Got a spare twenty minutes so my pronouncements here won't have links but nothing I'll say here can't be discovered yourself.
We have a new prime minister and Karl Rove is departing. We see the White House maintaining the line that the US has gotta stay there and be more aggressive, if anything. We also see Bush employ Vietnam in his argument to continue in Iraq and, in the process, make several false statements about the East Asian debacle. I notice only a lone reporter on MSNBC actually came up with the truth on that.
I've also just watched John Pilger's latest film about principally South America and how it serves as the most illuminating example of America's imperial tendencies. Although far from neutral - the tea and cakes interview with Chavez was a little desperately unchallenging - it nevertheless had a very strong case.
It can be found to view on Information Clearing House so have a watch. In it, you will see a former CIA agent expounding the overarching policy the US has to decide when and where it will overthrow governments, democratic or otherwise, as it sees fit. There is no moral imperative here, just self interest or "national security". You'll also see the true story of the coup that attempted to topple Chavez of Venezuela and how the White House and American media perpetuated the lies the fascists who were involved had concocted.
Chavez is, without doubt, a bit of a tosser. He is, however, a classic Latin American politician "of the people". Larger than life, bombastic, fiery and passionate. He is a true leader and he takes risks. When he came to power, a constitution was written and articles of it are written on food packets to drive home that the people are the government. In a country as lopsided but as wealthy as Venezuela, the only way to have enough change in a short enough time so that equality can be reached is to use some form of socialist model.
I'm not a socialist but when you've had decades of capitalists, fascists and corrupt officials taking the piss, you need to swing the other way for a time before you settle down. I strongly suspect that had Cuba not been stamped on and ostracised by American when Castro turned up that by now Cuba would more closely resemble Portugal. Instead, to keep the country together, authoritarianism was unavoidable.
Well, my 20 minutes is up. I hope to write a bit more later.
