Donald trump. what is your take on him?

[mattiasNYC]

So the banks need more protection huh?

Yep, Trump sure is changing things in Washington to benefit "the forgotten"....

 

[bluebird]

This ones for you Tands...

 

[tands]

Everyone who was screaming Maduro govt is wildly unpopular dictatorship now silent from being absolutely & indisputedly crushed in elections

Knowing claims of "fraud" inevitable Maduro govt made this one possibly most transparent in the world—unprecedented openness to verification

The opposition said foreign intervention to overthrow PSUV was justified because "vast majority" hated it and couldn't wait for elections

All corporate media—& even most alternative media—firmly presented "the people vs. Maduro" picture of Venezuela. Now they'll just not report

Even with full weight of US power, years of obscene funding, months of daily protests, the opposition could only totally fail at ballot box

Hard to think of a social movement more verifiably popular & strong than Chavismo—or one more illegitimate & weak than the opposition.

Media will still assert the opposite; Pentagon & Vnzla billionaires will still try to overthrow govt; but Chavismo will live, grow, build

And to any "fraud" claims—which would require massive massive fraud for win this big—every vote is recorded, verifiable and will be audited!

and not a single complaint has been registered with the CNE to date. not. one.

https://twitter.com/MikePrysner/status/923256507969310720

President Nicolas Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV, won Sunday's elections, taking 18 of the 23 state governorships in the vote.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelas-President-Meets-With-Opposition-Governors-20171024-0025.html

 

[tands]

This ones for you Tands...

Yes that's great.

 

[mattiasNYC]

https://twitter.com/MikePrysner/status/923256507969310720

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelas-President-Meets-With-Opposition-Governors-20171024-0025.html

...has what to do with Trump?

 

[tands]

Directly before the first hurricane, Trump sent Pence down to get permission to launch a US armed and supported coup against Maduro, from the lump of countries down there we already did it to. He got a no, or at least that's what they said he got, and then a hurricane, so it fizzled out. I talked about it at the time, guess you missed it.

 

[tands]

This ones for you Tands...

Didn't this dude just catch a warning, JR?

 

[mattiasNYC]

Directly before the first hurricane, Trump sent Pence down to get permission to launch a US armed and supported coup against Maduro, from the lump of countries down there we already did it to. He got a no, or at least that's what they said he got, and then a hurricane, so it fizzled out. I talked about it at the time, guess you missed it.

Who denied the US permission?

 

[tands]

No problem.

The U.S. Vice President cut short his trip to Panama, the final visit of his diplomatic tour across Latin America, after attempting to seek regional support for possible action against Venezuela.

The protesters held signs which read " Venezuela, heart of America. Stop the interference of the United States in Latin America".

Jorge Guzman, a member of the National Front for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights of Panama said "We are demonstrating to claim our sovereignty and against our country and our channel being used as a platform to attack other peoples."

The trade unionist told EFE that Pence's visit to Panama and other countries on the continent "undermines our sovereignty and aims to consolidate allies in the region and build a siege against Venezuela."

    RELATED:
    VP Pence Says US Determined to Bear Its Power Against Venezuela

The White House said Pence cut short his trip to hold talks with the U.S. President Donald Trump about North Korea.

He has been scheduled to return on Friday afternoon, but instead returned to Washington on Thursday afternoon, just hours after landing in Panama City.

Pence held talks with Varela and gave a speech at the Panama Canal before he left.

He appeared to back off from the harder stance adopted by Trump last week and instead opted to say that he was sure the United States, with its allies in Latin America, would find a peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.

For his part, the Panamanian President said he would announce "new measures including immigration actions" against Venezuela in the coming days.

During Pence's regional trip, the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri and Chile's President Michelle Bachelet rejected the attempt by the United States to intervene in Venezuela.

Venezuela also rejected the call made by Pence to pressure its democratically-elected government and threaten them with military intervention.

"U.S. Vice President Mike Pence continues his tour through our Latin America, intending to form a coalition to attack Venezuela," Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami said on Twitter.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Pence-Cuts-Panama-Trip-Short-After-Seeking-to-Isolate-Venezuela-20170817-0018.html

 

[tands]

This is a deep state goal, you should know something about it (mattias, I mean, scott2000 does already  ).

Reuters used to occasionally push back – albeit timidly –  against what other corporate outlets reported about Venezuela.

Now it appears to have given up making any effort at all to break from the corporate pack. This article “No visas, bad jobs: Venezuelan emigrants reluctantly return home” is an example.

Consider this excerpt:

For decades after World War II, Venezuela’s flourishing oil economy made it a destination for mass immigration from southern Europe, with Portuguese bakeries and Spanish bars a common sight across Caracas.

But during 18 years of Socialist rule, an increase in crime, economic decay and political protests have prompted emigration to Miami, Madrid, and the rest of Latin America.

Sociologist Tomas Paez estimates over 2 million Venezuelans have left the country of 30 million, accelerating in the last two years as the OPEC member’s recession has worsened, leading to shortages of vital medicines and food, runaway inflation and lack of formal jobs.

Eighteen years ago, in 1999, Venezuela had an income poverty rate of 50 percent. Its human development index ranked seventh among Latin American countries despite the fact that its GDP per capita was second in the region.

Even in the late 1970s, when Venezuela’s GDP per capita was at a historic high, its child mortality rate was about double Cuba’s and Costa Rica’s. In other words, during decades when it was not targeted for overthrow by the United States, considerable poverty and injustice existed in oil rich Venezuela but was (and is) of zero interest to the corporate media. Reuters really did an Orwellian summary of Venezuela’s economic history, and that just scratches the surface of the dishonesty in this passage quoted above.

During the initial years of “socialist rule” (when Hugo Chavez and his allies began a long winning streak in free and fair elections) poverty increased (to 60 percent by 2003) despite the oil price boom that began in 1999. The reason was a U.S.-backed military coup and opposition supported shut down of the oil industry on which Venezuela depends.

The “sociologist Tomas Paez” whom Reuters cites above signed an open letter that was published in a Venezuelan newspaper (El Nacional) that enthusiastically “welcomed” the dictatorship of  Pedro Carmona which (no doubt to the dismay of Paez) only lasted two days. By checking against World Bank (and U.S. Census Bureau) data, Paez’s emigration estimate appears to be double the actual number.

Moreover, some of the wilder claims that have been made about Venezuela by the international media [more dangerous than Iraq (New York Times), infant mortality of 30 percent (Al Jazeera) ] would result in emigration of millions per year – not 1 million over an 18 year period.

By 2013, when Chavez died, income poverty was cut by half and extreme poverty by about 70 percent. Venezuela’s human development index rose to 4th in Latin America. After defeating the attempts to violently drive it from power and, crucially, after getting control of state oil company, living standards improved dramatically. The drastic fall in oil prices in late 2014, combined with the government‘s mistakes, led to a depression.

Reuters leads its readers to believe that Venezuela was “flourishing” until “socialist rule” disrupted the prosperity. The facts tell a drastically different story. That explains why in June of this year, an opposition-aligned pollster, Datanalisis, reported that the late Hugo Chavez had an approval rating of 55 percent, higher than any other Venezuelan politician.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/How-Reuters-Lost-What-Little-Nerve-It-Had-On-Venezuela-20171014-0014.html

 

[tands]

Again.

President Nicolas Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV, won Sunday's elections, taking 18 of the 23 state governorships in the vote.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelas-President-Meets-With-Opposition-Governors-20171024-0025.html

Here are the people.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/multimedia/Venezuelans-Reject-Imperialism-and-Donald-Trump-20170814-0017.html

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/multimedia/Venezuelans-Celebrate-Democracy-and-Sovereignty-in-Regional-Vote-20171016-0021.html

 

[tands]

I'm not confused, a large majority voted to keep Maduro and rejected the opposition candidates. Their elections have more integrity than ours, so that's good enough for me.

Do you want to fund and arm some death squads, scott2000? Machetes, zip ties, and rape, that kind of thing? Because that's what Pence went down there for.

 

[tands]

It's an entirely warranted question, as that's what we're talking about. You're paying for Pence's trip, and the zip ties, so figure out what you think about it. The US government won't be able to knock off Maduro and control the country without brutalizing every last one of his supporters as well, and their children. 

 

[tands]

It's what the US coup entails. You want it or not? You'll have to pick a side, your expat buddies suck it up in FL, or a 16 yo mom with two little kids raped and dead in Venezuela.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you.

 

[tands]

No problem.

The Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966 (also variously known as the Indonesian massacres, Indonesian genocide,[5] Indonesian Communist Purge, Indonesian politicide,[6][7] or the 1965 Tragedy) were large-scale killings and civil unrest which occurred in Indonesia over many months, targeting communist sympathizers, ethnic Chinese and alleged leftists, often at the instigation of the armed forces and government. Initially it began as an anti-communist purge following a controversial coup attempt by the 30 September Movement in Indonesia. The most widely published estimates were that 500,000 to more than one million people were killed,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965%E2%80%931966

 

[tands]

Following the coup in 1953, a government under General Fazlollah Zahedi was formed which allowed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran (Persian for an Iranian king),[21] to rule more firmly as monarch. He relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power.[10][11][12][22] According to the CIA's declassified documents and records, some of the most feared mobsters in Tehran were hired by the CIA to stage pro-Shah riots on 19 August. Other CIA-paid men were brought into Tehran in buses and trucks, and took over the streets of the city.[23] Between 200[3] and 300[4] people were killed because of the conflict. Mosaddegh was arrested, tried and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court. On 21 December 1953, he was sentenced to three years in jail, then placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.[24][25][26] Other Mosaddegh supporters were imprisoned, and several received the death penalty.[12] After the coup, the Shah continued his rule as monarch for the next 26 years[11][12] until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

-

After removing Mohammad Mosaddeq, who was originally focused on nationalizing Iran's oil industry but also set out to weaken the Shah, from power on 19 August 1953, in a coup, the monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah, established an intelligence service with police powers. The Shah's goal was[6] to strengthen his regime by placing political opponents under surveillance and repressing dissident movements. According to Encyclopædia Iranica:

    A U.S. Army colonel working for the CIA was sent to Persia in September 1953 to work with General Teymur Bakhtiar, who was appointed military governor of Tehran in December 1953 and immediately began to assemble the nucleus of a new intelligence organization. The U.S. Army colonel worked closely with Bakhtīār and his subordinates, commanding the new intelligence organization and training its members in basic intelligence techniques, such as surveillance and interrogation methods, the use of intelligence networks, and organizational security. This organization was the first modern, effective intelligence service to operate in Persia. Its main achievement occurred in September 1954, when it discovered and destroyed a large communist Tudeh Party network that had been established in the Persian armed forces[7][8]

In March 1955, the Army colonel was "replaced with a more permanent team of five career CIA officers, including specialists in covert operations, intelligence analysis, and counterintelligence, including Major General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf who "trained virtually all of the first generation of SAVAK personnel." In 1956 this agency was reorganized and given the name Sazeman-e Ettela'at va Amniyat-e Keshvar (SAVAK).[8] These in turn were replaced by SAVAK's own instructors in 1965.[9][10]

SAVAK had the power to censor the media, screen applicants for government jobs, and "according to reliable Western source,[11] use all means necessary, including torture, to hunt down dissidents".[12] After 1963, the Shah expanded his security organizations, including SAVAK, which grew to over 5,300 full-time agents and a large but unknown number of part-time informers.[12]

-

A turning point in SAVAK's reputation for ruthless brutality was reportedly an attack on a gendarmerie post in the Caspian village of Siahkal by a small band of armed Marxists in February 1971, although it is also reported to have tortured to death a Shia cleric, Ayatollah Muhammad Reza Sa'idi, in 1970.[15][16] According to Iranian political historian Ervand Abrahamian, after this attack SAVAK interrogators were sent abroad for "scientific training to prevent unwanted deaths from 'brute force.' Brute force was supplemented with the bastinado; sleep deprivation; extensive solitary confinement; glaring searchlights; standing in one place for hours on end; nail extractions; snakes (favored for use with women); electrical shocks with cattle prods, often into the rectum; cigarette burns; sitting on hot grills; acid dripped into nostrils; near-drownings; mock executions; and an electric chair with a large metal mask to muffle screams while amplifying them for the victim. This latter contraption was dubbed the Apollo—an allusion to the American space capsules. Prisoners were also humiliated by being raped, urinated on, and forced to stand naked.[17] Despite the new 'scientific' methods, the torture of choice remained the traditional bastinado used to beat soles of the feet. The "primary goal" of those using the bastinados "was to locate arms caches, safe houses and accomplices ..."

Abrahamian estimates that SAVAK (and other police and military) killed 368 guerrillas including the leadership of the major urban guerrilla organizations (Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas, People's Mujahedin of Iran) such as Hamid Ashraf between 1971–1977 and executed up to 100 political prisoners between 1971 and 1979 – the most violent era of the SAVAK's existence.[19]

    One well known writer was arrested, tortured for months, and finally placed before television cameras to 'confess' that his works paid too much attention to social problems and not enough to the great achievements of the White Revolution. By the end of 1975, twenty-two prominent poets, novelist, professors, theater directors, and film makers were in jail for criticizing the regime. And many others had been physically attacked for refusing to cooperate with the authorities.[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVAK

more later.

 

[tands]

https://twitter.com/NicholasGuyatt/status/923473341658394624

 

[tands]

nsfw

https://twitter.com/americas_crimes/status/916716501939507201

 

[tands]

The 1973 Chilean coup d'état was a watershed event in both the history of Chile and the Cold War. Following an extended period of social unrest and political tension between the right-controlled Congress of Chile and the socialist President Salvador Allende, as well as economic warfare ordered by US President Richard Nixon,[6] Allende was overthrown by the armed forces and national police.[7][8]

The military deposed Allende's Popular Unity government and later established a junta that suspended all political activity in Chile and repressed left-wing movements, especially the communist and socialist parties and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Allende's appointed army chief, Augusto Pinochet, rose to supreme power within a year of the coup, formally assuming power in late 1974.[9] The United States government, which had worked to create the conditions for the coup,[10] promptly recognized the junta government and supported it in consolidating power.[11]

During the air raids and ground attacks that preceded the coup, Allende gave his last speech, in which he vowed to stay in the presidential palace, refusing offers of safe passage should he choose exile over confrontation.[12] Direct witness accounts of Allende's death agree that he killed himself in the palace.[13][14]

Before the coup, Chile had for decades been hailed as a beacon of democracy and political stability while the rest of South America had been plagued by military juntas and Caudillismo. The collapse of Chilean democracy ended a streak of democratic governments in Chile, which had held democratic elections since 1932.[15] Historian Peter Winn characterized the 1973 coup as one of the most violent events in Chile's history.[16] A weak insurgent movement against the Pinochet regime was maintained inside Chile by elements sympathetic to the former Allende government. An internationally supported plebiscite in 1988 led Pinochet to relinquish power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

 

[tands]

Allende’s own army chief, Augusto Pinochet, led the coup and ordered his forces to march through the streets of Santiago, intimidating the local populace and entering La Moneda Presidential Palace by force.

Pinochet later consolidated power with the support of the United States and ruled the country with an iron fist for 17 years, until 1990. He jailed an estimated 80,000 people, tortured 30,000 and murdered around 3,200. Only 75 of more than a thousand of his former agents are serving prison sentences for human rights violations.

U.S. Intervention

With the success of the 1969 revolution in Cuba, leftist movements in Latin America were emboldened, and Washington's Manichean Cold War world-view translated into fears—and policies—that affected much of South America.

As declassified CIA documents show, the government of Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger influenced the military to overthrow Allende, and provided resources to deter any leftist movements in the country through the CIA.

As fears of the "Red Scare" grew, Washington opposed any form of socialist gains on the belief they would affect U.S. economic and political interests in the hemisphere.

Dubbed Operation Condor, a brutal campaign of political repression and state terror took hold of the continent, as the United States sought to obliterate leftist movements opposed to Washington-backed military coups in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay — and Chile.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/4-Things-to-Remember-About-Chiles-1973-Coup-20160626-0012.html