Jim Jones and the Conspiracists

Lobster Issue 46 (Winter 2003)

In an article in the Journal of Popular Culture, (1) one of the editors of the Jonestown Report considers the role that conspiracy theories have played in the unfolding narrative of ‘Jonestown’. It is a worthwhile endeavour to which few scholars could bring better credentials. Rebecca Moore is a professor of religious studies at the […]

Saddam Hussein on Trial

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Lobster Issue 56 (Winter 2008/9)

The Trial of Saddam Hussein Abdul Haq Al-Ani, Clarity Press, Atlanta, GA., 2008 Abdul-Haq Al-Ani’s troubling manifesto on behalf of the murdered Iraqi leader exposes bloody doings of empire from a lucid political-juridical perspective. ‘Imperialism is a universal historical phenomenon, but it remains, nevertheless, evil’, he writes (p. 23). ‘I use the term European [imperialism] … Read more

Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Media

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Lobster Issue 42 (Winter 2001/2)

[…] breakthrough piece chronicling the links between the CIA; the Contras and the crack cocaine explosion in Los Angeles; through the CIA’s use of psychedelics, ex-Nazi scientists and mind control, into the murky worlds of Indo-China; and then, via a chapter on Afghanistan, back to the United States and the cocaine connections to Arkansas and […]

Errors, corrections, apologies

Lobster Issue 26 (1993)

[…] posing outside a synagogue.’ And so forth. (No wonder I got muddled….) In Lobster 25, (p. 11) I stated that some of the material for Julianne McKinney’s mind control report had come from Harlan Girard. Ms McKinney denies this. Harlan Girard says it’s true. I can’t tell which of them is telling the truth […]

A guided democracy

Lobster Issue 46 (Winter 2003)

A guided democracy The following appeared in the Daily Telegraph 23 June 2003. ‘Edward Heath created a secret government propaganda unit to persuade the British people to accept the Common Market. Civil servants were engaged in a dirty tricks department of the Foreign Office to cover up the threat to sovereignty and provide rapid rebuttal … Read more

The view from the bridge

Lobster Issue 56 (Winter 2008/9)

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie Giles Scott-Smith,(1) who wrote about the Congress for Cultural Freedom in Lobster 36 and 38, has written a very interesting study of Margaret Thatcher’s first visit to America in 1967.(2) Scott-Smith shows that Thatcher, then a junior shadow spokesperson in the Tory Party, was talent-spotted by the State Department’s man in the … Read more

Clippings Digest to May 31st. 1984

Lobster Issue 5 (1984)

[…] ‘strong state’ Changes in Queen’s regulations re service personnel and political activities. New rules extend to include participation in ‘movements’. Guardian 8th March ‘ CND clearly in mind. Leaked Ministry of Defence document suggests establishing a register of civil servants’ political beliefs if they are thought to oppose the government. Times 16th May (Isn’t […]

Conspiracy theories are go!

Lobster Issue 30 (December 1995)

[…] Clinton and Arkansas.(8) My faith in the author, Nicholas A. Guarino, is not heightened by the bizarre autobiographical spiel about him prefacing the piece. Headlined ‘The Fastest Mind on Wall Street’, this begins by telling us that he got a speeding ticket at the age of seven, has an IQ of over 200, and […]

Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers

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Lobster Issue 49 (Summer 2005)

Annie Machon Lewes (East Sussex): Book Guild, 2005, h/b, £17.95   It is hard to ‘see’ this book because a lot of the material, especially in the first half, is familiar, half-remembered from the press reporting of the Shayler-Machon drama and the book Defending the Realm by Nick Fielding and Mark Hollingsworth. Nonetheless, familiar or […]

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