@ 11:00 & 25:30 - Paul Jay gives a good summary of the situation & recent history.
inb4 you support a dictator: That's a McCarthyite smear. I don't support anyone in the Venezuelan political sphere. This is about foreign policy & national sovereignty. Try to be bring a decent criticism to the discussion.
inb4 mah socialism &/or the government is incompetent/corrupt: The government is not blameless but compare Venezuela & Colombia in the below graph to see how the sanctions have gutted their oil industry (90% of their economy)....the sanctions also prevent implementing the best ways to fix the inflation (the biggest issue right now)...
No votes yet
Comments
(Old Spike)
not that simple. their oil production has declined thanks to appointments of favor rather than merit in their oil bureau. the people with the top job in the oil company are supporters who know nothing about oil production or even economics.
(Old Spike)
Cheers for that, it checks out. Maduro replaced the oil minister in November 2017 with a general who was then minister of housing. He had no experience in the oil sector & arrested 50 people in a supposed bid to 'root out' corruption. The previous guy had been qualified with decades in the industry.
Figuring out how much the sanctions vs the corruption were responsible for the output plummeting isn't easy unfortunately & you've just partially debunked my description ya bastard. Well done.
(Old Spike)
We got a drive-by comment voter. CountMeOut must be online.
(Old Spike)
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. - Except: The United States Declaration of Independence
Let's dispel some of your attempts to 'poison the well' in the video description.
You keep calling this a "coup". This is not a "coup" not matter how many times you and the other Dictator supporting radial leftist dumb-fucks call it that. A "coup" is a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government. This may be sudden and it may end up being violent, but it is by no means "illegal" as was outlined in our Deceleration. There have been a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object that evinces a design to reduce the people of Venezuela under absolute despotism. It is therefore their right and duty to throw off such Government and to provide new guards for their future security.
If you do not think the people of that country have a the right to remove the Communist Tyrant known as Nicolas Maduro from power then you, by default, support the current tyrant.
Yes, Socialism is in large part to blame for the current mess. And I've been critical of the fact that the man being put up to replace the Socialist Tyrant is likewise a Socialist. Top down central planning and the stealing of private industry by the State in order to redistribute a small part of the wealth to the people while those in power keep the lion's share has lead to this mess.
You want to blame the sanctions, which is further evidence of your defense of the tyrant.
(Old Spike)
You're pasting an excerpt from a document written hundreds of years ago by slave owners in a different country. Are you serious?
This is not a "coup"
This is an attempted coup, shortened to 'coup' to fit nicely in the title. A coup doesn't require violence or the military.
their right and duty to throw off such Government
Yes. ** Their right **. Not Pompeo's.
the people of that country have a the right to remove the Communist Tyrant
The people of Venezuela elected a president. You get so pissy about the word 'coup' and here you're using a phrase like "Communist Tyrant" and even capitalizing the words. You're being hysterical. Nobody believes you give a single fuck about Venezuelan people. At least be honest. You're in it for the ideological struggle. It's like a religion.
You have no logic to backup your support for another US-led foreign intervention. All you have is silly Neocon propaganda. You ought to lay off that shit it rots your brain & makes you look like an asshole. There are 49 dictators in the world. Your government supports 73% of them, not to mention a racist colonial project, ya know, your favourite country in the Middle East.
All you have are bad excuses aimed at justifying the violation of the national soverignty of another country.
(Old Spike)
Yes. Their right. Not Pompeo's.
Well considering that Pompeo isn't the one overthrowing their Government but simply recognizing the Government that has been erected to replace the tyrant I guess everything is kosher, right?
The people of Venezuela elected him president.
In the beginning maybe. The people of Venezuela still haven't figured out how they got in this mess (i.e. electing Marxists) Being elected doesn't grant him the authority to remain in office forever. And please come off this appeal to Democracy. "Fewer than half of registered voters turned up at the polls, but the opposition, which has boycotted the election, said even that figure was inflated." So no, the majority of the people did not elect him, the elections were obviously rigged when "the opposition's most popular leaders — the ones with the best chance of unseating the president — were barred from running."
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/21/612918548/venezuelas-maduro-wins-boycotted-elections-amid-charges-of-fraud
You have no logic to backup your support for another US-led foreign intervention.
Your lack of evidence to that claim is all the logic I need to deny it. The US throwing it's support behind the Government attempting to overthrow a Marxist tyrant is not really "intervention". If the day ever comes where US Marines storm Caracas and kill or capture the little Marxist fuck, then you'll have an argument to make against intervention.
All you have are excuses to justify violating the national soverignty of another country.
Except I'm not "justifying violations of national soverignty" because there is no violation of national soverignty occuring outside your imagination. There is movement to remove a socialist tyrant in Venezuela who is much beloved by radical leftists around the world and the United States simply went on record as siding with that movement and against the tyrant.
(Old Spike)
the majority of the people did not elect him
The majority of Americans didn't elect your lord & saviour either, yet there he sits.
then you'll have an argument to make against intervention
Libya, Syria, Iraq. Ever heard of those countries?
How about Afghanistan where the US is begging for peace with a bunch of goat farmers so they don't get shot in the ass when they retreat?
I'm not "justifying violations of national soverignty" because there is no violation of national soverignty occuring outside your imagination
Like I said, you have no logic to backup your support for the overthrow of Maduro. This sentence displays it nicely.
United States simply went on record as siding with that movement
Oh, is that all they did? Are you sure about that?
FYI:
It's what the declaration of independence was about..... that document you, for some absurd reason, think justifies a US-led ousting of the leader of a foreign country.