we've seen this movie so many times there's no doubt how it will end but that doesn't stop the empire as it attempts to march on, and here cole make some good points i hadn't previously considered;


There are many things wrong with National Security Adviser John Bolton, but the worst is his fixation on petroleum politics. His response to the complex crisis of Venezuela is to hope that US energy corporations can produce some of that country’s oil (“It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela.”) He probably deliberately let journalists see a note he had made about sending 5000 US troops to Colombia, which neighbors Venezuela, as a way of threatening Caracas.
The hawks around the isolationist Trump have slow-rolled him on his withdrawal plans and have even inveigled him into increasing US troop levels in some countries, such as Afghanistan and Syria, from which he now seems determined to withdraw.
Given Trump’s erratic and volatile temperament and given the even more erratic and volatile temperament of the far right wing nuts like Bolton with whom he has surrounded himself, the question arises whether the US will be dragged into a military engagement in Venezuela. Over oil..........https://www.juancole.com/2019/01/bolton-gerontocrats-venezuela.html

sent by a friend this am and i post with comment unnecessary;

fifteen minute video speaking about mandatory micro-chipping and how its coming our way. mark of the beast anyone;


https://youtu.be/bpXmdfkS4iw

the author's title for this is; if the world understood sovereignty it would solve all of our problems. the empire is once again showing us how it demands to rule the world, and most 'consumers' march along singing that song. as i've alluded to here i have neighbors who were once friends and aren't because i don't love the empire's aggression;


My own Australia has of course joined the chorus of US lackeys who are refusing to recognize Venezuela’s only legitimate and elected government, recognizing instead the presidency of some guy named Juan who decided to name himself Venezuela’s president with the blessing of the United States government. A statement from our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne, reads as follows:

Australia recognises and supports the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, in assuming the position of interim president, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution and until elections are held. Australia calls for a transition to democracy in Venezuela as soon as possible.
Australia supported the Lima Group’s early call for Nicolas Maduro to refrain from assuming the presidency on 10 January, relayed through our non-resident Ambassador to Venezuela.
We now urge all parties to work constructively towards a peaceful resolution of the situation, including a return to democracy, respect for the rule of law and upholding of human rights of the Venezuelan people.

It was only a matter of time before such a statement was issued. Australia has long served as Washington’s basement gimp, marching to the beat of US foreign policy on all issues no matter how idiotic or dangerous for as far back as I can remember. My country has seamlessly transitioned from British colony to US military/intelligence asset without ever once raising its head toward anything resembling national sovereignty except once briefly in the mid-seventies, which saw a CIA/MI6 coup oust our elected leadership here. This coup was preceded by our then-Prime Minister’s discovery that Australian intelligence officers had been operating as proxies of the CIA to overthrow the Allende government in Chile in yet another sovereignty-violating coup, one which has often been compared to what we’re seeing in Venezuela today...........https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/01/no_author/if-the-world-understood-sovereignty-it-could-end-all-our-problems/

you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried the hypocrisy is so prevalent and obvious once you begin to look into the stuff below the surface, and here its africa we're playing with again;

When US National Security Advisor John Bolton unveiled the new United States plan for Africa last December, few in Congress knew the closely guarded secrets of the plan that was already in progress for almost a year. The journalists, African dignitaries, US government officials, and political groupies in attendance at the Heritage Foundation event built around the announcement were “enlightened” on Donald Trump’s plans for recolonization of Africa.

The Africa policy Bolton revealed the essence of Donald Trump’s mission to assist in the final solution for underdeveloped nations worldwide. Trump’s “American First” campaign promise was the wakeup call to Africa and other continents, a call to pay attention to renewed American aggression. The National Security Advisor, making a speech on policy the Secretary of State should probably have made, warned all in attendance at the event:

“The United States will no longer provide indiscriminate assistance across the entire continent, without focus or prioritization… From now on, the United States will not tolerate this longstanding pattern of aid without effect, assistance without accountability, and relief without reform.”

Bolton went on to proclaim China and Russia as American adversaries on the continent, condemning them for “rapidly expanding their financial and political influence across Africa.” Trump’s right-hand man on dirty dealings around the globe called China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) “predatory practice,” as a stunned audience looked on. The core of his statements are stunningly honest and clear:

“We want something more to show for Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”

And that “something” is not in the best interests of the people of Africa, as anyone who’s studied Anglo-European meddling in African affairs can attest. Trump’s Africa plan is more or less the same as all previous US presidents, even though he and Bolton pretend this imperialism is something new. Bolton slung daggers at China for holding debt in Africa, when it is the Paris Club led by Americans that has most African nations over a debt barrel. The United States, Britain, Germany, Netherlands, and France are robbing African nations like the Sherriff of Nottingham, and there’s no Robin Hood in sight. In Bolton’s statements issued by the White House, we find:

“China uses bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands. Its investment ventures are riddled with corruption and do not meet the same environmental or ethical standards as U.S. developmental programs.”............https://journal-neo.org/2019/01/29/the-new-plan-for-africa-is-just-like-the-old-imperial-one/

here is a clear and concise description of what israel is and how it became that criminal enterprise;

A study by a Toronto-based consulting and research company has revealed that over the past fifty years mainstream reporting about Israel has been distorted to portray the Jewish state in positive terms while ignoring the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The media study, based on a computer analysis of 50 years of data, found that major U.S. newspapers have provided consistently skewed, pro-Israel reporting on Israel-Palestine. The slanting in news coverage included subtle manipulations like using word associations favorable to Israel and derogatory to Palestinians as well as persistent publication of stories praising Israel while also avoiding reporting anything supportive of the dispossessed Arab point of view.

The researchers from 416Labs were able to evaluate headlines and articles derived from five major U.S. newspapers: the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal during the time period 1967 to 2017. June 1967 was selected as the starting point to include coverage of the Six Day War and its aftermath, when Israel attacked Jordan, Egypt and Syria to begin its military occupation of Palestinian territory on the West Bank and Gaza.

No one should be surprised by media bias in favor of Israel given the dominance of Jewish owners and editors in the major media, but the study just might have gone one step farther and noted, as did Congressman Paul Findley in his book They Dare to Speak Out back in 1985, that much of the bias stems from the overseas correspondents covering the Middle East for the U.S. and European media also being overwhelmingly Jewish. And a review of the Israel-philia might have gone back even further in time to the foundation of the state in 1948 to find similar favorable coverage..........http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/israels-story/

i'm always amazed at how occupants of the empire believe its our right and duty to act as if we own the world and this author speaks clearly about that fantasy;

It truly is phenomenal. The massive death and destruction from U.S. interventionism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and the rest of the Middle East isn’t even over with, and yet interventionist dead-enders are now shifting their sights to Venezuela. One almost gets the impression that the dead-enders are saying to America, “Please, give us one more chance. We promise we’ll get it right this time.”

Obviously, the dead-enders are hoping that Americans forget the unmitigated disasters that interventionism has produced on this side of the world, such as in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, Chile, and others.

The time has come for the American people to raise their sights to a higher level, one that involves not only rejecting more interventionism in Venezuela but one that rejects interventionism entirely. It is the only solution to the foreign policy-woes in which interventionist dead-enders have mired our nation.

That necessarily means the following:

1. Bring home all U.S. troops from everywhere and discharge them into the private sector, since they will no longer be needed.
2. Abandon all U.S. military bases in foreign countries, including the Pentagon’s and CIA’s torture and prison center in Cuba.
3. End all foreign aid, including to pro-U.S. dictatorial regimes.
4. Restore a limited-government republic to our land, which necessarily means the dismantling of the national-security state branch of the federal government (i.e., the Pentagon, military-industrial complex, CIA, and NSA).............https://www.fff.org/2019/01/28/end-all-interventionism-not-just-in-venezuela/