“Det amerikanske imperium slår til”

Lars Hedegaard om realiteterne i verdenen, der længe har været synlige

Her er et rammende meme fra Babbee 🙂

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Meget er blevet klart, efter at præsident Trump med et snuptag har pågrebet den venezuelanske diktator Nicolas Maduro og dennes hustru. I morgen, mandag, vil de begge blive fremstillet for en dommer i New York, hvor de i 2020 blev krævet anholdt for bl.a. narkoterrorisme.

Hvis nogen skulle have været i tvivl, står det nu klart, at den såkaldte internationale lov er en fiktion. Hele den orden, som den vestlige verden under ledelse af USA efter 1945 prøvede at realisere, er for længst brudt sammen, og som den eminente historiker, Niall Ferguson, påpeger, er vi tilbage i det internationale system, der herskede i det 19. århundrede. Det var dengang, da den vestlige verden var domineret af suveræne stater, der forventedes af varetage deres egne interesser – sommetider i alliance med andre stater. Tanken om en øverste, global lov ville have været fremmed for de fleste i 1800-tallet. Efter Første og Anden verdenskrig er vi blevet vænnet til at betragte de suveræne stater som farlige og anakronistiske, men Ferguson har en ganske anden opfattelse.

Uanset, hvad man måtte mene om udviklingen siden 1800-tallet, står det efter USA’s indgriben i Venezuela klart, at realpolitikken har gjort sit genindtog. Præsident Trump lægger heller ikke skjul på, at han fører udenrigspolitik baseret på et magtperspektiv – og ikke på globalistiske ønskedrømme.

Som forventeligt har adskillige amerikanske politikere – især demokrater, men også enkelte Trump-tilhængere – sået tvivl, om den amerikanske aktion overhovedet er lovlig. Overraskende nok har også lederen af det britiske Reform UK, Nigel Farage, rejst spørgsmålet, om Trump har handlet inden for rammerne af ”den internationale lov”. Få af Trumps kritikere fandt anledning til at anklage Maduro-regimet for at forbryde sig mod loven, da han i årevis optrådte som narkochef og stod bag eksporten af bl.a. det dødelige fentanyl, som årligt kostede op mod 100.000 amerikanere livet.

Det er svært at argumentere for, at Donald Trump ikke havde ret til at sætte en stopper for det venezuelanske uvæsen. Ligeledes kan man vanskeligt opfatte Maduro-regimets handlinger som andet end krigsførelse uden en krigserklæring. Trump har aflagt ed på at ville beskytte det amerikanske folk mod såvel indre som ydre fjender, og det er, hvad han har gjort.

En anden konklusion, man kan drage, er, at Trumps militære lynaktion er et slag mod Maduros allierede, Cuba, Iran, Rusland og Kina, som alle havde sikret sig fodfæste i Venezuela, hvor blandt andet Hezbollah og Hamas har været aktive. Efter at Trump i går erklærede, at USA vil ”run the country” (styre landet) i en overgangsperiode, går Maduros venner en hård tid i møde.

Trump har heller ikke lagt skjul på, at han ser frem til, at amerikanske olieselskaber sikrer sig kontrol over Venezuelas rige olieforekomster. Betyder det, at vi er tilbage ved den gamle imperialistiske kamp om ressourcerne? Ja, sådan kan man udmærket anskue den nye verdensorden, og Trump siger det åbent.

Man må i denne forbindelse ikke glemme, at også USA’s modstander i det, som Niall Ferguson kalder ”den anden kolde krig”, nemlig Kina, optræder præcis lige så imperialistisk som USA og prøver at bemægtige sig ressourcer over den ganske verden . Men det bliver der ikke talt så meget om i de vestlige medier.

Flere har bemærket, at Trump har skabt nyt liv i præsident Theodore Roosevelts tilføjelse (fra 1904) til den såkaldte Monroe-doktrin fra 1823, der slog fast, at USA ville respektere eksisterende europæiske kolonier på det amerikanske kontinent, men ville betragte flere forsøg på kolonisering som en krigshandling mod USA. Roosevelt udvidede nu den gamle doktrin ved at påberåbe sig retten til at gribe ind mod regimer på det amerikanske kontinent, der ikke faldt i USA’s smag. Monroe-doktrinen og Roosevelts tilføjelse har ikke været meget fremme efter 1945, men nu genopliver Trump dem.

Diverse diktatorer og andre ugerningsmænd må i disse dage ryste, efter at det har vist sig, at Maduros udenlandske venner ikke kunne beskytte ham.

Endelig er der grund til at bemærke, at det amerikanske militær har vist sig i stand til at gennemføre en militær lynoperation, som næppe noget andet land end Israel ville kunne gøre efter. Det er tilmed sket uden amerikanske tab af mennesker og materiel.

Trump har som nævnt meldt ud, at USA vil styre Venezuela i en overgangsperiode, indtil en stabil og demokratisk regering kan etableres. Hvordan det skal ske, får vi se.

En demokratisk senator siger, at Trump ikke har nogen plan for USA’s videre indsats i det sydamerikanske land (hvor han så har det fra), men det har Trump givetvis, for den nylige aktion har tydeligvis været under forberedelse i månedsvis. Man kan således udmærket forestille sig, at Trump har slået en handel af med fraktioner af det venezuelanske militær, der vil skynde sig at hoppe over på den vindende side i stedet for at gå ned med diktaturets synkende skude.

Man skal heller ikke glemme, at Maduros endeligt har været en opmuntring for de iranske frihedskæmpere, som i disse dage er på gaden for at styrte det islamofascistiske diktatur. Det kan altså lade sig gøre at komme af med sine plageånder. Og lige nu frembærer iranerne skilte med tak til Donald Trump og Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Pave Leo demonstrerer endnu engang sin latterlige Trump-Derangement-Syndrome:

Hvornår har den globalistiske pave NOGENSINDE protesteret mod at menneskerettighederne blev overtrådt af Maduro/Chavez i Venezuela ?

Mig bekendt aldrig …

Second front: How a socialist cell in the US mobilized pro-Maduro foot soldiers within 12 hours

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As the U.S. military carried out a daring operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, a second front opened up within minutes in the United States: an information warfare, psychological and propaganda operation run by a hardened cell of self-described Marxist, socialist and communist leaders.

For years, this cell has fomented anti-American hate in the U.S. under the cover of “anti-war” protests, rallying activists after the 9/11 attacks to condemn the U.S. response, appropriating “anti-racism” protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, marching with Antifa agitators, organizing antisemitic campus encampments after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and activating “working-class Americans” to support Maduro and his regime in a war against “U.S. imperialism.”

A Fox News Digital analysis of their minute-by-minute moves overnight reveals how this network activated a coordinated ideological and information warfare campaign, moving through digital social media channels with quickly produced posters to mobilize foot soldiers to the streets for an “EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION” in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and an estimated 100 other cities, moving with the speed and discipline of an organized military operation.

Over 12 hours, a network of self-described socialist, communist and Marxist organizations used social media to launch an anti-American propaganda and street campaign in the U.S. to support Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. (@BTNewsroom/X, @manolo_realengo/X, @answercoalition/X, @PeoplesForumNYC/X, @PSLNational/X, @VijayPrashad/X, @CodePink/X)

At 1:35 a.m., as U.S. special forces teams had just landed in Venezuela, BreakThrough News, a socialist propaganda arm of the network, published some of the first video from the U.S. military strikes, blasting the Trump administration for waging an “illegal bombing campaign of Caracas,” the capital of Venezuela. It was a talking point that was going to stick.

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Ten minutes later, at 1:45 a.m., one of the key leaders of this network, Manolo De Los Santos, executive director at The People’s Forum, a proudly socialist 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in New York City, echoed the narrative on social media of an “illegal bombing.” 

Less than an hour later, at 2:29 a.m., the ANSWER Coalition, a nonprofit co-founded by a proud Marxist, Brian Becker, published a red siren alert on the social media platform X with a slick new poster, calling supporters to the streets in Times Square for a protest Saturday to support Maduro.

“NO WAR ON VENEZUELA! STOP THE BOMBINGS,” the poster screamed, on brand.

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Minutes later, at 2:34 a.m., The People’s Forum shared the call-to-action, screaming: “EMERGENCY PROTEST”

Soon after, at 2:43 a.m., the Party for Socialism and Liberation shared the poster on X, saying, “Stop the bombings…!” 

Congressional lawmakers are already investigating this socialist network for its ties to Neville Roy Singham, a United States-born technology executive who relocated to Shanghai after selling his software firm and starting work that critics say is aligned closely with interests of the Chinese Communist Party. Singham didn’t respond to a request for comment.

MADURO MET CHINESE ENVOY HOURS BEFORE US CAPTURE FROM CARACAS AS BEIJING SLAMS OPERATION

By 3:21 a.m., Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a research institute chaired by Singham that examines issues through the lens of “national liberation Marxism,” posted a message, denouncing the military action, declaring, “Down with US imperialism.”

Within a few hours, at 6:09 a.m., CodePink, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, condemned the “terrorist United States…”

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From a military intelligence perspective, experts say the overnight sequence bears the hallmarks of a pre-positioned influence network executing a rapid-response operation. The synchronization of messaging, the staggered release of content across aligned platforms and the immediate transition from online agitation to physical mobilization point to an ecosystem designed not for spontaneous protest, but for ideological warfare.

In this framework, experts say, the nonprofit leaders are foot soldiers in Maduro’s war on the United States, acting as civilian operatives advancing the strategic interests of a foreign ideological project. Their role is not to fight with weapons, but to contest legitimacy, shape public perception, apply internal pressure on U.S. decision-making during moments of external conflict and further the cause of communism, experts say.

At the center of this domestic front is an international coordination structure known as the International Peoples’ Assembly, which functions as an umbrella organization and political command-and-control hub linking communist parties, socialist movements, activist organizations and state-aligned media outlets worldwide. 

One of its media arms, the People’s Dispatch, has explicitly framed its mission as mobilizing global resistance against “American imperialism,” including repeated calls to action on behalf of Venezuela. It lists Singham’s Tricontinental as one of its “partners.” The North America members of its “coordinating committee” include CodePink; the Popular Education Project, an initiative of The People’s Forum; and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Its Venezuelan member is a group called Francisco de Miranda Front, which works closely with its U.S. allies.

At 7:49 a.m., the International People’s Assembly shared the poster for the “EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION.”

It quickly published a statement condemning the U.S. military action as reflective of the country’s “increasingly militaristic and hyper-imperialist orientation” and calling on members to “resist this pursuit of hegemony by any means necessary.”

TRUMP VOWS US WILL ‘RUN’ VENEZUELA UNTIL ‘SAFE’ TRANSITION OF POWER

The assembly operates in close alignment with Tricontinental, the SIngham organization that functions as an ideological production center, generating narratives, research and messaging disseminated through aligned media platforms and activated through street-level organizations. Singham’s wife, Evans, sits on the International People’s Assembly, tightening the operational loop between messaging, mobilization and leadership.

Experts say the ideological doctrine guiding this network is shaped in part by Prashad, who also serves as editor of People’s Dispatch. 

On the operational side, De Los Santos, executive director at The People’s Forum, has emerged as a visible field organizer. He is listed as a researcher at Tricontinental and has repeatedly appeared at regime-aligned events in Venezuela, functioning as a liaison between the ideological center and street-level mobilization abroad and at home.

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In 2003, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez backed a new group in Venezuela, the Francisco de Miranda Front, laying the groundwork for an international solidarity apparatus that joined the International People’s Assembly, working with U.S. groups. That infrastructure matured over time into a durable support system for Maduro when he was elected president in 2013.

By March 2019, that relationship was well-entrenched when De Los Santos organized a pro-Maduro protest outside Venezuela’s consulate in New York, physically denying opposition figures access to the building.

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That month, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz jetted to Venezuela for a four-day conference of the International Peoples’ Assembly in Caracas, urging socialists to “collectivize” their efforts to fight the “capitalist crisis” in the world, according to a video shared from the meeting with the hashtag #HandsOffVenezuela..

“Venezuela is the epicenter,” she declared. “Venezuela is the personification of the anti-imperialist struggle.”

The next month, The People’s Forum hosted Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza during a talk in which he demanded the U.S. end sanctions on the country, according to an article in “Fight Back! News,” a publication by members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “The evening concluded with Arreaza thanking the crowd and urging people to keep fighting and protesting,” the article noted. “Manolo de los Santos, the executive director of The People’s Forum, took up Arreaza on his request and called the crowd to action.”

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In May 2019, when a coup attempt failed, De Los Santos appeared on teleSUR, the state-funded TV network in Caracas, saying he’d organized a press conference with religious leaders in New York City to “engage in the battle of ideas” against “imperialist aggression.”

Two leaders in the global socialist network, Vijay Prashad and Manola De Los Santos, stand with Nicolás Maduro on election day in 2021. They emerged as outspoken leaders in the pro-Maduro protests after Maduro’s arrest by U.S. military forces. (@VijayPrashad/X, @manolo_realengo/X)

Two years later, in November 2021, Prashad and De Los Santos shared a photo with Maduro, all of them flashing a thumbs-up, with Prashad writing, “Elections in Venezuela today!” He noted that he stood with De Los Santos and Maduro, supporting “sovereignty against imperialism.” 

The next month, De Los Santos participated in a Caracas conference livestreamed on Maduro’s X account, speaking at the 59-minute mark and holding up a manifesto, “Plan para salvar la humanidad,” or “Plan to save humanity.”

He returned to Caracas in April 2022 for the International Anti-Fascist Summit, posting a photo with Eugene Puryear, a senior figure in the Party for Socialism and Liberation, further reinforcing the operational linkage between U.S.-based activists and foreign political structures.

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The pattern intensified the next year when De Los Santos and De la Cruz attended a conference sponsored by the Maduro government to explicitly preserve the ideological legacy of “Comandante Chávez,” their term of reverence for Chávez.

In late April 2024, Maduro even recognized De Los Santos as he thanked attendees of a conference of the “Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,” established by Cuba and Venezuela in 2004 to unite communist economic interests.

This past fall, a wide network that included the Communist Party USA, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and the Struggle for Socialism Party supported an “urgent call for a week of coordinated protests” to support Maduro. Last month, the network took action again, organizing “NO WAR ON VENEZUELA” protests.

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The newest overnight campaign to support Maduro will likely send foot soldiers into the streets to support Maduro and his wife during any trials they face, not just as an expression of protest but as a continued campaign of information warfare on the domestic front. 

Experts say the network that spent decades legitimizing and defending communist regimes abroad and now functions as a rapid-response influence force inside the United States is a new threat matrix that amounts to something the FBI and intelligence agencies investigate as malign foreign influence.

Its members operate as ideological foot soldiers, advancing a foreign-aligned narrative during moments of conflict, seeking to fracture public consensus, delegitimize U.S. action and apply pressure from within.

SEE PICS: VENEZUELANS WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE AS EXILES REACT TO MADURO’S CAPTURE

Over the 12 hours of activation to support Maduro, politicians endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America echoed criticism of the U.S. action as illegal, and socialist pro-Maduro organizations in the U.S. activated members to join street protests. (@PeopleAssembl_/X, @RepRashida/X, @AOC/X, @AnswerCoalition/X)

By daylight Saturday morning, at 8:49 a.m., CodePink invoked a slogan used last year as a theme in anti-Trump protests, declaring, “HANDS OFF VENEZUELA,” and issuing a statement dismissing criminal proceedings against Maduro as a “sham” prosecution. 

By 8:57 a.m., the Democratic Socialists of America, which just saw its star politician, Zohran Mamdani, inaugurated as mayor of New York City, shared a message from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the organization, condemning the U.S. strike as “illegal.” 

At 10:29 a.m., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the Democratic Socialists of America, chimed in, saying, “It’s about oil and regime change.”

On cue, at 1:06 p.m, Mamdani repeated the refrain established overnight by the socialist network that brought him to the mayor’s office in New York City, blasting the U.S. for the “military capture” of Maduro, calling it an “act of war” and “blatant pursuit of regime change.” 

The talking points of politicians, activist groups and foot soldiers in the socialist, communist and Marxist network in the U.S. echoed the statements that the two strongest communist powers in the world expressed about their ally, Maduro. China issued a statement saying it opposed the “blatant use of force” by the U.S. in Venezuela. Russia called the news an “act of aggression” against Venezuela.

By afternoon, within 12 hours of first hearing about the military operation in Caracas, the pro-Maduro network started churning out fast clips of its information war on the Trump administration.

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At 1:34 p.m., the social media team at the ANSWER Coalition posted a closely cropped video of protesters, holding the ANSWER Coalition’s distinctive yellow-and-black signs and chanting in front of the White House, “Stop the war machine!” The Party for Socialism and Liberation immediately shared the video.

A little over an hour later, at 2:42 p.m., The People’s Forum shared a video of Becker, the co-founder of the ANSWER Coalition, from Times Square in New York City, a camera filming him from behind, as he declared, “This is a capitalist war! It’s a rich man’s war! The kidnapping of Maduro is an imperialist war for a capitalist class!”

MS Now, the new name for MSNBC, reported from the Times Square protest and its reporter only shared a throwaway line about the ANSWER Coalition having a “speakers’ program going on behind us,” without cluing viewers into the group’s proud Marxist politics. 

Online, at 3 p.m., wearing a black-and-white checkered collared shirt, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Puryear hosted a YouTube livestream, joined by Tricontinental’s Prashad and others. BreakThrough News promoted the livestream with a new piece of graphic propaganda, showing Trump with a mouth gaping open and Maduro with his chin high, appearing stoic and regal.

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At 3:02 p.m., The People’s Forum shared a video clip on its X account of De Los Santos at the Times Square protest, a microphone in his hand as he scanned the crowd and railed against the U.S., calling the Trump administration a “criminal enterprise” for “kidnapping” Maduro.

“Shame!” the crowd responded, in a typical refrain for the group’s protests.

Back on the BreakThrough News livestream, Puryear asked Becker about the “quick turnaround” on organizing the protests.

Becker spoke about the night before like a field marshal. 

“A few of us stood up all night last night when we heard the news, conferring with each other, conferring with other organizers and, by 3:30, 4 o’clock this morning, we put out the call for demonstrations to happen today, Saturday, Jan. 3,” he said. 

Between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., he said, leaders of anti-Trump groups, including 50501, which organized “HandsOff” and “TakedownTesla” protests, reached out to the pro-Maduro organizers to join their protests, and the protest numbers swelled with the “entrance” of the groups more closely aligned with the Democratic Party.

Now, he bragged, the results were protests in “100-plus cities.”

As the jet with Maduro and his wife touched down in the U.S. at Stewart Airport in New Windsor, New York, agents with “DEA” across their jackets boarding the plane, the caption on the livestream said proudly: “ANTI-WAR PROTESTS SWEEP U.S.”

“We should be raging!” Becker declared, stoking the “working class” to join the “class war, global war, anti-imperialist war.” 

The protests today, he warned, “are a harbinger of what’s coming.”

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