Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has held on to power as he and his predecessor Hugo Chavez ruined the strongest economy in Latin America with their “Socialist Revolution.” They combined disastrous economic policy with a crackdown on civil liberties, including unrelenting attacks on journalists and political dissidents. With the vast majority of the nation calling for his resignation and new elections, Maduro and his cronies in government have delayed any elections while allowing the country to descend further into economic and social chaos. However, it is not like he is doing nothing. He has created a new award: the Hugo Chavez Peace Prize. The first winner? The paragon of peace . . . Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s own crackdown on political dissent and journalistic freedom made him a natural for the Hugo Chavez prize. His invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine must have only sealed his reputation as a Prince of Peace.
Maduro who seems intent on making himself a laughing stock of the world proclaimed that Putin is a “fighter for peace.” No contradiction there.
The award seems to be a fit of anger after the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize to Juan Manuel Santos, president of neighboring Colombia, for his role in negotiating a peace agreement with Marxist FARC rebels. Santos is facing huge opposition to his plan but has pursued peace despite the political costs.
The thrust of this article reflects:
* Total ignorance of reality
and/or
* Example of 2nd rate propaganda
*
Nutto. Putin is a bad man.
It always ends up that way.
Question. Who is the wealthiest person in Venezuela. Hugo Chavezs daughter.
The great Vin Scully worked in that fact about Chavez’s daughter between pitches to a Venezuelan batter. Vin is no fan of socialism. I miss Vin already.
If we apply ourselves diligently in fighting Capitalism, criminalizing success or entrepreneurship, we, too, might one day have toilet paper and food shortages.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ivonaiacob/2016/07/24/venezuelas-failed-socialist-experiment/#23e89e7858d4
“The country’s emphasis on oil exports, price controls and a heavily-controlled economy are all features found in other current and former socialist countries–features that have contributed to the demise of whole economies, or brought them close to it.
Perhaps the most obvious example of economic failure is the Soviet Union (or USSR), With its highly centralized government and economy, the USSR survived for 69 years until its collapse in 1991, representing the longest time a state has been led by a Communist Party (China comes in second at 67 years).”
The only way that government can create jobs, besides adding more layers of bureaucracy supported by taxpayers, is by getting out of the way of the economy. Streamlining regulations so they make sense but are not needlessly onerous, reforming the tax structure, and making it easier for business to thrive.
Right. If by “peace” he means peace from those pesky government critics and activists demanding freedom and basic human rights.
Then it all makes sense.
They used to have a saying decades ago that people in Venezuela fell out of banana trees into Cadillacs.
That’s all gone in Socialist Venezuela. Because, you really do run out of spending other people’s money.
Ahhhhh, nothing like good old fashioned Marxism.
Maduro is certainly the least capable and most destructive head of state in the Western Hemisphere. Globally, his only rivals are Kim Jong Un, Bashir Assad, and a scatter of warlords in Equatorial Africa and the Horn of Africa.
Professor Turley’s got his horseblinders on.
Congressional silence on alternatives to our plutocratic duopoly and Citizens United, along with a laundry list of legislation to chip away at fundamental rights in this country reflects our “own crackdown on political dissent and journalistic freedom.”
And if Obama can get a Nobel prize for absolutely nothing, Putin should be considered for some award for bringing Crimea back into the federation while Obama and Clinton were patting themselves on the back for their support of, if not active engagement in, the coup d’etat overthrowing a democratically-elected leader in Ukraine.
We’ve got no room to rant over Venezuelan politics or Madura unless we’re looking for a scapegoat to hide our own failures including those two bozos claiming self-import on stage last night.
It is chilling to see the erosion of our own hard won rights and freedoms.
A truly troubling trend.
Well said.
Double your well said, and raise you one. 🙂
Seriously, Professor Turley’s post seems uncharacteristically lacking in basic research, not to mention nuance, when using Ukraine as an example of Putin’s militarism.
One of the first things the newly established US friendly Oligarchs did after the US supported Ukraine coup was to try and outlaw Russian as a language throughout Ukraine meaning those in eastern part of the country would be illegal citizens – many spoke only Russian – overnight (which is exactly what the extreme right wing coup government wanted). Subsequent to banning the language would have come Nazi style round ups of Russian speaking citizens. While the effort to ban Russian failed, the threats to Eastern Ukrainians remained very real. Those people were fighting for their lives. Putin, what ever his faults, showed exceptional restraint in preventing that particular scenario from becoming an all out war.
I seriously doubt that the same fervor would be used to describe Obama as war like were the tables turned and we were discussing the BRIC countries taking over Mexico or Canada by engineering a coup (as described regarding Ukraine by Victoria Neuland who explicitly stated the cost to us of about 5 billion US dollars during a subsequently leaked telephone conversation). Ukraine boarders on Russia just as Mexico and Canada boarder the US – Obama, Trump, or heaven help us, even Hillary, would be rightly excused for defending our interests not to mention English speaking enclaves were their lives threatened.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37599.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/13/ukraine-us-war-russia-john-pilger
On the attempted Russian language ban for ethnic Russians in the east and south of Ukraine,
https://www.rt.com/news/ukraine-language-lavrov-asselborn-627/
One of the first things the newly established US friendly Oligarchs did after the US supported Ukraine coup was to try and outlaw Russian as a language throughout Ukraine meaning those in eastern part of the country would be illegal citizens –
Its amusing Turley collects utter fantasits.
The use of Russian, or a melange of Russian and Ukranian, is modal in everyday speech in the Ukraine. Among those who do so are the current president, Mr. Poroshenko.
Next up, Brooklyn Bridge will inform us of a seamless plot to ban the speaking of Spanish in Catalonia…
Hear hear!! Let’s look at the failures of other states and not our own. Sweden’s Nobel Peace prize is now a joke!
While a noble goal, the FARC “treaty” is yet another example of elitism. Peace should not come at any cost. There must be justice. These FARC savages were the army for Pablo Escobar. They conducted a reign of terror for decades. They took over the Colombian Supreme Court and killed most of the justices! That is not to mention the hundreds of thousands of poor people they slaughtered. The “treaty” was total amnesty for all these savages. Now, amnesty for soldiers. I could abide that. But the leaders who ordered these atrocities must pay for their war crimes. The great former President Uribe led the vote against this “treaty.” Uribe was the courageous leader of Colombia who led police, judges, attorneys, journalists and the people in a campaign to rid their country of Pablo Escobar. He saw the evil of FARC, and so did many poor citizens of Colombia. Viva Colombia!!
Why is it that US scholars/experts over-simplify the political dynamics of other regions and present them as absolute fact, but in our own country, where we actually have much more detailed knowledge of political dynamics, there is a huge divide over what the truth actually is?
Real life events have become so absurd that to spoof them might work better playing it straight.
Any prize from Venezuela is an insult. Good for Venezuela. What a joke on Putin.
“Ah, what fools these mortals be.”
I would like to see what is on the presentation speech to Putin for this award.
Both Clinton and Obama manipulate the press. I do not see the talks with FARC going far without some more backing.
I hope Professor Turley you did not laugh too hard…..no choice……Talk about Alternative Reality…..