This year’s Presidential candidates are increasingly resorting to fear and competing claims of victimization to win over the electorate.
Today Jose Serra’s running mate (and de facto attack dog) Indio da Costa furthered allegations tying Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party (the PT) to organized crime and drug trafficking. Indio da Costa not only reiterated previous claims that the PT has ongoing linkages with Colombia’s FARC rebel guerillas, but furthered his allegations to include an insinuation that the PT is also involved with Rio’s infamous Comando Vermelho (Red Command) crime syndicate.
Although Indio da Costa’s accusations linking the PT to Colombia’s FARC are not entirely baseless (the PT along with the FARC formed part of a leftist São Paolo-based caucus during the 1990s), the latest claims seem completely unfounded. A la Glenn Beck, Indio da Costa tied together seemingly innocuous facts into a widespread conspiracy with the following argument (paraphrased):
The PT is the FARC.
The FARC is drug trafficking.
Drug trafficking is Rio de Janeiro
And Rio de Janeiro is the Red Command.
Ergo…
The PT is the most ruthless criminal organization in Rio’s history (i.e. the Red Command).
The PT has responded to Indio Da Costa’s initial accusations (those tying the party to the FARC) by suing Mr Serra and Indio da Costa’s party and asking for $40 thousand Reais in damages (about $23 thousand USD). Dilma Rousseff and the PT will most likely add Indio da Costa’s latest allegations to their own conspiracy theory arguing that they are the targets of concerted effort to impede the success of their campaign. The PT’s claims of being the victims of powerful opponents follow a series of investigations and fines against the PT for breach of electoral law.
With the presidential elections only three months away it appears that debates on policy are far from the minds of this year’s contestants and that the mud-slinging has only just begun.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
