Investigative Journalist, John Pilger: US Preparation for Conflict - China on High Alert

HIGH ALERT: CHINA Response to US Aggresssion John Pilger on the Threat of World War Three (Going Underground) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahEdcuxlN1o SUMMARY (BASIC) John Pilger on the Threat of World War Three (Going Underground) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahEdcuxlN1o AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES Classically America-first populist in  Donald Trump or the absolute embodiment of the system that has run seamlessly since 1945 (Hillary Clinton) Sanders - voted to destroy Yugoslavia - voted to put Edward Snowden on trial - called Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) a dictator Pilger: Let's get the quote exactly right.  He was asked about Chávez and he called Chávez a "dead communist dictator" Pilger: I don't think there's anything in Senator Sanders' foreign policy that offers any encouragement to any of us. [...] Sanders has offered health care to the only developed country that doesn't have a proper healthcare system. He wants to do something about the barons of Wall Street.  Good luck.  He's not going to be president. Pilger US is in a frenzy of preparation for a conflict of some kind. Conflict of some kind can lead to war of the real kind, against: China & against Russia, on two fronts RUSSIA Greatest (US-led) build-up of forces since WWII has happened in Eastern Europe and in the Baltic States. US expansion & military preparation HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED IN THE WEST UKRAINE Since the US paid for for & controlled US coup in that country Ukraine has become an American preserve CIA Theme Park - CIA are all over it - special forces are all over it - American business is all over it - Joe Biden's son is appointed to various Ukraine fracking companies Full American interest has gone to a country that is Russia's borderland through which the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in the early 1940s with the cost of something like 27 million lives Imagine the equivalent in the US:  the border with Mexico, the border with Canada Refers to Russia's cuban situated missiles which almost resulted in WWIII The USA, which constitutionally has the freest media in the world, these war preparations against Russia and against China HAVE NOT BEEN MENTIONED. When China is mentioned, it's about China's 'aggressive moves' in the South China Sea. It's interesting how the public is being primed to accept so-called 'aggressive' moves by China WHEN, IN FACT, THEY'RE CLEARLY DEFENSIVE MOVES USA MILITARY BASES THREAT The United States has something like 400 major bases encircling China, starting in Australia, going through Asia, Japan & Korea Looking at Shanghai is Okinawa, which has 32 American military installations Japan has 130 in all Okinawa is about the size of Long Island Imagine Long Island as a Chinese base, looking straight at New York; that's the equivalent Reporter Do you think multinational corporations and Wall Street would allow -- they haven't allowed a full-scale war from President Obama against Beijing and surely ... Pilger: I don't know.  ... China is America's first trading partner.  It is a trading partner. Most of the things that Americans wear are made in China.  ... China has almost replaced Japan in that sense:  the great manufacturing centre of the world. America has this close business relationship with China.  I don't know, is the answer to that. ... What I think is interesting and dangerous, and I don't think it's been recognised is the ascendency of military thinking -- the Pentagon in Washington.  Recently, the State Dept. broke its silence on this and said to the Defence Dept:  let us handle the diplomacy, let us handle the relations with countries, you do the military side of things (paraphrasing) ... an extraordinary outburst coming from an official in the state department, where there is great frustration about this ubiquitous power now of the military, and this seems to be embodied in this Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, who seems to go from conference to conference -- G7; now he's gone to Singapore threatening countries. TRUMP Trump has said he doesn't want to go to war with China or with Russia. Trump wonders why America is all over the world.  He wonders about the power of NATO. This is 'heresy'. (As at 4 June 2016) - US has sent guided missile ships in last two weeks into disputed zone in South China Sea For the first time Chinese fighter jets were scrambled; a week or so later, an American spy plane was intercepted by planes. So many wars begin accidentally, or by mistake. We had one of America's leading and most interesting generals, James Cartwright, talk about this recently. DANGER OF PREEMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES James Cartwright talked about the 'hair trigger system', which now gives the leaders of the country (ie USA), really minutes, in which to decide whether they will launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack or whether they will respond to a pre-emptive nuclear attack. ... at a conference in Virginia, former U.S. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright acknowledged that "there's the potential that you could, in fact, generate a scenario where, in a bolt from the blue, we launch a pre-emptive attack and then use missile defense to weed out" Russia's remaining missiles launched in response. "We're going to have to think our way out of this," he said. "We're going to have to figure out how we're going to do this." [2013 Source] HAIR-TRIGGER ALERT  roots in Cold War http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/hair-trigger-alert CHINA - ON HIGH ALERT One of the most worrying aspects is that China clearly has taken on-board that CHINA IS BEING SERIOUSLY THREATENED. Up to now China has kept it's nuclear weapons have been kept on low alert:  that is, the weapon and the warhead have been kept separately.  Whereas, the US and Russia have always kept their nuclear weapons on high alert.  The literature that's available now suggests that China is on NUCLEAR HIGH ALERT. Just last week (circa 4 June 2016), Chinese submarines armed with nuclear weapons went on patrol in the Pacific for the first time. NONE OF THIS IS EVEN MENTIONED IN THE AMERICAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Western Hypocrites & the 1965 Indonesian Right-Wing Massacres

Western Hypocrites & the 1965 Indonesian Right-Wing Massacres Australia’s Role in the 1965-66 Communist Massacres in Indonesia By Marlene Millott                 EXTRACTS Fifty years ago, on September 30, one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century took place on Australia’s doorstep. Following an AIIA and ANU conference on these events, a young Australian reflects on Australia’s complicity. An estimated half a million people affiliated with the Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesian Communist Party or PKI) were massacred by the Indonesian Army, with help from local religious and youth groups. These killings contributed to a reorientation in Indonesian politics, installing General Suharto as president and eliminating the once-strong PKI through violent purges and systematic imprisonment. Declassified documents have shown that the US and its allies played a significant role in these killings, as the US provided weapons, communications equipment and lists of known communists. As an ally of the US, the Australian Embassy and the Department of External Affairs acted in a way that made Australia an accomplice, by helping to create the conditions that allowed the massacres to take place. In the years leading up to 1965, Sukarno favoured the PKI and it grew in strength, while his foreign policy became increasingly hostile towards the West. The Indonesian Army and the US and its allies watched these developments with suspicion, and formed secret relationships. From 1958-1965, the US secretly trained, funded and advised the Army to turn it into a ‘state within a state’ that would be ready to take over government if the opportunity arose. On the night of the 30th of September 1965, the Commander of the Army Lt General Achmad Yani and five Generals were kidnapped by a group calling themselves the September 30th Movement. They were murdered and thrown down a well. The Army and the US embassy had been patiently waiting for an event like this. It declared the PKI responsible for masterminding a coup, seized almost all media outlets and spread the story of PKI treachery. General Suharto extracted a mandate from Sukarno to return order to the country, before setting out to destroy the Communist Party. Across the archipelago, a campaign to eliminate the PKI saw the murder of an estimated 500,000 people. Victims were rounded up and detained for days, or months, before being executed. The Army was instrumental in the massacres, often accompanied by local militias. Those who weren’t killed were transferred to prison camps, with one million people held in detention facilities without trial, with terms varying from a few months to fourteen years. Following the events of September 30th, Western nations solidified their support for the Indonesian Army, in an effort to remove the PKI from power and sideline Sukarno. The US and the UK, supported by other nations in the region including Australia, carried out clandestine operations which supported and encouraged the Army-led massacres of alleged PKI. Documents from the National Archives of Australia show that the Australian Embassy and the Department of External Affairs were closely aligned with the Indonesian Army, offered support for their activities in overthrowing Sukarno and eliminating the PKI, and used Radio Australia to broadcast Army propaganda in Indonesia that contributed to anti-Communist hysteria. Cables show that the Australian Embassy was aware that Communists were being rounded up and killed from early October 1965. The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Keith Shann, ‘personally witnessed’ around 250 prisoners being taken away by the Army, and noted that it was impossible to know the number of people killed and detained, but ‘it cannot be small’. In February 1966, J.M. Starey, the First Secretary at the Australian Embassy, visited Bali, Flores and Timor, and spoke to Australian students who had been in Lombok. He heard first-hand accounts of the killings by people who had participated in them, and in Flores even saw victims’ heads on spikes in some villages. Starey noted that the Army was in control of the proceedings. The Australian Embassy and Department of External Affairs made it clear they were satisfied with these events. In early October 1965, Ambassador Shann cabled the Department saying that it was ‘now or never’, and that he ‘devoutly’ hope[d]’ that ‘the Army [would] act firmly’ against the PKI. In mid-1966, Prime Minister Harold Holt expressed detached satisfaction with the pro-Western shift in Indonesian foreign and economic policy. He casually told the crowd at the Australian-American Association in New York ‘with 500,000 to one million Communist sympathisers knocked off, I think it is safe to assume a reorientation has taken place’. As the Indonesian Army murdered hundreds of thousands of alleged PKI, the Australian Embassy maintained ties with Indonesian Army generals, discussing anti-PKI activities and ways Australia could assist the Army in its transition to power. A cable from November 12th 1965 shows Ambassador Shann discussed the Army’s anti-Communist campaign and Australia’s military campaign in Borneo to defend the newly created Malaysia against Indonesian aggression with the Undersecretary from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr A.Y. Helmi. Helmi requested Australian and British troops restrict all patrols and activities in Borneo, so the Indonesian Army could deal with the Communists. Shann reassured Helmi that the Army was ‘completely safe in using their forces for whatever purposes they saw fit’, knowing those forces would be used to attack PKI members and allies. The biggest role Australia played in the 1965-66 massacres of the PKI was through broadcasting and supporting Indonesian Army propaganda. In the weeks that followed the attempted coup, the Indonesian Army seized control of virtually all of Indonesia’s media, and began an aggressive and pervasive anti-PKI campaign which spread disinformation aimed at discrediting and dehumanising the communists. ... Australia’s actions as an accomplice to these killings should not be exaggerated. The massacres of the PKI took place against the backdrop of years of tension and hatred between the Army and the PKI, in a complex internal political environment that would have seen the killings take place regardless of any role Australia might have played. Fifty years later, those who committed the atrocities have never been brought to justice. Denial of the killings is rife. Where it is acknowledged, the perpetrators are admired as heroes who saved the nation from a Communist menace. As activist groups across Indonesia struggle to cut through the propaganda and spread the truth about the massacres of the PKI, it is important that Australia’s role in these events is understood. Marlene Millott is a Research Assistant at Monash University. She was a recipient of the Euan Crone Asian Awareness Scholarship in 2014. This article is based on the thesis completed for her Masters in Journalism and International Relations. This article can be republished with attribution under a Creative Commons Licence. Published October 2, 2015 http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australian_outlook/australias-role-in-the-1965-66-communist-massacres-in-indonesia/ -------/\/\/ http://socialistworker.org/2015/12/10/indonesias-massacres-on-trial Indonesia's massacres on trial Janis Hooper reports on a tribunal into the crimes committed in Indonesia in 1965-68, in an article written for the Australian socialist newspaper Red Flag. December 10, 2015 EXTRACTS "Fifty years ago, the Indonesian army, led by Gen. Suharto, used an alleged coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as a pretext to mount a savage right-wing seizure of power. Starting on October 1, 1965, at least 500,000 people were murdered and millions were imprisoned without trial in appalling conditions for up to 20 years. Many were subjected to torture--including rape and other sexual violence--forced labor and exile." ... United States, the UK and Australia charged with conspiracy for role in facilitating commission of these crimes ... "established that the state of Indonesia during the relevant period through its military and police arms committed and encouraged the commission of these grave human rights violations on a systematic and widespread basis." "done for political purposes: to annihilate the PKI and those alleged to be its members or sympathizers, as well as a much broader number of people including [former President] Sukarno loyalists, trade unionists and teachers." "design was also to prop up a dictatorial violent regime" "It cannot be doubted that these acts, evaluated separately and cumulatively, constitute crimes against humanity, both in International Law and judged by the values and the legal framework of the new reformist era  ..." "The tribunal called on the Indonesian government to implement the recommendations (to take action to find justice and provide reparations for the 1965 crimes against humanity) made by both its own Commission for Violence against Women in 2007, and Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in 2012 after hearing representatives of both bodies; and for Indonesia's President Joko Widodo to deliver on his electoral promise to act." http://socialistworker.org/2015/12/10/indonesias-massacres-on-trial -------/\/\/ http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/government-brushes-hague-tribunal-1965-massacre.html   Government brushes off Hague tribunal on 1965 massacre thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | National Tue, November 10 2015, 12:31 PM The government has refused to acknowledge the International People's Tribunal 1965, being held in The Hague, the Netherlands, saying that Indonesia works on its own justice system. Attorney General HM Prasetyo refused to accept the mass killings of 1965 and 1966 being brought before a tribunal overseas. "We solve our own issues. There is no need for other parties to be involved in this," he told kompas.com. He said the government was making continued efforts to resolve past human rights violations, however, there had faced difficulties in finding evidence and witnesses to testify. Questioning sessions and early investigations conducted by the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) could not yet be brought to the full investigation stage he said. "The government is trying to resolve the violations through reconciliation, but there are so many things to discuss and prepare," Prasetyo said. State Secretary Pratikno said the government was working to prepare a systematic solution for the human rights violations. "President [Joko Widodo] directed us to [work] based on our own justice system," he said. The international tribunal, initiated by human rights activists, is being held from Nov. 10 to 13, marking the 50th anniversary of the massacre of up to 1 million considered members or supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan also questioned the people's tribunal, claiming it was unjust. "Who do they want to try? How can they make a decision about our [case]?" he said. Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, the general coordinator of the International People's Tribunal 1965 earlier announced that there would be seven judges, six international prosecutors and 16 witnesses taking part in the tribunal. She urged the government to apologize as the first step toward recognizing the crimes committed by a past government, and also take into account the recommendations resulting from the tribunal. (rin)(+) http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/government-brushes-hague-tribunal-1965-massacre.htm -------/\/\/ http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/international-court-revisits-indonesias-1965-mass-killings/ And even if the tribunal has no legal standing in Indonesia, the prosecutors are confident that it can lead to political victories in the future. The tribunal also tackled the “complicity” of the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia in the commission of the mass crimes in 1965. A witness alleged that these governments “provided radio-communication equipment in order to facilitate communication between the troops and delivered small arms and money. They also provided lists of alleged PKI members to the Indonesian authorities.” As expected, the Indonesian government dismissed the international tribunal as a farce. It reminded the participants that Indonesia is a sovereign nation with a functioning legal system. It also insisted that President Jokowi will not apologize for the actions of the army in 1965. Some hardliners even branded the Indonesian participants as traitors and communists. http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/international-court-revisits-indonesias-1965-mass-killings/ -------/\/\/ BOOK The New Rulers of the World by John Pilger "Pilger tackles the injustices and double standards inherent in the politics of globalization and exposes the terrible truth behind the power and wealth of states and corporations John Pilger is one of the world’s renowned investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers. In this classic book, with an updated introduction, he reveals the secrets and illusions of modern imperialism. Beginning with Indonesia, he shows how General Suharto’s bloody seizure of power in the 1960s was part of a western design to impose a “global economy” on Asia. A million Indonesians died as the price for being the World Bank’s “model pupil.” " source http://www.versobooks.com/books/2153-the-new-rulers-of-the-world ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT The West is responsible for facilitating murder and atrocity on a MASSIVE SCALE, yet no Westerner has been held accountable for facilitating the 'knocking off' 500,000 to a million 'communist sympathisers', in the noble endeavour to save the world from the 'horrors' freedom from economic exploitation. It is astounding that the above writer  absolves Australia of responsibility on the following basis: "Australia’s actions as an accomplice to these killings should not be exaggerated. The massacres of the PKI took place against the backdrop of years of tension and hatred between the Army and the PKI, in a complex internal political environment that would have seen the killings take place regardless of any role Australia might have played." [source - above] The 'backdrop of years of tension', 'hatred' and 'complex internal political environment' could just as readily apply to the Balkans or to World War II Europe or, really, any other contest. It looks like the attitudes, the course of action taken, and the standards applied depend entirely on who performed the deeds in question, and what is in it for the champions of global capitalism. While Radovan Karadzic has been convicted in some US war criminal sponsored kangaroo court, knocking off half a million to a million pesky Indonesian commies happens to be just fine -- even something to be proud of, by the look of things. The hypocrisy is breathtaking when you consider the enormity of what the West has supported here -- and this is just ONE example of murder, torture and suffering on a massive scale, in a LONG SERIES of wilful evil-doing, right around the globe, committed by those that would have us believe they are the 'righteous' among nations -- this glorious 'international community,' as they refer to their vicious, destructive coterie. And these are the shining examples of humanity that would have us believe the Third Reich 'Nazis', and not they, are the epitome of 'evil' that was righteously conquered for the good of the entire world that our noble WWII heroes have ... *cough* ... lovingly liberated.

TRANSCRIPT - ASIO, CIA & MI6 de facto coup d'état - Whitlam Government, Australia

"US diplomatic cables published last year by WikiLeaks disclose the names of leading figures in both main parties, including a future prime minister and foreign minister, as Washington’s informants during the Whitlam years. Whitlam knew the risk he was taking. The day after his election, he ordered that his staff should not be “vetted or harassed” by the Australian security organisation, ASIO – then, as now, tied to Anglo-American intelligence." JOHN PILGER Investigative Journalist Source |  here Australian Association for Cultural Freedom Member:  John Kerr, Australia's Governor-General “an elite, invitation-only group … exposed in Congress as being founded, funded and generally run by the CIA” [ Jonathan Kwitny - WSJ ] Theodore Shackley notorious head of CIA’s East Asia division Shackley:  1972 CIA coup vs Salvador Allende in Chile TELEX message, deeming Gough Whitlam 'security risk' to Australia “Our man Kerr” - ie CIA Man BRIEFS  - Defence Signals Directorate, Australia’s NSA about ...  “security crisis” ... Invoking archaic vice-regal “reserve powers” Kerr sacked the democratically elected prime minister SOURCE John Pilger Investigation | coup against Whitlam Book:  A Secret Country (Vintage) Documentary film:  Other People’s Wars VIEW ON  http://www.johnpilger.com/ TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] ASIO, CIA & MI6 de facto coup d'état Whitlam Government Australia VIDEO Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kxVVWfRPiA Duration: 9:59 NARRATOR The coup against Gough Whitlam's Labour government in Australia 1972 (sic) exposes a wide variety of dirty tricks used by intelligence agencies to undermine democracy. GOUGH WHITLAM We will not yield to blackmail. We will not be panicked. We will not turn over the government of this country to vested interests, pressure groups and newspaper proprietors, whose tactics would destroy the standards and traditions of parliamentary government. SCREEN TEXT "The CIA's aim in Australia was to get rid of a government they did not like and that was not co-operative ... It's a Chile, but in a much more sophisticated and subtle form." - Victor Marchetti, ex-CIA officer NARRATOR In Australia 1972, a Labor government was elected for the first time in 23 years. It would be brought down in a de facto coup d'état, conducted by the CIA in liaison with Britain's MI6 and, most shockingly, Australia's own intelligence services. Since assuming power in Australia, Whitlam's labour government had enacted series of reforms. These included: raises in wages, pensions, and unemployment benefits, free national healthcare, equal pay for women, the abolishment of tuition fees, new services for Aboriginal peoples, and the replacement of 'God Save the Queen' with Australia's own national anthem. Most disturbing to Washington, however, was the withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam, the support of Palestinian rights, and the proposal of an Indian Ocean zone of peace. Worst of all, Whitlam hinted that he might shut down a number of American military bases, including Pine Gap. When CIA Director William Colby petitioned his counterpart at MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield, for help, he stressed that Australia was traditionally Britain’s domain and that if Pine Gap were closed, the alliance would be blinded strategically. Unbeknownst to Australia's new Prime Minister, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had not only been working closely with the CIA, they had been illegally passing on dossiers, concerning every member of the Labor Party, as well as union leaders, peace activists, and other Australian citizens. A slush fund was set up to provide money to both opposition parties, via the Nugan Hand Bank, a CIA front company. [Cut to footage of Malcolm Fraser, Liberal Party] This was followed up by a promise to the main opposition Liberal Party of unlimited funds. CBS NEWS CLIP - SEPT 22, 1982 ANNOUNCER [American Accent] In recent years, there have been charges from time to time that the CIA has involved itself in illegal activities. Some of the most bizarre to date involve a bank in Australia known as 'Nugan Hand,' and tonight Gary Shepherd has a report. [2:57] GARY SHEPHERD [American Accent] When the Nugan Hand Bank of Sydney, Australia, collapsed in 1980, it appeared at first glance to be just another bank failure. Cut to EXHUMATION at cemetery Burial marker reads: In Loving Memory of FRANCIS JOHN NUGAN But after Australian authorities began taking a closer look, they discovered a tangled web of intrigue, with all the elements of a best-selling spy novel: a mysterious death, the body later dug up from its grave, illegal currency transactions, big time drug operations and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). NEIL EVANS FORMER BANK EXECUTIVE [Australian accent] We were to become the paymasters of the CIA around the world. In other words, we were putting ourselves in a position to disburse funds for the CIA to whoever they were directed. ANNOUNCER Former bank executive Neil Evans, given immunity from prosecution agreed to talk about the Nugan Hand operation on Australian television. From his account and others, the Bank had its genesis during the Vietnam War. Four of the original stockholders were Americans who listed their addresses as: Air America, Army Post Office (APO), San Francisco, [Ca.]. Air America was the CIA airline in Indochina, hauling men and supplies on clandestine missions and, according to former CIA agents, even drugs out of the so-called Golden Triangle where the borders of Burma, Laos, and Thailand, converge. Nugan Hand sent Neil Evans to the Thai city of Chang Mai, the commercial centre of the drug trade. He claims the CIA made millions and used the money to advance its secret projects. NEIL EVANS FEB 1981 The idea was that the money would be deposited by the Nugan Hand Bank by the CIA through various channels and, also, that the Nugan Hand Bank would be the repository for funds coming in from various CIA enterprises, namely, drugs in Thailand --marijuana in particular -- and that the Nugan Hand Bank would then be responsible for re-routing that money to an account in America with the New York Bank. ANNOUNCER Nugan Hand was not your ordinary bank: there were secret numbered accounts and hardly any of its top people were bankers. Many were American civilians and former high-ranking military officers with ties to US intelligence. When they found the body of Australian businessman, Frank Nugan, the Bank's chairman (shot to death a few months before the Bank went under), they discovered in his pocket, the business card of this man: William Colby, former Director of the CIA. Nugan's partner was Michael Hand, an American Green Beret, who served two tours in Vietnam. One of them for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He disappeared a short while after the bank collapsed and is now believed to be dead. Australian newspapers reported a connection between Nugan Hand and the US Navy's super-secret intelligence unit, known as Taskforce 157. Among it's top agents, CIA man, Edwin Wilson (now under indictment for selling arms and explosives to Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi), and a man named Patry Loomis has also been implicated. He was the apparent CIA-Nugan Hand go-between. It was Lumis who helped Wilson recruit a team of Green Berets to train terrorists in Libya. GARY SHEPHERD CBS News, Los Angeles The Nugan Hand affair has caused an uproar in Australia, where authorities are trying to find out what involvement the bank might have had in the 1975 downfall of the labour party government. Meanwhile, investigators on three continents are attempting to trace $50-million missing from the accounts of depositors, including many Americans. Here in this country, the CIA denies any involvement with drug operations in Indochina, the Nugan Hand Bank itself, or the deaths of the two men who ran it. Gary Shepherd, CBS News, Los Angeles. NARRATOR In addition to the slush fund, the CIA created a series of forged documents implicating high ranking members of the Labor Party in a succession of scandals. No hard evidence was ever produced to substantiate the allegations, but a complicit Australian media, spear-headed by a young Rupert Murdoch, fanned the flames of discontent. AUSTRALIAN INTERVIEWER/REPORTER Do you think the newspaper would have any political orientation like The Sun and its predecessor, The Daily Herald? RUPERT MURDOCH Receding hairline prominent T-shaped furrow on forehead - furrow commencing between the eyes prominent dark eyebrows weak jawline jowls narrow upper lip oversized lower lip left-hand side hair part RUPERT MURDOCH [Shaking head] No, no fixed orientation, in the sense that it would be allied to any party. Certainly not. It would be quite independent. NARRATOR One of the most damaging of the forgeries was a report indicating that Labor ministers had received kick-backs during the so-called 'loans affair.' In 1981, a CIA contract agent, named Joseph Flynn, admitted that he had forged these documents at the behest at Michael Hand, co-founder of the CIA's Nugan Hand Bank. As the contrived scandals escalated, a state of emergency was declared. Invoking the authority of the British crown, Attorney-General John Kerr dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister [Silent Footage of Whitlam] [Cut to American Actor] Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen The fascist regime It made you a moron Potential H-Bomb God Save the Queen She ain't no human being There is no future And England's screamin' ... SCREEN TEXT One American intelligence officer, Christopher Boyce, became so outraged at the CIA's actions in Australia that he began passing on secret documents to the Soviets. [Cut to Christopher Boyce at hearing] SCREEN TEXT In 2006, the BBC aired a documentary entitled "The Plot Against Harold Wilson". It revealed that a similar campaign of dirty tricks was used against the British Labour government of Harold Wilson. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols] SCREEN TEXT The campaign was carried out by the CIA in liaison with Britain's MI5 and the South African security service, BOSS. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen, Sex Pistols] Cut to: 'Welcome to News International'   [Vertical Venetian signage opens exposing ...] The Sun We Love It News of the World Big On Sundays SCREEN TEXT Though Wilson was a moderate, he was the object of a relentless smear campaign in the British press in which he was painted as a soviet agent. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols] SCREEN TEXT At one point, a coup was contemplated. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India and a member of the Royal Family, was to head up the new government. Daily Mirror press baron Lord Cecil King planned "an emergency government" that would include leading conservative politicians and prominent businessmen. [Soundtrack 'God Save the Queen', Sex Pistols] SCREEN TEXT Suffering from early onset Alzheimer's, Wilson resigned in 1976. Margaret Thatcher was elected three years later. The British-American coup that ended Australian independence John Pilger EXTRACT In 1975 prime minister Gough Whitlam, who has died this week, dared to try to assert his country’s autonomy. The CIA and MI6 made sure he paid the price Across the media and political establishment in Australia, a silence has descended on the memory of the great, reforming prime minister Gough Whitlam. His achievements are recognised, if grudgingly, his mistakes noted in false sorrow. But a critical reason for his extraordinary political demise will, they hope, be buried with him. Australia briefly became an independent state during the Whitlam years, 1972-75. An American commentator wrote that no country had “reversed its posture in international affairs so totally without going through a domestic revolution”. Whitlam ended his nation’s colonial servility. He abolished royal patronage, moved Australia towards the Non-Aligned Movement, supported “zones of peace” and opposed nuclear weapons testing. Although not regarded as on the left of the Labor party, Whitlam was a maverick social democrat of principle, pride and propriety. He believed that a foreign power should not control his country’s resources and dictate its economic and foreign policies. He proposed to “buy back the farm”. In drafting the first Aboriginal lands rights legislation, his government raised the ghost of the greatest land grab in human history, Britain’s colonisation of Australia, and the question of who owned the island-continent’s vast natural wealth. [ ...] MORE AT SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/23/gough-whitlam-1975-coup-ended-australian-independence ꕤ

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT - 'John Pilger on WikiLeaks, Julian Assange & Jeremy Corbyn' - Radio NZ National

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT  [For quotation purposes, confirm audio] Title:  John Pilger on WikiLeaks, Julian Assange & Jeremy Corbyn "John Pilger is an Australian born journalist and film-maker who has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year award." Originally aired on Sunday Morning, Sunday 23 August 2015 PROGRAM LINK | http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201767629/john-pilger-on-wikileaks,-julian-assange-and-jeremy-corbyn DIRECT LINK AUDIO | http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201767629 ---------------------- ꕤ  ---------------------- Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National For 3 years, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has sought asylum within the Ecuadorian embassy, London, at a cost of millions of pounds. He has been facing sexual assault allegations, which actually expired this past week, although he can still face charges on a rape allegation for a further 5 years. John Pilger is an Australian-born journalist & film-maker. He's twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award. And he says it's been an unrelenting campaign by Sweden and the US to deny Julian Assange justice and, of course, his freedom. John Pilger is in no doubt about the impact that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks has on society. John Pilger Investigative Journalist I think it's had a huge impact on both society and on journalism. I mean, the best of journalism, in my experience, always relied on what we called 'whistleblowers.' People from inside who can tell us the things that vested interests and governments don't want us to know; and I think they've done that with such a dimension that we now have quite a different standard of investigative journalism, now, to reach. And as far as society is concerned, I think they've told people what so many people — millions of people — suspected anyway: that their governments weren't telling them the truth; and that vested interests weren't telling them the truth; that they were being deceived; that democracy wasn't working properly; that there wasn't the kind of accountability that they suspected. WikiLeaks' contribution to that, I think, has been quite extraordinary. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National It's been compared, hasn't it, to Daniel Ellsberg's revelation of the Pentagon Papers (US war related secrets of 1971). Do you think that's a fair or valid comparison? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Yes, it is. Absolutely. I know Dan Ellsberg and I've talked to him about it and he makes that comparison. That he's very much a supporter of WikiLeaks now. And Ellsberg — what Ellsberg released (and this was a whistleblower from within the system), he — the Pentagon Papers actually told the truth about the Vietnam war. It told the truth — the kind of official truth that people didn't know. They were official documents, and they really had an extraordinary impact then on public opinion. They supported that all-truth that information is power. People then had information. Now, what people do with information is up to them. But to be able to get it — as they got it through Ellsberg, and they got it through WikiLeaks, and they got it through Chelsea Manning, and they got it through numerous other very courageous whistleblowers. That's very important, and it's a lesson for us journalists. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National The nature of the whilsteblower. Let me ask you this, then, John. Daniel Ellsberg over 40 years ago, Julian Assange now — to some, you know, to many he's a hereo (people like Yoko Ono & Ken Loach have visited him at the Ecuadorian embassy) — but what was the - what did people think of Daniel Ellsberg at the time, because there's been quite a level of vitriol to Julian Assange. How was Daniel Ellsberg treated by the public and by the establishment. John Pilger Investigative Journalist I think Ellsberg was also, really, was subjected to a certain level of vitriol. Usually, whistleblowers are. I remember Ellsberg actually being called a traitor. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National [Interjects] Really? John Pilger Investigative Journalist — and, indeed, he won his court actions, which were really based on that broad allegation that he'd committed some form of treason. So, you know, his character was called into question and so on, in a different way from the attacks on Julian Assange. Another great whistleblower — long forgotten — who's now the subject of a movie called, interestingly, 'Shoot the Messenger,' whose name is Gary Webb:   Gary Webb disclosed, in the United States, that — how the CIA was involved in drug trafficking into the United States. Now, Gary Webb's greatest enemies were the rest of media, who hadn't got the story and attacked him. Something similar has happened with Julian Assange. It's certainly muddied by the fact that he was caught in a situation in Sweden, which those who were his enemies, anyway, were able to exploit. And — but, my understanding (and I've known Assange for quite some time and I followed this case very quickly) is, that the amount of vitriol comes down to the degree of truth-telling: truth-telling about great power. There is — and I've found this in my career — there is a real ruthlessness in great power:   be it in governments, big corporations, vested interests — particularly in very, very powerful governments.  There is a ruthlessness in their response, if you expose what they are doing, and if it's something they don't want the public to know about. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National And you've experienced it yourself? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Yes, I have, most certainly, in a lot of the work I've done right throughout south-east Asia and in investigative work in the UK. For example, I had a lot to do with revealing the thalidomide — the extent that thalidomide, the drug, was was damaging children. I found myself subjected to all kinds of abuse and smear. Smear. Smear is probably an investigative journalist's greatest enemy. There was a very interesting document that WikiLeaks got hold of in 2008 which foretold everything — [laughs] almost everything - that has happened to Julian Assange. It said that (and I paraphrase it) - that if - that, because WikiLeaks was revealing so many of these truths, the only way to deal with it was to discredit it, and to discredit Assange. To smear, in other words. I mean, it really spells it out, in very plain English, that there's going to be a campaign of discrediting against anyone like Assange who dares to tell the public the kinds of secrets that it needs to know, that it's prevented from knowing. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National Well, in fact, you say on Julian Assange — you write that in Alexandria, Virginia, a secret grand jury spent 5 years attempting to contrive a crime for which Assange can be prosecuted. Can you explain a little bit for us, what do you mean by that? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Well, yes. I mean, that's, that's — they've admitted that now. There is, in Virginia, which — the grand jury in the United States— The grand juries draw from the area in which they sit. Now this area [laughs] has in it the US Defence Department, the Pentagon, the CIA, and all the great institutions of American power, so that determines, really, the character of the grand jury. And the grand jury can then issue indictments. Now, this grand jury has been sitting in secret, now, for several years, and the problem it faces in trying to bring a charge against Assange and WikiLeaks is that the constitution (the US constitution), says very clearly that whistleblowers — truth-tellers — are protected it (by the Constitution) and, ironically, it was President Obama (a professor of constitutional law) who said, very early in his presidency, that whilstleblowers had the protection of the constitution. Now, I say 'ironically,' because more whistleblowers have been prosecuted under Obama than during all the presidents of the past. So, this grand jury has an uphill task, and the one charge it seems that it might be able to come up with is a First World War espionage charge, which was really directed at conscientious objectors during the First World War, all those years ago: a century ago. That's all it can find. The problem there is that Julian Assange isn't an American. That never seams to bother American courts that people — there are some people in the world who are not Americans. So, it's a difficult thing. But there's no question that what the documents show — the FBI has something like a 50,000 page file on him — what all these documents that have come out have shown, and what they've virtually admitted: that the moment Assange sets out the door of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, in some way — in some way — the United States (with help from its so-called allies) will get its hands on Julian Assange. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National And is that why the 24 hour around the clock police cordon? There are police appearing — John Pilger Investigative Journalist Well, no because [laughs] — they don't prevent people going in, but Assange isn't going anywhere. All that is, this 24-hour cordon, it's theatrical. It's a show of force by the state. It's the British government saying — and the Metropolitan Police in London — saying: Well, we're not having this. How dare this man go and seek political refuge and be granted it by another government. It's pointless — Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National [Interjects] John — John Pilger Investigative Journalist — one policeman outside the door is more than enough because, as everybody knows, Assange isn't going anywhere. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National I'm speaking with Julian As— John Pilger. And there are those who listen to this, too, who will say that there — these, you know, these charges — these allegations — they— John Pilger Investigative Journalist [Interjects] You've got to be careful with that. That's a very common slip. And I understand you make it.  There— Assange has been — The disgrace about all of this is this man has not been charged with anything.  What's more, that the original prosecutor in this case in Sweden, threw it out — threw allegations out — and the second prosecutor, who has perused him, allowed him to leave Sweden, and said that's fine. The second prosecutor has been offered every facility to question Julian Assange over 5 years. The British government has pleaded with her, virtually, to come to London. It's a normal procedure. At the same time, Sweden has (in London) interviewed something like 44 other people connected with allegations in Sweden, but not Assange. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National So what's going on here — why? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Why? Well, I think it's a combination of reasons, here. There's no evidence — that's number one. I've seen the evidence; there's no evidence. Both these women have said they were not raped. They've both said it's consensual — it was consensual sex. Their SMS messages — one says the police have tried to railroad them into this. The pressures on these two women have been extraordinary. One can only have — one can only have sympathy for them. It's a combination of whys. There's an obsession about this prosecutor, and my sense is that the Swedish authorities haven't quite known what to do about it. The Swedish High Court has reprimanded her for not getting on with the case. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National Is this Marianne Ny? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Yes, Marianne Ny. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National What's the relationship, John, between Swe— Washington and Stockholm?  Is, because Sweden is, you know, meant to be something of a liberal bastion, isn't it? So what is— John Pilger Investigative Journalist [Interjects] Well— Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National —what sort of relationship do they have? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Well, Sweden is not a liberal bastion. Sweden has basked in its—   It is in some areas, yes.  It has enlightened social policies towards the vulnerable and the elderly, and so on, although these have been much broken down over the years. But, in a cultural sense, that image of Sweden going back to the 1960s, as a great libertarian country, no longer exists. Sweden has rather a dark side. It's not a member of NATO, but it's almost a much more committed associate of the United States in that part of the world, and the last government in Sweden had very close links with the extreme right in the Republican party, and it has various associations in the arms business, and so on. So Sweden has a— Swe— Swe— I suppose Sweden plays the same games that countries within a certain sphere of do these days. It is no different from that. But what it does have, as I mentioned, is a very close relationship with the US, and The Independent newspaper, here, revealed that there had been discussions between the Swedish authorities and the US on Assange. I don't think that anyone really has any serious doubts that should Assange go to Sweden (where there is no bail —therefore he goes— would go straight into prison regardless of having not been charged with anything) — that once confined — that something similar would happen to him, as has happened to other people who have been subjected to rendition to the United States from Sweden. This is all guess work, of course, but the assumption has a great deal of credibility. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National John Pilger, how do you think, then, this will all play out? He's been, what, 3 years inside the Ecuadorian embassy. As I understand it — you might have gone and visited him — but, as I understand it, no sunlight, small room. Ken Loach, the film director, he gave him a walker, I think, one of those exerciser machines, didn't he? John Pilger Investigative Journalist Yes. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National So, what's going to happen, is my question? John Pilger Investigative Journalist I see Julian Assange regularly, and I've been to the embassy many times.  And, it's really — inside, it's like your living room and my living room.  Yes, sunlight comes in through the windows, but with the police pretty well outside, you have to keep the curtains closed, otherwise you have a member of the constabulary looking in on you and, so, it's a very confined space. And it's the kind of thing that no human being should have to go through. It's the sort of detention that, really, is against all the post war covenants of human rights and so on. But it is a place of refuge, and that's why he's there. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National Finally, John Pilger, I just — before you go, I just wonder if you've got a couple of thoughts on the Labour leadership in the UK — Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader contender - he continues to do well in the polls. In fact, the press has dubbed it 'Corbyn Mania.' His views are very much to the left of the Labour mainstream: he wants to, you know, withdraw from NATO; abolish the UK's nuclear arsenal. So, where, can I ask you, where is he drawing his support, and why do you think it's happening? John Pilger Investigative Journalist It says something about the mainstream [laughs] when you describe it that way. Jeremy Corbyn is actually the mainstream. And who these people are - it's such fun to watch them so hysterical over somebody who might be democratically elected by ordinary people. What a terrible thing to happen. They used to call this democracy. But because they've stitched up the system for such a long time; especially, since the rise of Tony Blair and his evangelical followers, who dominate the Labour party, still; because this man who has rather moderate views and old fashioned views (the kind of old fashioned views that most people subscribe to), and because people are so frustrated all over the world — I'm sure it's true in New Zealand, as well (it certainly is in Australia) — are frustrated that there isn't a functioning democracy; that the views of people - the frustrations of people — are not reflected by their politicians. Suddenly, out comes a man who, first of all, he's completely incorruptible; he's decent; he doesn't abuse people; he doesn't play all their games; he doesn't want to go to war with countries; he doesn't want to bomb countries; he doesn't want to see people impoverished; and he doesn't want to see extremely rich interests make off with billions of pounds. So having these outrageous views — thoroughly 'outrageous,' 'extremist' views - Jeremy Corbyn has attracted an enormous support from people. I was in Edinburgh recently and I gave a talk, and I would have thought that, probably, most of the people in the audience had voted for the SNP — voted for Independent — gee, were they interested in Corbyn, even up there. So, don't know. I think it's very likely the elected leader of the Labour party whether he can get through and keep that rather corrupted organisation in a shape that it might win the election, I have no idea. But he's certainly given people — he's cheered people up. He's given them a sense that maybe some things are possible. Wallace Chapman Presenter, Radio NZ National Journalist and film-maker, John Pilger, thank you very much for your time. John Pilger Investigative Journalist You're very welcome. Bye, Bye. ——— end audio ——— Please Support journalist Julian Assange Under Siege Ecuador embassy London (3 Years) Detained 5 Years No Charge FAQ & Support https://justice4assange.com/ ꕤ