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Jun 9 17 tweets 8 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
🧵🧵🧵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! Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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) Image
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 Image
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... Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 ImageImage
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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

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More from @venanalysis

Jun 7
The US-backed Venezuelan opposition, which runs an imaginary parliament, wants a US court to declare a Venezuelan bond as invalid to try and soften the disaster brought by their complete bundling when in charge of CITGO

reuters.com/markets/commod…
The strategy haw few chances of success, for several reasons, not least of them that when this National Assembly was actually running it *did not* formally declare the bond issued by the Maduro govt as illegal. A US-backed group was not about to challenge financial investors
.@Reuters will not let a short, straightforward piece get in the way of some outrageous lying. US sanctions have been classified as "collective punishment" against the Vzlan population, and these stenographer clowns write "sanctions against the Maduro govt" #SanctionsKill Image
Read 5 tweets
May 27
The @BBC is shocked, of course w/ its stiff-upper-lip propagandist style, to find out that... (you better sit down for this) the Venezuelan government wants to position its message on social media (gasp!). Yes, it will be hard to recover from this one (thread) Image
This is the article in question (bbc.com/news/blogs-tre…). In summary, the UK's state propaganda outlet is appalled to find out that the Venezuelan govt tries to do what it and other state/private channels do all the time. Exceptionalist delusion Image
Unless you're naive enough to believe giant tech platforms are a neutral playing field, it's quite reasonable to try and amplify the message to get over the noise and the well-funded propaganda coming from the enemy. Also, don't Western outlets just repeat the State Dept line? Image
Read 12 tweets
Mar 29
US puppets of the world, unite! A fancy initiative featuring the who's who of US surrogates. It's quite
funny tbh. A "non-ideological gathering" (code for right wing) with a "commitment to freedom and democracy" (code for pushing US interests)

worldlibertycongress.org
It features absolute muppets like Garry Kasparov and, as you'd expect, the Venezuelan representative is fascist poster boy Leopoldo López who is abroad fleeing charges and yearning for a US invasion that might restore what he thought was a God-given destiny to rule Venezuela
Needless to say, these spineless US puppets are always in favor of murderous sanctions. No amount of civilian deaths is regrettable as long as they get to seat on the throne and serve their imperial masters #SanctionsKill
Read 5 tweets
Mar 28
🧵🧵More trouble for CITGO thanks to the treacherous incompetence of the former "interim government" led by legendary buffoon @jguaido. We'll have a report on this tomorrow but here's a quick thread in the meantime
In a nutshell, 4 more corporations have joined a Delaware court-ordered auction of CITGO shares to collect on a combined $1.6 billion worth of arbitration awards ($2.5B + accrued interests). This @Reuters piece has some details (+ traditional dishonesty): reut.rs/3TQFmml
To make a long story short, corporate-friendly arbitration courts ruled in favor of several companies in disputes w/ Venezuela (over nationalizations). And then a corporate-friendly judge ruled that they could seize CITGO shares as compensation to collect on those debts
Read 17 tweets
Mar 26
Though there are plenty of mighty rivals, the @NYTimes remains the gold standard when it comes to imperialist propaganda. Let’s look at another example riddled with biased takes and outright falsehoods (nyti.ms/3LSaLDh) [thread]
This has all the corporate media hallmarks. First, a description of an “implosion” without any causes (first the oil price crash and then murderous US sanctions). And then the gratuitous “authoritarian” label to establish Maduro as the “bad guy” and thus justify regime-change
There are also typical inaccuracies. Sanctions did more than “decimate finances”, they affected every aspect of the economy. And the US hasn’t “scaled back” anything, it gave A SINGLE LICENSE to US corporation Chevron but w/ all sorts of hurdles so Venezuela doesn’t get income
Read 12 tweets
Mar 1
Washington’s blockade against Venezuela has wreaked inestimable damage to the economy, destroying thousands of lives.

These deadly measures, imposed as “punishment” for defying the colonialist Monroe Doctrine, were designed to trigger regime change.

A summary 👇🧵
Venezuela's oil industry was re-nationalized by Hugo Chávez, breaking foreign corporations' control and putting resources at the service of the people with numerous social programs.

It is no coincidence that Washington targeted this industry with sanctions since 2017 👇
No sector of the Venezuelan economy has been spared by Washington's multi-pronged aggression, from mining operations to the banking system.

Even the country's 31 tonnes of gold (worth over $1.5bn) in the Bank of England (supposedly for safekeeping!) were seized! 👇
Read 6 tweets

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