Nope, look up the Stasi Trg mines and follow the money
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 22:34 (five years ago) link
Good try though
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 22:35 (five years ago) link
Also that was not unilateral
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 22:36 (five years ago) link
Again, reads like parody.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 22:36 (five years ago) link
Pot meet kettle
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 22:37 (five years ago) link
I was speaking about mutual interests and how Russia and Venezuela's aligns as opposed to say, western nations.
ah, now I understand why the uk is so closely allied with saudi arabia
― ogmor, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 23:43 (five years ago) link
what stake do you have irl w/r/t uncritically supporting the worst sort of US interventionism? Did you support the contras in Nicaragua as well? Pro tip: anyone the US supports is bad, full stop.
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Wednesday, May 1, 2019 6:22 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Saying US involvement sucks doesn't contradict the notion that Russian involvement sucks even more. Plus looking at the history of US involvement, Venezuela is at the moment, very far from the worst. Also very far from the worst Russia has offered outside and within its borders. As for the idea that anyone the US supports is bad, full stop, I don't know what constitutes good to you but US involvement in Taiwan and South Korea are much better than the alternatives they were facing. Realist foreign policy is a scourge, but let's not pretend that the US are the only one doing it being hawkish fuckery in this world. And any position in which you are mad for Gaido demonstrating opposition (which seems weird to me if you believe in democracy) and economic sanctions, you also have to be mad at the notion Rosneft as collected half the bonds of PVSDA and that Maduro has falsified the latest elections and the humanitarian crisis the citizens are facing. I'm mad at both. I don't think Bolton or Trump or Rubio are doing anything good to alleviate the situation, but let's remember that Maduro was offered a fair and peaceful electoral process and denied it.
My position answers this crucial question: under which sphere of influence can choose their future? I think that could possibly happen within the influence of the US/Europe and with elections. I don't think it will ever happen with North Korea/Russia/China/Turkey/Iran which are more or less the countries that are sustaining Maduro's power at the moment, who refuses elections.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 2 May 2019 02:06 (five years ago) link
It's weird to live in Miami, where just about every one of my Venezuelan students loathes Trump with every corpuscle in their body, is liberal on just about every position we debate here, yet wants Maduro gone. I can't judge them.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 May 2019 02:12 (five years ago) link
You should stick to films, where you actually seem to have a clue
guess what?
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 2 May 2019 03:28 (five years ago) link
Lol. As if the fucking Marshall Plan is anything comparable to what America is up to in Central and South America.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 2 May 2019 06:05 (five years ago) link
Shitshow
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), 2. maj 2019 04:12 (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I don't think this is weird at all? It's a battle between two autocrats, we don't actually have to take sides, it's okay to want both of them gone.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 2 May 2019 07:53 (five years ago) link
Tertium non datur, Fred. There can be no other way.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 2 May 2019 08:07 (five years ago) link
To be liberal and want Maduro gone is totally on line with what I'd expect. It's all over this thread as well.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 2 May 2019 09:06 (five years ago) link
but let's remember that Maduro was offered a fair and peaceful electoral process and denied it.
When was this?
The US and Guaido position aiui is that Guaido is the President and elections will follow at some unspecified point in the future but that Maduro can’t take part in them.
The EU has frequently called for new elections but, to date, that hasn’t been the position of the Venezuelan opposition or the US - there hasn’t been any guarantee that the former would participate or the latter would recognise. It has only been in the last few days that the domestic opposition (and the improbably-named Stalin Gonzalez) have suggested that new elections might be a way of resolving the issue but idk if that is ‘policy’ as such.
There is every chance that, if an internationally-mediated negotiation took place and new elections were on the table, that Maduro would reject them but there hasn’t been an internationally-mediated negotiation yet.
― ShariVari, Thursday, 2 May 2019 09:27 (five years ago) link
By and large, I think the opposition uniting behind a call for new elections would be much more tactically effective in getting people out on the street than trying to get them to recognise Guaido fwiw.
― ShariVari, Thursday, 2 May 2019 09:36 (five years ago) link
but let's remember that Maduro was offered a fair and peaceful electoral process and denied it.When was this?
How about last year?
― Frederik B, Thursday, 2 May 2019 09:43 (five years ago) link
That Guaido = Owen Smith tweet is totally otm. If the US did it right then surely they needed someone from the military. Maybe it's the liberal disease of wanting to appear credible by backing a career politician.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 2 May 2019 10:07 (five years ago) link
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton just left Pentagon following meeting with acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan in secure conference room known as ‘The Tank’ to discuss military options for Venezuela, per senior defense official— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) May 3, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 3 May 2019 15:12 (five years ago) link
i’m sure this military intervention will be the one where america finally gets it right
― michael keaton IS jim thirlwell IN ‘foetaljuice’ (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 3 May 2019 15:46 (five years ago) link
Fewer than 100,000 civilian casualties, then?
― A is for (Aimless), Friday, 3 May 2019 17:58 (five years ago) link
John Bolton determined to be Dumb Kissinger to the Dumb Nixon, huh?
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 3 May 2019 18:08 (five years ago) link
― michael keaton IS jim thirlwell IN ‘foetaljuice’ (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 3 May 2019 18:25 (five years ago) link
sad Brazil / ILX film squad convergence
Bolsonaro’s government just declared that Kleber Mendonça Filho has 30 days to return R$2.2 million of financing from NEIGHBORING SOUNDS. That’s over $550,000 for a film that was released in 2012. https://t.co/H2D0Eh6gtm— Violet Lucca (@unbuttonmyeyes) May 3, 2019
― Simon H., Friday, 3 May 2019 22:09 (five years ago) link
https://mariannewrites.home.blog/2019/05/11/fellow-progressives-stop-hurting-venezuelans/
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 12 May 2019 22:07 (five years ago) link
^that author is fully conversant with the crimes of Maduro, but seems not to fully examine the consequences of Guaido embracing Trump & Bolton's path for Venezuela as the price of US support. The lukewarm support for Guaido she hears voiced by US progressives is due to their long experience with neo-cons and the consequences of neo-con policies. She clearly sees the frying pan Venezualans are in, but doesn't see the fire that they shall be jumping into if Guaido becomes a dependent US client.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 May 2019 03:50 (five years ago) link
Assuming that a latin american does not know the long history of US intervention in Latin America is exactly what she is criticising.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 13 May 2019 04:04 (five years ago) link
Is she really arguing Venezuela would be better off turning into Guatemala?
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 May 2019 04:10 (five years ago) link
Yeah the leader of the Popular Will, a party that has been recognized within the sphere of the Socialist International, his only goal is to turn the nation into a humanitarian crisis of unseen proportions. And horrible fascists states like Sweden (gasp!) and Iceland (oh no!) and Costa Rica (yikes!) are fully behind the notion that only a destroyed and plundered Venezuela is what is best for Venezuelans, including this writer who's trauma of having to leave her nation because of tyrant is really starting point of misunderstanding the situation to a degree only white dudes from beautiful campus can truly understand.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 13 May 2019 04:41 (five years ago) link
his only goal is to turn the nation into a humanitarian crisis of unseen proportions.
If it comes to a US military intervention in aid of Guaido, which is very certainly on Bolton's Christmas list whether or not this is Guaido's present policy or intention, it very well could become a humanitarian crisis even more destructive and deadly than the humanitarian crisis already caused by Maduro's misgovernment. If the US government were not currently in the hands of men willing to inflict incalculable suffering on "enemy" nations, I would feel far more secure in the future course of US involvement as likely to bring benefit to the Venezuelan people. Trump & Bolton are capable of doing worse than Nixon & Kissinger, or Bush & Cheney.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 May 2019 04:54 (five years ago) link
Yes, there is a long list of shit that could make the current crisis much worse. I think anyone is intelligent enough to understand that there can be ways in which Guaido becomes an interim president that presides over fair elections without having a civil war going on. I just think that negating whatever the Venezuelans diaspora is expressing is not going to help the situation, I think sanitizing Maduro (which is not something I have seen much here but I have seen elsewhere) is really not going to help. Claiming any support of Guaido is ideologically is neo-con is also not going to help. And also it is stupid. Some people need to stop with this stupid left-right dichotomy. Proof is that Trump does it.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 13 May 2019 05:22 (five years ago) link
Someone from Venezuela:
Instead of supporting Guaidó’s work, progressives in North America have chosen to given vague and evasive statements (e.g. Bernie Sanders or Jagmeet Singh), or even to go as far as to voice their support of Maduro’s dictatorship (e.g. Ilhan Omar), often ignoring the pleas of their own Venezuelan constituents. They justify this by imposing North American political narratives on an incredibly unique and complex situation.
Aimless immediately:
that author is fully conversant with the crimes of Maduro, but seems not to fully examine the consequences of Guaido embracing Trump & Bolton's path for Venezuela as the price of US support. The lukewarm support for Guaido she hears voiced by US progressives is due to their long experience with neo-cons and the consequences of neo-con policies. She clearly sees the frying pan Venezualans are in, but doesn't see the fire that they shall be jumping into if Guaido becomes a dependent US client.
― Frederik B, Monday, 13 May 2019 06:32 (five years ago) link
"But since interim president Juan Guaidó started his efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela"
A bowl of wrong from this girl.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:23 (five years ago) link
"I think anyone is intelligent enough to understand that there can be ways in which Guaido becomes an interim president that presides over fair elections without having a civil war going on."
You overestimate Guaido's intelligence.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:27 (five years ago) link
You are embarassing.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 13 May 2019 13:20 (five years ago) link
Got quite hurt, then I turned off the kilfile for a second. VHS OTM.
― Frederik B, Monday, 13 May 2019 13:33 (five years ago) link
Haha @ "got quite hurt"
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 13 May 2019 13:41 (five years ago) link
often ignoring the pleas of their own Venezuelan constituents
No one individual has custody of the narrative about what the author admits is "an incredibly unique and complex situation". To confirm this, all one has to do is to compare the widely divergent narratives of US citizens regarding immigration. If the USA chooses an aggressive policy in regard to Venezuela, as guided by Bolton and Trump, I highly doubt that it will be informed by the Venezuelan constituents the author aligns with and what she will get instead is Bolton & gang justifying their actions "by imposing North American political narrative on an incredibly unique and complex situation".
iow, she doesn't see US policy will be trapped in its North American political narrative, regardless of her ardent desires for Venezuelans to be in charge of Venezuela's fate. Intervention comes in a lot of flavors, but I stand by my observation that she is imagining her preferred outcome will prevail, not arguing persuasively how there is a probable path to that outcome.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 May 2019 17:53 (five years ago) link
Once again this purely the POV of a western witness.
With everything that has been laid down, if you can't understand how there is a path for the left and centre-left to help Guaido make fair elections happen without resorting to apocalyptic scenarios involving Abrams/Bolton/Trump then I suggest you take a step back from your personal preferences and biases. I hate Trump too. I will oppose any military intervention by the US and I have no trust Bolton and Abrams will find the right solution for Venezuela. I still support Guaido and fair elections and those things are not mutually exclusive. Maybe it is unfortunate that the opposition, the diaspora, reasonable governments across the world and Trump have chosen the same opposition leader as the hope for Venezuelan democracy, but I refuse to play the idiotic left vs right zero sum game. Or to show my woke understanding of the US military history and silence the voices of Venezuelans.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 13 May 2019 18:10 (five years ago) link
Yes. How true.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 May 2019 19:25 (five years ago) link
I still support Guaido and fair elections and those things are not mutually exclusive.
As I recall, the author of the piece did not say that the majority of US progressives were against Guaido or fair elections, mostly because this would not be true. Her complaint was about 'lukewarmness' from these sources.
I refuse to play the idiotic left vs right zero sum game.
Most people are already there with you, if you'd take the time to notice.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 May 2019 19:31 (five years ago) link
but I refuse to play the idiotic left vs right zero sum game
You are brave and I, for one, salute you
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 13 May 2019 20:58 (five years ago) link
Juan Guaidó travels around with “a personal astrologer.” pic.twitter.com/FRnkKlZDO6— Tim Gill (@timgill924) June 4, 2019
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 06:47 (five years ago) link
tfw u explain to your advisor why you're dropping a chapter from your dissertation pic.twitter.com/HAucsDeOJz— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) June 20, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 21 June 2019 19:15 (five years ago) link
Fred and Van Horn Street RIP
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 21 June 2019 19:17 (five years ago) link
He's got a bigger regime change to worry about now.
― nickn, Friday, 21 June 2019 20:39 (five years ago) link
Obviously I’m very happy.
― Van Horn Street, Saturday, 22 June 2019 03:21 (five years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/americas/venezuela-police-abuses.html
― Mordy, Saturday, 6 July 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link
One for the imperialists on the board:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/21/venezuelan-leader-nicolas-maduro-confirms-months-of-secret-us-talks
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 08:05 (five years ago) link
Cool scenes:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/13/juan-guaido-faces-questions-over-links-to-organised-groups
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 14 September 2019 13:46 (five years ago) link
Meanwhile in Bolivia :-(
Jon has good sources in Bolivia; one close to Morales says he was forced to resign and this should be considered a coup https://t.co/WBqYxaxOEA— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) November 10, 2019
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 10 November 2019 21:31 (four years ago) link