My point is very simple - the leader of the country is first person who should be held responsible for the failure of his country.
It is up to Venezuelans, not to some imperial patronizing power to decide. And Venezuelans reelected Nicolas Maduro.
If you ruin the private sector and scare away foreign investments by nationalizing stuff - your responsibility.
Those nationalizations, carried out under President Chavez, are what allowed Venezuela to lift the living conditions of the poor in a manner probably second only to China in the past 100 years. This is why the Venezuelan masses keep supporting the Bolivarian Revolution through thick and thin, as they are well aware of each side's deeper motives.
If you find it wise to piss of the country that buys 57% of your oil - your responsibility.
If you conduct foreign policy that get you sanctioned - your responsibility.
What sort of a client says, "if you denounce my wrongdoings, if you seek to be independent and to emancipate yourself from your vassal-like status, not only will I stop buying from you, but I will furthermore coerce and blackmail everyone else into doing the same"?!
It's not like there is a lack of global demand for Venezuelan crude, but the US regime's threats to sanction any buyer are the source of the issue. The US regime's habit to extra-territorially apply its national sanction legislation, directly runs counter to basic principles of international law. On the ethical level, it is akin to oppressive gangster methods.
Seeking to justify these practices would be nothing short of arguing that "might is right".
In a democratic country when a leader fails so miserably he is simply removed. That is exactly what happened to Maduro in 2015 , only he refuses to go and is willing to drag the country along with him.
President Nicolas Maduro was democratically elected.
Lets put things into perspective.
This is not some courageous voyage into the harsh waters of the pacific.
The purpose of this voyage is to deliver weapons to a dictator so he can better strangler his own people.
Not that other countries don't sell weapons to dictators and other dubious regime s , but great honor it is not.
It is also a plain stupid and irresponsible move , considering that this week is one of the more critical times for the nuclear deal negotiations.
But no one ask Iranians whether they support this policy , same as no one asks the Venezuelans whether they wish to be controlled by this ex bus driver Maduro.
Randomly applying preconceived rhetoric to events is not going to put the latter into perspective.
Indeed, it is most definitely a courageous move to dare challenge the oppressive American hegemon, whose domineering obsessions, whose deep-seated intolerance for actual independence and self-determination of nations, as well as the brutality with which it has been imposing its rule (especially in Latin America and in Asia), have been a feature of international politics for the past century.
Also, the weapons Iran provides Venezuela with are of no use in strangling any unarmed citizens. By essence, naval speed boats are not employed to crush protests, but to defend against illegal acts of aggression such as these by the US regime and its far-right minions:
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been targeted in an attempted attack during a televised public address, officials confirm. Several explosives-laden drones detonated as he was speaking at a military ceremony.
www.rt.com
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed that two US citizens were captured along with a group of “mercenaries” Caracas accused of trying to infiltrate the Latin American nation in order to assassinate him.
www.rt.com
Kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and bringing him to the US was the objective of a failed incursion into the country, one of the two captured US mercenaries said in an interrogation tape released by state TV.
www.rt.com
Invasion attempt of a sovereign state by mercenaries, assassination attempts against a head of state. Lowly unlawful acts by the global hegemon that is the US regime.
Not to mention the fact the the Bolivarian government of Caracas has no history of employing the Venezuelan military against Venezuelan citizens.
Currently, it's actually in the next door US client state of Colombia where pro-American regime authorities have killed dozens of protesters for demanding social justice:
Fifty-eight people have died in six weeks of unrest, but demonstrators say they are more determined than ever to fight for change
www.theguardian.com
And Venezuela is no dictatorship, in fact it is several fold more democratic than western so-called democracies, if alone due to the fact that the Venezuelan system allows for far greater political pluralism. Indeed, for a long time it even tolerated opposition TV channels that were openly calling for the assassination of the acting president Hugo Chavez. I am yet to see a western regime granting this much freedom of speech.
Maduro used to be a bus driver? Well excellent, for it only shows how ordinary working class people in Venezuela have a chance to rise to top government positions, and that power is not concentrated in the hands of a restricted social-economic oligarchy as in western so-called democracies.
As far as Iran's nuclear negotiations are concerned, in fact they are completely overshadowed by the presidential election to be held this Friday, and are generally speaking not at a critical stage, given the lame duck character of the Rohani administration. Both parties know full well that nothing is going to come out of these negotiations at this time.
Of course Venezuelans were asked if they wanted Maduro to be president: they actually elected him to that position.
With regards to Iran's policy, apart from the fact that no government in the world is directly consulting people on its very decision, Iranians have actually been asked, and by professional, academic North American polling institutes using scientific methods at that. The results show that:
A very large majority views the Revolutionary Guard’s regional military activities favorably and three in five say Iran should increase its support of groups fighting terrorist groups like ISIS; both these majorities have grown since 2019. A majority thinks that even if Iran were to stop the Guard’s activities, this would only lead the United States to push for more concessions in other areas. Over three in five support IRGC playing a role in Iran’s economy.
https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impa...lic-opinion-start-biden-administration-report
Since the Iranian people show such overwhelming support for their country's presence in theaters like Syria, chances are that they will not particularly oppose Iran's support for Venezuela either.
, who only know to bring their knees to their American masters.
