http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28518
“Venezuela’s Totalitarian Turn”
By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 30, 2007
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Hugo Chavez may be setting the stage for what he calls “21st century socialism,” but his communist revolution won’t be televised — at least not by any television outlet not slavishly loyal to Venezuela’s emerging dictator.
Sending its clearest signal yet that 21st century socialism will be no more tolerant of free speech than its 20th century predecessor, the Venezuelan government, acting on earlier threats, last week refused to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), the country’s most watched and, with nearly 54 years on the air, oldest operating television broadcaster. Before the government-enforced blackout, the station had been among the last to retain its independence in a country where the media has been reduced to a propaganda arm of the regime. Replacing RCTV will be TVes, which has Chavez’s personal endorsement as “socialist television.” To add insult to injury, the Supreme Court, packed with government apparatchiks, has ruled that RCTV must also surrender its equipment to TVes.
“With this move, Chavez has crossed the dictatorial Rubicon,” Thor Halvorssen, president of the New York-based human rights watchdog the Human Rights Foundation (HRW), told me this week. A pro-democracy activist whose mother was murdered by Venezuelan security officers in 2004, Halvorssen notes that the clampdown against RCTV had been foreshadowed by Chavez’s increasingly militant diatribes against independent media.”
WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "SECOND PASSENGER SAW SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR" by Audrey Hudson (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The second passenger, a frequent business traveler who asked not to be identified, provided a copy of her itinerary confirming she was on the June 29 Northwest Airlines Detroit-to-Los Angeles Flight 327, which was disrupted by 14 Syrian passengers later identified as musicians. The passenger, who was riding in first class, said the constant foot traffic and strange behavior she witnessed in the front cabin frightened her as much as it did Annie Jacobsen, the first passenger who publicly reported the incident. "I thought I was going to die," the second passenger told The Washington Times.") (July 30, 2004)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "SYRIAN MUSIC STAR SINGS PRAISE OF SUICIDE BOMBERS" by Audrey Hudson (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The Syrian singer of a band that was detained by the FBI's Terrorism Task Force for suspicious activity during a recent flight to Los Angeles has written about the "glorification" of suicide bombers to liberate Palestine. Singer Nour Mehana's latest album includes the song "Um El Shaheed," or "Mother of a Martyr," said Aluma Dankowitz of the Middle East Media Research Institute. (July 29, 2004)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "SYRIANS FLEW WITH EXPIRED VISAS" by Audrey Hudson (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The Washington Times reported last week that flight crews and air marshals say terrorists are testing airline security and conducting probes, and cited several incidents including the one involving the musicians that set off alarms with security officials. Since the report, several other pilots and marshals have come forward and confirmed that groups of men are conducting what looks like dry runs for a terrorist attack.") (June 27, 2004)