Thank you, Rob. I don't disagree with you on the negative effect that sanctions can have on the people of a country. In the case of Venezuela, however, the sanctions imposed don't seem to be of the kind that affect the entire population by cutting off vital goods like medicine and food.
GlobalSanctions.com has a comprehensive overview of the sanctions imposed on Venezuela: https://globalsanctions.com/region/venezuela/. They are mostly to do with specific individuals linked to the Maduro government, access to US financial markets for bond sales, an arms embargo, and targeted travel bans and asset freezes. They do not seem significant enough to account for the failure of the Venezuelan economy, nor sweeping enough to be a factor in the rampant shortages in the country or the low quality of life for citizens.
There is also a handy and detailed overview of the US government's sanctions policy towards Venezuela produced by the Congressional Research Service which is accessible here: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10715.
Yes, the gold seizure was in response to Maduro remaining in power after losing an election (which he did again this year). The case went to the High Court in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-53262767
Thank you for the link, I'll check it out.
I won't argue the sanctions point with you, Rob, because I'm nowhere near an expert and because it also isn't my focus. All I'll say is that it's possible, in my opinion, for the sanctions to have questionable motives or negative impact and for the Venezuelan government to be terrible.
The election was disputed in the USA, but somehow that's ok but not Venezuela? Anyway, I know there were tons of third party observers that clearly state the election was legit. Same with the last one.
It's ironic that someone who blogs about 1984 is taken in by the propaganda as long as it's about an idealism that is disliked.
It's also ironic that you are against government control, yet are cool with other people's property being seized, even if it was rigged it's not the property of the UK or USA.
Shouldn't we respect property rights over politicking?
Pick and choose, it's the best kind of double think 😂.
I respect your passion and your opinion, Rob, but I'm not entirely sure what you think I've been taken in by. I linked to the gold seizure story in the UK to point out that it was subject to due process, and yes, I'm a fan of due process. Am I a fan of governments seizing private property in an unchecked manner? Absolutely not. Does that mean that the law permits it to happen under certain circumstances, and I respect the law? Also, if annoyingly, yes. I likewise believe in free speech, even if I disagree strongly with what someone says or believes.
As for government control, it's a fascinating question. I'm all for a regulatory framework that prevents arsenic in drinking water, or toxins in food, or carcinogens in the dyes used in children's snacks and toys. That's government control. I don't support the current obsession with so-called misinformation and the ensuing calls for censorship; those are also potential forms of government control. It's complicated. Orwell himself wrote passionately about the control of language and action under Big Brother but favoured censorship in the UK during wartime because the Nazis were a legitimate threat and undermining the effort to defeat them was a serious issue. These things aren't always clearly delineated.
Do I dislike communism in the sense of a violent movement that seizes personal property, limits personal autonomy, and forces people into situations, jobs, and lives that they don't want for themselves? Yes, I do. Does that mean that I believe everything that an antagonistic government or vested interest says or writes about a communist regime? No.
I believe that the Venezuelan and Cuban governments force their people to live in a way that they would not choose for themselves if given the option through genuinely free elections. I also believe that, through covert operations, propaganda, and direct intervention, certain 'Western' powers have intervened in their, and other nations', affairs in a way that potentially distorts what the internal dynamics of those countries would be otherwise. One does not cancel out the other, in my opinion.
As to the legitimacy of the Venezuelan election in which Maduro refused to relinquish power, I'll defer to the following:
Does any of that 'prove' that Maduro lost this year rather than won? I suppose not. That said, Brazil is hardly considered a partisan 'imperial' power, and this is from The Guardian's story linked to above: 'Dalson Figueiredo, a political science professor at Brazil’s Federal University of Pernambuco – and another consultant on that study – said that the results show that, “given the number of votes being stolen, it’s the largest electoral fraud in Latin America’s history”.'
I'm delighted to have you engaged on these questions, and to have the opportunity to debate them with you. Even if you have an issue with my views, I hope that you continue to read and respond so we can keep our conversation going.
tech companies should be able to mine copyrighted or patented material without the express permission of the owner of those rights : if any government or group of gov’ts tried to sanction this robbery the rights holders surely have the right to join together in a class action lawsuit against the gov’ts and the tech companies in question.
Fiction and non-fiction class actions are in progress in the US right now, brought by the Author's Guild, albeit not against the government but against OpenAI.
Helene hit my part of Appalachia over Sept 27th & 28th, and if it wasn’t for neighbors with mules and ATVs defying the govt in order to supply those trapped by road and bridge cuts, there’d be a lot more dead bodies up here waiting to be found.
Compare to Cuba, a sandbar in the world’s most frequented cyclone path, which has suffered a 64-year embargo on imports and exports because its big fat neighbor doesn’t want competition from their sugar and tobacco farms. Don’t kid yourself. The embargo has no other purpose, and never did, unless it was to satisfy the pique of the mobsters who lost their Havana playground.
As for Venezuela, track their prosperity versus the pressure of the empire’s foot on their necks. Uncle Sam gives not a blarting fart about the silly ‘socialism’ crap the fake press wails at us. Like every other non-vassal of the US with important natural resources, they are outlawed and crushed for thinking those resources belong to their own people, instead of our corporations.
Great article anyway, but the sudden diversion into the commie scare thing is kinda like if Mearsheimer started finding a way to bring the imminent Martian invasion into every interview, because that’s what they’re saying on the soap operas.
Thanks for your comment, Alan. I'm sorry to hear about your situation in Appalachia, that's a terrible thing. I hope that you're safe. I'm interested by what you say about the response, because I've been seeing conflicting information - on one hand, many locals and volunteers have been sharing stories about aid and support being blocked or hampered by FEMA, and on the other hand, FEMA and the government are in a full-court press to argue that isn't so. If you have any more details for us on the situation as you're experiencing it, I'd be very keen to hear them.
I see how the way that I wrote the Cuba item in today's Weird might come across as one-sided. I'm not dismissing the impact that sanctions or the Cuba embargo have had on the people living in the affected countries, although I didn't mention them. As with any political policy, there can be tremendous human cost that shouldn't be waved away. I suppose from my perspective I focus on dystopian themes rather than politics per se, so, regardless of the external factors such as sanctions, the governments of Cuba and Venezuela employ dystopian methods that draw my attention. While the outside forces at play certainly make life harder for the citizens of those countries than they might otherwise be, I wouldn't go so far as to say that the existence (or selfish motivation) of those outside forces makes those governments blameless or innocent in their repression and continued immiseration of their populace.
I hope that comes across in the way I mean it, rather than as an excuse or a dismissal of the other elements present in the situation.
Venezuela is not crippled because of their government.
They are crippled because of sanctions.
Sanctions are in effect an act of war against the people of the nation.
If socialism was so bad, why not just let it work with the free market? 😂 Oh right, because then it will probably do well and people will realize.
Same with Cuba.
Thank you, Rob. I don't disagree with you on the negative effect that sanctions can have on the people of a country. In the case of Venezuela, however, the sanctions imposed don't seem to be of the kind that affect the entire population by cutting off vital goods like medicine and food.
GlobalSanctions.com has a comprehensive overview of the sanctions imposed on Venezuela: https://globalsanctions.com/region/venezuela/. They are mostly to do with specific individuals linked to the Maduro government, access to US financial markets for bond sales, an arms embargo, and targeted travel bans and asset freezes. They do not seem significant enough to account for the failure of the Venezuelan economy, nor sweeping enough to be a factor in the rampant shortages in the country or the low quality of life for citizens.
There is also a handy and detailed overview of the US government's sanctions policy towards Venezuela produced by the Congressional Research Service which is accessible here: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10715.
So you don't think sanctions are the cause, yet there's plenty of articles explaining what mess it caused.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)31397-2/fulltext
https://www.csis.org/analysis/are-sanctions-working-venezuela
Almost immediately after the sanctions, there was hyperinflation.
Blocking them from finance ties up their money for imports. Why are they not allowed to sell their assets? (Because we're the bullies here).
Also I recall that England "confiscated" a bunch of their gold.
That's plenty to hamper a country.
On what cause? Bullshit. Meanwhile one of our favorite allies is committing a genocide and despite that we GIVE THEM MONEY.
Socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the working class.
Yes, the gold seizure was in response to Maduro remaining in power after losing an election (which he did again this year). The case went to the High Court in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-53262767
Thank you for the link, I'll check it out.
I won't argue the sanctions point with you, Rob, because I'm nowhere near an expert and because it also isn't my focus. All I'll say is that it's possible, in my opinion, for the sanctions to have questionable motives or negative impact and for the Venezuelan government to be terrible.
The election was disputed in the USA, but somehow that's ok but not Venezuela? Anyway, I know there were tons of third party observers that clearly state the election was legit. Same with the last one.
It's ironic that someone who blogs about 1984 is taken in by the propaganda as long as it's about an idealism that is disliked.
It's also ironic that you are against government control, yet are cool with other people's property being seized, even if it was rigged it's not the property of the UK or USA.
Shouldn't we respect property rights over politicking?
Pick and choose, it's the best kind of double think 😂.
I respect your passion and your opinion, Rob, but I'm not entirely sure what you think I've been taken in by. I linked to the gold seizure story in the UK to point out that it was subject to due process, and yes, I'm a fan of due process. Am I a fan of governments seizing private property in an unchecked manner? Absolutely not. Does that mean that the law permits it to happen under certain circumstances, and I respect the law? Also, if annoyingly, yes. I likewise believe in free speech, even if I disagree strongly with what someone says or believes.
As for government control, it's a fascinating question. I'm all for a regulatory framework that prevents arsenic in drinking water, or toxins in food, or carcinogens in the dyes used in children's snacks and toys. That's government control. I don't support the current obsession with so-called misinformation and the ensuing calls for censorship; those are also potential forms of government control. It's complicated. Orwell himself wrote passionately about the control of language and action under Big Brother but favoured censorship in the UK during wartime because the Nazis were a legitimate threat and undermining the effort to defeat them was a serious issue. These things aren't always clearly delineated.
Do I dislike communism in the sense of a violent movement that seizes personal property, limits personal autonomy, and forces people into situations, jobs, and lives that they don't want for themselves? Yes, I do. Does that mean that I believe everything that an antagonistic government or vested interest says or writes about a communist regime? No.
I believe that the Venezuelan and Cuban governments force their people to live in a way that they would not choose for themselves if given the option through genuinely free elections. I also believe that, through covert operations, propaganda, and direct intervention, certain 'Western' powers have intervened in their, and other nations', affairs in a way that potentially distorts what the internal dynamics of those countries would be otherwise. One does not cancel out the other, in my opinion.
As to the legitimacy of the Venezuelan election in which Maduro refused to relinquish power, I'll defer to the following:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/06/venezuela-election-maduro-analysis
https://www.fairobserver.com/politics/venezuelas-rigged-elections-how-to-achieve-a-much-awaited-democratic-transition/
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/08/29/eu-rejects-legitimacy-of-venezuelas-maduro-stops-short-of-recognising-gonzalez-as-election
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/1/a-fake-fabricated-result-questions-swirl-around-venezuelas-election
Does any of that 'prove' that Maduro lost this year rather than won? I suppose not. That said, Brazil is hardly considered a partisan 'imperial' power, and this is from The Guardian's story linked to above: 'Dalson Figueiredo, a political science professor at Brazil’s Federal University of Pernambuco – and another consultant on that study – said that the results show that, “given the number of votes being stolen, it’s the largest electoral fraud in Latin America’s history”.'
I'm delighted to have you engaged on these questions, and to have the opportunity to debate them with you. Even if you have an issue with my views, I hope that you continue to read and respond so we can keep our conversation going.
Regarding the question of whether
tech companies should be able to mine copyrighted or patented material without the express permission of the owner of those rights : if any government or group of gov’ts tried to sanction this robbery the rights holders surely have the right to join together in a class action lawsuit against the gov’ts and the tech companies in question.
Fiction and non-fiction class actions are in progress in the US right now, brought by the Author's Guild, albeit not against the government but against OpenAI.
Fiction - https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-and-authors-file-class-action-suit-against-openai/
Non-fiction - https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-supports-nonfiction-writers-in-lawsuit-against-openai/
Thanks for the info.
Helene hit my part of Appalachia over Sept 27th & 28th, and if it wasn’t for neighbors with mules and ATVs defying the govt in order to supply those trapped by road and bridge cuts, there’d be a lot more dead bodies up here waiting to be found.
Compare to Cuba, a sandbar in the world’s most frequented cyclone path, which has suffered a 64-year embargo on imports and exports because its big fat neighbor doesn’t want competition from their sugar and tobacco farms. Don’t kid yourself. The embargo has no other purpose, and never did, unless it was to satisfy the pique of the mobsters who lost their Havana playground.
As for Venezuela, track their prosperity versus the pressure of the empire’s foot on their necks. Uncle Sam gives not a blarting fart about the silly ‘socialism’ crap the fake press wails at us. Like every other non-vassal of the US with important natural resources, they are outlawed and crushed for thinking those resources belong to their own people, instead of our corporations.
Great article anyway, but the sudden diversion into the commie scare thing is kinda like if Mearsheimer started finding a way to bring the imminent Martian invasion into every interview, because that’s what they’re saying on the soap operas.
Thanks for your comment, Alan. I'm sorry to hear about your situation in Appalachia, that's a terrible thing. I hope that you're safe. I'm interested by what you say about the response, because I've been seeing conflicting information - on one hand, many locals and volunteers have been sharing stories about aid and support being blocked or hampered by FEMA, and on the other hand, FEMA and the government are in a full-court press to argue that isn't so. If you have any more details for us on the situation as you're experiencing it, I'd be very keen to hear them.
I see how the way that I wrote the Cuba item in today's Weird might come across as one-sided. I'm not dismissing the impact that sanctions or the Cuba embargo have had on the people living in the affected countries, although I didn't mention them. As with any political policy, there can be tremendous human cost that shouldn't be waved away. I suppose from my perspective I focus on dystopian themes rather than politics per se, so, regardless of the external factors such as sanctions, the governments of Cuba and Venezuela employ dystopian methods that draw my attention. While the outside forces at play certainly make life harder for the citizens of those countries than they might otherwise be, I wouldn't go so far as to say that the existence (or selfish motivation) of those outside forces makes those governments blameless or innocent in their repression and continued immiseration of their populace.
I hope that comes across in the way I mean it, rather than as an excuse or a dismissal of the other elements present in the situation.
God, what a relief to meet a careful mind. I really enjoy your work.
Thank you, Alan. It's a pleasure to correspond with you.