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Check out the following headlines as captured by Google today: Now if Corbyn had said “I am wealthy” he would also have been mocked by the press: “Deluded Corbyn think’s he is ‘wealthy’ with net worth of 650K when Richard Branson’s is 3.8 billion!” “Corbyn thinks he is in the same class as Richard Branson Read more…
Here’s a very brief quiz for readers of the UK media. Which newspaper just posted on online quiz desperately trying to equate Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn? Was it the farcically right wing Daily Mail or the “Labour supporting” Daily Mirror? Hint: not a single British newspaper with any significant readership editorialized against the failed Read more…
This article by Julian Borger on Venezuela’s economy sates that “By IMF figures, it has the world’s worst negative growth rate (-8%), and the worst inflation rate (482%). The unemployment rate is 17% but is expected to climb to near 30% in the coming few years.” The IMF values that Borger reports are projections for 2016, not confirmed data Read more…
To see how terrible the western media is, just follow its Venezuela coverage. In a Washington Post op-ed, David Ignatius wrote “Delay would also allow Maduro’s supporters more time to organize militias to sustain the leftist movement organized by Venezuela’s volcanic dictator Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013.” Ignatius lies causally and extravagantly about the past while also Read more…
Zuñiga’s recent BBC article was horrible (and never corrected by the BBC). She used it to spread one unsubstantiated whopper after another. Now she takes to the Washington Post to write “In a country where inflation is soaring toward 700 percent and the economy shrank 10 percent last year…” Venezuela’s GDP shrank 5.7% last year. The Read more…
Re: U.S. nudges the Vatican, other allies to help rescue Venezuela Dear Tracy Wilkinson: You wrote “Socialist, anti-U.S. governments have ruled Venezuela since Chavez came to power in 1999, prevailing over a brief 2002 coup that Chavez blamed on Washington.” The U.S. State Department’s Office of Inspector General stated that the Bush administration had “provided training, institution Read more…
To anyone who values honest journalism, it was nice to see that this Reuters article did not let a statement by Venezuelan opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, totally mislead readers. The Venezuelan opposition is claiming they are being denied their constitutional right to a recall referendum against Nicolas Maduro. As I explained in some detail here, if Read more…
The international media and the president of the OAS, Luis Almagro, are demanding that Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro allow a presidential recall referendum to take place in 2016. Why are they demanding that it take place in 2016? Both government critics and supporters appear to agree that if a recall vote is held before January Read more…
This BBC article by Mariana Zuniga says “This situation might be bearable if the Venezuelan oil-dominated economy was performing well, but it is expected to shrink by 8% this year after contracting by 5.8% in 2014.” The article doesn’t say – which is terrible reporting – but the prediction of 8% contraction comes from the IMF Read more…
Today’s NYT editorial “The Left on the Run in Latin America” underscores that there never really was a “good left” as far as U.S. elites were concerned. For years, Brazil’s left government was part of the “good left” that received vastly better press than Venezuela and other ALBA countries. It would have been very unwise Read more…