The Hydrocarbon Doctrine

War is Hell, Energy is Business by Richard M. Balzano Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, and Gaza appear to be separate crises, each with its own history and its own official Washington explanation. Viewed against the global energy economy, however, they begin to look considerably less distinct, as oil fields, gas reserves, pipelines, refineries, shipping lanes, sanctions, and competition for customers repeatedly intersect with American foreign policy. The countries and circumstances vary, but control over hydrocarbons and the markets through which they flow remains remarkably constant. Study the global energy economy if you want to understand American foreign policy. After murdering fishermen accused of smuggling drugs in …

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Randy Fine and the Ministry of Acceptable Journalism

by Richard Balzano Calla Walsh, Jackson Hinkle and Christopher Helali have been accused of disinformation and propaganda. They are nontraditional journalists, certainly. They do not spend their days interviewing retired generals for mainstream outlets about why this week’s bombing campaign is regrettable but necessary, and they don’t wait until truth commissions to be on the right side of history. Instead, they travel to countries the United States considers enemies, talk to people Americans are told to hate and fear, and report perspectives that rarely penetrate our Western media echo chamber. The trio were among the remarkably few Western media figures who attended the funeral procession …

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The Politics of Agency

by Richard M. Balzano The algorithm-driven debate-industrial complex recently gifted the internet another installment of its ongoing effort to merge cable news, professional wrestling, and civic collapse into a single monetized spectacle: Jubilee Media and Straight Arrow News released a video titled “1 Journalist vs 20 Trump Supporters” in which constitutional law attorney-turned-journalist Glenn Greenwald volleyed geopolitical common sense into a clown car of personalities parroting curated conservative talking points and outright falsehoods about the Iran war—“Operation Epstein Fury.” I highly recommend the video to anyone wishing to observe the effectiveness of propaganda and the failures of the American educational system in real time. Among …

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Ortega, Elections, and the Context Western Media Won’t Print

by Richard Balzano “Crackdown.” “Democratic backsliding.” “Authoritarian grip.” Journalists persecuted, opposition parties crushed—and now, according to the latest eruption from the Western press, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has abolished elections. The peripheral left offers another interpretation: Ortega is preventing U.S.-backed political organizations implicated in subversion from participating in elections, while Nicaragua has restricted media organizations with subversive ties to Washington amid ongoing U.S. hostility. Whether one approves is beside the point. Nicaragua is behaving as though the United States poses a threat to Nicaraguan sovereignty. How could they possibly have gotten that idea? First, the elections. During his July 19th address commemorating the Sandinista Revolution, …

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Raúl Castro: A Guide to Manufacturing Martyrs

by Richard M. Balzano There is a certain dark comedy in watching Washington indict former Cuban president Raúl Castro for allegedly killing civilians over Caribbean waters after the United States bombed boats and killed civilians in Caribbean waters. Progressive commentators like Ryan Grim and Julia Conley at Common Dreams quickly noted the irony after Miami prosecutors indicted the 94-year-old on one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of aircraft destruction. The charges stemmed from a February 24, 1996 confrontation in which Cuban fighter jets destroyed two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft as they either approached or had …

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Kidnapping Maduro: Narco-fiction as Narrative Management

by Richard M. Balzano On January 3rd, “Operation Absolute Resolve” transformed years of coup attempts, subversion, and sanctions into outright abduction, as Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were kidnapped by U.S. forces and transported to New York. The White House framed Maduro as a narco-kingpin, head of the fictional “Cartel of the Suns,” dressing the regime-change operation in the language of law enforcement coated in uplifting rhetoric that oscillated between liberation-speak and outright resource imperialism. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, spent decades antagonizing Washington by committing the unforgivable crime of using Venezuela’s oil wealth to fund social programs instead of allowing multinational …

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