As shown in this article, news coverage of the situation in Venezuela by CNN promoted a completely false narrative about the nation’s democratically elected president Maduro:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/05/cnn-and-its-fake-venezuela-narrative.html
This is why we need alternative voices like Moon. Without your voice, we have to rely on the lame stream media and their version of “the truth”. Enjoy the weekend.

Posted by: Sally Snyder | May 10 2019 18:29 utc | 3

ditto others comments b… your posts are top notch… you do the best you can..

Posted by: james | May 10 2019 18:52 utc | 5

Not a lesson NY Times editors have learnt.
But they sure work on long term reporting that then never sees the light of day or is severely edit-redacted.

Posted by: Jay | May 10 2019 19:02 utc | 7

I think you have enough fodder on your site for your following that values quality over quantity.
I mentioned on some other thread that I wanted to challenge MoA barflies to a discussion about the concept of private property.
I looked maybe 5 or so years ago with some effort to try and find out what the percentage of ownership of land was and I remember 7 percent as being a number that I thought supportable. That is that 7 percent of the population of the world outright own land/vegetation/buildings (that kind of property versus things like corporations). The number gets, as I recall into the 20-30’s percent for partial ownership
I guess the point I want to discuss is that along with making global finance a public utility, effort needs to be taken to reverse the elite ownership of all property and rebuild the concept and holdings of the “global commons”…..and again I am just writing about “housing” privately owned different pro/con than the corporations, etc. rabbithole of pro/con
China has a 99 year lease arrangement that maybe someone in the know can elaborate on.
I encourage folks to think about the world you want to live in and share ideas about what major aspects of the social contract should be changed and to what and why?

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 10 2019 19:06 utc | 9

it is ok b, you have given so many that makes sense. Cheer up 😉

Posted by: Den Lille Abe | May 10 2019 20:00 utc | 11

Thank you ‘b’ for keeping us all in touch with the reality of this world !
The previous post was about – what trust can be put in a journalist, or journalists in general !
As we know, the best tactic is cross referencing and fact checking plus questioning people’s agenda and self -interest.
But the truth and reality cannot be stopped, and the more people that are brave enough to speak the truth and share it far and wide the safer each individual will be.
If there scared of the truth that is there weakness and our stronger salution to all that is wrong in this world.
On that note here is a link to some very useful reference info, warning ! there’s a hell of a lot here !!
https://timhayward.wordpress.com/2018/12/15/integrity-grasping-the-initiative/

Posted by: Mark2 | May 10 2019 20:08 utc | 13

“No, I won’t let you read it.”
b.
Good thinking.
That’s what EDITING is all about – realising BEFORE publishing that a “seemed like a good idea at the time” project didn’t produce a compelling result.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 10 2019 20:09 utc | 15

Do not buy anything US it is either F**ked or do does not work. Your choice.

Posted by: Den Lille Abe | May 10 2019 20:11 utc | 17

Monsanto is one of the intended beneficiaries of US aggression against Venezuela.
https://alethonews.com/2019/05/06/how-gmo-seeds-and-monsanto-bayers-roundup-are-driving-us-policy-in-venezuela/

Posted by: Russ | May 10 2019 20:42 utc | 19

lol love the honesty.

Posted by: UserFriendly | May 10 2019 20:56 utc | 21

Posted by: james | May 10, 2019 4:54:17 PM | 20
“all the folks with mutual funds or whatever they call them in the usa and europe – are supporting these rape artists for their retirement”
Remember the slogan, “We’re all ExxonMobil”?
“this is also why some of us want to see the collapse of the financial system..”
The sooner, more total, and more permanent the better.

Posted by: Russ | May 10 2019 21:16 utc | 23

b,
the correct option. You have an impressive record in number and quality of posts. Very demanding regime to keep up, as you set yourself a very high bar. Plan and take holidays. We will come back to read you!

Posted by: rr | May 10 2019 21:42 utc | 25

If it lacks logic give it to the mainstream they will love it!

Posted by: michael lacey | May 10 2019 22:13 utc | 27

Over the past two weeks I have been thinking of the word impasse to describe the current state of play of empire versus the rest so I am not surprised b. has nothing obvious to analyse today. Not much on Sputnik or zerohedge. I see Saker refers to it as stalemate. It’s like there are all these things that might happen (Iran, Venezuela, N.Korea, Ukraine) but none of them are really feasible, especially after Russia’s ground-shattering announcement about its hypersonic missiles last year. The empire is stuck, its machinery relentlessly grinding but going nowhere like a truck tyre-deep in snow or mud.
Brexit is at an impasse, Russiagate is at an impasse, Syria is more or less at an impasse. There is a sense of that feeling in hot countries of a sort of insufferable atmospheric tension before a storm breaks, which the Spanish call bochorno or the adjective bochornoso.
Meanwhile, while the intellectual bochorno plays out we watch Champions League football and take in the latest on climate change or salmon farming antibiotics in as little a dose as we can take.

Posted by: Lochearn | May 10 2019 22:32 utc | 29

A pointy flying anvil with snap-out sword blades
The link is to a clickbait site which actually has a good article every once in a while. The new missile is a wonder-weapon. No civilian bystanders will die because it doesn’t go “boom”, but instead slices and dices and generally crushes only what it impacts. We’re an Exceptional people who elect Exceptional Presidents. These gentle-persons are good through and through, and give lethal orders to our Exceptional Drone Pilots only when necessary. Therefore no private residences or hospitals or automobiles filled with innocent civilians will ever be targeted. Our Exceptional missiles never misfire, so a 99 and 44/100% perfect US just got a little bit better.

Posted by: Zachary Smith | May 10 2019 22:40 utc | 31

Russia builds weapons in a closed and controlled efficient system of manufacture. The USA builds things piecemeal according to grift, pay to play, state by state, according to the most powerful Senators, whereby the contractor skims as much as possible off the top as it endeavors to pay workers as little as possible.
Which system would produce the best product?

Posted by: Kristan hinton | May 10 2019 22:57 utc | 33

Thank you b- even your silence has meaning:)
And speaking of meaning, guess what Hamas related targets Israel chose?
“Israel has simply stated that since the rockets are coming from “everywhere” they are going to do punative strikes. And what did Israel blow up? Here’s the list. 328 residential buildings, fishing ports, two universities, a mosque, several schools, three media offices, and three ambulances.” Source, Jim stone.
May god help Gaza, because no one else seems to.

Posted by: frances | May 10 2019 23:00 utc | 35

@ Russ #19,
Thanks for the link to the Monsanto/Bayer connection to Venezuela. Makes perfect sense considering M/B’s influence throughout S. America and of course the Western controlled world.
It’s another link in a nefarious chain that I’m working on on a local level, i.e. glyphosate’s (Roundup’s) ubiquitous presence in practically everything (air, water, soil, and of course almost everything we eat) and it’s incredibly insidious toxicity to both fauna and flora down to the micro biome.
Not just for the almighty $ but for the ongoing attempted control of the totality of humanity.
Thanks Russ.

Posted by: juannie | May 10 2019 23:09 utc | 37

Zachary Smith #28
Thank you ZS, I am indebted to the time you spend crawling around roach infested media locales. This story has all the hallmarks of FATAL stamped upon it. It will be interesting to watch as many a fundamentalist hypocrite religious enslaver has come to grief through similar exploits. Hubris is a human flaw that strikes often. The USA is a challenge.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 10 2019 23:18 utc | 39

A charming and reassuring advisory, b.
“Botched?” never a word to be associated with MoA. De temps en temps, a creative pause, that’s all.

Posted by: Glorious Bach | May 11 2019 0:31 utc | 41

Trump Pulls The Trigger: Begins Process Of Raising Tariffs On All Remaining $300 Billion China Imports. Total 500 $Billion chinese imports to be tarrifed.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-10/trump-pulls-trigger-begins-process-raising-tariffs-all-remaining-300-billion-china
I told you guys you underestimated the US and how far it will go.

Posted by: Passer by | May 11 2019 1:24 utc | 43

@ Sally Snyder #3
The link you provided shows a graphic of Venezuelan voter turnout with the comment “voter turnout was very low by historical standards.” This is a poor take on history. When Venezuela moved from military dictatorships to so-called ‘democracy’ in ’58, only 38% of the Venezuelan population was registered to vote and that percentage decreased (slightly) over the next 3 elections until it rose to only 43% in ’78, 20 years later. In 2018 the % of the population registered to vote was at a record high 63.5%. Two thirds of this increase in registered voters occurred under Chavez and Maduro.
A more revealing stat would be that in 2018, 19.2% of the entire population voted for Maduro. Compared to the 10 elections from ’58 until ’00, it is quite an improvement. The average % of population voting for the winner during those 10 elections was a mere 15.3%.
The turnout FOR MADURO is only low in comparison to that of Chavez in ’06 and ’12 and to Maduro’s win in ’13. There is good reason for this though. The opposition boycotted the 2018 election. Not only will overall turnout be lower when one side boycotts, the winning side will be lower too. Fewer people will be motivated to vote when the winner is more or less decided due to a one-sided boycott. Both of the lowest turnouts measured by % of population were due to boycotts. In ’93 Chavez called for a boycott after his failed coup in ’92. That election had a lower % of the population than even in 2018 when the opposition boycotted.
I suspect that if the opposition had not boycotted in 2018, the turnout FOR THE WINNER would have been higher and the narrative that Maduro has become so unpopular would be even more silly. Like most things related to Venezuela, a close look reveals that common narratives don’t do service to the popular movements in the country, regardless of if they support their ‘leaders’ or not.
Here is some data on Venezuela elections since ’58. Copy and paste into a spreadsheet and hopefully it will be easier to visualize.
58 63 68 73 78 83 88 93 98 0 6 12 13 18
population 7.6 9.1 10.9 12.6 14.5 16.6 18.9 21.2 23.5 24.5 27.2 29.9 30.3 32.3
registered 2.9 3.4 4.1 4.7 6.2 7.8 9.2 9.7 11 11.7 15.8 18.8 18.9 20.5
votes 2.7 3.1 4 4.6 5.5 6.8 7.5 5.8 7 6.3 11.8 15.1 15.1 9.4
winner 1.3 0.96 1.1 2.1 2.5 3.7 3.9 1.7 3.7 3.7 7.3 8.2 7.6 6.2
‘turnout’ 94.4 92.3 96.7 96.5 87.6 87.7 81.9 60.2 63.4 56.3 74.7 80.5 79.7 46.1
reg % 38.2 37.4 37.6 37.3 42.8 47.0 48.7 45.8 46.8 47.8 58.1 62.9 62.4 63.5
vote % 35.5 34.1 36.7 36.5 37.9 41.0 39.7 27.4 29.8 25.7 43.4 50.5 49.8 29.1
winner % 17.1 10.5 10.1 16.7 17.2 22.3 20.6 8.0 15.7 15.1 26.8 27.4 25.1 19.2

Posted by: Colin | May 11 2019 2:34 utc | 45

The Snitchercept’s NATO stockman, Robert Lackey, who believes in the RussiaGate and has propped up the Syrian FSA, is now claiming that the Biden-Ukraine connection – reported on the front page of the Beltway Izvestia “New York Times”
is a right-wing conspiracy theory. Though I’m sure the visiting trip of Republican apparatchiks there over the next week or so are going to be filled with misinformation, he is denying, no, that’s too kind of a word, covering up the reality of a candidate who is ultra-right wing and has 40% in the primary polls. I guess he doesn’t want the new prince to be hurt by reality like Hillary was with her Goldman Sachs scandals – though blob types care dearly for the Atlantic cause, to the non-neocon American corruption in Ukraine is just as bad as corruption in Moscow. We’re in for a wild apologist ride. Add to that James Risen’s utterly pathetic RussiaGate horse flogging and there is only one journalist worth listening to at Pierre Omidyar’s blog. https://theintercept.com/2019/05/10/rumors-joe-biden-scandal-ukraine-absolute-nonsense-reformer-says/

Posted by: Blooming Barricade | May 11 2019 3:05 utc | 47

Israeli TV claims Iran weighing attack on Saudi oil production facilities

“The regime in Tehran should understand that any attacks by them or their proxies of any identity against US interests or citizens will be answered with a swift and decisive US response,” Pompeo said in a statement.

“Also on Friday, the US Maritime Administration warned that Iran could try to attack American commercial vessels, including oil tankers, Reuters reported.”

Houthi rebels are holding a ‘floating bomb’ oil tanker hostage off Yemen’s coast

The ageing vessel is susceptible to corrosion and needs about $10 million (Dh3.6m) in annual maintenance.
Inert gas must be regularly injected into the storage tanks to prevent the accumulation of explosive gases. Without fuel to run its generators, this has not happened in years.
A stray spark, collision or sabotage attack could cause the vessel to explode.
In March last year, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Al Mekhlafi wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, warning that the Safer was in a “bad and deteriorating situation” that threatened an “imminent environmental and humanitarian catastrophe”.

Posted by: Zack | May 11 2019 4:05 utc | 49

Hey, Jonku
Regarding the data in #45, I believe I obtained the population #’s for each election year from https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/venezuela-population/
and the election results (# registered, votes, votes for winner, turnout) from wikipedia pages for each election. The rest of the data was calculations based on those #’s.
Thanks for the Hersh link. He always has revealing info to share although I wonder if he ever properly explained and reported the Seth Rich stuff.
Cheers!

Posted by: Colin | May 11 2019 4:16 utc | 51

Brave man.

Posted by: Paracletus | May 11 2019 4:37 utc | 53

Posted by: Lochearn | May 10, 2019 6:32:10 PM | 29
Brexit is at an impasse, Russiagate is at an impasse, Syria is more or less at an impasse. There is a sense of that feeling in hot countries of a sort of insufferable atmospheric tension before a storm breaks, which the Spanish call bochorno or the adjective bochornoso.
To refer back to an exchange from a few threads back, this is another way our situation is similar to the run-up to WWI, the intensifying existential tension. The metaphor of the atmospheric tension before a storm breaks had become very common by 1914. That’s a big part of why the people greeted the outbreak of war with such mass exultation (at least in the cities).

Posted by: Russ | May 11 2019 4:44 utc | 55

Zachary Smith 31
yep. A great missile. It always hits the suspected location of a suspected terrorist.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | May 11 2019 5:12 utc | 57

Venezuela. President Maduro himself has just denounced the head of his intelligence service, General Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, as a CIA asset recruited by the US over a year ago.
We saw this man “defect” during the latest coup attempt, and we theorized he might be playing a pretend game with the US since his wife was already in the States and might therefore be some kind of hostage.
But unless the game runs deeper than common sense would suggest, in fact the surface appearance is the truth – Figuera was already bought by the US, and a year-long traitor to Venezuela.
And what has all along seemed like a possible “honey trap” fueled by Venezuelan encouragement, has indeed served to smoke out the traitor. This at least is how I read this breaking news from RT:
Venezuela’s Maduro says turncoat general ‘recruited by CIA’ was mastermind of failed coup
Although we entertained the point of view that he could be a patriot playing a double game against the US, now he seems to be the opposite, a quisling brought down by his own security state. What think?

Posted by: Grieved | May 11 2019 5:19 utc | 59

Colin, there is an audio file of Hersh discussing the DNC leaks, he says that he can’t publish what he heard as third party info. That’s where I recognized his hearty Brooklyn accent.
In the recorded conversation he stated that Seth Rich was murdered on the street and it was unrelated to any role he might have played in the those email leaks.
Amazing what we come across in this collective space … thanks to the people who post links. There are one or two theories that Rich may have been the original conduit for the emails … Craig Murray claims to know about that too.
Hersh is a great character and the more you read him the more you can get a feel for the way stuff works in his world.

Posted by: jonku | May 11 2019 5:51 utc | 61

Hilarious, the reason given for the decision (by Macron) to attack the kidnappers while they were still in Burkina-Fasso and before they would reach their destination in Mali (to sell the hostages there).
Why? France is not present in Mali?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barkhane
Operation Barkhane, 4500 French soldiers on 5 million meter square. What can go wrong?

Posted by: Mina | May 11 2019 6:32 utc | 63

@ juannie 64
Sounds like hard work in Vermont. I used to have a regular commenter who was involved with the GMO labeling campaign there.
I just changed the setting on my comments so that they’re open again on the most recent post. See you over there, and glad to have you reading.

Posted by: Russ | May 11 2019 9:25 utc | 65

Anybody who likes Micheal Palin, check out his take on North Korea. Quite endearing, I thought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27E1907T7Io

Posted by: dan | May 11 2019 10:13 utc | 67

Integrity , quality is what matters. Your posts have both , that is why so many smart people comment here. Thanks.

Posted by: Friar Ockham | May 11 2019 11:43 utc | 69

milomilo | May 10, 2019 10:50:51 PM | 46
“They can play tit for tat with US on tariff and ruin US economy”
How can they play tit for tat on tarrifs since the US exports 150 billion to China, but imports 500 billion? China will lose far more than the US.

Posted by: Passer by | May 11 2019 13:41 utc | 71

Passer by @71
The economics are far more involved than that. Pepe Escobar touches on it, but it is important to realize that tariffs on imports are only part of the picture. These tariffs might hurt China by knocking half a point off of the predicted growth of China’s GDP (note: China’s GDP will continue to grow, and that is based upon real economic activity and not corporate stock buy-backs like what is happening in the US). Economic realignment due to the tariffs will not bring industry back to the USA. Rather, cheap wage production will move to Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, maybe even Syria. In other words, that production will move to the places where China is building its “Belt and Road Initiative”. That means more disposable cash in places where China is trying to open up consumer markets!
This is actually a openly stated part of China’s latest couple “Five Year Plans” in which China wants to move their domestic economy up the value chain and develop the lower value industries along the BRI corridors. Bluntly stated, this trade war will not really hurt China and will instead speed up their longer range plans.
Americans really need to get over themselves. They are simply not “all it” in the world anymore. US imports now represent less than 19% of China’s exports. Trump’s tariffs definitely hurt America more than they are hurting China. This is in part because America doesn’t have, and will never again have, domestic industries to replace China and the new economic block they are building.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 11 2019 14:39 utc | 73

Noirette @74: Why did S. R. ‘leak’?
I have proposed the possibility that SR was a Western intelligence operative. If so, the ‘leak’ was not done to vindictively strike at the Democratic Party but to set-up Wikileaks.
If this scenario is correct, SR’s murder was staged – the “murder” signaled the end of his assignment, not the end of his life. Note: there was a real person that may have interacted with
As you note, there was little reason for him to put his career and life in jeopardy. But you’ve left out some important facts:

1) Kissinger had called for MAGA in a 2014 WSJ Op-Ed as part of a strategy to meet the challenge from Russia and China – Trump was the only MAGA candidate and the only populist on the right (strange as there were 19 candidates);
2) The 2016 election appears to have been used to initiate a new McCarthyism and to set-up Wikileaks as an agent of Russia (as part of Russia’s “election meddling”). Trump’s hiring of Manafort and many pro-Putin/pro-Russia statements were meant to further suspicions of Russian influence” aka “Russsiagate”.
We now know that the FBI had a mole in the Trump Organization (Felix Sater) for entire time that Robert Mueller was head of the FBI (2001 – 2013). If Trump was colluding with Russia, the FBI would’ve known.
We also now know that Trump has not reached any peace deal with Russia and has actually increased pressure on Russia instead.
3) Bernie was a sheep-dog. Politically-savvy lefties could easily recognize that. And Bernie’s sheep-dogging was highlighted when he refused, time and time again, to make Hillary’s character an issue in the election.
4) As a Jew, who had lived in Israel early in his life, a Bernie Presidency would be Israel’s worst nightmare. Any favoritism toward Israel would be met with resistance.
From Israel’s POV: A Jew running for President is fantastic, a Jew as President is a disaster.
Hillary and Trump would each have been able to do more for Israel than Bernie. And it appears that Israel wanted (demanded?) that more be done after the lost war in Syria.
5) The establishment response to SR’s “murder” is not credible: they have refused to acknowledge that the DNC email release was due to a leak instead of a hack.
The Crowdstrike and FBI response is also not credible.
6) SR’s family’s response to SR’s “murder” is not credible: they effectively shut-down any questions about SR’s “murder” – despite evidence that indicates that his murder was linked to his leaking to Wikileaks.
Please have a look at their strange Youtube presentations!
7) We’ve seen staged events many times in recent times. White Helmets are probably the poster child for this.

Furthermore, why would anyone kill SR for leaking to Wikileaks? The damage was already done. Standard whistle-blowers protocol would be sufficient: fire him, discredit him, drag him through years of expensive legal actions.
Welcome to the rabbithole.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 11 2019 16:00 utc | 75

Moon, you’re the best (with Xymphora). Please write your thoughts about what’s going on in Algeria.

Posted by: Ben | May 11 2019 17:25 utc | 77

@ 55 Russ
Very interesting comment. I would like to know more! Thanks.

Posted by: Lochearn | May 11 2019 18:54 utc | 79

Jack R 75. (I leave the historical aspects, Kissinger etc. aside)
I can accept that S. R. was involved in some way in non-straighforward biz (concerning info leaks, clumsiness, or whatever) but not as a mover, main actor, or as someone who really understood what was going on, etc. I just can’t fit him into that.
His family is very strange. I realise ppl adjust behavior on TV to ‘conform’ to PC stereotypes and are coerced into doing so, yet… Particularly the brother, Aaron. Very fakey and with ‘odd’ signs. (Yr point 6 – see linked vid where Aaron is not with the script.. I suppose you were ref. to such.)
I still think it is possible that his murder was somehow random / personal and had nothing to do with Dem stuff, Wikileaks, etc.
But that is contradicted by ppl in the know like Assange, Murray, S. R. was involved somehow.
The reaction of the DNC (what I know of it), D. Brazile (temp head) was exceedingly strange. She stated she feared for her life, had cams installed, what not, which contradicts the official story of a random robbery ‘gone wrong’ – To avoid street thugs one can take a cab?
The most suspicious part for me is the tale about the wounds, him being conscious, speaking and breathing, brought to hospital, then dying in the early morning. (Shouldn’t happen in a modern hospital.)
It is a real mystery imho, which is why I posed the question.
look at the supressed grin.
https://youtu.be/LOn09bhDXMo

Posted by: Noirette | May 12 2019 14:44 utc | 81