2/19/2011

21 Responses to “And Now Venezuela?”

1. this is all happening at the worst possible time cause Obama lurvs him some dictators and he’s not exactly a yay freedom kinda guy

   maybe everybody should just hold that thought

   happyfeet (ab5779) — 2/19/2011 @ 7:28 pm

   
   

2. Despite the lefty love for communist dictators, I would not be surprised that Venezuela may have a problem.

   The whole problem with people’s revolutions is they usually result in one-person rule.

   After awhile that gets boring as well as inhumane. That’s why I wish that all the lefties would stop wishing for a sublime dictatorship and realize that, despite our current problems, maybe just maybe we have a republic worth preserving.

   Ag80 (7a9f97) — 2/19/2011 @ 7:39 pm

   
   

3. I’d suggest that this will be about as effective as the Cuban hunger strikes. Perhaps they may achieve a very limited goal, but no real challenge to the regime.

   The only real gauge I have on the situation down there is an extremely imprecise one. PreChavez, our store received a large volume of traffic and sales from Venezuelans visiting in Miami. As Chavez tightened his grip on the country, that dropped almost, if not completely, all the way to zero. In the last year, they have started to reappear, although not in numbers comparable to preChavez; and I have no way of knowing if these are the same upper or middle class (usually independent business people or professionals) who came preChavez or people who acquired the necessary modicum of affluence through linkage with the Chavez regime.

   kishnevi (38f6c3) — 2/19/2011 @ 7:52 pm

   
   

4. The guys who made Facebook and Twitter are going to have an obscene ego now.

   “Look at me, I created software that facilitated democratic revolutions all over the world! I’m a hero! And also rich”

   Yea, that’s not going to help you get laid, nerd. Wait, nevermind, I’m wrong. Those guys better get tested for regular STDs.

   Newtons.Bit (922da8) — 2/19/2011 @ 7:52 pm

   
   

5. “Venezuela.”

   L.N. Smithee (8f917a) — 2/19/2011 @ 9:19 pm

   
   

6. And rumblings in China:

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110220/ap_on_re_as/as_china_jasmine_revolution

   Is there anything the internet can’t do?

   Dr. K (1c5e6a) — 2/20/2011 @ 3:41 am

   
   

7. Had a couple of business trips in Caracas and Maracaibo back in the ’90s. Lovely country, beautiful friendly people. Hugo was in jail the first visit.

   Morales, in Bolivia, is in more immediate danger. Hope for contagion.

   gary gulrud (790d43) — 2/20/2011 @ 5:28 am

   
   

8. 3. I noted in my first trip flying the Avencia(subsidized), for $90 from Miami, people taking an auto bumper off the baggage conveyor.

   Pre-Chavez Telco ‘engineers’ made $5500 US when those in the favelas made $90. A small middle-class could take a yearly shopping trip to Miami.

   One gave me a ride in his very impressive ’70 vintage Chevelle muscle car.

   Their inflation rate was 80% at the time so cash was kept in dollares.

   gary gulrud (790d43) — 2/20/2011 @ 5:40 am

   
   

9. Bush effed up when the state dept. pushed to have him restored to power after a coup. Chavez is dug in too deep to be easily removed. His Chavistas are for the most part illiterate morons who have been jumped up to positions of power and wealth they would otherwise never have been able to achieve. They are well armed and obviously have no desire to be brought back to the level they would occupy if based only on their abilities. It’s going to be bloody when it happens.

   cubanbob (409ac2) — 2/20/2011 @ 6:55 am

   
   

10. The problem is the interim regime, let Chavez go, did they miss that lesson at the School of the Americas, that week,Reich gave them a little time.
    but the lefty contingent, and seeing the Myers case, can anyone doubt they are not deep in the system.

    narciso (28df0c) — 2/20/2011 @ 7:04 am

    
    

11. And now China. Hundreds of people gathered in the main squares of Beijing and Shanghai until forced to disperse. The reaction of authorities was of course, immediate, as they began to effectively kill communication,

    A call for a ‘Jasmine Revolution’ and demonstrations in 13 Chinese cities at 2 p.m. had earlier been issued over the internet.

    Internet censors in China reportedly blocked searches for the word ‘jasmine’.

    Dana (8ba2fb) — 2/20/2011 @ 7:40 am

    
    

12. Chavez is a bleeding pustule on South America. His end will come–some time–but not necessarily soon. Caracas is an interesting city to visit–not necessarily a beautiful one. It’s long been a dangerous city for ex pats living and working there. I visited there several times working on a project in the late 90’s. One coworker returned to his hotel room only to be knocked down by a burglar who was stealing the laptop he’d left in the room. It’s a place with a few very wealthy people who live well–and a whole lot of folks in varying degrees of desparation. Chavez has only made the situation worse. Obozo had no business making chums with Chavez.

    Mike Myers (0e06a9) — 2/20/2011 @ 8:23 am

    
    

13. _______________________________________

    But Hugo Chavez’s heart is in the right place. Correct! His compassion is pure and beautiful. Right! His populism is fair and wonderful. Yep! He’s for the little guy and against capitalist greed. Hu-huh!!

    So much of the left in academia and the Hollywood/San Francisco/Manhattan/MSM crowd think (or emote): “It’s tough to be against a guy like that! He deserves some slack! He deserves our patience! He may deserve even our xoxox!”

    A good percentage of people in any society, particularly Third World ones, pretty much feel/think the same way. Most importantly, if they live in historically dysfunctional places, they have little to lose even if their politics contribute to everything around them going straight down the toilet. That’s why mindless leftism is so happily and easily embraced by such people.

    Mark (411533) — 2/20/2011 @ 8:40 am

    
    

14. ________________________________________

    It’s a place with a few very wealthy people who live well–and a whole lot of folks in varying degrees of desparation. Chavez has only made the situation worse.

    Sounds not too different from our neighbor to the south, Mexico. And if more of those societies becomes more of this society — socially, culturally and politically — then the United States can look forward to a bright, brilliant, wonderful future!

    Mark (411533) — 2/20/2011 @ 8:45 am

    
    

15. As for China, there have been many spontaneous protests popping up all over the country in recent years – and none of them had the advantage of Facebook and Twitter at the time, only word of mouth. But the state controlled media have kept them mostly under wraps – until now.

    Dmac (c50897) — 2/20/2011 @ 10:02 am

    
    

16. China kill you dead then re-institute two-minute Japan hate

    happyfeet (ab5779) — 2/20/2011 @ 10:37 am

    
    

17. Quick! Call Minister of Information Sean Penn. He can staighten out the Venezuelan populace on how great things are for them.

    Icy Texan (1fb326) — 2/20/2011 @ 1:09 pm

    
    

18. It’s a place with a few very wealthy people who live well–and a whole lot of folks in varying degrees of desparation.

    Not too much different than comparing San Francisco/Beverly Hills to what is happening in the Central Valley sans Delta water.

    AD-RtR/OS! (08307a) — 2/20/2011 @ 1:16 pm

    
    

19. China kill you dead then re-institute two-minute Japan hate

    It’s weird how the Chinese despise the Japanese for their horrific crimes against their citizens (i.e. Rape of Nanking), yet refuse to acknowledge the even greater monster that was in their midsts for so long. I think Mao actually murdered more of his own citizens than Stalin did, which is really saying something.

    Dmac (c50897) — 2/20/2011 @ 1:26 pm

    
    

20. Comment by Dmac — 2/20/2011 @ 1:26 pm

    Mao stands alone atop the 20th-Century body-pile – always emulated, never equaled!

    AD-RtR/OS! (08307a) — 2/20/2011 @ 2:55 pm

    
    

21. yet refuse to acknowledge the even greater monster that was in their midsts for so long.

    (mildy speculating here)
    Part of the reason for that may be because it’s more recent than, for example, Stalin. If a Red Guard member was in his early twenties during the Cultural Revolution, there is a decent chance he’s not only still alive but possibly still not retired and involved in business or politics or education or the Party apparatus, and doubtless not eager to have the details of his involvement in tortures, murders, and the rest publicly exposed. Calling Mao to account involves not just the Great Helmsman himself, but all the people who put his orders into effect–and plenty of them went on to become the people who ruled China after Mao, and even up to the present.

    kishnevi (a6ffde) — 2/20/2011 @ 7:32 pm