Progressive political figures with an orientation more favorable to Washington are forming a new alliance of South American parties and are deliberately excluding the forces that are leading the continent’s liberation processes. Don DeBar interviewed Nicaraguan writer Stephen Sefton and Latin America correspondent Camila Escalante on KPFK Pacifica Radio. Below is a transcription of last week’s segment.
Stephen Sefton & Camila Escalante on Boric’s new progressive bloc
Category: Nicaragua
The “October Surprise”: Throwing History Off Course
The “October surprise” worked its way into the political jargon in 1980 to describe the Carter administration’s efforts to obtain the release of 52 American hostages in Iran. President Jimmy Carter didn’t know, however, that his opponent’s campaign was planning its own “October surprise”—to elect Ronald Reagan by ensuring that the hostages would be held until after the election.
The “October Surprise”: Throwing History Off Course
Chile Pushes Authoritarian Police Law
Chile’s neoliberal government is close to securing a new law that expands the right of security forces to use firearms against the population. The Naín-Retamal Law, a proposal of the executive branch, was today approved by the Senate for a third and final reading.
Chile Pushes Authoritarian Police Law
Israeli far-right think tank Kohelet is ‘shaping US policy’, experts say + coup d’état of the Straussians in Israel
While much attention has been given to Kohelet Policy Forum in Israel, experts say think tank has played major role in crafting US policy on Israel-Palestine.
Israeli far-right think tank Kohelet is ‘shaping US policy’, experts say
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Smedley Butler on Interventionism

Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
Smedley Butler on Interventionism
Related:
“War Is A Racket” By Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, Read By Jon Gold
Nicaragua: Reconciliation Does Not Mean Forgetting

Hybrid warfare tactics, including information warfare and the co-opting of human rights groups, make it hard to tell the good guys from the bad in the US-backed coup attempt in Nicaragua in 2018. But it is important to note the telltale signs of class oppression and terrorist tactics to understand the truth about the 222 people recently released to the US who were convicted of treason in Nicaragua for savage acts of violence against their people. They had benefited from an amnesty in 2019, but violated its terms by participating in a new coup plot in 2020 and 2021. In releasing the 222 over to the US, the Nicaraguan authorities effectively pardoned them a second time in order to bring further reconciliation to society. But for the sake of historical memory and non-repetition, it is important to remember their crimes.
Nicaragua: Reconciliation Does Not Mean Forgetting
Meta is subverting the Bolivian government while enabling the far right
Supporters of the ruling party are finding themselves deplatformed as the social media giant defends the opposition
Meta is subverting the Bolivian government while enabling the far right
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Elections & Lithium Mining: Why is the US Suddenly Running ‘Get Out the Vote Ads’ in Nigeria?
Elections & Lithium Mining: Why is the US Suddenly Running ‘Get Out the Vote Ads’ in Nigeria?
Last year, US-based electric vehicle company Tesla put in a bid for a contract to mine some of that Lithium, but the Nigerian government denied them. Nigeria, like most African countries, has a history of foreign powers exploiting them for their national resources while offering little value to the people of Nigeria.
Video via Activist News Network
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The Most Important Consequence of Russia’s Withdrawal From the START-3 Treaty
The Most Important Consequence of Russia’s Withdrawal From the START-3 Treaty
In other words, we can say this: Russia can now deploy nuclear weapons OUTSIDE of Russia. That is, anywhere. Even in Cuba, even in Nicaragua, even in Venezuela.
[2015] A Day When Journalism Died

Exclusive: Dec. 9 has a grim meaning for the Republic, the date in 2004 when investigative reporter Gary Webb, driven to ruin by vindictive press colleagues for reviving the Contra-cocaine scandal, took his own life, a demarcation as the U.S. press went from protecting the people to shielding the corrupt, writes Robert Parry.
A Day When Journalism Died
Related:
Tosh Plumlee, Ex-CIA Contract Pilot, Spills Beans On Murder Of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena
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