🧵🧵🧵We just came across an incredible piece from the Financial Times (not in a good way). It has a remarkable blend of fallacious arguments, outright lies, bias, and lack of standards. This is a long thread, so bear with us!
This is the article in question from @FT (tinyurl.com/y32pmvtk). You can tell from the off that you're in for a ride because it's based on this assumption that the West "presses for free and fair elections" when this in fact has happened less frequently than Yeti sightings
FT "journalists" must get a bonus for every use of the word "authoritarian." It's not often that a piece starts w/ an outright falsehood, b/c "democracy" never left Venezuela, only the US didn't like election results. But this apocalyptic tone is worthy of a good chuckle
Notice how corporate outlets don't even bother arguing what was wrong w/ the 2018 election, there's not even a hyperlink. It's really the cheapest way to justify a string of regime-change efforts, not to mention sanctions that have killed over 100,000 #SanctionsKill
It's worth remembering how in 2020 these same journalists were losing their sh*t b/c Trump was alleging fraud. "HE PRESENTED NO EVIDENCE" they would scream. Yet here no one cares, the US State Dept said so, that's good enough for these glorified stenographers
It's worse than reversing the burden of proof (on the legitimacy of the 2018 elections and thus Maduro as president). It's not "guilty until proven innocent", it's "guilty until Washington declares you innocent." Which entails concessions to its clueless surrogates
By the way, assassination attempts, threats of military invasion, international isolation and (we would add) wide-reaching deadly sanctions are the west's way of "pressing" for "free and fair elections" (here it's code for regime-change)
From a revolutionary standpoint the yardstick for "democracy" goes beyond just holding elections. But Maduro has all the right to boast given this is the highest liberal democracies aspire to. And that's what bothers the US and its allies so much
How dare Lula do something without getting permission from the White House first??? It's like he does not understand that this is the US' "backyard"! Seriously, though, do these imperialist propagandists ever hear themselves? Just so high on their own supply...
It's too big a detour to tackle the bias of the ICC investigation, which Caracas has denounced as "judicial colonialism" (which isn't to say there have been no human rights issues). As for the "NaRcOtErRoRiSm", it requires as much evidence as the "election fraud" for the media
Well, good for them for not meddling in other countries' affairs. However, they *did* criticize the main driver of this migration wave (to call them "refugees" is false): deadly US sanctions that have terribly worsened economic difficulties. Even Chile's disappointing guy did so
To get this straight: b/c Biden granted ONE license, that allows Chevron limited operations while placing hurdles at every turn for Venezuela to receive revenues, it's no longer "maximum pressure"? Should we call it "99% pressure" or something? Just so, so dishonest
The FT doesn't say it, but this was more of a "concession" to Chevron. And (see right image) it's hilarious that the non-release of funds is treated as some kind of natural disaster, when these resources are being held in the US and other western countries
Another case of blaming the victim. According to these propagandists, it's perfectly legitimate for Washington to impose unilateral sanctions and enforce them extraterritorially. But Vzla is in the wrong for "dodging" them. Also here it sounds like Maduro drove the ships himself
No offense, but the EU doesn't really grant anyone "legitimacy," it's just a club of fancy-dressed bureaucrats that profess a kind of low-calorie imperialism. Plus the EU already sent a mission for the 2021 elections and didn't really find major issues. So they'd be flip-flopping
We have to correct the right honorable stenographers here.The attempts to "recognize" the "alternative government" were quite successful, the clown-in-chief was even paraded in western capitals and given head-of-state receptions. It was ousting the actual gov't that proved tricky
Anyway, that's all in this latest edition of "corporate media dishonesty" on Venezuela. Be sure to follow us on your favorite social network to get accurate reporting & analysis, and these takedowns of dishonest propaganda as a bonus. To support us visit: venezuelanalysis.com/donate
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.