I get a 403 at one of the links.
Edit: OTOH, it seems to be an youtube link, you could post it directly dereferenced, we have a tag here on the forum for them.

Venezuela in “Misery” – Lies and Deceit by the Media -By Peter Koenig
 

[URL]http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51641.htm[/URL]
(addressed to the Editor in Chief of the NYT)
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=5][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial][QUOTE]Back to the Venezuelan “misery” you, Mr. Editor in Chief, and the NYT are so eager to report on. Why don’t you say that the United States of America – the self-proclaimed exceptional nation, with war criminals leading it – is responsible for far most of the suffering of Venezuela, through its totally illegal (who cares in Washington about legality) sanctions, blockage of food and medical imports, theft and confiscation of some US$ 130 billion in Venezuelan assets and reserve funds in US banks and around the world, economic blackmail and strangulation that has, according to economists Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington D.C. and Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University, caused the death of some 40,000 Venezuelans.

This racist, misogynist and neofascist government, centered in and around the Swamp of Washington, is responsible for most of the suffering in the world today, by planting wars and conflicts – eternal war on terror; the same terrorists, trained, funded and armed by the very Washington, the CIA, the Pentagon, NATO and the spineless European puppets – for power, domination and theft of resources.

Does the NYT ever report on this? – Why can’t you, the NYT and YOU, the Editor in Chief, for once be honest and stand up for true journalism? – Because you would lose your job? Right, that’s it, isn’t it? – So, why don’t you pull out your card of ethics that you subscribed to in the school of journalism – from deep-deep down in your soul – look at it, internalize it – and think how much more you will be gaining in esteem around the world, if you bring the truth to the people, rather than keep lying – and brainwashing the world into war, misery and death? – Try it. You may be surprised.

Don’t you think, Dear Editor in Chief, sooner or later this lie-propaganda, this abject non-journalism will haunt you eventually all the way into the grave?

People will wake up, the empire will fall, it’s just a matter of time. What will you do then?[/QUOTE]Forgot to mention:
[QUOTE]Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; RT; Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; TeleSUR; The Saker Blog, the New Eastern Outlook (NEO); and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance.
[/QUOTE][/FONT][/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=kladner;517334][URL]http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51641.htm[/URL]
(addressed to the Editor in Chief of the NYT)[/QUOTE]
In the midst of his Jeremiad, the writer somehow forgot to mention what happened to the price of oil starting in the second half of 2014 [it crashed]. Undoubtedly, if he could have blamed the US for [i]that[/i], he would have. But he couldn't, so he ignored it. He also couldn't blame the US for the Venezuelan government's poor response, so he ignored that, too.

[QUOTE=LaurV;517316]I get a 403 at one of the links.[/QUOTE]


Me too ;-) Try this one:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdBQ1mh8kFo&feature=youtu.be[/url]

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;517346]In the midst of his Jeremiad, the writer somehow forgot to mention what happened to the price of oil starting in the second half of 2014 [it crashed]. Undoubtedly, if he could have blamed the US for [I]that[/I], he would have. But he couldn't, so he ignored it. He also couldn't blame the US for the Venezuelan government's poor response, so he ignored that, too.[/QUOTE]
I knew that you would really love this piece. Of [I]course [/I]the US is the virgin-pure innocent victim, horribly maligned in the Righteous Struggle against any government which doesn't have its lips firmly planted on the US derriere.

I take, then, that you consider the sanctions, the impounding of bank accounts, the blockage of basis human needs as totally unrelated to any of Venezuela's "self-inflicted difficulties." I assume that these beneficent, well-intended actions are also totally legal, just like everything John Bolton has ever done, and just like tRump's entire persecuted, innocent life.

Of course, the aid which the US attempted to bestow upon Venezuela was offered out of pure, humanitarian urges. Unfortunately, "Saint" Maduro hates the people of his country so much that he'd rather they died of disease or starvation than accept even a grain of rice from The Benefactor of the World.

Of course, the US has [U]never ever [/U]even imagined [STRIKE] overthrowing another county's government[/STRIKE] encouraging much needed regime change purely for the benefit of the suffering populace of an unfit government, elected or otherwise.

Just ask the ghosts of Salvador Allende and Jacobo Árbenz. I'm sure they would swear to the utterly pure motives of the United States.


EDIT: It should go without saying that the world populace is totally deluded in thinking that the US is the greatest threat to world peace. They have just been propagandized by their evil tyrants. Here in the US we know for an absolute fact that our country has never, ever done anything bad anywhere, and that anyone who says otherwise ought to be locked up to protect the general welfare.

Venezuela: Amnesty International in Service of Empire
 

[url]https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/21/venezuela-amnesty-international-in-service-of-empire/[/url]
[QUOTE]Uncle Sam has a problem in his South American “[URL="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/05/11/john-bolton-and-the-monroe-doctrine"]backyard[/URL]” with those uppity Venezuelans who insisted on [URL="https://consortiumnews.com/2018/06/04/venezuela-reelects-maduro-defying-the-u-s/"]democratically electing[/URL] Nicolás Maduro as their president instead of [URL="https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/08/juan-guaido-the-man-who-would-be-president-of-venezuela-doesnt-have-a-constitutional-leg-to-stand-on/"]by-passing[/URL] the electoral process and installing the unelected US [URL="https://thegrayzone.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-how-the-us-regime-change-laboratory-created-venezuelas-coup-leader/"]asset[/URL] Juan Guaidó. No matter, Amnesty International has come to the rescue with a full-throated [URL="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/05/venezuela-crimes-against-humanity-require-response-from-international-justice-system/"]defense of US imperialism[/URL]:[INDENT]“Faced with grave human rights violations, shortages of medicines and food and generalized violence in Venezuela, there is an urgent hunger for justice. The crimes against humanity probably committed by the authorities must not go unpunished.” (Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International)
[/INDENT]Amnesty International fails in its broadside to put its claims against the Maduro government in the context of a concerted regime-change campaign, which amounts to war, by the bully from the north. The US is waging an [URL="https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/the-u-s-is-waging-a-war-on-the-bolivarian-republic-venezuela-roundup"]illegal war[/URL] against Venezuela and Amnesty International’s broadside leaves out this inconvenient fact, egregiously even omitting any mention of sanctions.
[/QUOTE]

There’s Far More Diversity in Venezuela’s ‘Muzzled’ Media Than in US Corporate Press
 

[url]https://fair.org/home/theres-far-more-diversity-in-venezuelas-muzzled-media-than-in-us-corporate-press/[/url]
[QUOTE]The narrative of a Venezuelan government crackdown on press freedom is by no means a recent invention, harkening back to the Chavez government’s 2007 decision not to renew[URL="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2172"] [B]RCTV[/B]’s[/URL] ([B]Radio Caracas Televisión[/B]) broadcasting concession. [B]RCTV[/B] had played a crucial role in the [URL="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6922"]2002 coup[/URL], when the opposition removed Chávez from power for 47 hours—unleashing a [URL="http://www.urru.org/papers/informe-sucesos-abril-2002-final.pdf"]wave of terror[/URL]—and later in the 2002–03 oil lockout. [B]RCTV[/B] was merely removed from the public spectrum, and continued broadcasting via cable and satellite.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;517357]I knew that you would really love this piece. Of [I]course [/I]the US is the virgin-pure innocent victim, horribly maligned in the Righteous Struggle against any government which doesn't have its lips firmly planted on the US derriere. <snip>[/QUOTE]
It would seem the writer is not the only one disregarding pertinent facts.

I have mentioned the current Admin's sanctions myself, e.g. [url=https://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=512261&postcount=394]here[/url]: [quote]The Admin's oil sanctions are really starting to bite. I had once held out some hope that the consequence of increasing oil prices might help Venezuela, but no such luck. Venezuelan oil production is dropping fast. And it's going to get a lot worse, fast. Ordinary Venezuelans are going to suffer a lot as a result. This policy could result in Venezuelans hating us Yanquis with an all-consuming fervor.[/quote]

I've also pointed out [url=https://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=508925&postcount=985]here[/url] that [i]Il Duce[/i] presuming to "order" Venezuelan generals around was likely to be counterproductive.

I have also mused on the fizzling of the recent failed uprising. Bolton does not seem to be in any danger of losing his job any time soon, but the failure to change the regime in Venezuela has miffed [i]Il Duce[/i] somewhat.

I would wholeheartedly agree the US -- especially the current Admin -- has been trying its darndest to cause the downfall of the current Venezuelan government by aggravating its current economic woes.

I merely pointed out that its current economic woes [i]began[/i], and continued, due to the crash in oil prices that began in 2014 (for which the US, and certainly the current Admin, is [i]not[/i] responsible), and the Venezuelan government's failure to respond in an effective manner (for which the US is also not responsible).

Well, be it Venezuela's Comrade Maduro or our own [i]Il Duce[/i] & Co., replacing facts with ideology is likely to produce unfortunate results. There is a saying originally applied, IIRC, to economists, but which I feel is most apt for ideologues:

[i]If my theory does not agree with reality, then so much the worse for reality.[/i]

I especially liked the writer blaming the US for "most of the suffering in the world today." What? not [i]all[/i] the suffering in the world today?

[QUOTE]I especially liked the writer blaming the US for "most of the suffering in the world today." [U]What? not [I]all[/I] the suffering in the world today?[/U][/QUOTE]
You are never satisfied. It really should be "Responsible for ALL suffering, past, present, and future in all the multiverses."
The fact remains that the US is the self-declared sole superpower, and acts out all the worst possibilities of that position. Certainly, there are the Idi Amins and Saddam Husseins, but they are pathetic pikers in comparison to the Unique, Exceptional, Indispensable Bully of the World. You may not like it, but honestly consider the historical and ongoing atrocities, plus the utter disregard for law and human decency which the US exemplifies. The Roman, Persian, Inca, Aztec, and British Empires all pale in comparison to the Bastion of Freedom and Democracy imposing its glorious virtues at gunpoint.

[QUOTE=kladner;517444]<snip>
The fact remains that the US is the self-declared sole superpower, and acts out all the worst possibilities of that position.
<snip>[/quote]
Seriously? I can think of [i]much[/i] worse things a country with our resources [i]could[/i] be doing.
[quote]The Roman, Persian, Inca, Aztec, and British Empires all pale in comparison to the Bastion of Freedom and Democracy imposing its glorious virtues at gunpoint.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't discount the Romans. Even without today's weaponry, the Romans spread civilization to the barbarians (not so incidentally acquiring more slaves) with a ruthlessness that is something to wonder at. They had wonderful euphemisms, too -- such as the "Pacification of Gaul." And they were at it a lot longer than the good ol' USA has been around.

And don't forget the folks once known to school kids all over the US as the "mongrel hordes." The Mongols not only slaughtered people wholesale, they likely spread bubonic plague wherever they went.

I can also think of a country with us today that has an illustrious history of imperialism, whose omission from your list I find curious indeed.

I was watching a rerun of a program on PBS I hadn't seen when it first came out, [i]The Mystery of Matter[/i]. The episode featured the work of Marie Curie. It recounted that in 1903 the French Academy of Sciences nominated Henri Becquerel and Pierre -- but not Marie -- Curie as candidates for the physics prize, despite Marie Curie having come up with the ideas and having done most of the work. Luckily, Pierre insisted that her name be included. Oh, those evil Western Europeans!

On the other hand, the woman who came to be known as Marie Curie grew up in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Empire of Russia, created by the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars. Most of the population of Poland, however, was already ruled by Czarist Russia. After the 1863 uprising, Czar Alexander II embarked on a program of Russifying the unruly Poles. As a result, Maria Salomea Skłodowska grew up in a country whose inhabitants were [i]forbidden to speak their own language[/i].

When it comes to "imposing its glorious virtues at gunpoint," Russia takes a back seat to [i]nobody[/i].

But, more importantly, I think a lot of suffering in the world is due to nonpolitical causes. For example, hundreds of millions of people contract malaria every year. Hundreds of thousands die from it each year. A goodly fraction of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis. Over a million die from it each year. There are tens of millions with AIDS, and probably upwards of a million die of AIDS each year. Oh, wait, AIDS was created by the CIA, right? I don't know how many people get sick from contaminated drinking water each year -- diarrhea and such -- but I'm sure it's a lot.

"Seriously? I can think of [I]much[/I] worse things a country with our resources [I]could[/I] be doing."
Totally irrelevant. Sure. The US could nuke the world to glowing debris. However, drones and special forces are the more usual modes of murder.

"When it comes to "imposing its glorious virtues at gunpoint," Russia takes a back seat to [I]nobody[/I]."

Bull pucky. Is Russia surrounding the US with hostile parties, in spite of promises to the contrary? In how many countries is Russia exerting military force without the invitation of the government? Your gingoistic chauvinism is truly pathetic.