tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post9036660398681491483..comments2024-03-28T01:33:22.764-04:00Comments on The DiploMad 2.0: Venezuela: Slow Motion Coup Engenders Slow Motion Implosion DiploMadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02316439950882822419noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-18114008048514916362014-02-23T12:55:49.586-05:002014-02-23T12:55:49.586-05:00I see. Makes good sense now. Thank you and thanks ...I see. Makes good sense now. Thank you and thanks for that tip off below at babalublog.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-39864716559298340402014-02-23T11:45:30.678-05:002014-02-23T11:45:30.678-05:00"Gocho" is the moniker given to those fr..."Gocho" is the moniker given to those from the Andes but more specifically from the state of Merida. Depending on the circumstances it can vary in significance from simply a regional definition, but may on occasion imply a degree of denigration sort of perhaps like the word "hick" may imply the notion of "simpleton" in English. Gochos are mountain folk. They have their own set of colloquialisms particular to the region.<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9rida,_Venezuela<br />A good list of the more usual Venezuelan expressions<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_Spanish<br />Mike Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10406468736304441962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-78696484722203773872014-02-23T11:23:30.844-05:002014-02-23T11:23:30.844-05:00Interesting accounts. Sounds like the stories told...Interesting accounts. Sounds like the stories told by Cuban exiles I went to school with in the early 1960s. Pregunta....I have read the word "Gocho" before. What does it mean?whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-23188264688875772182014-02-23T11:09:48.718-05:002014-02-23T11:09:48.718-05:00A good read on how the heavy hand does the dirty w...A good read on how the heavy hand does the dirty work:<br /><br />http://babalublog.com/2014/02/23/words-of-warning-on-cubazuela-from-a-cuban-dissident/Mike Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10406468736304441962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-91766641787939968132014-02-23T09:19:07.896-05:002014-02-23T09:19:07.896-05:00We left in 1981. The writing was on the wall and w...We left in 1981. The writing was on the wall and we got out before it all went to crap. Dad was head of Personel for Esso/Creole/Lagoven for 30 yrs. He started as a rough neck on the derricks in Lake Maracaibo in the 50s and worked his way up. Went through the nationalization madness of Carlos Andres Perez (El Gocho) in the 1970s. Though at the time Vzla was one of the leading oil producers and an OPEC role model, the intrinsic nepotism and corruption so endemic in a culture used to grabbing while the grabbing is good regardless of who you stepped on, made dad's job increasingly impossible. It all went to shit shortly afterwards.Mike Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10406468736304441962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-48659387689284278762014-02-23T01:51:23.798-05:002014-02-23T01:51:23.798-05:00I had quite a few clients who fled V..when Chavez ...I had quite a few clients who fled V..when Chavez came into power..they were all doctors, engineers, lawyers. etc. they got out..their properties were taken, then when they left they could only take a very small amount of money with them. their credit cards were canceled..etc.Xangonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-68842448962549681632014-02-21T20:58:25.043-05:002014-02-21T20:58:25.043-05:00Hmm, maybe the bad guys will just kill themselves ...Hmm, maybe the bad guys will just kill themselves off. The Left when left to its own devices will turn on one another as the lack of perceived purity will be justification. Same with Jihadists. You never know. Sometimes people just have to be given what they think they want.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-9868443277846404042014-02-21T18:35:27.191-05:002014-02-21T18:35:27.191-05:00Ledeen has an interesting take. What if we are wi...Ledeen has an interesting take. <a href="http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2014/02/21/what-if-we-were-winning-but-nobody-noticed/" rel="nofollow"> What if we are winning ?</a>. Maybe the bad guys are failing without us ?Michael Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18127450762129879267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-9015582204786320522014-02-20T20:44:21.631-05:002014-02-20T20:44:21.631-05:00Excellent post M.Silvius.
If the halfrican prince...Excellent post M.Silvius.<br /><br />If the halfrican princess and John Kerry really wanted to assist democracy in Venezuela (and I do not believe they do) they could easily do so by refusing any further imports of oil. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIMUSVE1&f=M and bring the Venezuelan economy to a crashing halt.<br /><br />That decision of course might have some short term consequences. To offset those consequences maybe they could negotiate with Canada to -lets blue sky this- complete a necessary pipeline that would easily replace any shortfall. Energy security, probably at a cheaper price and no blood oil. <br /><br />Watch the halfrican princess fumble again, just like he did for the students in IRAN (remember them), EGYPT, TUNISIA and even LIBYA. Hell of a job halfrican princess.cascadiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-33463276008914084252014-02-20T20:39:17.958-05:002014-02-20T20:39:17.958-05:00A hopeful article. "So, history will record t...A hopeful article. "So, history will record that a revolution dedicated to “Socialism of the 21st Century” disintegrated for lack of U.S. greenbacks." It seems socialism in any century kills....itself if need be.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-24870018943825061472014-02-20T19:01:04.842-05:002014-02-20T19:01:04.842-05:00Maduro's SEBIN and the Colectivos are shooting... Maduro's SEBIN and the Colectivos are shooting the the place up and people are dying. In the US neither the administration nor the media seems to be paying much attention. Here is the grim reality<br />https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCpZxEo7QZapLouQcXR2-OQ/videos<br />Read this bit by roger Noriega yesterday, I pray his assessment is accurate.<br /><br />For Venezuelan Regime, the Party’s Over<br /><br />By Roger Noriega in The American:<br /><br /> With intensifying unrest and the Maduro regime fighting a losing battle for survival, it appears that Hugo Chávez’s ‘Bolivarian revolution’ will outlive him by about a year.<br /><br /> Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is fighting a losing battle to salvage his regime, and student demonstrations that will continue today are only one of his problems. As details of his government’s bankruptcy are made public, his political base will continue to splinter. And as he follows Cuban advice to use brute force against peaceful demonstrators, the nationalist military will find the growing violence intolerable. In short, Maduro’s condition is terminal.According to a source in Venezuela’s Central Bank, the country’s international reserves have dwindled to $21 billion — less than half the reserves of Colombia, an economy of the same size. Worse yet, $12 billion of Venezuela’s dwindling reserves is in the form of gold that is claimed by China as security for more than $30 billion in loans made in the last two years. Because Venezuela is not keeping up with oil deliveries to service that Chinese debt, the gold cannot be touched.<br /><br /> Another $7.5 billion of the reserves is in the form of bonds issued by Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua, a source in the Central Bank told me. Apparently that amount used to be held in U.S. Treasury bonds, but the regime traded these for useless paper from some of the region’s most insolvent countries. These bonds cannot be liquidated for cash because they are worth less than their face value, making their sale illegal under Venezuelan law. Thus, what is left in the bank is less than a half-billion dollars, which would cover the cost of about two weeks worth of imports. So shortages of essential goods will worsen in the days ahead.<br /><br /> After nearly two decades of mismanagement and corruption, oil production is faltering and over-subscribed — committed to domestic consumption and China, and international giveaways to Cuba, the leftist party in El Salvador, and the Caribbean. Sources say that Rafael Ramirez, the president of the Venezuelan state energy company PDVSA, will have to terminate these giveaways. He also will continue to shortchange China in order to generate revenue by maximizing oil sales to the United States. However, this scramble for cash is both inadequate and unsustainable in meeting Venezuela’s needs.<br /><br /> So, history will record that a revolution dedicated to “Socialism of the 21st Century” disintegrated for lack of U.S. greenbacks.<br /><br />Mike Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10406468736304441962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-19531356491024923022014-02-20T17:59:18.503-05:002014-02-20T17:59:18.503-05:00Venezuela is out of money, all they have to pay an...Venezuela is out of money, all they have to pay anyone is physical crude oil and that's drying up. Does Cuba think they can suck enough out of Venezuela to justify their involvement? I don't know.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-55317527207109606442014-02-20T09:49:44.824-05:002014-02-20T09:49:44.824-05:00It's looking like the Sochi games might not en...It's looking like the Sochi games might not end before Putin green lights the Ukrainian government to put down the protestors. A cold war mentality is needed to deal with this but unfortunately, we have a prissy President and a cadaverous Sec of State who seems to be interchangeable with Joe Biden.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-36822081693735323832014-02-20T08:23:02.875-05:002014-02-20T08:23:02.875-05:00Ah, see the correction has been made. Yes, Howie C...Ah, see the correction has been made. Yes, Howie Carr writes for the Boston Herald. I now refer the Boston Globe as the Glob, and rarely read it. The Glob lost all objectivity when purchased years ago by the New York Times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-29739352965689641042014-02-20T06:03:24.045-05:002014-02-20T06:03:24.045-05:00No, Kerry is so low he can't kiss the sole of ...No, Kerry is so low he can't kiss the sole of Dan Quayle's shoe.<br /><br />All that mud was thrown at Quayle because he criticized Big Entertainment for glorifying having a child without benefit of father. But Quayle was so right on that score it hurt. Where I work, I see so many promising teenaged girls short-circuited because they become Baby-mamas by some useless clod who'll end up in an orange jumpsuit. And without a good network of stable family themselves, we have a sure-fire recipe for perpetuated poverty. Maybe the reason the Dems are so gung ho for queer marriage and adoption is because it will create another class of deeply disturbed and troubled clients--as well as corrupting the entire social work community into complicity with what may very well turn into one of the largest and ugliest human trafficking schemes we will ever see. <br /><br />And the typical Democratic voter-in-the-making can't spell "potato", either. Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-90608962973180821122014-02-20T05:56:04.664-05:002014-02-20T05:56:04.664-05:00C'mon, Dip: How can you be against Joe-for-oil...C'mon, Dip: How can you be against Joe-for-oil's patron? Surely a country that can help the poor and downtrodden in the USA can't be on the economic ropes? (sarc)<br /><br />Isn't it disgusting that regimes such as those of Mao, Castro, and Chavez are held up as models by so many well-meaning people in our own country? <br /><br />And while we're throwing mud at Kerry, you forgot to mention that another part of his mission is to convince the Russians (and perhaps others) to subject their orphans to trafficking as playthings for Western pervs.<br /><br />Fausta and Dip: Re the lack of Venezuelan institutions siding with the protesters--it makes me think of China in May 1989. However, I also wonder where a lot of Cuban officers might be at this point. When I was in post-Tiananmen China, there were numbers of military people who were deeply disturbed at how they and their fellow soldiers were used. In Thailand in the early 1990's, we even had some Chinese officers who had deserted and slipped over borders illegally over the crackdown (too bad they couldn't have staged a coup, and subjected the Nasty Little Man to a 9mm cerebral hemorrhage and turned the Nasty Big Man's mummified corpse into aphrodisiac pills and his great globular head into a football). Certainly some of Cuba's military are aware of how their "internationalist volunteer" medical colleagues have chosen to disappear into Columbia or remain in South Africa. Surely they must be aware that their country is not what old Herr Doktor Karl promised it would become once los gusanos were either killed or chased away to Miami. I am wondering what Cubans might actually tell us about their regime at this point.<br /><br />Kephahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999385775493831638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-17323382577543992022014-02-20T00:30:29.765-05:002014-02-20T00:30:29.765-05:00Common sense is fatal tho those who believe it'...Common sense is fatal tho those who believe it's not common, but a person who has it or is inculculated to see it.<br /><br />This nation? I despair, but is a man of good will..so will go not quietly into no nauch aucht saine...<br />I will not go quietly into the night.<br />leapermanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-26577126475454280532014-02-19T23:57:45.550-05:002014-02-19T23:57:45.550-05:00Nicely put, Mr. Zecchino. A little understated for...Nicely put, Mr. Zecchino. A little understated for my money, but very nice all the same.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-53165806429622751932014-02-19T21:38:15.377-05:002014-02-19T21:38:15.377-05:00Fausta, Always good to hear from you. Re the milit...Fausta, Always good to hear from you. Re the military, of course, it is not just Cuban control but the calculations senior officers will have to make as to their lifestyle should the Chavista edifice come crashing down. Can they make some arrangement to keep their goodies? Here is where having a savvy US Southern Command could pay massive dividends by helping broker some sort of deal between the opposition and the military. I guess we are no longer in the business of protecting lives and our interests and am not sure we have the credibility with either side to broker such a deal nowadays. Nobody trusts Obama.DiploMadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02316439950882822419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-36047848118362009302014-02-19T20:43:07.828-05:002014-02-19T20:43:07.828-05:00You are doing some good work.You are doing some good work.whitewallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03469746790747742992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-25606519939702129312014-02-19T19:38:30.081-05:002014-02-19T19:38:30.081-05:00F:
You've got the guy down pretty well. He is ...F:<br />You've got the guy down pretty well. He is desperately after the Nobel or an "Historic Agreement" to erase an empty dishonorable and morally bankrupt life. He sold his soul and he'll never get it back. As Zevon sang " and his hair was perfect". Curse him. Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13642228725661059539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-2177530040683444672014-02-19T18:57:09.304-05:002014-02-19T18:57:09.304-05:00Thank you for saying that, it is much more powerfu...Thank you for saying that, it is much more powerful coming from a US citizen than from me.<br /><br />As I read---"destroying the independence of the judiciary, and making Congress irrelevant as he rules by Presidential decree. He has engaged in ever more strident anti-Israeli and anti-semitic behavior, another staple of leftist dictators." ...I could not help but think of the halfrican princess misadministration.<br /><br />Perhaps Venezuela citizens response will be a useful example as to how US citizens may have to conduct themselves in the future. Cascadiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-43128602479097912422014-02-19T17:59:04.098-05:002014-02-19T17:59:04.098-05:00"For the first time in some 150 years, the Un..."For the first time in some 150 years, the United States is essentially irrelevant to much if not most of Latin America. "<br /><br />This, of course, was one of the Obama misadministration's goals.Phineashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18255049157467293077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-44487328854128898962014-02-19T17:54:29.068-05:002014-02-19T17:54:29.068-05:00Thank you for your kind words!
I agree 100% with ...Thank you for your kind words!<br /><br />I agree 100% with your forecast: the immediate future is grim. <br /><br />I can't venture a guess re: the speed of the implosion. How much control Cuba exerts over the military will make a difference on the medium-term. Also, since no institutions are siding with the protestors (particularly not the military, the opposition may have to make a decision on numbers of casualties, too.<br /><br />Grim, indeed.Faustahttp://faustasblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400985529434569506.post-33971296835400646402014-02-19T15:24:01.918-05:002014-02-19T15:24:01.918-05:00 Regrettably by now the Venezuelan military is run... Regrettably by now the Venezuelan military is run by Cuba, so they will do nothing but impose the will of Cuba on Venezuelans.<br />In case you have any doubt:<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNQzUp2mSiQ<br />The is strong evidence pointing at the fact that Maduro is the product of one of those Cuban schools.<br />Mike Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10406468736304441962noreply@blogger.com