be a major energy broker in the world, and what this may mean, geo-politically speaking.
For our last story we move to Tajikistan and its security problem along the porous border they share with Afghanistan. We discuss the recent kidnappings of Tajik border guards by the Taliban, and how they underscore the massive security problem in Afghanistan. Christoph explains why Tajikistan represents a more serious problem than neighboring Turkmenistan, and examines the Russian and Chinese responses to it. Christoph also talks about plans to create a “Greater Badakhstan” out of Tajik and Afghan territory right on China’s border.
We finish of the episode by taking a look at the start of the Boston Bombing trial. We discuss the Tsarnaev family’s connections to the CIA, and how this trial may be part of a much larger narrative that has yet to play out. Christoph and I also share our predictions for possible developments in Central Asia and the Caucasus region in 2015.
Remember the Boston Marathon Bombing? It was that terrorist event which resulted in a massive manhunt, martial law in Boston, and lots more questions than answers. Well, the corporate media surely doesn’t want you to remember it. Hence their lack of investigative reporting on what really transpired that day and in the ensuing days. The Washington Post quietly penned an article today reporting on the clearing of an FBI agent who repeatedly shot (including execution style) the only person who may have been able to provide any information of the two alleged suspects. This time around the corporate rag has stuck to the story that Ibragim Todashev attacked the FBI agent with a metal pole, and not a katana, baseball bat, broom handle, or any of the other number of weapons he was alleged to have used against the two armed Feds. Aside from that, we have heard next to nothing from the corporate controlled media, aside from the official story. That official story being:
1) Two Chechen Americans planted bombs at the Marathon, for which there is no video evidence
2) eluded the powerful security state apparatus of America
3) killed an MIT police officer; seemingly for no reason
4) car jacked a person called “Danny” and confessed their crime to him
5) had a shoot-out and lobbed IED’s at police that resulted in the ringleader either being shot or run over, which allowed the other brother to somehow escape while the city of Boston was in military-style lockdown
6) culminated in yet another massive shoot out in which the remaining suspect was repeatedly shot, including in the throat, and with his diminishing strength somehow wrote a confession on the inside if the boat he was hiding in
Oh, and just an an aside
1) the brothers’ uncle was married to the daughter of notorious CIA agent Graham Fuller. While living in his house working for CIA front USAID in Central Asia he founded a “charity” that was later found out to be a front for Chechen terrorists.
2) one brother allegedly attended a CIA-connected Jamestown Foundation meeting
3) the other brother had an academic advisor who is not only former CIA, but also teaches the only college course on Chechen studies
4) and they were on several terror-watch lists
The alternative media by and large has not been of much help either. Rather than do the investigative work that needs to be done, they have instead fallen into the disinformation trap, that is, claims that “it was all fake”– from crisis actors and fake blood, to the bizarre theory that there were no explosions. As my good friend Tom Secker has stated numerous times, the alt media is either lazy or incapable of doing real investigative reporting. By walking into this cul de sac the crime will never be solved and we in the alt media do a great disservice to everyone concerned with the finding the truth.
Fortunately a few in the alt media have been attempting to investigate what happened in Boston. Principal among them is WhoWhatWhy.com, which has continued to do on-the-ground reporting on the bombing. Editor in chief Russ Baker recently wrote a two-part (part I, part II) article dissecting the major holes in the car-jacking scenario. As I mentioned above the whole official conspiracy theory hinges on an anonymous witness whose story simply does not hold up. I would urge everyone to read not only that, but all of their other pieces on the Boston Bombing. Guillermo Jimenez and Mad Cow Productions have also done some great reporting on the myriad connections between the security services and the Tsarnaev family. When I started the podcast for this website, I made it a point to have the first episode focus entirely on the bombing.
So why does this matter? The simple reason is that this is a crime. Crimes need to be solved. We cannot sit by and let the pressitutes regurgitate the company line. And furthermore, we in the alt media movement cannot simply lap up the most outlandish theories. If we allow this to happen then we let the power elite win and we allow them to control us. Buying into ridiculous theories shuts down the whole argument. Why look into Danny and his preposterous story if the bombing was all staged in advance? Something much larger and deeper happened on the morning of April 15, 2013. In the coming months there may not even be a trial. The defense may simply take a plea deal to spare the life of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Without a trial the secrets of what happened could very well die. That death will reverberate through our society. Many of us need to pull our heads out of the sand and start thinking critically. Boston set a very terrifying precedent in the sordid history of the American security state. This must be countered with hard facts. So please do some real research and question everything. The alt media has come a long way but I fear that it is falling into a black hole from which it may not be able to escape.
The clearing of the FBI, along with the state’s reliance on a sole anonymous witness who has changed his story three times, is part of the cover up. If the alt media drops the ball on this one we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Podcast correction: I misspoke when talking about Imam Gulen’s charter schools in the United States. I said that he operated thousands of schools. He actually operates over a hundred. Sorry for that gross mischaracterization.
As I said in the podcast there is a lot of information here. The show notes provide all of the articles that I discussed in the podcast. I have also provided some really excellent resource pages on Graham Fuller and Imam Gulen for those interested. And for anyone that truly wants to understand the reality of the “war on terror” and how it functions I have provided a link to an incredible interview series between James Corbett and Sibel Edmonds on Gladio B.
Porkins Policy Review 