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Top Bolivian coup plotters trained by US military's School of the Americas and FBI programs

Jeb Sprague
The Grey Zone
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:41 UTC
Bolivian commanders
The United States played a key role in the military coup in Bolivia, and in a direct way that has scarcely been acknowledged in accounts of the events that forced the country's elected president, Evo Morales, to resign on November 10.

Just prior to Morales' resignation, the commander of Bolivia's armed forces Williams Kaliman "suggested" that the president step down. A day earlier, sectors of the country's police force had rebelled.

Though Kaliman appears to have feigned loyalty to Morales over the years, his true colors showed as soon as the moment of opportunity arrived. He was not only an actor in the coup, he had his own history in Washington, where he had briefly served as the military attaché of Bolivia's embassy in the US capital.
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Bullseye

MSM: The Bolivian 'coup' is not a coup if it serves the US

Alan MacLeod
FAIR
Mon, 11 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
CBSMorales resigns
© CBS
Army generals appearing on television to demand the resignation and arrest of an elected civilian head of state seems like a textbook example of a coup. And yet that is certainly not how corporate media are presenting the weekend's events in Bolivia.

No establishment outlet framed the action as a coup; instead, President Evo Morales "resigned" (ABC News, 11/10/19), amid widespread "protests" (CBS News, 11/10/19) from an "infuriated population" (New York Times, 11/10/19) angry at the "election fraud" (Fox News, 11/10/19) of the "full-blown dictatorship" (Miami Herald, 11/9/19). When the word "coup" is used at all, it comes only as an accusation from Morales or another official from his government, which corporate media have been demonizing since his election in 2006 (FAIR.org, 5/6/09, 8/1/12, 4/11/19).
NYT/CEPR
© New York Times/CEPR
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Snakes in Suits

Trump and Erdogan working on 'resolving S-400 issue, so far scant on details


RT
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:07 UTC
TrumpErdo
© Reuters/Tom Brenner
US President Donald Trump • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan said their countries were working to "resolve" the issue of Ankara purchasing Russian S-400 air defense systems, without going into any specifics.

Erdogan, who arrived in Washington on Wednesday for an official state visit, spent much of the day in meetings with Trump and several US senators critical of Turkey's recent actions in northern Syria. Appearing at a joint press conference in the late afternoon, he showed no sign of backing down from Ankara's current posture, saying that political concerns ought to be separate from matters of commerce. This followed Trump's framing of US-Turkish relations in the context of a $100 billion trade deal.

Turkey is "ready and committed" to participate in "sustained dialogue" with the US Congress over the S-400 issue, Erdogan said. However, he pushed back on US lawmakers' approval of a resolution blaming Turkey for the Armenian genocide during the First World War.

Comment: UPDATE: Sputnik, 14/11/2019: Pentagon chief wants Turkey 'back in the fold'
On 13 November, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper stated that Washington seeks to get Turkey "back in the fold" despite Ankara's recent moves, sometimes interpreted as being directed away from NATO.

The Pentagon chief believes this can be achieved via the two countries continuing to build stronger ties "particularly at the [military-to-military] level" and ensuring "an enduring relationship" that will survive the present "tough period" in bilateral relations.

The US has insisted that [Russian S-400] systems pose a threat to fifth-generation F-35 stealth jets and banned their sale to Turkey unless the latter ditches Russian weaponry.
See also:

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Target

Morales: 'We freed ourselves of IMF and had big plans on exports'; hints at OAS-US role in coup


RT
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:34 UTC
OustedEvo
© Reuters/Edgard Garrido
Ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales
Ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales has accused the US-headquartered Organization of American States of making a political decision in backing the right-wing opposition, saying the coup continues to wreak havoc after his exile.

Speaking from Mexico a day after he fled Bolivia, Morales said: "The OAS is in the service of the North American empire."

Morales said he "could not understand" how his military commanders could show such "disloyalty." "That confirms that my great crime is to be indigenous. It's a class problem," he said.

The exiled president said that after freeing itself from the International Monetary Fund, the Bolivian economy was doing better. "We had big plans in the field of exports." Yet, the coup plotters "do not accept the nationalization of natural resources," Morales said.

He also said the appointment of Jeanine Añez as "interim president" confirms the coup and called for a national dialogue to end violence in his country.

Comment: See also:

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Video

Erdogan upends Oval Office meeting to play anti-Kurd film on his iPad, senators push back

Jonathan Swan
Axios
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
TrumpErdogan
© Al Jazeera
US President Donald Trump • Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
An Oval Office meeting yesterday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took a dark turn when Erdoğan pulled out his iPad and made the group watch a propaganda video that depicted the leader of the primarily-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces as a terrorist, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.

Why it matters: The meeting hosted by President Trump included five Republican U.S. senators who've been among the most vocal critics of Turkey's recent invasion of Syria and attacks on the U.S.'s Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS.
  • Erdoğan apparently thought he could sway these senators by forcing them to watch a clunky propaganda film.
  • The senators in the meeting took turns pushing back on Erdoğan, while Trump sat back and watched, intervening occasionally to play traffic cop.
  • The meeting comes as Erdoğan is trying to avoid sanctions over the purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
Erdoğan's video "was unpersuasive," according to a source who was in the room.
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Snakes in Suits

Watch Devin Nunes lambaste the 'impeachment sham drama' in 'search of a crime'

Tyler O'Neil
PJ Media
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Devin Nunes
© screen shot
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)
In the first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) delivered a tour-de-force opening statement condemning the Democrats' "impeachment sham," a "drama" that is the "low-rent Ukrainian sequel" to the Russia collusion narrative. He raised fundamentally important questions, that he said will not be asked to proper witnesses, because Democrats refuse to call them.

Nunes began his opening statement by recounting the three-year Russia collusion hoax. He specifically mentioned the public testimony of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, on whom liberals placed their hopes. As I reported in July, that testimony turned Mueller from the touted "savior of the republic" into a bumbling fool.
"That hearing was the pitiful finale of a three-year-long operation by the Democrats, the corrupt media, and partisan bureaucrats to overturn the results of the 2016 election. After the spectacular implosion of their Russia hoax on July 24 — in which they spent years denouncing any Republican who ever shook hands with a Russian — on July 25, they turned on a dime and now claim the real malfeasance is Republicans' dealings with Ukraine."
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Snakes in Suits

"Longing for the empire": Outgoing EU council chief Tusk encourages remainers to block Brexit, maligns Russia

Daniel Boffey
The Guardian
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 20:00 UTC
Tusk

Outgoing EU council chief gives implicit backing to Boris Johnson's opponents
Donald Tusk has given his implicit backing to Boris Johnson's opponents in the general election with a call for anti-Brexit campaigners to keep fighting in the month before Britain goes to the polls.

In what he openly conceded was an unconventional move, the outgoing president of the European council made a pointed intervention in the UK's general election debate with a thinly veiled message of solidarity for those seeking to unseat Johnson's Conservatives.

Reflecting on his five years in his role as a top EU official as it comes to an end this month, and following a speech on the life of the journalist and philosopher Hannah Arendt, Tusk said he felt empowered to be honest about his feelings.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Vader

A coup primer: How the hybrid war on Bolivia succeeded

Andrew Korybko
InfoBRICS
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 18:09 UTC
Bolivia coup

Preconditioning The Population

President Morales had always been a thorn in the US' side, but the die was cast for carrying out regime change against him the moment that he announced a referendum for changing the constitution to enable himself to run for a fourth term in office. The February 2016 referendum narrowly failed, but it's believed that this was because of scandalous revelations that were publicized earlier that same month about him supposedly bestowing favors upon a former lover who secretly gave birth to his son. She was later arrested and found guilty of corruption in a case that absolved President Morales of any wrongdoing, but the perception management damage was already done because the scandal succeeded in narrowly turning the electorate against him at the time and denying him the right to run for a fourth term. Because of the timing of that controversy and the effect that it's believed to have had on influencing the result of the referendum, it can be concluded that it was likely a case of so-called "direct action" by US intelligence to "passively" prevent his future re-election.

Comment: The people of Bolivia remember living under the boot of fascists before Evo Morales. They will not give up the fight





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Info

Impeachment hearing dud: 'Complicated', unclear allegations driving inquiry forward

Matthew Boyle
Breitbart
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:14 UTC
rep taylor
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
House Democrats' first impeachment inquiry public hearing on Wednesday was widely panned as the two career diplomats who testified failed to offer clear allegations of wrongdoing against President Donald Trump, and Democrats running the show found themselves on defense in response to the Republicans in the minority who were aggressive and effective in pushing their counter-narrative.

"It was a total disaster for us," one senior House Democrat aide told Breitbart News.

"Too complicated," another Democrat aide said.

"This won't make sense to regular people," a third Democrat aide told Breitbart News.

Wednesday marked the first public hearing of the Democrats' formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The hearing opened slowly, taking 93 minutes for the panel's chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and its ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) as well as the two witnesses Bill Taylor and George Kent to get through their opening statements.

Comment: Jordan's questioning of "star witness" Ambassador Taylor is worth watching:

Jordan said, quoting Taylor, "My clear understanding was security assistance money would not come until President Zelensky committed to pursue the investigations."

"With all due respect, your clear understanding was obviously wrong, because it didn't happen," Jordan added, noting that Zelensky never stated that he was going to investigate the Bidens - not in a tweet, press conference, or media appearance.

"Where did you get this clear understanding?" Jordan asked, reading an excerpt of the addendum from U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. Jordan read:
"Ambassador Taylor recalls that Mr. Morrison told Ambassador Taylor that I told Mr. Morrison that I had conveyed this message to Mr. Yermak on September 1, 2019, in connection with Vice President Pence's visit to Warsaw and a meeting with President Zelensky."
"This is is clarification. Let me read it one more time," he said, reading the excerpt aloud again.

"Ambassador, you weren't on the call were you?" You didn't listen in on President Trump's call and President Zelensky's call? he asked.

"I did not," Taylor said.

"You never talked with Chief of Staff Mulvaney?" he asked.

"I never did," Taylor said.

"You never met the president?" Jordan asked.

"That's correct," Taylor confirmed.

"You had three meetings, again, with Zelensky and it didn't come up," Jordan said.

"And two of those - they never heard of about it as far as I know - there was no reason for it to come up, " Taylor said.

"And President Zelensky never made an announcement," Jordan said, mocking the Democrats for choosing such a weak "star witness." "This is what I can't believe. And you're their star witness. You're their first witness. You're the guy - you're the guy. Based on this, based on - I mean, I've seen church prayer chains that are easier to understand than this," he said:
Tucker Carlson's take is on point:


More on the impeachment hearings:

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Arrow Up

Germany removes legal hurdle for Russia's Nord Stream 2, project nears completion


RFE/RL
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 08:16 UTC
Nord Stream 2

A ship works in the Baltic Sea on the natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 from Russia to Germany.
Germany's parliament has passed an energy law that allows part of Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to skirt European rules that forbid one entity from the being both the producer and the supplier of natural gas.

It's one of the last hurdles to be overcome for the completion of the 1,225-kilometer underwater pipeline project owned by Russia's state-owned Gazprom company.

Last month, the project moved forward when Denmark approved construction of the pipeline in waters that are part of its economic zone, saving Gazprom from having to extend the pipeline to circumvent Danish jurisdiction.


Comment: An unnecessary delay that was most likely an attempt to placate (or pander to) the US: Denmark finally agrees to Nord Stream 2 pipeline


Nord Stream 2 is to carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Germany, doubling the country's imports from Russia.

Comment: See also: Trump loses more than just battle over Nordstream 2

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