VASSAL STATES

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—International affairs are much easier to understand once you stop thinking in terms of separate, sovereign nations and start thinking in terms of alliances and empire. What we are witnessing can best be described as a slow-motion third world war between what amounts to an unofficial globe-spanning empire centralized around the United States and its military on one side, and all the nations which have refused to be absorbed into this empire on the other. Nations which allow themselves to be absorbed are rewarded with the carrot of military and economic alliance with the empire, and nations which refuse are punished with the stick of invasions, sanctions, trade wars, and coups

ANDRE VLTCHEK—They pledged to do it, and they did – Bolivian feudal lords, mass media magnates and other treasonous “elites” – they overthrew the government, broke hope and interrupted an extremely successful socialist process in what was once one of the poorest countries in South America. One day, they will be cursed by their own nation. One day they will stand trial for sedition. One day, they will have to reveal who trained them, who employed them, who turned them into spineless beasts. One day! Hopefully soon.

MOA—The Agregados Policiales de América Latina (APALA) is supposed to fight international organized crime in Latin America. It is curiously hosted in Washington DC. These police and military men cooperated with a racist Christian-fascist multi-millionaire to bring Morales down. Morales had clearly won a fourth term in the the October 20 elections. The vote count was confusing (pdf) because it followed the process defined by the Organization of American States.

FAROOQUE CHOWDHURY—Ruling Bolivia since 2006, Morales has gained a reputation as a staunch defender of socialism, and rights of the exploited. He is an ardent critic of U.S. imperialist foreign policy. Evo was one of the closest allies of Cuba and Venenzuela.  The country’s highest court ruled in 2018 that he could run for the fourth time. With Evo at the helm, the country, one of the poorest in the region but rich with resources, made exemplary progress in the areas of health, education and health.

Statistical analysis of election returns and tally sheets from Bolivia’s October 20 elections shows no evidence that irregularities or fraud affected the official result that gave President Evo Morales a first-round victory, researchers and analysts at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) say.