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Sep 28 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
This is what say if you’re a western imperialist regarding votes that take place under wartime conditions

1992 Sandinista loss in #Nicaragua during Reagan’s terrorist war on the country:

Great victory!

2015 opposition win in #Venezuela legislature:

Great victory!

Thread
Zelensky victory in 2019 in middle of a civil war

Great Victory!

2014 Referendum in Crimea

Sham!

Referedums just held is Donetsk, Luhansk..

Sham!
Should votes ever be held while country is under attack? Can’t make general rule. Yrs ago I would have said that tactical considerations in Venezuela & Nicaragua, wld have made cancelling elections a terrible blunder. Now I am far from sure about that, especially Nicaragua 1992
Cuba , despite a savage 60 year U.S. blockade has outperformed every single “liberal democracy” in LatAm in key development indicators like child mortality. In fact it has outperformed the US itself on that metric. Fidel Castro was up front about the approach
Castro said a party of US imperialism is not allowed to exist nor is the US Empire given space in Cuba media.

Given that the US attacks & overthrows elected governments all the time, western free speech blowhards who object to Castro’s approach don’t have a leg to stand on
Nobody in LatAm should have to stand on one foot waiting for western free speech blowhards to translate their “free speech” into jail terms for western aggressors. The blowhards have gone centuries, & counting, without holding anyone accountable
Minor correction:

the terrorist war on #Nicaragua was run by Reagan from 1980-88, but by 1992 it was being run by George HW Bush

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More from @rosendo_joe

Joe Emersberger Profile picture
Sep 28
The most racist thing a Corbyn ally did while JC was Labour leader was deny that Blair is a war criminal (McDonnell 2019 GQ interview)

@AaronBastani just interviewed Corbyn & asked about “John” doing the interview but not about what “John” said 👇

The relevant bit starts at about the 43:30 pt

Since that sickening Interview I recall Ash Sartar, Kerry Ann Mendoza, Matt Kennard and now Bastani interview Corbyn. None asked Corbyn to address McDonnell’s remarks. Regardless, indirectly Corbyn made clear to Bastani that he will not denounce McDonnell over it.
Read 4 tweets
Joe Emersberger Profile picture
Sep 25
“The Royal Air Force dropped 150 tons of bombs on India. It was 1925”

HUMAN SMOKE:The Beginnings of World War II, the end of civilization
by Nicholson Baker

Just started it and it is already amazing. Will put noteworthy stuff from it here
Why is it that people in the UK aren't ruthlessly hounded if they praise notorious antisemites like Chruchill and the Roosevelts? ImageImageImage
The book very quickly packs a hell of a punch because It uses a newsclippings / diary approach with minimal commentary.

What comes out immediately?

Nazis were not one-time freaks who appeared out of nowhere, but grew out of well-established western genocidal practices ImageImageImage
Read 33 tweets
Joe Emersberger Profile picture
Aug 30
Will do a thread on Gorbachev later tonight (by adding to this tweet) but a huge part of his legacy is giving the the US a much freer hand to rampage all over the Middle East, especially Iraq. And in fact Gorbachev’s served up the USSR to much worse people, like Yeltsin
"Gorbachev's INCOMPETENCE" I meant to write above.
Anyway what follows is from Vladislav Zubok's book "Collapsed" which I am most of the way through & already did a thread about.



Gorbachev is a pathetic figure, not a tragic one.
George Bush Sr. was so wildy hypocritical that as he slaughtered iraqs he threatened Gorbachev with sanctions over violence in Lithuania - and Gorbachev swallowed it!. Excerpts below from Zubok ImageImage
Read 18 tweets
Joe Emersberger Profile picture
Aug 20
I finished the 1rst chapter of Vladislav Zubok's book about the collapse of the USSR. One lesson that comes through (& also from Michael Parent’s analysis) is failure to empower consumers.

THREAD
Parenti is careful to note that consumers were empowered in some ways: the USSR did “deliver” when it came to important things like health and education, but when it came to various forms of consumer goods, quality was sorely lacking. On that pt, he and Zubok coincide.
Zubok notes that Gorbachev tried to solve quality problems through large teams of inspectors who were independent of the state enterprises. It failed. But Gorbachev was such a fool that he also tried to eradicate alcoholism through prohibition
Read 6 tweets
Joe Emersberger Profile picture
Jul 8
"The C-word is an acceptable term when prefaced with the soothing adjective 'middle.' Every politician, publicist, and pundit will rhapsodize about the middle class, the object of their heartfelt concern"-----Michael Parenti in "Blackshirts and Reds"
"Class reality is obscured by an ideology whose tenets might be summarized and rebutted as follows:
Credo: There are no real class divisions in this society. Save for some rich and poor, almost all of us are middle class."
"Credo: Our social institutions and culture are autonomous entities in a pluralistic society, largely free of the influences of wealth and class power. To think otherwise is to entertain conspiracy theories"
Read 5 tweets
Joe Emersberger Profile picture
Jul 8
Two things are equally important to ALL factions of the western Establishment

1) Claiming the unique & incomprehensible evil of US/NATO official enemies

2) Normalizing & even glorifying its worst criminals

1 reinforces 2 and vice versa
When I say “all factions” I really mean all. An example I keep coming back to because it has so widely ignored even by UK leftists I still like who are not part of the Establishment

See also
Read 4 tweets

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