Some people were on to the scam of neoliberalism from the very beginning

If only others had been as prescient as Horacio Verbitsky

Argentine investigative journalist Horacio Verbitsky

By Eugene Robinson

Washington Post

November 3, 1991

Excerpt from report:

"What you see very clearly is the uncritical adoption of formulas and procedures, and that process reflects a lack of culture," said Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky, a frequent critic of [Argentine President Carlos] Menem's efforts to privatize state industries. "It is not going to produce development, but quite the opposite."

He contends that Menem has sold off the Argentine national airline and the state-owned telephone system without establishing a proper regulatory framework that will guarantee improved service and preclude price-gouging. "This is not how a single European country did it," he said. "This is not a classical capitalistic model that we're setting up."

"Why the rush to sell everything at once, which will surely drive the prices down?" Verbitsky asked. "And anyhow, why the notion that we have to develop with Anglo-Saxon traits? Japan did it with Japanese traits. The neoconservative wave has finally arrived in Latin America, but it's a bit late."

(click here to view entire report)

Noam Chomsky on the economy and democracy

Part I: Geithner Plan is recycled Bush/Paulson; We need nationalization and steps towards democratization



Part II: The best way to move forward is support unionization



Part III: It should be remembered that Germany went to the depths of barbarism in 10 years



Part IV: Obama's "army" is not a democratic model



Real News

March 26 - April

Bio

Noam Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. His works include: Aspects of the Theory of Syntax; Cartesian Linguistics; Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle); Language and Mind; American Power and the New Mandarins; At War with Asia; For Reasons of State; Peace in the Middle East?; Reflections on Language; The Political Economy of Human Rights, Vol. I and II (with E.S. Herman); Rules and Representations; Lectures on Government and Binding; Towards a New Cold War; Radical Priorities; Fateful Triangle; Knowledge of Language; Turning the Tide; Pirates and Emperors; On Power and Ideology; Language and Problems of Knowledge; The Culture of Terrorism; Manufacturing Consent (with E.S. Herman); Necessary Illusions; Deterring Democracy; Year 501; Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War and US Political Culture; Letters from Lexington; World Orders, Old and New; The Minimalist Program; Powers and Prospects; The Common Good; Profit Over People; The New Military Humanism; New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind; Rogue States; A New Generation Draws the Line; 9-11; and Understanding Power.

Alvaro Uribe's love for the freedom of expression

Alvaro Uribe and Freedom of Expression from Adam Isacson on Vimeo.

By Adam Isacson

Plan Colombia and Beyond

April 3, 2009

Sometimes, reading translated transcripts isn’t enough.

Here is a video, with English subtitles, of some of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s more heated attacks on journalists and peace activists in Colombia. In many cases, the president accuses his targets, without evidence, of supporting the FARC guerrillas. The impact on press freedom of such words, from a popular president speaking on nationally broadcast television, is immeasurably chilling...

(click here to view entire report)

The "dictatorship" canard about the government of Hugo Chavez

Take it from a mouthpiece of the Venezuelan opposition

By Francisco Toro

Caracas Chronicles

April 5, 2009

Excerpt from commentary:

On few topics is writing from a distance, from outside the oppo resonance chamber, a bigger asset. In oppo circles inside Venezuela, the Chavez-is-a-dictator trope is so entrenched, it's somehow become beyond debate, its truth too evident to any longer call for evidence or argument to support it.

Trouble is that, when they hear the word "dictatorship", the vast majority of people around the world understands something that's very far removed from the way Chávez exercises power...

(click here to view entire report)

All you need to know about the Venezuelan opposition

University students protesting President Hugo Chavez's non-renewal of RCTV's public broadcasting license confront a pro-Chavez motorcyclist in Caracas May 30, 2007. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins (VENEZUELA)

By Max Ajl

NACLA

April 2, 2009

Excerpt from commentary:

The [Venezuelan opposition blog Caracas Chronicles] recognizes the need to articulate a coherent, convincing discourse. Its writers note, "Whether we like it or not, getting people out of poverty and empowering them is the central debate in the coming years... If the opposition is to take power, we will need to have a social message."

The phraseology is revealing. The remark "whether we like it or not" suggests that parts of the opposition would rather ignore the overwhelming poverty faced by the vast majority of Venezuelans. The government's social programs have undisputedly helped alleviate that poverty. And Chávez's discourse's defining feature is a discussion of poverty and wealth. The opposition's failure to understand this simple fact points to an utterly impoverished moral imagination...

(click here to view entire report)

Guess who the most popular politician on earth is

United States President Barack Obama, wildly popular the world over, said he isn’t the globe’s most admired politician: the title belongs to Brazil's Lula da Silva

Surprising good chemistry between Lula and Obama

MercoPress

April 5, 2009

During a lunch at this week’s Group of 20 Summit in London, Obama shook hands with President Lula da Silva and said: "This is my man, right here. I love this guy".

A bemused Lula da Silva, who does not speak English, appeared to enjoy the comments as they were relayed by an interpreter, grasping Obama's outstretched hand with both of his.

Obama followed the comment by saying Lula da Silva is "the most popular politician on Earth" and that it is because of "his good looks".

(click here to view entire report)

U.S. lawmakers say normalize Cuba relations, then talk

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (L) talks next to Cuban Protestant church leader Reverend Raul Suarez (C) and U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush (R) during a visit at the Martin Luther King Memorial in Havana April 4, 2009.

By Marc Frank

April 5, 2009

HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States and Cuba should normalize diplomatic relations then sort out their differences, the head of a delegation of U.S. lawmakers on a visit to Cuba said on Sunday.

"Most of the members of our delegation believe we need to actually normalize relations and then the details of what that means would follow," Representative Barbara Lee, who is also chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said at a news conference...

(click here to view entire report)

Chavez says he wants to 'reset' relations with US

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, left, greets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, during the opening session of a summit of leaders from South American and the Arab League in Doha, Qatar Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Chavez is in the Middle East seeking support for his idea of a new oil-backed currency to challenge the U.S. dollar. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

By RACHEL JONES, Associated Press Writer

April 4, 2009

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he hopes to "reset" relations with the United States at an upcoming summit.

Despite recent criticism of President Barack Obama, Chavez said he wants to bring relations between the two governments back to a "rational level."

"I'll be willing to press the reset button," he said in a telephone call to Venezuelan state television from Iran. "I hope that will be the policy of President Obama."

(click here to view entire report)

G20 protests rock London's financial area

Thousands crowded into London's financial centre to make their protests heard



AlJazeera

April 2, 2009

While the differences between the big G20 players were quietly discussed behind closed doors, out on the streets of London there was real anger.

Hmmm, I wonder if this lady is a member of the Venezuelan opposition

Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza smiles during the Miss Venezuela 2008 beauty pageant in Caracas in September 10, 2008 file photo. Caracas-born Mendoza, 22, who visited the U.S. naval facility and the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from March 20 to 25 along with Miss USA Crystle Stewart, 27, enthused about her trip as an "incredible experience" in a blog entry posted on the Miss Universe website dated March 27, 2009. REUTERS/Susana Gonzalez/Files (VENEZUELA ENTERTAINMENT HEADSHOT)

By ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writer

April 1, 2009

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Miss Universe's blog posting about having fun at Guantanamo Bay has vanished from the pageant's Web site as embarrassed officials try to quash what they call a misunderstanding.

A flurry of critical commentary and news stories over the Venezuelan beauty queen's lighthearted post underscores that the military prison at Guantanamo remains a damaging symbol for the United States.

Dayana Mendoza's now-deleted late-March posting sounded like a note home from a spring breaker...

(click here to view entire report)

So much for democracy in Peru, I guess

President Alan Garcia: "The president can't pick his successor, but he can prevent the next president from being somebody he doesn't want"

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, and Peru's President Alan Garcia speak during a meeting at the presidential palace in Lima, Friday, March 27, 2009. Clinton was in Peru to sign a deal between the Clinton Foundation and the Ministry of Health to improve a cataract-surgery program in Peru. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

By Teresa Cespedes

LIMA, March 24 (Reuters) - President Alan Garcia promised foreign investors on Tuesday that Peru would enjoy long-term political stability and said he would try to block leftist candidates from winning the 2011 election.

Garcia's comments, made in an unusually candid speech to executives from Latin America, apparently aimed to alleviate fears in the business community about the candidacy of ultranationalist Ollanta Humala, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Humala nearly won the 2006 election and his plan then to unravel years of free market reforms sent financial markets reeling.

"The president can't pick his successor, but he can prevent the next president from being somebody he doesn't want," Garcia said...

(click here to view entire report)

Historic power shift in El Salvador

Journalist leads former guerrilla army to left's first presidential victory in country's history



Real News

March 19, 2009

Just over 17 years since the 1992 Peace Accords brought an end to El Salvador's vicious civil war, the country has seen its first peaceful transfer of power. V for victory hand signs and red flags were paraded throughout the country's streets as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, FMLN, won the presidency; thereby bringing to an end 20 straight years of rule by the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance, ARENA. El Salvador will be governed from the left for the first time since gaining its independence from Spain in 1821. The face of the victory was that of former television journalist Mauricio Funes, a political newcomer and the first FMLN leader to not have fought in the country's horrific 12-year civil war.