The Raw Prawn

Top-notch funnyman Harry Hutton doesn't make very many "serious" posts over at Chase Me Ladies, I'm In The Cavalry, but when he does, they're definitely worth reading.

This recent post deals with the short-lived Venezuelan coup in April 2002:

Max Sawicky recently wrote a piece about oil prices in which he said that the US tried to overthrow the Chavez government.

This has become conventional wisdom, though it has never been explained what, exactly, the Americans are supposed to have done. People always use some formulation such as, "The US had a hand in" or "gave the green light to" the coup, which "bore all the hallmarks" of a CIA operation, etc.

I was in Caracas when it happened, and watched as much of the subsequent investigation as I could. It isn't that there is a theory of American intervention which I personally don't find plausible: there isn't, as far as I know, even a theory. People just assume that they must have done it, because it´s the kind of thing they are always doing.

He takes a look at the evidence against the US government, and concludes that it's very flimsy. Definitely worth a read.

One of his commenters links to an excellent article, if you want more depth.

And when you're done, poke around elsewhere on his blog. It's one of the funniest blogs around.