Venezuela is not a black-and-white issue. Thats because conditions on the ground in Venezuela are not black and white. Any discussion about Venezuela will quickly descend into an unresolvable argument about what conditions are like in Venezuela. The great elephant in the room that nobody will ever acknowledge is that ELECTIONS CAN BE AND…
Venezuela is not a black-and-white issue. Thats because conditions on the ground in Venezuela are not black and white. Any discussion about Venezuela will quickly descend into an unresolvable argument about what conditions are like in Venezuela. The great elephant in the room that nobody will ever acknowledge is that ELECTIONS CAN BE AND ARE FIXED IN INNUMERABLE WAYS. Unless there is a heroic and transparent effort on the part of the State to ensure and prove to the world that elections are honest, then we come to the point were we are in much of the world, including the US that elections are mostly illegitimate.
I know very little about Venezuela except from media and the few people I know who left Venezuela - who tend to call themselves refugees. I'm pretty sure I would not want to live there or live under a regime similar to Venezuelas.
All these arguments about legitimacy are misdirection. It's just another euphemism for who controls the guns and organs of violence in the state. In that sense ALL governments are "legitimate". Which means the word has no real meaning.
I, too, wouldn’t want to live in a country where the sovereign will of the people to nationalize its oil industry is confronted with decades-long economic warfare by the regional/global hegemon. The US has no right to impose such consequences on the Venezuelan people - all to incentivize them towards regime-change and US-backed opposition candidates whose treason is confronted as such and propagandistically portrayed as evidence of Chavez/Maduro “authoritarianism” to gullible Western audiences.
As I said, the argument immediately descends into unresolvable he-said-she-said views of what conditions are like on the street in Venezuela.
If people are living better there since they destroyed their oil industry, thats great. If the stores are full of products and people have jobs and can buy stuff without standing in long lines, great. I've never been there. I read conflicting stories. I've talked to a grand total of 2 Venezuelens who lost everything and fled the country. If it's a garden paradise, move there.
Hegemon this and that, but I notice that the Socialist Elites are pretty much like the Capitalist Elites, they just have different skill sets and seem a bit more jumpy.
Venezuela is not a black-and-white issue. Thats because conditions on the ground in Venezuela are not black and white. Any discussion about Venezuela will quickly descend into an unresolvable argument about what conditions are like in Venezuela. The great elephant in the room that nobody will ever acknowledge is that ELECTIONS CAN BE AND ARE FIXED IN INNUMERABLE WAYS. Unless there is a heroic and transparent effort on the part of the State to ensure and prove to the world that elections are honest, then we come to the point were we are in much of the world, including the US that elections are mostly illegitimate.
I know very little about Venezuela except from media and the few people I know who left Venezuela - who tend to call themselves refugees. I'm pretty sure I would not want to live there or live under a regime similar to Venezuelas.
All these arguments about legitimacy are misdirection. It's just another euphemism for who controls the guns and organs of violence in the state. In that sense ALL governments are "legitimate". Which means the word has no real meaning.
I, too, wouldn’t want to live in a country where the sovereign will of the people to nationalize its oil industry is confronted with decades-long economic warfare by the regional/global hegemon. The US has no right to impose such consequences on the Venezuelan people - all to incentivize them towards regime-change and US-backed opposition candidates whose treason is confronted as such and propagandistically portrayed as evidence of Chavez/Maduro “authoritarianism” to gullible Western audiences.
As I said, the argument immediately descends into unresolvable he-said-she-said views of what conditions are like on the street in Venezuela.
If people are living better there since they destroyed their oil industry, thats great. If the stores are full of products and people have jobs and can buy stuff without standing in long lines, great. I've never been there. I read conflicting stories. I've talked to a grand total of 2 Venezuelens who lost everything and fled the country. If it's a garden paradise, move there.
Hegemon this and that, but I notice that the Socialist Elites are pretty much like the Capitalist Elites, they just have different skill sets and seem a bit more jumpy.