Imperial Press Agent Pseudo-Journalism
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
As a group, US major media are the shame of the nation, a national disgrace for long ago abandoning journalism the way it’s supposed to be — operating exclusively as press agents for wealth, power and privilege at the expense of peace, equity and justice they abhor.
Whenever the US goes to war or plans one, establishment media genuflect supportively. The same goes for its color revolutions and coups like what’s being attempted in Venezuela.
Mainstream coverage of what’s going on is entirely one-sided, nary a dissenting viewpoint permitted, with the rarest of rare exceptions.
Nor are fundamental international, constitutional, or US statute laws explained — prohibiting preemptive wars and other hostile actions by one country against others.
When it comes to mainstream news, information, and opinion in the US and West overall, managed news misinformation and disinformation rubbish drowns out what everyone needs to know — truth and full disclosure on vital issues.
It’s available only through alternative independent sources, mainly online, digital democracy’s last frontier.
It’s under assault in the US and other Western countries — a slow-motion coup against truth-telling, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning Exhibit A.
Note: Manning remains imprisoned in punishing solitary confinement for invoking her constitutional rights to remain silent.
A hanging UK judge sentenced Assange to 50 weeks imprisonment for “violating bail terms,” relating to a phony rape and sexual abuse charge later dismissed — given asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy from August 2012 until forcibly arrested on April 11 and held isolated in Britain’s Gitmo Belmarsh prison.
US media are stumbling over themselves in support of the Trump regime’s coup attempt in Venezuela, pretending what’s brazenly illegal is humanitarian intervention and democracy building.
In its latest edition, neocon/CIA-connected Washington Post editors outrageously headlined: “Don’t call it a coup (sic). Venezuelans have a right to replace an oppressive, toxic regime (sic),” saying:
“…Guaido…stood with members of the security forces at a Caracas air base and declared that a long-anticipated barracks uprising against the regime of Nicolas Maduro had begun.”
Fact: A handful of Venezuelan soldiers were duped into believing what was planned for Tuesday was something other than what unfolded.
Most of them refused to go along with the scheme, turning themselves into authorities, explaining they were lied to.
No insurgents entered Venezuela’s La Carlota airbase, as falsely reported. Nor were more than a handful of soldiers co-opted to go along with Tuesday’s plot.
Venezuela’s military supports Maduro and Bolivarian social democracy. WaPo’s claim that “there was no way to know whether (the plot) would succeed or be crushed — or devolve into civil war” was ludicrous.
Dead on arrival, it’s what Trump regime hardliners likely expected, wanting only to cause more violence and chaos than already, knowing there was no chance for events on Tuesday to incite a national uprising against Maduro.
WaPo editors turned truth on its head about him. They lied accusing him of “violat(ing) human rights on a massive scale (sic), leaving hundreds of peaceful (sic) opponents dead (sic), and it has led Venezuela into economic catastrophe (sic).”
They ignored illegal US sanctions war and other toughness, blaming Maduro for Trump regime high crimes against Venezuela.
They lied claiming “(m)illions of Venezuelans have fled to other countries.” Hundreds of thousands alone crossed into Colombia and Brazil, many returning because of harsh treatment received.
They lied about the legality of Venezuela’s National Assembly, failing to explain the country’s Supreme Court declared its rulings null and void for illegally seating three MPs accused of electoral fraud.
They lied about Maduro’s May 2018 reelection, falsely calling Venezuela’s process “flawed…both international observers and leading opposition figures…effectively barred” — three bald-faced Big Lies.
WaPo: “…Tuesday’s uprising is not a “coup attempt (sic)…(I)t is the latest in a series of legitimate (sic) and, for the most part, nonviolent efforts (sic) by Venezuelans, both civilian and military, to throw off an oppressive, toxic” (government) so that they can freely elect (sic) a legitimate government (sic).”
The above bald-faced Big Lies reflect an endorsement of tyranny, opposition to Venezuelan social democracy — what’s expected from editors linked to the CIA, a longstanding coup machine.
The late Chalmers Johnson earlier explained that the agency’s existence and democratic rule are incompatible, impossible for the former to coexist with the latter.
Extremist Wall Street Journal editors turned truth on its head, calling fascist elements in Venezuela wanting Maduro ousted a “democratic…revolt (sic).”
They repeated the Big Lie about an old-fashioned US orchestrated coup being something else. They lied calling the Trump regime’s coup attempt “a popular revolt (sic) against an illegitimate ruler (sic) — democratically elected and reelected, independent monitors affirming the legitimacy of Venezuela’s process and Maduro.
The Journal: “Mr. Guaido’s team estimates it has the support of 200 to 400 soldiers inside Venezuela while thousands have already defected.”
Fact: About 25 soldiers joined yesterday’s coup plot, only about five staying once discovering they were lied to about what the gathering was all about, surrendering to authorities and explaining they were had.
Small numbers of largely rank-and-file soldiers, several hundred at most, defected cross-border, not “thousands.”
Guaido’s actions and public remarks are scripted by his Trump regime handlers. He’s a puppet doing their bidding, a traitor to his country and people, belonging in prison where he’s likely to end up, unless able to flee cross border to Colombia or Brazil before arrested.
Action against him may have already been ordered following Tuesday’s violence he incited. Reportedly he’s in seclusion, his whereabouts unknown.
If he appears in public for a May 1 rally he called for, perhaps he’ll be arrested. He’s guilty of treason, sedition, inciting violence, and complicity with Trump regime hardliners, wanting fascist tyranny replacing Bolivarian social democracy.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
