Taking a page from the North Korean playbook:
On 26 September, Venezuelan President Maduro called on his military leaders to prepare for war against the US.
Wearing a military tunic and hat while reviewing an exercise, he said, “We have been shamelessly threatened by the most criminal empire that ever existed and we have the obligation to prepare ourselves to guarantee peace. We need to have rifles, missiles and well-oiled tanks at the ready….to defend every inch of the territory if needs be.”
Maduro turns nearly every outside criticism into a threat of a US attack. In that respect, he seems to mimic North Korean practice. That threat narrative reinforces the crackdown on the opposition and his continued mismanagement of Venezuela.
sub rosa: During the past year, multiple news services reported that Maduro is looking for a way out of Venezuela, literally. Secret negotiations supposedly involve Vatican diplomats. He wants asylum in a country, such as Cuba, where he can keep his wealth and have guarantees against extradition to Venezuela and prosecution. Thus far, no agreement has been reached.
It's too formulaic, to the point of being in the Dictatorship for Dummies book. All these two-bit tin-pot despots claim the US is going to attack them.
If he had come up with something more original, I might give him a point for originality.
We have about as much interest in Venezuela as China has in North Korea, for much the same reasons. Spend billions on unscrewing their country? For what?
I'm betting he's dead by Christmas…
The dictators seem to be pierced that the US and the American public in particular doesn't give a rat's ass about them. We're paying attention to the Norks because they keep lighting off atomic bombs to get our attention. Otherwise, crickets.
The Venezuelans, in their pursuit of communism and in their love of dictators, have screwed themselves up royally now. Nobody really cares besides clucking our tongues because they're all starving to death in a country where if you just throw seeds on the ground, crops grow.
It's a lot the same with Equatorial Africa. People starve in a land where everything grows…and demand food from us.
Maduro knows that he'll end up like Saddam and Gadaffi, so he's looking for a soft landing. In his case, his own people will do him. The US can sit back and eat popcorn and watch the action.
It would be a wonderful present for Venezuela.
Their oil requires special refineries I am told. Like the ones in the Houston area?
Yes, it's high sulphur oil, green in color, and it costs more to refine.
Bad time to be Maduro, I'd imagine. But he's rich and socialist so he can always get a job with the NFL.
Sorted.
Why doesn't he apply for Obama's House Boy?
I was thinking that Maduro could be Joe Biden's campaign manager in his bid for the White House? If you say, "no", you're racist.
Maduro is blatantly heterosexual, which would cause a problem with Barack's 'daily massage'. Michelle might need comfort though and it would work that way.
LL,
Maduro is Raul's houseboy now that Fidel has gone to his reward (or just desserts as the case may be). But the Chicoms, Iranians and Cubans are really running thins in Venezuela.
Which makes for an interesting group of place to hide/retire from his years of pubic service.
Maduro really doesn't know what's in store for Cuba. He might need to move again and he's not a rag-head so Iran might be tough to take. China isn't the pariah state that it once was and they are image conscious.
I'm thinking Myanmar. Commie enough to shield Maduro, but there would be a language problem that he might not be comfortable with.
Both China and Iran wanted to, but it hasn't worked out well for them.
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