I can't thank you enough. I only recently found you, but you're such a bright beacon of sanity — cutting through the gaslighting — that I'm already hooked. 💕
Chile did democracy all wrong by voting for Allende, but the CIA took care of that. SO many union organizers thrown out of airplanes! You’d think South Americans would learn not to screw with corporations and their profits. Capital uber alles !
The number of nations (not to mention the number of times in each) where the CIA has ‘protected’ democracy is through the roof. Just in the Western Hemisphere it’s overthrown duly elected governments in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, Hawaii, Grenada, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru as well as attempted to in Cuba, Nicaragua and, in 1812, even in Canada.
I believe there have been 50 CIA backed coups since WWII. America is constantly at war be it proxy or covert they don’t mind as long as it makes money or gives them power.
What a relief to hear that Maduro got in. Let's hope we won't have to hear more about the great democracies of the world interfering in Venezuelan politics.
Sadly, there does seem to be some question about the way the votes were counted. Still, I hope the US manages to keep out of it for once. Apparently the US has offered to help the opposition candidate. And we all know what that "help" means.
No there isn't any problem with how they count the votes. These are the most free and fair elections on Earth. They are also the most observed. 900 election observers watched the entire process and said they were free and fair. There are six different audits done along the way to the votes being finally tallied to make sure the figure is correct. The commission that runs the elections has many opposition people on it. The results are very much in line with the most fair polls and especially the fair exit polls done by Hinterlaces, which predicted the results very closely. Both the good polls and the good exit poll were very close to the results.
I want you do consider this. Every single time the Chavistas have won an election, the US has screamed that they cheated and called for the violent overthrow of the government. I guess they've lost every time. However, once in a while the opposition wins. On these occasions the US says, "Well this time they were free and fair."
Get it? Every time the Chavistas win, it's fraud. Every the opposition won, they win it's free and fair.
Who are these election observers Robert? I can find no information about them and many organisations, including Human Rights Watch, are saying the election results are not fully transparent. Are the observers internal to Venezuela or are they from international organisations? If they are international observers, what organisation(s) are they from? I want to believe the furore in the West is based on lies but where is the evidence that everything in the election was above board?
They come from all over the world. Jimmy Carter's Carter Center sent one and they've criticized the elections in the past. The UN itself sent one. Fuck Human Rights Watch! Human Rights Watch is CIA! It supports US imperialism!
Hey. You tell me. What on Earth could we possibly do right now do get these idiots to shut up about this election? Supposedly there was fraud. Fine. So what do we do now?
I don't know about internal to Venezuela but I do know they come from all over the world.
Let me ask you something. Are the elections in the US, which have been stolen by Republican controlled computers from decades now, fully transparent?
Venezuela has the freest and fairest elections on Earth according to the Carter Center.
You see when the Chavistas started winning, every time they won, there was said to be massive fraud. A couple of times they lost and suddenly there was no fraud.
They got tired of being called fraudsters so they called in experts from all over the world to help them design a world class fraud-proof election system. And the system they designed was state of the art. But the US still kept screaming fraud anyway so it was worthless.
The results are right in line with an analysis done by a fair election researcher, who said the elections would be tied or Maduro would win slightly. Hinterlaces does the only good polls. One showed Maduro with 54% and the opposition with 46% with 21% for the fascist dogs. As it turned out, the votes for the other opposition all got diverted to the dogs, so it came out about right. Hinterlaces did an exit poll too. Found the same thing. Maduro with 54%.
As you can see, the final results were LOWER than the fairest polls so that shows that if anything the results for Maduro were LOWER than the best polls. So if anything the results were biased AGAINST Maduro.
When the Chavistas win, that means they cheated. When they lose, that means it was fair. This strikes you as credible? You realize that EVERY SINGLE TIME THE CHAVISTAS WON, the US screamed fraud? And the few times the opposition won, the US said they were fair?
There are six different audits of the vote before the final tally. I suppose this means each vote is counted six different times? Or is it something different? If any of the audits is wrong, the whole thing shuts down until they discover the problem. Representatives of all parties are invited to participate and watch the process every step of the way and most of them do. There are no elections like this anywhere on Earth.
It's so obvious. If the Chavistas win, it's fraud.
If the opposition wins, it's fair.
As a matter of fact the US always announces this on purpose. If polls show Chavistas ahead the Western media is flooded with articles about how the Chavistas are expected to engage in massive fraud.
And stop reading Human Rights Watch or read it dubiously. They're so crooked. They rotate in and out of the US State Department and HRW.
If you have any more concerns about the Chavistas and Venezuela, talk to me or send me a message, and I’ll see if I can chase down the charge and see if it’s true or not.
I live in hope of avoiding WWIII by the de unification of the U.S. into smaller strong Sovereign countries. Texas alone has a higher GDP than many countries. No one asked them to police the world that’s the job of international law and the UN (though arguably they own the UN). America is bankrupt with its cities and infrastructure crumbling. They are so in debt to China that they cannot even pay the interest on their loans. You can hear the ticking of the plan to go to war with China, wipe off the debt then play the usual business model of destroying a country and making vast profits from the military complex, installing a puppet government who awards the huge lucrative profits of rebuilding the infrastructure to American countries.
The US has the nerve to call China aggressive when they have 20 plus military bases surrounding its borders and six nuclear aircraft carriers steaming up and down its coat! They can field 16 Fleets like this and bring that up to 22 if mothballed equipment is deployed. The Chinese have two and are on a defence footing to defend their borders. I think a young school child would clearly see who the aggressor is.
The U.K. has two aircraft carriers only two years old but retired any jet that can land on them. One is in Portsmouth harbour having failed its sea trials with reactor problems and only good for scrap. The other is quietly sitting off the Palastinian coast flying 8 American F-35s in support of Israel (one ended up in drink on take off - pilots ok) it has a damaged screw/driveshaft and not fit for purpose. It’s also co-ordinating refuelling tankers from Cyprus and RAF Akrotiri in Turkey a 99% Muslim country but they want in to the European Union and NATO. China has just two aircraft carriers as on a Defence footing you don’t need to project attack killing forces around the globe. The USA has 16!!! With 6 more mothballed to return to service. Says it all really.
I usually agree with you but not in this one. I am from Argentina and have a lot of Venezuelan friends and everybody wants Maduro to go. 8 millions Venezuelan left the country because of his "leftist " government. He's not left, he is a populist and a dictator. People in Venezuela were crying when they heard the results. And you know why? They want their families to go back home, and with Maduro still in power, they won't. He didn't won. Europeans don't know the truth about Venezuela or latinoamerica. Only what your trusted media tells you. Maybe you should take a trip there some day and see it with your own eyes.
Right. What they need is what you have in Argentina. Which, interestingly, you left out of your comment. You are a U.S. Empire asset. And as for our trusted media- your bullshit is EXACTLY what they tell us.
I hear that freak Mellei is leading the charge against Venezuela. Figures. I never thought the Argentines were actually dumb. Until they elected that guy. Do better, gauchos.
Just to elaborate on my last comment: I know Cubans who think it would be great if US interests took over Cuba, as they keep trying to do; they tell each other it would be like Puerto Rico. No, it wouldn’t; they won’t allow that. It would be like Honduras.
Duh’merika has a lot of built up resentment to Cuba - can you see them giving them a fair break? Two cousins from Ireland recently went to Cuba said it was a wonderful country but I think they are more interested in the bar prices than politics!
Thank you for your perspective and input. But I hope your friends are considering not only what it used to be like but what it might be like if US corporations get their claws deep into Venezuela.
You do understand that opposition rallied over 40% themselves, right? So there's bound to be a lot of people with another opinion. The difference is, despite all shortcomings under Maduro there's still Venezuela to return to. Look at Ukraine for alternative.
Middle class Venezuelans want Maduro to go. That's because they believe what their comprador-elite-owned media tell them - that their government's policies harm the economy. It's Western sanctions and other economic attacks which are harming the economy, as well as internal sabotage by Venezuela's own monied class.
The working class Venezuelans are not fooled by the propaganda. They can see how their living conditions have improved. Their solid support is why the Chavistas are still in power, despite all the forces arrayed against them. If the middle class would wake up and join in solidarity with the working class against the wealthy, then they'd be better off too.
Actually, I suppose that last sentence applies to most of the world right now.
"If the middle class would wake up and join in solidarity with the working class against the wealthy, then they'd be better off too."
NEVER happens. Never ever ever ever happens. They always ally with the fascists, and that's when they don't actually become the fascists, which they often do. When push comes to shove the middle class is always fascist to the core. That's why the middle class is shit.
The 3 Venezuelans I know who have fled Venezuela are uniform in their opinions that both Maduro and Chavez are/were corrupt dictators who have destroyed the country. Before he left, one of them had multiple family members kidnapped and held for ransom (he described it as basically a business proposition, with literally a rate card with different prices depending on what condition you wanted your hostage back in). In each case, he said, the ransom was paid to a military official. Corrupt to the core.
I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he must be a parody account, but having glanced at his posts he's either had a sense-of-humour bypass or he's just a ****.
People who toot their own horn on a narcissistic platform where every other person is a raging narcissist (in other words, everyone) have "issues." Are you for real?
Your points are all so excellent (and mordantly funny) but isn’t this also a bit an OJ Simpson type situation also? Remember the OJ Simpson trial, where many of us realized that 2 things can be true at the same time, like “OJ did it AND Fuhrman planted the glove”? I just sort of think that while it is clearly true that the US is salivating over Venezuelan oil and is 💯 hypocritical re democracy etc, it’s also pretty clear that a lot of Venezuelans are sick and tired of Chavism and Maduro, and that Maduro is stealing an awful awful lot of assets. I guess it’s like the opposite of the meme that shows an American war plane dropping bombs with a 🏳️🌈 rainbow flag; just because an anti globalist leader condemns Israel for its outright violations of human rights doesn’t mean he himself is good and true. There are simply too many gray areas here. Venezuelans should have a choice that lies outside of the ven diagram areas of a CIA asset and a former bus driver drunk on power
Dude the problem is that no one believes the results. More than 6 million Venezuelans have left the country in the past 10 years because of Chavist policies…I’m totally not saying let’s let the CIA in, but I mean COME ON
Interesting how, when the working classes achieve some political outcomes in their favour, it's always described with terms like "stranglehold", "dictatorship" or "thuggery", but when they are oppressed and powerless, that's just business as usual.
Yeah they always say that, I know. Imperialist propaganda is so transparent.
By the way comrade, Qatar, UAE, Pakistan, and India are now part of World Imperialism. They all lined up with the West and recited the lies about Venezuela. I guess siding with imperialism pays off?
The Venezuelan elections are the most scrutinised on Earth. The international observers believe the results. The Venezuelan working class believe the results (even if they do have to cross the border to get work). It's the Venezuelan middle class who can't believe the results because they keep listening to the comprador-elite-owned media.
Scrutinised by who Res? Who are the international observers? I can find no information about them and many organisations, including Human Rights Watch, are saying the election results are not fully transparent. I want to believe the furore in the West is based on lies but where is the evidence that everything in the election was above board?
Oh dear, Bob, you do seem genuinely concerned about Venezuela and the transparency of their election! I assume you live in the West though, so the reason you can't find the information you seek is that it's been swamped by a deluge of bullshit. Good thing you've got trustworthy old HRW to set you right, eh?
Perhaps then, before we look at Venezuelan transparency, we should take a closer look at Human Rights Watch:
Even if you don't read the whole article, scroll down to the section headed, "A LONG HISTORY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS." HRW is what is known as a gatekeeper, waylaying the naive who are earnestly "passionate about social justice."
As it happens, on that same news site there is an article reporting the statements of American observers of the Venezuelan elections, and naming their various organisations:
So it seems the information you sought is available, you just have to know where to look. Probably not Google, Facebook, MSNBC or NYT.
Out of interest, what level of Venezuelan transparency would satisfy your anxiety? It's impossible to prove the absence of fraud, only its presence, and I assure you that if any of the almost 900 foreign observers had found anything concrete, we would have heard all about it.
But as a thought experiment, let's say every Venezuelan citizen mailed you a signed affidavit, telling you about their election experience and how they voted - what would that prove? Perhaps they're forgeries? Perhaps the people were paid or threatened to write what they did? Perhaps some of them were propagandised? How can you ever know The Truth?
Well, thing is, you can't. You can never know reality - you only have your perception of reality. You have a personal duty, I believe, to inform your own perception. You can't rely on some authority figure to just hand you the capital-T Truth. If you trust in some Truth Daddy to tell you what's what, and tell you that everything's gonna be okay, then you're making yourself vulnerable to deception and predation.
In the end, you gotta grow up and make your own call, based on your own experience of human nature and the way you've witnessed things go down in your lifetime.
And on that basis, I gotta say: Laura K layed out the power relationship between Venezuela and the Empire quite effectively.
Yes Res, when there are lunatics screaming that the election result is a fraud and that there was no transparency in the results, I am concerned about the transparency. If there is no transparency then those who want to slag off Venezuela can have a field day.
I'm sorry that I wasn't aware HRW are a questionable organisation; I have never heard anything bad about them before.
I was recently made aware of the second mintpress article you mention; definitely a great help in my search.
I also see Amnesty International is very critical of what goes on in Venezuela. I have supported AI in the past so are you going to tell me that it is no longer to be trusted?
It is all very confusing and disturbing. I am fully behind calling out US hegemony but that shouldn't include defending monsters who are on the receiving end of US hegemony. It is counter-productive in my view to support one monster who is being attacked by another monster simply because one has a greater loathing for the attacking monster.
Come back to this issue in late 2040s after America instigates then loses an actual big war in Europe and the world clears out hopefully sporadic radioactive piles of rubble. You don't change leadership on a collision course, it'll only make you weaker on hit and allow the adversary to steamroll you. If Venezuela veers away even slightly now, it's doomed.
Ah, so in the Shoulda Universe, all would be well, but in this Universe, the Venezuelans' best option is to capitulate to the Empire's desire to transform them into Honduras? You make a compelling argument.
Nobody believes the results. Except the hundreds of election monitors, including from the Carter Center. What you mean is that nobody WHO MATTERS LIKES the results. The U.S. Empire, the MICIMATT, and its allies, comprador elites worldwide.
No one equals World Imperialism. They lie like rugs. Study the election to see how the results are obviously correct and how they could not possibly be wrong.
"a lot of Venezuelans are sick and tired of Chavism and Maduro"
Who cares what fascist dogs think? I care about humans, not dogs.
Also they're sick of their economy being ruined by sanctions. The sanctions were put in by the US government in order to destroy the economy so the people would throw out Maduro. You've got it all wrong. Tell you what. Take all those sanctions off and we'll see how the economy does.
"just because an anti globalist leader condemns Israel for its outright violations of human rights doesn’t mean he himself is good and true."
He doesn't have to be. Like Stalin said, we support everyone who opposes imperialism, even reactionaries. The imperialists are the enemy. We can deal with the reactionaries later if we must and are able to, mostly by re-education. Cultural reaction is caused by normal human barbarism. In the creation of the New Man, we will rise above this throwback behavior.
"Maduro is stealing an awful awful lot of assets"
BS. He hasn't stolen a single nickel. He's pure as the driven snow.
"former bus driver drunk on power"
Ohhh nice classist remark, baby! Where you raised, sweetheart? The Hamptons? You're so lucky to have picked the right parents! Congratulations. We see your seething hatred for working class people.
He's not drunk on power. Venezuela's one of the most democratic countries on the planet.
Let me know when you quit reading the imperialist media and believing its lies.
It were the sanctions against Venezuela, as it keeps happening against Cuba, a worldwide shameful act with idiotic complacency of EU among others, that instigates such countries’ population suffer till reaching an unbearable state of despair that drives to vote on the puppet-clown suggested
Your comments are strictly precise and correct. My congratulations for the clarity of the arguments. As nowadays usual, US policy strikes at several critical points of the globe where they see potential to extract pure profit or do a settlement of regional influence close to the real targets to be reached later
Sorry but you lost me, and probably any generally sane person reading your words, aitim you said “Comrade Stalin”…Let *me* know when you atop idolizing other people’s psychopathic leaders.
Many Americans like to think they have the right to "put things right" in another country. They seem to think they are above everyone else. It is about time to "put things right" with their warped mentality.
And right on cue CIA’s own paper of record the NYT characterized Maduro’s victory as “tainted” which tells us although this is exactly what we should expect from lamestream media there’s a real sense of desperation that’s intensified within the US empire, for the chock hold it once had on the rest of the world has lost its grip. Especially in the so called global south.
Great article. Satire with actual facts really floats my boat! I had an elderly friend die recently, he was an old school investigative reporter back in pre-internet days and when we had an obsolete expression called the ‘free press’ . I honestly thought he was the last of his kind, smart, fearless and relentless pursuit of the truth up to the end. But seeing your posts and a handful of others gives me inspiration and hope for the future.
My son is 22 and just graduated his Honours law degree. Because I’ve spoken about politics, justice and truth since a toddler (well actually when he was in his mums tum too!) He has a mindset/awareness beyond his years, politics is a good way of teaching history, geography, organised religion, ‘democracy’ and that there is significant difference between Communism and Socialism. Just look at France, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries where people pay high taxes but don’t complain as it is obvious it’s going into the community and benefiting them and their loved ones not sliding into the pockets of MPs like in England. Sadly the vast majority of his peers are completely oblivious to the workings of government and our so called ‘democracy as the outdated Education system at all levels is focused on producing worker drones not free thinking human beings.
I would upgrade to a paid subscription to your posts in a heart beat if I could afford it but now unfortunately unable to work due to disabilities so money tight. I’m just so glad I get to read your posts and share your content with others. Carry on!😃
"The CIA has no choice but to export democracy before Venezuela does a trade deal with China or something."
Yes! You don't realize just how "dangerous" a trade deal with China could be... I mean, Venezuela could accidentally sell it's oil and gas reserves to the Chinese instead of "giving" them freely to the US under the guidance of Venezuela's "real" president, Juan Guaido. (And if you believe any of this, I have some swampland along the Pecos River to sell you...)
Congratulations to the citizens of Venezuela!
I can't thank you enough. I only recently found you, but you're such a bright beacon of sanity — cutting through the gaslighting — that I'm already hooked. 💕
I have exactly the same feeling - I feel safer when i think people like Laura K do what they do. Thanks Laura
https://antiimperialistnews.substack.com/p/the-us-does-not-care-about-democracy
Chile did democracy all wrong by voting for Allende, but the CIA took care of that. SO many union organizers thrown out of airplanes! You’d think South Americans would learn not to screw with corporations and their profits. Capital uber alles !
When the people decide to impose their will, then it's time for the Americans to move in and kill.
@snsmith never a truer word spoken 🎯
The number of nations (not to mention the number of times in each) where the CIA has ‘protected’ democracy is through the roof. Just in the Western Hemisphere it’s overthrown duly elected governments in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, Hawaii, Grenada, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru as well as attempted to in Cuba, Nicaragua and, in 1812, even in Canada.
I believe there have been 50 CIA backed coups since WWII. America is constantly at war be it proxy or covert they don’t mind as long as it makes money or gives them power.
1975 in Australia
What a relief to hear that Maduro got in. Let's hope we won't have to hear more about the great democracies of the world interfering in Venezuelan politics.
Sadly, there does seem to be some question about the way the votes were counted. Still, I hope the US manages to keep out of it for once. Apparently the US has offered to help the opposition candidate. And we all know what that "help" means.
No there isn't any problem with how they count the votes. These are the most free and fair elections on Earth. They are also the most observed. 900 election observers watched the entire process and said they were free and fair. There are six different audits done along the way to the votes being finally tallied to make sure the figure is correct. The commission that runs the elections has many opposition people on it. The results are very much in line with the most fair polls and especially the fair exit polls done by Hinterlaces, which predicted the results very closely. Both the good polls and the good exit poll were very close to the results.
I want you do consider this. Every single time the Chavistas have won an election, the US has screamed that they cheated and called for the violent overthrow of the government. I guess they've lost every time. However, once in a while the opposition wins. On these occasions the US says, "Well this time they were free and fair."
Get it? Every time the Chavistas win, it's fraud. Every the opposition won, they win it's free and fair.
You actually believe that that is true?
Who are these election observers Robert? I can find no information about them and many organisations, including Human Rights Watch, are saying the election results are not fully transparent. Are the observers internal to Venezuela or are they from international organisations? If they are international observers, what organisation(s) are they from? I want to believe the furore in the West is based on lies but where is the evidence that everything in the election was above board?
They come from all over the world. Jimmy Carter's Carter Center sent one and they've criticized the elections in the past. The UN itself sent one. Fuck Human Rights Watch! Human Rights Watch is CIA! It supports US imperialism!
Hey. You tell me. What on Earth could we possibly do right now do get these idiots to shut up about this election? Supposedly there was fraud. Fine. So what do we do now?
I don't know about internal to Venezuela but I do know they come from all over the world.
Let me ask you something. Are the elections in the US, which have been stolen by Republican controlled computers from decades now, fully transparent?
Venezuela has the freest and fairest elections on Earth according to the Carter Center.
You see when the Chavistas started winning, every time they won, there was said to be massive fraud. A couple of times they lost and suddenly there was no fraud.
They got tired of being called fraudsters so they called in experts from all over the world to help them design a world class fraud-proof election system. And the system they designed was state of the art. But the US still kept screaming fraud anyway so it was worthless.
The results are right in line with an analysis done by a fair election researcher, who said the elections would be tied or Maduro would win slightly. Hinterlaces does the only good polls. One showed Maduro with 54% and the opposition with 46% with 21% for the fascist dogs. As it turned out, the votes for the other opposition all got diverted to the dogs, so it came out about right. Hinterlaces did an exit poll too. Found the same thing. Maduro with 54%.
As you can see, the final results were LOWER than the fairest polls so that shows that if anything the results for Maduro were LOWER than the best polls. So if anything the results were biased AGAINST Maduro.
When the Chavistas win, that means they cheated. When they lose, that means it was fair. This strikes you as credible? You realize that EVERY SINGLE TIME THE CHAVISTAS WON, the US screamed fraud? And the few times the opposition won, the US said they were fair?
There are six different audits of the vote before the final tally. I suppose this means each vote is counted six different times? Or is it something different? If any of the audits is wrong, the whole thing shuts down until they discover the problem. Representatives of all parties are invited to participate and watch the process every step of the way and most of them do. There are no elections like this anywhere on Earth.
It's so obvious. If the Chavistas win, it's fraud.
If the opposition wins, it's fair.
As a matter of fact the US always announces this on purpose. If polls show Chavistas ahead the Western media is flooded with articles about how the Chavistas are expected to engage in massive fraud.
And stop reading Human Rights Watch or read it dubiously. They're so crooked. They rotate in and out of the US State Department and HRW.
You have not really helped me Robert. And I am not the enemy. However, since my last comment I have been made aware of the following link - https://www.mintpressnews.com/venezuela-while-us-politicians-call-fraud-american-election-observers-endorse-results/288010/ - which goes a long way to explaining who the observers were, and appears to come from a reliable source.
If you have any more concerns about the Chavistas and Venezuela, talk to me or send me a message, and I’ll see if I can chase down the charge and see if it’s true or not.
See that? ALL OF THE VOTES ARE HANDCOUNTED IN FRONT OF WITNESSES FROM ALL PARTIES AND THE RESULTS ARE CHECKED AGAINST THE ELECTRONIC TALLY.
I live in hope of avoiding WWIII by the de unification of the U.S. into smaller strong Sovereign countries. Texas alone has a higher GDP than many countries. No one asked them to police the world that’s the job of international law and the UN (though arguably they own the UN). America is bankrupt with its cities and infrastructure crumbling. They are so in debt to China that they cannot even pay the interest on their loans. You can hear the ticking of the plan to go to war with China, wipe off the debt then play the usual business model of destroying a country and making vast profits from the military complex, installing a puppet government who awards the huge lucrative profits of rebuilding the infrastructure to American countries.
The US has the nerve to call China aggressive when they have 20 plus military bases surrounding its borders and six nuclear aircraft carriers steaming up and down its coat! They can field 16 Fleets like this and bring that up to 22 if mothballed equipment is deployed. The Chinese have two and are on a defence footing to defend their borders. I think a young school child would clearly see who the aggressor is.
The U.K. has two aircraft carriers only two years old but retired any jet that can land on them. One is in Portsmouth harbour having failed its sea trials with reactor problems and only good for scrap. The other is quietly sitting off the Palastinian coast flying 8 American F-35s in support of Israel (one ended up in drink on take off - pilots ok) it has a damaged screw/driveshaft and not fit for purpose. It’s also co-ordinating refuelling tankers from Cyprus and RAF Akrotiri in Turkey a 99% Muslim country but they want in to the European Union and NATO. China has just two aircraft carriers as on a Defence footing you don’t need to project attack killing forces around the globe. The USA has 16!!! With 6 more mothballed to return to service. Says it all really.
I usually agree with you but not in this one. I am from Argentina and have a lot of Venezuelan friends and everybody wants Maduro to go. 8 millions Venezuelan left the country because of his "leftist " government. He's not left, he is a populist and a dictator. People in Venezuela were crying when they heard the results. And you know why? They want their families to go back home, and with Maduro still in power, they won't. He didn't won. Europeans don't know the truth about Venezuela or latinoamerica. Only what your trusted media tells you. Maybe you should take a trip there some day and see it with your own eyes.
Right. What they need is what you have in Argentina. Which, interestingly, you left out of your comment. You are a U.S. Empire asset. And as for our trusted media- your bullshit is EXACTLY what they tell us.
I hear that freak Mellei is leading the charge against Venezuela. Figures. I never thought the Argentines were actually dumb. Until they elected that guy. Do better, gauchos.
Just to elaborate on my last comment: I know Cubans who think it would be great if US interests took over Cuba, as they keep trying to do; they tell each other it would be like Puerto Rico. No, it wouldn’t; they won’t allow that. It would be like Honduras.
Or Haiti
Duh’merika has a lot of built up resentment to Cuba - can you see them giving them a fair break? Two cousins from Ireland recently went to Cuba said it was a wonderful country but I think they are more interested in the bar prices than politics!
Thank you for your perspective and input. But I hope your friends are considering not only what it used to be like but what it might be like if US corporations get their claws deep into Venezuela.
You do understand that opposition rallied over 40% themselves, right? So there's bound to be a lot of people with another opinion. The difference is, despite all shortcomings under Maduro there's still Venezuela to return to. Look at Ukraine for alternative.
Middle class Venezuelans want Maduro to go. That's because they believe what their comprador-elite-owned media tell them - that their government's policies harm the economy. It's Western sanctions and other economic attacks which are harming the economy, as well as internal sabotage by Venezuela's own monied class.
The working class Venezuelans are not fooled by the propaganda. They can see how their living conditions have improved. Their solid support is why the Chavistas are still in power, despite all the forces arrayed against them. If the middle class would wake up and join in solidarity with the working class against the wealthy, then they'd be better off too.
Actually, I suppose that last sentence applies to most of the world right now.
"If the middle class would wake up and join in solidarity with the working class against the wealthy, then they'd be better off too."
NEVER happens. Never ever ever ever happens. They always ally with the fascists, and that's when they don't actually become the fascists, which they often do. When push comes to shove the middle class is always fascist to the core. That's why the middle class is shit.
He’s not a dictator. It’s the most democratic country on Earth. The people you are talking to are fascists.
The 3 Venezuelans I know who have fled Venezuela are uniform in their opinions that both Maduro and Chavez are/were corrupt dictators who have destroyed the country. Before he left, one of them had multiple family members kidnapped and held for ransom (he described it as basically a business proposition, with literally a rate card with different prices depending on what condition you wanted your hostage back in). In each case, he said, the ransom was paid to a military official. Corrupt to the core.
Nice handle hun. Suits you well. Too bad we can’t go back to the glory days of your youth, huh? 1978-1983. Helicopter rides! Wheee good times!
If you are the left I have no more hope for the world. I'm out of here. I do not give my honest opinion to be insulted.
You could stay here and just block or mute this guy. He clearly has issues given the need to say how 'successful' he is in his profile.
I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he must be a parody account, but having glanced at his posts he's either had a sense-of-humour bypass or he's just a ****.
People who toot their own horn on a narcissistic platform where every other person is a raging narcissist (in other words, everyone) have "issues." Are you for real?
I’ve been insulted here and almost left but I’m glad I didn’t. Some of us appreciate all opinions even if we don’t agree. It’s important.
Now that I see you’re on the Left I say you’re just ignorant. I thought you were a fascist. Apologies.
i’m so sorry a bunch of random americans are trying to shout you down with american diabolist nonsense.
Your points are all so excellent (and mordantly funny) but isn’t this also a bit an OJ Simpson type situation also? Remember the OJ Simpson trial, where many of us realized that 2 things can be true at the same time, like “OJ did it AND Fuhrman planted the glove”? I just sort of think that while it is clearly true that the US is salivating over Venezuelan oil and is 💯 hypocritical re democracy etc, it’s also pretty clear that a lot of Venezuelans are sick and tired of Chavism and Maduro, and that Maduro is stealing an awful awful lot of assets. I guess it’s like the opposite of the meme that shows an American war plane dropping bombs with a 🏳️🌈 rainbow flag; just because an anti globalist leader condemns Israel for its outright violations of human rights doesn’t mean he himself is good and true. There are simply too many gray areas here. Venezuelans should have a choice that lies outside of the ven diagram areas of a CIA asset and a former bus driver drunk on power
I think that’s exactly the point. Venezuelans themselves should have a choice and they made it.
It’s always easy to cheerlead someone else’s bizarre gov then to actually LIVE in it, and I say this as a Bulgarian
Dude the problem is that no one believes the results. More than 6 million Venezuelans have left the country in the past 10 years because of Chavist policies…I’m totally not saying let’s let the CIA in, but I mean COME ON
They left because the U.S./Western sanctions were starving them.
True but ALSO because Maduro has a stranglehold on society. Again, BOTH of these things can be true simultaneously
Interesting how, when the working classes achieve some political outcomes in their favour, it's always described with terms like "stranglehold", "dictatorship" or "thuggery", but when they are oppressed and powerless, that's just business as usual.
Yeah they always say that, I know. Imperialist propaganda is so transparent.
By the way comrade, Qatar, UAE, Pakistan, and India are now part of World Imperialism. They all lined up with the West and recited the lies about Venezuela. I guess siding with imperialism pays off?
The Venezuelan elections are the most scrutinised on Earth. The international observers believe the results. The Venezuelan working class believe the results (even if they do have to cross the border to get work). It's the Venezuelan middle class who can't believe the results because they keep listening to the comprador-elite-owned media.
Scrutinised by who Res? Who are the international observers? I can find no information about them and many organisations, including Human Rights Watch, are saying the election results are not fully transparent. I want to believe the furore in the West is based on lies but where is the evidence that everything in the election was above board?
Oh dear, Bob, you do seem genuinely concerned about Venezuela and the transparency of their election! I assume you live in the West though, so the reason you can't find the information you seek is that it's been swamped by a deluge of bullshit. Good thing you've got trustworthy old HRW to set you right, eh?
Perhaps then, before we look at Venezuelan transparency, we should take a closer look at Human Rights Watch:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/human-rights-watch-right-wing-massacre-bolivia/262887/
Even if you don't read the whole article, scroll down to the section headed, "A LONG HISTORY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS." HRW is what is known as a gatekeeper, waylaying the naive who are earnestly "passionate about social justice."
As it happens, on that same news site there is an article reporting the statements of American observers of the Venezuelan elections, and naming their various organisations:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/venezuela-while-us-politicians-call-fraud-american-election-observers-endorse-results/288010/
So it seems the information you sought is available, you just have to know where to look. Probably not Google, Facebook, MSNBC or NYT.
Out of interest, what level of Venezuelan transparency would satisfy your anxiety? It's impossible to prove the absence of fraud, only its presence, and I assure you that if any of the almost 900 foreign observers had found anything concrete, we would have heard all about it.
But as a thought experiment, let's say every Venezuelan citizen mailed you a signed affidavit, telling you about their election experience and how they voted - what would that prove? Perhaps they're forgeries? Perhaps the people were paid or threatened to write what they did? Perhaps some of them were propagandised? How can you ever know The Truth?
Well, thing is, you can't. You can never know reality - you only have your perception of reality. You have a personal duty, I believe, to inform your own perception. You can't rely on some authority figure to just hand you the capital-T Truth. If you trust in some Truth Daddy to tell you what's what, and tell you that everything's gonna be okay, then you're making yourself vulnerable to deception and predation.
In the end, you gotta grow up and make your own call, based on your own experience of human nature and the way you've witnessed things go down in your lifetime.
And on that basis, I gotta say: Laura K layed out the power relationship between Venezuela and the Empire quite effectively.
Yes Res, when there are lunatics screaming that the election result is a fraud and that there was no transparency in the results, I am concerned about the transparency. If there is no transparency then those who want to slag off Venezuela can have a field day.
I'm sorry that I wasn't aware HRW are a questionable organisation; I have never heard anything bad about them before.
I was recently made aware of the second mintpress article you mention; definitely a great help in my search.
However, I am now informed that the Carter Centre has published an update - https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2024/venezuela-073024.html - which says they cannot endorse the election; is it a questionable organisation as well?
I also see Amnesty International is very critical of what goes on in Venezuela. I have supported AI in the past so are you going to tell me that it is no longer to be trusted?
It is all very confusing and disturbing. I am fully behind calling out US hegemony but that shouldn't include defending monsters who are on the receiving end of US hegemony. It is counter-productive in my view to support one monster who is being attacked by another monster simply because one has a greater loathing for the attacking monster.
Is it a choice between the CIA and Maduro?
Right now yes, but it shouldn’t be
Come back to this issue in late 2040s after America instigates then loses an actual big war in Europe and the world clears out hopefully sporadic radioactive piles of rubble. You don't change leadership on a collision course, it'll only make you weaker on hit and allow the adversary to steamroll you. If Venezuela veers away even slightly now, it's doomed.
Ah, so in the Shoulda Universe, all would be well, but in this Universe, the Venezuelans' best option is to capitulate to the Empire's desire to transform them into Honduras? You make a compelling argument.
Believe me, I’m desperately looking for a truly impartial authority who can arbitrate all countries’ election results! Here in the US, for example.
Nobody believes the results. Except the hundreds of election monitors, including from the Carter Center. What you mean is that nobody WHO MATTERS LIKES the results. The U.S. Empire, the MICIMATT, and its allies, comprador elites worldwide.
No one equals World Imperialism. They lie like rugs. Study the election to see how the results are obviously correct and how they could not possibly be wrong.
"a lot of Venezuelans are sick and tired of Chavism and Maduro"
Who cares what fascist dogs think? I care about humans, not dogs.
Also they're sick of their economy being ruined by sanctions. The sanctions were put in by the US government in order to destroy the economy so the people would throw out Maduro. You've got it all wrong. Tell you what. Take all those sanctions off and we'll see how the economy does.
"just because an anti globalist leader condemns Israel for its outright violations of human rights doesn’t mean he himself is good and true."
He doesn't have to be. Like Stalin said, we support everyone who opposes imperialism, even reactionaries. The imperialists are the enemy. We can deal with the reactionaries later if we must and are able to, mostly by re-education. Cultural reaction is caused by normal human barbarism. In the creation of the New Man, we will rise above this throwback behavior.
"Maduro is stealing an awful awful lot of assets"
BS. He hasn't stolen a single nickel. He's pure as the driven snow.
"former bus driver drunk on power"
Ohhh nice classist remark, baby! Where you raised, sweetheart? The Hamptons? You're so lucky to have picked the right parents! Congratulations. We see your seething hatred for working class people.
He's not drunk on power. Venezuela's one of the most democratic countries on the planet.
Let me know when you quit reading the imperialist media and believing its lies.
It were the sanctions against Venezuela, as it keeps happening against Cuba, a worldwide shameful act with idiotic complacency of EU among others, that instigates such countries’ population suffer till reaching an unbearable state of despair that drives to vote on the puppet-clown suggested
Your comments are strictly precise and correct. My congratulations for the clarity of the arguments. As nowadays usual, US policy strikes at several critical points of the globe where they see potential to extract pure profit or do a settlement of regional influence close to the real targets to be reached later
If I thought the Chavistas stole the election, I’d come right out and say it. Honesty trumps ideology.
Sorry but you lost me, and probably any generally sane person reading your words, aitim you said “Comrade Stalin”…Let *me* know when you atop idolizing other people’s psychopathic leaders.
Many Americans like to think they have the right to "put things right" in another country. They seem to think they are above everyone else. It is about time to "put things right" with their warped mentality.
Nobody’s shy about asking for our money though, huh?
And right on cue CIA’s own paper of record the NYT characterized Maduro’s victory as “tainted” which tells us although this is exactly what we should expect from lamestream media there’s a real sense of desperation that’s intensified within the US empire, for the chock hold it once had on the rest of the world has lost its grip. Especially in the so called global south.
Great article. Satire with actual facts really floats my boat! I had an elderly friend die recently, he was an old school investigative reporter back in pre-internet days and when we had an obsolete expression called the ‘free press’ . I honestly thought he was the last of his kind, smart, fearless and relentless pursuit of the truth up to the end. But seeing your posts and a handful of others gives me inspiration and hope for the future.
My son is 22 and just graduated his Honours law degree. Because I’ve spoken about politics, justice and truth since a toddler (well actually when he was in his mums tum too!) He has a mindset/awareness beyond his years, politics is a good way of teaching history, geography, organised religion, ‘democracy’ and that there is significant difference between Communism and Socialism. Just look at France, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries where people pay high taxes but don’t complain as it is obvious it’s going into the community and benefiting them and their loved ones not sliding into the pockets of MPs like in England. Sadly the vast majority of his peers are completely oblivious to the workings of government and our so called ‘democracy as the outdated Education system at all levels is focused on producing worker drones not free thinking human beings.
I would upgrade to a paid subscription to your posts in a heart beat if I could afford it but now unfortunately unable to work due to disabilities so money tight. I’m just so glad I get to read your posts and share your content with others. Carry on!😃
Congratulations on a long sane life and a thinking child! I’m so sorry about losing your friend - I’m grateful for the good journalists we had. 💐
"The CIA has no choice but to export democracy before Venezuela does a trade deal with China or something."
Yes! You don't realize just how "dangerous" a trade deal with China could be... I mean, Venezuela could accidentally sell it's oil and gas reserves to the Chinese instead of "giving" them freely to the US under the guidance of Venezuela's "real" president, Juan Guaido. (And if you believe any of this, I have some swampland along the Pecos River to sell you...)
Most brilliantly incisive sarcasm in journalism today!
Stop this man he has not been sanctioned by the USA
apropos, China is in talks with Venezuela
Long live the Bolivarian revolution! We welcome with joy the re-election of President Maduro!
Go Venezuela! Go Laura!