Eric Margolis, Jamieson Laboratories, and The International Institute for Strategic Studies

I often scan the radio airwaves for those morning talk shows that are secretly ultra-right-wing, as are the majority of media gauntlets in this country we call Canada.  I noticed that a certain journalist/reporter named Eric Margolis gets an awful lot of airtime on his “reporting” on the events in the Middle East and around the world.  So I decided to do a little digging today.

I couldn’t access his site, ericmargolis.com, and even the cached copy of his site on Google is difficult to parse.  His twitter feed is active, and his coverage on Egypt’s first election is being promoted right now….


Wikipedia doesn’t know whether Eric Margolis was born in 1942 or 1943.  That seems odd right to begin with.  He was born in America, in New York City to his parents, Henry M. Margolis, and Nexhmie Zaimi, an American-Albanian. His father was a New York businessman, restaurant owner, theatrical producer and investor, while his mother was a journalist and author.


Jamieson Laboratories is a privately owned business.  It is owned by none other than the aforementioned best selling author, journalist and broadcaster, Eric Margolis.   Established in 1922, Jamieson Laboratories is Canada’s largest manufacturer and distributor of advanced natural health-care products. With more than 350 employees, Jamieson’s state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing laboratories are located in Windsor, Ontario. The company is a world leader in the vitamin and nutrition industry, exporting to over 30 countries including the USA, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and many Middle Eastern nations.

Eric Margolis is affiliated with THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES located at Arundel House, in the Temple District of central London.  It is a think tank for international relations, and a leading authority on global political-military conflict.


Make no mistake, the IISS is not a benign organization.  It helped to sell the Iraq War by producing the dossier on fake Weapons of Mass Destruction.

IISS played a key role in furnishing the pretexts for the invasion of Iraq by publishing a dossier on Iraqi WMDs, on 9 September 2002, which was edited by Gary Samore, formerly of the US State Department, and presented by Dr John Chipman, a former NATO fellow.The dossier was immediately seized on by Bush and Blair administrations as providing “proof” that Saddam was just months away from launching a chemical and biological, or even a nuclear attack. Large parts of the IISS document were subsequently recycled in the now notorious Downing Street dossier, published with a foreword by the Prime Minister, the following week. – The Independent, 2004

Unlike the British Government, IISS later claimed it made mistakes in its dossier about the extent of the Iraqi threat. It commissioned an independent assessment by Rolf Ekeus, a former head of United Nations arms inspectors in Iraq. Samore and Chipman now claim their dossier had caveats about Iraq’s supposed WMD arsenal which the Government insisted on removing from intelligence assessments – leading to “sexing up” accusations. However, in his interview with BBC on the day of the publication of the report, such caveats are conspicuously absent.


The IISS has also pushed for the bombing of Iran.  In April 2006 The Institute was involved in briefing the media in which the BBC reported that Iran was ‘on course’ to develop nuclear weapons in ‘three years’.  Upon being challenged, the Institute backed down slightly.  On 12 September 2007, IISS once again suggested Iran could have a nuclear weapon by 2009-2010, an estimate which is shared neither by the IAEA or US intelligence.  It also went on to issue unsubstantiated warnings of a threat from a new and deadlier al-Qaida.

Also from Wikispooks:
For its first 30 years IISS received no government funds and was supported by American foundations with an interest in maintaining US hegemony over its European allies.  The Institute was founded on an initial donation of $150,000 from the Ford Foundation to fund it for its first three years and between 1959 and 1979 it received a further $1.4 million from the Ford Foundation.  The Rockefeller Foundation also provided funding in the Institute’s early years, reportedly donating £3,500 in 1960 and £44,600 in 1964.

In 1979 IISS sought government funding for the first time in order to support its move from its Adam Street offices to ‘a four-floor building on one of the many corners of Tavistock Street’. According to the Institute the funds were provided by “democratic governments”.  Later when IISS again moved offices to its current location at Arundel House it reportedly received £100,000 from the Foreign Office.
In 1981 IISS received $2.5 from the Ford Foundation towards the setting up of a capital fund.
In 1985 the MacArthur Foundation donated $200,000 to IISS.



Eric Margolis is often credited with having the inside information on world leaders and world events.  His mother’s ties to the OSS, CIA-predecessor, and experience as a journalist, combined with his own membership in an organization that has negatively affected the course of humanity, would well explain his sources.  Combine that with his ubiquitous strangle-hold on the morning talk shows and other outlets that spit out laughable coverage of Middle East and world events, this very likely counter intelligence operation that is Eric Margolis begins to unravel.


If he actually responded to emails and his website worked properly, perhaps he could provide some answers… For example, on why he didn’t know the true identity of the current PM of Pakistan?