Obama Declares Venezuela A Threat To U.s. National Security

[sleazemerchant]

Obama completely lost his mind and the warfare/welfare state has gone full retard.
Venezuela, a threat to the United States? A threat?
Venezuela has a GDP smaller than that of the state of Ohio.

Venezuela would threaten the United States with what??????

http://news.yahoo.co...56--sector.html

Venezuela is in some aspects a national security threat; it is essentially a narco/petro state run by a military dictatorship spouting anti-US rhetoric on a daily basis and has cooperated/traded with/funded other national security threats such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea. All the while spouting anti-US rhetoric and supporting the Chavista regime thousands of connected Venezuelans have manipulated the byzantine currency controls/import restrictions to siphon away billions of USD into Miami area real estate and bank accounts. Obama's executive order gives the USG the tools it needs to seize/freeze these stolen assets and safeguard them until the time that the Chavez regime crumbles and/or Venezuela defaults on their debt, at which time creditors can be paid with the funds. Rogue criminal regimes such as Venezuelan cannot expect to stick their thumb in the USA's eye while at the same time making use of the USA stability to safeguard their wealth.

 

[ghost]

And I am sure we will get a human rights loving leader running Venezuela afterwards, right? Right?

Screw Humans. I'm getting tired of the messes they make.

 

[ben]

Sounds a wee bit shrill to me.

This is coming a few days after Venezuela decided to poke a finger yet again in the US's eye, with the embassy stuff and visa regime for Americans. Declared because of the espionage that allegedly Americans were conducting, but turns out to not be a visa regime (which AFAIK only Brazil truly implements) but rather given on the spot in the airport - in effect, a reciprocity fee.

So Obama responded with a boilerplate declaration that allows him to impose sanctions. It's made clear that these will only be targeted at specific individuals, so the Cuba comparison again rings a bit shrill. What exactly is the big deal here?

 

[EricLovesBA]

If you examine grassroots media sources free of the corporate bias of mainstream media and the propaganda machine, I think you will find a pretty clear case for a pattern of destabilizing, undermining or outright attacking any country which threatens the petrodollar hegemony. Any oil rich country that flirts with the idea of dealing oil in any non-dollar currency quickly gets caught up in the cross hairs of the US military industrial complex. Do not underestimate the economic consequences if all those reserve dollars come home to roost. Americans are very comfortable importing cheap toys from all over the world, propped up by world dollar demand. Also do not underestimate the apathy of the average American couch potato. Even if they understood this connection, could they go to the next step and forgo their entitlement and push their government to stop its wars of aggression, dismantle its war machines and actually endure the pain of competing fairly in the free market?

 

[Matiasba]

Dictatorship? didnt Chavez and Maduro win 14 out of 15 electoral processes? (losing the reform of the constitution for like 1% and admitting the defeat without any problem or calling fraud or something?)

Trading with Iran? everybody trades with Iran, or North Korea, or Saudi Arabia, or China. Even the US is the main destiny of Venezuelan oil!! everybody trades with everybody, that is not a problem.

 

[NickF]

If you examine grassroots media sources free of the corporate bias of mainstream media and the propaganda machine, I think you will find a pretty clear case for a pattern of destabilizing, undermining or outright attacking any country which threatens the petrodollar hegemony. Any oil rich country that flirts with the idea of dealing oil in any non-dollar currency quickly gets caught up in the cross hairs of the US military industrial complex. Do not underestimate the economic consequences if all those reserve dollars come home to roost. Americans are very comfortable importing cheap toys from all over the world, propped up by world dollar demand. Also do not underestimate the apathy of the average American couch potato. Even if they understood this connection, could they go to the next step and forgo their entitlement and push their government to stop its wars of aggression, dismantle its war machines and actually endure the pain of competing fairly in the free market?

Would love to hear your thoughts on you think killed JFK.

 

[Matiasba]

The military industrial complex killed JFK.

And John Lennon.

 

[Matt84]

Makes perfect sense Camberiu,
Oil and gas are of Geostrategic importance, access to them is a matter of National Security (because if the US doesn't get enough of it, in time to retrofit itself into nuclear/solar+magic, there would be uncontrollable rioting.

Venezuela has a lot of oil.

Other countries that have as much oil (Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada) are already US allies, or belong to a trade union with the US.

Countries that have some oil and are not outright US allies, at least are not rude to Americans, and att best had been major allies of the US in the past (Norway, Brasil)

But Venezuela has been acting way too cocky for the last decade and it would seem that they are sacrificing their own population's welfare for some future geostrategic agreement.

If the US imposed sanctions on oil-rich but egoist Russia, why wouldn't they on much weaker Venezuela?

And being so unsympathetic to the US and its interests might imply other non petroleum problems, like lack of cooperation in the global Aeternal Struggle against T'rorrism and Controlled Substances.

Venezuela threatens "Hemispheric" security.

 

[Matt84]

... forgo their entitlement and push their government to stop its wars of aggression, dismantle its war machines and actually endure the pain of competing fairly in the free market?

that is only a half truth.
Initially America behaved aggressively to impose on other more backward (but culturally richer) countries free market competition. See Commodore Perry.
When 90 years later the Law of Unintended Consequences caused unintended consequences it was promptly solves with a couple of Atomic Bombs,
But when 120 years later the same people begin producing , smaller, better, and less expensive cars, then the last shreds of Free Market are abandoned and the current confusion arises and intensifies...

similar situation with the subsidized American farmer.

 

[scotttswan]

The military industrial complex killed JFK.

And John Lennon.

Wrong
Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark David Chapman