Some would argue that the oil reserves of a nation are the property of the people of this nation, and as such they should get the benefits of its extraction.
In weak countries, private interests take ownership of the public property and some people feel pretty unhappy about that.
In the case of Chavez, the part of the population not making it anymore in the countryside was very supportive of his oil wealth distribution programme.
The big back issue with Venezuela is the lack of common project between bourgeoisie mostly in towns and smallholders in the countryside. Neither Chavez/Maduro nor the new classical right has an unifying project.
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^^^
Look at the whole Brexit shambles … 30 years of lies through the media that has been spoon-fed to the public and then years of false promises and unicorns of what things would be like to break current peace pacts (EU & GFA) and give even more power to corrupt politicians who put their own interests before those of the poorest 95% in the country.
Look at Hungary where most media is bought and silenced by Orban. Look at Turkey where not just journalists but even teachers or other civilians are thrown in jail for criticising their leader.
Trump would probably end freedom of press immediately if he could get away with it. His hatred for CNN, among others, is irrational. He’s been in the media business for long enough to know how things work.
We don’t get much news from Russian media but I can only imagine how Putin has his hand in things. That’ll probably be one of the lesser things you could object to.
China has its big firewall for censorship and media control and even laws to punish people who are trying to bypass it with VPN or other technologies.
Just to name a few examples…
Besides the UK perhaps, whose press is mainly owned by foreign country instead of its own, I think the common red line between all examples is that all these countries have leaders that would aspire nothing more than being all powerful dictators. It’s something that people should be very afraid of because those people are not the ones with the country’s best interests at heart, they’re people on a power trip.
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I tend to agree with this, but it doesn’t matter what the stance of a country is, with bad management it all goes to waste.
Chavez should’ve used the income from oil and gas as investment for the future benefit of the country (schools, hospitals, diversify economy, etc etc). Instead he chose to give away free meals and benefit a few to get rich quick. When the income stopped, everything went to shit.
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I am no specialist on Venezuela, but subsidised food products and medicine looks like a pretty popular thing in countries with capitalistic systems that have left some so far behind that they simply cannot afford to live. Stopping thereof tends to create absolute chaos.
I have actually watched the whole UN security council session on Venezuela and it was not a pretty sight, starting off very poorly with Pence doing a “we bring freedom and democracy and the elected ruler must go”. As with Irak and Syria. He then proceeded to run away without listening to the others speaking. All of them pretty expected, mind you.
The only interesting bit was Russia gnawing at Bank of England credibility for the blocking of Venezualan funds.
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Sure, if you read my previous posts you can see that I support socialism . A world without it would be a very sad place for the vast majority of people.
But good management of a country’s wealth is important and that’s where he miserably failed. You see this behavior with people who get an inheritance or win the lotto very often as well. Spend, spend, spend and one day it’s all gone and those people will be more miserable than ever.
If instead those people manage their wealth and at least partly invest their capital for the future, it may last a lifetime and even support your next generation.
There are quite a few oil-rich countries I can think of as examples of both cases and especially Venezuela is sitting on some of the largest oil reserves in the world. They had every opportunity to surpass the wealth of the middle eastern countries that are very successful, with which it should’ve been easy to help the poorest and still make a great success of the country for generations to come.
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Especially when you consider the free airtime they gave him during the primaries.
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Interesting, I have seen that spread around a lot lately. see “47 U.S. Code § 315.Candidates for public office”, if there is any truth to it CNN was required to offer the same to all the qualifying candidates at the same price. Maybe they got the same but now politics demands we look at only one parties side,hmmmmm, All politics suck, from socialism to crony capitalism
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He would just phone in and since they thought he was hilarious and good for business, they let him.
Nothing to do with politics, he’s just a great showman and they took advantage of that, as did he.
Still makes it weird that he complains so much about the media.
I just realised, I constantly criticise the media 
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…I can no longer sit back and allow Socialist infiltration, Socialist indoctrination, Socialist subversion, and the international Socialist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
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To be fair, the US does not sign that many treaties.
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Wow, thread is all over the place.
Well, back to the OP, looks like they’ve managed to drop their inflation back down to 1,600,000 % !! ??
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Hard not to tis in the news daily.
As yourselves, who stands to gain the most financially if the United States gets what it wants?
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IDK I kind of feel like USA is the lesser of many evils in the world.
yes there is much blood on their hands just like any other country really.
but do you think life would be better under a russian or chinese regime?
I’m not saying these countries would be better or worse but every major country has
some serious problems especially with it’s government.
look what happens in the middle-east public mass filmed beheading on the streets for everyone to see.
Those country’s were unstable well before USA came into their life.
Do you think they will just stop if we just ask nicely?
Is not my country not my problem the proper attitude just let crazy shit happen as long as it’s not in my back yard?
Maybe we have to do a little bad to do some real good?
Not justifying their oil war but hopefully some good will come to it for those civilians.
I do have problem’s with USA quest for dominance and imposing their culture on the world as well as media brainwashing and many many things. But I could probably look at almost any country of relative power and find equally bad things. But we should never settle and always demand better.
IDK it’s complicated and im not american or pro-american wanna make that clear this is all more of a question not a statement.
I don’t think USA is going down though maybe that’s what they want you to believe to get the populace to work harder, after all a country can never truly be bankrupt as long as the people are willing to work, it’s all fiat a fugazi. But if they ran out of oil they probably would be pretty boned but i’m sure they will start another war before that happens.
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But at least it is their own government they have a problem with.
I’m a bit wary of these publications since we are only shown the things they want us to see and most of the time the images they show us are from a different time and often a different place than where they tell us it is happening.
I do know that Saudi Arabia is very eager to behead people, even crucifixion is popular, and they also fund the same terrorists the West is fighting.
The way the women are treated is barbaric too but all of that doesn’t stop the US and Britain funding them.
Now why is that ok when done by Saudi Arabia and not when it’s Iran and why is beheading people barbaric but droning thousands and destroying an entire country seen as an act of civilisation?
They never show us the bodies that are torn to pieces by the fragmentation bombs they spread out over civilian populations.
They gloss it over and call it collateral damage.
These countries were unstable before indeed, but that’s because the interference in those days came from Britain and other European colonisers. The West has been meddling in counties all over the world for a very long time.
First they dragged out people in chains to work for them and then they stole every resource they had and still do today and then they wonder why they are hated. It must be our freedom right? 
It seems to be the proper attitude toward countries where there are no goodies to be had and therefore no corporate investments to safeguard.
They are not there for the peoples protection, they are there to protect an investment and it doesn’t matter how many people die.
Ask the people in Yemen how good they feel. They’ve suffered more than 18000 bombardments in 3 years time, millions of people have been displaced, 85000 children have starved to death, this is one of the poorest countries in the middle east and US and Saudi Arabia are destroying it, fighting a proxy war with Iran.
This is the biggest humanitarian crises on the planet today and it is largely ignored by the media.
Yeah, we have to sow the seeds of democracy in a soil that is drenched in blood.
Nothing good has come to the civilians of those countries, that’s why they are risking their lives jumping in little boats, leaving everything behind only to be stopped at borders everywhere and put in camps because nobody wants to help them.
There are people on trial in Europe for saving people from drowning, they are charged with human trafficking. How sick is that?
That is the big problem, there is no country of relative power since the collapse of the USSR and the US is well aware of that fact. There was a certain balance before that, now there’s only one power left so they do what they like.
Even if all the developed countries would put their arsenal together, they would still not match the military might of the US, that’s why they are all bowing and scraping in fear and let the US use their airports and military bases to send drones all over the planet
The jobs are outsourced to third world countries were people work for 25 cents an hour.
The people who still have jobs have to work more hours for less money all the time. Some of them work two or three jobs and still can’t make ends meet and have to rely on programs like SNAP to get through the month.
They can barely afford to eat, let alone keep the economy going buying luxury stuff.
Combine that with an over bloated military budget and bankruptcy is looming.
It is only because every country in the world is forced to buy oil using US dollars that the US economy is still afloat. That’s why the US has disposed everyone that had plans to buy or sell oil in a different currency.
That’s a pointless question since they are not ruling the planet, the US is, so I’m criticising them.
They might be a bit more cautious than the US though, because they are old nations with a lot of experience in warfare and domination.
The US is a very young nation that has gotten way too much power and way too soon.
Give a child the power to dominate others and pretty soon the situation will turn ugly.
I’m not bashing you here and I don’t have any answers either, I just don’t buy the rhetoric that’s being peddled through the media to excuse the endless bloodshed and mass destruction perpetrated on other peoples soil.
I think the main problem is that we have a capitalist system that is based on perpetual growth.
That is unsustainable on a planet with finite resources, which is the main reason they have to go further and further to get their hands on more and more resources and that leads to perpetual war.
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So… I recon … put your head between your legs… and kiss your ass good-bye… Tin Foil goes along way if used correctly…
The Lessons that we learn… are written on the Tombstones of others.
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