Thursday, March 09, 2006

 

Bush on Venezuela: "Let's not quibble over who killed whom."

An article by Mark Weisbrot in the LA Times accurately captures the Monty Pythonesque quality of the Bush Administration's actions in Venezuela: Like all of Latin America, Venezuela has governance problems: a weak state, limited rule of law, corruption and incompetent government. But no reputable human rights organization has alleged that Venezuela under Chavez has deteriorated with regard to civil liberties, human rights or democracy, as compared with prior governments. Nor does the country compare unfavorably on these criteria with its neighbors in the region. And yet: Venezuela is a democracy... [M]ost of the media remains controlled by the opposition, which attacks the government endlessly on all the major TV channels.... [I]n Latin America, a military coup against a democratically elected government is still considered a serious crime.... Over the last 25 years, income per person in Latin America has grown by a meager 10%, according to the IMF. This compares with 82% from 1960 to 1980, before most of Washington's economic reforms were adopted. OK. So we have a country in which American reforms have caused a dramatic decline in the rate of improvement of living standards and yet it's a democracy which allows Washington's voice to be heard through the oligarchy-controlled media, and even believes that it's a crime to overturn free elections by force and violence! One can almost imagine dark-robed figures of the Monty Python Inquisition turning to one another, carrying on a mumbled discussion, and then shouting, "To the stake!"
Comments:
It's always interesting how language is twisted by our politicians and media. An elected president, one elected both by ballot and by people taking to the streets to put him back after he was ousted by a Bush approved coup,... such a president is a dictator.

This line is uniform in our broadcast and calbe media, it is widespread in print and on the internet.

They all seem to be in on this one.

What we are seeing in the media is a softening up of the public in preparation of another Bush backed coup. Too much oil.
 
It really is inept propaganda, Olvlzl.

They have created too many bogeymen simultaneously, so people are asking uncomfortable questions.

It is tragedy when the people in power don't see their duty to lift up the rest, like a father beating a baby to improve its character.
 
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