Edit requested

[Juno2k5]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/03/noam-chomsky-hugo-chavez-democracy

Five paragraph excerpt:

Hugo Chávez has long considered Noam Chomsky one of his best friends in the west. He has basked in the renowned scholar's praise for Venezuela's socialist revolution and echoed his denunciations of US imperialism.

Venezuela's president, who hasrevealed that he has had surgery in Cuba to remove a cancerous tumour, turned one of Chomsky's books into an overnight bestseller after brandishing it during a UN speech. He hosted Chomsky in Caracas with smiles and pomp. Earlier this year Chávez even suggested Washington make Chomsky the US ambassador to Venezuela.

The president may be about to have second thoughts about that, because his favourite intellectual has now turned his guns on Chávez.

Speaking to the Observer last week, Chomsky has accused the socialist leader of amassing too much power and of making an "assault" on Venezuela's democracy.

"Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, such as fighting world war two, is an assault on democracy. You can debate whether circumstances require it: internal circumstances and the external threat of attack, that's a legitimate debate. But my own judgment in that debate is that it does not."

[Judi Lynn]

1. Congratulations to a Rory Carroll reader. DU'ers know him well.

Of course many Latin American watching DU'ers recognize him instantly. What a hoot. We've been watching him for years. Big embarrassment for the Guardian.

Here's the first article I could grab in a hurry:

Carroll in wonderland: how the Guardian misrepresents Venezuela
Samuel Grove takes apart the pro-US, anti-Chavez bias of the Guardian's Latin American correspondent Rory Carroll
Samuel Grove
September 2008

Over the course of two articles in as many days the Guardian's Latin American correspondent Rory Carroll has described the most recent crisis to beset relations between Venezuela and the Unites States. In his first article, published on 12 September 2008, Carroll reports on the Venezuelan government's expulsion of the US ambassador amid allegations that the latter was involved in fomenting a coup against Venezuela's democratically elected government. In the second article, published on 13 September 2008, Carroll reports the US's claim that the Venezuelan government is aiding Colombian rebels and drug traffickers.

At this point it is worth looking at some of the criticism Rory Carroll's reporting of Venezuela has come in for in recent months. For example, in a response to criticisms that Carroll's coverage of Venezuela lacked objectivity, the Guardian's readers' editor, Siobhain Butterworth, defended Carroll by arguing the Guardian is not required to be impartial. Carroll for his part acknowledged that he was 'not a champion of impartiality'. Emphasising the polarising nature of Venezuelan politics, he instead saw it as his task 'to steer a course between' the two opposing sides.

~snip~
Readers well acquainted with Carroll's reporting will know that he has a certain preoccupation with the Venezuelan president. In less than two years of reporting on Venezuela, Carroll has written an astonishing 79 articles with Chavez's name in the headline alone. It is predictable then that the allegations against the US are presented by Carroll as yet another example of Chavez's quirky and paranoid persona; the latest in a long running feud between the 'self styled revolutionary' (as Carroll repeatedly refers to him) and 'the superpower' he calls 'the empire'.
Of course the allegations did not emanate from Chavez at all, but from Venezuelan intelligence services. According to the New York Times Venezuelan military prosecutors are already in the process of questioning the officers concerned. This Carroll is willing to concede, but lest we should draw our attention away from Chavez for a moment, he is quick to remind us that (after all) they are 'his intelligence services'.

In stark contrast to the personalisation of the Venezuelan allegations, Carroll shows a reluctance to even attribute the US claims to the US government as a single entity. Instead we are provided with the conclusions by separate and perhaps even disparate elements of the US government. Carroll had already implied that there was sufficient distance between the US treasury and the State Department for us to consider their claims 'separately'. However should we be in any doubt regarding the credibility of the treasury's claims, Carroll quickly backs them up with the conclusions of ... well ... err ... another member of the US government:

More:
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Carroll-in-wonderland-how-the/

[Juno2k5]

2. So,

what you are saying is that Rory made up Noam Chomsky's remarks? Right....