156. Kidnapping of a sitting president
Something that I envisioned on the first of January has happened.
The country that has inflicted suffering on the entire world for many decades, and its current democratically elected leader, has kidnapped a democratically elected president.
And at this hour, he is giving a sermon on television right now. And the whole world is watching.
He knows that no one will stand against him.
Watch out for the language the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, used in his comments. He said: “The UK was not involved in any way in this operation,” adding that “we should all uphold international law.”
The man didn’t even have the courage to say clearly that this was against international law.
And he is not alone. At present, this is the state of the world.
I am deeply disturbed by this event.
This is what you get when you elect a part-time politician.
Last I heard, he has stated that “the United States will run Venezuela for now, until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.”
I will be reflecting on today’s event tomorrow morning because I am very angry.
However, I just remembered a man, Ahmad Chalabi, an Iraqi national, who was despised as much as Saddam Hussein but regarded as a secular Shi'ite.
Chalabi was the man who ultimately convinced the United States in 2003 with discredited information about Saddam Hussein's military capabilities, that Saddam Hussein had links to al Qaeda, and that he possessed weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, claims that later proved false.
Chalabi died an unnoticed death because everyone was against him and accused him of being an American agent, who ultimately played a role in destroying Iraq.
Some people will, of course, remember him positively, but that is their choice. Chalabi rose to prominence as the leader of the then-exiled Iraqi National Congress, which played a significant role in encouraging the U.S. administration of former President George W. Bush to invade Iraq and oust Saddam.
Once very close to Washington as its preferred future Iraqi leader, Chalabi lost favor amid accusations that he had passed information to Iran.
When Americans realized their mistake, Al Qaeda capitalized on the security vacuum that followed, triggering a sectarian civil war with attacks on the majority Shi'ite population that would plunge Iraq into chaos for years.
At one point, Chalabi's name was floated as a candidate for prime minister, but he never managed to rise to the top of Iraq's sectarian-driven politics.
His fallout with his former American allies also hurt his chances of leading Iraq.
Today's events in Venezuela were also influenced by the active involvement of a Chalabi.
Her name is María Corina Machado Parisca.
This breed has done more harm to this world than the actors themselves.