Everyone Has Fallen for the Lies About Venezuela

[Karl Frederick]

If you've been swallowing the media hype about Venezuela, please read the linked article by Lee Camp on Truthdig . . .
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ev...out-venezuela/

Here's an excerpt:
"So who is feeding the average American the idea that our involvement in Venezuela is about helping people? Only EVERY mainstream media channel in America—from MSNBC to Fox News to NPR to Bill fuckin’ Maher. It’s truly mind-numbing to watch so-called “liberals” march in lockstep with the likes of John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Donald Trump and every neocon not currently in a coma.

These outlets froth at the mouth while presenting segments explaining that the Venezuelan people are starving, but they also purposefully avoid mentioning that a lot of Venezuela’s hardships are due to U.S. sanctions. This isn’t to say Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has done an awesome job. But whether he has or not, saying we must sanction them to help them is like if somebody fell through a plate glass window and you said, “Let’s help him! Let’s start cutting the glass shards out of his skin with this rusty flathead screwdriver I found in an abandoned mine! Then we’ll pour Mountain Dew and sewage water in the wounds to help them heal!”

[podfish]

If you've been swallowing the media hype about Venezuela, please read the linked article by Lee Camp on Truthdig . . .
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ev...out-venezuela/

Here's an excerpt:
"So who is feeding the average American the idea that our involvement in Venezuela is about helping people? Only EVERY mainstream media channel in America—from MSNBC to Fox News to NPR to Bill fuckin’ Maher. It’s truly mind-numbing to watch so-called “liberals” march in lockstep with the likes of John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Donald Trump and every neocon not currently in a coma.

These outlets froth at the mouth while presenting segments explaining that the Venezuelan people are starving, but they also purposefully avoid mentioning that a lot of Venezuela’s hardships are due to U.S. sanctions. This isn’t to say Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has done an awesome job. But whether he has or not, saying we must sanction them to help them is like if somebody fell through a plate glass window and you said, “Let’s help him! Let’s start cutting the glass shards out of his skin with this rusty flathead screwdriver I found in an abandoned mine! Then we’ll pour Mountain Dew and sewage water in the wounds to help them heal!”

remember, this dude's a comedian. He's not a dispassionate analyst. I have no reason to disagree with his diatribes about the US and its motives. And the opponents of Maduro sure seem from here to be the traditional South American oligarchs the US has always supported.

A nice solution would use something other than rusty flathead screwdrivers. But I've been in situations where hell yes, I'd use a rusty flathead screwdriver to pull glass shards out of my skin. I'd prefer better tools but you use what you got.

With luck, the negative attention paid to all things Trump and Bolton, and the rise of various 'woke' movements (to extend the term), will mean a happier outcome for our involvement. The author lists a bunch of failed US interventions. Hard to tell from here, but I think the Kurds found our involvement the lesser of multiple evils. Maybe that's what Venezuela will get, but maybe they'll get something better. Unless the coverage is totally fake news, they're in a position where the status quo isn't tolerable.

[Mayacaman]

Several weeks ago my daughter, who lives in Brazil, sent me this very interesting article about the current Administration's long-term Game-plan for Mare Nostrum, "Our Sea" :

"The terrible forthcoming destruction of the « Caribbean Basin »

by Thierry Meyssan

President Trump has announced the withdrawal of US combat troops from the « Greater Middle East », but the Pentagon is still pursuing the implementation of the Rumsfeld-Cebrowski plan. This time the aim is to destroy the States of the « Caribbean Basin ». This is nothing like the overthrow of pro-Soviet regimes, as in the 1970’s, but the destruction of all regional State structures, without consideration for friends or political enemies. Thierry Meyssan observes the preparations for this new series of wars.

In a series of previous articles, we presented the SouthCom plan to provoke wars between the Latin-American nations in order to destroy the structures of all the States in the « Caribbean Basin ».

Preparations for wars of this magnitude, intended to follow on from the conflicts in the « Greater Middle East » according to the Rumsfeld-Cebrowski strategy, requires a decade.

After the period of economic destabilization and that of military preparation, the actual operation should begin in the years to come by an attack on Venezuela by Brazil (supported by Israël), Colombia (an ally of the United States) and Guyana (in other words, the United Kingdom). It will be followed by others, beginning with Cuba and Nicaragua (the « troïka of tyranny » according to John Bolton).

However, the original plan may be modified, particularly because of the return of the imperial ambitions of the United Kingdom which may influence the Pentagon...."

Here is the link:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article204656.html

[podfish]

.....

the actual operation should begin in the years to come by an attack on Venezuela by Brazil (supported by Israël), Colombia (an ally of the United States) and Guyana (in other words, the United Kingdom). It will be followed by others, beginning with Cuba and Nicaragua (the « troïka of tyranny » according to John Bolton)......

However, the original plan may be modified, particularly because of the return of the imperial ambitions of the United Kingdom which may influence the Pentagon...."

nice to have a specific, testable claim, though it's pretty much undercut by the disclaimer at the end. Kind of like "if there's a god, why is there so much suffering?" I think "if there's such a powerful cabal running the world, how come everything's so random?" The last thing I'd be accused of is impugning (imputing? yeah...) pure motives on the part of Bolton, but he's been hanging around gaining small victories and suffering small defeats for decades. To see that as some complex cover plot to fool who? the powerless masses? seems overly simplistic. And that's just one example.

The interactions of nations, corporate power, and politicians sure looks like the natural world -- chaos shaped by various forces, with lots of unplanned creatures and odd emergent behavior. Sure, maybe stink bugs are a sign of divine creation, but I still like Darwin's explanation better.

[Mayacaman]

As for the "return of the imperial ambitions of the United Kingdom which may influence the Pentagon...." Britain, since Brexit, is returning to her old habits as an Imperial power, unfettered by the limitations imposed by Brussels on the mere members of the EU. And yes, that shift is a game-changer - very certainly - a variable that leads to qualifying clauses...

Listen to Donald Trump himself, and his own imperialist boasting. In the following speech before his cheering fans he lays out his Agenda for nouveaux gunboat diplomacy in Venezuela and throughout the Caribbean, (which, to the American generals who chose Trump as their front-man, might as well be renamed) Mare Nostrum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNMWwHcWZRw

[podfish]

I find it hard to accept explanations of events that assume well-planned and well-coordinated plans that somehow us normal folks are only dimly aware of. Thierry claims such a plan is in motion, but weasels out at the end saying "maybe it will be modified...", thus making his world-view safe from the (very likely) event that the events he projects never actually happen. I don't buy his world view. It will take some better evidence to prove my skepticism wrong.

[Mayacaman]

With regards to your present explanation of what you meant, all I can say is "Wake up!"

Watch the video of Trump giving his pep talk to his raving fans, who are chanting "U.S.A. - U.S.A. - U.S.A.!!" every time he suggests he means business South of the Border =OR= that he might actually use that Big Stick he carries.

Thierry Meyssan does not need a crystal ball to delve into the plans of the Pentagon; he merely needs to be informed and to do a great deal of reading; from many sources. Not everyone has the patience or the fortitude to do that, but I accept the validity of his forecast, primarily because Donald J. Trump confirms it in his own inimitable way.

Furthermore, Meyssan is not suggesting - as you suggest he is - that a shadowy "cabal is running the world..." He is merely laying bare the plans of the generals in the Pentagon - the ones who tapped Trump for president and whose game-plan he is following. There's nothing mysterious about any of that; it is not a 'conspiracy' theory; it is totally straightforward.

This game-plan - of the generals - for the Western Hemisphere is not so different from the Agenda pursued by Theodore Roosevelt one hundred eighteen years ago. Indeed, there is nothing new under the Sun. In fact, it is pure, undiluted Roman Imperialism: Mare Nostrum = 'Our Sea.'

[Mayacaman]

Here's a little bit of the backstory to the current "Crisis" in U.S. / Venezuela relations and President Trump's obsession with promoting 'regime change' in Venezuela, eliminating Maduro, and ending "Socialism" throughout the Caribbean.

This documentary was produced while George W. Bush was still president of the United States and Hugo Chavez was still alive and president of Venezuela. This brilliant documentary was created and framed by Greg Pallast. Invest twenty-four minutes of your time and become better informed.

=AND=

To bring this tale up to the present, just listen to John Bolton, and the talking heads at Fox News pontificate about 'regime change' with regards to the governments in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua...

[Mayacaman]

One thing Deborah Tavares told me, in our telephone conversation yesterday, [Wednesday, June 12, 2019] that stood out. She said that she and her husband, Lou had just returned from Cuba, after their stay in London. She had last seen Cuba in 1959 as a child, on her father's yacht. Her father, an American, had been arrested by the Fidelistas, was falsely accused of being a spy, and ultimately spent four years in Cuban prisons.

She told me that she had always wanted to see the prisons where her father had been locked up & in which he become so emaciated. She was glad that she had been able to see Cuba, since right after they left, Trump imposed a further Travel ban. This is because "He is about to invade Cuba - along with Venezuela." Those were her words.

When I commented that Trump's War Plans in the Caribbean seem to be a betrayal of his campaign rhetoric in 2016, Deborah Tavares interjected, adamantly, that Trump was put in power by the same bunch of "international criminals who select all the presidents."

Just recording what I heard.

Confirmation, from Global Research: "Tightening the Noose on Cuba"
https://www.globalresearch.ca/tighte...e-cuba/5679976

Confirmation, from Global Research: "Intra-elite Warfare: Oligarchs Succeed! Only the People Suffer!"
https://www.globalresearch.ca/intra-...suffer/5593070

Confirmation, from Global Research: Cuba, Trump, Bolton, War,
https://www.globalresearch.ca/search?q=Cuba%2C+Trump%2C+Bolton%2C+war&x=11&y=10


https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/04/politics/us-cuba-travel-restrictions/index.html

[Mayacaman]

Here, at the Youtube channel of 'Florida Maquis', is a Que of Videos he has made about Venezuela, Cuba, Latin America, and the current reboot of old-school American 'Gun-boat Diplomacy.' Stay informed, people because the duet, Bolton & Pompeo are on the Warpath !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGRt...VmDr0gkNsHrLC8

[Mayacaman]

Criminal Embargoes: Venezuela and Iran in the Crosshairs of Murderers Inc – Who Is Next? By Peter Koenig -Global Research


Imagine just for a moment, the World would stand up in unison, sick and tired of the aggressive killer arrogance of the United States and her vassals – and their joint war-force called NATO – and this World, our World, what’s left of it when you deduct Washington and its Brussels allies, would at once block every shipment of everything destined for the ports of the United States of America; every sea port, airport and road port. Hermetically. Nothing would enter. Nothing, no food, no medicine, no electronics, no cars – no nothing. And nothing could leave. No exports, no petrol, no grains, no meat, no pharmaceuticals and foremost, no weapons. Nothing.



And now, take your mind a step further – and imagine the same – exactly the same, a total and full blockage of Israel – nothing would enter, no food, no fuel, no medication, no machinery and especially no weapons – and nothing would leave; a full and total blockage.


This would of course be totally illegal; illegal and unacceptable, by any international law, by the standards of the UN Charter, by the Human Rights Laws and Directives – by any ethical values of human morals. Wouldn’t it? – Yet, this is exactly what these countries are doing, have been doing for decades, sanctioning to strangle and murder entire populations into death or submission. The US with Cuba; Israel with Palestine. And the coercion and strangulation go on, unabated.


The longest embargo – illegal, inhuman and outright criminal – Washington imposed on Cuba – 60 years. Because Cuba has chosen socialism as her form of state and government. Cuba survived and will never give in to the tyrant of the north.


Now the US is expanding her palette of killing by impunity to dominate and subjugate nation after nation which they do not consider bending sufficiently to the dictate of their masters. Venezuela has been targeted for two decades, ever since former President Hugo Chavez was democratically elected in 1998; and Iran, ever since the US-imposed Shah was deposed in 1979 – exactly 40 years ago – by Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Both Venezuela and Iran are rich in natural resources, especially hydrocarbons but also in gold, rare earths and other precious metals and stones.


Contrary to what one would like to imagine, international world bodies, like the United Nations and her sister and associated organizations remain just about silent. When a high-level official utters some benign criticism of the US or Israel – it flairs up for a moment in the ‘news’, then it disappears again, as if it never happened. And indeed, nothing happens. They – the US and Israel – go on with their crimes in impunity.


The latest is an open declaration of economic warfare by Washington, a total embargo on Venezuela; the embargo is now being turned into a naval blockade. Similar steps are to be taken for Iran. That literally means that no merchandise – no matter how vital for survival, like food and medication, is allowed into Venezuela. Three days ago, the US seized, totally illegally, a cargo ship attempting to deliver food and medication to Venezuela – in the Panama Canal, territory which the US does not own or control anymore.

More...