Crisis at Venezuela

[Lord Baal]

Discuss... I wanna see your impressions about what's going on in my country while I'm going to the streets to fight for freedom.

[Condottiere 40K]

If the regime has the majority in the legislature, controls the armed forces and has the bureaucracy on it's side, options are limited.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Could you provide more information on what is going on in Venezuela?

[Mangalore]

Could you provide more information on what is going on in Venezuela?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26166094

At least three people were shot dead as violence erupted during anti-government protests in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Wednesday.

The violence broke out after some 10,000 demonstrators had gone home following a mainly peaceful rally.

Two people died after gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on the remaining crowd. A third died in later clashes.

The march was the latest in a series of mass protests against the policies of President Nicolas Maduro. ...

There have been protests, riots and killings...

The country also went into kind of a lockdown as air travel has become restricted. A friend of mine has her parents deliberate about leaving the country for good because the capability to take out the next flight when things go south was their only reason to still stay there.

[Kraut]

I'm going to the streets to fight for freedom.

I´ll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Lord Baal]

Thanks, I just came back, the street in front of my buildings are blocked with burning debris.. there was an exchange of bullets against yelling and stones.

[Simon Cashmere]

Thanks, I just came back, the street in front of my buildings are blocked with burning debris.. there was an exchange of bullets against yelling and stones.

Take some vids man (discretely) that's history in the making. Get your smartphone and film it.

[Phier]

Take some vids man (discretely) that's history in the making. Get your smartphone and film it.

I'm personally getting worried he hasn't checked in, in a while.

[ahawkTW]

Venezuela: yet another example of the catastrophic failure of "socialism." Well done, lord baal, keep on fighting for freedom and democracy.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Venezuela: yet another example of the catastrophic failure of "socialism." Well done, lord baal, keep on fighting for freedom and democracy.

lol please look at Finland.

[Armenum]

lol please look at Finland.

Finland doesn't have the same socialist policies like Venezuela nor is their government nearly as inept as that of Venezuela's.

[Slaytaninc]

lol please look at Finland.

Finland isn't socialist. Modern Social Democracy is Capitalist in nature, and their actual socialists are a pretty small party. It's appropriate to say that Social Democratic parties were once socialist, but the states in which they've had governments are not ran on anything approaching socialist lines. A welfare state isn't "socialist," indeed there are plenty of right-wing factions who support welfare states. In fact, Right-wing coalitions are in power in every Scandinavian country except for Denmark.

[Armenum]

Finland isn't socialist. Modern Social Democracy is Capitalist in nature, and their actual socialists are a pretty small party. It's appropriate to say that Social Democratic parties were once socialist, but the states in which they've had governments are not ran on anything approaching socialist lines. A welfare state isn't "socialist," indeed there are plenty of right-wing factions who support welfare states. In fact, Right-wing coalitions are in power in every Scandinavian country except for Denmark.

That's right. Finland has a healthy mixed-economy, with a strong Nordic style welfare system. In all they follow the 'Nordic Model':

The Nordic combination of extensive public provision of welfareand individualism has been described by Lars Trägårdh, of Ersta Sköndal University College, as “statist individualism.”^[5] The Nordic model is neither fully capitalistic nor socialistic, and attempts to merge the most desirable elements of both into a "hybrid" system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

Of course, you can't go apply the Nordic Model to any other country. The resources, demography, and geography of the Nordic countries make such an economic system possible.

[Durnaug]

That's right. Finland has a healthy mixed-economy, with a strong Nordic style welfare system. In all they follow the 'Nordic Model':


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

Of course, you can't go apply the Nordic Model to any other country. The resources, demography, and geography of the Nordic countries make such an economic system possible.

Wise words. The problems arise when governments and "interested parties" attempt to impose an ideology on us. Communism and neoliberalism are examples of utopian ideologies that provide cover for that most basic of criminals, the thief. In the case of the former, the party steals our wealth, in the case of the latter, the corporations steal our wealth. In both instances, the institutions of democracy are captured and used to pummel us into accepting the pseudo-ideology. They're just kleptocrats hiding behind verbiage.

[Phier]

That's right. Finland has a healthy mixed-economy, with a strong Nordic style welfare system. In all they follow the 'Nordic Model':

I think the Nordic model can work well, provided everyone is Nordic. The homogenous nature of the Nordic states make such a system more viable. Note the immigration issues as of late.

[ahawkTW]

LOL. The president is pinning the blame for shortages of toilet paper and food on "those greedy capitalists." In fact, their economy is doing poor due to those restrictions on business and inflated spending. We may be overspending here in the US, but at least I can go to a supermarket and the shelves are full

[Durnaug]

Discuss... I wanna see your impressions about what's going on in my country while I'm going to the streets to fight for freedom.

What freedoms are you fighting for exactly? I'd rather hear your on the ground reports than rely solely on biased BBC or RT broadcasts. What the frack is going on in Venezuela?

[Armenum]

Honestly, in the case of Venezuela, I am actively hoping that Maduro will be overthrown, the economic situation there is horrible, due to their ill-advised socialism. Venezuela has great potential, to be a real economic player, so it has a choice of being Cuba #2 or being a serious economic player with a free economic system.

[hellheaven1987]

being a serious economic player with a free economic system.

Like Mexico.

[Armenum]

http://www.taringa.net/posts/offtopi...Venezuela.html
In spanish

Everything started because the college students where protesting because they are tired of getting mugged when going, in and from the universities. It had nothing to do with the government per se, they are asking more security, that's all. The government, stupid and blind as usual, went full on the accusing them of trying to make a coup against them... things were south from there, more students and people joined the protests and suddenly the government forbade any tv, radio or paper agency to cover the protests and blamed all on Leopoldo Lopez. Since then people started to get really piss, specially as armed groups called "colectivos" (collectives, nothing more than gangs of violent thugs armed and endorsed by the government) went to the streets, causing the body count to streets...


They are shotting here !!!


There was an intense firefight just a few moments ago. One of the neighbors is a cop and was the only one capable of responding against a bunch of idiots firing at us.

May God be with your people - Que Dios esté con tu gente

Like Mexico.

Like Mexico, in order to be economically strong in the region, you have to have normal relations with the US. The economic weight of the US is too big to ignore and opening your markets to further North American investments is a great advantage.