The Coup against Nicolas Maduro Intensifies

US announces sanctions against Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA’, via RT, Jan 28, 2019

“Washington has imposed sanctions against the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, seizing $7 billion in assets, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. The US is trying to force recognition of Juan Guaido as president in Caracas.

Munchin said that the move is to “to help prevent the further diversion” of assets by “former president Maduro.”

Sanctions will be lifted upon the “expeditious transfer of control to the interim president, or the subsequently democratically elected interim government,” he added.

“We know what the legitimate government of Venezuela is, and it is our mission to make reality what the people of Venezuela want,” National Security Adviser John Bolton chimed in, standing next to Mnuchin during the briefing at the White House on Monday.

In addition to $7 billion in PDVSA assets in the US, the sanctions will affect $11 billion worth of exports over the coming year, Bolton said.

Over the weekend, the US called a special session of the UN Security Council on the situation in Venezuela, claiming it represented a threat to international security.”

#RottenCriminalMuthahfuckahs

‘UNSC should look into US attempts for coup in Venezuela – Russian envoy’, 26 Jan, 2019 RT

“The United States are trying to organize a coup in Venezuela and the UN Security Council should look into the threat to Caracas, the Russian envoy to the international organization said.

The council gathered on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Latin American country where the opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself the head of Venezuela with the support of the US and its allies.

Russia and three other countries opposed discussing “situation in Venezuela” saying that saying that the internal situation in the country does not represent a threat to the international community, but Washington’s actions do, yet nine out 15 members voted to put it on the agenda.

The whole UNSC meeting is nothing more than “another element” of the US’ strategy, and an “unethical ploy” by Washington to involve the international body in its regime change campaign, Russia’s envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said.”  (with an epically hypocritical [‘Restore Democracy! screeds]4 minute unembeddable video that TRNN covered, 13 minutes)

Venezuela, Many Nations, Reject US-Led Interventionism at UNSC Session’, telesurenglish, Jan. 26

“China, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Russia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, Saint Vicent, the Grenadines, Barbados, and Suriname, were among the countries that expressed their recognition of the legitimate and constitutional Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolas Maduro.

“The United States is the one that should be evaluated (and not Venezuela) for its permanent disrespect and interference in external political affairs,” Foreign Minister Arreaza said in his statement before the Security Council. 

“How is it possible that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who militarily threatened Venezuela, has not been questioned by the world?”

Arreaza also talked about the situation of the illegally and unconstitutionally self-proclaimed “interim president” Juan Guaido, asking, “how can it be possible for a lawmaker to proclaim himself president and for international governments to recognize him?”  Stating and warning that in Venezuela “force is being imposed on the law. That is dangerous and we must stop it here from the United Nations.”

‘Good for business’: Trump adviser Bolton admits US interest in Venezuela’s ‘oil capabilities’, RT 28 Jan, 2019

“Bolton isn’t the only one to admit oil is a primary factor in US actions in Venezuela. Florida’s Republican senator Marco Rubio tweeted last week that refining the much-sought after heavy crude from Venezuela already “supports great jobs” for Americans in the Gulf Coast.”

‘The Vultures of Caracas’, 26 Jan, 2019, craigmurray.org.uk

“We are frequently told that people in Venezuela have no food, clothing or toilet paper, and that popular discontent with the left wing government is driven by real hunger. There are elements of truth in this story, though the causes of economic dislocation are far more complex than the media would have us believe.

But I ask you to look at this photo [the featured photo at the top; click for larger] of supporters of CIA poster-boy, the West’s puppet unelected “President” Juan Guaido, taken at a Guaido rally in Caracas two days ago and published yesterday in security services house journal The Guardian. Please take a really close look at the photo. Blow it up as big as you can. Scan individual people in the crowd, one by one.

These are not the poor and most certainly not the starving. As it chances I have a great deal of life experience working amongst seriously deprived, hungry and despairing people. I know the gaunt face of want and the desperate glance of need. Look at these Guaido supporters, one by one by one. This designer spectacled, well-coiffed, elegantly dressed, sleekly jowled group does not know hunger. This group does not know want. This is a proper right wing gathering, a gathering of the nicely off section of society. This is a group of those who have corruptly been siphoning Venezuela’s great wealth for decades and who want to make sure the gravy train flows properly in their direction again. It is, in short, a group of exactly the kind of people you would expect to support a CIA coup.

Those manicured hands raised in the air will never throw rocks, or get involved in violence unless against a peasant strapped to a chair for them. It is not this crowd which will suffer as public disorder is manipulated and directed by the CIA. These wealthy ones are immune, just as Davos serves as nothing but an annual reminder of how very poorly God aims avalanches.

There is real suffering in Venezuela. The CIA is working hard to stoke violence, and the genuine poor will soon start to die, both in those egged on to riot and in the security services. But do not get taken in by the complete nonsense that this is a popular, democratic revolution. It is not. It is yet another barefaced CIA regime change coup.”

Murray also mentions Trump’s appointment of ‘front man on VZ’ Eliott Abrams telesur english had featured on Jan. 25:

‘US Appoints Elliott Abrams, Mastermind Behind Anti-Chavez 2002 Coup, to Lead New Venezuela Coup’

“Elliott will be a true asset to our mission to help the Venezuelan people fully restore democracy and prosperity to their country,” Pompeo said in announcing Abrams’ appointment.

He said Abrams would accompany him to the United Nations on Saturday for a Security Council meeting on Venezuela where the U.S. will press other countries to support opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim head of state.

Abrams, appearing with Pompeo at a briefing for reporters, described the situation in Venezuela as “deep, difficult and dangerous.”

Pompeo said that Elliot’s first task would be to travel to New York and push the United Nations’ Security Council to recognize Guaido as the new president of Venezuela on Saturday. His following duties, said Pompeo, could take him to Latin America.” [snip]

“But Abrams’s record is not limited to Venezuela. His first high profile position started with the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s, when he assured military aid to the Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who came to power after a coup in 1982 and was later sentenced for genocide against the Mayan peoples in the Central American country. He was also convicted in 1991 on two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal. However, he was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.”

I’ll freely admit that I was startled when I saw this title and author, as Eva Golinger, although being a champion of Hugo Chavez back in the day, had recently been vitriolically opposed to Nicola Maduro, but:  ‘The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy in Venezuela’ January 28, 2019, consortiumnews.com, subtitled: Written in 2014 during the Obama adminstration, this article by Eva Golinger gives insightful background to the current crisis in Venezuela and Washington’s role in stirring it up, originally published at chavezcode.com

She opens with:

“Anti-government protests in Venezuela that seek regime change have been led by several individuals and organizations with close ties to the U.S. government.

Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado- two of the public leaders behind the violent protests that started in February (2014) – have long histories as collaborators, grantees and agents of Washington. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have channeled multi-million dollar funding to Lopez’s political parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and Machado’s NGO Sumate and her electoral campaigns.

From my favorite tankie on Twitter: @cordeliers  “Predictably, the Grauniad stands ready to manufacture propaganda on behalf of US imperialism.”:

‘Juan Guaidó: Venezuela has chance to leave chaos behind; Exclusive: self-declared interim president tells the Guardian he is set on forcing out Nicolás Maduro’

“The opposition leader who last week declared himself Venezuela’s rightful interim president has played down fears of a possible armed conflict and claimed his economically devastated nation was living through an “almost magical moment” in its newly revived quest for democracy.

In one of his first interviews since last Wednesday’s surprise move, Juan Guaidó told the Guardian he was set on “getting the job done” to force Nicolás Maduro from power and ending a humanitarian emergency which has fuelled the largest exodus in modern Latin American history.

Guaidó said a combination of international backing, opposition unity and a reinvigorated grassroots support meant Venezuela now had a unique chance “to leave the chaos behind”.

He also announced on Sunday that he will step up his push for power by holding rallies on Wednesday and another on Saturday, when the ultimatum from leading European countries is set to expire.”

‘Venezuela Rejects EU Ultimatum ‘Befitting Old Colonial Powers’, Jan. 28, telesurenglish.net

“The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza responded to a statement by the European Union which issued an ultimatum to the Venezuelan government to hold elections within eight days. He asked them to drop the measure that would recognize Juan Guaido, opposition leader for the Venezuelan National Assembly, in contempt since 2016, who unconstitutionally declared himself “interim” president, as Venezuela’s leader.

Arreaza repudiated the European Union and said its declaration put them in the same camp as the United State-backed coup that has been in progress, most forcefully since Jan. 23, but which has been ongoing for years, since the Hugo Chavez administration:  

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela expresses its most forceful rejection of the declaration by the European Union of Jan. 26, through which it has demonstrated it’s signing on to the coup d’etat orchestrated by the United States government, and which has the intent of giving an ultimatum to the Venezuelan state, which is befitting of the old colonial powers it represents.”

Via the Popular Resistance newsletter, Zeese and Flowers offer: ‘Venezuela: What Activists Need To Know About The US-Led Coup

I’d advise taking special note of:

  1. Truth: President Nicolás Maduro is the legitimate president.
  2. Truth: The opposition is violent, not the Maduro government.(referencing wee, brave Abby Martin on TRNN June 18, 2017 w/ this accompanying 14+ min video):

and

  1. Truth: The National Assembly acted in violation of the law and is in contempt of court…all three of which explanations run counter to the conventional wisdom MSM talking points like this:

“The Maduro government has waged a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violated the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly and was re-elected last year in an election many observers said was fraudulent.”

It’s all excellent, although their lists of Guaido supporters and opponents are a bit out of date.

Bonus: ‘The History – and Hypocrisy – of US Meddling in Venezuela;
Author and activist Brett Wilkins looks at the history of US meddling in Venezuela, venezuelanalysis.com, Jan. 28, 2019

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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detroitmechworks's picture

Because there's a woman who would love to have a legal grounds to do the exact same thing to him.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

dance you monster's picture

@detroitmechworks

American oligarchs couldn't swipe Venezuela's oil wealth the old-fashioned way -- through our oil companies -- so we advance a puppet, freeze the oil money to give it to the puppet supposedly for the people of VZ but ya know how it is, some money just disappears on its way to its intended huddled masses, right? And American oligarchs park offshore some of that really-it's-only-pocket-change-that-they-just-happened-to-find-somewhere-no-one-can-remember-just-where-or-when-maybe-when-they-were-sunning-on-the-beach.

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wendy davis's picture

@dance you monster

gadaffi's gold [on edit: and hillary's finders' fees?] but apart from bolton's pretense, it's about 'great competitor's russia and china in VZ (as in sub-saharan africa, thus: Africom), and reversing the pink tide', imo.

'PAUL JAY: Well, the United States wants regime change, they have no other agenda.

GREG WILPERT: Right. We have to be completely clear on it. And not just regime change, they want to completely wipe Chavismo and the Bolivarian Revolution from the face of the earth. That’s the objective and that’s the reason that the radical opposition doesn’t want to make any concessions. Because any concession could imply some remnants of Chavismo remaining in power, and they just want to make sure everybody is removed from office and the complete memory, actually, of Chavez and the project is forgotten.

'Attempted Coup in Venezuela with Abby Martin, Greg Wilpert, Paul Jay', TRNN, January 25, 2019

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wendy davis's picture

@detroitmechworks

of which woman do you speak?

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detroitmechworks's picture

@wendy davis who clearly was elected by Millions more Americans and demands that the presidency be relinquished to her...

/snark

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wendy davis's picture

@detroitmechworks
guaido, pompeo's 'guido', what's in a name? thugs are the same in any language, no? i thought you might have been pinging: 'Congresswoman who fixed Democratic primary for Clinton now ‘fixing’ democracy in Venezuela ', rt jan 25 : D

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detroitmechworks's picture

@wendy davis Looks like our puppets now have a diplomat in place.

I would say ONE week before he asks for US military aid. Maybe two if the MSM can find another THING for a week.

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wendy davis's picture

@detroitmechworks

español to decode it. en houston?

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detroitmechworks's picture

@wendy davis is requesting that he be treated as a full diplomat as is his right as the representative of the "Real" government.

Historically, when other countries start recognizing factions, it's a prelude to a civil war, not a quiet transfer of power.

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@detroitmechworks like Bolton, Pompeo, other neocons, the dems....

Now I have no doubt in my mind that the neo-con, neo-lib group would use the military to overthrow Trump. But maybe they won't need to.

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dfarrah

think of few comparably egregious examples of such shameless banditry. worse banditry, for sure, but ... is this really happening? are we really going to simply announce to the world, straight up and without the usual pretenses, that it is our prerogative to select the government of another sovereign state? and is the rest of the world going to put up with it? are the russians and the chinese really going to stand for this?

it's absolutely bizarre. we're actually broadcasting the extortion. "Give us your government or you'll never see your 7 billion dollars again!"

no evidence given. no evidence necessary. nothing. nada.

goodness, the thrashings of the dying dragon, taking down the whole town that dared to defy it.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

wendy davis's picture

@UntimelyRippd

announce to the world..'; it seems so, and in addition to those billions, these (click tweet to stand alone and see the sub-Tweets):

dying empires exert the control they can, given their challenged power. in this case: battling leftist governments like zelaya's honduras to bolivarian nations.

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Big Al's picture

@UntimelyRippd Actually the most egregious example of US (and company) imperialism is the war OF terror, caused by the false flag attack on 9/11, and supported by every democratic and republican party politician, no exceptions. We can go down the line, they're all based on lies and unbelievable shameless. People should re-read some of Smedley Butler's quotes regarding South America.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al

And this is pretty far up the brazen scale. A lot farther than 9/11 starting the War of Terror. Then, the idea that the U.S. was the victim was pretty easily sold, especially since nearly 3,000 people, most of them U.S. citizens and civilians, were killed.

This is more brazen than I've ever seen, in that the U.S. Gov isn't even waiting for Maduro to be overthrown by the CIA and their shitty little well-heeled friends. Why wait for an actual coup? The current Venezuelan government is just fake news.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

EyeRound's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal As an ideology capitalism is an improved religion. You don't need God, just money-as-capitalism.

Religion drives straight through mountains. (Meaning "real" religion, not the smorgasbord stuff you see a lot in this country today.)

The TCC's ideology is a parallel faith, with surpassing powers.

So "socialism" is the apostate, the infidel, what-have-you. Not so long ago, Bernie said to a crowd of students, referring to the Business Roundtable's extremism: "You don't negotiate with those people." (My paraphrase) I think Bernie was seeing belief in money-organized-by-capitalism in the Bus. Roundtable, where that belief houses the power and drive of ancient religion.

The analogy would be if you were trying to convert a zealot to a different set of beliefs.

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wendy davis's picture

@EyeRound

'approved'? i wish that DSAs were socialists by any definition, but no, they're reform Capitalists. as far as i can make out, no true socialists are Imperialists whatsoever, including approving funds for Nato, Africom, approving defense dollars for israel, the anti-bolivarian project, etc. but that's just my take, of course.

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wendy davis's picture

@wendy davis

intended to answer this or hadn't had time/hadn't seen it, but as joss (synchronicity?) would have it, i ran into two shamus cooke diaries at counterpunch a bit ago. the first was 'January 29, 2019 'Bernie and the Dems Flunk Trump’s Test On Venezuela’s Coup' (part of the deconstruction in my OP) calling bullshit on part III of the bern's tweet by way of endorsing the coup by what he'd failed to say.

An interior link was to his January 5, 2016 'Does Bernie Sanders’ Imperialism Matter?', jan 2016, and it's long and insightful enough for me to know which bits to feature, but i'll give it a go. a few snippets:

"It’s of course perfectly reasonable that many progressive/liberal and working class people would be attracted to Sanders’ platform. But socialists/revolutionaries must have a broader perspective. Imperialism is, in some ways, the beating heart of U.S. capitalism: a central power of the “billionaire class” that stops progress abroad while blocking progress at home."

"Without this imperialism the exports or markets of the largest U.S. corporations would suffer: including the big banks, big oil, big healthcare/insurance corporations, defense contractors (the arms industry), agro-corporations, tech firms, etc.

Bernie’s failure to confront this specific, crucial power of the “billionaire class” isn’t a “blind spot” of his politics, since imperialism is like a tank parked in your living room, too big to ignore. By consciously allying with this imperialist-section of the establishment, Sanders has exposed himself as a push over, whenever the imperialists decide its push comes to shove over war."

"Sanders surely knows that foreign policy cannot be separated from domestic policy. They are two sides of the same coin that directly affect each other. What happens abroad affects what is possible domestically, and vice versa."

"Sanders has Afghan blood on his hands too, having voted for the invasion of the now-endless Afghan war that triggered the beginning of the flurry of Middle East wars. And while Sanders brags about voting “no” for the 2003 Iraq war, his vote soon morphed into a “yes,” by his several votes for the ongoing funding of the war/occupation.

Sanders also voted “yes” for the U.S.-led NATO destruction of Yugoslavia, and supports the brutal Israeli military regime that uses U.S. weapons to slaughter Palestinians."

i agree, as it was his imperialism that ha caused me not to support him in 2015, although the café commentariat didn't care for my take, iirc. 'Bernie Hearts Drone Assassinations, but with One Proviso'

good night, eyeround.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

if you are an American politician, to vote against the general defense funding bills. I'm pretty sure there would be serious consequences for that.

That's why the NDAA tends to be a repository of the most loathsome policies, because nobody would dare ever vote against it.

Or were you talking about other kinds of funding for Iraq?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

in a nutshell, miz signal. obfuscating a politician's Brand...is what got us where we are.
the former yugoslavia was also socialist, but milosevic died in a cell at the hague because canadian judge louise arbor, would allow exculpatory evidence to be entered into the trial. (he was posthumously exonerated of war crimes, sadly).

gladio, all the time, gladio, cold war nato repurposed. kill nato! and the what, 70th anniversary is coming in april? won't be held here, as 'pentagon insiders' have said DT is still 'out of nato', which is bull.shit. thus the 'Defend Nato' house bill every house D voted for.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

"socialist" back into American political discourse after a hiatus of about 65 years during which "socialist" meant "enemy."

He also got a lot of people asking what socialism actually was. All of that was to the good.

However, Bernie is only a democratic socialist because he's an old man and takes his terms from a time when social democrats called themselves democratic socialists.

Now, of course, the mainstream has used Bernie's discursive gesture to re-absorb the term "socialism," and Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez kind of help that process along every time they call themselves socialists.

Thing is, though, anybody who controls a billion-dollar propaganda machine can make any word mean anything they want.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

fault with this construction: "However, Bernie is only a democratic socialist because he's an old man and takes his terms from a time when social democrats called themselves democratic socialists."

no, as i said below to ggersh, even though he and ocasio-cortez constantly step on their own brands, see shamus cooke's essay above: 'doesn bernie's imperialism matter?' to me yes it does. both he and @aoc praised mattis and john mcccain to the hilt, and a hella lot more. but as i also said to ggersh, i do ralize that i'm an extreme outlier here.

peace if you can (i forget whose quote that is, naturally)
wd

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

Being a social democrat just means you want your own people, all of them, to do well; you want the government to serve their needs with the best policies it can muster. It's still, generally, a republican form of government married to a capitalist economy that the social democrat intends to work within. A social democrat, to my mind, would be a more radical form of Lyndon Johnson: lots of social programs attempting to build a great society, leaving as few people as possible behind. But that has nothing to do with what happens to people outside the nation's borders. There is no necessary internationalism involved in being a social democrat; it all has to do with how the state treats its citizens and the role it takes.

Back when Bernie was young, social democrats were called "democratic socialists," so he uses that term. It's a confusing term, much less clear than the term "social democrat" which replaced it. I was glad that any mention of socialism was made, for the reasons I described, but now I'm thinking it wasn't worth it.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

i'm understanding your thesis correctly, Miz Signal. but if one is an Imperialist and funds the military including Nato, how much discretionary income is left for social safety programs? yes, bernie's domestic policies sound delightful and enticing, but for me, not his penchant for backing Empire projects, which do kill other people, especially innocents. but we may be talking past one another, and if so, i apologize.

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Big Al's picture

@wendy davis which shows why they aren't socialists at all, but capitalists who favor alms for the poor.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al

That's why he keeps talking about raising taxes on the rich.

It's also true that they know, whether they will admit it or not, that the bankers basically print whatever money they want, and that MMT is basically what they live by behind closed doors regardless of what they say.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al

(that idea leads to a right-wing idea that we are imposing on the rich to take care of us), but the necessary price to live in something approaching a civilized society. It's part of a commitment to a common project: the project of living together in a society. Those who don't want to make that commitment and would rather hoard far more than they could ever use while parts of the civilization develop gangrene and drop off are antisocial sociopaths and psychopaths.

However, what Bernie et al believe is that these antisocial pirates can be brought back within the fold of civilization if enough Democrats get elected. There's no evidence of that.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Big Al's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal capitalist society. They had these ideological and morality discussions and debates long ago, they still go on, which led to the higher tax rates. The thought process is those who benefit most from this capitalist system should pay the most taxes. To appease the masses. Eventually the rich find a way to get richer, don't they. We can go ahead and try to raise tax rates (they'll never go back to the high levels they once were), but we'll still have trillionaires and a one percent class that is far removed from the rest of society and still ruling the political system. To me, before we seriously talk about that kind of taxing, we should talk about this capitalist system that enables people to "earn" that much money and wealth, i.e., a fight for real socialism.
That's where people like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA are acting like gatekeepers in suggesting measures that would keep the capitalist system in tact. Whether they're doing it intentionally or not, I think intentionally because that's what they believe in.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al

To me, before we seriously talk about that kind of taxing, we should talk about this capitalist system that enables people to "earn" that much money and wealth, i.e., a fight for real socialism.

I mean, even the often execrable founding fathers would agree that certain changes would need to be made before we could have that discussion. Taxation without representation is tyranny, right? Well, who could possibly claim anybody with less than 100 million dollars truly gets represented by what passes for government around here? The rest of us shouldn't be paying any taxes.

That's another thing Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez won't deal with: late-stage capitalism inevitably must produce the kind of authoritarian, non-representative politics we currently have, and a tax hike wouldn't fix that. On the other hand, with this sort of politics, we will never get more than a marginal tax hike, if we get any at all.

That's the thing; capitalism of this kind--maybe all capitalism?--is going to lead to a decline in rich people's taxes that never ends, the same way that same capitalism leads to a decline in working people's buying power that never ends, the same way it leads to a decline in clean water and air that never ends, the same way it leads to unrepaired bridges and roads and schools that are falling down in ever-increasing numbers. Not prisons though. Those will proliferate, and they won't be allowed to fall down. Weapons will proliferate too, and wars.

This is something that Jimmy Dore and his crew get wrong, very wrong: they keep talking about how incremental change won't work to solve a catastrophic problem. That's true, but it preserves the illusion that incremental change toward the policies we like has been happening. That's absolutely untrue. If there's been any incremental change, it's been toward fascism.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Big Al

will never happen, and she know it. is that part of bernie's plan to 'refund the social saftey net? but i will say that not caring about which other bug splat we assassinate by drone matters a hella lot to me, and that those who don't care should check their moral compasses.

once again: 'Bernie Hearts Drone Assassinations, but with One Proviso, September 7, 2015 by wendyedavis

listen to his interview w/ martha raddatz; and:

"Since President Barack Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, at least 2,464 people and 314 innocent civilians have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. At least seven US citizens have been extra-judicially killed by drones, including one 16-year-old, meaning they were never given a trial as required by the Constitution. Obama himself directly ordered many of the strikes on ‘Terror Tuesdays’."

"You can argue that there are times and places where drone attacks have been effective, there are times and places where they have been absolutely counter-effective and have caused more problems than they have solved. When you kill innocent people, what the end result is that people in the region become anti-American who otherwise would not have been. So, I think we have to use drones very, very selectively and effectively.”

Please, Bernie, may I ask: whose assassinations were ‘effective’? Those myriad ‘Al Qaeda #2s’? Or those who were deemed worthy of death-dealing ‘signature strike’ metrics? Are you blithely unaware that the shadow military comprised of CIA/JSOC/and mercenary armies conduct their own drone murders? But somehow the two ‘beliefs’ here clang together like crashing two trash can lids together in their incongruity, much like your ‘how to fight ISIL’ does below.

"Yes, Bernie; America ‘should have the strongest military on earth’ if one believes that the Empire needs to grow and thrive, and that the Global War on Terror is an admirable venture. How hideous it is to hear you to trumpet an alliance with the tyrannical Saudi state, though, and pretend that it’s all down to dollars and cents. And oof, how easily you accepted the agitprop framing of formerly embedded with the troops Martha’s questions, my stars! Watching your eyes dart back and forth like a pinball machine showed that you were on the defensive for being called some idiotic peace dove. Unbelievable." etc.

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Big Al's picture

@wendy davis I did do my homework on Sanders. Doesn't seem to matter to most of his supporters. I think you know that. Gabbard is the same way but you can't say it without be accused of something.

I won't even get into the craze that is Ocasio-Cortez. Just more evidence we're screwed with this political system.

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wendy davis's picture

@Big Al ' @Big Al i

sweet dreams...if you can. seems appropriate, as we are outliers, no?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMFqkcPYcg]

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Big Al's picture

@wendy davis I feel like an outlier, evidently you also. Whenever the election madness starts up, which apparently is all the time now, it gets pretty depressing. Combined with other signs coming from human life, it can get downright discouraging. But I've got some seeds coming in the mail.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

and I suppose JFK too, all had imperialist wars and police actions while doing major projects here at home. Hell, from one point of view you could throw FDR into that bucket too, though I do feel that it was necessary to fight WWII. However, because of many of the people involved, the war wasn't conducted simply as a necessary exercise in human survival, but was used as a springboard to most of the profiteering bloodthirsty crap we live under today. That's a tangent, though..

Regardless, one can, in fact, pour money into overseas adventurism and still have at least some social programs. Perhaps the military spending couldn't be as amazingly egregious as it is today, but it could be extensive, and the wars we fought could be numerous--and we could still have Medicare for All, and we could still have jobs with higher wages.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

was a sop to all the labors who were on strike at the time. he'd thought to quell their strikes, and iirc, history records that it worked. back in the day, it took four working families to aid one striker's family. FDR knew what he was about. and now? i'm working on a synopsis of a thread on '(late-stage) Capitalism and Mental Health issues, and while it's tough going, the author's treatise deserves wider recognition.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@EyeRound

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Big Al's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal based on lies everyone knew about also? It's all relative and doesn't fucking matter. We can't stop it anyway, there's an election coming up./

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al

I'm using it to mean "without subterfuge."

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Big Al's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal @Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal it's hard to choose. What war excuses are the most deceitful? How about the "new Pearl Harbor"? That's pretty deceitful. Taking down the twin towers and blaming it on terrorists to start not only a forever war, but seven others leading to an internal police state and a superpower showdown?

The funny thing is, for the Iraq war, in which most sane people didn't buy the bullshit excuses of WMD's, there were millions of people protesting in the streets worldwide, including here in Amerika.

If this one is so brazenly deceitful, where are the protests here in this country? That says something about the state of affairs that would be good for discussion. Why can't we even get a measly antiwar protest movement going out of a country of 330 million people?

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al

Some you will agree with, some you probably won't.

1)Few people care about Venezuela except the people who want to use it as an ideological punching bag. Well, and the loathsome oil barons, weaponsmakers, and goons who want to seize all the oil on the planet, including Venezuela's.

2)We don't know for sure that there aren't marches against this. If there were, they'd hardly be on the news. Were you aware in Sept. 2014 that there was a 600,000-person march against climate change in NYC? Few were aware of that march, because it received no national coverage apart from Katrina Vanden Heuvel saying one sentence about it on a Sunday morning political show. We should never forget how easy it is for the overlords to make dissent invisible, even to us.

3)However, I expect that if there were large marches, we would eventually hear about them, if only because people involved would post about it on the internet. There are ways for the authorities to counter such accounts and reduce their impact and number, but no way (yet) to entirely eradicate them. Therefore, I'm gonna assume there aren't any marches against a Venezuela invasion. If there aren't any marches, here are two likely reasons why:

a)the U.S. is invading countries and committing atrocities continually, to the point that people no longer pay attention when they begin their hundredth or so assault on a foreign nation. Remember how momentous the beginning of the Iraq war was? It had a definite beginning point that the public knew about, which was covered vociferously, though badly, in the press, and before that it was debated hotly, though badly, in Congress. It was assumed at that point that Congress had to give some form of permission for a new war, and that the beginning of a new war was a momentous occasion which should be debated extensively, both in the government and in the press. Are they even asked to give permission now? I don't recall any Congressional debate about Yemen, or Congress deciding whether or not it's okay to go into Somalia, and certainly, beyond some stories about evil Somalian pirates, I didn't notice much coverage of Yemen and Somalia in the press. Maybe all that happened and somehow I missed it. But it certainly seems to me that we've entered an era where the war never stops and there's too much of it, always a new invasion, with little debate in government and often little fanfare from the press. It's like one big mash-up of horrors. People are overwhelmed by the constant new invasions, the gigantic pileup of wars. Maybe they wouldn't be, if

b)anti-war marches did any good whatsoever. You mentioned the marches against Iraq. They were very large. I was in many of them. They had no effect whatsoever. There were (much smaller) marches against the invasion of Syria, which people didn't used to like, round about 2013/2014. The American people didn't want to invade Syria back then. There were some marches. They were ignored. They had no effect whatsoever. It's hardly surprising, after a few rounds of that, that the American people get sick of talking to a wall.

People keep asking why there is no anti-war movement. This question is usually put as a moral question, a massive criticism of American national character, when in fact it's obvious that there is no anti-war movement because the powerful have shown repeatedly that unless we pick up guns they're not going to pay attention to anything we do. Well, I suppose if we refuse to leave the protest, like the Occupiers and the Standing Rock Sioux, they will pay attention to the extent that they send cops to hurt people and throw them in cages, and they will pay attention to the extent that they will send people to talk in front of cameras and do their level best to destroy the reputations of the protesters and discredit the protest. Beyond those reactions, the people who start wars, who mount invasions, apparently are impervious to "people going out in the street," even if those people number in the hundreds of thousands.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Big Al's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal but it won't make any difference. The rest of the planet is going to have to stop our rulers because we can't.
I did buy some yellow vests however and will be at the Esther Short Park in Vancouver, WA on Saturday. Probably get down there around noon.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al @Big Al

and hell, even going down to a march or rally; not so much because seeing us at a rally is gonna make them change, as because I feel that sometimes I have to register my disapproval, whether it does any good or not.

But that's definitely a minority response. I mean, most people probably wouldn't feel that way.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

mimi's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
about that September 21, 2014Climate march ... I have tons of pictures of that one. So, somehow, some people knew about it, with or without the msm, by just being there. Can't uplosd any images though. Lots of weird reactions lately with inserting videos, images and tweets.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@mimi

That makes me happy. It's a pretty disgusting sensation, to feel that more than a half a million people can protest and remain unnoticed.

It's like the old philosophical question about the tree falling in the forest.

If half a million people march and the corporate press doesn't cover it, does it make a sound?

You give me a small hope (like lighting a small candle) that it does. Thank you.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Only ME country with no oil.
Jordanians praise Allah for blessing them.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

@on the cusp

gummint, in any event.

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@on the cusp thanks, because Jordan is a client state already. They have no oil, but location location location.

His Majesty meets with US military chief over boosting cooperation

Last updated at Jan 29,2019

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday received Commander of United States Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel and an accompanying delegation, a Royal Court statement said.

During the meeting at Al Husseiniya Palace, attended by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Freihat and Adviser to the King and Director of His Majesty's Office Manar Dabbas, King Abdullah and Votel discussed ways of enhancing cooperation between the two countries, especially in military fields.

They also went over developments in the region, in addition to regional and international efforts to combat terrorism within a holistic strategy.

Coup d'état
parts are parts

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wendy davis's picture

@eyo

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CB's picture

is going to teach Venezuela all about democracy.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQlDj-UhpGw]

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wendy davis's picture

@CB

it's a longer version of the one upthread. DW-S: #WhatASchmukette

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OzoneTom's picture

@CB
...Democracy is already "fixed."

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wendy davis's picture

@OzoneTom

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burnt out's picture

If it wasn't happening right before my eyes I could not believe it was real. Is this a test to see just how far we can go and get away with it? I have to wonder what the rest of the world is thinking as they watch this shit roll out. Who could possibly put any trust in the US anymore? Who can feel safe knowing what we are capable of? If you got it and we want it, just save yourself some trouble and hand it over now.

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All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon

wendy davis's picture

@burnt out

Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, France, the UK, brussels, and Israel, Ecuador, now australia, most of the OAS nations, off the top of my head added to pop resistance's list.

The Imperial thugocracy, yes. but it's been a very long campaign, begun under obomba, perhaps dubya?

look at this hashtag, for instance, and yes, a few 'Hands off tweets', but:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Venezuela

fascinating, thanks, partisan girl. I ♥ bellingcat and eliott higgins!:

yep: all i want is the truth...it must be out there somewhere.

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burnt out's picture

@wendy davis Thanks Wendy, yes, our partners in crime I guess, all hoping to get there share of the loot, but I still wonder how they could have any faith in US anymore. I sure as hell don't. Is there anyone we wouldn't turn on in an instant if there was enough profit in it?
So I think you feel it's not that we particularly want the goodies ourselves, it's more that we just want to keep it away from the "bad guys "? That makes more sense to me too since it doesn't seem like we're hurting for energy sources at the moment.
This is so likely to go so very bad for the people of that country. It's heart breaking to watch it all go down.
Thanks for helping us keep up with it all.

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All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon

wendy davis's picture

@burnt out

and i should have said earlier: 'nice to meet you'. ; ) but no, i think bolton' and rubio's statements are either personal opinions or abject ignorance. accept my apologies ahead of time for going stream-of-consciousness, as my thoughts have been tumbling over the larger meaning of all this brewing over time.

the newest sanctions, of course, are designed to 'make the economy in VZ scream' further, and will likely cause more of the top level generals defect to guaido. they'll not only make it impossible for the maduro government to buy food, medicine, and other commodities, but if (iirc>) flannel-mouth bolton wasn't just woofin' about 'one tanker of oil has left VZ but there will be no mas!'...then that means a blockade, doesn't it? if so, then nothing could come in, either, even if maduro's allies tried to fill the shelves again.

but 'stemming/reversing the pink tide bolivarism' even began in Mexico after the ejido system (agricultural land held in commons) was given birth in the 1930s, then unwound ahead of mexico joining Nafta in 1994, causing such a ruckus in chiapas. the zapatista horizontal democracy was born that day in five villages (caracols), much to the consternation of mexico and the IDF. i like them a lot, although they aren't everyone's cuppa, to say the least: an introduction.

but hint, hint, clue, clue: 'OpSec fail or unspoken threat? Bolton’s ‘5,000 troops’ notepad line ups ante for Venezuela?' (via RT today) must be both, no? 'colombia denies it! well, they would, either way.

but bringing in Dr. Death Squad Abrams does.not.bode.well, and i doubt that was just a psyop, myself. but the grauniad's story today is that the kremlin is denying that the mercenaries were sent to protect maduro (gotta love: either dozens or...er...hundreds, wasn't it thousands they'd reported earlier? but see, that also makes it 'about russia', as wasserman-shultz and friends had.

next it'll be 'Xi sends in mercenaries to'...whatever. but fuck this empire and its capitalist lackeys for all they do around the globe. MLK, jr: the US is the greatest exporter of violence on the planet. dayum, i'll try to hush my mouth now; this is all to evil to chronicle.

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burnt out's picture

@wendy davis Ya kind of lost me on the rubio-bolton statements, not sure what statements you're referring to, maybe rubio spouting off about Maduro could expect a substantial response blah blah or boltons note pad thingy about 5000 troops? Not sure how they relate to anything I said? Columbia puzzled about memo? Ha, Holmes has learned his lines very well. It's almost impossible to sort it all out but one things a given, it's gonna get worse before it gets better and it's the poorest folk that will suffer the brunt of it and the rich will get richer. What a wonderful world.

have a vague understanding of zapatista history but not much so will check out your link. thanks

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All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon

wendy davis's picture

@burnt out

that 'it's all about the oil'.

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wendy davis's picture

@burnt out

enterprise that is colombia is now in Nato, and there are U bases there, as there are in ecudaor, which nation the trump administration has secured a memo of military cooperation. in strong ally bolivia, evo morales is up for re-election for his fourth term in october 2019.

france 24: "Bolivian ex-president Carlos Mesa on Saturday launched his candidacy for the 2019 election, in which he will face Evo Morales who will be seeking his fourth consecutive term.

Analysts believe 65-year-old Mesa, a historian and journalist who previously governed Bolivia between 2003 and 2005, is the only hope of uniting the whole opposition against Morales."

from the US state department:

"The United States joins the European Union in stressing that threats against judges from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal are not conducive to creating the conditions required to hold free and fair elections in 2019.

Respect for the independence of the judiciary, political pluralism, and freedom of expression are fundamental rights and essential pillars of democracy and the rule of law.

The United States supports a healthy democracy in Bolivia that respects Bolivia’s constitution and the will of the Bolivian people."

so if evo wins? Illegitimate Elections!, imo.

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snoopydawg's picture

and since Venezuela is "in our backyard" as Maher said we have every reason and right to remove any president that doesn't allow our "special interests" to have access to their resources and especially their oil.

Declaration of a National Emergency

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela. The order does not target the people of Venezuela, but rather is aimed at persons involved in or responsible for the erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to antigovernment protests, and arbitrary arrest and detention of antigovernment protestors, as well as the exacerbating presence of significant public corruption in that country. In addition to taking action under IEEPA, the order implements the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-278) (the "Act"), which I signed on December 18, 2014, and delegates certain of its authorities.

~ by Barack Obama ~

You gotta love the hypocrisy of Obama's statement on ... when he had ordered his department of homeland security to work with democratic mayors across the country to break up the Occupy Wall Street protests.

o significant acts of violence or conduct that constitutes a serious abuse or violation of human rights, including against persons involved in antigovernment protests in Venezuela in or since February 2014;

o actions that prohibit, limit, or penalize the exercise of freedom of expression or peaceful assembly;

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

...and thar he blows! another Hypocrite-in-Chief war criminal. sorry to give it such short shrift. but it's closing time for me; i'm beat. closing lullaby is 'What a Wonderful World'. g'nght, all.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jW8_RMbFaM]

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snoopydawg's picture

If Vlad is sending mercs to protect Maduro from Trump and his merry bands of sociopaths then how will this coup help Vlad? Yep. I'm serious. The kos kids think that Trump is doing this because Vlad told him to. This is also why he shut down the government. Vlad's intent is to dismantle the country.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

This looks like it might be fake news that is being spread to further someone's agendas.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also denounced rumors about the deployment of “Russian mercenaries” in Venezuela.

In fact, these rumors are a part of the ongoing media campaign designed to demonize the Maduro government and to show “Russian meddling” in its affairs while in fact the US is pushing a regime change agenda in the country. Mainstream media outlets also provide a false data about the situation in Venezuela claiming that almost “entire country” supports the US-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido. This is untrue. Furthermore, the Armed Forces openly support Maduro. On February 10-15, the country’s military will hold drills repelling a simulated invasion and enhancing their skills in defending the territories, coast and waterways.

I wouldn't mind though if Russia and China were over there protecting Venezuela from our greedy hands. Some one needs to put their foot down on our 'aggression,'. Hey. Isn't that what people are upset with Russia for doing? If we grab Venezuela can it be okay for Russia to grab Crimea?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

asleep, or hands-off. putin and lavrov seem to call out the criminality of a putsch a per international law, as does the UN human right rapporteur, including the fact that sanctions are war on a nation's citizenry. but still rumors persist (even via popular resistance) that russia is about to send a second wave of troops to VZ. first one, being, the flying instructors who came with the bombers (or so i assume).

as i'd said up yonder, it would be lovely if maduro's allies could send in food, medicines, and i should have added 'toilet paper', as the lack of that product was always featured by the MSM against maduro. remember the photos of plates with a carrot, maybe three grapes? "this is what maduro gives us to eat!" it may have been at the time that he'd been diversifying in agriculture in area all over the nation, giving the food to anyone in hunger.

can't verify this, of course, but moon of alabama on twitter had retweeted this; i've included the parent tweet):

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

zero hedge sure bought it:

"The contractors traveled to Venezuela on private chartered flights that first landed in Cuba. The contractors have been charged with stopping opposition sympathizers or members of Maduro's own forces from detaining him.

"Our people are there directly for his protection," Shabayev said, in light of the attempted revolt staged by rogue military officers earlier this week.

One source said a group of contractors had arrived in Venezuela before elections last year where Maduro won a second six year term, but another group had arrived "more recently."

Public flight tracking data suggests the latest batch of contractors arrived some time betwee(n) mid-December and this past week."

amanda mathews had been ranting about the fake news at the grauniad, so i'd given her that report from their site as a "like this?" unsourced, or anonymously sourced, or bellingcat-online crowd-sourced?

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The Aspie Corner's picture

We colonize the world for profit and we wonder why we see asylum seekers and refugees (and 'illegal' immigrants).

System.out.print("Won't someone please think of the children?!");

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

wendy davis's picture

@The Aspie Corner

picturing, but a nation built on the twin evils of first american genocide ('our manifest destiny') and slavery, a constitution establishing private property rights as a key ingredient...well, no. hell' bells; some revisionist historians even say that the amerikan revolution wasn't really about tea taxes, but that mad king george was about to outlaw slavery in the colony. i can't offer any challenge to that point of view, myself.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

@wendy davis The Tea Act of 1773 was a tax break for the British East India Company that allowed them to import tea to the colonies tax free, undercutting local businesses.

Background on the Tea Act of 1773

As for slavery, the British Empire didn't outlaw it until the 1830s.

Not long after that, EIC went into the Opium trade. China and other regions sure suffered for that.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

wendy davis's picture

@The Aspie Corner

having untangled my epic confusion. seems to happen more and more these days. ; )

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burnt out's picture

Things may not be going quite as planned in Venezuala
https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14270

the attempt to get the OAS to recognise Guaidó as president failed, with only 16 votes out of 34

the European Union did not formally recognise Guaidó

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All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon

wendy davis's picture

@burnt out

miscalcualted, as i'd said 'about half the OAS nations'. but it must have been various ministers of the EU who'd recognized him, but it's not worth going back and checking my last VZ coup's afoot diary.

new zealand's FM's not recognizing guaido, but as to whether the nation had ever formally recognized maduro, i dunno. but sorry, venezuelanalisis, not much of a hitchcompared to everything.

i did have to laugh at the guardian love fest interview with guaido. at least the 2 authors did offer a cautionary tale about his admiration for uber-right-wing, pinochet-loving jair bolnosaro.

but as many say, according to the MSM (final graphic n the OP) the killers are always maduro supporters, not the death-dealing guarimbestas and the opposition marches ae always 'zillions strong!' guess that's part of why this was on maduro's twit account:

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@wendy davis

and any hitch is insupportable in the view of the overlords. They have a zero tolerance policy on dissent.

Funny how many ways the War on Drugs set us up for this fascist, authoritarian McCarthyite crap.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@burnt out

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Lookout's picture

and it is rumored they will be given to the opposition to fund a revolution.
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-us-venezuela-sanctions-20190128...

...started talks to change its preferred currency to euros from dollars for some business relationships, an idea that has failed in previous years. President Nicolas Maduro last week said the OPEC-member could also use China’s yuan, India’s rupees, Russia’s ruble and Japan’s yen.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-citgo-pete-credit-exclusive/exclu...
Challenge the petro-dollar and you face the fate of Qaddafi

...and the UK refuses to return their gold.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-16/bank-englands-refusal-return-v...

Interesting who is supporting Maduro
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2019/01/28/maduro-v-gua...

So we choke them with sanctions and then holler that their gov't is illegitimate. Sadly it is the US military corporate oligarchy that is not legit.

The United Snakes spreading its venom.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
Call it another battle in the never-ending Citgo chapter of the world resource war. UK 'witholding' VZ gold. How does the World Bank and IMF extort profit from these blazon international crimes? That is the obvious plot buster. Greedy gangstas.
Not in my name.

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wendy davis's picture

@Lookout

are in the bag for guaido. thanks. now this i found in the twtterverse tankie callling it highway robbery. at the jpost ' U.S. gives Guaido control over some Venezuelan assets, By REUTERS, January 29, 2019

"WASHINGTON, Jan 29 - The United States has certified the authority of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to control certain assets held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or any other U.S.-insured banks, the State Department said on Tuesday.

The certification, given on Friday, applies to certain property held in accounts belonging to the Venezuelan government or its central bank. "This certification will help Venezuela’s legitimate government safeguard those assets for the benefit of the Venezuelan people," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement."

b at MoA had this up a few days ago, but skimming thru it, i think he hadn't an idea of how fast and far this fukkery would 'take', although i never watched the video, checked all the links: 'Venezuela - Trump's Coup Plan Has Big Flaws'.

now this a weird one, sputnik news via CNN, so there's that fake news possibility, but: 'Venezuelan Defectors in Exile Ask the US For Weapons Against Maduro - Report', jan. 30

"They also asked Brazil, Colombia, Peru and other countries for guns, claiming soldiers in Venezuela are ready for an all-out revolt. The latter statement, however, remains up for debate.

Venezuelan Army defectors who have fled the country have turned to the US administration, asking for weapons to use against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a CNN report says.

Two former soldiers, Carlos Guillen Martinez and Josue Hidalgo Azuaje, both whom live beyond Venezuela's borders, told CNN in an interview that they want the US to arm defectors inside the country to fight Maduro in favor of self-appointed Interim President Juan Guaido.

The defectors also seized the opportunity to call on their former compatriots to rebel against Maduro.

"As Venezuelan soldiers, we are making a request to the US to support us, in logistical terms, with communication, with weapons, so we can realize Venezuelan freedom," Martinez told CNN.", etc.

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OzoneTom's picture

And we haven't even started taking "our share" of profits from their mineral resources.

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wendy davis's picture

@OzoneTom

scream until they oust that corrupt dictator maduro.

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EyeRound's picture

By lifting sanctions against aluminum oligarch who is said to be a "close friend" of Vladimir himself?

Now that oil revenues have been sequestered, how's Maduro going to pay the soldiers?

Rumors are flying fast and furious (i.e., Bolton flashed a memo with words "5,000 troops to Colombia") and the coup attempt is so impudent that bp's must be skyrocketing around the world.

Thank you WD for keeping us well-informed!

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wendy davis's picture

@EyeRound

"Some lawmakers, from both parties, also said it was inappropriate to ease the sanctions while Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigates whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Moscow, something the U.S. president denies.

But in its statement on Sunday, the U.S. Treasury Department said the three companies had reduced Deripaska’s direct and indirect shareholding stake and severed his control."

cough. bidness before pleasure.

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check this out:

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/01/the-vultures-of-caracas/

Another "Brooks Brothers" riot.

Sure, it is about the oil, but I think something else is going here as well. There is a class analysis to be made here. The American capitalist class and their servants and apparatchiks, whom I do not hesitate to describe and denounce as treasonous, are helping their counterparts in Venezuela, the folks who lost (some) privileges and status under Chavez and Maduro. Remember the intro to Jeff Faux's book about Nafta--I don't have the book at hand and am relying on memory--a WH staffer told Faux something like Salinas is one of us, he is a Harvard grad., we have to help him. Never mind the national interests of either Mexico or the USA, or now, Venezuela, we, the righteous good people who can afford to travel, have to rally around our South American good people friends. You all did notice the absence of very many dark hued persons in the photo, right? They must have hated Chavez, the brown Indio who was like three times smarter than any of them.

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Mary Bennett

wendy davis's picture

@Nastarana

including the fact that i often fail at noticing/reading correctly, his essay is part of the OP, and referencing the opening graphic.

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@wendy davis I thought I had checked to see if someone else posted it first but I overlooked your link.

Look what happened while you were partying at Davos, and Trump was distracted by the shutdown. The oligarchs do know how to pick their moments.

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Mary Bennett

wendy davis's picture

@Nastarana

needed, as i said i do it all the time. i jut hadn't wanted you to feel crap about it as i often do, and will say, "i swear i'll learn to read some day..." (but i won't swear when.)
; )

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Brett Wilkins's picture

Thanks for posting a link to my Telesur/Venezuela Analysis piece on this history of US meddling in Venezuela. I'm working on another one now about the third coming of the horror show that is Elliott Abrams.

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wendy davis's picture

@Brett Wilkins

narrative/exposé was a welcome Bonus addition to the thread in case folks wanted to dig a bit deeper. yes, we'd been discussing chvez and 'the stench of sulphur' while dubya was at the UN on my last diary on the coup.

looking forward to your next one, and yes, the third iteration of elliott abrams is quite the horror show. goddam his evil death squads heart.

apologies to all others, but my brain and eyes are frazzled, and i need some rest. swear to the goddess i've been up and down the comments and can't even find CB's history of crimea. that tells me i'm more than burned out.

so...siesta time, and best heart to you all. oh, and i have more info and fukkery to add, as well.

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Another motive for the coup:

https://www.ecowatch.com/venezuela-bans-gmo-crops-passes-one-of-worlds-m...

Agribiz clearly wants to get its' grubby hands on the fertile Orinoco plain.

Mr. Wilkins, you might want to consider mentioning the GMO angle in your blogging.

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Mary Bennett

wendy davis's picture

@Nastarana

possible, as victor yanukovich was putsched partially due to Monsanto's heavy land purchases in ukraine, 'breadbasket to the world'. i just looked it up, and am surprised to find this:

"Despite massive pressure from U.S. multinational Monsanto and the Ukrainian Grain Association, Ukraine’s Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations supported a new moratorium Monday on genetically modified (GM) crops until 2023.

Earlier in 2016, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity” MP, Mikola Lyushnyak entered a Bill to the Ukrainian Parliament to continue and strengthen the current moratorium on GM crops in the country."

i admit i have a hard time believing that the key players in this coup even know anything about food sovereignty, but maybe other big ag players are involved. side note: i'd seen at RT that yanukovich was on trial for treason, but hadn't clicked in. note to self: check it out.

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@wendy davis @wendy davis do you have a link for that quote?

As for agribiz influence on our foreign policy, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and poops like a duck....

Before the coup, I think I read somewhere, Ukrainian land could only be owned by Ukrainian citizens.

National seed banks have been destroyed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The scientists and their assistants who were overseeing the Syrian collection of the historic grains and pulses of the fertile crescent have gone to heroic lengths to move their seeds out of harm's way. I believe some are now being maintained in Morocco.

Then there was the willful destruction by NATO of Libya's Great Man Made River, a pipeline bringing artesian Sahara water to the Libyan littoral. Apparently the French company Viviani thinks it should get to own the world's fresh water. It looks to me like outright war on any country which presumes to feed itself and preserve it's own agricultural heritage.

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Mary Bennett

wendy davis's picture

@Nastarana

November 7, 2016, GMO GEOPOLITICS: THE UKRAINE BUCKS GMOs

the author mentions monsanto in ukraine as well. on the way to find it i'd run into: Monsanto in Ukraine: IMF loan for Ukraine may give GMO giant a backdoor into EU’, RT 30 Aug, 2014

pierre omidyar had his billionaire paws in the coup there as well, mainly (IIRC) his strong financcial support fo usaid and ned, both covers for CIA.

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wendy davis's picture

this one will set you laughing, guaran-damn-teed: 'Venezuela Has 20 Tons of Gold Ready to Ship. Destination Unknown, bloomberg news via msn.com news:

“Venezuelan lawmaker Jose Guerra dropped a bombshell on Twitter Tuesday: The Russian Boeing 777 that had landed in Caracas the day before was there to spirit away 20 tons of gold from the vaults of the country’s central bank.
The claim set off a welter of social media speculation and outrage. When asked how he knew this, Guerra provided no evidence.

Just another outlandish comment from a lawmaker trying to draw attention to the plight of crisis-torn Venezuela? Perhaps not. For one thing, Guerra is a former central bank economist who remains in touch with old colleagues there. For another, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News Tuesday that 20 tons of gold have been set aside in the central bank for loading. Worth some $840 million, the gold represents about 20 percent of its holdings of the metal in Venezuela, the person said. He provided no further information on plans for those bars.

Nicolas Maduro

With strongman President Nicolas Maduro losing control of the country’s already-scant finances and reserves thanks to U.S. sanctions, who can put his hands on the nation’s estimated 200 tons of gold at home and abroad has become a key question. The nation owes billions to its patrons Russia and China as well as bondholders, and also needs hard currency to buy food for its starving people.

Venezuela has been trying for years to increase its gold reserves by encouraging mining, putting the military in charge of vast territories that yield the precious metal. State gold processor Minerven melts the ore into bars, which military aircraft take to airbases around Caracas. Soldiers regularly unload it into armored vehicles bound for the central bank and beyond."

"On Monday, a plane belonging to Nordwind Airlines, a company based in Moscow, landed at the international airport near Caracas, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Finance Minister Simon Zerpa declined to comment on the nation’s gold and also said there was no Russian plane at Simon Bolivar International Airport.
“I’m going to start bringing Russian and Turkish airplanes every week so everybody gets scared,” he said."

from RT this a.m.:

"“Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has claimed that Donald Trump ordered the Colombian government and mafia to assassinate him, but insisted that he’s well protected from the threat of assassination.
“Without a doubt, Donald Trump gave the order to kill me, told the Colombian government, the Colombian mafia, to kill me. If something happens to me, Donald Trump and Colombian President Ivan Duque will be responsible,” Maduro told RIA Novosti. Maduro, however, expressed confidence in his country’s security services.
“I am always protected by the Venezuelan people, we have a good intelligence service,” he said.

Maduro also claimed that White House National Security Adviser John Bolton has prevented Trump from communicating with the Venezuelan government. The Venezuelan president told RIA Novosti that he has repeatedly tried – but failed – to reach out to the US leader. "For all these years, I have been trying on a personal level [to establish dialogue] … But Bolton prevented Donald Trump from initiating a dialogue with Nicolas Maduro. I have the information that he has prohibited this," Maduro said."

i swear though, every morning i held expect to see that he's been assassinated.

wsws clears up my mistaken claim about brussells supporting the guaido coup this morning:
'Germany and EU support US-engineered coup in VenezuelaPeter Schwarz
30 January 2019, wsws.org

“The governments of Germany, France, Spain, Great Britain and the Netherlands, as well as European Union Foreign Affairs Commissioner Federica Mogherini, gave the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, an ultimatum on Saturday: either he calls “free, transparent and democratic elections” within eight days, or Juan Guaidó, who appointed himself head of state last week with Washington’s backing, will be recognized as the new president.
Maduro rejected this demand at once, while Guaidó welcomed the “tough” EU response. It was “very positive, very productive for Venezuela,” he said. The line of “pressure” taken by Europe was correct, he told his followers in Caracas, and appealed again to the military to abandon Maduro and back him.

The threat against Maduro exposes the lie that Berlin and Brussels, unlike Washington, pursue a foreign policy committed to multilateralism, democracy and peace. Not only the governing Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, but also the Greens and the Left Party support the return of Germany to great power politics and militarism.", and more

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