Portland鈥檚 mayor and the state's governor have not taken action to address the widely-shared grievances against law enforcement, preferring to deliver a movement deathblow aimed at protesters, writes Shamus Cooke.
Shamus Cooke
The recent coup against Paraguay鈥檚 democratically elected president is not only a blow to democracy, but an attack against the working and poor population that supported President Fernando Lugo. The Paraguayan poor see Lugo as a bulwark against the wealthy elite who have dominated the country for decades. The United States mainstream media and politicians are not calling the events in Paraguay a coup, since the president is being 鈥渓egally impeached鈥 by the elite-dominated Paraguayan Congress.
When the White House is quiet as protesters are butchered in the streets of Bangkok, suspicions are raised. Silence often equals complicity. One can only imagine what the US government鈥檚 response would be to a Venezuelan government slaughter: the US media and US President Barack Obama would loudly condemn such an act. The history of US-Thailand relations explains why. During the Vietnam War, the US used Thailand as one of the main 鈥渁nti-communist鈥 bulwarks in an area that included China, Vietnam and other countries that were challenging capitalism.