Brilliant Chomsky: South America: Toward an Alternative Future

Yes, more words of wisdom from Noam himself. This seems pretty obvious this was one of his "oral writings" that lacks any facts to back it up. It assumes that the reader has already a set mindset and that keywords will provoke an emotional response instead of a logical train of thought. Well let the spinning begin...

Brilliant...

The former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died even as leaders of South American nations concluded a two-day summit meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, hosted by President Evo Morales, at which the participants and the agenda represented the antithesis of Pinochet and his era.

Excelllent, hopefully our author will tell us what their thesis is and how it is the antithesis of Pinochet!

In the Cochabamba Declaration, the presidents and envoys of 12 countries agreed to study the idea of forming a continent-wide community similar to the European Union.

Sounds good, we need more Monetary Unions. Is anyone opposing this?

The declaration marks another stage toward regional integration in South America, 500 years after the European conquests. The subcontinent, from Venezuela to Argentina, may yet present an example to the world on how to create an alternative future from a legacy of empire and terror.

Yeah, hold on, is this man just spinning and we need to get out our code cracking special decoder rings? Why not say the EU took two thousand years to form? Of course this contrasts with a legacy of empire and terror in Asia and Eastern Europe.

To the United States, the real enemy has always been independent nationalism, particularly when it threatens to become a "contagious example," to borrow Henry Kissinger's characterization of democratic socialism in Chile.

More of that framing by placing words that are meant to provoke an emotion. So when has nationalism been a threat to the USA?

The official death toll for the coup is 3,200; the actual toll is commonly estimated at double that figure. An official inquiry 30 years after the coup found evidence of approximately 30,000 cases of torture during the Pinochet regime. Among the leaders at Cochabamba was the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet. Like Allende, she is a socialist and a physician. She also is a former exile and political prisoner. Her father was a general who died in prison after being tortured.

I actually saw an estimate over 10,000. But of course we could not compare it to a good socialist like Saddam. The 10k or 30 k of torture is only a fraction of what Saddam did.

Venezuela is already the only Latin American member of OPEC, with by far the largest proven oil reserves outside the Middle East. Chávez envisions Petroamerica, an integrated energy system of the kind that China is trying to initiate in Asia.

The new Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, proposed a land-and-river trade link from the Brazilian Amazon rain forest to Ecuador's Pacific Coast — a South American equivalent of the Panama Canal.

So where is the problem. Oh that's it. Implied that the evil empire will stop this.

Other promising developments include Telesur, a new pan-Latin American TV channel based in Venezuela and an effort to break the Western media monopoly.

Well, the author should be happy that there is now a little less competition for this plan.

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called on fellow leaders to overcome historical differences and unite the continent, however difficult the task.

Integration is a prerequisite for genuine independence. The colonial history — Spain, Britain, other European powers, the United States — not only divided countries from one another but also left a sharp internal division within the countries, between a wealthy small elite and a mass of impoverished people.

Sounds good like what any politician says.
So who is standing in the way of integration? Shit the imperialist could not even leave a country correctly. I am sure there was some major conspiracy for this. Of course integration has to be giving up some independence so the author is framing a good independence with a bad independence.

The main economic controls in recent years have come from the International Monetary Fund, which is virtually a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department. But Argentina, Brazil and now Bolivia have moved to free themselves of IMF strictures.

Good more debtor nation (to the IMF) are leaving. I wonder if they need help in their application for the SDRs (special drawing rights) back. As far as control, talk about that tomorrow.

Because of the new developments in South America, the United States has been forced to adjust policy. The governments that now have U.S. support — like Brazil under Lula — might well have been overthrown in the past, as was President João Goulart of Brazil in a U.S.-backed coup in 1964.

To maintain Washington's party line, though, it's necessary to finesse some of the facts. For example, when Lula was re- elected in October, one of his first acts was to fly to Caracas to support Chávez's electoral campaign. Also, Lula dedicated a Brazilian project in Venezuela, a bridge over the Orinoco River, and discussed other joint ventures.

Yes, the USA is alway shifting its policies. Nothing strange about that. The bridge sounds good. Who is opposed to it and why mention the USA when you have no point. Maybe a google bomb?

The tempo is picking up. Also last month, Mercosur, the South American trading bloc, continued the dialogue on South American unity at its semiannual meeting in Brazil, where Lula inaugurated the Mercosur Parliament — another promising sign of deliverance from the demons of the past.

Yes, we can never guess what that demon is, can we?

Edit (1-10-07): Going back to this point:

The main economic controls in recent years have come from the International Monetary Fund, which is virtually a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department.

From Challenges to the World Bank and IMF

"The region with the greatest number of representatives on the Board is Europe, which currently holds nine chairs, and a vote some 82 per cent greater than the USA (while the GNP of the EU is smaller than that of the USA). Moreover, constituencies headed by European EDs at present control 40.8% of total votes."
...
"The large intra EU trade had the effect of increasing the quotas of EU countries. Since the adoption of a single currency makes this akin to domestic trade, if [the] Euro zone quotas were adjusted for this, their decline should be 9.2 percent of total quotas."

So instead of going after a real empire, Noam wants to attack the USA. Why bother with facts when spin works so much better...
(3.) Buira, Ariel (Ed.) (2003) Challenges to the World Bank and IMF – Developing
Country Perspectives, London: Anthem Press.

And through this all, we still did not learn about what their thesis is and how it is the antithesis of Pinochet!