Venezuela as moral bankruptcy of the left: seeking "dialogue" at this point is supporting Maduro
Before I go into this I need to clarify the meaning of some terms least people go all bonkers. What I call left is strictly people that are to the left of European social democrats or US liberals. Myself I politically gravitate between social democrat /liberal and center. Though if the candidate is appealing I have crossed the line more than once. One of my griefs against Reagan is that he turned decisively Liberal US into a dirty word. Liberals were the heirs of a great tradition of free enterprise and social responsibility; now rednecks toss around Liberal in the same sentence as Commie. And that has been so damaging...
The reason of this rant type of entry is that suddenly out of nowhere some people are proposing that the regime and the Venezuelan opposition "dialogue" again. At this point in time offering that as the lone idea to bring peace to Venezuela is to mock's people's intelligence. And worse, it does give Maduro some time to recoup and charge again.
In short, proposing dialogue is helping Maduro's regime. You cannot have neutrality when on one side you have a repressive regime, with military support, that has killed scores of dissidents, that has flaunted constitutional rules of Venezuela to remain in office against all odds. And it gets even uglier when you call the other side coup mongers when it is the side that puts the body count, that wants free and fair elections, and who make it very clear that its leader Guaido is a mere interim president until elections are held. Words have a weight and when you still read and listen to some media using "auto-proclamation" of Guaido, or consider that a coup is taking place against a president whose election is highly questioned, or that seek for their nightly news the 20% that still supports Maduro with the object of showing a supposedly objective balance, you realize how damaging has the left language be for the democratic processes of the world.
Let's look at some examples.
Mexico and Uruguay were at the center of scanda today. They called for an "international conference" .
In that communique for a hastily called international conference to help diplomacy over sanctions (I presume) we notice several things:
- willful ignorance that previous dialogue operations have miserably failed and ALWAYS followed by increased repression and more absolute control of the country. If for Uruguay there may be an explanation as to president Tabaré Vasquéz blackmailed for for the shady dealing of his son, in Mexico it is unforgivable. I know that Obrador was elected with another view on foreign politics but they did inherit all the data of the foreign ministry. And further more welcomed Maduro to his inauguration. How can Mexico ditch all of that? I remind you that Mexico was the heart of the latest failed "dialogue". Bureaucrats know what happened then.
- "auto proclamation" of Uruguay and Mexico as neutrals countries, and thus righteous to convoke for that conference other neutral countries (I cannot wait for that list). Boldly assessing that you are neutral about Venezuela today is nothing but an admission that they want to keep Maduro in office and that at best they will try to get some minor corrections (that will be quickly swept by the regime).
- it is called for February 7 and its objective is to find tools to bring the regime and the opposition to the same table for a constructive dialogue. What the fuck? Venezuela is burning, we have two presidents, we are going to starve, etc, etc... and this bozzos want to apply a strategy that will take at least 1 month until any possible good result may happen? SAying "we want Maduro" would hardly be clearer.
- and they take cover from the UN who after the last security council probably knows better than to ask for dialogue between Venezuelan sides. In other words they are ashamed enough that they seek cover. But they forge ahead with want is only a leftist set that cannot accept that the left has failed so miserably in Venezuela.
On another note. We have fresh congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She is certainly smart: nobody dumb can go from Somalian refugee to be elected to Congress from Minnesota. She wrote a series of knee jerk Tweets on Venezuela that gave her enough flack that she was forced into tweeting something more neutral. She even notched down from condemn to caution.
And yet a few hours later she could not help it and tweeted this:
Now, I understand that there has been a strong historical tendency in the USA towards isolationism (Trump himself is its more recent avatar no matter what the congresswoman thinks). But Ilhan Omar is now part of the foreign committee of the House and she just cannot blurt knee jerk replies. The right tweet about a week ago should have been something like: "we are very worried about the developments in Venezuela. We need to assess fully what is happening before any decision is made by the US. Dialogue should always be promoted before sanctions are taken as a last recourse". Or something to the like.
But her left formation (and lack of true knowledge on Venezuela, and inability to get a good adviser apparently) brings her to mention "dialogue". I suggest that congresswoman Omar spends a few months instructing herself about world affairs before starting emitting opinions. After all on that committee she can get all sorts of verified data. But I am afraid her left heart will prevail.
To help her understand, sanctions so far were designed to hurt apparatchiks of the regime. Only now real sanctions are starting. And dialogues have failed several times. Calling for them without using a tool for pressure is simply crass.
And to finish this entry on light note: another leftist intelligentsia hero Jon Lee Anderson got into bad trouble today and had to remove a tweet he wrote on Venezuela, tweet mercifully saved in cache. Basically he poked fun of the opposition in a mean way, revealing at the same time his contempt and where his inclinations were in spite of all the suffering of Venezuela.
TO MAKE THINGS CLEARER TOO ALL THIS TYPE OF PEOPLE
For the opposition to even consider sitting at a table with the regime the following conditions must be met (conditions that are applied in one simple political decision by Maduro):
- freedom for all political prisoners
- restauration of the National Assembly prerogatives, retroactively to when these were abolished by fiat.
- allowing for international help OUTSIDE of government control least this one uses it for propaganda.
- restore freedom of expression.
Without that, dialogue is useless. Any one that promotes dialogue without taking these in consideration is not a friend of Venezuela but a friend of Maduro's regime/dictatorship. What we need now are negotiations as to the schedule on the regime's departure.
And note, in particular for Omar from Africa: the new sanctions are probably accepted by a majority of the population. We already suffer enough that some more we can take. See as an example the ANC under the apartheid in South Africa. AS seen on the latest protest, a large majority of the country is against Maduro. Period.
The reason of this rant type of entry is that suddenly out of nowhere some people are proposing that the regime and the Venezuelan opposition "dialogue" again. At this point in time offering that as the lone idea to bring peace to Venezuela is to mock's people's intelligence. And worse, it does give Maduro some time to recoup and charge again.
In short, proposing dialogue is helping Maduro's regime. You cannot have neutrality when on one side you have a repressive regime, with military support, that has killed scores of dissidents, that has flaunted constitutional rules of Venezuela to remain in office against all odds. And it gets even uglier when you call the other side coup mongers when it is the side that puts the body count, that wants free and fair elections, and who make it very clear that its leader Guaido is a mere interim president until elections are held. Words have a weight and when you still read and listen to some media using "auto-proclamation" of Guaido, or consider that a coup is taking place against a president whose election is highly questioned, or that seek for their nightly news the 20% that still supports Maduro with the object of showing a supposedly objective balance, you realize how damaging has the left language be for the democratic processes of the world.
Let's look at some examples.
Mexico and Uruguay were at the center of scanda today. They called for an "international conference" .
Uruguay y Mexico invitan a Conferencia Internacional sobre la situación en Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/c4oZg01MY7— CANCILLERÍA URUGUAY (@MRREE_Uruguay) January 30, 2019
In that communique for a hastily called international conference to help diplomacy over sanctions (I presume) we notice several things:
- willful ignorance that previous dialogue operations have miserably failed and ALWAYS followed by increased repression and more absolute control of the country. If for Uruguay there may be an explanation as to president Tabaré Vasquéz blackmailed for for the shady dealing of his son, in Mexico it is unforgivable. I know that Obrador was elected with another view on foreign politics but they did inherit all the data of the foreign ministry. And further more welcomed Maduro to his inauguration. How can Mexico ditch all of that? I remind you that Mexico was the heart of the latest failed "dialogue". Bureaucrats know what happened then.
- "auto proclamation" of Uruguay and Mexico as neutrals countries, and thus righteous to convoke for that conference other neutral countries (I cannot wait for that list). Boldly assessing that you are neutral about Venezuela today is nothing but an admission that they want to keep Maduro in office and that at best they will try to get some minor corrections (that will be quickly swept by the regime).
- it is called for February 7 and its objective is to find tools to bring the regime and the opposition to the same table for a constructive dialogue. What the fuck? Venezuela is burning, we have two presidents, we are going to starve, etc, etc... and this bozzos want to apply a strategy that will take at least 1 month until any possible good result may happen? SAying "we want Maduro" would hardly be clearer.
- and they take cover from the UN who after the last security council probably knows better than to ask for dialogue between Venezuelan sides. In other words they are ashamed enough that they seek cover. But they forge ahead with want is only a leftist set that cannot accept that the left has failed so miserably in Venezuela.
On another note. We have fresh congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She is certainly smart: nobody dumb can go from Somalian refugee to be elected to Congress from Minnesota. She wrote a series of knee jerk Tweets on Venezuela that gave her enough flack that she was forced into tweeting something more neutral. She even notched down from condemn to caution.
Of course there is suffering in Venezuela and I strongly stand with the people. There many ways we can assist, that I would support but will always caution us against intervention.— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) 28 de enero de 2019
And yet a few hours later she could not help it and tweeted this:
Trump's new sanctions on Venezuela are nothing more than economic sabotage designed to force regime change by starving the very people we claim to be helping. We must lift these, & other sanctions impacting Venezuela's poor, & support dialogue between the opposition & government. https://t.co/hjOUseW1B6— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) 28 de enero de 2019
Now, I understand that there has been a strong historical tendency in the USA towards isolationism (Trump himself is its more recent avatar no matter what the congresswoman thinks). But Ilhan Omar is now part of the foreign committee of the House and she just cannot blurt knee jerk replies. The right tweet about a week ago should have been something like: "we are very worried about the developments in Venezuela. We need to assess fully what is happening before any decision is made by the US. Dialogue should always be promoted before sanctions are taken as a last recourse". Or something to the like.
But her left formation (and lack of true knowledge on Venezuela, and inability to get a good adviser apparently) brings her to mention "dialogue". I suggest that congresswoman Omar spends a few months instructing herself about world affairs before starting emitting opinions. After all on that committee she can get all sorts of verified data. But I am afraid her left heart will prevail.
To help her understand, sanctions so far were designed to hurt apparatchiks of the regime. Only now real sanctions are starting. And dialogues have failed several times. Calling for them without using a tool for pressure is simply crass.
And to finish this entry on light note: another leftist intelligentsia hero Jon Lee Anderson got into bad trouble today and had to remove a tweet he wrote on Venezuela, tweet mercifully saved in cache. Basically he poked fun of the opposition in a mean way, revealing at the same time his contempt and where his inclinations were in spite of all the suffering of Venezuela.
TO MAKE THINGS CLEARER TOO ALL THIS TYPE OF PEOPLE
For the opposition to even consider sitting at a table with the regime the following conditions must be met (conditions that are applied in one simple political decision by Maduro):
- freedom for all political prisoners
- restauration of the National Assembly prerogatives, retroactively to when these were abolished by fiat.
- allowing for international help OUTSIDE of government control least this one uses it for propaganda.
- restore freedom of expression.
Without that, dialogue is useless. Any one that promotes dialogue without taking these in consideration is not a friend of Venezuela but a friend of Maduro's regime/dictatorship. What we need now are negotiations as to the schedule on the regime's departure.
And note, in particular for Omar from Africa: the new sanctions are probably accepted by a majority of the population. We already suffer enough that some more we can take. See as an example the ANC under the apartheid in South Africa. AS seen on the latest protest, a large majority of the country is against Maduro. Period.
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