politicalviolenceataglanceI’m deep in grading papers, but wanted to bring your attention to a potentially nasty situation that isn’t getting much press in the US.
Is Venezuela Heading Toward Its Own Popular Uprising?
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6 comments
Venezuela isn’t in great shape, to put it mildly, and the current government is dragging it down the toilet. But Roger Noriega is not to be trusted at all here. You owe it to your readers to cite more reliable sources, like Caracas Chronicles if you want an opposition voice.
I’m afraid that I’m forced to agree with Beef on this. Besides his own backstory, he’s comparing the situation to Syria (no), suggesting that it might turn into a prolonged civil war (possible but unlikely), is deliberately ignoring that Maduro actually did manage to win 44% even if he did use illegal methods and is suggesting Iran and Hezhbollah might get involved in the nation (good God no).
No one’s pretending things are good in Venezuela. No one’s pretending that Maduro is even less capable of ruling than Chavez was (for all his lack of economic sanity he at least knew how to control his party). But Noriega is not someone I would call credible.
And that’s not even considering that this was published in the New York Post. When I think of journalism and influential reporting, the name that does not come to mind is the New York Post.
I also doubt the source. Venezuela is an enemy of the American right, and Murdoch / News Corp. publications such as the NY Post (and Fox and the Wall St Journal) have frequently proven willing to publish propaganda about political enemies. I’d like to see a source, from anywhere on the political spectrum, with more of a reputation for intellectual honesty.
You know you’re in deep shit when you run out of toilet paper… Hope it resolves peacefully.
Agreed, but the economic status on its own is not enough for civil war and I don’t think the conditions are right for one. Political violence, yes. A coup? Possibly. But civil war? I realize I might be setting myself up to look bad (Dan Drezner has pointed out that people who were optimistic and wrong are often more criticized than people who were pessimistic and wrong) but I do not believe that the conditions in Venezuela are right for a civil war.
The New York Post is right-wing propaganda. It is somewhat unsettling to see it used as a source for any sort of serious observation, unless we’re practicing a sort of latter-day Kremlinology, guessing from obscure clues what adventures U.S. leaders may embark upon next. It is probably not worth the effort.