Circle in the Darkness: Memoir of a World Watcher

by Diana Johnstone

Overview

Circle in the Darkness recounts veteran journalist Diana Johnstone's lifelong effort to understand what is going on in the world, seeking the truth about our troubled times beyond the veils of government propaganda and media deception. For Johnstone, the political is personal. From her experience of Cold War hostilities as a student in Yugoslavia, in the movement against the U.S. war against Vietnam, in May ’68, in professional and alternative journalism, in the historic peace movement of the 1980s that led to the reunification of Germany, in the transformation of the German Greens from peace to war party and the European Union’s sacrifice of democracy to “globalization”, her critical viewpoint dissects events and identifies trends. She recounts in detail how the Western left betrayed its historical principles of social justice and peace and let itself be lured into approval of aggressive U.S.-NATO wars on the fallacious grounds of “human rights”. Subjects range from caustic analysis of the pretentious confusion of French philosophers to the stories of many courageous individuals whose struggle for peace and justice ended in deep personal tragedy, with a great deal in between. Circle in the Darkness is a lucid, uncompromising tour through half a century of contemporary history intended especially for those who may aspire against all obstacles to change its course for the better. “Diana Johnstone’s just published book, Circle in the Darkness: Memoir of a World Watcher, is the best book I have ever read, the most revealing, the most accurate, the most truthful, the most moral and humane, the most sincere and heartfelt, and the best written. Her book is far more than a memoir. It is a history that has not previously been written.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949762143
Publisher:	Clarity Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/15/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	444
Sales rank:	467,571
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Diana Johnstone, PhD, a native of Minnesota, raised in New Deal Washington, has spent more than half her life in Europe as a political observer and journalist, working for Agence France Presse, for In These Times as European Correspondent, and as press officer for the Green Group in the European Parliament. She holds a BA in Russian Area studies and a PhD in French literature. She is author of three books including Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions., and co-author with her father, Paul H. Johnstone, of From Mad to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War. Planning.

Table of Contents

Part I Looking for the World

1 Memories of Memories 2

2 The Rest of the World 15

3 An Educational Marriage 30

Part II The Right Thing to Do

4 Vietnam Everywhere 48

5 May in Minnesota 70

6 People's Diplomacy 82

7 Time to Go 98

Part III Lost Causes

8 Decade of Uncertainty 110

9 Italy's Hot Cold War 130

10 Land Where My Father Died 147

Part IV The Plots Thicken

11 From Afghanistan to Iran 160

12 Heresy Defines Religion 168

13 Deep State Power Struggles 174

14 The Bulgarian Disconnection from Reality 183

15 The Israeli Connections 193

Part V The Fate of Peace-Seekers

16 Dinner with Dr. Sartawi 206

17 The Mysterious North 212

Part VI The Franco-German Couple

18 Mitterrand Meets the Markets 220

19 The Ideological Pendulum 233

20 The New Germany 242

21 Great Power Politics Takes Over 257

Part VII The European Non-Parliament

22 New World Order or New World Disorder? 266

23 What Are We Doing Here? 275

24 Lost in the Balkans 288

Part VIII The Joint Criminal Enterprise

25 The Scene of the Crimes 302

26 Serbia Alone 315

27 The War NATO Needed 325

Part IX The Age of Destruction

28 From One War to Another 340

29 Globalizing France 354

30 The Bedouin and the Zionist 362

31 Black Humor Is No Joke 377

32 Wars and Elections 387

Part X It Can't Go On Like This

33 Phased Out 404

34 Hubris and Humanity 413

35 Truth 424

Index 425

Editorial Reviews

"...A compelling, fascinating, first-hand look at our world from WW2 through the Cold War and, ultimately, to our forever wars of the 21st Century." —RON PAUL, MD, Former Member of US Congress

“...a brilliant analysis of the major imperial wars of the last half century. The personal and political merge to provide a wealth of experiences and insights embedded in a profound theoretical framework." —JAMES PETRAS

"...fiercely courageous and independent reporting, historical analysis, and activism ... With her eyes on the prize, Diana Johnstone has stayed the course to oppose U.S. and Western aggression, using her critical skills to expose endless horror and insisting that a truthful understanding of historical events remains a necessary tool against murder and illegality. We are deeply indebted to her." — JOHN MARCIANO, Monthly Review

"Diana Johnstone's book Circle in the Darkness is a brilliant analysis of the major imperial wars of the last half century. The personal and political merge to provide a wealth of experiences and insights embedded in a profound theoretical framework."
—JAMES PETRAS

"Circle in the Darkness is one of the great personal accounts of the anguished decline of our uncivilization, both a riveting eye-witness account of many of the horrors and perfidies, and a primer for students of history and all those struggling to not only dismantle the beast, but to prepare us for what follows it. Read it and weep. And smile at the follies. And shout 'Yes!' as light bulbs flash in your mind." -ERIC WALBERG
“Johnstone's recollections span the period between the Depression and the current moment, and bring to life in poignant detail the most significant events in Europe for the entire post-World War II era, and particularly the interface of the U.S. with Europe, with valuable reflections on events in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa as well." —RICK ROZOFF, Author and Editor, STOP NATO

"Diana Johnstone is a superb reporter of a kind and calibre that barely exists today. Her principled, eloquent memoirs are often touching, and wise, and bracing in their truth in an age of deceit. I salute her." —JOHN PILGER, award-winning Australian journalist, author and broadcaster/documentary maker

"Diana Johnstone's just published book, Circle in the Darkness: Memoir of a World Watcher, is the best book I have ever read, the most revealing, the most accurate, the most truthful, the most moral and humane, the most sincere and heartfelt, and the best written. Her book is far more than a memoir. It is a history that has not previously been written. If you want the truth of the last 60 years in place of the contrived reality constructed for us by controlled explanations, it is in this book." —PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

"Diana Johnstone spent over half a century chronicling contemporary history from the Cold War to the rise of groups such as Antifa. Her memoir, Circle in the Darkness, is not only a fascinating window into a contemporary event, but also a blistering attack on the Left, which she argues, correctly, betrayed its historical role as a champion of social justice and peace, replacing it with the boutique activism of identity politics, political correctness, and what has become known as humanitarian intervention." CHRIS HEDGES

From the Publisher