Venezuela is about to bite the dust...

[ArcadiaGP]

Opposition lawmaker: Hugo Chavez's childhood home, government buildings set on fire in western Venezuela.

 

[Thor]

29 May, Maduro announced the creation of two new organizations: a special anti-terrorist security command to "guarantee peace" and the Zamora 200 Constituent Commando which will be responsible for "Constituent Street Government, Organization of Structure and Electoral Political Machinery, Strategy and Propaganda, Permanent Mobilizations and the Front of the Social Movements".

His new 'anti-terrorist' organization is commanded by the director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service.

Once again socialism requires a police state to oil its machinations. Now the slaughter may begin in earnest, be institutionalized and blamed on the great right wing conspiracy. He can round up all opposition for the good of the country and the safety of the people. Maduro has his GeStaPo and Brown Shirts.

Yes Democrats, this is the world you ask for when you push 'common sense gun legislation'. The world where only proper government authorities (and criminals who may be the same people) are armed and the people will comply.

 

[churchmouse]

29 May, Maduro announced the creation of two new organizations: a special anti-terrorist security command to "guarantee peace" and the Zamora 200 Constituent Commando which will be responsible for "Constituent Street Government, Organization of Structure and Electoral Political Machinery, Strategy and Propaganda, Permanent Mobilizations and the Front of the Social Movements".

His new 'anti-terrorist' organization is commanded by the director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service.

Once again socialism requires a police state to oil its machinations. Now the slaughter may begin in earnest, be institutionalized and blamed on the great right wing conspiracy. He can round up all opposition for the good of the country and the safety of the people. Maduro has his GeStaPo and Brown Shirts.

Yes Democrats, this is the world you ask for when you push 'common sense gun legislation'. The world where only proper government authorities (and criminals who may be the same people) are armed and the people will comply.

No lessons will be learned as we watch this unfold.
Every socialist thinks they are smarter than the last batch that failed in this experiment.
As long as they rise to power. That is what is important.

 

[spencer rifle]

"Inside every revolutionary is a closet aristocrat." - paraphrased from Frank Herbert

 

[IndyDave1776]

No lessons will be learned as we watch this unfold.
Every socialist thinks they are smarter than the last batch that failed in this experiment.
As long as they rise to power. That is what is important.

I am not so sure the leaders really think they are all that much smarter or that the experiment failed. If you look at if from their perspective, they are living the life of a king regardless of the squalor into which the rest of the country sinks to support their locust-like life of splendor. My guess is that they really just don't give a damn about the rest of the country.

Now, the rank and file socialists who support those on top--they are just impossibly stupid.

 

[actaeon277]

No lessons will be learned as we watch this unfold.
Every socialist thinks they are smarter than the last batch that failed in this experiment.
As long as they rise to power. That is what is important.

Everyone always thinks, "Things are different now. History is useless"

I am not so sure the leaders really think they are all that much smarter or that the experiment failed. If you look at if from their perspective, they are living the life of a king regardless of the squalor into which the rest of the country sinks to support their locust-like life of splendor. My guess is that they really just don't give a damn about the rest of the country.

Now, the rank and file socialists who support those on top--they are just impossibly stupid.

Those are the ones that'll be surprised.

 

[Alamo]

Noam Chomsky's Venezuela Lesson - Reason.com

I asked him, "Should you now say to the students who've learned from you, 'Socialism, in practice, often wrecks people's lives'?"
Chomsky replied, "I never described Chavez's state capitalist government as 'socialist' or even hinted at such an absurdity. It was quite remote from socialism. Private capitalism remained ... Capitalists were free to undermine the economy in all sorts of ways, like massive export of capital."

Ah. Socialism has never failed. It's just that none of the countries that ever tried it were socialist enough. Those trick capitalists always managed to sabotage it somehow, despite the state control, the massive purges, the secret police, ...


ETA: IIRC, prominent among the massive exports of capital was the Chavez family...

 

[T.Lex]

Look, in a sense, Chomsky's not wrong. The philosophical problem with socialism (and communism) is that it assumes people will act for the greater good unfailingly, forever (at some point in the future).

That isn't the reality of human existence.

Capitalism assumes people will act in their own self interest, all the time. That isn't universally true, either, but it is closer to reality.

The people forming socialist governments tend to act in their own self interest while claiming to act altruistically. In that sense, they are closet capitalists.

I like reading Chomsky, if only to be reminded of weighty discussions of big ideas in dorm lobbies.

 

[snapping turtle]

Goldman sacks just bought 2.8 billion in bonds from the county owned oil company just today. So don't believe the government is going down soon. Goldman sacks is most likely racking in the interests at near loan shark rates.

2.8 billion buys lots of time for a government. Don't think we will see any major downfall soon.

 

[churchmouse]

I am not so sure the leaders really think they are all that much smarter or that the experiment failed. If you look at if from their perspective, they are living the life of a king regardless of the squalor into which the rest of the country sinks to support their locust-like life of splendor. My guess is that they really just don't give a damn about the rest of the country.

Now, the rank and file socialists who support those on top--they are just impossibly stupid.

And that is the exact point of the last sentence in my post. As long as "They" rise to power.

 

[Thor]

Goldman may just be betting that Maduro will be gone and Venezuela recovering in time to collect their outrageous interest. Otherwise there will be no return on investment.

 

[Thor]

And that is the exact point of the last sentence in my post. As long as "They" rise to power.

Yes, the useful idiots. They will be useful until they are inconvenient when they will suffer the same fate as those they helped suppress.

 

[T.Lex]

Sometimes, the difference between reality and video game cut scenes is hard to make out....

Venezuela crisis: Helicopter launches attack on Supreme Court - BBC News

So, grenades aren't exactly barrel bombs, but this Oscar Perez guy could get real-world famous.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Sometimes, the difference between reality and video game cut scenes is hard to make out....

Venezuela crisis: Helicopter launches attack on Supreme Court - BBC News

So, grenades aren't exactly barrel bombs, but this Oscar Perez guy could get real-world famous.

This is getting REAL!! I think the purple armband is a nice touch. Dude has an ID and everything.

 

[historian]

Dude has an ID and everything.

Probably a concealed carry badge or something...

 

[Thor]

Could be the beginning of the end if the military and police turn. It would be over very quickly if they do...

 

[T.Lex]

Could be the beginning of the end if the military and police turn. It would be over very quickly if they do...

Updated story on Oscar Perez. Dude seems the real deal.

Venezuela crisis: Hunt for pilot after attack on Supreme Court - BBC News

If he's really part of some elite police group (really more para-military, apparently), then it could signify a deeper rift within the police/military establishment.

Of course, if he was beardworthy elite, he might've actually been successful.

 

[Thor]

Yeah, what he did was really not operator like. Pretty amateurish. He had a helo, grenades and guns...and no one died. Sort of reminds me of a progressive shooter at a baseball game that had 20mins of shooting fish in a barrel and tended to miss every single time. No plan, just action.

 

[Thor]

In fact after watching the video that's so lame that it's more likely a false flag event to give Madero a reason to full military crack down. Anyone who knew what they are doing had to know what he did was going to accomplish nothing of value.

 

[Kutnupe14]

In fact after watching the video that's so lame that it's more likely a false flag event to give Madero a reason to full military crack down. Anyone who knew what they are doing had to know what he did was going to accomplish nothing of value.

Maybe, but I think it was a pretty bold move. So bold, and given the international coverage of the event, I'd be hard pressed to think it a false flag operation. I mean, it's a guy who is part of the govt's "armed forces" in open opposition to the leader of the nation. That's a powerful image, regardless of what they didn't actually accomplish at the courts. It's plausible that this is the event that spurs either a popular uprising of even a civil war.