An intriguing tweet: Of coups and chemical warfare

When much of the Iranian citizenry protested their recent election, our major media organs saw fit to pass along Twitter messages of unknown provenance. These "tweets" allegedly came from within Iran, although we had no proof of origin. Much of the information was demonstrably wrong.

Let us compare the Iranian protests with the current crisis in Honduras.

As was the case in Iran, some people within Honduras have tried to inform the world via Twitter. Among the people using the service are members of the left-wing International Action Center (founded by Ramsey Clark). Here is an IA Center Twitter message from Honduras:

teleSUR TV broadcast team leaves Brazilian Embassy; cites illness from chemical weapons used by illegal regime.

Will the mainstream media take this tweet at face value? I don't think so.

Is this accusation founded on fact? Did the illegal Honduran government use chemical weapons against media figures and embassy personnel? The charge is, one must admit, very serious.

Some background:

In 2006, Manuel "Mel" Zelaya became the president of Honduras. He comes from an affluent, land-owning family. His right-wing father was accused of mass-murdering a group of social activists in 1975.

But during his time in office, Mel Zelaya's orientation veered left. He befriended Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, he lambasted U.S. policy, and -- most dangerously -- he began to take real steps against the drug trade. The media turned against him, using many of the same propaganda tactics employed in the run-up to the coup against Chile's Salvador Allende.

Here's where it gets tricky.

The Honduran Constitution forbids Zelaya (or anyone else) from running for the presidency twice. The only legal way to change that situation is to hold a constituent assembly to modify the Constitution. Zelaya wanted to mount a nationwide referendum: The people were to vote on whether such an assembly should be convened. Although non-binding, the referendum would have gauged public sentiment.

His opponents charged that this whole business was a ploy designed to extend his presidency. Zelaya denies this charge, noting that the referendum was to be held on the same day that his successor was to be elected.

On June 26, the Honduran Supreme Court ruled against the referendum. Secretly, the court called for the arrest of Zelaya.

On June 28, the military mounted a coup. (Eerily, the action resembled the coup which WorldNet tried to foment against Obama.) A fake "resignation" letter turned up; it was soon debunked. No charges were brought against Zelaya, who went to Costa Rica. The new government has imposed the usual controls over the media and travel.

Obviously, the extra-legal change of government invalidated any claim that the anti-Zelaya movement was motivated by constitutional concerns.

Every democracy in the world has condemned the coup, as has the Obama administration (albeit rather too tepidly). America's reactionary pundits have, of course, castigated Zelaya as Obama's "man in Honduras." As the right-wingers see it, this administration's opposition to rule-by-coup demonstrates our president's alleged socialism.

Here's where it gets weird.

Zelaya managed to sneak back into his country, where he has holed up in the Brazilian embassy. The Brazilians won't turn him over because they do not recognize the new Honduran government as legitimate.

According to the Miami Herald, Zelaya has complained that "Israeli mercenaries" have tried to assassinate him. He also (reportedly) says that he has been subjected to attacks of mind-altering gas and "radiation."

The world's reaction to this press report was predictable: He's gone nuts. Even lefties who should know better have come to that conclusion. It's a conclusion based on two dubious propositions:

1. The presumption that the U.S. press always prints accurate information (a very dubious notion indeed!), and

2. The presumption that Zelaya's claim cannot possibly have any basis in fact.

I'm not going to get very deeply into the subject of allegedly mind-altering electromagnetic radiation. One cannot discuss the topic at length without running into various sad and annoying individuals who literally wear tin-foil hats, and whose attentions I do not seek. I will mention, en passant, that the American government has long funded research into that rather eldritch field of study. You may want to Google such names as Ross Adey, Joseph Sharp and Allen Frey. Be warned: Anyone exploring this territory will soon be hip-deep in sensationalistic crap; separating the truth from the nonsense is a nigh-impossible task.

That said, my puckish side forces me to note an interesting historical parallel. In the 1970s, there were widespread claims that the Soviets had used electromagnetic weaponry against personnel in the U.S. embassy in Moscow. (Supposedly, the "beam" induced headaches and lethargy.) Such accusations received widespread and respectful play in American right-wing media organs. Now, the American right scoffs at Zelaya for saying pretty much the same thing.

The "Israeli mercenary" claim naturally leads America's reactionaries to conclude that Zelaya (whom they picture as Obama's toadie) must be a raving anti-Semite. Why else would he drag the Israelis into Honduran politics?

Maybe Zelaya knows something which most U.S. citizens do not. As is widely known outside of America, Israelis have long been involved in the South and Central American drug trade. See here and here. Also note this far-from-irrelevant Los Angeles Times story from 1989:

Israel's government reacted with alarm Wednesday to reports that Israeli mercenaries may have helped drug dealers in Colombia to train squads to assassinate public figures.

The apparent involvement came to light when voices in Hebrew were heard on a videotape broadcast by NBC on Tuesday night. The tape, which purportedly pictured the training of assassination teams in the service of Colombian drug dealers, was reportedly made by the drug lords to show Colombian authorities how able their forces are.

In America, that story soon sped down the memory hole. The memory hole works differently elsewhere. If I were Zelaya, that 1989 report would always be in the back of my mind.

Keep in mind that Zelaya's great "sin" was to take action against drug traffickers. (The Columbians use Honduras as a trans-shipment point.)

What of the "gas attack" claim? Surely that must be a product of Zelaya's imagination?

Not if others have verified it.

And that brings us right back to the Twitter message with which we started. Let us repeat it:

teleSUR TV broadcast team leaves Brazilian Embassy; cites illness from chemical weapons used by illegal regime.

For some reason, the major American media organs will not give the above "tweet" the respect which was previously accorded to the questionable tweets which allegedly came from deep inside Iran. This, despite the fact that the folks at the IA Center are pretty easy to contact, should any reporter care to do some follow-up research.

Some tweets are more equal than others.