An intimate documentary about a controversial subject, My Father’s Vietnam personifies the connections made and unmade by the Vietnam War. Featuring never-before-seen photographs and 8mm footage of the era. My Father’s Vietnam is the story of three soldiers, only one of whom returned home alive.
Interviews with the filmmaker’s Vietnam Veteran father, and the friends and family members of two men he served with who were killed there. This documentary gives voice to individuals who continue to silently carry the psychological burdens of a war that ended over 40 years ago.
Filmmaker Soren Sorensen’s My Father’s Vietnam carries with it the potential to encourage audiences to broach the subjects of service and sacrifice with the veterans in their lives.
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With ‘no’ votes from permanent members Russia and China, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday failed to adopt a resolution that would, according to press reports, have imposed sanctions against parties using chemical weapons in war-torn Syria.
While nine of the Council’s members voted in favour, Bolivia joined Russia and China in rejecting the text, as Egypt, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained. A negative vote – or veto – from just one of the Council’s five permanent members means a resolution cannot be adopted.
Media reports suggest that the draft resolution would have established a sanctions regime, a committee and an expert panel to hold accountable those using and producing chemical weapons in Syria.
The text would also have imposed sanctions on a number of individuals and entities linked to the use of chemical weapons in cases where responsibility was established by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM).
The Council came together on the 19th December in 2016 to unanimously adopt a resolution demanding that all parties to the Syrian conflict ensure immediate and unhindered access for the monitoring of evacuations from eastern Aleppo.
But today’s decision also follows two other recent attempts where the Council was unable to take action on Syria: on 8th October 2016, Russia vetoed a resolution that would have called for an end to military flights over Aleppo; and on 5th December 2016, a measure calling for a seven-day ceasefire in the beleaguered city failed to pass after negative votes by both China and Russia.
In the past five years, Russia has vetoed seven Council texts on the Syrian conflict, while China has vetoed six of those seven.
As the Syria Crisis enters its sixth year, civilians continue to bear the brunt of a conflict marked by unparalleled suffering, destruction and disregard for human life. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 13.5 million people require humanitarian assistance. Moreover, some 6.3 million have been internally displaced by violence.
The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura has been facilitating the intra-Syrian negotiations in Geneva, which started on 23rd February 2017. The discussions are guided by Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), focusing on matters of governance, including a new constitution for Syria and the holding of elections. [01]
Watch rare films and TV series in our Documentaries section.
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This documentary explores deep into the minds and activities of what motivates, and what makes this violent, radicalized group appeal to its followers.
The crew visits several Middle East, South Asia and Africa locations affected by terror inflicted by the religious militants enforcing the law of Saudi Arabia’s state religion – Wahhabism.
News reports from Alistair Reign, featuring exclusive content on current political affairs, people in the news, human rights violations, and the wars escalating worldwide.
As head of the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s largest, Guzman was a ruthless enforcer of discipline, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman employed violence to protect his distribution routes and intimidate rivals. (Warning: Graphic 18+).
The kingpin of kingpins, Guzman had the sway to settle disputes with other drug traffickers. In Chicago, his distribution center for the U.S., he cast a long shadow: Few dared cheat the Sinaloa cartel.
The Rise and Fall of El Chapo: Killer, drug smuggler, folk hero, Houdini of jailhouse escapes–the legend “El Chapo” is well-known. But now this two-hour documentary special reveals an unprecedented look at the man behind the myth and how his international drug cartel impacts us right here at home.
Last year the U.S. and Mexican authorities hailed the capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in the Pacific coast town of Mazatlan as a major victory in their war on drugs. A year later the power vacuum caused by his absence is fueling chaos on the streets of Chicago and Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso.
Draw your own conclusion about who had a hand in helping El Chapo go free in 2015, and who benefited from his escape.
UPDATE: February 8, 2017. Brooklyn, New York, USA. Federal authorities announced Friday that Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known by various aliases including, “El Chapo,” will face charges filed in Brooklyn, New York, following his extradition to the United States from Mexico.
Guzman Loera arrived in New York late Thursday under heavy escort by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other authorities.
Watch rare interviews and news reports in our Documentaries section.
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What Do Hollywood, Oliver Reed and Saddam Have in Common? I will give you a hint: It was NOT weapons of mass destruction. What it was, is a “Clash of Loyalties“, an Iraqi film funded by, and based on Saddam’s version of the country’s fight for freedom from Britain, and the resulting independence of Iraq after the First World War. Although, one co-star of the film DID recently declare: “Oliver Reed was a weapon of mass destruction.”
The film was financed by Saddam Hussian, and filmed mainly at the Baghdad Film Studios in Baghdad’s Mansour neighbourhood, and on location at the Tigris-Euphrates marshlands, Babylon and Kut.
Clash Of Loyalties Official Movie Poster. Click to enlarge to full size.
What makes this story so riveting, is that the year was 1981 – during the height of the Iran–Iraq War.
British actors including Oliver Reed, James Bolam and Marc Sinden. James Montague tells the strange story.
The film stars Oliver Reed as Gerard Leachman, Marc Sinden as Captain Dawson and Helen Ryan as Gertrude Bell, with a stirring score by Ron Goodwin.
Against all odds, the film was completed and produced. However, the movie industry had no interest in purchasing it; and today, it sits in the garage of the filmmaker; a pile of stacked up tin reels, rusty from time; a piece of history lost, and recently uncovered.
Watch this enthralling documentary on the making of Clash of Loyalties.
Sorry folks, I have removed this video to make space on my server for new videos. We have a wide variety of films to watch in theVideosection.
Will the movie ever be released? Time will tell.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Although it is not directly related to our blog’s mission, it is a peek into history, so I am sharing it with our viewers. Enjoy!
In an operation during the Gulf War, eight British Special Air Services soldiers are dropped 140 miles behind enemy lines to take out a network of Saddam Hussein’s Scud missile launchers. The mission goes wrong and within days, three men are dead and four are captured.
Chris Ryan shares his journey to freedom, walking 200 miles and surviving for eight days without supplies.
National Geographic Channel’s gripping new series, No Man Left Behind: Episode Four.
No Man Left Behind details the gruesome survival stories of war heroes and special agents from past battles and missions.
The soldiers’ stories are enough to send chills up your spine. As they retell their experiences, it is clear how much the battle affected the individuals. The men came close to death, and watched many of their friends die horrible deaths in battle.
As one of the soldiers put it, “Not a day goes by where at some point I don’t think about something in the streets of Mogadishu.”
The soldiers gained a new appreciation for their comrades, forming an unbreakable bond that still keeps them close to this day. In the face of such adversity, the soldiers gain a new appreciation for life, love and friendship. [01]
It was just one year ago media headlines announced that “Obama’s ultimatums to Putin fall on deaf ears.” Well, the tables have turned, and now it appears Obama has a case of the Russian “I can’t hear you’s.”
As tensions continue to ramp up in Ukraine and other parts of the world, worries about World War 3 continue. One expert said this week that the U.S. is likely to lose to both Russia and China if a nuclear battle ensues. Although a ceasefire has been called in Ukraine, pro-Russia separatists continue to attack the Donetsk airport, according to Euronews.
Meanwhile the U.S. and the rest of the West continue to point the finger at Russia, accusing President Vladimir Putin of assisting the separatists in their battle to take Crimea from Ukraine. Moscow continues to deny that it is backing the separatists by providing soldiers and weapons. However, the West remains convinced that Russia is assisting them.
(BTS Prolog by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license).
Forbes contributor, Anna Borshchevskaya points out that the problem between the West and Putin goes back a long time. The Russian president blames the West for all of his nation’s issues and seems to believe that dissent in Russia and other nations can only occur with outside help. He blamed the west for the Orange Revolution, which happened in Ukraine in 2004 and came about as a result of government corruption.
Putin reportedly thinks that the revolution and similar unrest began because of interference by the U.S. Since then, he has been seeking to keep other uprisings from happening. Russia’s blaming of the West dates even back to tsarist times, and the feeling has been mutual, at least with the U.S. When the Cold War hit, many were concerned that the world was on the brink of World War 3 then.
Although most consider that the Cold War ended in the early 1990’s, it appears as if it continues today, as tensions between the U.S. and Russia continue, even in spite of the two nations’ collaboration on space exploration. U.S. angers China The U.S. has also been on frosty terms with China for some time. Beijing has been accused of spying on the U.S., and now China accuses the U.S. of distorting facts about the protests in Hong Kong.
The International Business Times reports that China has accused the U.S. Congress of a “deliberate attack” against its policies. The comments came after an annual report from the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China. The report blasted Beijing or its authoritarian government model which quells freedom of speech.
The report also urged U.S. lawmakers to support the democracy protests in Hong Kong. Chinese officials are now telling the U.S. to back off and stop interfering by pushing U.S. will lose World War 3 Meanwhile a self-proclaimed “expert” suggests that if World War 3 should occur, it may include the U.S., Russia and China. While many assume that a third world war would result in total annihilation, a retired American university professor said that the U.S. will lose such a war.
The Inquisitr reported earlier this week that James Henry Fetzer made the remarks on Press TV, an English-language Iranian TV network. Fetzer is a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota and a member of the collaboration between the U.S. government and Israeli death squads.
Fetzer is now accusing the U.S. of “attempting to encircle Russia with a series of anti-missile batteries ostensibly directed toward Iran because of its nuclear weapons program when Americans and Russians and most of the world know that Iran has no nuclear weapons program.”
He also claims that the U.S. airstrikes in Syria are not aimed at ISIS but instead are meant to destroy the country’s infrastructure.
The professor also said that because of U.S. intervention in Syria, Russia and China, it has given nuclear superpowers the right to flex their military muscles.
He suggested that Washington “back down” or possibly risk sparking World War 3.
USA NATO Military Drills On Russian Border & Inside The USA
Europe and the United States are “embarrassingly” unprepared for Russian aggression, claimed General Petr Pavel. The warning comes amid concerns the Russian president is massing military firepower and troops close to the Ukrainian border. Today Putin banned revealing information about troop deaths in “special operations” during peacetime, as the Kremlin continues to rebuff accusations its soldiers are fighting in Ukraine.
Czech general Pavel, next chairman of the NATO Military Committee, issued a warning to Western leaders expressing his concern they are not ready for military action by Putin.
He said: “Russia could seize the Baltic countries in two days. NATO wouldn’t be able to react to the situation in that time.” The Alliance would be forced to “weigh its positions regarding whether it would start a war – maybe even a nuclear war – against Russia for the Baltic states,” he said.
(BTS Prolog by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license).
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were all incorporated into the USSR by Stalin in June 1940, but are now members of NATO and the EU.
Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on TV that he was ready to use Russia’s nuclear weapons in order to fight for the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.
Wladimir Klitschko is claiming that Putin could ignite World War 3 by flouting international law.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, not everyone is blaming Russia for WW3 fears.
Ron Paul claims U.S. intervention in Ukraine by the Obama administration is responsible for the World War 3 fears, and one U.S. Navy SEAL claims an “unconventional” World War 3 already began due to a “lack of forward thinking” by U.S. officials.
Against the warnings of the United States and NATO, Vladimir Putin ordered the military to move Russia’s nuclear weapons into Crimea. Missile systems were also deployed to Kaliningrad, a strategic position between Poland and Lithuania, as part of the Russian military strategy.
One comment stood out from the rest, by Max Tripp, and he is not afraid to speak his mind:
“Does everyone not realise that our stationing of forces in eastern Europe is to prevent Putin’s invasion of the Baltic States? No you’re all too fucking stupid. So let me sum up. Putin is a power hungry piece of shit, who planned to invade our allies, the Baltic countries. So, because we have honour and stand by our allies, we stationed forces to prevent that invasion from happening and began running drills in the event that it does.
“Putin used this to perpetuate the idea that NATO is being aggressive and pressing for war, so he can look like the good guy. And has everyone just forgotten their movement of aircraft and naval vessels well into NATO territories over the past few years, not to mention the simulated attacks on our naval vessels in the Baltic Sea (and if you say “the Baltic is Russian” I will track you down and castrate you with a wooden spoon because the Baltic belongs to; Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Livonia and I forget the other one but that’s hardly the point.
“The only reason that Russia has the tiniest slice of Baltic coastline was because Finland made peace with Russia in WWII so they could fight the Nazis instead). Did I do a good job or perhaps you’d like it in smaller pieces? Or I could just go get someone who speaks fluent moron. Oh and am I the only person who remembers he hates homosexuals? Or perhaps It’ll jog your memories when he’s shoving the surviving ones into gas chambers during the coming nuclear winter.“
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The military’s hunts for Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein, and al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers hosts this CNN original documentary series, and covers missions set in fascinating locations and time periods from Cold War era Moscow to modern day Iran, from the streets of 1980’s Cuba to today’s bustling Beijing.
These are the true stories of America’s most covert missions, pulled from classified information you’ve never heard…until now.
Season One – Episode Three:
CNN original series is an eight-part look at complex true stories of America’s covert operations.
Rogers was quoted in a recent interview as saying, “In many ways, truth is stronger than fiction. You’ll get to know Sunday night the first woman CIA officer in Moscow. It has all the elements of a great spy movie. Not only does it stand up, it will bring some level of realism to all these fiction shows, which I think are great, by the way. This gives you the real flavor of why those shows are interesting.” [01]
The newly declassified missions are recounted firsthand by agents from all 16 U.S. intelligence bureaus, providing viewers with unprecedented access to a secret world of espionage. The missions span time periods from Cold War-era Moscow to modern-day Iran, from the streets of 1980’s Cuba to Beijing of today. Among the stories covered are the military’s hunts for Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein, and al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan claimed his government was back in control of the country Saturday morning following an overnight coup attempt by members of the military, though the situation on the ground remains unclear. [01]
Soldiers took control of TRT state television late Friday night. A statement read by an announcer said the military had taken control of the country and that a curfew and martial law had been imposed.
Turkey’s airports have been shut down and all flights cancelled.
Soldiers also blocked the two bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul and other parts of major cities, while access to social media in the country appeared to be shut down.
Turkish troops claimed to have seized control of the country in a coup attempt Friday night, amid reports of explosions and gunfire in Istanbul and Ankara.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan called the actions by the military “an attempt at an uprising by a minority within our armed forces” and called on citizens to take to the streets in protests.
Gunfire and explosions were reported in Istanbul and Ankara. Witnesses said tanks surrounding the parliament building had opened fire, while a Turkish military commander said fighter jets had shot down a helicopter used by the coup plotters in the capital.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and other senior officials said the elected government remained in office, blaming the coup on loyalists of US-based cleric and opposition figure Fethullah Gulen. His movement denied involvement.
International leaders, including those in the US and EU, voiced their support for Turkey’s government.
Erdogan returned to the country early Saturday morning and was met by crowds of supporters as his plane touched down in Istanbul.
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Part One: After 40 years and a trillion dollars, the nation has little to show for its war on drugs.
In a revealing interview with CBS News anchor Scott Pelley, the nation’s top official in charge of fighting the war on drugs focused his arsenal not on cartels and abusers as much as on attitudes and language.
Michal Botticelli was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in February, and as the out director of National Drug Policy closes in on his first year on the job, he told 60 Minutes, don’t call him “the drug czar.”
“I think it connotes this old ‘war on drugs’ focus to the work that we do. It portrays that we are clinging to kind of failed policies and failed practices in the past.”
Pelley asked Botticelli if he meant to say the “war and drugs” approach of the past four decades was all wrong.
In their interview, Botticelli admits he’s “not a fan” of the legalization of marijuana and talked at length about changing the language of addiction, in much the same way the marriage equality movement changed attitudes towards gays and lesbians by focusing on love. [01]
Sorry folks, I have removed this video to make space on my server for new videos. We have a wide variety of films to watch in theVideosection.
Part Two: This most famous of all heavyweight champions who ever lived has come to terms with the Parkinson’s syndrome that doctors say came from his years in the ring and by all rights should have laid him low, and probably would have if he weren’t Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad Ali, former boxing heavyweight champion, has died at age seventy-four. In 1996, correspondent Ed Bradley profiled Ali, and the piece became a classic — in part because of Ali’s spirit, story, and struggle, and in part because of the prank that Ali played on Ed.
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