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I
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welcome to Sputnik orbiting the world
with me George Galloway and me gatri
when the mutton heads of England on tour
met the Leer meaner Russian thugs on the
streets of Marseilles and Le there could
only be one winner and one loser the
game of football if you believe the
British press the England thugs trashed
city after City only because they were
provoked by the big ugly Russian it all
fitted into the prevailing Narrative of
russophobia it doesn't matter that
Russian submarines turned out to be
Swedish and not submarines at all that
Russian airlanes intercepted by the RAF
turned out to have been flying in
international airspace or that Russia
hasn't the remotest intention of lifting
a finger against the Baltic states let's
send thousands of NATO soldiers anyway
get ready to die for vilnus is the
explicit message of the recently retired
gungho generals and jingoists where is
all this anti-russian propaganda taking
us we're joined by Dr Thomas Pier tronic
who's a junior doctor a psychiatrist a
writer and editor of the London
Progressive journal and he's only 31
doctor you're quite a renaissance man uh
tell us uh first of all what lies behind
the current escalation really of
anti-russian feeling propaganda media
treatment Etc well it's part of a larger
picture essentially um the west or has
to portray Russia as the big baddy um as
part of the prevailing narrative what we
saw recently in the last few days um the
stories about Russian thugs um crashing
uh French cities attacking English
football fans is just the tip of the
iceberg of course it's unfortunate that
there were there was thuggery from both
sides in fact not just Britain and
France but there were thugs from
Northern Ireland of thugs from France
other other football playing Nations as
well I mean it's just unfortunate you
get thugs ruining a beautiful game um of
course the media won't focus on the fact
that the Russian thugs were maybe about
100 150 in total out of the thousands of
Russian fans who were there um so
obviously they have to they have to
Russia as a as an enemy um it's just I
mean fug cannot be condoned on any
either any side um actually I was quite
surprised that the the Western media
wasn't quite as Russ because normally is
in this particular situation but you
know give it time the tournament is
still young I mean the sun did publish a
story about on the 13th of June about
how the Russian Football Hooligans were
linked to Putin they taking orders from
Putin exactly but of course you know I
mean let's be honest sun's not exactly
great at reporting of record no I mean
think of hillsbor for example it's not
exactly great at reporting a football
hgan isn't uh no exactly uh but they
always do try to drag the Russian
president in even when he has of course
absolutely nothing to do with it but
what's it all about what is the purpose
of it uh Russia is a European power it's
important to the other European markets
and uh and economies uh what's achieved
by continually pushing Russia farther
away I mean you're quite right Europe
and Russia would be a powerful force
together that's why the US doesn't want
to be uniting I mean Russia is is
actually if um after the Cold War
America thought one Russia under Putin
has resurged Now link together with the
EU it will be a powerful block um at
China India Iran onto that it would
certainly outdo the US in terms of trade
and from a military point of view that's
why the US has to keep pushing through
its European allies the russophobic
message um certainly this is all part of
the wider picture and the media is a
powerful tool and it can shape people's
opinions and if you constantly Port
russophobic ideas through the media both
in terms of through films through
culture through news reports eventually
certain image will form in people's
minds the same thing happens with
islamophobia war is portraying Muslims
as the bad guys portraying Muslims as
terrorists and the same thing happens is
happenening with with Russia to a
certain extent of course what they don't
tell you is they don't tell you that
that ever since 1990 NATO has continued
to expand into the Eastern block uh
James Baker um the the then US Secretary
of State gave Russia a promise it wasn't
written down but he did but the records
showed that he said in the conference we
will not expand one inch Beyond in
exchange for West and East uniting in
exchange for the Soviets giving their
Ascent to that we will not um expand
Nato one inch further to the east of
course it wasn't written unfortunately
it wasn't written down the Russians were
foolish to trust NATO and ever since
then they' been expanding eastwoods not
only that but also um us or read for for
for NATO read us because it's although
it's meant to be an alliance there
really only really one member and that
plays that s directs things there out of
the 28 members in NATO but the US um
NATO have sponsored um various
revolutions color Revolutions in all the
in various is block Nations for example
the orange the orange revolution in
Ukraine in 2004 the rose revolution in
Georgia in 2003 the coup in Ukraine most
recently um what what the Western media
won't tell you is that um or what
they'll they'll allude to is that
there's there are annual NATO exercises
happening in eastern block on Russia's
borders within Russia's former sphere of
influence most recently on the 6th of
June we had a 10-day exercise called the
Anaconda exercise which involved 31,000
or 30 odd th000 troops from about 20 OD
different NATO countries operating in
the Eastern block on Russia's borders in
May this year we had the missile defense
system the US missile defense system put
in place in Romania and Poland um
ostensively in the for the last 10 years
the US has been clamoring to have this
missile defense system put in in the
past it was we were told oh they were
told Russia don't worry it's not against
you it's against Iran of course that
that that the cat is out the bag now now
that Iran and the US have made a deal on
nuclear uh uh on Iran not progressing
with nuclear enrichment
the question has to be asked so why are
you still having the missile defense
system there of course we all knew it
was against Russia Iran was simply the
excuse now that excuse has gone to cast
out the bag um I mean on top of that
NATO is sending another 4,000 another
4,000 troops um to which includes
British troops to the baltics and uh to
the countries in Eastern Europe um to
try to um Boler security to try to
reassure those those Eastern block uh
leaders against the the non-existent
Russian invasion that will never come
well I uh debated against uh a an a
British general who had only one week
retired from the NATO uh headquarters
staff he was a very important figure
indeed and he said and I quote the
British mothers will have to get used to
the idea that their sons might have to
give their life's blood to defend
ltia now leaving aside that most British
mothers don't know where lvia is this
presupposes any intention on Russia's
part to make any kind of move against
these Baltic states I see no evidence
whatsoever for that the Ukraine
situation that you uh just discussed is
of course a crisis of the wests making
uh the violent overthrow of a president
and a parliament the setting a fire
Ablaze of the Constitution and the uh
Parliament building uh even has led to a
crisis in in the Ukraine but most
British people uh probably think that
this crisis is of Russia's making it's
quite a successful propaganda operation
don't you think I think so yeah and
they've been hard at it they've been
working hard at it since the the early
'90s of course NATO was formed in 1947
of course with the end of the Cold War
NATO should have outlived its usefulness
I mean you have to ask whole question of
why is NATO even even there the US Stars
Fallen apart so what are they defending
against of course there's a whole lot of
people who lose their jobs um there's a
whole lot of um uh weapons that wouldn't
sold weapons wouldn't be sold the whole
military industrial complex would itself
fall apart obviously that has to be the
fire has to be fueled in some way I mean
you you alluded to the British general
talking about mothers British mothers
having to get used to their sons dying
in in vus it's quite shocking to hear
that after all they've already Sons
already died in Afghanistan and Iraq for
on well I I I did say to him that it's
quite unlikely that many British mothers
would be takers uh for that but you've
put your finger uh right on the button
here you can understand the Cold War
these were competing ideological blocks
and both were intent on converting the
world to their uh world view their way
of doing things but Russia is a
capitalist country like all the others M
uh the Soviet Union no longer exists so
what's the what's the kazos belly that's
what I've never why can't they deal with
Russia is it because Putin has
stabilized Russia and has begun to
rebuild Russia's national strength and
uh its n its International reputation
and so on is that what it's really about
they can deal with a broken Russia under
drunken yelon but they can't deal with a
strong and prosperous Russia well
precisely that is part of it I mean
under Russia under Els in Russia
basically sold away the family silver
they sold away National Enterprises to
both um domestic and foreign oligarchs
essentially they happy to have yelton in
power he was a Democrat but what he was
really doing was he was really
um uh a puppet of the West we jumping to
a tune happiness to sell away the the
nation's um Goods essentially nation's
resources um of course Putin you know
love love and Below them he's given res
Russians respect he's brought the
Russians back out of economic crisis and
he's given them respect he's he's
brought the nation he's given the people
um self- resect back he's given he's
certainly brought a nation from its knes
upwards and that is what the what the
West can't tolerate of course you
mentioned about both being imperialist
rels that's quite right and not
imperialist capitalist capitalist
Nations and you're quite right um I mean
Russia under Putin is a capitalist
Nation but here we have competing
capitalist agendas essentially the
capitalism is in crisis around around
the world the only way it can maintain
its position the only way the US can
maintain its Hemy is by finding new
markets now yelton allowed the us to do
what it wanted some of the Eastern block
countries allow um America to do what it
wants of course under Putin Putin's um
certainly putting end to that he's not
allowing the Western capitalists to do
what they want the
unar he's trying to create a multipolar
world and not just Russia but China as
well youve got China you've got Russia
who are who are blocks to us hedgey and
you got these two other capitalist
countries who are saying wait a minute
we're not going to allow a unipolar
world run by the US so essentially it is
a situation we have competing capitalist
block
and one is wanting to carry on one is on
its way down the US and it's wanting to
maintain its position I mean a COR sad
of a cornered animal is that most
dangerous that's what we have for the US
well uh We've Spoken uh black and white
between the west and Russia but what
about the in between states the the
former block well how are they as well
nurturing the the Western russophobic
propaganda or are they is there nobody
in these countries friendly to Russia
well it's the people are not necessarily
anti-russia but the leaders are are of
course anti-russian but the leaders they
get support from the West they help to
get the power in the west and if a
leader comes along that's anti anti- Nat
they deemed to be
undemocratic um
so essentially people may not be people
of the Eastern block May themselves some
may be anti- Russia but a lot are not
anti-russia but of course leadership is
pushing forward the direction those
leaders themselves need an excuse to
stay in power the E block countries are
in a pretty rubbish way economically um
so they need an excuse to the leaders
need an excuse to stay in power that
excuse is oh well you know we have to
defend against against Russia you have
to keep us in power we can defend you
against Russia we need NATO's support
essentially takes away if you put all
your if you focus all your problems
project them all into Russia then it
takes away basically what's takes away
um what's going on people's knowledge of
what's going on at home people will be
less focused inward on what on the
domestic problems they'll be more
focused outward on a non-existent
Russian Thomas you can come back here
anytime thanks for joining us on the
Sputnik those who can weapon humor
against the war party and the Wonga
system of Finance capitalism are the new
Z guys he's not Frankie Bole he's the
iris equivalent Aiden Killian stay
tuned welcome back to Sputnik in the
1980s a generation of standup Comics
weaponized humor against the
thatcherites some of them going on to
loads of money themselves of course but
they did blaze a trail in instead of
shaking an angry fist at those who rob
us why not make people laugh at them
instead one man who has them rocking in
the aisles is doing exactly that and
he's on his way to Glastonbury and the
Edinburgh Festival as part of a world
tour but joins us here first on the
Sputnik it's Aiden Killian Aiden welcome
not many Irish Comics make on to the
stage at uh Glastonbury you must be
looking forward to that but you've been
on a world tour how do they understand
accent well the Irish speak extremely
clearly unlike the
Scottish George gri it's good to be here
yes it's an honor to be in glasbury it's
also an honor to be here H people do
understand me because I think most of
the people that go to standup comedy
have perfect English otherwise they
wouldn't attempt to go to see an Irish
comedian you are razor sharp politically
is that because you were once as it were
on the other side of the fence you were
a banker you were a a guy working in the
system just like our own Max Kaiser
Perhaps Perhaps a um a gamekeeper who
turns poacher is the most effective Port
of them all what do you think I don't
know the answer to that but I do know
that when I worked in banking I learned
to work cuz those guys in Investment
Banking they they have you working 80
hours a week 106 hours once look luckily
I was getting time and a half uh overpay
or whatever you call it I don't even
remember how to say it what do you call
over overtime that's how long ago since
I've been in in the system but because I
learned to work then I also took it on
in comedy when I became a comedian I
could I could do it as a job so if I
wanted to say something I go right
that's where I need to get and I put in
the hours so I don't know if all
comedians maybe they maybe they do I
don't know I I I heard one of your
sketches which was not just extremely
funny but uh razor sharp in its analysis
uh about the bank uh that was writing
you without prejudice letters that's
right you wrote them with Prejudice
letter back and explained why in fact
they owe you money because they made a
profit out of the uh transaction with
you go on tell us you did your research
yeah that's right with derivatives I
used to be a derivative specialist which
means that I put information into a
computer they just make it sound fancy
but with derivatives they profited
behind my back without my consent so so
what I had is a contract so they call it
but it's actually a promissary note a
promise to pay so that piece of paper
this promise to pay was used as an asset
to create the money which the bank never
had and behind my back they profited so
if you think about it they actually owe
me money but I I genuinely believe in De
forgiveness George so I let them off I
let them off very good very good now
what I mean Ireland is quite a political
place this is the centinary of the Irish
Revolution the first successful revolt
against the British Empire um it's just
been through uh the blizzard of
austerity to some extent many people
have not yet come out the other end uh
you are victims of the crash big time is
there therefore a big Market in Ireland
for political humor weaponized
humor victims of the crash I'd like to
say we're survivors but it's true we are
victims there's tens of thousands of
people being kicked out of their homes
homeless is everywhere in Ireland you
won't see it in the the mainstream media
Ireland the propaganda machine uh
whatever I won't name it but it's it's
all state owned or it's owned by Dennis
O'Brien and it's just wow what's what's
written there is so far removed from the
truth are people ready to hear political
comedy in
Ireland if it's really really good
they'll laugh but most of the time they
just want to escape they want to escape
with their pints of floridated Guinness
and they want to just sit there and not
be challenged too much maybe sort of sex
jokes or jokes that are
easy but I'd say 10% of people really
really love it and they're the ones that
they they stand up and they're like yes
the most intelligent people in the
audience are the people who are most
sober and most present most focused
they're the ones they feel it the
passion and they carry the wave of
excitement in the room and that's the
way I see it anyway and what about uh
the world audience you've been on World
Tour everywhere Asia and Australia and
Beyond do they get all the politics
you're talking about do do they even get
offended perhaps yeah does it
transfer I have to say there's moments
where I do have to change what I say for
example in Thailand at the moment with
the military there's certain things you
can't say so if I make jokes about the
the Empire and the the Irish government
I have to be very careful that they
don't think I'm talking about yeah but I
would well I wouldn't want to insult
their King but also if I did I'd be in
prison right exactly and then in
Singapore I mean lots of rules all
around the world as you know it's it's
illegal to have Chum in Singapore but
it's also illegal to be gay you know if
I mean if a a man does something W with
his bits inside another man's mouth
he'll go to prison if that man's bits
has Chung them in it then he's really in
trouble you know mean there there's but
it's true I mean there's mad laws in
California if you urinate in public you
you you're a sex offender you're a sex
offender if if if you urinate in public
imagine that in England that's be
terrifi everybody be in prison in
England it's all these England fans at
the Euro yeah they'd all be in prison
for different reasons for different
reasons right but have you bombed
anywhere on this uh World Tour yes I
have I got hurt bad in B I was in valy
don't worry sorry India it's your fault
sorry for
that what happened was I was invited to
a a yoga Festival uh like a spiritual a
beautiful Festival everybody was there
and they were doing yoga and meditation
I I was so excited I thought they'd
really love my my political passionate
and I do some meditation comedy one guy
right at the start sits up the front and
starts meditating with his eyes closed
during your show during my show it's the
first time I got heckled with it
um and I didn't know what to do what am
I going to do throw out a yoga guy no
meditating in
here so and then then my friend who I
love will he he played the end bit there
was I had a projector and he played the
end bit of my show in the middle because
he misunderstood me so i' given the
endway so I had to do 45 minutes of a
bit was just a long 45 minutes you
should have just crossed your legs and
gone with Gone With the Flow although
there's many a sketch will come out of
that particular performance I would
think now on this British uh leg of the
tour um you're you're doing glastenbury
how does that work I mean do they
squeeze you in between a couple of the
mega rock bands or is it a separate tent
or what I invited to the Cabaret tent
that's 2,200 people and it's it's pretty
much all comedy or it's mostly comedy uh
so I presume some people come for a
break they watch some comedy then they
go to to music I'm doing two shows on
the Friday and the Sunday I'm really I'm
really honored to be there I mean
there's some wonderful human beings
there and I get to talk about what I
want in front of possibly 2,000
like-minded people think about think
about the seeds that I can plan think
about the the wave of energy with that
many people who are all loved up on life
right you won't be interrupted with an
um glass and no probably just but there
may be some public urination if you seen
the uh the sex offenders everywhere the
for the poort to lose how easy is it for
you and how much do you keep up to date
with the current events and political
events because of all the current
comedians uses the most on the money on
the mark uh political critique uh is
that come easy to you if you got
researchers Fe you material or what I I
would say that that title belongs to
Steve Hughes uh what I do is I try and
write a new hour every year and in that
hour I talk about what I want to talk
about this year I'm going to talk about
the history of money so I actually feel
I don't feel worthy to be on this couch
I actually don't feel up to date polit
politic I'm not really up to date fully
I check the news every day I check a few
different media sources because I
wouldn't certainly wouldn't trust the
Irish you don't trust the British either
no no well I GL at them and I I look at
the spin and then I make up my own mind
I go oh they're trying to sell me this
what would I write about and then if I'm
doing gigs maybe I just throw in a quick
line I mean Cliff Richards in the news
today you know LM house Vis frequent
visitor won't make any comments about it
but you can make your own mind up but he
he he got off so I'd be aware of it and
then I go right what do I really want to
say for this hour show because I'm aware
that if I make a joke about something
today that's might not be okay for my
hour show that's going to be videoed six
months down the road mhm so I need to
create something that ideally will last
that the truth in what I'm saying if I
remove the joke if I remove the
punchline that's the moment where people
laugh if I remove that the essence of
what I say I can stand by 20 years later
and go yes that's true for me that in
this era that's important because
whatever you say wherever you say it is
preserved
forever um I'm a supporter of Irish
Independence and unity and um I'm half
an Irishman uh but the question does
arise as you look at Ireland today was
it all worth it 100 years ago what
actually was achieved what's your take
on
that for me these wonderful human beings
never really fought the British as such
they fought for an idea and they fought
for the idea for all men and women to
have Invincible inable rights which
means that nobody can be on top of us
we're all free
and that strength is in it's every
single if there's one king everybody's a
king if there's one Queen everybody's a
queen is that today in Ireland are
people Sovereign certainly not
corporations have taken our our oil or
we've given it to them actually we've
given it to them but they haven't taken
it we' we've given our oil our gas our
assets our water they're taking from us
now although the Irish people lately are
standing up it looks like we're going to
win this one yeah we're going to win
100,000 people 100,000 people I was
there on stage 100,000 people in the
media in the media portray it like there
was a few dozen they just get the edge
of the corner a few dissidents throwing
missiles missiles what Irish politician
attacked by a missile missile it was a
water balloon what are you talking about
you lunatics H so was it worth it I mean
it was worth it for them they gave their
lives for what they believed in and that
for them is that's that's what they
lived for so yes they had to do that may
God Rest their souls amen Aiden Killian
thank you very much indeed for coming on
the Sputnik
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and now it's your turn to tell us what
you think through the portals of social
media what's rattling G is there an up
search of russophobia and why Tony MC
Phillips says Russia stands up to the UK
EU and USA imperialism and they don't
like it and Aman sidiki says well they
ran the anti-muslim theme long enough
it's time for a new Target yeah it is
quite important to have more than one
whipping boy what more than one uh uh
Aunt Sally to throw the uh throw the
missiles at that's true um about humor
political satire weaponizing humor to
change the world Ricardo Picasso says
Armando IUI in the loop was a scathing
satire on The Madness of Iraq war the
thick of it is the most devastating
political satar ever written if you
haven't seen it please watch it and
that's all the tweets for today which
alas means that's the end of the show
but you can stay in touch with us tweet
us at rtor Sputnik or Facebook us
Sputnik on Russia today it's goodbye
from me gatri and from me George
Galloway it's been marvelous
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