Radio War Nerd EP138—"Atrocity" Interventionist Propaganda in Zaire

What this episode covers

Recorded June 25, 2018 After a brief discussion of New York subway poetry & Charles Simic, the War Nerd and Ames look back at how atrocity interventionist-propaganda works, taking two examples: Fake atrocity stories after the Syrian government retook East Aleppo in December 2016; and fake atrocity stories planted in the US media in 1978 to justify a Belgian-French-American intervention in the mineral-rich Shaba (Katanga) province of Zaire (Congo) . . . But before Ames gets to 1978, he retells some incredible and dark stories about post-colonial Congo/Zaire, from the assassination plots against Patrice Lumumba, to the "Cuban Civil War On Lake Tanganyika", between the CIA's anti-Castro forces and Che Guevera's Cuban-Simba forces . . . and up to the Shaba I and Shaba II rebellions in 1977-8, culminating in the staged fake atrocities of whites planted in the major US media, to justify western intervention on behalf of mining interests . . . At 1:38:21 the War Nerd and Ames look at current war news: How media choice of which atrocities to show also decide which wars they're helping recruit for . . . Erdogan-ultranationalist election victory in Turkey, which is undergoing the worst mass state purge of any country in decades . . . Media story claiming Algeria force-marching migrants back to Niger . . . US denies visa to former NATO chief Javier Solano . . . The Parsley Massacre of Hispaniola . . .  Buy RWN sound engineer Brendon Anderegg's new album "June" here  Total time: 2:13:39