No Mas Guaidoistas!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GNHPmqZxxM]
‘Venezuela’s Parallel Ambassador Seated at OAS as Activists Defend Embassy; The Organization of American States allowed the ambassador of Venezuela’s self-declared president to participate in his first meeting. The move could signal an attempt to take over Venezuela’s embassy in DC, which activists are defending’ April 24, 2019, TRNN (the transcript’s at the link)
Anya Parampil was in attendance, bless her heart; a few teasers:
‘Venezuelan opposition reps throw temper tantrums when confronted about lack of legitimacy, interventionist plans at OAS’ Anya Parampil, April 24, 2019
“At the OAS, two top representatives of Juan Guaido’s US-backed shadow government – Gustavo Tarre and David Smolansky – lost their cool when confronted with critical questions. Both recently attended a closed-door DC meeting on a US military assault.
On April 23, the Venezuelan lawyer and opposition activist Gustavo Tarre stood outside the Simon Bolivar room inside the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington DC and fielded friendly questions from reporters.
It was a rare day of celebration for the Venezuelan opposition, which had been deprived of concrete victories since launching their coup with US backing in January. Having just been installed with as Venezuela’s “ambassador” at the OAS, Tarre controlled little more than the chair he sat in. But as he was trotted out into the hall by a young handler in order to hold his first press-conference as “ambassador,” he beamed with pride.
As soon as I approached Tarre and another key figure in Juan Guaido’s coup administration with critical questions about their legitimacy – and about their apparent participation in a closed door meeting to discuss a US military assault on Venezuela – their ebullience turned to rage.
When I asked Tarre if he had participated in the roundtable, and if he thought it was normal for an ambassador to discuss a foreign invasion of his own country, he pivoted to a familiar opposition talking point: “[Venezuela] is a country invaded by foreigners. Invaded by Russian agents. Invaded by Cubans.”
‘US Military Attack on Venezuela Mulled by Top Trump Advisors and Latin American Officials at Private DC Meeting’, Max Blumenthal, grayzoneproject.com, April 13, 2019
The Washington, DC-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted a private roundtable on April 10 called “Assessing the Use of Military Force in Venezuela.” A list of attendees was provided to The Grayzone and two participants confirmed the meeting took place. They refused to offer any further detail, however.
Among the roughly 40 figures invited to the off-the-record event to discuss potential US military action against Caracas were some of the most influential advisors on President Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy. They included current and former State Department, National Intelligence Council, and National Security Council officials, along with Admiral Kurt Tidd, who was until recently the commander of US SOUTHCOM.
Senior officials from the Colombian and Brazilian embassies like Colombian General Juan Pablo Amaya, as well as top DC representatives from Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaido’s shadow government, also participated in the meeting.”
(The complete list of attendees for the private CSIS event on US military options against Venezuela appears at the bottom of this article.)
Venezuela withdrew from the OAS (some note it’s the Monroe Doctrine stretched a bit) on April 26, 2017 before the Bolivarian nation could be tossed out. Mercosur, the Southern Common Market, suspended Venezuela from the august partnership on Dec. 1, 2016. Long live ALBA! Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela.
Perhaps Trump and Bolton can find a CIA Cubano expat in Florida to crown himself King of Cuba, or an opponent of Miguel Díaz-Canel to do the same.
‘Trump cracks down on Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela’, April 17, 2019, apnews.com
“…rolling back Obama administration policy and announcing new restrictions and sanctions against the three countries whose leaders national security adviser John Bolton dubbed the “three stooges of socialism.”
“The troika of tyranny — Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — is beginning to crumble,” Bolton said in a hard-hitting speech near Miami on the 58th anniversary of the United States’ failed Bay of Pigs invasion of the island, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.
The measures seem likely to hit hardest in Cuba, which is at a moment of severe economic weakness as it struggles to find cash to import basic food and other supplies following a drop in aid from Venezuela and a string of bad years in other key economic sectors.
Bolton announced a new cap on the amount of money that families in the United States can send their relatives in Cuba. The Obama administration had lifted limits on remittances, but the new limit will be $1,000 per person per quarter. Remittances to Cuba from the United States amounted to $3 billion in 2016, according to the State Department.”
Non-family travel to Cuba, i.e.: tourism, cultural, and educational exchanges may be ‘restricted’ as well. Details to follow, the administration notes. Warning: Chief Mafia Boss ahead:
“Bolton spoke hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new policy allowing lawsuits against foreign firms operating on properties Cuba seized from Americans after the 1959 revolution. The United States has enforced a trade embargo against Cuba since the early 1960s.
Cuban officials met the announcements with defiance.” (as did President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Twitter)
Ya think? The rest again, is here. Can we hold a contest to name the True Troikas of Tyrrany?
Great report from @TheRealNews at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. where a collective is gathered in firm defence of the diplomatic offices. Full report: https://t.co/S2ZzU5TKl2) pic.twitter.com/PtWrf1Egms
— Camila (@camilateleSUR) April 26, 2019
Activists which make up the Embassy Protection Collective say that they'll remain at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC for as long as it takes to defend the diplomatic office as long as its under threat. @answercoalition @codepink @PopResistance pic.twitter.com/daat6mDMkJ
— Estefanía Bravo (@EbravoteleSUR) April 25, 2019
(cross-posted from Café Babylon)
Comments
i'd meant to include
this link to: https://venezuelanalysis.com/ so that you might browse for stories you'd like, such as:
‘Report: US Sanctions Have Cost 40,000 Venezuelan Lives’, Apr 26th 2019; Economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs conclude that US sanctions “would fit the definition of collective punishment.”
from telesur english
on twitter:
Squeeze the economy dry, kill the citizens. goddam them.
Pretty ironic that Mnuchin calls someone else illegitimate
With over 1000 pending California criminal indictments for bank fraud, Mnuchin seems to be quite quite the poster boy for graft and corruption. Yet he was left with a spotless record as the Harris bimbo quashed all pending criminal actions (including at least 1000 more unfiled charges as well).
zounds, a double
hypocrite; i didn't know that history, gator. are you speaking of the Lotus Flower Harris running for prez? wow, they've both got some huevos, don't they?
may i add here that john feffer won the contest yesterday: “If you’re in the market for a troika of tyranny, Donald Trump, John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo certainly fit the bill.”, counterpunch.org
nice to see you, as ever.
Thanks Wendy but there is only one Camel, thanks be to Gott
Some may call her a bimbo, whilst I am content to simply call her what she is--a whore. Did she do some couch auditioning during her Hamptons' floor show?
BTW, I was busy typing my latest literary endeavor when you named the tyrannical troika in your comment. Thus, parallel observations. Come over to the swamp sometime--butterflies are a protected species.
First there will be an air war, no?
America loves indiscriminate bombing.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
if the increasingly brutal
economic war still doesn't succeed turning the VZ military against maduro, who can say which next steps will be in store? i went thru max's list of attendees, and boy, howdy, what a list of thugs and rogues gallery it is. but given southern command, maybe off-shore shelling to start? i really can't remember by now if russia had provided the nation with manpads or whatever they're called, to shoot down aerial bombs.
bug splat by drone missiles? but i love hearing macri and bolsonaro claim they are NOT in favor of a military campaign. think how easily missiles could be launched from brazil. oy and veh. but he had this old tweet from the former commander of southern command:
on evening edit, washington sure thinks so: 'U.S. Says Russia ‘Will Pay a Price’ for Helping Venezuela, Where Missiles Are Getting Ready to Fire' By Tom O'Connor On 3/29/19 , newsweek.com
pffft.
Stick a fork in him, he's done.
i tend to doubt that,
but if he is, it isn't because of that piece in the new yawker, even if some of it reads like obfuscating word salad. ; )
to the room at large: i gotta admit, thanks all for the thumbs (and all the fishes) but i'd have guessed there were more actual socialists on this site in solidarity with the bolivarian nations.
@wendy davis EXACTLY.
EXACTLY.
Does anyone TRULY think Bernie Sanders has not completely been brought into the fold of the DNC, and therefore the Plutocracy ?
(he had to get their permission to run, after all).
Also...just curious...has Bernie publicly staked his position on Julian Assange ? Because back as early as 2017 he was already trumpeting the Russia Interfered in Our elections hoax...
you guessed it
in spades! ‘Berniecrats feeling burned as Sanders keeps mum on Assange’s arrest, RT, 12 Apr, 2019
but i'll have to say that ro khanna and 'progressive' homies letter to Pompeo that criminalized maduro up the wazoo, then had virtue-signaled: 'but we don't support regime change'; end the sanctions!. bah, what rubbish. this is the anti-war DSA/progressives?
on edit: i should have included the letter's signatories, the anti-war DSAs are the most cynical, of course. hello, tulsi, hello AOC, ilhan omar, ayanna pressley, rhashida talib, and tra la la...
thanks for commenting; i've been a bit concerned by the dearth of comments.
lol!
the bern may be vindicated yet, if he he fails to win the oval office 2020:
RT link. great header art, by the by; dunno who it's supposed to be.
Absolutely! Bernie shot his wad
and at 78, it will take him quite a while to get another load stored up. I stuck a fork in him after he crawled up Hillary's pant legs to lick her butt. He came out smelling like something you would expect to smell like after such an errant meal. Ain't no soap that can wipe off Bernie's COLLUSION or rid him of that ever-lingering taint. I was originally a die-hard Berniecrat. He sold out and doesn't get to redeem his 13 pieces of silver.
Time for Tulsi, folks.
er...ummmm...
time for green party primary candidate howie hawkins, imo. ; ) and no, we don't have any spare bucks to send him...yet. but we will, says our magic 8 ball.
on edit: he's an eco-socialist, but as to his updated Green new deal, i can't say i'm fond of it he touts electric cars, for crissake, and likes 'renewable energy' which does not equate to 'sustainable energy'...at least as he's extolling 'extinction rebellion'. meh. but i like this, although it doesn't amount to great oratory:
‘War for Oil in Venezuela—While the Planet Burns from Burning Oil’, howie hawkins, Apr 24, 2019 | Anti-imperialism, Exploratory, but he is anti-war, anti-imperialist, an actual socialist. not that he'll necessarily win the nomination. oh, and he's been helping to occupy the VZ embassy in deecee, too.
Actually it's time for a fucking revolution
unless people want to continue to be ruled by the rich. Voting in this duopoly system is not going to stop them.
i might amend your
'...ruled by the rich' to be more narrowly 'ruled by capital', although it's not a large differentiation, although not all capitalists are wealthy...but hope to be.
but within this duopoly, you're only too correct: both are parties of capital, both are parties of war, even if nuanced in certain respects, esp. as regards: which enemies of the Imperium, and 'whose capital' is served best?
i admit i've been doing too much reading on the tankie twittersphere, ecosocialism/wrong kind of green/the myth of overpopulation again v. the emergency big brands afoot now...and find it all so very dizzying.
but as emma goldman had said soooo long ago: 'if elections really mattered, they would be illegal'. iirc, she'd also said, 'if you throw a revolution, and i can't dance'...fuck it? and that's where i fail in my imagining. you? need some rest for now; days are so long here in RL, and i'm soooo slow. read: old and in the way.
I guess I don't know what she means
by "if I can't dance". Maybe I missed the background of it. As you can see clearly by what's happening now with this democratic party primary, it really doesn't matter. Most people just following the bouncing red ball.
love your mitch miller
('sing along with') by 'following the bouncing red ball' (lyrics, tempo) metaphor. yes, and the 2020 election season started when? a day after those elected in the midterms were seated. did someone say they're ten D candidates now vying for the oval office? each with their adherents, each with their...*stated* policy positions that the voting public is supposed to mean something. 'oh, but he hadn't really meant to vote for R2P libya, seriously; and oh how he's changed his mind, admitted it was a mistake!' 'oh, she's anti-war, the best evah!', 'sure she loves drones in aid of the war on terr'a, don't you?'
i suspect what emma'd meant was that a revolution should be fun, whatever form it takes, and i try to remember that when i put up my closing songs, but i fail to do so. come to think of it, i might try to do so tonight. but sure i'm tired of it. i with this election season, i keep seeing that greek mural of the guy in prison titled 'hope dies last'. it seem even a hella lot of greeks get that alexis tsipras turned out to be a comp ardor w/ feet of clay. cripes, maybe even a Trojan Horse of sorts. privatizing everything thing he can get his hands on, including the sea ports.
shoot, even the thug narendra modi used and obomba sheperd fairey-esque 'hope' poster for his campaign.
1904, Eugene Debs
"The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles."
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
That's kind of what gets me now, knowing what I know now. There is always some new politician pied pipering the hope and change spiel to the people, but the system remains the same. I read something recently about the "failure of representative democracy" not just here but on the entire planet. That's why we keep seeing the Tsipras' and Macrons and Trumps and Obamas show up with all this talk of change and the only change we get is more for the rich and less for the rest of us. If the human race can't get past this type of governance into something more "human-proof", my grandkids will probably be dead before their times.
ah, so sad that you're
pinging your grand-chirren's early deaths. but i agree, and love the eugene debs quote. my homie anthony freda drew it like this Hope i haven't made it too small to see:
hope and change for presidents for world peace, as per opol's new diary as well. but it's a sad situation, including the fact that google, social networking sites, are censoring 'subversives', and jimmy wales wikipedia is now on the board of NewsGuard. stir in how many dems are CIA dems, and that the Ds have learned to love the cia. sigh.
I'd have to seriously
disagree with the notion that world peace can come from this political system and the duopoly system. The only peace that will come is the fake peace offerings the ruling class, thru their representatives, serve up to try to keep the natives from bringing out the guillotines. The only way we'll have peace is to completely overturn the world capitalist order and the unrepresentative political systems controlled by those with wealth. I don't see the democratic party and it's representative as president leading that charge. The facts are the duopoly represents the oligarchy and will do anything it can to prevent threats to the capitalist system. In that respect, the democratic party is the opposition in the class war, said that many times. That may be a minority opinion here, but it's not in the country as a whole with less than 30% of the voting population admitting to supporting the democratic party.
i'd add that a lotta
amerikans don't even vote, and *polls* say the reason are varied' as i'd looked it up recently. wish i had the time and energy to say which parts of your comment i agree with and why, but i'm so tired after commenting (albeit minimally) on threads here, and two current and days; old past threads at the café.
but what is will need to cause there to be an anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist movement internationally, of course is a true revolution of higher consciousnesses, which i've written about before. and yet we seem further from it than ten years ago during the days of occupy direct democracy (now mike gravel), idle no more, and the zapatistas showing the world what bottom to top democracy looks like.
thank you. big al, and yes, we are the minority report here, but i need to take a break and imagine what a closing song might be. peace be with you...wiht all of us...as it can be.
That's a cut-rate sellout
considering that the standard rate is 30 pieces of silver.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
can't really imagine what an
appropriate closing song might be, but i'm going to go with the last song that the late great alchemist John Trudell's recorded before 'his ride came for him'.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRTMe_EPgSM]
g' night, all.
tweets from 2/3 of
the true troika of tyranny:
closing time for me.
given that cuba and nicaragua are next on the troika of tyranny's hit list, i thought i'd go with these cubano viejos 'the buena vista social club'. there is one of dancers dancing to the tune, but their fine music's too far in the background. g' night.
[video:https://youtu.be/tGbRZ73NvlY?t=9]