Saturday 26 January 2019

Dozens of Saudi-led Mercenaries Killed in Najran: Yemeni Media



Yemeni army and popular committees
Yemeni media reported that the army and popular committees launched Friday a large scale attack on the sites and the gatherings of the Saudi-led mercenaries in Najran, killing or injuring scores of them and seizing many of their vehicles and much of their munitions.
Yemen has been since March 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition, in a bid to restore control to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is Riyadh’s ally.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured in the strikes launched by the coalition, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
The coalition, which includes in addition to Saudi Arabia and UAE: Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Kuwait, has been also imposing a harsh blockade against Yemenis.
SourceYemeni media
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Uncle Sam Cracks Whip in Backyard with a Decrepit Hand



Uncle Sam Cracks Whip in Backyard with a Decrepit Hand
 25.01.2019

Uncle Sam Cracks Whip in Backyard with a Decrepit Hand


You could hardly make it up. This week, addressing the Davos summit in Switzerland, via video link, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned Russia for interfering in American elections and those of other countries.
The next day, Pompeo was declaring the elected leader in Venezuela “illegitimate” and endorsing an obscure opposition figure as the “recognized president”.
Underway in Venezuela is a coup d’état led by Washington. The country is precariously on a knife-edge of civil war, following the US’ audacious move to delegitimize the government in Caracas.
This is Washington’s interference in the sovereign affairs of another nation – writ large.
And yet the US government and media have the brass neck to accuse Russia of “interference”. Let the world see the USA for what it is – the United States of Arrogance, the United States of Absurdity.
Venezuela faces a foreboding next few weeks. Already the country has been racked by economic chaos – caused in no small part by US sanctions – and persistent street protests, whipped up by Washington’s years-long meddling.
If the violence escalates, US President Donald Trump has warned that “all options are on the table”, meaning possibly a military intervention by Washington. This US script for regime change is so worn out, so predictable, so deplorable.
Russia, which is allied with Venezuela’s elected government of President Nicolas Maduro, has condemned the flagrant violation by the US. Moscow has also warned against any US military intervention, saying it will lead to further mayhem. Maybe that mayhem is exactly what the US is betting on. After all, history shows that when Washington does not approve of a foreign government then its habitual recourse of action is to incite instability and precipitate a failed state, which then allows the US to try to impose its dominance.
Latin America has been viewed by Washington as its “backyard” for the past two centuries. If the Southern Hemisphere does not toe Uncle Sam’s line, then “recalcitrant” countries are forced to “cry Uncle” under pain of military attack, subversion, death squads or economic strangulation.
The imperialist arrogance of Washington towards nominally independent nations is astounding. Most infamously, Cuba defied the US hegemonic overlord by choosing a socialist political system nearly 70 years ago, and for the past seven decades that diminutive island nation has been subjected to a vicious trade embargo as well as countless military aggressions.
Venezuela likewise chose a democratic path of socialism over 20 years ago with the election of Hugo Chavez. Washington has never forgiven that divergence from its hegemony, and for the past two decades has imposed sanctions and hostility on the South American nation.
The “threat of a good example” is never tolerated in Washington’s presumed backyard. Any move towards democracy and independence must be expunged with absolute iron fist. Washington’s preening rhetoric about democracy and law is a travesty of its actual tyranny.
Nicolas Maduro was elected for the second time last May to serve as the country’s president (he took over from Chavez in 2013 after the latter’s death). Maduro has vowed to continue pursuing a socialist form of governance. The US has been agitating a coup in the oil-rich country for the past two decades with sanctions and funding of opposition groups.
Maduro’s re-election won 67 per cent of the vote – albeit with a large abstention figure. His government is the legitimate authority of Venezuela, verified by the country’s National Electoral Commission. Following Maduro’s inauguration earlier this month, the US has ramped up its efforts to delegitimize his mandate.
That move by Washington culminated this week with the blatant orchestration by the White House to declare the obscure opposition figure Juan Guaido as the “recognized president”.
In fell swoop, Washington is declaring the election of Maduro null and void, and urging Latin American countries and other allies to similarly recognize the opposition as the authorities.
Washington’s policy is liable to tear Venezuela apart. The “master of regime change” is at it again. Having caused so much mayhem just recently in Syria and the Middle East, Washington is presuming its role as arbiter of Venezuela’s fate.
Shamelessly, Washington’s vassals and satraps are rowing in behind its outrageous interference in Venezuela. Several rightwing governments in Latin America have predictably jumped at the sound of Uncle Sam’s whip to gang up against Venezuela. Britain, Canada and the European Union have either backed Washington’s usurpation of democracy in Venezuela or meekly gone along with it. The UN and EU have limply called for “calm” and “dialogue” when those organizations should be unequivocally condemning the US for infringing Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Venezuela will be no push over, however. The country’s defense forces are standing with Maduro’s government, and defense minister Vladimir Padrino has condemned “US aggression”. Venezuela’s Supreme Court has declared the opposition’s claim to the presidency as unconstitutional.
Abroad, Venezuela has the support of several neighboring countries, including Mexico, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Russia has emerged as an important international power calling for respect for Venezuela’s sovereignty and the legitimacy of President Maduro. Other foreign supporters include China, Iran and Turkey, who have also denounced the US-led offensive against Venezuela.
It is paramount that international law, sovereignty and the principle of non-interference be upheld. What Venezuela is demonstrating is which powers in the world are the rogue states.
The United States and its various minions, including European and NATO powers, have shown absolutely no regard for international law and sovereignty. We only have to look at the abject turmoil of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and many other countries, to quickly see that truth.
Latin America bears the horrific scars of US imperialism over centuries. We may refer to the coups, fascist regimes and death squads which Uncle Sam bequeathed. Today, the people of Venezuela are again suffering the “benevolence” of the psychopathic Uncle from el Norte.
Nevertheless, the events may show that the Uncle is now a decrepit old tyrant whose malign designs no longer match the multipolar reality of today’s world.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

What Is Trump’s Motivation Behind the Recognition of Guaido as Venezuelan President?




What Is Trump’s Motivation Behind the Recognition of Guaido as Venezuelan President?
TIM KIRBY | 25.01.2019 |

What Is Trump’s Motivation Behind the Recognition of Guaido as Venezuelan President?


Sadly we do not always get what we vote for. Donald Trump has decided to acknowledge the self-appointed leader of a particular foreign country in spite of it already having an elected leader, which sounds like the type of meddling that Trump said he was against. But, on the plus side at least this is better than the usual invasion + nation-building scenario we have seen in the past and that Trump promised to stop.
The country in question is Venezuela. Mr. Trump officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s new interim president instead of the elected Nicolas Maduro. The motivations behind such a move can be both overt and conscious but often it is what is in the subconscious that we ourselves do not even notice that is actually the key motivating factor in our decisions. There is a very emotional/ideological side to Venezuela that may be influencing “The Donald’s” decision.
After Israel/Palestine, Venezuela is one of the most emotionally divisive nations in the world for Westerners. People really strongly project their own values, beliefs and personal identity to certain political situations in certain nations.
When it comes to Israel, Western Liberals sympathize with the plight of the Palestinians who have been “colonized” by “white” people and are being systematically oppressed. For them this view of the situation confirms the victim culture that they hold so dear.
On the opposite side, Republicans identify with the Israelis as an oasis of Westerness in a desert of heathens. They see the Israelis like some sort of cowboys taming the Wild Mid-East.
This ability to identify with or project one’s identity onto the Israeli/Palestinian question is what makes people get into fiery internet arguments over an issue that they know nothing about having never been to Israel, speaking a local language and being only informed by the “objective” mainstream media.
Israel is a nation/narrative that speaks to many but for vastly different reasons.
Venezuela is not as “big” as Israel in terms of provoking online emotions from naive Westerners but it could be a close second. The quasi-Communist visuals, and “fight the man” attitude of the Chavez|Maduro era are repulsive to dog-eat-dog Republican types whereas the Starbucks swilling Liberal crowd in their Che Guevara T-shirts has tons of sympathy for the “poor victims of colonization” that are just trying to fight back against “oppression”.
For example, influential and respected conservative media giant Alex Jones calls Venezuela “Communist and Socialist” and more or less blames the country’s current struggles on their lack of Westernness. Venezuela does not act like “us” so they are clearly bad and poor because of it.
And, of course, on the other side “The Young Turks” pretty much blame American “Imperialism” for all the problems in Venezuela claiming that the failures of Venezuelan Socialism do not count because of American interference.
We can see the left/right, Liberal/Conservative dichotomy in action when Caracas is in question. But there is one thing the Mainstream Media and Youtubers seem to not understand.
Systemically, Venezuela is not very different from the majority of the countries in the world including the West.
Despite all this talk of Communism and wearing red berets the only thing that is uniquely Soviet about the nation’s constitution is a right to work and housing which were featured in the Stalin constitution of 1936. However, in the very same “Communist” Venezuelan document, when speaking about workers rights we see…
“Article 89.4: Any measure or act on the part of an employer in violation of this Constitution is null and void, and of no effect.”
Yes the word “employer” meaning employer in the Capitalist sense. In fact nowhere do we see anything about “seizing the means of production” or giving rights to “the working class” as we did with the Stalin constitution. Additionally if you even bother to open Google maps you will see there are Western capitalist businesses all over the nation including good ole McDonald’s. You can package a product anyway you want but it doesn’t change the core product and most of this “Socialism” that divides Western thought on Venezuela is merely window dressing. Attention Western pundits, journalists and bloggers!
Venezuela is NOT COMMUNIST.
That nation has a Liberal constitution founded on individual rights in the Western tradition. What it does have is some “workers’ liberation” propaganda and a few government projects smeared on top of this solid Liberal cake. The current Venezuelan constitution was written during the Chavez era itself and yet is still fundamentally Western. In fact all over the EU we see Liberal constitutions with Socialist window dressing. Venezuela is hardly unique in this position.
The key reason for this dissonance has to do with the fact that what is appealing to the Venezuelan people is not very appealing to Washington. Latin America has a lot of gripes with the US for brutality and regime changes during the Cold War. “Fighting the big evil oppressor” and having a country “for the people” are things that commoners can rally around. This marketing strategy worked fantastic for Chavez giving him the popularity of a demigod. However, this sort of red banner quasi-Marxist marketing does not suit President Trump. It is exactly the type of advertising to make the current US leader despise you.
Venezuela’s internal advertising could be forgiven if it were not such an “uppity” nation that actually tries to pursue an independent policy. This stands in direct contradiction to what some see as Trump’s “Fortress America” policy of trying to pull bring American influence and interests back to the Western Hemisphere while at the same time completely and unquestioningly dominating it.
So motivation behind the Trump recognition of Guaido really boils down to three points.
1. Trump finds the Chavez-Maduro “narrative/marketing” repulsive.
2. Venezuela is too uppity and too independent in its politics.
3. Leaders like Maduro are a direct barrier to building “Fortress America”.

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Sayyed Houthi: Aggression Powers Have Been Exhausted


Leader of Ansarallah revolutionary movement, Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, stressed that Yemeni army and Popular Committees’ capabilities have been upgraded on all levels, noting that the Saudi-led aggression powers have been exhausted after failures and huge losses inflicted upon their forces in the Arab impoverished country.
“Yemeni’s military capabilities are on track of continuous development and upgrade on all levels: land, sea and air,” Sayyed Houthi said in an address on Yemen’s Martyr Anniversary on Thursday.
“The enemy is exerting all efforts and suffers frustration since he failed to invade our country.”
“Our affiliation to Islam prompts us to continue our steadfastness until the aggression stops,” Sayyed Houthi said stressing that the enemy has been “exhausted as he was inflicted huge losses.”
Ansarullah leader also pointed to the reputation of the Saudi regime as the “worst one in the world”, stressing that this regime has been exposed over crimes committed in Yemen.
Despite the fact that the Saudi-led coalition escalated aggression against Yemen on military, economic and humanitarian levels, the enemy failed to break the will of the Yemeni people, Sayyed Houthi affirmed.
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New Evidence in Case of Palestinian Mother Stoned to Death by Right-Wing israelis

 
24 Jan  11:01 AM
Israeli authorities on Wednesday released new information about the death of Aisha al-Rabi, who was killed by a mob of right-wing Israelis in October 2018, stating that they had found DNA of the central suspect in the case on the rock that caused her death.
Of the five right-wing Israeli teens arrested for the crime last month, just one remains in custody – the other four were released without charges. This is despite the multiple eyewitnesses that saw a group of Israelis hurling rocks at al-Rabi and her husband.
Al-Rabi was a mother of eight children who was driving with her husband near their hometown of Bidya, near Salfit in the northern part of the West Bank. They were attacked by a mob of right-wing Israeli youth who threw numerous rocks at the couple, breaking the windshield and killing al-Rabi.
The new evidence, according to Israeli authorities, was uncovered through detailed laboratory analysis of the rock that struck al-Rabi in the head, killing her.
The Israeli settler charged with the killing is expected to be indicted on Thursday.
Israeli authorities arrested five Israeli settlers on December 30th. Initially the authorities did not disclose that the five had been arrested, due to a gag order forbidding the public disclosure of information or comment on a particular matter.
Shin Bet added that the five were students at the Pri Haaretz religious seminary in the Rechelim settlement, in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, were arrested “after intelligence efforts connecting them to the death of al-Rabi.”
“The four were released after it was decided that the investigation could continue while they were under house arrest and other limiting conditions,” the Shin Bet noted.
The Israeli settlers who carried out the attack are among the 600,000 Israeliswho live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
Palestinian towns and villages in the Nablus area are surrounded by Israeli settlements and outposts, many of which are protected by the Israeli military and have gained notoriety for being comprised of the most extremist settlers.
However, the Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and violent acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.

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15 حزيران يوم عربي للتضامن مع أميركا اللاتينية



يناير 25, 2019

ناصر قنديل

– منذ اللقاء التاريخي الذي جمع القائد العربي الراحل جمال عبد الناصر بالقائد الثوري أرنستو تشي غيفارا في الخامس عشر من حزيران من العام 1959، وهو اللقاء الذي تحل ذكراه الستون بعد خمسة شهور، والتلاقي بين نضال شعوب منطقتنا لمواجهة مشاريع الهيمنة الأميركية والعدوان الصهيوني ونضال شعوب أميركا اللاتينية في مواجهة الأنظمة العميلة لواشنطن ومشاريع العدوان والهيمنة الأميركية العنصرية للمستوطنين البيض على السكان الأصليين الحمر للقارة الأميركية، تعبير عن ترابط عميق نادر، وحاجة فكرية وسياسية لنضال شعوب المنطقتين البعيدتين في الجغرافيا، الحاسمتين في الأهمية الاستراتيجية، المتكاملتين في القدرة على هز عروش الإمبراطوريات.

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– مع حصار كوبا، رغم صمودها، ورحيل جمال عبد الناصر رغم استمرار خيار المقاومة، تراجعت حرارة الحضور للنضال المشترك لشعوبنا وشعوب أميركا اللاتينية، حتى جاء القائد الراحل هوغو شافيز، ووجد نظيره في الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد ليجدّدا معاً لقاء عبد الناصر وغيفارا. وكما في اللقاء الأول قبل ستين عاماً،

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كان اللقاء الثاني في القمة العربية اللاتينية التي عقدت في الدوحة قبل عشر سنوات تماماً وتبعتها زيارات متبادلة للرئيسين شافيز والأسد، تأكيداً على عمق التلاقي، والعمق له عنوان واحد في الماضي كما الحاضر كما في المستقبل، وهو فلسطين.

– تميّزت فنزويلا بقيادة شافيز ومن بعده مع القائد المقاوم نيكولاس مادورو بموقف حاسم من القضية الفلسطينية، ومن سورية والمقاومة من جهة، ومن «إسرائيل» من جهة مقابلة، وبالمقياس المصلحي الذي يتحدّث عنه كثير من اللبنانيين والعرب لتبرير التخاذل حتى الخيانة، خاطرت فنزويلا بمصالحها لأجل الوقوف مع قضية حق اسمها فلسطين، وشكلت مواقفها إدانة وتعرية لمواقف الحكومات العربية الذاهبة للتطبيع مع «إسرائيل» في زمن تغلق فنزويلا السفارة الإسرائيلية، وترفع علم فلسطين في ساحاتها ومناسباتها، ولمن يصدّق ولمَن لا يصدّق، ما دبر لفنزويلا ويدبر لها منذ سنوات، هو عقاب على مواقفها من أجل فلسطين.

– أضعف الإيمان أن نقف مع فنزويلا، لأننا نقف مع أنفسنا، ورسالتنا عبر فنزويلا للعالم أننا نقدِّر من يقف معنا، ولا نبيع ولا نشتري بالصمت أو بالتراضي أو بالتغاضي، وهذا اضعف الإيمان. فالرسالة الأميركية والإسرائيلية، واضحة ومضمونها أن مصير مَن يقف مع فلسطين هو الاقتلاع والحصار دون أي اعتبار للمعايير القانونية والدستورية، وهو مضمون الرسالة ذاتها التي حملتها الحرب على سورية. وكما كان الحكام العرب يدافعون عن خيانتهم بوقوفهم في خندق الحرب على سورية، يقفون اليوم في خندق الحرب على فنزويلا. وكما انتصرت سورية ستنتصر فنزويلا، فأميركا بعد الهزيمة في سورية هي غير أميركا قبلها، والعالم بعد النصر السوري هو غير العالم قبله، والانتقال الأميركي إلى فنزويلا هو علامة ضعف لا علامة قوة. فالشعب والجيش في فنزويلا سيقفان في المرصاد، لمحاولات الغزو والعدوان، وسيكون للرصاصة الأولى فعل سحري في كشف حقيقة ما يجري أمام المأخوذين بأكاذيب المعارضة التي لا تشبه أحداً إلا عينات سوق النخاسة للمعارضة السورية، ودواعش العنصرية البيضاء سيتكفّلون بفضح طبيعة البديل الذي تحمله هذه المعارضة. فجيوشهم الحقيقية هي الجماعات البيضاء الفاشية، وعصابات القتل والإجرام المموّلة من تجار السلاح والمخدرات.

– كما كان للسنوات التي مضت عنوان واحد هو سورية، سيكون للشهور المقبلة عنوان هو فنزويلا. وكما لم تبخل فنزويلا لا يحق لنا أن نتردّد، وليكن الاستعداد والإعداد من اليوم لإحياء يوم الخامس عشر من حزيران المقبل كيوم للتضامن العربي اللاتيني، تحييه كل القوى والنخب العربية المؤمنة بفلسطين، وبتكامل نضال الشعوب بوجه الهيمنة والعدوان، وبأن المقاومة الحقة والبطلة بوجه الكيان الاستيطاني الأول القائم على إبادة السكان الأصليين الذي تمثله اميركا، لا تنفصل عن المقاومة الحقة والبطلة بوجه الكيان الاستيطاني الثاني الذي يمثله احتلال فلسطين، ولتبدأ الفعاليات التضامنية من اليوم بلا انقطاع ليصل الصوت قوياً إلى كاراكاس، لستم وحدكم أيها الأحرار… ونحن قوم لا ننسى وقفات العز وأهلها.

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US-LED EFFORTS TO OVERTHROW MADURO SPURRED BY BUSINESS INTERESTS, NOT DEMOCRACY




in Gaza


“Maduro is not a dictator. He is the elected head of a government confronting a genuine national emergency engineered by hostile foreign powers. Measures taken by the government to defend its citizens against the determination of the United States to impose on Venezuela policies which cater to the interests of corporate America at Venezuelans’ expense are wholly legitimate; they represent the actions of a democracy against a US-led international tyranny.
It is important to remember that Maduro’s government, like Chavez’s, has sought to put the interests of ordinary Venezuelans ahead of those of US investors. As a result, it has provoked Washington’s enmity.”

US-Led Efforts to Overthrow Maduro Spurred by Business Interests, Not Democracy

January 24, 2019
By Stephen Gowans
The US-led and coordinated intervention to overthrow Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by recognizing Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly as the interim president, has nothing whatever to do with restoring democracy in Venezuela (which was never overturned) and everything to do with promoting US business interests.
Washington’s imperial arrogance in effectively appointing Guaidó as president, attempting to go over the heads of Venezuelans—who alone have the right to decide who their leaders are—is motivated by the same concerns that have motivated other US interventions around the world: toppling governments that put their citizens’ interests above those of US investors.
That Washington has a propensity to engage in destabilization operations against leftwing governments is hardly a secret. From 1898 to 2004, the US government undertook 41 successful regime change interventions in Latin America, an average of one every two-and-a-half years. And that excludes the unsuccessful ones, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion.
In almost every instance, US regime change interventions around the world have been motivated either directly or indirectly by commercial considerations, and were undertaken to restore or protect the primacy of US business interests in foreign lands. And in many cases, the interventions paved the way for the installation of rightwing dictatorships.
One ultimately unsuccessful US intervention was the 2002 coup d’état against Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor. Washington immediately recognized the coup, hailing it as a victory for democracy, but privately recognized it as a major win for US business interests in an oil-rich state teeming with potential profit-making opportunities for US free enterprise.
Washington disliked Chavez because the charismatic leftist leader promoted the welfare of ordinary Venezuelans, rather than pandering to US investors. But the coup against Chavez was short-lived. In a blow against tyranny, the regime change was quickly reversed and Chavez, the country’s legitimate leader, was restored to the presidency.
Determined to eliminate leftist governments in Latin America, Washington stepped up its campaign of economic warfare against the South American country, aiming to plunge its economy into ruin and the Venezuelan people into misery. This was a game plan Washington had followed countless times before and since, in China, Cuba, North Korea, Chile, Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, and Iran: ruin the target country’s economy, attribute the chaos to “the failures of socialism” and economic mismanagement, and wait for the people to rise in revolt against their misery.
The idea that Washington’s intervention in Venezuela has even the slightest connection to protecting democracy is laughable. The US government has notoriously supported a string of rightwing dictatorships throughout Latin America, including that of Augusto Pinochet, who was installed in the wake of a 1973 US-engineered coup against Salvador Allende. Allende crossed Washington by doing what Maduro, and a host of other Third World leaders, had done: put the interests of the local population ahead of those of corporate America.In the Middle East, the United States’s closest Arab allies are a military dictatorship (Egypt) and absolutist monarchies, chief among them Saudi Arabia, whose abhorrence of democracy is absolute. Washington rewards Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid annually, and robustly supports the Saudi tyranny.
Saudis regard their parasitical royal family as completely unacceptable. To protect itself from its own population, the monarchy maintains a 250,000 troop-strong National Guard. The Guard exists, not to defend Saudi Arabia from external aggression, but to protect the monarchy from its own subjects. The al-Saud family’s protectors are trained and equipped by the United States and its satellites, including Canada, which has a $10-billion contract to supply the force with armored personnel carriers, used to put down the frequent uprisings of disgruntled Saudi subjects.
The National Guard’s armorer, Canada, also recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president, dishonestly attributing its decision to follow the US-lead to its purported commitment to democracy. Ottawa has colluded with the dictators of Riyadh in their crackdown on long-suffering, democracy-deprived, Saudi citizens, at the same time supporting General Dynamics Canada’s efforts to rake in Pharaonic profits from arms sales to the democracy-hating Saudi despots.
Let’s be honest about a few things.
First, the agendas of US and Canadian political leaders are set by the economic elites and organized business interests on which they depend for campaign contributions, policy recommendations, and lucrative post political career job opportunities, and with which they’re tightly integrated personally and professionally. Accordingly, they care about the profits of US and Canadian investors, not about the welfare, freedoms or democracy of ordinary Venezuelans. Indeed, they secretly harbor contempt for the bulk of their own citizens and wouldn’t, for a moment, tolerate the flowering of an authentic, robust, democracy in their own countries. The idea that they care about the residents of a distant South American land is a fantasy for political innocents and the weakly naïve.
Second, US-led campaigns of economic warfare do make people’s lives miserable, and many people may attribute their misery to the actions of their own government and wish to see it step down. Others may recognize that sanctions are the cause of their misery, and may support regime change as a way of winning relief from foreign-imposed misery. Indeed, the logic of economic warfare depends on these assumptions being true.
Third, governments threatened by foreign-sponsored regime change face legitimate national emergencies. Maduro is not a dictator. He is the elected head of a government confronting a genuine national emergency engineered by hostile foreign powers. Measures taken by the government to defend its citizens against the determination of the United States to impose on Venezuela policies which cater to the interests of corporate America at Venezuelans’ expense are wholly legitimate; they represent the actions of a democracy against a US-led international tyranny.
It is important to remember that Maduro’s government, like Chavez’s, has sought to put the interests of ordinary Venezuelans ahead of those of US investors. As a result, it has provoked Washington’s enmity. The US intervention in Venezuela in recognizing Guaidó as interim president is emblematic of countless other US regime change interventions. Invariably, these interventions are targeted at leftwing governments that threaten the profit making interests of US businesses. The interventions have nothing whatever to do with democracy; on the contrary, where successful, they are almost always followed by rightwing regimes that build US investor-friendly business climates and integrate their countries economically, militarily, and diplomatically into the US-superintended and Wall Street-led global order. Foreign investors are indulged, and the local population is treated harshly. Far from spurring transitions to democracy, US regime change interventions aim to reverse democracy, and strengthen US global tyranny. The latest US-led intervention in Venezuela is no different, and is just a repeat, with local variations, on similar efforts in Syria, Iran, Cuba and North Korea.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
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«بلطجة» ترامب.. هل توقف التراجع الأميركي؟



يناير 25, 2019

د. وفيق إبراهيم

يوجِّه الرئيس الأميركي دونالد ترامب ضربات عسكرية واقتصادية وسياسية في كل الاتجاهات. فما أن يحل عليه الوهن في سورية حتى يظهر في اوروبا موجهاً لرؤسائها دروساً في الإخلاف وعلى طريقة الكاوبوي، مُحدثاً دوياً إعلامياً قليل الفاعلية على المستوى العملي..

لكنه لم ينسَ حديقته الخلفية أميركا الجنوبية مُستشعراً تحسناً في علاقات بعض دولها بروسيا والصين مسترجعاً صور التنافس التاريخي مع الاتحاد السوفياتي فينتابه اكتئاب مقرراً تعيين رئيس مجلسها النيابي صديق السياسة الأميركية، غوايدو رئيساً لفنزويلا وبديلاً عن رئيسها الحالي مادورو الذي يمارس سلطاته الرئاسية استناداً إلى انتخابات شعبية فاز بها مؤخراً. وهذا لم يعجب ترامب الذي يهدد بغزو عسكري لفنزويلا إذا لم يرحل طوعاً رئيسها الحالي، ويختفي إلى الأبد للإشارة فإن واشنطن تحاصر فنزويلا اقتصادياً وتمنع عنها كل أنواع المساعدات، فيما تحرض المخابرات الأميركية المعارضة الفنزويلية لإسقاط بادورو وتزوّدها بالسلاح والمال والمعلومات.

هذه عيّنة عشوائية من سياسات ترامب «العالمية» ويبدو أولها سببان: احساس الرجل أن إمبراطورية بلاده في حالة متفاقمة من التراجع في الدور السياسي وبالتالي الاقتصادي، أما السبب الثاني فرغبته في التحول قائداً تاريخياً ينقذ الامبراطورية فينتخبه الأميركيون لولاية ثانية. وقد يستطيع بهذه الطريقة أن يقود الحزب الجمهوري أو بعض الاتجاهات اليمنية المحافظة الجامعة بين مسيحية متطرفة وعبرية قديمة كما يردد في مجالسه الضيقة، وكذلك كقيادة تاريخية متواصلة.

للتذكير هذا، فترامب هو الرئيس الأميركي الوحيد الذي يتدخل في أكثر من ثلاثين دولة في أول سنتين من ولايته وبشكل صدامي مركزاً على بلدان الشرق الأوسط واوروبا والصين وروسيا وجنوب شرق آسيا واليابان، وكندا ومجمل أميركا الجنوبية، إلا أن استراليا بمفردها نجت حتى الآن من تحرشاته.

آخر إبداعات ترامب، قانون «قيصر» لمعاقبة سورية بشكل صارم بذريعة أن عسكرياً سورياً متمرداً نقل الآن الصور إلى المخابرات الأميركية التي تسجل تعذيب السجناء السوريين وقتلهم من قبل عسكريي النظام في سجونه.

للتنبيه فإن ترامب لم يفعل هذا الأمر حتى مع منظمة داعش التي أبادت علناً وبنقل مباشر من المحطات الأميركية والغربية عشرات آلاف الأسرى واغتصاب مئات آلاف الأسيرات.

لا بدّ أن ترامب نسي مدى تقدم التصوير التلفزيوني والسينمائي المفبرك في قطر وتركيا وبلاده، ومداها الأوروبي.. أما إعلانه تحويل العراق قاعدة لتحرك قواته في منطقة سورية وجزيرة العرب وحصار إيران، فبدا مدهشاً، ومثيراً لحيرة العراقيين أنفسهم الذين لم يخبرهم بهذا التطور، قبل مغادرته بلادهم خلسة، أي تماماً كما دخل إليها.

كما يحاول تحشيد الشرق الأوسط في قمة وارسو الشهل المقبل «لتدمير إيران» داعماً السيسي في مصر لتمرير صفقة القرن وإنهاء القضية الفلسطينية على أساس حلف عربي ـ إسرائيلي.

ولا يتأخر عن تزويد بعض القوى السياسية لضرب حزب الله والحشد الشعبي العراقي وأنصار الله اليمني فاتحاً مفاوضات مع طالبان في افغانستان وهي «ابنة القاعدة بيولوجياً»، وللتضييق على جارتها، روسيا. زارعاً أسلحة صاروخية وغير تقليدية في مجمل أوروبا الشرقية والبلقان باستثناء بلدين صديقين لروسيا هما أرمينيا وصربيا.

لكن هذه الاهتمامات لم تجعله ينسى منافسيه، روسيا التي يفرض عليها عقوبات والصين التي يعاقبها ويفاوضها. كذلك كوريا الشمالية التي يحاول إرضاء بكين بالتفاوض معها، بأسلوب عقد المهرجانات لا المباحثات اما عدوته إيران فلا يدخر وسعاً لإسقاط جمهوريتها بالحصار والتحشيد والتهديد بحرب، وتحريض الإيرانيين على إسقاط ما يسمّيه الغرب «جمهورية الملالي».

ولإظهار مشروعه بالسيطرة على الاقتصاد العالمي، رفع العصا بوجه ادواته في الخليج، منتزعاً آلاف مليارات الدولارات منها، وعارضاً عليها الاستيراد الحصري من بلاده، مع بعض الاستثناءات الاوروبية والتنسيق الإلزامي مع روسيا في أسواق الطاقة.

تركيا بدورها هي العضو في الحلف الأطلسي والأداة الاميركية منذ خمسينيات القرن الفائت يعاقبها اقتصادياً ويهددها سياسياً.

فهل نجا أحد من سياسات ترامب الضاربة في كل مكان؟

هناك دولة واحدة لم يقترب منها الرئيس الاميركي إلا من اتجاه تأكيد تميزها عن الآخرين وعمق صداقة الأميركيين لها وهي «إسرائيل».

والدليل أن ترامب هو الرئيس الأميركي الوحيد الذي نقل عاصمة بلاده الى القدس معترفاً بها عاصمة لـ»إسرائيل» لاغياً الاونروا واللاجئين الفلسطينيين في العالم ودافعاً باتجاه صفقة قرن لإنهاء قضية فلسطين والتأسيس لحلف عربي ـ اسرائيلي يستهدف إيران وروسيا والصين.

بالنتيجة أدت هذه السياسات الى استنفار اوروبي يحاول التميز عن الحلف الاطلسي بدليل ان المستشارة الألمانية ميركل نسفت كل مساعي ترامب لمنع تراجع امبراطورية بلاده، ودعت بعد اجتماعها بالرئيس الفرنسي ماكرون الى «عالم متعدّد القطب»، والحفاظ على مكتسبات التجارة المفتوحة وإصلاح المنظمات الدولية، وتأسيس جيش إوروبي مستقل.

هذا الكلام للمستشارة هو الاجابة الشافية لفشل دور ترامب العالمي، فاعترافها بالتعددية القطبية، إقرار بتراجع الإمبراطورية الاميركية، أما مبدأ التجارة المفتوحة أيضاً رفض لمفهوم الحمائية الذي يتبناه ترامب واعياً فيه الى إقفال الحدود الاقتصادية.

لجهة تأسيس جيش اوروبي فهو انقلاب كبير على الحلف الأطلسي الذي يشكل اداة الهيمنة الاميركية على العالم.

وبذلك تكون تصريحات ميركل هي الرد البليغ على استمرار تراجع الأحادية الاميركية مهما بالغ الرئيس الاميركي في الاعتداء على دول العالم. فالمسألة اقتصاد وسياسة وتحالفات ـصبحت تعبر عن نفسها بالصعود الصيني الاقتصادي والتقدم الروسي العسكري واتساع الدور الإقليمي لإيران الى جانب إصرار أوروبي على احتلال موقع في نظام تعددية القطب، أي تماماً كما قال وزير الخارجية الروسية لافروف منذ أعوام عدة عن نظام قوة عالمي يضم نظاماً رباعياً يجمع بين الولايات المتحدة وروسيا والصين وأوروبا.

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!