State of the Union - pre/post election & whatever...

[Adam Smiths Left Nut]

Looks like there's a snowflake rally in Charlottesville.


Totally about states rights, right?

[Bronshtein]

Once again the west, and the US in particular, are all in favour of exporting 'Democracy' just as long as the 'people' choose the right way.

Of course! Not much point otherwise.

You'd think by now that the powers that be would have learned that simply installing voting does not make a democrisy. Without a civil society and the culture needed to support that sort of government, it is a really stupid and meaningless gesture, doomed to failure, and with consequences that may be worse than had they left things alone.

Actually a very good point.

[Altius]

Fuck, not only does Trump want a war with North Korea now he said he would use military force against Venezuela ....

What's the point when the oil companies, the CIA and the locals behind Lopez are doing a great job of helping Maduro into oblivion?

Nick is crap but he has had a whole raft of trouble makers and coup plotters fucking the country up for him and ordinary Venezuelans for years.

Like a fascist Maquis they've hoarded goods, disrupted supply chains, made the streets a no go area for ordinary people and fucked up as much of the economy as they can. Yes the oil price hasn't helped but then the oil price has been rigged by the US and Saudi to fuck up Russia and in a happy coincidence Venezuela.

Once again the west, and the US in particular, are all in favour of exporting 'Democracy' just as long as the 'people' choose the right way.

This doesn't represent a well-developed agenda, it's just more ad hoc bullshit from this president. I'd bet he didn't even wake up that morning with a clear plan of how he would approach the Venezuela situation, nor the NK situation. The intent, I believe, is simply to distract from the disasterous defeats he has just experienced in trying to implement his domestic agenda, particularly among his base. A lot of them would like nothing more than to see America rampaging at perceived global threats like a bull in a fucking china shop. He needs a win, and everything has been a loss for him up to this point, with the exception of the Gorsuch appointment. I don't think it's an exaggeration to point out that this is all about him, not the country, not the world, and to hell with whoever gets hurt along the way.

[Il Segaiolo Pedantesco]

Fuck, not only does Trump want a war with North Korea now he said he would use military force against Venezuela ....

What's the point when the oil companies, the CIA and the locals behind Lopez are doing a great job of helping Maduro into oblivion?

Nick is crap but he has had a whole raft of trouble makers and coup plotters fucking the country up for him and ordinary Venezuelans for years.

Like a fascist Maquis they've hoarded goods, disrupted supply chains, made the streets a no go area for ordinary people and fucked up as much of the economy as they can. Yes the oil price hasn't helped but then the oil price has been rigged by the US and Saudi to fuck up Russia and in a happy coincidence Venezuela.

Once again the west, and the US in particular, are all in favour of exporting 'Democracy' just as long as the 'people' choose the right way.

Bernard Shaw, I presume...

How ‘food apartheid’ is punishing some Venezuelans

Maduro called the new system “CLAPs” (Local Committees of Supply and Production). The name might be fitting, because those who don’t applaud his government haven’t been getting anything to eat.

Maduro told Venezuelans that the CLAP system would alleviate chronic scarcities and the “economic war” against his government he says is being waged by opposition leaders, business owners and the street-level black market vendors known as “bachaqueros.” The CLAPs would go door to door in Venezuela’s poorest communities selling bags of groceries at huge discounts.

Instead, critics say the system has devolved into a kind of “food apartheid” meant to punish those who oppose Maduro.

“I was told very clearly and straight to my face: We won’t sell you the bag of food, this benefit is reserved only for chavistas,” said Carmen Villegas, who lives in the rough Caracas neighborhood of Catia. She was referring to people who support the government's socialist policies, enacted by former president Hugo Chávez.

What next, tea and biscuits with Jeremy Corbyn, followed by a vigourous cockshake with Robert Mugabe?

[Bronshtein]

The difficulty in any country trying to run a system in opposition to oligarchical control of resources is that the robber barons in charge of the system outside your country have a vested interest in making that system fail.

That's why the US has tried to break Cuba and now Venezuela through trade, corruption, encouragement of criminal gangs and globalist gangsters..

Rather than saying - okay you run your country your way and we'll trade as normal - they blockade, embargo, threaten and cajole, they illegally support trouble makers internally and lie about the root causes of the problems in the press. They rig prices and supply and point the finger at the politicians trying to ensure an equitable distribution of wealth.

How much do you see in the 'popular' press about Venezuela's poor, oppressed by the evil socialist dictator? Tons.
How much do you see in the 'popular' press about Saudi Arabia's poor oppressed by evil hereditary friends of the US? Fuck all.

[kyotebue2]

Fucking nazis in Virgina.

[Il Segaiolo Pedantesco]

The difficulty in any country trying to run a system in opposition to oligarchical control of resources is that the robber barons in charge of the system outside your country have a vested interest in making that system fail.

That's why the US has tried to break Cuba and now Venezuela through trade, corruption, encouragement of criminal gangs and globalist gangsters..

Rather than saying - okay you run your country your way and we'll trade as normal - they blockade, embargo, threaten and cajole, they illegally support trouble makers internally and lie about the root causes of the problems in the press. They rig prices and supply and point the finger at the politicians trying to ensure an equitable distribution of wealth.

How much do you see in the 'popular' press about Venezuela's poor, oppressed by the evil socialist dictator? Tons.
How much do you see in the 'popular' press about Saudi Arabia's poor oppressed by evil hereditary friends of the US? Fuck all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/busin ... 59629.html
http://observers.france24.com/en/201111 ... l-Jaradiya
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/19/136439885 ... oil-wealth
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in ... 318ac9b06c
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/ ... inequality

Just like those Muslim marches against terrorism, conveniently ignored by those with a bias...

[Adam smiths left nut]

This would be a great time for the "Heritage not hate" people to publicly denounce the guys with Nazi flags in Charlottesville.

[Altius]

This would be a great time for the "Heritage not hate" people to publicly denounce the guys with Nazi flags in Charlottesville.

they're all too busy chanting "blood and soil" at the moment.

[McKinstry]

This would be a great time for the "Heritage not hate" people to publicly denounce the guys with Nazi flags in Charlottesville.

That presumes there actually are people who believe that particular idiocy. I met a fair number of Georgians during the fight over changing the state flag to ditch the Confederate symbology that might spout that pablum but bottom line simply missed the good old days when blacks stayed under foot and did what they were told.

Every single state that seceded mentioned the retention of slavery in that resolution of secession and any pretence that the South wasn't first and foremost about slavery is bullshit. I firmly believe nostalgia/reverence/respect for the Confederacy may not be as vile as pro-nazi sentiment but it sure as hell is nazi adjacent.