Chavez’s legacy and deadly end game:
As the economy has deteriorated, the government has resorted to dubious stopgaps such as price controls. The price controls have produced more shortages, leading to more stopgaps … and more political repression to control complaints about the shortages and stopgaps. People made much of the fact that Chavez won elections — but less of the fact that he won them in the context of government policies that required television stations to broadcast hours of his speeches every week. And that he silenced stations that opposed him.
This has only continued to get worse under President Nicolas Maduro. Having shrunk the space for legitimate opposition so far, its only outlet seems to be the streets.
They’re streets that the murderous Maduro should be dragged through. But the White House, and much of the media, remains silent.
You know……First we had the Tahrir Square protests. Now we have Venezuela and Ukraine.
I think it possible that Tahrir Square clued in a bunch of people, worldwide, that massive protest is a useful tool. They certainly get massive media attention (with the exception of the US Lame Stream Media). Tahrir Square might have been the first of a trend.
It didn’t work out so well for OWS’s call to the grand socialist revolution, thankfully, but I wonder how different things would have been if a Republican was in office. It wouldn’t be surprising if our media would have called for the President to step down or make concessions to the opposition without them going through the normal course of voting and legislation.
Of course they aren’t going to talk about it. It’s a socialist regime in the middle of self destructing. It proves (once again) that such systems don’t work and can only survive through oppression. These are lessons that the WH and the MSM are psychologically incapable of even acknowledging, let alone talking about.
the White House, and much of the media, remains silent
Obama has not been silent:
“Obama has not been silent:”
That entire statement you quoted is utter, total, silence. It’s the usual Obama cotton candy word set that uses a few words and says less than nothing.
“…we call on the Venezuelan government to release protestors that it’s detained and engage in real dialogue. ”
That is utter, complete, total pap for the masses. Clearly he knows that people like you will look at that and think it’s a massive statement.
It is less than nothing Chimeric. Crap.
And who would know better how to recognize when someone is trying to distract from his own failures than Obama?
I fact, what’s worse than Obama ignore the situation by mouthing empty meaningless codswallop, is the fact that no one in the world – no world leader – gave the slightest attention to what he said.
Obama has arranged us so that the President of the US can be safely ignored.
I saw Susan Rice on tv yesterday warning the Russians not to use troops in the Ukranian situation….
does anyone really think the Russians now care what Rice or Obama say? Can anyone here see Putin pausing for one millisecond because of cotton candy blather that comes from this administration?
That entire statement you quoted is utter, total, silence.
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Statement is Silence.
The first draft of the speech read:
In Venezuela, rather than trying to distract from its own failings by making up false accusations against diplomats from the United States, the government ought to focus on addressing the legitimate grievances of the Venezuelan people. It’s MY job to make up false accusations against diplomats from previous U.S. administrations, to distract from both the failings of Venezuelan socialism and my own dismal performance at home.
“Statement is Silence.”
And empty, meaningless, powerless words are silence too. Deafening silence.
You are using Obama Technique number 23: accuse your opponent of doing exactly what you are doing.
You’re a well trained drone.
empty, meaningless, powerless words are silence too
No, they aren’t. Words have meaning. “Obama was silent” and “Obama spoke empty, meaningless, powerless words” are not equivalent statements.
Rand and Chris L assumed that Obama had said nothing, and didn’t bother to verify their incorrect assumption.
D’ya think there is a connection to “fracking”?
Venezuala has a lot of heavy, “sour” (high sulfer) crude that takes a lot of effort to refine.
Fracking has opened up North Dakota, which they tell me is producing, with a lot of work and effort, light “sweet” (low sulfer) crude.
Venezuala’s Socialist project is dependent on oil revenue, which is not rolling in, in part because of government incompetence in managing their resource, but in part because of competition?
Perhaps fracking (horizontal drilling + fracking), but less Bakken and more Eagle Ford. Bakken needs Keystone XL as much as Canada to get oil down to Texas. Until then, Bakken goes to Chicago. But Venezuela does rely heavily on Texas to refine its heavy crude.