Chomsky, Pilger Slam Trump Threats Against
Venezuela
The progressive intellectuals say Washington's
military threats against Venezuela must be
stopped.
By teleSur
August
15, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Noam Chomsky and John Pilger spoke with
teleSUR, denouncing U.S. President Donald
Trump’s threats to Venezuela as irresponsible,
but typical according to the president’s
behavior and U.S. history.
During a conference Friday in
Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump told reporters
that the U.S. has a number of solutions to
Venezuela’s situation and military force was
still an option being considered.
"We don't talk about it but a military
operation, a military option is certainly
something that we could pursue," Trump told a
reporter when asked to elaborate on his
statement.
Linguist and intellectual Noam Chomsky told
teleSUR the president’s show of bravado was
“indeed shocking and dangerous, as many
commentators have pointed out. Furthermore, the
Tweeter-in-chief may be painting himself into a
corner.”
“It is worth remembering,” Chomsky continued,
“That he is probably following his usual
practice of speaking to his base, and trying to
ensure that he remains in the limelight, not
caring much about real world consequences
(except to his pocketbook and image).”
“The best hope is that some of the generals
around him, who presumably understand the
consequences, will manage to control him,” he
concluded.
Australian journalist John Pilger commented
that Trump’s suggestion for an aggressive course
of action falls in line with U.S. history in the
past century.
“Donald's Trump's threat of a military
invasion of Venezuela is typical of U.S. threats
to the world over the past 70 years,” he said.
“The U.S. has already invaded Venezuela with
its subversive groups, such as the NED, that
back a so-called opposition that seeks to
overthrow an elected government by force: a high
crime under international law,” Pilger told
teleSUR, speaking of the U.S.’s involvement and
funding of the violent right-wing opposition
whose protests have brought about the deaths of
over 120 Venezuelans.
“It's unlikely the U.S. itself will invade
Venezuela — Washington only invades defenseless
countries, and Venezuela is not defenseless. But
at the very least, the decent world must stand
with Venezuela, now subjected to a virulent
propaganda that is war by media. If Venezuela
falls, humanity falls,” the journalist stated.
Shortly after Trump announced his
consideration of a military option to Venezuela,
the White House issued a statement saying it had
rejected a request from his Venezuelan
counterpart Nicolas Maduro to have a telephone
conversation with him.
According to Chomsky, the war-hungry state
has ignored proposals for peace delivered by
Chinese and Democratic People's Republic of
Korea authorities.
“North Korea will freeze its weapons programs
and the U.S. will call off threatening military
maneuvers on its borders. The record gives
considerable hope that further progress could be
made from there,” Chomsky advised.
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This article was first published by
teleSur
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views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
