Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0

[wildcat09 28387]

1 hour ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Love that y’all are trumpeting Ilhan Omar, a rabid anti-Semite who I’d have under constant surveillance if I was President. China is hedging their bets and have already reached out to President Guaidó about protecting their investments in Venezuela after Maduro is deposed. When China is acting this way that has to mean the Cahavez/Maduro reign of terror is about to end. I hope Maduro is as full of hubris as he seems and is not making plans to flee. I want him dead and so do the Venezuelan people. The catharsis and joy the people will feel when they see his dead body will be off the chain. Long live President Guaidó!

 

   Reveal hidden contents

 

China Talks With Venezuela Opposition to Protect Investments

Chinese diplomats discuss debt, oil projects with Guaidó camp as pressure mounts against ally Maduro

Kejal VyasUpdated Feb. 12, 2019 2:01 p.m. ET

CARACAS, Venezuela—China has been holding talks with Venezuela’s political opposition to safeguard its investments in the troubled Latin American nation, hedging its bets as pressure builds on Nicolás Maduro, the embattled leader for whom Beijing has been a vital ally.

“China recognizes the increasing risk of a regime change and does not want to be on the bad side of a new regime,” said R. Evan Ellis, an expert on Chinese relations in Latin America at the U.S. Army War College. “While they prefer stability, they realize they have to put eggs in the other basket.”

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has resisted pressure at home and abroad to cede power to Mr. Guaidó. Photo: Manaure Quintero/Reuters

The talks are a sign of the apprehensions building with creditors of Venezuela’s leftist government. Over nearly two decades, loans-for-oil deals with China and Russia have provided vital support for Venezuela. Relations flourished under Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, the late socialist strongman Hugo Chávez, who fortified ties with those countries, Cuba, Iran and even India in an effort to combat U.S. power.

But commercial and financial ties with these countries have been strained since Mr. Maduro, Mr. Chávez’s handpicked successor, took power in 2013 and the economy began to shrink, with oil production plummeting by more than half after years of rampant graft and mismanagement.

Sanctions leveled by Washington last month on Venezuela’s oil industry have exacerbated Mr. Maduro’s difficulties, cutting off Venezuela’s only meaningful source of income and portending further declines in oil output.

China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment about Beijing’s contacts with the Venezuelan opposition. In recent weeks, the ministry has suggested that discussions are taking place and Beijing wants to see its interests respected.

Latin Venture

China has lent Venezuela more than $50 billion in exchange for oil supplies since 2007 but repayments have dwindled since President Maduro took office in 2013.

China's imports from Venezuela

Other

Oil

$17.5 billion

Maduro

15.0

12.5

10.0

7.5

5.0

2.5

0

2005

’15

’10

2001

China's exports to Venezuela

Machinery

Electrical machinery

Other

Vehicles

Iron and steel

$10 billion

Maduro

8

6

4

2

0

’10

’15

’05

2001

Source: ITC calculations based on United Nations Comtrade data

Asked about rumored talks at a media briefing on Feb. 1, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing “has been in close communication with all parties in various ways on the situation in Venezuela.”

“No matter how the situation evolves,” Mr. Geng said, “China-Venezuela cooperation should not be undermined.”

Mr. Guaidó has publicly extended olive branches to China and Russia. The young National Assembly chief, whom lawmakers chose to lead an interim presidency in a direct challenge to Mr. Maduro, has argued that political change would be a precursor to economic reforms to restore stability.

Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, should maintain ties with China, the world’s biggest oil importer, he said.

The fall of the Maduro government could work to China’s advantage, said Mr. Ellis. “Guaidó could help lift [U.S.] sanctions and get oil flowing again. At the end China has everything to gain from Guaidó,” he said.

People familiar with the debt-repayment talks said there are significant hurdles. Venezuela has borrowed from China more than $50 billion in a series of loans-for-oil agreements since 2007, and according to estimates by China’s Commerce Ministry it still owes Beijing around $20 billion.

China is unwilling to take a significant loss on its loans, as some of the opposition’s economic advisers have suggested for lenders, including holders of the country’s defaulted bonds, according to two of the people familiar with the talks. Both sides have been discussing grace periods on repayment plans to give any potential Venezuelan transitional government breathing space, they said.

Opposition lawmakers have also long clamored to make the terms of China’s loan deals with Venezuela more transparent, which Beijing opposes, according to two of the people familiar with the negotiations.

Venezuela's Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo, center, in India on Monday, where his ministry said he was seeking buyers for Venezuelan oil. Photo: anushree fadnavis/Reuters

Like China, Russia has publicly supported Mr. Maduro but has shown little willingness to prop up the government with fresh funds. Neither ally has granted large loans to Venezuela in recent years. Their joint oil ventures in Venezuela have been subject to the corruption and operational difficulties felt across the country’s oil industry, energy consultants said.

One director of a company that provides oil-field valves and tubes to Chinese and Russian state firms operating in Venezuela said the company had only made one sale in all of 2018. “The Chinese, the Russians, I just don’t see them putting any money in,” the director said.

Moscow is open to dialogue with Mr. Guaidó, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested this month, saying Russia expected to maintain cooperation with Caracas “regardless of political developments in the country.” 

The Trump administration’s sanctions aim to redirect oil assets and revenue away from Mr. Maduro and into the hands of Mr. Guaidó, closing off access to Venezuela’s biggest cash customers. 

Venezuelan officials have been seeking new buyers for their heavy oil, which until January could be refined at specially fitted American installations.

On Sunday, the state-run Saudi tanker company, Bahri, said one of its vessels had traveled to Venezuela to load crude for one of Caracas’s regular customers in India. Bahri said the shipment would be completed before the end of a grace period set by U.S. sanctions.

On Monday, Venezuela Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo was in New Delhi, seeking to increase sales to India, his ministry said.

But Indian officials have said privately that they have grown impatient with Venezuela, which for several years has delayed repayment of nearly $500 million owed to state oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd.

Venezuela’s government has also fallen into arrears with Indian pharmaceutical companies that once thrived here, forcing many of them to shift operations out of the country as social and economic conditions deteriorated.

“Private entities in India have little reason to go out of their way to ramp up imports in such a chaotic situation,” said Smita Purushottam, a former Indian ambassador to Venezuela who recently retired from the Foreign Ministry.

“My view is that the people of Venezuela are fighting for survival,” she said. “They have suffered for too long and perhaps the only way forward is to start anew, under international supervision, to minimize their suffering and rekindle hope.”

—Benoit Faucon in London, Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Ginette Gonzalez in Caracas contributed to this article.

Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com

 

Naw, you don't get to play that card. You support a President who called Nazis very fine people and peddled anti-Semitic tropes so extensively one of his supporters attempted to assassinate several prominent Jewish Democratic supporters and another one committed the largest act of anti-Semitic violence in this country's history. You can be your crazy dumbass self about other shit but you don't get to accuse anyone else of anti-Semitism. 

[David Dennison 17660]

Yeah, supporters of Donald Trump jumping on the racism train just doesn't work.

Because Donald Trump is a racist.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

5 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Naw, you don't get to play that card. You support a President who called Nazis very fine people and peddled anti-Semitic tropes so extensively one of his supporters attempted to assassinate several prominent Jewish Democratic supporters and another one committed the largest act of anti-Semitic violence in this country's history. You can be your crazy dumbass self about other shit but you don't get to accuse anyone else of anti-Semitism. 

Ilhan Omar is a proven anti-Semite. I love seeing her go down. One has nothing to do with the other. Trump has been thr most pro-Israeli President in American history.

[wildcat09 28387]

1 minute ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Ilhan Omar is a proven anti-Semite. I love seeing her go down. One has nothing to do with the other. Trump has been thr most pro-Israeli President in American history.

Plenty of anti-Semites are "pro-Israel." Including you, you "SOROS IS BEHIND THE CARAVAN!" lunatic.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

1 minute ago, wildcat09 said:

Plenty of anti-Semites are "pro-Israel." Including you, you "SOROS IS BEHIND THE CARAVAN!" lunatic.

Umm no. Consult with @realgreggym about my philo-Semitic and pro-Israel bonafides. Soros is despised by Netanyahu and lots of others in Israel too. I guess they’re anti-Semites too.

[HenryJames 64901]

[wildcat09 28387]

15 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Umm no. Consult with @realgreggym about my philo-Semitic and pro-Israel bonafides. Soros is despised by Netanyahu and lots of others in Israel too. I guess they’re anti-Semites too.

Congratulations, you, your one Jewish friend, and Netanyahu have a lot in common with Robert Bowers.

[Dnaguy 11538]

2 hours ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Love that y’all are trumpeting Ilhan Omar, a rabid anti-Semite who I’d have under constant surveillance if I was President. China is hedging their bets and have already reached out to President Guaidó about protecting their investments in Venezuela after Maduro is deposed. When China is acting this way that has to mean the Cahavez/Maduro reign of terror is about to end. I hope Maduro is as full of hubris as he seems and is not making plans to flee. I want him dead and so do the Venezuelan people. The catharsis and joy the people will feel when they see his dead body will be off the chain. Long live President Guaidó!

 

  Hide contents

 

China Talks With Venezuela Opposition to Protect Investments

Chinese diplomats discuss debt, oil projects with Guaidó camp as pressure mounts against ally Maduro

Kejal VyasUpdated Feb. 12, 2019 2:01 p.m. ET

CARACAS, Venezuela—China has been holding talks with Venezuela’s political opposition to safeguard its investments in the troubled Latin American nation, hedging its bets as pressure builds on Nicolás Maduro, the embattled leader for whom Beijing has been a vital ally.

“China recognizes the increasing risk of a regime change and does not want to be on the bad side of a new regime,” said R. Evan Ellis, an expert on Chinese relations in Latin America at the U.S. Army War College. “While they prefer stability, they realize they have to put eggs in the other basket.”

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has resisted pressure at home and abroad to cede power to Mr. Guaidó. Photo: Manaure Quintero/Reuters

The talks are a sign of the apprehensions building with creditors of Venezuela’s leftist government. Over nearly two decades, loans-for-oil deals with China and Russia have provided vital support for Venezuela. Relations flourished under Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, the late socialist strongman Hugo Chávez, who fortified ties with those countries, Cuba, Iran and even India in an effort to combat U.S. power.

But commercial and financial ties with these countries have been strained since Mr. Maduro, Mr. Chávez’s handpicked successor, took power in 2013 and the economy began to shrink, with oil production plummeting by more than half after years of rampant graft and mismanagement.

Sanctions leveled by Washington last month on Venezuela’s oil industry have exacerbated Mr. Maduro’s difficulties, cutting off Venezuela’s only meaningful source of income and portending further declines in oil output.

China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment about Beijing’s contacts with the Venezuelan opposition. In recent weeks, the ministry has suggested that discussions are taking place and Beijing wants to see its interests respected.

Latin Venture

China has lent Venezuela more than $50 billion in exchange for oil supplies since 2007 but repayments have dwindled since President Maduro took office in 2013.

China's imports from Venezuela

Other

Oil

$17.5 billion

Maduro

15.0

12.5

10.0

7.5

5.0

2.5

0

2005

’15

’10

2001

China's exports to Venezuela

Machinery

Electrical machinery

Other

Vehicles

Iron and steel

$10 billion

Maduro

8

6

4

2

0

’10

’15

’05

2001

Source: ITC calculations based on United Nations Comtrade data

Asked about rumored talks at a media briefing on Feb. 1, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing “has been in close communication with all parties in various ways on the situation in Venezuela.”

“No matter how the situation evolves,” Mr. Geng said, “China-Venezuela cooperation should not be undermined.”

Mr. Guaidó has publicly extended olive branches to China and Russia. The young National Assembly chief, whom lawmakers chose to lead an interim presidency in a direct challenge to Mr. Maduro, has argued that political change would be a precursor to economic reforms to restore stability.

Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, should maintain ties with China, the world’s biggest oil importer, he said.

The fall of the Maduro government could work to China’s advantage, said Mr. Ellis. “Guaidó could help lift [U.S.] sanctions and get oil flowing again. At the end China has everything to gain from Guaidó,” he said.

People familiar with the debt-repayment talks said there are significant hurdles. Venezuela has borrowed from China more than $50 billion in a series of loans-for-oil agreements since 2007, and according to estimates by China’s Commerce Ministry it still owes Beijing around $20 billion.

China is unwilling to take a significant loss on its loans, as some of the opposition’s economic advisers have suggested for lenders, including holders of the country’s defaulted bonds, according to two of the people familiar with the talks. Both sides have been discussing grace periods on repayment plans to give any potential Venezuelan transitional government breathing space, they said.

Opposition lawmakers have also long clamored to make the terms of China’s loan deals with Venezuela more transparent, which Beijing opposes, according to two of the people familiar with the negotiations.

Venezuela's Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo, center, in India on Monday, where his ministry said he was seeking buyers for Venezuelan oil. Photo: anushree fadnavis/Reuters

Like China, Russia has publicly supported Mr. Maduro but has shown little willingness to prop up the government with fresh funds. Neither ally has granted large loans to Venezuela in recent years. Their joint oil ventures in Venezuela have been subject to the corruption and operational difficulties felt across the country’s oil industry, energy consultants said.

One director of a company that provides oil-field valves and tubes to Chinese and Russian state firms operating in Venezuela said the company had only made one sale in all of 2018. “The Chinese, the Russians, I just don’t see them putting any money in,” the director said.

Moscow is open to dialogue with Mr. Guaidó, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested this month, saying Russia expected to maintain cooperation with Caracas “regardless of political developments in the country.” 

The Trump administration’s sanctions aim to redirect oil assets and revenue away from Mr. Maduro and into the hands of Mr. Guaidó, closing off access to Venezuela’s biggest cash customers. 

Venezuelan officials have been seeking new buyers for their heavy oil, which until January could be refined at specially fitted American installations.

On Sunday, the state-run Saudi tanker company, Bahri, said one of its vessels had traveled to Venezuela to load crude for one of Caracas’s regular customers in India. Bahri said the shipment would be completed before the end of a grace period set by U.S. sanctions.

On Monday, Venezuela Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo was in New Delhi, seeking to increase sales to India, his ministry said.

But Indian officials have said privately that they have grown impatient with Venezuela, which for several years has delayed repayment of nearly $500 million owed to state oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd.

Venezuela’s government has also fallen into arrears with Indian pharmaceutical companies that once thrived here, forcing many of them to shift operations out of the country as social and economic conditions deteriorated.

“Private entities in India have little reason to go out of their way to ramp up imports in such a chaotic situation,” said Smita Purushottam, a former Indian ambassador to Venezuela who recently retired from the Foreign Ministry.

“My view is that the people of Venezuela are fighting for survival,” she said. “They have suffered for too long and perhaps the only way forward is to start anew, under international supervision, to minimize their suffering and rekindle hope.”

—Benoit Faucon in London, Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Ginette Gonzalez in Caracas contributed to this article.

Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com

 

Just because she voices opinions against the actions of a Jewish PAC or the actions of the state of Israel doesn’t make her an ant-Semite. Don’t conflate the views of the synagogue shooter in Pittsburgh to those of people who disagree with Israelis meddling in US politics or their treatment of the residents of Gaza & the West Bank.

Now maybe I don’t know all her past statements but the tweet exchange I read doesn’t even come close to anti-Semitism. 

 

[GHOSTUSER 361]

24 minutes ago, Dnaguy said:

Just because she voices opinions against the actions of a Jewish PAC or the actions of the state of Israel doesn’t make her an ant-Semite. Don’t conflate the views of the synagogue shooter in Pittsburgh to those of people who disagree with Israelis meddling in US politics or their treatment of the residents of Gaza & the West Bank.

Now maybe I don’t know all her past statements but the tweet exchange I read doesn’t even come close to anti-Semitism. 

 

So this Tweet that uses a common Arab Muslim trope of Jews “hypnotizing” the world is not anti-Semitic:

How about this one rhat basically says that only because of Jews’ money that members of Congress support Israel. It couldn’t be because Israel shares Western values and that Jews are a lot more likable than Arabs as a people and culture.

You forget that because of my background, I know how people like her think and what they say behind closed doors. From what I have heard anecdotally, the Somalis in Minnesota have been a very insular community that have caused a lot of problems. Allow more people like her immigrate to this country and we’ll see the same problems seen in France with increased anti-Semitism which is almost wholly attributable to Muslim anti-Semitism

Edited February 13, 2019 by Iconoclast Texan

[Parliament 13979]

Rep Omar is on the wrong side of this particular issue.

That said, I enjoy seeing her remind of of that man's past. Nothing wrong there.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

4 hours ago, bad_teammate said:

I love Ilhan Omar.

This new crop of female Dems is amazing.

I’m sure you do.  You psycho.  

What’s not to love about a socialist who adheres to a death cult founded by a pedophile.  

Edited February 14, 2019 by Johnny Sack

[wildcat09 28387]

30 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

I’m sure you do.  You psycho.  

What’s not to love about a socialist who adheres to a death cult founded by a pedophile.  

You voted for a fan of neo-nazis, so you probably shouldn't be throwing stones.

[David Dennison 17660]

32 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

I’m sure you do.  You psycho.  

What’s not to love about a socialist who adheres to a death cult founded by a pedophile.  

Aren't you a Christian? Have you been following the news lately?

[Johnny Sack 8397]

2 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Aren't you a Christian? Have you been following the news lately?

I have.  And I’d still by a factor of a million prefer a Christian majority country over Muslim majority one.   You apparently disagree   

 

[InkaUtexas 24820]

He said Fuck you Maduro. 

CARACAS (Reuters) - Richard Branson is organizing a concert to raise funds for a humanitarian aid effort for crisis-stricken Venezuela to be held in the Colombian border city of Cucuta next week, the British billionaire said in a video on social media.

“Nicolas Maduro’s regime, which is responsible for this crisis, is currently refusing to allow any humanitarian aid into the country,” Branson said in the video. 

“We must break this impasse or soon, many Venezuelans will be on the verge of starvation or death,” he said, adding the effort aimed to raise $100 million in 60 days. 

 

The concert is scheduled for Feb. 22 and will feature a “wonderful line-up of regional and international artists,” Branson said, without providing details.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-concert/virgins-branson-plans-humanitarian-aid-concert-on-venezuela-border-idUSKCN1Q330W?il=0

[David Dennison 17660]

When do the air drops start?

[Pescado_Rojo 19192]

19 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

He said Fuck you Maduro. 

CARACAS (Reuters) - Richard Branson is organizing a concert to raise funds for a humanitarian aid effort for crisis-stricken Venezuela to be held in the Colombian border city of Cucuta next week, the British billionaire said in a video on social media.

“Nicolas Maduro’s regime, which is responsible for this crisis, is currently refusing to allow any humanitarian aid into the country,” Branson said in the video. 

“We must break this impasse or soon, many Venezuelans will be on the verge of starvation or death,” he said, adding the effort aimed to raise $100 million in 60 days. 

 

The concert is scheduled for Feb. 22 and will feature a “wonderful line-up of regional and international artists,” Branson said, without providing details.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-concert/virgins-branson-plans-humanitarian-aid-concert-on-venezuela-border-idUSKCN1Q330W?il=0

[LowPressure 73]

On 2/13/2019 at 2:02 PM, bad_teammate said:

I love Ilhan Omar.

This new crop of female Dems is amazing.

Good luck at the Special Olympics.

[bad_teammate 13018]

What the Democrats are bringing, and should continue to bring, to the table is the reality of what America is.

America is not just a nation of white conservatives arguing with white liberals. America is a land of white Christians, to be sure, but that's not all it is. America is a land of refugees, non-whites, and women. America is a land of LGBT, Muslims, and Jews.

It's a genuinely hard thing to deal with, not just for conservatives, but also liberals. Look at how the white liberal establishment, and even progressive hero AOC, threw Omar under the bus for calling out the pro-Israel lobby's monetary influence.

They're trying to walk it back now, especially after Omar showed historical courage and honesty in attacking the war criminal Elliot Abrams to his disgusting face, but she, far more than AOC of necessary, radical change at a fundamental level. She has not been cowed by the vampires in either party and will not be cowed even by her supposed allies.

She's fantastic. Thanks for bringing her up so I could talk about her some more.

[LowPressure 73]

A.  I think there are plenty of legitimate questions on her status as a citizen.  As it appears there is little doubt she defrauded the immigration system marrying her brother.

B. She's very much tied to the corrupt Somalian Government & it's President.  This is critical as...

     - She's exempted from background checks for security due to her elected status.

     - She's on Foreign Affairs Committee which has substantial exposure to sensitive Gov documents.   (Nice work Nancy - you PC fucking dolt!)

It's all well documented here in a series of articles by David Steinberg (probably a Jew!) who appears to be all over this story.

You can poo poo it all you want, but the reality is she's an ardent supporter of Sharia law.  She's strong ties to one of the most corrupt Governments / Countries on the planet, and she's got access to a lot of critical information.  You can tell me Somalia isn't a threat to the US, and you'd be right to a degree.  But don't for a minute think that Somalia won't sell that information to Iran, Russia, China or any other bidders. 

But I guess this is how the DNC sells out US interests to Islamic states now that we've gotten the Awan Klan out of the Congressional IT world.   😠

https://pjmedia.com/davidsteinberg/ilhan-omar-endorsed-somalias-new-president-four-days-later-omars-brother-in-law-had-a-powerful-job-in-his-administration/

 

To pretend that Islam & Sharia law aren't an issue, or that they don't run counter to our way of life and freedoms is insanely naive.  Just look at what is happening in Europe.  Google it.

[bad_teammate 13018]

Cool source.

[LowPressure 73]

Just now, bad_teammate said:

Cool source.

Cool reply.

I guess we'll just pretend that these pictures don't exist as well?

 

 

 

Hassan Ali Khayre's resume is what one might expect from a potential Somali prime minister. From 2002 until 2014, Khayre worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, eventually directing the NGO’s work in the Horn of Africa. But in 2014, Khayre abruptly strayed from this career path -- or, perhaps, assiduously followed it -- when Russian oil oligarch Alexander Djaparidze named Khayre the executive director of Soma Oil & Gas.

Djaparidze had formed Soma Oil & Gas in 2013 for the purpose of securing a contract to drill Somalia. Predictably, Soma was soon under investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office for bribery payments to Somalia’s Oil Ministry. The U.S. Treasury Department would soon list Djaparidze as one of 210 Vladimir Putin associates for Congress to consider sanctioning. And Hassan Ali Khayre was also soon under investigation by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea -- reportedly for far more disturbing behavior.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_Oil_%26_Gas 

Soma Gas & Oil is a private oil company founded chiefly to explore natural resources in Somalia in 2013.^[2] Its registered office in London, United Kingdom.^[3] The company is backed by Russian billionaire Alexander Djaparidze.^[4]

https://www.forbes.com/profile/alexander-dzhaparidze/#430d9236259e 

Forbes confirms that he's indeed tied to Putin! 

Hey!  Actual Russian collusion!!!

 

I knew PJ would be an issue, but the basics of this article are indisputable.

[bad_teammate 13018]

Let me know when it influences her actions as a representative.

~*~*~ associations ~*~*~

Don't confuse me for Hugo, bud, Russia ain't the bogeyman that keeps me up at night.

[LowPressure 73]

And I guess we just pretend Somalia isn't a shit hole that makes Mexican corruption look like Canada?

*As long as we're ignoring reality and logic...why the fuck not...right?  🙄

[LowPressure 73]

2 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

Let me know when it influences her actions as a representative.

~*~*~ associations ~*~*~

Don't confuse me for Hugo, bud, Russia ain't the bogeyman that keeps me up at night.

I have no doubt you're not burdened with deep thought. 👍

[GHOSTUSER 361]

Laughable that bad teammate is singing the praises of a rabid anti-Semite who manifests her hostility to Western values by wearing a hijab. Both France and Germany recently reported that anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased 60-70% in each country directly as a result of Muslim immigration and their hatred of Jews. People like Omar are hostile to our values. Ask anyone in Minnesota and they will tell you the Somali community has caused nothing but problems. My family and other Iranians assimilated into this country. I have Iranian friends who have married blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews, etc. Ilhan Omar is a member of an insular, Islamic community that purposefully isolate themselves. We don’t need people like that to immigrate to our country. 

Edited February 15, 2019 by Iconoclast Texan

[bad_teammate 13018]

1 hour ago, LowPressure said:

And I guess we just pretend Somalia isn't a shit hole that makes Mexican corruption look like Canada?

What does it have to do with her? Did she make it that way?

[GHOSTUSER 361]

Ilhan Omar’s anti-Americanism oozes out of every pore. I’m glad that the right wing Jewish organizations are putting her on blast. She and Rashida Tlaib should be under the microscope and I hope they keep fucking up and made to look like the fools they are.

Ilhan Omar’s History of America

The United States as Cold War villain.

James FreemanFeb. 15, 2019 2:44 p.m. ET

Shortly after apologizing for anti-Semitic comments, the House freshman Democrat set about trashing America’s conduct during its successful Cold War against the Soviet empire. 

Rep. Omar’s views may not have been entirely clear to Minnesota voters last November. A public broadcasting report shortly before her November election to the U.S. House described her this way:

Omar fled her native Somalia when she was 8 years old and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. She came to the US as a 12-year-old and eventually settled in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, which has long been a first stop for new arrivals in the US. There, she “fell in love with democracy” and started spending time as a community organizer until she ran for office.

... For Omar, the inspiration to get involved in politics came from her family, who were always talking about politics, world news and democracy over meals.

But in a New York Times report almost two months after last year’s election, her experience in America didn’t exactly sound like a love affair:

Her arrival in this country was the first time, Ms. Omar has said, that she had confronted “my otherness” as both a black person and a Muslim. She became a citizen in 2000, when she was 17. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she decided to wear the hijab, as an open declaration of her identity. But from “the first day we arrived in America,” she said, she concluded that it was not the golden land that she had heard about.

“I think back to the orientations I went through a little over 20 years ago in the process of coming to this country, and in those orientations they did not have people who were homeless. There was an America that extended liberty and justice to everyone. There was an America where prosperity was guaranteed regardless of where you were born and what you looked like and who you prayed to,” she said, adding, “I wasn’t comfortable with that hypocrisy.”

Many Americans are no doubt sorry our country didn’t live up to her expectations. But if Ms. Omar thought prosperity in America was guaranteed, the fault lies with those expectations. The real guarantee that has inspired millions of people to come to this land is the freedom to succeed or fail.

And while Rep. Omar may claim that she “fell in love with democracy,” recent events suggest it was at best a temporary crush. How else to explain her recent tweet echoing the propaganda of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as he presides over a humanitarian disaster and prevents the restoration of that country’s democracy? Wrote Rep. Omar: 

A US backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face. Trump’s efforts to install a far right opposition will only incite violence and further destabilize the region. We must support Mexico, Uruguay & the Vatican’s efforts to facilitate a peaceful dialogue.

There is no U.S.-backed coup. As the Journal’s Mary Anastasia O’Grady explained recently, the Venezuelan constitution gives the democratically elected National Assembly the power to declare Mr. Maduro’s 2018 re-election invalid. “It did so at the time because the election didn’t meet minimum democratic standards. The Lima Group of Latin American nations, Canada, the Group of Seven leading industrial nations and the European Union all refused to recognize the election for the same reasons,” noted Ms. O’Grady, adding:

As a result, when Mr. Maduro’s first term expired on Jan. 10 there was no legitimately elected president and the seat was legally vacant. According to the constitution, the job then fell to the president of the National Assembly, Mr. Guaidó. The U.S. didn’t “anoint” him president, nor did he anoint himself; he is constitutionally obligated to accept the role for an interim period and organize a new election.

Dozens of democracies around the world have recognized Mr. Guaidó’s government, called for a new presidential election, or both. He has the backing of the Organization of American States, the Lima Group and the European Parliament.

The Venezuelan people are desperate to end the era of misery and hyperinflation. But this week Rep. Omar used an appearance on Capitol Hill by Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, to try to score political points on behalf of Mr. Maduro. RealClearPolitics has a video of the amazing exchange at the House foreign relations committee in which Rep. Omar essentially expressed the Marxist view of the Cold War. She attacked the former Reagan administration official for a 1982 atrocity in El Salvador by U.S.-backed forces that massacred hundreds of people. She didn’t mention that during the Cold War America’s communist foes massacred a hundred million people in atrocities too numerous to count. 

Here’s RealClear’s transcript:

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): ...You later said that the U.S. policy in El Salvador was a fabulous achievement. Yes or no do you still think so?

ABRAMS: From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy. That’s a fabulous achievement.

OMAR: Yes or no, do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?

ABRAMS: That is a ridiculous question.

OMAR: Yes or no?

ABRAMS: No.

OMAR: I will take that as a yes.

ABRAMS: I am not going to respond to that kind of personal attack, which is not a question.

Rep. Omar wasn’t done. “Yes or no, would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide if you believed they were serving U.S. interests, as you did in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala?” she asked. 

Whose interest is Rep. Omar serving?

***

In Other News

Peak AOC?

Peter Kauffmann, a former spokesman for Hillary Clinton and longtime Queens resident, noted that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was elected with fewer votes than Amazon was promising in jobs.

“I don’t think anyone knows right now what the political consequences of that will be,” he said in a Thursday interview. “Traditionally, if you define yourself by opposing good jobs for your district, it’s not good for you electorally. I’m not sure one primary election, no matter how earth-shattering, changes that dynamic.”

-- The Wall Street Journal, February 14

Peak Alphabet? 
“Google’s Waymo risks repeating Silicon Valley’s most famous blunder,” Ars Technica, Feb. 14

Annals of Socialized Medicine 
“Health service is chaotic and dysfunctional, says NHS chief Lord Prior of Brampton,” The Times (U.K.), Feb. 15

***

Follow James Freeman on Twitter.

Subscribe to the Best of the Web email with one click.

To suggest items, please email best@wsj.com.

(Teresa Vozzo helps compile Best of the Web. Thanks to Mark Zoeller, Paul Wood and Tony Lima.)

***

Mr. Freeman is the co-author of “Borrowed Time,” now available from HarperBusiness.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

Border showdown is set for this Saturday with the opposition trying to break Maduro’s blockade with a delivery of food and medication. I fucking love this strategy. This will hopefully break the back of his government with the military folding by not shooting at people trying to bring food and medicine to the starving Venezuelan people. Trump, Pence and Rubio are showing true leadership here.

 

 

Turn in Venezuela Crisis Hinges on Aid Showdown at Border

Feb. 18, 2019

Colombian security forces stand guard in front of shipping containers placed by Venezuelan security forces to block the border bridge that connects Colombia to Venezuela.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Colombian security forces stand guard in front of shipping containers placed by Venezuelan security forces to block the border bridge that connects Colombia to Venezuela.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

CÚCUTA, Colombia — The Trump administration and the Venezuelan opposition have staked their plans to weaken President Nicolás Maduro on a climactic moment only days away: On Saturday, they will try to break his blockade of the border with a delivery of food and medication.

The two have set Feb. 23 as the deadline for an ambitious land-and-sea campaign that would bring humanitarian supplies through Colombia, Brazil and the Caribbean and into the hands of thousands of Venezuelans who have suffered the greatest economic collapse the region has faced in generations.

On Monday, President Trump made the case at a rally in Miami to an enthusiastic audience, which included Americans of Venezuelan descent shouting “U.S.A., U.S.A.!”

“We’re here to proclaim a new day is coming in Latin America,” he told the crowd. “In Venezuela, and across the Western Hemisphere, socialism is dying and liberty, prosperity and democracy are being reborn.”

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, left, tours the warehouse where tons of humanitarian aid is stored in Colombia, across the border from Venezuela.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, left, tours the warehouse where tons of humanitarian aid is stored in Colombia, across the border from Venezuela.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Declaring Venezuela to be the victim of a “tyrannical socialist government,” Mr. Trump said, “The people of Venezuela are standing for freedom and democracy, and the people of the United States of America are standing right by their side.”

Mr. Trump spoke as the administration stepped up pressure for the immediate delivery of shipments of American supplies, which have been piling up on Venezuela’s border with Colombia for days.

Mr. Trump’s move followed a whirlwind of high-profile visits to the border by American officials — including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and the head of the United States Agency for International Development — who have embraced the opposition’s plans to use aid as their chief political weapon.

If Mr. Maduro’s stranglehold on the food and medicine supply can be broken, and he can be shown to have lost control of the border, his legitimacy as the country’s president will weaken, the reasoning goes. If the military can be convinced to not stand between the Venezuelan population and the humanitarian aid, he may fall.

Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared acting president, waves as he leaves the Venezuela Oil Industry Forum in Caracas last week.Juan Barreto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared acting president, waves as he leaves the Venezuela Oil Industry Forum in Caracas last week.Juan Barreto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“On the 23rd some people in the regime will have to make a life-defining decision,” Mr. Rubio said Monday in an interview in Cúcuta, where a bridge into Venezuela is blocked on Mr. Maduro’s orders by a couple of shipping containers. “Either they stick with this dictator, who is illegitimate and whose days are numbered, and deny your people food and medicine. Or is this the time to say, ‘this is as far as we will go’?”

It is a risky gamble for Mr. Maduro’s adversaries, who say they are unclear as to how they will break the blockade at the border on Saturday.

While the United States and other countries have embraced Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, as the country’s rightful president, the White House is facing the reality that Mr. Maduro still controls the military, and with it, the state.

“If the opposition — and Trump administration — are trying to find ways to peel away military support for Maduro, threatening its monopoly on food distribution is not likely to be helpful in that regard,” said Cynthia J. Arnson, the Latin America director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Children eat lunch at a soup kitchen sponsored by opposition politicians in La Vega slum, in Caracas.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Children eat lunch at a soup kitchen sponsored by opposition politicians in La Vega slum, in Caracas.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

She added that by creating a political showdown over the humanitarian shipment, the White House only increased the prospects that Mr. Maduro would keep blocking the aid.

For Mr. Guaidó, there is an additional risk: In accepting wholeheartedly Mr. Trump’s embrace, Mr. Guaidó risks looking like a puppet of the United States.

“Being associated too closely with the U.S. carries too much baggage anywhere in Latin America,” said Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights group. “And when you have a leftist government that rallies its base on these issues of American imperialism, it plays closely into their narrative.”

Mr. Isacson, who directs the group’s security and defense program, also expressed concern about the tension that the rhetoric of Mr. Trump and Mr. Maduro was raising on the border.

Venezuelan soldiers and militia members raise their fists near the bridge that connects Venezuela and Colombia so that state media can film them and show their support for President Nicolás Maduro.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Venezuelan soldiers and militia members raise their fists near the bridge that connects Venezuela and Colombia so that state media can film them and show their support for President Nicolás Maduro.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

“With this kind of saber-rattling you create potential for a hair-trigger moment,” he said, citing Mr. Maduro’s dispatch of troops to the border. “An incident there could go badly.”

Cúcuta, which is across a river from Venezuela, now offers the kind of contradictory scenes that reflect a country where two men claim the presidency. One of the shipping containers blocking the bridge into Venezuela, emblazoned with the word “paz,” Spanish for “peace.”

On the Venezuelan side, the government has amassed soldiers, militiamen, armored vehicles and even missiles. On the Colombian side sit news camera crews and trucks full of supplies. Richard Branson, the British billionaire, has invited a lineup of Latin American musicians to perform an aid concert on Friday night.

Yet no one knows how the aid will reach Venezuela. The opposition has so far been quiet about details of its plans, saying that if they released information Mr. Maduro would stymie them with his security forces.

People walk from Villa del Rosario, Colombia, toward the Simón Bolívar border bridge, to cross into Venezuela.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

People walk from Villa del Rosario, Colombia, toward the Simón Bolívar border bridge, to cross into Venezuela.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

But Gaby Arellano, an opposition lawmaker sent by Mr. Guaidó to coordinate the aid, said that the opposition did not necessarily have to use the blocked Tienditas Bridge.

“The border with Colombia is immensely long, and so is the border with Brazil, and the border with the Antilles,” she said. “We want the aid to be coming in at all points.”

For more than a week, activists and officials have said they are mulling the option of simply smuggling in aid through Venezuela’s porous land borders, along routes long used to transport contraband products and fuel. Opposition activists have said they have already joined forces with the Pemones indigenous community in eastern Venezuela to bring in supplies by river, using their canoes.

Another option, pushed by those looking for a more direct confrontation with Mr. Maduro, would have activists circle an aid truck in Colombia as it slowly makes its approach to Venezuela. Under this plan, protesters from Venezuela would overrun soldiers stationed on the Venezuelan side and allow the aid to move in, possibly using a forklift to push aside the containers blocking the bridge.

The Táchira River separates Colombia, right, and Venezuela, left.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

The Táchira River separates Colombia, right, and Venezuela, left.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

In Curacao, opposition officials were buoyed by the willingness of the country’s foreign minister to stage aid along a sea corridor long used by Venezuelan migrants to flee the country. But in recent days, plans appeared to be falling apart as politicians in Curacao objected to the use of the aid as a political weapon.

The uncertainty has left some in Venezuela not counting on aid anytime soon.

“They say they are in charge of the government, but the ones who are in charge are the ones who control the bridge,” said Héctor Cárdenas, 52, who crossed the border to buys a month’s worth of cooking oil, vegetables, soap and medicines in Colombia. “The opposition has no real power.”

John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, said the United States did not plan to deploy American military personnel to deliver the aid. Instead, the plan is for it to be brought in by Venezuelan volunteers.

Regardless, the outcome would not be ideal for Mr. Maduro, Mr. Bolton told reporters in Miami before Mr. Trump’s speech.

If the Venezuelan military blocks the aid, Mr. Bolton said, the world would see Mr. Maduro’s “true colors,” Mr. Bolton said.

“We hope that the press will be there to see the Maduro loyalists stopping humanitarian assistance from going to the poor people of Venezuela,” Mr. Bolton said. “People want to know why the Venezuelan people are rising up. That act by Maduro would be proof beyond words.”

In Caracas, the Venezuelan government made its own attempt to turn the propaganda wars on food to its own advantage on Monday.

Communications Minister Jorge Rodríguez said Venezuela would be sending 20,000 boxes of food into Cúcuta, citing Colombia’s history of drug violence and poverty.

“It seems that no one takes care of the Colombian people, especially those on the border,” he said.

Annie Karni and Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting from Miami.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Iconoclast Texan

[David Dennison 17660]

And when it fails?

[hpslugga 3984]

5 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

And when it fails?

Blame it on a fictitious form of socialism

[GHOSTUSER 361]

2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

And when it fails?

Maduro has the choice of either (1) shooting at people trying to bring humanitarian aid to his starving people which would drive Mexico and Uruguay into recognizing Guaido as the legitimate President and further isolate him with just rogue regimes like Iran supporting him (2) allowing the aid to come in which will be a major victory for the opposition and gives them more legitimacy as the real government of Venezuela. That’s why I love this strategy. That son of a bitch has no good options.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

2 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

Blame it on a fictitious form of socialism

Do you have a problem with the opposition trying to bring humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people?

[HenryJames 64901]

10 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Do you have a problem with the opposition trying to bring humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people?

 

[ChickenSandwich 9749]

On 2/13/2019 at 3:55 PM, wildcat09 said:

Naw, you don't get to play that card. You support a President who called Nazis very fine people

Still l running with this lie I see. Please provide the link to calling Nazi’s very fine people. The whole quote.  Not your bigoted interpretation of an excerpt. Or we could accept those with a 3rd grade comprehension of the English language as legit. Seriously. If this is your racist eveidence the whole premise is a fucking joke. 

[ChickenSandwich 9749]

On 2/15/2019 at 1:27 PM, bad_teammate said:

Let me know when it influences her actions as a representative.

~*~*~ associations ~*~*~

Don't confuse me for Hugo, bud, Russia ain't the bogeyman that keeps me up at night.

Holy shit this is hilarious coming from you. Your whole personal identity will come crashing down when your realize your own hypocrisy. LMAO. 

[Zonahorn 7852]

12 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Still l running with this lie I see. Please provide the link to calling Nazi’s very fine people. The whole quote.  Not your bigoted interpretation of an excerpt. Or we could accept those with a 3rd grade comprehension of the English language as legit. Seriously. If this is your racist eveidence the whole premise is a fucking joke. 

You are retarded.

[David Dennison 17660]

43 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Maduro has the choice of either (1) shooting at people trying to bring humanitarian aid to his starving people which would drive Mexico and Uruguay into recognizing Guaido as the legitimate President and further isolate him with just rogue regimes like Iran supporting him (2) allowing the aid to come in which will be a major victory for the opposition and gives them more legitimacy as the real government of Venezuela. That’s why I love this strategy. That son of a bitch has no good options.

But after all is said and done, he'll still be in power.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

1 hour ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Still l running with this lie I see. Please provide the link to calling Nazi’s very fine people. The whole quote.  Not your bigoted interpretation of an excerpt. Or we could accept those with a 3rd grade comprehension of the English language as legit. Seriously. If this is your racist eveidence the whole premise is a fucking joke. 

Yeah not gonna happen. It was taken out of context.The whole quote was pretty specific about who he was referring to.

[bad_teammate 13018]

The Guaido coup went nowhere. This humanitarian aid gambit is a joke coming from the US. Strangle Venezuela's economy to death while throwing war rations at them.

We are disgusting.

[woohorn 1130]

Wait-Rep. Omar married her brother?

[Johnny Sack 8397]

25 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

The Guaido coup went nowhere. This humanitarian aid gambit is a joke coming from the US. Strangle Venezuela's economy to death while throwing war rations at them.

We are disgusting.

The socialists already killed the economy.  

[David Dennison 17660]

9 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

The socialists already killed the economy.  

Capitalists have tried to kill ours a few times. 

Thank goodness for big government.

[bad_teammate 13018]

lol yep

 

[hpslugga 3984]

27 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

lol yep

 

No no no, see it's purely for humanitarian purposes and we're the only country that does that and there's definitely no self-interest at play.

[texastough 1085]

Its pretty cute you think the U.S. has "strangled Venezuela's economy to death." 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

39 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

lol yep

 

Yeah because he was totally being serious I'm sure... I mean Jesus he says stupid hyperbole type shit  all the time, but over the top sarcasm isn't a call to war.   You have to hang your hate on anything you can I guess.

[bad_teammate 13018]

24 minutes ago, texastough said:

Its pretty cute you think the U.S. has "strangled Venezuela's economy to death." 

What impact do you think the US economic sanctions have? What do you imagine their intentions are?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Just now, bad_teammate said:

What impact do you think the US economic sanctions have? What do you imagine their intentions are?

Their intentions are to have a gov't sympathetic to US policy. That's always the US gov'ts intention for foreign states.  It's one of the worst things we do.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

27 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

What impact do you think the US economic sanctions have? What do you imagine their intentions are?

US intentions are in the ideal scenario to cause regime change in Venezuela and at a minimum bring relief to the starving people of that country. You seem to think we are on an island when it comes to support President Guaidò as the legitimate President of Venezuela. We’re not. 

Let me ask you something, did you have an issue with US sanctions of apartheid South Africa? We are using the same playbook that was successful in ending an evil regime. Why the opposition to doing the same with this one with people literally starving.

Edited February 19, 2019 by Iconoclast Texan