Venezuela

[Don Giovanni]

Venezuela was at one point one of the world's richest economies (among the top 5 in terms of GDP), then it's central banking and government policies resulted in economic mismanagement. It wasn't long until Chavez, a socialist strongman, swept into power promising wealth redistribution to the country's poor who account for the vast majority of the population. More than 20 years later, Venezuela is rationing and suffering shortages the kind of which they have not experienced in living memory. There is no doubt outside forces, predominantly American, are attempting to undermine Venezuela's leadership and exacerbating their circumstances, but there is no mistaking that Venezuela's policies are as much to blame for their current struggles.

I don't think the US will stage a military intervention in Venezuela, but this is their second attempt to force the Chavistas out of power. The coup failed in 2002. And now this effort to put Guaido into power will likely fail too. That means Russia and China will retain quite a bit influence in South America--inside the western hemisphere, American "turf." This is a prospect that is deemed unacceptable to American leaders.

It's an unfortunate state of affairs for Venezuela and I don't see things improving for a long time to come. I'm concerned the US will be satisfied to simply cripple Venezuela for the time being, like it had done to Iraq under Clinton.

[Reaper]

Best the US stays out. Everyday Venizuela is left to deal with the socialists they elected, the world sees the failure of socialism in their faces. Venizuela is a gobal advert for far leftists in charge of a once rich nation.

[Filikieteria1821]

Venezuela is another example of socialism being a failure. I saw a post on twitter where people are selling 10 min of cell phone charging for 1 or 2 american dollars. The masses are starving and the living conditions have become so degraded that it's a miracle Maduro is still in power. I'm not sure how the military can honestly stay in power and not forcibly get rid of this guy .

The likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez look at Venezuela as a model of success though, and Tsipras is a known supporter as well.

The allegiance of socialism is filled with people who are obsessed with an ideology that has failed every time it has been attempted.

[Don Giovanni]

The reports developing out of Venezuela are that the power outages are due to sabotage by US backed/emboldened groups. I don't doubt those reports.

The situation in Venezuela has been desperate for some time now. People have been fleeing the country in droves. There have been reports of people starving and having difficulty acquiring even the most basic amenities. Maduro has been cracking down on members of the public, ordinary citizens, opposed to his presidency. It's certainly not the end of the world and life does go on, but the situation has been bad and it's only getting worse.

The US will continue to exacerbate their circumstances while Russia, China, and possibly others will look at ways to alleviate their circumstances and prop Maduro up.

I do get tired of this game. And I wished the general public was wiser to the threat socialism poses to freedom and basic living standards.