Web of Democracy

 - Frontera NorteSur: 'Canadian Mining Companies at Odds with Many in Mexico':

"If many locals have their way, Canada's Mexican gold rush won't extend to the southern tip of Baja California. Planned for a site within the Sierra de la Laguna biosphere, the Paredones Amarillos gold mine is awaiting approval of a land use permit from federal authorities that could pave the way for the extraction an estimated 1.2 million ounces of gold over a period of 9.3 years. But plans for the open pit mine proposed by Canadian-owned Vista Gold Corporation are sparking opposition from environmentalists and residents...The Paredones Amarillo controversy is among the latest ones to arise from the aggressive expansion of Canadian mining companies in Mexico. Already dominating foreign investment in the country's fast-growing mining sector, 200 Canadian companies are reportedly scouring 400 places in the Mexican Republic for possible new mines." [MexiData.info]

 - Werbowski's 'Canada: the Practices of Corporate Mining':

"Mining, in order to be profitable, must be done on the cheap and in places where labour laws and environmental standards are far below Canadian standards. The methods used to extract the earth’s wealth use toxic chemicals (arsenic, mercury, cyanide) and by means of “heap leaching”; a process which uses huge amount of chemically laced water which then separates the worthless mineral ore waste from the coveted precious gold or silver dug from the ground...These practises…

A must-read from Paul Street:

"Now that Barack Obama is being exposed like never before as a tool and agent of concentrated wealth, business class rule, and militarism, 2009 is ending on a distinct note of liberal disenchantment. His "progressive base" is restive over his actions to an unprecedented (to use Obama's favorite word [1]) degree as the president of "Yes we can" has morphed (as widely predicted on "hard left") into the pallid symbol of "No We can't - as the clarion of "change" has emerged as another Democratic office-holder whose outwardly progressive campaign pledges translate into corrupt, corporate and imperial nothingness in the real world of power." [ZNet]

Although it's not entirely clear how this deal differs from the one they announced in September, SNC-Lavalin's deal to build natural gas fired power stations in U.S.-occupied Iraq is in the news again. In the original release it was reported as an $85 million deal to install gas turbines in Hilla. Now, it's $170 million for power stations in both Hilla and Karbala, south of Baghdad. In another report, SNC-Lavalin spokesperson Leslie Quinton says SNC only gets a $30 million cut of the $170 million, and that the deal, while its been announced by the Iraqi quisling government, has not yet been signed. We'll try and sort through this and will update developments accordingly...

- In other (obscure) Canada and Iraq news this week, The Leaf Chronicle, reporting on news pertaining to Fort Campbell, Tennessee (the U.S. Empire's "premier power projection platform"), writes, "From the desert sands of Iraq to the chilling conditions of Goose Bay, Canada, to the comforting clouds of Clarksville 202 soldiers from the 591st and 511th Engineer Companies returned." For all the time we've spent researching Canadian involvement in/around Iraq, we aren't aware of the extent to which the U.S. war machine has made use of Goose Bay as a transit (...) point; enquiring minds surely want to know...

"In simple terms, the lawsuit alleges that money acquired by Copper Mesa in the Toronto Stock Exchange helped to fund the company´s human rights violations. The TSX defense will undoubtedly argue in court that the exchange cannot regulate where every dollar raised is spent, but the inescapable fact is that it was warned, in no uncertain terms, and previous to listing by local government officials and others in Ecuador that the exchange’s decision to allow listing would likely lead to the kind of violent confrontations and human rights violations which later ensued...The lawsuit will also hopefully force the issue by bringing it to the forefront of legal and public opinion.  It is an issue that- incredibly- is little known about within Canada.  And it’s an issue that every Canadian should know is closely tied in with the powerful lobby of the country’s extractive industries, which for years has stopped cold measures to try to regulate it, or to tax it as it should be.  Implying, at the very least, massive corruption and a lethal weakness in its democratic process. It is the same corruption that makes it feasible for Northern Alberta’s oil sands to be exploited, causing irreparable damage to the land and water, and people. It is the same system, in short, that makes it possible for Canadian mining companies to fund mayhem and get away with murder." [Upside Down World]

Tyler Shipley writes for the Socialist Project:

"[A]n event that fit perfectly the definition of a coup is being recast by the Honduran elite, and its foreign allies, as a constitutional transfer of power. Never mind that the democratically elected President was abducted from his home and flown out of the country in his pyjamas on the morning of a non-binding referendum on re-opening the constitution to reform. Never mind that the movement to reform the constitution was driven by a social movement that wanted to re-found the country along more equitable lines, breaking the decades of uncontested dominance by the few over the many. Never mind that President Manuel Zelaya’s only transgression was that he was appealing directly to the people, in defiance of a congress and supreme court that was subservient to the oligarchy and would never consent to reforming a constitution that was written to serve their interests. These details – say the golpistas – are not important. Instead, they spin a tale..." [Read on...]

- Remember to sign the petition against Canada's recognition of the coup & sham elections.

"David Tepper, manager of the hedge fund Appaloosa Management, is set to pocket more than $2.5 billion this year after successfully gambling that the Obama administration would provide unlimited public funds to bail out the major banks. According to an article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, Tepper’s firm, which specializes in buying up “distressed” shares and assets, has already racked up $7 billion in profits this year...Tepper bet that the Obama administration would respond to the financial crash with an unprecedented plundering of the national treasury, and he bet right." [WSWS, WSJ]

Eva Golinger writes:

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez revealed today on his Sunday television and radio program, Aló Presidente, that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have illegally entered Venezuela’s airspace during the past several days. “A few days ago, one of these military planes penetrated Venezuela as far as Fort Mara,” a Venezuelan military fort in the State of Zulia, bordering Colombia. The drone was seen by several Venezuelan soldiers who immediately reported the aerial violation to their superiors. President Chávez gave the order today to shoot down any drones detected in Venezuelan territory. Chávez also directly implicated Washington in this latest threat against regional stability by confirming that the drones were of US origen." [More at Postcards From the Revolution; Bloomberg, and Colombia's 'drones? what drones?']

- Also see Mike Whitney's recent interview with Golinger.

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On October 19th, John Manley took over the reigns as the president-designate of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the largest and most powerful corporate lobby organization in Canada, representing the 150 top corporations and trillions of dollars of assets as "a sort of executive committee of the business community."[1] Come January 1st, 2010, Manley's position as effective head of Canada's ruling class becomes official. Already in its previous incarnation as the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI), the CEO Council (which changed its name in 2001 to reflect its "increasing continental and global focus") was dubbed "a virtual shadow cabinet," as it "effectively seized control of national policy making" in conjunction with the Canadian state's neo-liberal turn in the 1980's. First formed in the 1970's "as part of the corporate offensive," the BCNI set about to "meticulously transform Canadian public policy" in its own interests. It was able to do so first by "facilitat[ing] cohesion and consensus among Canada's elite." [2]

Several studies by prominent leftist activists and intellectuals in the 1990's and early 2000's drew attention to the CEO Council's alarming ascendancy and a concomitant erosion of Canadian democracy. [3] In spite of this, the extent of corporate influence over Canadian public policy is poorly understood by most Canadians. Nevertheless, one does not have to look to far to find evidence of corporate Canada's…

- 'NATO air strike 'kills three Afghan civilians' [Agence France Presse]

- Drones kill "at least 20" people in "barrage of attacks" near Pakistan border [NYT]

"The missile barrage that began Thursday constitutes one of the single largest such strikes since the Obama administration opted to continue – and intensify – a controversial program initiated by the Bush administration." [CSM]

You'd think that after two coups, thousands upon thousands of murders and disappearances, and nearly twenty years, Haitian advocates for democracy and self-determination would understand that imperialism will not permit them to realize their aspirations. And yet they keep coming back for more...

"Supporters of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide marched through Port-au-Prince on Wednesday calling for his return from exile and protesting his party's exclusion from upcoming elections. Several thousand protesters joined in the protest march, which marked Aristide's rise to power as Haiti's first democratically elected president in December 1990..."There will be no election in February, there will be a selection. What the authorities are planning is really a big farce," Dr. Maryse Narcisse, a leading member of Aristide's party, told Reuters..."The president and election officials are the masterminds behind the plan to exclude the majority of the population from the vote...."We want Aristide back here now. He is our leader and Preval is a traitor," said Moise Sanon, a 30-year-old demonstrator, wearing a Haitian flag and a poster emblazoned with Aristide's image." 

[New York Times, note: they still deny that a coup took place in 2004, instead maintaining that Aristide "fled...in the face of a bloody armed rebellion," never mind that the "rebellion" was staged with U.S. agencies, foreign-funded NGO's,  Haiti's reviled elite...]

P.S. Listen to Kevin Pina's latest…

The big story on the Canadian side of the Afghan question was this week's visit to Ottawa by General Stanley McChrystal - a well-timed information operation that provided relief from the detainee scandal. Although the exact nature of McChrystal's visit has been kept secret - he meets privately with Canadian officials today -  on the public/PR side of things (remember, in counterinsurgency, the war for hearts and mind takes place at home and in theatre, and somebody has to fill the void left by Rick Hillier), as expected, McChrystal heaped praise on the Canadian Forces in a contrived setting organized by the Department of National Defence and the right-wing, pro-war lobby Conference of Defence Associations Institute. The Canadian media lapped up his visit, perhaps best exemplified by such hard-hitting questions as those posed by CBC's Susan Ormiston, including "How do Canadians know when there's progress?" "What worries you?" "Is it worth it?" and our personal favorite to close the interview off, "[What] if we lose faith?" to which McChrystal responded in his poignant, PSYOP way, "I can't see Canadians losing faith." (Hint: by "Canadians," McChrystal means the sort of military elite-set that attended his invite-only speech at the Chateau Laurier) 

- Coincidentally, the Conference of Defence Associations has begun a full court press, calling in a recent paper for a Canadian military role beyond the 2011 deadline as mandated by parliament in March 2008. Calling for the creation…

Hugo Chavez "brought the house down" in Copenhagen yesterday, where he said the process in Copenhagen is “not democratic; it is not inclusive...There is a group of countries that believe they are superior to those of us from the South, to those of us from the Third World...This does not surprise us ... we are again faced with powerful evidence of global imperial dictatorship...I have been reading some of the slogans painted in the streets ... One said, ‘Don’t Change the Climate, Change the System!’ And I bring that on board for us.  Let’s not change the climate. Let’s change the system!" [GreenLeft]

- Bolivian President Evo Morales was on his game, too, warning of a climate "holocaust," "demanding billions of dollars in "reparations" from rich countries," end echoing the Third World demand that  temperature increases be held to 1C. Said Morales, no doubt to thunderous applause:

""The real cause of climate change is the capitalist system. If we want to save the earth then we must end that economic model. Capitalism wants to address climate change with carbon markets. We denounce those markets and the countries which [promote them]. It's time to stop making money from the disgrace that they have perpetrated." [Amy Goodman interviews Morales on today's Democracy Now!]

- Video of Chavez' speech at Fora.tv w/translation.

Scott Taylor wrote an interesting piece, re: detainee scandal, about Christie Blatchford (winner of the 2006 Ross Munro Award for pro-military propaganda), which also included a rare-to-find characterization of (Ret.) Maj. Gen. Lewis MacKenzie-as-DND-PR-hack:

"Once Colvin testified before the parliamentary committee, alleging that military brass and political leadership had ignored his warnings, the gloves came off and knives were drawn. First into the fray were Defence Minister MacKay and his loyal parliamentary secretary, Laurie Hawn, who both launched attacks against Colvin's credibility. MacKay went so far as to suggest Colvin was a Taliban dupe, and Hawn attempted to undermine Colvin by saying it was easy for the diplomat to make wild allegations from the safe confines of North America.

This was a theme that was quickly seized and repeated by retired major-general Lewis Mackenzie. During an appearance on CTV, Mackenzie claimed to have heard "from a very reliable source, that [Colvin] was not permitted outside the wire in Kandahar probably once and not more than once." As such, Mackenzie opined that Colvin's research was therefore limited to second-hand sources via phone and emails.

While Mackenzie is considered to be a Defence Department Stakeholder—one whom they keep briefed on the situation to help sway public debate—it was disturbing to note that Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford made the exact same errant claim in one of her columns. Also referring to a…

This press release tells us what we need to know about who's taking whose side in this ongoing crisis:

"Peru has joined the US, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica and Columbia in congratulating Honduran National Party President Porfirio Lobo while Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela refuse to recognize the controversial, coup-run elections. On December 8, the South American trade organization Mercosur announced its "total rejection" of the Honduran elections, stating that they were "carried out in an atmosphere of unconstitutionality, illegitimacy and illegality, dealing a blow to the democratic values of Latin America and the Caribbean." [TransWorldNews]

"At the Copenhagen climate conference, Canada's reputation as a recalcitrant polluter was put in focus Monday, when person/persons unknown distributed a hoax press release announcing that Canada is setting bold new targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The spoof did not amuse the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who will be in Copenhagen later this week." [Seattlepi]

- 'Yes Men take credit for Canada climate hoax':

"The idea was to confuse the Canadian government, which set up a war room to positively spin their position in the debate even though everyone here knows that their position is a cruel joke," Yes Men member Mike Bonanno told the Associated Press." [National Post]

- See the Yes Men's fake 'Environment Canada' website

- 'Maude Barlow denounces the tar sands in Copenhagen' [Rabble.ca]

- 'Indigenous Peoples of Canada March on Canadian Embassy in Copenhagen to Protest Tar Sands' [Democracy Now!]

The Jerusalem Post reports today that Israel is supplying the Australians with 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) for use in the counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan. Canadians attended the unveiling ceremony in Northern Afghanistan, while a Canadian corporation, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) has signed a deal with the Aussies to service their Heron UAVs. While these particular drones are unarmed, they provide the 24x7 surveillance and reconnaissance to help those on the ground who are.

- See the Toronto Sun's aptly titled, if laudatory 'Big Brother is Watching.'

- Also see, Wired's 'U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan.'

 - Over at Truthdig, Scott Ritter in his, 'Our Murderers in the Sky,' calls the drone campaign a "force-enhancement tool for the Taliban. Its indiscriminate application of death and destruction serves as a recruitment vehicle, with scores of new jihadists rising up to replace each individual who might have been killed by a missile attack..."

- 'US to use missile-firing drones to supply troops in Afghanistan' [Times of London]

- 'Drone aircraft in a stepped-up war in Afghanistan and Pakistan' [CSM]

Eva Golinger writes:

"An article published in the December 12th edition of the New York Times revealed the detention of a US government contract employee in Havana this past December 5th. The employee, whose name has not yet been disclosed, works for Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), one of the largest US government contractors providing services to the State Department, the Pentagon and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The employee was detained while distributing cellular telephones, computers and other communications equipment to Cuban dissident and counterrevolutionary groups that work to promote US agenda on the Caribbean island. Last year, the US Congress approved $40 million to “promote transition to democracy” in Cuba. DAI was awarded the main contract, “The Cuba Democracy and Contingency Planning Program”, with oversight by State and USAID. The use of a chain of entities and agencies is a mechanism employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to channel and filter funding and strategic political support to groups and individuals that support US agenda abroad." 

- Over in Orwell's world, the headline reads, 'Pro-Democracy Group Working for U.S. Government Says Employee Detained in Cuba.' [FOX]

 - Brian Concannon & Ira Kurzban: "Don't honor tainted election":

"Late last month, Haiti's government took the undemocratic and dangerous step of excluding 15 political parties, including Haiti's most popular party, Fanmi Lavalas, from parliamentary elections scheduled for February and March 2010. The decision threatens not only Haiti's democracy and stability, but billions in foreign investments financed by taxpayers in the United States and elsewhere. The Obama administration, along with the United Nations and the Organization of American States, needs to step up and head off this disaster by refusing to finance the electoral charade." [Miami Herald]

 - Greg Dunkel, 'Popular Candidates kept off Ballot in Haiti' [Workers World]

- Consider signing the 'Haitian People's Appeal for Fair Elections'

- Lastly, we hope this is a sick joke, but this website is advocating 2004 coup architect Stanley Lucas (of International Republican Institute infamy) for President in 2010. 

"If we allow the media to change the discussion into broken windows in Copenhagen—which is the boringest discussion in the world, OK?—we have truly failed." - Naomi Klein, December 10 talk in Copenhagen.

- Top story on Google: 'Hundreds arrested at Copenhagen protest rally.' [The Guardian, more at Times]

"As the controversial Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement proceeds into second reading in the House of Commons, pressure is mounting on the Liberal party, and its international trade critic, to drop its support for the proposed accord. On Friday, Dec. 4, over 80 people rallied in front of the Wolfville, NS, office of Scott Brison, MP for Kings-Hants. Brison, the Liberal International Trade Critic, was targeted because of his support of Bill C-23 - an Act to implement the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). The rally also came only days after the Conservative government cut funding to a well-known NGO critical of Canadian foreign policy." [The Dominion]

- On what you can do, see the Canada-Colombia Project

On December 5th, the National Post's John Ivison wrote a provocative article titled, 'Funding for leftist group to be cut; Alternatives; 'It doesn't fit with our priorities,' source says.' 

"The Conservative government is set to slash millions of dollars in funding to Alternatives, a Montreal-based nongovernmental organization associated with a number of left-leaning causes and which has been critical of Canada's involvement in the war in Afghanistan."

Ivison goes on to cite none other than Tom Quiggin, citing his "20 years' experience in the Canadian intelligence agency," who "said he has noted an increasing convergence between the hard left and supporters of organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been declared terrorist organizations by the Canadian government. "A number of these organizations may have been legitimate when they started up, but they have overstepped their mandate with highly partisan attacks that have resulted in the government kicking back," he said."

The situation with respect to Alternatives is a little less black and white than the one we alerted you to the other day concerning the smears against Socialist Voice. Unfortunately, it's not exactly a fair statement to say that Alternatives is a "leftist group." In the case of Haiti, they not only supported the coup d'etat in 2004 that overthrew democracy there, but they went out of their way to stifle [progressive] opposition to that coup, and collaborated with reactionary 'democracy' promoting…

In addition to being a writer/blogger and activist (and tweeter), Justin Podur is an assistant professor at York University's Faculty of Environmental Studies (where he also blogs). On Tuesday, he appeared on CTV news to discuss the basics of climate change in a segment called 'Copenhagen 101.'

- While we're on the subject, be sure to check out Democracy Now!, who are in Copenhagen covering the events both inside and outside the climate talks for another week and a half. Flashpoints is covering the event, too.

- Also, new articles up at Climate and Capitalism.

In today's Gazette, we learn that Montreal-based Garda World mercenary company landed a $100-million contract to guard the British embassy and its diplomats. In a deeply buried lead, we also find spokesperson Joe Gavaghan stating, "[Garda] already has 1,200 employees in Kurdistan in the North. Security contracts are now being awarded by Western oil companies." When the WOD interviewed Gavaghan for This Magazine earlier this year, and asked him which oil companies (Canadian &/or non-Canadian) they provide security for, he said:

"We don't disclose as a matter of policy and at our clients request the identitiy of specific clients that we do work for, so the questions that you have around which Canadian oil and gas companies and non-Canadian companies is something that we can't provide you with specific names."

Gavaghan did confirm that they are providing services for at least one (unnamed) Canadian company in the region, a matter that the Gazette didn't bother pursuing.

In related news, the cover story of this past weekend's 'Report on Business' was titled 'Iraq: A Land of Risk and Reward.' (the online headline differs slightly, 'Iraq: A lot of Oil, a lot of risk'). The 2,600 word article, datelined Erbil, Iraq, covers the front page as well as a full 2-page spread. If we are to take seriously the 'reward' element of the hard-copy headline, then we should expect the reporters to provide considerable context concerning corporate Canada's presence there. (Currently, no country's…

The latest Anti-Empire report from William Blum:

"All the crying from the left about how Obama "the peace candidate" has now become "a war president" ... Whatever are they talking about? Here's what I wrote in this report in August 2008, during the election campaign:

We find Obama threatening, several times, to attack Iran if they don't do what the United States wants them to do nuclear-wise; threatening more than once to attack Pakistan if their anti-terrorist policies are not tough enough or if there would be a regime change in the nuclear-armed country not to his liking; calling for a large increase in US troops and tougher policies for Afghanistan; wholly and unequivocally embracing Israel as if it were the 51st state.

Why should anyone be surprised at Obama's foreign policy in the White House? He has not even banned torture, contrary to what his supporters would fervently have us believe." [Read on...]

A Democracy Now! web exclusive, titled 'Obama's Afghan-Pak Syndrome' November 17, 2009 at Hampshire College, in honor of Eqbal Ahmad, one of the greatest radical scholars of the 20th century. Btw, a great, prescient lecture of Ahmad's, 'Terrorism, Theirs and Ours,' (1998) can be viewed/heard via YouTube.

Last week we drew your attention to Global Brief, Canada's newest magazine by/for the 21st century imperial brain trust and their masters. The article that reminded us to post on this was the Ottawa Citizens 'Activists, extremists primed for 2010.' In a response to the Citizen's (and Global Brief's Tom Quiggin's) "smears" John Riddell writes today that the Citizen " blatantly misrepresent[ed]" he and his organization, Socialist Voice, " as part of a smear attack on all progressive activists in Canada." [Read on at SV] 

To celebrate Chomsky's 81st birthday, take some time out of your day and read Guernica's recent interview with him. The interview centers on his forthcoming book, Hopes and Prospects, which is available in a few weeks.  [Guernica Mag]

We spent much of yesterday afternoon listening to this compelling, four-part interview with Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, recorded in 1989, about the origins of the Central Intelligence Agency, and their evolution as a government within a government, based on his 1973 book The Secret Team. One indication of the book/topic's continuing relevance saw a new edition published in 2008. You can also read it in its entirety online, for free. [Interview via OBT]

"A delegation of Canadians who witnessed the recent elections in Honduras disputes the account of events in the recent media statement by the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs (Americas)." [Newswire.ca]

- A member of the same delegation, Jackie McVicar, wrote this election report for Upside Down World; "Though the media is reporting record high turnouts for Sunday's election, no one is buying it." [More at CommonFrontiers]

- A reporter for the Globe and Mail bucks the trend, blogging:

"At the moment Peter Kent’s stated position on the travesty in Honduras puts us somewhere on a continuum between objecting to Pinochet but supporting Batista. The facts are that Brazil, a coming world power, is continuing to repudiate the results of the Honduran elections while Canada wonders why everyone can’t just get along so that our gold mining interests in the region can carry on willy nilly." [Douglas Bell's Blog]

"November marked the anniversary of major events in 1989: “the biggest year in world history since 1945,” as British historian Timothy Garton Ash describes it. That year “changed everything,” Garton Ash writes. Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms within Russia and his “breathtaking renunciation of the use of force” led to the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9—and to the liberation of Eastern Europe from Russian tyranny. The accolades are deserved; the events, memorable. But alternative perspectives may be revealing." [In These Times]

At the end of September we checked the Canadian Newsstand database to see how much (or, how little) the Canadian media has covered the Honduran crisis. Here are the (still, unscientific) updated stats through to December 3rd, five days after the sham elections.

Of 72 articles run (search terms same as before = "Zelaya" and "Honduras") in this period, 30 (41.6 %) were written by Canadian reporters or op-ed contributors. Half of these (15) were one of two syndicated columns by Canadian ex-pat journalist Gwynn Dyer. The remaining 42 articles were from U.S./foreign news wires (AP, 13; Reuters, 10; AFP, 10; Bloomberg, 1), or newspapers (NY Times, 1, LA Times, 2, Washington Post, 5).

Of the 72 articles, only nine (12.5%) contained a reference to Canadian government policy, or officials such as Peter Kent, Minister of State for Latin America. Five of the nine references were by a Canadian source, and two of the references were found in an op-ed that was critical of Gwynn Dyer's column. On the latter, titled "Zelaya's Game II," (in which he again has nothing to say about Canadian policy, let alone U.S. complicity )Dyer again mis-characterizes the situation in Honduras, asserting that the situation has only been "treated as a classic Latin American coup," when in reality Zelaya was the author of his own demise, "it was all done quite legally." Dyer also falsely claims that Zelaya "failed to build a strong base of popular support among the Honduran poor."

It is frustrating that…