As President Trump pulls U.S. troops out of Syria and Afghanistan, his secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton are taking their frustrated interventionist impulses south to Venezuela. Why Venezuela, a country of 32 million people on the north coast of South America? The country poses no threat to the United...
Tag: Venezuela
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Elliott Abrams’ Bloody Lies
Elliott Abrams, President Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela, first became well known in 1982 after he was named assistant secretary of state for human rights in the Reagan administration. Abrams served as a junior point man for the Reagan administration’s wars in Central America. He was an aggressive, articulate defender of pro-U.S. forces that committed...
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Why Ken Silverstein Says a Coup Is Unlikely in Venezuela
Ace investigative reporter Ken Silverstein reports from Venezuela. Trump’s strategy in Venezuela is simple and remarkably similar to what the U.S. tried to do in Iraq in the late-1990s and early-2000s before finally throwing in the towel and invading. Starve the country with brutal economic sanctions and either blame the government for the ensuing misery...
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Under CIA Eyes: Venezuela As Seen by Langley
In Counterpunch, activist author TJ Coles looks at what declassified CIA archives tell us about how the U.S. policymakers have understood–and misunderstood–Venezuelan reality. The records are publicly available at the CIA online database known as CREST. They illuminate the historical background of the story that the news media too often slight. Since the 1940s, the...
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For Russia and U.S., Venezuela’s Crisis Is an Oil Opportunity
In Venezuela, it’s all about the oil. Just as senior administration officials have spoken openly about gaining control of Venezuela s vast oil reserves as a goal of U.S. policy, so Russia’s actions are driven by petroleum politics. The difference: the Trump administration is pursuing a policy of regime change, while the Russians are trying...