President Trump signed an executive order late Monday imposing a full economic embargo against Venezuela, freezing all government assets in the US and forbidding all transactions of any Venezuelan officials.
This is the first major expansion of sanctions against a western
hemisphere nation by the US in over 30 years, and is intended to put
Venezuela into the same level of economic isolation as similarly
restricted Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
The order cites human rights abuses, and the fact that President Maduro
is still in power in Venezuela, even though the US recognized opposition
leader Guaido as the rightful ruler of the country.
This is the latest US effort to try to impose regime change in
Venezuela, after a failed military coup earlier this year. It’s not
clear how broadly the US intends to enforce the sanctions, for example
if they intend to use military force to prohibit naval trade from the
Venezuelan coast
A left leaning democracy with the worlds largest oil reserves being targeted by Washington because of human rights?
Evidently Saudi Arabia doesn’t have a human rights problem in the opinion of America’s leaders.
No problems in Saudi Arabia that’s a dictatorship . it is liberal democracies we sanction that refuse to give our oil companies their oil .
How could Guaido be president ? He did not even run for the office when Venezuela held their election . The United States should not appoint a president for Venezuela .
Guess who would become President here if Trump and Pence were forced from office- Nancy Pelosi. Did she run for President? No. Guaido was basically the Pelosi of Venezuela as the leader of the National Assembly. In their constitution that made him second in line to the Presidency. He didn’t come out of nowhere and has a legit claim.
Maduro didn’t like that the assembly was resisting him, so he declared it abolished and created a new one that supported him. He also dismissed all the Supreme Court judges and replaced them with his flunkies. And people act like he’s some champion of democracy.
“And people act like he’s some champion of democracy.”
I think people act more like it’s none of our damn business. Similar to Iran. But I bet you think anyone disparaging the Donald for his attempted destruction of Iran’s economy to be acting like they are actually claiming Iran to be champions of democracy.
lord, you are correct,,but a case can be made that the USA has morphed into much of the same, and I do not blame Prez. Trump for that.
“Maduro didn’t like that the assembly was resisting him, so he declared it abolished and created a new one that supported him.”
Indeed. But you see, he’s constitutionally authorized to do just that. Just as Americans are constitutionally authorized to keep and bear arms … with the sort of results we’ve seen in the last few days. For good or ill, the law is the law.
“He also dismissed all the Supreme Court judges and replaced them with his flunkies.”
Again, constitutionally authorized.
Plus, it bears mentioning that “the opposition” are treasonous stooges of the US, of which there can be no more blatant an example than the Guaido/mail-order-coup nonsense. They are the right wing oligarchic petro-thieves of Venezuela’s colonial past.
Chavez put Venezuela’s colonial past in the dust bin of history. Now we witness a Venezuelan rite of passage, much like America’s civil war rite of passage:
“Twenty years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new Venezuela, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in continuing that revolutionary struggle, testing whether Venezuela, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. … It is for us the inheritors of that revolution, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work the Revolution has thus far so nobly advanced. It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that this nation, under God, shall preserve this new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
“Chavez put Venezuela’s colonial past in the dust bin of history.”
But he just co-opted its caudillismo.
So what our congress is resisting Trump and Trump appointed new supreme court justices . Nobody is blockading us .
Admission of failure. Elections are coming up.
“The order cites human rights abuses”
C’mon, we can’t be serious. We are in bed with the number one oppressive regime on earth. Actually, one and two.
Trump is a mad dog, a rabid lunatic.
Sanctions on Russia turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to them. It forced them to cultivate relations with China and that was the beginning of the New Silk Road initiative. An economic embargo on Venezuela could do the same thing. They are already selling oil to China and barring some kind of naval blockade, will continue to do so in the future.
The petrodollar in headed for the toilet for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is our massive debt and the financial instability brought on by the trade war with China. They could pull the plug on the dollar tomorrow if they stopped buying oil in dollars and started using the new petroyuan. That would give blockaded countries like Iran and Venezuela a way to sell their oil using yuan-denominated accounts with which they could purchase not only Chinese goods and services, but also Chinese government securities and bonds. It works for everyone… except the USA, and can’t happen soon enough.
Thomas,,so now you think the answer is to bow down and be controlled by the dictators and despots and tyranny of communist China?
I agree that the financial strangulation imposed on nations by the USA is to be stopped, as it is an evil practice, but thinking China is the answer………………………………….:(
So, it’s OK if neoliberal economics dictate that we move all of our good industrial jobs to sweatshops in China, but the minute they want to strike out on their own, building trade agreements with Russia and nations we don’t like, and using their own currency to do it… that’s bad. Right, Jay?
Thomas, No, that is not what I believe. I am for protecting U.S. jobs and manufacturing, not only from off shore entities, but from State and local governing units that bleed them dry on that level, and then force them into the realm of China and others. What foreign Gov. want to do with their currency is, in the end, their bizzness. Should the USA, Mexico and Canada establish a free and open trade zone with no tariff’s or other encumbrances,?,,I would be very open to that discussion.
Who is China imposing sanctions on? They have a smaller prison population than the USA and three times the population. Be careful who you are calling despots.
Dennis, They are despots and tyrants and they have been killing USA jobs and manufacturing. I never said China is imposing sanctions, Dennis. The prison population has nothing to do with the discussion, GeeZ!!
“…bow down and be controlled by the dictators and despots and tyranny of communist China?”
Absolutely not. Much better to worship at the altar of fraudulent democracy and “bow down and be controlled by the dictators and despots and tyranny of neoliberal corporatism.
Give up the red, white & blue anti-communist Kool-Aid, it’s ancient history. China’s system is — simply put — better.
Hong Kong, Trial Spot
Is Western Democracy Flunking Out? ………………………..[Answer: yes. Mighty Casey has struck out.]
http://www.unz.com/article/hong-kong-trial-spot/
The Chinese record on environmental and human rights abuses… No thanks.
yomama, spoken like the true Marxist you are! There is nothing wrong with the USA that a 2nd Trump term can’t fix, and if he doesn’t than we will form a new Gov.,,backed by the great Bill Of Rights, or maybe 2 or 3 new Governments, countries. I am for one or the other. DC Ghouls cannot stand.
If you think Trump is fighting the ‘DC Ghouls,’ I’ve got a bridge to sell you, One Trump has already sold many times over.
Your enthusiasm for this prospect disturbs me, but i agree that the USA is going to learn its lesson the hard way one of these days.
I’m hoping we can transition from being an empire to being a normal nation in a multi-polar world. If crashing the economy and getting our butts kicked in far-flung places where we have no business being anyway is what it takes, then so be it. We could go back to having an actual “defensive” military that would guard us from an attack by Mexico or Canada, and we could bring all of our troops home and set them to building bridges and high-speed railroads instead.
Our economy is booming — we can afford to lose some trade with the world! Is this Trump’s plan? If we sanction/tariff everyone — are we really going to be forced to produce all we need? And when others develop their sustainable economy — no need for the world or other way around.
I think it worth noting that an “Economic Embargo” is little more than a puffed-up rewording of “sanctions regime”. Not so much anything really new. Without military enforcement, it’s just more tough talk. Which is to say more Pompeo/Bolton/Abrams fecklessness. All bark, no bite.
You watch, this will continue as we approach the coming election, and when the timing is right, Trump will say, “I gave them their shot, and they failed. They’re fired.” Then, with Tulsi Gabbard blocked from the Dem presidential nomination, Trump will announce, “I’ve asked Congresswoman Gabbard to come in and take over as Secretary of State.”
Game. set, match for Trump in 2020.
[I know, I’m sticking my neck out here, but just the same, let’s wait and see. Trump knows how to win, and this looks to me like a killer winning strategy.]
In the meantime people die. Sanctions kill. And I’d literally shit my pants if Trump asked Gabbard to be SOS. Soiled, but happy.
She did go to the whit house once . I think it was Trump’s request .
Oh please, their entire legion of best troops couldn’t embargo Venezuela. Face it Rocky, it’s over, Drago won that round.
And the seizure of the food ship is intended as the start of a naval blockade of Venezuela – which in turn is intended to get the public used to the idea of a blockade, which will then be extended to Iran’s oil shipments once the US gets enough ships in the Gulf to implement it.
With all this blatant illegality, it remains a mystery how anyone can still think Trump isn’t a war monger. Apparently Kool Aid drinking isn’t only a malady of Obama supporters…