The blog This Ain’t My First Rodeo recently linked to one of my posts on Chávez’s growing ties with Iran, a story I ran with from Mexico’s largest and most respected newspaper El Universal that reported that at least two of Mexico’s drug cartels were sending some of its personnel to Iran for training. Apparently, I am “poisoning the well” for some future US invasion of Latin America. His post is so full of misinformation that I have decided to lasso him with a rope of facts.

Here is the relevant part of his post entitled appropriately enough World War III DEA Disinformation Chatter Sending Red Flags in Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela:

Just this week, my news filters started picking up what increasingly appears to be a disinformation campaign aimed at “poisoning the well” in Latin America:

* “DEA Reports Show That Mexican Cartel ‘Thugs’ Are Receiving Training From Iranian Revolutionary Guard”

* “Mexican Drug Cartels and Islamic Radicals Working Together”

* “The Caracas-Tehran Axes”

Something is up. They are cranking up the propaganda machine perhaps in preparation for a future deployment of U.S. forces in Mexico, Colombia and/or Paraguay. For now, their intention seems to be to threaten and to terrorize. Imagine that.

Mexico, in stoking up the heat on the drug cartels, has fallen into anarchy within its northern states along the U.S. border. Although the Bush Administration recently announced funding support for the Mexican military in their violent struggle against the Sinaloa Federation and Gulf Cartels, it is possible that more direct support may have been “placed on the table,” even though the cartels have devolved into interior power struggles and internecine wars for territorial control.

Bolivia and Ecuador are lining up with our OPEC “enemy,” Venezuela, who currently supplies 25% of our imported oil. Both are currently experiencing diplomatic conflagrations with the right-wing government of Colombia, which the Bush Administration supports. Issues involve Colombia’s alleged cross-border incursions into Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela in pursuit of left-wing guerrillas whom Colombia claims have been given sanctuary by them. Venezuela has vehemently denied any support.

All the while, the Bush Administration has recommissioned the 4th Fleet and sent it to the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela. The Navy has already launched acts of provocation, in the form of “accidental” flyovers of Venezuelan island territories in the Caribbean, drawing protests from Chavez. At the same time, Ecuador demanded that the United States close its airbase in that country, which we did, moving it to Colombia.

Last week, it was revealed that George W. Bush’s man in Bogota, President Álvaro Uribe [right], just happens to be one of the former captains of Colombia’s infamous Madeline cocaine cartel, led by Pablo Escobar [left], who was “reportedly” killed in a joint operation of DEA and Colombian government forces in the 90s. What appears to have occurred is that CIA and Mossad handlers lost control over both Escobar and Daniel Noriega of Panama after Vice President George H. W. Bush, Oliver North and John P. Walters, who is not surprisingly the current “Drug Czar” under George W. Bush-43, spent so much “persuasive” effort in bringing them into the CIA Colombian “plaza” in order to benefit the Contra counter-revolution against Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.

This should be fun. Where to begin. Let’s start with the assertion that the United States imports 25% of its oil from Venezuela. It’s actually more like 9%. According to the Energy Information Agency, the United States imported 1,166,000 barrels of oil from Venezuela in May 2008 out of a total import of 12,742,000 barrels. Doing the math, that’s 9.15%. The United States imports more from Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico than it does from Venezuela. Furthermore, not all hydrocarbons are created equal. The ideal is light sweet crude and that comes largely from the Middle East. Venezuela’s oil is a heavy gook which requires special refineries for processing. Those refineries are largely in the United States and the Virgin Islands so Venezuela’s oil of necessity has but few markets. Not to say that if Venezuela were cut its supplies to the US that wouldn’t hurt the US, it would, but it would also cripple Venezuela, a country that cannot even feed itself. Venezuela is, for now, more dependant on the US than the US is on Venezuela.

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My post, my views.

Ok, I may use profanity every once in a while but I usually do not get really angry.

I should have known better than click on that link that Lambert posted (I won’t reproduce it here). And I definitely should have known better than read the comments.

It started with the usual stuff that makes Lambert’s title so right on target: If you don’t support Obama, go f– yourself or any variation of that theme, traitors, etc.

And then I read this and I thought I was going to lose it. Like my title says, I’m still trembling with rage:

“At the end of WWII, all the French whores who serviced the Germans were rounded up. Their heads were shaved, and they were tarred and feathered.

At the end of a war, the victorious side settles its debts. If you helped, you get a reward. If you did not help, you are in serious trouble.
Posted by dataguy”

“I like the shaven head and tar and feathering idea for Clintonistas!!
Posted by Mandy”

And then happily moving on the claiming an absence of misogyny.

Maybe it’s because I’m French and my grandparents were members of the resistance and AGAINST the head shaving disgrace. Most of the shaving was done by former collaborators who suddenly had turned resistant zealots when they felt the way the wind was blowing. But I guess ignorance of history is no problem.

I never thought I’d say this: I hate these people.

Charles: feel free to delete if you don’t think it’s appropriate.

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Here is the Thursday, July 17th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Bush Claims Executive Privilege in Plame Case
President George W. Bush invoked executive privilege to avoid turning over records of an FBI interview of Vice President Dick Cheney and other documents subpoenaed by Congress in the CIA leak investigation. So much for that bravado that he would spare no effort in determing the source of the leak. More from the Washington Post.

Petrodollars and Geo-Politics
The Los Angeles Times examines how nations with vast oil wealth are gaining clout. It is actually the largest transfer of wealth in human history. Here’s the LA Times synopsis:

Some autocratic governments are challenging U.S. policies and silencing domestic dissent. But their increased spending raises the risk of inflation, which could erode popular support.

UK Unemployment Rate Rises Sharply
Unemployment last month rose at its fastest rate since the depths of the early 1990s recession, as the turmoil in the housing and financial markets continued to take its toll on the UK economy. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose for the fifth month in a row, the Office for National Statistics said. The rise - of 15,500 to 840,100 - is the biggest since December 1992. The jobless rate remained at a low 2.6%. The broader labour force survey measure rose 12,000 between March and May to 1.62 million. That was the third rise in a row although the unemployment rate stayed at 5.2%. Complete details from the UK Guardian.

China Economic News
China’s economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter under the weight of slower exports and a drive by the central bank to tighten credit, but inflationary pressures remained uncomfortably high, the government said Thursday. Annual gross domestic product growth slowed to 10.1 percent in the second quarter from 10.6 percent in the first three months of the year and 11.9 percent in all of 2007, the National Bureau of Statistics said. While consumer inflation slowed to 7.1 percent in June from 7.7 percent in May, pipeline price pressures grew. More from the International Herald Tribune.

The Impact of High Energy Prices on Asia
The Asia Times looks at how Asian economies and Asian consumers are coping with the rise in energy prices.

When it comes to energy conservation, Japan provides a glaring counterpoint to the United States. Consider what has happened in both countries since the first oil shock of the mid-1970s when prices quadrupled.

That price hike initially led to a drive for fuel efficiency in the US, Western Europe and Japan. It also gave a boost to the idea of developing renewable sources of energy. Ever since, Japan has followed a consistent, long-range policy of reduction in petroleum usage, while the US first wavered and then fell back dramatically.

Under the presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, the US modestly improved the fuel efficiency of its vehicles, as stipulated by a federal law. Carter also announced a $100 million federal research and development program focused on solar power and symbolically had a solar water heater installed on the White House roof.

During the subsequent presidency of Ronald Reagan, when oil prices fell sharply, energy efficiency and conservation policies went with them, as did the idea of developing renewable sources of energy. This was dramatized when Reagan ordered the removal of that solar panel from the White House.

In the private sector, utilities promptly slashed by half their investments in energy efficiency. President George H W Bush, an oil man, followed Reagan’s lead. And his son, George W (along with Vice President Dick Cheney, former chief executive of energy services giant Halliburton) has done absolutely nothing to wean Americans away from their much talked about “addiction to oil”.

Even now, instead of urging Americans to cut oil usage (and putting a little legislative heft behind those urgings), politicians of both parties are blaming soaring gas and diesel prices on “speculators”, conveniently ignoring how thin a line divides “speculators” from “investors”.

In Japan, on the other hand, the government and private companies have stayed on course since the first oil shock. Despite the doubling of Japan’s gross domestic product during the 1970s and 1980s, its annual overall levels of energy consumption have remained unchanged. Today, Japan uses only half as much energy for every dollar’s worth of economic activity as the European Union or the United States. In addition, national and local authorities have continually enforced strict energy-conservation standards for new buildings.

It is, again, Japan that has made significant progress when it comes to renewable sources of energy. By 2006, for instance, it was responsible for producing almost half of total global solar power, well ahead of the US, even though it was an American, Russell Ohl, who invented the silicon solar cell, the building block of solar photovoltaic panels, which convert sunshine into electricity.

Belgium: The World’s Most Successful Failed State
Leave it to Der Spiegel to come up with the clever headline. In this report, the German news magazine ponders:

Chaos has returned to Belgium’s capital: The government has collapsed, the prime minister has offered his resignation. German newspapers on Wednesday wonder if the linguistically divided country will ever get its act together.

I adore Belgium and I have one very good Belgian friend from Oostende. No doubt, Belgian beer and chocolates are the world’s best. Most European countries have a linguistic divide, the problem in Belgium is that the divide is also a significant cultural and economic one. I have been briefly to Wallonie but I am always more drawn to Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and, above all, Brugge. It will be interesting to see how the Belgians resolve this divide.

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Note: This is a post by French Doc on the US Progressive Blogosphere in the wake of its shattering this past primary season.

Lambert Strether, of Corrente has kindly invited me to write this week’s installment in the Progressive Blogosphere 2.0 series and I am happy to do so, although I live in a Central Time area so, my post will probably be up around 6pm, Eastern.

My contribution will focus on what I think should be central to PB2.0: social justice (Lambert and I have a slight difference of view on this, so, I’m sure / I hope he’ll explain in the discussion).

Social justice is important to me as a progressive (and as an old-fashioned European social democrat) because it encompasses issues of inequalities in terms of distribution on rights, opportunities and resources (all terms I’ll define tomorrow) and I really think that PB1.0 threw social justice concerns out the window during the primary in terms of race, gender and class: by throwing around accusations of racism, trivializing gender and deriding social classes (especially the bottom of the social ladder).

To put it pretentiously, I would want us to start thinking about having / adopting / developing a theory of social justice as the foundation of PB2.0. This would take us away from strict electoral politics but would get us to better define what PB2.0 should stand for.

Once we have that theoretical / conceptual basis in place, then we can start thinking about how we promote social justice, on and offline, beyond the usual - and often vain - admonitions to call our representatives and Senators on this or that issue (I am not trivializing this, but how often have we gotten our way with this in the past, oh, 4 to 8 years?).

The point, for me, to have a strong theoretical / conceptual basis is to avoid falling into the ever-tempting trap of repeating (and therefore thinking in terms of) right-wing, media-shaped narratives that are detrimental to progressive causes. In a sense, I’m asking us to learn a new language (and not just a superficial Lakoffian framing). For instance, I always prohibit my students from saying / writing “cheap labor”… labor is neither magically nor naturally cheap. I require them (and then, they do it on their own once they “get it”): it’s “labor made cheap” or “labor kept cheap” to underline the social-structural foundations of labor/wage structure.

Anyway, I hope you’ll all join me and that we’ll have stimulating discussions as we have had in the past two weeks.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in the post will be mine only, not those of Lambert or the Corrente Fellows.

T Rex - Children of the Revolution

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Today in Chicago, the Green Party committed political suicide. No wonder that Ralph Nader walked away. From the International Herald Tribune:

The Green Party, which captured less than 1 percent of the vote in the last U.S. presidential election, has chosen the former Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney as its 2008 presidential candidate.

McKinney, 53, will be joined on the ticket for the election in November by vice presidential candidate Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop artist and activist.

McKinney received 313 out of 532 votes cast Saturday at the party’s nominating convention in Chicago, Scott McLarty, a spokesman for the party, said.

In the 2004 presidential election, the Green Party drew 119,859 votes, or 0.1 percent of the total votes cast, finishing in sixth place behind the two major parties and three other third-party tickets.

The party’s best performance came in 2000 when Ralph Nader led the ticket and won 2.8 million votes, or 2.7 percent of the total. Some political analysts say Nader, a political and consumer activist, may have drawn votes from the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, and helped tip the election in favor of George W. Bush.

Nader is running for president again this year, as an independent candidate.

McKinney served six terms in Congress but lost her bid for re-election in 2006. She was the first black woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Another former House member from Georgia, Bob Barr, who served as a Republican, is running as the Libertarian Party candidate for president. The major-party presumptive candidates are Senator Barack Obama of the Democratic Party and Senator John McCain of the Republican Party.

The U.S. Green Party says it is a partner with the European Federation of Green Parties and the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas.

“Green parties are the first parties to recognize that our role in the world is stewardship of Earth’s natural resources rather than domination and unrestrained consumption of the goods of the Earth,” the party said in its proposed platform for the 2008 election.

I appreciate Ms. McKinney’s candor and zeal, but she is also divisive. For the Green Party, this is likely a step back. They would have been better served by nominating an environmentalist, not a political activist. I see the Green Party capturing less than one percent of the vote.

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Here is the Saturday, July 12th, 2008 edition of interesting reads and events from around the world.

Thoughts on Today
I must admit that there is much that leaves me with a deep sense of unease. The Bush years were hardly a belle epoque and yet I fear we are descending into an even darker age. I am most dismayed by Russia and China’s veto in the United Nations today. To be honest, I am not surprised by the Chinese veto. I am by Russia’s veto. I would have at the very least expected an abstention. Coupled with Russia’s move to cut off Czech energy supplies and menacing fly overs over Georgia, I have this sinking feeling that we are seeing a Moscow-Beijing axis that will at the very least counter Western aims and at worst challenge the West increasingly. I expect little from the butchers in Beijing and I find corporate pursuits of profits there to run counter to Western security issues. As for Russia, it is certainly on the assertive rebound given its immense energy resources. Western energy security is something that geo-politically must be addressed. If today was a dark day, tomorrow we may actually be plunged into total darkness literally. To cuddle China is a grave mistake. Russia’s descent into an oligarchical regime that makes the Romanovs look egalitarian is perhaps outside our ability to influence at this point. However we can change our trade policies that so favour China. I hope Western leaders will see today’s crude awakening that Russia and China pose a threat to Western interests and to the cause of freedom worldwide.

Russia and China Veto Resolutions on Zimbabwe
Britain and the US have condemned Russia and China for vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe’s leaders. Stories from All Africa, the BBC and the New York Times.

Sudan Reacts to the ICC
The International Criminal Court’s pursuit of Sudan’s president set off fierce debate at the United Nations on Friday, with the Sudanese ambassador accusing the court of trying to destabilize his country. Again, China will pose an obstacle on reaching an accord in the Sudan. Reports from Qatar’s Al Jazeera and the Los Angeles Times.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Troubles Deepen
It’s one way to make a buck. It’s also one way to land in jail. Israel Police and the Justice Ministry released a joint statement Friday saying that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of asking a number of different public organizations, and the state, to pay for the same trips abroad. The money was then allegedly used for family holidays. All the bloody details from Israel’s Haaretz.

Arab state tells Israel it would not oppose Iran strike
Israel’s Haaretz is also reporting that:

Official representatives of an Arab country have hinted in meetings with Israeli officials that they would not oppose an Israeli military operation against Iran, sources in Jerusalem said this week.

According to the sources, the representatives of the Arab country said they are worried by Iran’s growing influence in the region, primarily among Shi’ite communities in Arab states.

This follows in the wake of Iran’s missle tests. A video report from the Associated Press:

Russia Cuts Off Gasoline Sales to the Czech Republic
Three days after the Czech Republic signed an agreement with the United States to host a tracking radar for an antiballistic missile system that Russia vehemently opposes, the authorities in Prague said the flow of Russian oil to their country was beginning to dwindle. More from the New York Times.

Former US Press Secretary Tony Snow Dead at 53
President Bush’s third Press Secretary Tony Snow is dead of complications from cancer. He was 53.

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Here is the Thursday, July 10th, 2008 edition of events and interesting reads from around the world. It was sadly a very violent day around the world with attacks in Georgia, Turkey and Darfur plus continuing violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe. It appears the world is on the verge of a great upheaval. It is quite worrisome.

The Return of Al-Qaeda
It appears that the attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul may have been the work of Al-Qaeda. Stories from the International Herald Tribune and the BBC.

Attacks on UN Troops in Darfur
It is clear that either the government in Khartoum is complicit with the militias operating in Darfur or it does not care. My sense is the former. Reports from Al Jazeera and the Washington Post.

UK Troops Unhappy
Nearly half of British troops regularly consider quitting the army and navy because of plummeting morale, poor equipment and low pay, a Ministry of Defence survey of more than 24,000 military personnel has found in a report from the UK Guardian.

French Nuclear Leak and the US Prepares to Build More Nuclear Plants
Two stories from Germany’s Der Spiegel on the nuclear power industry. The first is on a French Nuclear Leak at the Tricastin nuclear plant.

Following Tuesday’s accidental leak of over 30,000 liters (7,925 gallons) of a solution containing uranium in southern France, nuclear safety agencies are minimizing the possible danger. But emergency bans put on water use in the area by local authorities have worried residents and environmental organizations at a time when much of Europe is re-embracing nuclear power as way to slow global warming.

The second story is on the US nuclear industry that is preparing to build the first reactors in 30 years. The question is Is The American Public Ready for Nuclear?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has proposed building 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 with a longer term goal of 55 more. His Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is also in favor of more atomic energy. Is the US experiencing a nuclear power renaissance?

I don’t like nuclear but I don’t see an alternative. Even so nuclear is a stop-gap measure anyway. It is likely that we have either peaked uranium or will do so soon. Still a little goes a long way. It also lasts a long time and that’s the problem with nuclear. All that radioactive waste. No easy answers when it comes to nuclear but very hard questions.

An Indian Perspective on the Bombing in Kabul
India and Pakistan have vied for influence in Afghanistan for decades. In the 1990s, with the Pakistan-backed Taliban in power, Islamabad’s influence peaked. Then in a reversal of fortune, India, which backed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance during the years the Taliban were in power, saw its fortunes improve in Kabul, even as Islamabad’s influence touched a nadir. I personally suspect Pakistan’s ISI assisted elements of the Taliban. Pakistan is a problem that has to be tackled and there no easy answers. The ISI is a government within a government. The perspective from Sudha Ramachandran in the Asia Times.

The Russian Rouble
There is no doubt that Russia is on the rise.

Introducing Dmitry Medvedev
The Russian President’s comments at the G-8 Summit.

Was Eduardo Frei Murdered?
Eduardo Frei was Chile’s President prior to Allende. A court forensics expert said Wednesday that former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva was assassinated in January 1982 after a simple hernia operation during the rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The statement by Carmen Cerda, the chief of the forensics team investigating the case, confirmed longtime suspicions that Frei Montalva, who was Chile’s elected president from 1964 to 1970, had died of foul play at age 71. Medical officials had said that infection related to the surgery was the cause of death. The full story from the Miami Herald.

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Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog. My post, my views.

Watch this first amazing video. It is 16-minute long but worth every second (and see this BBC background page):

The Bhopal Chemical Disaster: Twenty Years Without Justice

Those of us old enough to have lived through the 1980s remember Bhopal as a major industrial disaster. On December 3, 1984, an accident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant (UC was bought by Dow Chemical in 2001) released poisoned gas that killed an official estimate of approximately 3,800 people (actually doctors on site claim that 15,000 died within a month). Over 500,000 have been affected by inhaling the gas.

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Democrats voting in favor of final passage of the FISA bill:

Bayh - Carper - Casey - Conrad - Dorgan - Feinstein - Innuoye - Kohl - Landrieu - Lincoln - McCaskill - Mukulski - Nelson (Neb.) - Nelson (Fla.) - Obama - Pryor - Rockefeller - Salazar - Webb - Whitehouse.

I am frankly stunned by Sheldon Whitehouse’s betrayal on FISA.

Democrats voting against final passage of the FISA bill:

Akaka - Biden - Bingaman - Boxer - Brown - Cantwell - Cardin - Clinton - Dodd - Dorgan - Durbin - Feingold - Harkin - Kerry - Leahy - Levin - Lautenberg - Murray - Reed - Reid - Sanders - Schumer - Stabenow - Tester - Wyden.

Never forget who voted which way.

For the best coverage of the FISA debate, please read Glenn Greenwald’s column on Salon.

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Now I actually agree with Barack Obama on this one. Foreign language instruction in the United States trails the rest of the world, not just in the OECD, but in the developing world as well. But off the cuff trying to deliver his message, Obama is a disaster. He stumbles for words and comes well condescending and pedantic as he does in the above. Count the number of “uhs” in that minute segment. Four, I think. And why does he talk off to the side and at the ground and not at the audience? Get him on the teleprompter and he dazzles. With McCain, it is the inverse. McCain can be witty, at his own peril even, off the cuff but on the teleprompter McCain is stiff and frankly boring. So in a sense this election is off the cuff versus the teleprompter.

From the New York Times:

Senator John McCain was performing relatively smoothly as he unveiled his energy plan.

He managed to limit the mechanical hand chops and weirdly timed smiles that can often punctuate his speeches. He delivered his lines with an ease that suggested a momentary peace with his longtime nemesis, the teleprompter. (He relied on a belt-and-suspenders approach, with text scrolling down screens to his left and right, and on a big TV set in front of him.)

But when Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, came to the intended sound bite of his speech — the part about reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil — he hit a slick.

“I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lex-eegton Project,” Mr. McCain said, drawing a quick breath and correcting himself. “The Lex-ing-ton Proj-ect,” he said slowly. “The Lexington Project,” he repeated. “Remember that name.”

In a town meeting in Cincinnati the next day, Mr. McCain would again slip up on the name of the Massachusetts town, where, he noted, “Americans asserted their independence once before.” He called it “the Lexiggdon Project” and twice tried to fix his error before flipping the name (“Project Lexington”) in subsequent references.

Mr. McCain’s battle of Lexington is part of a struggle he is engaged in every day. A politician who has thrived in the give-and-take settings of campaign buses, late-night TV couches and town meetings, he now is trying to meet the more formal speaking demands of a general election campaign.

By his own admission, Mr. McCain is not a great orator. He is ill-suited to lecterns, which often dwarf his small stature, and he tends to sound as if he is reading his lines, not speaking them. His shortcomings have been accentuated in a two-man race, particularly because the other man — Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee — can often dazzle on stage.

There has to be a better choice.

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