The Assange Poop Smear Was Concocted to Cover Ecuador’s $4.2 B IMF Loan

The truth is at once less and more squalid than the Assange poop story. Ecuador, once among the Latin American “pink tide” nations, since Moreno came into power has been making fast strides towards neoliberalizing its economy. That means cozying up to the U.S.

Alexander Rubinstein
By Alexander Rubinstein
Lenin Moreno | Assange

Now that journalist Julian Assange is in the hands of Western authorities thanks to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, their media lapdogs are scraping from the bottom of the barrel to smear the WikiLeaks editor with increasingly absurd claims. While Assange is no stranger to smears, this set is particularly distasteful. It started with

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With Ecuador’s Cooperation Bought by IMF Loans, Washington Waxes Optimistic on Assange Extradition

Moreno’s willingness to quickly enact the various other requirements of the IMF loan begs the question of how quickly he will seek to enact the alleged U.S. government demands that have also been linked to the loan, namely Assange’s asylum and Ecuadorian citizenship.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Mike Pence | Lenin Moreno

WASHINGTON -- Chelsea Manning’s fight against her subpoena in the U.S. Department of Justice’s grand-jury case targeting WikiLeaks founder and former publisher Julian Assange this past week has revealed several uncomfortable truths, not only about that investigation but also about the fate of Assange, whose asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy hangs

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The Top Five Real Reasons the US Wants Regime Change in Venezuela

The news out of Venezuela today is deeply rooted in U.S. foreign policy towards Central and South America since the end of World War II.

Nick Rehwaldt
By Nick Rehwaldt
An anti-government protester holds a shield brandished with photos of President Nicolas Maduro, government officials and a gun sight, during clashes with security forces in Caracas, Venezuela, July 22, 2017. Fernando Llano | AP

CARACAS, VENEZUELA -- The United States’ various forms of intervention in Venezuela have generally been dressed up and sold to the American public in pro-democracy and humanitarian costumes.   The high-minded rhetoric notwithstanding, here are the top five real reasons the U.S. wants regime change in Venezuela.   1) Venezuela is a

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Leaked Wikileaks Doc Reveals US Military Use of IMF, World Bank as “Unconventional” Weapons

This “U.S. coup manual,” recently highlighted by WikiLeaks, serves as a reminder that the so-called “independence” of such financial institutions as The World Bank and IMF is an illusion and that they are among the many “financial weapons” regularly used by the U.S. government to bend countries to its will.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Argentina | IMF protest

WASHINGTON – In a leaked military manual on “unconventional warfare” recently highlighted by WikiLeaks, the U.S. Army states that major global financial institutions -- such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- are used as unconventional, financial “weapons in

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Eight Years After EU-IMF Bailout, Greece Sees Poverty, Suffering, and Want

Far from “bailing out” Greece, the impacts of eight years of harsh austerity are manifested in a marked increase in poverty, suffering, and want. And far from “ending,” the austerity measures attached to Greece’s three successive “bailouts” are slated to continue for decades to come.

Dr. Michael Nevradakis
By Dr. Michael Nevradakis
An elderly man passes by homeless men in Athens, April 23, 2018. Thanassis Stavrakis | AP

ATHENS – It is a tale of two realities. Later this week, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will give his annual speech to the nation – Greece’s equivalent of the State of the Union address -- at the 83rd Thessaloniki Trade Fair. Fresh off of a recent reshuffle of his cabinet, the main theme of Tsipras’ speech almost certainly will be Greece’s

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Ecuador Bows to US and IMF, Entering New Neoliberal Era

The warmth displayed by authorities over the past month to visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the IMF, respectively, further proves that Ecuador is melting back into the arms of international financial interests.

Elliott Gabriel
By Elliott Gabriel
Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno, right, shakes hand with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the government palace in Quito, Ecuador, June 28, 2018. Dolores Ochoa | AP

QUITO, ECUADOR – Ecuador’s passionate re-embrace of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers one of the clearest and most dramatic signs that the country’s leadership is dead-set on shedding any vestiges of the “post-neoliberal” era it was said to have entered a decade ago during former President Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution. The

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