Re:U.S. Firms Are Helping Build China’s Orwellian State
by xster on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @05:26PM
(#19447125)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/03/why-us...
Jimmy Carter: "As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world."
Oh wait, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves_in_Venezuela "The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are recognized as the largest in the world, totaling 297 billion barrels (4.72×1010 m3) as of 1 January 2014.", never mind, let's bomb them.
Re:U.S. Firms Are Helping Build China’s Orwellian State
by JetSpiegel on Thursday March 21, 2019 @05:38PM
(#19457624)
2012 elections are not what we are talking about here.
Re:U.S. Firms Are Helping Build China’s Orwellian State
by a-saleh on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @06:11AM
(#19440578)
Looking at the situation in Venezuela, I do often think about Iran. Like, on the surface, they seem to be in a similar situation geopolitically. I would think, that if Venezuelan regime displayed at least the same level of competency as Iranian, they wouldn't have been in such a mess.
The petrodollar plays a major role in sustaining the US economy and consequently moving away from it is a perceived as a direct attack on the US. Other countries that have moved away from the petrodollar include Iraq, Libya, and Iran. Notably - these countries all moved away before being invaded (and Iran has yet to be invaded). In other words, their moving away was not a consequence of our invasions but rather our invasion was a consequence of their dropping the dollar. Saudi Arabia is one of the most belligerent and despotic nations on the planet, but since they keep to the petrodollar like their life depends on it (which it does), we're best friends forever. They even held the chair of the UN human rights council. Great guys, them.
There are sham elections, unrepresentative "regimes", and all other sorts of nastiness all throughout the world. Nobody cares. Unless they happen to have something somebody else wants, then it's time to go full-on won't anybody think of the children?