We are frequently told that people in Venezuela have no food, clothing or toilet paper, and that popular discontent with the left wing government is driven by real hunger. There are elements of truth in this story, though the causes of economic dislocation are far more complex than the media would have us believe.
But I ask you to look at this photo of supporters of CIA poster-boy, the West’s puppet unelected “President” Juan Guaido, taken at a Guaido rally in Caracas two days ago and published yesterday in security services house journal The Guardian. Please take a really close look at the photo. Blow it up as big as you can. Scan individual people in the crowd, one by one.
These are not the poor and most certainly not the starving. As it chances I have a great deal of life experience working amongst seriously deprived, hungry and despairing people. I know the gaunt face of want and the desperate glance of need. Look at these Guaido supporters, one by one by one. This designer spectacled, well-coiffed, elegantly dressed, sleekly jowled group does not know hunger. This group does not know want. This is a proper right wing gathering, a gathering of the nicely off section of society. This is a group of those who have corruptly been siphoning Venezuela’s great wealth for decades and who want to make sure the gravy train flows properly in their direction again. It is, in short, a group of exactly the kind of people you would expect to support a CIA coup.
Those manicured hands raised in the air will never throw rocks, or get involved in violence unless against a peasant strapped to a chair for them. It is not this crowd which will suffer as public disorder is manipulated and directed by the CIA. These wealthy ones are immune, just as Davos serves as nothing but an annual reminder of how very poorly God aims avalanches.
There is real suffering in Venezuela. The CIA is working hard to stoke violence, and the genuine poor will soon start to die, both in those egged on to riot and in the security services. But do not get taken in by the complete nonsense that this is a popular, democratic revolution. It is not. It is yet another barefaced CIA regime change coup.
UPDATE Such wisdom as this blog finds is often crowd-source, and with thanks to a commenter below here is some useful information from Jill Stein.
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Well-observed. The Jill Stein comment sums the problem up. It is these evil-doers that managed to topple Allende and bringing Thatcher’s friend Pinochet to power in Chile. Wherever the US interferes the poor get poorer, a few rich get richer, and the target country gets stripped of its resources after the civil war has devastated the population.
Ukraine is prime, recent example of US intervention. It is one of the poorest countries with a leader less than 10% of the population want.
P. S. I discovered something yesterday while working on a related topic which I have never seen before. I am not suicidal.
@John Goss
I’ve left a comment that may be of interest for you. New incident is discussed in rus-ukr sphere
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/01/the-coup-in-venezuela-must-be-resisted/comment-page-3/#comment-823107
Thanks Tatyana. I saw it on the previous Venezuela thread before.
Or perhaps the money is stolen by foreign countries in cahoots with their politicians, bribery, and corruption, as with the signing of the treaty of union.
Re “Or perhaps the money is stolen by foreign countries..” or more likely like the hedge fund debt vultures: https://qz.com/707165/wall-streets-vulture-hedge-funds-are-making-a-killing-by-undermining-the-global-economy/
Duncan has had eight jobs, six of them as a Shadow Minister. He started his working life with Royal Dutch Shell and then with Marc Rich. Not one to miss a profit, he used the Right to Buy legislation to make money. In his favour, he does speak up for the Palestinians, most unusually for a Tory Minister.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Duncan
He visits the ME regularly and has just returned from Oman. He used to receive £96k pa from an oil refining company in the UAE.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10179
He lied to Emily Thornberry in Parliament when she asked about Integrity Initiative and IoS.
You have good recall Dungroanin if I may say so. You are spot on. Chapter and verse here.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/13/foreign-office-alan-duncan-denies-state-funds-went-to-twitter-account-criticising-labour-integrity-initiative
Thx SE, although I do find it harder to remember peoples names i have newly met nowdays…life.
The memory blackhole is getting more powerful – it is part of faiing to control the narrative. They are getting desperate.
I do think Duncan is one of these 80’s hupocrite toryboy leftovers – he is protected and despised! (he was the target of the Israeli Embassy media controllers – for his so-called support of the Palestinian cause). He does know of the many skeletons in parliament and govt obviously . As for his very red faced answer to Thornberry – he may well have been set up by his officials.
We should perhaps see this week bringing together the various storm fronts. It may well be Venezuela and Corbyns reaction to it. Labour cannot, not have an opinion, on a live situation. A trap but also an opportunity. The establishment may decide it is enough of a stick to beat Corbyn over the head with through a 4 week election and pull the trigger.
Happy sunday.
Excellent takedown of the Orwellian reality reversal spewed out by corrupt to the core of our MSM.
Thanks for the insight Craig, it really helps us less well informed than yourself to spot the MSM bullshit.
Keep up the good work, you are an inspiration to us grumpy old gits* who have recently returned to the fray.
* or this one at least
Surely everyone with half a brain has been interpreting the missives from our revered political administration – not to mention our staunchly independent fourth estate – by consuming a large pinch of salt? All my thinking life, I’ve been of the opinion that what “they” tell us is the exact opposite of the truth.
Jeremy Hunt writes in his Twitter:
“2/2 @jguaido is the right person to take Venezuela forward. If there are not fresh & fair elections announced within 8 days UK will recognise him as interim President to take forward the political process towards democracy. Time for a new start for the suffering ppl of Venezuela”
https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Hunt/status/1089155726617075713
earlier today I’ve left a comment in previous Venezuela topic, copy it here
Paris, Madrid and Berlin are ready to recognize Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela, if the current head of state Nicolas Maduro does not announce new elections within eight days.
this is today on russian news
https://ria.ru/20190126/1549957395.html
And, Macron says:
“…I salute the courage of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who are marching for their freedom.”
https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1088377172325216256
What about Yellow Vests, Macron?
They all came up with the figure of eight days? I wonder how that was coordinated.
apparently they had phone conversation and agreed on 8 days 🙂
Hunt the C#nt as he was and probably still is known among the junior doctors circles. Has been a truly abysmal Tory politician, he is so incompetent that junior doctors went on strike when he was Health secretary, a first in forty years. Last year he was appointed as Foreign secretary, replacing the clown prince of Westminster Boris Johnson.
So whatever Hunt says on Venezuela should be taken with a big pinch of salt.
As for Macron’s En Marche (Working, its clearly not) slogan/party, the people of France had a choice between Macron a neoliberal and Le Pen, a odious person, in the end. So the people chose Macron, but he’s fell foul to the people with his higher taxes and reformation of the Labour laws.
The youngest president in France’s history has seen his approval rating plummet, and widespread unrest due to his poor decision making. He may be the darling of the US Senate, but at home people are quickly becoming fed up and angry with his right wing tracking.
Macron, is desperate to make his mark as French president, so it comes as no surprise that he’s lined up with the usual suspects on condeming Maduro. I’ll be surprised if Macron wins a second term as French president.
Macron must be direct democracy hater. What is in russian news, with the sources in english linked:
… the Yellow Vests ask that any policy proposal garnering 700,000 signatures trigger a national referendum to be held within a year. The RIC (*acronym RIC – for “Citizens’ Initiative Referendum”) is one item on a list of 42 measures being demanded by the Yellow Vests…
https://www.france24.com/en/20181217-france-yellow-vests-battle-popular-referendum-RIC-citizens-initiative-macron-philippe
FRANCE’S Digital Minister Mounir Mahjoubi on Sunday warned that a popular referendum on “any subject” would lead to government collapse and political unrest if left unchecked, calling into question one of the key demands of the anti-establishment yellow vest movement.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1072068/emmanuel-macron-yellow-vest-protest-france-news
Macron himself, pointing to the political crisis of his neighbors in connection with Brexit, noted that the British referendum led to chaos, was subjected to “outside manipulation” and was accompanied by “fake news.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht6uxNbX-Xg
The Netherlands, Mark Rutte
“I am completely against the referendum. And completely, completely, completely against referenda on international agreements”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYm14SaJNTY
But there are ‘good’ referenda, for example George Soros supports idea of the second referendum on Brexit.
Most French voters voted for Eurosceptic parties, but because they were divided between left and right, the EU’s poster boy was parachuted in to represent Brussels.
Referenda – and elections – are deeply problematic because people have a tendency to vote the “wrong” way. See Egypt, Palestine, UK.
Guaido is also a member of masonic loge.
Name Guaido doesn’t look Castilian, or Basque. What is it, Catalan?
me too interested in it, lysias.
As always, it is for humor, because in russian the name /Гуаидо/ sounds very similar to the name of disgusting looking mollusk /гуидак/ ‘geoduck’ or ‘gweduck’. Warning, don’t search for pictures!
Gweduck comes from Native American tribe language.
Too late! I looked, it reminds me of something but I can’t remember what it was.
live human detected!
Hello, Pete, how are you? 🙂
I looked too. It’s edible, so of some use. Unlike the erstwhile “president”.
Oh my, oh my, edible 🙂
I imagine the faces of my guests, if I had served it for a party 🙂
It brings to mind a joke about a young couple, who intended to use a ‘toy’, but it was cold, so they decided to boil it in a pot to get it warmed 🙂 And just lost the sense of time whilst busy with each other. The parents at the moment returned home too early and were amazed with what they discovered in the pot on the stove!
Why have millions left this Workers’ Paradise? Because it is not one. And why should Maduro be supported by no-gooders like Putin and China? Because he’s no good either. So the sooner he’s out, the better for everyone.
Your excellent expose completely convinced me.
Not.
I find the blog valuable and I’d like to subscribe but sorry, I do not do PayPal and will not be opening an account with them.
Same here John, we should not support a payment channel that tried its best to stop/hold up and or ignore payments to wikileaks and JA.
Craig could just ask for cheque or Bacs, rather than feeding the leviathan.
If it was only that simple. Are the banks venerable upholders of truth and justice? Thought not. The problem is the system not its manifestations.
Yes there is suffering, but it’s more complex than you know, or probably even comprehend. I’m not going to tell you why, or explain the unreported, complex reasons, I’ll show you a picture of “suffering” opposition supporters and then proceed to make a series of emotive assertions and call it “insider analysis”.
It’s not that I dispute you, as there’s nothing of substance to tackle. We look to independent media to provide facts, sources and analysis.
Not opinion. We can get that everywhere.
I think you are perhaps a little too kind to Washington’s neocon hawks Bolton and Pompeo who are (I would think) driving this government change operation and who certainly at least deserve a namecheck.
Elliott Abrams even looks genuinely evil, unlike Bolton and Pompeo who’s genocidal malice is hid behind a grotesque moustache in the case of Bolton and layers of fat in the case of Pompeo. And you thought The Devils was a book by Dostoyevsky.
I frequently disagree with you Craig, and I sometimes resort to petty trolling, but I also frequently agree with you, as here. And I welcome the chance to air my views, whether anyone reads what I have to say or not. Long may your blog continue.
What a bloody farce it all has become. Even here in Europe, I am afraid.
What is happening in Venezuela is an US orchestrated coup attempt, on behalf of the MIC. I hope the Venezuelan authorities catch the instigators and deal with them with extreme prejudice.
You stomp on vermin.
Nigeria and Saudi Arabia should be the democratic template, these countries show the sort of free and fair elections the west will be comfortable with.
Sarcasm obviously.
As isn’t the bleating about democracy from western capitals really quite selective? Were Maduro pro-gringo his democratic deficit problem would suddenly disappear.
I would so love to swap my Swedish pasport for a Nigerian one…
Finally free and fair elections
Dear God this is desperate stuff.
Maybe the real starving are amongst the three million who have felt obliged to flee Venezuela for better run states that don’t have shrinking economies or 1.35 MILLION per cent inflation; never mind the shortages of essential goods.
House troll
No wonder. Which neighbouring country to Venezuela have the same economic sanctions by the US?
Jack, to be fair, Iran is under sanctions, Russia is under sanctions and I’m sure many more countries. Sanctions do not produce such an impact as million’s grade inflation. I’m sure it is the result of incredibly stupid management.
But it’s nontheless is NOT a reason for a coup, but for referendum, for reforms, for new appointements, for discussion, for advice – anything but revolution. Just imagine your family is in great need for money, debts, overdue payments, and at this moment another man jumps out of the box and says you to get out, he is the new husband of your wife 🙂 More, the strongest bully neighbours support him. Is it right way to save YOUR OWN
familycountry? It is better for neighbours not to interfere until asked for help.I’ve mentioned earlier that Venezuela turned to Russia for consultation on how to get out of financial crisis. The article in russian news was “russian ministry of finance to consult Venesuela”. And a day after we got the nes on the coup.
Tatyana
You cannot compare nations like that, here is the fact:
Trump Sanctions Against Venezuela Have Decimated Oil Production
https://venezuelanalysis.com/video/14236
Jack
For heaven’s sake, Venezuela’s problems go back many years before Trump was elected.
One doesn’t have to be a supporter of US regime change to acknowledge Venezuela has been poorly run and needs a new direction.
Glasshopper
For Gods sake indeed.
I didnt say theres no problem I said the sanctions are the reason for the situtation they are in now.
Some people have got more info than we do. E.g. :
Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa, Ambassador of Venezuela in Russia says: “Maduro calls on the opposition for dialogue to overcome the current political crisis”
Vladimir Zaemskiy, Ambassador of Russia in Venezuela says: “Venezuela society is indeed divided, the path to resolving the conflict, which has primarily socio-economic roots, and not just political ones – in the search for compromise, dialogue. In many ways, the situation is due to external intervention, but ultimatums from the outside can not solve the situation”
Putin had a phone conversation with Maduro: “destructive external intervention in the domestic political crisis in the republic grossly violates the fundamental norms of international law”
and on the top of it, I wonder what are the reasons to ever make these kind of statements – China and Russia call to abandon plans for military intervention in Venezuela
all above are excerpts from rus news
I agree with you Tatyana. Venezuela deserves better and nobody wants American intervention. The US has no right to meddle in Latin American affairs. But Venezuelans must be helped to get out of their present horror story, and the first step is to allow them to have a fair and decent election, as the one held in May 2018 was as rigged and void as those that were used to be held in Somoza’s Nicaragua or Stroessner’s Paraguay. I also hope that President Putin can see beyond the false cold war rhetoric pushed by Washington, and realize that the crisis is real. So far his automatic 100% alignment with the militarized Venezuelan regime is causing him to lose reputation and respect in this part of the world.
Even if election is rigged, it is not the reason to claim for foreign help of this special kind.
I’ll continue comparing with some family’s finance troubles. Imagine your spouse made wrong decisions and subjected the family to unimaginable difficulties. If you want to save your family, so you would go to dialogue and look for some solution.
The f@cking wrongest event at this moment is – some unknoun guy appears and says he’s got money ready to solve your troubles. He only forgets to say it is not his money, but banck loan, to be returned at high interest.
What is wrong with Guaido – he appears from nowhere as a f@cking bank representative, saying: “Troubles? Want a solution? We’ve got one special offer for you!” I don’t hesitate that he, being taken as real president, soon drives US or IMF credits into the country to solve the trouble.
And the root of the trouble is – Maduro is sanctioned and never could possibly get financial help.
—
that’s how ‘rich guys’ break your wife from you 🙂 that is how you can buy an oil company in Venezuela at the cost of an used car.
FbosoDeimos
They have had elections recently and Maduro won. Just accept it.
Who say they are rigged? The people seeking a coup. Go figure.
I do not think they need an election, they need a financial plan which is not drawn up by the IMF, the World Bank or US Neocons.
Elections do not change finances per se and electors have far less collateral than unpaid creditors, who presumably hold assets as collateral.
Venezuela needs short-term stabilisation, medium term diversification and long term shock-proofing.
Politicians spouting slogans for votes will not deliver that….
If they are so dependant on Oil Production, so it is again bad management. We’ve learned this lesson ourselves, in Russia.
What does really matter is – if they allow foreign control or manage their troubles themselves.
The first option makes them a colony, the second option lets them be a sovereign country.
Tatyana
Its not Venezuela’s fault that US sanction their export.
Venezuela could not survive if the sanctions are pushed harder now.
I do really understand your point, Jack, but sorry I can’t agree.
The troubles arose long ago. Sanctions or not – Venezuela had time to manage it. Why waiting so long? What was Maduro’s plan?
it seems like drug trade has great impact on Venezuela’s economy.
Tatyana
That a state could have problem is one thing, but due sanctions they cannot solve these problems. Period.
I dont know how else to put it, watch the interview I posted above.
The problem of world capitalism, the new world order, neoliberalism or whatever will be solved shortly by way of the commodity in question. Oil. It’s continuing combustion will result in an international shortage of oxygen very soon. All creatures dependent on aerobic respiration will die. Solved.
Tatyana
Not all countries are the same and not all sanctions are the same. The difference between Venezuela and day Iran are so immense you cannot just say they are both under US sanctions but one is surviving and the other not therefore it must be thier fault. Venezuela is in the backyard of US surrounded by regimes that are controlled by the US. Witness how some jumped immediately to recognise the usurper. Plus other countries that have been under sanctions have not been so lax with internal dissent by the rich ‘opposition’. You are probably very aware of how Putin effectively neutralised the oligarchs by a combination of stick and carrot and would be better at telling us more in this respect.
You are talking a lot of sense but you’re up against a certain mind-set that will never hold a socialist country up to responsibility for it’s failures.
The truth is the US is up to no good, and has been for a long time. Meanwhile, Venezuela has been poorly managed and should not have found itself in the current mess.
Glasshopper
Perhaps you are the one refusing to change your mindset? Believing this is “socialism” not a sanctions issue.
The very well off lost a fortune under Hugo Chavez, at home and abroad. Renationalisations , seizures, and an oil windfall tax further upsetting minority shareholders. In June 2010, his government seized 11 oil rigs from Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne Inc.
Similar behaviour in finance, agriculture , industry; gold, steel, telecommunications, power , transport and tourism. Made him the globalists’ worst nightmare. The origins of Maduro’s problems aren’t hard to grasp.
If they do not have enough food to eat in Venezuela why don’t they grow more food?
AGRICULTURE as of 2012…
* In 2009, Chavez nationalized a rice mill operated by a local unit of U.S. food giant Cargill Inc.
* In October 2010, Venezuela nationalized Fertinitro, one of the world’s biggest producers of nitrogen fertilizer, as well as Agroislena, a major local agricultural supply company. It also said it would take control of nearly 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of land owned by British meat company Vestey Foods.
* Vestey had already filed for arbitration over the earlier takeover of a ranch. Chavez said the latest deal with Vestey was a “friendly agreement.”
* In 2005, Chavez began implementing a 2001 law letting the state expropriate unproductive farms or seize land without proper titles. He has redistributed millions of acres deemed idle to boost food production and ease rural poverty.
* Chavez’s government repeatedly threatened to seize Empresas Polar, Venezuela’s biggest employer and largest brewer and food processor.
Chavez himself complained about this obvious ” failure” of his revolution, but his were only empty words, spoken to make him look as if he supported “constructive self criticism”. The big elephant in the room is that in 20 years of “revolution” the Bolivarian experiment could not produce one single transformation of the classic Nigeria style rentier economic structure. The immense flow of money from oil, especially during the years when oil price was sky high were misused and Venezuela continued to be 100% dependant on imports for most of its food. No other industry was developed and the so called “socialist” project became an excuse for a handful of cronies to get rich, while the magnanimous leader gave away sufficient amounts of money to the masses so that they kept voting for him.
Not romanticising Chavez. He made terrible errors. Even if his initial intentions were well meaning he wildly overreached.
Goose
His daughter seems to have done rather well out of it all.
You still have not advanced one iota of a good reason why thus Venezuela should be crushed and invaded by the greatest horde of imperialist thugs the planet has ever seen.
Fobos
Your post from the point you say “The immense flow…” onwards applies equally (apart from a few words such as socialism) to Britain since Thatcher. But the difference is that U.K. is a major economic power and Venezuela isn’t.
The Venezuelan debate in the UN security council is being streamed live on https://therealnews.com/
Brazilian UN ambassador accusing Maduro of drug smuggling and ties with the Mafia. Promising to support the new “acting president” there.
Venezuelan ambassador just finished…very eloquent. The Chavez/Maduro party has had 23 elections over the past 25 years, losing only 2.
If you believe in democracy you cannot support what the US, and its fellow western war-mongers, are doing.
Ask May and Hunt and Trump and Pompeo about their understanding of the word ‘democracy’. They could not reply.
Jill Stein should have been the US President, not Trump.
“Jill Stein should have been the US President, not Trump.”
Absolutely; but of course, the ‘deep state’ would soon swing into action to silence her.
But of course the leaders of the ‘free world’ will do everything in the world to support her if she did.
“Jill Stein should have been the US President, not Trump.”
Good choice.
If I recall, she actually offered to stand aside for Bernie Sanders, giving him a ready made platform. Her party was already registered in every state; he could have accepted to be the Presidential candidate with Jill Stein as running mate and swung straight into action. Win or lose, he would have busted open the US political duopoly forever. The DNC rigging skullduggery gave him every excuse to refuse to endorse Hilary and take his $25 bernie-masses with him. What a finale that would have been to the Dem primaries! He didn’t dare.
Venezuela does not conform to the US model of truly representative popular democracy
https://theintercept.com/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/
At least they have sham elections for head of state. In ‘UK’ soon to become banana kingdom you become head of state and church if you are born that way.
That can be çhanged very simply by limiting contributions to individuals not corporations, NGOs etc and making the maximum allowable donation $1,000.
That way $25 contributions are valuable.
Takes a generation to achieve, ten years to deliver local reps, twenty to deliver national reps and thirty years to deliver a President.
And now Portugal has joined Spain in demanding elections in 8 days . I’m truly disgusted and apoplectic , totally !
1. Ron Paul, a few hours ago on RT.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UCESJ5JcJXc
I trust Labour are taking notes for the inevitable onslaught…
2. The SyrPer article is brilliant and so are many of it’s comments.
Share and confound the msm narrative.
3. Rumour that India is sticking with Maduro.
4. Rumour that Venezuelan government has proof of some pre-coup meeting.
https://www.1065thearch.com/2019/01/25/the-latest-india-closely-following-crisis-in-venezuela/
The new president looks a damp squib. It may be another yet another Trump u-turn against his neo-cons wishes.
My jaw dropped. It is the first time I am reading that political views can be determined from… haircut.
The fact that people are neatly dressed does not mean that they aren’t poor, Craig. People in Uzbekistan, Armenia or Azerbaijan are poor and often oppressed. Still, they dress neatly, I am sorry but much better than an average “rich” Brit.
You have spent too much time in Britain. It is not hard to be better dressed than a Brit, even when having no money. Your article is pointless, and you a selling shit that an annual inflation of 10 million does not make people poor and willing to protest.
Also keep in mind that those poorest, usually living in the countryside, are often too busy trying to survive day to day to travel to some protests in the country’s capital.
What on earth are you prattling on about? It’s nothing to do with haircuts. The people demonstrating are all clearly well-fed (not starving), and are well-dressed, with many wearing flashy accessories. I would say that if you can’t see that, then…..but it’s obvious that you don’t want to see it. And you make completely unrepresentative and quite spurious excuses for the behaviour of Venezuela’s poor, to boot. Classy!
The the rich middle and upper classes are almost exclusively white and European in looks. The poorer classes (who have the audacity to vote for someone they associate with) were almost exclusively south American native in look and stature.
Chavez survived numerous coup attempts over the years. That the US had a helping hand in some if them I do not doubt – Chavez was public enemy no1 for a long time to them.
The real reason for the interests if the Western states is no doubt the fact that Venezuela sits on oil reserves larger than Saudi Arabia’s. A resource that the US has longed after for many, many years.
I wonder if China and Russia are acting from similarly altruistic motives.
“Works of art and culture, not appreciated or understood by vodka-drinking proletariat”
is it the same Kashmiri from here?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/12/nationalisation-without-compensation/comment-page-7/#comment-807725
There has been pro maduro demonstrations but they are not shown . This crowd that showed up in support to someone they never heard of before are not poor , they’re the ugly right wing in corner fascist regimes . We call them the saudosistas , they exist in many new democracies . Many of them were of course paid by a rent a crowd or how do you think there’s god knows how many filming crews there ? It’s not spontaneous . I’d also love to know precise numbers of supporters of this impostor and the percentage that does not support this , as it has NOT been said anywhere . They say millions , but how many are the other side ?
Oh come off it.
Are you effing blind?
I grew up in Venezuela. My father was a bush pilot. Arrived in ‘72 and left in ‘84. I have many thoughts on Venezuela.
A friend asked my thoughts the night of the 23rd. My answer was plain and simple and did not take long to say: “yes Guaidó is a puppet” what I also think is kind of hysterical and no one has mentioned this is the date. 23 de Enero. Happens to be a historical date in Venezuela. It was the day Perez Jimenez was ousted. Coincidence? Duh. This has been planned for some time.
Will things be better once Maduro is out? Of course it will, but for the elite. When I lived in Venezuela I was the so called “elite” and I know them.
Did you know any poor people?
Thank you for this post .
Cool story. Thx
Come on able, if you are not a plant, give us something serious. You are patently a troll.or just too right wing to accept something different. Make an argument against socialism. Go on.
Lol. They prob haven’t decided on the playbook yet.
No ad-libbing allowed at the 77th and IoS.
Await orders and script!
I can guess what it will say – Kill Corbyn! Again.
O/T but a Palestinian man has been shot and killed by Israeli settlers and nine others have been wounded.
‘Palestinian officials said the settlers had entered the village of al-Mughayer and that its residents tried to fend them off. The Israeli military said its forces dispersed the crowds.
The Palestinian health ministry said the man killed was 38 years old and that nine other people were wounded by gunfire.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the killing:
“The Israeli government is continuing its policy of escalation,” he said in a statement published by the official Wafa news agency.’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/26/palestinian-man-killed-by-israeli-settlers-in-west-bank
75% of the Palestinian village’s land has been taken by Israeli settlers and their olive trees have been felled.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mughayyir,_Ramallah
Seen the Recent rise in Olive Tree Destuction.. Sickening, Armed settlers protected by Aermed to the teeth IOF
P.s No appolz needed for Duplicates.. It happens in a very Lively Blog
Stay Sharp
further to..
Ascot2
January 26, 2019 at 18:52
Re the UNSC emergency meeting on Venezuela –
The Russians at 25;55 in
Venezuela Brilliant at 1.18.20 in
Cuba Brilliant at 2:10 hours
More @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKdbs3dx2GU
Total attemped Stich up job.. Predictably, Many in the West are up for a Mid east type destruction, carnage, mllions dead… For OIL.
America needs the oil for its’ war machine in order to destroy even more countries. What happened to Trump’s non-interventionism?
Indeed Kathy
A war machine so huge = Climate Change fingerprints all over it
When I put This Link up Re UNSC emergency meeting on Venezuela
I Pinpointed Times using Only Subtitles ( saves my ears )
I see that now, subtitles are removed.
The folk in the piccy are probably representatives of the Venezuelan ‘Middle Class’ ?
As a very general rule, its difficult to get the middle class of any area out in organised protest, their natural inclination is to take it on the chin in the hope of coming change. So one could argue that a picture that shows a gathering of such folk may be indicative of things being far worse in Venezuela than many of the probably also middle class posters here would care to admit ?
Maybe taking the anti USA blinkers off, and putting aside the Barbara Castle Stalinism blindspot, would help many here who seem to think that Socialism is the answer to all ills ? 🙂
Well American sanctions (equivalent of medieval siege tactics) won’t have helped.
The folk in the piccy look like casual observers to me.
US Socialism-for-the-Rich is the creator of many an ill.
Just not in your class of people.
Casual sock
Maybe socialism is not the answer but enforced regime change by a pseudo democracy isn’t democracy. What was your previous identity incidentally?
Don’t tell him, Abe!
Dr Stein is a clown. Remember her vote challenges, which proved that it was Clinton that was cheating? I put in the ‘obvious fraud’ category, along with Bernie Three Mansions. Ignore, avoid. High verbal IQ, low energy.
Of course it’s a coup. However, I no longer think Maduro style socialism has the answers for Venezuela. So, the CIA are doing what they do: encouraging their loyal satraps to regain power. We may note that a CIA-run state has its own problems, drugs and child sex trafficking among them, so the result will not be utopia.
I long ago concluded that any and all CIA interference in foreign countries ends up in disaster for said countries. I do wonder what happened to the food supplies, because it looks like that favourite tactic of conquerors: the siege, and forced scarcity. This tactic is old, but terribly effective.
Good point about Stein, she did at least reveal that Detroit could not certify votes cast just 2 weeks after the election, so not completely bad 🙂
As for Yank involvement, they got their fingers burnt with attempting to oust Chavez, and since then their efforts will have been low key ? As indeed they have been in all of the Monroe Doctrine area these last few years. Some may care to compare today with how things were in the days of Raygun, and even he was an improvement over what went before.
The real tragedy is that Latin America contains people who are so poor, that selling them the now debunked policy of Marxism becomes possible. But they do say that drowning folk clutch at straws.
Oh so rampant capitalist larceny is the answer then?
Are you completely ignoring the fact that the aristo euro families who ‘conquestidored’ central and south America are trying to get back ‘their’ godgiven (papal) rights over the lands, resources and peoples?
50 families at most.
Show me how many ‘indios’ are in the coups ‘spaniard’ leadership?
It is a simple racist imperialist attempt at restoration with the help of the equally racist imperialist old white US aristos and Oil families.
Another U S A take over- don’t be fooled
Sure. The opposition won a supermajority in the 2015 parliamentary elections because they only represent the rich. They then proceeded to elect Guaidó. Great observation.
Contrary to what the Mainstream Media is telling you, Craig Murray actually knows that the vast majority of Venezuelans are in fact rich right wingers who are part of an oligarchy.
The venezuelan refugees who are living in Colombia are also protesting against Maduro and in support of Guaidó because they are rich and want their privileges.
Why am I even here? This article contains zero information and is a shameful piece of propaganda. Anybody who hast friends that have suffered under Maduro in Venezuela and had to leave certainly gets the sudden urge to throw up over their screen when reading this, including me.
“Why am I even here? ”
Because you like hiding behind German nicknames?
apparently you are here to catapult some propaganda.
Haderlump!
So what do you want?
Easy to trash, less easy to argue with a manifesto.
-Free and fair elections under UN supervision (Maduro has already rejected that)
-Abolition of the illegitimate constituent assembly
-Reestablishment of the constitutional order
All of which the “antiimperialist” left apparently opposes, because it would lead to the end of Maduro’s regime.
in a just world elliot abrams would already be serving a long prison term.
@ pretzelattackJanuary 26, 2019 at 23:23
This is not a ‘just world’, never was, never will be. This world is a trial, follow Satan/Lucifer and you will ‘succeed’, try to do the right thing, you’ll get it in the neck.
But yes, justice will be served, on the ‘Day of Judgement’.
OK, so you may not be a believer, yet!
O.t
Found her, took a while – Sharon Squassoni – On the Fucking Panel at the Doomsday Clock 2019 announcement ..Blaming Russia Almost Right Away – @ 11:40 mins –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgX9iam9Cc
Leaves one Speechless. Medialens would probably listen to the rest of her speech. Good on them
What can I say? Great stuff, Craig!
RentACrowd.
There does seem to be dirty at work here but given that Chavez came to power in 2006 it makes you wonder how come there are still so many well fed, clean-handed right-wing supporting people around able to still siphon off the system and who are now willing to gather in a fake crowd to get rid of the Socialists who so far haven’t prevented them from continuing to make their ill-gotten gains 😉 And there is little evidence to suggest the considerable numbers of Venezuelans migrating to poor conditions in Columbia are doing so just to support the CIA. The desperate conditions in Venezuela may not have brought the poor out in mass protest but that hardly is a sign that all is hunk-dory there.
Clearly Venezuela having the largest known oil reserves of any country in the world is good reason for the CIA to get up to their old dirty tricks. However their ability to get involved has been ably assisted by Chavez and Maduro’s economic mismanagement and lack of internal investment which can’t simply be blamed on CIA shenanigans. The Bolivarian Revolution policies could not cope with the fall in oil prices is clearly a major if not the most important factor. Ironically the Socialists in Bolivia itself are doing much better though not perhaps as rosy as this article would have us believe but at least still functioning 😉
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/01/05/as-socialist-venezuela-collapses-socialist-bolivia-thrives-heres-why/?utm_term=.8bdb1fae3bd7
Chavez came to power in early 1999, after winning the 1998 election. His experiment is turning 20 years old right now. The balance is clearly terrible for the average Venezuelan, and that is why in the 2015 legislative elections they lost big even in Chavista districts. After that, Maduro, Cabello and their buddies turned even more repressive and the crisis deepened.
and yet they keep getting re-elected……probably because the majority know who has their interests at heart….. and who has been working tirelessly to restore government for the rich and us corporations. anybody associated with washington’s vision for venezuela will lose in free elections.
Probably the reason is that alternatives who actually do not want to sell out to foreign asset strippers have not emerged?
WaPo is another propaganda rag – you cannot take its word.
There are many well fed venezuelan ‘spaniards’ as there say well fed zimbabwen ‘brits’ in the greater crisis there (no UN resolutions on that still).
Chavez didn’t nationalize all their illgotten industries – the commercial operators that supply food and consumables, Broadcast and Print,etc were left in the hands of the imperialists – they have used these as weapons. The shops are empty because they have been left empty. The poor people are encouraged to suffer and cross the borders. Western unbiased media reporting from the country is negligible.
You and yours are instead spreading the same ‘socialism to blame’ lies here instead.
The Tories/NuLabInc neocon/lib cancer has nearly taken Britain back to the goid old Downton Abbey days of the very rich and the rest of us, ‘be servile and be grateful for it!’ classes.
I don’t worry too much about Venezuela – look who is supporting them.
Extract from Telesur on the U.N. debate on Venezuela
“During his speech, the British envoy claimed that President Maduro won the May 2018 elections by “stuffing ballot boxes,” an allegation that the Russian envoy rebuffed by reminding his counterpart that in Venezuela such a fraudulent practice would not be possible because Venezuela has a highly-reliable electronic voting system that does not involve ballot boxes.”
Does Venezuela’s “highly reliable electronic voting system” operate without the need for electricity?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-outages/western-venezuela-suffering-daily-power-cuts-despite-end-to-rationing-idUSKBN1HR2XV
Precisely . The machine only allows one vote per person , does not allow people who are dead to vote , even gives you a receipt confirming your vote unlike in some countries that are considered civilised and Democratic cough cough . They want to pass a perception of a rudimentary system . It’s sctually a very sophisticated voting system and the last elections had many international independent observers .
Electronic voting systems are easier to rig than paper ballots.
Highly reliable are not the two words I associate with electronic voting.
Highly corruptible is certainly applicable in the USA.
Whilst we know for sure that they are not highly reliable in the US, it may be a different story elswhere. Any elections can be manipulated witness how Russia stole the US elections in broad daylight from under the secure feet of the favourite to win just with a few twitter accounts. However the point here was that the British Ambassador used an antiquated device to blame Maduro and was caught out.
Sir Alan Duncan used the term “stuffing ballot boxes”. It’s a phrase which can be used in the figurative sense as well as the literal, just as we still talk about dialling telephone numbers even though just about every single phone these days has a keypad.
Sir Alan needs to move with the times. But of course even being called Sir denotes a certain ossified system of privilege that would like to preserve the traditions for the benefit of the privileged few. What? Please pass the port I say.