Arrest of Peru’s President Pedro Castillo
Germany arrests Reichsbürger leader
“Ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude [the “stolen election” mantra] allows for the
termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.
Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
Donald Trump, December 3rd.
On December 7th, Peru’s President had a bad day: “In a nutshell, President Pedro Castillo thought he was going to be impeached and tried to move ahead of lawmakers by closing down Congress. He said he intended to rule by decree and reform the country’s constitutional court and judiciary. In effect, he challenged the armed forces to choose sides.
“But the plan backfired. He announced that he was closing Congress, but Congress refused to be closed down. Instead, lawmakers went ahead with a previously planned impeachment trial and overwhelmingly voted to remove him from power. The military for its part rejected Castillo’s ploy.
“Castillo was later arrested on a charge of violating a constitutional order. He was replaced by former Vice President Dina Boluarte, who was sworn in as president. Peru’s first female leader intends to serve until 2026.” Eduardo Gamarra, writing for the December 9th US News and World Report. Clean, neat and quick. Next. You read what Castillo’s intentions were and wonder how he ever expected to pull that off. At least, in Latin American style, he should have embraced his military first.
But Peru could be dismissed as a banana Republic, so let’s move up to the First World and a recent coup attempt: Germany. Here is a nation where ultra-right-wing players have defined modern German history, most diabolically the Nazi era under Adolph Hitler. But that proclivity to elevate those who believe in Aryan purity – under the Germany for Germans mantra (“they shall not replace us”?) – has never completely faded from the German psyche. Like our Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, 3% Percenters, etc., Germany has its own set of militia-supported anti-democratic players: the “Reichsbürger” (Citizens of the Reich) movement, a far-right group that rejects the postwar democratically elected German government and advocates for the reestablishment of the German Empire. Yup, not neo-Nazis, just down and dirty monarchists.
Indeed, thousands of the “Citizens” have been plotting, scheming, and training to storm, take over the German parliament and control of government. According the Yahoo!News (also December 9th), “Dozens of people were detained by German police this week over allegations that a QAnon-inspired fringe group planned to overthrow the government and install a new national leader in a violent coup… Germany’s chief federal prosecutor Peter Frank said some 3,000 officers took part in raids at 150 sites across the country. More arrests were expected to take place in the coming days, authorities said.
“According to German officials, members and supporters of a ‘domestic terrorist organization’ had made concrete preparations to storm Germany’s Parliament building in an armed attack that included arresting lawmakers and installing an aristocrat as the new head of state… ‘The suspicion exists that an armed attack on constitutional bodies was planned,’ German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said. The terrorist group that the suspects belonged to had set a ‘goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of state, which has already been worked out in outline,’ prosecutors said….
“Germany’s domestic intelligence agency started observing the group in 2016. In 2020, there were said to be around 3,300 supporters, but that number jumped to 21,000 by the end of 2021, security forces told the local newspaper Tagesspiegel in April.
“The Reichsbürger’s antigovernment views became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdown restrictions took effect. In 2020, then-German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer banned a faction of the group. ‘We will be relentless in continuing the fight against right-wing extremism, even in times of crisis,’ Seehofer said at the time.” They were apparently well-armed, and the German police took down that group even before they were able to mount their attack. Apparently, the German government did not take the threat to their democracy lightly.
And then there is the American response to a coup attempt. Overwhelmed Capitol Police begging for National Guard assistance are ignored, people are killed and injured, members of Congress are hiding under their desks, armed right-wing soldiers are leading thousands to seize the Capitol, all on behalf of Donald Trump because he clearly lost an election but did not want to give up power. Still, almost two years later and after a major congressional election, the arrest and conviction of hundreds of coup participants, not one of those who were responsible for that Capitol attack were arrested for their efforts to stop the orderly transition of power.
Donald Trump, the fomenter in chief, continues to tout, without any evidence, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen… and has announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. Meanwhile, at his Mar-a-Lago home, the ex-President continues to entertain White supremacists, QAnon adherents, antisemitic leaders (even as his daughter converted to Judaism) and those favoring a full-on military takeover of the United Stated to install Mr Trump immediately as President… rejecting the past election results. Even after his major corporate holding company was convicted for criminal tax evasion. This is what we have become as a nation.
I’m Peter Dekom, and ask yourself what’s wrong with this picture… and why the United States seems unwilling to take very serious threats to its democracy… seriously.
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