Banana Republic Newsflash

[Sigma_Orionis]

Yeah, it basically said how could they not with such a vast bunch of incompetent, inexperienced, misguided morons at the helm.

And right now, we're begging that those morons help us out of the mess we're in.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well, I guess it was inevitable that the PSFs would chime in..

Over 70 Experts Call for US to Stop Interfering in Venezuela

And guess whose name is at the top of the list? Noam Chomsky of course. Old PSF just doesn't learn.

[Sigma_Orionis]

He's gone that way plenty of times before.

At the same time, President Nicolás Maduro, who had been furiously describing his adversary as the lackey of an American-backed coup, appeared to take a more conciliatory approach, calling for dialogue.

Alluding to clandestine meetings that had taken place between opposition members and people in Mr. Maduro’s orbit, he expressed a willingness to attend such meetings himself. “If I have to use a hood or go naked, however I have to go,” Mr. Maduro said at a news conference.

[SciFiFisher]

This headline makes me wonder if Maduro is thinking of "taking the money and running".

London (CNN)The Bank of England has blocked Nicolas Maduro's officials from withdrawing $1.2 billion worth of gold, Bloomberg reported, dealing a further blow to the embattled Venezuelan President as he tries to salvage his authority.

If you wanted to make sure you had a nice nest egg while you retired to a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Venezuela then $1.2 billion of gold seems like the way to go.

[Sigma_Orionis]

This headline makes me wonder if Maduro is thinking of "taking the money and running".

London (CNN)The Bank of England has blocked Nicolas Maduro's officials from withdrawing $1.2 billion worth of gold, Bloomberg reported, dealing a further blow to the embattled Venezuelan President as he tries to salvage his authority.

If you wanted to make sure you had a nice nest egg while you retired to a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Venezuela then $1.2 billion of gold seems like the way to go.

Regarding that, I've heard that Maduro's been trying to raise revenue through selling gold directly to Turkey. I'd say that most of those SOBS have had their nest eggs set up long ago. Of course, the rumor mill says that their foreign "assets" have been frozen or confiscated.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Thanks for your perspective. I'm just not counting out the bopsie twins (Trump and Pence) to sod things up more.

Of course Maduro caved in

Venezuela suspends deadline for US diplomats

Go ahead, tell me this doesn't sound similar to Trump caving in on the shutdown

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said that it is now negotiating the establishment of a U.S. Interests Office in Venezuela and will allow U.S. Embassy personnel to remain in the country while talks take place.

The statement said that talks about an interest section will have a 30-day limit and if no agreement is reached embassy personnel will then have to leave the country.

[Sigma_Orionis]

And the rats start to abandon ship

The Venezuelan Military Attache at our embassy in the US just said that him an other consular officials support Gauidó


The UK, France, Spain and Germany have given Maduro 8 days to call for fresh elections or they'll recognize Guaidó. Greece is supporting Maduro of course.

And on Saturday there was a Shouting match between Pompeo and the Russian envoy to the UN.

As much as I dislike Trump and distrust Pompeo, IF this ends with Maduro as his clique leaving the country, I am going to have grit my teeth credit him for helping us.

[SciFiFisher]

I hear the military is starting to get a little shaky on supporting Maduro.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Maybe, it's still too early to tell. But, if you ask me, Maduro caving in made him look pretty weak. Maybe that will encourage the Military to abandon him.

[grapes]

The UK, France, Spain and Germany have given Maduro 8 days to call for fresh elections or they'll recognize Maduro. Greece is supporting Maduro of course.

Recognize Guaidó?

This may be the end of Trump, I'm not sure his constitution can handle the stress.

[Sigma_Orionis]

The UK, France, Spain and Germany have given Maduro 8 days to call for fresh elections or they'll recognize Maduro. Greece is supporting Maduro of course.

Recognize Guaidó?

This may be the end of Trump, I'm not sure his constitution can handle the stress.

Yeah, Guaidó. Fixed the original post too.

If Trump dies of a heart attack waiting... Well, that's YOUR problem

[Sigma_Orionis]

When I said that IF Trump keeps his mouth shut... I should have included Bolton

The US has warned Venezuela that any threats against American diplomats or opposition leader Juan Guaidó will be met with "a significant response".

Not that AT THIS POINT I'd give a damn if the US Military went to the Miraflores Palace, grabbed Maduro by his privates and dragged him to prison for drug related charges.

It's that the best way to counter the usual "US Imperialism" claim (that it's already being spread by PSFs on left leaning groups throughout social media) is to point out that there are plenty of other countries (particularly within the region) that are backing Gauidó. If Bolton (or any other WH official, including Trump) start talking out of their asses. That international support will get shaky. Something that will not be helpful at all.

I think that the deadline placed by Spain, the UK, Germany and France is rather silly. it's of course setting Maduro up to fail because I doubt very much he'll call for elections within 8 days (again, not that I mind.) They should have backed Gauidó, period. Looks like some sort of face saving measure to avoid giving the impression that they're lackeys of the US or something.


In the meantime. Maduro blew his top (poor thing ) on this

On Saturday, several European countries including Spain, Germany, France and the UK said they would recognise Mr Guaidó as president if elections were not called within eight days.

But Mr Maduro has rejected this, saying the ultimatum must be withdrawn.

"Venezuela is not tied to Europe. This is complete insolence," he told CNN Turk on Sunday.

Mr Maduro added that he was ready to "engage in comprehensive dialogue" with those who opposed his presidency. He said he had sent Donald Trump "many messages", but he thought the US president "despises us".

He later appeared at a military exercise in Venezuela's central state of Carabobo, where he called for "union, discipline and cohesion" to overcome what he described as an "attempted coup d'etat" by Mr Guaidó.

"Comprehensive Dialogue". Like the one in 2014, or the one in 2017? Dude, I have this nagging suspicion that THAT train has left the station...

[SciFiFisher]

Maybe some of the leaders in the countries calling for Maduro to call for new elections are hoping to buy time. After all, if he declares that he will seek new elections within 8 days but then explains that new elections will take a while to set up... they can say they forced him to seek new elections and legitimize his reign. Of course, new elections might not actually happen for 2-3 years. Perhaps I am being a bit cynical.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Maybe some of the leaders in the countries calling for Maduro to call for new elections are hoping to buy time. After all, if he declares that he will seek new elections within 8 days but then explains that new elections will take a while to set up... they can say they forced him to seek new elections and legitimize his reign. Of course, new elections might not actually happen for 2-3 years. Perhaps I am being a bit cynical.

Maybe, although I doubt it. Apparently it was some sort of compromise that was reached within the EU.

If Maduro said tomorrow that he'll go for real elections. According to this guy, it'd take at the very least three months.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Looks like Trump stopped short of an Oil Embargo....

US hits 'corrupt' Venezuela oil firm PDVSA with sanctions

[Thumper]

Heard that story this morning on NPR. The US will still take the oil, to keep the refineries busy. But we will no longer give cash payments to the Maduro regime. The monies go into some sort of frozen escrow accounts that will be given out at a later date possibly to a new administration. Not sure why Maduro would continue to give us oil under those conditions, but there's alot of things I don't understand.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Heard that story this morning on NPR. The US will still take the oil, to keep the refineries busy. But we will no longer give cash payments to the Maduro regime. The monies go into some sort of frozen escrow accounts that will be given out at a later date possibly to a new administration. Not sure why Maduro would continue to give us oil under those conditions, but there's alot of things I don't understand.

Neither do I Honestly.

[Thumper]

In 56 pages, hopefully we understand something.

[SciFiFisher]

Heard that story this morning on NPR. The US will still take the oil, to keep the refineries busy. But we will no longer give cash payments to the Maduro regime. The monies go into some sort of frozen escrow accounts that will be given out at a later date possibly to a new administration. Not sure why Maduro would continue to give us oil under those conditions, but there's alot of things I don't understand.

Neither do I Honestly.

It's complicated. He might choose to do it if he believes that he can ride this out and become recognized as the legitimate president. They may be able to convince the U.S. to unfreeze the funds or release part of the funds for "humanitarian" reasons and still gain access to some or part of the money. If he can get the international community to intervene in the U.S. imperialistic meddling he may still have a chance of staying in power and gaining access to the money.

OR

Maduro decides to sell the oil to China and Russia.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Thinking about it. Maduro might have no choice but to ship Oil to the US in order to have it refined there because our own refineries are in shambles. You see, the reason PDVSA owns Citgo is simple: There are few refineries that can handle our extra heavy oil. And CItgo owns several of them in Louisiana. As a matter of fact. Rumor has it that we need to ship oil to CItgo and have it shipped back as Gasoline cause our Refineries can't do that anymore.

So I'm pretty sure that those sanctions were set up like that to ease fears that it would impact negatively on all those US refineries in the Gulf Coast. And they might be betting that Maduro will have no choice but to keep sending oil there because we need Gasoline, Jet Fuel, Diesel, Motor Oil etc. (We have almost no trains. Almost everything is transported by Truck and guess what? virtually all the motor oil you find in stores these days is IMPORTED). I suspect that Trump & Co might think it's a "short term" measure. After all even if Maduro, in a blast of bluster says he won't ship Oil to the US anymore, I doubt the Russkies could provide us with refined oil products for long. After all they're pretty good at raising a stink at the UN and doing grand symbolic gestures (remember the two Nuclear Capable Bombers they sent down here recently?) But, putting their money where their mouth is, is another matter altogether.

[Sigma_Orionis]

It's complicated. He might choose to do it if he believes that he can ride this out and become recognized as the legitimate president. They may be able to convince the U.S. to unfreeze the funds or release part of the funds for "humanitarian" reasons and still gain access to some or part of the money. If he can get the international community to intervene in the U.S. imperialistic meddling he may still have a chance of staying in power and gaining access to the money.

OR

Maduro decides to sell the oil to China and Russia.

Maduro Selling Oil to China? Meh, most of the oil we ship to China is to pay for all those loans Chavez got us into. As for the Russkies, they got plenty of Oil, why would they want ours? After all, like I said in my previous post. The Russkies will gladly take our side with words and symbolic actions. Actually dishing out money? no so much.

As for convincing the International Community. So far (FORTUNATELY) they ain't buying it

[Thumper]

News story that I heard this morning seemed to confirm what you said: We want the oil to continue coming in because we want to keep the refineries busy. China has not been paying cash for oil lately as they're just accepting it for paying down the debt owed to them.

[Rommie]

I thought this was pretty wild. All that money spent on US defense, thwarted because Bolton didn't get a folder for his notepad!

I wonder if 5,000 troops are enough to do anything though if it comes to that?

[Sigma_Orionis]

When I read it I thought that it might not be related to us because the ELN is acting up again in Colombia (although the Maduro government has been accused of providing them with a safe haven within our borders) I've read the Bolton did that on purpose to rile up liberals in the US.

[Thumper]

Oh, I'm certain he did that on purpose.