Bolton’s Saber Rattling Threats Against Venezuela
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Deranged and dangerous John Bolton combines the lead maniacal characters in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 dark political satire “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”
Dr. Strangelove was a mad scientist. General Jack D. Ripper was obsessed with waging nuclear war on Soviet Russia.
So was General Buck Turgidson, saying: “Mr. President, I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks.”
The film ended ominously with nuclear detonations, accompanied by popular British singer Vera Lynn’s famous WW II “We’ll Meet Again” recording.
Hollywood depictions are one thing, real life another matter entirely. Like Pompeo, Bolton never met a sovereign independent country he didn’t want to smash, a democratic government he didn’t want eliminated, a problem he abhorred resolving diplomatically, terror-bombing his favored option.
Sergey Lavrov slammed him, saying “I believe that Latin American states will react to John Bolton’s” belligerent remarks. “He mentioned that the Monroe Doctrine could be used in Venezuela, insulting the entire” region, adding:
“(S)everal days ago Washington threatened that Venezuela is not the end of the story, and Cuba and Nicaragua would be next” - threatening these countries with regime change, maybe by brute force.
On Sunday, Bolton ominously tweeted: “Venezuelan (usurper in waiting) interim president Juan Guaido (sic) has announced his planned return to Venezuela. Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community.”
Separately he tweeted: “Cuba’s role in usurping democracy (sic) and fomenting repression in Venezuela is clear (sic). That’s why the US will continue to tighten financial restrictions on Cuba’s military and intel services. The region’s democracies (sic) should condemn…Cuba…”
On Sunday, Guaido said he’d return to Venezuela on Monday, adding “(w)e will take to the streets. I will announce next political steps tomorrow.”
Turning truth on its head, he added that if arrested, it “would be a coup d’etat…(a) kidnapping…one of (Maduro’s) last mistakes.”
He’s guilty of sedition, treason or both, along with violating a Supreme Court ordered travel ban. He breached Venezuelan constitutional and international law - a fugitive from justice yet to be prosecuted.
It’s time for Venezuelan authorities to do their job - arresting and detaining him on return, ahead of prosecution for his high crimes.
Anything less is self-defeating. The time to enforce the law is now. It should have been ordered straightaway after he unlawfully self-declared himself interim president.
No such authority exists in Venezuelan constitutional or statute laws, nor in the UN Charter, replacing a democratically elected sitting president.
Separately, the OAS and European Parliament called for a new Venezuelan presidential election. Notorious US puppet/hostile to democracy OAS president Luis Almagro embarrassed himself saying the following:
“If there is no cause for constitutional disqualification, legal for Mr. Nicolas Maduro to appear, he can definitely stand for all the elections he wants.”
EU official Antonio Tajani added: “It is important to respect the rules, because if Mr. Maduro asks to be a candidate because he tries to do the same thing he has done in the last presidential elections, that can not be done.”
Maduro stood for election twice, winning both times, the process beyond reproach, an indisputable fact.
Almagro and Tajani are Trump regime proxies, complicit in its coup plot. They and DLT hardliners only accept election results when anti-democratic candidates they favor prevail, notably tinpot despots like Colombia’s Duque, Brazil’s Bolsonaro, and other rogue actors like them.
Around mid-day Monday, AP News reported that Guaido was back in Caracas, greeted by “several hundred supporters,” adding numbers were smaller than expected.
The Wall Street Journal said he “return(ed) home, testing President Maduro…arriving at Caracas airport, saying “(w)e know the risks that we face.”
French envoy to Venezuela Romain Nadal joined others to meet him on the orchestrated arrival, saying:
“We came to be sure that they aren’t going to threaten the physical integrity and freedom of movement of (designated US puppet) Guaido (sic). If they violate (his) rights (sic), tension will increase in the country.”
Envoys from Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and several other nations were on hand as well - to their collective shame, supporting a traitor to his country.
Reportedly Guaido passed through customs without incident, heading for a downtown anti-government rally. More on his return in a same-day article.
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