Greg Palast on Venezuela

[dismal]

So one of the points that Palast asserted (is it true?) is that the US and UK are holding a digital currency siege on Venezuela's own money.

Not sure about this.

What does that even mean?

Venezuela can print all of its own money that it wants*. And it has been printing a lot. That's why it has 1,000,000% inflation.

*Well, except for the fact that it has destroyed it's ability to produce things so it pays people in other countries to print its money.

 

[repoman]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-25/u-k-said-to-deny-maduro-s-bid-to-pull-1-2-billion-of-gold

Explains it pretty clearly.

Whoever the US is propping up as a solution to admittedly not so competent Maduro, is likely to play ball very nicely.

 

[dismal]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-25/u-k-said-to-deny-maduro-s-bid-to-pull-1-2-billion-of-gold

Explains it pretty clearly.

Whoever the US is propping up as a solution to admittedly not so competent Maduro, is likely to play ball very nicely.

You must have posted the wrong link. This article is not about a digital currency siege at all.

 

[repoman]

The article talks about several billion dollars in foreign banks - which is all held digitally nowadays and holding it, not releasing it to the Venezuelan government. Is that not like a siege?

I am not saying that they are wrong for holding it, let's get on the same page of facts at least and then argue about shoulds and shouldn'ts.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The article talks about several billion dollars in foreign banks - which is all held digitally nowadays and holding it, not releasing it to the Venezuelan government. Is that not like a siege?

I am not saying that they are wrong for holding it, let's get on the same page of facts at least and then argue about shoulds and shouldn'ts.

Well, it said that Venezuela has a billion dollars worth of gold in that bank, so it's not digital, it's actual gold. Maduro wants to make it digital by selling that gold for cash which he can then use to bribe the army to continue supporting him. I guess one could technically use siege as the right word since they're not giving it him under the excuse that it belongs to the Venezuelan government and they're not recognizing him as the head of that government, so he can't access it.

 

[repoman]

Actually, I think digital blockade may be a better description.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Actually, I think digital blockade may be a better description.

I think financial blockade would be better. They want to stop Maduro from accessing Venezuelan funds stored abroad. The forms which those funds are stored in secondary to their intentions at best.

 

[dismal]

The article talks about several billion dollars in foreign banks - which is all held digitally nowadays and holding it, not releasing it to the Venezuelan government. Is that not like a siege?

I am not saying that they are wrong for holding it, let's get on the same page of facts at least and then argue about shoulds and shouldn'ts.

The article that I got talked about not letting Maduro take Venezuela's gold because he's not recognized as the leader of Venezuela.