Martin Walker: "The Crowded Grave: A Mystery Of The French Countryside"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-07-23/martin-walker-crowded-grave-mystery-french-countryside
Image courtesy Knopf Publicity
The French novelist Balzac wrote, “The whole world can be found in a village.” For international journalist Martin Walker, that village is the fictional St. Denis on the Dordogne River. It’s the setting for a series of mysteries featuring Bruno Courreges, the local chief of police. In the latest novel, Bruno deals with a series of regional and international problems. Local duck and goose farms that produce foie gras are attacked by animal rights protestors. Terrorists threaten to disrupt a meeting between French and Spanish officials. An archeology dig unearths a “modern” skeleton at one of the region’s ancient sites. Martin walker joins us to discuss current events and his new mystery set in the French countryside.
Guests
Martin Walker
editor-in-chief emeritus and international affairs columnist for United Press International, and senior director of the Global Business Policy Group.
Read An Excerpt
Excerpted from "The Crowded Grave" by Martin Walker. Copyright © 2012 by Martin Walker. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Comments
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Dear Diane,
Not sure why Mr. Walker launched into a discussion of "fracking"? Only heard your question but not the discussion that came before it. Mr. Walker gave a rather fast-paced and detailed answer. Can someone explain why this question was asked of him...when the rest of the interview involved his newest novel? We wonder why he spoke to this at all. He mentioned Anadarko. Here's what we know about Anadarko:
http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7153:fracking-...
[...]At the same conference, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation's Public Relations Chief Matthew Carmichael, a military veteran himself, recommended that all natural gas industry PR professionals read the "Counterinsurgency Field Manual," formerly the official doctrine of the US military.
"Download the US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual because we are dealing with an insurgency. There's a lot of good lessons in there and coming from a military background, I found the insight in that extremely remarkable," remarked Carmichael.
[...]
And this:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45208498/Oil_Executive_Military_Style_Psy_Ops_Exp...
Anadarko has apparently engaged in counterinsurgency practices according to what was recorded at this meeting in 2011. We have seen this up close in our neighborhoods in North Texas, by the way. Very intimidating strategies to get leases signed with Chesapeake since all of this kicked in around 2006 and 2007.
Also, then there's the troubling influence on research and academia:
http://public-accountability.org/2012/07/contaminated-inquiry/
And this:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-23/frackers-fund-university-resear...
We are extremely worried that many are being persuaded to have a certain viewpoint by the power of money, as the stories above vividly show.
Thank you, Diane.
I have always enjoyed Martin Walker's contributions to the Friday News Roundup and am happy to learn about his mystery series. But I was dismayed by his romantic notion of the technology de jour, fracking. He lives in what sounds like an idyllic rural village in France. I would have asked him why he doesn't live in the US if it is so wonderful. And I wonder what he would think if his neighbors were to lease their land to Anadarko Petroleum? And I wonder who funded that MIT study.
Martin Walker is not reading all the information on fracking pollution of water and the ground. Please have someone representing the other side Diane. I know you have before, but so many politicians, corporate leaders, celebrities, and admired public figures are proclaiming that fracking is safe when it's not. Oil and gas companies and their lobbyists are spending millions to forward misinformation, while residents undergoing fracking are destroyed. Not just the initial victims are affected, ultimately we all will be. Water is our most precious commodity. It needs protecting, not being wasted en mass blasting the earth for gas. Here's a recent article regarding fracking research.
Fracking researcher has ties to industry
Posted: 07/23/2012 8:15 PM
By Farzad Mashhood
http://m.statesman.com/statesman/db_42779/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=...
- Statesman.com : Fracking researcher has ties to industry
Here's more on the subject.
Professor Who Led Fracking Study Faces Scrutiny
by Terrence Henry, KUT/StateImpact Texas
July 24, 2012
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-energy/energy/professor-who-led-fracki...