While everyone is focused on Ukraine, things are getting dicey in Venezuela. In both cases, separating the good guys from the bad guys is harder than it might seem, especially if you are relying on American reporting. As in Syria, this seems to be a new trend in international relations.
I knew that when communism collapsed it would complicate things, but it’s been worse than I suspected.
America’s sphere of influence, regime change should be a piece of cake.
In the end, democracy triumphs, even in El Salvador …
○ El Salvador ex-guerrilla in presidential vote runoff, narrowly misses victory
Hmmm … were the
RepublicansDemocrats underReaganCarter on the wrong side of the will of the people, again?I’m not really sure there are any good guys in Venezuela. The protesters are anti-leftist middle and upper class youth. They are hardly sympathetic, because they want a more stratified society with more oil revenue going to the non-impoverished. The president is hardly sympathetic either, however, as he seems to have all of the authoritarianism of Chavez with little to none of the charisma. It’s a mess.
The protesters also represent more generally the anti-labor conspiracy that has tried mostly by illegal means to destroy the Chavista movement in collusion with the international oil industry and for a while the Bush administration since Chavez was elected. And that they’re generally white and government supporters generally a lot less so. Notwithstanding which Maduro is clearly incompetent and abusive.
Another one of these cases is Thailand, where overprivileged urban kids battle the elected government in the name of their privilege, while what they are fighting is as corrupt as (and rather similar to) Berlusconi. And don’t forget Egypt where we’re supposed to choose between going back to a repressive military rule that is turning into a Putinesque personality cult and the ousted elected Islamist brotherhood that broke every single one of its promises of openness and rectitude. Hard times to be a non-cynic.
I’m sorry Booman, how is hard to separate the good guys from the bad guys in this case??? In the 10 months since Maduro inherited the mantle of supreme leader from the crackpot dictator Chavez, he has further run an already hobbled economy and civil society so far into the ground that it now rivals Haiti as the closest thing to a failed state in the Western Hemisphere. And now he has personally called for and overseen the arrest of the most vocal and charismatic opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, ordered a brutal crackdown on protesters that has so far resulted in at least 5 deaths and possibly many more, all the while vilifying peaceful democratic protesters as “Fascists” and “Terrorists”, and ordering his jackbooted praetorian guardsmen to ride roughshod over all dissenters.
From Amnesty International:
“The charges brought against Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López smack of a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent in the country, said Amnesty International.
“Venezuelan authorities must either present solid evidence to substantiate the charges against López or release him immediately and unconditionally,” said Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty International Americas Programme Deputy Director.
“These charges appear to be politically motivated because of his leadership in the recent anti-government protests. Currently, Amnesty International has not seen evidence to substantiate these charges. This is an affront to justice and free assembly.”
How is this difficult to decipher who is the good guy and who the bad?? Where is the reporting by the NYT, WSJ, etc.?? Leo Lopez is a U.S. educated liberal democrat who is calling for political change through peaceful protest. Maduro is murdering his own people. ‘Nuff said.
I will tell you why its hard to tell god from bad, especially of you rely on American News media.
Reason 1: American news media uniformly sucks. They don’t spend any money on any reporting or research any more, and they are essentially political entertainment networks.
Reason 2: In a lot of these places, American interests simply aren’t in play. But Americans have gotten used to feeling like whole world is our responsibility, and the Political Entertainment Complex tries to craft a narrative to make us feel like our interests are at risk – But they are failing, and have been failing more and more as the cold war is more and more in the rear view mirror. Syria is a good example: it’s just not something that affects us, so it’s hard to decide why you would back one group over another. The whole mighty propaganda machine and AIPAC and the Saudi’s and the Turks all geared up to get us to attack Syria for them, and they failed, which was an amazing outcome. In places like these, all of the players may be bad, and since we have no compelling interests it’s hard to make the call. And things that look clear cut to one person, in a place like Venezuela, will not look clear cut to another person for the exact same reason.
Ooops! Good from Bad (not GOD)
True, but conditions under the regime in Venezuela are so bad the “good guys” could be classed as the people who haven’t tanked the country yet.
Of course that will probably happen if they get in power, but then they can become the bad guys.
Humans suck. And I’m supposed to be a humanist.
How come the American news outlets don’t show us photographs of the Kiev demonstrators flying Nazi-like flags and making Nazi salutes? An oversight? You can understand why the Germans would like their little nightingales back in their flock, but why are the US (again) backing the Nazi residua?
Because the Putin Daily has it covered.
Because President McCain had decided. Just as he decided to consort with al Qaeda affiliated “rebels” rebels in Syria and every freaking authoritarian thug in the world that he can find to champion.
NY Times: Leopoldo López – A Bolívar Ready to Fight Against the Bolivarian State.
Leopoldo López, a Harvard graduate funded by US Congresss’ National Endowment for Democracy and USAID.
However, both Chavez and Maduro fail in economic reform, suffering from run-away inflation and devastating levels of violence: roaming bandits, robbing and murdering civilians.
Often unclear where you stand on issues, but must say that I didn’t take you for a neo-liberal, neo-con.
So where will McCain go first for his photo op….Venezuela or Ukraine?
That will be Caracas as McCain toured Independence Square in Kiev recently. Haven’t you noticed the damage?
Andrea Mitchell guest just reported that in last year Venezuela has had 25,000 homicides, wow!
According to Newt it is all Obama’s fault because he just isn’t a credible threat.
Thank God for Newt’s daily Conserva-tweet!
After a certain point of instruction, however, even the lowliest cog knows that everything is Obammy’s fault.
Rmoney woulda showed ’em!
These are just sequels. If you followed the originals, not difficult at all to sort out the factions and disputes and recognize where some of the funding and/or assets originate from.
Egypt was difficult to read — and not all all confident that anyone has fully sorted this all out which is one reason why the situation in Egypt remains unresolved. All the subsequent “revolts” have been much easier to figure out — but will likely take a few decades for most American to do so.
Mercosur condemns violence in Venezuela and calls for dialogue:
From Mark Weisbrot:
Much closer to home:
Food Stamp Cuts and Drought.
But I’m sure most Americans will either find substitutes or won’t mind paying more for produce predominately grown in CA: artichokes,avocados, carrots, bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, leaf lettuce, Romaine lettuce, fresh spinach, lemons, peaches, fresh strawberries, fresh plums. Almond crops may not yet be under threat (but the price has nearly doubled in the past five years) which is good because 82% of the world’s almonds are grown in CA. 99% of US walnuts are produced in CA — but China produces four times as much.