EKATERINA BLINOVA—Mercier believes that what is currently going on in the Trump administration is a “take over by neocons, with in the lead, the man in the driving seat of Trump’s foreign policy, John Bolton” — the president’s national security adviser. “Yes, the neocons are back, and as matter of fact they were never far away from power through think-tanks like the Council on Foreign Relations or the Heritage Foundation”, the journalist highlighted. “For example, take the man in charge of the US sponsored coup in Venezuela: his name is Elliot Abrams, arch-neocon and veteran from the Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. administrations”.
US MILITARY
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President Maduro Appeals Directly to American People. “Don’t let Trump start a Vietnam war against Venezuela”
7 minutes readEffectively sidestepping his US counterpart, Maduro urged Americans to second-guess the distorted narrative peddled by the mainstream media. The embattled Venezuelan leader stated that Washington cannot use the same pretext to invade Venezuela as it did to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, so it is spreading new falsehoods about his government in hopes that something will tip the balance. “They cannot invent that Venezuela and Maduro have [weapons of mass destruction] so they could intervene, they now invent lies every day, false news to justify an aggression against our country.”
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86% of Venezuelans Oppose Military Intervention, 81% Against US Sanctions, Local Polling Shows
6 minutes readBEN NORTON—According to a study conducted in early January 2019 by the local polling firm Hinterlaces, 86 percent of Venezuelans would disagree with international military intervention. And 81 percent oppose the US sanctions that have gravely hurt the South American nation’s economy.
This poll was conducted before the Donald Trump administration launched a political coup in Venezuela on January 23, attempting to replace its government with a right-wing opposition that has made it clear that it seeks to impose neoliberal capitalist economic policies.
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PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO—Driving home in a very happy state of mind, I thought back to five years earlier. I recalled, most vividly, seeing my friend’s older brother Vito at Mass one Sunday. He was home on leave from the Army Rangers, replete with his uniform, boots and beret. I gazed at him and saw such a stalwart figure standing but five feet away. He held his beret like a lady proudly holds a bouquet of flowers that she just received as a gift. Perhaps a month or so later we got the news that Vito was killed on some famous hill in the Nam that made the network news. His kid brother never recovered from his big brother’s death. A few years later I would see him at our schoolyard sniffing glue, and hearing from some of his friends that they were all shooting heroin. During that same time period another guy from our neighborhood, Tommy Lombardo, joined the Marines with his pal Pete Haros, the kid from the neighborhood Greek diner. Tommy’s mom was our school crossing guard by St. Edmunds church. We all loved her, with that beautiful smile and pleasant voice. When Tommy returned home in a box, his mom never really recovered.
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Donald Trump, or more commonly known as Potus, say’s he’s driving it. To a certain extent he is correct. While American media insists the low oil prices are just the natural cycle of the market at work, it’s rather convenient for U.S. foreign policy. Russia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Iran all have economies centered around state-owned oil companies and oil exports, and each of these countries has suffered the sting of low oil prices. During the George W. Bush administration, oil prices were the highest they had ever been. The destruction of Iraq, sanctions on Iran and Russia, strikes and turmoil in Nigeria — these events created a shortage on the international markets, driving prices up. And this is when America discovered their grip on the oil markets and manipulated it.