Venezuela: Take That!

The White House on Monday announced the imposition of new sanctions on various Venezuelan officials, pronouncing itself “deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government’s efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents”: deeply concerned. President Obama also, reportedly with a straight face, officially declared that Venezuela poses “an extraordinary threat to the national security” of the U.S. — a declaration necessary to legally justify the sanctions...

That nothing is more insincere than purported U.S. concerns over political repression is too self-evident to debate. Supporting the most repressive regimes on the planet in order to suppress and control their populations is and long has been a staple of U.S. (and British) foreign policy. “Human rights” is the weapon invoked by the U.S. Government and its loyal media to cynically demonize regimes that refuse to follow U.S. dictates, while far worse tyranny is steadfastly overlooked, or expressly cheered, when undertaken by compliant regimes, such as those in Riyadh and Cairo (seethis USA Today article, one of many, recently hailing the Saudis as one of the “moderate” countries in the region). 

This is exactly the tactic that leads neocons to feign concern for Afghan women or the plight of Iranian gays when doing so helps to gin up war-rage against those regimes, while they snuggle up to far worse but far more compliant regimes...

If Obama and supporters want the government of Venezuela to be punished and/or toppled because they refuse to comply with U.S. dictates, they should at least be honest about their beliefs so that their true character can be seen. Pretending that any of this has to do with the U.S. Government’s anger over suppression of political opponents — when their closest allies are the world champions at that — should be too insulting of everyone’s intelligence to even be an option.

Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept.

PS Foreign secretary Philip Hammond has warned that Russia "has the potential to pose the single greatest threat" to UK security. BBC News. Don't laugh.

Madonna: What's Going On?

Noted political analyst Madonna gives her two cents over on Instagram.

There's 'facism' [sic] in 'The Ukraine' '[sic] 'apparantly' [sic]...

Fagburn loves it when celebrities speak out about things they can't even spell.

Here's the slightly better-informed Seamus Milne in The Guardian, In Ukraine, fascists, oligarchs and western expansion are at the heart of the crisis.
Robert Fisk in The Independent on the Russia, Syria, Ukraine nexus.
Marc Bennetts talks to New Humanist about the reality of protest and dissent in Russia today.
And ZNet on Western media mis-reporting of Venezuela's upper-class revolt.

Should anyone be surprised which side Madonna's on?

Hugo Chavez: Independent Retracts Anti-Gay Slur

The Venezuela Solidarity Campaign today welcomed a decision by The Independent newspaper to retract a story titled: "Chavez's homophobic rant against challenger" (16 February 2012 by Simeon Tegel). The article has been withdrawn from its website.

On its website, The Independent explains: 
"Correction: An article in our foreign pages recently alleged that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela had indulged in a "homophobic rant" against a political rival. We now accept that President Chavez did no such thing. We are happy to set the record straight."

Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. [Link now broken - sorry].
Here's the mighty Fagburn on this vile slur at the time.

Hugo Chavez: Communist Eats Gay Babies - Report

Chavez's Homophobic Rant Against Challenger

The Independent.
Odd headline.
Hugo Chavez has made no comment on Don Capriles' sexuality, never mind "a rant".
In fact nobody has made a "rant", as far as I'm aware.
Your source? "Mario Silva, who presents The Razorblade, a state-run TV show known for its assaults on Chavez critics, said Mr Capriles had been arrested in 2000 for having sex with another man in a car. Mr Capriles denies the accusation."
Mario Silva and Hugo Chavez are not the same person, dear - hence the different names.
And calling VTV "state-run" is as absurd as saying the BBC is "state-run" and claiming Jeremy Clarkson is the official spokesperson for David Cameron.
And how homophobic can you be if you try to introduce gay marriage, as Chavez did?
Still, all's fair when talking crap about one of our Officially Declared Enemies.
We must tell more lies.
Bombs away.
Hegemony - yay!

Bradley Manning: An Army Of One

'Bradley Manning’s Army of One
'How a lonely, five-foot-two, gender-questioning soldier became a WikiLeaks hero, a traitor to the U.S., and one of the most unusual revolutionaries in American history.'

Interesting/odd essay in New York magazine.
Why "traitor"?
Why mention his height in the intro?
Steve Fishman argues that it was "all in the mind", but does talk about Manning wanting to act morally.
He claims to have spoken to his father and an un-named gender counsellor.
But a counsellor wouldn't talk about a client - it's confidential (Fagburn has never seen any evidence for the rumours that Bradley was "gender-questioning").
And his father says Bradley's taken him off his visitor list, so one wonders what he says can be believed.
Most importantly (if it's true) it says how Adrian Lamo entrapped Bradley Manning by flirting with him - scum.
Be interested to hear what Bradley thinks about Julian Assange...

Update: The Guardian has run a piece on this that misses the Lamo story but concentrates on newly released weblogs where - allegedly -Manning says he was bullied for being gay in the army; "It took them a while, but they started figuring me out, making fun of me, mocking me, harassing me, heating up with one or two physical attacks."
But a "Guardian Exclusive" said this in May.

Update 2: Glenn Greenwald responds in Salon; The Motives Of Bradley Manning.
Greenwald's consistently defended Manning. He's also interviewed Lamo who he considers "deranged" and an attention-seeker.

Update 3: "It's obviously improper for the executive to intervene and impose a jail sentence without a trial [in Venezuela]. And I should say that the United States is in no position to complain about this. Bradley Manning has been imprisoned without charge, under torture, which is what solitary confinement is. The president in fact intervened. Obama was asked about his conditions and said that he was assured by the Pentagon that they were fine. That's executive intervention in a case of severe violation of civil liberties and it's hardly the only one. That doesn't change the judgment about Venezuela, it just says that what one hears in the United States one can dismiss..."
Noam Chomky in an interview with The Observer about Hugo Chavez. The full transcript was released by The Guardian today after Chomsky accused them of "extreme dishonesty" for the spin they had put on what he'd said.

Update 4: I've started a new post on what's turning into "Fishmangate".

Hugo Chavez: ¡Y Venceremos!

Fagburn doesn't think anyone should put so much faith in one person, but I hope you're okay...