{"id":183133,"date":"2019-02-03T07:50:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T07:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=183133"},"modified":"2019-02-06T05:03:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T05:03:20","slug":"why-must-venezuela-be-destroyed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=183133","title":{"rendered":"Why must Venezuela be destroyed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dmitry Orlov — Information Clearing House Feb 1, 2019
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Last week Trump, his VP Mike Pence, US State Dept. director Mike Pompeo and Trump\u2019s national security advisor John Bolton, plus a bunch of Central American countries that are pretty much US colonies and don\u2019t have foreign policies of their own, synchronously announced that Venezuela has a new president: a virtual non-entity named Juan Guaid\u00f3, who was never even a candidate for that office, but who was sorta-kinda trained for this job in the US. Guaid\u00f3 appeared at a rally in Caracas, flanked by a tiny claque of highly compensated sycophants. He looked very frightened as he self-appointed himself president of Venezuela and set about discharging his presidential duties by immediately going into hiding.<\/span><\/p>\n

His whereabouts remained unknown until much later, when he surfaced at a press conference, at which he gave a wishy-washy non-answer to the question of whether he had been pressured to declare himself president or had done so of his own volition. There is much to this story that is at once tragic and comic, so let\u2019s take it apart piece by piece. Then we\u2019ll move on to answering the question of Why Venezuela must be destroyed (from the US establishment\u2019s perspective).<\/span><\/p>\n

What stands out immediately is the combination of incompetence and desperation exhibited by all of the above-mentioned public and not-so-public figures. Pompeo, in voicing his recognition of Guaid\u00f3, called him \u201cguido,\u201d which is an ethnic slur against Italians, while Bolton did one better and called him \u201cguiado\u201d which could be Spanish for \u201cremote-controlled.\u201d (Was that a Freudian slip or just another one of Bolton\u2019s senior moments?) Not to be outdone, Pence gave an entire little speech on Venezuela\u2014a sort of address to the Venezuelan people\u2014which was laced with some truly atrocious pseudo-Spanish gibberish and ended with an utterly incongruous \u201c\u00a1Vaya con Dios!\u201d straight out of a hammy 1950s Western.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some more entertainment was provided at the UN Security Council, where the ever-redoubtable Russian representative Vasily Nebenzya pointed out that the situation in Venezuela did not pose a threat to international security and was therefore not within the purview of the Security Council. He then proceeded to ask Pompeo, who was present at the meeting, a pointed question: \u201cIs the US planning to yet again violate the UN Charter?\u201d
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Pompeo failed to give an answer. He sat there looking like a cat that\u2019s pretending that it isn\u2019t chewing on a canary, then quickly fled the scene. But then most recently Bolton, as he was presumably exiting a national security meeting and walking to a White House press briefing, accidentally flashed his notepad before reporters\u2019 cameras. On it were written the words \u201c5000 troops to Colombia\u201d (that\u2019s a US military base\/narco-colony on Venezuela\u2019s northern border). Was this another one of Bolton\u2019s senior moments? In any case, it does seem to answer Nebenzya\u2019s question in the affirmative. The appointment as special envoy to Venezuela of Elliott Abrams, a convicted criminal who was complicit in the previous, failed Venezuelan coup attempt against Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, automatically making him persona non grata in Venezuela, is also indicative of hostile intent.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would be quite forgivable for you to mistake this regime change operation for some sort of absurdist performance art. It is certainly a bit too abstract for the real-world complexities of the international order. Some poor frightened minion is thrust in front of a camera and declares himself President of Narnia, and then three stooges (Pence, Pompeo and Bolton) plus Bozo the Trump all jump up and yell \u201cYes-yes-yes, that\u2019s surely him!\u201d And a pensioned-off failure is pulled off the bench, dusted off and dispatched on a mission to a country that won\u2019t have him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Venezuelan army and the Venezuelan courts remains squarely behind the elected president Nicolas Maduro and a list of countries that comprise the vast majority of the world\u2019s population, including China, Russia, India, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and quite a few others speak out in Maduro\u2019s support. Even the people in the remote-controlled Central American countries know full well what a dangerous precedent such a regime change operation would set if it were to succeed, and are thinking: \u201c\u00a1Hoy Venezuela, ma\u00f1ana nosotros!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To be thorough, let\u2019s look at the arguments being used to advance this regime change operation. There is the contention that Nicolas Maduro is not a legitimate president because last year\u2019s elections, where he was supported by 68% of those who turned out, lacked transparency and were boycotted by certain opposition parties, whereas Juan Guaid\u00f3 is 100% legit in spite of him and his inconsequential National Assembly being opposed by 70% of Venezuelans according to the opposition\u2019s own polling numbers. There were also some unfounded allegations of \u201cballot-box stuffing\u201d\u2014except that the Venezuelans do not use paper ballots, while according to international election-watcher and former US president Jimmy Carter, \u201cthe election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There is the contention that Maduro has badly mismanaged Venezuela\u2019s economy, leading to hyperinflation, high unemployment, shortages of basic goods (medicines especially) and a refugee crisis. There is some merit to this contention, but we must also note that some of Venezuela\u2019s neighbors are doing even worse in many respects in spite of Maduro not being their president. Also, many of Venezuela\u2019s economic difficulties have been caused by US sanctions against it. For instance, right now around 8 billion dollars of Venezuela\u2019s money is being held hostage and is intended to be used to finance a mercenary army which would invade and attempt to destroy Venezuela just as was done with Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, a lot of Venezuela\u2019s predicament has to do with the oil curse. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, but its oil is very viscous and therefore expensive to produce. During a period of high oil prices Venezuelans became addicted to the oil largess, which the government used to lift millions of people out of abject poverty and to move them out of slums and into government housing. And now low oil prices have caused a crisis. If Venezuela manages to survive this period, it will be able to recover once oil prices recover (which they will once the fracking Ponzi scheme in the US has run its course). We will return to the topic of Venezuelan oil later.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a side comment, a lot of people have been voicing the opinion that Venezuela\u2019s woes are due to socialism. According to them, it\u2019s fine if lots of people are suffering as long as their government is capitalist, but if it is socialist then that\u2019s the wrong kind of suffering and their government deserves to be overthrown even if they all voted for it. For example, the site ZeroHedge, which often publishes useful information and analysis, has been pushing this line of thinking ad nauseam. It is unfortunate that some people imagine that they are being principled and right-thinking whereas they are just being dumb jerks at best and somebody\u2019s useful idiots at worst. The politics of other nations are not for them to decide and they should stop wasting our time with their nonsense.<\/span><\/p>\n

This naked attempt at regime change would set a very dangerous precedent for the US itself. The doctrine of legal precedent is by no means universal. It comes to us from the dim dark ages of tribal English common law and is only followed in former British colonies. To the rest of the world it is a barbaric form of injustice because it grants arbitrary power to judges and lawyers. The courts must not be allowed to write or alter laws, only to follow them. If your case can be decided on the basis of some other case that has nothing to do with you\u2014well then, why not let somebody else pay your legal fees and your fines and serve out your sentence for you? But there is an overarching principle of international law, which is that sovereign nations have a right to keep to their own laws and legal traditions. Therefore, the US will be bound by the precedents which it establishes. Let\u2019s see how that would work.<\/span><\/p>\n

The precedent established by the US government\u2019s recognition of Juan Guaid\u00f3 allows Nicolas Maduro to declare Donald Trump\u2019s presidency as illegitimate for virtually all of the same reasons. Trump failed to win the popular vote but only gained the presidency because of a corrupt, gerrymandered electoral system. Also, certain opposition candidates were unfairly treated within the electoral process. Trump is also a disgrace and a failure: 43 million people are on food stamps; close to 100 million are among the long-term unemployed (circularly referred to as \u201cnot in labor force\u201d); homelessness is rampant and there are entire tent cities springing up in various US cities; numerous US companies are on the verge of bankruptcy; and Trump can\u2019t even seem to be able to keep the federal government open! He is a disaster for his country! Maduro therefore recognizes Bernie Sanders as the legitimate president of the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin could then build on these two precedents by also recognizing Bernie Sanders as the rightful US president. In a public speech, he could say the following: \u201cI freely admit that we installed Donald Trump as US president as was our right based on the numerous precedents established by the US itself. Unfortunately, Trump didn\u2019t work out as planned. Mueller can retire, because this flash drive contains everything that\u2019s necessary to nullify Trump\u2019s inauguration. Donny, sorry it didn\u2019t work out! Your Russian passport is ready for pick-up at our embassy, as are your keys to a one-bedroom in Rostov, right next door to the Ukraine\u2019s former president Viktor Yanukovich who was violently regime-changed by your predecessor Obama.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why the unseemly haste to blow up Venezuela? The explanation is a simple one: it has to do with oil. \u201cIt will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela.\u201d said John Bolton on Fox News. You see, Venezuelan oil cannot be produced profitably without high oil prices\u2014so high that many oil consumers would go bankrupt\u2014but it can certainly be produced in much higher quantities at a huge financial loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Huge financial losses certainly wouldn\u2019t stop American oil companies who have so far generated a $300 billion loss through fracking\u2014financed by looting retirement savings, saddling future generations with onerous debt and other nefarious schemes. Also keep in mind that the single largest oil consumer in the world is the US Dept. of Defense, and if it has to pay a little more for oil in order to go on blowing up countries\u2014so it will. Or, rather, you will. It\u2019s all the same to them. The US is already well beyond broke, but its leaders will do anything to keep the party going for just a while longer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the real problem: the fracking bonanza is ending. Most of the sweet spots have already been tapped; newer wells are depleting faster and producing less while costing more; the next waves of fracking, were they to happen, would squander $500 billion, then $1 trillion, then $2 trillion\u2026 The drilling rate is already slowing, and started slowing even while oil prices were still high. Meanwhile, peak conventional (non-fracked) oil happened back in 2005-6, only a few countries haven\u2019t peaked yet, Russia has announced that it will start reducing production in just a couple years and Saudi Arabia doesn\u2019t have any spare capacity left.<\/span><\/p>\n

A rather large oil shortage is coming, and it will rather specifically affect the US, which burns 20% of the world\u2019s oil (with just 5% of the world\u2019s population). Once fracking crashes, the US will go from having to import 2.5 million barrels per day to importing at least 10\u2014and that oil won\u2019t exist. Previously, the US was able to solve this problem by blowing up countries and stealing their oil: the destruction of Iraq and Libya made American oil companies whole for a while and kept the financial house of cards from collapsing. But the effort to blow up Syria has failed, and the attempt to blow up Venezuela is likely to fail too because, keep in mind, Venezuela has between 7 and 9 million Chavistas imbued with the Bolivarian revolutionary spirit, a large and well-armed military and is generally a very tough neighborhood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previously, the US resorted to various dirty tricks to legitimize its aggression against oil-rich countries and its subsequent theft of their natural resources. There was that vial of highly toxic talcum powder Colin Powell shook at the UN to get it to vote in favor of destroying Iraq and stealing its oil. There was the made-up story of humanitarian atrocities in Libya to get the votes for a no-fly zone there (which turned out to be a bombing campaign followed by a government overthrow). But with Venezuela there isn\u2019t any such fig leaf. All we have is open threats of naked aggression and blatant lies which nobody believes, delivered incompetently by clowns, stooges and old fogies.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Plan A (steal Venezuela\u2019s oil) fails, then Plan B is to take all of your US dollar-denominated paper waste\u2014cash, stocks, bonds, deeds, insurance policies, promissory notes, etc.\u2014and burn it in trash barrels in an effort to stay warm. There is a definite whiff of desperation to the whole affair. The global hegemon is broken; it fell down and it can\u2019t get up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dmitry Orlov is a Russian-American engineer and a writer on subjects related to “potential economic, ecological and political decline and collapse in the United States,” something he has called \u201cpermanent crisis\u201d. Orlov believes collapse will be the result of huge military budgets, government deficits, an unresponsive political system and declining oil production. https:\/\/cluborlov.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/why-must-venezuela-be-destroyed.html<\/a> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dmitry Orlov on the rational behind U.S. moves for regime change in Venezuela<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=183133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183136,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183133\/revisions\/183136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=183133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=183133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=183133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}