Wall Street Journal Reinvented History by Stephen Lendman http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials/wall-street-journal-reinvented-history/

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Mary O’Grady a Wall Street Journal columnist. She’s one of its editorial board members. She’s a Rupert Murdoch favorite. She’s a neocon propagandist. She defends the indefensible. She masquerades as a journalist. Her reinvented history doesn’t wash. It doesn’t pass the smell test. Her background gives her away. Earlier she worked for Advest, Inc., Thomson McKinnon Securities and Merrill Lynch. She’s associated with the neocon Heritage Foundation. She co-edits its so-called Index of Economic Freedom. It’s what most people worldwide deplore.She’s a right-wing Liberty Fund (LF) board of directors member. It’s an extremist over-the-top organization. In his book “The Assault on Reason,” Al Gore said judges attending its seminars and conferences “are generally responsible for writing the most radical pro-corporate, anti-environmental, and activist decisions.” JF and likeminded groups don’t “provid(e) unbiased judicial education,” he added.

“They are giving multi-thousand-dollar vacations to federal judges to promote their radical right-wing agenda at the expense of the public interest.” O’Grady’s reinvented history wins awards. They include the Inter American press Association’s David Gleaner Award, the International Policy Network’s Bastiat Prize, and the Association of Private Enterprise Education‘s Thomas Jefferson award. Worst of the worst grand prize suits her best. Her reinvented history makes yellow journalism look good by comparison. She’s ideologically over-the top and then some.

On February 23, she headlined “Behind the Turmoil in Venezuela.” She lied calling Hugo Chavez a “dictator.” She was just warming up. More on her diatribe below. Washington-manipulated violence has been ongoing for weeks. Fascist US allies are involved. So are CIA operatives and State Department funded groups. Middle class students were enlisted. Street thugs are paid to riot. Obama wants Venezuela’s democratic government toppled. He wants pro-Western stooge governance replacing it. He wants Bolivarian social justice crushed.

He wants control over Venezuela’s oil. Its reserves are the world’s largest. He wants another independent country plundered for profit. Not according to O’Grady. She wrongfully accused President Nicolas Maduro of “unleash(ing) a wave of terror across the country.” “National Guard (forces) and police went on a tear, firing their weapons indiscriminately, beating civilians, raiding suspected student hid-outs, destroying private property and launching tear-gas canisters.” Fact check

Since Chavez took office in February 1999, Washington went all-out to remove him. Political, economic and street violence destabilization schemes followed. In early February, right-wing manipulated anti-government student protests began in San Cristobal. They erupted elsewhere. They turned violent.

Washington’s dirty hands work this way. Violence continues disruptively. Scoundrel media misinformation accuses Maduro irresponsibly. He’s doing his job. He’s defending his country. He’s protecting his people. Opposition provocateurs want “injuries and deaths,” he said. He justifiably calls them fascists. He points fingers the right way. He knows Washington’s dirty hands are involved. He forthrightly explains what’s happening.

Professor Steve Ellner calls Washington’s strategy “a wearing out “low intensity war.” It may work, he believes. He compared it to Reagan’s 1980s Contra wars. A decade of fighting ended Nicaragua’s Sandinista governance. Weary voters had enough. They elected US-funded Violeta Chamorro. Will Venezuelans succumb the same way? Time alone will tell.

Bolarianism appears too institutionalized to subvert. It’s hugely popular. It greatly benefits most Venezuelans. Street violence occurs largely in middle class areas. Residents may tire of battleground tactics short of achieving objectives sought. Their staying power has limits, Ellner believes. Venezuela is special, he adds. It’s “in the center of world attention.” It’s a Bolivarian success. It’s a model democracy. It enjoys majority citizen support. It’s likely too strong to undermine. The fullness of time will tell. O’Grady never quits. She makes stuff up. It doesn’t rise to the level of bad fiction. One canard follows others. “…Cuban intelligence runs the Venezuelan state security apparatus,” she claims. Venezuela’s opposition isn’t getting enough help from regional countries, she adds. Only right-wing governments in Colombia, Chile and Panama expressed support. According to O’Grady: “The rest of the hemisphere doesn’t have even a passing interest in human rights when the violations come from the left.” She claims Organization of American States (OAS) head Jose Miguel “shill(s) for Cuba.” OAS history is long and shameful. It usually “shills” for Washington. It’s headquartered there. It often defiles the democratic institutions it’s mandated to promote. Its former leaders included father and son Duvalier in Haiti, Guatemalan fascist Rios Montt, Chile’s Pinochet, an array of Mexican despots, Fujimori and likeminded Peruvian ones, Nicaragua’s Somoza, Cuba’s Batista, and various other regional democracy-spurning leaders. Instead of combatting state terrorism as mandated, member countries at times practice it to some degree or largely turn a blind eye to what demands denunciation. None have economic systems approaching Bolivarian fairness. At the same time, US influence waned. According to James Petras: “The weakening influence of imperial propaganda and the declining economic leverage of Washington, means that the US imperial networks built over the past half century are being eroded or at least subject to centrifugal forces.” “The economic crises of the late 1990s led to major uprisings and electoral defeats of practically all US clients in Latin America, spelling the decline of US imperial domination.” Imperial excess has a limited shelf life. America has been in decline for decades. Its military might alone is unchallenged. Its rogue agenda makes more enemies than friends. “Venezuelans seeking change face daunting odds,” says O’Grady. She omits what’s most important to explain.

Most Venezuelans want US destabilization ended. They want their sovereign rights respected. O’Grady called Washington’s 2002 aborted coup “a march in Caracas (that) almost unseated Chavez.” She implied that state repression foiled it. Overwhelmingly popular support gets credit. “This time the repression has been fierce,” she claimed. She wrongfully blamed Maduro for responsibly confronting street thug violence. No leader would tolerate criminal elements terrorizing ordinary people. According to O’Grady, “Maduro needs scapegoats for the violence he unleashed.” She accused him of electoral fraud. She claimed “strong evidence (proving his) election (was) stolen.” None whatever exists. Venezuela is a model democracy. Jimmy Carter called its electoral system “the world’s best.” Independent monitors confirm what’s incontrovertible. Venezuela’s system shames America‘s process. Monied interests run it. Voters have no say. For sure not now. America is a democracy in name only. None whatever exists. Protesters are “hamstrung by a communications blockade,” claims O’Grady. Venezuela has the region’s most open, free media system. It’s predominantly privately controlled. Government criticism is commonplace. Not according to O’Grady. “The government controls all Venezuelan television and radio airwaves.” It manages news reporting, she claims. It justifiably challenges incendiary misinformation support. All responsible governments would do the same thing. lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net