Sancties van de VS zijn illegaal en zijn oorlogsmisdaden die moeten worden gestopt

De sancties die de VS eenzijdig en dus illegaal oplegt aan landen die haar niet welgevallig zijn, zijn niets anders dan grove oorlogsmisdaden waardoor zelfs mensen om het leven komen..... Even ter herinnering: in de 90er jaren van de vorige eeuw legde de VS eenzijdig sancties op aan Irak, daardoor kwamen 500.000 Irakese kinderen om het leven, ofwel die werden in feite vermoord door de VS.... De minister van buitenlandse zaken destijds (onder opperschoft Clinton) was de Democraat en oorlogsmisdadiger Madeleine Albright, toen deze psychopaat in 1996 werd geconfronteerd met dit feit en haar werd gevraagd of ze er geen spijt van had, antwoordde deze enorme hufter dat ze daar geen seconde spijt van heeft gehad en dat het e.e.a. het waard was geweest.....

Ook nu zijn kinderen en andere zwakke mensen de klos, zo zorgen de sancties tegen Iran ervoor dat belangrijke middelen tegen (kinder-) kanker niet meer te krijgen zijn, of zo duur zijn dat praktisch niemand ze kan betalen........ Wat mij betreft een misdaad tegen de menselijkheid!!  

De VS legt landen sancties op, die zoals gezegd vooral de zwakste burgers treffen ('treffen': letterlijk en figuurlijk)........ Door deze illegale sancties ontstaan er voorts tekorten op allerlei gebieden, waardoor de economie in het slop raakt, daarop geeft de VS het land de schuld, bijvoorbeeld door te wijzen op een 'lamlendig economisch beleid', of door in geval van een links geregeerd land het socialisme de schuld te geven......... (tegelijk organiseert de CIA dan demonstraties, waarbij men het liefst ook op de demonstranten laat schieten door ingehuurde scherpschutter moordenaars, om daarmee de regering van zo'n land nog meer zwart te maken....) De VS hoopt daarmee  een opstand te ontketenen in zo'n land*,  terwijl de wat beter geïnformeerden weten dat de VS de schuld is van de ellende juist door die sancties, zie Venezuela en Oekraïne, waar deze smerige vorm van terreur bij de eerste (nog) geen succes heeft, waar het bij de laatste, zoals bekend, wel is gelukt......

Gelukkig ontstaat er wereldwijd steeds meer weerstand tegen deze smerige VS terreur, (beter is dit smerige spel niet aan te duiden, sancties die intussen tegen 39 landen (!!) worden toegepast en uiteraard voelen andere landen daar ook de gevolgen van, immers bedrijven kunnen geen handel meer drijven, daar de wereld afhankelijk is van de dollar als betalingsmiddel en de VS juist de bedrijven straft die toch leveren ondanks de sancties...... Rusland is intussen klaar voor de introductie van een nieuw internationaal betalingssysteem zodat het systeem van de VS, te weten: SWIFT, uitgerangeerd kan worden.

Het volgende artikel werd eerder gepubliceerd op Nation of Change (ICH meldt onterecht dat dit PopularResistance is) en door mij overgenomen van Information Clearing House. In het artikel een petitie om actie te ondernemen tegen de terreursancties van de VS, lees en teken deze ajb en geeft het door:

The world must end the US’ illegal economic war

The indiscriminate, illegal and immoral use of sanctions is an act of war.

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers

January 16, 2020 "Information Clearing House" - The United States is relying more heavily on illegal unilateral coercive measures (also known as economic sanctions) in place of war or as part of its build-up to war. In fact, economic sanctions are an act of war that kills tens of thousands of people each year through financial strangulation. An economic blockade places a country under siege.

A recent example is the increase in economic measures being imposed against Iran, which many viewed as more acceptable than a military attack. In response to Iran retaliating for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and seven other people, Iran used ballistic missiles to strike two bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops. President Trump responded by saying he would impose more sanctions on Iran. Then he ended his comments by urging peace negotiations with Iran. The United States needs to understand there will be no negotiations with Iran until the U.S. lifts sanctions that seek to destroy the Iranian economy and turn the people against their government.

The sanctions on Iran have been in place since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which made that country independent of the United States. Iran is not the only country being sanctioned by the United States. Samuel Moncada, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations, speaking to the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement of 120 nations on October 26, 2019, denounced the imposition of sanctions by the U.S., as “economic terrorism which affects a third of humanity with more than 8,000 measures in 39 countries.”

It is time to end U.S. economic warfare and repeal these unilateral coercive measures, which violate international law.

Sanctions are war. From havaar.org.

Sanctions are a weapon of war

The United States uses sanctions against countries that resist the U.S.’ agenda. U.S. sanctions are designed to kill by destroying an economy through denial of access to finance, causing hyperinflation and shortages and blocking basic necessities such as food and medicine. For example, sanctions are expected to cause the death of tens of thousands of Iranians by creating a severe shortage of critical medicines and medical equipment everywhere in Iran.

Muhammad Sahimi writes that in a “letter published by The Lancet, the prestigious medical journal, three doctors working in Tehran’s MAHAK Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center warned that, ‘Re-establishment of sanctions, scarcity of drugs due to the reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to deal with Iran, and a tremendous increase in oncology drug prices [due to the plummeting value of the Iranian rial by 50–70%], will inevitably lead to a decrease in survival of children with cancer.’”

Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and asthma affect over ten million Iranians who will find essential medicines impossible to get or available only at high prices. The U.S. claims that food and medicines are excluded from sanctions but in practice, they are not because pharmaceutical companies fear sanctions being applied to them over some technical violation and Iran cannot pay for essentials when banks can’t do business with it. European nations failed to persuade the Trump administration to ensure that essential medicine and food were available to Iranians.

In Venezuela, due to the sanctions, 180,000 medical operations have been canceled and 823,000 chronically ill patients are awaiting medicines. The Center for Economic and Policy 
Research found sanctions have deprived Venezuela of “billions of dollars of foreign exchange needed to pay for essential and life-saving imports,” contributing to 40,000 total deaths in 2017 and 2018. More than 300,000 Venezuelans are at risk due to a lack of access to medicine or treatment. Economists warn U.S. sanctions could cause famine in Venezuela. Sanctions also cause shortages of parts and equipment needed for electricity generation, water systems, and transportation as well as preventing participation in the global financial market. Sanctions, which are illegal under the UN, OAS and US law, have caused mass protests in Venezuela against the U.S. 

Sanctions against Iran and Venezuela could be a prelude to military attack, i.e. the US weakening a nation economically before attacking it. This is what happened in Iraq. Under pressure from the United States, on Aug. 2, 1990, the UN Security Council passed sanctions that required countries to stop trading or carrying out financial transactions with Iraq. President George H.W. Bush said the UN sanctions would not be lifted “as long as Saddam Hussein is in power.” The U.S. continued to pressure the increasingly skeptical Security Council members into compliance even though hundreds of thousands of children were dying. In 1996, then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright was asked about the death of as many as 500,000 children due to lack of medicine and malnutrition exacerbated by the sanctions, and she brutally replied, “[The] price is worth it.” Sanctions were also used against Libya and Syria before the U.S. attacked them.

This is consistent with the U.S. ‘way of war’ described by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz in “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States,” which describes frontier counterinsurgency premised on annihilation including the destruction of food, housing, and resources as well as ruthless militarism. The U.S. has waged a long-term economic war against Cuba (sanctions in place since 1960), North Korea (first sanctions in the 1950s, tightened in the 1980s), Zimbabwe (2003) and Iran (1979) 

Sanctions hurt civilians, especially the most vulnerable—babies, children, the elderly and chronically ill—not governments. Their intent is to shrink the economy and cause chronic shortages and hyperinflation while ensuring a lack of access to finance to pay for essentials. The U.S. then blames the targeted government claiming that corruption or socialism is the problem in an effort to turn the people against their government. This often backfires as people instead rally around the government, quiet their calls for democracy and work to develop a resistance economy.

Stop Sanctions destroying lives from BrightonAndHoveNews.org.

The movement to end sanctions

In recent years, a movement has been building to end the use of illegal economic coercive measures. The movement includes governments coming together in forums like the Non-Aligned Movement, made up of countries that represent 55 percent of the global population, as well as UN member-states calling for international law and the UN Charter to be upheld and social movements organizing to educate about the impact of sanctions and demand an end to their use. This June, the Non-Aligned Movement called for the end of sanctions against Venezuela.

Popular Resistance is working with groups around the world on the Global Appeal for Peace, an initiative to create a worldwide network of people and organizations that will work together to oppose the lawless actions of the United States, and any country that acts similarly. A high priority is opposing the imposition of unilateral coercive economic measures that violate the charter of the United Nations. The UN and its International Court of Justice have been ineffective in holding the U.S. accountable for its actions. No one country or one movement has the power alone to hold the United States accountable, but together we can make a difference. Join this campaign here.

With 39 countries targeted with sanctions, and other countries impacted because they cannot trade with those countries, nations are challenging the U.S.’ dollar domination. Countries are seeking to conduct trade without the dollar and are no longer treating the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency while also avoiding Wall Street. The de-dollarization of the global economy is a boomerang effect that is hastening due to the abuse of sanctions and will seriously weaken the U.S. economy.

Foreign Minister Zarif, who describes sanctions as “economic terrorism,” warned that “the excessive use of economic power by the United States, and the excessive use of the dollar as a weapon in U.S. economic terrorism against other countries, will backfire.”  As the blowback continues to grow, the negative impact on the U.S. economy may force the U.S. to stop using sanctions. The end of dollar domination will add to the demise of the failing U.S. empire.


End the Deadly Sanctions banner on the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. From the Embassy Defense Collective.

Time to end the use of illegal economic sanctions

The combination of countries acting against U.S. sanctions, and people’s movements pressuring the U.S. government has the potential to end the abuse of sanctions. The EU has moved to blunt the impact of the sanctions against Iran by creating an alternative to the U.S.-controlled SWIFT system for trade. This is spurring the end of the dollar as the reserve currency. Some officials in the EU have called for retaliatory sanctions against the U.S.
Trump left a small opening for potential diplomacy with Iran that could lead to the end of sanctions against that country. Trump bragged about the U.S. being the number one oil and gas producer, taking credit for an Obama climate crime, and therefore no longer needing to spend hundreds of millions a year to have troops in the Middle East. He concluded with a message to the “people and leaders of Iran” that the U.S. was “ready to have peace with all those who seek it.” He said the U.S. wanted Iran to have a “great and prosperous future with other countries of the world.”

That future is only possible if the U.S. moves to end the sanctions against Iran. Iranians have learned the U.S. cannot be trusted. Iran lived up to the requirements of the Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but Trump did not when he withdrew from it and re-instated draconian sanctions lifted by Obama. Trump added even move sanctions. This also angered European allies who had negotiated the agreement and were put in the position of being subservient to the U.S. or going against it. To regain Iran’s trust, the U.S. needs to make a good-faith gesture of ending punitive economic measures.

North Korea, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. longer than any other country, had a similar experience after they reached an agreement with the United States in 1994 under the Clinton administration.  The George W. Bush administration wanted to put in place a national missile defense system but the agreement with North Korea blocked that. John Bolton and Dick Cheney falsely accused North Korea of violating the agreement, increased sanctions against it and claimed it was part of the Axis of Evil, along with Iran, and Iraq. 

North Korea, like Iran, learned they cannot trust the United States. Sanctions are causing thousands of deaths in North Korea. Now, China and Russia are allied with North Korea and are urging relief from the U.S. sanctions. Russia and China have also ignored U.S. sanctions against Venezuela and continue to do business with it.

On December 17, the Senate passed a Sanctions Bill that put in place sanctions against corporations working with Russia to develop gas pipelines to Europe. The action is naked U.S. imperialism seeking to prevent Russia from being the main natural gas exporter (NS2) to the EU market and to replace it with more expensive U.S.-produced gas, a move to save the financially-underwater U.S. fracking industry. Russia, Germany, and others have defiantly told Washington its weaponizing of economic sanctions will not halt the gas pipeline construction. 

The indiscriminate, illegal and immoral use of sanctions is an act of war. Unless they are authorized by the United Nations, unilateral coercive measures are illegal. A critical objective of the peace and justice movement in the United States, working with allies around the world, must be to end this terrorist economic warfare. The U.S. economy currently depends on financial hegemony and war. The slow, steady collapse of the dollarized economy means the 2020s will be the decade U.S. domination comes to an end. The U.S. must learn to be a cooperative member of the global community or risk this isolation and retaliation.

Kevin Zeese is an American political activist who has been a leader in the drug policy reform and peace movements and in efforts to ensure a voter verified paper audit trail. Margaret Flowers, M.D., is a Maryland pediatrician seeking the Green Party nomination for the US Senate. She is co-director of PopularResistance.org and a board adviser to Physicians for a National Health Program and is on the Leadership Council of the Maryland Health Care Is a Human Right campaign.

This article was originally published by "PopularResistance" -

==================================
* Tegelijk stoken zoals gezegd CIA agenten het vuurtje op en bewapenen in veel gevallen een aantal scherpschutter moordenaars, zodat deze slachtoffers maken onder de demonstranten, vervolgens wordt de schuld daarvoor in de schoenen van de onwelgevallige regering geschoven..... Iets dergelijks wordt een 'false flag operatie' genoemd, de VS gebruikte dit o.a. in Oekraïne en Syrië, waar deze terreuroperatie in het laatste land mislukte.

Zie ook:
'Moordenaar van Soleimani komt om bij neerhalen van VS spionage vliegtuig in Afghanistan' 

'KLM vliegt weer over oorlogsgebied Iran - Irak, terwijl andere maatschappijen waaronder Air France het gebied mijden' (en zie de links in dat bericht anders, dan de hier getoonde)

'Soleimani moord: VS pleegde een daad van oorlog' 

'Rampvlucht TWA 800 vs. PS752'

'Trudeau (premier Canada): de VS is verantwoordelijk voor de vliegramp in Iran'

Voor meer berichten over sancties of andere zaken uit dit bericht, klik op de betreffende links, die je direct onder dit bericht terug kan vinden. 

Venezuela: VS verandering van regime mislukt >> de Venezolanen wacht een VS invasie

Na alle moeite die de VS zich al 20 jaar getroost om een eind te maken aan het democratisch gekozen socialistisch bewind van Venezuela, wijst alles erop dat de VS bezig is met Peru, Colombia en Brazilië, van wie de laatste twee landen grenzen aan Venezuela, een invasie voor te bereiden in dat land........

Er hebben in 2017 al vier grote militaire oefeningen plaats gevonden in Latijns Amerika en zelfs de NAVO schijnt nu een militaire basis te hebben in Brazilië, waarschijnlijk dezelfde als de 'tijdelijke' militaire VS basis in Brazilië, in de buurt waar Venezuela, Brazilië en Colombia aan elkaar grenzen...... Zoals gezegd: vorig jaar hebben er maar liefst 4 grote militaire oefeningen plaatsgevonden, met deelname van Colombia, Brazilië en Peru, alles o.l.v. de VS..... Eén van die oefeningen, 'Operation: America United' was zelfs de grootste militaire oefening ooit gehouden in Midden- en Zuid-Amerika (Latijns Amerika).........

Overigens heeft de VS al militaire bases in Colombia en het Caraïbisch gebied, onderhoudt daarnaast innige banden met andere landen in de buurt van Venezuela, wat dat betreft is Venezuela al omsingeld met VS militaire bases (uiteraard speelt ook Nederland weer 'een mooie rol' in deze...)

De VS is al meer dan 18 jaar bezig met een economische oorlog tegen Venezuela, al heeft deze tot nu toe weinig of niets opgeleverd wat betreft 'regime change'. Al onder 'vredesduif' Obama heeft de VS deze oorlog verscherpt en VS bedrijven 'dringend aangeraden' hun supermarktketens in Venezuela niet langer te bevoorraden. Hetzelfde deed de VS met buitenlandse investeerders en je weet het waarschijnlijk wel, als de VS dreigt, gehoorzamen de bedrijven en instellingen, daar ze het anders wel kunnen vergeten als bedrijf of instelling........

Als gevolg van deze boycot is er niet alleen een groot tekort aan levensmiddelen, maar bijvoorbeeld ook aan medicijnen. Daarmee kan de VS ten overvloede nog eens worden aangewezen als een terreurstaat, die schijt heeft aan ellende onder de gewone bevolking en aan mensenrechten, zoals dit gestolen land al zo vaak elders heeft laten zien, maar zeker in Zuid- en Midden-Amerika.......

De gewelddadige demonstraties in Venezuela van vorig jaar, werden ook al door de VS georganiseerd, waar zelfs gewapende groepen uit het buitenland werden ingezet tegen politie en leger van Venezuela......

In 2002 heeft er al een militaire coup plaatsgevonden in Venezuela, die met hulp van de (arme) bevolking de kop werd ingedrukt, een coup die zoals gewoonlijk werd geregisseerd door de CIA.......

Een militaire coup nu lijkt zeer onwaarschijnlijk ,daar het leger voor het overgrote deel achter de socialistische regering Maduro staat.

Lees het volgend uitstekende en sterk onderbouwde artikel dat duidelijk maakt waar de VS mee bezig is t.a.v. Venezuela, een artikel van Kevin Zeese en Maragaret Flowers, door Anti-Media overgenomen van Consortium News:

US Regime Change Fails in Venezuela: Military Coup or Invasion Next?

February 14, 2018 at 10:27 am

Written by Consortium News

(CN) — Several signals point to a possible military strike on Venezuela, with high-ranking officials and influential politicians making clear that it is a distinct possibility.

Speaking at his alma mater, the University of Texas, on February 1, Secretary of State Tillerson suggested a potential military coup in in the country. Tillerson then visited allied Latin American countries urging regime change and more economic sanctions on Venezuela. Tillerson is also reportedly considering banning the processing or sale of Venezuelan oil in the United States and is discouraging other countries from buying Venezuelan oil.

In a series of tweets, Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican from Florida, where many Venezuelan oligarchs live, openly called for a military coup in Venezuela. “The world would support the Armed Forces in #Venezuela if they decide to protect the people & restore democracy by removing a dictator,” the former presidential candidate tweeted.

How absurd — remove an elected president with a military coup to restore democracy? Does that pass the straight face test? This refrain of Rubio and Tillerson seems to be the nonsensical public position of U.S. policy.

The U.S. has been seeking regime change in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998. Trump joined Presidents Obama and Bush before him in continuing efforts to change the government and put in place a U.S.-friendly oligarch government.

They came closest in 2002 when a military coup removed Chavez. The Commander-in-Chief of the Venezuelan military announced Chavez had resigned and Pedro Carmona, of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, became interim president. Carmona dissolved the National Assembly and Supreme Court and declared the Constitution void. The people surrounded the presidential palace and seized television stations, Carmona resigned and fled to Colombia. Within 47 hours, civilians and the military restored Chavez to the presidency. The coup was a turning point that strengthened the Bolivarian Revolution, showed people could defeat a coup and exposed the US and oligarchs.

U.S. Regime Change Tactics Have Failed In Venezuela

The U.S. and oligarchs continue their efforts to reverse the Bolivarian Revolution. The United States has a long history of regime change around the world and has tried all of its regime change tools in Venezuela. So far they have failed.

Economic War

Destroying the Venezuelan economy has been an ongoing campaign by the US and oligarchs. It is reminiscent of the US coup in Chile which ended the presidency of Salvador Allende. To create the environment for the Chilean coup, President Nixon ordered the CIA to “make the economy scream.”

Henry Kissinger devised the coup noting a billion dollars of investment were at stake. He also feared the “the insidious model effect” of the example of Chile leading to other countries breaking from the United States and capitalism. Kissinger’s top deputy at the National Security Council, Viron Vaky, opposed the coup saying, “What we propose is patently a violation of our own principles and policy tenets .… If these principles have any meaning, we normally depart from them only to meet the gravest threat … our survival.”

These objections hold true regarding recent US coups, including in Venezuela and Honduras, Ukraine and Brazil, among others. Allende died in the coup and wrote his last words to the people of Chile, especially the workers, “Long live the people! Long live the workers!” He was replaced by Augusto Pinochet, a brutal and violent dictator.

For decades the US has been fighting an economic war, “making the economy scream,” in Venezuela.

Wealthy Venezuelans have been conducting economic sabotage aided by the US with sanctions and other tactics. This includes hoarding food, supplies and other necessities in warehouses or in Colombia while Venezuelan markets are bare. The scarcity is used to fuel protests, e.g. “The March of the Empty Pots,” a carbon copy of marches in Chile before the September 11, 1973 coup. Economic warfare has escalated through Obama and under Trump, with Tillerson now urging economic sanctions on oil.

President Maduro recognized the economic hardship but also said sanctions open up the opportunity for a new era of independence and “begins the stage of post-domination by the United States, with Venezuela again at the center of this struggle for dignity and liberation.” The second-in-command of the Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello, said, “[if they] apply sanctions, we will apply elections.”

Opposition Protests

Another common US regime change tool is supporting opposition protests. The Trump administration renewed regime change operations in Venezuela and the anti-Maduro protests, which began under Obama, grew more violent. The opposition protests included barricades, snipers and murders as well as widespread injuries. When police arrested those using violence, the US claimed Venezuela opposed free speech and protests.

The opposition tried to use the crack down against violence to achieve the U.S. tactic of  dividing the military. The U.S. and western media ignored opposition violence and blamed the Venezuelan government instead. Violence became so extreme it looked like the opposition was pushing Venezuela into a Syrian-type civil war. Instead, opposition violence backfired on them.

Violent protests are part of U.S. regime change repertoire. This was demonstrated in the U.S. coup in Ukraine, where the U.S. spent $5 billion to organize government opposition including U.S. and EU funding violent protesters. This tactic was used in early US coups like the 1953 Iran coup of Prime Minister Mossadegh. The U.S. has admitted organizing this coup that ended Iran’s brief experience with democracy. Like Venezuela, a key reason for the Iran coup was control of the nation’s oil.

Funding Opposition

There has been massive U.S. investment in creating opposition to the Venezuelan government. Tens of millions of dollars have been openly spent through USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy and other related US regime change agencies. It is unknown how much the CIA has spent from its secret budget, but the CIA has also been involved in Venezuela. Current CIA director, Mike Pompeo, said he is “hopeful there can be a transition in Venezuela.”

The United States has also educated leaders of opposition movements, e.g. Leopoldo López was educated at private schools in the US, including the CIA-associated Kenyon College. He was groomed at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and made repeated visits to the regime change agency, the National Republican Institute.

Elections

While the US calls Venezuela a dictatorship, it is in fact a strong democracy with an excellent voting system. Election observers monitor every election.

In 2016, the economic crisis led to the opposition winning a majority in the National Assembly. One of their first acts was to pass an amnesty law. The law described 17 years of crimes including violent felonies and terrorism committed by the opposition. It was an admission of crimes back to the 2002 coup and through 2016. The law demonstrated violent treason against Venezuela. One month later, the Supreme Court of Venezuela ruled the amnesty law was unconstitutional. U.S. media, regime change advocates and anti-Venezuela human rights groups attacked the Supreme Court decision, showing their alliance with the admitted criminals.

Years of violent protests and regime change attempts, and then admitting their crimes in an amnesty bill, have caused those opposed to the Bolivarian Revolution to lose power and become unpopular.  In three recent elections Maduro’s party won regional,  local and the Constituent Assembly elections.

The electoral commission announced the presidential election will be held on April 22. Maduro will run for re-election with the United Socialist Party. Opposition leaders such as Henry Ramos and Henri Falcon have expressed interest in running, but the opposition has not decided whether to participate. Henrique Capriles, who narrowly lost to Maduro in the last election, was banned from running for office because of irregularities in his campaign, including taking foreign donations. Capriles has been a leader of the violent protests. When his ban was announced he called for protests to remove Maduro from office. Also banned was Leopoldo Lopez, another leader of the violent protests who is under house arrest serving a thirteen year sentence for inciting violence.

Now, the United States says it will not recognize the presidential election and urges a military coup. For two years, the opposition demanded presidential elections, but now it is unclear whether they will participate. They know they are unpopular and Maduro is likely to be re-elected.

Is War Against Venezuela Coming?

A military coup faces challenges in Venezuela as the people, including the military, are well educated about US imperialism. Tillerson openly urging a military coup makes it more difficult.

The government and opposition recently negotiated a peace settlement entitled “Democratic Coexistence Agreement for Venezuela.” They agreed on all of the issues including ending economic sanctions, scheduling elections and more. They agreed on the date of the next presidential election. It was originally planned for March, but in a concession to the opposition, it was  rescheduled for the end of April. Maduro signed the agreement even though the opposition did not attend the signing ceremony. They backed out after Colombian President Santos, who was meeting with Secretary Tillerson, called and told them not to sign. Maduro will now make the agreement a public issue by allowing the people of Venezuela to sign it.

Not recognizing elections and urging a military coup are bad enough, but more disconcerting is that Admiral Kurt Tidd, head of Southcom, held a closed door meeting in Colombia after Tillerson’s visit. The topic was “regional destabilization” and Venezuela was a focus.

A military attack on Venezuela from its Colombian and Brazilian borders is not far fetched. In January, the NY Times asked, “Should the US military invade Venezuela?” President Trump said the US is considering US military force against Venezuela. His chief of staff, John Kelly, was formerly the general in charge of Southcom. Tidd has claimed the crisis, created in large part by the economic war against Venezuela, requires military action for humanitarian reasons.

War preparations are already underway in Colombia, which plays the role of Israel for the US in Latin America. The coup government in Brazil, increased its military budget 36 percent, and participated in Operation: America United, the largest joint military exercise in Latin American history. It was one of four military exercises by the US with Brazil, Colombia and Peru in Latin America in 2017. The US Congress ordered the Pentagon to develop military contingencies for Venezuela in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

While there is opposition to US military bases, James Patrick Jordan explains, on our radio show, the US has military bases in Colombia and the Caribbean and military agreements with countries in the region; and therefore, Venezuela is already surrounded.

The United States is targeting Venezuela because the Bolivarian Revolution provides an example against U.S. imperialism. An invasion of Venezuela will become another war-quagmire that kills innocent Venezuelans, U.S. soldiers and others over control of oil. People in the United States who support the self-determination of countries should show solidarity with Venezuelans, expose the U.S. agenda and publicly denounce regime change. We need to educate people about what is really happening in Venezuela to overcome the false media coverage.

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers co-direct Popular Resistance. [This article originally appeared at https://popularresistance.org and is republished with authors’ permission.]

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers / Republished with permission / Consortium News / Report a typo

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Ter herinneren aan de enorme agressie van de VS: 'VS buitenlandbeleid sinds WOII: een lange lijst van staatsgrepen en oorlogen..........' en:  'List of wars involving the United States'

Zie ook:
'Halliburton en Chevron hebben groot belang bij 'regime change' in Venezuela'

'Mike Pence (vicepresident VS) gaf Guaidó, de door de VS gewenste leider, groen licht voor de coup in Venezuela'

'VS coup tegen Maduro in volle gang........'

'VS weer op oorlogspad in Latijns-Amerika: Venezuela het volgende slachtoffer.......'

'Als de VS stopt met spelen van 'politieagent' en het vernielen van de wereld, zullen de slechte krachten winnen......'

'VS zet Latijns-Amerikaanse landen tegen elkaar op en is bezig met voorbereiding invasie Venezuela'

'Trump wilde naast de economische oorlogsvoering tegen Venezuela dat land daadwerkelijk militair aanvallen......'

'Venezolaanse regionale verkiezingen gehekeld door westen, terwijl internationale waarnemers deze als eerlijk beoordeelden..........'

'Venezuela: 'studentenprotest' wordt uitgevoerd door ingehuurde troepen.........' 

'Venezuela: Target of Economic Warfare'

'Venezuela moet en zal 'verlost' worden van Maduro, met 'oh wonder' een dikke rol van de VS en de reguliere westerse media'

'Venezolaanse regering treedt terecht op tegen de uiterst gewelddadige oppositie!!'

'Venezuela ontwricht, wat de reguliere media u niet vertellen........'

'VS steunt rechtse coalitie (MUD) in Venezuela.........'

'Venezuela’s US-Backed Opposition Turns Up The Violence Following Assembly Vote'

'10 Things You Need to Know About the Terrorist Attack in Venezuela'

'Venezuelans in the Streets to Support Constituent Assembly'

'What Mainstream Media Got Wrong About Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Vote' (met mogelijkheid tot directe vertaling)

'The Left and Venezuela' (met mogelijkheid tot directe vertaling)

'Rondje Venezuela schoppen op Radio1.........'

'Karabulut (SP) blij dat ze Maduro eindelijk ook kan schoppen.........'

'EU neemt uiterst hypocriet sancties tegen de Venezolaanse regering Maduro.........'

'Abby Martin Busts Open Myths on Venezuela's Food Crisis: 'Shelves Fully Stocked'' (zie ook de video in dat artikel!)

'Venezuela: de anti-propaganda van John Oliver (en het grootste deel westerse massamedia) feilloos doorgeprikt'