Category: International
Gang Stalking=Counterintelligence – Did the CIA Drug Paul Robeson – a Look at Mk Ultra
| February 16, 2015 | 9:21 pm | African American Culture, African American history, International, National, Paul Robeson, police terrorism, Struggle for African American equality | Comments closed

Sanctions Imposed on the U.S.?
| February 16, 2015 | 9:13 pm | Analysis, International, National, political struggle, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela | Comments closed

February 16, 2015

Any Coup Attempts Should be Punished
by ANDRE VLTCHEK

Another year, another set of coups that we can expect to be administered by the West.

This year, it is all beginning in February. First the onslaught against Argentina and following that comes yet another coup against Venezuela, and its democratically elected, progressive government.

The coup has been thwarted. Venezuela prevailed!

As Telesur reported:

“Nicolas Maduro announced Thursday that the government had thwarted a coup attempt which was being coordinated by Venezuela’s right-wing opposition with the support of the U.S. government.

Just the day before the revelations, opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez, Maria Corina Machado and Antonio Ledezma released a “transition plan” which involved privatization of the country’s oil, deregulation of the economy and accords with “international financial institutions” including the International Monetary Fund.”

The army stood firmly by the government of President Maduro. Most of Latin America, including UNASUR, expressed both their solidarity and support.

But all over the world, life goes on, as if nothing significant really took place!

How much longer can such banditry by the Empire be tolerated?

***

I don’t feel like writing my usual long philosophical essays, today.

I am simply pissed off; outraged. This time I really am! Not by what those sadistic imperialist control-junkies in Washington have managed to do again. I have no positive expectations when it comes to them, as they are clearly a bunch of mass murderers of the greatest caliber, not unlike their European colonialist and crusader predecessors.

What shocks me, suddenly, is this silence, this calm, all over the world! As if nothing really taken place. As if nothing is going on!

Are we going to eat the lowest grade of shit from the Empire forever? Is the monstrous fascist and market-fundamentalist system going to get away with absolutely everything? It has already murdered some 60 million people since the end of the WWII, as I explained in my recent book with Noam Chomsky.

The Empire overthrew every decent government in Africa, in the Middle East, Asia and until recently, in Latin America. It liquidated peaceful and secular Muslim governments and replaced them with thugs or extremists.

Many of us know about it. It is no secret! But then, when the same banditry takes place again and again, everybody stays seated on his or her bum, silent like a buffalo!

Where at least are there any substantial protests in Western capitals and major cities? Where is that multi-million crowd yelling “Je suis Chavez”?

Did those morons in Europe and the United States enter a complete, final, terminal state of amnesia and indoctrination? Don’t they see and care what their governments and corporations are doing all over the world?

It seems that all that can still lift them up from the couch is either that bloody football or regime-sponsored events like “Je suis Charlie”.

So this is their famous “democracy” – the one that the West wants to ‘export’ and sticks down the throat of the Chinese people, of Russians, of Latin Americans: the establishment can butcher millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Somalia, in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Papua, Kashmir, Syria and Ukraine, it can attempt to overthrow any democratically elected government in Latin America, but the citizens of the Empire are so ‘pacified’, so fucked, really, that they don’t even recognize what is happening in front of their eyes, or what is done in their name. And if they recognize it, they don’t care.

It must remind one of those Germans who were living next to concentration camps, during the war, looking at the smoke coming up from the chimneys, and then claiming that ‘they did not know’.

***

Have they – Europeans and North Americans – lost their marbles? Their Christian fundamentalist/corporatist states are imposing sanctions on Russia – for nothing. Actually, Russia is being punished for the successful Western act of overthrowing the Ukrainian government! It is all totally bizarre, grotesque, comical. It makes a person with at least a few intact pieces of brain want to puke.

They first create ISIS in those NATO sponsored ‘refugee camps’ in Southern Turkey and Jordan, in order to overthrow the legitimate government in Damascus. Then when ISIS goes gaga, they use it as justification to redeploy troops in Iraq, and to bomb Syria! And European and North Americans still immobilized on their asses and still getting stoned and pissed, instead of at least building a few good, old-fashioned barricades!

And now Venezuela!

I believe that Latin America should, immediately, impose sanctions on the United States.

This is not a joke; it can and should be done. This is the only way to deal with the Empire! Merely exposing its acts only, does not obviously help. It just laughs back and continues murdering people and destroying countries that do not want to lick its boots and to sacrifice its people. It does it all in broad daylight.

Venezuela should approach the UN Security Council, and then the ICC (although states like the US or Israel do not recognize it, as they are ‘above the law’).

Then sanctions should be imposed against the U.S., first by Venezuela, then by most of other Latin American countries. China and Russia should offer their mighty shoulders, and protect Latin America against further attacks, militarily.

Enough of fear; enough of this horror! The world cannot count on the Europeans and North Americans. They cannot and are unwilling to control their governments and corporate bandits. Their countries are forming, in fact, a bunch of failed states, processing materials that are plundered abroad.

What happened in Venezuela on Feb 12th should never be accepted as the norm. Not anymore.

The world is not a chessboard, Mr. Obama. But what you are playing is not even chess. It is dirty; an extremely dirty game, which should be stopped by all means.

Andre Vltchek is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His critically acclaimed political revolutionary novel Point of No Return is now re-edited and available. Oceania is his book on Western imperialism in South Pacific. His provocative book about post-Suharto Indonesia and market-fundamentalist model is called “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear” (Pluto). He just completed feature documentary “Rwanda Gambit” about Rwandan history and the plunder of DR Congo. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and Africa. He can be reached through his website.

Gerrard Sables Interview
| February 15, 2015 | 7:49 pm | Communist Party Britain, International, political struggle | Comments closed

http://www.southwestcommunists.org.uk/elections/337-gerrard-sables-interview

In a wide ranging interview for the North Devon Gazette Communist Party General Election Candidate Gerrard Sables explains why he is standing for parliament.

How long have you been in politics?

I joined the Communist Party in 1972 but have been involved since 1966. I joined because I was active in the trade union movement and against apartheid, the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons.

Why have you decided to stand for election?

I want to give the vote to people who believe in socialism. I will be different from all the other candidates as I am against the monarchy, House of Lords, the European Union, NATO and capitalism. I also hate xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and what Shakespeare’s Hamlet called “the insolence of office.”

What are the major issues facing North Devon between 2015-20?

The major issues here are the same as the major issues in the rest of the country namely poverty and inequality. The austerity agenda promotes poverty. The unemployed, the sick and disabled are victimised by the Tory press, by the Department of Work and Pensions and by the mean spirited which seek to limit the amount paid out.

What would you like to see done to combat these?

Let’s close the overseas tax havens and recruit more tax officers. Let’s restore the cuts- all of them. Let’s revoke all anti-trade union legislation and give workers the rights they deserve. Let’s make paying low wages a criminal offence. Let’s have free education, health and care from cradle to grave. Let us stop wasting money on nuclear weapons and let’s reduce our military spending per person to a European average.

How would your party deliver on this for the people of North Devon?

The people would have to claim these themselves. After the election we will still need widespread industrial action, occupations and demonstrations to carry out a left wing programme. A socialist government would support such actions not hinder them. The people must be involved in the decision making process in the workplaces and in their communities.

How much pressure do you think local services will come under should spending cuts continue? Can local authorities cope with these?

If we elect valiant and courageous people to our local councils and are prepared to back them up, cuts can be avoided.

Do you support or oppose further housing and renewable energy developments in the constituency? Why?

We need a large council house building programme and the obligation on councils to sell should be scrapped. Private tenancies should be taken over by councils and fair rents charged. Ten percent of average earnings ought to be more than enough to pay for rent, fuel and water. Tenants movements should be encouraged.

North Devon has renewable energy resources in abundance. We should use them. It is silly not to. Harnessing the wind waves and the sunshine could create climate jobs in the area and North Devon could export the energy.

How confident are you of a successful election campaign for your party, both locally and nationally?

Simply getting our points across and letting people know that there still is an active Communist Party is success enough at the moment. If we recruit members that will be a bonus. At the moment we have seven candidates including two members of the Young Communist League. Our candidate for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport might well be the youngest in the country. Laura-Jane Rossington is 18.

In one sentence, what would you pledge to offer to the people of North Devon should you be elected?

Like fellow Communist MPs Sharpurji Saklatvala, WillieGallacher and Phil Piratin before me I would become a hard working, thoughtful and wise tribune of the people. If I am not elected I will continue the fight for peace, socialism and international solidarity.

Why should people give you their vote?

Anybody who is racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic should not give me their vote. Those votes I do not want.

If you are a Christian and believe in the Sermon on the Mount or if you are a Muslim and believe in the Prophet’s Final Sermon then voting Communist makes sense.

If you believe the European Union to be a gigantic protection racket but are not completely bonkers then you must vote Communist. If you believe that capitalism needs to end vote for me and get involved.

I am probably the only candidate to have organised a flying picket and to have been arrested for peace movement activity so if you want someone who has been fighting for peoples’ rights for four decades and who is not frightened of getting into trouble for it you should vote Communist.

What would you say to anyone thinking about not voting in May?

I hear non-voters say, “They’re all the same.” Well at least two of the candidates are not and you decide who the other one is and anyway those who don’t do politics can find that politics will do them.

Away from politics, give us a quirky fact about yourself?

I have played some of the most evil villains in pantomime. The late great Hamish Patrick tended to typecast me although the last time I trod the boards it was as the Dame.

Any other comments?

Let us treat people who come to live and work here from abroad a lot more decently. We Communists love immigrants. Karl Marx was an asylum seeker. Our first MP was an Indian. When a politician uses immigration to grub around for votes it encourages racism and the violence that goes with it.

Asylum seekers should be believed not treated as liars. They are denied benefits and the right to work. It’s a national disgrace and needs to be remedied.

Job centres should be properly staffed to pay people their full benefits and to find them jobs. They should not be used to trick people into losing their benefits. Likewise if a doctor says someone is sick then he or she should be believed.

Let’s put a stop to programmes which vilify the poor.

We support the National Pensioners’ Convention in its campaigns for decent pensions and treatment of the elderly.

Finally just as Norway does not need to be in the EU and Ireland does not need to be in NATO, Britain does not need to be in either of these protection rackets.

We need a Britain that serves the millions not the millionaires.

Communist policies are not just for the Communist Party. We want other progressive forces to take them up.

War powers resolution goes too far!
| February 15, 2015 | 7:21 pm | Analysis, Bernie Sanders, International, National | Comments closed

Venezuelan Legislator Gives Details on Thwarted Coup
| February 14, 2015 | 4:21 pm | Analysis, International, Latin America, political struggle, Venezuela | 2 Comments
Published 13 February 2015
The teleSUR Caracas headquarters were one of the strategic areas the alleged coup plotters planned to attack.
Venezuelan National Assembly head Diosdado Cabello revealed the details of what the government says was a “thwarted coup” on Thursday night on public television. His public announcement followed one earlier by Nicolas Maduro.
Cabello and Maduro said the plan was financed from the U.S, and was to be carried out early today during the anniversary of the start of the violent opposition blockades last year and marches today by the country’s youth. People were going to be killed during the marches, and strategic targets would have been bombed in an attempt to overthrow the Maduro government.
Cabello said it was important to inform the people of the plans and names of people involved in the attempt, which he said included a small group of civilians and airforce officials. He said that thanks to the actions of state security and intelligence officials, various people and their equipment were detained and confiscated, including a computer with the “tactical objectives of the coup group.”
Cabello showed a map which he explained came from that computer and had various buildings marked as “tactical objectives,” including the Miraflores Palace, the justice ministry, the teleSUR building, the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the military intelligence headquarters.
The buildings they planned to attack:
– teleSUR headquarters (east Caracas)
– Headquartes of the Military Intelligence (DIM)
– Plaza Venezuela
– Metro station Zona Rental (center of Caracas)
– Ministry of Defense (center of Caracas)
– Caracas municipality building (west)
– Miraflores palace (national government and presidential headquarters)
– Public Prosecutor’s office (center of Caracas)
Caracas mayor, Jorge Rodriguez, also participated in the public announcement, and he stated that it was opposition legislator Julio Borges who chose the buildings.
“Legislator Julio Borges will have to explain if he was planning this map of attack targets … among them was the (western area of Caracas) La Cadelaria where the opposition always wins elections … what were they going to say to the people who came out of their houses because they were going to be bombed … or when they were going to bomb the international channel, teleSUR,” Rodriguez said.
Cabello said that authorities had confiscated grenades, military and Sebin (intelligence) uniforms, an eight minute video with a declaration by the plotters and a collection of AR15 rifles. Widely available in the United States, the AR15 was first developed for the U.S. military, but is today one of the most popular rifles that is commercially available in the United States. It is not legally available to the public in Venezuela.
The AR15 has been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States, including the 2012 Aurora shooting, which left 12 people dead in Colorado.
Rodriguez explained, “Venezuela has a very violent sector of the opposition that doesn’t hesitate to plan actions that could mean dozens of deaths or the assassination of the president.”
The coup attempt was going to start with a public announcement that Borges and opposition political leader Antonio Ledezma were going to sign, and it was going to be published by a national media, Cabello claimed.
He added that a Tucano plane was going to conduct the air strikes.
​Various airforce officers have been detained, for their alleged involvement in the plot.
Cabello argued that the opposition was organizing legal activities, such as collecting signatures, while at the same time, “secretly planning a coup.”
He also showed a photo (below) and alleged that a U.S. official recently visited Venezuela to observe the trial of Leopoldo Lopez, who is accused of having convoked the opposition violence last year, which lead to 43 deaths. He asked, “What right does a U.S. official have to attend (the trial)?”
—————————-

Coup Plot in Venezuela Thwarted

Venezuelan President Maduro speaks at a public event in Caracas Febraury 12,. 2015, a coup plot against Venezuelan President was recently thwarted. | Photo: AVN

Published 12 February 2015 (8 hours 44 minutes ago)
Coup plotters planned on assassinating the Venezuelan President and installing a transitional government.
A coup plot against the Venezuelan government has been foiled, with both civilians and members of the military detained, President Nicolas Maduro revealed Thursday in a televised address.
Those involved were being paid in U.S. dollars, and one of the suspects had been granted a visa to enter the United States should the plot fail, Maduro said.
Maduro stated that the coup plotters already had a “transitional” government and program lined up once the acts – which included bombings on the Miraflores Palace and the teleSUR offices in Caracas as well as assassinations of members of the opposition, Maduro and others – was carried out.
The Venezuelan president explained that a video of masked military officials speaking out against the government had been recorded, which was set to be released after the assassination attempt was carried out.
The Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez stated via his Twitter account that the armed forces remain loyal to the constitutional government.
“The Bolivarian National Armed Forces remain resolute in their democratic beliefs and reject coup schemes that threaten the peace of the republic,” said Padrino.
According to Maduro, one of the suspects was already under surveillance and had been suspected of plotting against the government during last year’s violent demonstrations, but was not charged. Nevertheless he continued plotting against the democratically-elected government.
The four-stage plan involved creating an economic assault on the country, creating an international debate around a supposed humanitarian crisis, a political coup involving officials who would turn on the government and finally a military coup that would lead to the installation of the transitional program.
Maduro stated that the plot, which was scheduled to coincide with anti-government demonstrations planned for the one-year anniversary of the start of violent, opposition-led demonstrations which began last Feb. 12, was uncovered after military officials who had been approached to participate reported the schemes to authorities.
Maduro called on the Venezuelan people to be on alert, and be prepared to maintain peace in the country in the face of continued attempts by sectors of the right-wing who seek to overthrow the democratically-elected government.
————————————–
Maduro: Venezuela has foiled coup directed ‘from Washington’
| February 13, 2015 | 9:39 pm | Analysis, International, Latin America, National, political struggle, Venezuela | 3 Comments

Published time: February 13, 2015 12:08
http://rt.com/news/232023-maduro-coup-us-defeat/

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.(Reuters / Miraflores Palace)

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.(Reuters / Miraflores Palace)

 

Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro has announced that the country has defeated an alleged US-sponsored coup which was reportedly plotted by five Air Force officers.

“We have broken up and foiled a coup attempt against democracy and the stability of our country,” Maduro said, adding that the coup had been directed “from Washington.”

The coup plan involved an attack on the presidential palace or another top target, Maduro said.

READ MORE: Maduro accuses Joe Biden of ‘bloody coup’ in Venezuela

“This was an attempt to use a group of military aviation officers to provoke a violent event,” and one of the detained plotters was “an [Air Force] general called Hernandez, alias el Oso [the bear].”

READ MORE: US inciting civil war in Venezuela to get its oil – Bolivia’s Morales

“On these dates, February 12 and 13, during the commemoration events, [the plot was to] fly a ‘Tucano’ airplane, arm the Tucano and attack the Miraflores [Presidential] Palace, or whichever location I would have been when participating in any one of these events. And then later attack other targets which they had outlined before,” Maduro said, as quoted by AP.

READ MORE: Plot to kill Maduro: Venezuela demands US explain role in assassination plan

The alleged plot was uncovered by the Venezuelan intelligence agency, and one of the participating officers was connected to the right-wing forces allegedly planning to provoke a wave of violence.

According to Maduro, the military man was given financial aid, as well as a US visa, which permitted him to leave on February 3.

The president provided no concrete evidence of the alleged coup.

READ MORE: ‘West has no idea what a dictatorship is’ – Che Guevara’s daughter to RT

It is not the first time that Maduro has said there has been an attempted coup against his government. At the beginning of February, the president accused US Vice President Joe Biden of orchestrating a plot against Venezuela.

Last December, Maduro announced “recordings” disclosing the US plan to bribe and corrupt Venezuelan authorities.

Relations between Venezuela and the US have been hostile for a few years: they have not sent ambassadors to each other’s countries since 2010, and instead have chargé d’affaires running their embassies.

Can UN peace keeping provide the answer which Rozoff can’t ?
| February 13, 2015 | 8:00 pm | Analysis, International, political struggle, Russia, Ukraine | Comments closed

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1000-rick-rozoff-warns-ukraine-war-is-inevitable/

Rozoff is incisive and categorical.
It’s not a matter of proving that Rozoff is right or wrong.  He’s very well focused.  He is even critical of Putin’s participation in Minsk but he
doesn’t say how much pressure Putin and Russia  are under. Lavrov I am convinced works incessantly to set a course through uncharted
waters with ever present dangers.
Though not widely diseminated the peace researcher and activist Jan Oeberg has said that OSCE observation and surveillance won’t be
enough to prevent violations of the agreement.  He advocates a UN peace keeping force. A DMZ ( demilitarized zone ) and OSCE
surveillance are not adequate to enforce a ceasefire and allow time for negotiations on the status of Eastern Ukraine/Donbass.
What would happen if the issue was raised in the UN Security Council ? I fear a veto but with enough diplomatic pressure with
 a massive endorsement of UN peace keeping by the UN General Assembly  as well as other organizations’ and persons’ endorsements  a
resolution calling for UN peace keeping in Eastern Ukraine/Donbass could be implemented.
Nothing else is credible or realistic.  Spread Oeberg’s anaysis . There are lives in the balance.
André Brochu
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