Progressive Commentary Hour – 07.26.16

CONVERSATIONS WITH REMARKABLE MINDS

Understanding the coup in Turkey – and the history of CIA/US involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic terrorism

F. William Engdahl is an award winning geopolitical analyst, strategic risk consultant and author who specializes on the rise of the US as an international superpower. His writings deal with empire building through the roles of financial control of global banking, the food chain, medicine and bioengineering and energy, primarily oil. He holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and did graduate work in comparative economics at Stockholm University in Sweden. He has taught at Beijing University and lectured widely at business and economic institutions throughout the world including Russia, Turkey, London, Croatia and elsewhere. His articles appear in Global Research, New Eastern Outlook, Asia Times, Financial Sense and RT among others. William has written many important books, his latest being “The Lost Hegemon: Whom the Gods Would Destroy” which provides a history of the US intelligence’s relationship with the origins of Islamic terrorist and jihadi organizations and movements. His website is WilliamEngdahl.com

Mish Shedlock – Erdogan Scorecard: 50,000 Detained or Fired Generals, Judges, Teachers, Police, Others

Inquiring minds may be interested in the number of military officers, generals, judges, teachers, and ordinary citizens detained or fired by Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Facts Not Needed for Extradition Yesterday, ABC news reported Turkey Fires Tens of Thousands in Coup Plotters Hunt. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the issue in a phone call with U.S. President Barack Obama, …

Infectious Myth – A New Election System – 07.19.16

David discusses the different types of election and vote counting systems, and why a system that he invented has advantages and unique characteristics. To find out more about ‘Geographical Proportional Representation’, see: http://davidcrowe.ca/GeographicPR/index.html
He finishes the show by discussing the violence of the last few days. Police killing black men with legal guns. Crazy ex-soldiers killing policemen. The truck killings in Nice, and the coup in Turkey.

Vijay Prashad – We Owe It to the Victims of the Latest Bombing Tragedy in Turkey to Ask Why These Attacks Happened

Tragedies are tragedies. Ordinary people stand at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Guns and bombs shatter their lives in an instant. There can be no justification for such violence. It is dangerously random and wicked. Whatever frustrations produce the assailants, nothing could possibly draw a straight line from those grievances and the misfortunes they produce. Each of these attacks …

‘Climate of Xenophobia’ Gripping Europe, UN Official Warns

As more details indicate the killing of British lawmaker Jo Cox was politically motivated, the United Nations Refugee Agency head is warning of a “climate of xenophobia” gripping Europe. Speaking to Agence France-Presse in Tehran on Saturday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said, “Refugees… don’t bring danger” but “flee from dangerous places.” He put responsibility on the shoulders of national leaders, saying that …

Stephen Zunes – Turkey’s Creeping Authoritarianism: Is the Resistance Enough?

Turkey’s march towards authoritarianism took another dangerous turn this past week with the forced resignation of moderate Islamist Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, apparently at the insistence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Though constitutionally the Turkish prime minister wields executive authority and the president is largely a figurehead, Erdoğan—who served as prime minister for eleven years before term limits forced him …

Thierry Meyssan – How the European Union is Manipulating the Syrian Refugees

Triggered by the coordinated publication of the photograph of a young Kurdish child, Aylan Kurdi, drowned on a Turkish beach on the 3rd September 2015, European public opinion mobilised and mounted various demonstrations in favour of the refugees. Immediately, French President François Hollande and the chancellor of the German Federation Angela Merkel pronounced themselves favourable to a «permanent and obligatory …

Roman Europe?

BERLIN/VENICE – As the European Union begins to disintegrate, who can provide the leadership to save it? German Chancellor Angela Merkel is widely credited with finally answering Henry Kissinger’s famous question about the Western alliance: “What is the phone number for Europe?” But if Europe’s phone number has a German dialing code, it goes through to an automated answer: “Nein …

Jon Schwarz – What Obama’s Refusal to Acknowledge the Armenian Genocide Tells Us About the U.S. — and the Rest of the World

Today, April 24, 2015, is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. During the next several years, about one and a half million Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman Empire: shot, worked to death, or marched into the Syrian desert to starve or die of thirst. An American official who was an eyewitness wrote home, “The whole country [is] …

U.S. Ranks 41st In Press Freedom Index Thanks To ‘War On Whistleblowers’

The U.S. is ranked 41 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, which measures the “level of freedom of information in 180 countries.” According to the organization, the U.S. moved from 49 in 2015 to 41 this year, though it warned that the “relative improvement by comparison hides overall negative trends.” Citing the U.S. government’s “war …