REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia should never interfere in any other nation's internal politics, meanwhile the USA and IMF is helping kill Venezuela

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, March 6, 2023 07:44
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 7210
PAGE 2 of 2

Monday, March 11, 2019 10:57 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


US neocons have been claiming since the event that Maduro's troops burned an aid truck (parked btw on a bridge that led to an unused/ unfinished roadway). But like the Covington student story, footage came out almost immediately afterwards apparently showing something different: An "opposition" (anti-Maduro) member throwing a Molotov cocktail and setting the "aid" truck ablaze.

The M$M has finally had to respond to the video and found

Quote:

Footage Contradicts US Claim That Nicola Maduro Burned Aid Convoy

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/americas/venezuela-aid-fire-v
ideo.html


-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 11, 2019 4:27 PM

REAVERFAN


NYT’s Exposé on the Lies About Burning Aid Trucks in Venezuela Shows How U.S. Government and Media Spread Pro-War Propaganda
https://theintercept.com/2019/03/10/nyts-expose-on-the-lies-about-burn
ing-humanitarian-trucks-in-venezuela-shows-how-us-govt-and-media-spread-fake-news
/

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 11, 2019 4:42 PM

REAVERFAN


'We need help': Anger mounts as Venezuela's worst-ever blackout enters day 4

'No country can bear 50 hours without electricity...we are in a humanitarian crisis'
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-backout-electricity-protests-1
.5050863


Chile, all over again.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 11, 2019 4:44 PM

REAVERFAN



NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 11, 2019 4:47 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But it's OK when the USA does it.

Venezuela.

More later.



Pretty sure Venezuela is doing just fine screwing things up all on their own.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 11, 2019 10:05 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


But the US certainly helps it along!

I just wonder why we're there at all. Why we're involved at all. Indeed, why the US 'national' defense is found in almost 800 military bases in 70 countries around the globe.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 2:06 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


And now for something completely different
Quote:

"GUAIDO IS THE MOST HATED GUY IN VENEZUELA"

British photojournalist Alan Gignoux and Venezuelan journalist-filmmaker Carolina Graterol, both based in London, went to Venezuela for a month to shoot a documentary for a major global TV channel. They talked with journalist Paul Cochrane about the mainstream media’s portrayal of Venezuela compared to their experiences on the ground.

Paul Cochrane (PC): What were you doing in Venezuela, how long were you there and where did you go?

Alan Gignoux (AG): We went in June 2018 for a month to shoot a documentary; I can’t disclose what channels it will be on right now, but it should be on air soon. We visited the capital Caracas, Mérida (in the Andes), Cumaná (on the coast), and Ciudad Guayana (near the mouth of the Orinoco river).

PC: How did being in Venezuela compare to what you were seeing in Western media?

Carolina Graterol (CG): I am a journalist, I have family in Venezuela, and I knew the reality was very different from what the media is portraying, but still I was surprised.

The first thing we noticed was the lack of poverty. Alan wanted to film homeless and poor people on the streets. I saw three people sleeping rough just this morning in London, but in Venezuela, we couldn’t find any, in big cities or towns. We wanted to interview them, but we couldn’t find them. It is because of multi disciplinary programmes run by the government, with social services working to get children off the streets, or returned to their families. The programme has been going on for a long time but I hadn’t realized how effective it was.

PC: Alan, what surprised you?

AG: We have to be realistic. Things look worn down and tired. There is food, there are private restaurants and cafes open, and you could feel the economic crisis kicking in but poverty is not as bad as what I’ve seen in Brazil or Colombia, where there are lots of street children. Venezuela doesn’t seem to have a homeless problem, and the favelas have running water and electricity. The extreme poverty didn’t seem as bad as in other South American countries. People told me before going I should be worried about crime, but we worked with a lady from El Salvador, and she said Venezuela was easy compared to her country, where there are security guards with machine guns outside coffee shops. They also say a lot of Venezuelan criminals left as there’s not that much to rob, with better pickings in Argentina, Chile or wherever.

PC: How have the US sanctions impacted Venezuelans?

CG: Food is expensive, but people are buying things, even at ten times their salary. Due to inflation, you have to make multiple card payments as the machine wouldn’t take such a high transaction all at once. The government has created a system, Local Committees for Production and Supply (known by its Spanish acronym CLAP) that feeds people, 6 million families, every month via a box of food. The idea of the government was to bypass private distribution networks, hoarding and scarcity. Our assistant was from a middle class area in Caracas, and she was the only Chavista there, but people got together and created a CLAP system, with the box containing 19 products. Unless you have a huge salary, or money from outside, you have to use other ways to feed yourself. People’s larders were full, as they started building up supplies for emergencies. People have lost weight, I reckon many adults 10 to 15 kilos. Last time I was in Venezuela three years ago, I found a lot of obese people, like in the US, due to excessive eating, but this time people were a good size, and nobody is dying from hunger or malnutrition.

PC: So what are Venezuelans eating?

CG: A vegetarian diet. People apologized as they couldn’t offer us meat, instead vegetables, lentils, and black beans. So everyone has been forced to have a vegetarian diet, and maybe the main complaint was that people couldn’t eat meat like they used to do. The situation is not that serious. Before Hugo Chavez came to power, Venezuela had 40% critical poverty out of 80% poverty, but that rate went down to 27%, and before the crisis was just 6 or 7% critical poverty. Everyone is receiving help from the government.

PC: So food is the main concern?

CG: The real attack on the economy is on food. When you have hyperinflation everything goes up in price, but food has become the main source of spending because this is the variable going up in price at exorbitant levels. Bills like water, electricity, public transport haven’t gone up that much and represent a small percentage of any family spending. This is why the distortions in the economy are not intrinsic, but caused by external factors, otherwise everything should have gone up, no matter what it is.

PC: Alan, did you lose weight in Venezuela?

AG: No! What surprised me was how many people are growing their own vegetables. It is a bit like in Russia, where everyone has a dacha. Venezuela is tropical, so it is easy to grow produce. Mango trees are everywhere, so you can pick a mango whenever you want.

I like mangoes. I wish I could pick one anywhere.

Quote:

PC: So the crisis we read about everyday is primarily due to the US sanctions?

CG: The sanctions have affected the country. I want to be fair. I think the government was slow to act on the direction the country was being pushed. It was probably not a good idea to pay off $70 billion in external debt over the past five years. In my opinion, (President Nicolas) Maduro decided to honor the external debt, thinking this was the right way to pay our commitments, but at the same time, this economic war started waging internally, and also externally, blocking international loans.

The government should also have taken action against Colombia for allowing over one hundred exchange houses to be set up on the border with Venezuela. These exchange houses eroded the currency as they were using different exchange rates, and that contributed to the Bolivar’s devaluation. I think they should have denounced the (Juan Manuel) Santos government. If Colombia says that Venezuelan oil that crosses its border is contraband, why not currency? Remember, the biggest industry in Colombia is cocaine – narcotics trafficking – and it has grown exponentially, so they’ve an excessive amount of US dollars and need to launder them, which drained the Venezuelan currency. It is induced hyperinflation. Also, in Miami, the Venezuelan oligarchy created a website called DolarToday about 12 years ago to destroy the Venezuelan economy.

PC: What else struck you?

CG: People are still smiling and making jokes about the situation, which I find incredible. People are willing to share, and we were in some tricky situations, like when our car broke down at night.

AG: Everyone says don’t drive at night in Venezuela. We were on the road, and figured we’d only half hour to go, what could go wrong? Then a transformer burned out. I thought I was about to have my Venezuelan nightmare, stuck in the middle of nowhere on a dark road at night. Who would ever find you?

CG: As there were no lights we had to use our phones to let big trucks know we were on the road.

AG: We pretended I was deaf as I couldn’t pass for Venezuelan with my Spanish accent. So, a really old old pick-up truck pulls up, and the occupants looked rather salty, but they were very nice and took us to a petrol station.

CG: I told you Alan, you are not in the US, you are not going to be shot!

AG: I was with three women with money, I thought OK I will be shot, but it all turned out fine, and they thought I was deaf.

CG: We were told we could sleep in a shop but we slept in the car instead, and it was fine.

PC: What about the power cuts that have plagued the country?

CG: During blackouts, people told stories, played music, or went out and talked on the streets. It was a paradise, no TVs, smartphones, but real human contact. People cook together. During the day they’re playing board games, dominoes, and kids are having fun. People with kids are possibly more stressed, especially if you live in a tower block, as if you’ve no electricity, you’ve no water. That is why the US hit the electricity grid as it means no water in Caracas – a city of 10 million people. Luckily there are wells with clean water around the city, so people queue up to get it.

PC: So there was a real discrepancy between the image you were given of Venezuela and the reality?

AG: Sure, there are queues for oil, but people are not dying of starvation and, as I said, poverty is no where near what it is like in Brazil. I wouldn’t say a harsh dictatorship, people were open, and criticized the government, and the US, but also Chavez and Maduro. The Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) have admitted they had made bad economic decisions. I thought it would be more repressive, and it wasn’t. People were not fearful about speaking out. I think Venezuelans blame the Americans for the situation more than Maduro.

PC: What do you make of the hullabaloo in February about US and Canadian aid being blocked by Venezuela?

AG: It is a Trojan horse, a good way to get the US in, and why international agencies were not willing take part in the plan. Instead there has been Chinese and Russian aid.

CG: There’s not the chaos US and Trump were expecting. (Opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan) Guaidó is the most hated guy in Venezuela. He has to stay in luxury hotel in La Mercedes, an expensive neighbourhood of Caracas. They have electricity there, as they were prepared, so bought generators. That is why Guaidó went there, and has a whole floor of a luxury hotel for him and his family. While people are suffering Guaidó is trying on suits for his upcoming trip to Europe. It is a parallel world.

AG: You think Guaidó will fail?

CG: Venezuelans are making so many jokes with his name, as there’s a word similar to stupid in Spanish – guevon. And look at the demonstration in La Mercedes the other day (12 March), the crowds didn’t manifest. It is becoming a joke in the country. The more the Europeans and the US make him a president, the more bizarre the situation becomes, as Guaidó is not president of Venezuela! Interestingly, Chavez predicted what is happening today, he wrote about it, so people are going back to his works and reading him again.

PC: There’s plenty of material on the history of American imperialism in South America to make such predictions, also, more recently, the Canadians and their mining companies, in Paraguay, Honduras, and now backing Guaidó.

CG: Exactly. Look at Chile in 1973, what happened to the Sandinistas in El Salvador, in Guatemala.

It is a well rehearsed strategy to destroy an economy using external forces to drive up prices of supplies and products. When you have such a cycle, it explodes.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/18/on-the-ground-in-venezuela-vs-
the-media-spectacle
/ What Venezuela is really short of if medical supplies. That's because the USA is preventing the delivery of bought-and-paid-for medicines.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 9:47 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And now for something completely different
Quote:

"GUAIDO IS THE MOST HATED GUY IN VENEZUELA"

British photojournalist Alan Gignoux and Venezuelan journalist-filmmaker Carolina Graterol, both based in London, went to Venezuela for a month to shoot a documentary for a major global TV channel. They talked with journalist Paul Cochrane about the mainstream media’s portrayal of Venezuela compared to their experiences on the ground.

Paul Cochrane (PC): What were you doing in Venezuela, how long were you there and where did you go?

Alan Gignoux (AG): We went in June 2018 for a month to shoot a documentary; I can’t disclose what channels it will be on right now, but it should be on air soon. We visited the capital Caracas, Mérida (in the Andes), Cumaná (on the coast), and Ciudad Guayana (near the mouth of the Orinoco river).

PC: How did being in Venezuela compare to what you were seeing in Western media?

Carolina Graterol (CG): I am a journalist, I have family in Venezuela, and I knew the reality was very different from what the media is portraying, but still I was surprised.

The first thing we noticed was the lack of poverty. Alan wanted to film homeless and poor people on the streets. I saw three people sleeping rough just this morning in London, but in Venezuela, we couldn’t find any, in big cities or towns. We wanted to interview them, but we couldn’t find them. It is because of multi disciplinary programmes run by the government, with social services working to get children off the streets, or returned to their families. The programme has been going on for a long time but I hadn’t realized how effective it was.

PC: Alan, what surprised you?

AG: We have to be realistic. Things look worn down and tired. There is food, there are private restaurants and cafes open, and you could feel the economic crisis kicking in but poverty is not as bad as what I’ve seen in Brazil or Colombia, where there are lots of street children. Venezuela doesn’t seem to have a homeless problem, and the favelas have running water and electricity. The extreme poverty didn’t seem as bad as in other South American countries. People told me before going I should be worried about crime, but we worked with a lady from El Salvador, and she said Venezuela was easy compared to her country, where there are security guards with machine guns outside coffee shops. They also say a lot of Venezuelan criminals left as there’s not that much to rob, with better pickings in Argentina, Chile or wherever.

PC: How have the US sanctions impacted Venezuelans?

CG: Food is expensive, but people are buying things, even at ten times their salary. Due to inflation, you have to make multiple card payments as the machine wouldn’t take such a high transaction all at once. The government has created a system, Local Committees for Production and Supply (known by its Spanish acronym CLAP) that feeds people, 6 million families, every month via a box of food. The idea of the government was to bypass private distribution networks, hoarding and scarcity. Our assistant was from a middle class area in Caracas, and she was the only Chavista there, but people got together and created a CLAP system, with the box containing 19 products. Unless you have a huge salary, or money from outside, you have to use other ways to feed yourself. People’s larders were full, as they started building up supplies for emergencies. People have lost weight, I reckon many adults 10 to 15 kilos. Last time I was in Venezuela three years ago, I found a lot of obese people, like in the US, due to excessive eating, but this time people were a good size, and nobody is dying from hunger or malnutrition.

PC: So what are Venezuelans eating?

CG: A vegetarian diet. People apologized as they couldn’t offer us meat, instead vegetables, lentils, and black beans. So everyone has been forced to have a vegetarian diet, and maybe the main complaint was that people couldn’t eat meat like they used to do. The situation is not that serious. Before Hugo Chavez came to power, Venezuela had 40% critical poverty out of 80% poverty, but that rate went down to 27%, and before the crisis was just 6 or 7% critical poverty. Everyone is receiving help from the government.

PC: So food is the main concern?

CG: The real attack on the economy is on food. When you have hyperinflation everything goes up in price, but food has become the main source of spending because this is the variable going up in price at exorbitant levels. Bills like water, electricity, public transport haven’t gone up that much and represent a small percentage of any family spending. This is why the distortions in the economy are not intrinsic, but caused by external factors, otherwise everything should have gone up, no matter what it is.

PC: Alan, did you lose weight in Venezuela?

AG: No! What surprised me was how many people are growing their own vegetables. It is a bit like in Russia, where everyone has a dacha. Venezuela is tropical, so it is easy to grow produce. Mango trees are everywhere, so you can pick a mango whenever you want.

I like mangoes. I wish I could pick one anywhere.

Quote:

PC: So the crisis we read about everyday is primarily due to the US sanctions?

CG: The sanctions have affected the country. I want to be fair. I think the government was slow to act on the direction the country was being pushed. It was probably not a good idea to pay off $70 billion in external debt over the past five years. In my opinion, (President Nicolas) Maduro decided to honor the external debt, thinking this was the right way to pay our commitments, but at the same time, this economic war started waging internally, and also externally, blocking international loans.

The government should also have taken action against Colombia for allowing over one hundred exchange houses to be set up on the border with Venezuela. These exchange houses eroded the currency as they were using different exchange rates, and that contributed to the Bolivar’s devaluation. I think they should have denounced the (Juan Manuel) Santos government. If Colombia says that Venezuelan oil that crosses its border is contraband, why not currency? Remember, the biggest industry in Colombia is cocaine – narcotics trafficking – and it has grown exponentially, so they’ve an excessive amount of US dollars and need to launder them, which drained the Venezuelan currency. It is induced hyperinflation. Also, in Miami, the Venezuelan oligarchy created a website called DolarToday about 12 years ago to destroy the Venezuelan economy.

PC: What else struck you?

CG: People are still smiling and making jokes about the situation, which I find incredible. People are willing to share, and we were in some tricky situations, like when our car broke down at night.

AG: Everyone says don’t drive at night in Venezuela. We were on the road, and figured we’d only half hour to go, what could go wrong? Then a transformer burned out. I thought I was about to have my Venezuelan nightmare, stuck in the middle of nowhere on a dark road at night. Who would ever find you?

CG: As there were no lights we had to use our phones to let big trucks know we were on the road.

AG: We pretended I was deaf as I couldn’t pass for Venezuelan with my Spanish accent. So, a really old old pick-up truck pulls up, and the occupants looked rather salty, but they were very nice and took us to a petrol station.

CG: I told you Alan, you are not in the US, you are not going to be shot!

AG: I was with three women with money, I thought OK I will be shot, but it all turned out fine, and they thought I was deaf.

CG: We were told we could sleep in a shop but we slept in the car instead, and it was fine.

PC: What about the power cuts that have plagued the country?

CG: During blackouts, people told stories, played music, or went out and talked on the streets. It was a paradise, no TVs, smartphones, but real human contact. People cook together. During the day they’re playing board games, dominoes, and kids are having fun. People with kids are possibly more stressed, especially if you live in a tower block, as if you’ve no electricity, you’ve no water. That is why the US hit the electricity grid as it means no water in Caracas – a city of 10 million people. Luckily there are wells with clean water around the city, so people queue up to get it.

PC: So there was a real discrepancy between the image you were given of Venezuela and the reality?

AG: Sure, there are queues for oil, but people are not dying of starvation and, as I said, poverty is no where near what it is like in Brazil. I wouldn’t say a harsh dictatorship, people were open, and criticized the government, and the US, but also Chavez and Maduro. The Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) have admitted they had made bad economic decisions. I thought it would be more repressive, and it wasn’t. People were not fearful about speaking out. I think Venezuelans blame the Americans for the situation more than Maduro.

PC: What do you make of the hullabaloo in February about US and Canadian aid being blocked by Venezuela?

AG: It is a Trojan horse, a good way to get the US in, and why international agencies were not willing take part in the plan. Instead there has been Chinese and Russian aid.

CG: There’s not the chaos US and Trump were expecting. (Opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan) Guaidó is the most hated guy in Venezuela. He has to stay in luxury hotel in La Mercedes, an expensive neighbourhood of Caracas. They have electricity there, as they were prepared, so bought generators. That is why Guaidó went there, and has a whole floor of a luxury hotel for him and his family. While people are suffering Guaidó is trying on suits for his upcoming trip to Europe. It is a parallel world.

AG: You think Guaidó will fail?

CG: Venezuelans are making so many jokes with his name, as there’s a word similar to stupid in Spanish – guevon. And look at the demonstration in La Mercedes the other day (12 March), the crowds didn’t manifest. It is becoming a joke in the country. The more the Europeans and the US make him a president, the more bizarre the situation becomes, as Guaidó is not president of Venezuela! Interestingly, Chavez predicted what is happening today, he wrote about it, so people are going back to his works and reading him again.

PC: There’s plenty of material on the history of American imperialism in South America to make such predictions, also, more recently, the Canadians and their mining companies, in Paraguay, Honduras, and now backing Guaidó.

CG: Exactly. Look at Chile in 1973, what happened to the Sandinistas in El Salvador, in Guatemala.

It is a well rehearsed strategy to destroy an economy using external forces to drive up prices of supplies and products. When you have such a cycle, it explodes.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/18/on-the-ground-in-venezuela-vs-
the-media-spectacle
/ What Venezuela is really short of if medical supplies. That's because the USA is preventing the delivery of bought-and-paid-for medicines.




Sounds like a vacation playground! Lack of food is making people "more fit, less fat like Ugly Americans." And with less money "people have more time for each other." Like a communist postcard written by communist ad agency.

No homeless in Venezuela? I seriously doubt that, but even giving it a tiny shred of belief, maybe it's because so many people have left the country?

https://homelessworldcup.org/portfolio-posts/venezuela/

"According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE) 90% of Venezuelans live in poverty, a rate exacerbated by failed economic policies and a plunge in global oil prices.Undergoing a period of hyperinflation, IMF economists predict that the country’s inflation rate will exceed 1,000,000% by 2019 (The Guardian, 2019).

Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms in body weight between 2016-2017, according to a report on living conditions in Venezuela (ENCOVI). More than 60% of those surveyed said that during the previous three months, they had woken up hungry because they did not have enough money to buy food. A quarter of the population was eating two or fewer meals a day (Reuters, 2018).

The devastating economic crisis has seen 3.4 million Venezuelans leaving the country since 2014 when the crisis began – one of the largest cases of forced displacement in the western hemisphere. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the UN migration agency (IOM) issued statements based on data from national immigration authorities and other sources, showing that, on average, in 2018, 5,000 people left Venezuela every day in search of protection or a better life."

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 1:49 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


There is something going on in Venezuela that we're not being told, otherwise the people or the military would have revolted and gone over the Guaido's side in a flash.

It's like Ukraine or Libya or Syria all over again: The government is portrayed as being so bad, and the people so universally against, that toppling the big bad meanie would only take a little push.

But, as I pointed out about Ukraine, and Libya, and Syria, the government actually had significant support and it took a lot more fight than anticipated:

In Ukraine a significant minority of about 30% who were willing to pick up a rifle and fight;

In Libya the same, the "no fly zone" turned into a full-on NATO airstrike support of the "rebels" (jihadists) and even then the battle lasted far longer than anticipated and led to a factured nation with a western-supported government that very few Libyans support;

And in Syria, where Assad enjoyed the support of the minorities: Xtians, Druze, Alawites etc as well as most of the Syrian Sunni Arabs.

*****

It's well-known that the wealthy (or formerly-wealthy) are fleeing Venezuela. The parallels to Cuba are interesting, especially the point in time when the Soviet Union fell and Cuba lost all of its oil supply all at once, which was a giant shock to the economy, much like Venezuela lost its ability to export its oil all at once.

But when NPR runs a segment from the streets of Carcas where the main complaint is that people can't make their traditional breakfast from straight cornflour but must use a corn/rice, corn/wheat or corn/yucca mix ... I KNOW that NPR hates Trump and they agitate against him morning noon and night, but it that's the worst they can find on the streets of Carcas, then something is fishy about the way Venezuela is generally being reported.

That, and Trump's "shock and awe" foray into "regime change" has so far not succeeded, and is requiring more effort than anticipated.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 2:11 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


You should watch this. I know you'll say it's a propaganda film, and you'd be correct. It's about how Cuba survived an oil shock the likes of which have not been seen before.

But the fact is that somehow, Cuba adapted and the government survived, and (despite what you've been told) the Cuban government still retains the loyalty of most people.

Maybe bcause they've learned to dislike the USA so much. There's a lesson in there for us, somewhere.



-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 2:45 PM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But the fact is that somehow, Cuba adapted and the government survived, and (despite what you've been told) the Cuban government still retains the loyalty of most people.



Fear? Lack of any conceivable recourse? "Loyalty?" I doubt that. There can be loyalty of a kind to one's home country IN SPITE of how their gov treats them, but that's not much different than a wife staying with an abusive husband.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Maybe bcause they've learned to dislike the USA so much. There's a lesson in there for us, somewhere.



USA makes for an easy villain - nothing new there. And there's nothing we can do about that from where we are - a country's propaganda will always be stronger than the truth. North Korea?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 3:06 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by captaincrunch:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But the fact is that somehow, Cuba adapted and the government survived, and (despite what you've been told) the Cuban government still retains the loyalty of most people.



Fear? Lack of any conceivable recourse? "Loyalty?" I doubt that. There can be loyalty of a kind to one's home country IN SPITE of how their gov treats them, but that's not much different than a wife staying with an abusive husband.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Maybe bcause they've learned to dislike the USA so much. There's a lesson in there for us, somewhere.



USA makes for an easy villain - nothing new there. And there's nothing we can do about that from where we are - a country's propaganda will always be stronger than the truth. North Korea?

Do you remember little Elian from Cuba? Look it up.

The USA is an easy villian for Cuba BECAUSE it's Cuba's nemesis. Is N Korea Cuba's enemy? Iran? France?

It's not like the Cubans fished around in a hat a drew out the USA's name by accident; the USA has had a "regime change" operation against the Cuban government ever since they threw out Batista. Yanno, economic warfare (sanctions, draining the best-educated from CUBA), assassination attempts, an attempted (botched) "invasion" ... seriously, dood, the Cubans don't have to make shit up to think that the USA is their enemy. They think the USA is their enemy because the USA IS their enemy.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 19, 2019 3:48 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


Hey six

This is so spot-on "Is there any point(s) in particular that you'd care to argue Signy on here, Marcos, or are we just throwing out insults again in lieu of having any legitimate argument?" can I use it - lightly altered - in my profile?

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 10:45 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by captaincrunch:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But the fact is that somehow, Cuba adapted and the government survived, and (despite what you've been told) the Cuban government still retains the loyalty of most people.



Fear? Lack of any conceivable recourse? "Loyalty?" I doubt that. There can be loyalty of a kind to one's home country IN SPITE of how their gov treats them, but that's not much different than a wife staying with an abusive husband.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Maybe bcause they've learned to dislike the USA so much. There's a lesson in there for us, somewhere.



USA makes for an easy villain - nothing new there. And there's nothing we can do about that from where we are - a country's propaganda will always be stronger than the truth. North Korea?

Do you remember little Elian from Cuba? Look it up.

The USA is an easy villian for Cuba BECAUSE it's Cuba's nemesis. Is N Korea Cuba's enemy? Iran? France?



You make the same mistake so many haters make: you over simplify. Check out migration numbers TO the US FROM Cuba over the last few decades. You'll see evidence that Cubans do not feel that the US is their nemesis, more like their salvation, or at least a better future for them and their families.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It's not like the Cubans fished around in a hat a drew out the USA's name by accident; the USA has had a "regime change" operation against the Cuban government ever since they threw out Batista. Yanno, economic warfare (sanctions, draining the best-educated from CUBA), assassination attempts, an attempted (botched) "invasion" ... seriously, dood, the Cubans don't have to make shit up to think that the USA is their enemy. They think the USA is their enemy because the USA IS their enemy.



Total BS. If the US wanted regime change in Cuba it would have happened - Daffy Duck would be el presidente' if the US wanted it. Same old "US BAD!" agitation from SIGHOLE.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 11:23 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


GSTRING Cuban immigration:
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-immigrants-united-states

If you go to the link you'll see that (1) The USA has always treated Cuban immigrants better than other South/ Central/ Carribean immigrants and (2) except for the Mariel boat lift (when approx 125,000 Cuban left), the USA considers roughly 32,000 people per year to be a lot.

There are two conflicting forces on immigration from Cuba (1) The State Dept has traditonally welcomed them into the USA even when the door was shut to other immigrants but (2) the ocan is a formidable barrier.

*****

As far as the USA wanting "regime change" in Cuba, there have been
other nations which have successfully resisted "regime change" operations, most notably Syria which has Russian help. Dont forget that from 1969 until about 1991 Cuba was under the protection of the Soviet Union which prevented full-on military invasion.

But you seem to think that all of the efforts of the USA to topple the Cuban government were excusable, even if unsuccessful. What are you, some kind of neocon?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 4:21 PM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
GSTRING Cuban immigration:
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-immigrants-united-states

If you go to the link you'll see that (1) The USA has always treated Cuban immigrants better than other South/ Central/ Carribean immigrants and (2) except for the Mariel boat lift (when approx 125,000 Cuban left), the USA considers roughly 32,000 people per year to be a lot.

There are two conflicting forces on immigration from Cuba (1) The State Dept has traditonally welcomed them into the USA even when the door was shut to other immigrants but (2) the ocan is a formidable barrier.



And yet they still came. Read some more about it. Cubans freaked when Obama's time was coming to an end, so some even trekked the long way around through Mexico. That's right - coming to America meant that much to them. So no villain - sorry your logic just fails.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As far as the USA wanting "regime change" in Cuba, there have been
other nations which have successfully resisted "regime change" operations, most notably Syria which has Russian help. Dont forget that from 1969 until about 1991 Cuba was under the protection of the Soviet Union which prevented full-on military invasion.



How far away is Syria? How far is Cuba? Yeah, think it through one time. And "Russian Help?" That's funny. I give them a lot of credit, though. They know how to act like a friend to gain control, and in the end, essentially make regime change. See: Donald Trump.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But you seem to think that all of the efforts of the USA to topple the Cuban government were excusable, even if unsuccessful. What are you, some kind of neocon?



Didn't take you long to make sh*t up.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 5:25 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


lol

Do Right, Be Right. :)

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 5:34 PM

THG


How Russia sank billions of dollars into Venezuelan quicksand

MOSCOW – At the end of 2015, managers at Rosneft, the Russian state-controlled oil firm, sounded the alarm to their bosses about the company’s investments in Venezuela. Rosneft’s local partner, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, owed it hundreds of millions of dollars, according to internal documents, and there seemed no prospect things would get better.

“It will be like this for eternity,” a Rosneft internal auditor wrote in an email to a colleague in November 2015, complaining there was no progress in getting PDVSA to explain a $700 million hole in the balance sheet of a joint venture.
The email was among scores of internal Rosneft communications - including presentations, copies of official letters, memos and spreadsheets – reviewed by Reuters. They cover the firm’s operations in Venezuela between 2012 and 2015.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/venezuela-russia-r
osneft
/

T


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 5:37 PM

THG


Russia spent billions to build influence in Venezuela. Now it faces a bet gone bad.

Even by Russian standards, it was a day of furious commentary casting the United States as the sinister puppeteer illegally fomenting regime change around the world. But behind the outrage lay an uncomfortable reality: A multibillion-dollar bet on building Russian influence in Latin America suddenly looked like it could quickly go bad.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/01/24/russia-spent-billions-
build-influence-venezuela-now-it-faces-bet-gone-bad/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cb46520f957e


T


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 5:38 PM

THG



Russia should never interfere in any other nation's internal politics
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, January 24, 2019 14:04
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 60
PAGE 1 of 1

Agreed...




T



NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 6:23 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


But you seem to think the US is entirely justified in interfering in other nations' internal politics.

Prove me wrong. Tell me how much you disagree with any US efforts past, present, or future to remove heads of state around the globe.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 6:50 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Ok GSTRING, let me re-state what you said and re-frame my question:

You seem to think the USA deep state wasn't trying very hard to topple Castro because they were unsuccessful.

You seem to forget that at one time, the Soviet Union even had missiles placed in Cuba to threaten the USA east coast ("Cuban Missile Crisis") and that the Soviet Union provided military assistance from 1966 to about 1989 to create the largest and best-equipped military in Latin America which was able to "project power abroad" (according to Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolutionary_Armed_Forces ). Even Russia had a military station in Cuba until 2002.

But aside from how much effort the USA put into toppling Castro and how much effort the Soviet Union put into maintaining it, you DON'T SEEM TO QUESTION THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE USA CAN AND SHOULD TOPPLE GOVERNMENTS ANYWHERE.

so, since USA "regime change" policies seems to be a given as far as you're concerned, I ask my question again: What are you, some kind of neocon?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, March 21, 2019 6:53 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Ok GSTRING, let me re-state what you said and re-frame my question:

You seem to think the USA deep state wasn't trying very hard to topple Castro because they were unsuccessful.

You seem to forget that at one time, the Soviet Union even had missiles placed in Cuba to threaten the USA east coast ("Cuban Missile Crisis") and that the Soviet Union provided military assistance from 1966 to about 1989 to create the largest and best-equipped military in Latin America which was able to "project power abroad" (according to Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolutionary_Armed_Forces ). Even Russia had a military station in Cuba until 2002.

But aside from how much effort the USA put into toppling Castro and how much effort the Soviet Union put into maintaining it, you DON'T SEEM TO QUESTION THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE USA CAN AND SHOULD TOPPLE GOVERNMENTS ANYWHERE.

so, since USA "regime change" policies seems to be a given as far as you're concerned, I ask my question again: What are you, some kind of neocon?




SIGHOLE: "you DON'T SEEM TO QUESTION THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE USA CAN AND SHOULD TOPPLE GOVERNMENTS ANYWHERE."



F*cksake, don't hurt yourself reaching so far. I've always said I hate war - it's an easy concept even your muddled, aging brain should be able to hang onto.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-migration-postrevolution
-exodus-ebbs-and-flows


"Normalization of Relations and Impacts on Migration

On December 17, 2014, President Barack Obama announced major shifts in U.S. policy toward Cuba, including taking steps toward re-establishing diplomatic relations, reviewing Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, and facilitating certain types of trade and travel by U.S. citizens to the island. The Obama administration subsequently removed Cuba from the State Department’s terrorism list, and the United States and Cuba formally restored diplomatic relations and reopened embassies in their respective capitals in July 2015. The following year, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years. This diplomatic milestone was heralded by many as portending a new era in U.S.-Cuba relations."

What's your boy Trump done? Shoot on site?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, March 21, 2019 10:14 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


GSTRING: You've "always" said you hate war?

Where?

Where have you "always" said you hate war?

Didn't read about it in THIS thread about Venezuela and Cuba.

Didn't read much about it in any thread about Hillary, or any discussion of Iraq, or any thread about Syria or Libya or Ukraine.

That you "hate" Trump is pretty clear, that you "hate" me is pretty clear. That you excuse USA "interventions" is also clear.

I'm sure you could come up some random quotes from here and there, but for someone who "always" says that they "hate" war, it seems pretty far down on your list of mentions, even when discussing war.


-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 25, 2019 8:32 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Immediately after Russia announced its "red line" in Venezuela (foreign troops in Venezuela attempting to overturn the government) it was reported that Russian troops and aid landed there.

Supposedly, Abrams went to Russia to "negotiate" over Venezuela ... I can't imagine what he tried to get the Russians to buy into. What could he possibly offer the Russians to make it worth their while? But whatever he offered them wasn't enough, the Russians just said Nyet! and took the harder path. I'm surprised because Venezuela is so far away I would have assumed that Russia would really not want "boots on the ground" there since it's a major (and expensive and risky) commitment. But the Russians apparently feel its worthwhile ...

But this goes along with a description I heard about the CIA operating in foreign lands ... supposedly Trump will let them do what they want to do, but our military refuses to get involved. I imagine that without air support the CIA won't get too far ... as least, not against a nation with a credible military. At that point, a target nation "only" has to worry about economic warfare, political warfare, proxy troops and contractors conducting guerrilla warfare, cyber-war, and CIA/JSOC-controlled drones.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 25, 2019 8:49 AM

REAVERFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
Hey six

This is so spot-on "Is there any point(s) in particular that you'd care to argue Signy on here, Marcos, or are we just throwing out insults again in lieu of having any legitimate argument?" can I use it - lightly altered - in my profile?

I know that my easy destruction of your lousy points infuriates you, but why are you calling me out here?

The US has been meddling in Venezuela for decades. Bush managed to oust Chavez, briefly, but that coup ultimately failed.

The Fox News-like fascist media really gets exposed here. Things get very interesting around 32:00 and 43:00.



What's happening now isn't all that different.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, March 31, 2019 12:13 PM

THG


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Russia should never interfere in any other nation's internal politics

More later.




Russia defends sending troops to Venezuela to back up Nicolas Maduro.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-venezuela-troops-back-up-nicolas-m
aduro-mike-pompeo-warning
/

T


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, March 31, 2019 5:35 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Apparently Pompous (or was it Bolt-on?) blustered at Lavrov about how DARE the Russians put troops in Venezuela! and Lavrov replied "when are you going to remove your troops from Syria?"

Touche.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, March 31, 2019 5:38 PM

THG


Says comrade sig...

T



NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, April 4, 2019 7:29 PM

THG


Russia should never interfere in any other nation's internal politics...

Kids' camp on a defense base? How Russian firms masked secret military work

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Behind the perimeter of a defense ministry base in southern Russia stand three barrack buildings where two witnesses say they have seen private fighters being billeted before they are dispatched to fight in Syria for President Bashar al-Assad.
Yet on paper, the barracks have nothing to do with the Russian defense ministry: court documents list them as a children's vacation camp.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/exclusive-kids-camp-on-a-defense-
base-how-russian-firms-masked-secret-military-work/ar-BBVCr1e?ocid=spartandhp


T


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 10:40 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Guaido calls for a (democratic) military coup, appears with heavily-armed men who may be defectors from Venezuela's military


Venezuela opposition leader claims coup is under way – live news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2019/apr/30/venezuela-oppositio
n-leader-juan-guaido-claims-coup-underway-live-news



In the meantime, Eric Prince, founder of Blackwater, calls for 5000 mercs to topple Maduro
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-30/blackwater-founder-calling-5
000-mercenaries-topple-venezuelas-maduro


Usually, when this becomes public as a "proposal" it's already in place

USA still supports military coup in Venezuela after first coup fails; supporting a military overthrow of an elected government is in support of "democracy"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/americas/donald-trump-venezue
la-military-coup.html


https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/03/19/591504/US-Donald-Trump-Venez
uelan-military-Nicolas-Maduro
-





-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 8:28 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Apparently Pompous (or was it Bolt-on?) blustered at Lavrov about how DARE the Russians put troops in Venezuela! and Lavrov replied "when are you going to remove your troops from Syria?"

Touche.

Trump is insane:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!
2:09 PM - 30 Apr 2019
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1123333506346749952

Or maybe Trump is inane rather than insane. It has been 16 hours. Enough time for Trump to surround Cuba with the US Navy to stop all ships.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 10:38 AM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Apparently Pompous (or was it Bolt-on?) blustered at Lavrov about how DARE the Russians put troops in Venezuela! and Lavrov replied "when are you going to remove your troops from Syria?"

Touche.

Trump is insane:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!
2:09 PM - 30 Apr 2019
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1123333506346749952

Or maybe Trump is inane rather than insane. It has been 16 hours. Enough time for Trump to surround Cuba with the US Navy to stop all ships.



"Generalissimo Bone Spurs and Bolton are shopping around looking for a war."

Amazing that neither Sig-4-Brains or Rueski have objected to the possible larger, more explosive confrontation with Russia.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 1:46 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by captaincrunch:

Amazing that neither Sig-4-Brains or Rueski have objected to the possible larger, more explosive confrontation with Russia.



Gee. It's almost as if they're not Russian.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 7:52 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Looks like Guaido's "coup" kind of fizzled.

A few things didn't happen:

The coup was the wrong day off the week. Most successful coups are planned for a weekend and usually in the wee hours of the AM

The coup plotters usually take over the main radio and TV stations and a main government building.

The military didn't defect in droves. It seems that only some soldiers from the National Guard did. The regular military is too well compensated and allowed to run their own little rackets so will not defect.

The people didn't come out on droves either

*****

Apparently someone tried to head fake Venezuelans by claiming that Maduro was on the tarmac ready to take off but "the Russians" arm twisted him into staying but ... all fake news?

****

I have heard some people refer to Guaido as NPC Guaido but my favorite is "random guy", as in ... they picked some random (unknown) guy to be their "spearhead" for regime change.

...
Some say that Guaido's worth more to the USA as a dead martyr than a live fake president ... a shot from the crowd would achieve that goal. I think Venezuela should deport him to some other country, like the USA or Brazil. Make him someone else's responsibility.

Now the neocons are calling for military intervention. As if. It's a clown world!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, May 2, 2019 11:28 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Tom Luongo. He brings up a point I didn't think about: We browbeat 80 nations into recognizing "Random Guy" Guaido.

NOW what? Do you think the NEXT time we want the EU to recognize another random guy they'll go along??
[/snicker]




-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, May 3, 2019 1:16 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Previous relevant discussion can be found here

http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=57521&mid=10754
76#1075476


You should read REAVERBOT's reply, in which he agrees with KIKI and FREM, near the bottom of the second page. Once upon a time, REAVERBOT was a real boy, and then Trump Dernagment Syndrome happened and he turned into a badly-programmed bot who can only say "Nazi", "troll", and "Russian".



-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, May 5, 2019 2:26 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Leaked: USA’s Feb 2018 Plan for Coup in Venezuela
Eric Zuesse

Admiral KW Tidd, of US South Command, the author of the leaked memo

A detailed plan from “UNITED STATES SOUTHERN COMMAND” dated “23 FEBRUARY 2018” was issued with the title “PLAN TO OVERTHROW THE VENEZUELAN DICTATORSHIP ‘MASTERSTROKE’” and is here presented complete.

This document was personally signed by Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, who was the Commander (the chief), at SOUTHCOM, and he was thus the top U.S. military official handling Venezuela. But this was far more than just a military plan. It was comprehensive — directing military, diplomatic, and propaganda, policies — regarding the Trump Administration’s planned “Overthrow” of Venezuela’s Government. His plan has since guided the Administration’s entire operation, including “the capacities of the psychological war,” regarding Venezuela.

It instructed SOUTHCOM:

Encouraging popular dissatisfaction by increasing scarcity and rise in price of the foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods for the inhabitants. Making more harrowing and painful the scarcities of the main basic merchandises.” …

intensifying the undercapitalization of the country, the leaking out of foreign currency and the deterioration of its monetary base, bringing about the application of new inflationary measures.” …

Fully obstruct imports, and at the same time discouraging potential foreign investors in order to make the situation more critical for the population.” …

compelling him to fall into mistakes that generate greater distrust and rejection domestically” …

To besiege him, to ridicule him and to pose him as symbol of awkwardness and incompetence. To expose him as a puppet of Cuba.” …

Appealing to domestic allies as well as other people inserted from abroad in the national scenario in order to generate protests, riots and insecurity, plunders, thefts, assaults and highjacking of vessels as well as other means of transportation, with the intention of deserting this country in crisis through all borderlands and other possible ways, jeopardizing in such a way the National Security of neighboring frontier nations. Causing victims and holding the Government responsible for them. Magnifying, in front of the world, the humanitarian crisis in which the country has been submitted to.”

Structuring a plan to get the profuse desertion of the most qualified professionals from the country, in order ‘to leave it with no professionals at all’, which will aggravate even more the internal situation and along these lines putting the blame on of Government.”

the presence of combat units from the United States of America and the other named countries, under the command of a Joint General Staff led by the USA.”

It was posted online at the Voltairenet site, and was first copied to a web archive on 14 May 2018. So, it has been online since at least that date. However, because the photo in it of the document wasn’t made available via software which includes the individual symbols, but presented only the full visual image of the paper document, it still hasn’t yet gone viral on the Web.

Here, therefore, is the first appearance, on the Web, of the full document, that’s manually copied, character-by-character, so that each phrase in this document becomes, for the first time, web-searchable, and thereby conveniently available for journalists and historians to quote from.

This prophetic document — the source for what has happened afterward in and to Venezuela — might therefore finally receive the public attention that it so clearly merits.

The document starts with propaganda against Venezuela’s existing Government (and it totally ignores the extent to which the pre-existing U.S. economic sanctions against Venezuela had actually caused these problems), and it then proceeds to present the U.S. plan to overthrow the ‘dictatorship’. (Tidd refers to Maduro only as “the Dictator,” except at the very start and very end.

At the end, he commands “the denouncement toward Maduro’s regimen” and he also uses the phrase “the enemy” to refer to him — as if there had been the U.S. Constitutionally required authorization, by the U.S. Congress, of this “war.” The close urges “the dispatch of a UNO military force for the imposition of peace, once Nicolas Maduro’s corrupt dictatorship is defeated.” The U.N. is militarily to “impose” “peace,” after the U.S. and its allies have conquered Venezuela.)

Although Tidd placed 100% of the blame for Venezuela’s problems upon Maduro, and ignored the crucial extent to which U.S. economic sanctions had caused them, his plan emphasized that the U.S. must actively make things even worse for the Venezuelan public than America’s economic sanctions had yet done.

His coup-plan is loaded with such statements, and, in fact, opens with one: “Encouraging popular dissatisfaction by increasing scarcity and rise in price of the foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods for the inhabitants. Making more harrowing and painful the scarcities of the main basic merchandises.”

So: he wasn’t naive. America’s induced suffering upon Venezuelans was part of his plan for Venezuelans, in order to get them to do what the U.S. regime wants them to do — overthrow Maduro. Furthermore, the United States Government has had extensive successes in previous such operations. One example is that this was how Chile’s Salvador Allende was brought down in 1973 (at a time when the U.S. Government’s claims to have done it for ‘national security’ reasons had much more credibility than its current excuse of helping the Venezuelan people does, because the supposedly ideological Cold War was still on).

The only excuse that the perpetrators can come up with, this time around, is “to put an end to the Venezuelan nightmare and the awakening of theirs beloved nation at a luminous dawn, in which the vision of fortune, true peace and tranquility predominate for their fellow citizens.” Impoverish the nation, in order to help Venezuelans attain “true peace and tranquility.” That’s the plan.

Here is the document’s entire text:

SOUTHCOM
TOP SECRET
23 FEB 2018
PLAN TO OVERTHROW THE VENEZUELAN DICTATORSHIP “MASTERSTROKE”

UNITED STATES SOUTHERN COMMAND 23 FEBRUARY 2018

TOP SECRET/20180223

CURRENT SITUATION

The Venezuelan Chavista dictatorship staggers as a result of its frequent internal problems; there is a great shortage of foodstuffs, an exhaustion of the sources of foreign currency and a rampant corruption. The international support, won with petrodollars, becomes scarcer each time and the purchasing power of its national currency is in a constant downfall.

Such scenario is not supposed to change, but the Venezuelan present-day leaders, as they usually do, in their despair to preserve their power, are capable to appeal to new populist measures that perpetuate their positions of privilege; the only mechanism that sustains them obstinate to the struggle to hold on their positions.

Maduro’s corrupt regimen will collapse but regrettably, the divided opposing forces, legitimate defenders of democracy and the well-being of their people, do not have power enough to put an end to the Venezuelan nightmare and the awakening of theirs beloved nation at a luminous dawn, in which the vision of fortune, true peace and tranquility predominate for their fellow citizens.

The internal disputes, the supreme particular likings, the corruption similar to the one of their rivals, as well as the scarcity of rooting, do not grant them the opportunity to make the most of this situation and to give the necessary step to overturn the state of penury and precariousness in which the pressure group, that exercises the leftist dictatorship, has submerged the country. We are at the presence of an unprecedented criminal action in Latin America.

This affects the entire region, there is no respect to international right and local political alternatives are unacceptable.

Democracy spreads out in America, continent in which radical populism was intended to take over. Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil are examples of it. The rebirth of democracy has the support of the most valuable determinations, and the conditions in the regions run in its favour.

It is the time for the United States to prove, with concrete actions, that they are implicated in that process, where overthrowing Venezuelan dictatorship will surely mean a continental turning point.

It is the first opportunity of the Trump Administration to bring forward the vision in reference to security and democracy. Showing its active commitment is crucial, not only for the administration, but also for the continent and for the world.

The time has come to

Step to speed up the definite overthrow of Chavismo and the expulsion of its representative:
Undermining the decadent popular support to Government.

Encouraging popular dissatisfaction by increasing scarcity and rise in price of the foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods for the inhabitants. Making more harrowing and painful the scarcities of the main basic merchandises.

Securing he the present-day dictator’s irreversible deterioration

Developing actions to encourage the egocentrism and the verbal incontinence of the Dictator, compelling him to fall into mistakes that generate greater distrust and rejection domestically, while continuing to minimize the international significance of his public figure.
To beseige him, to ridicule him and to pose him as symbol of awkwardness and incompetence. To expose him as a puppet of Cuba. Exacerbating the division among members of the governing group. Revealing the differences in his living conditions with respect to those of his followers, at the same time to incite them to keep on increasing those divergences. Highlighting examples as the ones of Rafael Ramirez from PDVSA and Nelson Mercengtes from gthe BCV.
Making his government unsustainable, forcing him to claudication, to negotiate or to run away, as other close collaborators have done.
Making provisions for a back or escaping door, in case he finally chooses to look for a safe port out of his country.

Increasing the internal instability to a critical level.

Intensifying the undercapitalizatioin of the country, the leaking out of foreign currency and the deterioration of its monetary base, bringing about the application of new inflationary measures that increase its deterioration and that simultaneously provoke the citizens with less access — who support the present-day rulers — and those who are best positioned, to see their social status threatened or affected. Establishing that the use of bitcoin, Petro, is a key element in the deterioration of the economy, which is an unconstitutional and illegal manipulation of the national currency, useable for money laundering.
Fully obstructing imports, and at the same time, discouraging potential foreign investors in order to contribute to make more critical the situation of the population — mainly in the sphere of oil, essential for any attempt of recuperation of the national economy.
Appealing to domestic allies as well as other people inserted from abroad in the national scenario in order to generate protests, riots and insecurity, plunders, thefts, assaults and highjacking of vessels as well as other means of transportation, with the intention of deserting this country in crisis through all borderlands and other possible ways, jeopardizing in such a way the National Security of neighboring frontier nations. Causing victims and holding the Government responsible for them. Magnifying, in front of the world, the humanitarian crisis in which the country has been submitted to.
Making use of the generalized corruption and the originating profits from their operations with prohibited drugs, to do away with their image in front of the world and their domestic followers.
Promoting fatigue inside the members of the PSUV, inciting the annoyance and nonconformity among themselves, for them to break noisily away from the line of the Government; for them to refuse the measures and restrictions which also affect them, inciting the rising of internal politic factions, which divides it in its schism, making it as weak as the the opposition is. Creating frictions between the PSUV and “Somos Venezuela”.
Structuring a plan to get the profuse desertion of the most qualified professionals from the country, in order “to leave it with no professionals at all”, which will aggravate even more the internal situation and along these lines putting the blame on of Government.

Using the army officers as an alternative of definite solution.

Continuing hardening the conditions inside the Armed Forces to carry out a coup d’etat before concluding 2018, if the crisis does not make the dictatorship to collapse or the dictator does not decide to move aside.
Continuing setting fire to the common frontier with Colombia. Multiplying the traffic of fuel and other goods. The movement of paramilitaries, armed raids and drug trafficking. Provoking armed incidents with the Venezuelan frontier security forces.
Recruiting paramilitaries mainly in the campsites of refugees in Cucuta, La Guajira and the north of Santander, areas largely populated by Colombian citizens who emigrated to Venezuela and now return, run away from the regimen to intensify the destabilizing activities in the common frontier between both countries. Making use of the empty space left by the FARC, the belligerency of the ELN and the activities in the area of the Gulf Clan.
Preparing the involvement of allied forces in support of the Venezuelan army officers or to control the internal crisis, in the event they delay too much in taking the initiative.
Establishing a speedy time line that prevents the Dictator to continue winning control on the internal scenario. If it’s necessary, act before the elections stipulated for next April.
Getting the support of the allied authorities of friendly countries (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Panama and Guyana).
Organizing the provisioning, relief of troops, medical and logistic support from Panama. Making good use of the facilities of electronic surveillance and signals intelligence, the hospitals and its deployed endowments in Danen, the equipped airdromes for the Colombian Plan, as well as the landing fields of the old-time military bases of Howard and Albrook, as well as the one belonging to “Rio Halo”. In addition, the Humanitarian Regional Center of the United Nations, designed for situations of catastrophes and humanitarian emergency, which has an aerial landing field and its own warehouses.
Moving on the basification of combat airplanes and choppers, armored conveyances, intelligence positions, and special military and logistics units (police and military district attorneys and prisons).
Developing the military operation under international flag, patronized by the Conference of American Armies, under the protection of the OAS and the supervision, in the legal and media context, of the Secretary General Luis Almagro. Declaring the necessity that the continental commandment be strengthened to act, using the instrument of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, in order to avoid the democratic rupture.
Binding Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Panama to the contribution of greater number of troops, to make use of their geographic proximity and experience in operations in forest regions. Strengthening their international condition with the presence of combat units from the United States of America and the other named countries, under the command of a Joint General Staff led by the USA.
Using the facilities at Panamanian territory for the rear guard and the capacities of Argentina for the securing of the ports and the maritime positions.
Leaning on Brazil and Guyana to make use of the migratory situation that we intend to encourage in the border with Guyana.
Coordinating the support to Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, Aruba, Curacao, Trinidad and Tabago and other States in front of the flow of Venezuelan immigrants in the event of the crisis. Promoting international participation in this effort, as part of the multilateral operation with contribution of the States, Non-Profit Organizations and international bodies. Supplying the adequate logistic, intelligence, surveillance and control support.
Anticipating, specially, the most vulnerable points in Arauca, Puerto Carreno and Ininda, Maicao, Barranquilla and Sincelejo, in Colombia, and Roramia, Manaos and Boa Vista, in Brazil.

Information Strategie

Silencing the symbolic presence of Chavez-representative of unit and popular support-, and in the other way around, keeping the harassment to the Dictator as the only responsible of the crisis in which he has submerged the nation.
Holding the Dictator and his closer followers responsible, in the first place, for the prevailing crisis due to his inability to find the way out that the Venezuelans are in need of.
Intensifying the media denouncement about the cubanization of Venezuela.
Outstandingly intensifying the denouncement toward Maduro’s regimen, considering him:
A criminal
A illegitimate
A thief of the wealth of the Venezuelan people
Someone who plunders the national treasury to carry out his evasion
Highlighting the incompetence of the mechanisms of integration created by the regimens of Cuba and Venezuela, specially the ALBA and PETROCARIBE, in order to tackle the situation of the country and their inability to find solutions to the problems that the citizens are facing.
Increasing, inside the country and through the mass media established abroad, the dissemination of designed messages based on testimonies and publications originated in the country, making use of all the possible capacities, including the social networks.
Claiming, through that mass media, the need to put an end to this situation because of its unsustainable essence.
Justifying and assuring through violent means the international backup to the deposal of the dictatorship, displaying an extensive dissemination, inside the country and to the entire world, through all the open means and the capacities of the psychological war of the US ARMY.
Assuring that the disclosed images and reports of the military actions are approved by the General Staff to prevent their manipulation and use by the enemy.
The United States should entirely back up the OAS, strengthening the image of the OAS and other multilateral institutions for the inter-American system, as instruments for the solution to the regional problems.
Promoting the request of the the dispatch of a UNO military force for the imposition of peace, once Nicolas Maduro’s corrupt dictatorship is defeated.

[signature]

K.W. TIDD

Admiral, USN

COMMANDER

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, May 5, 2019 4:34 PM

CAPTAINCRUNCH

... stay crunchy...


Sig-for-brains: THE PLAN TO OVERTHROW THE VENEZUELAN DICTATORSHIP “MASTERSTROKE”

yeah, that’s what they’d call it in print, in all caps.
God, what a clown.

And what’s with you pretty much only copying and pasting 10000 word posts these days - just too busy in your “retirement?”

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, May 5, 2019 9:00 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by captaincrunch:
Sig-for-brains: THE PLAN TO OVERTHROW THE VENEZUELAN DICTATORSHIP “MASTERSTROKE”

yeah, that’s what they’d call it in print, in all caps.
God, what a clown.

And what’s with you pretty much only copying and pasting 10000 word posts these days - just too busy in your “retirement?”

Yep, too busy.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, May 10, 2019 12:20 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Trump Peeved by Bolton's Attempt to Pull Him 'INTO A WAR' in Venezuela - Report

Earlier, Vice President Mike Pence urged Venezuelan officials to follow a former intelligence chief in breaking ranks with Caracas and joining the opposition, saying that the ex-official has had all previously imposed sanctions against him lifted.

US President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with his senior officials over how difficult a task removing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has proven, anonymous senior administration officials and advisers to the White House have told the Washington Post.

According to one senior official, Trump recently joked that National Security Adviser John Bolton wanted to pull him "into a war" in Venezuela, with the joke reportedly revealing more senior concerns. He also complained about Bolton's attempt to box him 'into a corner' and go 'beyond where he felt comfortable' on Venezuela policy, another official familiar with US Venezuela policy said.

Furthermore, White House officials said that although the president had an affinity for Juan Guaido, he has also 'wondered aloud' about how much the US really knows about him, and questioned whether he is really ready to take over governing the country.

Three other officials also told WP that the president has complained openly about Bolton and others underestimating the strength of President Maduro, who Trump has reportedly referred to as a "tough cookie."

Officials said that the failure of last Tuesday's military coup have 'effectively shelved serious discussion' of major US military action in Venezuela, with the White House now hoping to wait Maduro out. Two officials and an outside adviser said that Trump is now disinterested in approving any kind of direct military intervention against the Latin American country. Options now reportedly include sending troops to neighbouring countries and/or the Navy to Venezuela's shores as a show of force, ramping up aid to Venezuela's neighbours, and providing more aid to Venezuelans who fled their home country during the crisis.

Nevertheless, despite his irritation with Bolton on Venezuela, Trump has no plans to fire him and told him to continue focusing on the country, two senior administration officials told WP.

The long-running political crisis that was sparked in January when opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself 'interim president' entered a new phase on April 30, when Guiado and other opposition figures called on military personnel to join the opposition and take to the streets of Caracas to depose the government. The situation, which Caracas called as a coup attempt, turned violent, with some 240 people suffering injured, according to the UN. Venezuelan officials have begun a formal investigation into the circumstances of last week's violence.


https://sputniknews.com/latam/201905091074859569-trump-bolton-venezuel
a-concerns
/

Keep in mind that this article quotes anonymous officials. Altho the difference between Trump and Bolton has been petty widely reported, this particular article is a bit more pointed than most. (Altho I id run across one where Trump blamed staffers for feeding him bad info on how easy it would be to topple Maduro.)

I'll try to find different sourcing for this story when I get a chance.

However, this does go along with several descriptions of Trumps foreign policy, and that is that he will bluster and threaten and allow the CIA their "regime change" operatins but will refuse to commit the military.

In previous "regime change" operations, they either started with direct military invasion (under GWB, Afghanistan, Iraq) or they started with CIA-backed proxies but then required air support to pull the proxies' bacon out of the fire (Syria, Libya). When relying just on CIA proxies/economic/financial warfare alone, the situation seems to devolve to a stalemate (Ukraine, Venezuela, Turkey, N Korea, Iran). This succession of events indicates why governments targeted by the USA are anxious to get credible anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems set up.

I know that Trump has a special grotch against Iran thanks to "Javanka" constnatnly psuhing the Zioist line. But does this predict the future course of Iran? A lot of bluff and bluster, some CIA meddling and sanctions/attacks on the currency but NO MILITARY involvement? Or will Trump make Iran the giant exception to his promise to the miitary not to use them as cannon fodder until they feel they have been built up sufficiently?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, May 11, 2019 11:32 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.




-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, June 18, 2019 7:29 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Juan Guaido's bagmen rip off Richard Branson

edited for clarity

Quote:

It started with a request from Juan Guaido to billionaire investor and regime-change enthusiast Richard Branson...

The stated purpose of the concert was to help raise funds for humanitarian aid and spotlight the economic crisis. At least that’s how it was billed to Americans. To Venezuela’s upper class, it was touted as the “trendiest concert of the decade.” It was to be a congregation of the elite with the ostensible purpose of raising funds for the poor...

The concert was held in Colombia across a bridge linking the country to Venezuela. International media had claimed Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro had the bridge shut down to prevent the delivery of aid, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that the “Maduro regime must LET THE AID REACH THE STARVING PEOPLE.” (But the bridge, in fact, has never been opened for use.)

Nonetheless, Richard Branson sought to raise $100 million and promised that Guiado “will be coming to the other side of the bridge with maybe a million of his supporters.” In the end, it was a little more than 200,000 who came.

Meanwhile, USAID was to coordinate the delivery of aid alongside Guaido...

Despite the low turnout, organizers lived it up in Colombia. Representatives from Popular Will (Guaido's party) found themselves living like socialites across the border. [Defecting veneuelan soldiers], Guaido’s “army was small but at this point it had left a very bad impression in Cucuta. Prostitutes, alcohol, and violence. They demanded and demanded,” the report said.

They also left a bad taste in the mouth of the authorities. The Colombian government was supposed to pay for some of the hotels, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was to cover the costs of others, while Guaido’s people were only going to pony up the cash for two of the seven hotels.

But Popular Will never paid, leaving one hotel with a debt of $20,000.

The responsibility of taking care of the needs of the defectors went to Popular Will militants Rossana Barrera and Kevin Rojas, as decreed by Juan Guaido in a signed statement. They were also charged with overseeing the humanitarian aid.

Barrera is the sister-in-law of Popular Will member of Congress Sergio Vargara, Guaido’s right-hand man. She and Rojas were managing all the funds.

But the pair started to live well outside their means, a Colombian intelligence source told the outlet. “They gave me all the evidence,” writes PanAmPress reporter Orlando Avendano. “Receipts that show excesses, some strangely from different check books, signed the same day but with identical writing styles.”

Rojas and Berrera were spending nearly a thousand dollars at a time in the hotels and nightclubs. Similar amounts were spent at times on luxurious dinners and fancy drinks. They went on clothes shopping sprees at high-end retail outlets in the capital. They reportedly overcharged the fund on vehicle rentals and the hotels, making off with the extra cash. Berrera even told Popular Will that she was paying for all seven hotels, not just the two. And they provided Guaido with the fake figure of more than 1,450 military defectors that needed accommodation.

In order to keep the funds flowing, Rojas and Berrera pitched a benefit dinner for the soldiers to Guiado’s embassy in Colombia. But when the embassy refused to participate, Berrera created a fake email address posing as a representative of the embassy, sending invitations to Israeli and U.S. diplomats. They canceled the event after Guaido’s embassy grew wise to the scheme and alerted those invited.

“The whole government of Colombia knew about it: the intelligence community, the presidency, and the foreign ministry,” writes PanAmPress, calling it an “open secret” by the time Guaido dismissed the pair. But that was after Guaido had been defending them staunchly, trying to avoid a firing by transferring responsibilities to the embassy.

Berrera was called to the embassy for a financial audit, represented by Luis Florido, a founding member of Popular Will. She turned in just a fraction of the records uncovered by Colombian intelligence, accounting for only $100,000 in expenditures. “The [real] amount is large,” the outlet reports, citing an intelligence agent who says far more was blown.

Meanwhile, “at least 60 percent of the food donated” by foreign governments “was damaged.”

“The food is rotten, they tell me,” the PanAmPress reporter said, adding that he was shown photographs. “They don’t know how to deal with it without causing a scandal. I suppose they will burn it.”

It isn’t yet known exactly how much was embezzled by Popular Will, but it is likely the truth will come out in due time, and more investigations are likely underway. On Monday, Venezuelan defectors said they will hold a press conference in Cucuta, showcasing more corruption by Popular Will. For now, however, the fallout remains to be seen.

Guaidone?

One thing is certain: the scandal threatens to end Juan Guaido’s 15 minutes of fame. The de facto opposition leader had little name recognition inside Venezuela and never won a political position with more than 100,000 votes behind him. But the overnight sensation never had a lengthy life expectancy anyway.

Though he received so few votes (Venezuela’s population is nearly 32 million), Guaido became the president of the National Assembly because the body is controlled by a coalition of opposition groups, despite President Nicolas Maduro’s PSUV Party being the largest in the country. That was in January, and the length of the term lasts only one year. In 2015, the opposition coalition decided that after each term, the seat would be rotated to a representative of a different opposition party. While there is no law barring Guaido from being appointed president of the National Assembly again, tradition runs counter to it and another party may want to seize on a chance to get into the limelight.

Supporters of the coup — and Guaido’s self-declaration as interim president — claim that Maduro is derelict of his duties, which justifies a transition of presidential power according to the constitution. But the article that allows for such a transition in certain cases stipulates that ”a new election by universal suffrage and direct ballot shall be held within 30 consecutive days.”

To date, Guaido has run 145 days past his deadline to have elections held, and the opposition has made it clear they are not willing to accept new elections if Maduro runs.

MORE AT
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-18/massive-embezzlement-scandal
-threatens-juan-guaidos-political-future




-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, June 20, 2019 12:46 PM

REAVERFAN


Trump is giving up on regime change in Venezuela because it's complicated and he got bored, report says
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-bored-of-venezuela-as-maduro-cli
ngs-to-power-report-2019-6


Looking for an easy win so he'd have something to brag about to the zombie hordes, the toddler-in-chief quit because it wasn't as easy as the dimwit thought.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, June 20, 2019 1:33 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


I noticed that soon after Russia sent advisors to Venezuela, the mysterious power outages completely ceased. What could they be traced to? Certainly not lack of fuel, since 80% of Venezuela's power comes from hydro facilities. US hacking of the grid isn't out of the question, which would be a war crime, since it targets civilians.

As a general note of interest, https://globalnews.ca/news/5396344/argentina-uraguay-power-outages/ 44 million people in South America without power after massive system failure "A massive blackout left tens of millions of people without electricity in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay on Sunday in what the Argentine president called an “unprecedented” failure in the countries’ power grid."

There seems to be a lot of that going around these days.



And if democrats don't do anything different, how are they any better?
tic tac

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 9:53 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


This got by me:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity
-202/2018/09/21/the-cybersecurity-202-trump-administration-seeks-to-project-tougher-stance-in-cyberspace-with-new-strategy/5ba3e85d1b326b7c8a8d158a
/

Cybersecurity 202: The Cybersecurity 202: Trump administration seeks to project tougher stance in cyberspace with new strategy


This new policy also allows for offensive cyber attacks. It may be that the mysterious power outages in Venezuela were a result of hacking, especially considering they stopped shortly after Russians were landed in the country.




And if democrats don't do anything different, how are they any better?
tic tac

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, July 12, 2019 11:41 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Well, now that Guaido's toast (no, not literally), and the Russians have halted the mysterious power 'failures' that were supposed to destabilize the country, we're not hearing about Venezuela anymore. Which is not to say that the Deep State has given up. I'm sure they're doing everything they can, and biding their time waiting for more propitious circumstances.

Still, you can put this under "the failures that have disappeared from the news" ...

... like all the OTHER failures that have disappeared from the news: the giant 'Russia doping scandal', the 'golden showers' Steele dossier, the Mueller report, 'Assad gassing his own people' ... and the all rest of the cum eagerly lapped up by the weak-minded here.




And if democrats don't do anything different, how are they any better?
tic tac

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, June 10, 2022 7:12 AM

JAYNEZTOWN

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, March 6, 2023 7:44 AM

JAYNEZTOWN


Ukraine war: Russia's Wagner boss hints at 'betrayal' in Bakhmut battle

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64859780

In liberated Ukraine city, civilians still pay price of war

https://apnews.com/article/aec1fb4de0914cc01eb6db12e33d4a9c


NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

OTHER TOPICS

DISCUSSIONS
Salon: NBC's Ronna blunder: A failed attempt to appeal to MAGA voters — except they hate her too
Thu, March 28, 2024 07:04 - 1 posts
Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
Thu, March 28, 2024 05:27 - 6154 posts
In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
Thu, March 28, 2024 02:07 - 3408 posts
Russian losses in Ukraine
Wed, March 27, 2024 23:21 - 987 posts
Elections; 2024
Wed, March 27, 2024 22:19 - 2069 posts
human actions, global climate change, global human solutions
Wed, March 27, 2024 15:03 - 824 posts
NBC News: Behind the scenes, Biden has grown angry and anxious about re-election effort
Wed, March 27, 2024 14:58 - 2 posts
BUILD BACK BETTER!
Wed, March 27, 2024 14:45 - 5 posts
RFK Jr. Destroys His Candidacy With VP Pick?
Wed, March 27, 2024 11:59 - 16 posts
Russia says 60 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility
Wed, March 27, 2024 10:57 - 49 posts
Ha. Haha! HAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!!!
Tue, March 26, 2024 21:26 - 1 posts
You can't take the sky from me, a tribute to Firefly
Tue, March 26, 2024 16:26 - 293 posts

FFF.NET SOCIAL