News of the Restless

Some days, the media are just too transparent. Get a load of what pooped in my e-mail box today thanks to Google Alerts:

The Russians Are Coming! Cuban Missile Crisis Part Deux! No shit, Reuters actually spells it out! And Turkey's most popular news site, Hürriyet, is most explicit about the supposed details. The Los Angeles Times headline is more coy about it, and the AP's headline coyer still, but you can tell they're all soiling themselves over the prospect of a new Cuban Missile Crisis. And they're all hoping you do, too. (That's their job, boobie. Do you suppose they'll ever mention that mysterious resurrection of the Fourth Fleet and what it has to do with all this?)

Meanwhile, the Financial Times and the Times of London both cleverly manage to tie Chavecito to the dictator of Libya, completely ignoring the fact that Shoe Queen Condi has also extended the old boy an olive branch, calling him (once deemed a terrorist by her very own State Dept.) an "ally in the War on Terror". Surely that's not all about oil? Oh yeah, wait...it is!

And back at the ranch, Reuters UK has decided to extend the Magic Laptop smear from Chavecito to former justice minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín. The evidence? Well, of course, the bogus data on The Laptop No Missile Could Fry. And the fact that Rodríguez hugged some FARCers and called them "compañero" during a humanitarian handover in the jungles of Colombia, which he had helped to broker along with Chavecito and Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba. Yeah, that's right, he didn't show enough hostility by way of gratitude for the safe handover of the prisoners. And he always wears that red shirt! That means he must be a commie-pinko terra-ist, too.

Posted by Sabina Becker at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What did I say earlier on about Chavecito being instrumental in the Colombian hostage negotiations? Looks like at least one former hostage is anxious to see the man who helped free him be brought back on board:

Colombian politician Luis Eladio Perez, liberated in February by the FARC guerrillas, asked of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe that he consider the possibility of re-establishing the mediation of his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, according to an interview published this Friday.

"I call publicly on Uribe that he reconsider the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, as mediator," announced the ex-congressman, who spent nearly seven years in the hands of the FARC, in an interview published by the daily newspaper El Espectador.

Continue reading "Bring Chavecito back, says Colombian ex-hostage" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"In today's America, speech is only 'free' when you are talking down to someone less powerful that you. Speak 'up' — and look out.

--Barry Nolan, who was fired for telling the awful truth about Bill O'Reilly at an awards banquet where the latter was undeservedly honored for being a professional liar

Posted by Sabina Becker at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seems like only yesterday they were announcing that France was getting involved in getting Ingrid Betancourt back from the FARC. (All right, it was the day before yesterday. But still.)

And now, all of a sudden, France is out again.

Well, at least we know Ingrid is not in imminent danger of dying. But she's still a prisoner, and still probably despondent as hell--especially if she knows about this latest turn of events.

Too bad El Narco has been sabotaging Chavecito's efforts and killing Raul Reyes, or maybe Ingrid would be free now instead.

C'est la merde, non?

Posted by Sabina Becker at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And they've committed two hacks. One on the website of a certain Ecuadorable president:

The official website of the Presidency of Ecuador (www.presidencia.gov.ec) was blocked today for the second time by a hacker who left it out of service.

The info-pirate left a message, "Don't mess with Colombia", and blocked all access to infromation on the portal, which remained disabled for several hours until, around 2 p.m. local time (7 p.m. GMT), it came back online but with error messages.

Continue reading "Uribe's thugs are on the Internets" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 1:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And if you have to ask what "it" is, here's a hint: It's brown, it steams, it smells bad, and you don't want it all over the bottom of your shoe. Unfortunately, that's exactly where Alvaro Uribe is wearing it right now, in light of the following:

One of the three female FARC guerrillas wounded in the Colombian military operation in Ecuadorian territory last Saturday said today that there had been two bombings against the clandestine encampment in the border region of Angostura.

Continue reading "Colombia: Even deeper in it than originally thought" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 1:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chavecito vs. Alvaro the Arrogant...the Cage Match. At least, that's how the Crapagandisti of the Lamestream Media are playing the latest Venezuela/Colombia dispute (over Ecuador, no less).

Just for shits 'n' giggles, here are some of their contradictory headlines, as grouped by subject matter:

Continue reading "Dueling Crapaganda" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...and of course, it would have to be Colombia, deciding to repeat not-so-ancient history and once more, conduct a raid on foreign soil without having the common decency to identify that soil's government about its intentions ahead of time.

Continue reading "So this is what John Perkins warned Rafael Correa about..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This just in from Aporrea: Three hostages have just been released by the FARC rebels in Colombia, to be handed over in response to negotiations with president Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and senator Piedad Cordoba of Colombia. They are Clara Rojas (presidential running-mate of Ingrid Betancourt), her son Emanuel, and Consuelo Gonzalez.

Here's the video:

Continue reading "Big news from FARC country" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yeah, tell it to the Beeb. It seems to have been bending over to prove the opposite lately. Especially with "reports" like this:

This so-called reporter, John Sweeney, is absolutely incredible. As in, "not credible". As in, "like a three-dollar bill". As in "Is he carrying water for Big Oil and that crazy Boris Johnson? Smells that way to me!"

Continue reading "So much for state media being "socialist"..." »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, no...actually, they're more like pathetic, and have been ever since poor, mad old Uncle Miltie kicked the bucket (many years past his due date, if you ask me). So you'll have to pardon me if I smile with a kind of pitying scorn at people who spew drivel like this:

Colombia's diplomatic spat with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela may help President Alvaro Uribe build support in the U.S. Congress for a free-trade accord, Citigroup Inc. economists said.

Colombia could help securing passage of the agreement by casting it as a way to limit Chavez's regional influence, economists Franz Hamann and Luisa Charry wrote in an e-mailed report today.

"The sharper dividing line between the two countries can serve as a warning signal of the potential costs of not supporting economic freedom in the region," Bogota-based Hamman and Charry said.

Continue reading "Ha ha. Free-traders funny, too!" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Looks like the president of Marching Powder Land has some serious splainin' to do. Like, for example, how his effort to sabotage Chavecito and Piedad Cordoba in their efforts to broker peace and a release of FARC hostages...ended up showing that they had succeeded anyhow:

Colombia announced today that authorities arrested three people presumed to belong to urban militias of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Bogotá late Thursday, who were found in possession of five videos and seven letters and a digital memory card with photographs demonstrating proof of life of five civilian and eleven military hostages held by the FARC, including French Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt and three US defense contractors. The videos and other documents showing proof of life were addressed to Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The son of Ingrid Betancourt, Lorenzo Betancourt, said the proof that his mother is alive is thanks to the mediation of President Chavez. However, he expressed concern over her health and asked that Chavez's mediation be renewed to secure her release as soon as possible.

The proof of life of the hostages appears only a week after Colombian president Alvaro Uribe unilaterally terminated the mediating role of Chavez and Cordoba, who were working to secure the release of the hostages and had assured that "proof of life would arrive any minute."

In an interview with Telesur, Codroba, who is now under investigation by the Supreme Court for "crimes of treason against the homeland and collusion," defended her role and said that the proof of life of the hostages demonstrates that the mediation of herself and the Venezuelan president was being undertaken with complete seriousness and responsibility.

Oops.

I think someone owes two other somebodies an apology.

Posted by Sabina Becker at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

No good deed goes unpunished in Alvaro Uribe's Colombia, it seems.

The government of France offered protection to Colombian opposition senator Piedad Cordoba after she received death threats for leading a move for rapprochement with FARC guerrillas and a release of prisoners.

According to sources cited by Caracol Radio, the threats against Cordoba "worsened" after the Colombian government suspended on Wednesday the peace talks Cordoba led, along with president Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, between the FARC and the Colombian government.

The sources indicated that French officials made phone calls to the parliamentarian, and offered her protection, and added that the senator asked for a meeting with Chavez, and will be travelling to Caracas to talk with him.

Continue reading "Piedad Cordoba receives death threats; France offers protection" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Smooth move, Alvaro the Nasty, Brutish and Short. You just majorly jeopardized your own peace process.

Colombia's government said Wednesday that it was canceling Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's mediation role with leftist rebels in a possible hostage swap.

President Alvaro Uribe's press secretary said the decision was made because Chavez directly spoke with the head of Colombia's army earlier in the day about the state of hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

In calling the army chief, Gen. Mario Montoya, Chavez defied Uribe's order that the Venezuelan leader not speak with Colombian military leaders about the issue, said Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, the presidential spokesman.

The news was announced late Wednesday in a hastily convened news conference.

Continue reading "Colombia shoots self in foot" »

Posted by Sabina Becker at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)