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U2's Bono Backs Anti-Chavez Video Game
Liberals are sounding a sour note over U2 rocker Bonos backing of a video game that depicts Venezuela as a banana republic led by a power-hungry tyrant.The "Venezuela in the game is a fictitious country, but lefties are distressed that it demonizes Venezuelas real leader Hugo Chavez, known for his Marxist domestic policies and virulent anti-Americanism. A private equity firm established by Bono the Irish star who has been touted for a Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign for Third World debt relief invested $300 million in Pandemic Studios, maker of the video game "Mercenary 2: World in Flames, according to the New York Post. A player assumes the role of a mercenary sent to Venezuela, where a dictator has seized control of the nations oil. One left-winger sounding off against Bonos investment is Jeff Cohen, author of "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media and a recent visitor to Venezuela, who told the Posts Page Six column: "Its hard to fathom why an artist who claims to be about new paths to justice for developing countries would be mixed up in a computer game that glorifies stale, old mercenary approaches. And David Lindorff, co-author of the new book "The Case for Impeachment, said: "This kind of right-wing war game plays to the propaganda message that the Bush White House has been pushing for years: that Chavez is a dictator oppressing his people . . . Bono should use his financial interest in the company to kill it, or better, he should pull out entirely as an investor. Lindorff called the video game "imperialist garbage. As for the "propaganda message supposedly being sent out by the White House, it might be noted that since taking office in 1998, Chavez has, among other things, seized control of the nations broadcast media, rewritten Venezuelas constitution to enhance his powers, purged critics in the military and sent thousands of young Venezuelans to Castros Cuba for indoctrination. Even Venezuelas highest Catholic prelate has called Chavez a dictator. Posted by: ryuge 2006-07-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=158823 |