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Staging wars to distract people from the foibles of a president can be funny (as the 1998 movie showed) but they did it on a movie set, not in an actual country.
Collapsing empires are often presided over by emperors who are both evil and insane. We don’t know why this is so, it just is. But on the other hand, as the psychiatrist M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Travelled, People of the Lie) observed, “It is well that evil is so stupid.” And we can be thankful that the entire Trump administration is so epically dumb that it cannot do all the damage to the world that it wants to do. Case in point: their Keystone Kops maneuvers to impose their imperial will on Venezuela.
Why Venezuela? Simple. The country sits astride the largest reserves of undeveloped crude oil in the world — an estimated 300 billion barrels. Yes, that’s more than Saudi Arabia claims, and almost 10 times estimated US reserves. So once again, God has played a cruel joke by putting our oil under someone else’s country, but there’s more about Venezuela that irritates the hell out of American imperialists.
For one thing, Venezuela is persistently, maddeningly socialist. Hugo Chavez, good friend to Fidel Castro, served as president for 14 years, during which time he won eight elections and referenda, won approval of a new constitution that guaranteed unprecedented rights and freedoms to the people (71% of the voters approved it) and became the most popular head of state in the Western Hemisphere if not the world.
After Chavez died in 2013 he was succeeded by Nicolas Maduro, who was re-elected in 2018. He ran against six opponents. Nine million people voted, six million for Maduro. American hawks insist the election was rigged, and that Maduro is not the legitimate winner. But former president Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center has monitored 92 elections around the world, says flatly that “the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.” On the other hand, he says, the money-drenched American electoral system “is one of the worst.”
Thus for many years and many reasons, American imperialists have wanted to get their hands on Venezuela, if not by direct invasion then by installing an avatar to run the country according to America’s best interests. The current candidate for avatar-in-chief is Juan Guaido, beloved of the CIA but unknown to 80% of Venezuelans.
After years of refining its plans and spinning its stories, the empire struck (again — it tried to overthrow Chavez in 2002) at 0600 hours local time on April 30. Strutting at the head of a clutch of men in military uniforms, Guaido announced (via Tweet, that’s how we do it now) that the revolution was at hand: “At this moment I meet the main military units of our armed force initiating the final phase of Operation Freedom.” Guaido pretended to be speaking from the huge Carlota Air Force base, from which he and “the main military units of our armed force” would presumably march on the presidential palace and carry the day. (No doubt they were humming “Do You Hear the People Sing” from Les Mis.)
Excited war hawks in the United States jumped the shark: Senator Marco Rubio “announced” that the rebels had taken Carlota Air Force Base, and National Security Adviser John Bolton, whose principal duty in the Trump administration is to make Donald appear sane, frantically urged top Venezuelan government officials to betray President Maduro and join the “revolution”; and Secretary of State Mike “Get Back the Swagger” Pompeo announced that Maduro’s plane was idling on the tarmac, ready to carry him away to Cuba.
Alas, wishing does not make it so. Turns out Guaido was not announcing the coup from inside a conquered air force base, but from a highway overpass nearby. To be fair, you could see the base from there. And he was at the head, not of “the main military units of our armed force,” but a few dozen thugs carrying Colt M4 assault rifles, not the Kalashnikovs used by Venezuelan forces. When the would-be coup leaders marched 500 meters north of their highway bridge to Plaza Altamira, a square where they intended to rally the country to their cause, they attracted a few hundred people who listened briefly to Guaido and then went home. As did everybody else.
All this would be hilarious, if it were not for the hideous danger involved. These American idiots are casually striking kitchen matches in a powder magazine, which they share with not only the Venezuelan people (and armed forces, who are no slouches) but with Russian and Chinese imperial expeditions there to challenge America’s boarding-house reach.
So far, evil has proved too stupid to set off a regional war that Trump seems to think would get him re-elected in 2020 and some experts believe would be more expensive in blood and treasure than our war with Iraq. But you can’t fix stupid, and stupid is still in charge.
[See also: “The Tragedy of Venezuela is the Tragedy of the US,” by Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell.]
If there is an Exhibit A to the wretched state of US mainstream media, Venezuela is it. The MSM cannot even investigate enough to find out there are actually big rallies FOR Maduro.
Agree, as long we make this farce Exhibit B.
Too me, Exhibit A will always be, that President Obama openly and brazenly assassinated US citizens without due process, an act which is easily the most egregious violation of the Constitution by anyone ever, and to my knowledge and to this day, the MSM has never opined on the subject once.
“So once again, God has played a cruel joke by putting our oil under someone else’s country …”
That Godly twist can be remedied via a Holy (moly!) annexation.
Operation Unabashed Oil Grab…some experts believe would be more expensive in blood and treasure than our war with Iraq.”
Agree. And if the glorious invasion and occupation touches nerves elsewhere, and the war should escalate beyond Venezuelan borders, total casualties could number as high as 7.7 billion.
Recent insurgent speech against the Trump government in USA:
“The time for debate is done, this regime is illegitimate, this regime is morally bankrupt. It’s economically incompetent, and it is profoundly corrupt. It is undemocratic to the core. We therefore consider all its declarations and actions illegitimate and invalid.”
Who said that?
Oh, wait a minute, I misspoke. That was the honorable Mike Pompeo, U S Secretary of State, speaking before the Organization of American States (OAS) about Venezuela.
If Juan Guaido, President of General Assembly of Venezuela, can declare himself to be interim president and Maduro to be illegitimate president, could Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi declare herself to be interim president and Donald Trump to be illegitimate president?
And how is it that President Trump can boast that the military, the police force, and Bikers for Trump are with him (so look out, you evil left-wing extremist socialists), and then demand that Maduro’s military and police force abandon him.
As to your first question, Pelosi could of course do that but could not hope to bring it off unless she had the backing of a powerful foreign government that among other things had helped bring the economy to its knees with punitive sanctions. As to the second, Trump lives in a parallel universe where there are no rules, just Trump-wants.
This article accurately reports the insanity of the current US government admin, but let’s face it; without the consent of the majority of the citizens, they would already be locked up. The people of the US and the rest of Western civilization for that matter actively or tacitly approve of their leaders actions. The crazies know this, and therefore are not really crazy, but merely crafty. The people’s own insecurities are the real culprits in this dangerous game. We fear to lose our privileges, and therefore will continue to back anyone who promises to secure our position in the world, regardless of how many must be suppressed or die in the process. In the final analysis, we must look in the mirror to discover the most culpable among mankind.
I’m afraid you’re right. And yet it is hard to put the blame exclusively on people who are as bamboozled as are the people of the industrial democracies by propaganda, industrial politicians and the industrial media.
Some argue (sounding a conspiratorial note) that public education in the U.S. has been steadily eroded (more like gutted) over decades with the simple purpose of rendering the mis- or under-educated public unable to distinguish truth from fiction, right from wrong, and honor from corruption. I don’t think we actually had far to fall to reach this particular phase of American history, since fearmongering and (empty) promises of a more secure future have always worked to sweep aside any compunctions we might have about vilifying and victimizing those outside the U.S. for seeming personal gain.
My position is that all people, including the hyper-aggressive leaders of the masses suffer from the same malady. Our “leaders” are merely the cream of the crop, so to speak. They emerge from their holes and take their positIons among us because they are the most talented opportunists on the planet. If we do not prevent them, they will attempt to totally enslave all.
Personally, I think they will ultimately fail, but in their attempts, they will lead us into more hell than most think is possible. Too many people irrationally believe that somehow our society will not only survive, but prosper. That is deadly!
Tom: while many of the “facts” of the story are there, I think it paints somewhat of a distorted picture. As you accurately apoint out, Mr. Guaido certainly does not have anything close to a mandate or the stature to anoint himself the country’s next leader, but the US is conveniently pretending he does. In full disclosure, I may be biased because my wife and I have immediate family in the country, but we all saw the Chavez train wreck coming years ago. Again, as you pointed out, Like Chavez, Maduro does have support from the poorest of the country that is based on what he has pledged to give them. And, in following Castro, his hero’s footsteps, he certainly did what Castro managed to do. He promised to make everyone the same. He did this, now everyone is poor. Things went well in Venezuela in the beginning, then he decided to nationalize the county’s oil production and petroleum production plummeted. This was exacerbated when oil prices declined dramatically. Inefficient production and low prices made their socialist programs unaffordable. This destroyed a fairly broad middle class. Again, making everyone the same–poor. Undaunted the Chavez Maduro dynamic duo extended government control over basics like food. Again, with disastrous results. Add in the resulting inflation and shortages to the equation and it was a disaster for most common citizens. Our cousins have been telling us horror stories about trying to obtain basic food for several years now. Yes, the first elections or two were clearly in Chavez’s favor, but despite former President Carter’s assurances, the people I know in the country would dispute that they were on the up and up. These are people who voted with the hope that their vote would be counted. I could go on, but will close with the thought that, like Cuba, this type of socialism simply doesn’t work. Many may disagree with me and point to Scandinavian countries as proof that it can; but while countries like Denmark have liberal and progressive governments and corresponding generous social programs, they are not foolish enough to nationalize their private sectors. Thinking they could do this and manage it has caused unthinkable suffering in what was once South America’ most wealthy countries. I pointed this inevitable consequence out in my book Walking in the Clouds, Colombia through the eyes of a gringo, which was published in 2014. I find it interesting that many in our own country now flirt with socialism and I wonder if they understand the difference between progressive and hardcore Cuban/Venezuelan style socialism. For my grandkids sake, I hope they do.
Thank you for always making us think, Tom. I know I can always count on your pieces being thought provoking and sparking honest debate about timely issues.
Your extremely well-informed commentary, especially on things Central-American, is always welcome here. I won’t contest a thing you’ve said here, but I will insist that, granting everything you say as absolutely true, there is still no justification for US oligarchs to be deciding who rules Venezuela, or under what system. No one knows better than you what a God-awful record this country has in meddling in Central and South America, and now we have added to the traditional greed and cruelty, a new factor — massive incompetence.
Venezuela’s oil industry was nationalized in 1976 following the Nat. Gas Industry in 1971. It was run as nepotistic kleptocracy until Chavez took over. His and the kleptocrats failure was not recapitalizing it to prepare for Venezuela’s changing crude supply. The kleptocrats had also kept the price of oil low by always over producing their OPEC share in loyalty to their Gringo masters instead of to their own country. Chavez changed that even before the price took off on its own. This news died in the darkness- as the WaPo’s new mission statement would hope. (Yeah I know they claim it as a motto or warning.)
I’m sure those kleptocrats think of themselves as poor now.
The Carter organization did not monitor the most recent election but those that did gave it a pass. Entitled people often think they have been cheated when deprived of their privilege.
Oh, and that broad middle class? Only 20% of Venezuelans had been bothering to vote in the contest to enjoy the spoils until Chavez convinced them to show up.
Venezuela is a failure of kleptocratic capitalism compounded by relentless sanctions and bi-partisan interference by the US, not a failure of “that kind of Socialism.”
Tom: I totally agree we have no right to arrogantly meddle on any level in the affairs of other sovereign nations. I also know that this tendency to interfere in this case is driven by the fact that massive oil reserves are driving this bus. In the end, of course, it will just reinforce the image of us as ugly Americans exploiting and dictating to others. Given what Chavez and Maduro have done and what we are doing makes me even more sympathetic to the average Venezuelan as they continue to suffer as pawns with little control over their future. Many cannot even flee because of family ties. Unfortunately, they are stuck in a hellish situation and we are making it even worse. It seems we never learn from history. We can call it arrogance, greed, or incompetence or all three, the results are always the same.
As much as I agree that Trump is an idiot and scumbag humans, this is par for the course for the US empire.
The Americas record speaks for itself.
….
List of Atrocities committed by US authorities
Definition: An extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury.
“If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.” – Nelson Mandela
https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md
…………..
FROM WOUNDED KNEE TO SYRIA
A CENTURY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS
By Dr. Zoltan Grossman
The following is a partial list of U.S. military interventions from 1890 to 2018.
https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/interventions/
…
Q: Why will there never be a coup d’état in Washington?
A: Because there’s no American embassy there.
…………
America Has Been at War 93% of the Time – 222 out of 239 Years – Since 1776
https://www.globalresearch.ca/america-has-been-at-war-93-of-the-time-222-out-of-239-years-since-1776/5565946
……
I’ve lived in the US and know there are decent humans there and am aware of many of the gooder things the country has done – I call Americans the paradoxical people. Yes we all are, but again the record shows war & plunder has always been a primary part of America from day one until today. This behaviour is foundational to all empires. I see empires as a matter of ‘those who can’.
Venezuela didn’t work out too well, so it seems we’re gonna try to start a war with Iran. Pray that cooler heads prevail.