The Hijacking of Evo Morales and Subservience to Washington
In a demonstration of serious criminal behavior, the authorities of several European countries obstructed Bolivian President Evo Morales' free movement through their air space in what amounted to a hijacking. Running low on fuel, the president’s jet was forced to land in Vienna, where Morales was obliged to remain for 13 hours as a virtual hostage of the pax americana which has threatened to take over the whole planet since 9/11. Barack Obama has outdone his predecessor in the creation of a militarized police state on a global scale.
A presidential plane is considered sovereign territory of that president's country under customary international law. The French, Portuguese and Italian authorities’ refusal to allow the Bolivian president's plane to either traverse their airspace or land to refuel was therefore a doubly criminal act, both discriminatory and in violation of international law.
These governments initially tried to shield their criminal conduct behind a pack of lies told to the Bolivian authorities and the media, yet the whole world knows that behind it all was the imbecilic belief that the presidential jet was harboring ex-member of the Yankees’ intelligence services Edward Snowden, and the resulting panic at the United States' possible reaction. Confirmation was provided by Françoise Hollande’s statement that France authorized the flight once it was certain that the ex-spy was not aboard the plane.
Like any diligent sergeant of the Spanish Civil Guard in search of the fearsome Snowden, the Spanish ambassador had the audacity to try to get on board the jet, though he was roundly refused by Morales before Madrid finally confirmed the permission to land. It is no idle observation that these same countries were complicit in illegal CIA flights, knowing full well that their kidnapped passengers were to be subjected to torture. They act like the evildoer who assumes everyone else is up to the same tricks.
The Obama administration has embarked on a hysterical and pathetic international manhunt for Snowden. Horrified at the gross violations of the U.S. Constitution inherent in the scale and extent of the mass domestic surveillance program PRISM, Snowden decided — at considerable risk to his own life — to turn whistleblower. Snowden has also denounced and documented extensive and systematic American surveillance of China, Russia, the G-20 countries, Mexico and Washington’s supposed ally, the European Union. Obama, Kerry and other Yankee officials — backed by the media mafia of CNN, Fox News, Televisa and their ilk and the Inter American Press Association dailies — have made numerous attempts to downplay the importance of this monstrosity as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
The hijacking of the Bolivian president by governments so boastful of their respect for human rights and the rule of law demonstrates that, in order to pander to Washington, they are capable of both violating the law and putting at risk the lives of a Latin American leader and his companions. The incident could have ended tragically had Austria not authorized the emergency landing in Vienna.
Adding insult to injury, once again it is evident that a racist, colonialist vision of the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the ex-colonies in general still prevails in European governments and elites, whose worldview becomes increasingly mediocre, reactionary and subordinate to the dictates of their de facto colonial rulers, the United States. Their American “friends” have placed them in the role of junior partners in a mass surveillance operation, which — as long as they do nothing to contradict the impression — appears to have made them more obsequious in their servitude.
By contrast, it was the indignant reaction of the citizens of many European countries to their governments’ shameful behavior that led to the Bolivian president's plane finally being given the authorization to fly — at which point several governments felt obliged to give spurious explanations and even deny that they had impeded the aircraft’s flight in the first place.
The angriest reaction came from Latin America, however, where the deluge of protests on so-called social networks was as immediate as the swift and robust condemnation drawn from the governments of Argentina, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. A meeting of the Union of South American Nations is imminent.
A presidential plane is considered sovereign territory of that president's country under customary international law. The French, Portuguese and Italian authorities’ refusal to allow the Bolivian president's plane to either traverse their airspace or land to refuel was therefore a doubly criminal act, both discriminatory and in violation of international law.
These governments initially tried to shield their criminal conduct behind a pack of lies told to the Bolivian authorities and the media, yet the whole world knows that behind it all was the imbecilic belief that the presidential jet was harboring ex-member of the Yankees’ intelligence services Edward Snowden, and the resulting panic at the United States' possible reaction. Confirmation was provided by Françoise Hollande’s statement that France authorized the flight once it was certain that the ex-spy was not aboard the plane.
Like any diligent sergeant of the Spanish Civil Guard in search of the fearsome Snowden, the Spanish ambassador had the audacity to try to get on board the jet, though he was roundly refused by Morales before Madrid finally confirmed the permission to land. It is no idle observation that these same countries were complicit in illegal CIA flights, knowing full well that their kidnapped passengers were to be subjected to torture. They act like the evildoer who assumes everyone else is up to the same tricks.
The Obama administration has embarked on a hysterical and pathetic international manhunt for Snowden. Horrified at the gross violations of the U.S. Constitution inherent in the scale and extent of the mass domestic surveillance program PRISM, Snowden decided — at considerable risk to his own life — to turn whistleblower. Snowden has also denounced and documented extensive and systematic American surveillance of China, Russia, the G-20 countries, Mexico and Washington’s supposed ally, the European Union. Obama, Kerry and other Yankee officials — backed by the media mafia of CNN, Fox News, Televisa and their ilk and the Inter American Press Association dailies — have made numerous attempts to downplay the importance of this monstrosity as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
The hijacking of the Bolivian president by governments so boastful of their respect for human rights and the rule of law demonstrates that, in order to pander to Washington, they are capable of both violating the law and putting at risk the lives of a Latin American leader and his companions. The incident could have ended tragically had Austria not authorized the emergency landing in Vienna.
Adding insult to injury, once again it is evident that a racist, colonialist vision of the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the ex-colonies in general still prevails in European governments and elites, whose worldview becomes increasingly mediocre, reactionary and subordinate to the dictates of their de facto colonial rulers, the United States. Their American “friends” have placed them in the role of junior partners in a mass surveillance operation, which — as long as they do nothing to contradict the impression — appears to have made them more obsequious in their servitude.
By contrast, it was the indignant reaction of the citizens of many European countries to their governments’ shameful behavior that led to the Bolivian president's plane finally being given the authorization to fly — at which point several governments felt obliged to give spurious explanations and even deny that they had impeded the aircraft’s flight in the first place.
The angriest reaction came from Latin America, however, where the deluge of protests on so-called social networks was as immediate as the swift and robust condemnation drawn from the governments of Argentina, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. A meeting of the Union of South American Nations is imminent.