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In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

latimes.com

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Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#81

Post by crispinb »

whb07 wrote: post #61
twblalock wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as the military continues to support the government, an armed population cannot not successfully force Maduro out. There are also many Venezuelan civilians who still support the regime. These people would presumably also have guns.

this goes against every revolution in the history books.

Untrue. Read (for example) Erica Chenoweth's detailed empirical work on civil resistance. Nonviolent resistance has a considerably higher real-world chance of success than armed uprising. It also has the huge advantage of leaving behind less collective trauma, giving post-revolutionary society a better chance of sustaining peace.

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#82

Post by internet_user »

NotSammyHagar wrote: post #59
EdSharkey wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples to oranges comparison, US citizens still have their freedoms. Some people are just irritated in the US because politics and because the deep state is losing its grip. Americans are not dying from starvation or being gunned down by the military for protesting the government.

There is no deep state. There is the rule of law, made by our representatives and questions are decided by courts. Regardless of one person's views, we make choices based on a legal basis.

You really believe:

1) laws are never applied selectively

2) there are no secret laws and secret interpretations

3) parallel construction does not happen

?

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#83

Post by CryptoPunk »

nyolfen wrote: post #77
CryptoPunk wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully when Bitcoin-Core transaction fees reach $30 again like they did in December 2017, the common Venezuelan people will be able to afford the $60 overhead ($30 opening fee and $30 reserve needed to close the channel in case of counterparty fraud) to open a Lightning Network channel, or simply switch to a more scalable cryptocurrency.

i’ve read accounts that say litecoin is nearly as popular as btc there

I'm not surprised. I'm betting on Bitcoin Cash, which has recently overtaken Litecoin in tx volume, and has most of the big early adopters in the Bitcoin space (e.g. Bitpay, Coinbase) backing it, and of course, Ethereum. It doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it can gain a sufficient amount of liquidity and number of users.

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#84

Post by chii »

danemacaulay wrote: post #43

venezuela is under economic attack, see http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/marapr_19/marapr_19_05.htm... that centralized planning doesnt work is just wrong :) look to walmart and amazon as examples of efficient central planning. https://www.versobooks.com/books/2822-the-people-s-republic-...

how are those corporations the result of centralized planning?

Every instance of centralized planning by an authoritarian gov't has ended in disaster. And yet, every time, different excuses have been brought up about why it failed.

> The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

- https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Friedrich_Hayek#The_curio...

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#85

Post by giancarlostoro »

twblalock wrote: post #37
jmpman wrote: post #12

Unfortunately, the population accepted a gun ban back in 2012.

As long as the military continues to support the government, an armed population cannot not successfully force Maduro out. There are also many Venezuelan civilians who still support the regime. These people would presumably also have guns.

Dont forget that Venezuela is now a narco state. As long as this goes on they will keep feeding the rich military heads and screw everybody else over. Nobody will do anything till Forbes magazine makes an article about it though (seems to be a weird meme portayed by Netflix's Narcos series, it wasnt till they wound up on Forbes magazine that the biggest of drug lords were taken down by the DEA for whatever reason).

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#86

Post by nyolfen »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #78
jmpman wrote: post #12

Unfortunately, the population accepted a gun ban back in 2012.

After socialism took over Venezuela in 2007 through Chavez the "eternal president" of Venezuela I wouldnt consider any votes as valid. I still remember back then knowing that things were wrong and bad in Venezuela. He was president till he died. The elections were a joke.

unlike the last elections, when the opposition boycotted the election then declared itself interim government

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#87

Post by giancarlostoro »

lifehacked wrote: post #2

How do their "leaders" still have their heads?

The support of the military and by being a not so well known narcostate. If the situation would come to light properly maybe then we will see massive change. I am surprised nothing is done about it honestly.

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#88

Post by pfisch »

auto4ppl wrote: post #72
twblalock wrote: post #19

The world still notices. I've recently seen a number of articles about the protests and the opposition leader Juan Guaido. In fact the New York Times published an op-ed piece by him fairly recently.

Yes, there's been an enormous propaganda push to legitimize a future U.S. intervention - either a direct invasion, or igniting a full-blown civil war by arming right-wing paramilitaries, as was the standard operating procedure throughout the 80's.

The inflation rate is 2688670%, they are refusing aid, they are having widespread electricity outages and food shortages, it seems like their leader has become a despot.

At what point is it reasonable for an outside intervention?

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#89

Post by [deleted] »

steve19 wrote: post #28
mdgrech23 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not always that easy. Look at what's going on in the US right now for example...

The US political situation is not even remotely comparable, ignoring the plundering of the economy by the government and military, in 2020 or by 2024 at the latest, the US WILL have a different president. Absolutely and without a shadow of a doubt.

[deleted]

Re: In Venezuela, life has gone from bad to worse. And the world has quit noticing

#90

Post by twblalock »

danemacaulay wrote: post #43

venezuela is under economic attack, see http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/marapr_19/marapr_19_05.htm... that centralized planning doesnt work is just wrong :) look to walmart and amazon as examples of efficient central planning. https://www.versobooks.com/books/2822-the-people-s-republic-...

> that centralized planning doesnt work is just wrong :) look to walmart and amazon as examples of efficient central planning.

Walmart is one of many players in the economy and it reacts to consumer demand when it decides what to produce and sell. That is not a form of central planning.

An example of central planning would be the government ordering Walmart to produce ten million bicycles per year and to sell them for $80 each -- regardless of how many people actually want to buy bicycles and how much they are willing to pay.

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