In addition a recent post @BooMan ...

○ MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence alternate Lisa Pease here

In same year, who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy?

Was Sirhan Sirhan a patsy set-up to take the blame all by himself? Worked out well with Lee Harvey Oswald.

○ A Lie Too Big to Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (2018)

Lisa Pease was a blogger and contributor here @BooMan!
She wrote under the pseudonym Real History Lisa.

Related reading ...

○ The Right Finds Virtue in Extremism

"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."
[Source: Barry Goldwater - 1964 GOP Convention]

'Sapere aude'

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Washington DC, OAS special meeting Permanent Council on Thursday 24 January 2019

The Chair of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, Ambassador Carlos Calles Castillo, Permanent Representative of El Salvador, presents his compliments to all the delegations and has the honor to advise them that, at the request of the Permanent Missions of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and the United States
( CP/INF. 8180/19 ), he has called a special meeting of the Council for January 24, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. in the the Simón Bolívar Room, to consider "The recent developments in Venezuela," in accordance with the accompanying order of business.

Secr. Pompeo lays blame at Cuba, Russia and China for keeping Maduro in power in Venezuela. Calls the regime illegitimate and has de facto installed a new president calling on the military to safeguard the new president and his followers.

Remarks of US Secretary of State @SecPompeo today at #OAS Permanent Council on recent developments in #Venezuela #OEAconVzla @StateDept @WhiteHouse @VP @marcorubio @AmbCTrujillo @statedeptspox @StateDeputySPOX pic.twitter.com/mQZGVBUQux

— OAS (@OAS_official) January 24, 2019

○ Venezuelan general says US-backed 'criminal plan' risks civil war

○ Maduro brother, stand tall, Erdoğan tells Venezuelan president after US move | Hürriyet Daily News |

○ Russia's Putin: Foreign interference in Venezuela's internal affairs grossly violates international law

OAS Panel Dutifully Ignores Zionist Abuses, Pushes Venezuela Regime Change | MintPress - June 2018 |

Venezuela is in the vise-grip of a deep crisis; this much was undeniable even prior to the release of a 400-page report by a dubious "independent panel of experts" at the Organization of American States (OAS).

For the past several years, the South American country has been mired in crippling inflation, major shortages of food and goods, and widespread political turmoil. Tens of thousands of desperate people have spilled across the border, multiplying the presence of unauthorized Venezuelan migrants across the Andes. Cities have witnessed violent clashes between the anti-Chavista­ U.S.-backed opposition and the elected government of President Nicolas Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, with opposition forces firebombing public transportation systems and children's hospitals, and even burning alleged Chavistas alive in broad daylight.

Meanwhile, the streets themselves -- deprived of economic security - have become the stage for a virtual war between criminal elements, both organized and unorganized, and state security forces.

Do I smell another Maidan Revolt or Colour Uprising ??

'Sapere aude'

Pope says migration fears 'making us crazy' on trip to Panama | France24 News |

Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind. Francis responded: "It is the fear that makes us crazy."

The pontiff's plane touched down in Panama City in the afternoon and he was met by President Juan Carlos Varela and first lady Lorena Castillo, who escorted him along a red carpet laid on the tarmac.

Spectators waved Panamanian flags in greeting and shouted, "This is the youth of the pope!" After a brief welcoming ceremony, he was driven away from the airport and did not have any more activities scheduled for the evening.

Francis landed as Venezuela's protracted political crisis flared up, with the opposition president of the country's National Assembly declaring himself interim president and a number of regional countries including the United States recognizing him.

The Vatican had said previously that the pope would refrain from making explicit reference to Venezuela while in Panama, but the developments ensured he would face questions about the South American nation during the trip.

The Roman Catholic Church's first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.

Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa said Francis' message is likely to resonate with young Central Americans who see their only future free of violence and poverty in migrating to the U.S. - "young people who often fall into the hands of drug traffickers and so many other realities that our young people face."

Related reading ...

○ Democratic Ideologues, Populism and Identity Politics
○ Europe: A Brave Judeo-Christian Continent
○ Pope Francis Revolution - Europe's Destiny Is Multicultural

'Sapere aude'

Apparently the U.S. Justice Department got so much dirt on Trump & Kushner Enterprises that the man in the White House has become a puppet ... a paper tiger. Pompeo @State, Haspel @CIA and Shanahan @Pentagon running the show.

○ Trump names Mattis successor at Pentagon, says Syria pullout will be `slow'

After recent attacks by Israel on Iranian targets in Syria ...

○ Russia's rebuke of Israel's Syria strikes wasn't mere lip service | Ynet News - Opinion |

Today, @USTreasury sanctioned #Iran's regime for preying on refugees, using them as cannon fodder in Syria. This comes just days after Germany banned Mahan Air, and after recent action against the regime's despicable use of child soldiers. Maximum pressure continues.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 24, 2019

Perhaps business man and apprentice Donald Trump is meeting more often with lawyers than functioning in the role of President and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces ... #LongestShutdown

○ Michael Cohen postpones congressional testimony because of threats to family from Trump and Giuliani

'Sapere aude'

I think you're confusing the U.S and France....

Mr Clean, his beautiful wife and infant
LEAPS from the backbench!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Just disgusting an UK Foreign Minister speaking about shared values in the same breath as uttering the names of "Mike Pompeo" and criminal "John Bolton".

When threats to democracy occur around the world - from Venezuela to horrific conflict in Yemen - partnerships built on shared values are more important than ever. None more than with the US. Great to meet @VP @SecPompeo & @AmbJohnBolton in Washington today. pic.twitter.com/ZMIiuFbjci

— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) January 24, 2019

... and joining the US in threat for a military coup and process of regime change in Venezuela citing extreme poverty and economic bankruptcy.

○ Former top US military official: don't invade Venezuela [Gen Douglas M Fraser (ret)]

Embargo and sanctions on Venezuela ...

○ UN Independent Expert: Venezuela Should Take US to the International Court of Justice | MintPress |

What are the causes of today's economic crisis in Venezuela? The mainstream media would have us believe that it is attributable exclusively to the failure of the socialistic model ... too many ideologues, too few technocrats, amateurs who do not know how to run the economy. Even if there is some truth to that, other factors weigh in, notably the fall of oil prices, Venezuela's principal source of income.  Seldom do we read in the media about the economic war being waged against Venezuela since 1998, the internationally-inspired coup in 2002, sabotage of the economy by monopolies and the private sector, hoarding of foods and medicines to be resold in the black market, an enormous level of contraband of subsidized foods and medicines into Colombia, Brazil and Aruba, and the effects of Obama and Trump sanctions, sanctions by Canada and the European Union, all of which have aggravated the suffering.[Source: Norman Finkelstein]

Related reading ...

○ National security will take 'years' to rebuild in event of 'no-deal' Brexit
○ Anglo-American Values Don't Fit Europe, Time to Protest NATO Aggression

More ...

○ China, Russia and Iran: The "Axis of Energy" and the Next World Order by Jeff Huber @BooMan on Nov. 4, 2006
○ ***Media's Aggression towards López Obrador by XicanoPwr @EuroTrib on July 30, 2006

'Sapere aude'

About that march last week ...
Third Women's March Approaches With Movement Divided

But for several months, the Women's March movement has battled public relations problems, with several officials accused of anti-Semitism. ... But the controversy has driven some women to align with Wruble, who left the Women's March and founded a parallel organization, March On. ... on Saturday, they will march separately, and March On says it will not participate in the Washington rally.

A scaled-down, but still angry, Women's March returns

Despite pleas for unity, the internal tensions were most keenly felt in New York. An alternate women's march organization held a parallel rally a few miles away from the official New York Women's March protest, and one activist actually disrupted the main protest.

archived "women and minorities"
American Jews cheer Trump's antisemitism
FIFTH WAVE

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Argentine debt crisis ...

US Supreme Court decision liability state of Argentine for bonds owned by hedge funds

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, ruled that Argentina had violated a contractual promise to treat all bondholders equally.

Singer hedge fund Elliott Management profits from holding out in deal with creditors

Billionaires like Paul Singer fund the rise and election of a Republican president  ... even with a BIG dislike rating in polls for DT!

... all adds up to neocon policy which crossed the Atlantic after the attacks of 9/11. It helped cement a revolutionary conservative movement, the end game of a counter-revolution to the wild liberal years of the 1960s and 70s.

○ Goal for Next Decade: How to Harness Capitalism

'Sapere aude'

What has happened in Venezuela is a coup. Trump's denial is dangerous | The Guardian Opinion |  

At the dawn of the 21st century, Hugo Chavez invoked Bolívar's promise and when the poor, black, Amerindian people of Venezuela returned him to power, time and again, especially after the failed US-backed coup of 2002, he too radicalised his stance against the mighty empire Bolivar had only speculated about, America. Again, the promise was realised only in part. Some might say the revolution has been betrayed or stalled during the rule of his successor Nicolás Maduro. No one can deny Venezuela's problems. The very source of its magic in the 1970s, oil, has proven its downfall. Chavez did not win his country's independence from oil and its geopolitics.

Crisis loomed when global prices fell, production stagnated, the value of the currency dropped, and under Maduro, dependence on imports and retail monopolies meant shortages that hurt many. That responsibility lies with the government and the industrialist rightwing opposition. But to think that this opposition, revived by Juan Guaidó's self-proclamation spectacle, acts out of genuine concern for the poor, black people and Amerindians who empowered themselves during the years of the Bolivarian revolution would be foolish.

Enter Donald Trump: megalomaniac, erratic, liar. Calling out the interventionism of previous US administrations, which had been constant in their hatred for Chavez and their attempts to regain influence in the region, Trump promised to put an end to all such shenanigans. But on Wednesday, vice-president Mike Pence saluted Guaidó's self-appointment, observing that although Trump disliked intervening elsewhere, he "has always had a very different view of our hemisphere". That's an explicit invocation of the Monroe doctrine under which the US has held it as its responsibility to intervene in the Americas, which it sees as its backyard.

Reactivation of the Monroe Doctrine constitutes a threat to Latin America

During his appearance before the press, from the headquarters of the United Nations (UN), where the 73rd Period of Sessions is held in homage to the South African leader, Nelson Mandela, the venezuelan diplomat indicated that with the recent unilaterally sanctions, the United States government reopened the Monroe doctrine, using it as the basis of its policy in Latin America, which in its opinion constitutes aggression not only against Venezuela but with the 34 Latin American and Caribbean states.

"This confirms how they intend to destroy multilateralism and reaffirms us as a people who are on the right side of history (...) The Monroe Doctrine is an old doctrine, meaningless and President Donald Trump comes to reopen it as his policy in Latin America. This is an aggression against Venezuela and the other 34 Latin American and Caribbean states is an aggression from every point of view."

He stressed that the reactivation of the Monroe Doctrine in the 21st century opens a new chapter of a historic struggle that Latin America has tried to wage for more than 200 years.

"We have to say that another chapter has taken place over a historical struggle in our America, between the Monroe Doctrine and Bolivarianism. Simon Bolivar in 1818 already pointed out the danger of the nation that arose in the north. Over two centuries and when we thought it was an forgotten mater, remembering the words of former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who said that the Monroe Doctrine had already lost its life, President Donald Trump comes and exposes it again", said Arreaza.

In this regard, the venezuelan Foreign Minister recalled the words of our Liberator Simón Bolívar, who stated that "the United States seems destined by providence to plague all America of misery in the name of freedom", which in Arreaza's opinion is a clear sample for what the Monroe Doctrine intends to achieve, intervene in the nations and subject the peoples to the designs and policies of the North American empire.

○ Diebold, Hart Intercivic, Sequoia and ES&S are counting our votes
○ Review of California's electronic voting systems
○ Sequoia CEO Reportedly Lied About Foreign Ownership of Firm
○ Venezuela: Court Fight Between Smartmatic and Sequoia over Proposed Hart InterCivic Take-over of Sequoia

Previously posted ...

○ E-vote rigging in Venezuela | Wired - August 2004 |
○ Inside the British Army's secret information warfare machine | Wired - Nov. 18, 2018 |

'Sapere aude'

h/t generic

Afghan Taliban just released new photos of its Special Forces from its Salahuddin Ayyubi military training camp in Afghanistan.

1/3 pic.twitter.com/n9Pi8Iu7J7

— F. Jeffery 👁 (@Natsecjeff) January 19, 2019

More posts in weekly thread ...

○ Successful nation building

The night before Juan Guaidó declared himself Venezuela's interim president, he got a phone call from Vice President Mike Pence urging him to invoke a clause in the country's constitution to take over as interim president (_link)

— Michelle Hackman (@MHackman) January 25, 2019

'Sapere aude'