Targets of threats or actual violence by the US, like Maduro, usually tighten control of their country to protect it and themselves. It happened in Eastern Europe, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere. Their leaders are then called authoritarians or dictators by their tormentor, while the latter poses as a force for freedom. CIA attacks on Venezuela actually started during the period when Jimmy Carter called its election process “the best in the world.”
Jeffrey Sachs describes how the US has been trying to topple the government of Venezuela for over 20 years: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQh97GcgQ5x/ Parallels to Venezuelan regime change abound in William Blum’s “Killing Hope,” a compendium of vicious US policies to bring down governments around the world. Operations against E. Germany begun 30+ years earlier bore fruit in Reagan’s 1987 challenge to Gorbachev: “Tear down this wall!” The beleaguered DDR was forever typecast as a Stasi oppressor state. Blum wrote: “During the 1950s, American cold warriors in West Germany instituted a crude campaign of sabotage and subversion against East Germany designed to throw that country's economic and administrative machinery out of gear. The CIA and other US intelligence and military services recruited, equipped, trained and financed German activist groups and individuals, of West and East, to carry out actions which ran the spectrum from juvenile delinquency to terrorism; anything to make life difficult for the East German people and weaken their support of the government; anything to make the commies look bad. “It was a remarkable undertaking. The United States and its agents used explosives, arson, short circuiting, and other methods to damage power stations, shipyards, canals, docks, public buildings, gas stations, public transportation, bridges, etc; they derailed freight trains, seriously injuring workers; burned 12 cars of a freight train and destroyed air pressure hoses of others; used acids to damage vital factory machinery; put sand in the turbine of a factory, bringing it to a standstill; set fire to a tile-producing factory; promoted work slow-downs in factories; killed 7,000 cows of a co-operative dairy through poisoning; added soap to powdered milk destined for East German schools; were in possession, when arrested, of a large quantity of the poison cantharidin with which it was planned to produce poisoned cigarettes to kill leading East Germans; set off stink bombs to disrupt political meetings; attempted to disrupt the World Youth Festival in East Berlin by sending out forged invitations, false promises of free bed and board, false notices of cancellations, etc.; carried out attacks on participants with explosives, firebombs, and tire-puncturing equipment; forged and distributed large quantities of food ration cards to cause confusion, shortages and resentment; sent out forged tax notices and other government directives and documents to foster disorganization and inefficiency within industry and unions ... all this and much more.” -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39264): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39264 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116291555/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
