It’s official: Venezuela is a dictatorship

Post by paulddraper » Sat, Oct 22, 2016, 2:24 AM UTC

jimmywanger wrote: post #86

paulddraper wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> right-wing authoritarian dictatorships aren't usually ideologically driven, don't pretend that what they're doing is just "for the good of the people WTF? Hitler definitely said he did what he did for the good of the German people (okay. not the Jewish people or handicapped people, but the people that mattered)

Also, Hitler was a national socialist.

Post by Crito » Sat, Oct 22, 2016, 2:28 AM UTC

finid wrote: post #91

JabavuAdams wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The conventional long-form name of Saudi Arabia is "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". This isn't some thing that Clinton made up, and I'm not sure why it's relevant to mention her. The country is referred to as "The Kingdom" by many. Of course, that doesn't preclude it being a dictatorship, as the two are not mutually exclusive. Did I just miss an attempt at sarcasm, here?

No, it was not an attempt at sarcasm. That was her response to a dig about why we're not pushing for democracy in Saudi Arabia. It was her way of saying they don't need democracy.

Post by Crito » Sat, Oct 22, 2016, 2:30 AM UTC

topspin wrote: post #70

tptacek wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just sophistry. The true problem with the parent comment is not that it's unaware of the right wing's role in political violence, but that it's seizing on a word ("socialism") that it doesn't bother to define --- and the word means different things in practically every place it's used.

"and the word means different things in practically every place it's used" It was once used enthusiastically by the Great and the Good to describe Venezuela. Venezuelan leaders still use it freely to describe their policy. Recently though, the intelligentsia has become reluctant to attribute Venezuela as Socialist, leaving the matter conspicuously ambiguous with much discussion of oil prices mumble mumble. Thankfully…

Post by madengr » Sat, Oct 22, 2016, 2:32 AM UTC

Post by coliveira » Sat, Oct 22, 2016, 2:37 AM UTC

pastProlog wrote: post #85

Maduro was elected president. There's no vote upcoming, just yet another recall referendum, this one which failed to get going in the courts. Honduras on the other hand had an elected president. Obama bankrolled his generals, who overthrew him in a coup in 2009, and then he continued bankrolling them. Where are the US newspaper headlines about the Honduran dictatorship? The Organization of American States, with the e…