Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
FOLLOWING the 2014 coup in Ukraine, with EU and US politicians doing far more than operating alternative news channels, the country descended into chaos.
Far-right paramilitaries, some containing openly neonazi elements, have been used in the subsequent civil conflict or reportedly incorporated into the state apparatus, such as the police force and military.
Whereas the populations of two eastern regions of Ukraine, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, continue to steadfastly resist ongoing artillery shelling and incursions by the Kiev regime, civilians in the rest of Ukraine live in fear of arbitrary arrest and torture by their government’s security apparatus.
Newly revealed documents reveal that MI5 taught Brazilian secret police the techniques deployed by the 1964-85 military dictatorship in horrific prisons like Rio de Janeiro’s House of Death. SARA VIVACQUA reports
GUILLERMO THOMAS enjoys a survey of the current state of the CIA (aka Langley) from an expert and insider of sorts


