Miscellaneous News

Bangladesh coup was US revenge for military base refusal – ousted PM Sheikh Hasina​

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was forced to resign and flee the country amid mass protests earlier this week, has accused the US of involvement in her ouster.

In a message on Sunday cited by the Economic Times, Hasina signaled that she could have retained power if she had agreed to host a US military base in Bangladesh.

“I resigned, so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it, I resigned from premiership,” Hasina was cited as saying.

“I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech the people of my land, please do not be manipulated by radicals.”

Hasina was referring to Bangladesh’s coral reef island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal and Washington’s alleged attempts to seize control over it. A number of Bangladeshi officials claimed over the past months that the US had proposed leasing the island on several occasions, but was refused. Hasina said that “white men” – her term for US officials – met with her before the previous election and sought her support in building an air base on Saint Martin.

The 76-year-old politician, who held office for 15 years, fled to neighboring India following her resignation on August 5. She pledged to return to Dhaka “soon... with the grace of almighty Allah.”

Hasina’s ouster came after weeks of nationwide student-led demonstrations against a quota system for government jobs, which was criticized for favoring people with connections to the ruling party. Starting off peacefully, the protests quickly turned violent, reportedly resulting in over 400 deaths and around 11,000 arrests.

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“I resigned, so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it, I resigned from premiership,” Hasina was cited as saying.

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“I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech the people of my land, please do not be manipulated by radicals.”

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In Secret Talks, U.S. Offers Amnesty to Venezuela’s Maduro for Ceding Power​

BOGOTA—The U.S. is pursuing a long-shot bid to push Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to give up power in exchange for amnesty as overwhelming evidence emerges that the strongman lost last month’s election, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. has discussed pardons for Maduro and top lieutenants of his who face Justice Department indictments, said three people familiar with the Biden administration deliberation. One of the people said the U.S. has put “everything on the table” to persuade Maduro to leave before his term ends in January.

Another person familiar with the talks said the U.S. would be open to providing guarantees not to pursue those regime figures for extradition. The U.S. in 2020 placed a $15 million bounty for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on charges of conspiring with his allies to flood the U.S. with cocaine.

The talks represent a flicker of hope for a Venezuelan political opposition that meticulously collected voter tallies showing its candidate, little-known former diplomat Edmundo González, defeated Maduro in a landslide in the July 28 election. Over the past two weeks, Maduro has jailed thousands of dissidents, maintained the military’s loyalty and tasked the Supreme Court, stacked with his handpicked allies, with resolving the election impasse, buying him time.

International action may be the only avenue to force out Maduro, who over 11 years of authoritarian rule has overseen an economic implosion, diplomatic isolation and the exodus of nearly eight million Venezuelans—more than war-torn Syria and Ukraine. Maduro has given transnational gangs a safe haven, U.S. and Colombian officials say, and allowed Russia, China and other U.S. rivals to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

Maduro’s total grip on power stacks the odds against the Biden administration. The U.S. had made an amnesty offer to Maduro during secret talks in Doha last year, but the strongman declined to discuss arrangements where he would have to leave office, said people familiar with the matter. One person close to the regime said Maduro’s position hasn’t changed, for now.

Maduro has said that he’s open to talks as long as Washington shows him respect. At other times, he tells the U.S. to mind its own business. “Don’t mess with Venezuela’s internal affairs, that’s all I ask for,” Maduro said in a news conference Friday.

Latin America’s three most populous countries—Brazil, Mexico and Colombia—are also involved in trying to resolve the standoff. U.S. officials want these countries—run by leftist leaders sympathetic to Maduro—to take a tougher stance than their current position of pressuring him to present evidence he won.

The U.S. has five months before Venezuela’s presidential inauguration to pull off a deal, and much depends on the outcome of the presidential election in November.

A Donald Trump victory could squelch the talks if the former president revives his previous aggressive policies toward Maduro that began in 2019, when his administration leveled oil sanctions and supported a shadow Venezuelan government to topple the regime.

Still Maduro mistrusts Washington, no matter who inhabits the White House, said people familiar with the sentiment in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. This includes the Biden administration, even though it had lifted most economic sanctions in the hope of fostering a free and fair July election.

So far, the talks have taken place virtually between Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s congress and a Maduro confidant, and Daniel P. Erikson, who directs policy toward Venezuela at the White House National Security Council. U.S. officials have signaled that they won’t force Western oil companies to leave Venezuela.

An NSC spokeswoman declined to comment on diplomatic engagements with Caracas. The U.S., she said, supports international efforts to demand transparency over the vote result and “will determine next steps based on our national interests and take action at the time of our choosing.”

The Biden administration “is focusing on carrots, like offering to lift the indictments in exchange for transition talks, rather than sticks like sanctions,” said Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela expert at the Atlantic Council, the Washington think tank.

Ramsey said Republicans could use the engagement with Maduro to attack the Democrats in an election year, which could be damaging if the U.S.’s efforts fall through.

The U.S. attempt to offer Maduro a face-saving option dovetails with the opposition’s strategy, which favors negotiations that would include guarantees for regime leaders and a transition to a González government.

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Arij Javaid said:

This is your daily reminder that Zionists are subhumans. They're worse than Jai hinds, Yankees, Ukrainazis etc. They are orcs that should be treated as cockroaches.

Along with their barbarism perpetuated against Palestinians. Zionist run media also targets chinese and russians because they tend to defy their global order.

They also instigated a war against Russia to back their tribal Jewish Zelensky. The tribal Jewish factor is a major less talked about reason for US backing Ukraine and Israel so strongly.

Zionist Jews are extremely overrepresented in US establishment.

Call me an anti-semitic but that's the truth.

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Arij Javaid said:

This is your daily reminder that Zionists are subhumans. They're worse than Jai hinds, Yankees, Ukrainazis etc. They are orcs that should be treated as cockroaches.

Along with their barbarism perpetuated against Palestinians. Zionist run media also targets chinese and russians because they tend to defy their global order.

They also instigated a war against Russia to back their tribal Jewish Zelensky. The tribal Jewish factor is a major less talked about reason for US backing Ukraine and Israel so strongly.

Zionist Jews are extremely overrepresented in US establishment.

Call me an anti-semitic but that's the truth.

Click to expand...

vincent said:

I think we should avoid these kinds of talks if we want to keep SDF running.

Click to expand...

Arij Javaid said:

This is your daily reminder that Zionists are subhumans. They're worse than Jai hinds, Yankees, Ukrainazis etc. They are orcs that should be treated as cockroaches.

Along with their barbarism perpetuated against Palestinians. Zionist run media also targets chinese and russians because they tend to defy their global order.

They also instigated a war against Russia to back their tribal Jewish Zelensky. The tribal Jewish factor is a major less talked about reason for US backing Ukraine and Israel so strongly.

Zionist Jews are extremely overrepresented in US establishment.

Click to expand...

FriedButter said:

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