"The most common misconception about the free press of the western world is that it exists." So says Caitlin and like jamenta , I totally, completely do agree!
PS: Furthermore to add to that,we must all rally round Venezuela like the Venezuelan people did when a past president of the empire tried the same old trick to oust Hugo Chavez.
Yes my friend. I am sad to say I know many people from Central and South America however, I don't know a single person from Venezuela : ( While working in Chile I had planned a trips to Venezuela and Cuba flying some friends up from Chile. Then Genocide Don cut relations with Cuba. That haunts me even today.
The timing of this WSJ piece is grotesque, weaponizing fearmongering narratives about “jihadists” and “gangs” right as new claims about U.S. pressure on Venezuela hit the news cycle. It’s the same Murdoch-brand playbook: distract, dehumanize, and launder geopolitical agendas through sensationalist crime tropes. Instead of informing the public, they’re manufacturing consent for whatever comes next. Calling WSJ journalism is an insult to the world.
Western "free press" (read: propaganda of hate and evil) never misses the opportunity to offend and insult others and normalize dehumanization of Muslims, Africans, Asians, Latino's, etc. Fuck the zionist fascist lying West. It is the cancer and enemy of all humanity.
The influx of cocaine is actually happening, it’s just that it’s the CIA/Mossad that are doing it. Projection is one of their biggest weapons. It worked for a long time, but their games have become increasingly obvious.
No. Did you read my post? Of course the collection of symptoms said to be from a syndrome called AIDS exist, but one of these symptoms is weight loss, which is still used, in the absence of ‘testing’, to diagnosis AIDS in starving Africans. Another, KS, is known to be caused by since banned ‘poppers’ containing amol nitrate.
I’m saying the symptoms have not been shown to be caused by ‘HIV” and that there is no test for AIDS. Diagnosis after detection of the p24 protein or antibody (which are also found in pregnancy, cancer and healthy people) is based on transfusion history, sexual orientation and whether one is a black African or not. The opposite of objectivity.
Well said Mr. Douglas. As Caitlin said, the "Free press" only serves to contribute to the propagation of the imperial war machine and the interests and agendas of the oligarchs who are the real powers that be. And one method by which they assert their control is to demonize and stigmatize "the other", who are anyone they find convenient as a scapegoat to deflect attention from the real problems that people face. These tend to be people of color, religious minorities like Muslim, immigrants, etc. So much for the media "holding truth to power".
My hope is that recent atrocities and conflicts globally have encouraged people to not believe at face value the MSM and try to research and learn about things for themselves.
I simply cannot unterstand what self-respecting human would watch, read, and pay for that cheap, stupid, hateful, and evil western MSM propaganda. Are westerners really such idiots?
agreed Mr. Douglas, can't really understand why anyone would willingly pay for and consume the MSM "journalism" knowing how biased and doctors it is. Not sure what the reasoning is behind it, can't really see it making sense from any perspective, not economic, political, informational etc
Don't get too upset Nick Douglas, the western media is part of the whole capitalist, oligarchical system that rule over us. Like Noam Chomsky said they wouldn't be sitting there if they weren't.
When John Howard was Australia's PM he, very wrongly, granted Murdoch, by changing the laws on media ownership, could have more media than any other had ever been allowed to have. The law was that the could not have, I believe, more than two media types. After Murdoch got given carte blanche, he went over the top by buying up more and more different media types, probably to cut off anyone else from beating him to what he thought was the best bargains.
The public then was against it but Howard ignored us because he had bought himself a media propaganda giant that he thought would keep him in Kirribilli until he died. Thank God the people stopped that belief, because he's still alive! The man the people knew to be a liar, was often called, The Rodent, Mr 18% and The Unflushable Turd.
Then Murdoch got himself American citizenship, and we all know how well that went for both the US and Oz. The odd thing is, before he got so big, his family were considered to be good people, which makes one wonder was that because of their wealth and not their actions. Unfortunately, the eldest son is reported to be worse than the father, how the hell he can be is scary as he'll.
Well said, the same tired old strategy of demonizing "the other" in order to manufacture consent to further imperial conquest, this time of Venezuela and its oil. Hopefully, enough public pushback arises to stop this madness. The WSJ has long since forsaken its status as "credible" journalism in my eyes, if it ever deserved such status
The US doesn’t even bother with excuses that sound believable. After Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya — who even buys any of this crap? Not that obvious lies are going to stop this atrocity from happening since Congress refuses to grow a backbone, the “journalists” only want a paycheck and the average taxpayer is little more than a nuisance to be ignored.
Trump has made it perfectly clear he wants to steal the oil in Venezuela and steal the beachfront property in Gaza. This is a lust for riches and power on a level that a sane person can’t comprehend. The people who voted for this man were desperate to believe he was going to take their problems seriously and focus on them. Even if he’s successfully impeached, the next in line is JD Vance who has the potential to be even worse.
Venezuela may be one blunder too many for the empire but they’re not going to stop.
"who even buys any of this crap?" Millions do. But how many? 1/3?
Mr T's problem is that voting is all about money in the pocket of the average man and the Prez doesn't have control of the economy. The Prez does have control of foreign relations. The big boost to the military makes it clear that the plan is to boost the domestic economy by extorting concessions out of other nations. The plan is NOT any sort of reform of oligarchic/monopoly control of the USA. Profits must continue to increase.
By the way, in Trump's first term in 2019 Mr. Bolton went on TV to extoll the economic benefits of forcing Venezuela to sell its oil drilling rights to private corporations. I have a link to that if you would like it. Back in 2019 I found that shocking. Back then the USA essentially stole Citgo from Venezuela.
jamenta, Isn't it high time that the American people realised that "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" always was at the expense of "The wretched of the earth".
A phrase of Franz Fanon that I am not really enamoured with, even if he is being ironic, even if he is alluding to the coloniser's term.
Nice idea… but that was tried many years ago… we go to the second hand stores now.
But back to the point about The power of Money…, as in What happens when you have no money? When that happens, it doesn’t matter where you shop, or don’t shop, because you’re in dire straits.
Moreover, who owns the Earth, and why do we have to pay its owners to live on it? …. For starters….
We all saw the lies, deceipt and cold blooded warmongering in the Iraq scandal and now we are about to face yet another from the same criminal USA
How my country can even allow an Embassy for these murderers to exist is beyond my understanding as we act every day of every year as a bag carrying slave to both the USA and Israel.
I am ashamed of Western governments for their compliance to yet another American power play.
This time clearly for oil, 18% of the world's reserves in Venezuela.
It must take a certain type of person to be part of the USA political decision making in 2025.
And US soldiers will go to their own deaths because of these lies. Do they really believe Venezuela is worth their lives? The US is not in any imminent danger from Venezuela. This isn't worth dying for.
US soldiers are required to disobey illegal orders to commit war crimes, civil crimes, crimes against humanity. They have sworn their oaths to defend the US Constitution and to protect their nation against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
The POTUS and the Secretary of War have condemned a half dozen US Senators for reminding the armed forces about this.
Theres an exemption to it though, if a soldier refuses then is found in a military court to have refused a ‘legal’ order he/she is fucked!!
Whereas a officier has an immunity from a court follow up - something like that i think.
So it should be the officiers ordering them to not act collectively rather than letting them choose individually. But an officer has a bigger pension/career prospects !
Also the hague invasion act protects any us or allied personnel from the ICC.
The whole UN warrants is a charade, a warrant isnt a charge and thats as far as it will ever go..
I can see them having to grovel to vlad and bibi and welcome them back within few months
Throughout history, the “winners” of conflicts decide who is punished and who is rewarded.
The UN, ICC and SCOTUS have no independent police force to enforce their decisions. So, it is ultimately the military forces that have such power as long as “the people” support their military troops.
Throughout history, there have been times when the military supported “the people” rather than corrupt governments and politicians.
In the USA, the original concept of the National Guard was to provide the governor of each state with an army of part-time “citizen soldiers” who were primarily well-armed and trained civilians with “day jobs” and families within the communities in which they served.
That concept was corrupted when the US Congress allowed the POTUS to commandeer the National Guard to prosecute wars of convenience in foreign countries rather than increasing the numbers of full-time “regular” professional federal soldiers.
The “weekend warriors” was the original intent, to provide an armed and trained organized militia for each of the states.
In the State of Michigan, the Michigan Military Act 150 of 1967 established that all able-bodied citizens of Michigan, between the ages of 17 and 60 years are subject to duty in the “unorganized” militia.
In addition, the US Army consists of “regular” troops who are 100% “on duty”, full-time, and the “ready reserves” — typically military veterans— who are not on active duty or in the National Guard but who may be called into active “regular Army, duty on very short notice.
A primary distinction of the National Guard was that it’s members were supposed to operate within their communities near their immediate families and places of civilian employment, and for very limited durations — hours, days or a few weeks during which they could not be fired by their civilian employers for being unable to attend to their civilian jobs for those emergency situations.
I don't know. You mean they'll just start bombing, or use remote drone attacks? No special ops on the ground? Maybe you're right. Especially if they just do drones.
Interesting, I think the opposite. We will bluff, talk shit like a drunk old demented guy and lay down and go to sleep. I can see that oil tanker on fire now as wall street burns down.
Moving troops into Venezuela makes no sense. To do that they would have to have a neighboring country allow its use as a staging area/supply line. Not happening. Even then I think it wouldn't work. Occupying a hostile country doesn't pay. That's what happened in Iraq. Instead they'll just missile the place if they don't get what they want. It's extortion, not invasion/occupation.
I think we are bankrupt chicken shits. We will not go to war just yell like a crazy old man in the neighborhood. If Venezuela sinks one oil tanker in the Gulf of MEXICO wall street dies a death of exposed fake value. We know who the good guys are my friend : )
Because your country craves American carrot and fears American stick.
Anyway, "oil" is a pretext, just as was "drugs". Venezuela would be happy to sell all the crude it can pump for dollars. Buying oil would be far cheaper than a war.
Feral. The really sad thing here is when one thinks back on Iraq. A free country, deaths of 500,000 children due to the restrictions of drug availability (so I believe).
Recovery, a lifetime exercise from that date and the same with Libya and on.
But the lies. Never ending and here we go again. WMD once. Now drugs.
Now think back on the real drug traffickers known as the CIA in Afghanistan.
I am finding it hard to even talk to my friends over decades in the US. They seem as though they would like to object and agree with me, but never do.
It probably doesn't work that way. Either we really do have no "soul" and are just hapless meat puppets, or, all the scientific NDE research of the last 30+ years appears to indicate consciousness itself separates at death - but what greets the majority of NDE'rs is this overwhelming unconditional love. However, frequently there is this complete "life review" that you immediately go through. So Madeleine Albright would go through a "life review" - where she would literally experience everything (including emotions and pain) not only from her perspective, but all the other lives she effected. That probably would be pretty hellish.
But who knows. That's the latest scientific research, and maybe consciousness will just turn out to be an illusion (given more scientific research with new discoveries) and life turn out to be just a dark, pretty sick comedy.
Because Saudi accepts only dollars and "invests" all its money in the USA. In return Saudi gets military protection from Iraq, Iran, and domestic enemies.
I repeatedly read that the Iraq invasion was triggered by Iraq beginning to accept Euros as payment. Iran also accepts other currencies.
Now that the USA is losing control of global currency the USA's goal is to rule the world via control of the oil supply. This is why they are so against fossil fuel reduction -- this undermines the plan.
One day I wondered what those Iraq sanctions were about. Just what were they punishing Iraq for? The US gvt. was reluctant to say in its documents. I think they wanted Iraq to overthrow Saddam and install an obedient government.
A lot of it ends up in the bank accounts of US military armaments companies. Saudi Arabia is also the US deputy sheriff of the ME. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.
That’s actually a good point. Why would the us feel any kind of restraint about attacking any country when we have seen they can get away with it? I wpuld argue that they always feel they need some sort of excuse, they have to make some effort to play the game
The US $$you mean? It's time having US$ as the universal currency is long past, time to do our own trading with our own currencies, and to hell with what the US thinking the have ownership of what currency we trade with.
Right. There is nothing the USA can do to prevent other nations from trading in other currencies. I thought it very foolish of the USA to bolix SWIFT, one of their own major cash cows. It could have gone on indefinitely.
100% Agree. All fake journalists' aka propagandists (WSJ, WaPo, NYT, etc.) that participate in western spread of hate and lies are war criminals and gangsters deserving appropriate ultimate punishment.
This is not 2003. And neither is it 2020. The Israeli state will cease to exist in a few years. The US empire is on life support, and is extremely likely to break up in less than a decade. Once these criminal states have dissolved, the global majority will bring these genocidaires to justice. There is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity.
Good luck. They sleep soundly in their beds, secure that they never will utter or think a syllable that would not be approved by those of influence and authority.
You're living in your own made-up world if THAT is how you think the real world works. What you say describes a (near) ideal world, but the real world has never worked that way (unfortunately).
"If they could truly see how much evil is being done in their name and really wrap their minds around it,".....and that is the first problem we have. Wrapping our minds around it. I keep thinking that it just cannot get much worse. But then it does. Every day. I am afraid to look at the news, but unable not to.
CJ>>"If people had a clear understanding of everything that’s really going on in our world, they would tear the empire apart brick by brick. If they could truly see how much evil is being done in their name and really wrap their minds around it, and if they could understand how much wealth the plutocrats are getting out of the imperial status quo compared to how little they themselves benefit from it, there would be immediate revolution."
THIS is what I'm hoping happens. That people WAKE UP collectively and take back their agency, their lives, their communities, and their country.
If people still belive the 'Venezuelan narratives' of the U.S. Empire, then I have a bridge to sell them in Brooklyn, or maybe a colony on Mars (and no, I won't be sharing my profits with Elon Musk 😃 - I will spend the money on taking down the EVIL U.S. Empire).
I really appreciate this the reminder that propaganda doesn’t look like crude jingoism 100% of the time. As you say, most people start from a genuine place of “I hate war,” but when the media spin-machine kicks in it becomes shockingly easy to accept violence as ‘necessary’ without ever pausing to question the premises.
As someone who’s seen the real human cost of illness and injury (both physical and mental), I find that disconnect between “theoretical peace” and “accepted war-time mindset” profoundly disturbing. It makes the case for conscientious skepticism louder. we owe it to ourselves and others to interrogate every bit of rhetoric that nudges us toward supporting state-sanctioned violence. Thanks for putting this out there. I hope more people especially those in health-care, think twice before swallowing the next tranche of sanctioned propaganda.
That propaganda can be so hard to break through. I was at a demonstration in support of Gaza, and heard people saying things like "It's just Netanyahu, but most Israelis don't support the genocide" which isn't true, that Russia is at fault for the war in Ukraine with no context, and that Iran is a nuclear threat.
I think most of these people got their news from CBC here in Canada.
One would think people would realise by now that, especially when Drumpf is leading the charge, this is all fabrication same as it has been for decades now. We've seen it all before, yet our fools in government step up when they should sit down and let America fight it's own power battles on its own, whatever bullshit excuse it comes up with. It has been war after war, after war from the past 70 years started by some US falsehood and the other countries dragged in. If there had been a bunch of "NOs" early on, you can bet we would not have this current possibility facing the world.
Not only the liss of life because of these false wars, it's killing the planet as well with more pollution to come so US can get it's sticky paws on some other countries oil - really? Our governments are going to just go along with this, again?
I can't believe how gullible people are; so many now believing that Venezuela is a threat. When so much is out in the open they're still falling for this garbage. It's unbelievable. We and the planet can't afford these stupid wars.
I have learned to expect the ignorance and gullibility of the general public. They know virtually nothing of any nation other than their own, and not much about that. However 94% of USA voters can find their nation on a map of the world, so it's not all bad.
This smells a lot like “Canada is providing most of the USA with fentanyl so we must slap ridiculous tariffs on them to make them stop!” More horseshit from this pathetic administration.
"All the west’s most influential and far-reaching news media publications... manufacture consent for the pre-existing agendas of the US-centralized western empire."
Did they ever just report the news, straight up and without the empire's spin on it? I just can't recall a decent mainstream media outlet since the invention of CNN... Maybe the "infotainment" style of 24 hours news just jogged me out of my propaganda-induced coma? Whatever it was, once reality is seen it cannot be unseen. So, keep sharing the posts, links, articles, videos, etc., with your friends and associates. We've gotta bring them out of their comas so we can start the REVOLUTION.
"Did they ever just report the news, straight up and without the empire's spin on it?" When I was a kid they reported the gvt. view but were willing to declare it lies. It was very different. Even up until 2001 I was able to read mainstream media and gather that the Iraq war was BS. But that's all gone and now it's 100% propaganda. Noam Chomsky said it was easier to get the truth out of the USSR's Pravda than in today's USA.
One irony of that WSJ headline and story is that there actually ARE cocaine shipments going from South America to Europe, but not from Venezuela. They are hidden in the banana-boat shipments of the Noboa family’s banana business, coming from Ecuador. Ultra right-wing, neoliberal Daniel Noboa is President of Ecuador and a very obedient stooge of the US.
One must ask a fundamental question: if the war in Iraq wasn’t fought over weapons of mass destruction (which it wasn’t), what was the purpose of that war? The answer is exquisitely simple and devastatingly obvious.
The war was fought to steal the oil resources of Iraq for the benefit of US and other international oil companies. Full stop. As beautifully described in the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, when the US occupied Iraq under the governorship of Paul Bremmer, a significant portion of the value of those resources was sold to various oil companies at highly favorable prices. All of the noise about WMD‘s and Saddam Hussein was camouflage to hide the true purpose of the activity.
However, this approach is not new. The US has done this at least 80 times since 1945, stealing natural resources ranging from bananas to oil to copper and almost everything in between. Under administrations of both major political parties the US government has operated worse than any criminal organization in the history of the world. With each action the US and it’s imperial partners deceived the public with lofty rhetoric.
To add to that, there were/are several more reasons for the 'Iraq War' - including maintaining the petrodollar and U.S. dollar hegemony, eliminating one of Israel's rivals in the region, and maintaining control over the Middle-East (in terms of geopolitics).
I remember that before the war had, in fact, got underway American oil company bosses were in Iraq taking over the oil companies to stop Iraq setting them on fire - which says more than a thing else what that war, like Venezuela's is about.
"The most common misconception about the free press of the western world is that it exists."
That line should be chiseled in granite.
I'm tattooing it on my eyelids.
o.0
"The most common misconception about the free press of the western world is that it exists." So says Caitlin and like jamenta , I totally, completely do agree!
PS: Furthermore to add to that,we must all rally round Venezuela like the Venezuelan people did when a past president of the empire tried the same old trick to oust Hugo Chavez.
Yes my friend. I am sad to say I know many people from Central and South America however, I don't know a single person from Venezuela : ( While working in Chile I had planned a trips to Venezuela and Cuba flying some friends up from Chile. Then Genocide Don cut relations with Cuba. That haunts me even today.
I have met a person who lived in Venezuela for years. She loathed the government and said the country was full of crime.
The timing of this WSJ piece is grotesque, weaponizing fearmongering narratives about “jihadists” and “gangs” right as new claims about U.S. pressure on Venezuela hit the news cycle. It’s the same Murdoch-brand playbook: distract, dehumanize, and launder geopolitical agendas through sensationalist crime tropes. Instead of informing the public, they’re manufacturing consent for whatever comes next. Calling WSJ journalism is an insult to the world.
Western "free press" (read: propaganda of hate and evil) never misses the opportunity to offend and insult others and normalize dehumanization of Muslims, Africans, Asians, Latino's, etc. Fuck the zionist fascist lying West. It is the cancer and enemy of all humanity.
The influx of cocaine is actually happening, it’s just that it’s the CIA/Mossad that are doing it. Projection is one of their biggest weapons. It worked for a long time, but their games have become increasingly obvious.
The influx of cocaine and crack are always deliberate and used politically. The influx of crack into black and hispanic areas in the early 80s allowed the illnesses caused by drug abuse, poverty, malnutrition and deprivation to be blamed on a new $multi million project called 'AIDS'. https://jowaller.substack.com/p/the-importance-of-intellectual-freedom?utm_source=publication-search
Uh? Are you saying AIDS doesn't exist?
No. Did you read my post? Of course the collection of symptoms said to be from a syndrome called AIDS exist, but one of these symptoms is weight loss, which is still used, in the absence of ‘testing’, to diagnosis AIDS in starving Africans. Another, KS, is known to be caused by since banned ‘poppers’ containing amol nitrate.
I’m saying the symptoms have not been shown to be caused by ‘HIV” and that there is no test for AIDS. Diagnosis after detection of the p24 protein or antibody (which are also found in pregnancy, cancer and healthy people) is based on transfusion history, sexual orientation and whether one is a black African or not. The opposite of objectivity.
Well said Mr. Douglas. As Caitlin said, the "Free press" only serves to contribute to the propagation of the imperial war machine and the interests and agendas of the oligarchs who are the real powers that be. And one method by which they assert their control is to demonize and stigmatize "the other", who are anyone they find convenient as a scapegoat to deflect attention from the real problems that people face. These tend to be people of color, religious minorities like Muslim, immigrants, etc. So much for the media "holding truth to power".
My hope is that recent atrocities and conflicts globally have encouraged people to not believe at face value the MSM and try to research and learn about things for themselves.
I simply cannot unterstand what self-respecting human would watch, read, and pay for that cheap, stupid, hateful, and evil western MSM propaganda. Are westerners really such idiots?
agreed Mr. Douglas, can't really understand why anyone would willingly pay for and consume the MSM "journalism" knowing how biased and doctors it is. Not sure what the reasoning is behind it, can't really see it making sense from any perspective, not economic, political, informational etc
Don't get too upset Nick Douglas, the western media is part of the whole capitalist, oligarchical system that rule over us. Like Noam Chomsky said they wouldn't be sitting there if they weren't.
...and speaking of Noam, good friend and defender of Epstein...JFK conspiracy denier...
2+2 is still 4, even if Heinrich Himmler and Pol Pot both say so.
Ask Trump how much is 2+2. The answer will shock you.
Trump is a bullshitter, in Professor Frankfurt's sense of that term.
Yep. The got two SCARY birds with one stone. Well, three actually - gangs, Africans and jihadists.
When John Howard was Australia's PM he, very wrongly, granted Murdoch, by changing the laws on media ownership, could have more media than any other had ever been allowed to have. The law was that the could not have, I believe, more than two media types. After Murdoch got given carte blanche, he went over the top by buying up more and more different media types, probably to cut off anyone else from beating him to what he thought was the best bargains.
The public then was against it but Howard ignored us because he had bought himself a media propaganda giant that he thought would keep him in Kirribilli until he died. Thank God the people stopped that belief, because he's still alive! The man the people knew to be a liar, was often called, The Rodent, Mr 18% and The Unflushable Turd.
Then Murdoch got himself American citizenship, and we all know how well that went for both the US and Oz. The odd thing is, before he got so big, his family were considered to be good people, which makes one wonder was that because of their wealth and not their actions. Unfortunately, the eldest son is reported to be worse than the father, how the hell he can be is scary as he'll.
Well said, the same tired old strategy of demonizing "the other" in order to manufacture consent to further imperial conquest, this time of Venezuela and its oil. Hopefully, enough public pushback arises to stop this madness. The WSJ has long since forsaken its status as "credible" journalism in my eyes, if it ever deserved such status
This is pretty tame for Caitlin. Even she goes through numbness.
Recently Jeff Sachs referred to Trump's Venezuela policy as "gangster."
The criminality is out in the open; the cover-ups are flimsy, insulting.
The Western world is governed by gangsters who believe in their impunity.
The US doesn’t even bother with excuses that sound believable. After Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya — who even buys any of this crap? Not that obvious lies are going to stop this atrocity from happening since Congress refuses to grow a backbone, the “journalists” only want a paycheck and the average taxpayer is little more than a nuisance to be ignored.
Trump has made it perfectly clear he wants to steal the oil in Venezuela and steal the beachfront property in Gaza. This is a lust for riches and power on a level that a sane person can’t comprehend. The people who voted for this man were desperate to believe he was going to take their problems seriously and focus on them. Even if he’s successfully impeached, the next in line is JD Vance who has the potential to be even worse.
Venezuela may be one blunder too many for the empire but they’re not going to stop.
"who even buys any of this crap?" Millions do. But how many? 1/3?
Mr T's problem is that voting is all about money in the pocket of the average man and the Prez doesn't have control of the economy. The Prez does have control of foreign relations. The big boost to the military makes it clear that the plan is to boost the domestic economy by extorting concessions out of other nations. The plan is NOT any sort of reform of oligarchic/monopoly control of the USA. Profits must continue to increase.
By the way, in Trump's first term in 2019 Mr. Bolton went on TV to extoll the economic benefits of forcing Venezuela to sell its oil drilling rights to private corporations. I have a link to that if you would like it. Back in 2019 I found that shocking. Back then the USA essentially stole Citgo from Venezuela.
Of course the justifications are obvious pretexts for a fight.
Doesn't matter, if it works.
It really is. These people are lawless and not being held to account for their lawlessness. Make it stop.
jamenta, Isn't it high time that the American people realised that "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" always was at the expense of "The wretched of the earth".
A phrase of Franz Fanon that I am not really enamoured with, even if he is being ironic, even if he is alluding to the coloniser's term.
It would sadly seem to be the case Indu.
“Make it stop” ?
If the power of Money can be stopped, then so can the empire… but who can stop the power of Money?
Good idea, but stoping the power of Money is like stopping the Titanic, and how did that work out?
A lot of people drowned or froze to death.
Just stop buying x-mas crap for a few years and moneymen will start to feel sick
Moebius,
Nice idea… but that was tried many years ago… we go to the second hand stores now.
But back to the point about The power of Money…, as in What happens when you have no money? When that happens, it doesn’t matter where you shop, or don’t shop, because you’re in dire straits.
Moreover, who owns the Earth, and why do we have to pay its owners to live on it? …. For starters….
Hope I’m still on topic here…
The real problem is the end of the year fiscal tax evasion. They rely on x-mas crap.
If we just 'kill' satan clause. And stop buying crap. Give children more human attention, instead of buying love, like corrupted epstein friends.
Then the fiscal trick will become a fiscal nightmare for blackrock, statestreet etc.
Doesn't matter if it works.
For a while.
I am in my 60s. It’s worked quite well my entire life.
It continues to work just dandy.
I'm expecting Europe to rebel within a few years. Germany's standard of living is plummeting.
Europeans are the most rule-following, norms-abiding, authority-trusting sheep on the planet.
We all saw the lies, deceipt and cold blooded warmongering in the Iraq scandal and now we are about to face yet another from the same criminal USA
How my country can even allow an Embassy for these murderers to exist is beyond my understanding as we act every day of every year as a bag carrying slave to both the USA and Israel.
I am ashamed of Western governments for their compliance to yet another American power play.
This time clearly for oil, 18% of the world's reserves in Venezuela.
It must take a certain type of person to be part of the USA political decision making in 2025.
And US soldiers will go to their own deaths because of these lies. Do they really believe Venezuela is worth their lives? The US is not in any imminent danger from Venezuela. This isn't worth dying for.
US soldiers are required to disobey illegal orders to commit war crimes, civil crimes, crimes against humanity. They have sworn their oaths to defend the US Constitution and to protect their nation against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
The POTUS and the Secretary of War have condemned a half dozen US Senators for reminding the armed forces about this.
Theres an exemption to it though, if a soldier refuses then is found in a military court to have refused a ‘legal’ order he/she is fucked!!
Whereas a officier has an immunity from a court follow up - something like that i think.
So it should be the officiers ordering them to not act collectively rather than letting them choose individually. But an officer has a bigger pension/career prospects !
Also the hague invasion act protects any us or allied personnel from the ICC.
The whole UN warrants is a charade, a warrant isnt a charge and thats as far as it will ever go..
I can see them having to grovel to vlad and bibi and welcome them back within few months
Throughout history, the “winners” of conflicts decide who is punished and who is rewarded.
The UN, ICC and SCOTUS have no independent police force to enforce their decisions. So, it is ultimately the military forces that have such power as long as “the people” support their military troops.
Throughout history, there have been times when the military supported “the people” rather than corrupt governments and politicians.
In the USA, the original concept of the National Guard was to provide the governor of each state with an army of part-time “citizen soldiers” who were primarily well-armed and trained civilians with “day jobs” and families within the communities in which they served.
That concept was corrupted when the US Congress allowed the POTUS to commandeer the National Guard to prosecute wars of convenience in foreign countries rather than increasing the numbers of full-time “regular” professional federal soldiers.
Good to know and is the national guard, like a reservist force or active? I always it was like our Territorial Army - weekend warriors
The “weekend warriors” was the original intent, to provide an armed and trained organized militia for each of the states.
In the State of Michigan, the Michigan Military Act 150 of 1967 established that all able-bodied citizens of Michigan, between the ages of 17 and 60 years are subject to duty in the “unorganized” militia.
In addition, the US Army consists of “regular” troops who are 100% “on duty”, full-time, and the “ready reserves” — typically military veterans— who are not on active duty or in the National Guard but who may be called into active “regular Army, duty on very short notice.
A primary distinction of the National Guard was that it’s members were supposed to operate within their communities near their immediate families and places of civilian employment, and for very limited durations — hours, days or a few weeks during which they could not be fired by their civilian employers for being unable to attend to their civilian jobs for those emergency situations.
They won't be dying, any more than they died in Libya.
I don't know. You mean they'll just start bombing, or use remote drone attacks? No special ops on the ground? Maybe you're right. Especially if they just do drones.
They'll only use enough ground troops as necessary. See Libya for the template.
This will be a quick and easy victory and be used to beat war drums against Russia.
Quick and easy eh? Where have I heard that before?
It worked in Libya and Panama, to give a couple of examples.
Interesting, I think the opposite. We will bluff, talk shit like a drunk old demented guy and lay down and go to sleep. I can see that oil tanker on fire now as wall street burns down.
West attacking RF? That would be insane and suicidal. Western hemisphere would end up as flat glowing smoldering rock in a matter of few hours.
Russian dithering and indecision have convinced NATO otherwise.
Moving troops into Venezuela makes no sense. To do that they would have to have a neighboring country allow its use as a staging area/supply line. Not happening. Even then I think it wouldn't work. Occupying a hostile country doesn't pay. That's what happened in Iraq. Instead they'll just missile the place if they don't get what they want. It's extortion, not invasion/occupation.
Look at Libya for an example. Smash stuff up, turn the country into a failed state and done!
Cheap, easy and no American casualties.
I think we are bankrupt chicken shits. We will not go to war just yell like a crazy old man in the neighborhood. If Venezuela sinks one oil tanker in the Gulf of MEXICO wall street dies a death of exposed fake value. We know who the good guys are my friend : )
Because your country craves American carrot and fears American stick.
Anyway, "oil" is a pretext, just as was "drugs". Venezuela would be happy to sell all the crude it can pump for dollars. Buying oil would be far cheaper than a war.
Feral. The really sad thing here is when one thinks back on Iraq. A free country, deaths of 500,000 children due to the restrictions of drug availability (so I believe).
Recovery, a lifetime exercise from that date and the same with Libya and on.
But the lies. Never ending and here we go again. WMD once. Now drugs.
Now think back on the real drug traffickers known as the CIA in Afghanistan.
I am finding it hard to even talk to my friends over decades in the US. They seem as though they would like to object and agree with me, but never do.
To me, that is saddest part of all..
I hope that evil bitch once called Madeleine Albright will spend eternity in hellfire and infinite pain and suffering.
It probably doesn't work that way. Either we really do have no "soul" and are just hapless meat puppets, or, all the scientific NDE research of the last 30+ years appears to indicate consciousness itself separates at death - but what greets the majority of NDE'rs is this overwhelming unconditional love. However, frequently there is this complete "life review" that you immediately go through. So Madeleine Albright would go through a "life review" - where she would literally experience everything (including emotions and pain) not only from her perspective, but all the other lives she effected. That probably would be pretty hellish.
But who knows. That's the latest scientific research, and maybe consciousness will just turn out to be an illusion (given more scientific research with new discoveries) and life turn out to be just a dark, pretty sick comedy.
But what matters to the US, is who gets the $$ for said oil.
Then why hasn't the US attacked Saudi Arabia?
Because Saudi accepts only dollars and "invests" all its money in the USA. In return Saudi gets military protection from Iraq, Iran, and domestic enemies.
I repeatedly read that the Iraq invasion was triggered by Iraq beginning to accept Euros as payment. Iran also accepts other currencies.
Now that the USA is losing control of global currency the USA's goal is to rule the world via control of the oil supply. This is why they are so against fossil fuel reduction -- this undermines the plan.
Yup. Saddam would have been delighted to be allowed to do the same. Remember that Iraq was prevented by sanctions from doing so.
One day I wondered what those Iraq sanctions were about. Just what were they punishing Iraq for? The US gvt. was reluctant to say in its documents. I think they wanted Iraq to overthrow Saddam and install an obedient government.
Because Saudi Arabia and the US are already joined at the hip. No fighting or invasion required.
But the $$ for that oil remain Saudi.
A lot of it ends up in the bank accounts of US military armaments companies. Saudi Arabia is also the US deputy sheriff of the ME. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.
That’s actually a good point. Why would the us feel any kind of restraint about attacking any country when we have seen they can get away with it? I wpuld argue that they always feel they need some sort of excuse, they have to make some effort to play the game
The US $$you mean? It's time having US$ as the universal currency is long past, time to do our own trading with our own currencies, and to hell with what the US thinking the have ownership of what currency we trade with.
Right. There is nothing the USA can do to prevent other nations from trading in other currencies. I thought it very foolish of the USA to bolix SWIFT, one of their own major cash cows. It could have gone on indefinitely.
Yep.
“ It mmust take a certain person to be part of the USI political decision making”
Yes, and being part of the Aipac lobby is the best ticket to get on that ride.
Joseph Goebbels never died.
Reincarnated as the creepy Stephen Miller.
If ever there was an argument for lizard people among us, he's the closest thing to proof.
Wall Street Journal editors will be tried for crimes against humanity. There is no statute of limitations.
100% Agree. All fake journalists' aka propagandists (WSJ, WaPo, NYT, etc.) that participate in western spread of hate and lies are war criminals and gangsters deserving appropriate ultimate punishment.
Unfortunately, I disagree. Look at Judith Miller. She still works in journalism ffs.
This is not 2003. And neither is it 2020. The Israeli state will cease to exist in a few years. The US empire is on life support, and is extremely likely to break up in less than a decade. Once these criminal states have dissolved, the global majority will bring these genocidaires to justice. There is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity.
Good luck. They sleep soundly in their beds, secure that they never will utter or think a syllable that would not be approved by those of influence and authority.
You're living in your own made-up world if THAT is how you think the real world works. What you say describes a (near) ideal world, but the real world has never worked that way (unfortunately).
"If they could truly see how much evil is being done in their name and really wrap their minds around it,".....and that is the first problem we have. Wrapping our minds around it. I keep thinking that it just cannot get much worse. But then it does. Every day. I am afraid to look at the news, but unable not to.
It IS fascinating. Sort of like a big burning building.
Fantastic article Caitlin! ❤️🙏👏👌
CJ>>"If people had a clear understanding of everything that’s really going on in our world, they would tear the empire apart brick by brick. If they could truly see how much evil is being done in their name and really wrap their minds around it, and if they could understand how much wealth the plutocrats are getting out of the imperial status quo compared to how little they themselves benefit from it, there would be immediate revolution."
THIS is what I'm hoping happens. That people WAKE UP collectively and take back their agency, their lives, their communities, and their country.
If people still belive the 'Venezuelan narratives' of the U.S. Empire, then I have a bridge to sell them in Brooklyn, or maybe a colony on Mars (and no, I won't be sharing my profits with Elon Musk 😃 - I will spend the money on taking down the EVIL U.S. Empire).
To Chang 🫣🤗 !
I really appreciate this the reminder that propaganda doesn’t look like crude jingoism 100% of the time. As you say, most people start from a genuine place of “I hate war,” but when the media spin-machine kicks in it becomes shockingly easy to accept violence as ‘necessary’ without ever pausing to question the premises.
As someone who’s seen the real human cost of illness and injury (both physical and mental), I find that disconnect between “theoretical peace” and “accepted war-time mindset” profoundly disturbing. It makes the case for conscientious skepticism louder. we owe it to ourselves and others to interrogate every bit of rhetoric that nudges us toward supporting state-sanctioned violence. Thanks for putting this out there. I hope more people especially those in health-care, think twice before swallowing the next tranche of sanctioned propaganda.
"propaganda doesn’t look like crude jingoism 100% of the time. " It doesn't? Coulda fooled me.
That propaganda can be so hard to break through. I was at a demonstration in support of Gaza, and heard people saying things like "It's just Netanyahu, but most Israelis don't support the genocide" which isn't true, that Russia is at fault for the war in Ukraine with no context, and that Iran is a nuclear threat.
I think most of these people got their news from CBC here in Canada.
One would think people would realise by now that, especially when Drumpf is leading the charge, this is all fabrication same as it has been for decades now. We've seen it all before, yet our fools in government step up when they should sit down and let America fight it's own power battles on its own, whatever bullshit excuse it comes up with. It has been war after war, after war from the past 70 years started by some US falsehood and the other countries dragged in. If there had been a bunch of "NOs" early on, you can bet we would not have this current possibility facing the world.
Not only the liss of life because of these false wars, it's killing the planet as well with more pollution to come so US can get it's sticky paws on some other countries oil - really? Our governments are going to just go along with this, again?
I can't believe how gullible people are; so many now believing that Venezuela is a threat. When so much is out in the open they're still falling for this garbage. It's unbelievable. We and the planet can't afford these stupid wars.
I have learned to expect the ignorance and gullibility of the general public. They know virtually nothing of any nation other than their own, and not much about that. However 94% of USA voters can find their nation on a map of the world, so it's not all bad.
That's very sad.
https://substack.com/profile/403952572-kali-karma-feminist/note/c-183316628?r=6oi3ss
This smells a lot like “Canada is providing most of the USA with fentanyl so we must slap ridiculous tariffs on them to make them stop!” More horseshit from this pathetic administration.
Maybe the boats being hit arent paying their "tariffs" ..
"War-horny"
Wow, nailed it, Caitlin.
"All the west’s most influential and far-reaching news media publications... manufacture consent for the pre-existing agendas of the US-centralized western empire."
Did they ever just report the news, straight up and without the empire's spin on it? I just can't recall a decent mainstream media outlet since the invention of CNN... Maybe the "infotainment" style of 24 hours news just jogged me out of my propaganda-induced coma? Whatever it was, once reality is seen it cannot be unseen. So, keep sharing the posts, links, articles, videos, etc., with your friends and associates. We've gotta bring them out of their comas so we can start the REVOLUTION.
"Did they ever just report the news, straight up and without the empire's spin on it?" When I was a kid they reported the gvt. view but were willing to declare it lies. It was very different. Even up until 2001 I was able to read mainstream media and gather that the Iraq war was BS. But that's all gone and now it's 100% propaganda. Noam Chomsky said it was easier to get the truth out of the USSR's Pravda than in today's USA.
Most Americans never learn anything of real importance. If they do, they soon forget it.
One irony of that WSJ headline and story is that there actually ARE cocaine shipments going from South America to Europe, but not from Venezuela. They are hidden in the banana-boat shipments of the Noboa family’s banana business, coming from Ecuador. Ultra right-wing, neoliberal Daniel Noboa is President of Ecuador and a very obedient stooge of the US.
One must ask a fundamental question: if the war in Iraq wasn’t fought over weapons of mass destruction (which it wasn’t), what was the purpose of that war? The answer is exquisitely simple and devastatingly obvious.
The war was fought to steal the oil resources of Iraq for the benefit of US and other international oil companies. Full stop. As beautifully described in the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, when the US occupied Iraq under the governorship of Paul Bremmer, a significant portion of the value of those resources was sold to various oil companies at highly favorable prices. All of the noise about WMD‘s and Saddam Hussein was camouflage to hide the true purpose of the activity.
However, this approach is not new. The US has done this at least 80 times since 1945, stealing natural resources ranging from bananas to oil to copper and almost everything in between. Under administrations of both major political parties the US government has operated worse than any criminal organization in the history of the world. With each action the US and it’s imperial partners deceived the public with lofty rhetoric.
To add to that, there were/are several more reasons for the 'Iraq War' - including maintaining the petrodollar and U.S. dollar hegemony, eliminating one of Israel's rivals in the region, and maintaining control over the Middle-East (in terms of geopolitics).
I remember that before the war had, in fact, got underway American oil company bosses were in Iraq taking over the oil companies to stop Iraq setting them on fire - which says more than a thing else what that war, like Venezuela's is about.