Hillary said it was “the Russians” that sunk her in 2016. Trump claimed China done for him in 2020. Canada’s intelligence agencies bolstered Trump, saying “China tried to do for us too, twice!” But Canadian Security Establishment and CSIS concerns had less to do with a love of the democratic process, as Canadian foreign policy writer Yves Engler points out, than being “deeply integrated with their US counterparts in an intelligence sharing alliance driving hostility towards China”.

This is not to say all allegations of poll-fixing are merely sore-loserism, cynical foreigner-bashing, or in the Canadian case shamelessly currying favour. Transnational political meddling is real, and one need only look to recent elections in South America to see how it works, and what it costs the people.

Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News and author of the books, ‘Bad News from Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting’, and ‘Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent’. MacLeod’s recent piece at MintPress, ‘U.S. Meddling in Brazilian Elections, Preparing for Possible Military Intervention’ reveals who’s haunting South America’s electoral machinery.

Alan MacLeod in the first half.

And; in case you’d forgotten about the genocide in Palestine, it’s still going on; in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in Jerusalem. The so-called “settlers”, extremist Jewish supremacists, continue their robbing, and beating, and killing to such a degree even American ambassador and avowed Christian Zionist, Mike Huckabee referred to them as, “terrorists”.

Hardly news, but what Huckabee and the rest of the West won’t concede is the unity existing between the Israeli political establishment and those same settlers.

Salam Hamdan is a Palestinian political activist and Social-Feminist from Ramallah. She’s in Canada, watching things go from worse to worst at home.

Salam Hamdan and keeping an eye fixed on Palestine in the second half.

But first, Alan MacLeod and the small step from political meddling to military intervention.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘Attacking Canada’

‘May Your Village Burn’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Despite protestation to the contrary, Canada is still supplying arms in aid of the Genocide in Palestine. The Carney regime obscures the trade by using Trump’s gangster state as a “plausible deniability” cut-out, while Canadian war materiel transits to Israel much as America used Canada to supply Britain before officially entering the war against Hitler in Europe. The fact U.S. policy is concomitant with Israel’s genocide, though never mentioned in the press, is glaringly obvious. The same can be said for Canada, and the rest of America’s willing coalition of collaborator nations around the World.

For the present, citizen action is the only avenue in stopping the impending West Asia Holocaust. In Canada, Arms Embargo Now are trying. Their recent ‘Elbit Out of Canada’ day of action took the message to the sidewalks outside governing MP’s offices across the country. I went down to the demonstration in front of Victoria Liberal MP, Will Greaves’ office.

On the sidewalk with Arms Embargo Now in the first half.

And; iconic activist, scholar, and former leader of the Green Party of Canada, Joan Russow died August 6th. Joan founded the Global Compliance Research Project, who’s work digging through international law and compliance with environmental agreements already signed, but not ratified, and those ratified but not acted upon is a signal effort.

Joan was a frequent guest on this program going back to the year 2000, and I feature today a conversation we had as she readied to go down to Venezuela in 2012.

photo: Heather Tufts

Joan Russow Presenté! in the second half.

But first, pounding the pavement for peace with Arms Embargo Now.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘A Great Day to Leave the Army’

‘May Your Village Burn’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Today’s the day.

Together, we are putting Elbit, and Elbit suppliers across the country, ON NOTICE.

Israel’s countless war crimes in Gaza and across the region are enabled by Elbit Systems – and Elbit, in turn, is enabled by a vast network of suppliers and manufacturers, including dozens across Canada. Today, people across the country are saying NO MORE to this complicity in our backyards. Elbit must get OUT of Canada.

We’ve launched a brand new email tool that allows you to send a message to the CEOs of Elbit suppliers and partners across Canada.

TELL SUPPLIERS TO BREAK UP WITH ELBIT

We are putting these companies on notice – letting them know that we will crank up the pressure until they stop supplying Israel’s war machine.

Unlike our politicians, who are used to receiving messages from the public, these company execs will be shocked to find their inboxes flooded. For many, this will be the first time they hear that the public is aware of their ties to Elbit, and is calling on them to cease all business with the company. So let’s be unignorable. Send your email now, and share the tool widely.

Communities from coast-to-coast are also mobilizing in-person today at the facilities of these same companies. If you live near one of the public-facing actions listed below, be sure to join in.

Actions open to the public (from west to east, in local time)

• Victoria – Rally at the office of Victoria MP Will Greaves to demand that Canada sanction Elbit. 852 Fort Street, Victoria. 12PM. Info here.

• Kelowna – WS Technologies. #2–215 Neave Road, Kelowna. 11:30 AM–1:00 PM. Info here.

• London – Amphenol. 2480 Huron Street, Units 4/5, London. Morning: 5:30–7:30 a.m. Afternoon: 2:00–4:00 p.m. Info here.

• Kitchener – Pixus Technologies, 335 Gage Ave, Kitchener. 5:30PM. Info here.

• Simcoe County – Raytheon Elcan in Midland. 12-hour vigil. Info here.

• Haldimand County – Battlefield International. 86 Munsee St. N, Cayuga. 7:3AM. Info here.

• Toronto - TTM Toronto, 8150 Sheppard Avenue East, Toronto. 2:30pm. Info here.

• Peterborough – Peterborough City Hall. 500 George St N. 11AM-1PM. Info here.

• Belleville – 12-1 pm. North Front and Bell Blvd. Info here.

• Ottawa – Phone zap targeting Billet Precision. 12pm. Info here.

• St John’s – Kraken Headquarters. 189 Glencoe Drive, Mount Pearl. 8AM. Info here.

As we told you last week, we’ve already seen a supplier commit to ending their shipments to Elbit as a result of this campaign.

Let’s ramp up the pressure and force more companies from coast to coast to do the same.

Solidarity,

The AEN Organizing Team

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 12th, 2026

Monday’s massive earthquake in western Colombia served as a terrifying reminder to neighbouring Venezuelans still picking up the pieces of the twin quakes they suffered just seven weeks ago. Countries around the World have pledged support in rescue efforts for Colombia, where hundreds are confirmed dead, with more feared under the rubble.

Despite the Venezuelan toll exceeding 5,000 persons killed, the United States-led sanctions against the nation remain - if under a temporary reprieve - even as US official representatives, and agents of transnational corporations, are in-country, devising methods of shrinking the government of acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and dividing the “spoils” of Donald Trump’s invasion.

Ricardo Vaz is a journalist, political analyst and contributor with the communication collectives Tatuy Tv and Utopix. His articles appear regularly at Venezuelanalysis.com. His latest there is, ‘Venezuelan Business Spokesman Says Privatizations Will Boost ‘Efficiency,’ Reduce State Payroll’.

Luigi Pisella: carving out pieces of Venezuela for private sector. Image: Al Día

Ricardo Vaz in the first half.

And; there’s perhaps no more apt analogue for Colombia’s current political situation than Monday’s deadly earthquake. The new president has as much as promised to tear down all leftist, Gustavo Petro’s government has built up over the last four years. Abelardo de la Espriella promises too he will reinstitute “War on Drugs” measures, including the glyphosate “fumigado” in the countryside. But do his American sponsors really want to recreate the conditions of Colombia’s civil war?

Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. Dan represented unions whose membership were targeted by Colombia’s death squads during the generational conflict there. Dan currently acts as Gustavo Petro’s legal representative in the United States.

Dan’s book titles include: ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’, ‘The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela’, and his latest, co-authored with Jeremy Kuzmarov, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’.

Dan Kovalik and the New Plan for Colombia in the second half.

But first, Ricardo Vaz and a vulture’s plunder in Caracas.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs:

‘Our Oil’

‘Israel First’

Reason2Resist with Dimitri Lascaris featuring Vijay Preshad - August 12, 2026

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Over the weekend, author, journalist, political disruptor, and long-time friend of this show, Yves Engler was arrested in Montreal. The City of Montreal Police Service responded to a 911 call made by Quebec media personality, Richard Martineau. Famous for his extremist views and aggressive style, Martineau claimed to the 911 operator Yves’ public questioning of his position on the Gaza genocide was “hyper aggressif”.

Yves Engler’s written a dozen books on Canadian foreign policy, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’. His latest is, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’. Yves’ website, YvesEngler.com is replete with hundreds of essays on that subject, and others detailing the Canadian governments’ perfidy both abroad, and from coast to coast to coast. His account of the Martineau encounter and subsequent arrest, ‘Yet again, anti-Muslim columnist lies, claims victimhood’ of course appearing at his site too.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; last week, Donald Trump announced the besieged government in Gaza had agreed to disarm. A hopeful sign but, as with all the American president’s statements, it’s to be taken with liberal amounts of sodium chloride.

Andy Worthington’s an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too a co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield. Andy’s articles appear at AndyWorthington.co.uk, and at his eponymous Substack site, where I found his recent post, ‘Hamas Agrees to Disarm, But Only If Israel Leaves Gaza’.

Andy Worthington and the prospects of an American-brokered peace in Palestine in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and trying to take Quebec’s serious press seriously.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Locked and Loaded’

Canadian Foreign Policy Hour - https://yvesengler.com/canadian-foreign-policy-hour/

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

There’s arguably no defendant within America’s vast and populous industrial prison complex more indicative of the current decline of both that country’s domestic judicial system, and the overall demise of the very concept of international law than Alex Saab. The Venezuelan businessman, former government minister, and geopolitical fixer extraordinaire is currently imprisoned by the United States - again - victimized as a way of getting leverage on the American case against kidnapped Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.

John Philpot is a Montreal-based defense attorney in International Criminal Law. Long active in Palestinian and African support organizations and the peace movement, John too took part in the campaigns to free political prisoners Meng Wanzhou, (the Huawei executive detained in Canada for years) and Alex Saab, after his detention, torture, and subsequent extradition to America by Cape Verde.

John Philpot in the first half.

And; what sorry state is the law of this land, Canada in? You need look no further than Bills rammed through Parliament under the Summer recess wire by the nascent Carney majority government to chart the downward path of jurisprudence here; a steep and precarious death spiral for the pillars of our democracy: freedom of speech, assembly, and association.

Yves Engler is an activist, journalist, and the author of countless articles and essays detailing Canada’s foreign policy history. He’s written a dozen books on the subject, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’. His latest is, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’.

Yves’ website, YvesEngler.com is replete with hundreds of essays detailing the cognitive dissonance laying between the proclaimed and demonstrable Canada, and it’s where I found his recent article, ‘Israeli authoritarianism rears its ugly head in Toronto’.

Yves Engler and the listing Canadian ship of state’s floundering under fledgling Captain, Mark Carney in the second half.

But first, John Philpot and Venezuela as abject lesson of the perils in appeasing Donald Trump’s America.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘Commandante Che Guevera’

‘A Toast to Planet Earth’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wars and rumours of war; this is the stuff that makes presses spin and TV ratings soar. So why then are we seeing and hearing nothing about the most dire conflict in living memory from either corporate media - bound by law to maximize shareholder profit - or the CBC, whose stated mission promises Canadians, in return for tax funding, “...to inform, to reveal, to contribute to the understanding of issues of public interest...”?

The civilian population of Palestine - in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Jerusalem - are targeted by both the Israeli military apparatus, aided by Western nations, and a heavily armed settler occupation, aided by police and the IDF. Men, women, children killed and maimed, imprisoned, thrown out of homes, and robbed of their livelihoods. All this every day as the global establishment: the legal and medical professional boards, universities, corporations, institutes, associations, and NGOs maintain a silent complicity, or worse. How is that not on every front page; how is it not the biggest, bleeding, leading story of every teevee broadcast?

Dr. Dorotéa Gucciardo is Director of Development for Glia Equal Care and leads Glia.org’s Open Gaza Initiative project. Dorotea’s too a member of EyeWitnessGaza, a coalition of health professionals, aid workers, community leaders and others calling out policy-makers and the media here in Canada for their failures to oppose this 21st Century Holocaust. More, she’s a literal eyewitness to the Gaza genocide, now in the besieged enclave for the fourth time.

Dorotéa Gucciardo in the first half.

And; over the weekend members of the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network took to the streets to demand this country, Canada withdraw from NATO and cancel the planned NATO War Bank. Their call takes on added urgency, as our international banker/prime minister moves the economy towards a war footing, making perpetual war the key to an expanding financial future. Or so Mark Carney and his Liberals hope; but a growing number see their plans as less a road to prosperity than a daylight theft from the public purse in the service of private power; a certain path to moral and national bankruptcy.

Dr. Tamara Lorincz is a fellow with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. She’s also served on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and too contributes her knowledge and talents to World Beyond War, and the No to NATO Network. She’s too a renown ‘disruptor’ of Canada’s public facing servants of War.

Tamara Lorincz and choosing peace over war, Canada over NATO in the second half.

But first, Dorotéa Gucciardo from where these latest wars began, and continue; Gaza.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘How Do You Know They’re Lying? (Song for NPR)’

‘Your Country is a Military Target’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

While Julius Caesar was never warned to beware the Ides of his namesake month, the present-day pretenders to power would do well to take heed; there’s treachery afoot and portentous things roiling, threatening the comfort of far off Kings, and Tsars - and even that for the Emperor’s seat.

It’s dark days indeed; more befitting Hallowe’en than the Dog Days. Even the universal luminescence brought by news Saturday of the suspiciously timely demise of Lindsey Graham - emissary of Darkness itself - is eclipsed Monday by the ascension of another Graham, a sister to sit in Lindsey’s place, (as he has no wife or husband) to do as the law of South Carolina allows. That last begging a continuity of the late and lightly lamented’s ill-meaning agenda.

John Helmer’s the principle behind the news and analysis website, ‘Dances with Bears’. An author, journalist, and educator, John’s spent decades living in and reporting on Russia. His academic career includes teaching at Harvard, and serving as political advisor to presidents and prime ministers from Washington, D.C. to Athens, Greece.

Helmer’s book titles include: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘Long Live Novichok: The British Poison Which Fooled the World’, and ‘Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out’. His latest at Dances with Bears is, ‘BLEEDING TO DEATH IS NOT A RUSSIAN OPTION.’

Today, an extended visit with Gorilla Radio’s most often appearing and favoured guest, Dr. John Helmer.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Francisco’

UnitedwithFrancisco.org

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

The twin earthquakes devastating La Guaira state, Venezuela June 24th were accompanied last week by a disaster in neighbouring Colombia. Though the theft of democracy perpetrated during Colombia’s presidential elections cannot match the 3,342 confirmed killed in Venezuela - yet - the illegitimate elevation of ⁠Abelardo De La ​Espriella promises to inflame a starkly divided Colombian polity, signalling perhaps an end to the tenuous peace accords agreed in 2016 to stop the decades-long civil war there.

Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. Dan represented unions whose membership were targeted by Colombia’s death squads during the generational conflict there, and he’s served as a foreign observor to elections in that country, and acts currently as Gustavo Petro’s legal representative in the United States. He too recently became the focus of the U.K. authorities.

Dan’s book titles include: ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’, and his latest, co-authored with Jeremy Kuzmarov, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’.

Dan Kovalik in the first half.

And; Iranians and Shia from around the World have come to the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran in their tens of millions to observe funeral commemorations for the late Supreme Leader, Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Khamenei was assassinated in a sneak attack February 28, 2026 during peace negotiations. The United States and Israel claim joint responsibility for the bombing that killed the Iranian political and Shia spiritual leader along with his wife, daughter, son-in-law, infant granddaughter, and an indeterminate number of Iranian officials.

Dimitri Lascaris is a journalist, activist, lawyer, broadcaster, and co-founder of Canada’s Disruption Network. His online show, Reason2Resist is available on Rumble, Youtube, and at Substack along with his many articles “focusing on Western government criminality”. Dimitri’s spent the last couple of years focused especially on the collective West’s destruction in West Asia.

Dimitri’s traveled to Iran to witness and record the remarkable demonstration of support for the late Iranian leader.

Dimitri Lascaris from Tehran in the second half.

But first, Dan Kovalik and is it past as prologue in Colombia?

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Last Morning’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Last week, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio promised a “big, fast, effective” and “whole-of-government” American response to the twin, dinner hour earthquakes that struck near Venezuela’s capital Thursday last.

Delcy Rodriguez’s interim government welcomed foreign help in rescue efforts for the disaster; responsible for the deaths so far of an estimated 1,700 hundred people - a toll expected to grow much higher in the coming days, as more than 40,000 Venezuelans are reported missing through unofficial databases.

Disaster teams from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador were joined by brigades from Colombia, Brazil, the US, and other countries. But Rubio’s “whole-of-government” remark opens the prospect of an expanded and worrying American militarization of Venezuela’s calamity.

Ricardo Vaz is a journalist, political analyst and contributor with the communication collectives Tatuy Tv and Utopix. His articles appear regularly at Venezuelanalysis.com. His latest there is, ‘Venezuela: Earthquake Death Toll Rises, US SOUTHCOM Deploys Military Assets’.

Thousands reported missing following the collapse of dozens of buildings in La Guaira. (Archive)

Ricardo Vaz in the first half.

And; just how ready is Canada for disaster? Last week, the Carney government announced the launch of an expanded atomic energy project, seeing sixties-era CANDU nuclear plants upgraded, while new, never-seen-in-Canada Small Modular Reactors are built at Darlington’s decades-old facility in Bowmanville, Ontario, with other sites, from coast to coast to coast promised to follow.

SMR proponents are quick to reassure, the new “CANDU’s” can NOT become the Three-Mile Island’s, Chernobyl’s, or Fukushima’s of the future. But still, there are those who council caution.

Professor M. V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. He was too Director pro tem for the school this past academic year.

Small Modular Reactor “Roadmap”

Professor M. V. Ramana and a January, 2021 interview we did on the then-new plans of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to take Canada’s nuclear smaller with SMRs in the second half.

But first, Ricardo Vaz and the twin tragedies to befall Venezuela.

Music: David Rovics/Kamala Emanuel

Song: ‘Venezuela’

CodePink Venezuela Relief

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

As anticipated, British PM, Keir Starmer resigned Monday becoming the latest in a long string of prime ministers to leave office without facing, post facto, their electorate. Fitting too following Starmer’s monkey-wrenching of Labour Party policy - making it indistinguishable from the Tories - and backing Israel’s genocide to the hilt.

It’s a lesson Canada’s freshly majority-mandated Liberal Party leader Mark Carney would do well to heed. Carney, like Starmer, has u-turned on his election platform, rushed through draconian safety and security Bills, supports the 21st Century Holocaust in Palestine, and has made Liberal policy-making indistinguishable from his right-wing Parliamentary colleagues across the aisle.

Yves Engler is an activist, journalist, and the author of countless articles and essays detailing Canada’s foreign policy history. He’s written a dozen books on the subject, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’. His latest is, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’.

Yves’ website, YvesEngler.com is the necessary first stop for Canadians and foreigners alike wishing to understand better the cognitive dissonance that lay between the proclaimed and demonstrable Canada.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; thanks to its unlamented outgoing prime minister, Britons are now stripped of basic protections from tyranny in the form of laws in place for nearly a thousand years. While departing Starmer isn’t the sole architect of what one British journalist calls “a legal architecture of repression”, he and Labour built upon and reinforced that repression, now being sprung on both thousands of everyday citizens and the resistance group, Palestine Action.

Andy Worthington’s an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too a co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield. Andy’s articles appear at AndyWorthington.co.uk, and at his eponymous Substack site, where I found his recent post, ‘How Were the Filton 4 Sentenced for Terrorism When They Weren’t Convicted of Terrorism?’.

Andy Worthington and arousing “the most punitive instincts of authoritarian ministers and compliant members of the judiciary” in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and Canada on the Carney fast-track to moral and material ruin.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘To Run This World’

Canadian Foreign Policy Hour - https://yvesengler.com/canadian-foreign-policy-hour/

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded June 17th, 2026

“... You’ve got to be taught from year to year”, the song goes. “It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear...” Well years and years into the Ukraine-Russia war, (more than four for those counting) we’re yet to hear - here in the west at least - commentators question, or wonder aloud about how a fraternal hatred could erupt so catastrophically. Perhaps because the answer to the question is too simple: That hatred was carefully taught. And, just as Ukrainian was taught to hate Ukrainian, and Slav to hate Slav we here are being taught to accept what is happening there, and elsewhere as normal; normal that bombs fall daily on hospitals and schools; normal that doctors and patients, children and teachers should be killed.

Professor Jeremy Kuzmarov is contributing Managing Editor at Covert Action Magazine. Successor to the storied subversive print magazine, CAM continues almost 50 years on, publishing “articles with differing viewpoints in an effort to nurture vibrant debate and thoughtful critical analysis”.

Jeremy’s book titles include, ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’, (written with John Marciano) ‘Warmonger. How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the U.S. Trajectory From Bush II to Biden’, and his latest, co-authored with Dan Kovalik, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’. His recent piece at Covert Action, ‘Russian Spy Was Killed as Part of CIA-MI6 Psychological Warfare Operation Says Former Commander of French Anti-Terrorism Group’ examines one of the lessons learned from an old and still ongoing psy-op.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; Canada’s recently adopted so-called online safety measures joins those of 5 Eyes partners Australia, Britain, and New Zealand. Touted as necessary to protect the tender sensibilities of youngsters, the legislation is coercive and punitive, and serves instead to enforce media control for the “cognitive war”, currently being fought in the brains and guts of a captured citizenry.

John Helmer’s the principle behind the news and analysis website, ‘Dances with Bears’. An author and journalist, John’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His academic career includes teaching at Harvard, and serving as political advisor to presidents and prime ministers.

John’s book titles include: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘Long Live Novichok: The British Poison Which Fooled the World’, and ‘Sovcomplot: How pirates tried to capture the treasure of the Russian seas, and were caught out’. His latest at Dances with Bears is, ‘Would the Last War Against Russia Have Turned Out Differently if Joseph Goebbels Launched Podcasts Instead of the V-2 Rocket?’.

John Helmer reading between the lies, big and bigger in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and unlearning what we’ve been taught, before it’s too late.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Russian Narrative’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk demanded Monday the United States lift sanctions against Cuba “immediately”. The High Commissioner blamed the oil embargo in place since January for killing children, saying the severe sanctions violate “basic principles of international human rights law”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio charges the Caribbean island nation is - as well a being a threat to the Super Power’s security - “one of the leading sponsors of terrorism in the entire region”. His State Department declared a “national emergency” to invoke the oil embargo coming atop America’s 67 year-long blockade creating, according to Turk, a humanitarian crisis endangering the lives of all citizens.

Randy Caravaggio is a long-time organizer with the Victoria Friends of Cuba. Randy and his comrades have transported vital medical and other necessary supplies to Cuba for more than thirty years, and were there earlier this year doing the same.

Randy Caravaggio in the first half.

And; as well as traveling to Cuba, The Victoria Friends of Cuba also do banner drops on Victoria’s busiest highway every week, host film screenings, and promote concerts and special events to raise money for their work. There will be just such a special happening coming up June 25th at Broad View United Church in Victoria.

David Rovics is an itinerant musician and prolific songwriter. He’s sat in, stood up, and faced down the powers that should not be on every issue of import you can imagine. He’s been compared to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, and every uncompromising musical advocate of the human condition of the last century.

David’s catalogue is immense, running many hundreds of songs-long, and his devoted fan base hundreds of thousands deep. His unparalleled embrace of AI for activism is both courageous and a challenge to those eschewing innovation despite the costs. He’s just back from a Spring tour in Europe, and he’ll be playing up and down the Island, and over on the Mainland too, through June and into July.

David Rovics, minstrel of our Titanic times in the second half.

But first, Randy Caravaggio, shining light on Cuba in its darkest hour.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘You Can’t Get Into the U.K.’, ‘The Holocaust is Now’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Late in the last century the Chretien government, led by then-finance minister Paul Martin, created the CPPIB, or Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. A mechanism to get at CPP money locked up in safe, long-term bonds and such, the CPPIB determined to leap into the investment fast lane, behaving as a hedge fund. It promised to “take politics out” of its investing, which in practice meant using citizens’ funds without moral constraints. Profit would be the first and last of its laws; and so it’s been for nearly thirty years. What that’s led to is a portfolio filled with war, environmental degradation, and genocide; but still it’s not enough.

Becca Steckle is a research and policy analyst with Just Peace Advocates whose special area of study is Canadian institutional complicity in the occupations of Palestine and Kashmir. Now, Becca and the JPA have released the report, ‘CPPIB Doubles Down, Increases Investments in Genocide, War Crimes, and Apartheid to More Than $54 Billion’; it’s an examination of the current government’s turbo-charged dedication to profiting from the crimes of the century.

Becca Steckle in the first half.

And; Colombians voted over the weekend; and though the first ballot didn’t produce a clear presidential winner, it did reveal a plethora of irregularities and interference in the country’s free and fair exercise of popular democracy. What that means for the next round, due June 21st, is of extreme concern not only for Colombia’s future political stability, but too for its neighbours, and all of South America.

Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. Dan represented unions whose membership were targeted by Colombia’s death squads, has served as a foreign observor to elections in that country, and acts currently as Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s legal representative in the United States.

Dan’s book titles include: ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’, and his latest, co-authored with Jeremy Kuzmarov, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’.

Dan Kovalik and Colombia’s parlous election in the second half.

But first, Becca Steckle and understanding how your pension profits the suffering of distant others.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Songs: ‘Rise’, ‘The Bunker’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

A few weeks ago, Hondurasgate.ch, an anonymous site, in affiliation with media outlet, Diario Red released intercepted communications among the Honduran leadership elite, including former president, and convicted drugs-dealing kingpin, Juan Orlando Hernández. What those conversations reveal is a real time conspiracy of assassination and dirty tricks to remove democratic opposition, and return Honduras to the post-2009 coup period known as the “Narcodictatorship”.

Karen Spring is Coordinator for Honduras Solidarity Network. It’s a “…decentralized network of approximately 30 organizations from across Canada and the United States […] committed to demonstrating and advocating for solidarity with the Honduran social movement.”

Karen is too co-author of the just released report, The Dark Side of the Energy Transition: Green Colonialism in Southern Honduras, a chronicle of “corporate profiteering and bullying under the guise of ‘sustainable development’”.

Karen Spring in the first half.

And; what’s really, really old is newish again on the Third World War front. As my second guest observes, “The best way of learning how the men inside the Kremlin think is in the history of the Byzantine Empire which began in the 4th century AD and whose last day, the anniversary of the empire’s last day, we celebrate this week – May 29, 1453.”

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism.

Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and ‘Long Live Novichok: The British Poison Which Fooled the World’. His latest at Dances with Bears is, ‘THE NEXT MOVE WHEN TRUMP, PUTIN, AND XI ARE IN ZUGZWANG IN THE UKRAINE, HORMUZ STRAIT, TAIWAN’.

John Helmer and Trump, Xi, and Putin, picking up where the Byzantine’s left off in the second half.

But first, Karen Spring and the making of a Green-coloured colonialism in Honduras.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘The Pogroms of the West Bank’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

It’s Municipal Elections Season again! BUT, before you reach for that dial you should know: What you do and don’t do about that could mean the difference between life and death for both you and generations to come. That’s because your municipal leaders are the ones deciding the how, what, when, and where’s of your water and its delivery; and perhaps more importantly, deciding in whose interests that water will be managed.

Susan Blacklin is an author and water policy campaigner with the National Council of Women of Canada. They’ve launched a country-wide awareness effort to address Canada’s coast to coast to coast water crisis. Susan’s books are, ‘Water Confidential: Witnessing Justice Denied - The Fight for Safe Drinking Water in Indigenous and Rural Communities in Canada’, and her latest, ‘Water Justice: What You Don’t Know Could Kill You’. Her recent article at The Watershed Sentinel, ‘Your Water, Your Vote: The Questions Candidates Hope You Won’t Ask’ is a how-to on holding aspirant politico’s feet to the fire on water issues.

Susan Blacklin in the first half.

And; last week, Palestinians at home and around the World commemorated Nakba 78, in remembrance of the grinding 80 years of war and occupation they’ve suffered at the hands of Zionism. But now the ethnic cleansing has accelerated in Gaza and the West Bank - along with expansion into neighbouring Syria and Lebanon - into what the United Nations yesterday charged was a policy of “eradication”. More ominously perhaps, among Israel’s allies, its aiders and abettors, diplomatic, financial, and materiel support has expanded to now include suppression through the courts and police batons of citizens opposing the gross abuse of both International Law and plain human decency.

Evan Jones is a retired University of Sydney professor of Political Economy whose articles can be found at CounterPunch, and the Independent Australian among other places. Jones says he, “began reading and writing about Palestine-Israel over 20 years ago with rising disgust over Israel’s barbarism and the endless misrepresentation [...] in the Western mainstream media”. His recent piece at CounterPunch, ‘Australia as Zionist-Occupied Territory’ chronicles the Albanese government’s reactive legal measures following the December Bondi Beach massacre.

Evan Jones on Australia “cohesing” with its second colonial master in the second half.

But first, Susan Blacklin and the urgency of Canada’s water policy.

Links for Susan:

https://preventcancernow.ca/where-are-canadas-asbestos-cement-drinking-water-pipes-check-the-data-for-where-you-live/

https://preventcancernow.ca/taking-action/asbestos/

https://www.ncwcanada.ca/open-letter-for-canada-to-protect-our-water

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Sing a Song of Solidarity’

Mads Gram Presente!

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

As our modern Hundred Years’ war marches confidently into its second century it’s reasonable to ask, “Why, whether we ask nicely, or rudely demand it, there cannot be peace?” It’s as though perennial warfare is, like Twain’s weather, something everybody talks of but does nothing about. Perhaps in the end it is simply that while war’s a dirty business, it’s damned profitable - for some.

Dave Lindorff is an Izzy Award-winning investigative journalist, author, and founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening. Dave’s book titles include: ‘’This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy,’ ‘Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal,’ and his latest, ‘Spy for No Country: The story of Ted Hall, the teenage atomic spy who may have saved the world’.

Dave’s recent article at CounterPunch.org, and found on This Can’t Be Happening’s Substack site is, ‘Trump’s War Inspires the Return of an Old Scourge: War Profiteers’.

Photo: Camille Brodard

Dave Lindorff in the first half.

And; for just as long Palestinians have suffered war and occupation, but the Zionist status quo is shifted post-October 7th; while Israel’s accelerated genocide of Palestinians in Gaza - and ethnic cleansing of regions of neighbouring Syria and Lebanon - realize the beginning of the long-awaited Eretz Israel project in West Asia, it also signals a determined alignment of Western allies’ support. Both diplomatically in international fora, and through strict disciplinary measures meted against domestic opposition to the gross violations of law and decency perpetrated by Israel, condemnation and censure of its criminality has been quashed by these states - so far.

Evan Jones is a retired University of Sydney professor of Political Economy whose articles can be found at CounterPunch, and the Independent Australian among other places. Jones says he, “began reading and writing about Palestine-Israel over 20 years ago with rising disgust over Israel’s barbarism and the endless misrepresentation [...] in the Western mainstream media”. His recent CounterPunch piece, ‘Australia as Zionist-Occupied Territory’ chronicles the Albanese government’s reactive legal measures following the December Bondi Beach massacre.

Evan Jones on Australia “cohesing” with its second colonial master in the second half.

But first, Dave Lindorff and America’s Orange Scourge.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘They’ll Starve the Children’

Bonus: Guided Tour of album, ‘Before the War’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Last month in an “extraordinary session” Argentina’s National Congress signed off on reforms to the country’s ‘Glacier Law’. The 2010 law was a hard-fought and rare win, protecting both the environment and water security for millions of Argentinians. With its “reforms” now ratified, the fear is foreign mining giants will move in and destroy an irreplaceable resource. And, there’s a Canadian connection.

Arturo Ezquerro-Cañete teaches in the Department of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University, and the Department of Political Science and Global Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. He also serves as Latin America Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada.

Arturo Ezquerro-Cañete in the first half.

And; the Filton 6 have been enduring retrial in Britain’s justice system; the same made famous through its prolonged internment and torture of Julian Assange. The defendants, it may be remembered, where exonerated for destroying war materiel on the shop floor at the Elbit Systems weapons plant in Bristol in 2024. The members of Palestine Action believed the factory was implicated in the genocide then and still occurring in Gaza, Palestine.

Andy Worthington’s an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band. He is too a co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign. His book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield. Andy’s articles appear at: AndyWorthington.co.uk, and at his eponymous Substack site, where I found his recent post, ‘Filton 6 trial jury verdict: four guilty of criminal damage, two cleared’.

AI targeting in Gaza: a powerful image accompanying “Gaza as a testing ground: Israel’s AI warfare”, an article on the website of the SETA Foundation.

Andy Worthington and Freeing the Filton 6 - Again! in the second half.

But first, Arturo Ezquerro-Cañete and chain-sawing Argentina’s Glacier Law.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Decapitation Strike’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Following on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge to keep pace with NATO’s contribution demands of 5% of member-nation GDP, the Liberal government has announced the creation of its Defence Industrial Strategy, (along with a Defence Investment Agency) to handle the billions upon billions to be devoted to the preparation and waging of wars both current and forecast to come.

Dr. Tamara Lorincz is a fellow with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. She’s also served on the advisory committee of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and too contributes her knowledge and talents to World Beyond War, and the No to NATO Network. She recently led the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute Webinar, ‘Carney’s Militarization of Canada’.

Tamara Lorincz in the first half.

And; incredibly, approaching the 32nd month of genocide in Palestine, there remain still in this country supporters of both the actions of Israel and its enablers of this 21st Century Holocaust. And those supporters are not just insane religious fanatics praying for a second coming, they are too members of Canada’s ruling elite; men and women in grey suits wielding government power, business influence, and directing the boards of each of our professional institutions, who despite protestations of support for rule of law and decency refuse to enforce existing statutes and protocols to reign in, at least, Canada’s contribution to the slaughter.

Yves Engler is an activist, journalist, and the author of countless articles and essays detailing Canada’s foreign policy history. He’s written a dozen books on the subject, including: ‘Stand on Guard for Whom?: A People’s History of the Canadian Military’, ‘House of Mirrors — Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy’, ‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’. His latest is, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’, co-written with Owen Schalk.

Yves’ website, YvesEngler.com is the necessary first stop for Canadians and foreigners alike wishing to understand better the cognitive dissonance laying between the proclaimed and demonstrable character of this Canada. His latest article there, ‘PQ leader’s pro-Israel, anti-Muslim racism must be challenged’ reinforcing the point.

Yves Engler and demanding the country we pretend to in the second half.

But first, Tamara Lorincz and Mark Carney’s Militarization of Canada.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘Song for Tomorrow’

Canadian Foreign Policy Hour - https://yvesengler.com/canadian-foreign-policy-hour/

e-7317 Petition to Parliament (Canada Out of NATO) - https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Sign/e-7317

CFPI - Capitalism Can’t Be Fixed Webinar

‘On a wartime footing: Carney’s new defence initiatives risk corruption and global conflict’ - Tamara Lorincz April 17, 2026

https://rabble.ca/politics/canadian-politics/on-a-wartime-footing-carneys-new-defence-initiatives-risks-corruption-and-global-conflict/

https://ilps-canada.ca/ilps-in-canada-6th-assembly/

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Nearly four months since the lethal attack against it, Venezuela is signing deals with Western financial operators, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Acting President, Delcy Rodriguez says the renewed relationship marks a “great achievement of Venezuelan diplomacy”, and is an important step signalling “good has triumphed” in the besieged country.

Ricardo Vaz is a journalist, political analyst and contributor with the communication collectives Tatuy Tv and Utopix. His articles appear regularly at Venezuelanalysis.com, and his latest there is, ‘Venezuelan Government Resumes IMF, World Bank Ties, Appoints New Central Bank President’.

Ricardo Vaz in the first half.

And; Cuban authorities agree, meetings were held April 10th with a US delegation in Havana. Accounts of what transpired in those meetings differ between the two parties, but it seems there will be further discussions. The news comes as the nation continues to suffer the privations of a US oil embargo, laid atop the decades-long sanctions campaign waged by the Americans to reverse Cuba’s popular revolution.

Randy Caravaggio is a long-time organizer with the Victoria Friends of Cuba, a group working to aid the embattled Caribbean island nation with medical and other necessary supplies. It’s a mission never more vital than now.

Randy Caravaggio, maintaining the people to people pipeline to Cuba in the second half.

But first, Ricardo Vaz and Venezuela after the invasion.

Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno

Song: ‘The #1 Sponsor of Terror’

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:

https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024