The squashing of the Sixtember coup d’etat highlighted the importance of having the military apparatus under control of President Oran Crapaud. If only Vice President Mick Suspense had been hung by the insurgents matters might have turned out differently. Commander in Chief simply isn’t enough as a military with conscience won’t execute orders contrary toContinue reading “The Return of the Penniless Pensioner: Chapter Fourteen: Destroying and Rebuilding the State Apparatus: Reshaping the Military”
Tag Archives: history
RKS Travel: The Botanical Beauty of the Desert: Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, California
Many know of Rancho Mirage’s plethora of spectacular golf courses, country clubs, glam hotels and restaurants set amid palm trees and the brown towering and sometimes snowcapped mountains of the Coachella Valley in Southern California but one should not overlook the Sunnylands Centre & Gardens located at 37977 Bob Hope Drive. Sunnylands is a 200-acreContinue reading “RKS Travel: The Botanical Beauty of the Desert: Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, California”
RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”: International Machinations Lead to National Disaster
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” focuses on the futile attempt to attain veritable independence of the Belgian colony of the Congo led by Patrice Lumumba. The Democratic Republic of Congo with Lumumba as its first prime minister negotiated its independence from Belgium on 30June1960. But was it truly independence? The assassination of Lumumba in earlyContinue reading “RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”: International Machinations Lead to National Disaster”
RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Mediha”: ISIL’s Genocidal DNA
ISIL is a genocidal force bent on the annihilation of “non- believers”. There is no middle ground for fanatics. They can’t destroy all non-believers so they pick away here and there whether that be New Orleans, Paris, Moscow and many other urban centres with easy civilian targets. On 3August2014 ISIL commenced its attack on theContinue reading “RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Mediha”: ISIL’s Genocidal DNA”
The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version): Chapter 16: Eastern European Espionage and that Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Horsemeat
My assignment for the Central Intelligence Agency caused me no moral dilemma. My assignment was simply to be somewhat of an academic traveller. I was a student of Eastern European politics so I had every “valid” reason to be visiting Eastern Europe hanging out in various universities in Eastern Europe and gauge the sentiment ofContinue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version): Chapter 16: Eastern European Espionage and that Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Horsemeat”
The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version): Chapter 15: Fishing with the Central Intelligence Agency on Lake Champlain: Operation Berlin Wall Humpty Dumpty
You have read that I had been approached at McGill University by The Royal Canadian Mounted Police to act as an informant to turn in and rat on “student revolutionaries”. I walked away from that “opportunity”. I was an Eastern European political scholar and of course I made summer plans to visit Yugoslavia, Bulgaria andContinue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version): Chapter 15: Fishing with the Central Intelligence Agency on Lake Champlain: Operation Berlin Wall Humpty Dumpty”
RKS 2024 Film: The 65th Annual Thessaloniki International Film Festival: “The Strangers’ Case”
The Strangers’ Case” was filmed in Jordan, Turkey and Greece. It recounts the journey of several refugees from Aleppo in Syria to the island of Lesvos, Greece in the Eastern Aegean Sea. Amira is a successful pediatric radiologist working in a hospital running short of supplies but is never short of blood and suffering. AfterContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: The 65th Annual Thessaloniki International Film Festival: “The Strangers’ Case””
The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?
The Greek film “Kapetan Mihalis” is based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel “Freedom or Death” chronicling the struggle of Cretans for independence in their Ottoman occupied Crete in the late 19th century. To transform this epic novel onto the screen requires guts! “Tampering” with a national treasure is risky business. However the filmmakers here haveContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?”
The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Strangers’ Case”
“The Strangers’ Case” was filmed in Jordan, Turkey and Greece. It recounts the journey of several refugees from Aleppo in Syria to the island of Lesvos, Greece in the Eastern Aegean Sea. Amira is a successful pediatric radiologist working in a hospital that is running short of supplies but is never short of blood andContinue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Strangers’ Case””
The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Murderess” (Fonissa)
One of the very special films showing at the upcoming 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) (GIFFT) showing in 11 Canadian cities 1-31October2024, Fonissa, had the highest box office sales in Greece for 2023. It is based on an Alexandros Papadiamantis novel of the same name published in 1912. Set in a small villageContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Murderess” (Fonissa)”
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