John Robles

Articles and Interviews by John Robles From  01-10-2012 to 08-31-2012 

Jar2

On this page you will find interviews with, and articles by: Rick Rozoff, Kristinn Hrafnsson, John Robles, David Couper, Professor Scott Horton, Debra Sweet, Alon Ben-Meir, Gary G. Sick, Michael John Smith, Tim Summers, Eugene R. Fidell, Craig Rouskey, Dragan Antakovic, Elena Svachich, Serbian National Organization #1389, Dale Herspring, Trevor Harvey, Danijela Dragovic, Jovan Deretic, Kris Hermes, Rachael Perrotta, John Cox, Maryam Al-Khawaja, Jacob Appelbaum, Christine Assange, Scott Ludlam, Tim Summers, Francis Gary Powers Junior, Frank Zimring, Jovan Deretic, Andreas Fink, Kristian Cars, Mary Kostakidis, Amos Miers, Tighe Barry, Greg Barns, Kristinn Hrafnsson 

US Defense Act 2012: Open Ended War

Professor Scott Horton

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Scott_Horton.html

Download audio file    10 January 2012, 11:18    31 August 2012, 18:57

 


US and Habeas Corpus: Interests First, Freedoms Second  Debra Sweet

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16 January 2012, 15:17

Time is Running Out for Iran

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

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Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East expert, a professor from the Center of the Global Affairs at New York University

19 January 2012, 12:25

"The price of war with Iran would be enormous"

Doctor Gary G. Sick

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Interview with Dr. Gary G. Sick, the senior research scholar and the adjunct professor of the International Affairs at Columbia University. Mr. Sick has also served on the U.S. National Security Council under presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan and is one of the world’s imminent Iranian specialists.

MOVED HERE  http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Gary_Sick.html

21 January 2012, 10:28

Embarrassment for London as Powell Admits Spying Plot

Michael John Smith

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An interview with Michael John Smith, a British blogger and intelligence expert and the last person convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.

It was admitted this week that the famous Moscow rock incident was actually a British Intelligence operation. What is your opinion on this Mr. Smith?

Well, if we go back to 2006 when this incident actually happened. If you remember we had lots of denials at the time, and what was wheeled out from retirement was that old relic called Oleg Gordievsky, who actually claimed that this was all 'a KGB stunt'. Now we know that's not true, and in fact this week a man named Jonathan Powell, who was actually in Tony Blair’s office - so you can’t get much higher than that in the British Government - he actually made the statement that he thought the Russians knew about this at that time and they had been saving it up for, quote, "a political purpose". As though it's really all to do with, that it's a 'Russian problem'. We know that’s not true now, and I think it’s a very embarrassing situation for the British Government this week.

What do you think about the timing of the admission? Why are they admitting to it now?

Well, I think, interesting isn't it, I mean the Russian – UK relationships have been, they go through hot and cold periods. I think probably it’s a time when the British Government want to get on better with Russia. They probably need Russian oil, they need Russian gas, and it’s a time for perhaps more friendly relationships, so that we can have more trade between our two countries.

You’ve mentioned Gordievsky being wheeled out again.

Yeah. Well, as I said before John, you remember we discussed this last year, Gordievsky is somebody not to be trusted; he is merely a tool in the armory of the British Intelligence Services. Every time any incident like this comes into the media, Gordievsky comes forward and he makes claims which are anti-Russian and pro the British Intelligence. He is not really playing a useful role, I think, because it is so obvious that the guy is lying, in many ways. He lies about all sorts of things, and he exaggerates, he exaggerates to the point where his point is not considered real. For instance, we remember only a few weeks back, MI5 were complaining about a Russian woman called Katia Zatuliveter.

Yes, we talked about that, sure.

And Gordievsky said without a doubt that this woman was a Russian spy. Well, now she has been exonerated by a British Court as not being a Russian spy. So, what does that say about Gordievsky’s opinion? It says that the guy is not telling the truth.

Would you like to tell us how his testimony affected your life?

Yeah, well, Gordievsky said in my own case, he said that I was a Russian spy, and that from his own personal viewpoint he had inside information about the way that the KGB operated, their methods, and such like. And he said that I must have been a Russian spy just because of the nature of the evidence against me. There was no actual evidence that I had met any Russians or any KGB operatives, but from Gordievsky’s point of view it was all very clear. Now, you know, I look at the way, the evidence he gives in other cases, he lied in my case as well.

Why do you think the incident was denied by the UK authorities at that time?

Denial is a standard British tactic. I mean, if you look back through history, the British have always denied they do these sort of things: it’s not normal, it’s not the British way of doing things. And when they get caught out in this type of incident – it's politically embarrassing. I think what it shows, in many ways, is that British policy - at Government level - is full of hypocrisy.

What surprises me is that the British condemn Russia for having any intelligence gathering service in the world, or in London, or in any country, and they deny that we [the British] do that. But we know that MI6 is operating in Moscow, it's operating in all the world capitals, and why make a big thing of it? I mean, it’s just a part of life, and this paranoia, you know, that goes on amongst the intelligence services in the UK - it's a sign of immaturity I think, it’s unprofessional.

Intelligence services in the UK have played a major part in my life, you know. In fact I believe they're still tapping my phone at this very minute. My niece, I learned only three weeks ago, is going to marry an RAF man who works at RAF Lyneham, in the UK. And what has happened since is that he is now being called in for security clearance checks, because he is marrying my niece. And what's that got to do with me, I've never met the guy? But it’s just a sign of the way intelligence works in the UK. It is paranoia, you know, they think that everybody is sneaking around spying on everything, and particularly Russians, you know. If there are Russians in the UK – they must be spies. This is the way it works.

So, you are saying that your phone is being tapped or something because your niece is marrying an RAF pilot?

Well, he is not a pilot, I think he is a ground man. But, I mean, what it tells me is that they look very negatively on anything from the past that is a black mark against anybody. And particularly me, even though I was convicted of working for Russian Intelligence back in 1992, but even now I’m still considered a risk, you know, a risk even if a person meets me I could in some way "contaminate" them. It's very serious I think, and it’s very damaging for my own family connections.

It sounds like they are violating some human rights.

Well, I thought it was a human rights issue but probably there is nothing I can do about it.

What do you think about the phone thing? Why do you think it’s being tapped now?

Purely because they think I may be conniving to my niece’s new husband, to give secrets to the Russians. I’m sure that's what’s behind it. It seems crazy.

What’s the evidence? Do you have some evidence, that maybe, it's being tapped?

Well, it’s purely by the way... people can’t get through to me, I can’t get a dial tone, I mean there are all sorts of strange things going on. These are exactly the same sort of things that were happening in my case before when, back in the 80s, I was under surveillance by MI5 and my phone was acting very strangely – I couldn’t get a dial tone, I had to go out to a phone box just to phone in to clear the line. It seemed very strange, and when I called the phone company, they denied there was anything wrong with it.

And the same things are happening now?

Same things are happening now, you know, I recognize the signs.

Political Repression Growing in the UK

Tim Summers

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Tim_Summers.html

Download audio file  24 January 2012, 15:12

 

25 January 2012, 13:46

Saakashvili: NATO’s Favorite Little Despot

Rick Rozoff

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Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list, a contributing writer to GlobalResearch.ca, and a regular contributor to the Voice of Russia.

Dereliction of duty? Professor Eugene R. Fidell

Download audio file  26 January 2012, 18:08

 

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Eugene_Fidell.html

Photo courtesy of Yale University

 

4 February 2012, 21:08

Violence in Russia Would Satisfy US

Rick Rozoff

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Interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca.

 

 

Occupy SF

Repression Makes us Stronger

Craig Rouskey

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Interview with Craig Rouskey, an organizer with Occupy SF, an activist, and a molecular biologist.

Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what’s going on there right now and maybe a little bit on what happened in Oakland recently where more than 400 people were arrested?

I would say January 20th was a big day of action for us here in San Francisco we occupied our Financial District otherwise known as Wall Street West. A bunch of affinity groups organized to basically shut down banks and corporations that have not been acting with the interests of the 99% in mind. Events on the 20th ended with an occupation of the Cathedral Hill Hotel which is a 600 room hotel that has been vacant since 2009. We have here in San Francisco 10,000 homeless people on the street, 32 000 vacant units. So, it was addressing that.

Occupy Oakland the following weekend, on January 28th, attempted the same thing with the premise of liberating a vacant building. When the government enacts policies that don’t allow people to save money, I think someone like me, I’m a molecular biologist by trade, I have a master’s degree in molecular biology, I have a job as a scientist. The truth of the matter is, given the cost of living in the United States, I don’t save money, my option is to live paycheck by paycheck and that’s not due to irresponsible spending – I have nothing - it is just a matter of inflation and the cost of living in the US.

So, there are definite real issues that impact people’s lives, that make it difficult to live and even if you are financially responsible. I think the important thing to know is that our society our civilization isn’t set up to help these people. The social services that used to exist in this country have been cut, so we can continue to fund corporations over people and that’s something this movement is really trying to address.

400 people were arrested in Oakland, I understand you were present but you managed to get out of there before you were arrested. Can you tell our listeners kind of what happened there in Oakland?

Yes, definitely. And I think it’s really important to preface this conversation with the fact that in 2011 the American Federal Government allowed for $500 million to be dispersed to local police departments in cities like Oakland or San Francisco, Chicago and New York for militarization.

I’m sorry, how much - $500 million?

$500 million to be dispersed through cities in the US. I think they know that the people have had enough and they are working to make sure the systems of repression are there to stop any broad-based revolution, I mean just the way they deal with the camps – like clearing the camps here violently, it’s the same issue. So, I think, you know, what happened in Oakland is a direct consequence of the militarization of the police force. We had a peaceful march which is something that is promised to us in the Bill of Rights, our first amendment right to peaceably assemble. In Oakland, when the people started marching in the streets, they were kettled by police. I personally was there with members from the Occupy San Francisco community which included a woman pushing her baby in a stroller and a 68 year old woman who has a knee disorder and uses a cane to walk and before we even got to the point of liberating a building, we were kettled and flash grenades were thrown at us and tear-gas was thrown at us. So, what they did to us in the afternoon, was give us a dispersal order, but they were surrounding us and then would not let us disperse. So, we were all under arrest for failure to disperse.

How long are they going to be able to get away with doing stuff like this?

Well, the Oakland Police Department is being taken over by the Federal Government in about two and a half weeks, they have a long history of abusing people in Oakland. This is why the tactics used by Oakland protesters are so different than tactics used by San Francisco protesters. In Oakland for example, they had a group of police officers who called themselves “the rough riders”, these people would go out and beat up young black man, plant drugs and guns on them and then arrest them for being drug-dealers, for example.

And that kind of abuse of authority has been taking place for a long time in Oakland. The interesting thing to me will be - how Oakland looks once the Federal Government takes over. Unfortunately police officers in Oakland will probably still act autonomously against this action. I was personally that the police, uh, one police officer specifically told me that – we hate you people, we will kill you people. So, that’s really disheartening.

I’m sorry, stop. This was a uniformed Oakland police officer, he said: “We - hate you people, we will kill you people”?

Correct.

Oh, my god!

And there was an expletive in there, we “Effing” hate you people, we will “Effing” kill you people.

Can you tell a little bit about the segregation? Does that have anything to do with this?

Yes, there is definitely racial segregation in the two cities, I mean poor black people or poor people in general have been marginalized in San Francisco. And San Francisco is more of white middle class demographic, I mean you have areas that are more poor like the Mission District or the Tenderloin, or Bayview for example where you start to see some color diversity but those are areas that are generally targeted by police. The police presence in Bayview, and in Mission, and in Tenderloin is so much worse, you know, in these neighborhoods as compared to the, quote-unquote “white” part of San Francisco. Oakland is definitely more diverse in terms of race and I believe a lot of repression comes from racial motivation. Yes, I would say, if you go to Oakland the majority of people you see are black.

And most of the Oakland police are white. Ok, there we go.

I think it’s really important to know that the Occupy movement is growing, we are facing police repression and we are working through it. Every act of police repression makes us stronger. And together we are going to make the world that is sustainable and benefits all of us equally.

Thank you.

Thanks.
Read more:
http://voiceofrussia.com/2012/02/04/65350643/

Solution for survival of Serbia

Dragan Antakovic - Author

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Dragan_Antakovic.html

Download audio file   7 February 2012, 20:20


 

8 February 2012, 15:26

Russia's Mediation Could "Save" Iran

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

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Interview with with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – Middle East expert and a Professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.

 

Serbia: 300,000 Displaced, 3,000 Never Existed

Elena Svachich - Human Rights Worker

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Elena_Svachich.html

Download audio file 17 February 2012, 14:46


 

21 February 2012, 22:07

There is No "Real" Dialogue About Syria

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

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Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.

Criminals Demand Unblock Road in Serbia

John Robles and  Operations Chief of the Serbian National Organization #1389

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http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Source_Serbia_1389.html

© #1389

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Download audio file  27 February 2012, 21:18


 

Serbians Against EU Entry

John Robles and Operations Chief of the Serbian National Organization #1389

Download audio file  29 February 2012, 10:37

Interview with the spokesperson for the Serbian National Organization 1389.


Kosovo: 5 Serbs Arrested for Possession of Newspaper

John Robles

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 8 March 2012, 10:000

He Who Has the Biggest Gun WinsHe Who Has the Biggest Gun Wins

Doctor Dale Herspring

PART 1  Download audio file    PART 2   Download audio file

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Dale_Herspring.html  

 

Racial Tensions Simmering in US

Trevor Harvey

Download audio file   27 March 2012, 15:08

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Trevor_Harvey.html  

They Killed Pregnant Woman

Danijela Dragovic

Download audio file  26 March 2012, 21:38

Interview with Danijela Dragovic, Serbian political activist.

Interview with Serbian political activist Danijela Dragovic about the beginning of NATO campaign in Yugoslavia.

 

23 March 2012, 12:41

Russia’s Nuclear Forces in Danger?

Rick Rozoff

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Interview with Rick Rozoff, the Manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a Contributing Writer to GlobalResearch.ca.


 

15 March 2012, 18:19

Afghan Killings: Will Justice Be Done?

Eugene Fidell

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Interview with Eugene Fidell, a teacher of military justice, a Senior Research Scholar and a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School.

We talked back in January about the Haditha ruling (http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/26/64690437.html). I believe nobody has done any time for anything that happened there. What can be done so this doesn’t continue to happen and what are your views on that?

I do think that we are probably at the time where an accounting can be made of the administration of justice in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Enough time has passed and enough individual cases have emerged that we can begin to draw some lessons. But, in order to draw lessons responsibly, a very careful study of each of the cases and the facts and outcomes in each of the cases has to be undertaken. It hasn’t happened yet but I think we are now at a point where it can happen. We’ve had enough of these things.

Do you see rulings, such as in the Haditha case, affecting new acts against civilians, for example that massacre that just occurred on Sunday and the burning of the Qurans – do you think, had there been a more serious penalty, would this have acted in a way to prevent soldiers from committing any more acts? Or do you think it doesn’t matter?

It’s very hard to draw conclusions, particularly about the current phase in Afghanistan, where we don’t even know the suspect’s name. That at least has to remain a question mark for another few days at least. However, I do feel that a hard look has to be taken at whether American troops have become so desensitized because of the amount of time they have to spend on multiple tours of duty that they have lost focus on the human dimension of military operations. Certainly, it is the case that any armed force in a bad and violent campaign can become brutalized and can lose their moral compass. And I think there’ve been times when that happened here. I’m very reluctant to pamphlet in a very broad Russian say that these views and habits are endemic within the US military. I think the Armed Force is a very law-abiding and is alert to interests and rights of other people. I’m very uncomfortable saying that this lack of sensitivity is to the rights of the people in Afghanistan and other countries, where we conduct any military operations, have been utterly disregarded. I think that armed forces are highly law-abiding and on the whole moral individuals. But it is a case that some of these instances that have come into the public eye are truly appalling. The business about body parts, for example, the business about urinating on corpses, these latest incidents in Afghanistan – these are truly disturbing cases. They have grabbed the conscience of Americans, they’ve obviously grabbed the conscience and anger of people in Afghanistan and we have got to grapple with this and do a very serious reveal and try to draw some broader lessons. And I think that is on the mind of administration. The administration is hardly toned up on these issues and I would expect that President Obama and the advisors would take steps particularly in the light of this last really awful incident.

There was also the case of the SS picture.

It was another one. I want to say one other thing. We have in the US military justice system a doctrine which regulates the exercise of unlawful command. In other words, the senior officials, whether uniformed or civilian, have to be very circumspective about what they say concerning pending cases because in theory we try to have independent and impartial judgments made by judges and jurors in the military justice system. So, there is a sense, in which the president is not as free as he might prefer to a speaker’s line, basically because we don’t want to prevent a fair trial, at which guilty people can be severely punished. So people elsewhere should bear that in mind. The president is not at liberty to tell it completely like it is and to fully express his outrage, which I’m sure he feels, because doing so might be create a legal issue that might prevent the administration of justice or to distort the administration of justice.

Remember, you are talking to a world-wide audience, sir. What is the reaction to incidents, especially this last one, by the American public, if you can give us your opinion?

People in the US are shocked. I can tell you that this story dominated news media of every stripe, newspapers of every political orientation, the internet, television and radio. This story is all over and people are truly aghast and concerned about it. It’s frustrating because we don’t have a lot of facts yet. But the facts that we do have are extremely disturbing.

What are the most serious consequences that this individual or individuals – we don’t know yet if there are other people involved – what are the most serious consequences they may face for the killing of these civilians.

It seems that they say “a single gunman,” so, as far as we know, it’s just one person and he is subject to the death penalty potentially. We haven’t executed anyone as a result of a military trial since 1961. However, I have to say that, given the awful circumstances that have come to light so far, this individual, unless he has an insanity defense or something like that, could well see the next death penalty.

Are you serious? This may be a death penalty ruling when this goes to court?

Yes, I think this case will be charged as a capital case and I think that a military jury could well return a death sentence. Whether that survives a reveal and a years-long process to complete the process… But I think this person is certainly warm as a candidate for the death sentence.

What do you think the reaction would be from the Afghani side if that were to happen, if there were a death sentence?

It’s not going to bring anybody back to life. Certainly, no country would let international political considerations drive the administration of justice. People in Afghanistan are very-very unhappy due to the accumulative effect of these various incidents and I actually don’t know what would allay their concerns because so many of these cases seem utterly inexplicable.

And it seems like justice is not done. From what I’ve heard about it, there was no justification possible for what this individual did.

I find it impossible to imagine but I don’t want to convict him on the radio. We’ll see as we learn more facts. But it’s really a shocking case.

 

12 March 2012, 14:14

CIA/Al-Qaeda Back on the Track

Meir Crap

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Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East Expert and Professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.

There are reports that al-Qaeda is making a come back in Iraq, in Syria, in Libya. What can you tell our listeners about that?

Well, it is absolutely not surprising. Al-Qaeda has and will continue to exploit any unrest anywhere in the Arab world where they can, so there is no question. They see an opportunity to ignite conflict and violence in Iraq, and they do so. They see certainly great opportunity in Syria and without any question they see the same thing happening in Libya, as Libya still is going through serious conflict from within, the Western part of Libya declared independence from the rest of the country. So, whenever there is a chaotic situation you can count on the al-Qaeda to try to penetrate there and make the chaos even greater.

What is your forecast for Libya and for the country possibly falling into complete chaos?

It is a chaotic situation already and the concern we have is that most western powers in most countries for that matter were thinking that after the so-called revolution in the Arab Spring things can quickly go back to some kind of an order, that there will be elections, there’ll be parliament, there’ll be a new government, but the truth of the matter is this is a long hideous cruel process. It will take years, not months, I repeat, years, be that in Egypt, be that in Libya, even Tunisia that is fairly quiet right now. We do not know what might happen. Certainly Syria is a good example of that. The so-called Arab Spring is going on, as I mentioned probably to you before, it’s going to be a long and cruel winter and it really should be expected because for new political order to emerge it takes time specifically in countries where they have never experienced anything but dictatorship, military rule for that matter, exploitation and so for a new order to emerge specifically of talking about democratic reforms and democratic government, this is a long process and will take time until it strikes deep roots in any given society.

A lot of observers are surprised by President Barack Obama’s calls for peaceful resolutions to the situations in Syria, in Iran lately. What can you tell us about that? Do you think they are sincere?

Honestly, I think as far as Syria is concerned is a wishful thinking. Bashar Assad government is not going to settle for anything less than suppressing completely the uprising in Syria and subordinating the opposition, basically forcing them to submit, to surrender so to say. Bashar Assad has been given many opportunities to take a different course, he has been supported by Russia, by the Chinese, the Russians have been telling him that he has to make better choices and stop the killing but obviously nothing is helping. And so for President Obama to call for peaceful solution it is nice rhetoric in the election year but he is not going to go far enough.

You don’t think so. What about constitutional referendum they had in Syria?

This is really nothing but an exercise in the futility. The so-called new constitution really does not respond to the need of the people in any way, in any significant way. What we are going to need is a constitution that is representative of the people and what the people need and yearned for and to try to pass on a constitution in the midst of violence, and death, and havoc, and confusion it is an exercise in futility as I said and it’s a cynical game that I think the Assad regime is playing.

So, your forecast for Syria is more of the same or do you see a conclusion without military intervention? Do you think that’s possible?

I am really concerned now that Assad apparently is not willing to take significant steps to end the conflict and to end the killing and he is pretty much inviting, eventually, he will be inviting foreign intervention, and the Turks are watching and are very concerned, there are other powers who are very concerned. And so, I am not sure that he has left any chance of actually turning the things around and starting a new order. I think it is probably too late for Bashar Assad at this point.

I see. Can you give our listeners more of a concrete forecast for Libya in particular? The country is being divided, you said the west has declared independence. Where do you see the country in about a year from now, let’s say?

I honestly think the country will continue to experience tremendous amount of uncertainty and evil, but as I said I am not entirely surprised. Libya is a tribal country. Each tribe has its own tradition, its own interest, its own aspiration, and it is very difficult to try to find a general consensus between the various tribes that have been ruled by Gaddafi basically by dividing and conquering. And to suggest that they will be able to sit down and iron out their conflict and their differences – it’s not going to happen. It’s going to take counter-revolutionary movement and unfortunately more and more violence before the matter will settle. A year from today I think we are going to be seeing much of the same.

That’s not very good.

Very quickly let me suggest several things. Number one: I think the United States, Obama administration have now made it much clearer in terms of its position toward Iran. Obama suggests it strongly that it is no longer prevent containing Iran, should it acquire nuclear weapon but preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon in the first place. This was important for the Israelis to hear. Two: when Obama said all options are still on the table and he specifically said including a military component.

 Jar2

2 March 2012, 14:41

The Link Between the Worlds

John Robles

The link between the worlds

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Interview with Kristina Vybornova, a singer, a writer, a composer and a song writer.

Let’s start with your start in music. What was the first instrument you learned? And if can remember, what was your first song you sang in front of an audience? And what got you started in music?

I studied music since childhood. When I was four I loved to sign short songs composed by myself. When I was seven I went to music school where I studied for seven years the piano class and the piano was my first instrument.

What made you decide to study music formally?

I studied music by myself.

What there any individual who influenced your decision to study music?

Those were my parents. I remember when I was a child I loved to listen to the album of Yuri Antonov and I sang along with him. I knew that he writes music and plays several instruments, and I also wanted to learn to play the piano and compose music like he.

What was your favourite song by Antonov?

I loved many, almost all songs.

Does one stick out as a favourite?

My Richness.

Who were your musical inspirations other than Antonov?

Many, many composers and singers. I like classical composers – Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Rahmaninov; and many composers, singers and groups in Russia, they are Antonov, Pahmutova, Kornelyuk, Miladze; and foreign singers such as Mylene Farmer, Smoky, Slade, Nazareth, Deep Purple, Nightwish.

You like Deep Purple! Can you sing Smoke on the Water for us? Ok, I’m joking. What kind of music do you listen today?

Today I listen to all kinds of music. I think that every composer and singer has at least one good song for me.

And what’s your favourite song?

I have many, many favourite songs.

How would you classify your style of music?

I don’t know what my style is. I like various music – pop, rock, disco, ballade. And I write music in various styles. I like to try to compose the song in some new style. Some of my friends say that my style is pop or pop-rock, or sometimes ballade, or classic. It depends on a song.

How many songs have you sang in English?

About twenty.

Can you tell the listeners a little bit about your last disc? And where can we buy it if we’d like to?

Most of my songs are the singles which are not organized into albums. These singles are on the iTunes. But in the spring of 2010 I released a project, my audio book – The Link Between the Worlds. The CD, record is about 6 hours, contains not only my novel but also 16 songs and my music played while I’m reading.

So, you recorded an entire book along with music and your songs?

Yes.

But that’s only in Russian, right?

Yes.

One more time, how I it called? The Bridge Between the World?

The Link Between the Worlds.

And what worlds are we talking about? What did you mean by a link between the worlds?

This is the genre of science fiction, two worlds…

And what are the two worlds? These are two different planets?

Two different planets – the Earth and another world which are connected.

And the book has an audio with it?

Only The Link Between the Worlds, only this novel is in audio format. People can buy my books in the bookshop near the Literary Institute named after Gorky where I studied, in Moscow.

If people want to order it on the Internet, is that possible?

In future, in one or two months I think.

Can you tell us a little bit about any other things you enjoy, other than music?

It will be a long story actually. I have three kinds of creativity. First – I’m a professional writer and author of four published books. And my first book – Kritina’s Tales in the series Semeinaya Biblioteka (Family Library) appeared in October 1996.

These are really big books, people. They are right here in front of me.

Later I graduated from the famous Moscow Literary Institute named after Gorky. And I’m a member of the Russian Union of Writers.

Can you tell us about that? How did you become a member of the Writers’ Union?

They invited me because of my books.

I see. That’s a pretty big honour I think.

Yes. And the second kind of my creativity is composing music. I have written more than fifty songs with Russian and English lyrics. And also I have written musical compositions. My songs were aired in the UK, Holand, Australia, Ukraine, USA and other countries by local and Internet radio stations, especially by the legendary Caroline radio, Bishop FM, radio in Hessen, Play radio and etc.

What is your most famous or most popular song?

This is a song which I composed with Australian poet Michael Paede– What We Found.

Ok, let’s listen to a little bit of What We Found.

[Song]

And that was What We Found from Kristina Vybornova. Before we finish up can you tell our listeners a little bit about plans for the future?

I plan to continue to collaborate with musicians and poets from different countries, to make new songs and I’m also going to publish more books in the genre of science fiction. I also want to make a musical performance by the novel The Link Between the Worlds and I’m going to talk about this with some theatres.

 

1 March 2012, 13:03

Time to Draw a Line for NATO

Rick Rozoff

Download audio file     Moved to Rozoff Page

Interview with Mr. Rick Rosoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to www.globalresearch.ca Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has written is a white paper regarding Russian security and the upgrading of Russian military forces in response to NATO’s expansion. Can you give us some view insights into this?


 Jar2

28 April 2012, 20:38

The Occupy Movement is Expanding

David Solnit

The Occupy Movement is expanding

Download audio file

Interview with David Solnit, an activist in the direwct action section of Occupy SF

Hello, David! How are you? Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what is going on with the Occupy movement? Because the mass media is not really covering it and a lot of people are with the idea that it’s dead. 

It’s more alive than it’s ever been. This winter the police repressed us. Some of the camps still are good. I’m sitting there outside. Here is a hardy group of people who stay here 24 hours a day. And the police arrest people who sleep in tents. So they sleep in the open air. But mostly what happen is people going back to their neighborhood, to their schools and their workplaces. And they have been going to bring the Occupy movement into our community. Here in SF we’re 12 thousand people in the process of losing homes to the big banks, we’re fighting house by house to keep our neighbors in our homes. Our students are fighting in their schools with the Occupy to keep the teachers and the school funded. There is a massive redistribution of wealth: 99% to the 1%, - that means cutting all our services, our education, our wages and our benefits. For an average student simply to get the education they come out between 25 thousand to 100 000 in debt. And this debt rises because student debt is like mortgage. And credit card debt is completely unregulated. And the problem with that is that the corporation and the banks control governmental politicians.   

When you talk about 100 0000 debt this is for a four-year bachelor’s degree, for example? 

Yes, I believe that an average student comes out somewhere between 25/30 thousand dollars in debt. To end up shackled with a huge debt which grows and grows and is completely unregulated by the politicians. Many students cannot afford that and they’re dropping out. And when they do get out, there is no job. 

It sounds like the Occupy movement is diversifying and starting to help people. Are you better organized than you were a couple of months ago? 

Oh, yeah. We are occupied in campuses, in our neighborhood. We have a huge learning co-work, we’re trying to find out, how is this that the banks take our homes, what’s the process and right now we’re trying to block it. We’re diversifying the options, we’re occupying, we’re doing whatever we can. We’ve actually got neighbors in SF who had been kicked out of the house for protests. And we’re simultaneously pushing for a moratorium. Couple of days ago took we over and disrupted Fargo shareholders’ meeting. 

What are the plans for the summer for Occupy SF and the Occupy movements in California? How coordinated these movements are becoming? 

We coordinate – I would call - emergent intelligent. Like when you see a flock of birds. They don’t necessarily have the central command or the head office, but they intuitively move to the similar direction. We move around education, around housing, around solidarity with work struggles.  And right now we are looking for May Day, next week, on Tuesday . There’s going to be a lot of local unions on strike. 

It should be pretty massive, right? Can you tell us how the police have treated you? Have you been a victim of any police brutality? What have you seen from the authorities? 

I’ve been fortunate, but we’ve had some beatings. In SF the police are much more brutal, but 30 years of organizing and political demonstrations showed that they’re less brutal than in the NY city. We fight for our rights and the police push back. They threaten us. Yesterday and two days ago when we were blocking the shareholders’ meeting, some of the shareholders were attacking non-violent protesters. They would attack, someone would push them over and the police would push them again. Being a professional police force they fought for 100 and 1%. Actually there were a few good apples, but our police force is beating around the tree.

The shareholders don’t get this right. They were attacking the protesters and the police were supporting them?

We’re trying to organize a meeting because in our city we’ve got 12 thousand people being kicked out of homes. The city itself is in audit with a private company, and it found out that 84% of these foreclosures were fraudulent. And that means that 9 to 10 thousand people having their homes taken away illegally. Basically that’s what gangsters do. And nationally we’re talking about 9 million people losing their homes. And for most folks that kind of the retirement plan when they take away your home – you’re going to be penniless when you are older. And it all happens because the banks strict the system.

What do you think of the upcoming elections? How do you think if that’s going to change anything?

We joke that we’ve got to choose between the Goldman Sachs supporting the Democrats and oil companies like Shell that support the Republicans. So would you rather have big oil or facultative capitalism running country? There’s really no choice. Our elections have always served the try to demobilize movements. We only have power, the ordinary people, when we organize ourselves. It’s a big distract. And in respect to other folks who hoped for Obama. I don’t think the question is whether or not he is a good person. I think you or I could have been elected. It’s like getting on a move in train. It’s a systemic problem.  One person can’t change it, only a mass movement with support from industries can. We don’t actually have the facility.  We joke that when people vote saying that this really matters, we ask what do you do other 364 days a year? People really don’t have control over the basic decisions. If you measure up what people are about, people say:  house care or stay in their homes or get the higher education, the actual decisionsreflect 1% of the wealthy elite. There’s really no one you could vote for, I would say that. The proper control of the electoral process representing democracy – for me it is broken. We can self-organize ourselves quite well and the elites are very bad, they make things worse.

 

26 April 2012, 14:18    MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Transparency, Secrets, and the Opposition

John Robles


 

24 April 2012, 16:00     MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Winter Fades as Vacation Flashes By

John Robles

     

 

17 April 2012, 11:51     MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Sympathy for the Devil

John Robles

Sympathy for the Devil

  

 

14 April 2012, 12:13     MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

North Korea's Failed Rocket: Is it a Game of Lose-Win or Win-Win?

John Robles

South Korean people watch a TV screen showing a graphic of North Korea's rocket launch, at a train station in Seoul on April 13, 2012.  Photo: AFP

13 April 2012, 14:10

Quartet Discussing Aid for Palestine

 Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

Download audio file    Moved to Ben Meir Page

On Wednesday the Quartet met on the Palestinian situation. They are calling for 1.1 billion dollars in aid for Palestine. John Robles spoke to Dr. Alon Ben-Meir , a Middle East Expert and a Professor from the Center of Global Affairs at New York University on the issue.

On Wednesday the Quartet met on the Palestinian situation. They are calling for 1.1 billion dollars in aid for Palestine. John Robles spoke to Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a Middle East Expert and a Professor from the Center of Global Affairs at New York University on the issue.


 Jar2

13 April 2012, 14:08

Trayvon Martin Killer Arrested

John Robles

Trayvon Martin killer arrested

Download audio file

George Zimmerman, the Trayvon Martin killer, has now been arrested on second-degree murder charges. John Robles spoke with Mr. Trevor Harvey , President of the Sarasota County Chapter of the NAACP and the area 11 Director of the NAACP Conference.

George Zimmerman, the Trayvon Martin killer, has now been arrested on second-degree murder charges. John Robles spoke with Mr. Trevor Harvey, President of the Sarasota County Chapter of the NAACP and the area 11 Director of the NAACP Conference.

 

13 April 2012, 13:56

US coming to the Middle East

John Robles

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The U.S. is about to announce that they are going to advance their SM-3 missile systems in the Middle East and Asia Pacific region. John Robles spoke with Rick Rozoff , the Manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and the contributing writer to globalresearch.ca.

The U.S. is about to announce that they are going to advance their SM-3 missile systems in the Middle East and Asia Pacific region. John Robles spoke with Rick Rozoff, the Manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and the contributing writer to globalresearch.ca.


 

13 April 2012, 12:31    MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Islamic Terrorists Trained in US

John Robles

      

 

10 April 2012, 19:27    MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Smolensk Disaster Revisited

John Robles

Related links:

Interview with Captain John Cox, the Chief Executive Officer of Safety Operating Systems in Washington DC and a world renowned aviation expert, July 16, 2010:  http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/07/16/12497718.html

December 20, 2010: http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/12/20/37263356.html

August 15, 2011: http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/12/20/37263356.html

Smolensk crash remembered: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_04_10/71207814/

Joint grief:

http://english.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/6325973/6326725/

 

6 April 2012, 16:41    MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

The World’s Judge, Jury and Executioner

John Robles

Dear readers and listeners, if you would like to get a hold of me or comment on anything I have written please visit me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JohnARoblesII.


 

5 April 2012, 12:04   MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html 

NATO Continuing its Global Expansion

John Robles

EU Made Serbia a Colony Doctor Jovan Dereticc

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Jovan_Deretic.html

Download audio file  5 April 2012, 11:53


 

3 April 2012, 13:58 MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Much Ado Over Nothing

John Robles

31 May 2012, 16:57    http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

Occupy the World? A Summary of the Occupy Movement  John Robles

31 May 2012, 09:02 

Obama’s Extra-Judicial Election Ploy John Robles

31 May 2012, 02:28

Sedition: Berezovsky (Oligarch on the Run)

John Robles

The opinions and views expressed in this piece are those of the author.

How US Protestors are Detained and Disappeared

Attorney Kris Hermes

Download audio file 30 May 2012, 21:28

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Kris_Hermes.html


30 May 2012, 17:06

Syria: Massacre of Civilians as Reason for Invasion

John Robles

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html .

 

29 May 2012, 21:51

Little Chance for Fairness in Manning Case

John Robles

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

 

29 May 2012, 13:29

Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan Continue Unchecked

John Robles

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

The killings go on.

 

25 May 2012, 15:29

Who is Serbia’s New President?

John Robles

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

23 May 2012, 21:30

NATO Loses Historic 1st Debate to "Demonstrators"

John Robles and  Rick Rozoff

Download audio file

Interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff, the Manager and Owner of the Stop NATO website and mailing list.

We would like to do a summary on the debate you had last night. Do you think the format was fair and who originally was supposed to speak and why do you think they were removed? And do you think you were treated in a proper manner? In the beginning you were called “demonstrators”.

Yes, right. You know days before the demonstration, as though our role is simply limited to marching and protests and so forth, that wasn’t fair, I assume that it was inadvertent mistake though I can assure you that had this been a NATO official, they would have dealt with him with a lot more reverence and deference. But overall I would have to say, given the limitations, the fact that it was held in the Pritzker Military Library and was sponsored by the National Strategy Forum, that they dealt with our side better than we’re accustomed to being dealt with.

The moderator, he made a point of saying that there were only 60 people in the audience? Can you tell us a little bit about the security situation, that was going on there?

It was very tight security situation, but the venue was small – could only accommodate about 60 people and both sides as it were, the pro-NATO and anti-NATO forces were allowed inside, were allowed some 35 people, so that is actually more than 60. Somehow or another, it worked out fair evenly. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was there, there were international media but it was very select audience and kept that way, evidently.

We of course, on our end, those opposed to NATO, would have prefered a larger venue, with a larger audience, but these are elite organizations – think tanks and so force, and they live in their own circumscribed world.

Why do you think the original speakers were taken off the schedule, do you think that was planned?

I am glad you asked that. I’d love to know. As you are aware and as you’ve covered in the past, John, the two pro-NATO spokesmen were to have been: the Assistant or Deputy, whatever he is, Assistant Secretary General James Appathurai and former US Ambassador to NATO and State Department Official R. Nicholas Burns… for inexplicable reasons, it was explained to me secondhand, for logistical reasons and problems with the format of the podcast. The fact that it was televised live to a fairly wide audience, I think didn’t please the two pro-NATO officials. Subsequent to that we heard a rumor to the effect that the two former U.S. Ambassadors to NATO Robert E. Hunter and Kurt Volker were to appear. They did appear in events sponsored by the same organization, National Security Forum, earlier in the day where they premiered a video promoting a modern NATO, but they also didn’t show up.

So, they got to say whatever they wanted to.

Yes, precisely, every other event that has been held in Chicago except for small one in the church, a couple of months ago, has been entirely pro-NATO and this includes several events today and I am sure several in the interim between now and the summit itself. For example, if your listeners aren’t aware of this, I live in Chicago, of course, and there was a branch of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, that used to be called the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, in recent years Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and they brought in Madeleine K. Albright the former Secretary of State, they brought in R. Nicholas Burns, the person I mentioned earlier. Albright a few weeks ago went to high school in the south side of Chicago to promote NATO, there have been events held throughout elementary schools, grade schools in Chicago promoting NATO and in recent days, in the suburban communities, even outside Cook County in Chicago, people have been subjected to a barrage of NATO propagandas, so this was the one real opportunity, not to have our side heard but to have two people from each side, it was the only balanced discussion to date.

Can you please, for our listeners, we have some people that don’t have a chance to get on the internet or won’t have a chance to, can you summarize the key points, the key arguments for and against, that took place during the debate, please?

Right, I should tell you who the other three speakers were. On our side a very eloquent, well-informed and heroic young woman named Iris Feliciano spoke. She is a member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War but is a 10 year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, who had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. She stated that she and her colleagues want to meet with NATO officials to express their opposition to, and condemnation of the wars that have been waged in Afghanistan and Iraq. I incidentally met a number of veterans after the affair and one of whom was a young woman who’d been in the U.S. navy during the war against Yugoslavia in 1999 and she and others intend to return their war medals to NATO during the march on May the 20th. She has a NATO medal for calling in air strikes and helicopter attacks against Serbian/Yugoslav forces in 1999. So, there were number of veterans in the audience too. But Iris Feliciano was extremely poised, extremely well-informed and offered arguments that were impossible for any decent person to refute. On the other side, the very jocular, avuncular and so force, were the former U.S. Ambassador to both East and West Germany and reunified Germany, J.D. Bindenagel and one John Allen Williams. These are both people associated with the universities in Chicago. Williams is at Loyola University and Bindenagel is now at DePaul University, both Catholic Universities in Chicago. Russian officials frequently talk about NATO not being willing to abandon cold war thinking and what I really heard from Bindenagel and Williams was not bellicose and not vicious but nevertheless a complete cold war world view: one where they were celebrating NATO for having stopped Soviet divisions pouring across Europe and things suchlike, which wasn’t true at the time and certainly is irrelevant now in the face of global NATO waging wars around the world. But they seem to be locked, frankly, in a time warp and the veteran, Miss Feliciano, who had spent 10 years on the ground; she knew what she was talking about, she knows what these wars are about and she knows what plight confronts U.S. veterans when they return to the United States. You know she was able to talk about real history rather than academic perspectives on war.

During the debate you mentioned Dmitry Medvedev’s recent statement regarding NATO. How was that taken by the audience?

At the very end of the discussion I made, as I could, an impassioned plea to people: I stated the 25 years after the end of the cold war, 21 years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact I said; who, 21 years ago would have expected that because of NATO expansion and NATO interference in other countries, that the Prime Minister of Russia, until recently the president, Medvedev would make a statement that if countries, we don’t have to name them, we know who they are: they’re NATO nations, if they continue military interference into the internal affairs of sovereign nations, this could lead to full-blown war including with nuclear weapons. That’s a rough paraphrase of Medvedev’s statement and then I acquainted the audience with the fact that the Russian military chief, general Nikolay Makarov, within the last two weeks, stated that if the U.S. NATO interceptor missile system develops to such an extent that it threatens Russia nuclear deterrence capabilities that Russia might be compelled to launch a preemptive strike. And I said, who 21 years ago, who 25 years ago would have believed that you would ever hear statements like that?

How did the NATO officials react when you said these things?

They weren’t really NATO officials, but they were NATO apologists. A lot of quibbling, a certain amounts of false herrings, you know, dragging up Rwanda, for example, at one point when that was never a NATO operation, there is no prospect of it being and then when that was brought to their attention, they did have to acknowledge that that was a poor analogy, but what I find increasingly as a standard NATO argument over the past 17 years is that NATO has intervened to prevent genocide, humanitarian crises and so force and one of the two pro-NATO people raised the United Nations responsibility to protect provision. And I mentioned that shortly after NATO marched into the Serbian province of Kosovo in June of 1999, arm in arm with the so called Kosovo Liberation Army, that within a couple of years, a quarter million ethnic minorities had been driven out of Kosovo: Serbs, Roma, Egyptians, Turks, Gorans and others, who will never return again. And I asked them, where are you, humanitarian interventionists now? Where is your responsibility to protect people now? And also the pro-NATO spokesmen were attempting to suggest that NATO only intervenes for humanitarian and noble reasons and I reminded them that in every single NATO military operation in Bosnia and Kosovo and Afghanistan and in Libya, NATO entered on behalf of one group of armed belligerents against another, in other words, they took sides in a civil conflict, and I said a military alliance, whose collective population is 900 million, and who last year spent over a trillion dollars collectively, on military budgets, with the U.S. accounting for about 2/3 of that, or over 2/3 of that. You know, there is nothing to be proud of that you defeat a nation like Yugoslavia with 10 million people or Libya with 6.5 million people.

What would you say to NATO’s claim that they contribute to security and stability in Europe?

That statement was made repeatedly by the two people I mentioned – Bindenagel and Williams, you know, stating that “look what a great role NATO has done, Europe is at peace, there has been no Soviet aggression” and so force. You know, my response to that was, it’s very easy for me to say somebody presents a threat they don’t present and then when it doesn’t materialize, say that the only reason it didn’t occur is because I stopped it, and to really believe that 100 Soviet divisions are amassing on the border of the two Germanys to invade all of Europe is fool hardy and the Soviet Union had neither the capacity nor the desire to do anything like that, so it was false rational to maintain US military presence in Europe, which remains to this day. And the real, proof-of-the-pudding with NATO is, again in 1991, 21 years ago when the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union both dissolved themselves that NATO far from retiring goes into the business of expanding throughout all of Europe and then starts waging war in the areas far removed from the North Atlantic, and even outside of Europe. This tends to suggest that NATO contained, at the very least within itself, the kernel of military aggression from its very foundation.

Ok, on that point, let’s finish up. Anything else you would like to add?

I can only say it was very heartening. It was very encouraging afterwards; the amount of people who came up and spoke to Iris and myself, and particularly the amount of veterans. I must have spoken to a dozen veterans easily. These are people who are young enough to be my sons, these are people of the age I was when the Vietnam war was raging and they were very well-informed, they were very principled, they were very brave. And veterans like themselves, of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, are going to be leading the march, as you may know, on May 20th . What better reputation of militarism and wars of aggression, than to hear it from the soldiers who were forced to fight?

I think that’s great that veterans are supporting you. That’s super. Anyway, what about demonstrations coming up? I am still interested in predictions on how many people you think are going to be demonstrating?

You know, one always goes out on a limb, when you estimate the size of a demonstration, particularly if it’s one you support. But I can only say, from what I am reading, what I am hearing, what I am sensing, this is going to be a big demonstration, it will be difficult for me to tell you the exact number but I’d be very surprised if it was not in the tens of thousands.

I know the occupiers are really going all out here as well.

Thank you very much, Rick.

Thanks as always for the opportunity.

 

23 May 2012, 11:28

Georgia/Baltic Countries: Winners at NATO Summit

John Robles

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

 

22 May 2012, 16:02

NATO: Blood Money, War, Global Domination

John Robles

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

 

20 May 2012, 16:33

NATO and US vs Protestors John Robles

NATO and US vs Protestors

MOVED HERE http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

 

Violence at the Hands of the State

Rachael Perrotta

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Rachael_Perrotta.html

Download audio file  16 May 2012, 17:38

 Jar2

15 May 2012, 15:24

Serbian Presidential Elections Stolen

Doctor Jovan Deretic

Download audio file

Interview with Dr. Jovan Deretic, a Political Science Doctor and the member of the Petrovskaya Academy in St. Petersburg, he is also the President of the Free Serbia Movement in Serbia.

I’d like you if you could give our listeners a rundown on the recent elections in Serbia? What exactly is going on there in the country?

They are false, people can’t take all right the election. But this is not really an election. People in power have made a blueprint writing down what they need to stay in power. And after they tried to fulfill their blueprint and stolen the election, completely stolen. Nobody see something at this nowhere in the world. What we can do about it – I guess is to let the power not to cover what have happened.

There are reports that the pro-Western Democratic Party stole 500 000 votes in the elections.

That is true. I’ve put in my site in Serbia that they have stole about 1 000 000 votes. They’ve put the people from Kosovo and Metohija, Albanians who don’t have documents of Serbia, into account, to cast ballots. And it is very difficult whether they can profit of it and what will happen. The political party is to recognize that the election is stolen, that’s true.

There’s been accusations that the Democrats took the names 500 000 dead people and listed them as voters. Do you know anything about that?

Right! And we don’t exactly know how much each party got. People from all around of Serbia send me the pictures made on the cameras, and some people recognized that they participated in this kind of stealing. In some towns they gave money to the people who casted ballots into the ballot box. And when they opened the ballot boxes it turned out that inside there was not what they voted for. Now we can’t recognize any power that is to be constituted from this election.

The election chairman, I believe his name was the Spokesman Miodrag Petrovic, he said that there was no possible election fraud and the OSCE observers said it was open and competitive. What can you say about those comments?

These are certainly pro-West company people who supervised election and those people are on the serve of the Democratic Party and say what they like to say because they must stay in power, no matter how because if it loses the power everything will be changed in Serbia.

What’s your opinion on the former Mayor of New York Giuliani, he was in Belgrade on Friday? Some people say he was paid by the Serbian Progressive Party to come into the country. What can you tell us about that?

Right! In 1999 he supported aggression against Serbia and now he comes to Serbia to support some kind of people who are absolutely not qualified for the position they will be given.

He was for bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, I think. It is important.

Yes, he supported bombing. And all this seems as very sick, very bad. What we need in Serbia – we need to clean up all those people who are now in power. There are too much bad people and the situation is very bad. They lie in their speeches…

What can you tell us about the release of the Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj. He was released from prison.

Yes, the Serbian Tribunal has no proof against him. This man has written a book in which he recognized they have killed people every day. This Tribunal is not a Tribunal, it is just something to ban the Serbians, to punish the Serbians. It is nothing of the tribunal and it cannot even be called a tribunal.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that the Tribunal there is one-sided. What can you say about that?

This man you cited is a very bad man. One day he says one thing and the other day he says another thing. He is just looking to be in power, to have a good position. This man played a very bad role in this election. Tadic and Dacic have supervised the stolen election.

Now when Vladimir Putin is the President of the Russian Federation, how will that affect Russian-Serbian relations? Will there be any change do you think?

I think yes, they obviously may change. You know, President Putin is the most popular politician in Serbia. Serbian people trust him and in this respect there will be done something good. We will improve our relations. And we expect that he wouldn’t support these traitors in Serbia.

Like before some Russians said – we will keep good relations with anybody. Don’t make goals like these! If we will keep good relations with our enemy, then what kind of enemy we are? What kind of friend you are if you support our enemy? I think President Putin is a very intelligent man, he has rather big courage like a politician, politically he may say something.

What’s the status of your movement? What is going on? Anything new?

Very good things are going now because we are the only one who tells people what happened. Now people realize that we are the only one who tells truth to the people. And people think of us very good now here in Serbia because there is nobody else to trust. But we are not yet in the power to change the situation. We will be strong enough to make a change.

 Jar2

14 May 2012, 17:33

OSCE to Monitor Anti-NATO Protests in Chicago

Rick Rozoff

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Interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to GlobalResearch.ca. He will be debating NATO officials in Chicago on May 17th in a first ever event where those opposed to NATO are allowed to voice their concerns.

http://m.ruvr.ru/2012/05/14/1306909047/Rozoff.jpg

I heard that on the 17th of May you are planning to debate former NATO officials and current NATO officials. This is first debate of this type in history I believe. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about that?

Thank you for asking, John. It’s scheduled Thursday evening at 6 o’clock in downtown Chicago at what’s called the Pritzker Military Library, it’s probably an apt site for the discussion of NATO. As I’ve last heard two spokespeople advocating the NATO position, and those are Nicholas Burns, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the State Department and current NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political and Security Affairs James Appathurai are going to be presenting the NATO position. I’ve been asked to be one of two what identified in Chicago media as protesters who are going to be speaking against NATO. Initially Andy Thayer who is a leader in the coalition against NATO G8 War and Poverty Agenda (CANG8), for short, was to be the other speaker from the anti-NATO position. I now hear that a representative from either Iraq or Afghanistan war veterans, is going to be speaking instead of Andy Thayer, so it will be the two of us.

Can you tell me a little bit of the format?

In my understanding each of the four of us is going to give a presentation and then there will be questions field from the audience. It’s going to be a very select group, there’s going to be 100 people permitted into the library in addition to media.

Who was behind the planning of this event?

It’s sponsored by the local Chicago think tank. Though, it’s my understanding, John, that somehow, I don’t know who contacted whom, the prime mover in permitting a discussion that has both sides being heard was emanated from the White House.

You mentioned before we started something about two OSCE parliamentarians. Are they going to be in attendance?

I heard from another leader of CANG8 that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) announced that they were going to send two, perhaps three European parliamentarians as part of the delegation to monitor the protest in the city of Chicago’s response to that, which would mark only the second time that an OSCE delegation has been sent to the United States, and the previous time was during 2008 presidential election and if in fact that’s true and that materializes, that may in part have led to the White House having them to make a concession to allow some form of public debate on the issue because to be frank with you, there has been none up until now. When the decision was made between the White House and Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel last year there was no debate, there was no discussion with the City Council of Chicago and the neighborhoods that are going to be effected pretty adversely, as no community leaders and so forth were consulted, it was dealt with as a fait accompli.

How did you become involved in this? Were you chosen?

Andy Thayer of CANG8 invited me to join him initially, now it looks like it may be again an Iraq or Afghanistan war veteran and myself presenting the anti-NATO position.

Can you tell our listeners a little bit of what NATO was doing to promote their position in the U.S. and why and where all this money is coming from? So they’ve made a huge PR campaign in the Chicago area, I believe.

There is a host committee for the NATO Summit, which is headed up by former political officials but there is corporate sponsorship that is matter of fact goes to the website for the NATO Chicago Summit, they’ll have the corporate logos of major Fortune 500 type companies that have raised an estimated $37 billion (Mr. Rozoff apologized and asked that billion be corrected to million. Robles)  in corporate moneys for the summit in addition to what the Federal and the City Government are going to spend. The argument that many people make including myself that NATO is essentially the international armed wing of the one percent could not be made any more effectively or vividly than visiting the website for the Chicago Summit and looking at corporate logos that stand behind the NATO meeting on May 20 and 21.

Recently somebody, NATO spokesman I think, said that NATO was the war machine for any percent.

I believe that comment emanates from Ivo Daalder who is U.S. Ambassador and NATO currently and he is somebody who 6 years ago co-authored an article that was published in Washington Post and also on the website of the Brookings Institution where Daalder is on leave as a senior fellow, but the title of article was “Global NATO”. So, we are talking about somebody who in fact envisions, and keep in mind he is the envoy for the most part the member of the military block, the United States, and that somebody that for several years has been touting in exactly those words, the concept of an international worldwide NATO that can intervene (at will) any place it chooses. Any organization that has waged war in three continents since 1999 as NATO has, in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya, is certainly a war machine.

What can you tell our listeners about G8 Summit being moved to Camp David and what’s the relation between that and the NATO Summit happening in Chicago?

The two were to have occured not simultaneously but back to back. The G8 Summit was to have occurred on the 18th and 19th of this month and the NATO Summit on the 20th and 21st. And when the news first broke in spring of last year that Chicago would host them both, the announcement was made simultaneously, it was, if you will, a package deal, then several weeks ago the White House rather abruptly and without any explanations, the accounts in Chicago are that the Mayor himself, Emanual wasn’t even aware of the fact that it was being pulled until he heard it on the news. I can tell you my personal supposition, which is this: that in the interim between the time it was announced both the G8 and the NATO Summit to be held in the United States and the announcement by the White House they were relocated the G8 Summit to Camp David in Maryland, the Occupy movement sprang into existence in September of last year and I would assume that the White House was afraid that the demonstrations against both Summits would be large enough to create a political embarrassment, both for the city of Chicago and for the country, certainly for the Administration and thought that by relocating the G8 Summit they could take attention away form the NATO demonstration. I believe that it has backfired. Instead there will be a large public demonstration on the 20th . I am hoping that it will be possibly the largest counter-NATO demonstration ever held against the backdrop of the Summit. If you recall in Lisbon, Portugal in November 2010, I’ve heard estimates from 10-30 thousand protesters. It would be my sincerest wish that the people of Chicago and the joining states could turn out a force larger than that.

Larger than 30,000 people?

That would be ideal. Larger that 10,000 would be great.

 

14 May 2012, 14:59

The Opposition

John Robles

12 May 2012, 21:43

Too Early to Pass Judgement on Superjet Crash

Captain John Cox

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Interview with Captain John Cox, the Chief Executive Officer of Safety Operating Systems in Washington DC and a world renowned aviation expert

http://m.ruvr.ru/2012/05/14/1306855656/John%20Cox%20Photo.jpg

Hello Mr. Cox.

Hello John! How are you?

I’m very well, thank you. Nice to be speaking with you again. I’d like to speak with you today about the crash of the Superjet 100 in Indonesia. As an expert what can you tell our listeners about the crash? And how do you think this will affect the future development of the Superjet 100?

Well, it is certainly a tragedy that the Superjet accident occurred with the loss of everybody on board. I think they will determine pretty quickly if there are any airplane issues and if there are, then it will be up to the manufacturer to solve those pretty quickly. As far as the future, this is certainly going to affect it in the near term but I’m not necessarily so sure that it will have a negative effect in a longer term. All the aircraft have experienced accidents early in the program and have been able to be very successful. And I think that’s a possible relief for the Superjet 100 as well.

There was an airbus, I believe it was in 1988, crash during a demo flight.

Some of the very early airbus accidents were very early in their program and yet the A320 family of airplanes has become one of the most successful. So, I think that implications here is that the manufacturer needs to be very upfront and very open with the things that they learn about the accident as the investigation progresses. And by being that open I think they will ensure the credibility of the airplane.

Indonesian Airlines are black-listed from flying in Europe. Can you tell our listeners anything you know about the safety situation in Indonesia?

The Indonesian accident rates are some of the highest in the world compared with the industry overall. Yet the Indonesian Government has been making good progress in trying to improve airlines safety in the area. I think this tragic accident will be another push forward for them to continue that improvement in the aviation infrastructure.

The plane that crashed apparently was in a perfect condition. The pilot was one of the best, if not the best Russian test flight pilot. What do you think contributed to the crash?

It is very early to tell. Obviously they were flying in mountainous terrain, so the questions that are going to come up – was there an airplane problem, were they flying where they were supposed to, were they in vehicle communication and flying appropriately with their traffic control. The investigators are going to look to see all those possibilities and they will come up with something very quickly.

The pilot, apparently right before the plane disappeared from radar, he requested to decent to 6 000 feet from 10 000. Have you heard anything about that? Do you know why he did that?

From what I have read, they had circled a mountain there, the 10 000 height mountain. They have circled around it once and they were for making a second turn and that’s when they requested to decent to 6 000 feet. The air traffic control approved that and shortly after that the radar contact was lost. Until they find the cockpit voice recorder and determine exactly why the request was made, I think it is something of an open question that the investigators will look at.

You don’t know of any design flaws or anything in the Superjet 100 that could have contributed to this?

The Superjet 100 had flown at the previous demonstration flight earlier in the day and they did not report any mechanical issues. So, it appears from that, that the airplane had not experienced any problem previous to the accident flight and the crew made no communications of any problems to air traffic control. So, it is hard to say this early whether there was a mechanical issue with the airplane or not but none is apparent at this point.

Some of the experts, can’t remember exactly it was, he said that the pilots may have been pushing the envelope with the plane since there were buyers on board. What do you think about that statement?

I think it is premature to try to suggest what the pilots were or were not doing until we get the cockpit voice recorder and at that point we will notice confidently. Demonstration pilots, test pilots are highly skilled individuals, they re consummate professionals so I would not want to suggest at this stage that what they did or didnt do could have been a contributor.

Thank you very much that could be heard. Any other factors you think may have played into this regarding Indonesia, the terrain, air traffic control there?

I have been in Malaysia and that part of the world is a mountainous terrain in close proximity to the airport. The pilots who fly in and out of there they deal with it on a regular basis. So, the infrastructure of Indonesia is challenging but its airplanes fly in and out of there safely every day. So, I think it is something the investigators will look at. But as far as the contributions the accident causes, I think only the investigators will determine that.

You say it is too early to make any conclusions regarding the Superjet here, right?

The key here, to protect the airplane’s reputation, is for everyone involved to be very open and to get as much information out to the aviation industry as early as possible.

And in your experience, have you heard anything negative about the aircraft?

I know that they had some typical testing issues. I can’t now give you the list of what they were. But I also understand that the manufacturer had been able to resolve all of them.

But nothing major that pilots have talked about?

Nothing I have heard.

We are almost out of time. Is there anything else you would like to add and we will finish up I guess?

I think this is a tragedy. Everybody recognizes that it is also very important because of it being so early in the airplane history that this will be resolved quickly and openly. I think that’s the key thing to take away from this at the stage.

Thank you very much, John. You were listening to an interview with Captain John Cox – the Chief Executive Officer of Safety Operating Systems in Washington DC and a world renowned aviation expert.

 

7 May 2012, 16:12

President Putin Inaugurated

John Robles

President Putin Inaugurated

The author can be contacted here: http://www.facebook.com/JohnARoblesII 

 

6 May 2012, 17:24

Syria: Peace Plan Not Working

Doctor Alon Ben-Meir

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Interview with Doctor Alon Ben-Meir, Middle-East expert and professor in the center for global affairs at New York University.

In Syria what are the prospects for real peace?

I personally don’t see the so-called Kofi Annan plan working. I see the endorsement of the United Nations Security Council, but the truth of the matter is that neither the opposition, nor the Syrian government stopped the fighting.

There’s been some reduction in the violence, hasn’t there?

Only in relative terms. It’s only been happening when the monitors go to some place and the Syrian authorities stop shooting and killing, the moment the UN monitors leave they resume the fighting again. And that really is the problem. My feeling, John, is that even under the best circumstances if Annan plan is to work, Bashar al-Assad and his co-workers, so to speak, they will ask themselves the question: what will happen then? More than ten thousand people have been killed, three or five times as many have been injured. The public is going to demand accountability. They’ve been saying: it’s a terrorist group, a terrorist group. But they’re not really terrorists. This is the public.  So what is the prospect actually of Bashar al-Assad to remain in power and to resume business as usual? That’s the biggest question. And I don’t think that either he, or his military, or his internal security or certainly the intelligence have come to any different conclusion.

Last time we talked there was reelection coming up. What happened there?

Nothing of course. I mean even if there was to be an election - who was going to vote and who are the people to be elected? This is all a lot of talk, but nothing has happened. This’s been in the pattern of this regime. And unfortunately the international community has been inapt so far to do something serious about it. My feeling in the farther analysis is that somebody has to come on with a plan of action whereby Bashar al-Assad and perhaps many of his supporters seek some save place and be able to go peacefully someplace else. Because I don’t think any solution that can be envisioned where he can stay in power is going to work. And I’ve been looking at any scenario. I think it’s just too late at this juncture.

What would you think would be the quickest way to put it into the violence?

Surely the quickest way might be military intervention but I don’t advocate that. What I’m saying is probably a country like Iraq that supports Bashar al-Assad and has a curious interest in the region, might have offered savings for his supporters and tried to persuade him to give up power in this manner. But he will not do so. And that’s where sanctions become really crippling. And I think Iraq with the US and other countries are to increase the sanction. It would basically face with no other options.

There’s another element. Russia so far has been very supportive of him. When Putin comes to power, he may too look at the situation anew and decide that something will have to happen. In the final analysis I don’t think that Russia wants to be accused later on of having been helping Assad. Putin may conclude this time to do something else and encourage Assad to give up power before he is forced to do so by the International criminal court that will make impossible for him to go anywhere.

Why are people in the West so negative and so doubtful that any peace plan would work?

Because it’s not working - it’s not the question of having doubt - when the killing continues, when there’re tanks and vehicles, when snipers are still shooting people, when people are dying. I want to tell you that from the time when Annan plan was adopted, more than 1000 people were killed and 500/600 additional civilians were injured. Many thousands have been seeking refuge in Jordan and about 700/800 defectors went to Turkey. That’s what Kofi Annan took hold of. Can you imagine? So it’s not a question of having doubt. It’s just not working. And again I want to repeat I’m really hoping that once Putin is the President, he might think that the appropriate time has come to try to put it into this. You know, John, what I want to suggest, certainly Russia has an interest in Syria. And we understand that. The Russian may very well work with the US and with the Syrian national council and persuade them that Russia’s only Mediterranean maintenance base in Syria can probably be preserved and make a deal with the Syrian national council that Russia would be prepared to change the pasture if and when they agree to that.

Russia would – if the US would give a little lee-way regarding a military solution.

The US is not going interfere militarily. You can count on that. For no other reason but the presidential election. No military involvement is in the option right now. As President Putin is coming to power next week, his first things on the agenda should be getting attached with President Obama and try to work it out. I think the key to this is the agreement between the US and Russia. Diplomacy is still to be given a chance. And I think with the change of power in Russia there’s a great opportunity to do so. And Russia can take a tremendous credit for bringing an end to this conflict. This is going to take place only next week. Within two-three weeks the new government in Russia can get in touch with the US and make a deal. But part of the deal must be the departure of Bashar al-Assad from power. Russia can still maintain its relations and interest in Syria.

If the rebels completely give up arms and stop fighting – is there any way they can have a political voice in the government?

They say they will be prepared to do so. But then – let’s say – no one is shooting, neither the government, nor the opposition, but they come out in the street in millions, demonstrating very-very peacefully. Can their government or Bashar allow millions of people in the street to demonstrate peacefully demanding serious political reforms? That’s not going to happen. The current system of government in Syria will not allow this kind of development. I hope that President Putin will hear this message and do something about it.

 Jar2

29 June 2012, 16:24

Violence Against Serbs in Kosovo on St. Vitus Day

John Robles

June 28th was a very important day for the Serbian people and for Serbian Orthodox Christians.


 Jar2

28 June 2012, 19:26

U.S. Double-Standards Crystal Clear in Bahrain

John Robles


 

Human Rights Activists Attacked in Bahrain 

Maryam Al-Khawaja

Download audio file  28 June 2012, 12:32

 

"Assange ...lost faith in justice system."

Jacob Appelbaum

 

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Hello! This is John Robles, I’m speaking with Jacob Appelbaum . He is a developer with the Tor Project and a close associate of Julian Assange. Hello Sir! How are you today? I’m fantastic except for the obvious situation with the dear friend of mine.

 

25 June 2012, 15:44

Media Deliberately Smearing Julian

Exclusive Interview with Christine Assange

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Christine_Assange.html

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25 June 2012, 01:59

A Precursor to War: Syria

John Robles


 Jar2

US Throws Book at Anti-NATO Protesters

Kris Hermes

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Interview with Kris Hermes, an official spokesperson and legal worker for the Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, indictments against 'NATO 3' protesters.

Hello. This is John Robles. I am speaking with Kris Hermes, an official spokesperson and legal worker for the Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which is defending the NATO 3.

Why were you initially denied the indictments by the prosecutors?

We were told by the state’s attorney that we would not be able to see indictments until July 2nd, when the defendants will be arraigned.

Is that normal? You are not going to have any time to prepare.

This is a little time to prepare. Typically conversations happen between the defense attorneys and the state’s attorney for whatever reason. The city has refused to talk with us about this case and so we found out about the indictments just by going to the circuit court clerk’s office. They were apparently made public in the clerk’s office and we happened to be there reviewing other cases and noticed they were there and we were able to obtain them. Why they felt that they didn’t want to let us know that the indictments were public, we are not really sure, why they wouldn’t provide them when we asked at the last court hearing, we are not really sure.

Very strange. So, what is unusual about the indictments?

There are multiple counts of possession of the incendiary device. In addition to the three charges, the three original charges, which are material support for terrorism, possession of incendiary device and conspiracy to commit terrorism, several other charges were tacked on as a result of the indictment including attempted arson, solicitation to commit arson, conspiracy to commit arson and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. Essentially each defendant now has 11 charges. There is not necessarily anything unusual about the indictment other than the fact that these excessive charges smack of further sensationalism by the state’s attorney to make this a show trial, to create hysteria around these sensational charges and we still have not seen any evidence. We’ve not been given anything other than a proffer, which alleges all sorts of crimes that they’ve provided us no evidence of.

Can you explain to our listeners what’s a difference between for example a grand jury indictment and just charges?

Sure. The state’s attorney had the option when the indictment was issued of putting on evidence and witnesses in a preliminary hearing that is commonly done in criminal cases. But that would involve the defense attorneys, it would involve the ability to review evidence and to cross-examine witnesses. The state’s attorney didn’t want to do that, so the other option was to call a grand jury in secret without the involvement of the Defense Council and get an indictment that way, and that’s what they did.

Is that going to help the defense out later in the case?

I think a preliminary hearing would have been more helpful to the defense. The fact that they issued an indictment in secret doesn’t really help us at this point and I am not sure it will help us in the future. Everything is shrouded in secrecy, the state’s attorney is unwilling to divulge any information so we are pretty hamstrung at the moment in terms of being able to effectively defend our client.

Would you characterize this as some sort of political prosecution?

It’s definitely a political prosecution: the first words out of the state’s attorney’s mouth at the bond hearing were that these were anarchists, part of so-called “Black Block” and their attempt to politicize their crimes is very evident. There is no evidence that we’ve seen that these people hold any particular political belief but certainly there is no crime against having anarchists beliefs or engaging in activism in your community. These young men should not be put on trial for their political beliefs and if that’s what the state’s attorney is doing, this case is going to evaporate quickly.

By putting that staff out in the press before the bond hearing, for example, are there grounds for dismissing the case entirely?

Certainly, it smacks of politicization and it also indicates that the city was intent on discrediting not only these activists but the Occupy Chicago movement or the Occupy Wall Street movement, even greater than that. There have been other incidents around the country, in which the state has tried to discredit the Occupy movement, but also these arrests happened in advance of the NATO protests so they were in a sense trying to discourage folks from coming out and protesting in the streets.

Do you think that was successful?

I think they did achieve short term objective which was to create hysteria, spread fear and intimidation and discourage people from coming out to protest and it’s difficult to say how many people would have come out to protest if these arrests had not been made and this PR campaign and had not been sort of put forward by the state’s attorney, but we believe that some amount of people have been discouraged and that’s a chilling of people’s First Amendment rights.

Do you think if these charges are successful, that other states will attempt to charge other Occupy activists with similar charges?

There is depending case in Cleveland, in which infiltrators were involved and they are trying to also discredit the Occupy Wall Street movement there by attaching accusations of bomb-making to activists in Cleveland. In each contemporary example of people being arrested for explosives-related crimes, they’ve all involved infiltrators, police informants or undercover cops, and there is real serious question as to whether or not provocation and entrapment was at the root of it.

Do you see the stripping of civil liberties and rights in the US for security reasons continuing?

The Pfizer rules from what I understand have just been renewed, which gives the government the right to tap phone lines without a warrant, without probable cause and I think they were definitely not moving in the right direction in terms of maintaining people’s civil liberties. We have a long way to go to reverse course and return a lot of the rights that we had pre-9/11 that have been eroded over the years through executive order and attorney general guidelines.

Do you think that’s going to happen?

I don’t think it’s going to happen without very concerted effort on the part of civil libertarians and activists that are trying to preserve their constitutional rights.

Thank you.

You were listening to an interview with Kris Hermes, an official spokesperson and legal worker for the Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

 

22 June 2012, 20:43

Australia Gave Up on Assange

Senator Scott Ludlam

Sen. Scott Ludlam: Australia gave up on Assange, Exclusive Interview

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Why is "official" Australian reaction on Julian Assange’s impending extradition indifferent?

Hello. This is John Robles. I am speaking with Senator Scott Ludlam with the Australian Green Party.

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Scott_Ludlum.html

Jar2

21 June 2012, 06:46

Kremlin to Launch Social Networking Site

John Robles

According to Russian media reports the site is to replace a site currently at the url: russiawithoutidiots.rf, which was developed under an initiative from former president Dmitry Medvedev and was designed to accept complaints about the actions of Russia’s civil servants.


Read more:
http://voiceofrussia.com/2012_06_21/78786328/

 Jar2

21 June 2012, 04:25

Putin-Obama Meeting and G-20 Summit

John Robles

Putin-Obama meeting and G-20 Summit: productive


 Jar2

20 June 2012, 18:26

US Provokes Russia to WWIII

John Robles

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Recent statements by Hillary Clinton regarding Syria and the Russian Federation; a provocation or something else?

Hello, this is John Robles. You are listening to the interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager and the owner of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a regular contributor to the Voice of Russia.

I’d like to talk to you about the recent statements by Hillary Clinton regarding Syria and the Russian Federation and the seeming provocation by the U.S.

You are referring of course to the statement earlier this week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of sending helicopter gunships to Syria, more or less in her words for the expressed and exclusivHello, this is John Robles. You are listening to an interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager and the owner of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a regular contributor to the Voice of Russia.

I’d like to talk to you about the recent statements by Hillary Clinton regarding Syria and the Russian Federation and the seeming provocation by the U.S.

You are referring of course to the incident earlier this week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of sending helicopter gunships to Syria, more or less in her words for the express and exclusive intent of murdering Syrian civilians. You know an absurd contention but a very dangerous provocation.

Why do you think the U.S. is set on, it seems to me, provoking Russia?

You're using the right word. These are actions that usually, ordinarily rather, are employed against a nation with which the U.S. is at loggerheads and is considering potential hostile actions against. This is wild rhetoric, it's reckless, it’s unjustified of course and it’s not even so much evocative of the Cold War period; in many ways it is even worse than some of what we heard during even the most stressful years of the Cold War.

Why is the U.S. taunting Russia, why is it challenging it, why is it attempting to discredit and humiliate it? I think I am using the right verbs. I can only say that Russia, by standing its ground and maintaining its position on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations and continuing to oppose unilateral and lawless intervention, military intervention in the first place, into the internal affairs of sovereign nations, is an obstacle to U.S. plans for extending its military and political influence globally and to affect in the specific case of Syria and other nations so-called regime change to bring about a geopolitical configuration more favorable to the United States. Russia is standing on the way of that, then, has to be condemned and excoriated by the United States in an effort to win international support against Russia. And any fabrication, any exaggeration, any outright lie that serves that purpose, will be something that U.S.
government officials will not hesitate to employ.

What kind of things are they saying in the U.S. press about Russia right now?

We are seeing the gutter journalism mill churned up of course. There was an article in the Los Angeles Times yesterday by a regular contributor that has a statement to the effect that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Syria in supporting tyranny and dictatorship and so forth are in his genes, that is presumably that as a Russian he is genetically programmed to support genocide and dictatorship and so force.

This was in U.S. press?

This was in the Los Angeles Times, one of the major dailies in the United States. And the fact that filth like this can be published quite openly, and uncontested evidently, is something that truthfully I don’t recall during the Cold War where the U.S. government and its obedient mass media at least attempted to draw a distinction between, let’s say, the Soviet government and the people of the Soviet Union. Now, evidently the actions of the Russian government are attributed to some genetic deficiency within the Russian people. This is horrific, it’s almost evocative of the Hitler period.

Hillary Clinton, as she decided to make some serious anti-Russian remarks during a press conference at the Brookings Institute, you wrote something about the fact that in the background there was an Israeli flag. Do you think it was done on purpose and how was it played out in the Arab countries?

These are both very penetrating questions, so I’ll attempt to answer them. She was speaking at the Brookings Institution, which has given the Barack Obama administration amongst other personnel, on leave from the Brookings Institution, Dr. Susan Rice, who is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Ivo Daalder who is the U.S. ambassador to NATO and other officials, so that is a venue dear to the likes of Hillary Clinton but she was speaking with Israeli President Shimon Peres and that was the occasion presumably for the Israeli flag being in the background, though I didn’t see an American flag.

She was sitting down when she made the wild accusation that Russia was sending helicopter gunships to be used against Syrian civilians, because that’s what she stated, and in the meantime incidentally waving her arm in the air and almost shaking her fist, I guess for rhetorical effect. The irony or the fact that anyone watching that on Youtube throughout the world and particularly in the Arab world watching her make one of her more provocative statements to date in relation to Russia as she is all but draped in the Israeli flag would certainly send a message other than what she intended I suppose, unless it was intended as you imply. And I certainly can’t answer that.

But we do have to recall that her comment is not an isolated one. It was backed up by her spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, spokesman for the State Department, former U.S. ambassador to NATO incidentally. It was backed up by Jay Carney, White House spokesman, and others who have immediately afterwards made comparable statements indicting Russia for an event that as we now know never occurred.

Every few years there seems to be an intensification of the Russia-baiting initiative. It's generally stirred up the press in the United States and perhaps even more so in Britain. There have been recent articles in the Daily Telegraph, there have been some in recent months in the Guardian, including by Simon Tisdall, who's their deputy editor, and it’s the worst sort of anti-Russian vitriol that, again, I have seen since the Cold War and perhaps worse than anything I saw during that period, and it is clear that the U.S. wants to complete its transformation of the Middle East as they would perhaps refer to as. That is, the overthrow of secular, non-monarchical governments in Arab countries in favor of the U.S.’s dearest military client in the world right now – Saudi Arabia - with whom it signed a $60 billion arms deal late last year as your listeners will recall, which by my calculations is probably the largest bilateral military weapons package in human history, and the fact that the democracy-loving and freedom-promoting and so forth United States (those are all in italics, ironic italics) is siding with the likes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other monarchic, theocratic regimes in the Persian Gulf and working hand-in-glove with them, much as the United States and Saudi Arabia did against Afghanistan starting since 1978, when the Saudis provided the funds and not a few fighters for the Mujahideen war and the United States provided weapons and advisers.

And we seem to see a resumption of that bilateral strategic, or geostrategic, alliance between United States and Saudi Arabia. Russia stands in the way. First of all, Russia’s government is very principled is demanding adherence to international law, to particularly non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations as we’ve talked about, and the United States is the opposite. They feel emboldened to, feel driven by, I would add, the need to interfere in and topple the governments of any number of countries in the world, and because these two nations, Russia and the United States, are so fundamentally opposed on that key principle of international relations, then the United States has to isolate, has to discredit and has to politically if not otherwise crush Russia in order to have its position become the dominant one, one that is uncontested.

Thank you.

You were listening to the interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager and the owner of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a regular contributor to the Voice of Russia.e intent of murdering Syrian civilians - you know absurd contention but a very dangerous provocation.


 Jar2

20 June 2012, 13:33

Original Suspicions About Assange

John Robles

The views and opinions expressed here are the writer’s own.
Read more:
http://voiceofrussia.com/2012_06_20/78702792/

 Jar2

18 June 2012, 18:35

London Olympics: A War Zone?

Tim Summers

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UK police chiefs are expecting more riots during the Olympics. There is large military personnel stationed in London. And still the media do not wish to dwell on why London must become a war zone.

This is John Robles, you are listening to an interview with Tim Summers – a political activist and the former national campaign’s officer of the Green Party of England and Wales in the UK. He is also a former political cartoonist. 

Hello Tim! How are you today? 

I’m very well, thank you John. 

It’s a pleasure to be speaking with you. What can you comment about skewed coverage by the BBC and British media regarding unrest in the country and in particular about the riots of last year? 

Well, rather grim news about that, really John. The riots started early August last year in Tottenham North London, when the local word spread of the shooting by police of a young unarmed black man, Mark Duggan, on the 4th of August. And even today as I speak the 31 police involved, including the gunman, are refusing interview with the so-called Independent Police Complaints Commission. And the media have largely ignored that whole origin of the August riots. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is already a notorious cover-up stooge organization, regarding its cover up of the murder by police of Jean Charles de Menezes. 

So, when 31 police refuse an interview with the IPCC it really does not look good for them, and particularly when riots are expected again this summer. Last August, it broke out from London, it spread all over London and then all across England, in odd places. It was the affluent market towns, so-called - Croydon that was worst hit - and riots became arson and looting as they tend to. But this was followed, not with a careful examination, but a huge crackdown and very heavy jailing sentences to create a sort of moral panic by the Government and by the media, and in tandem. 

And that the causes, which I think I’ll go into, have not been addressed. Several weeks ago six rioters in Aston, Birmingham, had shot handguns at police and were jailed for a total of 124 years, that’s over 20 years each. That’s a measure of how serious the riots were, and how serious the sentencing is. But, instead of asking the obvious political and economic questions, a huge sycophantic media coverage of the monarch’s Diamond Jubilee party a fortnight ago, or coverage of this great sensational Olympics showcase, diverts the masses consciously from all kinds of questions of social policy. 

Unemployment for example is up, particularly regarding youth and black people. The gap between rich and poor has widened, and continued to widen for years. Private rents, house prices go up, wages stay static, the Government’s austerity cuts (20% of them so far) have removed grants to sixth-formers, capped housing benefit, cut mental health services, huge amounts of public sector jobs, cut social housing. All this is causing very, very deep grief beneath the surface, not reflected in the corporate media’s reporting. Particularly the relations between youth and police continue to deteriorate. Many young people hate the police because police are the interface, the only interface, between them and Government that they ever come across. And there's increased complaints of police racism, currently twelve are being investigated. Homelessness has risen by 30% just during the first three months of this year. 

So, it's becoming very, very harsh social conditions. Therefore, the police chiefs are expecting more riots during the Olympics. They are stationing a huge national police force in London throughout the Olympics. But the Olympics charter, of the unelected International Olympics Committee, declares no kind of demonstration, or political or religious propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas. But what are these other areas - the media won’t tell us? This is a recipe for absolute chaos. 

The London Olympics has deliberately gone out to invite the sponsorship of major corporations – McDonald’s, Coca Cola and even Dow Chemicals, whose chemical pollution caused 25,000 deaths in Bhopal in 1984. And now Dow Chemicals are making drapes for the Olympic Stadium, and there's a ban on demonstrations. This is really absurd. Protests are inevitable, and already planned. So, police have stockpiled 10,000 plastic bullets ready for their first use in London. The mass media and the corporations are related, and allied to British Governments. This is coming out every week in the Leveson Inquiry, where Rupert Murdoch’s News International Corporation is being shown, exposed for its links with Governments and its direct influences. 

Are they similar to the BBC, I mean Murdoch’s coverage, was it in line with the BBC coverage in the country? 

Well, Murdoch’s line is even more harsh, particularly in terms of warmongering, like the Iraq War. He really tells governments what to do. And the BBC hasn’t been so exposed yet, but there's something really bland about the BBC, the way it just blanks out all the important questions and just gives you daily acreage of very, sort of, sycophantic coverage. 

They won’t tell you why the London Olympics has become a war zone, why there are 3,500 military personnel stationed in London over the Olympics, snipers in helicopters. Listen to this – six ground-to-air anti-aircraft missile bases around London. Typhoon jet fighter planes at Northolt Airbase. An unknown force of American armed paramilitaries will be roaming London, plus 10,400 G4S Private Security Guards, 3,000 student stewards, a Royal Navy battleship packed with marines moored in London's Pool, 8,000 volunteer assistants raised by Mayor Boris Johnson. And still the media do not wish to dwell on why London must become a war zone. 

And why is that? 

Well, I think we must assume that some retaliation for Britain’s recent resource wars, and war crimes, is imminent but that could mean Afghanistan, or Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Uganda and recently Britain supplied arms to Syria, via Saudi Arabia and Qatar. That’s eight possible retaliations I've listed, but you won't find them listed in the corporate media in Britain, which, as I say, is so absolutely in bed with Governments. 

So, if you add all this together – you add the riots, the war retaliations, as expected, the protests, the war zone, add to that 11 million extra visitors. Many of London's main roads being closed as VIP lanes, overloaded public transport, all for the huge over heated, vainglorious, unsustainable spectacle, and you have one thing - Apocalympics - signifying and showcasing the whole global decline of the Western powers. Please take my warning because you won’t find it in Britain's media. 

Alright! Thank you very much Tim for agreeing to speak with me. 

It’s really been my pleasure, any time John. 

Ok, thank you Sir. We appreciate it. 

You were listening to an interview with Tim Summers – the former national campaign’s officer with the Green Party of England and Wales in the UK and a former political cartoonist and a political activist.

 Jar2

17 June 2012, 21:13

What is NATO/KFOR Really Doing in Kosovo?

John Robles

 Jar2

16 June 2012, 22:08

UN Suspends Syrian Mission: Tensions Escalate

John Robles

 Jar2

14 June 2012, 16:22

KFOR Mission in Kosovo: Ethnic cleansing

John Robles

Download audio file

Interview with Priest-Monk Father Ksenofont from the Orthodox Eparchy of Ras-Prizren in Exile in Kosovo.

Regarding the events of last Friday and over the weekend in Northern Kosovo, what has the church done to help the victims of the KFOR violence?

Well, I can talk as a Priest-Monk of the Diocese of Ras-Prizren in Exile and can't speak on behalf of the whole of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Unfortunately, the events that we’ve seen, the last couple of days are not surprising because it’s just continuation of the politics of the so-called international community led by NATO in Kosovo fighting for enabling and functionality of the independent Kosovo.

Although the mandate of KFOR from the very beginning in 1999 was to establish substantial autonomy of Kosovo, Serbia, or at the time the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that is Serbia and Montenegro.

From the very beginning they did a big job of helping the Albanian national minority in Kosovo, separating Kosovo from the rest of Serbia.

The small part of Northern Kosovo where the Serbs still combat in accordance to the resolution from 44 not allowing the Albanians to engulf them and to ethnically cleanse even these last parts of Kosovo where Serbs lived with others. So we shouldn’t forget that in Northern Kosovo there is also a number of Albanians, Serbs, Bosnians and other ethnic minorities so that they won't engulf the last parts of Kosovo where Serbs live in prison.  And KFOR puts itself in the role of helping Albanians in doing that.

In this regard you said that they’re more or less involved in ethnic cleansing in Kosovo?

Well, yes, you know, like I told you, the mission of KFOR in Kosovo, the mission of international organisms in Kosovo since ’99, was to establish a peaceful quiet environment. Unfortunately, the whole of Kosovo has been ethnically cleansed from Serbs. And today, paradoxically, nobody poses the question: why Kosovo has been almost totally ethnically cleansed from Kosovo Serbs? So from every city in Kosovo today you would find a handful of Serbs only living in some enclaves around Kosovo, but the cities; totally ethnically cleansed. For example you have, in Pristina, which had a 40,000 Serbian community before the conflict and which has a handfull of Serbs living a ghetto-like life.

They’re all in ghettos, you say?

Most of the Serbs from Kosovo have gone to the rest of Serbia. There are some enclaves in Kosovo, some Serbian villages where still Serbs live so, where now, these clashes with KFOR have been. In the rest of Kosovo the Serbs are some 130 to 150 thousand. For example, I’m one of the people living in the enclaves here with the people in the so called Sredska-Zhupa within Kosovo in the village called Brezovica on the mountain of Šara.

Can you give is a little bit of the history of the Orthodox Church in Exile of Ras-Prizren?

I don’t know how much your listeners are in course of the history of Kosovo itself, the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, especially in the last decade or two. But many of them certainly have heard the name of bishop Artemije who was the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Ras-Prizren. He was a remarkable man who in the last two decades managed to make a real Renaissance: revival of the monastic and spiritual life in Kosovo and the diocese of Ras-Prizren had a flourishing and monastic life both of monks and nuns. There were more monks and nuns in his diocese a few years ago than in the whole of the rest of the Serbian Orthodox Church. On the other hand, bishop Artemije was a very principled man concerning both the teaching of the Orthodox Church which somehow in the last years was very much compromised by the influence of Eccuminism all over the Orthodox world and Bishop Artemije fought against this influence of Eccuminism which he himself and holy fathers before him called a pan-heresey. On the other hand Bishop Artemije was an outspoken defender of the protection of international law in Kosovo that is keepsaking the Kosovo as the most precious, most holy part of Serbia; and a part of Serbian history, a part of Serbian tradition and a part of Serbian spirituality within Serbia .

Unfortunately, the developments in Serbia in last years which we have been witnessing, that regime in Serbia led by the Democratic Party and these last years by President Tadić was very much inclined to accept many of the blackmails coming from the side of the Western countries who recognized independence of Kosovo.

Bishop Artemije was an outspoken critic of these politics, of many of the aspects of the politics of president Tadic and in 2010, unfortunately some parts of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which were very much inclined to subdue to this secular influence of the Serbian state, understood, or accepted the fact that bishop Artemije represents a very big obstacle to the causes, to the ideas, of finally realizing the idea of independent Kosovo.

A way should have been found to remove bishop Artemije from Kosovo and the supposed financial problems within the dioceses were found and Bishop Artemije deposed. I must emphasize that until today these financial accusations haven’t been proven although they have been in the court for the last two years. Bishop Artemije removed, deposed from his post, many of us monks and nuns and some priests who were his faithful spiritual children decided to follow Bishop Artemije in his spiritual exile opposing ourselves to this injustice and raising our voice. Many of the Serbs today in Serbia, I would say, and with every day even more, understand the just cause and the just fight and struggle Bishop Artemije and his monastics are fighting in Serbia.

What percentage of the population in Serbia and in Kosovo are followers of the Orthodox Church?

I would say some 80% of the population today of Serbia are Orthodox. Kosovo itself represents the holiest part of Serbia with a very rich number of medieval monasteries and churches. One should not forget the monasteries at Gracanica, Visoki Decani, Banjska, the church (Ogroits Tsarevich?) in Prizren because in medieval times Kosovo itself was the center of Serbian state and the place where the Serbian king sat. We have to mention that since the arrival of international so-called Peace Forces to Kosovo we had more than 150 churches destroyed. One third of these churches and monasteries are medieval monuments, some of those really jewels of medieval Serbian Orthodox architecture and art, with many icons destroyed and burned.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is the second oldest Orthodox Church in the world and holds many Christian relics including, I believe, the right hand of John the Baptist.

Yes, the hand of John the Baptist is being kept in the Diocese of Montenegro and there are many others of course. Serbian Orthodox Church has a very old history, a very rich history and very rich spirituality. This is exactly the reason why we have to fight and we have to offer everything, including our lives for protecting this patrimony.

Addendum: Neither the Serbian Orthodox Church nor the Russian Orthodox Church recognize a network of catacomb churches and monasteries, called the Rasko-Prizrenska Diocese in Exile and headed by former bishop Artemije. In May 2011, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill sent a letter to his Serbian counterpart to assure that no Russian Orthodox Church bishop or cleric will contact former bishop Artemije and his supporters.

In February 2010, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church suspended Artemije from managing the Rasko-Prizrenska Diocese after claims of fraud and financial mismanagement that were in place in this structure. In November 2010, a decision was made to defrock Artemije because he and his supporters “embarked on the road of an open rift.”

  

U2 Plane Pilot Awarded Posthumously

Francis Gary Powers Junior

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Francis_Gary_Powers.html

Download audio file  13 June 2012, 09:51


 Jar2

12 June 2012, 20:25

Russia Day 2012

John Robles


 Jar2

11 June 2012, 18:00

Time to End Syrian Bloodshed John Robles

 Jar2

28 June 2012, 12:32

Human Rights Activists Attacked in Bahrain

Maryam Al-Khawaja

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What we’ve seen lately is definitely an escalation of attacks on human rights’ defenders. There were protests in several different areas of the country and my colleague was hit by police. He wasn’t hurt too bad, but several people were injured and one person was critically injured. Most activists are getting arrested. The president of out Center is currently in prison as well.

This is John Robles, you’re listening to the interview with Maryam al-Khawaja, she’s the Acting President for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Can you give us a little bit of information about what’s going on down there in Bahrain with the activists?

What we’ve seen lately is definitely escalation of attacks on human rights’ defenders. There were protests in several different areas of the country and my colleague was hit by police. He wasn’t hurt too bad, but several people were injured and one person was critically injured. Most activists are getting arrested. The president of out Center is currently in prison as well.

Can you tell our listeners a little bit about your center?

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights was set up in 2002, basically it covers all kinds of human rights’ violations inside the country. So we were one of the first centers in the Gulf region. We also work on women’s rights. Recently it has been covering the violations committed by the Bahraini government.

I talked to your president, I guess it was about a year ago, regarding the US supplying the Bahraini government with weapons that they were using against civilians. How long has your president been in prison? What has he been charged with?

First he was arrested at the beginning of May on his way back from Lebanon to Bahrain. And he was kept in prison for about three weeks, then he was released and then at the beginning of June he was rearrested, he has been in prison since then. Mainly the charges against him are things that he writes on Twitter.

Have you had any similar problems yourself?

I don’t live in Bahrain at the moment and I can’t come back because I would be arrested. That’s why I was able to stay out of prison.

What’s going on with the activists right now that have been detained? What were they charged with?

You have activists who are being charged with illegal gatherings, you have those who are being charged for writing things on Twitter. For example, the former president of the Bahrain’s Center was arrested last year and tortured severely. He was actually charged with taking part in a terrorist organization and attempting to violently overthrow the government.

This was because of his activities with the Bahrain Center?

This was because he is a human rights’ activist. I think that in the Arab region, in the South African region today the worst threat to this regime is not political activists or people with guns, it is human rights’ activists, because either the government is doing the right thing or not, they don’t have any justification. So they are really going out for human rights’ defenders.

What’s going on now with the medical workers?

Of course, medical workers were arrested last year, they were tortured and got from one year to fifteen. There was a lot of international pressure, they actually sent for an appeal. The Court two weeks ago actually sentenced nine of them from one month to five years imprisonment. Governments considered the crime that they treated injured protestors.

What were they supposed to do? Just let these people die?

Yes. When it comes to people who speak out against the government these are not people who deserve to live and so either they kill them on the street or they injure them and force doctors not to treat them.

How many people have died in Bahrain since these crackdowns began?

At least seventy people have been killed in Bahrain from the beginning of uprisings. That’s a very huge number. If Bahrain had the same population as Egypt, 11 000 people would be killed. Bahrain also had the largest quota in what is called the Arab Spring, because almost 50% of the population took part in the protests. Again if to compare to Egypt, it’s like saying 40 million Egyptians came out on the streets.

Is there any possibility that the situation may change for the better? That there may be a regime change?

I think that as long as Bahraini government has immunity internationally just because their Western allies, I don’t think we will see any change soon. Western governments talk about human rights and democracy and their support for that, but they need to actually implement what they say. Right now they don’t. It’s not in their interests.

What do you think people internationally can do to help people there in Bahrain?

There’s more or less media blackout on the Bahraini situation. There are countries in the world where people vote smarter, like in Europe or other places. That’s really the population that convince their government that something needs to be done about Bahrain. People should convince their governments, they should say: if you don’t do anything about Bahrain, if you don’t stop your double standards, we will not vote for you’re the next term. I think that can make a change.

What’s the governmental system right now?

Bahrain is an absolute monarchy, basically the King is the head of all different authorities in the country. He is above the law, above the Constitution. People who work within the Bahraini regime are completely immune, which means that they can torture, they can kill and won’t be charged with that.

What would be a typical day for a Bahraini citizen?

Everyday there’re people put in the streets demanding human rights and democracy and dignity. Usually at night what happens – police go to different residential areas and teargas people for hours, even inside people’s homes. Actually they go up to the window, break it and shoot teargas inside the house. And there’re families who try to keep their children alive as they suffocate to death because of the teargas. This is happening almost every single night. This is more or less routine for Bahraini families.

Do you see change in the near future?

The Bahraini government right now isn’t going to change anything because they think they can continue to commit human rights’ violations and there won’t be any consequences. They don’t have reasons to create any change. And that’s why – as I said – without the right international pressure, nothing will change in Bahrain. The message that’s coming out of Bahrain right now is call for help. Because people lost hope in their government.

Is the UN, in any way, involved with your organization?

I’m in Geneva now and I’ve been attending sessions for human rights. Unfortunately we don’t have a similar institution that actually implements human rights for implementing human rights. Even the UN Human Rights Counsel is very much politicized. At the UN Counsel it’s very difficult to get anything on Bahrain done. And in Bahrain we even don’t have laws condemning human rights’ violations.

And you’re saying this is all because the Bahraini regime is pro-Western and is backed by the West?

Yes. Especially because it’s close to Saudi Arabia and it plays a huge role in keeping Bahrain protected from any kind of consequences internationally.

 Jar2

31 July 2012, 18:46

Russia as Reflected by the Western Media: Weekly

John Robles

Russia as reflected by the Western media: weekly report

The Western media is full of inaccuracies and biased reporting regarding Russia. In an attempt to counter such information, we will be publishing and countering examples of this on a weekly basis. If you see something in the press and you think it might sound fishy, please let us know and we will include your name in the material.

Even in this day and age of instant messaging, world-wide-web and hand-held wireless communication devices capable of sending and receiving information to and from anywhere in the world, there still exists a huge divide between reality and what is presented as fact in the information and the news that is being broadcast around the world. This is painfully obvious when it comes to information about Russia in the Western Press.

During the past week there have been several topics concerning Russia in the news which have not been entirely un-biased. The main one being the situation in and around Syria, of which the coverage is more often than not skewed in favor of the West’s views and plans for the region. This includes claims that Russia was providing offensive weapons to kill protestors, delivering attack helicopters and the like. All claims were later found to be untrue, yet the West keeps putting them forth.

Russia has, since day one of the internal upheavals in Syria, promoted an internal peaceful resolution to the Syrian conflict and has made many attempts to bring the opposing sides to the negotiating table.

According to Prime Minister Medvedev in the transcript of an interview he gave to the Times newspaper in London, the differences between the Russian stance and the Western one are much less than the world’s media have made out.

Russia has also been a staunch defender of respect for the sovereignty of Syria, something which the West has vilified as many see it as acceptable that certain powers in the West constantly interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

According to Russia’s Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, “By supporting radical Islamists, the USA aims at impose control over the entire region and points the edge of an extremist dagger at Russia…” and “While making grandiloquent statements about democracy and human rights, the West has been waging naked aggression against Syria.” Also, “The West – that declares war on international terrorists, such as the CIA’s brainchild Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brothers – in fact actively cooperates with them. It is with their help that the undeclared war on Syria is waged today.” Of course these issues have, for the most part, been ignored by the Western media, although any cooperation between the US government and Al-Qaeda should be something that would be scandalous for the American public.

Russia (or the USSR – even worse in their opinion) is also the country of choice by right-wing American commentators and pundits and many politicians when they give example of “evil” countries. For example, on June 29 Rush Limbaugh compared the reporting of job forecasts in the media to Soviet media reporting on wheat production. Why the comparison? Because it is convenient to bad mouth Russia to scare people into supporting some irrational or baseless position in an argument.

Another good example of this was on the June 29 edition of Fox and friends, another in a long chain of Murdoch-owned operations. Co-host Stephen James Doocy asked the question, while speaking about healthcare, “What is this, Russia?” First off, why is affordable healthcare such an evil thing for America’s far right? Second, the Russian Federation has universal healthcare for everyone, including Doocy if he were to become ill here, and people can buy supplemental policies if they want. Nothing evil at all there.

The coverage of the Pussy Riot trial is also another area where the divide is great. For most of the West and the Western media, these are people exercising their freedom of speech. For many in Russia, these are people who went way too far and unjustifiably desecrated the Church. For instance, Western reports are full of claims of large crowds of supporters while balanced news sources and most Russian media report of crowds opposed to these women.

That’s all for this week, if you have any tips please send them to jar2@list.ru Have a nice one, wherever you may be.


  

Psychology of Guns in US

Professor Frank Zimring

"Psychology of guns" in US - interview

Download audio file  30 July 2012, 16:02

Mass killings: Recurrent American Problem

Professor Frank Zimring

Download audio file  28 July 2012, 13:07

 

http://m.ruvr.ru/2012/07/28/1298376972/Zimring%20head%20shot%20color%202011.jpg

28 July 2012, 08:09

VOR Reports from the Olympics

John Robles

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Hello! This is John Robles. I’m speaking with Tim Walklate, he is the Voice of Russia’s correspondent, he is in London and he was at the opening of the Olympics, and he’s been all around London watching the preparations.

Hello Tim!

Hello John!

How are you this evening?

I’m very well. I’m absolutely ecstatic about the beginning of the Olympics. I think it is difficult to be one of the 8 million people leaving in London and not being carried away with the Olympic fever at the moment.

What’s the mood in London, I mean it sounds pretty positive right now? What’s the mood of the Russian team? And can you give us some of the highlights to the opening ceremony?

Well, about you question what the mood like in London… past week I arrived at work on Monday morning in London and it was just absolutely crazy. The mood in London has completely changed. There are so many different people from creeds and cultures that are around and it completely embodying the kind of the nature of the Olympics. Everyone is so happy and cheerful and wanting to help each other, often so excited. Everyone seems so excited over the past week that will lead up to the opening ceremony which as we speak is going on right now. As to the team Russia’s chances, well, I’ve been with a lot of team Russia over the past three days, with Alexander Zhukov who is the Head of the Russian Olympic Committee and sometimes with Vitaliy Mutko who is the Sports Minister today. And at the opening of Sochi Park and Russia Park which are these two kind of visitor attractions where people can come and kind of experience Russian culture and have a taste of what maybe the Sochi Olympics in 2014 will be like.

What kinds of things people can see there?

Sochi Park is more of a visitor attraction, it is kind of selling the Sochi Olympics. So, they can go and have a look at how the railways are developing, go into different interactive zones, play video games, there is an ice-rink at the end. It is a good place where people Russian and not Russian fans can go and chill out and enjoy the spirit of the Olympics Games so to speak.

Russia Park is more kind of a place where officials can meet but also it is open to the public. They can go in and there is going to be concerts there and sort of food tasting sessions. I think even a yoga class will be held there once a day. So, that’s going to focus probably not on the Russian cultural side of things but at those kind of advertise Russia and show Russia to the rest of the world while the rest of the world has its eyes on London. In terms of the Team Russia, I think they really are very confident that Team Russia can really push to try to come close to China and Team USA. There are some absolute class acts in the Russian team. You don’t have to explain that the gymnastics team are out there, synchronized swimming – they’ve got a very good duet this year. Of course you’ve Isinbaeva Elena in pole vaulting will almost inevitably beat the previous world record that she made in Beijing, she is in top four. And of course in Britain we are all focusing on heptathlon with the British hopeful Jessica Ennis. But Russia of course have got Tatyana Chernova how is a real Russia hopeful for the heptathlon. Team Russia has got tons and tons of real gold medal hopefuls. And speaking to Alexander Zhukov yesterday, he was very optimistic about Team Russia’s chances.

What is the mood of the Russian sportsmen and sportswomen? Are they pretty positive?

Obviously we haven’t had too much access to them in the past few days. They are obviously concentrating on what is going on over the next two and half weeks. We will find more after once the competitions end. But at the opening ceremony today several former gold medal winners from the US and from Russia turned up and I spoke to a few of them and they said that at the moment they are really just doing their best to focus and close out all other destructions. And tonight the whole of Britain is celebrating this opening ceremony. So far it has been fantastic. I expect a lot of the athletes that are trying to concentrate on making sure that they get everything ongoing and making sure that everything is done perfectly.

Sounds wonderful! You mentioned yoga. Is this some sort of Russian yoga that’s going to be going on over there or what?

I just attended today the press box and there was a lady doing yoga as the various officials were doing their speeches. And I think it is just an aspect of Russia Park which they are trying to promote and make it a bit more cute, more relaxed so that people can come into Russia Park, have a drink and maybe do some yoga on top of that.

I was just wondering about Russian yoga… was it to the tune of balalaika music or something?

No idea, John. You have to come and try out yourself.

A lot has been made of the security situation in London. Some people have called it – I came to a war zone. Have you noticed any negativity or negative feelings due to the security procedures and measures that have been implemented all over London right now?

I think that the security situation has been kind of the biggest problem that the London Olympics has faced so far. I think that it was the problem. But as I think the Sports Minister of the UK Hugh Robertson has said – it is a problem that is dealt with swiftly and effectively. And there is an issue of late sign of this contract and they didn’t fulfill this contract G4S, the private security firm that then agreed to supply these trips and it didn’t happen. And also it should be said that they did receive a lot of negative media attention in Britain. I think the British media were waiting for that negative thing to happen. And having said that it was dealt with very quickly and I think on the streets there have been absolutely no problems whatsoever. And I can’t say there’s been any problems considering the way things are dealt with so far, my fingers are crossed for that.

Yes, we’ll keep our fingers crossed as well. There’s been also a lot of talks about massive traffic jams and problems getting around for Londoners. Is that a real problem?

That’s too false. First of all, there is the issue of Olympic Games congestion on the streets. And one big issue that has been taken up by the taxi driver, they are saying that this is completely unfair.

That was an interview with Tim Walklate, he is the Voice of Russia’s correspondent and he is covering the London Olympics in the UK. Thanks for listening.

 Jar2

27 July 2012, 16:11

Femen and Pussy Riot: Provocations Against Russia

John Robles

 Jar2

25 July 2012, 18:48

The Failure of the Arab Spring

John Robles


Read more:
http://voiceofrussia.com/2012_07_25/The-Failure-of-the-Arab-Spring/

 Jar2

25 July 2012, 14:26

Guns in America: Culture of Violence

John Robles


 Jar2

23 July 2012, 13:42

Pussy Riot: Provocation Against Church and State

John Robles

 Jar2

3 July 2012, 12:27

West Promoting its LGBT Policies in Africa: Sodomy Can NOT be Called Marriage

John Robles


 Jar2

22 July 2012, 22:59

US Forcing Former Soviet Allies into NATO

Rick Rozoff

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In the second part of an interview with the Voice of Russia, NATO expert Rick Rozoff outlines the U.S. plans to bring former Soviet Republics and allies into the alliance’s sphere of influence and away from Russia, isolating Russia and China, and eventually surrounding them with NATO member countries. Mr. Rozoff also speaks of U.S. plans to stay in Afghanistan

This is John Robles, you are listening to an interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list, and a contributing writer to www.globalresearch.ca

An article appeared in one of the major newspapers. I’ve heard it referred to as the major newspaper in Slovenia, a couple of weeks ago that stated that the largest and worst mistake made by the Government of Slovenia was joining NATO, that what that has entailed is far from defending the territory of NATO’s member states, that it is simply waging wars worldwide. That was followed very shortly thereafter, a couple of days ago, by the Head of the Orthodox Church in Montenegro, the Metropolitan, who made a similar statement. He said the NATO should breakup, that it is guilty of waging aggression upon people throughout the world.

So, I think what you are starting to see even in south-east Europe and perhaps other nations that have been dragooned into NATO without first thoroughly explaining to the population what NATO membership entails. And what it entails in the case of countries like Slovenia and Montenegro is sending their sons and daughters off to some endless and useless war like that in Afghanistan. And what is happening in Pakistan is not too similar to that, it is a case where if a government, if a regime, accommodates NATO demands, they are violating the trust and undermining the wellbeing of their own nation and their own people, and this is in fact what is going on in Pakistan.

We heard a statement by Hilary Clinton before that supply route was opened.

Yes, I haven’t read the complete text by Hilary Clinton but I’d bet anything the substance of it was that she regrets the unfortunate incident or words to that effect that occurred in Salalah where 24 Pakistani military personal were killed last November. But certainly something short of acknowledging that the US had committed a crime. We have to recall that wasn’t too long of Hillary Clinton made a tour to Central Asia where she went to, I believe, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. And shortly thereafter as your listeners know, Uzbekistan suspended its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization with Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Armenia.

So, it appears that the State Department has succeeded once again in pulling a country out of an organization of which Russia is a member and through which Uzbekistan was allied with Russia, to separate it from Russia and China and to pull it into the US orbit. After Clinton left Paris on July 6 we know she went to Afghanistan where she proclaimed Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally of the US meaning they get preferential arrangements with weapons and so forth. But identifying Afghanistan as a strategic American military ally indefinitely. So, that hardly suggests the US intends to leave the area.

But I think even more significant than that was after having left Afghanistan and gone for a one day conference on Afghanistan to Japan, is that she then went to Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. And if your listeners are as old as me, or older, they recall that all four of those countries were political allies of the Soviet Union during the Cold War period, Mongolia since almost the formation of the Soviet Union, but in the case of the unified Vietnam and Laos from 1975, and Cambodia after the overthrow of the pro-Chinese Khmer Rouge in 1979.

So, if we need any further evidence of the US far from having ended the Cold War, it is simply consummating its victory of 20 some years ago by moving on the territory that is geographically close, and in many cases, as in Laos and Vietnam, bordering China, and in the case of Mongolia bordering both Russia and China. And recruiting not only political and economic, but ultimately military allies throughout the world, but more particularly now in Eurasia and in the backyard of Russia and China both, Central Asia fits into that pattern. If the five former Soviet Central Asian republics are increasingly integrated into the US sphere of influence, then this essentially isolates Russia and China in Eurasia.

Hilary Clinton said that the US had never planned to leave Afghanistan.

You know, the US’s cards are truly not on the table when it comes to Afghanistan. I heard the same statement and it is remarkable because a few years ago, perhaps when she first became the Secretary of State, about that time, she made what on the surface was one of the more candid statements I’ve heard by any US military official about the genesis of the crisis in Afghanistan. Acknowledging in so many words that it was the US support for the so called Mujahidin forces in, operating out of northwest Pakistan, from the late 70’es through to 1992, that was really the basis for all the disorganization and the conflict that has occurred in Afghanistan since then, she made that statement maybe three or four years ago.

But she then mouthed the conventional American wisdom on the subject saying – our mistake – I’m paraphrasing her – was then to have pulled out and left the country to internal fighting between the US’s former Mujahidin allies, and in fact that occurred as we know after 1992 when they were rocketing parts of the capital of Kabul in rivalry amongst each other. And subsequent to that by four years the Taliban marches in and takes control of the country. So, what Clinton’s most recent statement at the donor’s conference, or the Conference on Afghanistan in Japan, seems to be simply a reiteration of that – we won’t make the same mistake. If we overthrow the Government in Afghanistan and allow our clients to takeover, we will this time stay there and support them, is how I read that.

Moving on to Syria. A Syrian general, Major General Adnan Salo, he was the former Head of the Chemical Weapons Unit of the Syrian Army, he’s made public statements calling for NATO intervention, although he says limited military intervention is needed. He said that they need two airstrikes on the presidential palace to get rid of Assad. Do you think this is going to happen?

I sincerely hope it doesn’t. And I similarly hope that this is simply bravado. But it could be too a trial balloon to see what the world’s reaction is to inflammatory statements of this sort. The idea that you bomb the presidential palace in the name of protecting civilians or humanitarian concerns and so forth shows you just how far down the road to barbarism the world has evolved over the past twenty years. It won’t be the first time that’s happened of course, efforts to bomb the presidential palace in Yugoslavia in 1999. And apparently anything is a fair game at this point.

 Jar2

0 July 2012, 15:36

US Pseudo Political Correctness and the Russian Orphans they Murder

John Robles


 Jar2

19 July 2012, 15:16

Ukraine Forced into NATO

Rick Rozoff

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In a recent interview, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has urged Ukraine to settle the issue of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and remove obstacles in relations with the alliance, in what can be viewed as yet another NATO attempt to steer Ukraine towards the integration of this former Soviet state in the US-led military bloc. Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO, believes NATO is not relented in its ambition to incorporate Ukraine into NATO ultimately as a full member.

Secretary General of NATO Rasmussen is urging Kiev to remove obstacles in relation to NATO. Can you tell us about that?

It’s NATO’s intention to bring Ukraine into NATO’s full membership which is why there’s special NATO-Ukraine commission that was set up roughly 4-3.5 years ago with the expressed purpose of doing that. At the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, the countries of Ukraine and Georgia both hadn’t received the green light – if you will - to join NATO’s full members, but to be granted with Membership Action Program which is a final stage before full NATO accession. So a compensatory mechanism was set up which is the commission I mentioned both for Ukraine and Georgia. And despite the change in government – Yanukovich replaced Yushenko - NATO is not relented in its ambition to incorporate Ukraine into NATO ultimately as a full member. So Rasmussen’s comments are in line with that policy of NATO. And of course two military exercises in Ukraine have recently been concluded this month including the annual Operation Sea Breeze which is run by the US. It’s supposedly a joint US-Ukrainian military exercise, naval in the Black sea, not too far from the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Given Ukraine’s location, its size, its role and the armaments industry in both Soviet space and so forth - it’s a key acquisition for NATO. It doesn’t surprise me that Rasmussen is laying down these terms to Ukraine.

They talk about human rights, the Timoshenko case, Lutsenko, what do you think about their claims?

They’re going to overrule decisions made by the Parliament in Ukraine, by the President. They’re going to trample in the laws of Ukraine in order to support their clients, Yulia Timoshenko, the gas princess in the first instance. The sort of dictate almost from the West in relations to Timoshenko is all about ordering the Yanukovich government to release her and so forth. It’s a further example of the interference of the US in internal affairs of sovereign nations. They want their allies, their operators, the former Victor Yushenkos and the current Yulia Timoshenko to be free and to operate further on the Western agenda in Ukraine.

Hillary Clinton keeps making statements - it’s kind of become a habit for her – towards Russia. What about her last statement? Can you comment on this?

The most recent is probably the worst. It’s probably too low even for Hillary Clinton. And it’s saying quite a bit. And what we’re speaking about is of course her talk on so-called Friends of Syria Meeting in Paris on July, 6th, where she stated to the representatives of the estimated 100 nations and organizations transparently in attempt to rally them against Russia and China for having the temerity to defend international law and as we just mentioned the noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations vis-à-vis Syria. One has to watch her as she’s making these statements, you know, waving her hand in the air and being almost hysterical. She stated that the problem was that Russia and China were not paying the price for their position in relation to Syria and that they would have to pay a price and that the so-called world community would have to ensure that they do. So, I mean, this is the crudest form of intimidation.

What do you think she meant exactly by ‘paying a price’?

It’s hard to say. Diplomatically, of course. Economically, perhaps. You know maybe what the US and their allies want to do with Russia and China in relation to Syria is the same that they did with several countries including Russia and China in relation to Iran, they increasingly slap sanctions on a country like Iran or Syria and start sanctioning countries dealing with it. Something like the situation obtained in in 2003 when the George W. Bush Administration started accusing perhaps dozens of countries of selling the so-called “dual-use” equipment to the government of Iraq and threatening them with – if you will – second generation sanctions, - if you got to be alluding to that you know economically as well as diplomatically punishing Russia and China. However, the tone of what she stated, suggested that she was talking about something more, almost threatening Russia and China politically, who knows what? But it was a further thing removed from diplomatic language that one can imagine. But given the fact that she is the Secretary of State of the administration that probably proclaims itself in amusing President Obama’s own words “the world’s sole military superpower,” she evidently feels she can make statements like that with impunity and that nobody is going to hold her to account for that. Unfortunately, the world is not. It gets worse, I suppose, with each succession of Secretary of State, but this is a low point. She made a statement in February this year, the second time that Russia and China jointly vetoed the resolution on the UN Security Council aimed against Syria where – to use her own words – she referred to Russia and China as being ‘despicable’. I think that the rest of the world should take notice as to how the US treats even major powers, the world’s second economic power, China, and one of the world’s two major military powers, Russia. If they can be referred to in such derogatory and abrasive terms then you don’t need a WikiLeaks’ revelation to understand what US thinks of the governments of other nations.

Can you tell our listeners about the recent attack on a NATO convoy to Afghanistan through Pakistan?

Being attributor to a Pakistani-Taliban group or the Haghani network – I’m not sure who’s been accused of having torched the 12 NATO tankers - but I would say, John, more than anything else this is indicative, I believe, as a general sentiment within Pakistan which is not in favor of renewing transit NATO convoys from Pakistan into Afghanistan. I’m sure there’s overwhelming opposition to collaboration with NATO for the war in Afghanistan for no other reason than that the people in Western Pakistan don’t relish the cousins on the other side of the border being killed by NATO helicopter gunship attacks or in other military attacks including some of the horrible atrocities that have occurred just this year for example. And what we’re seeing again is that to accommodate NATO is to betray one’s own nation, and one’s people no matter where it occurs.

 Jar2

19 July 2012, 12:46

No Peace in Serbia, No Positive Signs from New President

Dr. Jovan Deretic

No peace in Serbia, no positive signs from the new president - interview

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“We have a very big problem – our government, our authority doesn’t even put any protestation, nothing, they talk, they are for the peace, but what kind of peace is it when 60 people are attacked and injured?” Dr. Jovan Deretic, a political science doctor and a member of the Petrovskaya Academy in Saint-Petersburg, the president of the Free Serbia Movement in Serbia, talks about events in Kosovo, Serbia.

I talked to you near Vidovdan, that was on June 28th . Can you tell our listeners about the events?

Vidovdan is our traditional voyage to the place of the battle of Kosovo. We commemorate this day, and this year like every year before people were going to commemorate this day. Right away, when they crossed the line, the demarcation line, police of Kosovo attacked people, they took off their shirts, caps even from the women and some people stayed without clothes.

The police attacked people?

Yes. Right away, once they crossed the line, they attacked. In the place of the commemoration they used, even their rifles, they opened fire and many people were injured, totally 60 people were injured. And when they were coming back in the buses, one of the buses was filled with children, children from 10-14 years, and they put fire in the buses, and 15 children were burned.

Can you tell me about the bus attack? Now were the Kosovo police involved? Were they watching, were there EULEX observers anywhere, was there K4 anywhere when this was happening?

Nobody did anything from the side of K4, they just watched and went away, the same thing with EULEX, with the police of the European Union, they didn’t even intervene. Nobody intervened. I think the government of Kosovo has given order to the police to do this, the government of Kosovo has blessing from the European Union to put pressure on Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

I see. So, you are saying that the K4 troops, they were there, they saw this happening, the attack on the buses in particular, and they did nothing, they left?

They did nothing, they left, absolutely nothing.

And the EULEX observers also did nothing?

EULEX observers did absolutely nothing.

How many people are still in hospital?

I made some inquiries because our authorities put a black-out on this story, they don’t even publish anything about it and there are a couple of children still in hospital.

They are still in the hospital?

We have a problem. We have a very big problem – our government, our authority doesn’t even put any protestation, nothing, they talk, they are for the peace, but what kind of peace is it when 60 people are attacked and injured? For all governments in the world that is Casuus Belli. I think these people who are now on the way to create a new government, they are all with European Union. The European Union has given an ultimatum to Serbia about Kosovo. Serbia must accept Kosovo the Embassy in Belgrade, and Embassy of Serbia must be established in Pristine. That means complete recognition. We had an election, and this election gave nothing. We have same people in power and people who were prepared a long time before, to continue a kind of policy because the old government was used and there was a possibility of uprising. And they put new people in the place to slow down a revolt of the population.

Last time we talked you mentioned something about Serbia going bankrupt if I remember right.

We are in the economical situation that is very critical. The old government took a loan from every side to pay these employees and these people. Now Serbia must pay 5 billion Euros this year just for the interest on the loan. Serbia does not have this money and we are going to be bankrupt in the next 2 months.

I see.

They talked about reducing the wages of the employees to stop paying the retirement but you know, if it happens, if they really go this way, there will really be an uprising.

Going back to an attack, I had some reports that the Kosovo police were telling the Serb people that Kosovo was Albania. Do you know anything about that?

Yes, they were saying “you have nothing to look over there”. This country is Albania and you go away. They are very strongly encouraged by European Union, very strongly encouraged.

Do you see any positive signs from the new president?

Unfortunately, I don’t see any. This man, he doesn’t know what to do and how to do. He tries something but he’s just scared and weak he does nothing, absolutely nothing. People expect from him to do something, to change something but he has the same policy - betrayal of the state.

Listen, I had some reports that these events on Vidovdan were planned to put pressure on the Serbian people. Do you think that’s correct?

Yes, right. Every bad thing that’s going on is connected to how Serbia must join European Union. Some media, some journalists publish, even in Russia, that in Serbia the majority of the people is for European Union. That is not true. About 80% of the people in Serbia is against European Union.

80%?

80%. If now there is a referendum, European Union can’t pass, nobody will allow this, they know what will be the result. What is important for the United States - is Serbia to join NATO. Strategically that is very important thing. They are not really much interested economically, politically if Serbia joins the European Union or not.

So, they don’t care about the Albanians either, do they?

Albanians are just drug dealers. America has money problems with them. Those people are not yet at European level. They are very backward. They are not interesting in any way for Americans but they are interesting to use against us to put the pressure on us.

I see. Ok, great.

You were listening to an interview with Dr. Jovan Deretic, a political science doctor and the member of the Petrovskaya Academy in Saint-Petersburg and the president of the Free Serbia Movement in Serbia.

 Jar2

18 July 2012, 19:07

Media Bias: U.S. Coverage of Russia

John Robles


 

16 July 2012, 17:32

Wikileaks and Datacell: An Inconvenient Truth?

Andreas Fink

Andreas Fink, the CEO of Datacell has recently won a judgment against Visa which had attempted to block the flow of financing to Wikileaks. He echoed what some say about Wikileaks publishing the truth and he claims they should be supported. Unfortunately, sometimes the truth is an inconvenient thing.

Hello, this is John Robles. I’m speaking with Mr. Andreas Fink, he’s the CEO of Datacell in Iceland.


 Jar2

16 July 2012, 11:52

US Policy in the Balkans: Imperial Ambitions

John Robles


 Jar2

13 July 2012, 18:31

Kosovo police assault Serbian holiday observers - eye-witness

Kristian Cars

Kosovo police assault Serbian holiday observers - eye-witness

Photo: EPA

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Interview with Kristian Kahrs, a freelance journalist and a writer investigating the situation in Kosovo. He is also a former KFOR officer who publically apologized to the Serb people.

Could you tell our listeners a little bit about what happened to you? It was Vivodan which is a very important holiday for the Serb people. Maybe you could give us a little background on that? And tell us about what happened to you with the Kosovo police?

Well, we were talking last Thursday, a week ago, June 28th. The Vivodan is an important Serbian religious holiday. So, thousands of Serbs came to Kosovo this day to pay their respect and to celebrate this religious holiday. But in Kosovo they are quite sensitive about their national identity. Of course you Russians and the majority of the countries in the world did not recognize Kosovo yet. That’s why they are very sensitive about anything that could endanger this national identity.

So, Serbians coming with the Serbian flags and colours, clothing and everything, they were met by the Kosovo police and this property was confiscated and thrown in a ditch. Of course I didn’t come there to provoke. I came there to record but I had some Serbian flags, flags on my T-shirt and on a hat and because I didn’t want to provoke I put that in my luggage. But when I came to the checkpoint before the Gazimestan monument where a couple of thousands Serbs had gathered, the police were searching my bag, found my T-shirt and my hat, and threw them in a ditch in a brutal manner. What happened later, I went up to the checkpoint in Gazimestan and demanded an explanation. Some representatives from the EULEX and from the OSCE – the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – none of these representatives were available and I could not speak to the spokespeople or the commander of the Kosovo police.

So, the whole thing end up by me being arrested. And last Friday on June 29th I got my sentence and I had to pay a ticket of 500 euro for disturbing the public order and I also was fined because I said that Kosovo has a choice. Kosovo wants to be eligible for membership in the EU, they want to apply democratic values and everything. They can do all that but then I said that they can apply democratic values and respect the freedom of speech or they would be a monkey republic. This was also part of the reason why I was convicted to pay a thousand euro.

Of course it was not the wisest thing for me to say that Kosovo would be a monkey republic but on this day the new state of Kosovo did not show any basic respect for the human rights and the freedom of expression because we also saw women who had normal T-shirts with the Serbian flag symbols at this religious ceremony and they were forced to take them off. So, the Serbs had to attend this religious ceremony only in their bra. So, the Serbian men came without Serbs to the ceremony and the police gave no explanation, no compensation, they just threw it in a ditch and no one was allowed to retrieve their things.

You a filing a class action lawsuit against the Kosovo police. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about that?

The reality is that in Kosovo Serbs and other minorities don’t have the basic human rights like the freedom of expression, freedom of speech and that’s why we are collecting all the victims that were harassed by the Kosovo police to file a class action lawsuit against the Kosovo police for discrimination and harassment.

Can you tell me a little bit of anything you know regarding possible Kosovo police involvement in the attacks on the busses that were carrying the schoolchildren?

There is no doubt that this was pre-planned and I find it likely that the Kosovo police had an intelligence that this would happen. But there is no evidence that KPS was directly involved. However I would like to have an international investigation to find out if the Kosovo police had any official role in this.

Have you heard anything about the children that were injured?

I know that two people were seriously injured. They were at the hospitals in Nis. I have not heard any news that they have died or something like that. But of course it is serious that the state of Kosovo is not respecting human rights and that they are using excessive force when they are trying to protect their national identity. And I hope that there will be an international and independent investigation of these matters to find out if the Kosovo police have intentionally provoked the situation.

When they were harassing you, when they made these women undress, when they went through your luggage, were you aware of any EULEX or K4 troops or officers observing what was taking place?

There were no representatives of K4 there. Kosovo police was responsible for the security. However there were three observers from the EULEX.

What were they doing?

They were observing but they were in no position to give any statements because their spokesman was not there. There were several people who tried to get statements from EULEX but they were completely silent. I think it is important that the police officers who were searching my bag, they told me the following – this is Albania, this is not Serbia. If a normal Albanian would have said – this is Albania, this is not Serbia – it would have been bad and we would have known that this is a nationalistic Albanian. However when the representatives of the rule of laware saying – this is Albania, this is not Serbia – it is an official statement from the state that is supposed to be multiethnic. He could have said – this is Kosovo, this is not Serbia. But the police officer said – this is Albania, this is not Serbia – which is a clear signal that Serbs are not welcome in Kosovo.

Are there reasons to believe that this was planned for this date, this year? I understand last year everything went by pretty quietly.

I’m convinced that this was an intentional provocation to give a clear signal that this is the Albanian land and not Serbian at all. The reason why I’m saying this is that there were riot police there, anti-terror police heavily armed and in light gear and you had also normal police officers, and they were definitely planning this. This harassment was definitely planned by the Kosovo police. This is something I hope will be revealed in our class action lawsuit against the Kosovo police.

 Jar2

13 July 2012, 16:37

Black Moon Rising as Friday 13th Strikes Again

John Robles


 Jar2

11 July 2012, 18:14

Russia's Hopes and WTO Reality

Bernard Casey

Russia's hopes and WTO reality - Interview with Bernard Casey

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"The main reason I believe President Putin supported the WTO accession is that it will provide Russian high-tech enterprises non-discriminatory access to foreign markets." - Mr. Bernard Casey, an innovation and modernization specialist for the post-Soviet space said in a Voice of Russia interview.

http://m.ruvr.ru/2012/07/11/1296045130/Bernard%20Casey.jpg

Can you give our listeners an update about what is going on with the WTO accession of the Russian Federation?

Ok. Well, the first development today was that the Russian State Duma ratified the agreement for Russia to join the World Trade Organization. There are two main provisions – one is – there will be a reduction in Russia’s average importers. Today, the awaited average tariff rate is 9.5%, this will be reduced to 7.6% in 2013, 6.9% in 2014 and 6% in 2015. And the second main provision is basically the reciprocal action from all 135 WTO member countries meaning they also have provide the same nondiscriminatory access of Russia to these markets at the same awaited average tariff rate.

What is a weighted average tariff rate?

A weighted average, it means it is weighted based on which items have a higher tariff. So, for instance if 90% of your goods have 10% tariff rate and 5% of them have 20% rate the awaited average would actually be much more closer to 10% than 20%. It is the average that’s weighted based on what is the tariff rate for the vast majority of goods that are actually traded.

What are some of the negative effects this might have on Russia?

There will be certainly be a loss of revenue to the Federal Government. It is estimated around 188 billion rubles will be lost in reduced import duties in 2013 and another 237 billion rubles in 2014. This loss of duties will result primarily from serious competition to Russian enterprises involved in agriculture and textiles. Although this would be somewhat mediated by Russia’s initiatives which have an increase in investments and modernization, and increased efficiency of Russia’s agro-industrial complex. There will also be an increased competition in high-value goods like IT, including industrial machinery and agricultural machinery.

However I think even in the worst case scenario, where there are Russian citizens who suffer financial distress, I’m confident that President Putin will step in and mediate any potential suffering, I know there are certainly measures that have been discussed already. We saw for instance, even this past weekend, that President Putin was in the Krasnodar Region offering humanitarian support even before the floodwaters had receded and he has just increased social spending by three times to intercede the very potential decline in private humanitarian aid as a result of the mpending NGO bill.

I think any potential negative effects they will be faced because of the tariff rate will be reduced progressively between now and 2015. Although the Russian Government will be prohibited from certain subsidies of industries, they will certainly not be prohibited from increasing social spending that may be needed.

I guess there are many more positives than negatives?

I certainly believe so. In terms of GDP growth based, on the World Bank numbers; the interest rate of 3.3% in the short term GDP growth in the near term and up to 11% over the long term. Much of this is coming from improving quality and price reduction for goods and services, better access to foreign markets for Russian exporters and an increase in salaries as well. The main reasons I believe President Putin supported the WTO accession are that it will provide Russian high-tech enterprises nondiscriminatory access to foreign markets, and I think that the big one is, really, attracting foreign direct investments in the Russian high-tech enterprises, especially the participation of private investors from foreign countries in the privatization of Russian strategic state assets, like seaports, airports, oil companies, power companies, airlines. We have already seen foreign high-tech enterprises establishing operations and joint ventures in Russia. This will also allow Russian investment in high-tech enterprises abroad which we are already starting to see.

Is this going to open up Western strategic areas for the Russian investor?

Non-discriminatory access, so these foreign countries have opened up the strategic assets to investment from other WTO members. They are now required to allow Russian investors to invest in those enterprises as well. One point I want to mention as well is protecting the rights of Russian investors in high-tech enterprises operating abroad, I mean there was an attempt by Russian investors to acquire Opel of Germany that ended up not going through, but I believe if that would not have been prohibited under the WTO. This is a type of deal that would go through for Russian investors being provided the same non-discriminatory access to the other WTO members allowed under the provisions of the WTO.

Do you know anything about Jackson-Vanik?

This was passed over 40 years ago because Russia had a temporary loss. It was only on the books for one year and prohibited the Jewish intelligentsia from immigrating abroad. But again that was repealed one year later and after the fall of the Soviet Union, it is my understanding, that over 1 million Jews have immigrated to Israel and the US, and other nations. So, it is really not a reflection of the reality today. The Jackson-Vanik amendment prohibits American companies from selling certain valuable high-tech goods to Russia. It precludes permanent normal trade relations with Russia and it actually has to be renewed on an annual basis. So, once the Jackson-Vanik amendment is repealed, which should be happening shortly, then there will be an opportunity for American companies to export high-tech goods to Russia. So, it actually hurts America more than it hurts Russia in that regard.

You are confident it will be repealed soon?

Yes, but I’m not confident that the Magnitsky bill won’t be put in its place.

If a person or persons are prosecuted for his murder, do you think they will continue to try to implement something like this?

Who knows, I mean it seems that they want to replace an anti-Bolshevik law with an anti-Russian law and as I said the whole impetus for Jackson-Vanik to begin with was a law that was only on the books for one year and yet the Jackson-Vanik has been in effect for 40 years. So, I mean even if Russia serves up heads to Washington DC, would that satisfy the Americans? – I don’t know. There seems to be a lot of anti-Russian rhetoric now during the election season, unfortunately.

What about the negative effects for the WTO members?

Increased competition in the US, EU, Ukraine, China, India and Brazil. There is a perception among many that the WTO membership provides benefits to the more developed nations and negative effects to the less developed. And if that’s the case, if someone would accept that hypothesis, then Russia being, as it’s been said one-brick-ahead-of-the-rest, would certainly benefit from more exports to China, India and Brazil than those nations exporting to Russia. Certainly there will be more opportunities because in the US there is a steel quota agreement in place at the moment. And as I said that primarily with the West a lot of impetus for this is certainly to get the investment from the US and the EU, and Russia.

Most of the effects that influence the WTO members will be positive, I mean they will have non-discriminatory access to the Russian market, they will be able to participate and hook up investments in high-tech, mining, oil and gas, automotive manufacturing. And we’ve already seen a lot that in anticipation of the WTO accession anyway. And as I’ve mentioned earlier they will be able to participate in the privatization of a lot of the Russian strategic state assets – the seaports, airports, oil companies, power companies, airlines and so on.

Closing

 Jar2

10 July 2012, 12:01

Influence Bought by CIA in Afghanistan

John Robles

 Jar2

8 July 2012, 17:24

Iran Announces Contingency Plan: If Attacked It Will Respond

John Robles

The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced that they are capable of destroying 35 U.S. military bases within minutes if they are attacked.

?

Jar2

4 July 2012, 17:25

"US cutting support for the elderly is a dangerous and nearsighted decision"

John Robles

Jar2

4 July 2012, 11:58

Flaws in US General Electric Reactors: Japan Starts Up After Fukushima

John Robles

 

Jar2

4 July 2012, 11:58

Occupy

Update on Occupy movement

John Robles

Jar2

4 July 2012, 10:00

Syria Update: Syrian "Opposition" Rejects Kofi Annan Peace Plan John Robles

3 July 2012, 11:03  2 July 2012, 16:28

2 July 2012, 16:28

Letter to Ecuadorian President in support of Assange 

Mary Kostakidis

Mary Kostakidis is a 20 year international TV news anchor, a freelance journalist, has conducted a study on the protection of human rights for the Australian government and has written a letter in support of Julian Assange to the Ecuadorian president.

 

Hello, this is John Robles. I am speaking with Mary Kostakidis, she was a former anchor for SBS World News in Australia. She conducted an inquiry into the protection of human rights and the promotion of human rights in Australia for the Australian government. She is also a freelance journalist.

Greeting

 

1 July 2012, 15:20

31 August 2012, 18:57

RNC Unified the People Against a Common Enemy

John Robles


 

31 August 2012, 15:46

Resist RNC: Protesting Dems and GOP

Amos Miers

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Amos Miers, an Organizer with Resist RNC in the US, shares his group’s ideas and explains why they are protesting against Republicans at the Republican National Convention. Miers says that instead of working for the people, both parties are working for special interests, so it doesn’t really matter for Resist RNC who’s going to win – the Democrats or Republicans.

http://m.ruvr.ru/2012/08/31/1287311711/amos.jpg

What are the main reasons and what are the main points of the Republican agenda that have caused the Occupy Movement and your movement and other protest groups to protest the RNC Convention there?

We're actually protesting the Republicans and Democrats, we're protesting the fact that the two parties aren’t representing the people at all. Without getting into the fine points, the fundamental message is that neither party is representing the people and they're actually duopolies that are beholden to corporate interests and we are trying to get our government back.

Are the Occupiers there? And your organization, are there people involved from all over the country? What’s your relationship with the Occupy Movement and with CODEPINK and with the other protest groups?

There's over forty groups that have endorsed us and endorsed our message. And our main role at this event, we're local here in Tampa, and our main function is to provide support and logistics for the protestors so that they have a safe place to be, that they have food and water, rest rooms, and things like that. Also sleeping arrangements in our camp. So we support all the messengers that are coming and provide them with all the information on where to go and where all the locations are for them of protest. Our relationship with CODEPINK and Occupy Wall Street: we coordinate with their organizers, more so with Occupy Wall Street – a lot of their people are encamped in our location, Camp Romneyville, there's about 80 of them sleeping in our camp.

How many Occupiers are there? And how many protesters overall are there, right now, in Tampa by your estimate?

I think the largest that we’ve seen is thousand people, but tere's only a few hundred currently around Tampa. A little bit larger today because there were a lot of actions, they went over to a power plant and blockaded the power plant., but this year, for a wide range of reasons this was an extremely low turn-out. It almost became a non event. but the reason that - I think there's several reason why we had such a low turnout- one, ah, there’s a lot of infiltration in the groups. With the federal government, there’re a lot of provocateurs that keep groups fighting amongst each other. And then on top of that there’s a lot of fear put out about what the cops are willing to do with this RNC. There's a heavily-militarized-police state environment. Beyond that there was a storm that came through and it scared a lot of people because when a lot of the protesters come, they use a campout, they don’t have means to stay in hotels like the Republicans do. So usually at a protest like this we encamp, and so, the storm scares people off! But beyond that, you know, people in this country are struggling, most of the protesters fighting are now waging, you know, fighting for peace and fighting for justice, and they're struggling. They're on pay check away from becoming homeless themselves. So a trip like this: it's a pretty far distance, you know it's really far south, the South-East corner of the US. It’s a long drive. And the resources are very low. we're in dire straights in this country.

Expanding on that topic. Do you see things are getting better or worse if Republicans come to power?

I think worse. But, to be honest, most of us don’t believe there’s a difference. We believe it's a soap-opera made for people. Yes, there’s a philosophy in the Democratic Party and there's a different philosophy in the Republican Party and Americans argue about the differences, but most of us are seeing that it's a staged event, and all they do: it's the same deck of cards that they reshuffle ever four years and instead of working for the people, they’re working for special interests, so it doesn’t really matter to us who’s in a Democrat or Republican because they’re controlled from the first moment they step into office, so we still see that there’s an agenda being laid down to bring our country to a fascist state and whether it’s Mitt Romney or Obama it’s going to be the same.

Reminder

Who do you think is behind that agenda? Is there some secret group or is it large corporations? Who would you say is behind all that?

There’s an extremely ultra-elite wealthy group of people that run the world and there's some of them that are known, some of them are unknown and corporations themselves. So a little bit of both so when we call it “the 1%”, we’re really saying that the 1% of the people that are controlling the rest of the planet, we're really heavily in this country anyway. And it’s been that way since before the country was founded. When we read the true history of the United States, we find out that 1% of the people controlled the land and really controlled the country, to begin with. You know, they first wiped out the native Americans, and when they couldn't enslave the Native Americans, because they were so anarchist and socialist, they refused to be enslaved they brought in the Africans to come here and work and be their slaves and also the white servants from Europe, so there was 99% of the people being abused from the beginning of this country. And the messages now come back more than 200 years later about who is the threat: it's the ultra-power elite, and that's the message, it doesn't matter what party is in there they’re going to be controlled by the wrong people. P\The people we elect into office don’t represent the people they represent special interests.

What would you say to critics, regarding the Occupy Movement in particular, what would you say to people who say that they exclude minorities and blacks?

Unfortunately, there’s some truth to that. When it first started it really galvanized mainstream America, and there was a lot of mainstream in the movement, but it pretty quickly got to be just the hard-core people. What really kicked off that movement was college kids. We’re told in this country, if we go to school for 18 years and we work hard and get As and we listen to the authorities and we do this or do that and then go to college and get a good degree, that we are set, you know, that our lives are going to be great. We borrow a lot of money. We get into massive student loan debt   And these students come out, you know, spent 20+ years of their lives listening to everyone and they find that the system is fully broken, that there’re no jobs and they have all this debt. And yes, it is really mostly white middle class. They’re just now realizing that hey there some problems, so they have a lot of work to do, to eally engage the minorities and that’s something we have to work on. So I think there’s some truth to it. There’re a lot of different ethnic groups represented in the movement, but I think majority is white middle class. So we have a lot of work to do because that's a privileged class that just beginning to realize that the problem goes much deeper than just how they were affected because if you go to any city across our nation, you’ll find poor areas in every city, there's those poor black communities, there's even poor white communities and there's poor Hispanic communities, in every single city across our nation and they know from birth what is going on in this country. And they know things are wrong. And they don’t’ necessarily have a voice in the movement and that needs to change.

For our world audience, because we are international here, if the upper middle class and the privileged class are suffering that badly in the United States – I mean, you guys can’t get jobs etc. etc., what would you say the situation is like for lower class?

That’s even worse. I mean they don’t even have a place to live. When it rains they get wet! They beg for food. They’re in a very bad situation.

End Part 1

Jar2

31 August 2012, 13:42

CodePink Disrupts Mitt Romney’s Speech at RNC: “Democracy is Not a Business!”

Tighe Barry

CodePink disrupts Mitt Romney’s speech at RNC: “Democracy is not a business!” - interview

Code Pink Activists Tighe Barry and Medea Benjamin. Photo: AFP

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The Voice of Russia’s John Robles spoke with Tighe Barry, an activist with the CODEPINK Organization in the U.S. The group staged several protests and interruptions at the Republican National Convention this week, including interrupting Condeleza Rice twice and disrupting speeches by both Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney. Mr. Barry tells why they wanted to disrupt Mitt Romney’s speech. Mr. Barry did the interview in place of the co-director of CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin, who was injured by the delegates during the protest staged during Mitt Romney’s speech.

I understand you’ve just left RNC. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what happened?

It was exciting to be able to disrupt presidential candidate Mitt Romney from the Republican Party, but at the same time it was distressing, because the people in the audience were violent towards me. One guy gave me a headlock trying to get my banner, but we were able to stand up and say over and over, “Democracy is not a business!” and that Mitt Romney cannot buy democracy and cannot buy the presidency of the US.

So you actually just disrupted Mitt Romney’s speech?

Yes. There were three of us.

And how difficult was it to get into the RNC? Did it take a lot of planning?

It took some planning. We were given some passes, but the security there is very tight. As we’ve been doing for many years – we’ve been actively protesting the money in our politics that’s destroying the democracy and the country of the US.

Wonderful! You’ve just said that co-director Medea Benjamin was injured someway? Was that by the police? What happened?

Not, it was not by the police – it was by the people there, by the attendees. The police actually were able to do their job. They seemed to be very professional and they would just grab you and just pull you out. But it was Republicans around us that got violent.

So the delegates actually were physically violent? Oh my god!

Yes! And they were using use of language, spitting, I mean, they were pretty disgusting!

Spitting? They spat on you?

Yeah! And one woman put gum on one of our other activists. I don’t know how low you can go!

And these were Republican delegates?

Yes. And I mean there were terms used tonight that would make you stomach turn. One of the speechmakers that we had to listen to said that “this is our country and we own it!” Like it’s a piece of estate and you can purchase it!

We?

“We” meaning the Republican party or “we” meaning the wealthy – the way I took it. I mean this is a wealthy person, former Mayor of Carmel Clint Eastwood.

Clint Eastwood said that?! He said that the US is their country and – what else did he say?

And they own it!

And they own it…

And he got a round of applause, a standing ovation for that. “It’s our country and we own it!” And this is the way the politics is going in US, where it’s to the highest bidder. Democracy is to the highest bidder and it’s not the country that I was promised when I was born or where I grew going to my school. And now I’m 50 years old! I was promised a country that is compassionate. And we were united and we all stuck together.

Listen, your people have managed to disrupt the race two times – if I’m correct – and Paul Ryan? Can you tell our listeners a little bit about those events?

Yeah, we went to see Condoleezza Rice, that was an event that she was hosting and we went twice, like you said, we were there to say, “Condoleezza is a war criminal, they used lies to get us into the war in Iraq and now we’re at war with five countries.” We don’t declare wars. But now we have the world’s largest embassy in Iraq and all the drones promised to be taken out of Iraq are now in the hands of the state department. So the group which was supposed to be there for diplomacy and for trade agreements and other such things now has its own private army. And we were there to talk to Condoleezza Rice about the fact that she was part of the war machine that killed over million people and she should be held responsible for that as the Republican Party says it’s the party of personal responsibility and as of yet none of war criminals – George Bush, Dick Chaney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell – were taken to ask for that. Our President today says, “We don’t look back.” But everyone knows that if you don’t learn from history – you’re destined to repeat it.

Of course.

So I was there in the front line to not repeat it.

Of course. Recently a general called Hillary Clinton “spokesperson for the US military” – what do you know about that?

The actual closeness of the State Department with the Department of Defense – the Department of War as we turn it – is evidential. They’re working together to justify wars around the planets, to justify army people who are not democratic and our dictators such as in Bahrain. We need to educate the American public that our State Department which is supposed to be a diplomatic arm of our government is actually no more than a spokesperson for the Department of War/Defense.

How many officials that are guilty of war crimes has your group attempted to affect as citizens to arrest on?

Every single one of them. We’ve got close to Dick Chaney, Carl Rove – who we also construe as war criminal because his propaganda machine was the one that came to turn on the weapon of mass destruction and instill fear in the American public. I talked to a high official within the Republican party just the other day here in Tampa who stated that “Iran was responsible for 9/11”

Now it’s Iran!

These are attacks that they’re luring themselves to, to bolster their new attacks on sovereign nations.

Who would you say was behind 9/11?

The problem that we’re having as American citizens is amount of transparency that our government is involved in. Today everything seems to be top secret. Everything seems to be not worthy of the American public’s ears. So I can only assume that it was a group of criminals that took down the buildings in NY whether it was conspiracy within our own government or it was al-Qaeda. Who it was I don’t know exactly, but I do know that it was a group of criminals and those criminals should be held responsible and should be dealt with in court of law. And what we mistakenly did – we attacked a country, a sovereign nation and called them the criminals! And a nation is not a criminal! A nation is a nation.

 

29 August 2012, 21:54

End of US-Russian 'Reset', or Romney's Cold War Thinking as a Threat to Global Security

John Robles


 

29 August 2012, 11:36

President of Australian Lawyers Alliance Speaks Out in Defense of Assange

Greg Barns

President of Australian Lawyers Alliance speaks out in defense of Assange - interviewhttp://m.ruvr.ru/2012/08/29/1287542297/greg_barns.jpg

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Julian Assange has finally been given asylum by Ecuador and Greg Barns spoke with the Voice of Russia's John Robles regarding the case of Julian Assange and Australia's slavish relationship with the United States. He says that there is still a lot Australia can do to ensure Mr. Assange's safety behind-the-scenes.

Hello! This is John Robles. I’m speaking with Mr. Greg Barns – he is a barrister (or a lawyer) and the Director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance in Australia.

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Greg_Barns.html

28 August 2012, 22:55

US in Afghanistan: Who’s the "Savage"?

John Robles


 

27 August 2012, 18:42

Kosovo Police's Secret Arrests - John Robles

Download audio file

"They forced me to sign a confession. And they kicked me out of Kosovo, they drove me to the border. I couldn’t contact my embassy, not EULEX – the European Union legal mission in Kosovo or anyone." - Kristian Kahrs. Mr. Kahrs is a freelance journalist, a writer and an ex-NATO Officer who is suing the Kosovo authorities and investigating the situation in Kosovo.

http://www.jar2.com/Topics/Serbia.html

.

 

27 August 2012, 14:46

Alleged Hostility Toward Christians in the Far Right’s Manipulation of the US Media

John Robles


 

26 August 2012, 22:54

Royal Nude Antics: Another Pointless Scandal?

John Robles


 

26 August 2012, 22:49

Shootings Continue: Disgruntled Clothing Designer vs. Trigger Happy Police

John Robles


 Jar2

24 August 2012, 22:43

Moscow Alarmed as Turkey and West Hold “Operational Meeting” on Syria John Robles


 Jar2

23 August 2012, 20:22

Mass Killer Breivik Awaits Verdict with No Remorse

John Robles


 Jar2

16 August 2012, 10:00

US and Allies Arbitrarily Violate International Law

Rick Rozoff

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Mr. Rozoff discusses General Assembly resolutions on Syria and how the US and its allies are circumventing standard procedure in order to win a propaganda battle. “Everything that the West and its Persian Gulf allies have done over the last seventeen months has worsened the situation, [costing] more Syrian lives,” Rozoff said.

This is part 3 of the interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff – the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list.

What do you make about Kofi Annan’s sudden, I don’t know how unexpected it was for those in the know but it was unexpected for many, to see Kofi Annan all of a sudden decide not to renew his mandate?

Which was due to expire at the end of this month.

It didn’t surprise me. I would just tell you frankly, I believe that his stepping down was coordinated with the introduction of the resolution in the General Assembly which was introduced by the current Secretary General – Kofi Annan’s successor Ban Ki-moon – who lambasted the Syrian Government, made comparisons to Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s as though suggesting that what happened in Syria was a replication of these precedents I’ve mentioned. And again, you know, poisoned the well, or prejudiced the vote by his comments. We have to recollect that Kofi Annan himself would never have been Secretary General of UN if, the then US representative to the UN, the Secretary of State later, Madeleine Albright hadn’t single-handedly rammmed through his nomination and secured his position at the expense of Boutros Boutros-Ghali who was running for reelection for that position.

So, Kofi Annan was the US’s man in the United Nations for two terms. And if anything I was rather surprised he hadn’t tipped his hand earlier in terms of supporting the West’s position. But you know, in fact he did to some extent at the Geneva meeting with the so called action group. There were different interpretations of what came out, there was Russia’s and China’s for example and there was his which intimated or stated I think even more explicitly that Bashar Assad had to step down as President and the Government had to cede power to some sort of coalition. So, it doesn’t surprise me in the least. I think these events were coordinated and then the fact that he received a guest editorial in the Financial Times, the morning of the General Assembly vote, as I recollect last Friday, explaining his position all seems to be a fairly coordinated campaign.

What do you think about: several Russia officials made statements that the resolution actually served to worsen the situation in Syria?

Yes, it does. And everything that the West and its Persian Gulf allies have done over the last seventeen months has worsened the situation, cost more Syrian lives, led to the further destabilization, in many ways made irreparable damage to the nation of Syria, which one would now have to assume, ah, is the intent. For example Vitaliy Churkin also said after the vote last Friday [August 3, 2012] that to take the vote to the General Assembly while the Security Council was still deliberating on the Syrian issue was a violation of the UN Charter.

So, the US and its allies have again circumvented the standard procedure in order to win a propaganda battle, but a propaganda battle that will continue as we were just talking about with an escalation in the loss of Syrian lives as a result. The West and its Saudi allies and Qatari allies will sacrifice the life of every last Syrian if they accomplish their geopolitical objectives which are not only regime change in Damascus, it is also to prolong the perceived isolation of Russia and China. That’s the significance of this vote last Friday more than anything else.

Syria is much more the pretext than the actual issue being discussed because what is at issue right now – is whether the US and its allies can arbitrarily violate international law, whether they can subvert the concepts of the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of states, whether somebody sitting in the, you know, State Department can determine who has to step down as a head of state, who is going to replace him. And the US has done this in a least four occasions since early last year, I’m talking about Ivory Coast, Libya, Yemen and now Syria. And there is every reason to believe that if they are successful in Syria, then they would move on to the next countries. And I would suggest that the twelve of countries that voted against the resolution on Friday are exactly the twelve countries that are going to be targeted.

Can you list those countries for our listeners?

Yes. The twelve countries that voted against the resolution are Russia, China, Syria, Iran, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

And you think all those countries are on a hit list for regime change?

Each except for Myanmar decidedly are. And I’m a bit surprised that the former Burma, Myanmar, voted against the resolution as it had not voted against the resolution in February.

Why do you think they did this?

I have no idea. I would have thought that since Hilary Clinton’s visit to Myanmar last November that she had pretty much shifted Myanmar away from China and towards the UN. So, frankly I have no explanation for why they voted against the resolution unless they sensed something. If you’d asked me a year ago it would have been self-evident why Myanmar voted against it, because it itself was targeted for a regime change at the time. Somebody has them on the checklist and I think it is important that they are not able to make checks in each box. And if developments in Syria, that is Western and allied efforts to overthrow the Government in Syria, are thwarted with the continued opposition of Russia and China in the first place, then I don’t think we have to worry about the other eleven nations because of course Syria is one of them. But should they be successful in Syria, then I think the remaining eleven nations are likely targets.

Listen, one last question regarding Syria, which you just brought up again. About a week ago it looked like Assad was all but finished. What do you think Assad’s chances are, and the current Syrian Government’s chances are, of staying in power?

Barring a direct foreign military intervention I think, better with each passing day. The successful campaign to secure Damascus and now Aleppo, the two largest cities in the country, have given the lie to the media propaganda in the West in the first place about the fact that there was no unity within the Government, that the Syrian nation and people were divided, that the Government had no substantive support…

Yes, they were talking about everybody bailing out, that the high officials saw no future, and… after the assassination at the security building.

That’s a good point you raise. With the murder by a suicide bombing of four leading officials of the Government, including the Defense Minister, the Deputy Defense Minister…

And the Intelligence head I believe it was.

Yes. The reports in the West were that this is “the final nail in the coffin”, to quote Leon Panetta – the Pentagon Chief, with the Syrian Government and it was only a matter of days if not hours before it fell and so forth. And we’ve seen quite the reverse occur. We’ve seen the Government reestablish control over the capital Damascus, as well as Aleppo. And basically what are going on now are mopping up operations. And it also demonstrates that the Syrian military is firmly in support of the Government.

15 August 2012, 12:29

Assange’s Future Plans: "Right to Request Political Asylum is a Human Right"  Kristinn Hrafnsson

The official spokesperson for the WikiLeaks organization Kristinn Hrafnsson in an exclusive interview for the Voice of Russia shed light on the future plans for the organization and Julian Assange’s asylum case. He also discussed the latest DDoS-attacks that the WikiLeaks site has been suffering from.

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Kristinn_Hrafnsson.html


 

14 August 2012, 18:45

Security Services, Society, Templar Knights and nazi Filth Blasphemed by Breivik

John Robles


 

This week's Biased-Media: Pussy Riot and Anonymous Russian “Officials”

John Robles

Readers' e-mails:

1. Elijah Traven, from Hull UK wrote:

Hello, I have just read your article on VOR about Western media lies. We can report to you their inaccuracies and continued blackening of Russia's character but I am not sure where it will get us. They are demonisers. There is no opposition to them. It is a dictator's voice we are hearing.

We can't do anything about it. They don't recognize the people's existence. They are occupiers of our countries and colonizers.

Russia is the last defence we have in the world. Without Russia there is no hope for the human race. The enemy focuses on everything that is negative about Russia. They have created a giant lie system. The truth exists and they can't escape the truth. Their economies and societies are breaking down.

Your call for your listeners to send you examples of anti Russian lies which you can then deal with in your programme is just what we need.

The absence of an opposition press and media in Britain and no doubt elsewhere in the Western world is bad for democracy and bad for peaceful relations between countries. It makes my blood boil to read editorials like the one published in the Observer on Sunday. Especially given the positive appraisal of Britain by Russia's leaders. It is one sided spite.

Who is the conductor behind this kind of anti Russian hate. Who is orchestrating it all? Britain isn't independent. It is hardly a country at all. It is ruined by class division and class hatred. This same anti people press and media is at war with us just as it is at war with Russia. Russia is our strategic friend. But it isn't the strategic friend of the ruling class here who have no interests other than their own. They are a colonial force. America suits them very well. Arrogant and war mongering. Vicious minded and mass murdering.

America hates Russia. Mitt Romney has used his visit to Poland to criticise Russia. This is the man who described Russia as America's number one enemy or words to that effect. By the way he met the leader of the Labour Party in Britain and didn't have a clue who he was. He called him Mr Leader. My intense hatred of the ruling class in Britain has got nothing to do with my long term interest and affection for Russia. They are separate matters. I am a revolutionary and reject the monarchy and the landowners and the private indoctrination schools that breed them.

I am a Morning Star reader and have been a socialist since I was 16 years old in 1977. You must urge your listeners to complain and to write to the offending journalists and politicians. Do not let them get away with their lies and slander.

Elijah Traven, Hull UK

VOR supporter and number one fan.

 

2. John Kerry, from Eastern Africa wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for giving us this opportunity!

I am sick and tired of the Western media. They are 100% anti Russia. All the news they broadcast regarding Russia is all negative. But the reality is Russia is much better than those western countries.

I understand well about their motives toward Russia since 2008 Georgia war. Now again about Syria. I’m grateful for President Putin’s ability to challenge them and to win over them.

I live in Eastern Africa; we are watching the news channel dominated by Western media. BBC, Aljazeera, France 24, even NHK World they are 24 hrs give us US and western propaganda news. In my view Euro news is a little bit better. I try to watch RT English but couldn’t find it on satellite. Because it’s run by American puppet regime so called Saudi Arabia and other GCC nations. So, better I read news from Russian news agencies on internet.

Regards,

John Kerry

10 August 2012, 15:12

Romney’s Sikhs vs Sheikhs: A “Mistake” or Playing to His “Base”

John Robles

http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html

 

9 August 2012, 19:00

Iran vs Poland and UNGA’s Plans for Syria

Rick Rozoff

Download audio file

Rick continues listing the reasons why the ABM system in Poland is directed against Russia and discusses the fact that last Friday’s General Assembly’s resolution was drafted by Saudi Arabia and then co-sponsored by Bahrain and Qatar. VoR asked Mr. Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list, to comment on matters related to these issues. Part II.

http://m.ruvr.ru/2012/08/10/1285319022/Rozoff%5b1%5d.jpg

Why did the Polish President refuse to answer who the ABM system in Poland is targetted against and why is it clear they are being installed against Russia?

http://www.jar2.com/Interviews/Rick_Rozoff.html

 Jar2

9 August 2012, 17:42

"US police should stay accountable, open, cooperative"

David Couper Chief of Police

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In the US a lot of people are terrified by the police. What can be done to restore trust so that the police are respected and people would generally obey the law? The US police policy of zero tolerance seems to be a worse approach than a litte humanity and forgiveness.

Part 2 - Interview with David Couper, the former chief of Madison Police Department and the author of the book Arrested Development which shines a light on corruption and gives 7 steps to improve police in America.

Part 1 Police aren’t soldiers but civil servants who need to work with community

What would your advice be for the Oakland Police Department, for example?

What we’re talking about is trust and what happens when a large percent of the population doesn’t trust the police anymore – that’s what we’re really dealing with. What does it take for the police department to restore trust so that they’re respected and that people will generally obey the law? And that’s a multi-approach: it has to do with police staying accountable, open, cooperative. And after some years of that, that rate of trust will grow. But it’s something that can’t be turned around in a short term, even these court decisions about this-must-do, ABC – there’re no details there. And how do you go by doing that?

What do you think of fear and the level of violence? In the US a lot of people are afraid of the police. I mean, if they’re pulled over, they’re terrified that they might be shot. What’s the correlation between that and the level of violence against police?

That’s a thing that I’ve argued for years. Treating people respectfully makes policemen’s job a lot easier. Because then people respect their police. They’re not going to be violent. And if we look at the fear of the police in terms of race and economic class – people who are white, who are higher on the socio-economic ladder don’t have such fears! When we look for example at the problem of stop and frisk in the NY City – it’s all based on race!

NY City is a good example, because the crime has dropped incredibly. One expert was saying that's because there is a zero tolerance for crime there now. Do you think that’s true?

I don’t trust the data coming out there. When we talk about zero tolerance – it isn’t zero tolerance for crime, it’s zero tolerance for traffic offences, all the things that capture people who are younger or from minority or who come from low economic stratus of our country.

Here in Russia the police are much more tolerant. For example, if you’re stopped at traffic stop – sometimes you can talk your way out of it. With the US zero tolerance do you think that's a better approach or some sort of, maybe a little humanity and forgiveness for people might be better?

Oh, yes.

You also talk about experiences when police treat citizens violently when in most of European countries the police treat citizenry with a bit more respect, which is sad.

I’ll tell you. I think wherever we live in the world and this is a mobile world where world citizens are travelling all around the place. And you have expectations to be treated fairly and respectfully by police you come in contact with whether you’re in China or Russia or Malaysia or America – that should be standard of behavior throughout the world. 12 policies for policing are very important characteristics for the police! I hope there will be some day when that would be how we will experience police through the world.

Can you tell our listeners about your book?

The book is called Arrested Development, you can find it in the net or on my blog.

What’s your blog address?

It’s improvingpolice.wordpress.com.

What insides do you have about protests? There have been a lot of protests last 10 or 15 years.

A big part of the book talks about my experience in having to deal with protests in capital city, in Madison, through the 80s and the 90s in which the tremendous amount of protests took place. We never used brutality. We’d like to talk to people before we beat them up.

[John laughs]

It’s important to talk to people. Sometimes protest groups said, “Well, you know, you never arrest anybody. We don’t think we’re having a good protest. Someone needs to be arrested.” And I asked, “How many people do you want us to arrest?” – “Well, could you arrest 4-5 of us?” “Ok, we’ll arrest you. But we take care that nobody gets hurt.”

Can I ask you as an insider – you were a police chief over 20 years – do police departments have quota of how many people they have to arrest?

Let’s say you’re a patrol officer, your job is to regulate traffic. And, I always heard from officers: there’s no quota here, but it’s hard to believe that you – in a course of a month – would not write any traffic tickets just working out there in the streets. So what is happening in Stop and Frist area right down in NY City - police officers were required to do so many stop and frisk activities in order to keep the numbers up, but I don’t think police have quotas on arrest

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2012_08_09/The-US-police-should-stay-accountable-open-cooperative/

8 August 2012, 22:47

South Ossetia Fourth Anniversary of Georgian Invasion:  Militia Trained Under Special Plan

John Robles

 http://www.jar2.com/Articles/jar2.html