http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_-gHVGOoE48<\/a><\/p>\n If you, an American, living in superpower America lack the courage to stand up to the evil that is \u201cyour\u201d government, perhaps the courage of Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and tiny Ecuador will give you heart.<\/p>\n A US senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Menendez\u2019s statement\u2014\u201dOur government will not reward countries for bad behavior\u201d\u2014is ironic. It equates bad behavior with protecting a truth-teller and good behavior with betraying a truth-teller. Menendez\u2019s statement is also a lie. The US government only\u00a0<\/i>rewards bad behavior. The US government consistently rewards those who conspire\u00a0against the elected governments of their own countries, setting them up as dictators when Washington overthrows the elected governments.<\/p>\n Menendez\u2019s threat did not work, but the senator did succeed in delivering yet another humiliating blow to Washington\u2019s prestige. The Ecuadoran President, Rafael Correa, beat Menendez to the punch and cancelled the trade pact with the US on the grounds that the pact was a threat to the sovereignty of Ecuador and to moral principles and was being used by Washington to blackmail Ecuador. \u201cEcuador doesn\u2019t accept pressure or threats from anyone,\u201d added Communications Secretary Fernando Alvarado who then offered Washington foreign aid to provide human rights training to combat torture, illegal executions and attacks on peoples\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n Washington, exposed with its hand in the cookie jar devouring the privacy of the entire world and prevented by its hubris from acknowledging its illegal behavior and apologizing, has so mishandled the Snowden affair that Washington has done far more damage to itself than occurred from Snowden\u2019s revelations. Washington has proven conclusively that it has no respect for anyone\u2019s human rights, that it has no respect for any country\u2019s sovereignty, that it has no respect for any moral principles, especially those it most often mouths, and that it relies on coercion and violence alone. The rest of the world now knows who its enemy is.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s presstitutes, by helping Washington demonize Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Manning, Assange, and Ecuador, have demonstrated to the world that the US media is devoid of integrity and that nothing it reports can be believed. The US print and TV media and NPR comprise a ministry of propaganda for Washington\u2019s immoral agendas.<\/p>\n On June 24, the Stasi State\u2019s favorite whore, the Washington Post,<\/em> denounced three times democratically-elected Rafael Correa as \u201cthe autocratic leader of tiny, impoverished Ecuador,\u201d without realizing that the editorial not only demonstrated the Washington Post\u2019s lack of any ethics whatsoever but also showed the entire world that if \u201ctiny, impoverished Ecuador\u201d can stand up to Washington\u2019s threats, so can the rest of the world.<\/p>\n President Correa replied that the Washington Post<\/em> \u201cmanaged to focus attention on Snowden and on the \u2018wicked\u2019 countries that support him, making us forget the terrible things against the US people and the whole world that he denounced.\u201d Correa added that Washington\u2019s \u201cworld order isn\u2019t only unjust, it\u2019s immoral.\u201d<\/p>\n The reason Washington hates Correa has nothing to do with Snowden. That Ecuador is considering asylum for Snowden is just an excuse. Correa is hated, because in the second year of his first term he repudiated the $3 billion dollar foreign debt that corrupt and despotic prior regimes had been paid to contract with international finance. Correa\u2019s default threat forced the international financial gangsters to write down the debt by 60 percent.<\/p>\n Washington also hates Correa because he has been successful in reducing the high rates of poverty in Ecuador, thus building public support that makes if difficult for Washington to overthrow him from within.<\/p>\n Yet another reason Washington hates Correa is because he took steps against the multinational oil companies\u2019 exploitation of Ecuador\u2019s oil resources and limited the amount of offshore deposits in the country\u2019s banks in order to block Washington\u2019s ability to destabilize Ecuador\u2019s financial system.<\/p>\n Washington also hates Correa for refusing to renew Washington\u2019s lease of the air base in Manta.<\/p>\n Essentially, Correa has fought to take control of Ecuador\u2019s government, media and national resources out of Washington\u2019s hands and the hands of the small rich elite allied with Washington. It is a David vs. Goliath story.<\/p>\n In other words, Correa, like Venezuela\u2019s Chevez, is the rare foreign leader who represents the interests of his own country instead of Washington\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n Washington uses the various corrupt NGOs and the puppet government in Colombia as weapons against Correa and the Ecuadoran government. Many believe that it is only a matter of time before Washington succeeds in assassinating Correa.<\/p>\n American patriots, who feel that they should be on \u201ctheir\u201d government\u2019s side regardless of the facts, would do well to remember what true patriotism is. For Americans, patriotism has always meant allegiance to the Constitution, not to the government. The oath is to defend the Constitution against enemies domestic and foreign. The Bush and Obama regimes have proven themselves to be the Constitution\u2019s worst enemies. It is<\/p>\n not possible for a true patriot to support a government that destroys the Constitution.<\/p>\n The United States is the Constitution. Our country is not the Obama regime, the Bush regime, or some other administration. Our country is the Constitution. The Constitution is our country.<\/p>\n Beyond obligations to one\u2019s own country, all humans have a responsibility to human life itself. Washington\u2019s puppet states, such as the NATO countries, Japan, and Colombia, by providing cover and support for Washington\u2019s aggression are enabling Washington to drive the world into World War III.<\/p>\n The temptation of Washington\u2019s money easily overwhelms weak characters such as Tony Blair and David Cameron. But the governments of NATO countries and other accommodating states are not only selling out their own peoples by supporting Washington\u2019s wars of aggression, they are selling out humanity. Washington\u2019s hubris and arrogance grow as Washington bumps off country after country. Sooner or later Russia and China, will realize that they themselves are targets and will draw firmer lines. Arrogance will prevent Washington from acknowledging the lines, and the final war will be launched.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s hegemonic impulse is driving the world to destruction. The peoples of the world should realize this and force their governments to stop enabling Washington\u2019s aggression.<\/p>\n Paul Craig Roberts<\/strong>\u00a0is a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal.\u00a0His latest book\u00a0<\/em>The Failure of Laissez-Faire Capitalism<\/a>. Roberts\u2019\u00a0How the Economy Was Lost<\/a>\u00a0is now available from CounterPunch in electronic format.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"howecon\"](\"http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/wp-content\/dropzone\/2013\/04\/howecon.jpeg\")
<\/a>Relations Committee, told the Ecuadoran government that he would block the import of vegetables and flowers from Ecuador if Ecuador gives asylum to Edward Snowden. The cost to Ecuador would be one billion dollars in lost revenues.<\/p>\n