Two weeks after new NSS promises focus on Western hemisphere, Trump bombs Nigeria

Bombing Nigeria on Christmas day in order to protect Christians probably won't end well for the Christians. There have been tensions between Christian and Muslim tribes for centuries. In essence, Trump is jumping into a Nigerian civil war. But maybe he doesn't realize Nigeria isn't part of the Western Hemisphere? Meanwhile, the showdown with Maduro continues. It must cost a bundle to keep the greatest armada in history idling in the Caribbean for months on end. And to what purpose? A land invasion? Shock and awe and a quick decapitation strike? Installing the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner in the presidential palace? Bringing back Random Guaido from his adjunct professorship in Florida to assume his rightful place as unelected leader of the nation? So many great options, but nothing's happening. Why? I don't want to rain on Trump's parade of retarded policy initiatives, but here's a thought. Why not scrap all sanctions on Venezuela, and prove to the Venezuelan people that America can actually be a force for good. Strike some legit nation-to-nation accords on letting American multinationals participate in the oil industry. Stop interfering in their politics. Why piss away billions in futile attempts to coherce Venezuela when you could be making billions playing nice? What a bunch of hubris-blinded zealots.

Canada wants to overthrow socialist Maduro, but sends money to fascist Duque

There's a nifty half-pager on A11 of today's Globe and Mail, all about how kindly Canada is sending $30 millions to kindly Colombia to help the millions of refugees fleeing the regime of the evil dictator next door. Writer Natalie Alcoba manages to avoid any mention of America's all-out campaign to destroy the economy of Venezuela, by far the most significant driver of the situation in that country today.

Canada has been a willing junior partner in that manifestly illegal and immoral mission, imposing our own sanctions three years ago, around the time Chrystia Freeland "took charge" of the Lima Group, a smelly concoction brewed up in Washington, as everyone was well aware. We still officially recognize the hand-picked US stooge Juan Gauido as the legitimate president of Venezuela, which is a truly bold stretch of the very concept of democracy.

Alcoba mentions in passing that over 400 human rights defenders have been murdered in Colombia since 2016. That would be folks like union organizers and human rights workers; you know, the usual troublemakers. They seem to die more often in Colombia than anywhere in the world! Too bad she had to leave out the fact that these murders are carried out by right-wing death squads linked to the government.

Probably a good thing. You wouldn't want the public to ask why we'd be sending money to a country that facilitates death squads, while simultaneously sanctioning a country that had a better record of bringing masses of people out of poverty than any other in Latin American. 

The truth is more important now than ever

I look forward to my New York Times International Weekly, which is included at no extra charge with my Sunday Star. It gives country bumpkins like me a chance to view true world-class journalism, unlike the crap those hacks in Toronto shovel out. I also have a hunch that recycling NYT copy is way cheaper than paying their own writers for original work.

In this era of truth being more important than ever, it's surprising how much truth the Times' world-class journos forget to include in their stories. Ruth Maclean reports on the conflict in Mali, and totally forgets to mention said conflict was unleashed when the USA destroyed Libya.

Julie Turkewitz reports on the heart-breaking plight of children in Venezuela. It truly is heart-breaking, but in a half-page story, there is nary a mention of the devastating sanctions the US has imposed on the country.

Alissa Rubin informs us that these are the "worst days ever for Iraqis." The poor sods are getting it from all sides. Collapsed oil prices, a collapsed economy, collapse upon collapse, and the ever-present meddling of the Iranians behind it all. If any of Iraq's travails had anything whatsoever to do with the USA's destruction and continued occupation of the country, you'd never know it from Rubin's story.


For an outfit that coined the slogan "The truth is more important than ever," that's a pretty slovenly performance.

US sanctions strangle Venezuelan economy

Finally, an honest headline about Venezuela on the CBC!

Well, not quite. The full headline reads "Venezuala exodus passes four million as US sanctions strangle Venezuela economy."

The exodus.

The sanctions.

The strangulation...

Canada's shameful "leadership" of the Lima Group is aiding and abetting the strangulation of Venezuela. Does anybody think that it's Maduro and his buddies who are skipping meals because of this strangulation?

Of course not. We, the politically correct and infinitely virtuous people of Canada, are fully aboard with America's strangulation of Venezuela's economy, realizing full well that it's the little people who are most hurt by those sanctions.

Hurt enough to flee their country in the millions, according to this story.

And if we persevere, if we help Uncle Sam tighten the noose around the neck of the Venezuelan people, maybe, eventually, those desperate people will acquiesce to having a leader imposed who they never voted for.

That will be a tremendous victory for democracy and freedom!

Fluffy's false equivalencies

That PM Sunny Daze is one slippery little goober, ain't he? In fact, he's so brazen about it that even the pot-addled hillbilly up here in the backwoods can spot this ruse.

Remember when he was apologizing for that unfortunate MS St. Louis business not too long ago? Did you notice that crafty segue into anti-BDS polemics?

That's a false equivalence. Trudeau is apologizing because we did the wrong thing eighty years ago, yet he's associating our swinery and cowardice with the BDS campaign that's trying to do the right thing today.

Then just the other day I heard him defend our support for the coup in Venezuela by comparing Maduro to Pinochet. Hmm... toss that one over in your mind for a moment.

Allende: elected president of Chile,

Pinochet: US stooge installed after democracy restored,

Maduro: elected president of Venezuela,

Guaido: US stooge about to be installed, and then democracy will have been restored.

No, Justin, you're not on the side of Allende by supporting Guaido over Maduro.

Now, I don't go out of my way looking for stories about the adventures of PM Sunny Daze, and I just happened upon these exemplars of deceit in the course of getting my daily news fix. He could be pulling this stuff multiple times every day... maybe even every time he sees a news camera and a microphone!

Here's an idea. The money-losing Toronto Star has had an official Trump fib-tracker living large in Washington DC for a couple years now. Is that because it's really important for Canadians to know how often Donny J tells a whopper?


The think tank here at Falling Downs figures that Fluffy's sly deceptions are of far more import to Canadians. Why can't the Star use their dwindling resources for the benefit of their readers, pull Danny Dale out of DC, and put him in charge of exposing Trudeau's untruths instead?

Justin and Chrystia double down on Trump appeasement strategy

Having completely and utterly fumbled the China file, I see where our dynamic duo of diplomacy are busy trying to further ingratiate themselves with the Bolton-Trump-Pompeo combine by doing Uncle Sam's bidding with the so-called "Lima Group."

Canadian journalist Andrew Mitrovica does a nice job of exposing our hypocrisy in this story at Al Jazeera. There's a reason you're reading it at AJE and not in the Globe and Mail. Our "free press" are doing all they can to obscure the fact that what our PM and Foreign Minister are really up to is desperately trying to curry favour with the war-mongers in Washington.


Much has changed in the two years since Justin thought it would be clever to give Mafia Don a poke in the eye with that virtue-signalling tweet welcoming the world's downtrodden and oppressed. It's a complete embarrassment to watch Justin and his Foreign Minister go all-in for America's regime change plans in Venezuela.

This is not what our last PM Trudeau would have done.

Spinning Venezuela

"World leaders back Guaido in a divided Venezuela." That's a headline on page A5 in today's Globe and Mail.

Which world leaders? All of them? Most of them? Some of them? Or the usual gang of Uncle Sam's flunkies who enthusiastically toady to every whim of the Exceptional Nation?

Seems like it's the last of those options. Then why not give us an honest headline, something along the lines of "US and some allies back Guaido in divided Venezuela?" After all, anyone remotely informed knows that Venezuela has been in the cross-hairs of America's military-industrial machine since the election of Chavez twenty years ago, and throughout those twenty years the US has worked tirelessly to undermine the elected government and divide the Venezuelan people.

Stephanie Nolen's article takes pains to emphasize Canada's role in the unfolding drama, because "punching above our weight" sells well here. The reality of our involvement is that we're at every step doing the bidding of the Trump regime, but that's a truth that won't go down well with the Canadian public, so let's bamboozle our readers with loads 'o horseshit about freedom and democracy and standing up to evil dictators.

Funny how the Nations of Virtue can speak with one voice about authoritarianism in a state on Washington's shit list, but when a house pet of the West like Paul Kagame wins 99% of the vote in a "free and fair" (nudge, wink, ahem..) election, we congratulate him on his success!

Canada's official state media take a similar tack on the Venezuela story. Our "quiet diplomacy" is inching that aching land towards freedom, dontcha know! Of course we are! Chrystia Freeland herself takes great pride in her work advancing Washington's agenda, as is obvious when you read the article. Sometimes the only way to advance democracy is by overthrowing the elected leader and putting in someone more amenable to taking direction from Washington, as we saw a few years ago in Ukraine, and in Honduras before that.

Here's a story I haven't seen at CBC or in the Globe; UN special rapporteur Alfred de Zaya says US sanctions are killing people in Venezuela. Not only that, but the international law expert says those sanctions are illegal and a crime against humanity.

You'd think an impartial news service interested in informing its readership would throw that into the mix somewhere, wouldn't you?

When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow

That quote, attributed to Democratic Congressman Mendel Rivers, reflects the prevailing attitude in Washington in the '60's. The "Gooks" were turning out to be more resilient than we had anticipated, but we had 'em by the balls, so any day now, their hearts and minds would come around.

Or not.

When you've got Venezuela's economy "screaming," it's fair to say you've got them by the balls, and if Mendel was right, it won't be long till their hearts and minds follow.

Yesterday Juan Guaido declared himself the legitimate president of Venezuela. It took Mafia Don about five minutes to tweet out his support for the unelected Guaido, followed five minutes later by rousing endorsements from Canada and a handful of other me-too nations.

The coming civil war in Venezuela South America will eventually prove that Trump, Freeland, et al are just as wrong about Venezuela today as Congressman Rivers was about Viet Nam fifty years ago.

In the short term, people who have been pushed into precarious subsistence will vote for anyone who promises them a sense of security. That's essentially the rise of the Nazis after the Great War. That's also behind the rise of so-called populists who have been experiencing electoral success after decades of neoliberal excess.

But it's only a short term phenomenon.

Venezuela, and South America generally, has a long history of anti-colonialism. Our "free press" avoids mentioning the fact that Maduro continues to enjoy substantial popular support among his people. Installing the unelected Guaido as President will galvanize that support, and I do not believe that Guaido can be maintained in power without outside help.

Even though Trump has said "all options are on the table" with respect to Venezuela, I don't see American boots on the ground there.

But I do see Brazilian and Colombian boots on the ground. Those are two countries almost as eager as Canada to curry favour with the Beltway Bullies. They'll gladly play the role of Uncle Sam's proxy warriors.

Problem is, their "democracies" are at least as flawed as Venezuela's. Both Brazil and Colombia have huge swathes of people who, given a full belly and a roof, would be vehemently against any US sponsored hostility towards the Maduro government.


Outside intervention in Venezuela is doomed, as are the governments of South American countries who agree to do America's bidding there.

After twenty years of relentless hostility from US, Venezuela endgame in play

It's simply amazing to witness how the US, a nation politically paralyzed for the past two years because Putin's minions allegedly interfered in its democracy with hostile Facebook posts, has absolutely no qualms about interfering in Venezuela on a massive scale. Facebook adverts are quite a different matter than having VP Pence openly call for a military coup against the lawful government of Venezuela.

US sanctions have succeeded in "making the economy scream," a turn of phrase coined by Henry Kissinger back when the US was busy overthrowing the democratically elected government of Chile. There is an entire generation in Venezuela that has come of age knowing nothing but US sanctions.

Unfortunately for all concerned, the "end game" is unlikely to be the end of anything, but rather, the beginning of something that should be obvious to the Gods of War in Washington if they weren't blinded by their own propaganda. Namely, any government seen as imposed by the Yanqui is going to face massive popular resistance. Maduro may be deposed, but Chavismo will get a second wind, and not only in Venezuela.

After the successes that US regime-change campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria have enjoyed this century, you'd think that the Exceptional Nation might pause and consider the consequences of its actions, but apparently this is not a requirement when you're exceptional.


And what's truly embarrassing is how keen our Freeland-Trudeau team are to ingratiate themselves with the war-mongers in DC. We used to have a PM Trudeau who charted an independent course for Canada.

Pierre must be spinning in his grave.

Freeland dancing to Trump's tune

There are at this moment two stories on view at the CBC News home page that are intimately related but don't appear to be.

Canada is taking a leading role in proclaiming the illegitimacy of the Maduro government, while simultaneously mounting an "anti-tariff charm offensive."

We're all-in with the US led not-so-charming regime-change offensive against Venezuela. Why, Canadians would never countenance normal relations with any kind of dictatorship, would we? Unless of course they were a significant purchaser of our military hardware or something...

Here's the picture that tells the story.



That's our Foreign Minister making nice with former CIA boss and current Sec of State Mike Pompeo, a man with way more blood on his hands than the hapless Maduro.

Chrystia: Make sure Donald understands we're doing everything we can to isolate the evil dictator Maduro.

Mike: You can count on it, Chrystia! And if you can assure me that Canada is 100% on board with the coalition of the willing when we go in to restore democracy, maybe Donald will see his way clear to undo those pesky steel and aluminum tariffs.


Our hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Canada keen to do Trump's bidding in Lima Group

The Lima Group was formed in 2017 by those countries in the Western Hemisphere most desperate to curry favour with the USA. It's purpose is to further the US goal of regime change in Venezuela, an exercise framed as "saving the Venezuelan people from socialism."


Trump's little helper lectures Venezuela on democracy

It therefore comes as no surprise to find this headline at CBC News: Canada, Latin American countries won't recognize Maduro's new government. Nor does it come as a surprise that Mike Pompeo joined this "independent" group of countries via video link at their recent shindig in Peru.

Anyone who cares about Canada's image on the world stage should take a good hard look at who we're throwing our lot in with when we participate in the Lima Group. None of our partners make it into the top ten in the Cato Institute's Human Freedom Index. (Canada is ranked no. 5) In fact, only four of our twelve partners make it into the top fifty!

We're issuing joint declarations with the likes of Honduras and Guatemala! That's bound to make our stock go up in human rights circles! The kind of flowery rhetoric preferred by the Freeland-Trudeau team when addressing human rights concerns could just as well be aimed at most of our "allies" in the Lima Group.

What do we even have in common with Macri's Argentina or Bolsonaro's Brazil? On the face of it, not very much. (Argentina and Brazil rank 107 and 123 on the Human Freedom index and 52/102 on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, and both are trending down)

Except for one thing; anti-Trump grandstanding aside, we're as desperate as any of those banana republics to curry favour with the Big Dog in DC.

Fresh brain fart from world's greatest intellectual smells suspiciously like last one

You don't have to work the google button very hard to find copious examples of the great BHL's ruminations on the need for regime change in Syria, and before that, Libya. In fact, he was advocating regime change in Syria even before the Coalition of the Self-Righteous was done murdering Gaddafi.

You'd think that the state of affairs in those two countries six years later would cast doubt on Mr. Levy's skills as a prognosticator, but apparently not. Here he is in my Globe and Mail today.

Yes, "we" have a duty to bring the gift of regime change to yet another country that's done absolutely nothing to threaten "us," but happens to be on Washington's shit-list, Venezuela.

Imperial meddling isn't just something we should do because we're militarily stronger and will get away with it. No, "we have a duty." Accordingly, Mr. Levy provides a long list of prescriptions for what the UN should do, what Washington and London and Paris should do, etc.

What is truly astonishing is even as his counsel has contributed to the destruction of the wealthiest country in Africa and the last secular Arab society in the Middle East, and created the worst refugee crisis in the modern era, reputable media outlets continue to offer him a platform to bray for more of the same.