Venezuela

[Section_31]

13 minutes ago, rico1304 said:

Seems like Canada has recognised the new fella - thought you lot liked Trudeau? 

You lot?

[moof]

20 minutes ago, rico1304 said:

Seems like Canada has recognised the new fella - thought you lot liked Trudeau? 

You thought wrong, buster 

[mgw100]

1 hour ago, mattyq said:

Can't be arsed reading the thread but a friend spent a few months in Venezuela 20 years ago and had a great time. The Andes rise to over 5000m, it's got a Caribbean coastline and more Miss World winners than any other country.

They also did very high grade marching powder at remarkably cheap rates, apparently.

Probably not so great now, like

I spent an enjoyable month there in the 90s. The highlight was definitely the Andes in and around Merida. Beautiful of course with a pretty hip, progressive feel to it. Some lovely beaches and lagoons too. Caracas felt a little hostile to the casual tourist so avoided it for the most part. 

 

Very sad to see it suffering now. 

[moof]

Casting aside the pointed analysis of the supposed failed ideology of socialism, I wonder if there’s anybody on here who supports the US sponsored fascist coup taking place right now.  

 

Not that I sense a great groundswell of support behind Maduro, he’s no Chávez in that regard, he’s still the democratically elected leader. Surely the correct course of action is to oppose this imperialist nonsense. 

 

Anybody think this is a good and proper solution? 

[cloggypop]

19 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

You lot?

Was hoping for no bites myself. 

[Captain Turdseye]

21 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

You lot?

 

Non-Mancs. 

[SasaS]

4 minutes ago, moof said:

Casting aside the pointed analysis of the supposed failed ideology of socialism, I wonder if there’s anybody on here who supports the US sponsored fascist coup taking place right now.  

 

Not that I sense a great groundswell of support behind Maduro, he’s no Chávez in that regard, he’s still the democratically elected leader. Surely the correct course of action is to oppose this imperialist nonsense. 

 

Anybody think this is a good and proper solution? 

 

No, I'm against meddling into their affairs.

[Rico1304]

29 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

You lot?

 

7 minutes ago, SasaS said:

 

No, I'm against meddling into their affairs.

It’s almost as if the GF faithful think they know what’s best, not the people who live there.  

[TheHowieLama]

At a personal level -- so am I.

 

At a pragmatic level it should probably be pointed out the election was a sham - so if you accept that then he really isn't the President. 

 

The vast majority of other countries leaders in that region and through out the world are never going to support him. And tbh they will decide who is going to conduct the business of Venezuela.

When your WhatsApp group only includes China, Russia, Iran and Turkey you also are probably not high up on the human/individual rights 

 

 

[Rico1304]

31 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

You lot?

Lefts. 

[TheHowieLama]

2 minutes ago, rico1304 said:

Lefts. 

I think he is brilliant - Doonesbury was always one of my favorites

[AngryOfTuebrook]

1 hour ago, rico1304 said:

Seems like Canada has recognised the new fella - thought you lot liked Trudeau? 

 

1 hour ago, Section_31 said:

You lot?

Heterosexual women and broad-minded men.

[SasaS]

43 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

At a personal level -- so am I.

 

At a pragmatic level it should probably be pointed out the election was a sham - so if you accept that then he really isn't the President. 

 

The vast majority of other countries leaders in that region and through out the world are never going to support him. And tbh they will decide who is going to conduct the business of Venezuela.

When your WhatsApp group only includes China, Russia, Iran and Turkey you also are probably not high up on the human/individual rights 

 

 

 

There is also North Korea and Syria.

 

Even disputed official figures give him the support of about 30 percent of electorate, which means that it is most likely even lower, maybe only one in four Venezuelans. If the situation is as bad as they say it is, Maduro's position is untenable beyond the next couple of months even without outside pressure, which could be counterproductive.

 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

Dry run for Iran. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

Did you post the quotes?

[Boss]

13 minutes ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

Did you post the quotes?

 

[moof]

8 minutes ago, Boss said:

 

What a monster 

[Rico1304]

Worth a read;

 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/venezuela/

[Numero Veinticinco]

4 minutes ago, moof said:

What a monster 

That’s why I wanted the quotes posted. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

55 minutes ago, Nelly-Torres said:

Dry run for Iran. 

John Bolton finds this easy to masterbate to. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

1 hour ago, Nelly-Torres said:

Dry run for Iran. 

Except it’s nothing like Iran. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Open letter from a bunch of people, suggesting that a US-backed coup in Latin America might not end well for the country on the receiving end. 

 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/24/open-letter-over-70-scholars-and-experts-condemns-us-backed-coup-attempt-venezuela?amp&__twitter_impression=true

 

[TheHowieLama]

Looks like a bunch of Americans

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

37 minutes ago, Numero Veinticinco said:

Except it’s nothing like Iran. 

I was joking. 

 

But: 

 

- a struggling economy

- a fairly sizeable exodus of the population from the country

- previous reports of US backed plans for regime change (Trump with Venezuelan rebel military officers, Boulton with MEK)

- a history of disputed election results 

- the general population protesting on the streets against poverty and the aforementioned disputed election results (see the recent Iranian protests and the Green Movement stuff when Ahmadinejad "beat" Mousavi)

 

The underlying conditions are quite similar. Both have governments strongly wed to a specific ideology. Both have a largely fed up public who aren't all behind these ideologies. Both populations could be useful pawns to outside interests who want to bring about change. 

 

It'll be interesting to see the reaction of the US to the next Iranian presidential elections. Will they question the legitimacy of them too and make a declaration of who the next president is? Probably not. But, they are itching for regime change in Iran. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Here's an official summary of US sanctions against Venezuela.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10715.pdf

 

The Venezuelan Government estimates that these sanctions cost the country at least $20 billion last year.

http://www.avn.info.ve/node/469535

 

Sanctions are counter-productive: they only hurt the Venezuelan people and they give Maduro no option but to dig his heels in.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/12/why-more-sanctions-wont-help-venezuela/

 

"Instead of undermining Maduro, sanctions are making it increasingly difficult for the country’s opposition to convince voters that the welfare of Venezuelans — rather than driving Maduro from power — is its real priority."