It was a week of spin, shock and spy charges with not a dull moment in sight. The week began with England's loss to Germany at the World Cup and continued with the G20 Summit and resulting protests. The Congo celebrated 50 years of independence. The BP catastrophe continued with new accusations, spin and political ramifications all doing nothing to stop the oil gushing but keeping the MSM busy. And shades of the "good old days" of the Cold War with allegations of sleeper spies unearthed in court and more than casual embarrassment from the State Department and The Kremlin. A fun week all around.

(Meanwhile . . . )

It was Al Jazeera's turn this week to comment on the political ramifications of the BP/Gulf Of Mexico debacle, laying their own set of accusations down and their speculations of how this is all going to pan out.

(Nothing says G-20 quite like a nice riot)

From the CBC Program The Current, reports on the 28th of the outcome of the G-20 summit and the resulting protests which dealt a goodly amount of mayhem throughout downtown Toronto. Since the rest of the world is teetering on the edge of continued disaster, the frustration has been multiplied over recent months. How this particular stinking bag of circumstances is going to pan out is anybody's guess at this point.

(Anna Chapman - no longer your dad's idea of a spy)

When news broke of an alleged sleeper spy ring uncovered by the FBI with the most unlikely group of defendants appearing in Federal Court, shades of the "good old days" of the Cold War began springing up in newsrooms and editorial departments around the world. Particularly when photos of one of the defendants, Anna Chapman began to circulate. The embarrassment portion of the program came since the U.S. and Russia were enjoying warmer relations than they had in years. As this installment of the BBC World Service's Newshour program from June 29th brought to light.

(the Russians were perplexed)

The Voice of Russia, in their newscast of June 29th offered little in the way of detailed explanation over the spy ring charges. That was something for the Kremlin to deal with. The newsreader was suitably non-plussed and quickly went on to other news items.

(President Joseph Kabila during the Congo's 50th birthday - Even the Belgians showed up)

Fifty years ago this week, The Congo declared independence from their colonial influence from Belgium. Not fifty of the most tranquil years, The Congo (or Republic of Congo as they are now known) weathered through civil wars, political upheavals, name changes (it was Zaire for a while), insurgencies and overthrows to achieve at least tenuous stability under President Joseph Kabila. How long their stability will stay is uncertain. But at least they've come this far. This report came from the BBC Africa Service program Africa Today from June 30.

(Raymond Domenech -portrait of a man in deep merde)

Not satisfied with public scorn and ridicule over the French team's dismal show at the World Cup, lawmakers took up the cause and took time out to grill coach Raymond Domenech over why the football team did so poorly during the games in South Africa. Despite the closed door inquiry, the French Press went into warpdrive, looking for leaks, rumors and speculations as to how their team did so badly. Radio France International's Focus On France program offered some insights.

(with disturbing regularity)

Suicide bombings have become a regular, almost daily occurrence of late in Pakistan. The latest bombing in Lahore casts doubt on just how strong the current government is and where this is all heading and just how stable the government is. This episode of Global News from July 2nd via the BBC covers the bombings as well as UK views on the current Immigration Reform issues in the U.S.

(The "oh shit" moment seen 'round the world)

And finally, with the stunning upset of England by Germany in this week's round of World Cup finals, BBC 5 Live offered on June 28th an in-depth look at what happened, how it happened, why it happened and what's next.

The mind can only wonder what next week will bring. But it will bring it soon enough.

This was a busy week in the world. Riots in Greece with the added dimension of innocent deaths, the passing of a President in Nigeria and the swearing in of a new one. The concept of The Hung Parliament to get used to in Britain, and the ever-present oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

(BP - trying to dig out of a hole, one fathom at a time)

From the CBC Radio One program The Current on May 5th, the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the PR campaign BP has been working on to get out from under a searing light. The promise of "we'll pay for everything" seems to be missing the point. But then, in the "never-never land" of big business, all things return to normal at the sign of a fat check, or so it would be hoped.

(A street in Athens this week - anger of Hellenic proportions, but then it turned pointless)

Via the BBC World Service Newshour for May 5th. The riots in Greece took an ugly turn with the deaths of three innocent bank employees, one a pregnant woman, when the bank they were working in was torched by rioters on this Wednesday. The anger turned to revulsion but the crisis continued.

(The late President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria - genuinely liked everywhere)

It had been eluded to for some time, but Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua had been stricken with Cancer for a while and had not been seen in public for months. When Nigerian Radio broke the news of his passing it sent a wave of sadness and resigned shock throughout Africa, as was reported on May 6th by this special edition of Africa Today from the BBC Africa Service.

(Newly sworn in Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan - even the name is optimistic)

Within hours of Yar'Adua's passing, Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as the new President of Nigeria, at least for the next six months before the official elections begin. BBC World Service Global News for May 6th reported on the swearing in and the future for Nigeria. Also in the broadcast are reports of new tunnel activity in the Gaza region. The Middle East is never too far away from new drama.

(Britain's answer to Joe The Plumber - A Pullet Surprise)

And finally, as the General election in Britain ended with a Hung Parliament, pundits and crystal ball gazers on both sides of the Atlantic are twisting like pretzels to figure out what it all means. As this BBC Five Live Story Of The Day from May 7th illustrates, the arduous task of coalition building and negotiation now takes place . . well, until the next election in six months time. And by then the world may have spun further off its axis.

And so went this week. Even though you may have slept through it there's still next week to consider. Or not.

A year ago today. Depending on who you ask it seems like either a few days ago or in some deep, dark past. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig disaster continues to reverberate throughout the region in the gulf of Mexico a year after it happened. Listening to these newscasts which begin during the early morning hours of the 21st of April last year and continue to the 25th where the true nature of the disaster began to become apparent, the thing that sticks out is the rush to deny that anything serious was actually taking place. Call it the "fog of war" or "fog of smokescreen", the overwhelming desire to put a lid on what quickly raced out of control into a catastrophic disaster seems to be a running reaction, or perhaps it's just human nature to look the other way. More recently, we're experiencing a similar situation with the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Japan. The rush to deny anything is wrong, the overwhelming desire to placate the public. To pretend.

Strangely, Fukushima is slipping back further and further from our collective psyche, even though it's still very much unfolding. Just as the Deepwater Horizon disaster has faded from our collective psyche, unless if you live in the affected region, you probably can't think back a year ago and remember how glued you were to the news, hanging on every report, hearing every conflicting assessment.

The frames of reference are there, not to turn us into walking paranoiacs, but to give us perspective and a reason to question the wisdom of deep-water drilling or putting a nuclear power plant on an active fault line.

Shit happens, but it doesn't always have to.

(The leopards attempt at changing spots)

When Iran, under Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized Iran's oil production in March of 1951, it put a crimp in the relations between Iran and Britain, who had enjoyed massive profits from drilling operations going back to 1909 and who, by 1950 had come to rely (as did the U.S.) on Middle East oil for 70% of its consumption (even back then). After a hotly contested dispute, which brought in the League of Nations to re-negotiate in 1933, Iran got slightly more of a percentage and by 1946 had negotiated to get 30% profits to Britain's 70%.

After Mossadegh took over and nationalized Iran's oil production, Britain quickly attempted to negotiate a 50/50 split, but Mossadegh would have none of it. The dispute between Britain and Iran went on for two years. So on August 22, 1953, with the help of our very own CIA the Mossadegh government was overthrown and The Shah was reinstated. Shortly after, Britain and Iran were negotiating oil.

And shortly after, The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company became British Petroleum. And the rest, as they say, is history.

This clip comes from a CBS newscast of August 21, 1951 when the negotiations had broken down.

(Tom Waits - perfect for an August night - even 35 years ago)

I originally ran a short clip of this concert some months back, but promised I would run the whole thing as soon as the snappy C&L embed player got hooked up. Well now that it is, and we're 35 years past the exact day of the show, I thought I would put it up now so you can finally hear the whole thing.

If you heard the earlier excerpted version, you know what a great show this is - vintage Waits and his second set of the night.

A caveat - we had some mic problems that night, most notably a radio mic that was picking up the acoustic guitar. It was sounding weird and causing some hum and we eventually had to dump it mid-way through the set. But it's a small inconvenience and I've tried working around it so it's not all that noticeable.

At any rate - it's a great concert and a memorable night with Tom Waits at The Troubadour during its heyday on August 16, 1975.