Banana Republic Newsflash

[SciFiFisher]

So... they are screwing up the implementation of the Petro. You can admire their consistency I suppose.

[Sigma_Orionis]

So... they are screwing up the implementation of the Petro. You can admire their consistency I suppose.

Hopefully they'll panic now and start running for the exit. It would be the best thing that could happen to this country.

[SciFiFisher]

So... they are screwing up the implementation of the Petro. You can admire their consistency I suppose.

Hopefully they'll panic now and start running for the exit. It would be the best thing that could happen to this country.

I will cross any number of appendages in the hopes that it will assist you.

[Sigma_Orionis]

So... they are screwing up the implementation of the Petro. You can admire their consistency I suppose.

Hopefully they'll panic now and start running for the exit. It would be the best thing that could happen to this country.

I will cross any number of appendages in the hopes that it will assist you.

Let's hope that does it

[Sigma_Orionis]

Apparently he thinks he can still Bullshit his way out of this.

Venezuela aims for crypto alchemy with new 'petro gold' token

[grapes]

Apparently he thinks he can still Bullshit his way out of this.

Venezuela aims for crypto alchemy with new 'petro gold' token

Petro gold?

Sean Walsh, founder of crypto-asset investment firm Redwood City Ventures, said it was difficult to reach conclusions about the petro gold without seeing specific details. But he said he had little interest in tokens backed by physical assets.

“Rather than buying a cryptocurrency backed by gold, I’d just go buy the gold,” said Walsh in a telephone interview. “Gold is a physical thing that you want to be able to hold in your hands, because that’s the point.”

I'm thinking the logical next step would be the petro bolivar, so you can hold it in your hand, but it's not heavy.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Apparently he thinks he can still Bullshit his way out of this.

Venezuela aims for crypto alchemy with new 'petro gold' token

Petro gold?

Sean Walsh, founder of crypto-asset investment firm Redwood City Ventures, said it was difficult to reach conclusions about the petro gold without seeing specific details. But he said he had little interest in tokens backed by physical assets.

“Rather than buying a cryptocurrency backed by gold, I’d just go buy the gold,” said Walsh in a telephone interview. “Gold is a physical thing that you want to be able to hold in your hands, because that’s the point.”

I'm thinking the logical next step would be the petro bolivar, so you can hold it in your hand, but it's not heavy.

"Backed by the Full Faith and Credit of Chavez, The Inter-Galactic Giant of Bananaland". Somehow I don't think it's going to fly

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well, a week has passed and no news on the so-called "Petro Gold" or on the damned Petro for that matter (anyone surprised?)

The closest thing to news is that Maduro is going on an Asian Tour to try and peddle the damned thing, Here's hoping is as much of a success as it has been so far and he starts negotiating his exit once and for all.

“Well, unfortunately, I will not be able to go to Chile (…) I have a tour of Asia and I am going to fulfill my agenda in Asia, with several agreements, very important elements such as the Petro,” said the Venezuelan president in an interview with former Chilean presidential candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami, which was broadcast on the Telesur channel.

And Y'all might appreciate the surrealism of this

February 27: an Unwanted Celebration of Democratic Disruption

or this:

Venezuelans Are Paying a 100% Premium for Cash

And elections have been postponed till May

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well, as usual we sit here like the Third Class Passengers of the Titanic. unable to get off the ship and in shock, waiting for the collapse.

Some numbers:

Inflation Last year: 4000%

Expected Inflation this Year: 13000%

And then there's this study

In the meantime

Even this Libertarian at the Economist thinks the Petro is BS

With the petro, Venezuela has something new to sell. It has “pre-mined” 100m petros, all that will ever be created, promises the white paper. State television showed outdated personal computers supposedly poised to mine the new currency. The “pre-sale” brought $5bn, Mr Maduro claimed, without providing evidence. At the government’s reference price for oil of $60 a barrel, the total value of the new currency is $6bn (so, if Mr Maduro is telling the truth, almost all the petros have been pre-sold). That is a useful sum, but less than half the amount the country must pay to service its foreign debt this year. The United States Treasury has warned that investors who buy petros with dollars may be violating its sanctions. That makes the currency less useful as a sanctions-buster.

Supposedly the guy who wrote this makes money of cryptocurrency ICOs, he says nobody in his right mind would touch the Petro Turns out that everything that makes a crypto currency so appealing to Libertarians and Anarchists (no central authority placing "unfair conditions" on the little guy) is lacking on the Petro. Well, imagine that.

And finally some Ex-PSF discovers that Vice Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness of the Venezuelan People is not working.......

[SciFiFisher]

John Oliver did a really good number on crypto-currency on his show. https://news.bitcoin.com/john-oliver-ta ... k-tonight/

[SciFiFisher]

And the fact that Venezuela is behind Somalia in happiness is mind boggling.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Right now, this is the biggest crisis there has been in this country in over a century.

[geonuc]

And the fact that Venezuela is behind Somalia in happiness is mind boggling.

The fact that Venezuela even has a Ministry of Happiness is telling.

[geonuc]

Right now, this is the biggest crisis there has been in this country in over a century.

Do you predict armed revolution?

[Sigma_Orionis]

Right now, this is the biggest crisis there has been in this country in over a century.

Do you predict armed revolution?

Hard to say. But it seems to point in that direction.

According to an article in a local news paper (in Spanish of course), there have been over 100 Military officers arrested in the last three months.

The latest and with the highest profile has been the arrest of a former Minister of the Interior who is a retired General

This suggests that the Military are starting to tire of Maduro. OTOH there have been rumors for years.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well, today is the Petro ICO. Yesterday Trump issued an Executive Order banning US citizens from buying the Petro.

So now of course now Maduro & Co have an excuse for the failure of the Petro

Not that it matters, I still think all the sanctions Trump have put on won't help us collapse, not even accelerate the collapse, we're doing fine on our own.

in that same Caracas Chronicles piece there's this:

The recent batch of demotions and arrests within the Armed Forces has been so noisy that Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López had to publicly refuse any calls to lead coups d’état, because he disagrees with them, because nobody can split the Armed Forces and because military uprisings “have no place in this century.” The minister claimed that the brass is satisfied with the country and with their obligations, that the Armed Forces is cohesive and that’s why he asked “desperados” to be at ease. Padrino López conditioned the possibility of opening a humanitarian channel to the lifting of sanctions, blaming food and medicine shortages on them.

Oh yeah, the Petro website has been down all morning, on the day of public ICO. Ain't that grand?

[SciFiFisher]

So... the rats are squirming, trying to figure a way out of the trap, they devised?

[Sigma_Orionis]

So... the rats are squirming, trying to figure a way out of the trap, they devised?

Hopefully they will negotiate their exit and we'll be rid of them. But don't hold your breath

According to Time Magazine the Russkies were involved in this Petro Crypto Coin BS

So instead of putting the ruble at risk, Russia encouraged its ally in Latin America to run the experiment on itself, the banker says. “Venezuela has nothing to lose. For them it’s the only chance.” Indeed, the value of the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, has been decimated by official mismanagement and the impact of U.S. sanctions, which were imposed last year to punish Maduro for his deepening authoritarianism. The crisis has also made Maduro’s regime deeply dependent on Russia for loans and investments.

“So Russia made its stronghold here in Venezuela,” says Armando Armas, an opposition member of the nation’s parliament, the National Assembly, which has tried in vain to block the creation of the petro. “Now they are using Venezuela as a guinea pig for their experiment,” Armas tells TIME by phone from Caracas.

Well, looks like the experiment failed. I found one Petro website that is up. To buy the damned thing you need to provide a digitalized copy of your Passport. And, GUESS What? you an only use the following currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, US Dollars, Euros, Chinese Yuans.

[Sigma_Orionis]

I guess we're well on our way to officially become a shithole country

[Sigma_Orionis]

Ok. The Chinese virtually cut us loose

China would have no concern about abandoning Maduro as it did Mugabe when he was ousted, the source said, but does not expect China to take an active role in pushing him out.

“China looks at Venezuela as another Zimbabwe: a poor return on its investment,” he said.

Well, imagine that.

In the meantime things are heating up again. Protests are starting to get ugly. However they're not happening in Middle class areas like last year. They're happening in the slums (both links in Spanish), the reason? the subsidized rations they're getting are becoming smaller and smaller (usually incomplete too, probably a lot of the stuff they're supposed to be getting is going to the Black Market) And that's only going to get worse.

Will that be enough to convince these bastards, to leave or the Military to attempt a coup d'etat? Who knows, as I said before. We've had rumors for years. And nothing has ever happened.

[Thumper]

Heard about a big fire at either a large jail or prison. Apparently started during an inmate uprising, many inmates perished. Then there were some nasty conflicts outside the facility as people heard about the tragedy and showed up trying to find out information about victims. Sounds awful. But the commentator admitted this would probably be just another blip on Maduro's record.

[geonuc]

Heard about a big fire at either a large jail or prison. Apparently started during an inmate uprising, many inmates perished. Then there were some nasty conflicts outside the facility as people heard about the tragedy and showed up trying to find out information about victims. Sounds awful. But the commentator admitted this would probably be just another blip on Maduro's record.

Yeah, I saw that. Really bad. The report I read said some inmates set fire to mattresses. Probably not a wise move in retrospect.

[Sigma_Orionis]

It was a police station that was basically used as de facto prison. Yeah, I agree, jut another blip on the SOB's record.

[Sigma_Orionis]

I really REALLY have no tolerance for PSFs

[SciFiFisher]

I really REALLY have no tolerance for PSFs

I love how they make it sound like the opposition is to blame for all the problems that are occurring.