Funny how in the beginning of his speech he thanks Alexander Lukashenko, the Adolf Hitler loving dictator of Belarus,
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Funny how in the beginning of his speech he thanks Alexander Lukashenko, the Adolf Hitler loving dictator of Belarus,
Heres the figure for you.
Approx 100 million in the first 6 months this year have been written off as doubtful accounts due to the situation with the Chavez Oil goons.
Money that their own financial statements admit they are owed to these companies. Billions and billions.
It was about time for someone to G-dwin this thread. Thanks, "Skeptic"!
Assembly elections are upcoming.
Here's an interesting interview with Gregory Wilpert - the man behind venezuelanalysis.com and according to funk a loonie sponsored by chavistas -, who analyzes the situation for us.
It's appropriate in this case because I suspect he deliberately wants to look like Hitler, with that mustache, hair lock, and all.
But of course the difference is that you support the fascist dictators (Chavez, for example) in this thread, while I oppose them.
About a year later - how did the situation develop?
Mark Weisbrot said:The bulk of the media often gets pulled along for the ride when the United States government has a serious political and public relations campaign around foreign policy. But almost nowhere is it so monolithic as with Venezuela. Even in the runup to the Iraq war, there were a significant number of reporters and editorial writers who didn't buy the official story. But on Venezuela, the media is more like a jury that has 12 people but only one brain.
[evidence snipped]
Whatever happens, we can expect complete coverage of one side of the story from the media. So keep it in mind: even when you are reading the New York Times or listening to NPR on Venezuela, you are getting Fox News. If you want something more balanced, you will have to look for it on the web.
Ah, the media's in on the Hugo conspiracy too... just like the 9/11 conspiracy!
Ah, the media's in on the Hugo conspiracy too... just like the 9/11 conspiracy!
While Canada and the EU focus on human rights and some electoral monitoring, US entities and the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation are closely linked to oppositional parties, NGOs and the Catholic Church. Apart from governments and official development agencies, democracy assistance in a broader sense is also provided by the Catholic Church (Adveniat, Misereor, Alboan) and public-private foundations. At a national level, the Jesuit Foundation ‘Fé y Alegría’ and the ‘Polar Foundation’ contribute to local projects.
There are no diverging views on democracy between local organisations and donors. With regards to Chávez’s participative or direct democracy as opposed to liberal democracy, donors and civil society share the perception that it is a ‘farce’ to hide authoritarianism and the centralisation of power. Moreover, the empowerment of the poor and the creation of community councils financed by the government (60,000 in total) is more for the purposes of clientelism and control than an innovative form of democratic participation. Nonetheless, local NGOs recognised that Chavism changed the perception of democracy from an elitist to a more inclusive concept. Consequently, it is no longer possible to go back to the ‘elitist democracy’ of ‘Puntofijismo’. Instead, consensus on ‘social democracy’ including the participation of the poor must be reached.
Despite political polarisation and the opposition between representative and participative democracy, there is a broad consensus in Venezuela regarding ‘social democracy’. This programmatic agreement could be the starting point for the international community to redesign its political projects in Venezuela and to launch a broad dialogue on the different views of democracy, development, governance and the state.
Mérida, September 15th 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Raul Diaz, sentenced for helping to plant explosives near two embassies in 2003, left Venezuela covertly on 5 September then entered the U.S and sought political asylum, received the support of congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and conducted interviews where he claimed he had been a political prisoner. [...]
Diaz was arrested in 2003 after explosions in the Spanish and Colombian embassies in February that year. He was sentenced to nine years and four months in jail for terrorism as one of the material authors of the attacks.
The explosions occurred towards the end of the oil industry lockout where opposition parties and organisations shut down Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), at the time still largely controlled by elites. The Venezuelan government argued that the embassy bombings aimed to destabilise the government.
Several discharged military men were also accused of being behind the attacks. Two lieutenants who were accused, José Colina and German Varela, fled the country and also sought political asylum in Miami. Venezuela has since tried to extradite them. Also, according to El Nuevo Herald of Miami, both officers had previously undergone military training courses in the U.S.
Diaz, under a program created by the current Venezuelan government for well behaved prisoners, was allowed to leave the prison to work or study, then returned there to sleep. It was on that basis that he was able to organise his escape. [...]
If Chavea really thinks this guy is a terrorist then why:
If Chavea really thinks this guy is a terrorist then why:
1) did they let him out of prison every day, requiring him to return to prison only at night? What country lets convicted terrorists out on day passes?
2) has he not requested his extradition?
Diaz is the latest in a list of convicted or accused criminals who have fled to the U.S and received protection. Most recently, Nelson Mezerhane, owner of Banco Federal, fled to Miami after the government took custody of his bank for not maintaining minimum reserve levels in June.
While the U.S accuses Venezuela of not cooperating in the “international war against terrorism”, the U.S has denied all of Venezuela’s extradition requests for terrorists and criminals who have fled Venezuela to the U.S.
I'm pretty sure that Germans composed the bulk of the barbarians in Roman times... just sayin'.1) 9 years in prison starting 2003 -> nearing end of term. Many non-barbarian countries have programs like that, including Germany (called "Offener Vollzug").
Oh yeah, I'm sure Hugo has no influence at all on what his government does...2) Fled the country 12 days ago. We'll see what happens. They (stop your "Chavez" nonsense) have requested extradition of the other guys involved, as you can read above. Without success.