Category: Venezuela

Operation InfeKtion: How Russia Perfected the Art of War + It’s Relation to Bolivarianism

Keywords:

Disinformation, Bolivarian Propaganda, Cold War Media Studies, PSUV, Communist Infiltration, Social Media and Democracy

Abstract:

This article reviews the historical practices used by the intelligence services of Russia described in the New York Times and then links this to examples of disinformation campaigns that are operated by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

On the Science of Disinformation with Russian and Venezuelan Case Studies

Operation InfeKtion is a 47-minute long documentary produced by the New York Times which uses archival footage and interviews. Hosted on YouTube, it presents examples of the information warfare military strategies used by the Soviet Union’s KGB in operations against the United States.

Interesting to note is that several months after the publication of this, Yahoo News published also published an article based on an unclassified FBI document about Conspiracy Theories which also deals with this issue.

Disinformation: The Dangers of Distorted Reality

Read any book published over the last several years in the digital marketing field – such as Growther Hacker Marketing, Content Inc., or Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator – and you’ll learn how economic pressures cause by changes caused by the growth of the internet that have lead to the decline professional and ethical standards in publishing and the general public’s increasing.

As disinformation campaigns seeks to mobilize the emotions of their audience by distorting reality for political ends, this means that it’s now easier than ever for false information to be inserted into public discourse.

Because the Constitution and the U.S. legal system so highly values freedom of expression,  there is no singular Federal Law nor widely-adopted industry-standards for honesty or integrity in journalism and publishing, nor is there any enforcement organization in the United States outside of the courts.

This lack of accountability is why technology companies that host or link to news content have recently been targeted for regulation by the government.

Rule #1: Find the Cracks

Finding the crack isn’t merely about coming up with controversial content, it’s about finding an audience and tailoring their consumption in such a way that it (Rule #7) fits long term goals.

There’s a lot of ways to manipulate people into believing disinformation, and disinformation campaigns make knowing as much as possible about their target audience a key component of any good information warfare project.

Intersectional chart depicting social hierarchies able to be exploited by foreign-state sponsored propandandists.

Audiences that have witnessed or experienced trauma, that identify with groups whose identities relate in some way to a sense of collective trauma, or that are neurologically divergent are especially vulnerable to disinformation. Lack of subject area knowledge, deference to alternative-authority figures and interpersonal social pressures to conform makes youths particularly vulnerable to this sort of messaging as well.

Rule #2: The Big Lie

While once big lies – such as the claim that the United States invented AIDs to depopulate undesireable demographics – were the main focus of disinformation campaigns, in the contemporary attention economy a large number of smaller false claims. Here are some examples.

A young black child has a plastic bag put over his head following his arrest, leading to headlines that “many people are outraged“. However if you watch the actual video you’ll see that this was because he was repeatedly spitting on police officers, that he was at no risk of suffocating and, most importantly, the child seemed to be encouraged to engage in this behavior by the person filming it in order to create this “outgrageous” scene.

Another recent example which featured President Donald Trump is found in coverage of a joke he made (linked here to C-Span as the HuffPost’s version has edited out of their linked-to video the larger context of the comment ). Some media outlets – such as CNN – covered this as him implying that he was the Messiah, while others did not mention it at all. What’s clear from the full context of the speech act is that Trump is comparing himself to other politicians that would not be as firm with China in economic negotiations and making a joke – as recognized by Fox News.

Rule #3: A Kernel of Truth

It’s this small kernal of truth that makes the big lie possible. By relying on the audience to not fact check, it’s creates the conditions for misleading headlines and outrage.

An excellent example of this related to Venezuela’s media operations comes from MintPress News’ article New IDF Chief Rabbi Says Soldiers Can Rape Women in Wartime to Boost Morale.

The article is written by “Matt Agorist”, the pen name of the director of the Free Thought Project whose government name is unknown. Interesting to note is that others have seen fit to investigate him and when confronted with  the fact that so much of the content associated with his writings and website are classified as misinformation and disinformation, he’s used the Alex Jones Defense – claiming he wants to “inspire conversation and a free flow of alternative views.”

Like the example of Donald Trump provided above, the article’s headline and content are vastly at odds with reality.

Reviewing the primary material from which the article is based on – it’s clear that the Chief Rabbi in question was answering a question which contrasts the norms described in certain Biblical passages to that which are now abided by by the IDF.

In other words, nothing in the headline is true – even though the article provides the evidence which shows that it isn’t true!

Rule #4: Conceal Your Hand

Disinformation does not always emerge from an official party outlet, such as Pravda, RT or TeleSUR English.

In fact, because of that direct connection to the government it can be far more effective for it to emerge from other sources.

Other outlets – in Venezuela’s case The Real News Network and Venezuela Analysis (both are operated by ex-Bolivarian Republic of Venezuelan Officials, and likely funded in part with their assistance as well), Orinocco Tribune, Ghion Journal, or a number of pan-Africanist “news services” – can equally serve that State’s interest.

This is accomplished by creating distance between the actors involved in a disinformation campaign. Furthermore it provides for a powerful “victim narrative” if their are any ramifications.

Being called out for poor reporting, bad fact-checking or unreported interests in coverage – as Max Blumenthal, Rania Khalek and Anna Parampul have in relation to their coverage of the war in Syria – can be spun into a “vast conspiracy” to keep the truth from being told and whatever professional ramifications that come from this can lead one to becoming a cause celebre.

Once the uncertainty of conflicting narratives is cemented, there will always be come people that are gullibile enough to believe it.

Rule #5: The Useful Idiot

“Useful idiots” is a derogatory term for people perceived as propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the cause’s goals, and who is cynically used by the cause’s leaders. During the research for my Master’s Thesis at NYU I read a lot about useful idiots. It’s interesting to note that often times it’s not until the collapse of a government, as happened with the Soviet Union, that the full extent of these networks becomes apparent.

One of my favorite TV series, The Americans, depicts a variety of useful idiots – from those that have been cultivated so as to engage in espionage, treason, sedition, incitement and other illegal activities. Useful idiots typically work in media, education, political activism, public relations. Opertion InfeKtion depicts scientists that publish and defend fake findings as well as political commentators that grossly misrepresent history.

Following the opening of the Soviet Archives extensive troves of evidence was found detailing how US Communists Aided the USSR. Amongst the many examples of the Soviet Union’s success in infilration was helping manage the publication of Rampage – a radical left journal. Given what some commentators have called the “rapid rise” of socialism it seems sensible to investigate the relation of the oil rich nation on our border identifying as socialist, no?

As part of my ongoing investigation into Venezuela’s Gramscian fantasy of exporting revolution to the United States, I’ve made this live-updated archive of PSUV-sponsored media, artists, intellectuals or political activists.

Rule #6: Deny Everything

As there is no centralized authority responible for judging questionable content and it’s origins, there are some simple ways to avoid accountability when questioned.

    1. Deny existance of topic at hand.
    2. Deflect to another topic.
    3. Defend claims made as being part of performance art.
    4. Defend claims made as being the product of a mental imbalance.
    5. Refuse to respond to any and all professional and ethical related questions.

Because honesty and integrity in the public sphere falls open those with a sense of civic duty, private companies that wish to monetize their research or contests related to Fake News.

I’ve asked a lot of people at TeleSUR questions related to the Social Media and Democracy project – and almost all have refused to respond and blocked me. This link goes to an updated list of executives in charge of various aspects of operations that have done this.

Rule #7: The Long Game

As Operation InfeKtion illustrates, it sometimes takes years for the fruits of counterintelligence work to be born.

The Long Game also means orienting the development of information related towards those already engaged in intergenerational struggles.

People’s political orientations can become increasingly radicalized through encuentros, a tactic frequently used by individuals and organizations connected in some way to the PSUV. Because these interactions and economic, cultural, political or other types of exchanges are often not recorded for public consumption – and as they can quickly be deleted from servers if they are exposed – they make for the best type of recruitment for irregular warfare disinformation campaigns.

Operation InfeKtion is an excellent documentary, however it unfortunately does not cover Russia’s connection to Venezuela’s state media apparatus.

Technology Transfer: From Russia to Venezuela

Nicholas Maduro, President of the the PSUV, and Vladimir Putin, ex-KGB Agent

In an article on Foreign Policy, Ryan C. Berg and Andres Martinez-Fernandez write:

“Although a lack of transparency makes precise accounting nearly impossible, in recent years Venezuela’s government has purchased Russia’s state-of-the-art S-300 anti-aircraft missiles; imported hundreds of thousands of Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition; and acquired 5,000 Igla-S MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems). And this is just what has been on public display in Venezuela’s military parades or outlined in leaked military contracts. There are no doubt many more small arms and equipment in the Venezuelan military’s possession.”

Given the above comments, italics added by me, we see an example of military technology transfer occuring. While irregular warfare isn’t mentioned therein, it’s been an interest of Hugo Chavez Frias and Nicolas Maduro Moros since the founding of TeleSUR.

One such personality that has perfectly illustrates my speculation as to Russian-Venezuelan information warfare technology transfer is Abby Martin – who stated at RT and then, like many other of their employees, transferred to TeleSUR. More about her in a minute.

Thus with Russian know how; the religious and political solidarity networks already developed by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and the race-based outreach made possible by PSUV cultural ministers and militants – we can come to recognize Venezuela as an organizing and supporting force of a complex state intelligence appratus designed to cultivate, coordinate and control small political groups that have the capacity to converge for large, violent political events. This not only allows for the depleting of local, state, government and federal budgets and an unofficial political tax on private enterprises near those areas – it also allows for the fodder of disinformation narratives.

Foreign-Government Sponsored Disinformation + Legal Precedence

Gillars v. United States [182 F.2d 962 (D.C. Cir. 1950)] sealed the fate of Sally Gillars, aka Axis Sally, as a traitor. She hasn’t been the only one in American history. Foreign state-sponsored propagandist Robert Henry Best was also tried and convicted of Treason for his speech acts.

They were tried because the First United States Congress, in 1790, provided this statute:

“…if any person or persons, owing allegiance to the United States of America, shall levy war against them, or shall adhere to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, and shall be thereof convicted, on confession in open court, or on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act of the treason whereof he or they shall stand indicted, such person or persons shall be adjudged guilty of treason against the United States, .” 1 Stat. 112 (1790).

Another words disinformation produced in coordination with a foreign government during wartime equals Treason.

By the by – should you wish to learn more about Axis Sally, a book titled Axis Sally: The American Voice of Nazi Germany was been published about her – review here – and you can also read some of the Evidentiary Documents from the Legal Case by clicking on those respective terms.

Venezuela’s Media Workers: The Future Target of Law Enforcement?

This previous case history rasises some intersting questions given the current political relations between the United States and Venezuela.

While bullets were not now flying between armed military combatants – any honest review of the language, iconography and policies presided over by Nicholas Maduro’s reveals pronouncements which frequently express the sentiment that he and the whole country is under seige, meaning categorically that one is engaged in a protracted war. Also worth noting is that according to the words of TeleSUR’s founders and their executives their state media apparatus was explicitly founded for ideological combat. Does this and the fact thatVenezuela has long been considered an irregular threat to the United States – mean that those who are or have been contracted by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela could be tried for treason?

Given Nicolas Maduro’s role as executive director of TeleSUR and the thrust of their “news” coverage and related activities, it seems like this may be so.

Hands off Venezuela, one of the myriad political action cells that the PSUV sponsors internationally.

But then again, I’m not a lawyer.

Still – to me it does raise several interesting questions, such as:

How does the definition of treason change in periods of irregular warfare?

How do the principles underlying the foundations of  prior judgements relate to the evidence at hand?

If Abby Martin is ever prosecuted and found guilty of Treason for the misinformation she has produced while employed by the Russian and Venezuelan Intelligence Services  – what’s the best nickname that can be given her – #AnybodyAgainstAmericaAbby, #MultipolarMartin or, my personal favorite, #BocamierdaMartin?

Also, what of the platforms and accounts that spread and host such content?

In a situation such as Venezuela is now facing, I’ve emailed the Venezuela Affairs Office and shared some of my own research as well as my belief that they should seek to exproprirate TeleSUR’s accounts and websites.

Disinformation, Democracy, and Social Media

Fake News is really real and is really dangerous, especially so when there are intelligence

Its purveyors prey on traumas, ignorance, bias and aspirations in hopes that it will lead to political gain. While clearly distinct from terrorist violence, the overlapping goals between the two are readily appearant.

While professional organizations, private companies and state laws used to be sufficient to counteract the rapid spread of such social contagion – the capabilities created by new information and communication technologies over the past two decades has outstripped their capacities.

As the federal system of the United States differs vastly from that of the United States, we have yet to address the new capabilities wrought by technology in law. It’s likely that in the near future, there will complex work done to address this.

 

Review of “Venezuela in Light of Anti-American Parties and Affiliations in Latin America”

Abstract: This article offers an overview of the structure of those political parties and international organizations most relevant to the current goings-on in northern South America and the Caribbean. It highlights a network of revolutionary-left parties and concludes with a working hypothesis regarding the network’s conspiratorial prospects.

Keywords: 21st Century Socialism, Sao Paolo Forum, Transnational Criminal Organizations, Political Science

Party Affiliation in Latin America and Connection to Political Movements

Venezuela in Light of Anti-American Parties and Affiliations in Latin America was written by Lt. Col. Geoff Demarest, JD, PhD and published in Military Review Online in June of 2019.

The author argues that one needs to become familiar with the ideological signaling and collaborative habits of an armful of militant-left organizations in order to understand the Bolivarian Movement that has lead to the economic crisis and deterioration of democracy in Venezuela.

As a multi-national movement predicated on the idea that pan-Latin American revolution should be accimplished “by any means necessary,” Bolivarianism is defined by it’s soaring rhetoric and criminal behavior.

First Tier:

  1. The Cuban Communist Party (PCC)
  2. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)
  3. The Brazilian Workers Party (PT)

Second Tier:

  1. The Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional or FSLN) in Nicaragua.
  2. Movement to Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo or MAS) in Bolivia.
  3. Dominican Liberation Party (Partido de Liberación Dominicana or PLD) in the Dominican Republic.

These organizations wield enhanced influence within the above described composite in that they control their respective country-level governments.

Associated Groups:

  1. FARC-EP
  2. ELN

Umbrella Organizations

  1. The Forum of São Paulo (Foro de São Paulo or FSP)
  2. The Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (Conferencia Permanente de Partidos Políticos de América Latina y el Caribe or COPPPAL).

The Sao Paolo Forum’s Origins

Lula da Silva’s Worker’s Party was the organizing force behind the first Sao Paolo conference. Foreshadowing the corruption that was to later shown via Operation Car Wash, the first conference later lead to corruption charges being brought against the organizers for misappropriation of public sector funds.

A number of the FSP associated parties run the offices of the chief executive of their respective countries. This includes Ecuador’s PAIS Alliance (Patria Altiva y Soberana Alianza), El Salvador’s Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional or FMLN), Uruguay’s Broad Front (Frente Amplio or FA), and Mexico’s National Regeneration Movement (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional or MORENA).

This does not mean that only one party per country is given credentials to attend.

While none of these following Colombian political parties have much electoral support, all are members of the Foro de Sao Paulo.

(1) Patriotic March (Marcha Patriótica)
(2) Progressive Movement (Movimiento Progresista)
(3) Green Alliance Party (Partido Alianza Verde)
(4) Colombian Communist Party (Partido
(5) Alternative Democratic Pole (Polo Democrático Alternativo)
(6) Here for Socialism (Presentes por el Socialismo)
(7) Patriotic Union (Unión Patriótica)
(8) Citizen Power Movement (Movimiento Poder Ciudadano)

Given that some of the above mentioned groups are designated terrorist organizations and that there is an increasing suspiscion as to the motivations and goals of the actors involved Sao Paolo Forum – other organizations act as front groups for their interests. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, or ALBA) “advances PCC and PSUV positions on a complete range of international issues.”

The author closes his article with the statement that until these extraregional entites and their coercive associates are weakened, that democratization in Venezuela will be more difficult – an assessment made evident by the fact that the Cuban military now occupies a significant role in the functioning of the government of the PSUV.

While Venezuela in Light of Anti-American Parties and Affiliations in Latin America only takes Venezuela as it’s subject, it’s also worth mentioning in this review that the Forum’s influence is not limited to Latin America. Thus this ends the literature review. Below continues with an extension of the author’s thesis – which relates to my own movement of movements thesis.

The PSUV and the FARC-EP

One of the recurring tropes used by the PSUV and their political accomplices is that everyone that seeks to maintain a global political order based on laws is a Nazi.

As of other journalists and investigators have pointed out – the FARC and ELN have recieved arms, vehicles and special treatment from Nicholas Maduro. Nicholas Maduro even welcomed FARC leaders while at the Sao Paolo Forum to “set up base” in Venezuela.

Given the effectiveness that these organizations have had in helping leftist parties win office in Latin America – one would expect them to try to export the process. And indeed they have!

U.S. Social Forum: The North American Iteration of the  Sao Paolo Forum

The United States Social Forum, like the New Horizons Conference in Iran, presents an opportunity for the assessment and recruitment of political activists by foreign intelligence services.

The United States Social Forum emerged from American political activists collaboratings with numerous radical political action groups. 15,000 people and numerous organizations attended the first convergence in 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia and there have been several other regional and national Forums since then.

This, however, is not the extent of influence that can be charted. Indeed, a number of American political activists connected to the United States Social Forum have travelled to the Sao Paulo Forum.

Americans at the Sao Paulo Forum

American organizations associated with the Sao Paolo Forum include political parties – such as the Communist Party USA and the Green Party, as well as movements such as Code Pink, Black Lives Matters, CISPES.

As is evident from the above flyer, there are several  U.S. organizations whose political activities, rhetoric and goals align with that of the Anti-American Parties which normally attend the Forum.

Indeed Black Lives Matter founders Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors were present at the first United States Social Forum while Opal Tometti has recieved an award from her activism from Nicolas Maduro.

The United Socialist Party of America

Conceptual Map of the United Socialist Party of America. Important to note is that this excludes other NGOs and movements that fit into their activities.

Given all this I believe it’s worth reconceiving how Socialist Parties within the United States are viewed.

In Venezuela the PSUV brought sundry Socialist political activists together due to the charisma and policies of Hugo Chavez.

It seems reasonable to state that a similar political alignment, which I call the United Socialist Party of America, has also formed. But rather than love of a leaders, it’s around hatred manufactured against President Donald Trump.

Carlos Ron, the Counselor of Political Affairs at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the larger, bald man two seats away from the 1st Annual People’s Congress of Resistance Convention.

This development isn’t some organic happenstance, but something that has been manufactured in large part by a variety of Venezuelan political officials – like Carlos Ron, pictured above. Carlos along with Jesus “Chucho” Garcia, Jorge Arreaza and other diplomats have frequently attended socialist events in the United States – be it at Party of Socialism and Liberation meetings or at events held at the People’s Forum in New York – an obvious nod to the Social Forum. What the extent of their influence has been – be it funding, access to goods and services, etc. – is something for another article.

Occupy Unmasked: Steve Bannon, Andrew Breitbart & Evidence of CastroChavismo

I decided to start watching the films produced by Citizen United Films and the first one that I decided to watch, given the connection to my research on CastroChavismo, was Occupy Unmasked.

A project of Steve Bannon and Andrew Breitbart’s – I found the film to be compelling in its depiction of the covert goals of the Occupiers; the disingenuous methods used to try to obtain positive media coverage and the generally intellectually bankrupt character of the personalities involved despite whatever “good intentions” they claimed. This was, in fact, why I paid so little attention to what was going on after the first encampment was created in Zuccotti Park.

While I was living in Barcelona, Spain at the time that the occupation started, the supposedly “spontaneous” event was being planned when I was living in New York City and attending New York University. In fact in my Contemporary Marxist Theory class, taught by Vivek Chibber, there were several students from the New School for Social Research – the educational institution associated with the Frankfurt School that sought people to become involved in this “spontaneous” uprising against the 1%.

Before that, even, at an academic conference at SUNY Binghamton, I debated with Micah White (one of the “founders” of the movements) over the merits of the actions to come. My experience at this conference of self-proclaimed radicals was so cringy I even wrote a poem about it.

Occupy Unmasked: A Critical Appraisal

My one criticism of the film, which is half-heartedly given the closeness of the film’s release to the events described, is that it doesn’t delve deep enough into the details on the personalities driving occupy.

The section on Brandon Darby and Common Grounds Collective, for instance, covers a very significant point – the infiltration by communists and anarchists into “solidarity” and assistance organizations in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina for the purpose of base-building for the purpose of creating Dual Power.

The various organizations and their connections to international organizations, international political parties, and the intelligence services operations of foreign states – however – are not explored in the film. Furthermore the connection of various domestic educational institutions – such as NYU’s Hemispheric Institute and the New School for Social Research, who in their own literature describes themselves as the heirs of the Frankfurt School – is not covered.

Given that the focus of the film is on showing the anti-Consitutional, anti-capitalist, illegalist, and insurrectionary nature of OWS political activists as well as it’s connections to unions – this is just additional erudition related to points made in the film.

Occupy Wall Street, Rape and “Alternative Justice” 

One of the most compelling moments of Occupy Unmasked is when Andrew Breitbart yells repeatedly into the Zuccoti Park encampment: “Stop raping people.” after rapes were reported to the police and news media. While this film focuses on New York, it’s important to note that there were a number of other sexual assaults at Occupy Wall Street camps – including that of minors.

Breitbart, immediately thereafter records someone on film stating that they have their own set of “means” for dealing with such crimes.

As someone that has read the accounts of sexual assaults by now-former members of various American Socialist Parties, it’s worth noting that there are a number of instances described by members criminal charges are not brought against anyone (as it would damage the prestige of the organization and thus the likelihood of revolution) and instead, like the practices of the Catholic Church and pedophile priests, organizers are instead sent to other cities and those that bring it up publicly are ostracized.

Occupy Unmasked and CastroChavismo

Watching Steve Bannon’s film I noticed a number of indicators that are connected to my own documentary/data science project.

The below photo collection further provides further evidence to my own Movement of Movements Thesis, as well as reinforces the claims made by Bannon and Breitbart in Occupy Unmasked.

Why I Write: To Avoid Criminal Charges

As my reader can see from this quotation from the U.S. Code’s subsection on Treason, Sedition and Subversive Activities as listed on the Cornell Law School Website:

“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.”

Defining Treason in Relation to Venezuela’s U.S. Political Influence Network

Since becoming informed as to part of the scope and scale of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s financial support and assistance of radical political activity in the United States, I’ve been publishing online about it in part to avoid being charged with misprision of treason.

Why do I define the behavior of most of the people associated with Venezuela’s state media as being treasonous? Simple! Their behavior categorically fits the definition of treason.

While those on my list are likely to try to use the Free Speech clause of the Constitution as an aegis for their activities, if one reads the original documents of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela it is clear that the Government views their investments in American media and political personalities as being part of a war.

Debunking Richard Wolff’s Debunking of Jordan Peterson’s “Cultural Marxism”

This article contextualizes an exchange between Dr. Richard Wolff and Abby Martin about Jordan Peterson that was uploaded to Empire Files’s YouTube channel.

It then debunks some of the critical analysis and positions made by Wolff, and places his work within the context of Kultural Marxism.

Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Žižek Discuss “Happiness: Capitalism vs. Marxism”

I know a lot about Marxism.

Slavoj Žižek was one of my professors during my M.A. research at New York University and in his lectures, he frequently explicated on the works of Karl Marx and G. W. F. Hegel.

Vivek Chibber and Bertell Ollman, experts in the fields of historical and dialectical materialism – sub-fields in History and Political Sciences based on the writings of Marx – were also my professors while at NYU.

While not that familiar with the work of Jordan Peterson (my familiarity with his work consists of watching another of his other debates) I was curious to see him speak given his rise to fame and my own psychological investigations under my father’s guidance while attending FICAM.

Grading the Debate

Watching Jordan Peterson explain Marxist thought was thorougly cringy.

When I first heard him say something askew from what Marxists actually describe in their works I thought of writing – as I did with the Steve Bannon vs. David Frum Munk Debate – a sort of ongoing commentary, this time correcting him.

I quickly realized that to do so would consume more time than I was willing to commit, so was heartened to see that Harrison Fluss, a former colleague from mine from FAU, went into specifics in Jacobin Magazine. Though I don’t agree with a number of his conclusions there or in his other commentary on Peterson, his assessments related to Marx are valid and insightful.

This, however, doesn’t mean that Slavoj Žižek won the debate.

There was no real overarching conflict affirming or negating a resolution. It was more like a mutual clarification of perspectives, a charting of concepts histories and a series of clarifications and jokes.

Though Žižek states in his rebuttal that Peterson’s reading of The Communist Manifesto was overly-simplified, he also recognizes that what Peterson means by “Cultural Marxism” doesn’t actually emerge from Marxist thought and even agrees with Peterson that some of the critical points he makes about it are nevertheless correct.

More importantly, as it relates to Capitalism vs. Marxism and it’s relationship to Happiness, is that Žižek agrees with Peterson’s description of post-modernist/identity politics protests and other ideas it the replacement of Marx’s idea of class conflict– defined as being between the working class, proletariat and the bourgeoisie – with those of the terms used within identity politics discourse.

Thus even though Dr. Peterson can’t name a single of these “post-modern Marxists”  – they both share that they’ve had experiences on campus of those embodying this value system.

This is important, as it allows the Žižek and Peterson to come to a mutually agreed-upon understanding of what is meant by Cultural Marxism and to agree that what they understand by it is socially harmful.

Debunking the Debunking of Jordan Peterson’s “Cultural Marxism” with Richard Wolff


In his interview with Abby Martin on Empire Files Dr. Richard D. Wolff similarly recognized Peterson’s unfamiliarity with Marxist literature and inability to name a single person that would fall under the rubric of a “Cultural Marxist”.

But, rather than being a magnanimous interlocutor he claims that Dr. Peterson’s used of the term Cultural Marxism is merely a revival of an old Nazi trope that has no connection whatsoever to Marxism (it does, and I describe it in brief here) and then denigrates him for not understanding what “exploitation” means to Marxists. That whole subsequent dialogue between Dr. Peterson and Dr. Žižek which finds them clarifying the terms used and then agreeing to the? Completely ignored.

The extent to Dr. Wolff’s unfairness to Jordan Peterson goes beyond making red herrings and being condescensing to someone speaking outside their area of specialization.

In his closing comments, Dr. Wolff equates the perspective of Dr. Peterson (a view, incidentally, shared by Marx [₁]) – that social hierarchies will always exist in some form to the justification of chattel slavery in the Americans.

Let me state this again as it is important.

Whereas Dr. Jordan Peterson limits his discussion on hierarchies to endogenous personal capabilities (such as physical attractiveness and other such mundane and widely recognized categories) and says equality of ends is offensive to the human condition but equality of opportunity is a necessary value to strive for – Dr. Wolff twists this and Dr. Peterson’s otherwise mundane argument (“People can be judged based on different qualities” – a position adjacent to his claim that history can be judged on qualities other than class struggle) to mean that he is justifying slavery.

More than that, he places this position within a wider, conspiratorial framework wherein Peterson is an expression of the economic elite which feels the “status quo is in danger” and thus the “dominant classes” revert to using the language of “natural law” to justify their rule.

Beyond merely making the false claim that Peterson’s position is to justify slavery, Wolff states that in situations wherein people use the language of natural law – that physical violence is an appropriate response.

His exact words are: “The minute you hear that [justification of hierarchies] you should reach for your gun.”

Given that Dr. Peterson’s last words are to praise the human capacity to engage with and learn from others that hold different world views and that Žižek’s last words are to warn Leftists from falling into “the political correctness trap” and to be intrepid in their thinking, this line of commentary by Dr. Wolff’s seems highly suspect [2].

Orwellian Irony: Why Kultural Marxists Seek to Debunk Cultural Marxism 

“Loyalty Forever, Traitors Never” – In this Facebook Live video Nicolas Maduro expresses the view that good citizens don’t question the Revolutionary Process or speak bad about Hugo Chavez. In the comments section on the right, Venezuelans ask Maduro for financial assitance.

Dr. Peterson and Dr. Žižek both reject the Marxist framework that subsumes individual liberty under the collective.

The above image provides a brief indicator as to why that is so – being forced to rely upon the attention and benevolence of a Party or Dear Leader for the means by which to self-reproduce or better one’s socio-economic standing is degrading and has lead, historically, to a wide variety of crimes great and small.

In contrast to Dr. Richard Wolff, who views Dr. Peterson as an avatar for the anxieties of an economic elite that fears a shift towards Socialism in America (Idealism), I view Dr. Richard Wolff along with a number of intellectuals, artists and political activists as being associated with Venezuela’s state media, state intelligence apparatus and the PSUV (Historicism).

What is the basis for my claim, besides being on a show funded by Venezuela?

In addition to appearing on a number of media outlets connected to or associated with Venezuelan state media, Richard D. Wolff was also involved with Occupy Wall Street (along with many other Venezuela-aligned Marxist-inspired organizations such as the Workers World Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Revolutionary Communist Party); is also an instructor at the People’s Forum and and is on the board of the Left Forum –  organizations which hosts a number of Kultural Marxist personalities; frequently appears on The Real News Network– which has numerous former Venezuelan government officials working for it; and is involved with a Democracy at Work, a non-profit with an anti-capitalist orientation akin to other political activism projects that have received funding from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

In fact, Dr. Wolff’s closing comments – misrepresenting the position of a perceived enemy and then threatening violence – are roughly commensurate with the political climate fostered by Nicolas Maduro: Discouraging criticism under threat of neglect (access to government goods and services) and violence (via SEBIN and colectivos). Given the role that academic editors and peer-review plays in academic publications

I imagine that Dr. Wolff’s written corpus isn’t as distortive and crass as this “debunking,” but I’ll have to rely on other’s assessments as after having watched his exchange with Abby Martin I’m disinterested in potentially encountering other falsifications done for the sake of demonstrating ideological purity and superiority.

Footnote

[1] This is a very strange claim for Wolff to make as the notion that “hierarchy” disappears under a socialist regime is quickly disproved via historical analysis or reference to seminal Marxist texts. In Critique of the Gotha Program, Karl Marx writes:

“In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life’s prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!”

While one can certainly make the claim that conflating Marx and Lenin is intellectually problematic, it’s also worth citing Lenin to disprove Wolff’s claim that all hierarchies are flattened in a Socialist societty. In Lenin’s own words, from , “The State and Revolution”:

“We are not utopians, we do not ‘dream’ of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon incomprehension of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, as a matter of fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until people are different. No, we want the socialist revolution with people as they are now, with people who cannot dispense with subordination, control, and ‘foremen and accountants’.”

One could also look to the history of the Soviet Union, with Joseph Stalin’s policy enactment of “primitive socialist accumulation” to demonstrate that exploitation still existed via the provision of surplus value being provided to political cadres loyal to the current leader of the Communist Party and not workers.

[2] In what is essentially a criticism of The Resistance, which is intimately connected to the Left Forum, Slavoj Žižek also claimes in his closing statement that “People labeling others fascist is lazy thinking, and Trump is not a fascist.”

Dan Kovalik, Alliance for Global Justice and Venezuela’s Ministero del Poder Popular para la Cultura

Dan Kovalik with Daniel Ortega

Dan Kovalik is one of the intellectuals and activists that I’ve identified as being associated with Venezuela’s Kultural Marxism network as well as the Nicaragua Network founded by Daniel Ortega.

When I noticed that he was going to be giving what was described as a “Talk and Exchange” via a live video chat, I set a notification for myself in order to watch and ask some questions.

Verifying Authenticity and Logging On to the Network

The first thing that I do in order to access live feed described in this brief essay designed to enlighten the minds of its readers on the connections between Venezuela’s Intelligence Services and intellectuals and political activists in America was by logging on to Facebook.

One logs on by first pulling up their website on an internet browser or smartphone app. After I logged in to my account, the use of which is predicated upon Facebook’s terms and conditions, I pulled up the Alliance for Global Justice Facebook page and began to watch Dan Kovalik speak.

The preliminary speech was aligned with other not-very-insightful commentary that I’ve seen Abby Martin and other Venezuela-hands provide. I’d be curious to learn if they receive these talking points – which don’t seem to vary much – from their Venezuelan handlers or if they come up with them themselves. Anyway, after a while, he started to wind down and open for questions.

Questioning Dan Kovalik

It makes sense that those associated with Venezuela’s Intelligence Agencies would want to watch Dan Kovalik, after all, they need to make sure he doesn’t go off script.

My first question related to whether or not there was any sort of conflict of interest in Dan’s reporting – specifically if he had even been given money by the Venezuelan government or their associates. He never answered this question.

The second question, shown above, was a question related to discerning whether or not there was anything that could cause Kovalik to lose support for Maduro. As numerous charges have been brought up against Venezuelan government officials for narco-trafficking, corruption, political oppression and assassination – this seemed pretty relevant. He never answered this question.

The last question – hidden in the above so that I could provide evidence that a former member of Venezuela’s Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Cultura was watching the Facebook Live video – was in regards the limits of acceptable behavior for those in America who wanted to ensure that Nicolas Maduro’s grip on the Venezuelan state apparatus continued. As the Embassy Protection Collectives in Washington D.C. and New York were engaged in an illegal occupation; as there is a history of Venezuela’s political associates harassing American politicians; as Venezuela assists in the publication of content promoting the idea that violence against American police officers and assassination of American politicians is justifiable – I wondered what sort of behavior was considered “off limits”. He never answered this question.

 Grand Jury Investigation Using Only Publicly Available Evidence

I’m not terribly surprised that Dan Kovalik refused to answer any of these questions – on his public Facebook profile it is very evident that he identifies as a Nicaraguan revolutionary that would sooner face physical assault or incarceration than snitch on his comrades.

To me this seems yet another example of Orwellian Irony.

Why so? In The Communist Manifesto Karl Marx claims that true “communists disdain to conceal their views and aims”. And yet here we clearly see that when it comes to avowing who it is that funds and organizes the speaking engagements wherein those views are shared  – a state which identifies itself with the Marxian tradition –  deception and disavowal is the actual behavior practiced.

Alliance for Global Justice is Funded by Venezuelan Government and their Political Associates

Alliance for Global Justice admitting by silence that they are funded by Venezuela.

Blocking my profile and ignoring my questions have been a typical tactic of those involved with Venezuela’s network of artists, activists and intellectuals living and operating in the United States.

To my surprise, one of the operators of Alliance for Global Justice Facebook account responded to one of my comments after the talk had ended. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised, as I prefaced my inquiry with purposefully provocative comments.

Not to my surprise, the Alliance for Global Justice account operator responding to my prior inquiry did not answer the question as to the relationship between Venezuela and their organization. Nevertheless  the existence of this thread allows me now to say definitively that the Alliance for Global Justice is funded in part by Nicolas Maduro and his network of associates.

How can I legitimately this claim despite the fact that they didn’t answer? Two reasons.

First, there is the fact that the political history of the organization and the activities it supports are aligned with Hugo Chavez’s Gramscian phantasy of Latin America united under Venezuela’s rule.

Secondly is the ancient legal precept Qui tacet consentire videtur, which translated in English to “He who is silent is taken to agree”.

Cultural Marxism as a Worldview Propounded by the Directors of Kultural Marxism 

Understanding the origins of the Alliance for Global Justice’s funding of politically polarizing socialist views and events is important as it relates to destroying the anti-Semitic mythos of Cultural Marxism and verifying my claims of the existence of Venezuela’s Kultural Marxism operations.

Given the many anti-Semitic/anti-Israel views expressed and actions taken by the Venezuelan government along with the Cultural Marxist claim that George Soros uses the Alliance for Global Justice as part of some amorphous international Jewish conspiracy I would hypothesize that they are in part responsible for some of the content or promotion on the matter.  Considering that this narrative also deflects from the much more sensible explanation that this is part of Venezuela’s effort to create a multi-polar world, it seems all the more true.

 

When a YouTube Chat Turns to “Ciao!”: On the Cowardice of Caleb Maupin

Caleb Maupin is an ex-Occupy Wall Street activist, ex-Workers World Party member that previously worked for Russia’s RT news and is now an “independent socialist”.

I admit that I haven’t read much of his writing nor watched more than two of his YouTube videos as I neither felt intellectually enlargened nor amused by the. And yet I decided to jump onto his live YouTube chat when I read an announcement of it on Facebook as I wanted to, like I did with Ajamu Baraka and Abby Martin, inquire about any relationship to funding networks manag.ed by Venezuela

Amusingly enough within 3 minutes of my asking him a question about his relationship to funding and assistance networks for American aocialist activists that are connected to Venezuela’s state intelligence apparatus he ended the live broadcast. 

That right. Only 25 minutes into a live chat that was supposed to be an hour long and he cancels it!

I was a little bummed as I was hoping to get a definitive response – but also not surprised.

The only information that I got came from the one “person” that shared Caleb Maupin’s announcement of his upcoming YouTube Talk.

I put “person” in quotes as a quick look at his profile, which is public, and a number of the qualities indicating coordinated inauthentic behavior connected to the Kultural Marxism network became evident. These are:

Links to TeleSUR
Links to Black Agenda Report
Praise of Julian Assange
Links to Counterpunch
Multiple links praising China
A link to a foreign language website (in this case Chinese) website

 

 

Potential Book Titles on Venezuela’s Intelligence Operations in America

Since I’ve decided to expand the research I’ve been building into a book, I decided to do a creative exercise as to possible titles for it. Which of the below resonates with you the most?  

*

The New Historic Block: How Hugo Chavez Used Oil Exports to Promote His Vision of Marx

Tracing 21st Century Socialism: A Political Revolution in Venezuela Meets an Epistemological Revolution via Data Science

Building The New Historic Block: How Hugo Chavez Exported Socialism to America

Marketing Marx in North America: Venezuela’s Gramscian Plan to Spread Socialism

Kultural Marxism and 21st Century Socialism’s Trajectory from Venezuela to North America

Marching South to North: How Hugo Chavez’s Specter Came to Haunt the United States  

Children of the Bolivarian Revolution: Venezuela’s PSUV and the Birth of America’s First United Socialist Party  

Towards a Multipolar World Order: How Hugo Chavez’s Multitude of Gramsican Agents Tried to Remake the World

Chavez’s Hopes and Gramsci’s Ghost: The PSUV’s Support of Socialism in America

Officer, Agent, Asset, Stooge: How Venezuela Helped Seed Revolutionary Socialism in the United States

Red Scare 3.0: The Definitive Guide as to the Who, What, Where and Why’s of Venezuela’s Attempted Socialist Infiltration of U.S. Institutions

Poets as Legislators of a New World Order: Anti-Globalization Activism, Solidarity and Why Technics Trumps Specious Ideologies

Ariel Sheen and the TeleSur Archive: How a Determined Activist for Truth Uncovered a Long-Running Violent Anti-Government Activist Network

Precursors to Transatlantic War? How CivOp and MilOp Intersect in Foreign Military Policy

How Guiado’s Superior to Gramsci: Why Pre-Information Age Radicals Add Little to Modern Politics

Illegalism as Pathology: A Longitudal, Iconographic and Textual Based Investigation Into A Foreign Communist Party’s Radicalization Efforts

PSUA: The Story of the Birth of the United Socialist Party of America

Inhibiting Agents of Multi-Polarity: How Political Cadres Funded By Russia and Venezuela Led to Legislation that Finally Addresses New Information and Communication Technologies

Venezuela’s Investments Into American Art and Culture: A Longitudinal Analysis of Systematic Negation of the American State 

Building A Dual Power From Venezuela’s Chosen People: Foreign Artists, autistics, transexuals, and political  Actors Interactions with American Law Enforcement

The Great Recategorization: How Evidence, Data Science and Rubrics Lead to an Algorithmic Shift in an Understanding of How Political Discourse Operates on Facebook

“Why having a Star by your Name on Social Media in the Colors of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is not the same as the one people were forced to wear in the 1940s, you hack!” and 19 Other Disdainful Phrases of Advice for Kultural Marxism Content Creator.

Tales from TeleSUR: An Open-Source Historical Investigation Into The Roots of Phenomenon of Kultural Marxism

Thinking like the CIA: A Case Study Examining Venezuela’s Intelligence Operations in America

Categorical Faces on Names and Places: A Case Study on the Possibilities Inherent in Modern Data

Project-Mapping After Public Data Source Grabbing: Why the FBI’s Investigation into American Political Group’s Funding by Venezuela is Valid and Should Start Again in Earnest

Why Later Historians Will Say Chelsea and Julian Sitting in a Jail Was “Just The Start”: How Venezuela Sought Revancha on America it’s Trans-Atlantic Allies and Lost

Findings of the Investigation Into Whether of Not Venezuela Had A Measurable Impact On America’s 2016 Elections: An Open-Source Research Project That Makes RussiaGate Seem Cute and Quaint

 

While Russia’s SciHub Subliminally Spreads Socialism, GrayZone Spreads Stupidity

The above image is proof that Sci-Hub is covertly trying to encourage students, researchers, academics – anyone who uses their services, really – to embrace communism!

Not only does Sci-Hub have a photo of Lenin pinned on their Twitter page, but they ask you to input text like pinkos, which is a reference to someone that is sympathetic to Communism, and clasts, which auto-corrects to class – a key concept in Marxist philosophy in order to download an article.

Considering that Sci-Hub is hosted in Russia, this must be another example of the Russian government attempting – subliminally – to sow discord around the world!

The below screenshot that I took from a National Bolshevik propagandist’s account provides further proof that what I claim is a 100% incontrovertible fact!

Or maybe not.

Now, to be clear, I don’t *really* think what I wrote above is true at all.

I made this false claim both as I think it’s funny, and as it’s a good manner to highlight the absurdity of this video by Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton from The Grayzone about the relationship between video games, the military and American citizen’s attitudes towards Venezuela.

In the video, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton make the ludicrous claim that videogames have been “weaponized” into “regime change propaganda”.

And how do they operationalize this claim? They don’t!

Rather than make any sort of effort to justify their claim, they merely state that this is true, thus repeating a variation of long-debunked claims such as “heavy metal music leads listeners to Satan worship and human sacrifice” and “playing violent video games makes one violent”.

I’m not going to make the effort to structure a scientific case that proves them wrong, but I did Google some counterfactual indicators that would provide such evidence of the idiocy of their claims at the bottom.

But first, let me quickly share one more amusing aspect of all this – tracing the story’s origin.

The short path from Venezuela’s state-media company, TeleSUR, to The Grayzone.

The first iteration of paranoia about the 2013 iteration of Call of Duty originated from TeleSUR, which then gets shared by George-Ciccariello-Maher.

Despite the fact that the game scene is exposed selectively contextualized and edited to fit TeleSUR’s paranoid narrative by Charles Murphy, it still gets translated into English and then spit-polished by GrayZone.

Video Game, Violence, Venezuela and Military Indicators Without Any Real Order Below

It’s not propaganda when someone claims that Venezuela’s been deteriorating such that many people want to leave.

President Donald Trump, Civic Responsibility and Espionage: A Case Study in Fake News and Political Polarization Promoted by Venezuela

“Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution…”

– James Madison 

*****

While it’s all the rage in many news outlets these days to criticize President Trump – this article will provide ample evidence for his praise. 

It will do this by using exclusive research to provide a series of contrapoints that illustrate how he has displayed a high degree of personal and Presidential civility in his handling of three current events:

  1. The Transgender Military Ban
  2. Chelsea Manning’s incarceration for refusing to speak with Grand Jury investigators
  3. Nicolas Maduro’s impending departure from power

In addition to demonstrating how Donald Trump has embodied professionalism and the type of nationalistic paternalism appropriate to the Office of the President, it will also illustrate how these three examples are connected to ongoing intelligence operations by the government of Nicolas Maduro to spread misinformation and disinformation, to encourage espionage and civil unrest, and even to facilitate it.

In short, this will show the claim of Laura Durso, Vice President of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, that this ban “undermines military readiness and perpetuates the fear across the transgender and allied communities that this government will not protect them, not even those who would sacrifice everything to protect our nation” – along with similar claims made by others are motivated not by a desire to speak the truth but to spread an uninformed, hateful view of President Trump.  

Trans-Soldier Ban & Trump’s Presidential Civility

Other commentators hint that the real reason for the ban is not because of financial costs but due to discrimination, prejudice or hate.

They are right the official government line is not true, but not because of those reasons.

Instead, the real reason for the Trans military ban stems from President Donald Trump’s genuine sense of love for the Americans that serve in the United States military.

Why is that?

By not sharing with the public that the real reason for the ban was due to a long-term espionage operation targetting Trans military personnel by Venezuelan Intelligence, President Trump absolves himself of divisive accusations that he questions troop loyalty or that he is any way giving cause for yet another mentally unbalanced person to baselessly attribute violent crimes to him.

Venezuela’s Counterintelligence Campaigns: Control Public Perception

 

This TeleSUR employee has written nearly an encyclopedia’s worth of content about politicians aligned with Rafael Correa, Hugo Chavez, and Nicolas Maduro.

During the Cold War the Soviet Union sound to disrupt U.S. international relations and undermine U.S. power in the world and undermine the appeal of U.S. democracy to other countries. Since 2002, Venezuela has sought to do the same through a variety of methods. Having state media employees at TeleSUR work full time to monitor certain Wikipedia entries is just one minor example. They have their own state media company as well, and it has numerous partners -such as Russia’s RT, Ruptly, Redfish and Sputnik, as well as Nicaragua, Cuba and Iran’s iterations of the same. And they are also connected to numerous “private” outlets in the U.S. as well – such as The Real News Network, WSWS, Teen Vogue, MintPress News, Democracy Now, etc. And there are also numerous independent journalists that have also gotten in on the act. I write about some of these journalists here, but in this article, will focus on Facebook as it’s quicker to illustrate my points as it relates to President Donald Trump’s civility.

Venezuela’s Honey Traps

Anarcha-Transfeminism is one of at least 300 Pages on Facebook that is moderated and operated by accounts promoting Venezuela’s anti-American worldview. While the above shares of official Venezuelan government websites and accounts make this easy to see, other content includes generalized incitement to violence, anti-voting messaging, disinformation and misinformation, and other forms of content designed to increase polarization.

The Great Sh!tpost Army

In addition to “Occupied” Facebook pages and numerous social media action centers in Venezuela that monitor and operate on Twitter and Facebook groups there is also an auxiliary force of voluntary shi!tposters, sock puppets operators, link-spammers, and others. Their goal is similar, to agitate online – Terms of Service be damned.

In the new world of digital media activism, one’s courage is determined by how many Facebook bans that you’ve come back from. 

Appeals to Abstract Notion of Solidarity 

How do they do this? For one by structuring images that help create a sense of belonging where there was once none and a sense of security where there was once none. This combined through the promotion of “solidarity” in a manner that simplifies the history and politics of Venezuela allows for deep-personal identifications to be made.

Considering how my other reports based on observation of official and  non-official public groups and pages related to Venezuela’s intelligence operations show that sexism, transphobia, racism, xenophobia, and antisemitism are still quite alive despite their implications that it’s not – this is ironic, but that is really besides the point.

By collapsing the myriad complexities involved in any discussion of Venezuelan-U.S. relationships in this manner is a form of distortion, but one with potentially powerful emotional resonance.

Recruiting Trans People Online & In Real Life

Venezuelan accounts and Socialists sympathetic to them aren’t just engaged in trivial online behavior.

The International Socialist Organization, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and The Workers World Party – which has long been considered connected to foreign political interests – also have their members working in outreach and service organizations, or front groups to recruit.

The connection between this and military operations is yet unceratin, but the above images certainly indicate that espionage and the leaking of classified information to the benefit of military opponents is the goal.

Presumably, part of the investigation now being done in private by the U.S. Military related to the trans ban is not just about medical costs, but is about  having American intelligence operatives pose as trans military personnel to determin the extent of active count-intelligence recruitment schemes going on.

Mainstreaming Revolution

Increasingly, this sort of radicalism isn’t just on the fringes either. Lucy Diavolo, the editor for Teen Vogue, frequently curates the writings of Venezuela associated writers like Keeanga Yamahtta and George Ciccariello-Maher.

Divalo, whose first written article for Teen Vogue was in praise of Chelsea Manning and who recently wrote an op-ed against her imprisonment for not cooperating with a grand jury investigation, hints at the extent to which the media has been influenced by Venezuela.

If this seems alarmist, consider the below evidence which indicates it might already have happened.

Celebrating Discharge and Promoting Espionage

After photos of Spenser Rapone stating that “Communism will win” were circulated through Venezuela’s coordinated inauthentic behavior network, they eventually made its way onto the desk of Florida Senator Marco Rubio. This and other veteran’s outcries of lead to Spenser’s other-than-honorable discharge.

Shortly after this, he presented at the Socialism conference in Chicago. The slogan for this event is “Another World is Necessary,” a variation of the World Social Form slogan – an organization founded in part to develop Socialism in America. One of their founders, Chico Whiataker, is currently on the WikiLeaks advisory board.

He also appeared on a new podcast called “unauthorized disclosure,” an obvious allusion to leaking information to the public. Mike Prysner, a former soldier himself, is also the finance of Venezuela spokesperson Abby Martin and a long time co-Producer for Empire Files, a program funded by the Venezuelan government.

While this could all be coincidence and affinities at work, it’s intereting to note that as of Thursday March 21st, Spenser Rapone is friends on Twitter with Ernesto Villegas, who previously had shared his photo on Instagram and Twitter and who is also the Minister of Venezuela’s Department of Popular Power and Culture – the Venezuelan equivalent of the CIA and the government body which also advises the president on how to operate TeleSUR.

Antifa and Nicolas Maduro

Military influence operations are just the tip of a much larger iceberg of Venezuelan intelligence projects in American. Since before 2007, Venezuela has been actively seeking to influence the American political scene.

Since 2010 Nicolas Maduro has been indoctrinating adolescents in Venezuelan collectivos to adopt “antifascism,” funded the development of eco-socialist and antifascism clubs throughout Latin America and in Spain. Though the motivating cause for collective action are different, as do the organizations backing them, there is nevertheless an underlying logic behind it all.

That’s why so many of the people that now make up Antifa are the same people that were previously involved in Occupy Wall Street and before that were in the Global Justice Movement.

The Smash Racism DC organizer, revolutionary communist and Antifa leader Jose Martin – who protested in front of Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s house, berated Sen. Ted Cruz at a restaurant until he and his wife were forced to leave, and was later involved in a fight wherein he yelled racist comments at U.S. troops – is just one of many examples of people radicalized in part by the Venezuelan intelligence operations whose goal is to help develop multiple dual-power, 21st Century Socialist movements in America.

President Trump’s Civic Responsibility in the Face of Fake News

Considering that so many non-governmental organizations, like Laura Durso’s LGBT Research and Communications Project, as well as numerous news and opinion, like the New York Times, CNN, VOX, and Teen Vogue, hire columnists and editorialists that don’t consider research as part of their professional process and that because of this President Trump is vilified, it’s understandable why he would have such disdain for the press. 

He is, in this instance, like Batman – absorbing the hate of many people out of his love for the people. Were they informed of the Truth, Donald Trump would be praised for how he has handled Wikileaks/the World Social Forums/Venezuela’s attempts at getting U.S. military personnel – trans or otherwise – to commit acts of espionage.

It’s for these reasons that American’s should give the President due credit for his professional behavior in the face of calumny, and give him support in however he chooses to deal with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.