Are Claims the US is Sabotaging Venezuela’s Economy Far Fetched?

As US-backed opposition groups take to the streets of Venezuela, following previously failed US-backed uprisings to effect regime change in the South American nation, Western analysts are particularly optimistic about the chances of success now considering the teetering state of Venezuela’s economy. The UK Independent in an article titled, “Venezuela accuses US of plotting coup as Washington warns of ‘imminent …

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.

These Are the World’s Most Miserable Economies

Thanks to off-the-charts inflation, Venezuela will probably retain the dubious honor of being the most miserable economy for a second year. Galloping inflation at an annual average of 98.3 percent last year alongside 6.8 percent unemployment earned the South American country the runaway top spot on the 2015 misery index. With no end in sight for Venezuela’s economic woes — estimates in Bloomberg surveys predict consumer price growth of …

Arnold August – The Hand of Washington in the “Election Coups” in Venezuela

On December 7, 2015, after the December 6 elections, the White House indicated in a press briefing: “What is clear is that the people of Venezuela have expressed their overwhelming desire for a change in direction.  And what is necessary is for all of the parties involved to engage in a dialogue about the future of that country mindful of …

China Spoils Washington’s Economic War against Venezuela

In the coming months China will lend Venezuela, which faces bankruptcy, ten billion dollars. These funds are part of a bilateral agreement. For China it’s a way to quench its energy needs, while the US continue the confrontation line with Venezuela. Venezuela is under the threat of soverign default. In providing two five-billion dollar loans, China has become an important …

Behind the White House’s Sanctions Against Venezuela

Since the Obama administration decided last week to impose new sanctions on Venezuela, many people, including journalists, have inquired as to what motivated them to do this. Some are curious as to the apparent incongruity between this move and the White House decision in December to begin the process of normalizing relations with Cuba. Others are wondering why the administration would do something that so obviously …

MAYBE OBAMA’S SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA ARE NOT REALLY ABOUT HIS “DEEP CONCERN” OVER SUPPRESSION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS

The White House on Monday announced the imposition of new sanctions on various Venezuelan officials, pronouncing itself “deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government’s efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents”: deeply concerned. President Obama also, reportedly with a straight face, officially declared that Venezuela poses “an extraordinary threat to the national security” of the U.S. — a declaration necessary to legally justify the sanctions. Today, one of the Obama administration’s …

US Preparing for Military Aggression on Venezuela

History shows that when the U.S. denounces a country, it is often a pretext for intervention and regime change. Barack Obama, an ornamental figure in the White House, who was not able to impede a lunatic like Benjamin Netanyahu from addressing both houses of Congress to sabotage the talks with Iran on the country’s nuclear program, has received a strict order …

Obama’s Hard Turn to the Right in Hemispheric Policy

U.S. hemispheric policy reached a new low today when President Barack Obama invoked emergency powers to declare “a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.” Thanks to Obama’s action, the U.S. has now blatantly rehabilitated its traditional imperial posture towards …