We are no different than Russia. This coming from a President that released the ex President of Honduras, hosted Netanyahu and Putin instead of arresting them as war criminals Shame on this country!
You're worse my friend........no one but the US of A holes has nearly 800 military bases on other people's land. Russia???
It might be a democracy by now, had the Washington Consensus not swooped down on the people of Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union and privatized the Russian people's assets in order to create oligarchs...........who could come and invest in the west.........and wait for the time when it was convenient for us to freeze their assets.
We have to remember: Capitalism needs new markets...constantly. Looks like its just getting ready to resource the poor people of Venezuela.
Charles: Many analysts in this country like to blindly assert that we live in a democracy. The assertion is foolishly based on the existence of elections. I am sorry but elections do not make a democracy when you have to vote for people who will then turn around and completely ignore the people who voted for them in favor of rich people who bribe them openly. I don't know how close Russia and China are to a better kind of democracy but at least the competition is open.
Truth is most of us westerners 'don't know'..........we just opine.
I remember a great quote from Slavoj Zezik...I'm going to paraphrase it for you.
He said, " there are in every society things that no one knows but about which everyone has an opinion. There are other things that everyone knows but that no one can talk about".
I think the idea of democracy, and the question of whether America has much of it.....falls into this chasm in our conversations. For me, when corporations are considered people......the people are essentially f**ked. AI is going to finish them off....and big corporations will lead the assault.
Same can be said for the United States of America.........in your country, money talks.........and rich corporations are considered people.
But sure...........places you know next to nothing about aren't democratic....but perhaps they could become so......if the Capitalist American Empire butted out for a generation or three?
People still into the enemy game.....since I studied in the states, hating and fearing Russia and more to the point socialist or communist ideas, has been behind most of your foreign capers. America kills people, children included, to keep them safe from the Russians. It's a simple think, still very active in your country.
Truman really gave 'Russia is the boogeyman' a big head start, and children, one generation after another adopted that perspective. Russia bad, America good. I didn't buy it, well I did for a while, but got really tired of diving under my desk with teachers creating the background noise that scared us into thinking this might be the day we all die. I gave up the lie when I was eight and thought, well, if I die, I would rather die then live in a world where man was responsible for it's total destruction. So much of the way Americans think is due to indoctrination, and little else and its gotten worse through time.
Always struck me as odd that the most wealthy country in the world should be so fear based.........but over time, I learned about American foreign policy.
Were I a survivor of some of your exported holocausts I'd hate you and your country till the day I died. Putting yourself in the place of the victims, rather than in the place of the villains.........gives war a different meaning.
Has there ever been a so called, “communist” state that wasn’t/isn’t a dictatorship?
Democratic Socialism has been proven to work well in several Scandinavian nations. Perhaps, because of smaller, more homogeneous populations? It actually works rather well in the USA, also, when and where it has been allowed to.
As the U.S. has descended into oligarchy, aka corporatocracy, in the new gilded age, the corporatists and militarists have seen to it that any policies that benefit the majority of Americans are labeled “Socialism” as if that appellation is indicative of evil. Whereas, the only evil is among those doing the labeling, the rank capitalists who’ve vacuumed up trillions of dollars in wealth from the vast majority of Americans over the preceding half century. Trump and his gang will make the Nixons and Bushes look like pikers before we’re rid of him and his ilk.
And its been brilliant at painting itself as the leader of 'the coalition of the willing' and anyone unwilling, as the enemy. We all fear her, which is why so many stay silent or simply virtue signal. Canadians included.
"The Market." The concept a prime candidate for Alfred North Whitehead's fallacy of misplaced concreteness. The current econ system is the product of the Chicago School of Economics founded by Milton Friedman. Who supported Pinochet because "democracy interferes with Market efficiency." Never mind this "efficiency" assumes a discarnate infallible Deity. And that Its faithful are assumed to have perfect information and equal access to It.
Never mind it rests on little, if any, empirical evidence. Merely assumptions and argument by assertion exemplified by Thacher's "there are no alternatives." There certainly are--and they worked! But resented by the libertarian few who believe that as superior beings, they're entirely self-made, never needing help from other humans. To the self-centered, government regulations are nothing more than interference with their "liberty" to exploit the rest of us as they see fit. They believe we the masses are lazy, defective, or stupid otherwise we'd be rich and/or powerful, too. So we deserve nothing.
Libertarians have difference AS THEIR NOT INHERENTLY a political party
MINORITY Libertarianism parties are close enough in comparison the Fascist Ds and Fascist Rs who TOTALLY believe in state control of society AS THE BASIS of society
As opposed to Freedom of Association AS THE BASIS of society
Oh dear!!! Rather ugly what a know it all thinks he can put down in a phrase. People who don't read have an advantage in that category of fragmentary put downs.
Too garbled to comprehend Howard. Try writing complete sentences....my responses to you are those of an English teacher.
Your replies sound angry......but they make less sense for all that.
I understand many libertarians don't believe in government....and there I disagree with them. Government is necessary for many of the good things we take for granted now.
A safe food supply comes to mind. Upton Sinclair can tell us what it was like before we had that...but without government....and good regulation....it wouldn't exist.
There are lots of other examples. In Canada, our universal medical care system is an achievement of good governance. So for me, rules are necessary........enforcement is necessary.
When we started to move to what you call 'a free market' all kinds of problems began to emerge. The drug crisis being one of them. Homelessness another.
So its a question of how to achieve Good Government. Abolishing it altogether would simply have us revert to 'the law of the jungle'.
PS: I don't believe your 'Free Market" actually exists. It's an ideological fiction....and what it has created so far, is Elon Musk and Co.
They’ll have to try Maduro in secret or the parallels in his career with that of Trump will become an embarrassment to the regime, Trump’s impunity being on full display.
I’m sure the US will give a dog and pony show with little substance. They never want transparency. This is all for further control of us and the world.
We didnt create the oligarchy in Russia, and who specifically from this country "swooped down on the ppl of Russia"?? When the USSR fell, their national resources were no longer owned by the state and the citizens were given a voucher which was akin to stocks. Wealthy Russians "swooped down on the ppl" and purchased ppls vouchers for a song. What did Americans have to do with any of that?
Naomi Klein, in her book of that period called THE SHOCK DOCTRINE says the WASHINGTON CONSENSUS had a great deal to do with how Russian crown corporations were sold off after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Most Americans don't pay attention to the details of their government's interference in other countries. Nor do most of them know how many American oil interests have assets in Russia......they simply listen to their leaders beak off about how they are going to sanction this that and the other thing...........
But yes........neoliberals turned Russia into a 'free market economy' and that includes creating f*cks like Musk and Bezos. Where do you think the Russian oligarchs came from???
PS: Creating a declarative sentence and then basing your analysis on it.......is bad logic.
You assume America's innocence..........likely paid no attention to all the WASHINGTON CONSENSUS blather going on at the time.....and then you base your analysis on that false beginning.
America was all over Russia during those days. Those of us who paid attention remember some of the details......but I imagine anyone wishing to inform themselves of all the 'dirty deeds done dirt cheap' could find lots of information about them.
Suffice it to say though: America never does 'nothing'.........its just that some of the worst things she does are 'covert'. You know, the quiet part Trump said out loud the other day: CIA Ernestine, CIA........when it goes into a country, innocent people die.
Quite a few as well who believe America's version of the noble motives behind her killing of the nameless...........over 100 dead in those boat explosions, 80 dead in the illegal kidnapping of Maduro. Maybe those 180 people don't matter to you Ernest...but murder is murder where I come from.
maybe you should look into 2014, and tRumps bragging in his first term about giving ukraine javelin missiles, arming ukriane to the teeth from 2014 to 2022, and their genocide upon the russian speaking ukrainians in the east. This has zero in common with that war.
Thanks goodness a few more Americans are learning......and telling about what they're learning......you'll never recognize the markings of a proxy war if you keep erasing the details that lead up to it.
But trump didn’t did he. A country just invaded another country and kidnapped their president and Trump says the US is going to rule Venezuelan. The only reason it’s different right now is because Ukraine fought back. We haven’t seen what’s coming but this was Putins goal. Take control of Venezuela.🤷♀️ possibly oil, we’ll see how Venezuela responds.
Things you'd like to keep separate in your mind aren't necessarily separate in reality Howard. If Americans wanted out of NATO, they surely would have organized a coup!!
For example, he asserts rights come from God, not state. Whose "God" and whose interpretation? Roman Catholic theology? (At least they have doctrines like RC Social Teachings.) Right wing evangelical nationalists? Genteel left progressives like some Protestant denominations? Atheists of whatever political stripe who deny the possibility since they've never experienced a connection to Deity, Mind, Universe or Whatever? Enumerating rights in a Constitution seems reasonable.
In university I had a Catholic tutor who taught that rights are derived from natural law as described in Thomism, the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas which if I remember correctly was that humans have a nature which has natural inclinations toward living in society, reproducing, etc, just as a horse might pursue its need for grass and space to run around in and the company of other horses in order to fulfil its own horse nature. These inclinations, especially in humans, due to vice, can vary almost infinitely in their appetites. Your beliefs train your mind into characterological behaviours, making you act in a manner which only approximates to the true pursuit of what you really need.
America could not have gotten away with half of what she's got away with, without the scapegoat of 'communism' to scare us with. I got quite the shock when I read Barbara Kingsolver's book THE LACUNA. She included some newspaper articles of the day and low and behold: AMERICA SUPPORTED STALIN........AND BAD MOUTHED LEON TROTSKY. The book is about Rivera and Kallo, the Mexican pro-Marxian artists, who gave Trotsky refuge and in who's home I believe he was assassinated.,
America has a genius for backing the wrong faction....generally picks the fascists like Pinochet.........and then whitewashes her own history when it doesn't work out so well.
So yes. The Bolshevik Revolution had a large reign of terror. Let's not imagine America had no hand in it. Another great read is OIL by the American mud raker, Upton Sinclair. That novel shocked me into new awarenesses also.........concerning America's role at the end of WWI in doing what she could to destroy the Russian revolution.
As I've come to believe: We're playing with a well thumbed half deck of cards in the imperial west. Most of us don't know the half of America's good works around the world for over a century.
Like what your Empire has done to Cuba......it hasn't counted for you folks since Castro kicked out your vactioning oligarchs..........the murderous Du Ponts among them.
We are much different than Russia and far worse. Russia is defending its country from NATO’s encroachment on its borders, the U.S. attacked a far away country to steal its oil.
I am going to defend Russia here. The Ukrainian actions were provoked and brought on by the US, and I would argue that Russia was given two choices: allow NATO to build military bases and weapons lab on its border, or invade. (In other words, no choice at all.)
Moreover, the Ukrainian war has suffered the LEAST number of civilian casualties of any war in contemporary history. Russia has not been targeting civilian populations. For which the US has called Putin “weak.”
Let’s compare this to US / Israeli actions in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and now Venezuela, where civilians have been purposely targeted, agreements signed and broken before the ink was dried.
No, we are no better than the Russians - we are far far far worse.
We are no different then Russia? In this century alone we have made a concerted effort to destroy one middle eastern country after another, and our motives are stated very clearly by Jeffery Sachs which is to do Israel's bidding. All of the ME countries we destroyed are defined by Netanyahu in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism, as a threat to Israel and terrorist states, and need to be taken out, and we listened, and did his bidding and continue to do so in implementing his genocide. Did Russia do that??????????????? Your perception of how and why the war in Ukraine is a total blank and leaves out our coup in Ukraine in 2014 which ousted Yanukovych. Don't remember how we supported a bunch of neo-nazi's to implement it? Don't remember their complicity in the thousands upon thousands of deaths in the Donbass against ethnic Russians. Don't remember Merkel saying the Minsk accords were never meant to be implemented? Please spare me your Anti-Russia bias and hate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What Drivel! Putin is a thug! Former KGB and a tinhorn dictator who has done nothing for the Russian. The Putin led government sells off Russian oil and skims the profits from which Putin and his cabal get their cut. Ukraine was attempting to be a sovereign nation. Putin cant abide any former “Soviet” being independent. His locus of government is Czarist Russia with himself as heir to their horrific legacy. You Russian apologist need to get your collective heads out into the light, open your eyes and see!
Kidnapping. Murder (eg, drones). Extortion (threats of economic or military punishment). Theft (freezing and seizing assets, resources, ships). Pay to play government (anti-antitrust deal making). Interference in the internal affairs of, well, everybody else.
Our behavior has come to unabashedly resemble nothing so much as a global organized crime operation.
Yes, what does anyone propose to do about it? Don't kid yourself about the impotence of the Venezuelan security forces.
Just like the Hedges Report that correctly pointed out that Special Forces are basically a drug gang operating under color of law. Everyone knows, but nobody of influence and authority cares, as long as that gang can be used against enemies of the regime.
This kidnapping and civilian murder spree will turn out to be a grave mistake for the mafia Empire. Another nail in its well-deserved coffin. Revisit in a couple of years and re-evaluate.
Remember when John McCain and Nuland appeared on Maidan Square in Kyiv to conquer Russia? Russia did SOMETHING about that. China did, too.
President Putin would probably comment that you display a tendency towards instant gratification and are unable to deal with setbacks. Most US citizens with even minimal geo-political self-awareness are disgusted by their own government at this time. This CAN NOT be helpful to the true rulers of this mafia state. Like I said: Let's re-evaluate after some time has passed.
If Putin were to say that, he's making excuses for himself.
Even if what you said about US citizens were true, so what are they going to do about it? Public opinion matters, only when and to the extent it coincides with what the rulers want.
Anyway, I expect more excuses to be forthcoming, regardless of outcome.
The U.S. kidnapping of the president of Venezuela and his wife actually puts U.S. citizens in Latin America at greater risk, potentially leading to kidnapping and death. No reasonable American business can operate under such conditions. No new Venezuelan president could survive in an environment defined by this level of hostility. The war economy is unrelenting even when peace would be better or more rational.
When did we last have a President who considered what's best for the American majority, let alone what the faceless masses around the world might prefer? And never mind considering the wisdom of Chalmers Johnson's 2000 book //Blowback (The Costs and Consequences of American Empire)//. "Blowback" is a term invented by the CIA; obviously such effects have been known for quite awhile. But just as obviously, ignored.
What a nightmare to wake to. I have little to add, other than to point out how frustrating this must be for all of us who have no power and whom are aware.
I do wish to acknowledge that Chris Hedges is the most proficient writer I have ever read, and this is the first article with an error in its writ. I can only imagine Chris is in shock today, like the rest of us.
Hearts out to every nation suffering under this Western Frankenstein.
Shock is when your suprised. Chris and others have been expecting and telling us what's coming. More control by oligarch gangsters, Trump, Putin and more criminal authoritarians.
As I read this I have Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on, doing his schtick in the latest Trump Comedy Hour. Gen. Caine could have secured an honorable place in history by asserting his obligation under the Uniform Code of Military Justice not to follow illegal orders, to wit engaging in acts of war without the authorization of Congress. Now, like Colin Powell before the UN prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq, he's made an ass of himself. We salute you, general.
Yes. And unless the planet somehow curbs Amerika's pathological need to steal what little others have, there is no liveable future for our grandchildren.
But as to what the Empire does to not have to tax its own trillionaires, has been obvious since I studied in Massachusetts as a girl. That more of us don't see it, is just laziness.........and fear.
I just read an article in Dropsite News, which is the first publication I’ve seen to have included coverage from inside Venezuela. It said there was a large demonstration at the presidential palace in Caracas against the U.S. invasion and kidnapping. One protester was quoted as calling on U.S. citizens to oppose the actions by filling our streets and said the U.S. imperialist state needed to be brought down for the survival of the planet. Also, Venezuela’s vice president strongly condemned the actions in a detailed speech. I haven’t seen that covered anywhere else either. Instead, our newspapers are quoting Trump’s statement that the vice president is “cooperating” with the U.S., as if that statement were fact.
Many thanks for this.......we follow Dropsite news from time to time and will look it up. I think we're dumbed down much further than we imagine by msm. I heard Yanis Varafarkus (can't spell his name) the other day talking about the sanctions Russia can put on Oil interests and infrastructure the Big American companies have in Russia.....and how that could hurt European pensions who's wealth funds are invested in those oil projects.....
And that shocked me...because where in all my reading had a heard a western 'expert' say that tit for tat is still part of the wargame and that we weren't the only bullies able to sanction.
We're playing with a rather badly thumbed half deck I fear......more often than we might imagine.
Ingamarie: That is an interesting interpretation, to wit, that the rape of another country's resources is effectively an alternative to the taxing of our native billionaires. I wonder if that interpretation will stand up to the analysis of the next few months.
Good questions........but I'd do what I could to protect Mamdani if I lived in New York...Free market capitalism has created the gangster state.........and while they point their finger at terrorists (resisters) around the world...........they are the actual Terror.
Nothing I fear that they won't do to stay in power.
I can imagine. The majority of Americans will be cheering on this criminal regime change operation...........because your right wing press have already convinced them Venezuela is communist, drug trafficking, ruled by a thug, the thug stole the election (that has a ring to it, yes?) and only lethal American thugs can fix it.
It's our internalized violence.....our viciousness masquerading as humanitarian aid, that most sickens me.
I did just get an article on my phone that approximately 2,000 protested today in NYC and that there were other protests in 100 cities around the country. I’m throwing my lot in with them, and will remind myself that anti-militarism movements start small.
Good for you. Our local marxist-leninist group has called for a rally in support of Venezuela for tomorrow at noon. It's cold as the devil's nose up here in the great white north....but we'll likely don our parkas and attend.
Thanks, Ingamarie. I’ll be thinking of you up north, while I find out what’s going on and connect in my own neck of the woods. The struggle has to be international.
YES.......and articulate. Researched.........able to make alliances across differences. We aren't Marxists...though we've read some of his analysis of late stage capitalism and find it rather prescient.
But we aren't afraid to stand with those brave enough to stand now. We aren't actually alone. It just feels that way at times.
Seems like presidents can't resist the temptation to unleash the most powerful military in history. Bush also campaigned on 'no more foreign wars' and then we got Iraq. Congress needs to step up. If necessary we need a constitutional amendment to curb the president's ability to commit the military without a declaration of war.
You also may need real resistance, around the world...........where freedom fighters chip away at your foreign military bases. It's what Europe had to do to defeat the Romans........make it too expensive to maintain all those WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION....ready to steal other people's lands, when an excuse can be made to do so.
None of us still with ASSETS.....should assume our ASSES are safe.
Terence: Richard Wolff on Youtube has been heralding the end of the American Empire and detailing the desperate adventures the Empire will take on the way down. He also, like so many others, points to the loss of the last five wars the US has engaged in. I am curious to see if this Venezuelan adventure turns out to another nail in the coffin of the American Empire. There is still time for the world to push this kidnapping back down the throat of the American adventurers who refuse to recognize a new reality. For example, South American countries could all cooperate in creating a new anti-US alliance. I don't expect that one to take place but what else will emerge?
Speaking from Canada...I feel sick to my stomach over this illegal invasion and kidnapping of Maduro and his wife. I fear how this will escalate into a larger war. How will China react? Trump is already threatening Mexico, and no doubt emboldened by the "success" of this horrific mission. How long before Trump sends his helicopter gun ships into Ottawa to kidnap our Prime Minister, and sends his battle ships down the St. Lawrence to take over the shipping lane? He is out of control.
It's been this way for a while now Carole........why do we think the Cubans are suffering as they are??? Why do we think Iranians are rioting over the rising cost of living???
Most of us elbows up Canucks have been as oblivious to America's foreign war games....mostly fought for OIL...for decades. We go along to get along.......but for sure, as climate change ramps up, and oil economies fight to continue the death spiral.......
It's likely going to get worse. Given the placidity with which most in the first world shrug off American regime change murders abroad.....we could be in America's sights as well.
PS> The short term consequence of taking Venezuela, is that Carney's plans to ramp up bitumen shipping will be a net loss. USA won't need our bitumen in the short term.....China is going to be buying Russian oil....and transitioning off the noxious stuff ASAP
As a resident of Canada's oil province I see the possible loss of market for our bitumen as the only possible silver lining in this debacle. But even that step towards climate sanity doesn't justify the crimes of the Trump cabal,.
What do you do when your neighbor (sorry, neighbour) is loud, obnoxious, well-armed, dangerous, and seemingly above the law? The last occupant of that white house down the street was at least quiet and pretended to be friendly. His corporate sponsors were great friends with Canadian corporate allies. But to say the quiet part out loud, the State Dept. of nice guy Joe was run by neocons trained by creepy V.P. Dick Cheney. Empire uber alles.
If things get so desperate you try electing an NDP type government, be assured the U.S. will intervene to save you from socialism. And/or to run agricultural provinces and natural resources so much better with U.S. total Market "logic."
Say it loud..........we old CCF'ers know how you regarded us with suspicion during the fifties..........and how your American Medical Association tried to shut down the CCF Medical care act that brought universal health care to Canada.
SOME OF US EVEN REMEMBER HOW THE LIBERAL PARTY OF SASKATCHEWAN HELPED THEM LIE ABOUT WHAT SOCIALIST MEDICINE WOULD DO TO KILL THE LOT OF US.
I neither forget........nor forgive what my farmer father called 'God Damned Liars'.
No place to hide - Game Over - all this reminds me of one of the quotes in 'A man for all seasons' Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Striking that the Venezuela murder and kidnapping action by our little mafia state was scheduled so as not to interfere with Wall Street opening hours, i.e., on a Friday night/Sat morning. It's like Nazi Germany waiting for the stock market weekend close to schedule Operation Barbarossa. Part of me thinks this is very telling AND hilarious, is a very sad way.
Chris as usual hits the nail right on the head. This act of criminal invasion and kidnapping will rouse the Venezuelan populace to resist action by the invading forces, as well as inspire many in the military who are understandably sworn and loyal to Maduro, to seek retribution and justice for their abducted leader. What does this moron Trump think? That he can just waltz into a foreign country and remove the president, all because HE, Trump, thinks it's bad for his nation to have him there? Because Trump wants their oil (we know this is true)? This reckless, idiotic act has awakened chaos on an international level. Nothing good awaits this nation from what this brainless buffoon Felon president of ours has now commenced to do. Whatever deity you may believe in, start praying hard to him/her/them/it, for some form of divine help.
I only hope the act of criminal invasion and kidnapping will inspire many in the *US* military who are sworn to uphold the US Constitution to refuse to accept orders from the person currently sitting in the seat of US President.
Divide and feel virtuous however you need to Howard. Your investors will be all over that poor country.......and the money will trickle home to the lot of you.
Which I suspect, most folks worried about 'affordability' already know.
We'll see Howard. It's been my experience, watching your war machine from afar.......that when an American president makes war on another country, no matter how disliked or criminal his domistic policies may be, his popularity goes up.
If the American people come together and condemn this act of agression.....blatantly announced to be because of OIL.....I'll believe the American people aren't warmongers.
I said we'll see Howard. I watched as much as I could stomach of your Presidents press conference....quite an exciting event, on all the bloody stations.....
Now to wait for the careful criticism of what opposition exists down there.
My country will be no better.......all of us on our knees asking safe questions!!! Western values in a very bright light....shrinking to acquiescence most likely as I write this reply.
Whatever you feel about Meduro it can’t be understated how the US has broken the law within their country and internationally. The Trump administration put their toe in the water by initially committing murder aka war crimes in international waters got away with it and now will run the country of Venezuela. Nothing to worry about folks. Listen to their words, countries that house americas enemies. That could be Canada we have resources. The 51st state is not just being thrown around as a jab. To be clear Mexico maybe next, Greenland, Denmark??? Cuba??? Stay tuned three more years of how far will they go ?
We are no different than Russia. This coming from a President that released the ex President of Honduras, hosted Netanyahu and Putin instead of arresting them as war criminals Shame on this country!
You're worse my friend........no one but the US of A holes has nearly 800 military bases on other people's land. Russia???
It might be a democracy by now, had the Washington Consensus not swooped down on the people of Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union and privatized the Russian people's assets in order to create oligarchs...........who could come and invest in the west.........and wait for the time when it was convenient for us to freeze their assets.
We have to remember: Capitalism needs new markets...constantly. Looks like its just getting ready to resource the poor people of Venezuela.
Russia is a democratic socialist society, as is China. I wish I could say the same for this capitalist greedy USA.
As a reality check, Russia and China are far from democratic.
Charles: Many analysts in this country like to blindly assert that we live in a democracy. The assertion is foolishly based on the existence of elections. I am sorry but elections do not make a democracy when you have to vote for people who will then turn around and completely ignore the people who voted for them in favor of rich people who bribe them openly. I don't know how close Russia and China are to a better kind of democracy but at least the competition is open.
Truth is most of us westerners 'don't know'..........we just opine.
I remember a great quote from Slavoj Zezik...I'm going to paraphrase it for you.
He said, " there are in every society things that no one knows but about which everyone has an opinion. There are other things that everyone knows but that no one can talk about".
I think the idea of democracy, and the question of whether America has much of it.....falls into this chasm in our conversations. For me, when corporations are considered people......the people are essentially f**ked. AI is going to finish them off....and big corporations will lead the assault.
Same can be said for the United States of America.........in your country, money talks.........and rich corporations are considered people.
But sure...........places you know next to nothing about aren't democratic....but perhaps they could become so......if the Capitalist American Empire butted out for a generation or three?
The US is far from a democracy. We live in an oligarchy which is authoritarian.
Who the hell gave him all those likes????????????????????????????
People still into the enemy game.....since I studied in the states, hating and fearing Russia and more to the point socialist or communist ideas, has been behind most of your foreign capers. America kills people, children included, to keep them safe from the Russians. It's a simple think, still very active in your country.
Truman really gave 'Russia is the boogeyman' a big head start, and children, one generation after another adopted that perspective. Russia bad, America good. I didn't buy it, well I did for a while, but got really tired of diving under my desk with teachers creating the background noise that scared us into thinking this might be the day we all die. I gave up the lie when I was eight and thought, well, if I die, I would rather die then live in a world where man was responsible for it's total destruction. So much of the way Americans think is due to indoctrination, and little else and its gotten worse through time.
Always struck me as odd that the most wealthy country in the world should be so fear based.........but over time, I learned about American foreign policy.
Were I a survivor of some of your exported holocausts I'd hate you and your country till the day I died. Putting yourself in the place of the victims, rather than in the place of the villains.........gives war a different meaning.
Has there ever been a so called, “communist” state that wasn’t/isn’t a dictatorship?
Democratic Socialism has been proven to work well in several Scandinavian nations. Perhaps, because of smaller, more homogeneous populations? It actually works rather well in the USA, also, when and where it has been allowed to.
As the U.S. has descended into oligarchy, aka corporatocracy, in the new gilded age, the corporatists and militarists have seen to it that any policies that benefit the majority of Americans are labeled “Socialism” as if that appellation is indicative of evil. Whereas, the only evil is among those doing the labeling, the rank capitalists who’ve vacuumed up trillions of dollars in wealth from the vast majority of Americans over the preceding half century. Trump and his gang will make the Nixons and Bushes look like pikers before we’re rid of him and his ilk.
Capitalism always needs new "markets" i.e., new victims. Fresh meat.
And its been brilliant at painting itself as the leader of 'the coalition of the willing' and anyone unwilling, as the enemy. We all fear her, which is why so many stay silent or simply virtue signal. Canadians included.
a FREE market
which is not possible under a STATE-CONTROLLED market
"The Market." The concept a prime candidate for Alfred North Whitehead's fallacy of misplaced concreteness. The current econ system is the product of the Chicago School of Economics founded by Milton Friedman. Who supported Pinochet because "democracy interferes with Market efficiency." Never mind this "efficiency" assumes a discarnate infallible Deity. And that Its faithful are assumed to have perfect information and equal access to It.
Never mind it rests on little, if any, empirical evidence. Merely assumptions and argument by assertion exemplified by Thacher's "there are no alternatives." There certainly are--and they worked! But resented by the libertarian few who believe that as superior beings, they're entirely self-made, never needing help from other humans. To the self-centered, government regulations are nothing more than interference with their "liberty" to exploit the rest of us as they see fit. They believe we the masses are lazy, defective, or stupid otherwise we'd be rich and/or powerful, too. So we deserve nothing.
the chicago school I did not like totally
The Austrian school greater approval
I could tell. I've read the Austrians.
Well done.....but it won't convince the libertarians. Or those who resent having to read more than a three sentence paragraph!!
Libertarians have difference AS THEIR NOT INHERENTLY a political party
MINORITY Libertarianism parties are close enough in comparison the Fascist Ds and Fascist Rs who TOTALLY believe in state control of society AS THE BASIS of society
As opposed to Freedom of Association AS THE BASIS of society
strange what a little bit of FREEDOM can offer ?
Oh dear!!! Rather ugly what a know it all thinks he can put down in a phrase. People who don't read have an advantage in that category of fragmentary put downs.
you do not support FREEDOM (of association)?
A LIBERAL civil liberty!!
(state) MANDATED then
Too garbled to comprehend Howard. Try writing complete sentences....my responses to you are those of an English teacher.
Your replies sound angry......but they make less sense for all that.
I understand many libertarians don't believe in government....and there I disagree with them. Government is necessary for many of the good things we take for granted now.
A safe food supply comes to mind. Upton Sinclair can tell us what it was like before we had that...but without government....and good regulation....it wouldn't exist.
There are lots of other examples. In Canada, our universal medical care system is an achievement of good governance. So for me, rules are necessary........enforcement is necessary.
When we started to move to what you call 'a free market' all kinds of problems began to emerge. The drug crisis being one of them. Homelessness another.
So its a question of how to achieve Good Government. Abolishing it altogether would simply have us revert to 'the law of the jungle'.
PS: I don't believe your 'Free Market" actually exists. It's an ideological fiction....and what it has created so far, is Elon Musk and Co.
They’ll have to try Maduro in secret or the parallels in his career with that of Trump will become an embarrassment to the regime, Trump’s impunity being on full display.
What's more, Maduro will come out far better than Trump if such a comparison were made.
I’m sure the US will give a dog and pony show with little substance. They never want transparency. This is all for further control of us and the world.
The make up bold lies and then fall for them.......as if the unsupported conclusions came down from God herself.
His statement is so ignorant and based solely on his perverted bias, no doubt carried over many, many decades from his long ago childhood.
We didnt create the oligarchy in Russia, and who specifically from this country "swooped down on the ppl of Russia"?? When the USSR fell, their national resources were no longer owned by the state and the citizens were given a voucher which was akin to stocks. Wealthy Russians "swooped down on the ppl" and purchased ppls vouchers for a song. What did Americans have to do with any of that?
Naomi Klein, in her book of that period called THE SHOCK DOCTRINE says the WASHINGTON CONSENSUS had a great deal to do with how Russian crown corporations were sold off after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Most Americans don't pay attention to the details of their government's interference in other countries. Nor do most of them know how many American oil interests have assets in Russia......they simply listen to their leaders beak off about how they are going to sanction this that and the other thing...........
But yes........neoliberals turned Russia into a 'free market economy' and that includes creating f*cks like Musk and Bezos. Where do you think the Russian oligarchs came from???
PS: Creating a declarative sentence and then basing your analysis on it.......is bad logic.
You assume America's innocence..........likely paid no attention to all the WASHINGTON CONSENSUS blather going on at the time.....and then you base your analysis on that false beginning.
America was all over Russia during those days. Those of us who paid attention remember some of the details......but I imagine anyone wishing to inform themselves of all the 'dirty deeds done dirt cheap' could find lots of information about them.
Suffice it to say though: America never does 'nothing'.........its just that some of the worst things she does are 'covert'. You know, the quiet part Trump said out loud the other day: CIA Ernestine, CIA........when it goes into a country, innocent people die.
When has Russia ever done anything like this? And even the Soviet Union, with regard to any state not directly on its border?
It was WE who are responsible for Russia’s finally reacting to stop the US-funded invasion of its border
Wow, a few ppl on this thread that are big fans of Russian propaganda.
Quite a few as well who believe America's version of the noble motives behind her killing of the nameless...........over 100 dead in those boat explosions, 80 dead in the illegal kidnapping of Maduro. Maybe those 180 people don't matter to you Ernest...but murder is murder where I come from.
Well Russia invaded Ukraine. Yes it’s at least on their border. It’s reprehensible what we’ve done. Granted maybe not a fair comparison
maybe you should look into 2014, and tRumps bragging in his first term about giving ukraine javelin missiles, arming ukriane to the teeth from 2014 to 2022, and their genocide upon the russian speaking ukrainians in the east. This has zero in common with that war.
Thanks goodness a few more Americans are learning......and telling about what they're learning......you'll never recognize the markings of a proxy war if you keep erasing the details that lead up to it.
Americans OR the citizens the U.S. state rules ?
You have not confused them
Americans could American Indian
But trump didn’t did he. A country just invaded another country and kidnapped their president and Trump says the US is going to rule Venezuelan. The only reason it’s different right now is because Ukraine fought back. We haven’t seen what’s coming but this was Putins goal. Take control of Venezuela.🤷♀️ possibly oil, we’ll see how Venezuela responds.
From the point of view of the West, the sole point of Ukraine is as a threat to Russia.
Yeah that didnt happen. Maybe you should stop consuming russian propaganda. My God.
Give yourself a break and read more Hedges......he cuts through American propaganda quite well.
and with out U.S. promising Gorchev to NOT push east further!!!
Because NATO pushed - you do not think that choice to be out of U.S. hands ?
Get real Howard. America controls NATO.......its why Canadian leftists have been calling for Canada to get out of that bully boy org for years.
I thought the U.S. state controls NATO!!!!!
not Americans!!!!!!!!!
Have you had a choice ?
I doubt it
Things you'd like to keep separate in your mind aren't necessarily separate in reality Howard. If Americans wanted out of NATO, they surely would have organized a coup!!
They're good at that.
America is country obviously
purposefully mis-Naming a state is a political trick to equate the country to he State
Citizens Pledge it its allegiance to the U.S. state instead the country ??
Here I agree with you. At least libertarians are not neocon defenders of empire. And defend the U. S.Constitution, like Judge Andrew Napolitano.
he is not that bad - honestly
But he does have problems
For example, he asserts rights come from God, not state. Whose "God" and whose interpretation? Roman Catholic theology? (At least they have doctrines like RC Social Teachings.) Right wing evangelical nationalists? Genteel left progressives like some Protestant denominations? Atheists of whatever political stripe who deny the possibility since they've never experienced a connection to Deity, Mind, Universe or Whatever? Enumerating rights in a Constitution seems reasonable.
In university I had a Catholic tutor who taught that rights are derived from natural law as described in Thomism, the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas which if I remember correctly was that humans have a nature which has natural inclinations toward living in society, reproducing, etc, just as a horse might pursue its need for grass and space to run around in and the company of other horses in order to fulfil its own horse nature. These inclinations, especially in humans, due to vice, can vary almost infinitely in their appetites. Your beliefs train your mind into characterological behaviours, making you act in a manner which only approximates to the true pursuit of what you really need.
I said he had his problem !
America could not have gotten away with half of what she's got away with, without the scapegoat of 'communism' to scare us with. I got quite the shock when I read Barbara Kingsolver's book THE LACUNA. She included some newspaper articles of the day and low and behold: AMERICA SUPPORTED STALIN........AND BAD MOUTHED LEON TROTSKY. The book is about Rivera and Kallo, the Mexican pro-Marxian artists, who gave Trotsky refuge and in who's home I believe he was assassinated.,
America has a genius for backing the wrong faction....generally picks the fascists like Pinochet.........and then whitewashes her own history when it doesn't work out so well.
So yes. The Bolshevik Revolution had a large reign of terror. Let's not imagine America had no hand in it. Another great read is OIL by the American mud raker, Upton Sinclair. That novel shocked me into new awarenesses also.........concerning America's role at the end of WWI in doing what she could to destroy the Russian revolution.
As I've come to believe: We're playing with a well thumbed half deck of cards in the imperial west. Most of us don't know the half of America's good works around the world for over a century.
because the countries at Russias borders dont count??
Like what your Empire has done to Cuba......it hasn't counted for you folks since Castro kicked out your vactioning oligarchs..........the murderous Du Ponts among them.
Empire is a State !!!!!!!!'
NOT my empire - the U.S. state
We are far worse.
Shame on leaders who have no shame
LEADERS ?
people automatically make that call!!!!!!
Netanyahu and Biden and Trump are war criminal. Putin is NOT a war criminal. Read history or listen to Ben Norton and Jeffrey Sachs, for god's sake.
We are much different than Russia and far worse. Russia is defending its country from NATO’s encroachment on its borders, the U.S. attacked a far away country to steal its oil.
Putin is not a war criminal. You obviously know nothing about the legitimate 3 goals of the SMO.
Putin is most definitely a war criminal.
Charles:
Please stop with this competition of bare assertions, like propaganda, and get down to quotes of the actions you are referring to.
A threat that NATO made to build military bases on Russia border ?
A choice that the U.S. did not make ?
Fat Chance
I am going to defend Russia here. The Ukrainian actions were provoked and brought on by the US, and I would argue that Russia was given two choices: allow NATO to build military bases and weapons lab on its border, or invade. (In other words, no choice at all.)
Moreover, the Ukrainian war has suffered the LEAST number of civilian casualties of any war in contemporary history. Russia has not been targeting civilian populations. For which the US has called Putin “weak.”
Let’s compare this to US / Israeli actions in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and now Venezuela, where civilians have been purposely targeted, agreements signed and broken before the ink was dried.
No, we are no better than the Russians - we are far far far worse.
We are no different then Russia? In this century alone we have made a concerted effort to destroy one middle eastern country after another, and our motives are stated very clearly by Jeffery Sachs which is to do Israel's bidding. All of the ME countries we destroyed are defined by Netanyahu in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism, as a threat to Israel and terrorist states, and need to be taken out, and we listened, and did his bidding and continue to do so in implementing his genocide. Did Russia do that??????????????? Your perception of how and why the war in Ukraine is a total blank and leaves out our coup in Ukraine in 2014 which ousted Yanukovych. Don't remember how we supported a bunch of neo-nazi's to implement it? Don't remember their complicity in the thousands upon thousands of deaths in the Donbass against ethnic Russians. Don't remember Merkel saying the Minsk accords were never meant to be implemented? Please spare me your Anti-Russia bias and hate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please don't put the war criminal Netanyahu in the same sentence as Putin, an intelligent and excellent leader.
What Drivel! Putin is a thug! Former KGB and a tinhorn dictator who has done nothing for the Russian. The Putin led government sells off Russian oil and skims the profits from which Putin and his cabal get their cut. Ukraine was attempting to be a sovereign nation. Putin cant abide any former “Soviet” being independent. His locus of government is Czarist Russia with himself as heir to their horrific legacy. You Russian apologist need to get your collective heads out into the light, open your eyes and see!
This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I woke up to this news, horrified.
Check out and support the Paul Street Report - he delivers a what to do in his offering.
if only his son (Rand) were far more that way !
He doesn't have a son by that name.
confuse with the Ron Paul Liberty Report
ha senator Rand Paul
Kidnapping. Murder (eg, drones). Extortion (threats of economic or military punishment). Theft (freezing and seizing assets, resources, ships). Pay to play government (anti-antitrust deal making). Interference in the internal affairs of, well, everybody else.
Our behavior has come to unabashedly resemble nothing so much as a global organized crime operation.
Gangster capitalism indeed.
Yes, what does anyone propose to do about it? Don't kid yourself about the impotence of the Venezuelan security forces.
Just like the Hedges Report that correctly pointed out that Special Forces are basically a drug gang operating under color of law. Everyone knows, but nobody of influence and authority cares, as long as that gang can be used against enemies of the regime.
This kidnapping and civilian murder spree will turn out to be a grave mistake for the mafia Empire. Another nail in its well-deserved coffin. Revisit in a couple of years and re-evaluate.
Remember when John McCain and Nuland appeared on Maidan Square in Kyiv to conquer Russia? Russia did SOMETHING about that. China did, too.
A lot of wishful thinking.
Contrast American aggression with Russian dithering and indecision.
President Putin would probably comment that you display a tendency towards instant gratification and are unable to deal with setbacks. Most US citizens with even minimal geo-political self-awareness are disgusted by their own government at this time. This CAN NOT be helpful to the true rulers of this mafia state. Like I said: Let's re-evaluate after some time has passed.
If Putin were to say that, he's making excuses for himself.
Even if what you said about US citizens were true, so what are they going to do about it? Public opinion matters, only when and to the extent it coincides with what the rulers want.
Anyway, I expect more excuses to be forthcoming, regardless of outcome.
The U.S. kidnapping of the president of Venezuela and his wife actually puts U.S. citizens in Latin America at greater risk, potentially leading to kidnapping and death. No reasonable American business can operate under such conditions. No new Venezuelan president could survive in an environment defined by this level of hostility. The war economy is unrelenting even when peace would be better or more rational.
Or, they’ll track down and kill or “disappear” the dissenters, as they did in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador . . . .
When did we last have a President who considered what's best for the American majority, let alone what the faceless masses around the world might prefer? And never mind considering the wisdom of Chalmers Johnson's 2000 book //Blowback (The Costs and Consequences of American Empire)//. "Blowback" is a term invented by the CIA; obviously such effects have been known for quite awhile. But just as obviously, ignored.
What a nightmare to wake to. I have little to add, other than to point out how frustrating this must be for all of us who have no power and whom are aware.
I do wish to acknowledge that Chris Hedges is the most proficient writer I have ever read, and this is the first article with an error in its writ. I can only imagine Chris is in shock today, like the rest of us.
Hearts out to every nation suffering under this Western Frankenstein.
Shock is when your suprised. Chris and others have been expecting and telling us what's coming. More control by oligarch gangsters, Trump, Putin and more criminal authoritarians.
cal lash, PLEASE don't equate an excellent leader like Putin with the likes of the crazies of the Trump administration.
Of course your correct.
Purin is a former low level east Germany bureaucratic technologist but a black belt hands on child of Peter and Catherine the Greats.
The King and his princess prepare our gulag.
As I read this I have Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on, doing his schtick in the latest Trump Comedy Hour. Gen. Caine could have secured an honorable place in history by asserting his obligation under the Uniform Code of Military Justice not to follow illegal orders, to wit engaging in acts of war without the authorization of Congress. Now, like Colin Powell before the UN prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq, he's made an ass of himself. We salute you, general.
Yes. And unless the planet somehow curbs Amerika's pathological need to steal what little others have, there is no liveable future for our grandchildren.
But as to what the Empire does to not have to tax its own trillionaires, has been obvious since I studied in Massachusetts as a girl. That more of us don't see it, is just laziness.........and fear.
I just read an article in Dropsite News, which is the first publication I’ve seen to have included coverage from inside Venezuela. It said there was a large demonstration at the presidential palace in Caracas against the U.S. invasion and kidnapping. One protester was quoted as calling on U.S. citizens to oppose the actions by filling our streets and said the U.S. imperialist state needed to be brought down for the survival of the planet. Also, Venezuela’s vice president strongly condemned the actions in a detailed speech. I haven’t seen that covered anywhere else either. Instead, our newspapers are quoting Trump’s statement that the vice president is “cooperating” with the U.S., as if that statement were fact.
Many thanks for this.......we follow Dropsite news from time to time and will look it up. I think we're dumbed down much further than we imagine by msm. I heard Yanis Varafarkus (can't spell his name) the other day talking about the sanctions Russia can put on Oil interests and infrastructure the Big American companies have in Russia.....and how that could hurt European pensions who's wealth funds are invested in those oil projects.....
And that shocked me...because where in all my reading had a heard a western 'expert' say that tit for tat is still part of the wargame and that we weren't the only bullies able to sanction.
We're playing with a rather badly thumbed half deck I fear......more often than we might imagine.
Ingamarie: That is an interesting interpretation, to wit, that the rape of another country's resources is effectively an alternative to the taxing of our native billionaires. I wonder if that interpretation will stand up to the analysis of the next few months.
Good questions........but I'd do what I could to protect Mamdani if I lived in New York...Free market capitalism has created the gangster state.........and while they point their finger at terrorists (resisters) around the world...........they are the actual Terror.
Nothing I fear that they won't do to stay in power.
Mamdani is left wing fascist for STATE CONTROL
STATE CONTROL is FASCISM - it out rules SOCIAList control
Or maybe just entitlement. Read the comments in some other publications — like the NYT.
I can imagine. The majority of Americans will be cheering on this criminal regime change operation...........because your right wing press have already convinced them Venezuela is communist, drug trafficking, ruled by a thug, the thug stole the election (that has a ring to it, yes?) and only lethal American thugs can fix it.
It's our internalized violence.....our viciousness masquerading as humanitarian aid, that most sickens me.
But Gaza reveals the truth, does it not??
I did just get an article on my phone that approximately 2,000 protested today in NYC and that there were other protests in 100 cities around the country. I’m throwing my lot in with them, and will remind myself that anti-militarism movements start small.
Good for you. Our local marxist-leninist group has called for a rally in support of Venezuela for tomorrow at noon. It's cold as the devil's nose up here in the great white north....but we'll likely don our parkas and attend.
Stay well.......and brave. All of us do matter.
Thanks, Ingamarie. I’ll be thinking of you up north, while I find out what’s going on and connect in my own neck of the woods. The struggle has to be international.
YES.......and articulate. Researched.........able to make alliances across differences. We aren't Marxists...though we've read some of his analysis of late stage capitalism and find it rather prescient.
But we aren't afraid to stand with those brave enough to stand now. We aren't actually alone. It just feels that way at times.
the majority of Americans ?
like the American Indian ?
"Amerika's pathological need to steal"
America the country does that ???????
I thought it was the U.S. state that rule America !!!!!
your confused
Seems like presidents can't resist the temptation to unleash the most powerful military in history. Bush also campaigned on 'no more foreign wars' and then we got Iraq. Congress needs to step up. If necessary we need a constitutional amendment to curb the president's ability to commit the military without a declaration of war.
You also may need real resistance, around the world...........where freedom fighters chip away at your foreign military bases. It's what Europe had to do to defeat the Romans........make it too expensive to maintain all those WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION....ready to steal other people's lands, when an excuse can be made to do so.
None of us still with ASSETS.....should assume our ASSES are safe.
Terence, we already HAVE a Congress, but apparently, it refuses to do anything to stop Trump's and Rubio's insanity. It's useless.
Terence: Richard Wolff on Youtube has been heralding the end of the American Empire and detailing the desperate adventures the Empire will take on the way down. He also, like so many others, points to the loss of the last five wars the US has engaged in. I am curious to see if this Venezuelan adventure turns out to another nail in the coffin of the American Empire. There is still time for the world to push this kidnapping back down the throat of the American adventurers who refuse to recognize a new reality. For example, South American countries could all cooperate in creating a new anti-US alliance. I don't expect that one to take place but what else will emerge?
Thank you Mr Hedges for everything!
Speaking from Canada...I feel sick to my stomach over this illegal invasion and kidnapping of Maduro and his wife. I fear how this will escalate into a larger war. How will China react? Trump is already threatening Mexico, and no doubt emboldened by the "success" of this horrific mission. How long before Trump sends his helicopter gun ships into Ottawa to kidnap our Prime Minister, and sends his battle ships down the St. Lawrence to take over the shipping lane? He is out of control.
It's been this way for a while now Carole........why do we think the Cubans are suffering as they are??? Why do we think Iranians are rioting over the rising cost of living???
Most of us elbows up Canucks have been as oblivious to America's foreign war games....mostly fought for OIL...for decades. We go along to get along.......but for sure, as climate change ramps up, and oil economies fight to continue the death spiral.......
It's likely going to get worse. Given the placidity with which most in the first world shrug off American regime change murders abroad.....we could be in America's sights as well.
PS> The short term consequence of taking Venezuela, is that Carney's plans to ramp up bitumen shipping will be a net loss. USA won't need our bitumen in the short term.....China is going to be buying Russian oil....and transitioning off the noxious stuff ASAP
As a resident of Canada's oil province I see the possible loss of market for our bitumen as the only possible silver lining in this debacle. But even that step towards climate sanity doesn't justify the crimes of the Trump cabal,.
What do you do when your neighbor (sorry, neighbour) is loud, obnoxious, well-armed, dangerous, and seemingly above the law? The last occupant of that white house down the street was at least quiet and pretended to be friendly. His corporate sponsors were great friends with Canadian corporate allies. But to say the quiet part out loud, the State Dept. of nice guy Joe was run by neocons trained by creepy V.P. Dick Cheney. Empire uber alles.
If things get so desperate you try electing an NDP type government, be assured the U.S. will intervene to save you from socialism. And/or to run agricultural provinces and natural resources so much better with U.S. total Market "logic."
Say it loud..........we old CCF'ers know how you regarded us with suspicion during the fifties..........and how your American Medical Association tried to shut down the CCF Medical care act that brought universal health care to Canada.
SOME OF US EVEN REMEMBER HOW THE LIBERAL PARTY OF SASKATCHEWAN HELPED THEM LIE ABOUT WHAT SOCIALIST MEDICINE WOULD DO TO KILL THE LOT OF US.
I neither forget........nor forgive what my farmer father called 'God Damned Liars'.
But then, I'm a socialist.
No place to hide - Game Over - all this reminds me of one of the quotes in 'A man for all seasons' Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!
Law is meaningless. Enforcement is the only thing that matters.
Well the enforcers of NO LAW are working - hopeless! You would think there are still judges that SEE JUSTICE & work accordingly!
Oh, the rich and powerful care very much about laws when it is in their interest to do so.
Anyone expecting justice from the judicial system or the judiciary is deluded. Recall the parable of Nathan The Prophet to King David.
Striking that the Venezuela murder and kidnapping action by our little mafia state was scheduled so as not to interfere with Wall Street opening hours, i.e., on a Friday night/Sat morning. It's like Nazi Germany waiting for the stock market weekend close to schedule Operation Barbarossa. Part of me thinks this is very telling AND hilarious, is a very sad way.
Chris as usual hits the nail right on the head. This act of criminal invasion and kidnapping will rouse the Venezuelan populace to resist action by the invading forces, as well as inspire many in the military who are understandably sworn and loyal to Maduro, to seek retribution and justice for their abducted leader. What does this moron Trump think? That he can just waltz into a foreign country and remove the president, all because HE, Trump, thinks it's bad for his nation to have him there? Because Trump wants their oil (we know this is true)? This reckless, idiotic act has awakened chaos on an international level. Nothing good awaits this nation from what this brainless buffoon Felon president of ours has now commenced to do. Whatever deity you may believe in, start praying hard to him/her/them/it, for some form of divine help.
I only hope the act of criminal invasion and kidnapping will inspire many in the *US* military who are sworn to uphold the US Constitution to refuse to accept orders from the person currently sitting in the seat of US President.
the U.S. federal state is gangster state!!!!
NOT the COUNTRY of AMerica!!!!!!
seems we have problem determining which is which ?????
Divide and feel virtuous however you need to Howard. Your investors will be all over that poor country.......and the money will trickle home to the lot of you.
Which I suspect, most folks worried about 'affordability' already know.
you deny the state is the U.S. federal state ?
Having seen similar comparisons , I have feel this is the divide conquer maneuver that is the real maneuver of NOT blaming "our" state
We'll see Howard. It's been my experience, watching your war machine from afar.......that when an American president makes war on another country, no matter how disliked or criminal his domistic policies may be, his popularity goes up.
If the American people come together and condemn this act of agression.....blatantly announced to be because of OIL.....I'll believe the American people aren't warmongers.
THere's always a first for everything.
and you deny that it is the state ?
you pointed to me when claiming it was I who was the DIVIDER !!!
I said we'll see Howard. I watched as much as I could stomach of your Presidents press conference....quite an exciting event, on all the bloody stations.....
Now to wait for the careful criticism of what opposition exists down there.
My country will be no better.......all of us on our knees asking safe questions!!! Western values in a very bright light....shrinking to acquiescence most likely as I write this reply.
And Trump is HARDLY my president as was Biden !!!!
I am libertarian and have a distinction from the Ds and Rs
Your attempt to label me that way is your political way !!!!!!
you have not denied that calling me the DIVIDER as person who is stating the truth !!!!!!!!
Whatever you feel about Meduro it can’t be understated how the US has broken the law within their country and internationally. The Trump administration put their toe in the water by initially committing murder aka war crimes in international waters got away with it and now will run the country of Venezuela. Nothing to worry about folks. Listen to their words, countries that house americas enemies. That could be Canada we have resources. The 51st state is not just being thrown around as a jab. To be clear Mexico maybe next, Greenland, Denmark??? Cuba??? Stay tuned three more years of how far will they go ?