International Campaign Around Venezuela's Elections Has Begun

[Judi Lynn]

Posted: March 26, 2010 11:21 AM
International Campaign Around Venezuela's Elections Has Begun

Venezuela has an election for its National Assembly in September, and the campaign has begun in earnest. I am referring to the international campaign. This is carried out largely through the international media; although some will spill over into the Venezuelan media. It involves many public officials, especially in the U.S. The goal will be to generate as much bad press as possible about Venezuela, to discredit the government, and to de-legitimize the September elections - in case the opposition should choose to boycott, as they did in the last legislative elections, or refuse to recognize the results if they lose.

There's no need for conspiracy, since the principal actors all know what to do. Occasionally some will be off message due to lack of co-ordination. A fascinating example of this occurred last week when Sen. John McCain tried to get Gen. Doug Fraser of the U.S. Southern Command to back his accusations that Venezuela supports terrorist activities. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 11, General Fraser contradicted McCain:

"We have continued to watch very closely ... We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection."

Oops! Apparently Fraser didn't get the memo that the Obama team, not just McCain, is in full campaign mode against Venezuela. The next day, he issued a statement recanting his testimony:

"Assistant Secretary Valenzuela and I spoke this morning on the topic of linkages between the government of Venezuela and the FARC. There is zero daylight between our two positions, and we are in complete agreement.
There is indeed clear and documented historical and ongoing evidence of the linkages between the Government of Venezuela and the FARC . ... we are in direct alignment with our partners at the State Department and the Intelligence Community."

Well it's good to know that the United States still has civilian control over the military, at least in the Western Hemisphere. On the other hand, it would be even better if the truth counted for anything in these Congressional hearings or in Washington foreign policy circles generally. The general's awkward and seemingly forced reversal went unnoticed by the media.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/international-campaign-ar_b_514614.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Well, Chavez IS a dictator, after all.

Could somebody please remind me when the last time was his government goons broke into a school and murdered a political opponent? I can't seem to recall.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x526249

[cowman]

2. Naw

he just jails his opponents and before you flame me let me say this, I really don't give a shit what you think of my post, it's my opinion that he is a thug and will always be a thug and now he is becoming a full blown dictator

[Andronex]

3. you're right it's just your opinion...

and it has no basis in fact...

[cowman]

5. Hey thats your opinion

and it has no basis of fact, see I can do that to

[Judi Lynn]

4. That's the attitude you'll have if you refuse to do your research, and look beyond

what corporate media tells you, the same people who told you all about the terrifying WMD's in Iraq, the mobile labs, the super-scary "rods" and the poor babies being thrown out of their incubators by those mean Iraq soldiers in the first Iraq War, and about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, going all the way back to the sinking of the USS Maine.

You're exactly what the scheming liars count on when they want to "mold public perception."

Many many OTHER U. S. Americans care enough to start researching, and looking for the truth on our own. There is NO substitute for the truth for people of character.

[classysassy]

6. The greed merchants

fear socialism and will do anything they can to destroy it.

[Peace Patriot]

7. It's a ridiculous charge from the primary sponsor of terrorism in Latin America--the USA--

not to mention the country that slaughtered a hundred thousand innocent people, in the first few weeks of bombing alone, in Iraq, to steal their oil, and has tortured thousands of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and torture dungeons around the world.

But what is more worrisome than our government LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH, with excruciating hypocrisy, is WHY are they telling this damned lie. Is it just because the corporate rulers hate universal free medical care so much, and hate universal free education through college so much, and hate a government using the oil profits to benefit the people so much, that they are just slandering Chavez, and trying to cut into Chavez's mandate in the coming legislative elections in Venezuela--as well as keeping us ignorant of the viability of socialist programs such as universal free medical care? Or, is it psyops/disinformation in preparation for Oil War II? Together with other facts--for instance, the new U.S. military occupation of Colombia (adjacent to Venezuela), and the other U.S. war assets that are being put in place, which, if you look at a map, appear to be surrounding Venezuela's Caribbean oil coast and northern oil provinces--my guess is a war plan. Or rather, both. Propaganda for the above purposes AND a war plan. I really have no doubt that there is a war plan. The question is, when and if it will be implemented--and if it's purpose is truly war, or simply fear, terror and "divide and conquer." This might depend on how well ES&S (which just bought out Diebold and now has an 85% monopoly of US voting systems--all now run on 'TRADE SECRET' code with virtually no audit/recount controls--and is far scarier as to rightwing ties than even Diebold was) can manipulate the 2012 election, or on to what extent Obama is "the prisoner of the Pentagon" (as Chavez said of him).

In any case, it looks like pre-war psyops/disinformation to me. And I hope I am wrong.

[Wilms]

8. k&r n/t