Leid Stories – Asia, Venezuela, Brazil, Britain and the U.S. In Focus – 06.02.16

Dr. Gerald Horne, John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston and frequent analyst of world affairs on Leid Stories, tells us what we need to know about President Obama’s 10th “pivot-to-Asia” trip; what’s behind the push against Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff; Britain’s June 23 referendum on whether to leave the European union; and the Clinton drag on Obama’s “legacy.”

Horne, who also teaches diplomatic history, is the author of more than 30 books (including, most recently, Paul Robeson: The Artist As Revolutionary; Confronting Black Jacobins: The U.S., the Haitian Revolution and the Origins of the Dominican Republic; and Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba during Slavery and Jim Crow.

In addition, he has written more than 100 scholarly papers that focus on struggles against imperialism, colonialism, fascism and racism.

JOSÉ L. FLORES – Wall Street’s New Man in Brazil: The Forces Behind Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment

Currently, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has become the target of a political insurrection. The legislature is in the process of convicting Ms. Rousseff on charges of corruption, thereby permanently removing her from office.  In the meantime, Vice -President Michel Temer has assumed the responsibilities of president.  Ms. Rousseff’s charges include using profits form Petrobras, the Brazilian semipublic oil corporation, to …

Leaked Tapes Expose Coup Plot Against Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff

The conversation centered on “changing” the government to “stop the bleeding” revealed by the so-called Car Wash investigation into Petrobras’ corrupt practices. Both men are being actively investigated for corruption under the probe, and Juca resigned from his positionon Monday. The leaked conversations feature Juca contemplating a possible Michel Temer government, with a condition that the ongoing probe be dissolved. This conversation took place just weeks before Rousseff …

Jonathan Marshall – The Clinton-Colombia Connection

On June 29, 2009, one day after Honduran military leaders ousted their country’s democratically elected president,President Obama publicly branded the coup illegal and denounced it as “a terrible precedent.” Yet even as he spoke, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ensuring that U.S. aid continued and that major capitals would recognize the new regime. Human rights activists have long decried her for abandoning democratic …

Black Agenda Radio – 05.16.16

Welcome to the radio magazine, that gives you a weekly hour of African American political thought and action, news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective with your host Glen Ford and his co-host, Nellie Bailey.

– Dilma Rousseff, of the Brazilian Workers Party, was removed from her office as president, last week, and put on trial by the nation’s Senate on charges of manipulating the budget. Rousseff is not accused of any acts of personal corruption, but about 60 percent of the Senators that will be judging her DO face corruption charges. Rousseffs Worker’s Party says the impeachment proceedings amount to a “soft coup,” and they will fight it out in streets. Dr. Gerald Horne is a prolific author and professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He says the right-wing move against Rousseff must be understood in a global context.

– Socialist Alternative Party leader Kshama Sawant is circulating a petition asking Bernie Sanders to run as an independent if his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is unsuccessful. Sawant says Sanders should either run on the Green Party ticket or pave the way for a new party of the 99 percent. The Green Party will choose its presidential candidate in August, and the nominee is expected to be Dr. Jill Stein. We asked Dr. Stein, Aren’t the Greens already a Party of the 99%?

– A statewide work stoppage by inmates at Alabama prisons seems to be winding down. The protest was organized by inmates of the Free Alabama Movement. Pastor Kenneth Glascow has been negotiating on behalf of the prisoners. Glascow has himself served a term in prison. He now head a prison reform group called TOPS, which stands for “The Ordinary People Society.” Glascow is the half-brother of Rev. Al Sharpton. Pastor Glascow talked to us about the prisoners’ grievances.

– Inside the prison walls, the work stoppage was organized by inmate activists like Bennu Hannibal, a leader of the Free Alabama Movement. Hannibal spoke to Prison Radio, from the St. Clair Correctional Facility.

Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Eric Draister – Hillary Clinton and Wall Street’s Neoliberal War on Latin America

By now it is old news that there is a coup afoot in Brazil and that the right-wing is using extraordinary political measures to overthrow of Dilma Rousseff. What is little discussed amid all the talk of impeachment and corruption in Brazil is the larger context:  how international finance capital is working with Hillary Clinton and other U.S. political elites …

Pepe Escobar – The Calm Before the Coming Global Storm

Major turbulence seems to be the name of the game in 2016. Yet the current turbulence may be interpreted as the calm before the next, devastating geopolitical/financial storm. Let’s review the current state of play via the dilemmas afflicting the House of Saud, the EU and BRICS members Russia, Brazil and China. Oil and the House of Saud Not many …

PEPE ESCOBAR – The Empire of Chaos Strikes Back

Soon after the impeachment motion against President Dilma Rousseff was approved in the Brazilian Congress by what I chose to call Hybrid War hyenas, President-in-Waiting Michel «Brutus» Temer, one of the coup’s articulators, dispatched a senator to Washington as special paperboy to deliver the news on the coup in progress. The senator in question was not on an official mission for …

Don Quijones – The Big-Oil Bailouts Begin

Despite a bounce this week, low oil prices continue to sow fear, uncertainty, and mayhem across the emerging market complex. On Wednesday, it was leaked that the IMF and World Bank would dispatch a team to oil and gas-dependent Azerbaijan to negotiate a possible $4 billion emergency loan package in what threatens to become the first of a series of global bailouts …

Expat Files – 01.08.16

-A seasoned gringo Expat (with a Brazilian wife) living in Brazil tells us some horrifying personal stories of the general insecurity and rampant crime taking place in the country. It seems even the so-called nice, upscale residential and shopping areas are not exempt from frequent robberies, assaults, general crime and lawlessness. Beside the crime problem, there are many reasons why Brazil does not make my list of Expat destinations.

-Today we have more good reasons not to drive a late model car of distinction or SUV in Latin America. If you do, you’ll be a target.

-To Tint or not to Tint: the truth about those ubiquitous Latin American dark-tinted (extremely dark) car windows. Should you do it to your own car? What if no cars had tinting? Is it a good or bad thing?

-What’s Latin America like for supersized and very tall gringos and Expats? For example: is it easy (or hard) for a six foot five inch guy to get around in a mostly down-sized Latin America? Yes, some buildings really are architecturally unfriendly to tall people. In older buildings, even six-footer’s occasionally bump their noggins