FWIS3

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

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.

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.

SciFiFisher wrote: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.

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

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 wrote: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.

grapes wrote:

Sigma_Orionis wrote: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.

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

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.

SciFiFisher wrote: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.

Thumper wrote: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 wrote:

Thumper wrote: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.

SciFiFisher wrote: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.