Photo by SkyTruth

Thursday, US State Department assistant secretary Philip J. Crowley made the following statement about Niger:

MR. CROWLEY: Right. Very fluid situation and the Embassy there is monitoring it closely. Indications are it could be an attempted coup. There was evidently an attempted assassination of President Tandja. My understanding is that our Embassy staff is safe. We do have Congressman Mark Grayson of Florida who happened to be in the country at the time and he is currently at the Embassy and is also safe.

This is a difficult situation. President Tandja has been trying to extend his mandate in office. Both the United States and ECOWAS have expressed our concerns about that, and obviously that may well have been an act on his behalf that precipitated this act today. Clearly, we do not in any way, shape, or form, defend violence of this nature. But clearly, we think this underscores that Niger needs to move ahead and – with the elections and the formation of a new government.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was removed from power 7 months before his term expired by an order from the Supreme Court and Congress of Honduras. Admittedly, the order was carried out by the military. But, no power of the state was dissolved, and the elections that were already planned for November were carried out as scheduled. Zelaya was against the elections and was trying to push through constitutional reform to “refound Honduras”, presumably as a socialist state in the image of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

On the other hand in Niger, the military dissolved all the powers of the government. The president of Niger had been successful in reforming the constitution a few months before, and was removed after a 4-hour gun battle.

With Honduras, minutes after Zelaya landed in Costa Rica, President Obama said: “We believe the coup was not legal … I think it would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seing military coups as a means of political transition.”

Where is the outrage of the United States! Where is the State Departments decency! Where is their commitment to truth! Or at very least, their consistency! All of these seem to be sold out to uranium mining interests. Niger is has the fifth largest Uranium reserves on Earth.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, image: César Bojorquez, CC license

Not content to shut down RCTV on the public airwaves when their broadcasting license expired, by quietly ignoring their repeated attempts at renewing it, Chavez has forced cable TV companies to stop carrying the channel as well. The following CNN report talks about it, in a balanced tone they denied Honduras, when president Micheletti temporarily shut down radio stations were openly transmitting hateful calls for violence and anti-Semitic messages.

I am against any government meddling with the press, either to force them to broadcast the government agenda, or even pay them to do the same. Both carry too much power for the media to be able to remain untainted by them. Furthermore, the government should have the authority to control the public airspace, but not private Cable TV.

The laws Chavez has written in Venezuela allow him to control the media in an almost Orwellian way. Chavez is once more confirming his path to totalitarian dictatorship, twisting the laws he himself put in place during his rule by decree.