US empire is collapsing

 

Hopeful signs are emerging that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of US global hegemony.

Recent events may superficially seem to show the power and reach of the American state, as European countries buckled to trans-Atlantic pressure over Evo Morales’ flight back to Bolivia.

And in Egypt suspicions still remain that, while the second revolution has got rid of one US-backed president, the Americans will ensure they are on equally good terms with his successor.

But the moment that an empire shows itself to be at its most powerful is also a moment at which inevitable decline and collapse are underway.

Power and influence work best when they are invisible. The moment their workings are exposed, they become less effective.

This was demonstrated by the US reaction to whistleblower Edward Snowden, who revealed to the world the extent of his employers’ spying activities. His actions haven’t stopped the spying, but the US position has been seriously weakened by the heightened public awareness.

The same applies to the way the USA has clearly pulled international strings to try and trap Snowden. This is the sort of influence it has always exerted - but in the background, away from all scrutiny. For its power to be laid bare in this way is a step towards it crumbling away entirely.

It hasn’t happened yet, of course, and there is very real danger that the wounded animal will lash out at an increasingly hostile world with a war on Syria and Iran.

But the cracks in US domination will surely spread out from Latin America, where Unasur nations are holding an emergency meeting to discuss the aggression against Morales’ jet.

As the global uprising against its hated neoliberal system spreads like wildfire, it is only a matter of time before we see the fall of the US empire.

G8 to front plutofascist war on North Africa

ENDLESS war and plutofascist imperialism will be the hallmark of the UK's presidency of the G8, says prime minister David Cameron.

Ten years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, neoliberal powers are launching a new phase of their phoney "War on Terror", now on the south side of the Mediterranean.

The Daily Telegraph reports that speaking at Chequers, Mr Cameron claimed there was a growing "terrorist threat" in North Africa and talked up the need for a "prolonged struggle" to counter it.

He said: “It will require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months, and it requires a response that is patient, that is painstaking, that is tough but also intelligent, but above all has an absolutely iron resolve; and that is what we will deliver over these coming years.

“It will also require countries to work together, and I will use our chairmanship of the G8 this year to make sure this issue is right at the top of the agenda where it belongs.”

The Western powers are using the usual bogeyman of "al Qaeda" as the excuse for a military assault on the territory of Azawad, which declared its independence from Mali last year.

But, beyond the shrill warmongering of the corporate media, informed voices are exposing the other agendas that, inevitably, lie behind the military involvement.

Stéphane Lhomme, director of  l'Observatoire du nucléaire, points out that the real reason for the French intervention is to secure the supply of uranium to the country's powerful nuclear industry - the mineral is sourced from mines in the north of Niger, a desert area separated from Mali only by a hypothetical line on the map.

And in a letter published in the Evening Standard on January 17, Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed responded to Nabila Ramdani's endorsement of France's Mali intervention, supposedly "aimed at ridding Mali of particularly sinister insurgents," saying  it overlooks key factors which have now made themselves manifest in the hostage seizures in Algeria.

"Firstly, 'al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb' (AQIM) was, according to experts like Professor Jeremy Keenan from SOAS - the most cited academic in the world on North Africa - virtually manufactured in the region by Algerian intelligence services with clandestine US support.

"This short-sighted policy originated with the Algerian military junta's attempts to fabricate a justification for exterminating members of the peaceful Islamic Salvation Front after it won democratic elections decades ago. The policy was reinforced by NATO's intervention in Libya, shoring up Islamist militias with AQIM affiliations across the region.

"Secondly, Ramdani naively ignores NATO's strategic interests in North Africa, described in 2007 by State Department adviser J. Peter Pham as "protecting access to hydrocarbons and other strategic resources... a task which includes ensuring against the vulnerability of those natural riches and ensuring that no other interested third parties, such as China, India, Japan, or Russia, obtain monopolies or preferential treatment.”

"Mali is believed to have significant oil and gas potential.

"A confidential US embassy cable (8 May 2006) obtained by Wikileaks observes that a "significant impediment" to "extracting and transporting oil" in Mali is "regional political instability and terrorist activities."

"With reports of extensive civilian casualties due to French airstrikes, it is far from clear that they will be  beneficial for Mali, even if Ramdani concedes they may be troublesome for France. Such military action will only lend legitimacy to the most virulent AQIM components of the insurgency.

"A better approach would be to cut off AQIM at source - by reigning in Algerian military intelligence. But perhaps that's not the point."

Cameron's declaration of the G8's key role in the neoliberals' war on North African war will intensify protests against the June summit currently being planned in the UK by Stop G8.

 

'Laughing' US troops murder children

THE MURDEROUS reality of neoliberal imperialism was further exposed to the world on Sunday, with news of a massacre of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.

Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk, reports Reuters.

"One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies, " said the agency.


"Witnesses told Reuters they saw a group of US soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at around 2am, enter homes and open fire."



The US embassy in Kabul was reported as saying one American soldier had been detained over the shooting. It added that anti-US reprisals were possible following the killings, which come just weeks after US soldiers burned copies of the Koran at a NATO base, triggering widespread anti-Western protests.

Reuters later modified parts of its story to reflect the official US line that only one 'rogue' soldier was involved, while retaining the witnesses' accounts.

But AP reported on Monday morning: "Afghans are expressing growing skepticism that a shooting rampage that killed 16 civilians was carried out by a single US soldier.

"Abdul Rahum Ayubi, who is a lawmaker from Kandahar province where the tragedy occurred, said Monday it seemed impossible for one soldier to cover the ground between the houses that were attacked — over a mile (2 kilometers) — and also burn the dead bodies.

"Bismullah Afghanmal, a parliament member, said the reports he received from villagers indicate the shooting before dawn Sunday came from several directions."

As the USA's allies, Israel, continue to murder Palestinians in Gaza, the hypocrisy of the neoliberal/plutofascist claim to the global moral high ground has never looked so utterly exposed. 

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USA faces increasing global opposition

NEW geopolitical faultlines are being exposed by the civil war which has broken out in Syria.

The USA and its client states such as France and the UK are being thwarted in their support for regime change by an emerging global anti-American alliance.

While the rights and wrongs of what is happening on the ground remain unclear for outside observers, particularly those torn between sympathy for revolutionary movements and mistrust of western motives, the international political battle is taking place on a different level.

The issue there is how long the USA can retain the global hegemony of which it has boasted since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact.

It is significant in itself that two superpowers, Russia and China, came together to veto the controversial UN resolution on Syria.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday denounced the indecent and hysterical reaction of the West after the vote.

He said this was intended to conceal the fact that there are several sources of violence in Syria - western powers are understood to be arming rebel groups, as they did in Libya.

And it is also noteworthy that ALBA, the eight-nation bloc of Latin American and Caribbean countries, has also joined the dispute, condemning foreign efforts aimed at destabilizing Syria.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinajad recently toured Latin America, where he is forging closer ties.

And it was Iran's PressTV that reported the latest statement from ALBA, which consists of Bolivia, Cuba,  Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and  Dominica.

This said: "The heads of state and government of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) reiterate their condemnation of the systematic policy of interference and destabilization in the brother Arab Republic of Syria which (the policy) intends to impose by force on the Syrian people a change in rulers.”

Other states are treading a difficult line as they try to pressure the Assad regime to rein in its assault on rebel groups, while not endorsing military intervention.

Turkey, in particular, faces a major dilemma, says commentator Ömer Taşpinar.

He writes: "My sense is that Ankara doesn’t want to own the Syrian crisis and that there is extreme reluctance to become the country where America 'outsources' the problem to.

"One can argue that this Turkish position is at the heart of the dilemma with Syria. On the one hand Turkey wants to play a regional leadership role and avoid Western military involvement.

"On the other hand, when the leader of the Western world, the United States, wants Turkey to play the role of regional leader by confronting the Syrian regime with more force, Turkey demands more American involvement and more multilateral legitimacy.

“What we saw unfold in New York at the UN Security Council is that such international legitimacy is absent. There is no international consensus for action against Damascus. What the Russian and Chinese veto made clear is that a military option nor a consensus for strongly condemning the Syrian regime exists."

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group says that toppling the Damascus regime would serve only US and Israeli interests.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said: "Overthrowing the regime in Syria is in the American and Israeli interest. They want to overthrow the regime and replace it with a moderate regime."

The mistrust of a possible 'revolution' in Syria that is more of an American-sponsored coup has also been expressed by Iraq's radical anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

He has said there is "a big difference" between what is happening in Syria and the "great revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen".

There is also the keen irony of the USA describing a Russian/Chinese veto on regime change as ‘disgusting’, while continuing to constantly veto any UN resolutions criticising Israel.

While never mentioned by western media, this has not been forgotten elsewhere.

Corrupt British state under double attack

THE CORRUPT British state is coming under attack at home and abroad this week.

The day before two million workers were due to take a day of strike action in the UK, an angry crowd of students stormed the British embassy in Tehran (see video).

This follows new sanctions imposed by London, based on the unverified claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons already possessed by the UK, USA, France and Israel.

Although thousands of miles apart, the two protests are deeply related.

The truth is that the British state, like the US and other states, does not exist to further the interests of its own citizens, let alone absurd notions of global  'democracy'.

Instead, it is controlled entirely by a ruthless neoliberal mafia and used to promote and defend the commercial domination of corporate interests and the capitalist system that enables them to flourish.

Rebellious worker-drones at home and dangerously independent countries abroad are all threats to that hegemony and have to be crushed.

But there are now definite signs that this is not going to be as easy as it once was.

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New wave of anger at US empire

 
ANGRY opposition to US-led imperalism is reaching new heights in Pakistan following a cross-border NATO air strike that killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers.

In revenge, the state has given the US 15 days to vacate an airbase used as a key launchpad for drone strikes in Afghanistan and also shut down NATO supply routes into the neighbouring country, which has been under neoliberal occupation for ten years.

American flags have been burned in the streets, Pakistanis took to social media websites to express their dismay and the media reflected the public anger over the attack.

"US stabs Pakistan in the back, again," said a headline in the Daily Times while headline in The Express Tribune read: "Pakistan inflamed as 24 killed in Nato strike". 

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Afghans rise up against US empire

MASS resistance against Western occupation is increasing in Afghanistan, nearly ten years after the US-led invasion.

The Voice of America website admits that at least nine people were killed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday in a second day of protests.

The catalyst for the latest uprising has been a Quran burning by a right-wing Christian church in the United States.

Says the report: "Security forces fired shots to disperse an angry group of protesters as they marched through the streets of Kandahar city, setting cars and buildings on fire.

"The riot in Kandahar came a day after protesters stormed the United Nations complex in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing seven foreign workers, following a demonstration against the Quran burning.

"Also Saturday, NATO officials say insurgents wearing women's clothing attacked a coalition base in Kabul.

"NATO says three militants - two of them suicide bombers - were killed when they attacked Camp Phoenix in the Afghan capital. Three NATO service members were slightly wounded."

Sick truth about US empire

THE SICK truth about the 'humanitarian' principles at the heart of the American-led neoliberal empire is set to be further exposed.

Whle the US and allies try to seize the moral highground by aiding the anti-Gaddafi rebels in Libya, their image is falling apart elsewhere.

Reports The Guardian: "Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of 'trophy' photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed.

"Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published by the German news weekly Der Spiegel to the images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq which sparked waves of anti-US protests around the world.

"They fear that the pictures could be even more damaging as they show the aftermath of the deliberate murders of Afghan civilians by a rogue US Stryker tank unit that operated in the southern province of Kandahar last year.

"Some of the activities of the self-styled 'kill team' are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians.

"Five of the soldiers are on trial for pre-meditated murder, after they staged killings to make it look like they were defending themselves from Taliban attacks.

"Other charges include the mutilation of corpses, the possession of images of human casualties and drug abuse.

"All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

"The case has already created shock around the world, particularly with the revelations that the men cut 'trophies' from the bodies of the people they killed.

"An investigation by Der Spiegel has unearthed approximately 4,000 photos and videos taken by the men."

Anti-American fury in Pakistan

FURY is expected to erupt in Pakistan on Friday March 18 in response to the outrageous release of US spy and murder suspect Raymond Davis.

Protests have alrady been staged across the country, but Friday will also see a countrywide strike, as anti-American anger boils over.

Reports the Express Tribune: "Like other parts of the country, the legal fraternity of twin cities on Thursday observed a black day against the release of US citizen and CIA contractor Raymond Davis and termed it 'an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty'.

"Hundreds of lawyers assembled in Rawalpindi District courts to protest against the release of the Davis and later marched towards Katchery Chowk, blocking the road for an hour.

"They chanted slogans against the government for providing safe passage to Davis, who was being tried for double murder and obtaining visa under a false name at the Lahore High Court (LHC).

"In Islamabad, lawyers staged protests outside court premises and also took out rallies. Members of Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bar, District Bar Rawalpindi, Islamabad District Bar and Islamabad High Court (IHC) boycotted court proceeding and hoisted black flags on bar rooms."

The US embassy and consulates will be closed on Friday in preparation for the angriest protests yet.

US empire starting to crumble?

FEBRUARY 1 2011 will be a crucial day for the history of Egypt and the Arab world, but also for the US global empire.

The 30-year Mubarak dictatorship, funded to to the tune of $1.5bn a year, has been a cornerstone of American policy in the region.

As millions of Egyptians prepare to march on the Presidential Palace and call for Mubarak to go, with the army saying it will not use force to stop them, the US will know that their puppet could well be forced off the stage.

While the Americans are no doubt already working on ensuring that a future government remains pro-US, the significance of what is happening here should not be underestimated.

Every trick in the book has been used to try and halt the Egyptian revolution and undermine global public support for it - from shooting people and sending in the airforce to cutting off the country's internet connections and spreading false information about a threat of 'Islamic extremism filling the void'.

If, despite all this, Mubarak is toppled, a powerful message will go out to every other people enslaved by US-controlled neoliberal tyranny.

Remember, this is only just the beginning...

Anti-Columbus protests across USA

A DAY celebrating the conqeust of America by Europeans has attracted protests across the USA.

The Boston Globe reports, for instance, reports: "Instead of the daring adventurer who opened the New World, critics say, Columbus opened the way to the enslavement and death of millions of indigenous people in the Americas."

It quotes protester Alex Papali, an organizer with Resist the Raids, an advocacy network that is critical of immigration enforcement.

He tells the paper: "We are taught to honor this man, Columbus, who represents the worst of humanity. We are doing the right thing by standing against 500 years of mind control."

RT reports ReconsiderColumbusDay.org as declaring: "For way too long, Columbus created heinous crimes against the indigenous populations of the Caribbean and millions of Natives throughout the Americas. And Columbus set the stage for the slave trade in the New World."

It describes protests at Arizona State University, San Juan Capistrano, California and Boise State University in Idaho, where protesters thanked Columbus "for humiliation, extermination, indoctrination".

Resistance grows against US occupation

RESISTANCE to the American-led occupation of Afghanistan has stepped up over the last few days.

Says The Press Association: "Three explosions just minutes apart have rocked Kandahar, killing up to four Afghan police officers in the nation's largest city in the south.

"Three Nato service members also were killed by bombings in southern Afghanistan and an insurgent attack killed another in the east, raising the coalition's death toll to 11 in the first four days of October."

Meanwhile, as The Independent reports: "The Pakistani Taliban yesterday claimed responsibility for setting fire to more than a dozen oil tankers carrying fuel for Nato troops in Afghanistan.

"The attack on the convoy in the garrison town of Rawalpindi where Pakistan's army is headquartered is the latest in a series by militants and 'would continue until the supplies are completely stopped', said Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the group.

"It was the fourth such attack on a Nato convoy since Pakistan shut down the Khyber Pass crossing in apparent protest over a series of airstrikes by Nato helicopters in Pakistani territory, including one that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

"The shutdown left lorries parked and vulnerable to attack. Before dawn yesterday, a dozen attackers sprayed the vehicles with automatic gunfire. Four people were killed as the trucks were then set ablaze. A further two trucks were in flames hours later."

US moves military forces to Central America

THE USA is secretly sending large numbers of military forces to Central America - probably to impose its control on the region.

Reports Jamie Way of Narco News: "In a controversial decision that is likely to fan the flames of regional tensions in Latin America, Costa Rica recently granted the US permission to move 7,000 troops and 46 warships (along with their accompanying planes and helicopters) into Costa Rican waters.

"Officially, the act is considered to be part of the 'Drug War', which appears to be increasingly more war-like in nature due to such actions and mounting violence in Mexico and Colombia. Costa Rica’s neighbors, however, see the massive military presence as a potential base for regional strikes.

"Due to the long history of US intervention in Latin America (perhaps most notably in neighboring Nicaragua), the region is clearly justified in its concern over the disproportionate and virtual invasion of troops into an area that could potentially provide such a logistical and geographic striking point.

"Internally, many Costa Ricans are questioning the military presence and its impact on the nation’s sovereignty. One party, the United Social Christian Party, has even brought forth a claim questioning the constitutionality of such an act.

"While the media speculates about war against Iran, US solidarity activists are concerned about the near to total media blackout of news about the escalation of US militarism in our own hemisphere. "

US empire under attack in Japan

THE US empire's hold on Japan has been significantly weakened by shock revelations this week.

Reports The Australian: "Japanese governments lied to their people for more than 30 years about a 'tacit' secret agreement allowing nuclear-armed US vessels to use their ports, a special Foreign Ministry panel reported yesterday.

"The tacit agreement, an undisclosed adjunct to the 1960 revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty, allowed breaches of Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles until 1991 when Washington officially halted deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on warships.

"Successive conservative governments 'offered dishonest explanations, including lies from beginning to end', the panel convened by Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada reported yesterday. 'This attitude should not have been allowed under the principle of democracy,' Mr Okada said."

USA 'trying to occupy Haiti'

THE USA is trying to occupy Haiti instead of helping it after last week's massive earthquake.

That is the view of a French government minister, who said the UN would have to clarify the Americans' role on the island.

Reported The Times: "Thousands of American soldiers have poured in to Port-au-Prince airport since President Obama announced that he was ordering a 'swift and aggressive' campaign to help millions of Haitians left homeless by last week's 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

"Six days after the quake, however, precious little aid is getting beyond the airport perimeters - largely because of security concerns - and aid agencies with long experience of operating in disaster zones have complained that their flights in are being blocked unnecessarily.

"Among the aircraft turned back by American air traffic controllers who have assumed control at Port-au-Prince airport was a French government Airbus carrying a field hospital.

"The plane was able to land the following day but the decision to turn it back prompted an official complaint from Alain Joyandet, the French Minister for Co-operation who is overseeing the French aid effort.

"Speaking to Europe 1 radio from an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels this morning, Mr Joyandet said that the UN would have to clarify the role of the US in the Haitian aid effort. 'It's a matter of helping Haiti, not occupying Haiti,' he said.

Venezuelan president Hugh Chavez has also criticised US 'humanitarian' efforts in Haiti, reported the Press Association.

"It appears the gringos are militarily occupying Haiti," Mr Chavez said. "Obama, send medicine, doctors and water - not more soldiers."

Japan stops refuelling US navy

IN ANOTHER sign that the USA's global empire is on the wane, Japan has stopped refuelling American warships.

Reports PressTV today: "Japan's Democratic party-led government in an unprecedented decision has ended its nearly a decade-long refueling mission of the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

"Incoming reports say Defense Minister Tishimi Kitazawar ordered all naval ships and their hundreds of personnel to return home after nine years of helping supply oil to vessels used by foreign forces that are engaged in a controversial war in landlocked Afghanistan.

"Kitazawar is also expected to issue an official order that will totally terminate refueling operation in the Indian Ocean on Friday. Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has been refueling the US mission since the Afghan war began in 2001.

"Reports say Japanese ships have provided more than 500,000 liters of oil to vessels from 12 countries, including the US, France, Britain and Pakistan since last December. A defense ministry tally shows the fuel cost has gone above 26 million dollars.

"Japan has promised to change the old way things worked between Tokyo and Washington. The new Japanese government, which is against a military solution for the conflict, has pledged up to five billion dollars in civilian aid to Afghanistan.

"In addition, Tokyo's relations with Washington have been strained over a number of issues since Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office last year.

"Diplomatic ties between Japan and the US have recently witnessed a low over a previously signed deal to relocate an American base on Okinawa. The premier has suggested that the US military bases should be moved off the island of Okinawa or even outside of Japan altogether."

US military flies over Venezuela

FEARS of an American attack on Venezuela have been raised by an incursion into its airspace by a US military jet.

The Spanish paper El Pais reports today that Venezuelan TV has broadcast a conversation, in English, between the pilot and the control tower at Maiquetía international airport.

The pilot says he has flown from Curazao which, like Aruba, is a Dutch-owned island off the coast of Venezuela.

Venezuela's anti-US leader Hugo Chavez has warned that the US would use Colombia, Aruba and Curazao as "platforms" from which to attack his country.

US plans attack on Yemen

THE US military machine is gearing up to launch a new attack on rebels in Yemen, suggest media reports.

The immediate pretext for the stepping-up of military involvement is the botched bombing attempt on the Delta Airlines flight on Christmas Day that al Qaeda in Yemen claims it organized.

But this attempt has itself been described as a retaliation for recent secret US military involvement in the volatile and strategically crucial Arab state.

American TV news channel CNN reported that two senior U.S. officials told them that the US and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets in Yemen for a potential "retaliation" strike.

It said: "The officials asked not to be not be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information. They both stressed the effort is aimed at being ready with options for the White House if President Obama orders a retaliatory strike. The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airliner incident and its planning.

"U.S. special operations forces and intelligence agencies, and their Yemeni counterparts, are working to identify potential al Qaeda targets in Yemen, one of the officials said. This is part of a new classified agreement with the Yemeni government that the two countries will work together and that the U.S. will remain publicly silent on its role in providing intelligence and weapons to conduct strikes.

"Officially the U.S. has not said it conducted previous airstrikes in Yemen, but officials are privately saying the Yemeni military could not have carried out the strikes on its own.

"By all accounts, the agreement would allow the U.S. to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets or unmanned armed drones against targets in Yemen with the consent of that government."

Chavez warns of US-Dutch attack

THE USA and the Netherlands are planning military aggression against Venezuela from the Dutch Antilles, Hugo Chavez has warned.

The Venezuelan leader was speaking at a meeting with trade unions, political organizations, and social movement leaders in Copenhagen, reports Venezuela Analysis.

Said Chavez: “I am accusing the Kingdom of the Netherlands together with the Yankee empire of preparing a military aggression against Venezuela.

“The islands of Aruba and Curacao, both of which belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, have permitted the installation of United States military equipment on their soil, placing Venezuela under the watch of the United States,” Chavez explained.

“It would be good for Europe to know that the North American empire is arming these islands Aruba and Curacao to the teeth, filling them with war planes, war ships, and CIA spies.”

“Since the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of the European Union, I would like to see what the European Union has to say about this,” Chavez declared.

He stressed that the U.S. military presence in the Dutch Antilles, which are located approximately one hundred kilometers off the Venezuelan coast, is only part of broader U.S. strategy to expand its military power in Latin America in order to crush the rise of anti-US governments in the region.

Last year, the U.S. military re-activated the Fourth Naval Fleet of its Southern Command. In October of this year it signed a military pact to use seven Colombian military bases as a launching pad for “full spectrum operations” across the South American continent, according to U.S. Air Force budgetary documents.

“This new Yankee military deployment that is now in full scale development threatens not only Venezuela,” but also other countries whose governments openly support socialism and are members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), Chavez said.

Several of the nine ALBA member countries, including Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, sent representatives to Thursday’s meeting with social movements in Copenhagen as well.

Cracks appear in 'special relationship'

THERE are interesting signs that parts of the British establishment are finally rebelling against remote control from the USA.

In an article in The Times today, Sir Ken Macdonald, director of public prosecutions between 2003 and 2008, says former PM Tony Blair misled and cajoled the British people into a war they didn't want.

He writes: "The degree of deceit involved in our decision to go to war on Iraq becomes steadily clearer.

"This was a foreign policy disgrace of epic proportions and playing footsie on Sunday morning television does nothing to repair the damage.

"It is now very difficult to avoid the conclusion that Tony Blair engaged in an alarming subterfuge with his partner George Bush and went on to mislead and cajole the British people into a deadly war they had made perfectly clear they didn’t want, and on a basis that it’s increasingly hard to believe even he found truly credible."

He adds: "Hindsight is a great temptress. But we needn’t trouble her on the way to a confident conclusion that Mr Blair’s fundamental flaw was his sycophancy towards power.

"Perhaps this seems odd in a man who drank so much of that mind-altering brew at home. But Washington turned his head and he couldn’t resist the stage or the glamour that it gave him."

The extent of US control of leading British politicians remains a taboo subject on the UK political scene, although aired in a fictional form in Robert Harris's novel The Ghost, due to be made into a film by Roman Polanski.

And while today's attack on Blair presents the problem as personal rather than systematic, the fallout from the Iraq war may well open larger cracks in the post-WW2 transatlantic "special relationship".