Le Père Nobel est une ordure

Father Nobel is a bastard

BY Maurice LEMOINE

A dilemma for the five distinguished members of the Nobel Peace Prize jury. They are in the final stage of a process that began several months ago. Alfred Nobel's will stipulates that they should reward "the person or community that has contributed most or best to the rapprochement of peoples, to the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and to the unification and propagation of progress for peace." Initially, 338 contenders were in the running: 224 personalities and 94 organizations. The list is kept secret. But the whole world knows at least one. The magician of peace, the great organizer of agreements that don't work. Donald Trump. If they don't honor him, a storm of unpleasantness is brewing on the radar screens. He is capable of sending the US National Guard to occupy Oslo. Perhaps a clever solution should be found. For example: awarding the prize to one of their close friends, an ideological and political ally, an accomplice in turpitude, an associate in abjection. Offering them, in a way, a consolation prize.

Unless Father Nobel is simply stupid. Or irresponsible. Or disgusting.

It doesn't matter.

Unless they reward a man capable of raving that "no one in history has ever [like me] resolved eight wars in the space of nine months," they offer their trinket to a woman who did everything she could to start one—and failed. But has no intention of renouncing her armed conflict.

As a result...

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday, October 10, to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her efforts "to promote a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." Jørgen Watne Frydnes, director of the NGO Pen Norway and chairman of the Nobel Committee, commented learnedly: "Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civic courage in Latin America in recent times."

Machado was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Into the oligarchy. Never mind. You don't choose your parents, you don't choose your family—that's not the problem.

Unless...

In 2010, socialist President Hugo Chávez nationalized part of his father's steel company, Sivensa.

But on April 11, 2002, during the coup d'état against Chávez, Machado was part of the joyous cohort that signed the decree issued by the de facto president, the boss of the bosses, Pedro Carmona. What fun! The decree dissolved the National Assembly and all other constituted bodies. The "boss" of the United States, the sympathetic President George W. Bush, immediately recognized Carmona. It would have been surprising to see it otherwise. He helped the operation a little behind the scenes.

It turns out that the people (as the populists say) like Chávez much more than Bush, Machado, and their Sunday best cronies. "El pueblo" takes to the streets. The Armed Forces support it. The "golpe" lasts only 48 hours. It still leaves 19 dead and more than 200 injured—what a shame.

Chávez returns. For "betrayal of the homeland," Machado, like many others, is sentenced to 28 years in prison. Venezuela having become an abominable dictatorship, Machado, like many others, is pardoned by Chávez himself—what a humiliation.

Machado does not forgive. In 2004, she created Súmate ("join us"), an organization funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the New Endowment for Democracy (NED). The good works of the U.S. Congress. Machado collects signatures. These allow for the organization of the recall referendum against Chávez, permitted by the Constitution. Chávez wins the contest with 59% of the vote. It's enough to make you sick of democracy. The opposition cries fraud, of course. It promises to present the evidence. It looks for it everywhere. It no longer knows where it has put it. It can't find it. It neglects to bring it.

Machado jumps on a plane (that's how María Corina is). She is received on May 31, 2005, at the White House by George W. Bush. The interview lasts 50 minutes, not one less. Machado would like help to put an end to the one the ballot boxes have just confirmed. Bush reassures her: there is no revolution without counter-revolution. At the same time, he is, as one might say, embarrassed. It is difficult for him to act immediately. He has already deployed 130,000 troops to Iraq, and his reshaping of the Greater Middle East is stalling somewhat.

Nothing goes as planned. "Bush, go home," "Bush, fascist, you're the terrorist!" On November 4, 2005, forty thousand people booed the American head of state in Mar del Plata. The heads of state and government of 34 countries had gathered there for the 4th Summit of the Americas. The next day, Chávez and Diego Maradona put on a show. A whole gang of cronies—Néstor Kirchner, "Lula," Evo Morales (soon to be in power), etc.—buried the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), the neoliberal "thing" Bush wanted them to sign.

And to make matters worse, with his ill-timed social reforms, Chávez shackled the majority of Venezuelans. They seemed rather delighted. Stockholm syndrome, apparently.

For a while, Machado hunkered down. Elected to the House of Representatives in 2010, in 2012 she founded a movement more than a party: Vente Venezuela. Now she's a presidential candidate. That's what she claims.

Because in fact...

In April 2011, in Miami, in the modest premises of the Intercontinental Hotel, she participated in a meeting among well-to-do people. Organized and funded by the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs of the US State Department, the event took place behind closed doors. It was titled "600 Days to Eradicate Authoritarianism in Venezuela." Presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado thus expressed her views: electoral means were not "the solution to overthrow Chavismo"; this had already been proven. It was imperative to resort to "street action."

In her case, the impossibility of gaining power through the ballot box was immediately and widely demonstrated: in the right-wing primary—won by Henrique Capriles—she obtained only 3.81% of the vote.

Chávez won the presidential election on October 7, 2012 (54% of the vote). Chávez died on March 5, 2013. Nicolás Maduro succeeded him. Maduro was not Chávez. This sent a huge shiver through the opposition. They were going to "skin" Maduro. Machado became agitated. Machado was somewhat reckless. On the phone, Machado spoke of the need to organize "a new coup d'état" preceded by "non-dialog confrontations" [1]. When the conversation was revealed by "the rrrrrrregime," Machado did not deny it. Ultimately, faced with the "soft" right, this confirms that she embodies the most radical wing of the opposition.

February 2014: Machado takes action. At her side: Leopodo López (Popular Volunteer), former mayor of Chacao, an upscale neighborhood of Caracas; and Antonio Ledezma, "social democratic" mayor of Greater Caracas. They call for an uprising. They call their "Venezuelan Spring" "La Salida" ("The Exit"). They organize incessant demonstrations—the "guarimbas." Urban guerrilla warfare, screams, stampedes, explosions. Deaths, injuries.

Machado jumps on a plane (she's always like that, María Corina). She lands in Washington. Panama officially appoints her "alternate ambassador." She was thus able to speak as part of the Panamanian delegation before an assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). On March 22, 2014, she demanded that, in accordance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the Venezuelan government be sanctioned.

The Venezuelan Constitution – Articles 149, 191, and 197 – does not allow a member of parliament to "represent a foreign government" without parliamentary authorization. The first time, Machado was sanctioned and ineligible for election.

From Florida, a Republican senator threatened Venezuela with sanctions. His name was Marco Rubio.

"We need to clean this pigsty, starting at the head, take advantage of the global climate with [post-Euromaidan] Ukraine and now Thailand," Machado ranted via email. The exchange took place in May 2014 with Venezuelan politicians and US officials. Among them is Ambassador Kevin Whitaker, stationed in Bogota. "It's time to make the necessary efforts, make the necessary appeals, and secure the funding to destroy Maduro; the rest will fall of its own accord."

The "guarimbas" nonetheless end. A total failure. Except for one thing: 45 dead, more than 800 injured. Among the victims, 19 dead and 195 injured are not members of the opposition (don't tell the media, they'd be upset if they forgot them) [2].

In Washington, there is a president who, in 2009, received the Nobel Peace Prize, no one really knows why: Barack Obama. Aside from a few spectacular exploits in Afghanistan and Yemen, not to mention the destruction of Libya in 2011, he has done little to deserve this distinction. He himself, it seems, realizes this. He decides to remedy this deficiency. On March 3, 2015, he signs a decree describing Venezuela as an “unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and political outside the USA...."

"As they say in Oslo, long live the "rapprochement of peoples" and "the spread of progress for peace"!

With the electoral system it has rejected, denounced, and demonized for fifteen years, the opposition, having lost, obtained a large majority in the Assembly during the elections of December 6, 2015. Overjoyed, it forgot the separation of powers. It threw the Constitution out the window. It set itself a priority objective and made no secret of it: to oust Maduro from the presidency within six months. It also swore in three of its deputies, who were facing accusations of fraud.

Chavismo is no sheep being led to the slaughter. It reacts. The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) declared the Assembly in "desacato" ("contempt of authority") and suspended it. The government called for the election of a Constituent Assembly to replace it. Venezuelans voted en masse, undaunted.

Machado and her handful of arsonists went wild. Even more than usual, they called for "a Yankee apocalypse." The message was well received. Wads of cash preceded the cataclysm. According to official figures, the US Congress planned to transfer $5.5 million to the Venezuelan opposition in 2017 to help "civil society" defend "democracy and human rights" [3].

From April to July 2017, the violence took to the streets again. Four months of "peaceful" insurrectionary brutality shook the country. Police blunders, but also the assassination of members of the security forces, hate crimes in the ranks of the demonstrators, ordinary citizens victims of accidents due to the barricades or murdered, protesters blowing themselves up with their own homemade weapons or explosive devices... One hundred and twenty-five dead, more than 1,100 injured (including 340 members of the security forces). Brilliant! With editorial power concentrated in a few hands, the political-media apparatus is doing "the job": "In Venezuela, Maduro demands relentless repression"; "Repression and impunity under the Maduro regime."

Need I point this out once again? Maduro is being very mean. The General Counter-Republican has declared Machado "administratively ineligible." She can no longer hold public office, nor participate in elections, nor anything else. We'll have to talk about this again.

In the meantime, there's no respite. On October 10, 2018, enthusiastic about the resplendent peace brought by the destruction of Libya, Machado invoked the "R2P" (responsibility to protect). She called for a similar international intervention in Venezuela. Be careful: as a proponent of multilateralism, she doesn't put all her bombs in the same basket. On December 4, she wrote to the right-wing Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: could they not use their influence "to advance the dismantling of the criminal Venezuelan regime, closely linked to drug trafficking and terrorism"? On the BBC, she would soon explain the meaning of her approach: "In Venezuela, there is a genocide, which is no longer silent, which no one can deny or underestimate (...)" [4]. This fight against "genocide" would find a kind of culmination when, on July 21, 2020, Machado signed a cooperation agreement based on "Western values" with Netanyahu's Likud.

We're not there yet. Machado is on edge. A right-wing rival has just appeared on the scene. On January 23, 2019, Donald Trump and his National Security Advisor John Bolton democratically elected a Venezuelan president: Juan Guaido. Machado is doubling down on her aggression. On February 12, 2019, she became furious: "We call on the National Assembly to activate Article 187 [of the Constitution] to authorize the use of a multinational force if obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid persist."

But of course: humanitarian aid! Since 2015, a sneaky "economic war" has been destabilizing Venezuela. Since Trump's arrival in the Oval Office, Washington has taken it to the next level. "All options are on the table," proclaims the former reality TV king. To begin with, 936 coercive measures will strangle the Bolivarian Republic's economy to death. Seizure of billions of dollars in assets, sabotage of oil production, starving population... Machado, our white dove, is jumping like a goat (this is an image, as you've probably guessed). Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions! Whatever the cost to her compatriots, especially the poorest, she demands more sanctions every day from the United States, the European Union, and the entire world against her country.

In 2020, she added another weapon to her arsenal: the implementation of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) would solve the problem by also allowing for intervention. On June 8, in an article that could be read in Miami, Bogotá, Madrid, and Paris, but clearly not in Oslo, she returned to the charge: "There remains only one alternative to definitively oust the criminal conglomerate that is waging an unconventional and totally asymmetrical conflict against Venezuelans, and that is the formation of an international coalition that will deploy a Peace and Stabilization Operation in Venezuela."

Perhaps, military intervention in the neighboring country will also be necessary. In June 2022, as elections were about to take place in Colombia, Machado warned: "Gustavo Petro's project is very dangerous, but it can be defeated. Today, more than ever, let us fight united, Colombians and Venezuelans, for our freedom."

The epic tale of the imaginary president Juan Guaido ended in a shambles. He returned to his people in the United States. From Washington, where Joe Biden is ruling, new orders are emerging. Maduro—and through him, Chavism—must be brought down in a more subtle way (which is a rather strong word). There's no question of touching sanctions—except very slightly at the margins. Elections are the ideal path... if we can guarantee that Venezuelans vote the right way.

Having come to its senses for a while, scalded by the ineptitude and corruption of those who, in Guaido's shadow, supposedly represented it, the opposition is going to Barbados to negotiate with the government.

Machado hates the moderate right, or even the moderately moderate, or even the not-at-all moderate, but not completely extremist. Machado never negotiates. But since there are talks, followed by an agreement, she's emerging from her splendid radicalism. Since the right is organizing a primary, she will participate. Is she ineligible? It doesn't matter. Supported as she is by Washington and its Latino and European vassals, she will participate.

The primary takes place on October 22, 2023. The announcement of the results causes a sensation: Machado is elected by 93.13% of the 2.4 million citizens who participated in the vote. Only Kim Jong-un, in North Korea, is capable of doing better. Machado's closest rival, Carlos Prosperi (AD), obtained 5% of the vote. The others garnered less than 1% of the vote. Hardly listened to, all complain of irregularities. According to Nelson Rampersad, a member of the Technical Commission for these primaries, the announced figures are inconsistent. According to him, no more than 520,000 people voted!

Wow! Convergences and confluences, the headlines and commentaries are striking: her "overwhelming" victory in the opposition primary makes María Corina Machado the "undisputed favorite" for the next presidential election. Maduro is doomed. Provided, of course, that we don't look too closely: assuming the announced figures are correct, only 11.8% of those registered in the Permanent Electoral Register (REP) participated in this primary. With 2,253,000 citizens voting in her favor (93% of the total), Machado did not garner more than 10% of the electorate.

Nevertheless. Intoxicated by the glowing comments, the opposition is starting to believe it again. For her own people, her supporters, her admirers, Machado is becoming "Maricori." Crowds are gathering around her—no one will deny it.

One detail remains to be resolved, a seemingly trivial one. On December 15, Machado filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of Justice to challenge her ineligibility. Isn't the whole world with her? The whole world supports her—except, of course, Africa, Asia, Russia, China, part of Latin America, and a few other insignificant countries.

"Ms. Machado, 56, is disqualified for 15 years," the TSJ ruled, deeming the candidate's request null and void. The reasons given: "administrative irregularities" and, for having supported the American sanctions that ruined her country, "betrayal of the homeland."

For any reasonable person, this is how things had to end, right?

The press and the Americanosphere decide otherwise.
Chavismo can also mobilize large crowds all dressed in red, but the woman who was going to win the presidential election hands down cannot run.

"She was a key figure in unity within a once deeply divided political opposition, an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government," Father Nobel will state when announcing Machado's nomination.

It doesn't matter that, in addition to her protégé Edmundo González, who refused to recognize Maduro's victory, eight right-wing or centrist candidates participated in the election. It doesn't matter that seven of them accepted the result.

After receiving the Council of Europe's Vaclav Havel Prize and the European Union's Sakharov Prize in 2024, Machado is now the Nobel Peace Prize winner. If she ever writes her memoirs, we can already predict that the Prix Goncourt will not escape her! Nor, if it does, will the Carrefour Prize for Best First Novel for Make or Break in Caracas.

By awarding Machado, the Oslo jury also pays a heartfelt tribute to all those around the world who courageously help and assist her. Noble people whom, in return, she ardently supports. First and foremost, and honor where honor is due, Benjamin Netanyahu. Donald Trump, as is fitting. Colombia's far-right former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque. The unfortunate Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, also shamefully condemned to ineligibility. The likeable chainsaw-wielding Argentine Javier Milei.

Machado coos over the Spanish leaders of the Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party. Rubbing shoulders with the French leaders of Reconquête and the National Rally, the Chilean extremist Antonio Kast, and Eduardo Bolsonaro (his father's son), she recently represented Venezuela at CPAC Mexico, organized by the international group of the most conservative US Republicans. She appeared publicly, via videoconference, when Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, and the European deputies of the Patriots group welcomed several ultraliberal leaders to the Vistalegre Palace in Madrid on September 13 and 14. In addition to the speech by the future Nobel Peace Prize winner, 8,500 people were able to attend speeches by the inevitable Javier Milei, Victor Orban, Giorgia Meloni, and André Ventura, leader of the Portuguese extremist party Chega.

In defiance of all reason, the Trump administration has placed a $50 million bounty on Maduro's head. The Venezuelan president is said to be the leader of two narcoterrorist organizations — the Cartel of the Suns and the Aragua Train — which do not exist [5]! Venezuela is said to be a "narco-dictatorship," the regional "hub" for cocaine (produced in Colombia), when, according to all reports from specialized and competent organizations, starting with the UN, 85% of the "white" cocaine leaves via the Pacific coast (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru), with around 5% transiting through Venezuela.

Based on this novel, which no publisher worthy of the name would want, Washington deployed eight warships equipped with a powerful arsenal and carrying 4,000 "marines," as well as a nuclear-powered submarine, off the coast of the Bolivarian Republic in early September. F-35 stealth fighter jets are pre-positioned in Puerto Rico. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the island of Grenada confirmed on October 10 that the United States has requested the "temporary installation of radar equipment and associated technical personnel" at the country's main airport.

To date, the massive US fleet has struck four modest vessels at sea, presented as those of "Venezuelan drug traffickers," resulting in at least 21 deaths—which international law would reclassify as "assassinations."

Portraying an adversary or enemy as guilty of heinous crimes, particularly when one intends to launch hostile actions against them, is an effective way to shape international public opinion. [6] Simultaneously, creating a heroine at the mercy of vile torturers reinforces and enriches this metanarrative. Who could protest tomorrow when they saw courageous Saint Bernards intervene to punish the thug and dictator and save the victim(s)?

In 1973, Henry Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize while Hanoi was still suffering the nightmare of its bombings and while he was supporting the coup d'état in Chile. This time, Oslo blessed the warmonger even before the bombs were dropped. By awarding the Nobel Prize to Machado, the jury effectively justified and legitimized in advance a future escalation, or even a US intervention, against Venezuela. Trump has been granted a "license to kill" the "narco-terrorist" Maduro. The erratic occupant of the White House will or will not use these options. But they are given to him. Given the artificially created "atmosphere," a certain indulgence will be granted to him by many.

On October 1st, just before being celebrated and praised, Machado, on Fox News, still declared that "Venezuelans should be grateful" if Trump bombed Venezuela.

Among the flood of congratulations following the spectacular award, came one from French President Emmanuel Macron. "In these times of peril for freedom, which is increasingly threatened," said the man who, between two Lecornus, is a persistent candidate for the Nobel Prize in Comedy, "Maria Corina Machado brilliantly embodies the hope of an entire people, a universal ideal."
More attuned to the realities of the world, Colombian head of state Gustavo Petro addressed Machado directly: "With all due respect, urging Netanyahu to act in favor of Venezuela will not help the Venezuelan people. It can only lead to genocide against the people and an illegal armed and international aggression against your country." [7]

"I'm in shock, I can't believe it," confided María Corina Machado upon learning of her nomination. She's not alone. Everywhere, those who still have a brain are devastated, losing their tempers, vomiting, clenching their fists, spewing their anger and indignation. Even Trump expressed his astonishment. A few minutes after the award was presented to (the one we don't know if she will remain) his friend, he claimed that the committee had put "politics before peace."

Ultimately, almost everyone agrees.

There's something rotten in the Kingdom of Norway.

Oh, and while we're at it...

https://www.legrandsoir.info/le-pere-nobel-est-une-ordure.html

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

Various so-called "coalitions" are being created to promote anti-Russian narratives aimed at entrenching on the international stage a distorted image of Russia as a “terrorist,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Key points:

• US senators are now joining the effort as they reportedly prepare bills to label Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” over the alleged “abduction of Ukrainian children”
•  
• Russia views this as an attempt to undermine the dialogue that has taken shape between Russia and the US
•  
• To date, 122 children have been reunited with relatives in Ukraine or third countries, including 29 children returning to Russia. The reunifications are verified by the Red Cross, with Qatar and the Vatican serving as intermediaries
•  
• US First Lady Melania Trump recently joined this process, confirming that Russia shows willingness to provide objective and detailed information about the children
•  
• Thanks to cooperation between Russia and the US, seven minors have been reunited with their families in Ukraine, and one girl returned from Ukraine to her family in Russia on October 11
•  
• Russia proceeds from the assumption that the direct contact established with the US will not only help reunite more families, but also help inform the international community about the real situation
•  
• Fabricated stories about "20,000 abducted Ukrainian minors" and various "child return coalitions," as well as bills and resolutions hostile to Russia, have nothing to do with the truth or concern for children’s interest

These are Bucha-style fakes—heartbreaking stories and sensational headlines in Western media, even though neither the names of those allegedly killed in Bucha nor the list of “stolen children” will ever be provided.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20251024/ukraines-anti-russian-campaign-on-childrens-issue-has-nothing-to-do-with-truth--zakharova-1123007787.html

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.