Bideoa: https://x.com/i/status/1978908710857527442

oooooo

oooooo

Bideoa: https://x.com/i/status/1978051811375219080

Norena: Sky New

oooooo

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim@academic_la

urr. 14

BREAKING: Israeli drone targets south Lebanon LIVE updates: https://aje.io/hkwdmc?update=

oooooo

Richard@ricwe123

oooooo

ooo

Carta abierta de Adolfo Pérez Esquivel a Corina Machado

De Nobel a Nobel

(https://www.pagina12.com.ar/865256-de-nobel-a-nobel

Por Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

13 de octubre de 2025 – 19:01

Imagen: Archivo

Te envío el saludo de Paz y Bien que tanto necesita la humanidad y los pueblos que viven en la pobreza, conflictos, guerras y hambre. Esta carta abierta es para expresarte y compartir algunas reflexiones.

Me sorprendió tu designación como Premio Nobel de la Paz que te otorgó el Comité Nobel. Me vinieron a la memoria las luchas contra las dictaduras en el continente y en mi país, dictaduras militares que soportamos desde 1976 hasta 1983. Resistimos las cárceles, torturas y el exilio con miles de desaparecidos, niños secuestrados y desaparecidos y los vuelos de la muerte de los cuales soy un sobreviviente.

En 1980, el Comité Nobel me otorgó el Premio Nobel de la Paz; han pasado 45 años y continuamos trabajando al servicio de los más pobres y junto a los pueblos latinoamericanos. En nombre de todos ellos asumí esa alta distinción, no por el Premio en sí, fue por el compromiso junto a los pueblos que compartrn las luchas y esperanzas para construir un nuevo amanecer. La Paz se construye día a día y debemos ser coherentes entre el decir y el hacer.

A mis 94 años, continúo siendo un aprendiz de la vida y me preocupa tu postura y tus decisiones sociales y políticas. Por lo tanto te envío estas reflexiones.

El gobierno venezolano es una democracia con sus luces y sombras. Hugo Chávez marcó el camino de libertad y soberanía del pueblo y luchó por la unidad continental, fue un despertar de la Patria Grande. Estados Unidos lo atacó permanentemente: no puede permitir que ningún país del continente salga de su órbita y la dependencia colonial; continúa sosteniendo que América Latina es su “patrio trasero”. El boqueo a Cuba por los Estados Unidos durante más de 60 años es un ataque a la libertad y derecho de los pueblos. La resistencia del pueblo cubano es un ejemplo de dignidad y fortaleza.

Me sorprende cómo te aferras a los Estados Unidos: debes saber que no tiene aliados, ni amigos, sólo tiene intereses. Las dictaduras impuestas en América Latina fueron instrumentadas por sus intereses de dominación y destruyeron la vida y la organización social, cultural y política de los pueblos que luchan por su libertad y autodeterminación. Los pueblos resistimos y luchamos por el derecho a ser libres y soberanos y no colonia de los Estados Unidos.

El gobierno de Nicolás Maduro vive bajo amenaza de los Estados Unidos y del bloqueo, basta tener presente las fuerzas navales en el Caribe y el peligro de invasión a tu país. No has dicho una palabra o apoyas la injerencia de la gran potencia contra Venezuela. El pueblo venezolano está listo para enfrentar la amenaza.

Corina, te pregunto. ¿Por qué llamaste a los Estados Unidos para que invada Venezuela? Al recibir el anuncio que te otorgaron el Premio Nobel de la Paz se lo dedicaste a Trump. El agresor a tu país que miente y acusa a Venezuela de ser narcotraficante, mentira semejante a la de George Bush, que acusó a Saddam Hussein de tener “armas de destrucción masiva”. Pretexto para invadir Irak, saquearla y provocar miles de víctimas, mujeres y niños. Estuve al final de la guerra en Bagdad en el hospital pediátrico y pude ver la destrucción y muertes por aquellos que se proclaman los defensores de la libertad. La peor de las violencias es la mentira.

No olvides Corina que Panamá fue invadida por los Estados Unidos, que provocó muertes y destrucción para capturar un exaliado, el general Noriega. La invasión dejó 1200 muertes en Los Chorrillos. Hoy, Estados Unidos pretende apoderarse nuevamente del Canal de Panamá. Es una larga lista de intervenciones y dolor en América Latina y el mundo por Estados Unidos. Aún continúan abiertas las venas de América Latina, como decía Eduardo Galeano.

Me preocupa que no hayas dedicado el Nobel a tu pueblo y sí al agresor de Venezuela. Creo Corina que tienes que analizar y saber dónde estás parada, si eres una pieza más del coloniaje de Estados Unidos, sometida a sus intereses de dominación, lo que nunca puede ser para el bien de tu pueblo. Como opositora al gobierno de Maduro, tus posturas y opciones generan mucha incertidumbre, recurres a lo peor cuando pedís que Estados Unidos invada Venezuela.

Lo importante es tener presente que construir la Paz requiere mucha fuerza y coraje en bien de tu pueblo, que conozco y quiero profundamente. Donde antes había chabolas en los cerros que sobrevivían en la pobreza e indigencia hoy hay viviendas dignas, salud, educación y cultura. La dignidad del pueblo no se compra ni se vende.

Corina, como dice el poeta: caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Ahora tienes la posibilidad de trabajar para tu pueblo y construir la Paz, no provocar mayor violencia, un mal no se resuelve con otro mal mayor. Solo tendremos dos males y nunca la solución del conflicto.

Abre tu mente y corazón al diálogo, al encuentro de tu pueblo, vacía el cántaro de la violencia y construye la Paz y unidad de tu pueblo para que entre la luz de la libertad e igualdad.

oooooo

Caitlin Johnstone@caitoz

Bideoa: https://x.com/i/status/1977908223291412639

(7.23 m)

oooooo

Alfred de Zayas@Alfreddezayas

ooo

Alfred de Zayas on the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Machado, and the Path to Peace in Palestine

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaT0EScIRQA)

On today;s show, I’ll be joined by Professor, Alfred de Zayas. We’ll discuss the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Maria Corina Machado and examine how such selections reflect global politics more than genuine peace efforts. We’ll also look at the fragile peace negotiations in Palestine and what a sustainable solution might actually require from the international community. This conversation is about understanding how peace is defined—and who gets to define it.

Transkripzioa:

0:00

Past the clouds, over the dark night, she reached up to the sky of stars and

0:08

caught the red hot light of the North Star. [Music]

0:30

[Music]

0:40

[Music]

0:56

[Music] Well, good afternoon. Greetings as always and

1:04

welcome back. You know, as I mentioned uh last week that I had good news and I

1:11

had bad news. And the good news was that President Trump did not win the Nobel

1:17

Prize for peace. The bad news was that US regime regime change operative Maria

1:25

Corina Machado did. What are her qualifications for the

1:30

Nobel Peace Prize? In a CBS News interview, she declared, “The only way

1:36

to stop the suppression in Venezuela is by force. US force.” My guest believes

1:43

that maybe the Nobel Committee thinks that sounds like working for peace and reconciliation.

1:50

Let’s connect some dots and find out. [Music]

1:58

Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

2:06

Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. and I am Wilmer Leon. With each show, my guests

2:12

and I provide insight and analysis into current events and the broader historical context in which most of

2:18

these events take place. I want to quickly touch on one of today’s headlines. President Trump hails quote

2:26

historic dawn of a new Middle East end quote in a speech to Israel’s Knesset.

2:33

Again, he hailed this historic dawn after all living hostages were uh I’m

2:40

sorry uh captives were uh reunited with their families. And also parallel or in

2:48

in in concert with this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not

2:54

attend the summit today in Egypt relating to ending the Gaza war. His

3:02

office said after Cairo had earlier announced he would take part, a prospect

3:08

that could have been awkward for some confirmed guests, his office said that

3:13

the meeting he would he declined due to the timings proximity to the beginning

3:20

of a Jewish holiday. Folks, I do understand that

3:26

uh that is Israeli government officials, they do travel on holidays for very very

3:35

important reasons. And if the historic dawn of a new Middle East is not a

3:42

historic reason, I don’t know what is. With that being said, on today’s

3:48

episode, the issue before us is the awarding of the Nobel Prize for

3:55

Peace. And what does this really indicate? My guest has served as the first UN

4:02

independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international

4:07

order. former UN rapon, a internationally recognized human rights

4:15

attorney. He is and author he is uh Alfred Desas. Alfred as always, welcome

4:22

back. Thank you, Wilmer, uh for inviting me. It’s always a pleasure to be on your

4:28

show. Connecting the dots is rational. Connecting the dots is logical. And

4:35

we’re living in a world of fake news, fake history, fake law. I’m sick and

4:42

tired of being interviewed by journalists who try to twist my words,

4:49

try to force me to say what I do not intend to say. By the way, they never

4:55

succeed because I always embarrass them. That’s why there’s some outfits that

5:01

don’t invite me anymore because they know that they cannot force me to say

5:07

their narrative. I’m going to say my narrative as the case may be. You started with uh Donald Trump at the

5:15

Knesset. I really think it is a disgrace as an American. Is it disgrace that our

5:21

president speaks in the Knesset and that our president is buddy body with a

5:28

genocidal killer who is sought for trial at the uh international

5:39

criminal court in the H. And that may be one of the reasons why he did not go to

5:46

Egypt because uh he does not enjoy immunity. You see, article 27 of the

5:54

statute of Rome, the statute of the international criminal court says that

5:59

heads of state do not enjoy immunity when it comes to war crimes,

6:07

crimes against humanity, genocide, etc. So, uh, very there’s a very distinct

6:15

danger that Mr. Anetanyahu could be arrested and referred to the HEG for

6:22

trial. And not only that, if he flies over a country that is a state party

6:28

through the statute of Rome, uh, the country could force the plane down

6:35

because the country has sovereignty uh, over its airspace. Mhm. If a plane carrying Mr. Netanyahu flies

6:44

uh over most European countries are states bodies to the ICC. So say they fly over

6:52

Italy or they fly uh over France in principle France would be obliged since it’s

6:59

entering its jurisdiction to arrest them and refer them to the hate. What if they didn’t? highly political

7:05

matters. But you know that when it it’s a Latin American country that is not very powerful. You may remember that the

7:13

plane of Evo Morales back in 2013 was made to land in Austria.

7:20

Mhm. Supposed to be a neutral state in Austria. And they wanted to see whether Edward Snowden by chance uh was on

7:28

board. He was not. Uh but this was a a major diplomatic

7:35

scandal uh to bring down uh this plane uh on the

7:41

suspicion uh that someone who is entitled to asylum under the Geneva Convention of

7:49

1951 could actually be uh

7:54

arrested say if he had been on the plane. But again we’re used to double

8:01

standards. Uh international law is applied alakart and uh for the last 80 years uh the

8:11

west, United States, France, United Kingdom have gotten away

8:17

with everything. That is ending. And I am convinced that if Netanyahu were to

8:24

fly over certain countries in Africa or in Asia, he would be arrested.

8:31

What if what if he had flown what if he had gone uh to Egypt and as you just

8:38

indicated, Egypt is a signatory to the IC

8:44

uh and had not arrested him. Well, that has happened before. Huh.

8:49

Also, the ICC uh issued what I would term a uh

8:56

fundamentally flawed arrest warrant against uh Putin back in 2023,

9:05

uh accusing him of violating u the

9:10

article 3 of the genocide convention because of the evacuation of children

9:18

uh from uh the combat zone in uh the Donbas.

9:23

Mhm. And uh it’s absolutely ridiculous because under international humanitarian law, you are required

9:31

uh to evacuate civilians uh who might uh be collateral damage if uh war

9:40

necessarily is going to hit uh a military target and you are close to it.

9:46

So the humanitarian thing to do is to evacuate these children. Well, out of

9:51

that they made a case of genocide. As I said, uh for any uh lawyer, uh it it is

9:58

so ridiculous. It’s so preposterous. But again, even uh uh Russia has been very

10:05

flexible on this issue. Uh and they, you know, are cooperating with the parents.

10:11

We know exactly how many people uh were uh evacuated to Russia. And uh if uh

10:20

persons who have authority over the children uh want to have the children back uh Russia of course will let them

10:28

go back. They were there only for purposes of protection, not for purposes uh of indoctrination or

10:36

for purposes uh of destroying their cultural identity. But uh leaving that

10:43

aside, what bothers me of uh Trump uh is that he makes us all complicit in the

10:50

genocide committed by Israel. He makes us all complicit because he condones

10:58

what Netanyahu has done. He is a uh if you want a holocaust denier when we can

11:07

refer to this genocide as a holocaust of uh the Palestinians of Gaza. Uh

11:15

speaking in the Knesset, I mean if he had a little bit of common sense, uh he

11:20

would not do that. But of course he loves to present himself. He loves

11:26

platforms. He loves every photo opportunity. And it is all

11:33

arrogance, self-righteousness, and self- congratulation. The man is in

11:39

love with himself. It is such a narcissist that it’s it’s painful for an

11:45

American to have to watch that. You just mentioned genocide denier.

11:52

Aren’t there a couple of international law cases where people have been charged

11:59

with being genocide deniers? I think the Armenian uh somebody in Switzerland

12:04

might have been charged with denying the Armenian genocide under uh under national laws. You see,

12:11

you have uh in Germany, in France, in the United Kingdom, in Switzerland, uh

12:18

you have uh legislation uh that says if you deny

12:24

a genocide, if you whitewash a genocide

12:30

or a crime against humanity, that is tantamount to uh incitement.

12:38

Mhm. I disagree with it. I disagree with this kind of interpretation

12:44

because it violates the freedom of speech. Incitement is incitement, right? Incitement is what uh Yav Gallant uh did

12:54

uh this systematic incitement of hatred toward the Palestinians. And that’s

13:01

something that uh the media is guilty of. New York Times,

13:06

Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, the Times, Ley,

13:14

uh, Lemon, the Frankfurt, Algamina, and even here in

13:21

Switzerland, the No. It is a disgrace how they

13:27

uh simply do the apology uh of the genocide uh committed by

13:35

uh Israel that is allowed. But if you were in Switzerland, you deny

13:43

uh that uh 6 million uh Jews uh were uh

13:50

murdered uh during the Second World War, you might find yourself condemned uh for

13:59

incitement to hatred, for anti-semitism, right? But that is of course double

14:05

standards because they do not do it. If you say that the ethnic cleansing of the

14:13

um Palestinians uh is not just ethnic cleansing but it is genocide. Uh well

14:22

you may find uh that someone accuses you of uh anti-semitism.

14:28

But uh on the other side, if you deny that it is uh a genocide, you get away

14:35

with it because M has said it’s not a genocide. Mer has said it’s not a

14:41

genocide. User lion says it’s not a genocide. For that reason, by the way,

14:48

we here in Geneva, I’m a member of the Geneva International Peace Research

14:54

Institute. Uh we submitted on the 22nd of May 2024 a 29page

15:02

legal brief accusing the European Commission and Ursula Lion of complicity

15:10

in genocide. We repeated that with a new legal uh brief expanded to include also

15:18

Kayakalas the um uh foreign minister of the European Union. Uh these were uh legal

15:29

briefs uh handed over to the prosecutor of the

15:35

international criminal court in the HEG under article 15 uh of the uh statute of

15:43

Rome. Needless to say, uh the international court of just uh international criminal court has done

15:49

nothing uh about it. Uh because as I said uh they are equals and equals huh

15:55

and uh so you uh uh do not touch people like lion. Interesting to note uh a uh

16:06

legal brief was recently uh submitted uh against Emmanuel Macron accusing him of

16:14

of complicity and genocide and even against um Melan the prime minister of

16:23

Italy. I mean certainly uh Friedri Meltz and K uh Starmer uh would uh deserve

16:31

this honor more than Melan but in any event uh there’s a certain movement and

16:39

uh when uh these western politicians are being accused of complicity and genocide

16:47

this is something that would be inconceivable 10 or 15 years ago. So people are indeed

16:54

waking up and they are saying well I mean if we do have the rule of law and if we do have a statute of Rome well

17:02

let’s apply it uniformly let’s apply it against uh the western leaders etc etc

17:10

but the ICC as I explained in my book uh the uh human rights industry

17:17

the ICC is one of the many institutions that has been hijacked. one of the many

17:24

institutions that has been largely uh in the service uh of uh the United States

17:31

and Europe even though the United States is not even a signator of it. Uh but

17:38

that aside, uh I am optimistic because so many

17:46

civil society organizations like ours have uh now decided if there is law

17:54

there must be a remedy. to use remedium. Therefore, we want to have here a remedy

18:02

and the remedy will be the prosecution of these criminals. Before we move over

18:09

to the latest awardee of the um

18:15

Nobel Prize uh for for for peace um quickly your thoughts on this 20point

18:23

scheme. um as they label it a peace plan, it

18:29

really seemed to be the formation of um

18:34

capitulation and surrender. And I don’t see how this lasts

18:42

um as they’re now calling this the the new era of peace in the region.

18:48

Well, this is public relations. I mean we are surrounded by public

18:53

relations and propagandistic narratives. Of course it’s not a peace uh agreement.

19:01

It is a a dictate. It is an ultimatum and uh we all welcome of course the

19:08

release uh of uh prisoners on both sides. Mhm.

19:13

Uh that uh Palestinian prisoners who have been unjustly held in detention in

19:20

in Israel and in the Palestine occupied territories and the uh Israeli uh

19:27

detainees, they should all be released and we all welcome the fact that the

19:33

level of violence uh has decreased. But the only peace arrangement for the

19:40

Middle East is the full implementation of existing resolutions of the security

19:49

council like resolution 242 which specifically demanded that uh

19:56

Israel withdraw from the occupied territories.

20:01

There are dozens of resolutions of the general assembly that have never been

20:07

implemented. There are two advisory opinions of the international court of

20:12

justice. One of the 9th of uh July 2004, one of the 19th of July 2024.

20:21

Uh there is the pending case uh South

20:27

Africa against uh Israel. And if you read any of the submissions, I mean it is so crystal clear that genocide has

20:35

taken place for three years. The uh United Nations independent uh commission

20:43

of inquiry on Palestine uh examined whether the threshold had

20:50

been crossed uh from a crime against humanity into the level of genocide. The

20:57

uh president of this commission of inquiry was my former well acquaintance

21:03

friend uh the former high commissioner for human rights uh Na’vi Pillip perhaps

21:10

the best high commissioner for human rights that we ever had since 1994 when

21:16

the function was created. In any event, she came in June and take that back in

21:24

September, September this year at this session, the 60th session of the human

21:30

rights council and presented a 72page report concluding that of course Israel

21:38

has committed genocide and that Israel is committing uh genocide and then of

21:43

course demanding uh as the International Court of Justice already did that uh

21:49

Israel withdraw from all occupied territories since the occupation is

21:56

illegal since uh the um uh siege uh the

22:01

blockade uh of Gaza is also illegal in international law. But of course, Israel

22:08

has proven to be an outlaw since its very beginning. It started as a terroristic state. It started through

22:16

terrorism, blowing up the uh King David uh hotel in 1946, murdering the UN

22:24

envoy, Count Fula Bernard from Sweden.

22:30

Uh there have been countless terrorists acts committed by various uh uh Israeli

22:38

governments and uh the press doesn’t seem to want to remind you about the uh

22:45

scandal uh of the pagers uh that were booby trapped and exploded. I mean this

22:51

is a classical classical terroristic act which is indiscriminate and of course it

22:57

killed any number of innocent uh civilians. I mean it’s a country a rogue

23:03

state a country uh that uh cannot be accepted in the community of nations

23:10

must be expelled from the United Nations under article six uh of the United

23:15

Nations uh charter and it must be uh really isolated in the world and it

23:22

would be isolated in the world because its only quote friend unquote is Donald

23:28

Trump and Donald Trump wants to put the reputation of the United States

23:35

behind uh Israel, thereby making us all uh complicit. You’re an

23:42

American. I’m an American. And I can say not in our name. I mean, this is

23:48

outrageous. But we are powerless at this moment. Uh we can vote him out of

23:57

office. uh but only in three years time

24:02

in listen this is the final point on this in listening to as much of his um

24:09

uh I don’t what you want to call it spectacle as you referred to it earlier

24:17

in listening to his spectacle today uh he incriminated himself

24:23

as being complicit in the genocide when he said with such

24:31

bluster, such braggadocio, I have sent Benjamin Netanyahu

24:41

all of the weapons he has asked for. And

24:46

he even went on to say he’s our weapons. I mean, we our tax dollars

24:51

pay for them. He’s he even went as far as to say he even asked for weapons. I had never

24:57

heard of and didn’t know what they do and I sent them anyway. So right there

25:04

he has imple he has implicated himself as being uh complicit before during and

25:12

now after the fact. Yeah. know, I would I would very much welcome uh seeing Donald Trump end his

25:21

days behind bars and whether it be behind bars in the United States or

25:26

behind bars in the hate. Uh and this brings me to the second topic we were

25:32

going to be dealing with to uh Maria Corina Machado who is a Zionist who

25:40

supports fully the genocide in uh Gaza and uh she’s a wararmonger. Mhm.

25:48

He has uh applauded the piracy of the United States in

25:55

international waters uh in the Caribbean uh sinking, I believe, five uh boats

26:04

allegedly manned uh by Venezuelan uh drug uh

26:10

smugglers. But if you know the reports of the United Nations Crime

26:17

and Drug Office in Vienna and I’ve read the 2025 report, I mean uh Venezuela

26:26

plays a minuscule minuscule role uh in

26:32

international uh drug uh trafficking. Uh who are the big players in international

26:39

drug trafficking? Mexico, Colombia, still Ecuador, Peru,

26:46

uh but not Venezuela. And um not only that, I personally

26:53

interviewed when I went to Venezuela as the first reporter in 21 years. I uh

27:00

spent uh several hours with the um minister of justice uh what is called in

27:07

Spanish the fiscal. The fiscal is uh a

27:12

Lebanese whose name is Tarik William Sab. S A A B Sab.

27:19

Yes. And uh he showed me uh the figures of

27:24

how many uh drug traffickers

27:30

uh have been arrested, how many have been prosecuted and uh

27:36

sent to jail. uh how much um uh drugs

27:42

has been confiscated and destroyed and I also have the latest uh

27:48

information on this. Venezuela is uh a

27:54

serious uh opponent of drug trafficking in its policies and in its actions. But

28:02

you don’t read that in the New York Times and in the Washington Post. you get the impression

28:07

uh that Venezuela uh and that the government of Venezuela uh Maduro himself, the president uh is making

28:15

money uh out of uh drug trafficking is completely false, completely defamatory.

28:23

But if you have uh the uh great propaganda machine uh of the American

28:31

mainstream media, a lot of people in the United States think that Maduro is a uh

28:37

a narco president. It’s not so. I mean they I

28:43

have the figures o of uh how they very consistently

28:49

persecute, prosecute, arrest and send to jail uh those people

28:56

who are engaged in any kind uh of drug trafficking.

29:01

You know, when I heard that um Maria Corina Machado was going to be awarded

29:09

the Peace Prize, the the immediate thing that I thought about was she’s really uh

29:16

no more than Victoria Nuland in in Ukraine. Well, she is a successor of Juan Guo,

29:25

this buffoon. Yes. this uh puppet of the United

29:30

States. Nobody knew him. And he suddenly declares himself the uh

29:37

elected legitimate uh leader of Venezuela in 2015.

29:44

Uh come on, give me a break. Uh but um

29:50

uh now uh uh Widor benefited plenty. uh

29:56

from uh from this position that the United States uh created for him. And

30:02

now of course Machado has already benefited from over a million dollars which is the award uh from the uh uh

30:10

Nobel uh peace prize uh committee and let me read you from the uh uh last will

30:17

and testament of Alfred Noble. This is from the year 1895.

30:24

Who should be awarded the award? Quote, the person who shall have done the most

30:31

or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of

30:38

standing armies, and the holding and promotion of peace congresses. Uh, Miss

30:45

Machado has done none of that. None of that. who could have gotten uh

30:51

this award. Uh by the way, I as a professor of law am

30:58

entitled to nominate uh and I have nominated in the past the

31:04

women’s uh international um uh league for uh peace and freedom

31:13

wilt uh it exists over a hundred years. is a very effective organization that has

31:20

done a lot for world peace. Uh they’ve never gotten the award. I have actually

31:26

um proposed it on two occasions. I’ve also proposed others but I mean I think

31:31

will definitely deserves it. UNESCO deserves it. The uh foundation

31:40

uh culture of peace. It was founded by the UNESCO president uh Federrico Mayor

31:47

Paraga who died a few months ago. I mean Federico Mayor Paragosa if he had lived

31:53

would have been a worthy recipient uh of the award. uh or say ENRA

32:00

uh also the Aljazira journalists uh in Gaza uh the uh members of the Zumud

32:08

flotilla uh who are trying to bring humanitarian aid to the starving Gaza

32:14

population. uh uh the um ICRC uh director general

32:21

whom I know personally uh Pierre Khan Bur uh would have been a worthy

32:26

recipient and a number of professors who teach the human right to peace who teach uh uh

32:35

the importance uh of uh building bridges the importance of diplomacy the

32:41

importance of uh uh peaceful negotiations among others. Professor

32:47

Jeffrey Saxs, Professor John Marshimer, Professor Glenn Dieson. Uh, and among

32:53

the politicians, usually I do not like to see the uh

32:59

Nobel Peace Prize go to politicians. I rather it go to uh organizations

33:06

uh especially civil society organizations uh or to individuals like uh Jeffrey

33:12

Sachs. Uh but uh if there’s one politician that I admire and her speech

33:20

at the general assembly uh a few weeks back was probably the best speech during

33:26

the entire high high level section was

33:31

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mley. Mley. Yes. Uh you know Amia Mley is being

33:38

considered uh for secretary general of the United Nations.

33:44

She is among those who uh whose name is circulating. Another one is my uh former

33:50

friend and uh United Nations colleague uh Michelle Bashel,

33:57

the former president of Chile and the former high commissioner for human rights. I organized for her uh and I

34:05

opened the doors for her personal visit in Venezuela uh back uh in the year 2021

34:16

uh and uh in any event she would be a uh

34:24

serious contender but of course Mia Martley would be better. She’s much younger. She’s very energetic. She is

34:32

very clear in her uh ideas. Uh she’s very eloquent. So I would very happy to

34:39

see her in that job. Now uh among the

34:44

few deserving uh Nobel Peace Prize uh

34:49

laureates uh I would like to mention Arri Dun who founded the red cross,

34:55

Berta Fonutner, Albert Schwitzer, Martin Luther King Jr. Desmond Tutu, Oscar

35:03

Aras, Misha Gorbachov, President Jimmy Carter,

35:08

Jose Ramos Horta. There are some people who do deserve it, but who did not

35:15

deserve it and got it. Henry Kissinger, Mahim,

35:22

Barack Obama, Abby Ahmed, Maria Resa, Dimmitri Muratov. I could give you a

35:28

list. uh of of 20 30 uh Nobel Peace Price laurates who are

35:36

absolutely a disgrace. For that reason, I would say abolish it.

35:42

When you when you just mentioned Obama’s name, I had written a question. Were you

35:50

disappointed when he received it? Were you disappointed at his speech when he

35:57

mentions, “I stand here in the shadow of Dr. King and I stand here in the shadow

36:04

of um Mediva, but I am the president of the United

36:12

States, so I got a different job to do.” Uh and then the other part of that

36:17

question is he comes out and congratulates

36:23

and and and and applauds Machado

36:28

as being this uh uh

36:33

angel of peace when she’s nothing more than an agent of regime change which is why I mentioned

36:41

Victoria. She’s over a war and uh someone who supports

36:50

an increase of unilateral coercive measures against her

36:58

own country. That’s why that’s why her Supreme Court has has made it illegal

37:04

for her to hold office for 15 years because she was engaged in treason

37:09

against her. I would I would call it treason myself. uh when you are acting against the

37:19

interests of your country, when you know from reliable studies

37:27

that these unilateral coercive measures have caused per year an estimated 40,000

37:36

additional deaths among children, among the elderly, among people who are of uh

37:43

shall we say poor health. Uh if you are diabetic and you do not get your insulin

37:52

in time, you die. Uh if you are HIV positive and you don’t get your

37:57

anti-retroviral drugs, you die. And all of these things are under uh the

38:05

sanctions um directly or indirectly. Uh they tell you that there are um uh carve outs or

38:13

that there are exceptions on paper, but they don’t work. Uh because uh we live

38:20

in a uh world where only money counts and there is what you might call over

38:28

compliance. there is risk assessment on the part of u pharmaceutical companies

38:35

and on the part of businessmen and they say oh no it’s too complicated to do business with Venezuela we’re not going

38:42

to pay a million dollars of uh fine or penalty to the US department of the

38:48

treasury so we just simply drop Venezuela so Venezuela that has in the

38:54

past depended uh on international trade to obtain certain things that They don’t

38:59

have like medicines like medical equipment uh like scanners uh like all sorts of u

39:08

um dialysis machines etc etc uh they don’t get it so people die now

39:16

knows of the report uh of professor Jeffrey Saxs and Mark vice uh dating

39:24

back to 2017 uh called collective punishment uh where it is shown that in that year

39:32

alone 2018 40,000 Venezuelans uh lost their lives directly or indirectly as a

39:41

result uh of the unilateral coercive measures. Now about a month ago, the

39:47

medical journal, the Lancet, came out with a fantastic report, very

39:53

thought of uh stating that uh bearing in mind that

39:59

about uh a bit more than onethird of humanity

40:05

uh is affected by these unilateral coercive measures. Uh the estimate is

40:11

that per year in the entire world and that means um in uh in Syria that means

40:20

in Iran that means in Nicaragua and Cuba in so many countries uh that are under

40:27

unilateral coercive measures uh it is estimated and this is a medical journal

40:32

a very professional journal 500,000 human beings die every year That’s like

40:39

a a war. I mean, I say uh sanctions kill, economic sanctions

40:46

kill. Understand that. And you cannot support sanctions. But Miss Machado

40:52

does. So she is complicit in this crime against humanity, against her own

40:58

people. Uh so I mean she’s just the spokeswoman

41:04

uh for certain interests. Mhm. and uh she doesn’t seem to

41:10

understand that uh she and her group are

41:15

a very small major m minority. When I was raorur and I went to Venezuela

41:22

obviously I spoke in the universities and I spoke professors and with the diplomats and with the press etc etc but

41:30

I also did something I removed my bow tie. Mhm.

41:38

took off my uh dark suit. Mhm. Put on a guava.

41:44

And since Spanish is my mother tongue, I went around meeting people in coito

41:52

so that I could get an impression what the Venezuelan people thought. And I can assure you

41:59

the Venezuelan people, the vast majority of them uh

42:05

see the source of their misery not in Mr. Nicolas

42:12

Maduro, but in the United States and in the

42:17

greed of United States um

42:24

transnational corporations that have an enormous interest in getting hold of uh Venezuela’s uh oil

42:34

resources. As you know, Venezuela has the largest oil resources in the world.

42:42

They’re not being properly exploited because there are under unilateral coercive measures,

42:47

but the oil is still there on the ground.

42:53

They are, I think, the second greatest uh um

43:00

resource country uh for gold. They have

43:05

so many natural uh resources, minerals, uh rare

43:12

earths that uh they the country would be uh booming, its

43:20

economy would be booming the moment you lift the so-called economic sanctions,

43:27

the moment you do away uh with the financial blockade. But uh Miss Machado

43:33

wants more sanctions. She wants more economic blockade assuming wrongly

43:41

uh that the uh Venezuelan people will turn against Maduro.

43:48

uh uh she she lives in her own world is like uh the United States and like the

43:54

Europeans who have imposed really grotesque

44:00

economic sanctions on Russia and uh Russia’s economy has continued growing

44:08

2% 3% per year whereas the European economies are going down all of them I

44:14

mean especially Germany I mean this has been a catastrophy rophy for Germany these uh unilateral uh coercive measures

44:23

uh and the the but the narrative is still uh uh it will bring Russia down. The

44:31

Russian people will revolt against Putin and they they have been giving you that

44:37

narrative since 2014. Mhm. because the first um

44:44

uh unilateral coercive measures against Russia uh were imposed in 2014

44:52

uh after the referendum under the rule of law that was held in

45:00

Crimea, followed by a unilateral declaration of independence by the

45:06

competent authority by the parliament followed buy the necessary shall we say

45:14

for its own protection. Uh this little pocket called Crimea says

45:21

you know if they are an independent state uh they will be very quickly uh

45:27

attacked uh by uh Ukraine or by some other

45:32

countries. So they need uh to be reincorporated

45:37

into Russia and they had been since Katherine the

45:43

great since u uh 1783.

45:48

[Music] They had been uh part of the Tarist uh

45:55

empire and then part uh of the Soviet Empire in the

46:02

province or oblast uh of Russia. And it was a Ukrainian

46:10

Krushov who decided unilaterally that for administrative reasons it was a good

46:15

idea uh to transfer Crimea to the oblast of Ukraine. That changed nothing for the

46:22

people because everything in the Soviet Union was decided uh in Moscow anyway

46:28

and there were no um consequences for the use of the Russian language. uh uh

46:35

and there was a minuscule Ukrainian population uh in um in Crimea.

46:43

So I mean Ukraine has no claim to it ethnic, religiously or uh or otherwise.

46:50

Uh but uh we get the narrative all the time uh that uh Russia annexed u uh

47:00

Crimea. They didn’t. I mean it was uh a part of uh uh Ukraine. They had a

47:10

referendum. They had a declaration of independence a lot the same as uh Kosovo

47:18

became independent from um Serbia. Mhm. uh effectively Crimea became

47:27

independent uh from uh Ukraine and then as an independent state they request

47:33

reintegration into Russia. That does not go automatically. Had to be studied,

47:40

approved by the Russian Parliament, the Duma. After the Russian Parliament approves

47:47

it, it gets examined and approved by the constitutional

47:53

court of the Russian Federation and only then uh was it uh signed by Putin. So

48:00

this went through all the stages of the rule of law. So it was completely conformed with

48:09

international law. But you read the New York Times, the Washington Post and all of these sold out academics that will

48:16

tell you this was an illegal annexation. It was not. It was an entirely uh it was

48:22

actually the realization of the self-determination of the people of Crimea.

48:28

Earlier in this conversation, you mentioned you you laid out a list of criteria and you said based upon this

48:37

you you basically who had been granted the who had been made laureates who who

48:44

were undeserving and you said based upon that the prize should be abolished.

48:50

I think so. I think it’s such a farce. Let me ask you this. Yeah. Do you think that awarding her the prize

48:59

is the green light to Trump to invade Venezuela?

49:04

Well, it’s one more element. Okay. I mean, uh, Trump will use any excuse. I

49:12

mean, he’s invented this excuse of, uh, drug trafficking. Uh, they’ve sunk, you

49:19

know, five little boats and killed, I think, 24 people. I mean, uh,

49:27

I don’t mean the green light in his mind. I I don’t mean the green light in his mind. I mean, was this a message

49:35

from the committee of an to to an international space?

49:41

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Donald. Do what you got to do. Uh, you could interpret it that way. As

49:49

I say, uh this has become a farce. This is a

49:54

purely political award and uh the Nobel Peace Prize Committee uh is basically in

50:04

the service uh of uh the western hegeimmons

50:10

and they want to maintain uh western hedgemony. They’re not interested in

50:16

following the instructions, very clear instructions in the last will and

50:22

testament of Alfred Noble. By the way, uh your readers should try to get this

50:28

book. This is by far and away the best book uh on the subject. Okay,

50:34

this is called uh the real Nobel Peace Prize

50:40

uh a squandered opportunity to abolish war written by a Norwegian uh lawyer

50:48

Frederick uh Heerale published in Oslo in Norway in the year 2023. So it’s very

50:56

much up to date. Okay. And it gives you um it’s a big book as you see.

51:01

Yeah. Uh it gives you all of the um laureates

51:06

up to the year 2022 and then says these were the laurates,

51:13

these were meritorious, these were not. And for those that were not meritorious

51:20

like Maria Resa uh in 2022, it said it should have gone to somebody else. Uh I

51:28

already mentioned uh Federrico Mayor uh Tharagoa and um he could have gotten it

51:36

uh still in his lifetime. He could have gotten it in the year 2021.

51:43

Here’s Federico Mayor Taragosa. Mhm. And it explains why he deserved it and

51:50

he certainly deserved it. Mhm. And there are many people who’ve done a

51:55

lot of good work for peace and understanding for uh building uh bridges

52:04

among nations for uh doing that what uh the constitution of uh UNESCO tells us

52:12

to do uh to build bridges uh to learn

52:18

about other cultures to learn about other civilizations and to understand

52:23

that we’re a small planet that we should live together in peace. I mean that’s what’s all about but it has become like

52:31

so much a uh an industry and that’s why I again uh indicate this book I have

52:39

shown in this book how the office of the high commissioner for human rights has been hijacked

52:46

how hijacked by who by western interests okay

52:51

by the collective west see that’s why I was asking the question about was this a green light to Donald

52:59

Trump to invade Venezuela based upon the fact that certainly uh it is a signal uh if you

53:07

would go ahead you know we won’t object and uh then you have

53:14

uh the hijacking of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons you

53:20

have the hijacking of the international atomic energy uh uh agency which has

53:26

been very very uh unfair and applied double standards in judging for instance

53:34

Israel and judging uh Iran. I mean Iran has cooperated incredibly uh with the

53:42

international atomic energy uh agency. Uh but they don’t care. By the way, uh

53:49

you won’t get it. Huh? uh the current director of the IIA uh IIA um the he’s also uh running uh

54:00

for the postal secretary general of the United Nations. Uh the difference is

54:07

that uh it’s not the turn of West Western Europe. uh Western Europe and

54:14

others uh have had already several uh they’ve had an ex of secretary

54:21

generals and uh since the current secretary general is from Portugal that

54:26

is uh the western and others uh region so um uh the um uh director general of

54:37

the international atomic energy uh agency really has uh no hands. I think

54:43

it definitely has to go to Latin America and the Caribbean because it’s now the turn of Latin America and the Caribbean.

54:51

And I I would welcome, for instance, the former

54:56

foreign minister uh of Mexico. She’s a

55:02

very strong woman and uh she’s straight arrow. She she would be a good uh

55:10

secretary general. My preference would be of course Amia Mutley uh but also um

55:18

Michelle Bashel from Chile uh would be a credible uh candidate.

55:26

Final question for you. What are your thoughts of or projections

55:32

for Trump’s so-called peace council in the region? Is it

55:38

disgrace? How how can you possibly think uh of Tony Blair, a war criminal? By the

55:45

way, legal briefs were submitted uh to the ICC to prosecute the United Kingdom,

55:52

and the United Kingdom is a signatory of the Rome Statute. Do you think that the

55:58

prosecutor decided to pick it up? Of course not. There were uh legal briefs submitted with regard to other heads of

56:06

state of the so-called coalition of the willing that uh raped

56:14

Iraq in the year 2003 in that uh misguided uh and brutal

56:23

attack about the oil of Iraq to steal Iraq’s oil like the war against Syria to

56:32

steal Syria’s oil. Uh so um I would say

56:39

uh forget this uh so-called uh uh peace

56:45

board. I mean we already have all the mechanisms necessary

56:52

uh to administer the uh territory.

56:58

uh and if anyone from the outside I mean the decision should not be imposed by

57:03

the United States and Israel who is going to be administering this. I mean this should be through the United

57:11

Nations that actually bears the responsibility

57:17

not to say the guilt for having created this terrorist state called Israel in

57:23

the year uh 1948. By the way, there were conditions huh when uh it was negotiated uh the entry

57:31

of this new state Israel into the United Nations. They were supposed to respect

57:37

their borders. They were supposed uh to respect uh a Palestinian state. They

57:43

were supposed to do all numbers of things which of course they didn’t do. Mhm. And they got away with murder, including

57:50

murdering the UN envoy.

57:55

So I mean this is uh the Zionist experiment.

58:01

It’s an experiment and it has failed. Israel is a failed state when in 80

58:08

years you cannot live in peace with your neighbors. If uh you consistently expel

58:17

the native population of the territories that you have robbed because here we

58:23

have a land grab that is clearly contrary to international law.

58:30

when uh you attack Jordan and Lebanon and Syria and

58:37

everybody else and Egypt um and and you cannot have peace as equals with your

58:46

neighbors actually then I would go for the other option uh if they don’t want

58:53

to have a twostate solution uh there’s another option

58:59

this Yep. Democracy.

59:04

One person, one vote. Uh, exactly. Let the Palestinians, and

59:10

they have a right to return them. Let the Palestinians return

59:15

uh to their land, and you’ll have a majority of Palestinians in the

59:21

territory of the old mandate uh Palestine. And then if the Israelis want to uh

59:29

continue living there, yes, but as equal citizens. Correct.

59:34

No privilege. Correct. I mean uh one man, one vote.

59:41

And uh of course they don’t want that. But unfortunately the perception

59:47

in the west is that Israel is uh the only democratic country in the Middle

59:54

East. It is a model of democracy and uh and rule of law. I mean it’s all

1:00:04

a farce. It’s all public relations. And uh you and I are financing this public

1:00:12

relations campaign to sell the product the product being the state of Israel as

1:00:19

a good state. Now the fact is that most of the world is turning away uh from

1:00:28

Israel and there’s this momentum uh to uh recognize the state of

1:00:34

Palestine which I find very important that uh more and more states have

1:00:40

recognized uh Palestine. By the way, Switzerland has not. You’re right. We have a group, we have a

1:00:46

group here in Switzerland, including ours, the Geneva International Peace Research Institute, who are pushing Burn

1:00:53

uh to recognize that there’s even a possibility that we might have a referendum of the population that the

1:01:00

population orders burn to recognize uh Palestine. Otherwise, you know, we we’re

1:01:07

oddman out, you know, if if France has recognized it, if uh

1:01:15

even Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How come uh Switzerland doesn’t recognize it? We’re supposed to be the home of human rights.

1:01:22

We’re supposed to be the home of international humanitarian law. So um as

1:01:27

the case may be, we will continue fighting uh for the two-state solution

1:01:32

because uh that is what the United Nations uh

1:01:38

and the International Court of Justice has held that that is uh the way to go.

1:01:44

Uh but I mean with a crazy man like uh Netanyahu uh in power in um

1:01:53

Israel it will not be possible to have a uh twostate solution. So the only uh

1:02:01

solution is to have uh uh Mr. Netanyahu

1:02:07

uh abdicate lead uh the post as indeed

1:02:12

has been uh suggested by Professor Jeffrey Sachs in a number of his uh recent interviews.

1:02:21

I mean we cannot simply go back to business as usual. We cannot go back to

1:02:27

dealing with a genocidal state. the genocide has occurred and this peace

1:02:33

deal so-called peace deal which is not a peace deal

1:02:39

uh does not erase uh the genocide does not take away uh that the occupation is

1:02:47

illegal and was always illegal and the international court of justice has said

1:02:52

so so uh I mean either you have an international judicial

1:03:00

instance called the international court of justice that you respect and that all

1:03:07

disputes are submitted uh to it uh or you don’t have it. I mean then then

1:03:12

let’s go back to the law of the jungle. If you if you want to abandon civilization and you want to abandon uh

1:03:20

all the advances with the rule of law that we have seen over the last 200

1:03:25

years and that’s essentially what uh Mr. Trump uh wants to do. He just wants to

1:03:31

order people around. It is a a level of uh aggression, a level of of arrogance

1:03:39

that is contrary to civilization itself. Mhm. And I I wish that people would

1:03:46

understand that and I wish that Americans like your listeners uh would write to

1:03:53

their congressmen and congress women write to their senators and say, “Let’s

1:04:00

end this madness. We cannot be complicit in these crimes

1:04:06

committed by our government and Israel should not receive a red scent from the

1:04:14

United States. Israel should pay back the billions and billions of dollars uh that have been

1:04:22

given to it in the past. And beyond that, I would say uh you should write uh

1:04:30

to your senators and congressmen and congress women uh to tell them stop the

1:04:36

war in Ukraine. The moment that the United States does not deliver any more weapons, Ukraine

1:04:44

collapses as does Israel. Europeans won’t be able to fill the gap.

1:04:50

So who is maintaining this war? not Putin, it’s the United States and our

1:04:57

tax dollars that have financed uh this war. So uh once again, we have to win

1:05:06

one war and that’s the information war. We have to make sure that people are

1:05:12

informed and that they know that the United States, our government under

1:05:18

Donald Trump and Israel, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu are both outlaws.

1:05:24

Mhm. uh and uh it’s a disgrace, but it’s better to look at reality

1:05:32

uh in the eye and know that this is is an aberration and not do as if oh well

1:05:40

uh it’s business as usual. Professor Alfred Desas, as always, thank

1:05:47

you so much for your time. Phenomenal, phenomenal analysis as always. I look

1:05:52

forward to having you back. Whatever. Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Folks, I have a

1:05:58

question for you. Um, understanding as Professor Desas was very very clear uh

1:06:05

that Marina Machado or Karina Marina Machado um has no qualifications, has no

1:06:12

business uh with this award. How many of you knew who she was

1:06:19

before uh the announcement was made? Uh I’d like for it many those of you that can

1:06:27

um uh that take a second and respond to that question in in the in the chat. Uh

1:06:33

do any of you think that she was the right choice? uh or as professor Das

1:06:39

mentioned does this is this another indicator that the committee is bankrupt

1:06:46

and uh basically now serves no legitimate purpose. If you all could uh

1:06:53

take some time and respond to those questions in the chat I would greatly greatly appreciate it. And again let me

1:07:00

thank Professor Desas for joining us today. phenomenal, phenomenal analysis

1:07:06

as always and thank you all so much for joining us and for listening to the

1:07:12

program. Stay tuned. New episode tomorrow. Uh, attorney Daryl Jones from

1:07:18

the Transformative Justice Coalition is going to join us. There’s going to be a

1:07:24

protest, a voting rights protest in front of the Supreme Court sponsored by

1:07:29

the Transformative Justice Coalition on Wednesday. and uh attorney uh voting

1:07:36

rights attorney Daryl Jones is going to join us tomorrow to discuss uh the

1:07:42

issues around that protest, the cases around that uh protest and why we need

1:07:48

to be ever vigilant to ensure that we don’t lose one person, one vote if if

1:07:55

even in fact we actually have it here in the United States. Uh, please follow,

1:08:00

subscribe, leave a review, share the show, follow us on social media. All the links are below. Remember that this is

1:08:06

where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don’t

1:08:13

chatter here on Connecting the Dots. See y’all tomorrow. Attorney Daryl Jones will join us. Until then, I am Dr. Wal

1:08:20

Leon. Have a blessed remainder of your day. Peace. I’m out.

1:08:26

[Music]

1:08:32

Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

oooooo