Web of Democracy

Two twenty-first century coup d'etats, two models of corresponding 'democratic' elections:

- Eva Golinger's 'Bogus Election today: Hypocrites Washington, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Columbia & Israel the only nations to recognize the illegal elections.' 

- We don't know about you, but the following, predictably hedged statement by Canadian Minister of State for Latin America Peter Kent, appears to us like de facto support for the coup elections:

"The peaceful conduct of the November 29 elections will be an important step in moving out of the current political impasse. For the sake of all Hondurans, we urge that they be run freely and fairly, in a safe and secure environment. Although the circumstances under which elections will take place are less than ideal, Canada calls strongly for a peaceful electoral process free from violence."

- Right-wing coup supporter Porfirio Lobo 'elected' 'President,' while legitimate President Zelaya declares the vote illegitimate. [The Guardian (caution: journalist Rory Carroll is known to be a shady reporter of Latin American affairs)]

- Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Venezuela have all condemned the sham elections

- On the Haiti front, see Kevin Pina's 'Two-Faced Democracy in Haiti,' on how the country's [still-despite years of repression] largest political party, Lavalas, has been excluded from upcoming elections; a related brief calls out and unpacks the AP's distortions concerning the exclusion.

Recall that in September the Germans bombed as many as 40 Afghan civilians to death. Over the weekend, the domestic fallout continued with the resignation of German Cabinet official, Franz Josef Jung (defense minister at the time of the bombing) who said "he accepted "political responsibility" for accusations that the military withheld information about an air strike in Afghanistan in September that killed civilians as well as insurgents...Jung's resignation came a day after Germany's top military officer, Gen. Wolfgang Schneiderhan, and one of Jung's top deputies while he was defense minister, State Secretary Peter Wichert, were forced to step down. The men submitted their resignations after a German newspaper reported that information about civilian casualties had been withheld from Parliament and from prosecutors in connection with the air strike..." [San Francisco Chronicle]

- Although it concerns a separate matter (albeit in the same occupied country), Scott Taylor wonders if Canadian defence minister Peter MacKay isn't going to suffer the same fate as his (one-time) German counterpart, over the ongoing detainee/torture scandal that the Canadian Forces and government are mired in. (See: 'MacKay's retreat may lead to ejection seat'; also see Roger Annis' piece on the situation, as well as David Pugliese's, which provides some context using recently declassified  documents.) 

In case you haven't heard about this already, the 2010 Olympic thought police detained and interrogated Democracy Now's Amy Goodman as she attempted to enter Canada last Thursday en route to her talk in Victoria. "Goodman said her car was searched and the officials demanded to look at her notes and her computer..."I am deeply concerned that as a journalist I would be flagged and that the concern – the major concern – was the content of my speech," said Goodman."

- More on this from Dave Zirin on 'Amy Goodman and Canada's Olympic Paranoia'

- Related, see this interview about The Dominion's launch of its special Olympic Issue (which isn't online yet, but is coming soon to a town near you, only don't be caught by you know who with a copy in your possession).

- Amy Goodman discusses her shakedown on Democracy Now! this morning, and interviews a couple of Canadians from the No Games 2010 Coalition and the BC Civil Liberties Association.

If you've followed the rise of the neo-counterinsurgency era, you'll have noticed their little play on the revolutionary moniker made famous by the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, and the Mexican Zapatistas (so named, respectively, in honor of one-time 'insurgents' Augusto César Sandino, and Emiliano Zapata) - COINdinistas. In reality, counterinsurgency propagandists are arguably counter-revolutionary, and so the more appropriate moniker might be COINtras (a play on the U.S.-funded terrorist CONTRAs that attempted to subvert the Sandinista revolution). In any case, author/corporate journalist Tom Ricks - a Senior Fellow at the primary non-governmental hub of COIN punditry (and the key source of Obama's national security-oriented Cabinet), the Center for a New American Security - posted a 'Top Ten' list of most prominent COINtras, who, collectively "had the big ideas that shaped our world in 2009." (To be fair, Ricks includes a token COIN critic, Gian Gentile, who cannot properly be termed a COINtra (or a 'COINdinista,' for that matter)). As Obama gets set to announce the master plan for the 'surge,' this list is a useful starting point for understanding the kinds of ideas that have been most heavily influencing the surge since it began in Bush's second term, and its continuation under Obama. 

While on the topic, for some raw insight into the neo-colonial mentality of 'operationalized' COINtra theory in Afghanistan, see yesterday's Associated Press report, which includes such doozies…

- Calvin Tucker for The Guardian:

"Trampling on Honduran democracy: The election in Honduras has the blessing of the US, but not the people, their president or the rest of the world."

"On Sunday, Honduras's coup regime, with the support of the US, is staging a presidential election of a special kind. Voters will have a choice of two candidates: the coup supporter Porfirio Lobo or the coup supporter Elvin Santos. The anti-coup candidate, Carlos Reyes, has withdrawn his nomination and condemned the election as fraudulent."

- Meanwhile, The Committee of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras warns 'De Facto Government Preparing Repression in Run-up to elections'

 - Apropos to the above warning, Narconews reports that the coup regime has declared 'a new 'state of emergency' prior to Sunday's fake elections. 

- A significant development finds the California Chair of the Democratic Party, John L. Burton has sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which reads (in part):

"I am writing this letter to urge the U.S. State Department not to recognize the legitimacy of the upcoming November 29 elections in Honduras. I say this for two main reasons: (1) President Manuel Zelaya has not been reinstated to the office to which he was democratically elected, as was required by the San Jose Accords, and (2) martial-law conditions have been instituted by the coup government that make it impossible to hold free, open and democratic…

Several items of note:

- While you're in the mood to donate, head on over to Upside Down World, an invaluable resource that couldn't exist without the support of its readership. If not for our sake, then for Galeano's, give generously!

 - Eva Golinger and Jean-Guy Allard have co-written a new book (in Spanish only): PERMANENT Aggression: USAID, NED and CIA. (More on which, here and here)

- Over the weekend at a conference we would have preferred to have been covering, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "called for the formation of a “Fifth International” of left parties and social movements to confront the challenge posed by the global crisis of capitalism." Among their important declarations, the conference of over 50 left organizations also made this notable call: "Accompany the Haitian people in their struggle for the return of President Jean Bertrand Aristide “who was kidnapped and removed from his post as president of Haiti by North American imperialism.”

- Regarding Honduras, where the coup debacle continues, CEPR has released a statement denouncing the participation of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute in the upcoming sham 'elections.' Note: one comment from the ordinarily super-astute Mark Weisbrot that we take issue with is: "I am surprised to see NDI joining the International Republican Institute in its efforts to legitimize another coup...NDI has generally been less willing…

"At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus." [Read Scahill's full story over at The Nation, and watch Democracy Now's interview with him this morning]

HALIFAX, Canada - While the world's top military elites gather inside a fortified hotel to discuss NATO's future, protesters question the organisation's legitimacy, secrecy, and the lack of democratic debate about the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan. (Anthony Fenton, for IPS)

Through Sunday, we'll be reporting from this meeting of the global military elite and its brain trust, styled on the pomp and secrecy of the World Economic Forum, the first such meeting of its kind ever to be hosted in/by Canada.  You can watch along live via webcast here. Here's a backgrounder from the local paper, which we read on the ride into town from the airport. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Canadian Minister of Defence Peter MacKay already met today where they expressed their love for one another. If possible, we'll post the odd tidbit, articles we might produce, and coverage of parallel events being held in protest against what is being dubbed the 'Halifax War Conference.' As it happens, Malalai Joya is in town and will be joining the local protestors at a rally on Saturday.

 - Naomi Klein: 'Climate Rage: The only way to stop global warming is for rich nations to pay for the damage they've done - or face the consequences' [Rolling Stone]

 - 'World on course for catastrophic 6° rise, reveal scientists' [The Independent]

 - 'Carbon emissions still growing despite the effects of the recession' [Vancouver Sun]

 - Kovel: 'End Times in Copenhagen' [Canadian Dimension]

Although not yet available for mass/online consumption, Human Terrain, the new documentary about warrior-anthropology that we mentioned just last week, won the audience award at the first film festival it entered, Festival dei Popoli. Although coming from the land where a latter day Il Duce reigns,  we are still anticipating the film's arrival on the Salish Sea. [More at the Watson Institute] 

This is our kind of journalism. Not only that, but the journo, Aram Roston, gives a great interview; watch it here on today's Democracy Now! [The Nation]

Related and interesting from around the horn this week:

- 'US Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases' [IslamOnline]

- 'Al Jazeera footage shows Afghan militants handling US weapons' [Al Jazeera]

- In secret, leaked memos, US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry (a retired general and former commander of occupation forces in Afghanistan) urges against troop increase in Afghanistan [BBC, Washington Post] 

- Joya: 'U.S. is doing no good in Afghanistan' [San Jose Mercury] (Remember, if you're in Canada, Joya may be coming to a city near you within the next couple of weeks. Check here for details).

- Seymour Hersh has an explosive (pardon the pun) new article that details secret US plans to prop up the Pakistani government in the event of internal mutiny, 'Defending the Arsenal: In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?' Hersh discusses the article, along with the Eikenberry leak (suggesting that this reflects a break from the 'counterinsurgency wing/'West Point cabal'), yesterday on Rachel Maddow (view at Raw Story).

A great overview of 'The Pentagon's Building Boom in Afghanistan' by Nick Turse, who writes:

"Forget for a moment the "debates" in Washington over Afghan War policy and, if you just focus on the construction activity and the flow of money into Afghanistan, what you see is a war that, from the point of view of the Pentagon, isn't going to end any time soon." 

Although Turse neglects to contextualize how this boom, along with the laying of the groundwork for the 'surge,' began in the final year of the Bush administration (something we reported on last February), this is well worth the read. [TomDispatch]

- Related, see 'Obama's Plan: About 40K More Troops,' and Ackerman's 'Special Operations Chiefs Quietly Sway Afghanistan Policy'

"Another Remembrance Day approaches, with its professions of solidarity with military sacrifice...In ways both subtle and not so opaque, the day will be employed to sanctify a troubled Afghan mission through the unassailable sentiment of honouring our war dead and serving soldiers...It's an orthodoxy not supposed to be challenged during a week of remembrance. But failing to do so is what breaks faith with the troops of today...Remembrance's torch has been passed to the failing hands of our politicians who refuse to put a quick end to a mission unworthy of the troops they claim to honour." [Bill Kaufmann, Calgary Sun]

Eva Golinger writes:

"An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” This information contradicts the explainations offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department regarding the military agreement signed between the two nations this past October 30th. Both governments have publicly stated that the military agreement refers only to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations within Colombian territory. President Uribe has reiterated numerous times that the military agreement with the US will not affect Colombia’s neighbors, despite constant concern in the region regarding the true objetives of the agreement. But the US Air Force document, dated May 2009, confirms that the concerns of South American nations have been right on target. The document exposes that the true intentions behind the agreement are to enable the US to engage in “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies…and anti-US governments…'" [Postcards from the Revolution; original document is available at the new Center of Alert for the Defense of the People: 'Investigation, analysis, documentation and denunciations on the interference and subversion against the Latin…

We at the WOD have this book on order and hope to review it soon. In the meantime, an excerpt from Donald Gutstein's new book:

'New Book analyzes how business propaganda hijacks democracy'

"Corporate-backed think-tanks operate a dual strategy to get their messages in the media. As the Fraser Institute's five-year plan indicates, they court the press to obtain favourable coverage. But they also club the press when necessary. The weapon of choice is the charge that the media are too liberal and do not give conservatives a fair shake." [continued at Straight Goods]

- Also see the Georgia Straight's review.

[If you happen to be in Vancouver next Friday November 12th, Gutstein will be speaking]

The latest on a story we at the WOD broke last March:

"The Canadian Embassy has begun representing Israel’s diplomatic and consular interests in Venezuela. Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador and embassy staff and severed relations with the Jewish state last January in protest of the war in Gaza. In addition to relaying diplomatic communications between Israel and Venezuela, the Canadian Embassy will also provide consular services for Israeli citizens or those looking to travel to Israel, the Canadian embassy's press office said Tuesday." [JTA]

Related, see: 'Canada will Represent Israel in Venezuela: Minister'

'Military under fire for on-campus recruiting':

"Across the country, but especially in Quebec, counter-recruitment initiatives have been launched in a bid to prevent on-campus information sessions and to persuade education officials at high schools, CEGEPs and universities to close their doors to military recruiters. At on-campus career fairs, for example, Canadian Forces booths are increasingly met with student and teacher groups armed with anti-recruitment flyers and brochures such as "Five Reasons Not to Work for the Army."" [National Post]

- The 'War Free Schools' Counter-recruitment Handbook is here (.pdf).

- The Chief of Defence Staff's response to the growing campaign is here.

The Le Monde Diplomatique English Edition has a special section on the "unwinnable war" this month. While some of the pieces are subscription-only, Serge Halimi's 'Starts With Candy, ends in Napalm,' and Pulse Media's Muhammad Idrees Ahmad's 'Pakistan Creates its own Enemy,' are accessible, so go read them!

"In the end, “smart power” was sufficiently intelligent to deceive those who today celebrate an “end to the crisis” in Honduras. But for a majority of people in Latin America, the victory of Obama’s “smart power” in Honduras is a dark and dangerous shadow closing in on us." [Eva Golinger, via Axis of Logic]

(See also: the concept of 'smart power' as framed in an article written last February titled, 'Obama and the counterinsurgency era.')

- As M K Bhadrakumar writes in his always-interesting column for the Asia Times today, "The real political game in great Afghan style is now all set to begin." In case you hadn't heard, after more than two months delay, a run-off election was scheduled for this Saturday between Karzai (the President, not the alleged CIA asset) and first-round runner-up Abdullah Abdullah. This followed on the heels of Senator John Kerry's trip to Afghanistan where he reportedly "played a key role in persuading Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accept a runoff election after Karzai's recent election victory was found to be the result of widespread voter fraud." Early today, Abdullah backed out of the run-off, leaving Karzai as the lone contestant. The UN Secretary General and the Obama administration quickly acceded to the new circumstances, turning previous assertions on their head by backing Karzai as "the legitimate leader of the country." 

See:

- Richard Seymour's 'A ruined tea party, and a brewing inferno.' [Leninology]

- Immanuel Wallerstein, 'Afghanistan: Heads You Lose, Tails You Lose.' [Agence Globale]

- Ray McGovern's 'Kipling Haunts Obama's Afghan War' (reporting on a recent RAND meeting of the imperial brain trust) [ICH]

- Afghan's respond to brother Karzai's CIA and narco-connections with 'Occupiers involved in drug trade: Afghan minister.' [PressTV]

- Derrick O'keefe, who helped write Malalai Joya's new book, asks, 'Have Canadians been killing and dying for Kandahar's Al Capone?' […