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writing for godot

Obama's Foot in Mouth Disease on Venezuela

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Written by Sean Fenley   
Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:21
“I like Latin America; I view South America as the underdog in this situation. As a moviemaker I tend to make movies about people who don’t get a fair shake.” – Academy Award winning filmmaker, Oliver Stone

“One of the hemisphere’s great democratic leaders.” – George H.W. Bush on Carlos Andres Perez

Obama sounds very ignorant and uniformed and shortsighted, when he speaks on the issue of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. [1] Poverty’s down, literacy is up, education is up, and there are even more alternative voices in the Venezuelan media — which is actually largely right-wing. [2] Obama’s blathering on Venezuela, would seem to be lacking a lot of verifiable substance and certifiable facts; and indeed, most Latin American countries had US puppets in power for years, and with dismal/wanting results. Chavez and all the others, in fact, represent, the failure of decades of US policy in Latin America.

Apparently, Obama didn’t read Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America, given to him by Chavez; I don’t think Obama reads anything but the sports pages (we already know that he loves to fill out the NCAA brackets). And as to the issue of Venezuela’s relations with so-called rogue states — as determined by the incomparable rogue state the US — Cuba is now going the way of China, and it has become increasingly ridiculous for our power elite to criticize its “socialist” path. [3] In relation to Iran, Venezuela, of course — unlike the United States — has a foreign policy, that doesn’t involve hating upon countries, that have different systems (or ways of being) than it does.

Chavez has even negotiated better relations with the US bosom puppet state, Colombia, since Juan Manuel Santos came to power. Santos has proven to be somewhat more pragmatic vis-a-vis Venezuela, than his predecessor Alvaro Uribe aka “little Bush”, who Chavez even efforted to work with at times. [4] Uribe strongly attacked his successor for, ultimately, coming to amicable terms with the Bolivarian President. And Chavez was attacked by some on the left for appeasement with the reactionary, serial human rights violating — and supine to the United States — Colombian regime.

Regarding, all of the hoopla relating to the shutting down of the anti-regime channel RCTV, the actual truth of the matter is that the Venezuelan media, is probably freer — and far more open — than the United States media is. Certainly, at least, as a check or an opposition. [5] And moreover, the Venezuelan state media actually has very limited pull; and in fact, the United States media, often acts as a state run media, and not one that is free to report in its pertinent, exacting and judicious role would. [6]

For example, when Obama went into Libya, he did not even consider the Constitution — which was sparsely reported by the MSM. And moreover, the US and NATO almost immediately violated the Libyan UN Resolution in their bombing campaign against that country; and the legalities of that were again sparsely, if at all, commented upon by the mainstream press. [7] In addition, the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens with drones, has not been given its due attention — and has not been rigorously debated — in the US mainstream media so-called dialogue and/or “public square”.

Noam Chomsky, I think, is an illustrative example of the narrow limitations of the US mainstream press. He is, unequivocally, one of the preeminent scholars in the United States — who is in the same “citation league” as Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Plato, Cicero, Aristotle and Freud — and he is rarely seen or heard from in the US corporatist press. Why this is so, is certainly up for question/debate, but his sentiment on Israel is certainly a likely culprit; for this, seemingly troubling and irrational stance.

Numerous other noted scholars, authors, and commentators are completely blacklisted from the United States “mainstream” media and press. The media landscape is, in fact, filled with platitude repeating dittoheads and so-called political experts that willfully, and willingly seek to assuage the professional political class. The alleged watchdog role of the media, has certainly seemed to have deteriorated, to that of a lap dog press.

Returning to the question of Venezuela, however, Chavez actually originally came to notoriety, leading a movement against the US-backed Carlos Andres Perez regime. At the time hundreds, were killed in an anti-IMF riot, and his supporters now commonly refer to that day as ’4F’. Although, Chavez was involved in an attempted coup d’etat, on that occasion, his supporters say this action took place — within the backdrop of a society — that was highly undemocratic and remarkably socially unjust. And not only that, but popular demonstrations, were violently suppressed under this US-backed “democratic” administration. [8] One wonders what the private citizen Obama, was enunciating back then — if anything at all?

Obama — who has hailed Ronald Reagan more than once — is just once again showing his true, nauseating and despicable inner colors. Though he has now long since been unmasked (for any who would care to look), it is just so saddening to see this kind of anachronistic mentality, still being pushed on to emancipating nations of the Global South. Particularly by Obama, of course — a man of partial Kenyan ancestry, proffering this sort of cipherous bile, ridiculous claptrap, and preposterous trash. Venezuela, a comparatively diminutive country, is simply seeking to set out upon an autonomous path. It is a country that is after its own singularly unique, robust and purposeful course.

Notes:
[1]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/obama-criticizes-venezuelas-rights-record-ties-to-iran-and-cuba-in-remarks-to-newspaper/2011/12/19/gIQAyF5Y4O_story.html
[2]http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2059--media-in-venezuela-facts-and-fiction
[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12565417
[4]http://www.economist.com/node/9769060?story_id=9769060
[5]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/04/venezuela-media-freedom-chavez
[6]http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/wr131210.html
[7]http://www.marjoriecohn.com/2011/05/responsibility-to-protect-cases-of.html
[8]http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/2212

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