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Thread: How Putin Outfoxed trump in Venezuela

  1. #1
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    How Putin Outfoxed trump in Venezuela

    Extracted from today's WSJ:

    The Trump administration’s bid to replace Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro hit a roadblock after a meeting with Russian officials in Rome last year—and has never recovered.

    U.S. envoy Elliott Abrams arrived at the Westin Excelsior hotel hoping to persuade Russia to withdraw its support for Mr. Maduro and to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov instead demanded the U.S. back down from military threats and lift the economic sanctions intended to force Mr. Maduro’s hand.


    Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in September. PHOTO: SERGEI CHIRIKOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
    In the months that followed, the U.S. campaign spiraled into a foreign-policy debacle, thwarted by familiar adversaries, Russia and Cuba, as well as allies, Turkey and India—all countries that one way or another helped Venezuela sidestep U.S. sanctions, according to current and former U.S. officials and Venezuelan opposition activists. The European Union watched from the sidelines.

    The Trump administration, confident Mr. Maduro would fall, didn’t foresee Russia leading the way for other countries to eclipse the sanctions. In turn, administration reluctance to impose sanctions on Russian enterprises and others kept Venezuela’s oil and gold flowing to buyers.

    This month, in a sign of how much the opposition is floundering, Venezuela security forces blocked Mr. Guaidó from entering the National Assembly building, where he was seeking re-election as leader. Mr. Guaidó, in a blue suit, tried and failed to scale the spiked iron fence.


    Russia now handles more than two-thirds of Venezuela’s crude oil, current and former administration officials said, including helping to conceal export destinations. The lifeline has helped Mr. Maduro slow the economy’s free fall, consolidate his grip on power and weaken the opposition.

    Almost half of the $1.5 billion in Venezuelan crude exported to India in the nine months after the U.S. sanctions was purchased by an Indian joint venture with Russia’s oil giant, Rosneft, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data compiled by trade database Import Genius.

    The United Arab Emirates has imported around $1 billion in gold from Venezuela since gold sanctions were imposed in late 2018, according to Venezuela trade records. U.S. intelligence officials say the actual amounts are far higher, based on evidence that Venezuelan gold is leaving the country masked as originating from Colombia, Uganda and elsewhere. The exports land in Turkey, the U.A.E. and other gold-trade hubs.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  2. #2
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    It is no secret that Venezuela is a massive failure of freedom loving people. It serves as the marker for those who champion hardcore command & control statist collectivism. Bernie & AOC devotees refuse to pay attention.

    Dave, did the WSJ propose an alternative tact or merely grouse about the inadequacies of our past efforts? Are they advocating our threatening an invasion or even doing one?
    ...............
    “You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” — Too fundamental to have an attribution


  3. #3
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    They are doing exactly what a news organization should do---they are simply reporting on what has happened.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Grubb View Post
    They are doing exactly what a news organization should do---they are simply reporting on what has happened.
    You beat me to it!

    I don't want opinions or critiques from my news. Just the facts. The rest is for the editorial page which generally is unfit for a birdcage.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  5. #5
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    So, no thoughts on what might work to replace the Marxists in Venezuela. Not surprising, as no one wants to go down there and clean the Commie bastiches out. Not really our problemo, after all, the people voted them in, so time to pay the piper. Good lesson in Commie results. I assume the folks will ultimately get fed up and give Maduro the Ceaușescu/Mussolini treatment. In the meantime we should keep giving it passing considerations.
    ...............
    “You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” — Too fundamental to have an attribution


  6. #6
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    So Putin outsmarted Trump for the prize of Venezuela. Let me ponder that and get back to you.
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

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    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by CactusCurt View Post
    So Putin outsmarted Trump for the prize of Venezuela. Let me ponder that and get back to you.
    Yup, Putin gets to dance with his sister.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

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