Venezuela

[Artemis3]

The best outcome would be that we (the U.S.) gets sucked into an extremely costly and protracted new Vietnam in Venezuela and our 'allies' in the West (and our bitches in South America) abandon us to our own devices.

I say this because being tied up there in Venezuela in probably the only way we are not forced by the Zionist masters of our so-called leaders in Washington into 'doing' more and more countries in the Middle East and Former Soviet Union.  And things over there could easily go nuclear.

That is highly unlikely, they could form a few guerrilla groups and produce some violence, but nothing even remotely looking like a "war". Maduro's Venezuela doesn't compare to the previous charismatic Chavez. The amount of people willing to give their lives to defend Maduro's regime is practically zero, despite state media propaganda. You might be fooled into thinking he is the same because he was appointed by the former, but he is not...

Any sort of military resistance would disappear within hours, and most likely you will see en-mass surrender. This is because the Venezuelan military know more than anyone else how bad their situation is with what little equipment and weapons they have in working condition. From a military perspective, the only sensible answer is surrender. The Venezuelan military can deal with drug traffickers or smugglers in border land, sea and air patrol, but they are in no condition to engage with any other military force of any country, including Colombia or Brazil.

Suffice to say that the US dealings with Colombia have been far more longer and complicated, than anything that could possibly come out from Venezuela.

But if you mean it could be used politically as an excuse for "we are too busy here to go there", well i don't know, USA has enough military capacity to deal in many fronts at the same time. Not to mention this is the UAVs/drone warfare era, where you don't even need to risk human pilots anymore and can field plenty of remote controlled units 24/7 over vast areas. Proximity is also so ridiculously close they could launch from home, and we do technically share a border with the USA in Puerto Rico... A civilian jetliner can do the trip from continental America in under 4 hours, and a civilian cargo ship under 4 days.

This is the typical scenario where a politician would say "surrender is not an option" but the military understands that "surrender is the only option".

The best outcome for Venezuelans, right now, is to show such a display of muscle from the international community to make the regime surrender without any resistance, and this is what i think will happen.

Looking the other way and letting the regime continue is only going to continue the grief and deaths, and mass exodus...

[freedomno1]

I hope this YouTube video by Joanna Hausmann helps to debunk some misinformation about the current situation, some of which have even been expressed on this very thread...

What's Happening in Venezuela?: Just the Facts

Please listen.

I listened to the video, I then noticed there is a response video in the comments that took the time to deconstruct the soundbyte being spread in this video part by part.

How Joanna Hausmann is lying about Venezuela

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTTzA9yrZW4


Neutral opinion goes to commie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJLL6SHst8

[tvbcof]

That is highly unlikely, they could form a few guerrilla groups and produce some violence, but nothing even remotely looking like a "war". Maduro's Venezuela doesn't compare to the previous charismatic Chavez. The amount of people willing to give their lives to defend Maduro's regime is practically zero, despite state media propaganda. You might be fooled into thinking he is the same because he was appointed by the former, but he is not...

Any sort of military resistance would disappear within hours, and most likely you will see en-mass surrender. ...

Wow!  Thanks for sharing your wisdom about what a 'cakewalk' doing Venezuela is going to be.

Here I was thinking that the Venezuelan people would take a look at Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, etc, and say 'no thanks.'  Anyway, there are only 30,000,000 of them so our seal-team-6 should be able to take care of business in a day or two.

None of these South American Noahides are smart enough to put two-and-two together and figure out that the sanctions had anything to do with their misery so of course they will blame everything on Maduro and welcome the U.S. back with open arms.  After all, the multi-national corporations were super generous in making sure that the profits derived from Venezuelan oil were shared fairly with all of the Venezuelan people.  Everyone know that.

Let's do this thing!  I mean, what could go wrong?

[Artemis3]

Wow!  Thanks for sharing your wisdom about what a 'cakewalk' doing Venezuela is going to be.

Here I was thinking that the Venezuelan people would take a look at Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, etc, and say 'no thanks.'  Anyway, there are only 30,000,000 of them so our seal-team-6 should be able to take care of business in a day or two.

None of these South American Noahides are smart enough to put two-and-two together and figure out that the sanctions had anything to do with their misery so of course they will blame everything on Maduro and welcome the U.S. back with open arms.  After all, the multi-national corporations were super generous in making sure that the profits derived from Venezuelan oil were shared fairly with all of the Venezuelan people.  Everyone know that.

Let's do this thing!  I mean, what could go wrong?

Take a look at the "first line of defense" by yourself:


Source: http://caraotalibre.cf/nacionales/en-fotos-asi-bloqueo-el-regimen-de-maduro-los-tres-carriles-del-puente-tienditas-en-frontera-con-colombia/

You think I'm joking? It gets worse...

This is Maduro's response to prevent the "imperialist" humanitarian aid that may help save lives in hospitals deprived of medicines by years of socialism. Of course, none of that matters to you it seems...

And again, the sanctions are a lie. There are no sanctions against Venezuela, only against specific individuals from Maduro's regime. They have personal assets frozen abroad, those assets are of course ill gotten from Venezuela by theft, corruption and who knows what else...

[elisabetheva]

Can only be concerned with citizens of Venezuela, usually a country that is indeed developing will certainly have foreign interference that has a hidden interest in it, so many arrange for what is done will be accepted later. just how the citizens of Venezuela can respond that there really is another party.

[tvbcof]

Wow!  Thanks for sharing your wisdom about what a 'cakewalk' doing Venezuela is going to be.
...

Take a look at the "first line of defense" by yourself:
...

As you correctly said, the armed forces of Venezuela are no match for the U.S. military and would see it as pointless to try to take them on directly.

The logical strategy would be let the U.S. and our lackeys invade then fight an asymmetric war.  A lone water-buffalo and a guy with a rifle looks exactly what I would expect, and I expect that Venezuela has been preparing for asymmetric warfare for 20 years now.  We all knew that this day was coming.

---

The U.S., in conjunction with the international bankers who own the USD federal reserve notes which constitute the world reserve currency, have killed people by the hundreds of thousand through sanctions in the past and have in effect bragged about it.  See M. Albright and Iraq.  Just recently they were bragging about Iran needing to play our game or their people do not eat.

As much as a lot of us detest socialism we're not going to ignore the dedicate efforts that the U.S. has made in trying to destabilize Venezuela through economic means and the impacts that that has had on the country.

In other words, the propaganda that Venezuela's problems are wholly a result of their own socialist economic system is a dog which won't hunt for anyone with at least a little bit of a clue.

[Artemis3]

As you correctly said, the armed forces of Venezuela are no match for the U.S. military and would see it as pointless to try to take them on directly.

The logical strategy would be let the U.S. and our lackeys invade then fight an asymmetric war.  A lone water-buffalo and a guy with a rifle looks exactly what I would expect, and I expect that Venezuela has been preparing for asymmetric warfare for 20 years now.  We all knew that this day was coming.

---

The U.S., in conjunction with the international bankers who own the USD federal reserve notes which constitute the world reserve currency, have killed people by the hundreds of thousand through sanctions in the past and have in effect bragged about it.  See M. Albright and Iraq.  Just recently they were bragging about Iran needing to play our game or their people do not eat.

As much as a lot of us detest socialism we're not going to ignore the dedicate efforts that the U.S. has made in trying to destabilize Venezuela through economic means and the impacts that that has had on the country.

In other words, the propaganda that Venezuela's problems are wholly a result of their own socialist economic system is a dog which won't hunt for anyone with at least a little bit of a clue.

You are assuming everyone will go out to "defend" against a "foreign invader", but that is not the case. Maduro does not have the ability to rally enough supporters as you may think... 30million? Already 4million fled the country, take out the children and the elderly, you are left with like 15million able. But from those... 80% oppose Maduro, you are down to 3million. Of those at least 2million are militia, as in, civilians with barely any training, beyond parading and some occasional physical exercises (i will spare you the meme jokes from videos of their activities). The military in Venezuela are no more than 100k, assuming no one would surrender or turn traitor. But don't forget the 80% discontent does include the military, and even among the Maduro supporters, not everyone able is going to pick up a rifle (and might not have access to, anyway) and do violence to risk getting killed...

If you look at Libya, NATO didn't bother with troops on the ground, they mostly just did air support to rebels and mercenaries, and that was conventional human piloted air support. The doctrine of asymmetric warfare was developed for a previous pre-unmanned era, they expect boots on the ground to shoot at... What happens if a sniper shoots where the air space is controlled 24/7 by unmanned aerial vehicles? He is instantly spotted and dealt with. The doctrine is useless against the unmanned aircraft, so what if you can take down a few, more will come. But each of your casualties is unrecoverable. They can't go guerrilla hiding like in the past, even the half century old guerrillas of Colombia have been defeated and or pacified (because they saw no choice) one by one.

In fact sooner than later even ground operations will be performed by remote controlled automated units, tho i don't think that is available quite yet.

I can talk to you about the "dedicated efforts" the US tried to destabilize Venezuela, under Chavez they got close but failed, but you already know that...

No, under Maduro it wasn't the US, it was Maduro himself. Maduro inherited tremendous international support and money, all done by Chavez, he burned it all, not just the money, but the trust. Even Russia is now showing signs of distancing away, but that was expected given the little involvement with Venezuela, beyond the occasional parade of the same two old bomber planes or the rare visit of their military ships. Now that i remember China once sent a hospital ship as well, not sure if its still here, it was technically a military vessel performing a humanitarian mission (red cross etc).

Now other countries are sending humanitarian aid as well, but Maduro's response is this:



What do you think should/will happen next?

Do not be mistaken, the vast majority of the people from Venezuela want Maduro and his lackeys gone. You can argue he didn't do "true" socialism if you want (Guidó's party is technically socialist, it belongs to the international socialist) but that doesn't change the sentiment against Maduro, he built that upon himself thru his own actions and some of his close people. Mind you, there is a significant former Chavez supporters, including ex-ministers and party members, who are against Maduro and are even supporting Guaidó. Rafael Ramirez has publicly stated he wants to run for elections to "restore" the project Chavez left.

I do not support them nor socialism, especially any system that involves "controlling" the economy, that doesn't work, and never will. Despite the problems, the poor live much better in a free market economy than in a socialist (controlled) economy. "Free things" involve a cost too high to pay in the end: The misery of everyone but those select elite few that manage to stay close to the ruler or his close circle...

[tvbcof]

...
The logical strategy would be let the U.S. and our lackeys invade then fight an asymmetric war.  A lone water-buffalo and a guy with a rifle looks exactly what I would expect, and I expect that Venezuela has been preparing for asymmetric warfare for 20 years now.  We all knew that this day was coming.
...

You are assuming everyone will go out to "defend" against a "foreign invader", but that is not the case. Maduro does not have the ability to rally enough supporters as you may think...
...

I'm sure you are right.  Let's "get 'er done!"^(tm)  What are we waiting for?

---

As for 'fully automated fighting units', we'll know they are ready when we see them on mainstreet USA.  It will be a little less clear who is at the controls, but we can make a pretty good educated guess about who it will be even now.

I'll project that we won't actually 'see' these 'fully automated fighting units' in the manner which most people anticipate, but we will 'feel' them.  5G FTW!

[Artemis3]

In other news: Venezuela's inflation has reached 2,688,670% per year.

This year alone (1 month), inflation went up to 191%. But since January 2018, its up the aforementioned 2million+
So what last year (Jan 2018) 1 VEF could buy, today you'd need 2,688,670 VEF (27 VES) to buy the same.

The USD is back up to 3,000 VES, so you can imagine what could be bought with 27 VES (1¢?): nothing. The min monthly wage in Venezuela is 18,000 VES, so, 6$. The average monthly wage for a full time job is not far from that 10$ at best...

Reminder: The regime removed 5 zeroes from the currency last September.

Also: The first cargo of UN's humanitarian aid successfully landed by plane from Puerto Rico.
We are waiting to see what the military will do to the cargo coming from Colombia, what the "defending containers" intend to stop...

Did you know in Venezuelan banks you are not allowed to withdraw more than 2,000 VES in cash per day? And most banks only allow 1,000, not even 33¢ in USD...

Also wire transfers exceeding the equivalent of 100 USD can be frozen pending investigation on possible "criminal activity"...

[tvbcof]

LOL!  U.S. fakenews media busted staging more propaganda.  Again.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs_9eHeHPJM

With all of the tax dollars I pay to generate this fake news they cannot get script writers who can figure out the difference between 'FAN' and 'FANB'!?!  I think I'm being cheated!

Edit:  I might add that it's pretty sad, and telling, that these frauds cannot even get two Venezuelan military troops to defect and hand over a couple of modern uniforms.  Oh well.

[Artemis3]

With all of the tax dollars I pay to generate this fake news they cannot get script writers who can figure out the difference between 'FAN' and 'FANB'!?!  I think I'm being cheated!

Edit:  I might add that it's pretty sad, and telling, that these frauds cannot even get two Venezuelan military troops to defect and hand over a couple of modern uniforms.  Oh well.

That's just the older camo uniform before Chavez changed it to simple olive green and added the B at the end. Same reason the opposition likes to use the older flag with 7 stars instead of 8. It means nothing, you can still hire actors wearing the proper uniforms. It doesn't mean there is not discontent within the military, but getting on any media attention is suicidal and they would rather keep appearances until the very last moment...

Maduro has imprisoned hundreds of military personnel remotely "suspected" of not being loyal, on a basis not unlike that of the Spanish inquisition...

[nutildah]

And again, the sanctions are a lie. There are no sanctions against Venezuela, only against specific individuals from Maduro's regime. They have personal assets frozen abroad, those assets are of course ill gotten from Venezuela by theft, corruption and who knows what else...

You didn't hear about this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/world/americas/venezuela-sanctions-maduro.html

The sanctions are against Venezuela's state run oil company, which produces 90% of the country's revenue.

[tvbcof]

LOL!  U.S. fakenews media busted staging more propaganda.  Again.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs_9eHeHPJM

With all of the tax dollars I pay to generate this fake news they cannot get script writers who can figure out the difference between 'FAN' and 'FANB'!?!  I think I'm being cheated!

Edit:  I might add that it's pretty sad, and telling, that these frauds cannot even get two Venezuelan military troops to defect and hand over a couple of modern uniforms.  Oh well.

That's just the older camo uniform before Chavez changed it to simple olive green and added the B at the end. Same reason the opposition likes to use the older flag with 7 stars instead of 8. It means nothing, you can still hire actors wearing the proper uniforms. It doesn't mean there is not discontent within the military, but getting on any media attention is suicidal and they would rather keep appearances until the very last moment...
...

I find it meaningful.  I mean, sure, you can hire actors and give them proper uniforms, but how to you do an interview with legitimate 'defectors' who are wearing fake uniforms?

Busted.  How anyone can believe anything these mainstream ass-clowns pump out is beyond me.

Oh, BTW, I took the liberty of restoring the link that you snipped out.  Didn't like that one, eh?  We see you, buddy.  You are not the first one on this board to pull just such a stunt.

[Artemis3]

And again, the sanctions are a lie. There are no sanctions against Venezuela, only against specific individuals from Maduro's regime. They have personal assets frozen abroad, those assets are of course ill gotten from Venezuela by theft, corruption and who knows what else...

You didn't hear about this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/world/americas/venezuela-sanctions-maduro.html

The sanctions are against Venezuela's state run oil company, which produces 90% of the country's revenue.

2019, not 2004... As i explained the cash flow went to PDVSA, which in turn goes to Maduro. This has stopped, and CITGO's earnings are now being given to Guaidó directly, instead of PDVSA. Once PDVSA is taken away from Maduro as well, the money will flow back in.

The people are not suffering a thing from it, only Maduro and his people do. He had made PDVSA and the gov. bankrupt anyway, and has been fulfilling debt with pure non existent money, which is the main cause of inflation, like i said, they literally just add zeroes to their accounts and pay wages with that. They don't even bother printing more banknotes... We were forced (like everything socialism does) into a cashless society.

The gov was already bankrupt by 2015 which is when Maduro started his heavy "induced" inflation by making money out of thin air, simply because the State is bloated and corrupt, and doing the sensible thing (reduce expenditure) would make them lose face with their socialist friends abroad...

Maduro was waiting for the US to cut the cash flow for some years now, so its not like they weren't ready. Its not just Russia, but China is happily buying what little production still goes on (down to 1/3rd of what used to be two decades ago).

The entire world is closing in freezing accounts and assets of anything related to Maduro and his close people, NOT Venezuela. Already 60+ countries have given support to Guaidó, not even 20 sided with Maduro. Those who don't recognize Maduro have to act accordingly and that is what is going on.

The push will come to an end soon. Guaidó has popular support even with former chavistas and still growing, while Maduro is finished.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

What Venezuela is experiencing is what i fear my county Nigeria might experience in few years coming. the similarities between the two county is too much both has oil as their major export, ruled by ditactors who calls them self democratic presidents, also the economy and currencies of both country is dying. I feel the pains of Venezuelans and can only hope they recover. Hoping my country kearns one or two lesson from Venezuela situation.

[Artemis3]

What Venezuela is experiencing is what i fear my county Nigeria might experience in few years coming. the similarities between the two county is too much both has oil as their major export, ruled by ditactors who calls them self democratic presidents, also the economy and currencies of both country is dying. I feel the pains of Venezuelans and can only hope they recover. Hoping my country kearns one or two lesson from Venezuela situation.

If your ruler starts thinking he (and his people) can control the economy instead of letting the free market do it... then you will come to this disaster. Not unlike Zimbabwe with Mugabe...

Venezuela's current crisis is 80% Maduro's fault.

[tvbcof]

What Venezuela is experiencing is what i fear my county Nigeria might experience in few years coming. the similarities between the two county is too much both has oil as their major export, ruled by ditactors who calls them self democratic presidents, also the economy and currencies of both country is dying. I feel the pains of Venezuelans and can only hope they recover. Hoping my country kearns one or two lesson from Venezuela situation.

Easy solution:

Make sure you tolerate a leader who is a western puppet and who will protect the rights of foreign multinationals to pocket the wealth generated by the resources of your country.

Remember that these multinationals are favorable to a society where most native-born live in abject poverty with no hope of elevating themselves and thus having a say in how the country is run.  If the peeps have any power at all and any left over energy after dealing with the internal problems injected into the country, then their profits are at risk.  Not good.

From time to time your nation may be required to help create problems in other nearby countries, or support other groups who've been so tasked.  Like Columbia and Brazil are at this moment.  Do it.

Our 'enlightened' people here in the West have figured out what your population count should be what types of diseases your people need to have.  When the WHO, UNICEF, Bill Gates, etc come around with the needle, offer up your children without a fuss.  Your puppet-leader and his cronies will be helping with these projects.  The peeps just need to comply without question.

In a way you guys in impoverished 'developing' countries are lucky.  Since you don't have any money to buy overpriced drugs there is no point in making it so that most of your population is on expensive prescription drugs like here in the U.S..

[Artemis3]

FULL SPEECH: President Trump Addresses Crisis In Venezuela

Hopefully the situation will come to an end soon, there are good chances this will finally be resolved pacifically. All the military need to do is disobey Maduro and let the humanitarian aid in, recognize Guaidó as president Interim and let the presidential elections occur. Bonus points if they detain the usurper and his close associates.

Only then will the Venezuelan people finally be able to breath, after years of asphyxiating socialist economy a return to a free market economy will end the shortages, next is ending the rampant crime.

[Artemis3]

Today there is an International Music Benefit concert for Venezuela:

Venezuela Aid Live, led by Sir Richard Branson, has brought together an array of renowned artists in hopes of raising $10 million which will be the starting point towards raising $100 Million total in humanitarian aid & donations from governments.

All this humanitarian Aid is already piling at the borders waiting to get in. Maduro doesn't want it, but the people of Venezuela do, and they have been going to the border to persuade the military blockade and let the aid go in.

More information on this page: https://www.venezuelaaidlive.com/

The concert is being streamed live here:

United Voices for
Venezuela

• The event will take place on February 22, in Cucuta, Colombia, which is located right on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.
• The three basic goals of the event are to create awareness of the current situation, to reopen the Venezuelan borders in order to get the humanitarian aid in, and to obtain enough funds to design and carry out a sustainable social investment that will benefit Venezuela and help bring it and its people back.
• Venezuela Aid Live is lead by Richard Branson and Bruno Ocampo, with the support of several renowned artists, entrepreneurs and volunteers, who have worked tirelessly in order to make a difference.

February 23 is the date set for the humanitarian aid to be delivered, but today 22 this concert will be held in neighbor Cucuta, Colombia, right next to the border with Venezuela.

President Guaidó is traveling by car to the border to officially receive the aid, he has already been blocked multiple times but so far has been able to go thru, thanks to the support of several people on the way confronting the military with orders from Maduro to stop him.

[tvbcof]

Max Blumenthal doing real reporting on-the-ground in Venezuela:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAEnV2pr_M

Those poor poor zoo animals!  Even I bought that one back a few years ago.