Oread Daily writes

VENEZUELA IS NOT HAITI

In eastern Caracas today opposition groups once more threw up roadblocks in the capital’s middle and upper class areas. Demonstrators lit tires and garbage at intersections throughout Caracas' wealthier neighborhoods. Barricades have been raised on roadways leading into and out of several neighborhoods, but traffic has not been blocked on the main east-west highways, which are being protected by the National Guard, a militarized national police force. Caracas' Plaza Altamira, the site of an October 2002 "insurrection" of dissident military officers, has reemerged as a focus of protest. At least five people have died and more than 50 injured over the past four days, officials said, adding that 50 people had been arrested Monday. Since Friday, the opposition Democratic Coordinator has called on its supporters to engage in "peaceful resistance" aimed at pressuring the National Electoral Council (CNE) to approve the 3.4 million signatures submitted in support of a recall referendum on Chavez's continuance in office. But the government says a large number of the signatures were forged and that the total falls short of the 2.4 million (20 percent of registered voters) needed to trigger the plebiscite. The CNE postponed its ruling on the signatures until Tuesday, pending a meeting with representatives of the Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which are acting as international observers.

The Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Fedecamaras) also has given its blessing to street protests and rejects National Elections Council (CNE) decisions.

Vice Minister of Citizen Security Carlos Bettiol said that Carlos Melo, a representative of the Democratic Coordinator opposition coalition, was arrested Monday while using a vehicle to transport a number of assault rifles.” We have information that certain radical groups are looking to cause deaths so they can later blame them on the government," he said. Information Minister Jesse Chacon says "their only aim is to take power through violence!"

In Valencia (Carabobo), home to the anti-government Salas (Romer/Feo) political family, opposition violence provoked another day of traffic stoppage, closing the main Central Western Highway and access routes. Thirty persons with gunshot and firearms wounds are reported to been admitted to the city hospital, one of whom is a Globovision correspondent. Government sources report that Seminario Impacto magazine reporters, Ricardo Adrian and Roger Trivino were set on and severely beaten along with Universidad Arturo Michelena School of Journalism students, while Carabobo police officers looked on. The local police there and opposition goon squads appear to be working hand in hand.

The timing of all this may be coincidental (re: Haiti), but there's reason to be wary of an encore performance by US policy makers in Caracas.

The opposition’s use of the “referendum” is little more than a ploy as it knows that Hugo Chavez would sweep any popular elections. But charges of fraud are always well received by the Bush Administration when it comes to governments of which it does not approve. Street protests by the largely middle and upper class opposition also always look good when left unexplained.

On Sunday, at least 60,000 supporters of the President marched in the capital and converged for a rally led by Chavez. Chavez - who says the US is backing opposition efforts to topple his leftist government - accused US President George W Bush of heeding advice from "imperialist" aides to support a brief 2002 coup against him. "He was an asshole to believe them," Chavez said to his followers. The president also threatened to cut off oil supplies to the US, should Washington try an invasion or trade sanctions. Then, Chavez insisted he would not resign. "Venezuela is not Haiti and Chavez is not Aristide," he said. Chávez reiterated his previous charges against the present White House administration of supporting opposition actions to defeat him that do not exclude violence. “…as a preamble to larger confrontations, the United States is trying to spread the image of generalized chaos in the nation that would propitiate foreign intervention,” he confirmed. The President warned that if the Bush administration carried out what he called American aggressions, "the people of the United States should know that they will not get another drop of oil from Venezuela." The American energy market is heavily reliant on Venezuela, one of the top four providers of petroleum to the United States. Chávez's supporters shouted pro-Chávez slogans and carried anti-American signs. "We're defending our president from the opposition, and our country from the United States," said Ana García, who had traveled from neighboring Aragua state. "And we're protecting the reforms our president has made. We're with his revolution, and we will defend him to the death.” Sources: Xinhua, Information Clearing House, EFE (Spain), V Headlines, Narcosphere, Granma, Pravda

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U.S. Congresswoman from California Maxine Waters is reporting at this hour that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told her in a telephone call that he was "kidnapped by U.S. diplomats" under threat of death rather than having resigned and willingly removed from Haiti, as widely reported in major American media. Waters, interviewed on "Democracy Now!" by Amy Goodman, calls the action a "U.S.-backed coup d'etat."

[Further posts on this developing story are available below.]

"Britain and US Shared Transcripts After Bugging Blix's Mobile Phone"

Kim Sengupta and Kathy Marks

The controversy over alleged British and American "dirty tricks" at the
United Nations deepened yesterday with claims that two chiefs of Iraq arms
inspection missions had been victims of spying. Hans Blix and Richard Butler were said to have been subjected to routine
bugging while they led teams searching for Saddam Hussein's supposed
weapons of mass destruction.

"Israel Storms Aqsa Complex"

Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Jazeera

JERUSALEM, 28 February 2004 -- Israeli police yesterday stormed
Al-Haram Al-Sharif, one of Islam¹s holiest sites, to confront
Palestinian
protesters.

The storming coincided with another spate of protests in the West Bank
against the barrier, now under World Court review for cutting into
occupied
territory that Palestinians want for a state.

rob eshelman writes:

"Meet the Shia... They Could Make or Break the Future of Iraq"
Rob Eshelman

In Baghdad’s upscale al-Mansour neighborhood, change is afoot. The towering pillars of a massive, but yet incomplete, mosque are visible from all around. The grey concrete supports stretching high into the smoggy haze of the Iraqi capital will eventually be topped by ninety-nine domes, making this the world’s largest mosque. Inside the unfinished, skeletal structure, posters of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, slain by Saddam in 1998, have been haphazardly stuck to the concrete walls by members of the numerous Shia families who now live on the grounds of the building zone.

Paul Marlor Sweezy, 1910-2004

Unconfirmed reports have been received that Paul Marlor Sweezy, one of the co-founders of the Monthly Review journal and press, died last night. Sweezy was an important voice in independent American Marxism. We will try to post a fuller obituary below as soon as possible.

"Israeli Organized Crime"

Juliana Fredman


OK, picture this. A group of masked men, armed with semiautomatic machine guns enter a bank. They lock the employees in a room and steal millions of dollars in cash. On the way in and out they spray bullets injuring 47 people on the street. 5 are critically injured and will never walk again, it may be that they will never wake up. The gangsters leave a manifesto at the scene of the crime, justifying the heist because of unproven claims that this bank holds accounts controlled by their enemies. What do you suppose would be the reaction to such a claim?

An anonymous coward writes:

"Chalabi, Garner Provide New Clues to War"

Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service

For those still puzzling over the whys and wherefores of
Washington's invasion of Iraq 11 months ago, major new, but curiously
unnoticed, clues were offered this week by two central players in the
events leading up to the war.

Both clues tend to confirm growing suspicions that the Bush
administration's drive to war in Iraq had very little, if anything, to do
with the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) or his alleged ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda --
the two main reasons the U.S. Congress and public were given for the
invasion.

An anonymous coward writes:
"The Bloody Price"

Tariq Ali, OutLookIndia.com

Sooner than anyone could have predicted the occupation has become untenable.
Regime changes in Washington and London would be small punishment compared
to what is being inflicted on Iraq.

The whole world knows that Bush and Blair lied to justify the war, but do
they know the price being paid on the ground in Iraq? First, the blood
price--paid by civilians and others this week as every week. More than 50
people died on February 12 when a car bomb ripped through Iraqis queuing to
join the police force. The US military blamed al-Qaida loyalists and foreign
militants for this and other suicide bombings. But occupations are usually
ugly. How then can resistance be pretty?

"Les Enfants Perdus de Ayiti? Not!"

Chris Brady

There was a big difference between Aristide’s political behavior before
he was deposed versus after he was reinstalled by US troops. He was
more of a populist before. His movement lost a lot of steam during his
imposed hiatus.

Aristide’s opposition may have been pushed back by US armed force, but
after the Lavalas tidal wave had swept across Haiti, it had actually
anchored itself securely in coves of privilege across the country.
Furthermore, Aristide was a chastened man when he returned, like a child
who required the intervention of a Big Daddy, while the bullies smirked
on the sidelines. All the other kids in the playground knew the score:
he wouldn’t be there without Big Daddy. In front of everyone, Big Daddy
sternly told him not to antagonize the bullies, and to behave himself.
He was allowed to serve out his term, but forbidden to add on the years
he lost. He was effectively penalized for losing. The bullies puffed
their chests, and went inside for a bit, locking the gates of their
mansions.