Face it. The US is a rogue nation and both mainstream parties support that! Our First Obligation: Demand Immediate Release of Maduro and Flores!
The Saturday morning news dropped like the bombs the US dropped on Venezuela without provocation or justification. There, I said it. Without provocation or justification, just because the US has the firepower to do so and because the US wants Venezuelan oil. The lawlessness that reigns in Gaza and the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, and Sudan among other countries, continues to spread. This should be a concern of everyone on the planet and should be acknowledged by all, not apologized for or explained away by Democrats and Republicans alike. In a world that is still allowing the Israeli-US alliance to bomb in Gaza and use violence to establish illegal settlements on the West Bank, or to bomb fishing boats off the Caribbean coast with impunity, this is just more of the same kind of activity conducted by some of the biggest and most dangerous war criminals on the planet, a planet in which international law and human rights have ceased to exist. This is a world in which the US feels empowered to take what it wants by whatever means it wants, whenever it wants.
Meanwhile, a woman on the streets of Colombia in the middle of the Andean mountains, who knows I just returned from the US, asked me this morning what is wrong with US leadership and tells me that she fears World War III. And I can’t even pretend to calm her fears. If she knows what’s a stake, then why don’t those of us who live in the US see it? We don’t see it because so-called leadership hides behind the words “dictator”, “terrorist” and “narco-terrorist” as if that absolves the US of any wrongdoing. But it shouldn’t and it doesn’t.
When I was much younger, living under my parents’ roof, 20 years after World War II had ended, my father would tell me, over and over again, that “might does not make right”. I took his words to heart then and I still take them to heart. The so-called international world order that emerged post-World War II was supposed to do the same, to understand that there are some people more vulnerable than others and that there should be some shared understanding of what national sovereignty is and how one nation cannot just decide to take over another nation and determine how it should be run. Somehow, all that has gone out the window.
But this once discredited adage has come back with a vengeance. Those who possess the most powerful weapons in the world feel at liberty to use them, without fear of being held accountable for their lawlessness and their war crimes, their collective punishment of those who have done nothing to threaten them. When Trump can get away with saying that the Venezuelans stole oil from the US by nationalizing their oil, you know the world is in trouble.
There is a disturbing pattern of the West believing it’s entitled to whatever it wants, including trying those it disagrees with on its own soil after kidnapping them.
In an effort to restore some of this respect for national sovereignty, the US must allow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to return to Venezuela now! The longer they are here, the more vulnerable they become. The longer they are here, the more Venezuela can be subjected to malicious foreign intervention in their internal affairs. The longer they are here, the more time the US has to spin its favorite narratives, ones that most people in power don’t bother to challenge, even though the challenge is almost as clear as the nose on one’s face.
I heard the same language when I participated in a delegation to Syria in 2016, that a. the US had a right to unseat Assad and b. What in the world was a peacemaker like me doing learning firsthand about what was happening there. I defended my choice then and I defend it now. Assad protected his nation’s sovereignty for as long as he could, until Russia had its hands full with the Ukraine debacle. That’s another story for another day, but the US and NATO refused to negotiate with Putin on many occasions and thus helped to keep the war alive. Now, look at the chaotic state of Syria after Assad was deposed. The violence has increased and the people fear for their lives in a way that didn’t exist before. Hillary Clinton used to talk about the utility of creating “organized chaos”, its utility in the US push for international domination.
We need to remember one thing and one thing only. National sovereignty is key. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE has the right to bomb another country and kidnap its leadership just because it feels like doing so. Enough of hiding behind “buzz words” that are an attempt to shield the US and its ally, Israel, from guilt and from blame.
The thousands of children in Gaza and the West Bank killed by US bombs did not deserve to die and posed no threat to the US or to Israel. We have to start addressing these problems by speaking the truth and getting to the essence of the problem. Talking in circles and with toxic rhetoric won’t resolve anything in a peaceful and just way. The world needs more than condemnation by complicit politicians wringing their hands. Handwringing allows these acts of attempting to remake the world map to continue without significant opposition by these same corrupt politicians.
Meanwhile, if you live in Central or South America, Africa, or Gaza and the West Bank, your lives remain expendable and constantly at risk. The world deserves better.
Example of Democratic Party support: lead Dem candidate for president Newsom endorses smear narrative, does not call for release of Maduro and his only gripe is he wants input to the US process controlling Venezuela.
