georgeob1 wrote:It is important to note that Pinochet never presented himself or the government he headed as a permanent fixture in Chilean life. It was from the start an interim affair
A great many dictators do not present themselves, especially at the start, "as a permanent fixture", instead always claiming to constitute merely a temporary necessity. It hardly ever indicates much about the character of their actual rule. In fact, even within the Chilean junta's rule the head's position was originally to be rotated, but Pinochet ensured his place was made permanent soon enough. As it happens, Pinochet held on for almost two decades and had to be pressured out even then.
georgeob1 wrote:designed to thwart what they saw as a lasting left wing takeover by Alliende, who by the way had already suspended both the Chilean constitution and its legislature.
Fbaezer has already corrected you on that claim a previous occasion you touted it: "Allende DID NOT suspend the Constitution. Allende DID NOT suspend the Legislature". See
HERE for his full post, after which you accepted his description of the details of these events. And why wouldn't you, since the correct information is readily available.
georgeob1 wrote:It has been noted here that the U.S. tolerates the Pinochets of this world while loudly condemning the Castros and other like tyrants. It is equally noteworthy that European liberals loudly condemn the Pinochets, while preaching acceptance and tolerance for the Castros. [..] I strongly believe that the hypocricy of the European liberals in this matter utterly dwarfs whatever may be ascribed to the U.S.
While many EU leftists have tended to be soft or silent in terms of condemning Castro, it's not like the EU has actually ever
supported Cuba in material ways. It has not funded his regime (unless you consider normal trade relations "funding"). It has not supplied Cuba with military intelligence, nor with arms support.
That makes the equation you suggest rather surreal. The US
did actively embroil themselves in Allende's overthrow, as they did in coup d'etats and propping up of dictatorships through funding, intelligence services or even military support elsewhere. To quote Wiki, documents declassified during the Clinton administration show that the United States government and the CIA had sought the overthrow of Allende already in 1970, immediately after he took office, in "Project FUBELT".
Hell, in a secret cable to the Santiago CIA station in October 1970, Thomas Karamessines, the CIA Deputy Director of Plans wrote: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup ... it is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG [United States Government] and American hand be well hidden". And all this was well before the fictitious suspension of Legislature and Constitution by Allende you conjure up.
In comparison, I can't think of any occasion on which that maligned liberal EU actively facilitated a coup d'etat or powergrab by a dictatorial regime through material support. Even on the level of individual member states you have to go back to the days when Belgium was, together with the US,
involved in the overthrow and murder of the democratically elected Zairean President Patrice Lumumba. Most I can think of more recently is the EU support to the democratic movements that eventually toppled Milosevich and overturned Kuchma's election fraud. Quite a different kettle.
Basically, the point I'm making here, specifically, would be that it is ludicrous to try to equate the EU failing to adequately speak up AGAINST one dictatorship with the US actively involving itself to MAKE another dictatorship happen.
