Sunday, July 19, 2009


INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-HONDURAS:
BUT IT WAS ONLY A LITTLE LIE:
Down America way the hangover of unrealized dreams fed by unrealistic expectations over Saint Obama has only slightly begun to take hold. No doubt there are many head and stomach pains to come. Running the greatest empire that the world has ever see is, after all, "running the greatest empire the world has ever see". One should expect very little of a new emperor except to end the most egregious practices of their predecessor. Other than that business will go as usual.
In response to the recent military coup in Honduras the American administration made several "ringing declarations". One of these was to cut off all military aid to the government of the coup. Of course it didn't happen. The following article from the School of the Americas Watch tells how business as usual continues over at Fort Benning (the torture school dedicated to training army officers from Latin America the best ways to serve their American masters) with the Honduran "students" learning all they have to know with no interruptions. The link to the original article from the National Catholic Reporter lays bare even more examples from within Honduras itself.
The substance of the actions of the Obama administration certainly is less than its rhetoric. This seems to be a pattern with Obama. Every time he is asked a question of substance he slowly repeats a selection of abstract platitudes. One wonders whether his hesitations (very rarely punctuated by the required "umms" of normal speech) are actually a rhetorical devise designed to give the appearance of "thoughtfulness" or whether they are really pauses necessary to form words that are void of all reference to the real world. I'm beginning to think the latter. Obama is, of course, a politician. As such he is fully cognisant of the need to say a nothing so that his words can be taken by all audiences as reflections of their own desires. I am still, however, becoming increasingly appreciative of the "poker strategy" of the man. Not only does he give nothing away in terms of his hand before the fact. Even after the cards are already down he maintains the poker face of saying nothing. It will likely serve him well until the various medias become accustomed to calling his way of speaking as to what it really is.
The present situation in Honduras is one more proof that the American empire will continue as before (with a little "progressive lip gloss" of course). The statement that the USA had cut off all military aid is a lie. The supporters of Obama will try to ignore the fact, but, if pressed, they are sure to say, in one way or another that "it was only a little lie. Here's the story....
IPIPIPIPIPIPIP
U.S. continues to train Honduran soldiers:
Military coup that ousted president, didn't stop U.S. engagement in Honduras

A controversial facility at Fort Benning, Georgia -- formerly known as the U.S. Army's School of the Americas -- is still training Honduran officers despite claims by the Obama administration that it cut military ties to Honduras after its president was overthrown June 28, NCR has learned.

A day after an SOA-trained army general ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya at gunpoint, President Barack Obama stated that "the coup was not legal" and that Zelaya remained "the democratically elected president."

The Foreign Operations Appropriations Act requires that U.S. military aid and training be suspended when a country undergoes a military coup, and the Obama administration has indicated those steps have been taken.
However, Lee Rials, public affairs officer for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the successor of SOA, confirmed Monday that Honduran officers are still being trained at the school.

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