Dictatorship for Dummies!

[RICHICOQUI]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123172065020172341.html

[Red_Rage]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123172065020172341.html


"The drop in oil revenues may impoverish the state, but the opposition is even poorer. Organizing a rebellion against a less-rich Chávez remains a formidable task."


Is Wall Street Journal seriously contemplating an idea of staging a rebellion in a soverign country? Or is the thought of U.S. sponsored proxy-wars in S.America so deeply entrenched within psyches of American financial elites, that they assume that the revolution will be there by default?

I think I'll take my next vacation in Venezuela, and see for myself how "oppressed" the Venezuelians really are.

[RICHICOQUI]

"The drop in oil revenues may impoverish the state, but the opposition is even poorer. Organizing a rebellion against a less-rich Chávez remains a formidable task."


Is Wall Street Journal seriously contemplating an idea of staging a rebellion in a soverign country? Or is the thought of U.S. sponsored proxy-wars in S.America so deeply entrenched within psyches of American financial elites, that they assume that the revolution will be there by default?

I think I'll take my next vacation in Venezuela, and see for myself how "oppressed" the Venezuelians really are. Yeah right ok go see what you WANT see! go tell us how great the chavez robolution is!!

[Red_Rage]

Yeah right ok go see what you WANT see! go tell us how great the chavez robolution is!!

Robolution? Is it like a revolution with robots? Chavez' technologocal machine had advanced even further than we thought! MY GOD...Call the President!

/Sorry, couldn't resist.

What i want to see in Venezuela btw, are some sandy beaches and representatives of Venezuelian female proletariat to...*cough*, discuss the future of South American socialism (and no, i won't tell you anything about it p-) )

[davey]

As far as I can tell Chavez still enjoys huge popular support. One would not expect any other result in a country where 70% of the population is impoverished mestizo's. If he interferes with electoral processes then it is beyond me why he needs to do that. But maybe he does, many developing world leaders lack constraints on power abuse.

There is a pro American minority elite that, with the American power elite and the Western press, wishes to portray Chavez as a pure dictator, but I fail to see someone with majority popular support as a dictator. Populist radical socialist, yes. Dictator, not yet.

He surely did reveal some worrying dictatorial tendencies with the 2007 referendum on constitutional reform. To his credit, he accepted the outcome when it was not in his favor.

Let us not forget that Mugabe also had massive popular support in the past. Sometimes the only difference between a popular populist leader and a nasty dictator is time.

[Hogan]

As far as I can tell Chavez still enjoys huge popular support. One would not expect any other result in a country where 70% of the population is impoverished mestizo's. If he interferes with electoral processes then it is beyond me why he needs to do that. But maybe he does, many developing world leaders lack constraints on power abuse.

There is a pro American minority elite that, with the American power elite and the Western press, wishes to portray Chavez as a pure dictator, but I fail to see someone with majority popular support as a dictator. Populist radical socialist, yes. Dictator, not yet.

He surely did reveal some worrying dictatorial tendencies with the 2007 referendum on constitutional reform. To his credit, he accepted the outcome when it was not in his favor.

Let us not forget that Mugabe also had massive popular support in the past. Sometimes the only difference between a popular populist leader and a nasty dictator is time.


Have you ever bothered to take a look at some of the typical legislation he pushes through over there on consolidating his power and cracking down on the opposition? If not, try Google.

[davey]

Have you ever bothered to take a look at some of the typical legislation he pushes through over there on consolidating his power and cracking down on the opposition? If not, try Google.

No I have not, and I don't intend to. Chavez would win an independently monitored election by a significant margin and that can't make him a dictator. Not yet. I have acknowledged worrying tendencies like the 2007 referendum on constitutional reforms.

There are other dictatorships the Western Press should spend their time on, like Saudi Arabia and others.

[Walter Sobchak]

There are other dictatorships the Western Press should spend their time on, like Saudi Arabia and others.

Bad comparison. The Saudis have always been an absolute monarchy, whether they were simple desert Bedouins or oil-rich desert Bedouins. They never had a democracy that was hijacked by buying votes and influence with stolen wealth of the nation. No, I'm not a fan of al Saud, but come on, let's compare apples and apples here.

When Jugo Chavez can no longer deliver the free stuff, the people who love him will turn against him and he'll end up living in exile as Putin's garage boy.

[davey]

Bad comparison.

No comparison was made. An absolute monarchy like that is still a dictatorship no matter what it is called. And their human rights record is far far worse than that of Venezuela.

Look, I'm no fan of Chavez, but calling him a dictator while he enjoys majority support, and while several Arab regimes with no democracy and poor human rights records escape criticism in the Western press displays hypocrisy in the worst possible degree.