When Is a Coup not One?

Reuters/Mohamad Abd El Ghany

Stephen Lendman

"What's in a name," asked Shakespeare? A coup by any other name doesn't change things.

It isn't one when it's "our coup, a 'good cause' coup," said Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins. Western diplomats are scrambling to characterize it otherwise. 

Coups are called "military interventions with good intent." Saying they reflect good v. evil struggles doesn't wash.

Merriam-Webster calls them "a violent decisive exercise of force in politics; especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group."

The Oxford Dictionaries defines them as "sudden, violent, and illegal seizure(s) of power from a government.

According to Wikipedia:

A coup or putsch "is the sudden deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment - typically the military - to depose the extant government and replace it with another body, civil or military." 

A coup "is considered successful when the usurpers establish their dominance."

Coup in Egypt, Mohammed Morsi Overthrown by the People

Youtube

Egypt's military on Wednesday ousted Mohamed Morsi, the nation's first freely elected president, suspending the Constitution, installing an interim government and insisting it was responding to the millions of Egyptians who had opposed the Islamist agenda of Mr. Morsi and his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood.


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CFR Report Suggests U.S. Preparing For Upcoming Venezuela Coup, Exploiting Civil Unrest

image source

Brandon Turbeville

As election drama intensifies in Venezuela, Anglo-American plans to initiate yet another destabilization effort in a sovereign nation seem to be manifesting via the usual suspects – American ambassadorial staff and the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Under the leadership of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has been a stalwart source of resistance to the plans of the Anglo-Americans for several years, particularly since the George W. Bush administration and, like all other imperialist policies, continuing through the Obama administration.

Likewise, for just as long, Chavez’ government has been the target of US/NATO-backed destabilization efforts, covert operations, and political pressure.

Although Venezuela and the United States are held together by joint business interests involving petroleum exports and imports, this fact has done nothing to soften the tension between the two governments. Venezuela is, after all, the biggest supplier of petroleum to the United States. In turn, the United States is Venezuela’s biggest customer.