The US seems to have shifted its posture with regard to Venezuela's
Juan Guaido. Though touted by Trump and given a profile boost by his invitation
to the State of the Union in February of 2020, the truth is he has failed to
oust Nicolas Maduro and his campaign has effectively lost its momentum.
Washington has been pushing for an out-and-out coup d'état
but now there is suggestion of a diplomatic solution and the proposal of a
transitional government. Increased pressure is being put on Maduro as the US
has charged him with drug trafficking and put a large price on his head.
So what has changed? Apart from the lagging campaign, the
long-term frustration and the fact that Trump wants an international 'win'
during an election year, there's Covid-19. The virus pandemic hasn't hit its
full stride yet in Venezuela but many suspect that it's on the horizon and it
will be potentially devastating for the now broken and impoverished country. In
light of the looming social catastrophe there will be a great deal of pressure
on Washington to lift sanctions... sanctions which already kill but will be
more noticeable and public when the US is blocking materials needed to combat
the pandemic. This is an already an issue with regard to Tehran but the Iranian
state is strong enough to hold its society together and control not only unrest
but the flow of information. And this is despite the propaganda campaign being
waged against it by both the White House and the likes of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Additionally, Guaido supporters can't legitimately engage in
public protests and marches during a virus lockdown. At that point their
political action becomes a public menace in terms of spreading the virus and
they will face international condemnation. So though the actions have largely
failed, the reality is they're going to have to stop altogether.
Guaido (in concert with Washington) may seek to provoke a
crisis or may even act at the height of the pandemic, if indeed it really comes
in force to Venezuela. No one really knows or can account for its erratic and
inconsistent progression. And yet for the moment the US has switched gears and
is trying to engineer an election, one that it can manipulate but it needs to
change the pieces on the board in order to do so. Maduro knows this and
obviously opposes the move.
American media like the Washington Post are more or less in
keeping with the US Establishment line... an Establishment that actually had to
push Trump into acting in Venezuela. The paper's banner states that 'Democracy
Dies in Darkness', when the truth is it dies in the hands of the oligarchs.
This is true not just for the people of Venezuela but also in the United States
itself.
The DeCamp article at Antiwar.com focuses on Attorney General
William Barr and his role in the Noriega affair. And indeed it is noteworthy
that Barr is playing a key part in the Madura narco-trafficking charges and yet
in other respects the analogy fails. Maduro is no Noriega, no rogue satrap, no
agent that's still functioning past his expiration date. And yet in examining
Panama, there's some real insight in how the US operates and in the
machinations of a coup or regime change. There are the 'above board' moves in
the legal and diplomatic sphere as well as the clandestine and often violent
actions taking place behind the scenes.
On another level the Barr story is interesting because at
present the Roman Catholic attorney general is praised and championed by
Evangelicals for his defense of a moral and 'Christian' society and yet it
would be wise to remember that his hands are actually dripping in blood.
Thousands of civilians died in the contrived and deceitful Panama invasion which
took place in 1989 just weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall – and the
timing was clearly no accident or coincidence. A geopolitical signal and the beginning
of a long campaign of Cold War house-cleaning, the invasion also vigorously
re-asserted the powers of the Unitary Executive, the near imperial powers
claimed by the president and certain factions within Right-wing politics.
Barr would be rewarded with his first turn at attorney
general and throughout the 1990's he continued to support US militarism. In
fact it's been a hallmark of his career. A manipulator of the law, constitution
and one rightly labeled as a warmonger, Barr is a deeply immoral and corrupt
person. It is a sad but not surprising irony that Evangelical leaders like
Albert Mohler extol him and seek to ally with his causes. When it comes to
politics and the quest for power Evangelicals have no problem with thieves,
liars and murderers. If they can get the job done, then they are heroes indeed.
The issue of drugs in the Colombian-Venezuelan theatre
continues to be a pool of muddied water in which it's hard to know just who is
telling the truth. The safest bet (and the data suggests as much) is that all
sides are involved in the drugs trade. It's just too lucrative and too
convenient a way to fund off-the-books operations. Washington, Wall Street and
their regional proxies (such as the Right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia) have
also been heavily involved. The CIA has long relied on the drug trade and the Oliver
North-Noriega-Contra connection is also part of that story. So it must be
remembered that whatever the charges are against Maduro, there is a great deal
of hypocrisy at work and frankly, no one is to be trusted.
Is Maduro corrupt? Of course. Who can doubt it? But given the
history of US-Venezuela relations and all that has taken place regionally over
the past fifty years... there's a context for the rise of Bolivarianism and the
so-called Pink Tide and it's a story the US media simply won't entertain, and I
wouldn't trust them to tell it anyway. At best a PBS Frontline show might
broach the topic but it would prove a certain whitewash and manipulation of the
facts... even while a few tidbits of truth were thrown in for credibility's
sake, the same tidbits which would anger and frustrate any Right-wing watchers
and drive them to label PBS as Left-wing. I've watched this sort of thing play
out on dozens of occasions. Truly, the only way people can understand is to
have changed hearts and a change in allegiance.
Empires and nations will always scheme against one another.
This present evil age is one of wars and rumours of war. But people are dying
and it is a shame and disgrace that the architects of such policies are cheered
on by Christian leaders and that many Christians are eager to jump on the
bandwagon, echo the propaganda and even engage in violence, a kind of blind
willingness (or willfulness) to assert and acquire power.
The people of Venezuela are suffering. They have been let
down, even betrayed by their leaders but they are also like a football being
kicked about and used by powers that seek after their resources and treasures.
The fact that tens of thousands have been killed by sanctions is something
Americans don't care about. Instead they applaud as Juan Guaido a creature of
the US stands up and receives accolade.
Finally, it needs to be understood that even while people are
dying here in the locked-down United States, the planners and architects of US
imperialism are not idle. They are already planning for the days after the
pandemic and looking to capitalise on it. With hearts of stone they continue to
plot and plan, spreading death and destruction in the name of democracy of
course.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.