US double-speak on regime change

Back on February 14th I wrote about claims that the US was coordinating a coup against Venezuela. About halfway through my post I noticed a State Dept briefing with Jen Psaki and AP reporter Matt Lee that talked about America's

longstanding policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means. Political transitions must be democratic, constitutional, peaceful, and legal.

Later on February 26th I wrote about how media, including one's I admire like FAIR and Democracy Now! had or had not covered the story on the coup attempt against Venezuela.

Then on March 11th after Obama signed new sanctions against Venezuela Democracy Now had a great segment with Professor Miguel Tinker Salas which brought up the press briefing with Jen Psaki and Matt Lee almost a month later where Professor Salas said

MIGUEL TINKER SALAS: I would have loved if that kind of exchange would have got broader diffusion in the U.S. press, but the fact is that it hasn’t.

I can't agree more, but I noticed it a month earlier on the day it happened! RSS feeds people! They really work so you don't miss things...

AND because I am not yet as popular as Democracy Now (LOL) they get to say this and I do not

A week ago Democracy Now! aired this short clip from a recent State Department press briefing about Venezuela. It has since gone viral.

Professor Salas added 

And we continue to have the belief that the U.S. does not—is not involved in unconstitutional change in Latin America. And as a historian, the record speaks just the opposite, from ’53 in Guatemala to the Dominican Republic, to Chile in ’73, and through the support of the Argentine military dictatorships and Brazil, and, if we want to go even closer, to 2002 in Venezuela, when the U.S. actually did support a coup against the democratically elected Hugo Chávez, the shortest coup in the world, and the coup that brought Chávez back to power, and then again in Honduras in 2009, and, not shortly thereafter, in Paraguay with Lugo, where they said it was a democratic transition, when in fact it was an unconstitutional shift in power. So, again, the notion that the U.S. has not supported both military coups directly or through what they call soft power is really ludicrous.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO TODAY'S POINT--Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

After Jen Psaki announced America's "long standing policy" of not supporting regime change (besides the obvious Iraq) I say "Assad?"

UN Ambassador Samantha Power on The Takeaway on Monday March 23rd (emphasis mine)

the only solution, she argues, is the political dismantling of the Assad regime.

This is not a regime whose existence, whose perpetuation is compatible with peace.

Bringing down the regime while maintaining what little stability is left in the region will be complicated.

Power also remains adamant that, despite the length and brutality of the Syrian Civil War, Assad will be brought down and his regime will be held responsible for its acts.

“We’re never going to give up, and a regime that commits acts like this will eventually be held accountable," she says. "It may feel like that day is a ways off right now because this regime has again, tragically, the support of two powerful countries, but that day will come. We have the evidence, we know who’s responsible and they will be held to account.”

 Also note that "regime" is used 11 times in a short interview.  I agree that Assad is a brutal dictator, but I thought we were against regime change.  Oh well.

Venezuela Crisis Growing as US Media Deflects

I noticed last week news that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have thwarted a coup that had planning help from the US.  I wondered how much news coverage it would get.  It has gotten some news coverage, especially since the arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma on February 19th and the killing of a 14 year old protester on Tuesday the 24th.  So there is news about Venezuela.  What kind of coverage is another story entirely.  One aspect of the failed coup attempt, besides any credibility lent to the claims by American media, is that one of the targets was supposed to be the headquarters of TeleSUR, something that you think media would imagine to be an important story, the targeting of another news media outlet.

CounterPunch reports (emphasis mine)

The bombing of the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly, Telesur TV network, the Defense Ministry and other Caracas sites was to take place February 12, the one-year anniversary of violent anti-government attacks known as “guarimbas,” which caused 43 deaths. A Tucano EMB 312 bomber would have been flown by renegade Air Force First Lieutenant José Antich Zapata to destroy the targeted sites.

continued

Why was Telesur one of the targets to be bombed?

In 2002, when a fascist coup by a sector of the military and corporate opposition overthrew President Hugo Chavez from April 11 to 13, Venezuela’s revolution was new and a people’s media had not yet developed.

In the critical hours of the massive and spontaneous popular mobilization to demand Chavez’s release and return as president, the monopoly corporate media completely blocked out the news. It was clear that the Bolivarian process needed a revolutionary media to transmit vital information to the population.

Since then, dozens of community and television stations have been established; corporate violators of the new Communications Law have had their licenses revoked.

The Telesur network – promoting the integration of Latin America – was proposed 10 years ago by Chavez. It has become a vital conveyor of national and international information with a solid anti-imperialist prospective.

It provided uncensored live coverage and exposed the terror bombing by NATO/U.S. bombing of Libya.

Like the brutal bombing of Serbia’s national TV station, killing scores of journalists who courageously covered the criminal NATO/U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the planned bombing of Telesur was part of the plan to destroy the Revolution and install a fascist coup.

Guardian article on NATO bombing Serbian TV in 1999

Nato leaders yesterday scrambled to justify the bombing of Serbia's state television station in an attack which killed a number of civilian workers and marked a further widening in the scope of targets now considered legitimate.

The attack on the building in the centre of Belgrade - which contradicted an apparent assurance by Nato this month that only transmitters would be hit - was condemned by international journalists' organisations, representing both employers and unions.

continued

The state-run news agency Tanjug said about 150 people were inside the building at the time of the attack. The minister without portfolio, Goran Matic, said that in addition to 10 dead and 18 wounded, at least 20 people were feared buried in the rubble.

Last June in my introduction to this blog, I wrote that I chose the name "Biased Reporter" in order to show that everyone is biased, and that includes Democracy Now!, a truly invaluable independent daily news broadcast, which focuses on stories that few television and radio shows will consider important.

On February 23rd Democracy Now! had this headline, when the story goes back to the 12th.

U.S. Mulls New "Tools" to Pressure Venezuela after Arrest of Opposition Mayor

The United States says it is mulling new punitive actions against Venezuela following the arrest of an opposition mayor. The mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, was detained last week and indicted for what the government called a U.S.-backed coup plot. Rejecting Venezuela’s claims, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States is not interfering in Venezuela, but then said it is considering new actions to steer its government in a different direction.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest: "The fact is the Venezuelan government should stop trying to blame the United States and other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela. The Venezuelan government actually needs to deal with the grave situation that it faces. The United States is not promoting unrest in Venezuela, nor are we attempting to undermine Venezuela’s economy or its government. Well, I can tell you that the Treasury Department and the State Department are obviously closely monitoring this situation and are considering tools that may be available that could better steer the Venezuelan government in the direction that they believe they should be headed."

In response, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said the United States has no right to change Venezuelan policies, and appealed for global solidarity.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro: "I call on all the brother governments of Latin America and the Caribbean. I am calling on all our brothers and sisters in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is the moment for solidarity with the Venezuelan people, who are being attacked by the government of the United States. No one should stay quiet in the face of this aggression. What are the 'tools' that are being considered by the (U.S.) Treasury Department? More economic war. What are the 'tools' that are being considered to move us in any direction they should please? Who said that the government of the United States has any authority to move Venezuela in any way in this world?"

But the part where Josh Earnest discusses “tools that may be available that could better steer the Venezuelan government” is in response to a question on sanctions against Venezuela which was cut out of Democracy Now's headline.

Here is the full quote 

The U.S. government has already taken some actions against Venezuelan individuals with some sanctions.  Are you considering any other action?  Are you seeking -- maybe seeking help from other countries in the hemisphere, like Brazil, that could put pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro?

MR. EARNEST:  Well, I can tell you that the Treasury Department and the State Department are obviously closely monitoring this situation and are considering tools that may be available that could better steer the Venezuelan government in the direction that they believe they should be headed.  That obviously means that we’re continuing to engage other countries in the region in talking about operating in coordinated fashion as we deal with the situation there.

But ultimately, it’s going to be the responsibility of the government of Venezuela to stop blaming other countries, including the United States, for their problems, and start tackling them head-on.

I also think that claims of a US backed coup deserve an interview with experts on the ground, and earlier that 11 days later, but I still hope that Democracy Now will cover the story as well as they have other important topics, including extensive coverage of the US-backed coup in Honduras ousting President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.

When I wrote my blog post I found news coverage of how US sanctions included language that steered money to influence opposition groups against Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro

Fox News Latino said

Bipartisan Senate Legislation Seeks Funding For Anti-Government Protesters In Venezuela (emphasis mine)

Senators Robert Menendez and Marco Rubio introduced a bill aimed at supporting anti-government groups in Venezuela.

The bill by Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Rubio, a Florida Republican, authorizes $15 million for help “to defend human rights, support democratic civil society organizations, [and] assist independent media,” according to a statement by Rubio’s office.

Al Jazeera America published an article (a guest opinion piece but full of facts) that explained Obama's hypocrisy on sanctioning Venezuela instead of Honduras and arguing for Obama's new diplomatic relations with Cuba to be extended to Venezuela instead of punishing sanctions when the government was not responsible for the violence cited in the sanctions.

The Congressional Budget Office wrote that the bill

would authorize the appropriation of $15 million in 2015 to promote civil society in Venezuela. In recent years, the Administration has spent roughly $5 million each year for similar activities in Venezuela. Other provisions of S. 2142 would increase administrative costs of the Departments of State and the Treasury. Based on information from the Administration, CBO estimates the departments would require additional appropriations of $1 million a year in 2015 and 2016, growing to $2 million a year thereafter.

Human Rights Watch, reporting about attacks since February 12th by protesters and against protesters in it's report writes elsewhere in the article about the United States' sanctions against Venezuela

In December, the United States imposed targeted sanctions on Venezuelan military and civilian officials allegedly responsible for human rights violations during the protests. The sanctions include refusing or cancelling visas for certain officials and freezing their personal assets in the US.

The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) rejected the sanctions, contending that they violate the “principle of non-intervention” in Venezuela. Similarly, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) criticized the sanctions and urged the international community to refrain from “intervening, directly or indirectly, in internal affairs” of other states.

  
FAIR, another news outlet that does a great job explaining what's wrong with American news coverage, has yet to discuss Venezuela on their weekly show CounterSpin, but they did have an article about a New York Times op-ed that lied about Venezuela's media.

Krauze begins by claiming that the Venezuelan government, first under President Hugo Chávez and then his successor Nicolás Maduro, has taken control over the media.

FAIR normally does a great job and they have even in the past focused on skewed coverage of Mexico's economic "reforms" that American media loves.

The New York Times has clearly not listened to FAIR, now writing about Conspiracy "claims" in Venezuela that President Maduro

ramble for hours about an international right-wing conspiracy to oust him, it’s clear that he would use any fabricated pretext to jail opposition leaders and crack down on dissent.

 continued

With so many of the strongest opposition leaders facing charges, this obviously will not be an easy feat. But if the international community continues to champion their cause, and insist that a fair election is held, it might be possible.

The international community is not coming to the defense of right wring opposition to a democratically elected Left wing leader in Venezuela.  To the contrary there was a call from politicians in Britain for the international community to condemn the US-backed coup

Sections of Venezuela’s rightwing opposition have previously used violent and anti-democratic means to destabilise and seek to overthrow the country’s elected government, most notably the temporarily successful coup against Hugo Chavez in 2002, and many rightwing opposition groups in Venezuela committed to overthrowing the elected, constitutional government continue to receive funding from the US. We call on all governments internationally to respect Venezuela’s elected, constitutional government and condemn this latest coup attempt.

Looking for actual news about what is happening in Venezuela I found this in my many RSS feeds

Venezuela's role in warming Cuba - US relations

A lot of people have been getting credit for the US-Cuba breakthrough today, from Raul Castro and Barack Obama to Pope Francis and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

But there's someone else who deserves credit for taking Cuban-US diplomatic relations to the brink of normalization, though he probably doesn't want it: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

While the article says little beyond that, the subtitle explains their argument saying that since the fall of the Soviet Union

Cuba had relied on Venezuela to prop up its economy. But with that support uncertain, the Castro brothers appear to have decided to come in from the cold.

From what I have seen CounterPunch has the best news on Venezuela
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/24/the-coup-detat-attempt-in-venezuela/

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/25/the-foiling-of-a-coup-plot/

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/02/venezuela-a-coup-in-real-time/

CounterPunch links to an article that reports to have the framework for the new coup government if it had succeeded (translated from the Spanish by Google Translate)

On February 12, 2015, President Nicolas Maduro unveiled a coup in process had been dismantled and several Air Force officers had been arrested after planning to attack numerous civilian and military targets in Caracas and trigger events that would lead a "transitional government". He alleged that a document entitled " Called to the Venezuelans to a national agreement for the Transition ", which was to be published in the newspaper El Nacional and also found on the websites of Vente Venezuela , Popular Will , Antonio Ledezma , Citizen Congress and other right-wing parties would serve as a "signal" to start these events. The document is signed by Maria Corina Machado, Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo López, and describes a number of shares of neoliberal character, which would trigger a supposed "transition" which is not reflected in the Constitution has started.

Then there is the chart of what the document says and what they say it means

Here is what CounterPunch writes about Obama coup plotting

In present-day Venezuela, it is unlikely that the U.S. government could directly orchestrate a plot that calls itself “Bolivarian” and comes from the Venezuelan Air Force. Nevertheless, the White House might well be working to delicately promote such a thing and later take advantage of it. One possible scenario would involve an initial military coup by dissident Bolivarian officers, followed by a call for elections in which the legal and recognized opposition – involving such figures as Henrique Capriles, Antonio Ledezma, María Corina Machado and Julio Borges – would emerge to take charge.

The possibility of a military coup followed by hurried elections – a two-stage overthrow – could be what is behind the U.S. driven media campaign against Venezuela that has unfolded in recent weeks and involves extravagant claims about government figures running an international drug trafficking ring.

I am going to keep watching this story. 

US-backed Coup in Venezuela Thwarted

Let's see how much media attention this story gets. CounterPunch has a great round up of what US news has been saying about Venezuela recently.  It is an excellent read.

Headlines scream danger, crisis and imminent demise, while the usual suspects declare covert war on a people whose only crime is being gatekeeper to the largest pot of black gold in the world.

Here is some of what the AP wrote

Venezuelan officials Friday cheered the thwarting of what they said was a planned coup that involved a plot to blow up the presidential palace.

continued

Opposition coalition spokesman Jesus Torrealba rejected the accusations Friday.

"The government makes up these stories about coups to avoid talking about how the country is breaking down," he told a group of journalists.

Venezuela's government has frequently alleged coup plots, often without providing much evidence or follow up.

A study by the Caracas-based newspaper Ultimas Noticias counted 63 alleged assassination plots between when late President Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 and his death in 2013. President Nicolas Maduro's government has denounced more than a dozen purported plots since coming to power 15 months ago.

continued

Top officials delivered an hours-long presentation in which they accused a handful of opposition leaders of working with the U.S. ambassador in neighboring Colombia to "annihilate" Maduro.

Those who believe the government are a quick to recall Washington's endorsement of a coup that toppled Chavez for two days in 2002.

Reuters on February 2nd wrote about Visa restrictions against Venezuelan officials and Maduro's claims of Washington interference in Venezuela 

Venezuela's socialist government has long accused Washington of seeking to destabilize its rule to gain control of the OPEC country's oil. Relations worsened after the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush applauded a botched coup in 2002 against the late President Hugo Chavez.

Despite diplomatic tensions, Venezuela has remained one of the top suppliers of oil to the United States.

Maduro recently accused U.S. Vice President Joe Biden of plotting to overthrow his administration. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Monday described the accusation as "baseless and false."

On Monday, Maduro accused Biden of telling leaders of Caribbean nations that the Venezuelan government's days were numbered and that they should ready themselves for the end of Petrocaribe.

Petrocaribe, created by Chavez, allows countries in the Caribbean and Central America to finance oil and fuel purchases at advantageous rates. Maduro insists the program will be maintained, though volumes dropped in 2013 to their lowest level in five years.

Meanwhile other international news outlets like the Venezuela based South American news network teleSUR, along with other news channels such as RT and Iran's PressTv have coverage of the coup and has been reporting the claims of America's role in the now foiled plot.

Telesur has a whole page dedicated to the "War on Venezuela's Democracy" with the subtitle "Making the Economy Scream" which is an echo of the Nixon/Kissinger coup plan against Chile in the 1970's leading up to the coup of 1973.

Here is a timeline of how the coup would have taken place had it succeeded.

RT has a description of what the attack was supposed to be

The coup plan involved an attack on the presidential palace or another top target, Maduro said.

“This was an attempt to use a group of military aviation officers to provoke a violent event,”and one of the detained plotters was “an [Air Force] general called Hernandez, alias el Oso [the bear].”

“On these dates, February 12 and 13, during the commemoration events, [the plot was to] fly a 'Tucano' airplane, arm the Tucano and attack the Miraflores [Presidential] Palace, or whichever location I would have been when participating in any one of these events. And then later attack other targets which they had outlined before," Maduro said, as quoted by AP.

The alleged plot was uncovered by the Venezuelan intelligence agency, and one of the participating officers was connected to the right-wing forces allegedly planning to provoke a wave of violence.

According to Maduro, the military man was given financial aid, as well as a US visa, which permitted him to leave on February 3.

The president provided no concrete evidence of the alleged coup.

It is not the first time that Maduro has said there has been an attempted coup against his government. At the beginning of February, the president accused US Vice President Joe Biden of orchestrating a plot against Venezuela.

Last December, Maduro announced“recordings” disclosing the US plan to bribe and corrupt Venezuelan authorities.

PressTV writes about the history of the diplomatic relations

Caracas and Washington remain at odds since late Hugo Chavez became president in 1999. Both sides have refused to exchange ambassadors since 2010. The countries have chargé d’affaires running their respective embassies.

The German Embassy in Caracas made an alarming statement about an impending crisis

In the statement, German diplomat Polster informs readers that the embassy is extremely “worried” about the current situation in the country and advises German residents to take a number of “precautions in the face of the crisis”.

These precautions include having “lots of provisions” such as enough food and drinking water to last “in our opinion, for 2 weeks”, as well as cash, medicine, batteries, candles, and copies of important documents.

“We shouldn’t take it for granted that we will have access to electricity or internet services. The validity of passports and identity documents should be verified regularly,” continues the text.

TeleSUR

Venezuelan National Assembly head Diosdado Cabello revealed the details Thursday night of what the government says was a “thwarted coup.”

Illegal in Venezuela AR-15 rifles were confiscated

Cabello said that authorities had confiscated grenades, military and Sebin (intelligence) uniforms, an eight-minute video with a declaration by the plotters, and a collection of AR-15 rifles. Widely available in the United States, the AR-15 was first developed for the U.S. military, but is today one of the most popular rifles commercially available in the United States. It is not legally available to the public in Venezuela.

The AR-15 has been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States, including the 2012 Aurora shooting, which left 12 people dead in Colorado.

continued

He also showed a photo (below) and alleged that a U.S. official recently visited Venezuela to observe the trial of Leopoldo Lopez, who is accused of having incited last year’s opposition violence, which led to 43 deaths.

“What right does a U.S. official have to attend (the trial)?” asked Rodriguez.

Role of US Sanctions against Venezuela in coup attempt 
The section on US interference in South America referenced a law that Obama signed in 2014 sanctions against Venezuela

2. Sanctions

Obama signed a law in 2014 allowing him to sanction Venezuelan officials for alleged involvement in putting down violent right wing student protests.

The trade sanctions law practice Baker & McKenzie wrote on their sanctions blog in December that

As a related matter, as previously discussed in our earlier blog post (available here), in November 2014 the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Export Administration Regulations by issuing a final rule to impose license requirements on the export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) of certain items to or within Venezuela when intended for a military end use or end user. This final rule was also in response to the Venezuelan government's violent repression of the Venezuelan people during the February-to-May antigovernment protests in Venezuela.

The Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 was one of 61 laws Obama signed into law back in December. (I wrote about another law signed that day here and am working on some more pieces)

The Hill reports that Republican Senator from Tenessee Bob Corker had a hold on the legislation this summer but doesn't explain why he held up the bill. I haven't seen any other reporting on that.

This is how Obama described the law as he signed it

S. 2142, the "Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014," which imposes sanctions on persons responsible for violations of human rights in Venezuela;

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said this about the bill in December

Thanks, Josh. Now that the House has passed a bill calling for sanctions against some members of the government of Venezuela for human rights violations, what are the President’s intentions? Is he going to sign it? And does he intend to enforce those sanctions?

MR. EARNEST: Thanks for the question. The administration shares Congress’s concerns and those of other regional and international actors about the situation in Venezuela. We have not and will not remain silent in the face of Venezuelan government actions that violate human rights and fundamental freedoms, and deviate from well-established democratic norms.

We continue to work closely with Congress and others in the region on this issue to support greater political space in Venezuela, and ensure the government lives up to its shared commitment to the collective defense of democracy as articulated in the Inter-American Democratic Charter. The President plans to sign the bill into law, and we’ll coordinate with the relevant agencies and members to implement the law.

There was a much more interesting State Department briefing today (the video is here staring at 44 minutes)

QUESTION: President Maduro last night went on the air and said that they had arrested multiple people who were allegedly behind a coup that was backed by the United States. What is your response?

MS. PSAKI: These latest accusations, like all previous such accusations, are ludicrous. As a matter of longstanding policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means. Political transitions must be democratic, constitutional, peaceful, and legal. We have seen many times that the Venezuelan Government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela. These efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Venezuelan Government to deal with the grave situation it faces.

QUESTION: The U.S. --

QUESTION: Sorry, Jen --

QUESTION: Sorry. The U.S. has – whoa, whoa, whoa. The U.S. has a longstanding practice of not promoting – what did you say? How longstanding is that? I would – in particular in South and Latin America, that is not a longstanding practice.

MS. PSAKI: Well, my point here, Matt, without getting into history --

QUESTION: Not in this case.

MS. PSAKI: -- is that we do not support, we have no involvement with, and these are ludicrous accusations.

QUESTION: In this specific case.

MS. PSAKI: Correct.

QUESTION: But if you go back not that long ago during your lifetime, even – (laughter) – this is not that long since --

MS. PSAKI: The last 21 years. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Well done. Touche. But I mean, does “longstanding” mean 10 years in this case? I mean, what is --

MS. PSAKI: Matt, my intention was to speak to the specific reports.

QUESTION: I understand, but you said it’s a longstanding U.S. practice, and I’m not so sure – it depends on what your definition of “longstanding” is.

MS. PSAKI: We will – okay.

Fox News Latino (the better half of the network) went straight to the point of the bill when it was first introduced in March 2014

Bipartisan Senate Legislation Seeks Funding For Anti-Government Protesters In Venezuela

 Senators Robert Menendez and Marco Rubio introduced a bill aimed at supporting anti-government groups in Venezuela.

The bill by Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Rubio, a Florida Republican, authorizes $15 million for help “to defend human rights, support democratic civil society organizations, [and] assist independent media,” according to a statement by Rubio’s office.

Senator Rubio made a statement on the Senate floor on Obama's AUMF against ISIS and on the situation in Venezuela




The Congressional Budget Office said

implementing S. 2142 would cost $23 million over the 2015-2019 period, assuming appropriation of the specified and necessary amounts. Pay-as-you-go procedures apply to this legislation because it would affect direct spending and revenues; however, CBO estimates that those effects would not be significant.

The full statement has some more details and adds that

The bill would authorize the appropriation of $15 million in 2015 to promote civil society in Venezuela. In recent years, the Administration has spent roughly $5 million each year for similar activities in Venezuela. Other provisions of S. 2142 would increase administrative costs of the Departments of State and the Treasury. Based on information from the Administration, CBO estimates the departments would require additional appropriations of $1 million a year in 2015 and 2016, growing to $2 million a year thereafter.

In other news Venezuela won a stay in court regarding 

enforcement of a $1.6 billion arbitration award to ExxonMobil subsidiaries imposed after it nationalized its oil industry, a federal judge ruled.

continued

When Mobil Cerro Negro and other subsidiaries sued to collect the award in federal court here, Venezuela raised a jurisdictional argument that U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmeyer called a case of "first impression" for the court

continued

Venezuela had better luck persuading Engelmeyer to hold off on the enforcement until the ICSID rules on its application to revise the award.

I wonder when we will get some proof that the US really was involved.  Remember that this is hardly the first coup.  I would call Ukraine a coup, not by Putin, but by the West as Stephen Cohen has explained many times about how it was stubbornness by the EU that forced Yanukovych to sign the economic deal with Russia instead of with both Russia and the EU.

Then there was the leaked tape of  Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland speaking with US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt which was explained as planning a coup on Democracy Now.

While President Obama has vowed to "continue to engage all sides," a recently leaked audio recording between two top U.S. officials reveal the Obama administration has been secretly plotting with the opposition.

And that is just a recent ongoing example in a long list of US led regime changes.

There are even several articles that list US coups in Latin America alone, there are that many.

http://revolution-news.com/latin-america-coups-historical-retrospective-regime-changes/

It took 60 years for the open secret that the US was behind the Iran coup that overthrew Mossadegh and installed Reza Shah Pahlavi who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

I have written about some coups in the past (more than I realized as I looked into it!)

Clinton admits role in Honduras coup

2009 Honduras coup and role in child migrants this past year

The children were fleeing violence as a result of coup in Honduras

Bomb explodes in Chile leading up to anniversary of 1973 coup

Yemen coup

Chilean mine collapse and economic effects of 1973 coup

As always please follow me on Twitter for more updates.