In Venezuela's Upcoming Election, U.S. Seeks Observers it Can Influence
In Venezuela's Upcoming Election, U.S. Seeks Observers it Can Influence
Posted: 11/18/2015 11:06 am EST Updated: 11/18/2015 11:59 am EST
In Washington, it's just seen as the way the world works. Just as big fish eat little fish and lions prey on antelope, so there is no moral shame in the U.S. government trying to undermine, destabilize or get rid of democratically elected governments that it doesn't like.
So it is no surprise that the multi-pronged effort to delegitimize the elections for Venezuela's National Assembly, scheduled for Dec. 6, would be reported and widely accepted here without question as merely trying to insure "credible observation" for the election. The "credible observers," who are being portrayed as the sine qua non of a "credible result" is the Organization of American States.
To see how absurd this assumption is, we need only look back a few years, when the OAS appointed an "Expert Verification Mission" to examine the presidential election in Haiti. This mission did something outrageous, something that has never been done -- before or since -- in the history of electoral monitoring: It reversed the result of the first round of voting, without conducting a recount or even a statistical test. Normally, when an election result is disputed, there is a recount or the result is accepted or a new election can be held. Nowhere does an electoral monitoring team simply pick a new winner.
In Washington, it's just seen as the way the world works. Just as big fish eat little fish and lions prey on antelope, so there is no moral shame in the U.S. government trying to undermine, destabilize or get rid of democratically elected governments that it doesn't like.
So it is no surprise that the multi-pronged effort to delegitimize the elections for Venezuela's National Assembly, scheduled for Dec. 6, would be reported and widely accepted here without question as merely trying to insure "credible observation" for the election. The "credible observers," who are being portrayed as the sine qua non of a "credible result" is the Organization of American States.
To see how absurd this assumption is, we need only look back a few years, when the OAS appointed an "Expert Verification Mission" to examine the presidential election in Haiti. This mission did something outrageous, something that has never been done -- before or since -- in the history of electoral monitoring: It reversed the result of the first round of voting, without conducting a recount or even a statistical test. Normally, when an election result is disputed, there is a recount or the result is accepted or a new election can be held. Nowhere does an electoral monitoring team simply pick a new winner.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/venezuela-election-us_b_8554750.html?utm_hp_ref=world
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