International NY Times: Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Maduro Burned Aid Convoy

[abiG]

Odd, but credit to the NY Times for getting this out there.

This is today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/americas/venezuela-aid-fire-video.html

Greenwald at The Intercept explains:
Every major U.S. war of the last several decades has begun the same way: the U.S. Government fabricates an inflammatory, emotionally provocative lie which large U.S. media outlets uncritically treat as truth while refusing at air questioning or dissent, thus inflaming primal anger against the country the U.S. wants to attack. That’s how we got the Vietnam War (North Vietnam attacks U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin); the Gulf War (Saddam ripped babies from incubators); and, of course, the war in Iraq (Saddam had WMDs and formed an alliance with Al Qaeda).

This was exactly the tactic used on February 23, when the narrative shifted radically in favor of those U.S. officials who want regime change operations in Venezuela. That’s because images were broadcast all over the world of trucks carrying humanitarian aid burning in Colombia on the Venezuela border. U.S. officials who have been agitating for a regime change war in Venezuela – Marco Rubio, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, the head of USAid Mark Green – used Twitter to spread classic Fake News: they vehemently stated that the trucks were set on fire, on purpose, by President Nicolas Maduro’s forces.


Each of the trucks burned by Maduro carried 20 tons of food & medicine. This is a crime & if international law means anything he must pay a high price for this. #23FAyudaHumanitaria https://t.co/IrGzrOUX09


— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 23, 2019


Masked thugs, civilians killed by live rounds, and the burning of trucks carrying badly-needed food and medicine. This has been Maduro’s response to peaceful efforts to help Venezuelans. Countries that still recognize Maduro should take note of what they are endorsing. pic.twitter.com/KlSebd2M5a


— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 23, 2019...

https://theintercept.com/2019/03/10...shows-how-us-govt-and-media-spread-fake-news/

 

[Happy Man]

Wow. Impressed by the NYT. But they are following Alex Cortez in support of Venezuela now.

Rod1 must be squealing in anger right now. He was dancing with glee at how the electric grid attack created blackouts that resulted in deaths of children. That the warmongers could use to blame Maduro.

Also, people like Bolton say that isreali can shoot children to death for getting too close to a fence and throw a rock.

Guess how they would react if Venezuela’s soldiers decided to shoot those throwing Molotov’s at them?

 

[abiG]

Wow. Impressed by the NYT. But they are following Alex Cortez in support of Venezuela now.

Rod1 must be squealing in anger right now. He was dancing with glee at how the electric grid attack created blackouts that resulted in deaths of children. That the warmongers could use to blame Maduro.

Also, people like Bolton say that isreali can shoot children to death for getting too close to a fence and throw a rock.

Guess how they would react if Venezuela’s soldiers decided to shoot those throwing Molotov’s at them?

@Rod1 aside, with this out there, moving forward with the original narrative is no longer an option. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing for the people of Venezuela.

 

[Rholk]

Maduro's getting khadaffi'd
Can't say i'll feel bad about that fat cunt starving his own people

 

[Lead]

So the fire seems to have been started by a protestor who doesn’t want to admit it was his fault but the point still stands they blocked the aid at the bridge which caused the protest to begin with. The regime seems to be claiming there were weapons in the trucks and it wasn’t just aid. It’s possible they needed time to inspect the trucks but idk. I’m not sure how long the aid was blocked before this happened.

 

[Happy Man]

Maduro's getting khadaffi'd
Can't say i'll feel bad about that fat cunt starving his own people

It’s our government starving his people. He wants to feed them. We want them to starve to pressure his goverment .

 

[Rholk]

It’s our government starving his people. He wants to feed them. We want them to starve to pressure his goverment .

Yes the US is stopping all aid from reaching the people

 

[Happy Man]

So the fire seems to have been started by a protestor who doesn’t want to admit it was his fault but the point still stands they blocked the aid at the bridge which caused the protest to begin with. The regime seems to be claiming there were weapons in the trucks and it wasn’t just aid. It’s possible they needed time to inspect the trucks but idk. I’m not sure how long the aid was blocked before this happened.

Our CIA lives to get weapons into the hands of proxy groups in such ways. It’s called a win-win. You win if they get in, you win if they are stopped

 

[Happy Man]

Yes the US is stopping all aid from reaching the people

We do our best. That’s why we won’t give his country its money, and why we punish countries who trade with Venezuela.

If the aid comes from us, then it’s cool.

 

[abiG]

The regime seems to be claiming there were weapons in the trucks and it wasn’t just aid. It’s possible they needed time to inspect the trucks but idk. I’m not sure how long the aid was blocked before this happened.

It never is. Look at some freakin history for reference.

 

[computer fogie]

Excellent journalism.

 

[Lead]

Our CIA lives to get weapons into the hands of proxy groups in such ways. It’s called a win-win. You win if they get in, you win if they are stopped

I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t all aid but I don’t know. This whole thing is somewhat a PR war for either regime at this point and I also think people forget these situations can ultimately suck regardless of which side wins.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t all aid but I don’t know. This whole thing is somewhat a PR war for either regime at this point and I also think people forget these situations can ultimately suck regardless of which side wins.

Three trucks for an entire country are basically nothing. It's PR.

 

[Lead]

Three trucks for an entire country are basically nothing. It's PR.

Was the truck just US aid or through the UN?

 

[JDragon]

Another NY Times article, but from 1973: a power outage that very conveniently coincided with the coup against Allende.

https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/14/archives/blackout-interrupts-address-by-allende.html

 

[Limbo Pete]

I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t all aid but I don’t know. This whole thing is somewhat a PR war for either regime at this point and I also think people forget these situations can ultimately suck regardless of which side wins.

The whole thing is wildly suspect when put into historical context. I don't mean this one situation with some aid trucks, but rather the entire entanglement between the US and Venezuela. It's true that Venezuela is a hell hole, but that in no way means our government cares about the actual people. Latin America has been full of nightmares for a very long time, many of which were specifically engineered in our nightmare factories, and i've yet to see anything that suggests our government generally, let alone with this administration in particular, is interested in moving away from that region as a place to greedily flex influence (even with a thin veneer of humanitarian rhetoric).

 

[Limbo Pete]

Another NY Times article, but from 1973: a power outage that very conveniently coincided with the coup against Allende.

https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/14/archives/blackout-interrupts-address-by-allende.html

I, for one, am shocked!

 

[Lead]

The whole thing is wildly suspect when put into historical context. I don't mean this one situation with some aid trucks, but rather the entire entanglement between the US and Venezuela. It's true that Venezuela is a hell hole, but that in no way means our government cares about the actual people. Latin America has been full of nightmares for a very long time, many of which were specifically engineered in our nightmare factories, and i've yet to see anything that suggests our government generally, let alone with this administration in particular, is interested in moving away from that region as a place to greedily flex influence (even with a thin veneer of humanitarian rhetoric).

Well yea, I definitely don’t believe it was just a goodness of the US governments heart reason. Whoever is in power has a strong interest in making sure closeby countries are aligned with our interests. I don’t really see what the pros/ cons to having either of these guys but I’m sure there’s been an assessment of which regime would benefit the US more in the long run. What is good for the US in the long run might not always align with what’s good for that country in the long run either.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

Was the truck just US aid or through the UN?

I don't know. I know Colombia, Brazil and the USA tried to deliver aid. I'm not sure if they did it through the UN, OAS or independently.

 

[Limbo Pete]

Well yea, I definitely don’t believe it was just a goodness of the US governments heart reason. Whoever is in power has a strong interest in making sure closeby countries are aligned with our interests. I don’t really see what the pros/ cons to having either of these guys but I’m sure there’s been an assessment of which regime would benefit the US more in the long run. What is good for the US in the long run might not always align with what’s good for that country in the long run either.

Wandering slightly here, but it's worth thinking about just how important Latin America has been to US geopolitics throughout history. It was pretty much the central region to play out geopolitical struggles up until comparatively recently. We've invested a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to influence, directly or indirectly, most of it. There's a rich literature on all of this, too. Have you ever read anything about Operation Condor? Buhhhhhhhh.