Presidential edition of Whats Wrong With This Picture?

UPDATE BELOW

Last Wednesday the Washington Post style section ran a story on the front page about Oliver Stone's new movie "South of the Border". The story included a picture of the six current South American presidents that Stone interviewed. But, wait, there was one tiny little problem...take a look at the picture below:


(Top, Chavez, Correa and de Kirchner. Bottom, Lugo, Morales and da Silva)

You may have noticed, something is amiss.....got it yet??? Answer and more after the jump.

Will the Real Dr. Doom Please Stand Up?

...Up stands the plump, marshmallowy, Jackson Peep..more formally known as Jackson Diehl, member of the Washington Post editorial board. For a bit of background, we turn to one of Borev's final posts:

Followers of the Jackson Diehl oeuvre will remember that Chavez was totally on the cusp of being shitcanned two years ago over his economic policies. The polls said so! In November 2007 it was the HUMILIATION following dumb comments from the King of Spain that signaled his impending end. In March of that year the RCTV flap was going to do him in any day now. The polls, the polls! Those glorious/portentous/uncited polls!

Well, today we are treated with the latest installment, a Diehl blog post titled, "Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela". It seems like we're back to the argument from two years ago...economic policies. And of course, we get more of "those glorious/portentous/uncited polls!":

The caudillo’s popularity rating around Latin American is now below 40 percent, and his backing in Venezuela has dropped below 50 percent.

Wow, below 50 percent...putting him in illustrious company with...Barack Obama, who we all know is facing his imminent demise!

Maybe next time we hear from Jackson Peep, when he writes the following he'll be referring to maladjusted:

When I pointed out back in January that Chavez’s revolution was collapsing, a chorus of left-wing bloggers rose up in protest.

(image via who else, Borev)

Juan Forero, Chief Propagator

Juan Forero, the Washington Post's resident LatAm ignoramus, goes all in today with his article about Chavez and ties to terrorism. There is really nothing new here; magic laptops, former FARC rebels speaking anonymously, and of course "Colombian government documents". No surprise that the article got Ray Walser's panties in a bunch.

A couple points though; first and foremost, why the fuck would anybody trust anything from the Colombian government? On the same day as Forero's article, Latin America News Dispatch has a terrific rundown on Colombia during the Uribe years and specifically the intelligence agency, DAS. One of the many issues raised being that "documents surfaced indicating that the DAS coordinated “political warfare” against government critics, by disseminating false rumors accusing them of connections with leftist guerrillas." And it gets even better, the article quotes from some files that were released recently, outlining how DAS planned on linking a certain group they didn't like to rebels:

The mission’s objective was to “establish ties” between the collective and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a guerrilla group. “STRATEGIES: Sabotage. ACTION: Exchange message with ELN leader, which will be found during a search of the premises.”

So it is public knowledge that the DAS actually tries to plant evidence, and then find it during raids on the camps. Sound familiar? It should, since it's the basis for almost all the allegations against Venezuela and Chavez.

So there are also former FARC rebels who spoke anonymously to Forero. But if this is such conclusive evidence of anything then why hasn't Forero written about the former DAS member Rafael Garcia who outlined how DAS coordinated with the Venezuelan opposition and Colombian paramilitary forces to assassinate Chavez. Or the former Army major who said there were some 2000 Colombian paramilitaries in Venezuela trying to topple the government.

Now, I'm not saying all these allegations are true, but that's exactly the point. Former members of DAS, just like former members of the FARC have plenty of reasons to say plenty of different things. But you'd never see the MSM air these types of allegations against Colombia, only if they fit the narrative of evil, terrorist supporting Venezuela. But maladjusted is hardly the first to notice this, just the most recent to point it out. For a much deeper look at the hypocritical coverage of Colombia vs. Venezuela, check out this FAIR study, or Kevin Young's take for Media Accuracy on Latin America. Young looks at how MSM coverage fits the Edward Herman/Noam Chomsky propaganda model, put simply:

The model predicts that the news media will look favorably upon the Colombian government of Álvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally, while consistently vilifying the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez, whom the U.S. government frequently identifies as an antagonist. If the model holds, U.S. media outlets will be found to portray the Uribe government as relatively democratic, progressive, and peaceful, while casting the Chávez government as authoritarian, regressive, and militaristic.

Well, the model holds, and Forero is the chief propagator.

Jackson Diehl is really pissed there aren't more covert, illegal wars

Or at least that is what one would have to infer after reading his latest deranged diatribe. Diehl, (better known as Jackson Peep) is one of the stooges that make up the Washington Post editorial board….he writes:

During the 1980s Ortega’s consolidation of power was regarded as deeply threatening by the Reagan administration, which sponsored an armed insurgency against the Sandinistas even after a prohibition by Congress. Now the strongman’s antics go virtually unnoticed in Washington, where the Obama administration has been largely indifferent to the spread of leftist authoritarianism from Venezuela to Ecuador, Bolivia and Central America.

Did he really just go there? Not. Very. Surprising.

(image courtesy of Diehl's favorite blog, Borev)

What is going on at the Washington Post?

So yesterday morning was a morning like any other at the Washington Post; the editorial board trashes Venezuela and calls the government soft on terrorism. The Post characterizes the US government as not caring about Venezuela's "abuses" and even says the US is ignoring the "links" to terrorism because they don't want to sanction Venezuela. But then something strange happened, by midday the editorial was no longer available on the website. Technical error maybe? Doubtful, by last night it was back....but much different. Instead of leading with criticism of the State Department's treatment of Venezuela, they just plain old bash Venezuela. Finally in the last paragraph the Post calls Obama soft on Venezuela, but it sure is toned down from the original; removing the "we don't care" quote and replacing it with something much harsher from State.

What happened in these few hours that may have changed the tone of the editorial? I guess we don't know, but I know what I think. In any case, here are both versions of the editorial below (bold in the first means it was cut, bold in the second means it was added). Read them both; if you don't think the Post got a call from State complaining and then changed their editorial stance, well, let me know what your theory is, I'd be happy to hear it. Changing your editorial line to be less critical of the government due to government pressure? Sounds pretty much like the Post's criticism of Venezuela....just saying. Stay classy Washington Post.

First version:

Mr. Chavez's weapons
Wednesday, April 7, 2010

RUSSIAN PRIME Minister boasted after returning from a visit to Venezuela on Monday that he had sold President Hugo Chavez another $5 billion in weapons -- a huge sum for a Latin American army. Hours later State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was asked for a reaction at his public briefing. First answer: "We don't care."

Mr. Crowley went on to say that State didn't see a legitimate need for all that equipment and was concerned that it might "migrate into other parts of the hemisphere." But his initial response was all too indicative of the continued complacency with which the Obama administration regards the political, economic and human rights meltdown underway in a major U.S. oil supplier -- and where it may lead.

The last time we looked in on developments in Venezuela, in January, we pointed out that Mr. Chavez had reacted to the unravelling of his economy and his own shrinking popularity by stepping up repression of the opposition. That continues: In the last couple of weeks the government arrested and brought criminal charges against three more leading critics. One is a former state governor and presidential candidate, who said in an interview -- correctly -- that Venezuela has become a haven for drug traffickers and terrorists. A second is the owner of the last television network that dares to criticize Mr. Chavez; the third is a deputy in the National Assembly who had denounced corruption involving members of the president's family.

Mr. Chavez's move against former Gov. Oswaldo Alvarez Paz came after a Spanish judge issued an indictment accusing the government and armed forces of facilitating contacts between Colombia's leftwing FARC terrorists and those of the Basque group ETA, who were allegedly concocting plots to assassinate the Colombian president and other leading politicians. Mr. Paz's "crime" was to talk about this development. The Spanish dossier is one of several demonstrating material support for terrorism by Mr. Chavez, who has made little secret of his preference for the FARC over Colombia's democratic government.

That brings us to the latest round of arms puchases from Russia, which come on top of $4 billion in weapons Mr. Chavez already ordered from Moscow. The arsenal includes T-72 tanks, MI-17 helicopters, and advanced fighter jets -- weapons suitable for the conventional war with which Mr. Chavez has repeatedly threatened Colombia.

The Obama administration's response has been to ignore or soft-pedal most of this. Political arrests are met with perfunctory statements of concern; the extensive evidence of support for terrorism is studiously ignored, lest the United States be compelled to act on its own laws mandating sanctions in such cases. About the flood of Russian weapons, aimed at intimidating one of the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, the administration publicly says, "we don't care." Colombians -- and average Venezuelans -- can only hope such breathtaking nonchalance is justified.

And the one without the criticism of State but with all the same blows at Venezuela:

Venezuela's strongman splurges on Russian weapons
Thursday, April 8, 2010

RUSSIAN PRIME Minister Vladimir Putin boasted after returning from a visit to Venezuela on Monday that he had sold President Hugo Chávez another $5 billion in weapons -- a huge sum for a Latin American country that is deep in recession and busy rationing its water, electricity and hard currency. Take it as one more sign of the political, economic and human rights meltdown underway in a major U.S. oil supplier -- and where it may lead.

The last time we looked in on developments in Venezuela, in January, we pointed out that Mr. Chávez had reacted to the unraveling of his economy and his shrinking popularity by stepping up repression of the opposition. That continues: In the past couple of weeks, the government arrested and brought criminal charges against three more leading critics. One is a former state governor and presidential candidate who said in an interview that Venezuela has become a haven for drug traffickers and terrorists. A second is the owner of the last television network that dares to criticize Mr. Chávez; the third is a deputy in the National Assembly who had denounced corruption.

Mr. Chávez's move against former governor Oswaldo Álvarez Paz came after a Spanish judge issued an indictment accusing the government and armed forces of facilitating contacts between Colombia's left-wing FARC terrorists and those of the Basque group ETA, who were allegedly concocting plots to assassinate the Colombian president and other leading politicians. Mr. Paz's "crime" was to talk about this development. The Spanish dossier is one of several demonstrating material support for terrorism by Mr. Chávez, who has made little secret of his preference for the FARC over Colombia's democratic government.

That brings us to the latest round of arms purchases from Russia, which come on top of $4 billion in weapons that Mr. Chávez already ordered from Moscow. The arsenal includes T-72 tanks, Mi-17 helicopters and advanced fighter jets -- weapons suitable for the conventional war with which Mr. Chávez has repeatedly threatened Colombia.

The Obama administration's response has been to soft-pedal most of this. Political arrests are met with perfunctory-sounding statements of concern. About the flood of Russian weapons, aimed at intimidating one of the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, the State Department spokesman observed that "we're hard-pressed to see what legitimate defense needs Venezuela has for this equipment . . . we can probably think of better things that could be invested on behalf of the Venezuelan people." Colombians -- and average Venezuelans -- can only hope such nonchalance is justified.

(image courtesy of BoRev...may it rest in peace)