November 2008

The Media Response to Venezuelan Elections
Posted: Saturday, November 29, 2008

By Stephen Lendman
November 28, 2008

On November 23, Venezuela held regional and local elections for governors, mayors and other municipal offices. Over 5000 candidates contested in 603 races for 22 state governors, 328 mayors, 233 state legislative council members, 13 Caracas Metropolitan area council members, and seven others for the Alto Apure District Council.

As mandated under Article 56 of the Bolivarian Constitution: "All persons have the right to be registered (to vote) free of charge with the Civil Registry Office after birth, and to obtain public documents constituting evidence of the biological identity, in accordance with the law."

It's a constitutional mandate to let all Venezuelans vote. Once registered, none are purged from the rolls, obstructed, or prevented from having their vote count like so often happens in America. In Venezuela, democracy works.

In 2003, Hugo Chavez undertook a major successful initiative called Mision Itentidad (Mission Identity) to implement the law. Prior to it in 2000, 11 million Venezuelans were registered to vote. By September 2006, it was 16 million, and now it's 16.8 million in a country of 27 million people.

How the Process Works

The electoral process is administered by the National Electoral Council (CNE). Unlike America's privatized system, it's an independent body, separate from the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government or any private corporate interests. It's comprised of 11 members of the National Assembly and 10 representatives of civil society, none of whom are appointed by the President.

Elections are conducted using Smartmatic touchscreen electronic voting machines with verifiable paper ballot receipts. Voters can thus check to confirm their votes and their accuracy. The CNE then saves them as a permanent record to be used in case a recount is needed. It also requires voters to leave an electronic thumbprint to assure no one votes more than once.

The machines work as intended, and, after the 2006 election, the Carter Center said: based on its observations, Venezuela's "automated machines worked well and the voting results do reflect the will of the people." Further earlier independent studies verified the same thing, including ones carried out by vote-process experts at the University of California Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and elsewhere.

In design, great care was taken to eliminate the possibility of tampering. It required a special technology that split the security codes into four parts. As a result, numerous voting security reports endorse the process they say makes Venezuelan machines the most advanced and accurate in the world.

On November 23, CNE president Tibisay Lucena said voters turned out in unprecedented numbers at 65.45%, the largest ever total for a regional election. The people spoke and registered a resounding, but not one-sided, victory for Hugo Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidates - and sent a message. They affirmed the success of Bolivarianism and want it continued.

As the Venezuela Information Office reported, PSUV candidates won 77% of governorships (17 of 22), 81% of mayoral offices, 77% of all contests, and 58% of the popular vote - an impressive result by any standard anywhere in an election that 134 independent observers from 54 countries (from America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the 34-member country Organization of American States - OAS) judged open, free, fair, and efficient like all others under Chavez. OAS secretary general Jose Miguel Insulza called this one "peaceful and exemplary" and described it as a powerful expression of democratic maturity and the trust Venezuelans have in it under Chavez.

Other observer comments were as follows:

-- Colombia's CNE representative, Joaquin Vives, called Venezuela's electoral process "a pioneer in the world (and added) Many things dazzled us" about it, such as voters "great desire to construct democracy in Venezuela;"

-- Greek legislator Sofia Sakorafa called the process "one that expresses the will of the people and is characterized by a commitment to social and political inclusion;"

-- Costa Rica's Maria Elena Salazar said the election was "beautiful, participative, of which all Latin Americans should be proud;" and

-- Anthony Gonzales from America admired well-equipped and secured voting centers and that the election was held on a weekend to make it easier for working people.

Long-time Latin American expert James Petras commented on the significance of the victory:

-- few European, North or South American parties have as high a level of support as the PSUV; certainly none in the United States in particular where growing numbers of voters have little faith in a deeply corrupted process;

-- the PSUV is popular "in the context of several radical economic measures, including the nationalization of major cement, steel, financial and other private capitalist monopolies;" even so, business in Venezuela remains strong (though slowing) at a time of a global economic crisis;

-- the PSUV won in spite of declining oil prices; fluctuating around $50 a barrel, they're down about two-thirds from their peak price; even so, "the government maintained most of its funding for its social programs" and intends to continue doing it - in contrast to America where social programs have eroded for years and show no signs of revitalization under either party;

-- the electorate was selective in its voting choices - "rewarding candidates who performed adequately in providing government services and punishing those who ignored or were unresponsive to popular demands;"

-- most important: "the decisive (PSUV) victory provides the basis for confronting the deepening collapse of world capitalism with (impressive and workable) socialist measures;" compare them to the looting of the US Treasury to reward criminal bankers for their malfeasance and failures; the differences between both countries are dramatic and breathtaking - democratically impressive (though not perfect) in Venezuela compared to criminally corrupted under either party in America; no one dares mention this in the corporate media.

In the election's aftermath, Petras explained that "most Venezuelan firms are heavily indebted to the state and local banks." Chavez can ask them "to repay their debts or hand over the keys (and be able to bring) about a painless and eminently legal transition to socialism." It remains to be seen if he'll do it to advance his socialism of the 21st century - or perhaps remain defensive, proceed cautiously, and fail to take advantage of an important opportunity.

Responses from the Dominant Media

With some exceptions, it's been pretty much as expected - one-sided, distorted, inaccurate, and not at all reflecting the will of Venezuelans and their impressive support for Chavez and Bolivarianism.

For example, The New York Times in a November 25 editorial headlined: "Hugo Chavez's Choice." After he took office in February 1999, The Times kept up a steady attack against him in editorials and commentaries. Here it states: Hugo Chavez "is not feeling the love. Collapsing oil prices have sharply curtailed his ability to 'buy' public sympathies," and after Barack Obama's election he no longer has "a convenient foe."

Sunday's elections "showed just how fed up (Venezuelans) are with his government's 'authoritarianism and incompetence' by rejecting the president's allies in significant races." Even by Times standards, these comments are way over the top and mirror opposite of the facts.

The Times continues: "Mr. Chavez did pretty much everything he could to skew the elections. His government increased public spending by 60 percent in the last year." Of course, he's always used the nation's wealth for his people and not as handouts to the rich like in America.

"A government watchdog (also) disqualified many opposition candidates," but The Times omitted saying that the Venezuelan Supreme Court (YSJ) barred them because of corruption, misuse of public funds, and convictions of these offenses. The Times called them "bogus."

It then exaggerated Sunday's results, suggested Chavez's popular support is waning, referred to his "rejected (December) power-grabbing constitutional reform," and stated "Venezuelans don't want to give Mr. Chavez even more power. He should heed the message (and) accept democratic limits to his rule." Unstated was:

-- Chavez's popular support at over 60% compared to George Bush scoring lowest ever for a US president at around 20%;

-- the nation's impressive social democracy;

-- the kind few other nations have;

-- the type absent in America;

-- the kind Venezuelans never before had and cherish; and

-- are committed never to give up.

Simon Romero is The Times man in Caracas where his reporting is mediocre and inaccurate. His November 24 article was typical. It's headlined: "Chavez Supporters Suffer Defeat in State and Municipal Races" in which he refers to their "stinging defeat in several state and municipal races." Unnoticed were all the victories and how impressively they were won.

Instead Romero noted "festering discontent" and how "celebratory fireworks went off over parts of (Caracas) after the results were announced." Perhaps so but mostly for Chavez and his PSUV.

Romero preferred to quote Caracas opposition mayoral winner, Antonio Ledezma, saying "Those who should feel defeated are the criminals." An urban Caracas Petare carpenter as well being "tired of Chavez treating the entire country as if it were his military barracks."

Well into his article, Romero had to say that "Voting unfolded without reports of major irregularities" but ignored the fact that few at all occurred and they were minor. He also admitted that pro-Chavez candidates won 17 of 22 states but added sour grapes about some being small "in terms of population."

On the same day, Romero wrote another commentary headlined: "Once Considered Invincible, Chavez Takes a Blow" with as many inaccuracies as the above one. He referred to "many of (Chavez's) supporters desert(ing) him....in areas where he was once thought invincible," but had to admit the results might not "slow his Socialist-inspired revolution or check his power." Why should it when most Venezuelans want it.

He repeated much from his other article, added a few inaccurate quotes (like it's a "myth" to believe "only Chavez can be a champion of the poor"), omitted the most important facts, but again admitted the obvious - that "Mr. Chavez remains by far the dominant and most popular figure in Venezuelan politics," and the election results showed it.

Even so, Romero downplayed his victory and said Chavez candidates won mostly in largely rural states. He quoted economist Luis Pedro Espana, director of the Economic and Social Research Institute at Venezuela's Andres Bello Catholic University, stating: "The more modern part of the country wants political change." What he means, but didn't say, is the more affluent part, now forced to share some of the nation's wealth with its least advantaged and most in need people - the great majority who support Chavez overwhelmingly.

On November 25, the Wall Street Journal was extremely hostile in two post-election articles - one on the results and another feature story headlined: "Chavez Lets Colombian Rebels Wield Power Inside Venezuela." It reeks of inaccuracies, uses Washington and the Colombian military as its sources, and claims that Chavez is providing a growing "safe haven" for FARC-EP and ELN "guerrillas."

Unreported was anything about Chavez's Colombian peace intervention and his successful efforts to arrange FARC-EP held hostage releases - in spite of Washington and Colombia's president Uribe conspiring to prevent it.

Journal writer Jose de Cordoba accused the Venezuelan military and police of "turning a blind eye to guerrilla activity, and at times cooperating in areas including the trafficking of arms and cocaine." This and other anti-Chavez agitprop show up often in Journal commentaries, but this time in far more detail compared to much less said about the election results.

That was in a page six article headlined: "Chavez Base Rebukes Him at Polls." Writer John Lyon referred to Chavez's "dual ambitions - to stay in power for life and wield outsize influence on the global stage." He added how "the very people that brought him to power" rebuked him: "the urban poor."

Like The Times, the article reeked with inaccuracies that are increasingly common on both the Journal's op-ed and news pages. Lyon suggests trouble for Chavez with his electoral "setbacks add(ing) to a list of growing problems that are likely to slow his swagger." For example, falling oil prices that may crimp his "checkbook diplomacy that has won him allies outside his borders...."

He also compared him to Fidel Castro, referred to his "foreign adventures....backfir(ing) amid the global financial crisis," and said his base is "dwindling" at a time it's impressively strong. He quoted opposition candidate Antonio Ledezma (as did Romero) saying "Now is the time for true change" by which he means ending Bolivarianism, its social democracy, returning power to the privileged oligarchs, and throwing most Venezuelans back into deep poverty. Lyon apparently approves and quotes a leading opposition newspaper, Tal Cual, headlining: "We hit him where it hurts." For the past 10 years, the Venezuelan people have had the last word.

The Washington Post was just as hostile in a November 25 editorial headlined "How to Beat Mr. Chavez" and his "Cuban-style socialist regime." It called him "Venezuela's strongman (and) caudillo" and over-hyped Sunday's results much the way the Journal and Times did it. It added that Chavez "shows no sign that he is listening to the country," and post-election said the voters' message was to "continue down the same road." Indeed it was and will be.

According to the Post, "the opposition now has an opportunity to show that it can offer a workable alternative to Mr. Chavez's policies." Unmentioned was that they had generations to "show" it, failed dismally, Venezuelans overwhelmingly reject them, and want no part of their kind of "change."

With its large anti-Castro population, Miami is a hotbed of anti-Chavismo, and the Miami Herald reflects it. Post-election, it headlined "Despite foes' gains, Hugo Chavez will try to get another term in Venezuela." It referred to state and local elections "slow(ing) his grand ambitions to yank Venezuela and Latin America to the left" but not enough to stop him according to unnamed analysts.

It suggested an upcoming "titanic battle" as Chavez is expected to hold a national plebiscite next year "that would allow him to campaign for an additional six-year presidential term in 2012." It quoted pollster Luis Vincente Leon of Datanalisis, who publicly called for Chavez's assassination, saying: "He wants to change the constitution to run again. There's no doubt about that," but again unsaid is what the people want. Chavez wants them to choose and like always will honor their will.

On November 23, the far right Washington Times headlined a John Thomson commentary on "Chavez's fraud game" and referred to "The kinds and extent of fraud already being applied by the Venezuelan government to crucial elections today." He called them "unprecedented (and) unmitigated electoral larceny (and) Venezuela's pilfer process starts well before the day the votes are cast and counted."

In an age of breathtaking anti-Chavez agitprop, this comment takes the cake or at least matches the worst of it. Thomson called the "fraud potential" on election day "staggering" and listed a menu of absurdities and rubbish ranging from "jumbled" voting lists to "rigged" voting machines, and "manipulation" of results.

It's much like Journal writer Mary O'Grady's agitprop - her latest on November 17 in a commentary headlined: "Dodd's Democrat Tightens His Grip." Dodd, of course, is Senator Chris Dodd, and her article is about Venezuela's election, the country's "numerous setbacks for democracy," and the chance Venezuelans have to "rid themselves of Mr. Chavez."

She refers to his "authoritarian powers....deteriorating living standards (and) the widespread assumption that the government will use tricks to win" on November 23. "Venezuelans saw this coming. From his earliest days as president in 1999, Mr. Chavez began working to destroy any checks on his power."

She attacked Chris Dodd for "throw(ing) a fit over Mr. Chavez's (48-hour) removal" in April 2002. "This self-styled Latin American expert (referred to) a US-backed coup and insisted that since Mr. Chavez (was) democratically elected in a fair vote" no one should question his legitimacy.

"Of course it wasn't a coup," according to O'Grady, as she questions the "circumstances (of his) political resurrection," again called him a "strongman," warned earlier about his budding "dictatorship," and now says her view about him is accurate.

"Political prisoners are rotting in Venezuelan jails without trials. Being identified as a political opponent of the revolution is a ticket to the end of the unemployment line. Private property has zero protection under the law and the economy's private sector has been all but destroyed....(and Chavez) has made it clear he will not accept defeat at the polls."

Breathtaking hardly describes this rant. It's mirror opposite the truth. Venezuela's social democracy is unimaginable in America, and one reason why O'Grady and others vilify it. It's also why they reported inaccurately on Sunday's election.

A Sane Voice in the Wilderness

On November 22, the London Independent published "Letters: In praise of Hugo Chavez." One confronted Latin American writer Phil Gunson's "bleak picture" of Venezuela in his article titled: "Tough-talking Chavez faces rising dissent." It was grossly inaccurate, mentioned the usual kinds of criticisms, and pretty much read like the US and Venezuelan corporate media agitprop.

The writer asked: If Gunson is right, "why are President Chavez's approval ratings at 58%, as he reports." He doesn't mention "how (his) government has delivered free healthcare to millions of people for the first time, eradicated illiteracy and used the country's best economic performance for decades to halve the poverty levels."

Suggesting that poll results may trigger a "violent reaction....turn(s) reality on its head. It was the Chavez government itself that was briefly the victim of an opposition-led military coup in 2002. In contrast, (his) government has showed a consistent commitment to democracy....Moreover, last week the respected Latinbarametro survey showed that Venezuela is now the country with the greatest support for democracy in Latin America and the region's second-most satisfied with the functioning of its democracy. Venezuela's combination of democracy and social progress under Chavez has inspired widespread support."

It's signed by Colin Burgon, MP, Chair, Labour Friends of Venezuela group of MPs, House of Commons. He adds more as well, and the Independent published it. It's unlike major US broadsheets that cover Chavez one way - with venomous inaccuracy and very rare exceptions that hardly draw notice.

The Venezuela Information Office reviewed the election in detail, and it's summarized below as follows:

-- for a regional election, voter turnout was unprecedented at over 65%;

-- independent observers judged the process open, free, fair and efficient and according to OAS secretary general Insulza "peaceful and exemplary;"

-- PSUV candidates won impressive victories, far exceeding the opposition;

-- pro-government candidates gained a large majority of offices throughout the country - for governors, mayors and other posts;

-- like for the past decade, most Venezuelans will continue to live under pro-Chavez regional and local leaders because they want them;

-- the PSUV scored important victories in strategic areas of the country, but not all of them;

-- pro-government candidates won by wide margins affirming Venezuelans faith in Bolivarianism;

-- although the metropolitan Caracas mayoralty went to the opposition, residents of the largest city municipality voted for the PSUV;

-- even in states won by the opposition, key municipalities went to the PSUV; and

-- Venezuela's Electoral Authority (CNE) handled the record voter turnout impressively.

The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other publications falsely reported that a majority of the population is under opposition control. Official statistics show otherwise but were ignored.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

101 killed as gunmen rampage in India city
Posted: Thursday, November 27, 2008

¤ Dozens Reported Dead As Gunmen Run Amok in Mumbai
n one of India's worst terror attacks, gunmen ran amok in the wealthiest part of Mumbai tonight, killing dozens of people, blowing up cars, petrol stations, hospitals and luxury hotels and taking a number of foreign nationals hostage. More than 80 of people were reportedly killed - with ten shot dead at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus, one of the two major stations in downtown Mumbai. Another three people were killed in the Hotel Taj lobby, where European workers are believed to be holed up.

¤ 101 killed as gunmen rampage in India city
¤ Mumbai attacks: Taj Hotel hostages rescued

¤ Venezuela's Chavez welcomes Russian warships
¤ Targeting Hugo Chavez

¤ Afghan leader complains US, NATO aren't succeeding
¤ Official: Sunken 'pirate' ship was Thai boat
¤ Study says HIV could be eliminated in a decade

¤ Mr Co-President? Obama upstages Bush on economy

Presidents Kill People, Especially Bush
Posted: Monday, November 24, 2008

¤ Chávez Supporters Win 17 out of 23 Venezuelan States
¤ Hugo Chavez Allies Score Big Wins in Venezuela Elections

¤ Clinton-Obama détente: From top rival to top aide

¤ How India caught the world's cold
House prices are plummeting, credit markets have become frozen, business and consumer confidence are collapsing, the auto industry is at a standstill, and the stock market is off more than 50 per cent. Sounds like old hat? Only this is not America or Britain, but India, an economy which until a few months back was still booming and whose apparent resilience to the banking crisis was thought an antidote to the travails of more advanced, Western counterparts.

¤ xtrajudicial Assassinations As Official Israeli Policy

¤ South America: Recession Can Be Avoided
Can South America escape the wrath of the economic and financial storms that have their epicenter in the United States? Since the financial meltdown began in mid-September, the bond markets of most of the region (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela) have been hit, as well as most of their stock markets and a number of currencies. The steep drop in commodity prices in recent months has also reduced export and government revenue to a number of countries (Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Chile) where previously high prices of agricultural crops, minerals, and hydrocarbons has contributed to a growth spurt over the last few years. The old adage that "When America gets a cold, Latin America catches pneumonia" has been widely cited.

¤ You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
Obama hasn't even been sworn in yet, and already the Wall Street cheerleaders are celebrating his first great triumph. According the pundits, the stock market staged a surprise 494 point rally on Friday because--get this--it was announced that Timothy Geithner would be appointed Obama's Treasury Secretary. What nonsense. The sudden turn-around in stocks had a lot more to do with short-covering than anything else, but don't let that get in the way of a good story.

¤ Citibank Flips The Bird To American Taxpayers

¤ America's Hidden War in Somalia
To glimpse America's secret war in Africa, you must bang with a rock on the iron gate of the prison in this remote port in northern Somalia. A sleepy guard will yank open a rusty deadbolt. Then, you ask to speak to an inmate named Mohamed Ali Isse. Isse, 36, is a convicted murderer and jihadist. He is known among his fellow prisoners, with grudging awe, as "The Man with the American Thing in His Leg." That "thing" is a stainless steel surgical pin screwed into his bullet-shattered femur, courtesy, he says, of the U.S. Navy. How it got there — or more to the point, how Isse ended up in this crumbling, stone-walled hellhole at the uttermost end of the Earth—is a story that the U.S. government probably would prefer to remain untold.

¤ Somalia's Crisis

¤ The Slow Death of Gaza
It has been two weeks since Israel imposed a complete closure of Gaza, after months when its crossings have been open only for the most minimal of humanitarian supplies. Now it is even worse: two weeks without United Nations food trucks for the 80% of the population entirely dependent on food aid, and no medical supplies or drugs for Gaza's ailing hospitals. No fuel (paid for by the EU) for Gaza's electricity plant, and no fuel for the generators during the long blackouts. Last Monday morning, 33 trucks of food for UN distribution were finally let in - a few days of few supplies for very few, but as the UN asks, then what?

¤ Deprivation and Desperation in Gaza

¤ The Siege on Gaza: We Share the Blame
As an international community, we all share the responsibility for the ongoing brutal siege on Gaza, and not until we utilise all possible means of peaceful and nonviolent resistance shall we hope for a close end of that siege. There is not much to say about the Holocaust of Gaza’s people - assuming that the reader has at least followed the media coverage of what is happening in the traumatised Strip. It comes as no surprise that Gazan’s have resorted to euthanasia to end the lives of thousands of newly hatched chicks, for even Gazan birds would prefer dying with honour over being victims of starvation.

¤ Presidents Kill People, Especially Bush

¤ The Kurds, Oil and Missing Records
¤ Idiots and Bailouts
¤ Paulson's Cascade of Lies

Famine in Haiti Made In The U.S.A
Posted: Thursday, November 20, 2008

¤ Oil prices slump under 50 dollars per barrel
¤ Judge: Algerian prisoners held in Guantánamo must be freed
¤ New PBS series exposes Old Testament fairy tales

¤ Indian frigate sinks pirate ship off Somalia coast
¤ Pirates anchor hijacked supertanker off Somalia coast
¤ Somali pirates seize tanker carrying oil worth $100m

¤ Soros-Funded Democratic Idea Factory Becomes Obama Policy Font
¤ Ahmadinejad: Iran not looking to wage war

¤ Top judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion
One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante".

¤ Sun sets on US power: report predicts end of dominance
¤ The Rule of Law Must be Respected
¤ Ending Torture, Prosecuting the Torturers

¤ Why Bolivia Threw Our Ambassador Out
Evo Morales knows about "change you can believe in." He also knows what happens when a powerful elite is forced to make changes it doesn't want. Morales is the first indigenous president of Bolivia, the poorest country in South America. He was inaugurated in January 2006. Against tremendous internal opposition, he nationalized Bolivia's natural gas fields, transforming the country's economic stability and, interestingly, enriching the very elite that originally criticized the move. Yet last September, the backlash came to a peak. In an interview in New York this week, Morales told me: "The opposition, the right-wing parties ... decided to do a violent coup. ... They couldn't do it."

¤ Covering new presidents: the media's double standard

¤ Auto Giants to Nation: "Your Wallet, or Your Life"
That old Jack Benny gag has recently been popping up in my head. It's the one where the legendary tightwad is confronted on the street by an armed robber who demands, "Your wallet or your life." Benny doesn't respond and the robber yells, "Your wallet or your life. Hurry up!"
Un-flapped, Benny responds, "Don't rush me. I'm thinking." The spark that reignited that old memory came yesterday. I spent much of the day watching the three CEO's of GM, Ford and Chrysler on C-Span rattling their tin cups in front of Congress. (I know, I need to get a life)

¤ Crisis and corruption
The facts couldn't be more starkly clear. Unless Congress bails out General Motors with a massive loan sometime in the next six weeks, the giant corporation will likely go bankrupt.
That may well lead to a ripple effect that will doom Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler too, not that Chrysler really has any long-term prospects, other than as part of some other company. It's almost impossible to overstate how serious a blow that would be to all of us. The nonprofit Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR) did a study of what that might mean.

¤ Stocks tumble for second day; Treasurys surge

¤ This Is Not A Normal Recession
"The Winter of 2008-2009 will prove to be the winter of global economic discontent that marks the rejection of the flawed ideology that unregulated global financial markets promote financial innovation, market efficiency, unhampered growth and endless prosperity while mitigating risk by spreading it system wide." Economists Paul Davidson and Henry C.K. Liu "Open Letter to World Leaders attending the November 15 White House Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy"
The global economy is being sucked into a black hole and most Americans have no idea why. The whole problem can be narrowed down to two words; "structured finance".

¤ Obama and the Great Depression

¤ Famine in Haiti Made In The U.S.A
The four hurricanes that hit Haiti in August and September directly caused 800 deaths and massive destruction of its roads and bridges, along with the crops and cropland that feed its people. Haiti is so poor that it couldn’t recover from this devastation. At the end of October, people in isolated communities started dying from hunger. In Baie d’Orange, a community of 20,000 associated with the municipality of Belle-Anse in southeast Haiti, 16 children and two adults died from hunger in the last week of October. Pierre Antoine Diléné, a doctor working in Belle-Anse, confirmed the deaths and emphasized that many were also suffering from dysentery, fevers and skin diseases.

¤ Orchestrating a Civic Coup in Bolivia
Evo Morales is the latest democratically elected Latin American president to be the target of a U.S. plot to destabilize and overthrow his government. On Sept. 10, 2008, Morales expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, declaring that "he is conspiring against democracy and seeking the division of Bolivia." Observers of U.S.-Latin American policy tend to view the crisis in U.S.-Bolivian relations as due to a policy of neglect and ineptness toward Latin America because of U.S. involvement in the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. In fact, the Bolivia coup attempt was a conscious policy rooted in U.S. hostility toward Morales, his political party the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and the social movements that are aligned with him.

¤ Lost In The Land Of Make-Believe

There's Skullduggery Afoot
Posted: Sunday, November 16, 2008

¤ GE Wins FDIC Insurance for Up to $139 Billion in Debt
¤ As More Companies Seek Aid, 'Where Do You Stop?'
¤ Russian trading halted after 12% drop

¤ Washington's $5 Trillion Tab
For all the fury over Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion emergency economic relief fund, it seems downright puny when compared to the running total of the government's response to the credit crisis. According to CreditSights, a research firm in New York and London, the U.S. government has put itself on the hook for some $5 trillion, so far, in an attempt to arrest a collapse of the financial system.

¤ A Prism for the New Paradigm
As the United States enters a new and unprecedented political era -- or, as killjoy cynics might put it, as the American empire gets a new set of temporary managers -- the fate of the "dissident" movement that arose under the Bush Regime seems greatly occluded. So many of those who set out their stalls as bold outsiders "speaking truth to power" now find themselves on the inside, enthralled by power, speaking for power, as it is personified by President-elect Barack Obama -- who, ironically, has consistently repudiated many of the tenets and principles that provoked the dissidents' outrage in the first place.

¤ Targeting Aristide in Exile
Elected Haiti's president in 1990. Its first ever democratically chosen one. By a sweeping two-thirds majority. Took office in February 1991. Deposed by an army-led coup in September with all the earmarks of being made-in-Washington. Returned to office in October 1994. Served until February 1996. According to Haitian law, he couldn't succeed himself. Reelect in November 2000 with 90% of the vote. Took office in February 2001. Served until February 29, 2004 when, in the middle of the night, US marines deposed him and forced him into exile.

¤ A Leftist Looks at the Near Future
¤ Hu visit marks China's growing interest in Latin America
¤ China's Hu to visit Washington, Cuba
¤ Russian leader Medvedev heading to Cuba, Venezuela
¤ Four Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike
¤ With Iran, Obama Needs More Carrot, Less Stick

¤ How US claims about Syria became media facts
In any conflict, warring parties strive to convince the public that justice is on their side. The most effective way of doing this is through the media. It is imperative that journalists cast a critical eye on information they receive to avoid becoming unwitting tools in the propaganda war. In particular, they should not report claims as facts. There were several fundamental failings in the British press coverage of the recent US raid into Syria. For example, Richard White in the Sun and the Independent correspondent Patrick Cockburn both reported as fact that the raid killed Abu Ghadiya, an alleged al-Qaida figure who smuggled fighters into Iraq.

¤ Why Did the West Ignore the Truth About the War in Georgia?
Thank goodness, they might be thinking at the US State Department and the British Foreign Office, for the financial crisis. Were it not for the ever-blacker news about the Western world's economy, another scandal would be vying for the headlines – and one where the blame would be easier to apportion. It concerns our two countries' relations with Russia and the truth about this summer's Georgia-Russia war.

¤ The Worst Is Not Behind Us
It is useful, at this juncture, to stand back and survey the economic landscape--both as it is now, and as it has been in recent months. So here is a summary of many of the points that I have made for the last few months on the outlook for the U.S. and global economy, as well as for financial markets:
--The U.S. will experience its most severe recession since World War II, much worse and longer and deeper than even the 1974-1975 and 1980-1982 recessions. The recession will continue until at least the end of 2009 for a cumulative gross domestic product drop of over 4%; the unemployment rate will likely reach 9%. The U.S. consumer is shopped-out, saving less and debt-burdened: This will be the worst consumer recession in decades.

¤ The Election is Over; Time to Move On to the Recriminations
¤ Wall Street's Bailout is a Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene
¤ Dangerous weapons: Why airport security is a joke
¤ What Indy Media Trailblazers Can Teach Us
¤ There's Skullduggery Afoot
¤ Making an Invisible Minority Less Invisible
¤ China's Greatest Export

¤ Transcending Race?
Structural racism persists today, in large part because of the continued insistence of whites that the U.S. has transcended, or gotten beyond race, despite the widespread and appalling prevalence of segregation and discrimination. Nowhere are promises of the "end of race" better represented than in pro-Obama post-electoral celebrations in corporate media outlets such as CNN.

¤ The Myth of the Black/Gay Divide
¤ Bailing Out the Big Three
¤ Iraqis Believe Americans Bombing Them to Promote SOFA

America the Illiterate
Posted: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

¤ Obama's Bob Marley effect

¤ Obama's Foreign Policy: No Sharp Break From Bush

¤ Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated. The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents

¤ Gorbachev calls on Obama to carry out 'perestroika' in the U.S.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the Obama administration in the United States needs far-reaching 'perestroika' reforms to overcome the financial crisis and restore balance in the world. The term perestroika, meaning restructuring, was used by Gorbachev in the late 1980s to describe a series of reforms that abolished state planning in the Soviet Union.

¤ First Bush-Obama Meeting: Hard Feelings and Hand Sanitizer
¤ Secret order lets U.S. raid Al Qaeda around the world
¤ Survivor searches ending at collapsed Haiti school

¤ Haiti: Racism and Poverty
The American attitude to Haiti was historically based on American disapproval of a free black state just off the coast of their slave-based plantation economy. This attitude was pithily expressed in Thomas Jefferson's idea that a black man was equivalent to three fifths of a white man. It was further apotheosized by Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan who expostulated to Wilson: "Imagine! Niggers speaking French!"

¤ Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 home

¤ Bombings kill 31 in Baghdad during morning commute
¤ Obama's Victory and the Future of Race in the United States

¤ Conned Again?
If the change President-elect Obama has promised includes a halt to America’s wars of aggression and an end to the rip-off of taxpayers by powerful financial interests, what explains Obama’s choice of foreign and economic policy advisors? Indeed, Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff is a signal that change ended with Obama’s election. The only thing different about the new administration will be the faces.

¤ A Bone in America's Throat
¤ Our Obama Problem
¤ Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
¤ Obamania: a collective, frightening madness
¤ U.S. Admits Killing 37 Afghan Civilians
¤ Bush’s Last Bullet: Why the US Attacked Syria
¤ A Troubled World Awaits President Obama

¤ U.S. and Allies Tortured Kids in Iraq Prisons
Since it invaded Iraq in 2003, the U.S. has detained thousands of juveniles---some of whom were tortured and sexually abused, according to published reports. Figures of the number of children behind bars vary. Some estimates put the number as high as 6,000. While the criminal abuse of male prisoners at Abu Ghraib is well known, child and women prisoners held there have also been tortured and raped, according to Neil Mackay of Glasgow's "Sunday Herald." Abu Ghraib prison is located about 20 miles west of Baghdad.

¤ Obama vs. Medvedev: Nuclear chicken in eastern Europe

¤ Seven Pointless Years in Afghanistan
Seven years after the beginning of the American-led bombardment of Afghanistan the Taliban are still fighting. Some 50 insurgents died recently in an assault on Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Osama bin Laden is nowhere to be found. Has the time come for NATO to declare victory and leave? Recently, a French diplomatic cable relating a conversation on September 2 between the French ambassador to Afghanistan, Francois Fitou, and his British colleague, Sherard Cowper-Coles, was leaked in Le Canard Enchainé, a French satirical magazine.

¤ Mikhail Khazin: U.S. will soon face second "Great Depression"
¤ Circuit City files for bankruptcy protection
¤ South African Folk Singer/Activist Miriam Makeba Dies

¤ America the Illiterate
We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities.

Obama Elected President
Posted: Wednesday, November 5, 2008

¤ Obama Elected President
Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who built a campaign and a movement around the promise of change, won a resounding victory over Republican John McCain Tuesday night, becoming the first black president in U.S. history. Choosing a steady 47-year-old lawyer and former community organizer to guide the nation, voters looked past Obama's relative lack of national experience to end eight years of Republican leadership amid a once-in-a-century economic crisis and protracted foreign wars.

¤ Democrats expand House lead with broad gains

¤ Obama: 'This is your victory'
¤ McCain Gracious, Complimentary In Defeat
¤ Bush congratulates Obama on 'awesome night'
¤ Washington gears up for inaugural blow-out

¤ Obama victory sets off jubilation

¤ Republican Right Crying "Election Fraud" Already!
They fear that the handwriting was on the wall with the heavy Democratic Party registration coupled with gigantic voter turnouts. The response by the perpetual deniers of the Republican Right is in current evidence as the future scripts of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are being written.

¤ A Farewell to Dubya, All-Time Loser in Presidential History
¤ Breaking! McCain Concedes!

¤ The Mess that Pelosi Left for Obama
If we are so lucky as to have a fair election despite the voter suppression, hackable voting machines, and intimidation, Obama is going to inherit a hell of a mess. He might have to be almost as superhuman as many of his swooning fans think he is to straighten it out, and I blame Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that the task has remained so gigantic.

¤ The End of International Law?

¤ The morning after: Half of us will be disappointed

¤ Obama Wins Election as First African-American President of U.S.

¤ Chavez offers talks with "black man" in W.House

¤ Silence on War Crimes
Last week, Bill Kovach, former Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Times and the founding chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, blasted the U.S. media for its failure to ask tough questions of both presidential candidates regarding their opinions of the Bush administration’s unprecedented adherence to the controversial “unitary executive theory” of government.

¤ Bush's Last 100 Days the Ones to Watch

¤ American Election: An Illusion of Democracy
"The presidential salary of about $200,000 is compared nothing to the millions worth of bribes a president is promised to receive after office. Such bribes come in the form of easy job on the board of a large corporation with huge sum of salary, stock options, perks, privileges, and large payments for worthless one-hour speeches to some businessmen. One cannot help but wonder where a president’s loyalty go, to the people or to corporations?"

¤ A Useful Culminating Point?
¤ Obama Wins (Really!)

¤ So Little Time, So Much Damage
While Americans eagerly vote for the next president, here's a sobering reminder: As of Tuesday, George W. Bush still has 77 days left in the White House - and he's not wasting a minute. President Bush's aides have been scrambling to change rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties and abortion rights, among others - few for the good. Most presidents put on a last-minute policy stamp, but in Mr. Bush's case it is more like a wrecking ball. We fear it could take months, or years, for the next president to identify and then undo all of the damage.

¤ Narcissists Tend to Become Leaders

¤ A New World?
If the United States today elects an African American man to the presidency, that event will mark a turning point in US history and culture. It will genuinely represent a triumph of hope over fear - all the more so because Barack Obama for the most part ran a dignified and inclusive campaign, in the face of the hateful and divisive rhetoric of John McCain. It's significance cannot be overstated, Yet, as Ken Silverstein of Harpers observes, an Obama victory is "not about politics but about the man." Ironically, Obama may transform the face and spirit of a nation, without dramatically changing the substance of its policies.

¤ Haiti: Racism and Poverty
The people of Haiti are as poor as human beings can be. According to the statisticians of the World Bank and others who speculate about how many Anglos can dance on the head of a peon, Haiti may either be the second, third or fourth poorest country in the world. In Haiti's case, statistics are irrelevant. When large numbers of people are reduced to eating dirt – earth, clay – it is impossible to imagine poverty any more absolute, any more desperate, any more inhuman and degrading.

¤ The Crack of Wall Street is not a Cause, is an Effect of an obsolete world order

¤ Bolivia Gives US Anti-Drug Team Three Months To Leave
Bolivia, which has put the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on notice it would have to leave the country, on Tuesday issued a deadline of three months for it to pull out. Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said the letter on details of the withdrawal had been passed along on Saturday. Leftist President Evo Morales, a staunch foe of the U.S. government, announced Saturday he was suspending the work of the U.S. DEA Administration in Bolivia, accusing it of having encouraged political unrest that killed 19 people in September.

Just How Dumb Are White Males?
Posted: Saturday, November 1, 2008

¤ Cost of crash: $2,800,000,000,000
¤ Change You Can See

¤ Misrepresenting the Financial Crisis
A major problem with the bailout scheme is that it misrepresents the ongoing credit crunch as a problem of illiquidity, or lack of cash. In reality, however, it is a lack of trust that has been created by the widespread insolvency in the financial market. In such an environment of widespread insolvency and lack of trust, owners of cash rush to safety: buying treasury bills, investing abroad, or hoarding their cash, thereby creating something akin to a black hole for cash—or a "liquidity trap," as John Maynard Keynes called it.

¤ Is the Global Economy a Mistake?

¤ Into Syria We Went
The Bush doctrine continues to live a charmed life less than a week before the US Presidential elections. It has made sovereignty nigh redundant – attacks on the soil of Washington’s close ally Pakistan, and now, Syria. The Sunday attack on the village of Sukkariyeh near Abu Kamal, ostensibly to capture or eliminate the insurgent leader, Abu Ghadiya, is causing more problems than its worth.

¤ The Bush-Obama-McCain Administration
¤ Why 2008 Feels Like 1932

¤ How the Food and Financial Crises are Interconnected
In 2007-2008, the biggest international economic and financial crisis since 1929 broke out. Were it not for the massive and concerted intervention of public authorities in coming to the rescue of thieving bankers, the present crisis would already have reached more ample proportions. Here too, the interdependency is striking. Between 31st December 2007 and the 18th October 2008, all the world's stock exchanges fell dramatically, by 30 to 40%, sometimes more, for the stock exchanges of the industrialized countries, 45% for Turkey, Argentina, Brazil and India, 60% for Russia and China[2].

¤ Five Will Get You Ten Old Macky is Back in Town

¤ Meet the World's New Currency: the Chinese Yuan

¤ Scandal of Six Held in Guantanamo Even After Bush Plot Claim Is Dropped

¤ How We Fuel Africa's Bloodiest War
The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again -- and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket. When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a "tribal conflict" in "the Heart of Darkness". It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by "armies of business" to seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.

¤ Expanding War, Contracting Meaning
A week ago, I had a long conversation with a four-star U.S. military officer who, until his recent retirement, had played a central role in directing the global war on terror. I asked him: what exactly is the strategy that guides the Bush administration's conduct of this war? His dismaying, if not exactly surprising, answer: there is none.

¤ Just How Dumb Are White Males?
¤ Voter Fraud? No, Voter Suppression

¤ How These Gibbering Numbskulls Came to Dominate Washington

¤ The Pentagon's New Iraq Propaganda
In recent months, Robert Gates, the US secretary of defence, has received much praise for lowering the triumphalist rhetoric that marked the early phases of the so-called "war on terror". His emphasis on the need for "a sense of humility and an appreciation of limits" is sweet music to those who question the necessity of automatically using overpowering force to defend US national interests.

¤ Ecuador alleges 'clear' signs of CIA infiltration
¤ George Bush Will Soon Be Free To Do Just What He Wants

¤ Call This a Crisis? Just Wait
Staring into the abyss always focuses the mind, which can help you avoid falling in. So let's take a look at the potential catastrophe that awaits us once we survive our current crisis.
At the dawn of the 21st century the U.S. had $5.7 trillion in total debt. As we approach the end of George W. Bush's presidency only eight years later, that sum has nearly doubled, thanks to war costs, tax cuts, spending increases, expanded entitlement programs, and now a welter of government bailouts and rescues.

¤ Syrians rally against US aggression
¤ UN slams US sanctions on Cuba
¤ AIG used billions from Fed but hasn't said for what
¤ Twelve Reasons to Reject Obama and Support Nader/McKinney
¤ Millions of Afghans Face Starvation

Previous Page | Trinicenter Home

Homepage | U.S. Crusade | News Sources | Zimbabwe Special | Venezuela
Back to Top