Venezuela - Updated Chronicles in Socialist Success Stories!

[maxparrish]

As the latest experiment in socialism disintegrates, it is approaching historical levels of farce. Almost any state, except Venezuela, would have gone to civil war long before now. This is new territory!

If this turns out to be true...well, what can one say?

http://www.abc.es/internacional/20150127/abci-venezuela-cabello-eeuu-201501262129.html

Powerline has a very short, but incomplete summery of this story:

VENEZUELAN SECURITY HEAD DEFECTS, BLOWS WHISTLE ON REGIME
Leamsy Salazar was the head of security for Hugo Chavez and, after Chavez’s death, for Diosdado Cabello, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly and second-in-command of the Socialist Party. Salazar has defected to the United States and unleashed some explosive allegations against his former bosses.

Salazar says that Hugo Chavez died in December 2012, not March 2013 as was claimed by his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Salazar says that Maduro and his cronies covered up Chavez’s death for three months so they could sign decrees under his name. Latin American politics has the reputation of being surreal, but maybe this represents, rather, the around-the-bend craziness of a socialist state. Think North Korea.

Salazar also says that Cabello is the head of an international drug cartel that includes other leading members of Venezuela’s Socialist Party, and that receives assistance from Cuba’s Communist government. Is this claim true? I don’t know, but Salazar reportedly is assisting law enforcement in New York with drafting a criminal complaint against Cabello.

It is hard to imagine that Venezuela’s socialist regime can last much longer. The Chavez/Maduro government has wrecked the economy by controlling prices, so everything is either in short supply or non-existent. The IMF says Venezuela’s economy will shrink by seven percent this year; that is undoubtedly an optimistic figure. And, of course, the price of the country’s only export, oil, has plummeted.

It is noteworthy that “eight other members of President Maduro’s personal security force have deserted Venezuela and defected to the United States, according to reports in Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional.” These particular rats are well-positioned to know when the ship is about to sink. It can’t happen too soon. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archiv...rity-head-defects-blows-whistle-on-regime.php

If your read the original (translated) source, ABC International link, the story is even stranger.

 

[arkirk]

As the latest experiment in socialism disintegrates, it is approaching historical levels of farce. Almost any state, except Venezuela, would have gone to civil war long before now. This is new territory!

If this turns out to be true...well, what can one say?

http://www.abc.es/internacional/20150127/abci-venezuela-cabello-eeuu-201501262129.html

Powerline has a very short, but incomplete summery of this story:

VENEZUELAN SECURITY HEAD DEFECTS, BLOWS WHISTLE ON REGIME
Leamsy Salazar was the head of security for Hugo Chavez and, after Chavez’s death, for Diosdado Cabello, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly and second-in-command of the Socialist Party. Salazar has defected to the United States and unleashed some explosive allegations against his former bosses.

Salazar says that Hugo Chavez died in December 2012, not March 2013 as was claimed by his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Salazar says that Maduro and his cronies covered up Chavez’s death for three months so they could sign decrees under his name. Latin American politics has the reputation of being surreal, but maybe this represents, rather, the around-the-bend craziness of a socialist state. Think North Korea.

Salazar also says that Cabello is the head of an international drug cartel that includes other leading members of Venezuela’s Socialist Party, and that receives assistance from Cuba’s Communist government. Is this claim true? I don’t know, but Salazar reportedly is assisting law enforcement in New York with drafting a criminal complaint against Cabello.

It is hard to imagine that Venezuela’s socialist regime can last much longer. The Chavez/Maduro government has wrecked the economy by controlling prices, so everything is either in short supply or non-existent. The IMF says Venezuela’s economy will shrink by seven percent this year; that is undoubtedly an optimistic figure. And, of course, the price of the country’s only export, oil, has plummeted.

It is noteworthy that “eight other members of President Maduro’s personal security force have deserted Venezuela and defected to the United States, according to reports in Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional.” These particular rats are well-positioned to know when the ship is about to sink. It can’t happen too soon. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archiv...rity-head-defects-blows-whistle-on-regime.php

If your read the original (translated) source, ABC International link, the story is even stranger.

Yup! I have to agree it is a pretty surreal story. Now tell us about the WMD. What do you care what goes on in Venezuela? Why is this surreal story so important to you? When it comes to corruption in government, the U.S. is at least on a par with anything the Venezuelans can think up and Wall Street surely surpasses that. Salazar scurries out of Venezuela and Snowden ran for cover here. It is a well known fact that Venezuela and Cuba are allies. This is not news. Your right wing propaganda is pitiful. You just seem to love to talk about rats deserting sinking ships and indulging in slurs against any and every socialist leader. You pretend to be in posession of a glorious capitalist crystal ball that dictates the fall of all socialist governments.

 

[dismal]

As the latest experiment in socialism disintegrates, it is approaching historical levels of farce. Almost any state, except Venezuela, would have gone to civil war long before now. This is new territory!

If this turns out to be true...well, what can one say?

http://www.abc.es/internacional/20150127/abci-venezuela-cabello-eeuu-201501262129.html

Powerline has a very short, but incomplete summery of this story:



If your read the original (translated) source, ABC International link, the story is even stranger.

Yup! I have to agree it is a pretty surreal story. Now tell us about the WMD. What do you care what goes on in Venezuela? Why is this surreal story so important to you? When it comes to corruption in government, the U.S. is at least on a par with anything the Venezuelans can think up and Wall Street surely surpasses that. Salazar scurries out of Venezuela and Snowden ran for cover here. It is a well known fact that Venezuela and Cuba are allies. This is not news. Your right wing propaganda is pitiful. You just seem to love to talk about rats deserting sinking ships and indulging in slurs against any and every socialist leader. You pretend to be in posession of a glorious capitalist crystal ball that dictates the fall of all socialist governments.

It's a good lesson of what not to do if you don't want to fuck up a country.

Some people need the lesson badly.

 

[arkirk]

Yup! I have to agree it is a pretty surreal story. Now tell us about the WMD. What do you care what goes on in Venezuela? Why is this surreal story so important to you? When it comes to corruption in government, the U.S. is at least on a par with anything the Venezuelans can think up and Wall Street surely surpasses that. Salazar scurries out of Venezuela and Snowden ran for cover here. It is a well known fact that Venezuela and Cuba are allies. This is not news. Your right wing propaganda is pitiful. You just seem to love to talk about rats deserting sinking ships and indulging in slurs against any and every socialist leader. You pretend to be in posession of a glorious capitalist crystal ball that dictates the fall of all socialist governments.

It's a good lesson of what not to do if you don't want to fuck up a country.

Some people need the lesson badly.

We are still very involved in learning the lesson regarding IMPERIALISM and INTERVENTION in other peoples' governments...in fact, so involved that American government is now on the auction block and it looks like the Koch Bros. will be the highest bidder. We have lessons to learn too. I don't expect any form of government to be perfect and am clearly aware of the real problems in Venezuela...its dependence on fossil fuel economy....hmmmm very similar to the U.S.'s problem. There can be different forms of government but they tend to have the same failings if they rely too heavily on the same failing economic center...petrochemical industrialism.

You are one of those persons who need badly to learn a few lessons.

 

[fromderinside]

Yup! I have to agree it is a pretty surreal story. Now tell us about the WMD. What do you care what goes on in Venezuela? Why is this surreal story so important to you? When it comes to corruption in government, the U.S. is at least on a par with anything the Venezuelans can think up and Wall Street surely surpasses that. Salazar scurries out of Venezuela and Snowden ran for cover here. It is a well known fact that Venezuela and Cuba are allies. This is not news. Your right wing propaganda is pitiful. You just seem to love to talk about rats deserting sinking ships and indulging in slurs against any and every socialist leader. You pretend to be in posession of a glorious capitalist crystal ball that dictates the fall of all socialist governments.

It's a good lesson of what not to do if you don't want to fuck up a country.

Some people need the lesson badly.

Talking about simple minded thinking. A country has been labeled as yada yada and everybody knows yada yada is actually godless communism so we have to root it out where it may hide.

We've met two of them on this thread already.

Even with your postage stamp reasoning arkirk went out of his way to drag it back into rational frame. Do you deserve friends like that?

 

[dismal]

It's a good lesson of what not to do if you don't want to fuck up a country.

Some people need the lesson badly.

Talking about simple minded thinking. A country has been labeled as yada yada and everybody knows yada yada is actually godless communism so we have to root it out where it may hide.

We've met two of them on this thread already.

Even with your postage stamp reasoning arkirk went out of his way to drag it back into rational frame. Do you deserve friends like that?

Never Always miss a chance to learn something, eh?

Look, here's just the sort of lesson I'm talking about now:

Action:

Two months before the local elections in 2013, Maduro sent hundreds of troops to enforce price cuts for electrical appliances. The ruling party subsequently won three-quarters of municipalities as thousands of people emptied the shelves of plasma television sets and Blu-ray players.

Lesson: What do you imagine happens next?

Reaction:

Show

The shops were never restocked.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...xecutives-for-waging-economic-war-?cmpid=yhoo

Notice this lesson has absolutely nothing to do with what we call the government of Venezuela, "imperialism" or whatever hand waving distractions you want to spew out.

 

[Axulus]

Talking about simple minded thinking. A country has been labeled as yada yada and everybody knows yada yada is actually godless communism so we have to root it out where it may hide.

We've met two of them on this thread already.

Even with your postage stamp reasoning arkirk went out of his way to drag it back into rational frame. Do you deserve friends like that?

Never Always miss a chance to learn something, eh?

Look, here's just the sort of lesson I'm talking about now:

Action:

Two months before the local elections in 2013, Maduro sent hundreds of troops to enforce price cuts for electrical appliances. The ruling party subsequently won three-quarters of municipalities as thousands of people emptied the shelves of plasma television sets and Blu-ray players.

Lesson: What do you imagine happens next?

Reaction:

Show

The shops were never restocked.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...xecutives-for-waging-economic-war-?cmpid=yhoo

Notice this lesson has absolutely nothing to do with what we call the government of Venezuela, "imperialism" or whatever hand waving distractions you want to spew out.

But untermenche says the country is capitalist.

 

[maxparrish]

Never Always miss a chance to learn something, eh?

Look, here's just the sort of lesson I'm talking about now:

Action:

Two months before the local elections in 2013, Maduro sent hundreds of troops to enforce price cuts for electrical appliances. The ruling party subsequently won three-quarters of municipalities as thousands of people emptied the shelves of plasma television sets and Blu-ray players.

Lesson: What do you imagine happens next?

Reaction:

Show

The shops were never restocked.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...xecutives-for-waging-economic-war-?cmpid=yhoo

Notice this lesson has absolutely nothing to do with what we call the government of Venezuela, "imperialism" or whatever hand waving distractions you want to spew out.

But untermenche says the country is capitalist.

And their fierce competition with Ringling Brothers and numerous TV reality shows heats up:

The US is behind the attempted coup in Venezuela – that is the accusation President Nicolas Maduro has leveled amid widespread protests back home. And it’s none other than Vice-president Joe Biden who’s behind the entire operation, Maduro alleges.

This is the first time a direct accusation of this gravity was made in front of thousands of cheering spectators and the world at large, despite an earlier Friday statement, when Maduro struck out at several US federal agencies for allegedly plotting against Venezuela.

"The northern imperial power has entered a dangerous phase of desperation, going to talk to the continent's governments to announce the overthrow of my government. And I accuse Vice-president Joe Biden of this," the head of state said, addressing the people at the 198th anniversary of the birth of a Venezuelan hero general Zamora in Cua, Miranda state.

...

READ MORE: Venezuela accuses Kerry of murder and inciting violence

The President addressed the nation on Sunday in order to strengthen its resolve in times of what he called “a bloody coup”, as demonstrators flooded the streets demanding his resignation amid an economic crisis that is hitting the food sector first, just as the voices of thousands of others could be heard cheering him on, as they smiled and waved flags.

But according to Maduro, this is no ordinary crisis. “I appeal to the people and the patriots among the officials who are on high alert, as a bloody coup is underway in Venezuela.”

“The people must be prepared to rescue their democracy, the Constitution and their revolution” at times like these, the head of state warned.

http://rt.com/news/228495-maduro-venezuela-us-coup/

 

[Axulus]

The farce continues:

Venezuelan shop owners arrested over long queues

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the owners of an unnamed chain of shops have been arrested for artificially creating long queues.

Mr Maduro said the owners had reduced the number of employees working on cash tills in order to create queues and "annoy the Venezuelan people".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31086391

This is going to turn into an extremely sad human catastrophe.

 

[Trausti]

The farce continues:

Venezuelan shop owners arrested over long queues

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the owners of an unnamed chain of shops have been arrested for artificially creating long queues.

Mr Maduro said the owners had reduced the number of employees working on cash tills in order to create queues and "annoy the Venezuelan people".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31086391

This is going to turn into an extremely sad human catastrophe.

It's unfortunate, but history informs us that dead bodies must accumulate before a country shakes itself out of socialism.

 

[maxparrish]

More news in Venezuela - no, it was not written by the Onion:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the owners of an unnamed chain of shops have been arrested for artificially creating long queues.

Mr Maduro said the owners had reduced the number of employees working on cash tills in order to create queues and "annoy the Venezuelan people". ...

"Yesterday we detected that a famous chain of stores was conspiring, irritating the people," said Mr Maduro.

"We came, we normalized sales, we summoned the owners, we arrested them and they're prisoners for having provoked the people," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31086391

PS: I now see a few others have the story ... tough to beat for pure lunacy.

 

[dismal]

More news in Venezuela - no, it was not written by the Onion:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the owners of an unnamed chain of shops have been arrested for artificially creating long queues.

Mr Maduro said the owners had reduced the number of employees working on cash tills in order to create queues and "annoy the Venezuelan people". ...

"Yesterday we detected that a famous chain of stores was conspiring, irritating the people," said Mr Maduro.

"We came, we normalized sales, we summoned the owners, we arrested them and they're prisoners for having provoked the people," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31086391

PS: I now see a few others have the story ... tough to beat for pure lunacy.

It's actually going to be tough to top "we are an the victim of an imperialist conspiracy run by Joe Biden". I have a tough time believing that's real.

However I'll bet the Chavistas really do wish Bush was still president. If your whole schtick is blaming things on Yankee imperialists you win more converts with Bush/Cheney in office. The great Imperial Biden Conspiracy has very selective appeal.

 

[Trausti]

How to build a socialist Potemkin Village.

To shorten the lines, police today began to enforce a directive from President Nicolas Maduro’s administration that limits consumers to two shopping days per week at government-owned food stores, said Alejandro Milano, a coordinator of Venezuela’s Food Mission.
Thousands lined up outside shops last week as an acute scarcity of foreign currency deepened shortages of everything from sugar to shampoo. The crisis led Interior Minister Carmen Melendez to deploy state security forces to ensure order.
“An ID card to buy food?” said Jose Gomez, a 32-year-old electrician, after being turned away at Bicentenario food market in central Caracas. “I guess I’ll have to go hungry until Friday.”
Police turned away many shoppers under a new system that limited access to stores based on the last digit on a shopper’s national ID card. Venezuela’s Immigration service, SAIME, also checked foreign shoppers’ papers to confirm legal residency.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-12/venezuela-lines-shorten-as-police-reduce-shoppers-not-shortages

 

[Valjean]

It's unfortunate, but history informs us that dead bodies must accumulate before a country shakes itself out of socialism.

But it's the Right wing that piles up the bodies - after they've seized power, though I'll concede that it may take some bloody fighting to wrest democracy back from them.

 

[maxparrish]

It's unfortunate, but history informs us that dead bodies must accumulate before a country shakes itself out of socialism.

But it's the Right wing that piles up the bodies - after they've seized power, though I'll concede that it may take some bloody fighting to wrest democracy back from them.

No doubt this occupies the concerns of the government, whose leaders are now debating french fry shortages:

Venezuela's leaders aren't taking the ongoing McDonald's french fry shortage in their country too well.

Publicly-sponsored news outlets, government officials, and even the country's president Nicolas Maduro have all responded to McDonald's unthinkable french fry shortage, which spans all 100 outlets in the country, by publicly criticizing the chain, and its french fries.

One of the loudest responses came from Telesur, a state-sponsored news outlet, which wasted no time in getting to what it views as the heart of the issue. The outlet published a story headlined, "McDonald's joins economic war against Venezuela," not-so-subtly suggesting that the lack of fried potato sticks is somehow tied to a broader war being waged by the United States and its capitalistic ways. McDonald's said there's been a shortage since it had trouble importing potatoes. But Telesur says that's all a lie.

LOL...http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...nse-to-mcdonalds-running-out-of-french-fries/

 

[untermensche]

I tend to agree that Socialist nations in the Western hemisphere do develop a paranoia.

They are under so many real attacks in so many ways from the CIA they tend to think any opposition is another US attack.

It makes it hard to govern.

The real question is why does the US attack and try to undermine any socialist experiment and prop up any third rate dictator it can?

Why is foreign policy nothing but protecting foreign investments?

 

[Axulus]

I tend to agree that Socialist nations in the Western hemisphere do develop a paranoia.

They are under so many real attacks in so many ways from the CIA they tend to think any opposition is another US attack.

It makes it hard to govern.

The real question is why does the US attack and try to undermine any socialist experiment and prop up any third rate dictator it can?

Why is foreign policy nothing but protecting foreign investments?

The foreign businesses are bailing out in droves and are taking huge write-downs on their Venezuelan assets by marking them to 0 value. If you consider this protection, remind me to never hire you as a financial controller or an asset protection manager.

"Yes boss, we are marking the value of our investments down to zero. Aren't you glad you hired me to do nothing but protect our investments?"

 

[untermensche]

I tend to agree that Socialist nations in the Western hemisphere do develop a paranoia.

They are under so many real attacks in so many ways from the CIA they tend to think any opposition is another US attack.

It makes it hard to govern.

The real question is why does the US attack and try to undermine any socialist experiment and prop up any third rate dictator it can?

Why is foreign policy nothing but protecting foreign investments?

The foreign businesses are bailing out in droves and are taking huge write-downs on their Venezuelan assets by marking them to 0 value. If you consider this protection, remind me to never hire you as a financial controller or an asset protection manager.

"Yes boss, we are marking the value of our investments down to zero. Aren't you glad you hired me to do nothing but protect our investments?"

I'm not in favor of all of the policies of the Venezuelan government.

But they arose in a state of war. A secret war, mainly economic, but it included an attempt to remove the elected leader with force.

Even Castro recognizes the need for foreign investment.

But Venezuela is about average for Southern Western economies. Capitalist dreamlands like Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala exist in the Southern Western hemisphere.

This is the capitalism we see in action in the SWH.

 

[Axulus]

The foreign businesses are bailing out in droves and are taking huge write-downs on their Venezuelan assets by marking them to 0 value. If you consider this protection, remind me to never hire you as a financial controller or an asset protection manager.

"Yes boss, we are marking the value of our investments down to zero. Aren't you glad you hired me to do nothing but protect our investments?"

I'm not in favor of all of the policies of the Venezuelan government.

But they arose in a state of war. A secret war, mainly economic, but it included an attempt to remove the elected leader with force.

Even Castro recognizes the need for foreign investment.

But Venezuela is about average for Southern Western economies. Capitalist dreamlands like Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala exist in the Southern Western hemisphere.

This is the capitalism we see in action in the SWH.

Is there any economy you don't consider capitalist?

If you consider this capitalist, then the term is meaningless:

Of particular concern is the poor regard for rule of law. Corruption is rampant, and the judicial system is ineffective and inefficient. Smuggling remains a huge problem and is exacerbated by poor trade freedom. Entrepreneurs find Haiti one of the world’s most difficult places to do business, as the regulatory environment for both business and labor is outdated and inefficient.

In 2013, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Haiti as the most corrupt country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti is a major narco-trafficking transshipment point. The dysfunctional judicial system is underfunded, inefficient, corrupt, and burdened by a large backlog of cases, outdated legal codes, and poor facilities. There is no comprehensive civil registry. Clear property titles are virtually nonexistent.

http://www.heritage.org/index/country/haiti

 

[untermensche]

I'm not in favor of all of the policies of the Venezuelan government.

But they arose in a state of war. A secret war, mainly economic, but it included an attempt to remove the elected leader with force.

Even Castro recognizes the need for foreign investment.

But Venezuela is about average for Southern Western economies. Capitalist dreamlands like Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala exist in the Southern Western hemisphere.

This is the capitalism we see in action in the SWH.

Is there any economy you don't consider capitalist?

If you consider this capitalist, then the term is meaningless:

Of particular concern is the poor regard for rule of law. Corruption is rampant, and the judicial system is ineffective and inefficient. Smuggling remains a huge problem and is exacerbated by poor trade freedom. Entrepreneurs find Haiti one of the world’s most difficult places to do business, as the regulatory environment for both business and labor is outdated and inefficient.

In 2013, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Haiti as the most corrupt country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti is a major narco-trafficking transshipment point. The dysfunctional judicial system is underfunded, inefficient, corrupt, and burdened by a large backlog of cases, outdated legal codes, and poor facilities. There is no comprehensive civil registry. Clear property titles are virtually nonexistent.

http://www.heritage.org/index/country/haiti

This is the effects of capitalism many times.

You don't like to call it that because it shows what capitalism many times looks like.

Can you invest in those nations? Are there things in those nations you could invest in?

Can you go and buy property in those nations? Can you open a business?