Leave it to the Grey Lady. Not only is she sticking up for Dear Leader, but they manage to blame America Past for what happened last week in Honduras
President Obama on Monday strongly condemned the ouster of Honduras’s president as an illegal coup that set a “terrible precedent†for the region, as the country’s new government defied international calls to return the toppled president to power and clashed with thousands of protesters.
And, yet, it wasn’t an “illegal coup,” as the Times points out later in the story. It was the removal of a leftist president, Manuel Zelaya (replaced with another leftist fellow of Zelaya’s own party,) who was attempting to subvert the Honduran Constitution by forcing a vote to allow him more terms as president – similar to Chavez, ruled illegal by their Supreme Court. Very basic overview. Even his own Party has come down on the opposite side of Zelaya multiple times (more info from Q&O and the queen of this story, Fausta.) It’s a shame the military had to get involved in such a manner, but, different country, different methods, and it appears that their military was supposed to get involved.
“We do not want to go back to a dark past,†Mr. Obama said, in which military coups override elections. “We always want to stand with democracy,†he added.
Then why were you meddling in their affairs and coming down on the side of Zelaya? Why did it take you so long to make tepid remarks when Iran was burning?
The crisis in Honduras, where members of the country’s military abruptly awakened President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday and forced him out of the country in his bedclothes, is pitting Mr. Obama against the ghosts of past American foreign policy in Latin America.
The United States has a history of backing rival political factions and instigating coups in the region, and administration officials have found themselves on the defensive in recent days, dismissing repeated allegations by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela that the C.I.A. may have had a hand in the president’s removal.
And there you have it: the Blame America First mentality. Except for those two paragraphs, the rest of the story, 21 paragraphs in all including the 4 above, is about the Obama admin meddling and trying to tell them what to do. So, to what point is the headline “In a Coup in Honduras, Ghosts of Past U.S. Policies“? To what point are those two paragraphs, other then to paint the United States as a past bad guy?
But, considering the amount of meddling the Obama admin. was involved going back to early June, maybe the headline should read “In a Constitutional Presidential Removal, Ghosts of Current anti-Constitutional Leftist U.S. Policies.”
Interestingly, Hillary Clinton states that the U.S. government was holding off in calling it a coup. Sorry, Hillary, too late. President Neophyte has already spoken that it was, and that Zelaya is still Honduras’ president in Dear Leader’s eyes. Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall when Hillary discusses President Neophyte with Billy Jeff?
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU
Yes, it’s all our fault. Everything in the world from bad weather to traffic jams is our fault. Nobody in Honduras is to blame. I am sure Americans were all down there stirring things up.
Since when is it that American newspapers try to blame America first for every single thing? Oh, I forgot, New York City along with San Francisco are no longer part of the American mainstream.
I am sure Hilldog is blowing a gasket. The U.S. is notorious for creatively engineering the domestic politics of Latin American countries but I don’t think this is the case here. Shame on the Times for being so biased, oh well it isn’t like people read newspapers anymore… Here is a great video about the situation, it has a lot of sources none of which are the times: http://www.newsy.com/videos/honduras_pajamas_and_a_coup
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The problem in Honduras can be briefly described this way:
– Three and half years ago, the Ex President won by a tiny margin in the lowest vote ever in this country’s history. I voted for him ïŒ
– During his first years he bought Harley Davidson bike, Thoroughbreds, took rides on the Air Force’s F5s, turned the Marriott’s Presidential Suite into a Honeymoon Suite with a different woman per week, but regularly with Patricia Rodas (his Chancellor). In other words, he began living his Mid-Life-Crisis publicly. This is well documented in the local newspapers.
– He continuously chose week strategies or actions; thus, polarizing the society in barren discussions that he never won, yet invested massive funds into them as campaigns. I’m not sure why he kept doing this (strategy or error), but the fact is he polarized us to max. He meant to implement a “No driving day per week for cars†that would only hurt the poor in practice. He tried to change the airport to a US military base (used for Drug traffic control mostly) (hoping to replace it), but then realized that it need an incredibly expensive road first. Things like these made us turn him into the office joke of the day, permanently. (He also gave us bad luck in soccer matches ïŠ. Soccer is the mainstream religion of Honduras.)
– He created his personal TV “news†channel, just like Hugo Chavez (where did he get the money?). He also created his own News Paper which we all got daily “for free†at our door step (no subscription required). He managed to miraculously turn his worst media critics into his best friends over night. What are we suppose to think about this? That they’re stupid? Cause we aren’t. Well, not that much.
– He adopted unharmonized measures like the drastic rising of minimum wage. This did not affect large business like he meant, because they were already paying more than that. It did kill a bunch of small and medium business raising the jobless claims. This hurt him more than anyone, since he had not pondered on how much that would be for government employees. Ironically he did manage to capitalize on this. His followers argue that “he raised the minimum wageâ€, but in reality, this was the first government that didn’t raise minimum wage yearly, instead, he waited until his last year.
– Mel Zelaya did not present a budget to Congress for this year like our Constitution mandates (every October of the previous year). Not presenting a budget for approval by Congress, an yet spending funds is a crime according to our Constitution. He was not releasing funds to Congress for administrative spending, nor other entities, hoping to suffocate them until they agreed with his terms. This was like having a four year old in the Presidency!
– About two years ago, the DEA was following a few cars traveling with diplomatic plates coming from Panama. At their arrival to Honduras (quick stop before continuing to Guatemala) they stopped in front of Hondutel to check with Marcelo Chimirri (CEO of Hondutel and Ex Presidents best friend), but saw themselves surrounded by DEA and InterPol, so they opened fire and escaped in hail of bullets. They quickly headed To Marcelo Chimirri’s home for refuge. The Police had to go back for a Court order to go in, but quickly the Ex President ordered them to back down. Chimirri’s best defense was based on secretly taped Telephone conversations between corrupt politicians and media casters of which he posted sections on YouTube.com. So far Chimirri has not gone to a real trial over any of this, but it seems like the new Government will process him finally..
– Hondurans are certain that Chimirri and Mel Zelaya controlled drug trafficking in Honduras. Ever since Zelaya befriended Hugo Chavez, the DEA captures one or more airplanes per week from Venezuela with tons of Cocain. The Pilot is mysteriously not found or “escapes†from jail in few days.
– During Chavez’s visits to Honduras, he openly calls us “PitiYanquis†(his specially made up insult to us). In this country, the main income is from workers in the USA who send money home. So we all have family or close friends in the US. Is does not make us happy to see this JackAss (Hugo Chavez) stand at our Presidential House to insult the US and ourselves, laughing with his arm around our Ex President. In this country there is no way a Marxist Presidential candidate could ever win unless he does what Mel Zelaya did: Deceit !!! He tricked the whole Honduran society and mounted the most corrupt Government we’ve ever had. BTW, according to the UN, Hugo Chavez has The most corrupt Government in the continent.
– In this country we’ve never seen the massive amounts of campaign (propaganda) funds that these two have spent. And never had we seen a campaign fail so miserably. The more money Hugo spent on Zelaya, the more Hondurans hated him (except for those he paid directly or were offered positions once they achieved absolute power).
This I leave for last, because its most important:
– In this country of scarce resources (where donations are vital), never had we seen such display of economic power like Mel and Chavez. They will share no expense and use all means to achieve total control. So when Patricia Janiot from CNN interviews our Officials and asks them why they didn’t put him on trial, they can’t say this, but I can, with this question: ¿How do you put a man with unlimited cash on hand, corrupt as he is, in a poor country, on trial? Hondurans believe that if this “man†got to spend one more day in the country there would have been a blood bath between us. Like Hugo Chavez, he is an expert in dividing people against each other. As the great majority, we simply had no choice. I question again; Would you send a Police car with two cops to have Osama Bin laden arrested? Do you think that would work? Or would you send your Armed Forces by any chance?
Finally: This Continent’s Presidents befriend each other at the same parties. But they don’t know the people that their colleagues supposedly represent. They only get to see the people through the eyes and mouths of themselves and the ambassadors that work for them. It’s logical that they will defend their Executive Power buddies this way. It doesn’t hurt them at all to dance a little with Hugo Chavez. In this sense, Congress and Supreme Court are much more representative of the People.
Hondurans believe that CNN and Mr. Obama are playing dirty to us. This is because they don’t live here. With all due respect, I beg you to explain this to them.
Blessings and regards,
Hector Figueroa
They love blaming America, Ellen. It’s disgusting, but, their normal.
We definitely get involved, but, heck, all countries do, I agree. It is a shame that papers like the NY Times go all out and just say “America Bad!”
Awesome breakdown, Hector, thanks for popping in and sharing.