[June was a busy month for two of Washington's real ‘Axis of Evil'. Venezuela's Chavez completed his nationalisation of oil and Iran's Ahmedinejad stemmed a Western-backed colour revolution, leaving both bad boys in place.]
Venezuela & Iran: Whither the revolutions?
July 5th 2009, by Eric Walberg - Axisoflogic.com
What drives US foreign policy? Is it primarily the domestic economy, as it logically should be, or, as many argue, the powerful Israel lobby, or as other argue, the need to secure energy sources? Of course, the answer is all three, in varying degrees depending on the geopoltical importance of the country in question. And woe to any country that threatens any of the above.
Russia is perhaps a special case, as US politics was dependent for so long on the anti-communist Cold War that ideologues found it impossible to dispense with this useful bugaboo even after the collapse of Communism. But it was not only Sovietologists like Condoleezza Rice that perversely prospered from this obsession, but the US domestic economy itself, which was transformed into what is best described as the military-industrial complex (MIC). It would take very little to placate today's Russia -- pull in NATO's horns and stop pandering to the Russophobes in Eastern Europe -- but that would hurt the MIC and would hamper the US plans for empire and oil. So it remains an enemy of choice, though not part of the Axis of Evil.
(click here to view entire article)
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Chavez: U.S. and Venezuelan Right Wing Support Coup in Honduras, a Challenge to Obama
[Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused the "extreme right wing" of the United States and Venezuela of being involved in last Sunday's military coup in Honduras, perhaps behind U.S. President Barack Obama's back.]
Chavez: U.S. and Venezuelan Right Wing Support Coup in Honduras, a Challenge to Obama
July 3rd 2009, by James Suggett
Mérida, July 3rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused the "extreme right wing" of the United States and Venezuela of being involved in last Sunday's military coup in Honduras, perhaps behind U.S. President Barack Obama's back.
"It could be that Obama did not know. But I am sure the ambassador of the United States in Honduras [Hugo Llorens], who is the same as [former U.S. President George W.] Bush's, knew about the coup," Chavez said on a special edition of his weekly talk show, "Hello, President."
(click here to view entire article)
Chavez: U.S. and Venezuelan Right Wing Support Coup in Honduras, a Challenge to Obama
July 3rd 2009, by James Suggett
Mérida, July 3rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused the "extreme right wing" of the United States and Venezuela of being involved in last Sunday's military coup in Honduras, perhaps behind U.S. President Barack Obama's back.
"It could be that Obama did not know. But I am sure the ambassador of the United States in Honduras [Hugo Llorens], who is the same as [former U.S. President George W.] Bush's, knew about the coup," Chavez said on a special edition of his weekly talk show, "Hello, President."
(click here to view entire article)
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Obama's First Coup d'Etat: Honduran President has been Kidnapped: Updates 1, 2, 3
[As of 10:30am, Sunday morning, no statements have been issued by the Washington concerning the military coup in Honduras.]
Obama's First Coup d'Etat: Honduran President has been Kidnapped: Updates 1, 2, 3
June 28th 2009, by Eva Golinger
Caracas, Venezuela - The text message that beeped on my cell phone this morning read "Alert, Zelaya has been kidnapped, coup d'etat underway in Honduras, spread the word." It's a rude awakening for a Sunday morning, especially for the millions of Hondurans that were preparing to exercise their sacred right to vote today for the first time on a consultative referendum concerning the future convening of a constitutional assembly to reform the constitution. Supposedly at the center of the controversary is today's scheduled referendum, which is not a binding vote but merely an opinion poll to determine whether or not a majority of Hondurans desire to eventually enter into a process to modify their constitution.
(click here to view entire article)
Obama's First Coup d'Etat: Honduran President has been Kidnapped: Updates 1, 2, 3
June 28th 2009, by Eva Golinger
Caracas, Venezuela - The text message that beeped on my cell phone this morning read "Alert, Zelaya has been kidnapped, coup d'etat underway in Honduras, spread the word." It's a rude awakening for a Sunday morning, especially for the millions of Hondurans that were preparing to exercise their sacred right to vote today for the first time on a consultative referendum concerning the future convening of a constitutional assembly to reform the constitution. Supposedly at the center of the controversary is today's scheduled referendum, which is not a binding vote but merely an opinion poll to determine whether or not a majority of Hondurans desire to eventually enter into a process to modify their constitution.
(click here to view entire article)
North American Imperialism and the Extreme Right are Behind Coup in Honduras: Chavez
[The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias, manifested his rejection, this Sunday, of the kidnapping of the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, by that nation's military, and said that North American imperialism and the extreme right are behind this act.]
North American Imperialism and the Extreme Right are Behind Coup in Honduras: Chavez
June 28th 2009, by ABN / Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com
This morning military personal kidnapped Honduran president Manuel Zelaya. According to one witness, 200 soldiers arrived at the president's house at 6am this morning, 4 shots were fired and later they left in vehicles towards the air base. The soldiers also took over the government television station, Channel 8, and took it off air. Zelaya is currently speaking live on Telesur TV, from Costa Rica.
In Venezuela, protests are starting in main city plazas and outside the Honduran Embassy. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez spoke on Telesur earlier, with this statement, reported by the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) and translated by Venezuelanalysis.com.
(click here to view entire article; click here to listen to the Telesur interview with Chavez in Spanish)
North American Imperialism and the Extreme Right are Behind Coup in Honduras: Chavez
June 28th 2009, by ABN / Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com
This morning military personal kidnapped Honduran president Manuel Zelaya. According to one witness, 200 soldiers arrived at the president's house at 6am this morning, 4 shots were fired and later they left in vehicles towards the air base. The soldiers also took over the government television station, Channel 8, and took it off air. Zelaya is currently speaking live on Telesur TV, from Costa Rica.
In Venezuela, protests are starting in main city plazas and outside the Honduran Embassy. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez spoke on Telesur earlier, with this statement, reported by the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) and translated by Venezuelanalysis.com.
(click here to view entire article; click here to listen to the Telesur interview with Chavez in Spanish)
Monday, 8 June 2009
The Development of Venezuela's Popular Economy, Pt. 1
[Certainly, the Chavez government has broken with the neoliberal agenda of the preceding decades. But has it developed instead a shift toward a participatory and democratic economy as the core of 21st Century Socialism?]
The Development of Venezuela's Popular Economy, Pt. 1
May 21st 2009, by Jan Ullrich – Venezuelanalysis.com
Part 1: Experiences and LegislationVenezuela has experienced five years of continual economic prosperity. Its gross domestic product almost doubled between 2003 and 2008. Poverty significantly declined, and the shift of the GINI-Coefficient represented a large reduction in inequality [1]. While those macro-economic indicators are recognized by most critics of Venezuela's economic policies, the qualitative economic development of the country is the subject of polemical discussions from different scientific, political, and ideological points of views.
Certainly, the Chavez government has broken with the neoliberal agenda of the preceding decades. But has it developed instead a shift toward a participatory and democratic economy as the core of 21st Century Socialism? The new "Law for the Development of a Popular Economy," which I will refer to as the Popular Economy Law in this article, could be counted as a step toward a participatory and democratic economy, because it promotes the democratization of the relationship between communities and production and consumption. The concrete experiences of "Solidarity Exchange Groups" that were defined in this law and established in ten communities across the country illustrate how the relationships of communities to production and consumption could be re-organized.
(click here to view entire article)
The Development of Venezuela's Popular Economy, Pt. 1
May 21st 2009, by Jan Ullrich – Venezuelanalysis.com
Part 1: Experiences and LegislationVenezuela has experienced five years of continual economic prosperity. Its gross domestic product almost doubled between 2003 and 2008. Poverty significantly declined, and the shift of the GINI-Coefficient represented a large reduction in inequality [1]. While those macro-economic indicators are recognized by most critics of Venezuela's economic policies, the qualitative economic development of the country is the subject of polemical discussions from different scientific, political, and ideological points of views.
Certainly, the Chavez government has broken with the neoliberal agenda of the preceding decades. But has it developed instead a shift toward a participatory and democratic economy as the core of 21st Century Socialism? The new "Law for the Development of a Popular Economy," which I will refer to as the Popular Economy Law in this article, could be counted as a step toward a participatory and democratic economy, because it promotes the democratization of the relationship between communities and production and consumption. The concrete experiences of "Solidarity Exchange Groups" that were defined in this law and established in ten communities across the country illustrate how the relationships of communities to production and consumption could be re-organized.
(click here to view entire article)
US Policy and Democracy in Latin America: The Latinobarómetro Poll
[Does the US government really craft its policy toward specific regimes based on those regimes' respect for democracy? The general trend is one of US support for the more undemocratic regimes in the region, and US antagonism of varying sorts and degrees toward the more democratic ones.]
US Policy and Democracy in Latin America: The Latinobarómetro Poll
May 29th 2009, by Kevin Young - ZNet
Each fall the Chilean non-profit polling organization Latinobarómetro publishes a detailed Spanish-language report on public opinion in Latin America. The 2008 report, released this past November, offers a broad synoptic view of popular opinion in the seventeen major countries of mainland Latin America plus the Dominican Republic, focusing on Latin American citizens' political opinions and their satisfaction with their governments. Though November's report went entirely unreported in almost all of the world's major media outlets—and only small snippets selectively analyzed by writers at the Economist, Christian Science Monitor, and Washington Times—it constitutes perhaps the most thorough source available of the broad contours of public opinion in Latin America, and thus deserves careful consideration [1].
The poll's results are particularly relevant for those whose government has been the most active foreign power in Latin America, in economic, political, and military terms, for much of the past two centuries. For US citizens the key question should be the extent to which their government is supporting democracy and human rights through its foreign policy; in other words, does the US government really craft its policy toward specific regimes based on those regimes' respect for democracy and citizens' rights, as the rhetoric of policymakers and pundits assures us? Answering this question requires three steps: identifying US friends and enemies in the region; measuring the level of democracy in each of those countries; and determining the extent to which US policy favors the more democratic governments in the region. After identifying the major US friends and antagonists, I examine the recent Latinobarómetro report as well as its 2006 and 2007 predecessors to measure the level of democracy in those countries based on their citizens' own appraisals. The general trend, though not uniformly apparent in all categories, is one of US support for the more undemocratic regimes in the region, and US antagonism of varying sorts and degrees toward the more democratic ones. The final section of this essay ventures an explanation for this pattern, locating it in the history of US policy toward Latin America.
(click here to view entire article)
US Policy and Democracy in Latin America: The Latinobarómetro Poll
May 29th 2009, by Kevin Young - ZNet
Each fall the Chilean non-profit polling organization Latinobarómetro publishes a detailed Spanish-language report on public opinion in Latin America. The 2008 report, released this past November, offers a broad synoptic view of popular opinion in the seventeen major countries of mainland Latin America plus the Dominican Republic, focusing on Latin American citizens' political opinions and their satisfaction with their governments. Though November's report went entirely unreported in almost all of the world's major media outlets—and only small snippets selectively analyzed by writers at the Economist, Christian Science Monitor, and Washington Times—it constitutes perhaps the most thorough source available of the broad contours of public opinion in Latin America, and thus deserves careful consideration [1].
The poll's results are particularly relevant for those whose government has been the most active foreign power in Latin America, in economic, political, and military terms, for much of the past two centuries. For US citizens the key question should be the extent to which their government is supporting democracy and human rights through its foreign policy; in other words, does the US government really craft its policy toward specific regimes based on those regimes' respect for democracy and citizens' rights, as the rhetoric of policymakers and pundits assures us? Answering this question requires three steps: identifying US friends and enemies in the region; measuring the level of democracy in each of those countries; and determining the extent to which US policy favors the more democratic governments in the region. After identifying the major US friends and antagonists, I examine the recent Latinobarómetro report as well as its 2006 and 2007 predecessors to measure the level of democracy in those countries based on their citizens' own appraisals. The general trend, though not uniformly apparent in all categories, is one of US support for the more undemocratic regimes in the region, and US antagonism of varying sorts and degrees toward the more democratic ones. The final section of this essay ventures an explanation for this pattern, locating it in the history of US policy toward Latin America.
(click here to view entire article)
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Chavez Talks of CIA Assassination Plot
[Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of conspiring to assassinate him during his planned visit to El Salvador.]
Chavez Talks of CIA Assassination Plot
June 3rd 2009 - Press TV
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of conspiring to assassinate him during his planned visit to El Salvador. Chavez called off a trip to the Latin American state of El Salvador on Monday in order to forestall alleged efforts meant to murder him on the plane. The Venezuelan leader stated that the country's intelligence services hold "very precise information" that incriminates the CIA of the alleged plot.
(click here to view entire article)
Chavez Talks of CIA Assassination Plot
June 3rd 2009 - Press TV
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of conspiring to assassinate him during his planned visit to El Salvador. Chavez called off a trip to the Latin American state of El Salvador on Monday in order to forestall alleged efforts meant to murder him on the plane. The Venezuelan leader stated that the country's intelligence services hold "very precise information" that incriminates the CIA of the alleged plot.
(click here to view entire article)
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