by Stephen Lendman

Venezuelan Bolivarian democracy shames America’s sham process. Its electoral system is the world’s best, says Jimmy Carter.

Slanderous reporting remains relentless - since Hugo Chavez took office in February 1999, continuing under Nicolas Maduro, vicious Big Lies substituting for hard truths.

On August 7, New York Times editors headlined “Venezuela Tries to Silence Critics.” They outrageously denounced its government for prohibiting two criminals from seeking public office. Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado openly call for regime change. They want Maduro forcefully ousted. They want fascist governance replacing Bolivarian fairness. They want Venezuela returned to its bad old days.

Lopez is detained (since February 2014) on multiple serious charges, including public incitement, arson and conspiracy to topple the democratically elected government. Maduro calls him a violent “fascista.”

State Department officials once called him “divisive, arrogant, vindictive and power-hungry.” He’s perhaps Venezuela’s most polarizing figure.

He’s fundamentally anti-democratic despite claiming otherwise. He was quietly involved in the aborted April 2002 two-day coup against Chavez.

At the time, he was mayor of Chacao, a Caracas subdivision. He supported disruptive actions preceding the coup attempt - though never indicted for involvement.

Its leaders are part of his inner circle. They were involved in months of US-supported 2014 street violence - resulting in dozens of deaths and many injuries.

The scheme was to “annihilate” and topple Maduro. Emails and recorded conversations revealed their plot.

In mid-July, Maria Corina Machado was barred from holding public office for 12 months - for violating Sworn Declaration of Assets transparency requirements.

She refused to fully disclose her income sources. Her disruptive activities are NED funded - part of Washington’s longstanding regime change plans.

Last year, she was stripped of her National Assembly seat for illegally representing Panama in an address before the Organization of American States (OAS).

She and Lopez are coup plotters- directly involved in manipulating 2014 anti-government street violence - openly calling for La Salida (the Exit).

Last December, Venezuela’s state prosecutor indicted Machado on charges of conspiracy to assassinate Maduro. Email evidence revealed her saying “I believe the time has come to join forces, make the necessary calls, and obtain the financing to annihilate Maduro…and the rest will come falling down.”

Venezuela's public prosecutor said “(w)hoever, from inside or outside the national territory, conspires to destroy the nation's republican political style will be punished by eight to 16 years in prison."

Times editors lied claiming Lopez is detained on “spurious charges.” They called action against him and Machado “outrageous.” They ignored their involvement in violent anti-government street protests. Earlier Times editors supported the aborted US-orchestrated April 2002 coup plot.

They irresponsibly vilify Maduro the way they relentlessly bashed Chavez. They claim he’s “weaken(ing) his rivals ahead of (December parliamentary) election(s).”

They “see no choice but to take to the streets again” - perhaps killing dozens more people. They want fascist governance replacing model Bolivarian democracy.

On August 7, Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication and Information accused CNN of willfully lying to incite destabilization. Its Spanish broadcast accused authorities of an alleged “looting attempt in Maracay (Venezuela).”

Maduro issued a statement saying “(w)hat CNN is doing…from the United States will be revealed, and they know that they are being shown up.”

Venezuela’s Communication Ministry said its report “has to do with orchestrated, criminal, terrorist campaign(ing) that uses the audiovisual medium in order to trick and incite to violence...”

Aragua State Governor Tareck El Aissami criticized its coverage, saying “(w)e are perfectly coordinated with all the security forces of the country and no violence has been reported. (CNN is) provoking violence or trying to provoke it.”

Days earlier, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry strongly criticized deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner saying:

“The United States views with concern reports of recent decisions by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council and Comptroller General banning certain members of the political opposition from running for or holding public office.”

“These decisions clearly have the intention of complicating the ability of the opposition to run candidates for the legislative elections, and limiting the range of candidates that can be presented to the Venezuelan people.”

Only criminals are barred from public office. America’s political establishment is rife with them - waging hot wars of aggression globally, as well as destabilizing economic war on Venezuela.

Maduro said “Venezuelan public powers are governed by, without exception, the Venezuelan constitution and its (statute) laws.” It rejects any foreign attempts to undermine its sovereign independence.

More Accusations of Nonexistent Russian Aggression in Ukraine

by Stephen Lendman

Big Lies repeated ad nauseam get most people to believe them. The long ago discredited canard about Russian aggression in Ukraine continues being repeated - on Saturday by neocon Washington Post editors.

They lied claiming “(n)early six months after Russia agreed to an immediate cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, its forces continue to shell and rocket Ukrainian positions on a daily basis.”

“Far from pulling back heavy weapons or withdrawing its troops as required by the agreement, it has built military bases and deployed 9,000 troops inside Ukraine and stationed another 50,000 just outside the border…”

The sources: US-dominated NATO, Britain’s hawkish Royal United Services Institute (RUSI - a defense and security think tank), and Kiev junta authorities - knowingly and willfully proliferating Big Lies.

Poroshenko absurdly claims around 50,000 Russian troops operate in Ukraine. It’s hard taking him seriously. His buffoon-like comments are ludicrous.

US-dominated NATO is no better, saying Russian forces still operate in eastern Ukraine. Last month Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrongfully accused Moscow of “behaving aggressively - continu(ing) (to) provid(e) separatists…with modern weapons (and) sends troops there. This is an act of aggression.”

“Russia is ready to use force against Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Russia more often mentions nuclear weapons as part of its defense strategy. What is more, they conduct unexpected maneuvers to conceal aggressive actions against its neighbors.”

Britain’s RUSI lied claiming 42,000 Russian troops are directly or indirectly involved in Donbass fighting. The report’s author, Igor Sutyagin, is a former Military-Technical and Military-Economic Policy head at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for US and Canadian Studies.

He was convicted on espionage charges, imprisoned for 11 years, then released in a prisoner swap with Washington for alleged Russian spies. In 2014 he began working for RUSI. His credibility is dubious at best.

He lied saying Russian troops are “either stationed (in Southeastern Ukraine), delivering artillery fire against Ukrainian territory from Russian soil, or directly participating in combat operations on Ukrainian sovereign territory.”

He claims 9,000 to 11,000 Russian soldiers operate inside Ukraine. Yet he fails to provide any corroborating evidence. There is none. His claims along with others from NATO and Kiev are a complete fabrication.

No alleged “Russian aggression” exists - none any time since Kiev began waging naked aggression on Donbass in April 2014 - continuing unabated today with multiple daily shellings of residential and other areas.

On July 27, Ukraine’s deputy chief of general staff general Hennadii Vorobiov lied claiming “a high probability of a full-scale invasion of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

In early July, Kiev’s national security and defense council absurdly warned about readied Moscow preparations for a massive new invasion from three directions along the contact line in Donbass.

Russia massed “a record number of troops” along the border with Ukraine, it added. Poroshenko turned truth on its head saying thousands of Ukrainian forces in Donbass are “trying to stem the advance of Russian-backed forces.”

WaPo editors shamelessly repeated this rubbish as fact. They absurdly claim Putin wants to “cripple (Ukraine’s nonexistent) democracy and independence.”

Malicious anti-Russian propaganda proliferated since before Ukrainian crisis conditions erupted in fall 2013.

The bigger the lie, the more frequent the repetition. WaPo editors want Washington heavily arming Kiev more than already - “so that Russia will be deterred from the (nonexistent) offensive it is threatening.”

You can’t make this stuff up. It’s hard imagining anyone believes it. In early July, WaPo deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl claimed “a large new Russian military base” operates in Donbass - based on so-called Kiev junta drone footage, the same kind NATO and Ukraine manufactured earlier, later proved bogus.

Expect unrelenting Russia bashing to continue. Expect no letup in accusing Putin and Donbass freedom fighters of Kiev junta crimes.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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