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MP3 One Segment
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NB: This RealAudio stream contains FTRs 307 and 308 in sequence. Each is a 30-minute segment.
1. The program begins with discussion of Vice-President Dick Cheney’s stewardship of a program to counteract terrorism and prepare for disaster reaction. (“Bush Taps Cheney to Study Antiterrorism Steps” By Frank Bruni; New York Times; 5/9/2001; p. A21.)
2. The program Cheney heads could be seen as analogous to the martial law contingency planning that went on under the elder George Bush, when he was Vice President.
3. It is also interesting to note that, just like the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, this administration maintains surprisingly cozy relations with the very terrorist elements we are told we must worry about. The U.S. recently donated $43 million to the Taliban, who are sheltering Osama Bin Laden, wanted by the United States for, among other things, bombing the destroyer U.S.S. Cole during the height of the 2000 presidential campaign. (“Bush’s Faustian deal with the Taliban” by Robert Scheer; Los Angeles Times; 5/22/2001; p. A15.)
4. Interestingly, conservative journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave was jetting off for a reported interview with Bin Laden at that time. (“Supportive Spouse” by Ann O’Neill; Los Angeles Times; 5/22/2001; p. D2.)
5. The program then updates the career of Milan Panic, the Yugoslavian-born pharmaceuticals magnet who briefly became Prime Minister of Yugoslavia during the recent Balkan crisis.
6. Panic is under fire by directors of the firm he heads. (“3 Dissidents win Seats on ICN Board” by Marc Ballon; Los Angeles Times; 5/22/2001;pp. C1-C6.)
7. Panic’s tenure as the leader of Yugoslavia is reviewed. (“German and U.S. Involvement in the Balkans: A Careful Coincidence of National Policies?” by T.W. (“Bill”) Carr; paper presented at the symposium on the Balkan War, Yugoslavia: Past and Present.)
8. The program concludes with an examination of the SV40 cancer-causing monkey virus that contaminated the polio vaccine. Scientists at the National Institute of Health are beginning to acknowledge the oncogenic properties of SV40 and, from their statements, appear to fear legal liability stemming from their obfuscation on the subject of the viral contamination of the polio vaccine. (“Cancer Warrior” by Debbie Bookchin and Jim Schumacher; Penthouse; July/2001; pp. 24–162.)
Reading an L.A. Times obituary 18 Feb 2015 on death of “Fabled foreign correspondent” Arnaud de Borchgrave, I was struck by the insouciant prose describing de Borchgrave’s stint at the Washington Times. A question arises: “What does the word ‘fabled’ mean in “Fabled foreign correspondent”? How did Borchgrave come to all those “connections” in his “fabled” career? Response: de Borchgrave appears to have acted in some large capacity as a “journalist,” as a fifth column man, one with unsavory connections to elite interests with very little color of democratic ideals.
Spitfire item #4, above, seems to have some bearing: “Interestingly, conservative journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave was jetting off for a reported interview with Bin Laden at that time. (“Supportive Spouse” by Ann O’Neill; Los Angeles Times; 5/22/2001; p. D2.)”
@J. Edward Tipre–
I would describe de Borchgrave as a propagandist, rather than a journalist.
Best,
Dave