MARCO TERUGGI—Another phase is now being entered with the agreement reached between the Government and people’s mobilization mainly expressed in the indigenous movement. How will the decree be revoked? Will it be replaced by another to be debated later? Moreno promised a discussion after the meeting, while indigenous leaders reiterated that they would only accept a repeal.
SERGEY SHOIGU—We long failed to understand the essential nature of what was going on around us. If the West had continued to behave as it began behaving in Gorbachev’s time – if it had kept all its promises, not moved NATO ever closer to our borders, not expanded its influence in our near abroad, not gotten involved in the internal affairs of our country – then it seems to me that the West would ultimately have succeeded in everything.
GODFREE ROBERTS—Thanks to some modifications to NSLs by the USA Freedom Act, we’re finally seeing recipients posting NSLs they’ve received. NSLs used to come with “forever” gag orders, preventing recipients from discussing them, much less posting the documents themselves. The new law, along with a decision from the DC Circuit Court, requires the FBI to periodically review its NSLs and decide whether the gag orders are still justified.
ERIC ZUESSE—Congress is very partisanly split over domestic issues, because Republican and Democratic billionaires are split about them, but America’s billionaires are united in their support for US imperialism; and, so, the members of Congress, and Presidential candidates, are, too. When do you see near 100% support in Congress for a domestic policy? Never even close to that. But for American aggressions, it’s virtual unanimity.
L. WILKERSON—Of course we [the US] are involved–just as we were, and are, in Caracas. I travelled to Caracas in 2002 and I witnessed just how fiercely we tried to overthrow Hugo Chavez, then the president of Venezuela. And we did not give up on our hopes to alter the politics there. Now we are working on Nicolas Maduro. But we have only brought to Venezuela incompetence, and incompetence’s standard accomplice, failure. We were only successful in punishing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans with sanctions and doing great damage to their economy.