From Karachi to Caracas 914

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I am finding Karachi an interesting place from which to view the world. Four US Presidents have visited Pakistan – Eisenhower, Nixon, Clinton and Bush Jr. Each of them visited a military dictator, in the friendliest of terms. No American President has ever visited a civilian government of Pakistan. The Americans have always been far too busy plotting the next coup.

More recent neo-con practice has of course been to eschew open espousal of military dictatorship and to present CIA-organised coups as democratic revolutions. I was of course aware of their hand behind Juan Guaido in Venezuela, but I had not fully taken on board the extent to which Guaido is purely their creature. If you have not seen this superb article on Guaido’s history in Consortium News, please do read it. Guaido has been US-funded since 2005 specifically to undermine the socialist government of Venezuela. Notably the US sponsorship of this far right puppet started at a time when Chavez’ democratic and human rights credentials were impeccable, which rather undermines the current excuse for Guaido’s elevation.

In Caracas we are seeing an attempt at a colour revolution – quite literally. Here, from a US government propaganda website (not Bellingcat, another one), we have a photograph of the overwhelmingly white opposition group in the Venezuelan National Assembly.

And here, we have from the BBC a shot of Maduro’s new pro-Government citizens’ assembly – overwhelmingly of different ethnicity.

I should be plain, that I did not accept Maduro’s ruse to set up the Constituent Assembly. But neither do I accept the CIA’s ruse to overthrow the elected President. These photographs are helpful because they crystallise the fundamental issue – what is at stake is the West’s attempt to reimpose economic apartheid on the people of Venezuela.

Here in Pakistan, I am anxious to avoid the journalists’ disease of claiming expertise on a country after a few days. But it has been very instructive, and I am impressed by the start Imran Khan has made to addressing the complex and intractable problems that have hamstrung this state of 200 million talented people. Every Pakistani government has claimed to be making efforts to tackle corruption, and the colossal misapplication of state funds, and pretty well every government has been lying about that. But Imran Khan does seem to be fighting the hydra, and with an extraordinary level of application – I heard yesterday direct and separately from a Federal Minister and a Provincial Governor examples of how remarkably closely Khan is following their work.

Internationally, the move to open dialogue with the Taliban appears, coupled with Trump’s determination to pull out, to point the way to some hope of a settlement in Kabul which must inevitably include an element of power-sharing. The conundrum of accessing funds from Saudi Arabia and China without becoming a client is very well understood. Those funds help ward off over-dependence on the World Bank and IMF, whose vultures are already hovering around the usual demands for privatisations and vast hikes in utility prices to poor people. At the same time, a relationship with those institutions is unavoidable. It is an unenviable path to tread.

Attempts to reform Pakistan always encounter massively wealthy entrenched interests. If you are trying desperately hard to do good for your country, against opposition that is often viciously self-interested, it can be hard to remember that freedom of speech must also extend to the ill-intentioned and malign. Equally, while the government may feel this is hardly the time for fissiparous forces to be given play, those with secessionist views should be allowed to express them. Where there is terrorism and political violence, it can be easy for the line to be blurred between when force is and is not legitimate, and between violent extremists and peaceful dissenters advocating similar end goals. It is particularly not easy to tackle these questions where intelligence and military have enjoyed and abused excessive long term autonomy. Getting a grip on fundamental human rights is not easy, but it has to be done.

So the government faces massive challenges in making progress in areas where Pakistan has rightly been criticised in the past, but I feel much more confident they will make progress than I did before I came. I should also say that the overwhelming kindness and hospitality I have received from people at all levels has been very touching. It is a fascinating country to visit and in the next few days I shall be seeing a large number of historical sites, following in the footsteps of Alexander Burnes.

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914 thoughts on “From Karachi to Caracas”

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  • Sharp Ears

    Maria Zakharova from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

    US May Still Invade Venezuela if Coup Fails: Russian Foreign Ministry
    “We call upon all of our partners to seriously consider what real role Washington is giving them in the preparation and carrying out of the force-based scenario in the region.

    This is like what was done in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and many other places on our planet earlier. How severe will be the humanitarian and migratory crises in case those plans are implemented?”

    Posted February 02, 2019

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51026.htm

    • John Goss

      In the above clip Tony Gosling asks some pertinent questions about MI6 involvement in Skripal & Litvinenko recruitment. Please share. Thanks.

  • Sharp Ears

    I think Maduro used the wrong tense here. ‘will be’ should be ‘has been’. The White House has been bloodstained over decades.

    Venezuela: Maduro warns White House will be ‘stained with blood’ if Trump invades
    Embattled president signals he has no plans to go and asks if the US would like ‘a repeat of Vietnam’
    Tom Phillips in Caracas

    Mon 4 Feb 2019 01.37
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/04/venezuela-maduro-warns-white-house-will-be-stained-with-blood-if-trump-invades

    • BrianFujisan

      Interesting you show Maria’s posts..is that Fbook or other.. Are you on Fbook Sharp Ears… I have a good reason for asking. ta

  • Bibbit

    was visiting my cousin in Rawalpindi in 1990. She was raising funds for blindwomen there with the VSO and lived there for 2 years, learning to speak Urdu quite fluently by the time of my 5 week visit. We travelled the Hindu Kush most of this 5 weeks, 2 white Scots women aged 27 & 29 alone & flew back to Rawalpindi via Peshawar. I remember that flight well as my cousin & I were the only females aboard the packed small plane and we were the only people aboard not carrying at least one rifle or gun. Probably the safest flight ever from attempted hijackers, at least.

    I have so many wonderful memories of that by gone Pakistan. We met the Kaffir Kalash peoples in their Shangrala valleys before their way of life was dispersed (they worshipped a female god,trees & goat deities, were matriarchal (only women could own land & claimed descent from Alexander The Great’s army, which was backed up by incredibly Greek dancing, witnessed at a night funeral in a high valley, with bonfires and gold coins on the eyes of the dead man).

    But one of the most unusual characters I recall was when we arrived in Gilgit, near the Afghan border. We arrived via a jeep which the driver asked me to drive at one point, as the tribesmen sharing this overcrowded vehicle simply would not believe a woman could drive. They all lost their bets and could not have looked more astounded, at my driving their old Chinese army jeep, if a cat had stood on its back paws and spoke English.

    Anyway a day after arriving in Gilgit we were invited to the compound of the ‘Ingresi Sahib’ who apparently lived there. He was an elderly Englishman ex army and he had got wind of our unconventional arrival, and asked us round for afternoon tea. He was a ‘big deal’ by the way the locals spoke about him, without wishing to sound like a ‘Heart of Darkness’ episode. Turned out he was homesick and very few tourists made it to Gilgit. I remember informing him about Hillsborough as he was a Liverpool supporter and also the earthquakes in San Francisco. He didn’t want to talk much about how he ended up spending his last days in Gilgit other than to say that he had been a friend of Gen Zia and hinted that the home was in thanks for his part in having Gen Zia released after he had been kidnapped. As a Scot who even then wanted Scots Indy, the man’s Eton Oxbridge accent of lazy entitlement jarred my ears. Memorable though & even after all these years, his face creates a frisson of deep unease in this writer.

    Enjoy Pakistan. The people are truly humbling.

    • Loony

      A very moving story – although readers understanding may have been improved if you had mentioned the English translation of Hindu Kush. Not to worry I can help – it means “Hindu Killer”

      Presumably it gained its name sometime after AD 1000 and before the British Raj. Probably named in commemoration of one or many of the massacres perpetrated against Hindus.

      Sorry to intrude as obviously none of this will be of any interest as it all happened long before the British or the Americans can be plausibly held accountable.

    • able

      “We met the Kaffir Kalash peoples in their Shangrala valleys before their way of life was dispersed”

      I think by “dispersed” you mean forcibly converted, raped and killed.

      • Laguerre

        Actually a Western story. Sounds much like Christian forced conversions. Spain: all Spanish Muslims out, unless you convert. Mainly native Spaniards.

  • Peter

    “More recent neo-con practice has of course been to eschew open espousal of military dictatorship and to present CIA-organised coups as democratic revolutions. I was of course aware of their hand behind Juan Guaido in Venezuela, but I had not fully taken on board the extent to which Guaido is purely their creature. If you have not seen this superb article on Guaido’s history in Consortium News, please do read it.”

    Once again, many thanks for this piece Craig.

    It’s worth comparing the above quoted article with Ed Stourton’s flowery, admiring, blemish-free tribute to Guaido on BBC R4’s Profile programme:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00029gh

    When Stourton appears as a news presenter on the BBC you can usually be sure that some item or other (usually international) requires particularly “delicate” handling.

    So this is what we get from the B******t Broadcasting Corporation for our annual £3.5bn.

    Serious reform long overdue I would say.

    • Garth Carthy

      What sticks in my craw is that the BBC is technically breaking the law on a daily basis. They have signed a charter to bind them to provide news and other information on a neutral basis.
      OFCOM criticises the RT for Russian bias against the West and yet abysmally fails to address the BBC’s manifestly biased output – against anything Russian or anything that is considered anti-British Establishment.

    • David

      On BBC & Stourton, I was listening recently to the renewed “Chris Evans Breakfast Show ”, as he’s recently jumped ship from the powerful British state broadcaster to Virigin Radio. [ It’s on digital DAB+ or via a smartphone Application] nice tunes early in the morning.

      Well, the pleasant ginger millionaire witters on a bit in-between tracks, he reveals occasionally interesting items:- last week, during the debate about warmed WC seats, Chris mentioned that sending a reporter to try one would have taken endless meetings at the micro-managed BBC, serious compliance studies, which Chris considered a massive waste of time as most simple projects are then denied. This implies that ANYTHING appearing on our powerful British state broadcaster has been thoroughly debated, studied, compliance tested, passed up and down the management/spook chain, until it is approved, even if the item ‘appears’ to be spontaneous. Evans said that he really enjoys being out of that ultra heavy management style. Everything on R4 Toady is of course completely scripted since the Gilligan chat during the Blair era, which revealed the dodgy dossier, led to fabulous wealth for some, promotions for many and death for more. Well done BBC, trebles all round?

      On todays non-BBC breakfast show on the Virgin app, Chris Evans revealed a domestic item that “he only discovered this weekend that his wife ‘Tash puts their oldest boy to sleep showing him old movies and documentaries about the Soviet Union , and has been doing so for many years!” Evans was surprised, but says he’s happy as that is “their thing together”, interestingly, his professional golf player now housewife Natasha Shishmanian was actually born in UK to a British mum, that’s third-generational ‘soviet’ memories and initiative there, with real integrity.

  • Republicofscotland

    So there’s plans to evacuate the numero uno state sponger and her parasitic brood if a no deal Brexit leads to chaos in London.

    The nonagenerian billionaire and her gold piano will be whisked away to a place of safety, but not to Europe. In the event that a no deal scenario see’s London burn, the longest and greatest receiver of state benefits will be unaffected by the panic and chaos if it occurs.

    Gawd Bless Ya Mam, doff cap.

    https://www.politico.eu/article/queen-evacuation-bad-brexit/

    • N_

      And politicians together with journalists such as Andrew Neil are remarking that the queen stayed in London during the second world war when she was a girl. Yeah – and as the whole bourgeoisie knows, the family had its plane ready to whisk them off to Canada at short notice.

      After the war – maybe in the 1960s – the trees that line the Mall were moved back so that a light aircraft could use it as an airstrip. That plan is more reminiscent of Batista in Cuba, whose ministers flew out in 1959 in a plane packed with gold bars and art treasures, than it is of Ceausescu in Romania who in 1989 used a helicopter.

      Mustn’t forget those art treasures.

      Most of them were taken back at gunpoint (and without payment) from those who had bought them at auction (and often from their descendants) during the years when the monarchy had been expunged in these islands.

      C’mon Dennis Skinner, how about you mention the monarch’s art treasures in relation to the recent evacuation plan story?

      Sometimes I wonder how many on the left really want to kick the Tories where it hurts…

      • John A

        I remember reading a memoire by a retired journalist who was a child during the war. One day his parents took him to see the queen (then just a princess) and her sister Margaret doing one of their so-called duties and meeting and greeting plebs. The media had made a big thing about the royal family religiously sticking to the same wartime food rations as everyone one. According to the eye witness writer, while everyone in the crowd looked pale and underfed on such rations, Liz and Margaret had very pink and rosy cheeked complexions and very well-fed figures.

        • Mighty Drunken

          Well they do have a lot of land…When WWIII comes along, Corbyn will look well fed from his allotment harvest of turnips and runner beans 🙂

        • Tom Welsh

          “According to the eye witness writer, while everyone in the crowd looked pale and underfed on such rations, Liz and Margaret had very pink and rosy cheeked complexions and very well-fed figures”.

          What a well-sourced and convincing remark.

          Have you considered that they spent a lot of time out in the fresh air, whereas most of the other people would have been working indoors?

          “Wartime rationing helped the British get healthier than they had ever been”
          https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/9728.php

        • Tom Welsh

          “…everyone in the crowd looked pale and underfed on such rations…”

          “We often think of rationing as a ‘starvation diet’ but the daily calorific value was around 3000 calories. This is up to 1000 more than we are recommended today – so was it still good for us?”

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqftn39

      • Tom Welsh

        “…the years when the monarchy had been expunged in these islands”.

        I take it you refer to the dictatorship of that bloodthirsty religious fundamentalist Oliver Cromwell. If you had a chance to live under his rule, you would not like it – even if you were not Irish.

    • Sharp Ears

      Do you think a SAS snatch squad will helicopter her and her brood off? They rehearsed it at the 2012 Limpics opening ceremony. 🙂

    • Michael McNulty

      Maybe the British royal family has only a few generations before its dissolution, with the grandkids of today’s tots like Prince George having to make their own living as doctors, lawyers etc. I think if an asteroid was to strike Earth the royal family would not be the highest elites to go underground; that would be the new kings, the billionaires like Gates and Soros. I can imagine as Q E II tries to get in Murdoch tells her, “Beat it, Sheila! You’re too old to breed and look what you did knock out. Now skip!”

      The British monarchy will outlive us all but I doubt they’ll last far into the future.

    • Laguerre

      A student piece of work, possibly undergraduate, and certainly American, but not bad. Evidently petrostates have a problem, all the world knows it, but some are thought to be “good”, the Gulf, and others “bad”, Venezuela. I’m sorry, but I don’t see why what happens in the Gulf is to be considered better than the stories of corruption in Venezuela, At least in Venezuela they have elections, which they don’t in the Gulf.

      • Mary Pau!

        I certainly don’t think human rights and lack of elections are positive feature of the Gulf states. And due to oil wealth and corruption, the ruling classes there are obscenely rich. But unlike Venezuelan they have at least managed to distribute some of the oil wealth to their citizens in tems of food, housing, education, hospitals etc and to have developed the basic infrastructure of a modern state. Venezuela’s oil wealth seems to have Ben squandered by successive governments. As Craig records of Pakistan it can be very difficult to make headway against wealth corruption and vested interests.

  • N_

    It looks like the “scum” faction of the parliamentary Labour party, whose pockets are bulging with contributions from a globally organised fascist interest group and who worship nuclear weapons, are getting ready for a big one, preparing to excel themselves.

    My prediction: the government will take Britain out of the EU on 29 March – whether by “Deal” or “No Deal” doesn’t much matter, any more than people remember what happened in Noel Edmonds’s game shows – and THEN there will be a general election, with Labour having been frenzy-stabbed by the aforementioned scum. The Tories will hold together and Labour will be dealt with, either split into two or more parties or made to haemorrhage votes (to nUKIP, UKIP, the LibDems, the SNP, or the Tories themselves), or both – whatever works. “Delete Labour”. Reportedly the scum have given Jeremy Corbyn “seven days”. How kind of them. Seven days in February.

    The fascist deployment of the “anti-Semitism” lie against Labour is closely bound up with the subliminal message that “Labour are soft on the ‘P****’, ‘w***’, and Muslims”.

    • RichardN

      Brexit has shown how screwed up this country is. Yes, the odds are on the Tory’s winning the next election, but I believe Brexit has expedited the emergence of a new kind of politics that will be based on the national interest and common sense.

      Or is my optimism in the youth of today misplaced?

    • Dave

      Rightly or wrongly Labour are perceived as soft on what you mention which is why they need to support Brexit to balance the message to have any chance and as long as they are perceived as less anti-European than the Conservatives they’ll pick up many remaining Remain votes.

      • Johny Conspiranoid

        How do we know how Labour, or anything else is percieved out there? Can we rely on the media, or opinion polls to tell us?

    • Laguerre

      I doubt there will be an election after Brexit Day. It would be the same folly as 2017. Corbyn has lost way now over his attitude to Brexit. If May succeeds in getting Brexit over the line, the game will be quite different. Corbyn’s call might appeal, in those circumstances.

  • Craig Kinney

    Do you take PayPal as a form of subscription?
    I only tend to use that nowadays to help prevent fraud. (Not from you)

    [ Mod: The button marked ‘Subscribe’ above links to the PayPal service. See the ‘Support this website‘ page. ]

  • michael norton

    This is bad
    Saudi female activists face jail conditions akin to torture, say UK MPs
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/04/saudi-arabia-holding-women-in-torture-conditions-say-uk-mps
    “The panel’s report concludes that the detainees – female activists arrested last spring – had been subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment, including sleep deprivation, assault, threats to life and solitary confinement.”
    I understand Saudi Arabia are big givers of aid to Pakistan?

    • bj

      I am shocked.
      Saudi Arabia is a symbol of humanitarian action in the world and a shining example in providing assistance to needy countries and supporting the affected peoples throughout its glorious history.

    • Deb O'Nair

      Look at the recent case of womens rights activist Israa al-Ghomgham, who was going to face the death penalty *when* convicted. It is now widely reported in the Western media that she will no longer face the death penalty as if that makes her prosecution more acceptable. The fact is that she will end up facing a lengthy harsh and brutal sentence. Where are all the anti-Maduro/Pro Human Rights voices when it comes to Saudi Arabia?

    • Paul Barbara

      @ michael norton February 4, 2019 at 12:21
      ‘…On their arrest, the women were labelled as traitors in the official Saudi press, and there have been persistent reports of maltreatment. They have been accused of suspicious contact with foreign entities….’
      Hmm. what a furore their would be in Western ‘circles’ if Maduro arrested Guaido under those pretences?
      But Maduro would be completely within the law, as Guaido is a traitor, conspiring with foreign enemies.

    • Laguerre

      “Saudi female activists face jail conditions akin to torture, say UK MPs”

      Saudi is complicated. MbS wants westernisation, to please the West. His relatives among the Saudi princes say no. Sounds like MbS doesn’t always get what he wants.

  • N_

    The BBC are saying the Tories should tell the DUP to eff off. Hilariously, they’re pinning that line on the words of an Irish economics professor who seems to fancy himself as a bit of a politics boy as well, seeing as how he is calling for a referendum in Northern Ireland after 5 years on whether or not to stay in a “special backstop for NI but not for GB”. Which basically spells “reunite Ireland”. In GB it spells “stop allowing the DUP to hold Britain to ransom”.

    Since the Tories seem to be buying themselves some Labour MPs to support them in Brexit matters, they may indeed tell the DUP to eff off. Even 20 votes from Labour would more than counteract the DUP in a Brexit vote.

    Brexit is only Brexit. That doesn’t mean those Labour MPs would vote for the government in a confidence vote. They wouldn’t. The DUP would be able to bring down the government like it was the 12th July to end all 12ths of July. (And then they wouldn’t have that threat any more.) But so long as a general election could be postponed until after Brexit on 29 March the Tories wouldn’t give a toss. They might or might not instal a new leader by then, even. Why not? Once an election is called there’s no bother with Commons confidence motions.

    Basically the Tory strategists might say b***ocks to the lot of it – all this talk of a People’s Vote and an Article 50 extension – just get Britain out of the EU on whatever terms are available, and as fast as possible, and then there will be a general election that they will probably win with a large majority.

    Who said the “transition period” wouldn’t come with trade negotiations? Of course it will. How long was a minority government going to last anyway, propped up by a small group of pocket-stuffing Orange nutcases whose desire to have their cake and eat it approaches the level of a mental illness?

    • Ken Kenn

      Couldn’t disagree with your view by much.

      The Gove halfway out and further out later has a logic to it.

      The problem is if there is an election eventually and Labour and the SNP were a coalition government
      the call might go up to rejoin the EU.

      The EU would welcome that wholeheartedly but the price would be to join the Euro.

      Remainers ans Leavers would not like that I think.

      p.s.I’m being careful what I write because Jeremy Hunt recognises the unelected new President of Venezuela – Guaido and I’m sure Maduro will change his mind in hours just on the basis of Hunt’s intervention.

      He did recognise him when he was shown a picture by the Yanks of him with Guaido’s name written underneath.

      Never fear with leaders like Hunt and Gavin ( Black Grate ) Williamson protecting us Britain never needs to tremble.

      Can that UK aircraft carrier reach Venezuela and sit there menacingly with no aircraft with a sign on it saying:

      ‘ Leave now Maduro – this is a big but not very well armed ship – you’ve been warned! ‘

      We need to buy some planes.

      From Amazon perhaps?

      • Dave

        The EU are happy for UK to leave, the problems are because May the Manchurian candidate wants to Remain.

        • Ken Kenn

          Your not far from the truth re: May but the EU would rather that the UK stay in Europe even with their non euro currency.

          What they would be happier about would be if ‘ Project Fear ‘ was really so bad that the British government needed ( not wanted ) to rejoin the EU.

          It may take years to do it but they will wait.

          The thing for poker players like May is playing a bad hand cleverly.

          She has a terrible hand and doesn’t know how to play poker anyway.

          Got to be honest here but I can’t play poker.

          Then again unlike many politicians or the media I don’t pretend I can.

        • Dave

          According to Steve Baker before the European Committee, the EU offered a Leave Deal, but May rejected it in favour of her Leave means Remain deal.

        • Tom

          Why doesn’t she say so, then? May could have killed off Brexit long ago merely by telling the country the truth about the economic consequences.
          All the signs are in fact that May is a closet-ERG supporter. Her pretence at voting Remain was just a botched attempt to get Remain voters on board with Brexit, without actually making any compromises herself.

          • Rod

            Mrs May, according to widely expressed views, has first and foremost her own interests at heart with the Conservative party coming a very close second. I believe Mrs May tepidly supported the Remain faction in the run-up to the referendum because, like her boss, she didn’t believe the Leave campaign had a snowball’s chance of succeeding and erred on the side of caution. She also didn’t want to be shown as disloyal to Cameron thereby paying attention to her then current position – a truly political operator.

      • Blunderbuss

        “Can that UK aircraft carrier reach Venezuela and sit there menacingly with no aircraft with a sign on it saying: ‘Leave now Maduro – this is a big but not very well armed ship – you’ve been warned!‘”

        The Strategic Defence and Security Review “directed that the second aircraft carrier, Prince of Wales, should be built but upon completion be either mothballed or sold.”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_aircraft_carrier#Prince_of_Wales

        Perhaps the British government is thinking of giving it to Guaido in exchange for lots of oil.

  • Sharp Ears

    Hermes – courier

    ‘In February 2019 it was announced that the company had struck a ‘ground-breaking’ pay deal for couriers by offering them paid holiday and guaranteed wage rates under a new “self-employed plus” status.’
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47110934

    Wow! How wonderful of them. How munificent.

    I am sure that Carole Walker the CEO of the Hermes Europe and Martijn de Lange, the UK CEO, have assured themselves of adequate holiday pay and a guaranteed pay rate.

    Mr Otto’s group owns Hermes and multiple other setups. Yet he is only #215 on Forbes Rich List.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_GmbH

    https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-otto/?list=rtb#42cc8995537a

    But I bet that, like me, the Hermes workers have never heard of Otto, Walker or de Lange.
    ______________________
    Was für ein Haufen Monster

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Sharp Ears February 4, 2019 at 14:56
      To be fair, that sounds on the face of it a pretty good deal. I worked most of my working life self-employed, with narry a penny holiday pay.

  • Republicofscotland

    Is Italy taking a moralistic stance against the illegal coup underway in Venezuela? Or are the Italian politicians seeking some sort of leverage in Brussels.

    “BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Italy on Monday blocked a joint European Union position to recognize Venezuela’s National Assembly head Juan Guaido as interim president, diplomatic sources said.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-europe-eu/italy-blocks-eu-statement-on-recognizing-venezuelas-guaido-sources-idUSKCN1PT1G2

    • Jack

      The question is why Nicolas Maduro still havent kicked these aggressors out of his country (i.e. ambassadors)?

      Venezuela strongly rejects EU backing for Guaido, promises to ‘revise relations’ with bloc
      https://on.rt.com/9npk

      What does he wait for? Get these thugs out!

      • Republicofscotland

        That’s exactly what the US is hoping Maduro will do. Any violence by Maduro will be twisted into civilian butchery by the US as it did in Syria.

        It would effectively give the US a green light to deploy troops on the streets of Venezuela, under the guise of protecting them from a blood thirsty Maduro.

        No if Maduro is to see this one out he’ll need to keep a calm head.

        • Jack

          Republicofscotland

          Why should he keep aggressors in his country, they have declared war on Venezuela and of course working at this moment on the overthrow. Of course they must be kicked out.
          Its not like Maduro is going to be accepted tommorow by US and EU, so why should he pay any respect how his legitimate actions might be “twisted”. Its already “twisted” and EU and US is not going to stop until someone actually respond in kind to their aggression.

          • Republicofscotland

            Its a tricky position for Maduro, he needs to keep the military onside, and as many civilians as possible. Setting the army against civilians who want him out, well, that might have its own repercussions. The military might revolt if it were used against its own people, like I said its a tricky situation for Maduro.

            The 2002 coup failed, exactly because of popular support and the keeping of the military onside. Can Maduro emulate Chavez? We’ll just have to wait and see.

            Its claimed that weasel faced Elliot Abrams headed up the 2002 failed coup, and that this is his second attempt, backed by the mad dogs of Bolton and Pompeo.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d'état_attempt

          • N_

            It’s possible Guaido and the CIA have overplayed their hand. They may be weaker than the right wing putschists were in 2002. In that year, after the CIA-backed side declared their guy was president of the country (as well as being president of the chambers of commerce) they gave their snipers some action in Caracas, they threatened to bomb the palace Chile-style, and they actually did arrest Chavez, all before three days had passed. Then the next day the poor rose and defeated the coup in a totally unprecedented mass action which showed them who “the people” really are and the answer is not a bunch of well-coiffed “protestors” who appear in propaganda photos on right-wing and pro-US websites.

            That said, although dual power has lasted in Venezuela for an unprecedentedly long time, in its current stakes-raised form it surely can’t last longer than a few more weeks at most. We’ll find out how skilled the putschists are at turning on their heels and retreating.

      • Loony

        How surprising to learn that a French bank is headquartered in France – who could have guessed.

        Maybe the European Banking Authority are attracted by the ongoing protests and riots – maybe these protests and riots will be used as an extreme form of corporate entertainment. Or maybe staff of the European Banking Authority like driving fast and attracted by the fact that 60% of French speed cameras have been rendered inoperable by vandalism.

    • Deb O'Nair

      Islington Council is a thoroughly rotten borough in the truest sense, absolute corruption at every turn, and run by Tories pretending to be Labour to secure the votes of their victims.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Deb O’Nair February 4, 2019 at 19:52
        I should imagine Momentum will have a field day getting rid of that shower when the next elections come around.

    • Sharp Ears

      LOL

      ‘According to BuzzFeed News, The Epoch Times is known for its positive coverage of the Trump administration.

      In April 2018, The Epoch Times publisher Stephen Gregory and editor in chief Jasper Fakkert reported a thirdhand claim that Donald Trump reads The Epoch Times every day and “it’s the one newspaper that he believes to be a truthful and correct paper.”

      In September 2018, The Epoch Times photographer Samira Bouaou broke White House protocol and handed Trump a folder during an official event.’

      • Sarge

        Interesting, did not know that. Money and nepotism no doubt big factors in getting him started, but he’s devoting himself to far better ends that helping the Clintons.

        • freddy

          Sarge, it’s wall-to-wall propaganda on Venezuela. You pick your Pravda. Bit like everything these days. Still searching for media outlets who say “These are the positions, from these interested parties.”

          What I remember about History, a long time ago, was that its intent was to educate, not persuade.

          • Sarge

            True, but by now a basic rule of thumb should be not to heed the chorus that cheerled every foreign policy disaster of the past two decades.

          • SA

            “What I remember about History, a long time ago, was that its intent was to educate, not persuade.”
            What? That must qualify for the most trusting view of history that I have ever heard. We all were taught how these white men ‘discovered’ this and that ignoring the fact that people were already living there. In fact these people were also discovered and civilized. And moreover the food they were eating for hundreds of years was also discovered when it was brought back to the civilized world.

          • Jack

            freddy
            “Propaganda” because you dont agree with it.
            Btw, what does his father have to do with this?

          • freddy

            SA, agreed (even if I suspect you don’t understand why). Can we agree to supplant every mention of “historian” with “propagandist”? I’d be amenable.

          • freddy

            @ Me (yay). If History has a noble intent, it is to teach people to think for themselves, and question every narrative.

          • freddy

            @Jack – possibly nothing, of course. People can make their own minds up. Seemed to help Sarge, for instance.

          • SA

            Freddy
            “SA, agreed (even if I suspect you don’t understand why). ”

            Is this because you think you know everything and others are so inferior that they don’t even when they make the right statement?

      • Sharp Ears

        @ freddy

        Does it upset you that Max Blumenthal writes sympathetically and supportively about the Palestinians?

        • freddy

          No. why should it? I spent several paragraphs explaining I was not a partisan acolyte, but you still missed it.

    • Isa

      Max Blumenthal is an exceptional journalist and researcher . I find it amusing that today in alternative sites it’s the 3rd innuendo comment I read about him . Your parents politics and views are not always your own .

      Venezuela facts : blockade , U.K. theft of Venezuela gold reserves , an oligarchy of opposition still prominent outside of great urban centres in charge of food distribution channels tha hoards it or ships it to Colombia , a pseudo self professed president that most Venezuelans that live in Venezuela has not heard about and who never went to votes , a USA coup and the grooming of an Obama and macron clone type . He’s president in twitter or from the embassy if Colombia where he hides . He is As left wing as Franco and Salazar and of you think he’s the one trump and pence or Bolton pshycopaths have in view as president , think again . This is only the poster boy and if by some malign forced in the universe the coup succeeds , the other less instagrammiable extremist Leopoldo Lopez will be the chosen one by the USA .

      Meanwhile , the USA and EU and Canada have condemned the people of Venezuela to a civil war . They couldn’t give a damn about them . Only shock doctrine , boris Yeltsin sequel .

      To USA administrations I would say , do not underestimate the utter dislike Latin Americans have for you . This time , those you wage war on are not far away in the Middle East . They are just next door and one day , very , very soon , in months , all Latin America will speak with ONE voice and nobody will save the USA from the people of Latin America’s long overdue wrath .

  • N_

    Katya Adler, the BBC’s Europe editor, writes (after exhorting readers to act as unpaid distributors of her piece by posting links to it on websites run by US advertising companies) as follows.

    “Brexit: EU digs heels in over deal

    So. how open does the EU seem almost a week on from parliament narrowly voting in favour of an amendment to find alternatives to the backstop guarantee to keep the Irish border open after Brexit?

    After all, with every passing day as we’ve heard , again and again and again, the clock is ticking us all towards an increased chance of a no-deal Brexit with all the costs and chaos that could involve.

    Well, if I were to speak in weather forecast terms, I might describe current EU attitudes as frosty with a chance of ice.

    If Theresa May comes to Brussels later this week, she will be received politely and listened to attentively.”

    …blah blah…

    And this isn’t the kid in the office. It’s the Europe editor at the British state broadcaster.

    Did journalism use to be such shite?

    This bozo might as well have typed this garbage on her smartphone – and probably did.

    • michael norton

      I expect President Maduro has understood what has hapened in Libya, Iraq, Yemen ans Syria
      and worked out that the choice made by President Assad, was the only response that has worked.

      • nevermind

        Newshite is going overboard to beat JC over the head with Maduro and Venezuela. Anything, anytime, and any issue will do.

        Labours centrist scum really have some questions to answer.
        First they came for him with anti semitic sticks, then they said his popular party is split and riddled with anti semites, now they are using his support for socialist, sanctioned Venezuela and its people to slur him with another wet fish.

        The west is hell bent to force Venezuela into civil war. They are desperate for his heavy crude and will not care much if half of Venezuelans die, in war or from hunger.

        No you cant have sanctions lifted
        No we are not giving you your gold, did you not hear what happened to Libyas gold and foreign reserve?
        No, Guaido has not been elected, he was bred by the Atlantic council and by American crooks out for his oil.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ nevermind February 4, 2019 at 22:57
          VSC has organised a Demo ‘Give Venezuela back its gold!’ for Thursday 7th February 12:30 – 14:00 outside Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AH (Bank Underground).

          • nevermind

            no ten horses can drag me to London for a demo, but thanks for the info, Paul. Have an aversion to diesel fumes and centrist demo’s, if there is one in Norwich I will go.

    • BrianFujisan

      Thanks Jack

      Roger Part Two –

      The complaint accuses Gantz and Eshel of responsibility for a 20 July 2014 airstrike that destroyed the Ziada family home in al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing six members of Ismail Ziada’s family including his mother, and a seventh person who was visiting them.

      A crowdfunding campaign on behalf of the human rights lawyers who filed the case aims to raise almost $60,000 to cover legal costs.

      “In support of the Ziada family’s right to their day in court in Holland, I will match any financial contribution to the legal campaign until we reach the target,” Waters says in an endorsement on the campaign website.

      https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/roger-waters-backs-war-crimes-lawsuit-against-israels-benny-gantz

  • MaryPau!

    Having now done some reading up on the political scene in Venezuela, it seems like it has never had a decent infrastructure to manage the country and no one gets into power with the intellectual grasp to sort things out/exercises sufficient power over entrenched influences to sort things out/even if not particularly corrupt themself is surrounded by hangers who are and who just want to enrich themselves.

    Early in my career i worked for an international engineering consultancy with projects in south america and was friendly with one of our south american project managers, an Argentinian called Salvador M. He said to me one day that he had lost count of the regime changes in somes south american countries and that the cynical said that in some of these, everyone in politics got their hands on power eventually, if only for a short time purely in order to enrich themelves from the national Treasury.

    It is one thing to deplore intervention in another country’s sovereign affairs ( although it is apparently ok in the case of the EU and Greece), that does not mean the incumbent power is honest or effective. Maybe all the politicians in a country are corrupt and ineffective to a greater or lesser degree? Maybe that includes Venezuela?

        • Robyn

          Oh dear, Mary Pau! May I respectfully suggest you read a little more widely on how Venezuela has got to this point. As for your floating the idea that, ‘all politicians in a South American country’ – I’m speechless.

          • Mary Paul

            My comment on all politicians in South America was meant rather tongue in cheek, but I do have at least indirect experience of conditions there. As I said above, I used to work in an international engineering consultancy which had a number of projects on the ground in south america and senior south american staff in charge of them. I have been fortunate to work with Argentinians, Columbians, Brazilians and Peruvians and with Europeans who were based in south america. Although I was not assigned there myself, I was in charge of staff who were seconded there, and had many discussions with them and with local nationals we employed, about working conditions and the political climate in several South American countries. The conditions they described have been reinforced in my recent reading but maybe Robyn could recommend some wide ranging books I could read to further improve my knowledge.

          • Mary Paul

            I realise that the US sanctions of 2017 have been a disaster,. but surely there were very many serious problems in the Venezuelan economy for some time before that and indeed in the systems of governance. How else could Chavez’s former bodyguard have risen to be national treasurer and become a billionaire from bribes taken for money laundering?

  • Dave

    Its not about oil, that’s the explanation from Marists and those who fear the truth. The US does not need to invade the country or inflict regime change to secure the oil, they just need to do a capitalist deal with a duly elected government in which everyone gets rich from trade.

    Maduro and anyone else who defies the 1%, by seeking control of their own money or is deemed on the wrong side of the Who Question is targeted for removal and the bloodier the better to teach the rest, but in practice no where is safe.

  • Dungroanin

    It’s late. I’ve been at the pub too long.
    But you read:
    “In 2009, only 9% of 16-25-year-olds disagreed with the statement that “life is really worth living”, but that has now risen to 18%.”

    In a Grauniad article.

    Most 20 something year olds i talk to, have a lot more sophisticated political self presence.

    They registered and voted in the referendum. Then many of them did it again at the the general election.

    They are ready to do it again. They are not going back in the box.

    We don’t need vests. We need a vote.

    Never mind VV.

    • freddy

      Interesting article, and headline, considering

      “I feel more confidant online than I do in person” – 41%
      “Comparing my life to others on social media makes me feel inadequate” – 46%
      “I feel more anxious about my future when seeing the lives of friends online” – 48%
      “Social media creates an overwhelming pressure to succeed” – 57%
      “I find it difficult not to compare my life to others online” – 60%

      I would be interested to hear their (20 something) opinions on the role of social media in their lives.

      • Dungroanin

        They use whatsapp to chat in their social groupings.

        FarceButt and Twatter have no grip on these with real life social connection.
        It scares the crap out of the msm and government propagandists that such imense weapons of control are being bypassed by the youngsters and their strngs can’t be so easily pulled.

        Thus they try and gaslight, us, with the wormtonguery that before the GFC life was worth leaving for 9 out 10 youngsters. The years of Austerity ever since has led to that changing to 8 out 10!

        Which still means 80% are optimistic youth! Not suicidal, or apathetic voters – which the gaslighting poll is supposed to make them out to be.

        When the election is called – a single spoken message shared will remind them all to make sure they are registered to vote;
        That they can make a postal vote by a certain date if unable to get to the polling station on just one thursday! ( this is one simgle thing that needs changing);
        And on polling day – that they use their vote.

        Yes the establishment is screwed as all their propaganda is shot down as it comes into view.

        I’m not worried that the young are without an optmistic political will. I am more concerned by the slowness of the middle aged who are gripped by the post modern identity politics being waged on their psyche. It is hard to get them past the fact that no one is stopping them identifying themselves by their genetic geographic identity – they can be as English or Yorkshire or Batley or the tiniest hamlet or just a street in a city – it is ok to be tribal. Football fans wouldn’t exist otherwise.

  • giyane

    Jeremy Hunt was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 about his opinion as Foreign Secretary on military or neo-con-style political intervention. Oh says Mr Privatise, we shouldn’t do it like Iraq or Libya where we end up getting hammered for causing the chaos, but we should carry on doing it ” in a Smart way “. One thing Jeremy Hunt is not, is smart. The Tories believe, wrongly, that you can incentivise the greedy by rewarding them financially. Of course in reality, like the Carillion FCO, if you incentivise them financially they proceed to engage all the levers of their office to help themselves to whatever revenues the company has stashed for running its business operations, and stuffing it by the million into their own pocket.

    It isn’t ” smart ” to believe in a dogma rigidly and expect human nature to comply to your ideas.

    Look at the Irish backstop. The EU legislation about internal borders is framed in terms of trade tariffs. But the UK is making the Irish border with Northern Ireland a freedom of movement border. However many lorries whizz through that border exciting radar calculators of tariffs, the border will have to be policed for human traffic. It is totally unacceptable that the money-obsessed Tory alt-right cabinet refuses to take responsibility for its own actions in May’s interpretation of the Brexit referendum as ending freedom of movement while simultaneously presenting the Irish border as purely a trade border. This kind of totally narro-minded speciousness is not ” smart “.

    What’s more important, vastly more important is to understand the inadequacy of rigid dogma to stifle democratic debate. If Tony Blair had listened for one second to voices of reason about Iraq instead of over-ruling it with lies and neo-con interventionist dogma, the catastrophes of Iraq, Libya and Syria would never have happened. These mad men and women think they can contain the consequences of military intervention by the camouflage of secrecy. In other words it is the concept of Smart warfare that creates all the problems. It is extremely gratifying to see the smart warfare the British deployed in Norther Ireland has now got stuck up the Tory cocaine nostril, or in Dickensian representation, like a wishbone stuck in the Tory gullet.

    On the subject of cocaine. Human beings react, like any other animal, but more so because maybe we are more intelligent, against ‘ control ‘ by resorting to addictive behaviours, sex , drugs, booze gambling, whatever lifts yer skirt up. Every single nation in the world that has ever had an Empire, Britain, Turkey, Persia, France, Spain, Germany, China , Russia etc etc, all now think that with the benefit of modern ” smart ” technology and spyware this is the chance for them to rebuild it where in the past the limitations of their technology held their imperial ambitions back. What utter prats, especially Jeremy Hunt.

    The more you use ” smart ” politics against human nature, the more you drive the human victim of your ” control ” towards escape mechanisms. It is not opium that gets people addicted, it is subversive politics.
    A country which micro-manages people’s private lives, instead of macro-managing the rules of society by religious principles will end up as an amorphous jelly of addictive, lawless emptiness. you have to bite the bullet of ” rules ” and limits in order to persuade the human animal to perform their best. The more you spy on them and control them , the more they will exceed the limits you are trying to impose by force.

    The question asks itself. In a country which regards itself as ” liberal ” why does the ruling party try to stifle the opposition party by false accusations of anti-Semitism? Throttling Jeremy Corbyn serves what benign purpose? oh the purpose of the idiots in power with their proven failed dogma not having to listen to reasons , and reasonable argument, why they should not do things that will lead to expensive disaster.

    May’s racist interpretation of Brexit accidentally re-ignites the diversity issues in the country of Ireland, originally created by the British. May has set the time-bomb ticking to blast Britain into oblivion. anybody with any sense will be preparing sand-bags for the coming explosion. May has one finger from one hand in her ear while trying to cut the right wire on her time-bomb with her other.

    • Sharp Ears

      May is in Belfast today. More words. More of the same.

      February 4 2019
      Theresa May is to visit Northern Ireland on Tuesday to give a speech in which she will confirm her Government’s “absolute commitment” to avoiding a hard border with the Republic after Brexit.
      The Prime Minister’s trip, which will also take in talks with local businesses, comes as she prepares to return to Brussels to demand the reopening of the EU Withdrawal Agreement.
      https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/theresa-may-to-travel-to-northern-ireland-for-brexit-speech-37780595.html

      • giyane

        Funny how May wants the border all round the UK to be impregnable, but the NI – Irish border is going to be invisible. Any reasonable person faced with this conundrum would long ago have this position given up and gone back to the drawing board. But May appears to be anchored by an electronic programme message on her dash: CAN’T DO THAT Whose? Trump’s?

  • J Arther Nast

    There is a chart up just now at Naked Capitalism showing private jets per country in2017; Venezuela 768, UK 482. I bet they come in handy for those trips to Miami.

  • David

    reading your website Craig , over the last few years , I am impressed how you have always provided timely access to diverse perspectives about topics of urgent public interest, you always have given prominence to reliable sources, whilst considering alternative sources and evaluating their objectivity. In short – helping your readers to make informed decisions about their choice of quality online news and views. Thanks.

    I’m certain that https://www.craigmurray.org.uk should be one of the last alternative news sites to be limited in visibility, “due to promotion of disinformation”, It would be a naked disinformation platform itself that would seek to disrupt or demonetise this microcosm of sanity in our changing world.

  • Sharp Ears

    Ch 4 News’s slant is worse than the BBC’s if that is possible.

    4 Feb 2019
    Labour MP Chris Williamson: “Government’s decision to recognise Juan Guaidó is a democratic outrage”
    Jon Snow is joined by the Labour MP Chris Williamson, who like Jeremy Corbyn, has supported the Chavez and Maduro governments in Venezuela.
    https://www.channel4.com/news/labour-mp-chris-williamson-governments-decision-to-recognise-juan-guaido-is-a-democratic-outrage

    Hear Jon Snow speak for the liars. ‘You and Mr Corbyn are in a very nasty corner’.!!
    There was a time when he spoke for truth and justice. He turned or was turned.

    ITN produce ‘the news’ for Ch 4 and other commercial channels. https://www.itn.co.uk/about-us/board-of-directors/
    The lot running the show. https://www.itn.co.uk/about-us/executive-team/
    Ownership: ITV plc (40%)/DMGT (20%)/Thomson Reuters (20%)/UBM plc (20%)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITN
    The CEO has just left. ‘Hardie joined ITN from Disney in 2009. He was paid a salary of more than £700,000 in 2016 (including pension contributions).’ Nice work if you can get it.

    • Garth Carthy

      @ Sharp Ears: “Hear Jon Snow speak for the liars. ‘You and Mr Corbyn are in a very nasty corner’.!!
      There was a time when he spoke for truth and justice. He turned or was turned.”

      Yes. I was disgusted by the way Snow kept interrupting Chris Williamson like an attack dog.
      I used to respect Jon Snow but he’s just another Establishment toady.
      Why didn’t Snow interrogate the Guaido supporting woman being interviewed before Williamson about the grooming of Guaido by the US and US interference, generally?
      That said, I felt that Chris Williamson did himself no favours – he appeared to be on the defensive from the start. He spoke too quickly and needed to calm down instead of allowing Snow to wind him up.
      Snow is an arrogant, rude piece of work as the admirable Media Lens team will testify.

    • Dungroanin

      LBC radio in their afternoon 5pm slot had exactly the same agenda – it is full spectrum propaganda.

      The oleaginous Tory blunderbuss Tugg-onthat (phnar phnar) barefaced LYING, that Guaido just happens to be the leader of the assembly that allows him to claim the Presidency!
      Utter bollocks as Consortium News explains.

      It is time to Stop The City again.

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