US Escalates War Plans In Latin America
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14503
"plans for the direct US military aggression in Latin America, dormant since the invasion of Panama in 1989, may be slated for revival.."
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I find how the "War on of Drugs" in Columbia is connected to Afghanistan and Kosovo very interesting.
Yes. Interesting also to remember that narco wars were an earlier pretext before "humanitarian intervention" or TWOT
Narco wars are the means the Pentagon has used to fund wars and its "black operations" since Vietnam. In fact, America learned this game from the French.
whatever works..
Chavez 'Ready for Combat' with Columbia:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=103004§ionid=351020704
"Venezuela's military will respond if there's an attack against Venezuela," he added. Chavez further said he would call on his allies in this week's Summit of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in Quito, Ecuador, to pressure the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe into reconsidering the military deal with the US.."
US Builds Up Bases in Oil Rich South America:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-builds-up-its-bases-...
"From the Caribbean to Brazil, political opposition to US plans for 'full spectrum operations' is escalating rapidly.."
So PNAC continues even with a USA regime change....
Venezuela Surrounded
http://www.ipsnews.net/columns.asp?idnews=49888
"Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution find themselves surrounded by no less than thirteen US military bases in Columbia, Panama, Aruba, and Curacao, as well as the aircraft carriers and warships of the Fourth Fleet.
President Obama seems to have given the Pentagon a free hand.
Would the people of the world allow a new crime against democracy to be carried out in Latin America...?"
US - Venezuelan Relations: Imperialism and Revolution
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5055
"If Washington proceeds toward a proxy war with Venezuela using Honduras as a dress rehearsal, (in addition to its overstretch today in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen) can it win a prolonged offensive war?
A highly dubious proposition. More likely it will re-radicalize the continent..."
Canada, Honduras and the Coup d'Etat:
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3080
"Honduras is one of the CIDA target countries, and the top recipient of Canadian development funds in Central America. In addition the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade disburses part of their Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building Fund...and the Department of Defence runs a Military Training Program that includes the participation of Honduran soldiers.
Canadian corporations such as Montreal based Guildan Activewear and Scarborough based label maker Mayfair Canada are members of the Honduran Manufacturing Association. They are joined by Calgary's Merendon, a jewelry company whose directors are charged wtih defrauding shareholders in what the RCMP has called one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Canadian history.
On the financial front it is possible that Canadian companies active in Honduras will see an upward investment climate..."
Aruba and Curacao especially are Hot Spots of anti-revolutionary zeal.
For those interested there is some interesting coverage on this topic as it relates to the presence of US military bases in Peru:
http://peruanista.blogspot.com/2009/04/united-states-has-secret-military...
US jet violating airspace is intercepted by Venezuelan aircraft ..
Aruba and Curacao especially are Hot Spots of anti-revolutionary zeal.
We met a dive guide on one of those three islands who told us one night at the bar he was paid $2000 USD a month to be a mercenary in Central America in the 1980's. His side-kick confirmed it. He looked the type, too - body builder type and liked carrying a pistol and big knife. I had a bad feeling about the asshole when I first met him, and I was right.
Mondo Hondo : Obama Goes Traditional in Latin America
http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1898-...
"For almost 200 years, since the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine, the United States has continually asserted - and often physically exerted - its self-awarded right of dominion over all the lands south of its border.."
Mexico Is On the Brink of Its Third Revolution:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue63/article4002.html
"The question is if that revolution will be peaceful or violent..."
even though Mexico is not in SA..
Venezuela to Reinforce Troops on Colombia Border
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16897
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans for the deployment of new Russian-made tanks and combat helicopters on the border with Colombia.."
Colombia is the Israel of Latin America. It's the intermediary through which the United States attacks ____, ______, and _______. Hence the "free trade" agreements with the Colombian narco-state by the poodle regime in .... Canada.
Colombia is the Israel of Latin America. It's the intermediary through which the United States attacks ____, ______, and _______. Hence the "free trade" agreements with the Colombian narco-state by the poodle regime in .... Canada.
That, and like Honduras, Canada has a number of mining interests there as well.
Supercriminals: Chiquita Lauded for Human Rights Abuses
http://www.counterpunch.org/kovalik01122010.html
In its most recent edition, the magazine, 'Super Lawyers' gave its cover story to the General Counsel of Chiquita Brands International, praising him for navigating the complex and difficult [legal] waters of Colombia. What it failed to mention is the trail of tears in Latin America left b Chiquita (formerly United Fruit)..."
This is a rather weird bit of policy:
Whale sperm, pickles and the pain reliever codeine will be considered essential goods in Venezuela and receive a preferential exchange rate under President Hugo Chavez’s new currency structure.
Bleach, cheese and whisky have been deemed nonessential. Importers of essential items will pay 2.6 bolivars per dollar, while goods not on that list will get a rate of 4.3 per dollar, according to the government’s Official Gazette.
That's insane. What a dull and grey socialist heck hole it is. Phat Robertson should put out another Patwa on Chavez.
Business Week, a history professor once told me, is very good for providing the virtually unadulterated bourgeois view of things. For that reason, he suggested to me and all of my classmates that we make a habit of reading it. Know the enemy.
A Coup in Honduras
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau01152010.html
"Hey," said a supporter in Tegucigalpa, "the election was as legitimate as the Afghanistan farce."
Success took longer than its plotters desired, but official Washington has defined last year as ancient history. The kidnapping of Zelaya - for offering legal steps to reform--and subsequent death squad murders, well, 'let auld acquaintance be forgot.'
So thanks to amnesia (was there a coup there?) Honduras is again safe for Chiquita Banana, US banks and local artistocrats.."
Year of Resistance: Interview with Eva Golinger
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5074
"My opinion is that Obama's administration is much more dangerous towards Latin America than Bush was..."
Latin American Peace Initiative (LAPI) Special Event in Toronto - Saturday March 30
http://latinamericanpeaceiniciativelapi.blogspot.com
"At this special event in LAPI will provide information that is not reported in the mainstream media and to raise awareness of the threats to peace in our hemisphere.."
Pentagon Bracing For A Snap Offensive Against Venezuela
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17689
Britain May Provoke New Conflict with Argentina by Rick Rozoff
http://canada.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/72091
"If the UK succeeds in provoking a new war, it in turn will appeal to its NATO allies. Britain is playing with fire and if it ignites a new conflict it could spread rapidly far beyond the waters of the southern tip of South America.."
Britain May Provoke New Conflict with Argentina by Rick Rozoff
http://canada.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/72091
"If the UK succeeds in provoking a new war, it in turn will appeal to its NATO allies. Britain is playing with fire and if it ignites a new conflict it could spread rapidly far beyond the waters of the southern tip of South America.."
There's some problems with that theory:
1. The reason why the British pulled out of Iraq is that the U.K. could not afford economically, militarily and politically to fight two wars at once.
2. Both the U.K. and the other EU NATO countries are war weary and don't have the stomach for another war, even if NATO wants it to justify its continued existence if the Afghan war fails.
The reason why U.S. and U.K. chicken hawks want Falklands/Malvines War II is because of the offshore oil there. It's all about the crude dude.
My apologies to Linda McQuaig for the ripoff.
for whatever it's worth I hope you're right and not RR. As for 'war-weary', not quite yet I don't think...
As for 'war-weary', not quite yet I don't think...
Look at the Netherlands. The funny thing is in all countries like Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and even the U.S.A., etc., the majority of people polled expressed that they wanted the troops out now. Yet they have center right governments (except the U.K., which has a pro war Labor government - go figure) and even though they are democracies, the governments don't listen to the people and often either escalate the number of troops or escalate the length of military engagement.
Something is going to give sooner or later.
Governmnents DO listen but what they 'hear' is that there is insufficient organized or motivated resistance capable of dislodging their elite agendas - so they continue. Why has not every single anti-war MP not been screaming incessantly and without pause against this war since it started? The answer is that there has not been any significant public pressure upon them to force this and plenty from the other side to keep them going along with it. Unless and until 'the majority of people polled' escalate the pressure considerably upon the PTB it will give later rather than sooner, if at all.
Stop Killings and Harassment Against the Revolutionary Movement in Honduras
http://www.marxist.com/stop-killings-harassment-against-revolutionary-mo...
"We have received the following message from the Honduran activists of the National Front of People's Resistance against the repression of the Porfirio Lobo government.."
here's another one where the international solidarity movement wasn't...
War on the Horizon in Latin America
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24978.htm
"a US airforce document justifying the need to increase military presence in Colombia affirmed that Washington is preparing for 'expeditionary warfare' in South America.."
War on the Horizon in Latin America
http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/03/permanent-aggression-war-on-horizon-in...
"soon Washington will publish its annual list of 'state sponsors of terrorism', and if Venezuela is placed on the list this year, the region could be on the brink of an unprecedented military conflict.."
I could be having soft boiled eggs fro brekkie tomorrow, or not, depending.
As to Venezuela they have so many problems with the drought reducing their hydro-electric power generating capacity they're not a threat to anyone but themselves.
As to Venezuela they have so many problems with the drought reducing their hydro-electric power generating capacity they're not a threat to anyone but themselves.
You wouldn't get that idea listening to the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Defense.
It seems there's no such thing as too many wars.
Great Recession, what Great Recession? Hell our budget for 2010 is $907 billion.
Canada's Long Embrace of the Honduran Dictatorship
http://www.counterpunch.com/gordon03192010.html
"Canada's imperial role in the region has taken on a similar guise as the US, although shaped more specifically around Canada's mining interests in the area.."
Narco wars are the means the Pentagon has used to fund wars and its "black operations" since Vietnam. In fact, America learned this game from the French.
YA!!! You know it FM. The French resistance was funded with heroin money. Vietnam intelligence operations by the CIA was funded with heroin money. South America, Afghanistan, etc etc etc - the CIA has "allowed" illegal drug trafficing to the USA for decades now. It is how they fund their illegal operations that Congress cannot fund.
Manuel Rozental on Resistance and the Consolidation of Fascism in Colombia
http://www.mediacoop.ca/audio/3096
"The situation in Colombia now is that we will have another four years of delivering the country to transnational corporations, of rampant corruption and delivering the natural resources to private hands...
Finally, we will have, most likely and this is the most frightening scenario, we're going to get closer and closer to an armed conflict in the region, an armed conflict from Colombia against Venezuela and Ecuador. Colombia has become a threat for the whole region.
The project of social movements will be to change the entire system, before the earth can no longer support us..
We have to find the cracks in the system"
omit copy
omitted copy
US Plunges Central America Back to Era of Coups and Deaths
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18356
"On March 22 Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullens accompanied Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Mexico and upon returning top US military commander Mullen spoke of Mexico's 'own version of counterinsurgency' and said, 'We're working with them to generate as much capability as they can in that fight.' In speaking as he did Mullens reiterated his statements in January of 2009 that the US military was prepared to employ the same counterinsurgency tactics used in Afghanistan and Iraq for Mexico, and that the infamous Plan Colombia could be the 'overarching' model for the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.."
Anti-Coup Resistance a Target of Extra-judicial Killings
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18338
"The Honduran Professor Jose Manuel Flores, member of the anti-coup resistance movement was murdered at the school where he worked..According to social organizations, since the coup of June 28 Honduras reported 4,200 human rights violations among them more than 130 murders of resistance and about 3,000 arrests.."
Ecuadorn journalsi given 3 year prison term for criticing Correa Govt
Although I like the place and the people Ecuador has always been a messy place politcally, the present President is just the latest in a long line of corrupt autocrats.
Hmm. That article is accompanied by a general effort to smear pretty well every left of centre government in South America. Special attention is paid to the Chavez government in Venezuela; is military action in the offing by Uncle Sam?
Perhaps a source other than a stock market website might be more appropriate for a left wing site like this one?
Here's the article from the Associated Press- do you believe someone is going to prison for what they wrote now?
You should have read that AP link before posting it. They do the same shit as the NASDAQ link does.
I read those links and the Spanish language ones as well-they all say the same thing-someone was sentenced to jail for what they wrote-this in a country that purports to be a democracy.
Ok, so you're not interested in addressing the drive-by smear unrelated to the charges against Palacio?
I thought so.
Incidently, while the $10,000 fine is by no means excessive in defamatory libel cases - like this one - the three year prison term handed down by the judge does seem excessive.
Here is the data for some other countries that also "purport to be a democracy"
Azerbaijan - max sentence up to 3 years in jail
Belgium - up to 1 year and can be doubled if it is considered a hate crime
Finland - up to 2 years in prison
But how about we just cut to the chase, shall we:
The criminal portion of the law has been rarely applied. In the most recent case, in 1994 Bradley Waugh and Ravin Gill were charged with criminal libel for publicly accusing six prison guards of the racially motivated murder of a black inmate.[75]
According to a OSCE official report on defamation laws[when?], 57 persons in Canada were accused of defamation, libel and insult, among which 23 were convicted - 9 to prison sentences, 19 to probation and one to a fine. The average period in prison was 270 days, and the maximum sentence was 1460 days of imprisonment.
Canada, last time I checked, also "purported" to be a democracy.
ha ha ha ha. HA ha ha ha. Thanks for showing up.
Libel humour: Perhaps Palacio should have accused the official of having a small penis? He might have avoided the litigation entirely.
Surprising to see someone here sneering @ press freedom-is that what progressive means?
Conrad, it's hard not to laugh at you when you're such a sitting duck on this one. Every country has libel laws. (Well, maybe except the USA which absolutizes free speech to the point of allowing anyone to yell "Fire" in a crowded theatre.) And the libel laws in Ecuador aren't more draconian than the same laws in other "purported" democracies.
Give it a rest. You crashed and burned. Maybe next time don't be so quick to re-gurgitate the papal missives of the stock market without doing a little homework. Like I did.
Nice turn of phrase-too bad you're using to defend the actions of a notoriously corrupt demagogue/his toadies.
Why am I not surprised that we're no longer discussing the specifics of the libel case?
Conrad, your ship has burned to the water line. Give it a rest. Swim to shore.
Congratulations on not taking the bait and defending totalitarianism.
Honduras: New Wave of Repression
http://en.maquilasolidarity.org/node/935
"Both the Canadian and US governments have praised the Jan. 27 elections in Honduras as a major step forward toward a return to democracy and national reconciliation. Yet the reality on the ground under the newly elected government of Porfiro Lobo is one of continuing repression and select assassinations of those who dared to oppose the June 28, 2009 military coup.."
The Revenant: Brief Glimpses of Empire's Reality
http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/1963-the-revenant-brie...
"Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was taken from the American prison which had been his home for the past 21 years and flown to Paris...The extradition was itself illegal.."
Extra-Judicial Killings in Guyana
http://bajan.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/champion-of-the-earth-united-natio...
"In the Theatre of the Absurd anything is possible. And so it is that Guyana's president, Bharrat Jagdeo, is among six winners from government, science, business and entertainment to be awarded this year's UN 'Champion of the Earth' prize for leadership in environmental conservation..
Champion of the Earth is no title for a man who heads one of the most corrupt and repressive regimes in the Caribbean and South America.."
Chile: The Roots of Mapuche Resistance
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3660
"More than 34 Mapuche politial prisoners in Chile have entered into day 75 of a hunger strike. They are seeking significant changes in the way the Chilean state treats Indigenous Mapuche people.."
Contact Embassy of Chile in Canada:
http://www.chile.ca/en/?q=node/22
Latin America: Roads to 21st Century Capitalist Development - by James Petras
http://www.voltairenet.org/article167336.html
"Expanding his recent analysis of the situation in Ecuador to the rest of Latin America, James Petras' provocative assessment shows that facts and figures do not sustain the widely-held dogma that much of the continent has veered to the left. With the exception of Venezuela, no structural changes have taken place nor are being envisaged. Latin America has embarked on diversified roads to a 'smarter' brand of capitalism, very distant from socialism..."
Worrying Signs from Venezuela to Ecuador
http://www.counterpunch.org/ferrari11102010.html
"An in depth analysis of the current situation in Latin America, is cause for no little concern, because I feel it is degenerating,' says Eric Toussaint. Several recent events account for the Belgian historian's position..."
NATO will not intervene in Latin America but it will not stop the United States from assembing a coalition of the willing to take police actions. Columbia, Chile are likely allies. The United States has entered into a period in which, it does not wish its hand to be seen. Therefore, it would be useful to see how the CIA and Dept. of Homeland Security are firming up the graduates of the School of Americas to take over when the IMF imposes its next round of austerity. For all these countries still have massive debts and the conditions to pay them back - are the same as Greece & Ireland - save the people know they will not be conned again by the oligarchs - hence the need for regional/homegrown policemen.
Brazil Sends 'Peacekeepers' To Rio Slums
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157765.html
"The plan is to maintain the presence of nearly 2,000 foot-soldiers on the streets of Rio's northern favelas of Complexo do Alemao and Penha on a peacekeeping mission. The peacekeeping forces will have duties similar to that carried out by the 1,300 Brazilian troops in Haiti.."
US Drones to Honduras AF
http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/december/28/centralamerica...
"Honduras Air Force will fly drones similar to those the US has used in the war in Afghanistan which are fitted with cameras and landscape censors. Soto Cano base (Palmerola) also home to 600 US soldiers, will fly the unmanned plane.."
Open Letter to Evo Morales
http://www.narconews.com/Issue67/article4292.html
"Sirs,
We speak to you through this open letter (although you probably won't read it or because it doesn't interest you. However, although you may ignore it, although it may not exist, we want to tell you how we, like many of our people, feel today. We tell you Sirs, because years ago you ceased being our brothers and comaneros. You distanced yourselves from the people, and thus you don't know what happens down here below.
You quickly forgot that we sent you into the government not to administrate, but rather to transform and change the lives of the people.. Where is your 'obedience leads' a slogan that was invented by the Zapatistas? Did the people send you there to pact with the right in the Constituent Assembly? Did the people send you there to fill your cabinet with neoliberals, opportunists, incompetents and advisors for international organizations that we never saw in the struggles of the people, in the streets?"
Honduras's Prison Inferno: A Crime of Capitalism - by Bill Van Auken
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/feb2012/pers-f18.shtml
"The more that emerges about this immense tragedy, the more it becomes clear that those who died were victims of a state organized massacre, just as surely as if they had been gunned down by the military death squads that have playes such a bloody role in Honduras recent history.."
United States Sends Combat Commanders to Columbia
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3646-united-stat...
"US Joint Chief of Staff Commander General Martin Dempsey visited Columbia on March 29 to announce that within weeks, US military personnel will operate from a military base there with the newly formed Vulcan Task Force. The Vulcan Task Force, which was established in December 2011, has 10,000 soldiers, three mobile brigades and one fixed brigade, operating from a base in Tibu, in the Catatumbo region (North Santander), just two miles from the Venezuela border.
The expansion of counterinsurgency forces in Africa and Latin America is also part of a new national security strategy released by the White House in February.."