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In reply to the discussion: Robert Parry: Who’s Telling the ‘Big Lie’ on Ukraine? [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)124. America's Coup Machine: Destroying Democracy Since 1953
U.S. efforts to overthrow foreign governments leave the world less peaceful, less just and less hopeful.
By Nicolas J.S. Davies
AlterNet / April 8, 2014
EXCERPT...
Ukraine's former security chief, Aleksandr Yakimenko, has reported that the coup-plotters who overthrew the elected government in Ukraine, "basically lived in the (U.S.) Embassy [3]. They were there every day." We also know from a leaked Russian intercept [4] that they were in close contact with Ambassador Pyatt and the senior U.S. official in charge of the coup, former Dick Cheney aide Victoria Nuland, officially the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. And we can assume that many of their days in the Embassy were spent in strategy and training sessions with their individual CIA case officers.
To place the coup in Ukraine in historical context, this is at least the 80th time the United States has organized a coup or a failed coup [5] in a foreign country since 1953. That was when President Eisenhower discovered in Iran that the CIA could overthrow elected governments who refused to sacrifice the future of their people to Western commercial and geopolitical interests. Most U.S. coups have led to severe repression, disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture, corruption, extreme poverty and inequality, and prolonged setbacks for the democratic aspirations of people in the countries affected. The plutocratic and ultra-conservative nature of the forces the U.S. has brought to power in Ukraine make it unlikely to be an exception.
Noam Chomsky calls William Blum's classic, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, [6] "Far and away the best book on the topic." If you're looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, Killing Hope will provide it. The title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011). This list does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in Africa and elsewhere in which a U.S. role is suspected but unproven.
The disquieting reality of the world we live in is that American efforts to destroy democracy, even as it pretends to champion it, have left the world less peaceful, less just and less hopeful. When Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, at the height of the genocidal American war on Iraq, he devoted much of his acceptance speech [7] to an analysis of this dichotomy. He said of the U.S., "It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be, but it is also very clever."
The basic framework of U.S. coups has hardly evolved since 1953. The main variables between coups in different places and times have been the scale and openness of the U.S. role and the level of violence used. There is a strong correlation between the extent of U.S. involvement and the level of violence. At one extreme, the U.S. war on Iraq was a form of regime change that involved hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and killed hundreds of thousands of people. On the other hand, the U.S. role in General Suharto's coup in Indonesia in 1965 remained covert even as he killed almost as many people. Only long after the fact didU.S. officials take credit for their role [8] in Suharto's campaign of mass murder, and it will be some time before they brag publicly about their roles in Ukraine.
But as Harold Pinter explained, the U.S. has always preferred "low-intensity conflict" to full-scale invasions and occupations. The CIA and U.S. special forces use proxies and covert operations to overthrow governments and suppress movements that challenge America's insatiable quest for global power. A coup is the climax of such operations, and it is usually only when these "low-intensity" methods fail that a country becomes a target for direct U.S. military aggression. Iraq only became a target for U.S. invasion and occupation after a failed CIA coup in June 1996. [9] The U.S. attacked Panama in 1989 only after five CIA coup attempts [10] failed to remove General Noriega from power. After long careers as CIA agents, both Hussein and Noriega had exceptional knowledge of U.S. operations and methods that enabled them to resist regime change by anything less than overwhelming U.S. military force.
But most U.S. coups follow a model that has hardly changed between 1953 and the latest coup in Ukraine in 2014. This model has three stages:
CONTINUED...
http://www.alternet.org/world/americas-coup-machine-destroying-democracy-1953
There's that, which documents what happened in Ukraine. You want the receipts for all the actions, too?
By Nicolas J.S. Davies
AlterNet / April 8, 2014
EXCERPT...
Ukraine's former security chief, Aleksandr Yakimenko, has reported that the coup-plotters who overthrew the elected government in Ukraine, "basically lived in the (U.S.) Embassy [3]. They were there every day." We also know from a leaked Russian intercept [4] that they were in close contact with Ambassador Pyatt and the senior U.S. official in charge of the coup, former Dick Cheney aide Victoria Nuland, officially the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. And we can assume that many of their days in the Embassy were spent in strategy and training sessions with their individual CIA case officers.
To place the coup in Ukraine in historical context, this is at least the 80th time the United States has organized a coup or a failed coup [5] in a foreign country since 1953. That was when President Eisenhower discovered in Iran that the CIA could overthrow elected governments who refused to sacrifice the future of their people to Western commercial and geopolitical interests. Most U.S. coups have led to severe repression, disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture, corruption, extreme poverty and inequality, and prolonged setbacks for the democratic aspirations of people in the countries affected. The plutocratic and ultra-conservative nature of the forces the U.S. has brought to power in Ukraine make it unlikely to be an exception.
Noam Chomsky calls William Blum's classic, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, [6] "Far and away the best book on the topic." If you're looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, Killing Hope will provide it. The title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011). This list does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in Africa and elsewhere in which a U.S. role is suspected but unproven.
The disquieting reality of the world we live in is that American efforts to destroy democracy, even as it pretends to champion it, have left the world less peaceful, less just and less hopeful. When Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, at the height of the genocidal American war on Iraq, he devoted much of his acceptance speech [7] to an analysis of this dichotomy. He said of the U.S., "It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be, but it is also very clever."
The basic framework of U.S. coups has hardly evolved since 1953. The main variables between coups in different places and times have been the scale and openness of the U.S. role and the level of violence used. There is a strong correlation between the extent of U.S. involvement and the level of violence. At one extreme, the U.S. war on Iraq was a form of regime change that involved hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and killed hundreds of thousands of people. On the other hand, the U.S. role in General Suharto's coup in Indonesia in 1965 remained covert even as he killed almost as many people. Only long after the fact didU.S. officials take credit for their role [8] in Suharto's campaign of mass murder, and it will be some time before they brag publicly about their roles in Ukraine.
But as Harold Pinter explained, the U.S. has always preferred "low-intensity conflict" to full-scale invasions and occupations. The CIA and U.S. special forces use proxies and covert operations to overthrow governments and suppress movements that challenge America's insatiable quest for global power. A coup is the climax of such operations, and it is usually only when these "low-intensity" methods fail that a country becomes a target for direct U.S. military aggression. Iraq only became a target for U.S. invasion and occupation after a failed CIA coup in June 1996. [9] The U.S. attacked Panama in 1989 only after five CIA coup attempts [10] failed to remove General Noriega from power. After long careers as CIA agents, both Hussein and Noriega had exceptional knowledge of U.S. operations and methods that enabled them to resist regime change by anything less than overwhelming U.S. military force.
But most U.S. coups follow a model that has hardly changed between 1953 and the latest coup in Ukraine in 2014. This model has three stages:
CONTINUED...
http://www.alternet.org/world/americas-coup-machine-destroying-democracy-1953
There's that, which documents what happened in Ukraine. You want the receipts for all the actions, too?
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Regarding your first paragraph...we sure do have a 'gaggle' of those around here.
Purveyor
Sep 2014
#1
Well, that doesn't refute anything in the article. What is he wrong about? He's not the only one
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#33
We are talking about his excellent work throughout the BUSH years, which airc, were just a few years
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#34
Great, so if I see a Waaahhhhhhhh in the Ukraine article I'll know where it came from.
NuclearDem
Sep 2014
#30
Why is the Kiev government killing its own people? The world is appalled at the carnage being
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#35
I assume because the modern concept of a "good journalist" utterly precludes him
reddread
Sep 2014
#21
I assume you are being rhetorical. There were a lot of "good journalists" when they were critical
rhett o rick
Sep 2014
#24
What should have knocked some sense of reality into their heads was Biden fracking Ukraine.
Octafish
Sep 2014
#61
"What should have knocked some sense of reality into their heads", you are looking at it
rhett o rick
Sep 2014
#68
Like Robert Parry, Don Fulsom is a top journalist covering crimes of the State.
Octafish
Sep 2014
#70
He got it right on Bush/Cheney too. He has made enemies for his reporting on that criminal
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#36
Depending how you mean that, it's a good assessment. The neocons are the Putinistas
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#44
Yes an unprovoked war of aggression. That term has a specific meaning in terms of international law
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#48
We didn't engage in one in the Ukraine situation. You are justifying GWb's invasion of Iraq if
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#50
No dancing. You are apologizing for an unprovoked war of aggression, just like in Iraq. nt
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#54
Nope, you are engaging in apologia for an unprovoked war of aggression. Simple as that. nt
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#76
Nope, you are engaging in fear mongering and jingoism. Easy peasy, works like a charm.
JEB
Sep 2014
#87
This is why you lose credibility on this subject. No one invaded Crimea. It is an insult to the
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#38
That is a link to part of the Western MSM which is hardly a reliable source. Russia always had
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#60
There's that condescension again. I am saying one thing, the Western Media is not reliable any more
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#82
No media is totally reliable, and especially after they have been caught lying over and over again.
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#69
Clearly you have no idea as to the events of the mob riots in Odessa...
Tommy_Carcetti
Sep 2014
#118
Exactly, thank you, at least YOU know why they didn't invade Crimea. Was that comment intended
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#59
LMFAO! EU is to blame for Russia's war of aggression BC they proposed an association with Ukraine!
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#32
Yeah, they said that about him when he was writing about the Cheney/Bush criminal administration
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#39
Your entire post is debunked by the Russians themselves admitting their troops are there.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#81
Reading is fundamental. Ten soldiers were CAPTURED. Surely you understand the difference, right? nt
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#114
LMAO, the lies and sad justifications from Putin and his apologists are pathetic and
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#127
I don't post fiction. I have citations that prove the facts underlying my positions. nt
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#77
If one accepts all that at face value, it does not justify an unprovoked war of aggression by Russia
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#84
After reading Parry's piece again, I'm even more astonished how idiotic it is.
Tommy_Carcetti
Sep 2014
#63
You show me the evidence as to how the US actually executed the forcible removal of Yanukovych....
Tommy_Carcetti
Sep 2014
#79
The irony is, even if the US completely put the uprising up to it, it does not justify Russia's
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#85
If word out of the mouths of US State Department officials won't do it, perhaps you need new media.
Octafish
Sep 2014
#90
Someone in the State Department confessed to forcibly removing Yanukovych from power?
Tommy_Carcetti
Sep 2014
#92
You mean like the Iraq war that every DUer disagreed with including zappaman? nt
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#117
Check out Octafish's responses throughout the thread from #107 down. Its deliberate.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#139
You are accusing some DUers of being in favor of the Iraq war? You need proof otherwise?
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#129
You accused Zappaman of not being against anything the BFEE does. Iraq was one of those things.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#132
Your post #107 is only a few above this. Its not like its from another OP.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#134
You suggested Zappaman didnt object to anything about the BFEE. Which he did and obviously so.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#138
We both object to what the BFEE did with Iraq. As I have already told you and was proven.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#142
Its in post #123 above. Once again, how many times do we have to post something before it sinks in
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#146
All I've ever seen is references to a phone call. One that happened weeks before Yanukovych left.
Tommy_Carcetti
Sep 2014
#111
When we source something, you ignore it and claim several posts later it wasnt sourced.
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#144
Really? Like... does a source become invalid if more than one person cites it?
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#151
What provides plausible deniability? The video of Yanukovych packing up and leaving?
Tommy_Carcetti
Sep 2014
#165
The CIA’S Mop-Up Man: LA Times Reporter Cleared Stories with Agency before Publication
Octafish
Sep 2014
#179
And that shows you exactly what's going on here. An unprovoked war of aggression by Russia they
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#115
Nothing about the US will justify an unprovoked war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. nt
stevenleser
Sep 2014
#171