Comments on: Venezueula: The center may not hold

By: Russell King

Russell King — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:31:34 +0000

Larry Johnson, over at noquarterusa.net, (the ex CIA guy who is on the progressive side) says this is crap:

the bogus memo allegedly written to the Director of the CIA by some nimrod diplomat at our Embassy in Venezuela. Dubbed Operation Pliers (on some websites) and Pincers (on others), we are offered a peek behind the curtain of CIA efforts to topple Chavez. It starts off:

November 20,2007

MEMORANDUM CONFIDENCIAL

De: Michael Middleton Steere, US Embassy

Para: Michael Hayden, Director Agencia Central de Inteligencia.

Asunto: Avance de la Fase Terminal de la OperaciÃ³n Tenaza

Tomando en consideraciÃ³n los anteriores avances documentales en torno a la OperaciÃ³n Tenaza que coordina Humint en Venezuela segÃºn la directiva 3623-g-0217, cumplo en informarle para los fines consiguientes, del status actual de dicha operaciÃ³n, la cual entra en su fase terminal segÃºn lo estimado.

As the official bubble burster let me state for the record, this is patent nonsense. State Department officers do not write memos to Hayden. Particularly mid-level Foreign Service Officers. A CIA officer under diplomatic cover sends his communications to headquarters via an encoded message. We call these messages cables, harkening back to the days of telegraphs and telegrams.

This, in my judgment, is the workâ€“very clumsy work at thatâ€“of the Venezuelan intelligence service eager to build on the truth that the United States has sought to oust Chavez. All of this is quite convenient with Venezuelan elections on the horizon. It may be hamhanded, but for internal Venezuelan consumption, this is brilliant psyops and should help Chavez further demonize the equally clumsy Americans.

By: Eli Stephens

Eli Stephens — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:31:46 +0000

Here’s a PDF link to a VERY interesting poll about attitudes of Venezuelans. About 2/3 support the direction Venezuela is going in, although fewer (although still a majority) support the referendum.

By: Bob Morris

Bob Morris — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:29:23 +0000

Regardless of who wins, the losing side will claim fraud and foul, with more confrontation and street fighting.

And a country can only take so much of that until it fractures.

By: Mal Contends

Mal Contends — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:34:02 +0000

With no sense of irony, Roger Cohen pens an op-ed this morning in the New York Times telling President Hugo ChÃ¡vez of Venezuela to shut up, and halt that economic model to which Cohen objects.

Cohen was quoting the paragon of democracy, King Juan Carlos of Spain, who “got it right when he recently interrupted ChÃ¡vezâ€™s trademark verbal diarrhea with a brusque: “Why donâ€™t you just shut up?”

To democratic minds, it’s monarchs like Carlos who are repulsive and obscene, an assault on the very notion of democracy. [Democracy etiquette tip: When in the presence of monarchs like Juan Carlos, politely interrupt and remind them that they are grotesque anachronisms.]

So it comes as no surprise that ChÃ¡vez, elected, re-elected, and committed to using the spoils of oil to spread the wealth around to the poor should be such a pain to the monarch Carlos and the imperialist-minded Cohen, who take it as an assumption that they have a right to tell the people of Venezuela and its president how to conduct themselves.