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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:39 am
by Odreria
National Capitalist United States wrote:
Kilobugya wrote:
Venezuela very violent protests of 2014 : 43 deaths (a majority of them supporters of Maduro or police officers), 5,285 wounded, 3,689 arrested.
Chile peaceful protests of 2019 : 36 deaths (AFAIK only protesters), 11,564 wounded, 28,000 arrested.

But yeah, it's Maduro the dictator.

Ah yes. That makes Venezuela a complete utopia

Nakena wrote:

Thats a very bad hill there...


And I thought that after Trump's fiasco, yelling "fraud !" with no single evidence was out of fashion...

Are you in love with Maduro or something? Like seriously, why are you defending him? He's not even hot

The rebels lost, get over it.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:39 am
by Greater Miami Shores
Kilobugya wrote:
Alien Overlord wrote:That's wrong, it was the policies of Chavez and Maduro which caused the economic collapse in Venezuela. Their initiatives were rocked with corruption and mismanagement


Corruption was endemic in Venezuela before Chávez, and still occurred during Chávez, but there is no evidence it was worse.

Alien Overlord wrote:where they promoted and invested primarily in the oil industry to the point that most of the economy became centered around it.


That was already the case since decades when Chávez took power in 1998. If anything, he tried to diversify the economy with programs like Sembra Petrolera, subsidies to farmers, investment in superior education and digital litterracy, ... Yes, he didn't push hard enough on that aspect, but he did try, unlike the ones before.

Alien Overlord wrote:This became a serious issue in 2014 when the price of oil globally dropped, which led to a serious decline in the Venezuelan economy.


2013-2014 was a triple strike against Venezuela. Collapsing oil prices, record drought (which paralyzed both agriculture and hydroeletric power generation) and massive sabotage/violence organized by the CIA-backed opposition. That brought the economy of Venezuela down, but that's not primarily the fault of neither Maduro nor Chávez.

Alien Overlord wrote:To make matters worse the Venezuelan government began accepting money from oil companies in order to fulfill frivolous and unnecessary social programs that it was running which led those companies to not be able to invest into oil, subsequently making the situation worse when a bit later they devalued their currency.


You're contradicting yourself. You can't both criticize Chávez/Maduro to use the oil money to try to kickstart a non-oil economy, and blame them for not investing everything into oil production.

Alien Overlord wrote:The US didn't even impose an embargo until years later in 2019 along with other nations, mainly because the socialists refused to give up power to a democratic opposition leader despite having no viable plan or initive to fix the economy and improve the lives of it's people. Socialism killed Venezuela, not the United States.


Wrong, the sanctions started in 2014 ("oddly", exactly when things started to get wrong) with the highly hypocritically named "Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act" : https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-con ... -bill/2142 and since them they have been made worse and worse regularly.

I have met many Venezuelans and they tell me Venezuela today is under a hell hole government similar to my native Cuba.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:39 am
by Trollzyn the Infinite
Arisyan wrote:Has it ever come across someone's mind that we should...ban these groups? They are literally the white supremacist equivalent to Al-Qaeda and ISIS. I have no problem banning Proud Boys, KKK and the Three Percenters. I'm quite shocked that a blanket ban hasn't already been instituted. If America truly hates terrorism, than they should focus on the terrorism that's going on in their own country as well.


After Jan. 6 they should've been declared terrorist organizations. Any sane government would have done so.

Alas, Biden has no balls.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:39 am
by National Capitalist United States
Kilobugya wrote:
National Capitalist United States wrote:Ah yes. That makes Venezuela a complete utopia


That's not what I said. Things are not binary, it's not either "a complete hell" or "a complete utopia", and you can point to faults or limitations in Maduro's policies (as I do) without calling him dictator or recognizing the self-proclaimed nobody as president. And you can analyze the current situation and realize that most of the blame doesn't fall on his shoulders.

Yeah, fair enough I was strawmaning. Still, that doesn't make him innocent

National Capitalist United States wrote:Are you in love with Maduro or something? Like seriously, why are you defending him? He's not even hot


I'm in love with truth and fairness, so I defend someone who is accused wrongly.

:rofl:

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:40 am
by Alien Overlord
Picairn wrote:
Alien Overlord wrote:Careful now, an idea like that nowadays can get you lynched. Jokes aside though you make a fair point and i actually completely agree with you. I think that American Conservatism has pretty much stayed consistent whereas the left has become more radical, forcing conservatives to radicalize. One of the big pulls for many voters this past election with Biden was his message that he would heal divides in the nation-a promise he has failed spectacularly to live up to by reversing Donald Trumps policies, which were themselves a reaction to left wing pushes. Biden is refusing to deradicalize the nation and is pushing us further towards a metaphorical cliff where reactions like we saw at the capital last year may happen again to populations that feel they have no other options.

This whole rant is so detached from reality I can't help but laugh. How exactly has the right wing not becoming more radical ever since Jan. 6? And the fact that white supremacy and the far-right saw resurgence under Trump? https://www.tpr.org/show/the-source/201 ... in-america

I was clearly talking about the positions of politicians and not the general public-if you'll notice towards the end I mentioned two prominent politicians and Presidents. Earlier I mentioned how the general public has been radicalizing both ways, so if you were following along you would have understood the context.

But laugh away I guess.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:41 am
by National Capitalist United States
Odreria wrote:
National Capitalist United States wrote:Ah yes. That makes Venezuela a complete utopia




Are you in love with Maduro or something? Like seriously, why are you defending him? He's not even hot

The rebels lost, get over it.

I honestly hope that Biden coups Venezuela.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:42 am
by Comerciante
I find it strange to say both sides are radicalizing while it's the far right that's escalating in domestic terrorism...

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:43 am
by Alien Overlord
Trollzyn the Infinite wrote:
Arisyan wrote:Has it ever come across someone's mind that we should...ban these groups? They are literally the white supremacist equivalent to Al-Qaeda and ISIS. I have no problem banning Proud Boys, KKK and the Three Percenters. I'm quite shocked that a blanket ban hasn't already been instituted. If America truly hates terrorism, than they should focus on the terrorism that's going on in their own country as well.


After Jan. 6 they should've been declared terrorist organizations. Any sane government would have done so.

Alas, Biden has no balls.

It's not Biden it's the general American mindset. It's the same reason we can't make association with Antifa and BLM illegal-free speech which is covered by the 1st Amendment. We can't arrest people for just being part of or supportive of these groups, they have to actually commit crimes personally to be prosecuted.

Which I actually do agree with. Even when you have people being supportive of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, they do have a right to that so long as they don't infringe upon the rights of others.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:44 am
by Borderlands of Rojava
Saiwania wrote:Pushing for the Democratic party's policies is only going to make the American Right angrier, so the solution is perhaps to just give the right wing what it wants across the board.


"Pushing for freedom is only going to make ISIS angrier, so the solution is perhaps to just give ISIS what it wants across the board.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:44 am
by Nakena
Comerciante wrote:I find it strange to say both sides are radicalizing while it's the far right that's escalating in domestic terrorism...


The left-wing ascension started about 2-3 years after the right-wing (alt-right) got a hot thing in like around 2015. So time will tell if it also yields in the same byproducts of radicalization.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:46 am
by Borderlands of Rojava
Maduro isn't a dictator? In what alternate reality is that the case?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:46 am
by Alien Overlord
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:
Saiwania wrote:Pushing for the Democratic party's policies is only going to make the American Right angrier, so the solution is perhaps to just give the right wing what it wants across the board.


"Pushing for freedom is only going to make ISIS angrier, so the solution is perhaps to just give ISIS what it wants across the board.

The right wing in general is not the same as ISIS in particular and you prove nothing by making that analogy. The right wing makes up around 50% of the US population, maybe a bit more depending on how you interpret different political scales. I agree with prior opinions that the best way for the US in general to prosper is to actually heal the divides in the country-which does mean making concessions. Unfortunately Biden isn't going down that path despite promising he would.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:46 am
by Picairn
Alien Overlord wrote:
Picairn wrote:This whole rant is so detached from reality I can't help but laugh. How exactly has the right wing not becoming more radical ever since Jan. 6? And the fact that white supremacy and the far-right saw resurgence under Trump? https://www.tpr.org/show/the-source/201 ... in-america

I was clearly talking about the positions of politicians and not the general public-if you'll notice towards the end I mentioned two prominent politicians and Presidents. Earlier I mentioned how the general public has been radicalizing both ways, so if you were following along you would have understood the context.

But laugh away I guess.

Except that you are entirely wrong, which is why I'll continue laughing. How exactly are Barack Obama's policies "left-wing pushes" that generated such extreme reaction from Trump? Obama was not a radical, he gave us a 1990s right-wing healthcare program, pumped some stimulus and regulated banks. Furthermore, Trump's policies are mostly shit, which only destroys the US even further. Biden is correct to reverse those. Your notion of "deradicalization" for Biden is to completely capitulate to Trump, which anyone sane enough will absolutely say no to.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:47 am
by CoraSpia
Neu California wrote:
CoraSpia wrote:It's really strange that people on the left keep banging on about how private businesses can set their own rules about who to provide a service to when it's regarding technology companies banning conservative voices but this idea goes out of the window when the group that they would prefer not to do business with is one that progressives like. The lack of consistency here is somewhat curious.


So explain your logic, please. Why should businesses be allowed to discriminate against others based on immutable qualities? (BTW, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was ruled constitutional and broadened in scope by the SCOTUS last year, so this idea of not discriminating against others based on immutable qualities (and religion) is hardly something new or liberal though it has been broadened a bit, but far as I know there has been no similar ruling keeping private businesses from doing business with people who espouse views they don't like. Until that happens, well, too bad, so sad)

Also, there is a vast difference between speech (which only the government is banned from censoring) and, say, sexuality. I fail to see any inconsistency.

Edit: Correction: Title VII was first ruled constitutional back in 1973 in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggs_v._Duke_Power_Co.

I believe that businesses should be able to refuse to do business with anybody, for any or no reason. Freedom of contract is something I'm a big fan of.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:47 am
by Kilobugya
Alien Overlord wrote:Their mistake was not investing the massive profits they earned from the oil industry into diversifying the economy and modernizing it instead of useless social programs.


Useless social programs ? A million learning how to read ? Half a million recovering eye sight ? Millions seeing a doctor for the first time of their lives ? Millions moving out of slums and getting a decent housing ? All those are "useless" to you ?

Alien Overlord wrote:Here's a fact for you, the murder rate quadrupledunder Chavez and that's not a wider trend for Venezuela, it was because of Chavez.


I wouldn't say it was "because of Chávez" but yes it's a failure of his, I acknowledge that.

Alien Overlord wrote:It's convenient to blame the CIA, droughts, US embargoes and internal opposition and perhaps some of these did play a factor, but if that's the case why is it only Venezuela that has a collapsed economy right now.


They are the main factor, not just a minor contributing one.

Alien Overlord wrote:Colombia should arguably be in a worse state given it's problems with guerrillas and narcos except that it's not.


Colombia doesn't have sanctions from the world's superpowers - it receives help from them. As for not being in a worse state... it's very subjective.

Alien Overlord wrote:Venezuela was set up for success and collapsed because it was mismanaged.


Oh, sure, it was badly mismanaged for 40 years by the "Punto Fijo" parties, before Chávez.

Alien Overlord wrote:If it had taken the route of many Middle Eastern nations like Saudi Arabia and instead have put money into diversifying the economy and moving away from oil, it would have been better off.


And Chávez tried to do that. But he had to face a coup attempt. And a sabotage. And a population that had a million of illiterate. Nearly half who never could see a doctor. 60% below poverty line. And an administration that initially refused to cooperate with him, forcing him to setup semi-parallel institutions (the "missions"). So he focused on the emergencies first - bringing people out of poverty, granting them education and healthcare. Saddly he died and the world crisis and drought hit Venezuela all at once before the Bolivarian Revolution had time to convert the country.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:48 am
by Borderlands of Rojava
Alien Overlord wrote:
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:
"Pushing for freedom is only going to make ISIS angrier, so the solution is perhaps to just give ISIS what it wants across the board.

The right wing in general is not the same as ISIS in particular and you prove nothing by making that analogy. The right wing makes up around 50% of the US population, maybe a bit more depending on how you interpret different political scales. I agree with prior opinions that the best way for the US in general to prosper is to actually heal the divides in the country-which does mean making concessions. Unfortunately Biden isn't going down that path despite promising he would.


The right wing isn't the same as ISIS? Lmfao yeah, all those guys out there talking about killing socialists (their definition of socialist is basically anyone who isn't to the right of Ronald Reagan), or even worse people like Brenton Tarrant who shoot up a mosque, aren't like ISIS. Maybe that's the case in the same alternate reality where Nicolas Maduro isn't a dictator.

I frankly don't care if they're almost half the population. Many of these folks want some pretty crazy and tyrannical things, things that would directly harm me, so no thanks.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:50 am
by Trollzyn the Infinite
Alien Overlord wrote:It's not Biden it's the general American mindset.


Which is naive and unrealistic.

It's the same reason we can't make association with Antifa and BLM illegal-free speech which is covered by the 1st Amendment.


Why would anyone want to make association with groups fighting for justice and democracy illegal in the first place? Kinda sus.

We can't arrest people for just being part of or supportive of these groups, they have to actually commit crimes personally to be prosecuted.


So make being part of a designated terrorist organization a crime. Boom, problem solved. You're welcomed.

Which I actually do agree with.


Cringe take.

Even when you have people being supportive of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, they do have a right to that so long as they don't infringe upon the rights of others.


Openly endorsing murderous death cults is publicly displaying support for the infringement of, or intention to infringe on, the rights of others. So how about... no?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:50 am
by Kilobugya
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:Maduro isn't a dictator? In what alternate reality is that the case?


What did he do to be a "dictator" ? Show restrain when dealing with a very violent opposition killing his supporters, police officers and burning kindergarden with children inside ? Winning elections in which the opposition parties could participate ?

Things are far from perfect in Venezuela, but compared to Duque of Colombia, Bolsonaro of Brazil, all the ones in Honduras since the coup, Piñera of Chile, Moreno in Ecuador, ... Maduro is much less of dictator. And claiming otherwise is either not looking at facts, or having a very specific political purpose.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:51 am
by CoraSpia
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:
Alien Overlord wrote:The right wing in general is not the same as ISIS in particular and you prove nothing by making that analogy. The right wing makes up around 50% of the US population, maybe a bit more depending on how you interpret different political scales. I agree with prior opinions that the best way for the US in general to prosper is to actually heal the divides in the country-which does mean making concessions. Unfortunately Biden isn't going down that path despite promising he would.


The right wing isn't the same as ISIS? Lmfao yeah, all those guys out there talking about killing socialists (their definition of socialist is basically anyone who isn't to the right of Ronald Reagan), or even worse people like Brenton Tarrant who shoot up a mosque, aren't like ISIS. Maybe that's the case in the same alternate reality where Nicolas Maduro isn't a dictator.

I frankly don't care if they're almost half the population. Many of these folks want some pretty crazy and tyrannical things, things that would directly harm me, so no thanks.

TBH, there are some things the West could quit doing which would make isis less shooty while not impacting on freedom in a negative way. One of them is getting the hell out of the middle east.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:52 am
by Socialist States of Ludistan
Vassenor wrote:You mean the ones that tend to start in response to police use of force against peaceful protests?

Ah yes, the classic “They did it first argument.”
Only children use this, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but it’s a really bad argument.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:52 am
by Borderlands of Rojava
Kilobugya wrote:
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:Maduro isn't a dictator? In what alternate reality is that the case?


What did he do to be a "dictator" ? Show restrain when dealing with a very violent opposition killing his supporters, police officers and burning kindergarden with children inside ? Winning elections in which the opposition parties could participate ?

Things are far from perfect in Venezuela, but compared to Duque of Colombia, Bolsonaro of Brazil, all the ones in Honduras since the coup, Piñera of Chile, Moreno in Ecuador, ... Maduro is much less of dictator. And claiming otherwise is either not looking at facts, or having a very specific political purpose.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/worl ... rture.html

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/09/1072512

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... story.html

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/exp ... a-73044552

Maduro is a fucking dictator.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:53 am
by Borderlands of Rojava
Socialist States of Ludistan wrote:
Vassenor wrote:You mean the ones that tend to start in response to police use of force against peaceful protests?

Ah yes, the classic “They did it first argument.”
Only children use this, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but it’s a really bad argument.


To be fair it does change things a bit though. Like remember when Steven Crowder released a film of a union worker attacking him? Then it turned out he edited the footage, because in reality he shoved the Union member down first and the worker responded by punching him. Totally changed the context of the situation.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:54 am
by CoraSpia
Kilobugya wrote:
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:Maduro isn't a dictator? In what alternate reality is that the case?


What did he do to be a "dictator" ? Show restrain when dealing with a very violent opposition killing his supporters, police officers and burning kindergarden with children inside ? Winning elections in which the opposition parties could participate ?

Things are far from perfect in Venezuela, but compared to Duque of Colombia, Bolsonaro of Brazil, all the ones in Honduras since the coup, Piñera of Chile, Moreno in Ecuador, ... Maduro is much less of dictator. And claiming otherwise is either not looking at facts, or having a very specific political purpose.

In what sense is Bolsonaro more of a dictator than Maduro? He was elected in an open election, in a country with good election safeguards, and should he not be popular when the next one rolls around he'll be gone again. Maduro meanwhile decided to dissolve the legislature when his party lost control of it and create a puppet legislature in its place.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:55 am
by Alien Overlord
Picairn wrote:
Alien Overlord wrote:I was clearly talking about the positions of politicians and not the general public-if you'll notice towards the end I mentioned two prominent politicians and Presidents. Earlier I mentioned how the general public has been radicalizing both ways, so if you were following along you would have understood the context.

But laugh away I guess.

Except that you are entirely wrong, which is why I'll continue laughing. How exactly are Barack Obama's policies "left-wing pushes" that generated such extreme reaction from Trump? Obama was not a radical, he gave us a 1990s right-wing healthcare program, pumped some stimulus and regulated banks. Furthermore, Trump's policies are mostly shit, which only destroys the US even further. Biden is correct to reverse those. Your notion of "deradicalization" for Biden is to completely capitulate to Trump, which anyone sane enough will absolutely say no to.

Now that's a laughable argument. If Trump's policies are shit then maybe we need more shit given the man managed to bring unemployment down to 3.5 percent, managed to generate 7,000,000 new jobs, brought back important companies which had plans to move manufacturing jobs overseas and plenty more. Even the most hardcore left-wingers can at least agree that President Trump managed to improve the economy significantly which wasn't surprising.

"Capitulate to Trump" No, deradicalization should have meant moderate policies aimed healing divides. He could have easily curbed the most right wing of Trump's policies but instead he's reversed much more than that-not to mention his recent anti-2nd Amendment rhetoric. I already created a list which included plenty of executive orders which directly reversed decisions that President Trump made-that's not deradicalization.

Quite frankly President Trump won in 2016 decisively for his policies and Biden won in 2020 for his promises to heal and mend. The difference is that Trump enacted his policies as he promised but Biden hasn't made any effort whatsoever to deradicalize the nation, if anything he's just throwing more wood on the fire every day.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:57 am
by Kilobugya
Borderlands of Rojava wrote:Maduro is a fucking dictator.


Sorry, but having been in Venezuela myself, following very carefully the situation there since 2004, knowing personally several renowned journalists (such as the former director of Le Monde DIplomatique) who have regularly been to Venezuela during Chávez en Maduro and did in depth inquiry about the situation over there, I've learn to not trust anything coming from "main media" about Venezuela. I've personally witnessed how much they lied during the Chávez era, so I've no trust for that would say on Maduro.

Yes, in general mass media are more or less true on the facts (not on their selection or analysis of the facts) but that's not always the case in foreign policy, exactly like it was not the case against Nicaragua during Reagan era, or how they spread lies to justify the Iraq war during Bush.