the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations credibility by withholding information about the source's financial connection. globinfo freexchange The term astroturfing is derived from AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic carpeting designed to resemble natural grass, as a play on the word "grassroots". The implication behind the use of the term is that instead of a "true" or "natural" grassroots effort behind the activity in question, there is a "fake" or "artificial" appearance of support. In political science, it is defined as the process of seeking electoral victory or legislative relief for grievances by helping political actors find and mobilize

globinfo freexchange Venezuela: thousands celebrate the victory over electrical sabotage "No War for Oil" as thousands march against US intervention in Venezuela

While online audiences know YouTube comedian Joanna Hausmann from her videos making the case for regime change, her economist father has flown below the radar. His record holds the key to understanding what the U.S. wants in Venezuela. by Anya Parampil Part 2 - The wreckage of the IESA Boys The neoliberal Venezuelan economist Juan Cristóbal Nagel described the neoliberal economics plan he favored for his country during the late 1980’s as “ your basic Washington Consensus recipe. ” Nagel said the plan consisted of the following ingredients: an end to price controls on basic goods and subsidies for gasoline; the privatization of state utilities; a decision to float the country’s exchange rate; and the lowering of tariffs. The recipe was popularly known as “El Gran Viraje,” or the Great Turn, to radical free-market capitalism. While campaigning for Venezuela’s 1988 presidential elections, Carlos Andrés Pérez of the social-democratic Acción Democrática Party (AD) slammed

The US-funded CANVAS organization that trained Juan Guaido and his allies produced a 2010 memo on exploiting electricity outages and urged the opposition “to take advantage of the situation…towards their needs” by Max Blumenthal Part 2 - Rubio vows “a period of suffering” for Venezuela hours before the blackout The Venezuelan government has placed the blame squarely on Washington, accusing it of sabotage through a cyber-attack on its electrical infrastructure. Key players in the US-directed coup attempt have done little to dispel the accusation. In a tweet on March 8, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo framed the electricity outage as a pivotal stage in US plans for regime change: No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro. — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) March 8, 2019 At noon on March 7, during a hearing on Venezuela at the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, Sen. Marco Rubio explicitly called for the US to stir “ widespread unrest, ” declari

The Pentagon was deeply involved in the production of the hit Hollywood film Captain Marvel, and is using the movie to spread recruitment propaganda. by Ben Norton Part 2 - Progressive cultural representation + militarist propaganda Captain Marvel was marketed as a feminist blockbuster, a rare superhero movie featuring a female lead. As the women-centered magazine Elle trumpeted, “ Captain Marvel Is Now the Highest Grossing Movie With a Female Lead Ever. ” As is so often the case in Hollywood, however, ostensibly progressive breakthroughs in cultural representation were seamlessly blended with US militarist propaganda. Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson) has two close allies: Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), a former CIA agent who finds himself directionless in life after successfully defeating communism in the Cold War; and Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), another fighter pilot in the US military. The three team up in a benevolent, US military-backed mission to t

Μέρος 2ο - Ο Μάρκο Ρούμπιο βλέπει μία «περίοδο ταλαιπωρίας» για τη Βενεζουέλα ώρες πριν από το μπλακ άουτ Η κυβέρνηση της Βενεζουέλας κατηγορεί ευθέως την Ουάσινγκτον λέγοντας πως πραγματοποίησαν σαμποτάζ μέσω κυβερνοεπίθεσης στις υποδομές ηλεκτρισμού. Παράγοντες- κλειδιά σε αυτή τη προσπάθεια πραξικοπήματος που καθοδηγείται από τις ΗΠΑ δεν αρνήθηκαν τις κατηγορίες. Με ένα tweet στις 8 Μαρτίου, ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών των ΗΠΑ Μάικ Πομπέο χαρακτήρισε την κατάρρευση του ηλεκτρικού δικτύου ως ένα πρώτο στάδιο στα πλάνα των ΗΠΑ για μια καθεστωτική αλλαγή στη Βενεζουέλα. To μεσημέρι της 7ης Μαρτίου, σε μία συνεδρίαση για τη Βενεζουέλα στην υποεπιτροπή για θέματα διεθνών σχέσεων της Γερουσίας, ο γερουσιαστής Μάρκο Ρούμπιο κάλεσε τις ΗΠΑ να υποκινήσουν τις «αναταραχές», δηλώνοντας πως είναι κάτι που πρέπει να γίνει προς επίτευξη της καθεστωτικής αλλαγής. «Για τη Βενεζουέλα θα ξεκινήσει μια περίοδος ταλαιπωρίας που κανένα κράτος στο δικό μας ημισφαίριο δεν έχει αντιμετωπίσε

A newly declassified US intelligence memo has been unearthed this week and featured in a bombshell Wall Street Journal report. It proves that the year prior to the Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq the White House was expressly warned in great detail of all that could and would go wrong in the regime change war's aftermath, including the Sunni-Shia sectarian chaos and proxy war with Iran that would define Iraq and the whole region for years following. And crucially, it reveals that seven months before the US invasion of Iraq, American intelligence officials understood that Osama bin Laden was likely " alive and well and hiding in northwest Pakistan " — important given that a key Bush admin claim to sell the war was that Saddam Hussein and bin Laden were " in league " against the United States. The July 2002 memo was authored by William Burns, then serving as assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, and t

by Jonathan Cook Part 3 - Guilt by association Once the mud stuck through repetition, a vocal group of Labour MPs began denouncing the party for being “institutionally anti-semitic”, “endemically anti-semitic” and a “cesspit of anti-semitism”. The slurs continued relentlessly, even as statistics proved the accusation to be groundless. The figures show that anti-semitism exists only in the margins of the party, as racism does in all walks of life. Meanwhile, the smears overshadowed the very provable fact that anti-semitism and other forms of racism are rearing their head dangerously on the political right. But the witchfinders were never interested in the political reality. They wanted a never-ending war – a policy of “zero tolerance” – to root out an evil in their midst, a supposed “hard left” given succour by Corbyn and his acolytes. This is the context for understanding Williamson’s “crime”. Despite the best efforts of our modern witchfinder generals to prov

Elliott Abrams, who is steering Trump’s Venezuela policy, has a long track record of war crimes. Yet a number of liberal commentators are rushing to his defense. by Paul Heideman Part 4 - After the fall By the time Abrams was pardoned, the world had changed considerably from the one in which he had been a leading cold warrior. The Soviet Union was no more, and Bill Clinton’s election had ended 12 years of Republican rule. Abrams needed a home in this new wilderness, and found one, ironically, in Ernest Lefever’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, which provided him with a comfortable sinecure. If Lefever’s views on racial fitness ever troubled Abrams, he didn’t comment on it. As the locus of American geopolitics shifted from Central America to the Middle East, Abrams reoriented his concerns accordingly. He was a signatory (along with assorted neocons from Paul Wolfowitz to Francis Fukuyama) to the Project for the New American Century’s infamous 1998 letter to Bill Clint

Ως «αδιόρθωτο» και «απαίσιο» περιγράφουν οι New York Times, η New York Herald και το Associated Press τον ηγέτη της Βενεζουέλας. Ο τελευταίος «απεχθάνεται τις πιο ιερές αξίες των πολιτισμένων εθνών», γράφουν τα δυτικά ΜΜΕ που υποστηρίζουν τον φιλελεύθερο «επαναστάτη», ο οποίος προσπαθεί να εξουδετερώσει τον «τύραννο». Ο τελευταίος είναι ο πλέον μισητός στον δυτικό κόσμο, το κράτος του, αν και πλούσιο σε πόρους, είναι υπερχρεωμένο, η διακυβέρνηση της χώρας διεκδικείται από έναν επαναστάτη που έχει συγκεντρώσει έναν στρατό και βαδίζει προς το Καράκας. Βαγγέλης Γεωργίου Μέρος 5ο - Αμερικανική διαιτησία Ο Λευκός Οίκος ήταν έτοιμος να στείλει στόλο, καθώς οι Ευρωπαίοι είχαν τραβήξει πολύ το σχοινί. Ακόμα και τα ΜΜΕ της περιόδου εκείνης αποκάλυπταν καλύτερα τον κύκλο συμφερόντων από σήμερα. Μεγάλη μερίδα του διεθνούς Τύπου στάθηκε απέναντι στη διπλωματία των κανονιοφόρων και στην επέμβαση, αντίθετα με σήμερα. Ο Λευκός Οίκος μόλις είδε ότι οι Ευρωπαίοι γίνονταν επικίνδυνα πιεστι