The recent movements on the international and diplomatic scenes are jaw-dropping. 34 countries have recently ‘out of the blue’ decided to recognise speaker of the House Juan Guido as the interim president of Venezuela, shocking news to me as I was pretty sure that Maduro won the most recent presidential election and was sworn in earlier last month.
However, some compelling reasons were given for the attempt to oust him. He is, after all, most unpopular, ruling over a failed economy, a high murder rate, endemic corruption and has a suffering populace.
Now let’s ignore the fact that the US has made sure over the last ten years that some of the points mentioned become worse and intolerable by imposing sanctions, embargos, coup attempts, and funding and orchestrating a violent opposition, those are some heart moving reasons to oust a government. As such I hereby demand that the OAS and the EU recognise Nancy Pelosi as interim president of the US and that the US finally gets on track to become a normal and stable member of the international community.
This may sound tongue in cheek, but if we are to go along with what is happening in Venezuela, if we truly believe that those reasons are appropriate to intervene then why stop there and with them?
For too long the US has been living under the jackboot of the ‘Russian puppet’ Donald Trump and for too long have the American people suffered. Donald Trump is (according to the Congress, US intelligence and a few foreign intelligence sources) a compromised president (see the Steele dossier).
He is as polling data show, anywhere between 35% and 45% in popularity and he presides over a country where recent statistics show half of its people live at or below the poverty line. He does after all preside over a nation which almost daily, has a mass shooting and skyrocketing drug use and death. I say we call for the liberation of the American people from the Trump regime and have in his stead Nancy Pelosi who (like Guido) comes from a party which couldn’t beat a candidate which has been painted as the devil. Like Guido, Pelosi hails from the legislative branch which has less popularity than the president.
In fact, let us spread this interventionism all across the board. Justin Trudeau, you must go! With a popularity rate less than 50%, with his recent handling of the diplomatic spat between his two largest trading partners and with his continual piss-poor treatment of native Americans, I say we depose him and, in his stead, impose the gentleman who broke off from the conservative party recently. Same for France. Macron has less support than Maduro, came to office with fewer votes than Maduro, presides over an economy in free fall and has, for the past 12 weeks, been facing protests (with his security forces using force and even taking lives). Sacre-bleu, he must go, and while we are at it let us put Mélenchon in the presidency, even though he didn’t even make it to the second ballot!
Merkel in Germany must also go. Her CDU barely made it over the 40% threshold, and she has, after all, been facing protests for some years now and the mighty German economy is in recession.
In order to do this, we must install sanctions, block their access to the dollar and all FX. We must demand an 8-day window for fresh elections, and we must, of course, make clear that military force is always an option. It would also be best if we were to fund extreme opposition parties (kind of like in Ukraine) and have them take to the streets burning, looting and lynching.
Come to think of it, isn’t our current Government embroiled in a corruption scandal, burdened with an economy not growing as promised, a high crime rate, and with a slim majority in Parliament after a 48% turnout. Let’s depose the PM and install Astor-Black!
I doubt many will rally to my call, mainly because they will see that it’s none of my damn business and that they as citizens of those countries should decide who rules them and how to deal with those who rule badly. Many of those who don’t rally to my cause will, at the same time, rally to the cause of ousting Maduro. Those people can’t be reasoned with as the rules don’t apply when they are acting.
It is ironic and not lost on me that many who call for the outside removal of Maduro have some faith that Trump is a stooge of Putin. They freak out when others are perceived to intervene in US affairs but have no second thoughts when they hear about America intervening in other nations’ domestic affairs.
What is happening in Venezuela is a travesty and quite simply hypocritical and against the law. Why aren’t we all indignant about what is going on in Israel? Why are we not calling for the downfall of that state’s regime, and the creation of a multi-ethnic multi-denominational country so that the terror and abuse of Palestine may end? Is it because this whole thing about Venezuela is manufactured? That is not to say that the government bears no responsibility, or that there is no fiscal problem. They were dependent on oil and the price has tanked, they are struggling! But no more so than Jamaica, Guyana, or Trinidad. It does not help when businessmen hoard goods and countries block access to FX.
Yes, this crisis is manufactured and the persons calling for Maduro’s removal, on those shaky grounds, must hang their heads in shame. This entire movement calling for Maduro’s removal is all about oil, minerals and geopolitics. It has nothing to do with human rights, economic well-being or democracy, and it is shown when these same persons don’t call for the fall of the French, American, or Canadian governments and the fall of the state of Israel as it currently stands.
Those who are calling for the illegal ousting of Maduro and international intervention in Venezuela would do well to learn the Jamaican saying, ‘today for you, tomorrow for me’. Even if we accept that international law is a meaningless joke, those who dislike Maduro and hate anything resembling socialism must, at the end of the day, let common sense prevail. You do not intervene in other countries’ domestic issues because you don’t like the outcome, if only because you don’t want that happening to your country. You do not go along with these regime change games because the outcomes are always far worse than the starting point.
Look at Libya, after the EU/US humanitarian intervention now with open slave markets. Look at the outcome of meddling in Afghanistan, some 40-plus years of non-stop slaughter. The interventions in Yugoslavia have led to the dismemberment of the Balkans and given rise to fascistic forces as well as religious extremists and mafia kingpins.
If it is internationalism then it is warped, misplaced and misguided. If it is internationalism they seek and a cause to rally around then call for an end to the imperialist machinations of the global powers, call for an end to war, call for an end to the apartheid state of Israel and the creation of a multi-denominational nation in Palestine (kind of like before WWI & WWII) and call for economic justice.
I fear many won’t make those demands as their loyalties are not misplaced. They truly believe that their nations know what is best, even if it obviously does not. They are sheeple and cannot be saved. To everyone else I say, I will join this global plot to oust a democratically elected leader and replace him with the speaker of Congress only when the same happens in all the major capitals of the imperial world. Until then, I’m with Maduro, the Venezuelan people and everyone else who knows that foreign intervention (especially by the US) is never a good thing and should be opposed with every fibre of one’s being.
