‘It’s Time Sinn Féin Ended Its Backing For The Maduro Regime’

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It’s time Fianna Fáil ended its backing for the Varadkar regime, amirite.

Context

Related: Sinn Féin defends decision to attend Maduro inauguration  (Jennifer Bray, The Irish Times, (January 10, 2019)

Previously: Bryan Wall: Oily Business

Meanwhile

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68 thoughts on “‘It’s Time Sinn Féin Ended Its Backing For The Maduro Regime’

    1. Rep

      Jesus, Us = bad so therefore everything the US thinks is bad = good?

      That is a very nuanced way to view the world

      1. Starina

        no, but US imperialism is not known for its altruism, especially when it comes to resource-rich South American countries. they have much precedent there.

    2. KevBar

      Curiously our Shinner shyster friends echoed the worst of the US bullshit when their bomb makers oops sorry bird watchers got caught. And suddenly poor Paddy could not expect a free n fair trial in this third world kip etc. Needless to say they were guilty up the wazoo – problematic for Noraid who were still peddling bible in one hand armalite in the other followed by tea n poetry.
      And here Pearse’s wee boys were teaching godless commies with AKs in one hand Marx in the other n possible nasal cavities full of Charlie. Sell that at a Wolfe Tone gig. You think the three wld take their punishment like honourable Oglaigh. But no. It was all quasi colonial racist squealing. Proving once again the the near impossible: Sinn Fein are as bad if not worse than the other clowns. And that’s before we discuss the debt. The one to the psychos. Choccy etc

  1. Rufty

    Maduro is a violent thug that rigged his election so he could cling to power. No self respecting democrat should give him an ounce of support…….. but then again, it’s Sinn Féin and the notion of democracy we’re talking about I suppose!

    1. f_lawless

      Over 100 international observers were there. They’ve penned a letter to the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
      : “.. the claims in your press release are fabrications of the most disgraceful kind, based on hearsay and not on evidence and unworthy of the EU. It has not escaped notice that the EU was invited to send observers to the election and declined to do so. NONE of the criticism in your EU press release is, therefore, based on direct EU observation in the field…
      ..We were unanimous in concluding that the elections were conducted fairly, that the election conditions were not biased, that genuine irregularities were exceptionally few and of a very minor nature. There was no vote buying because there is no way that a vote CAN be bought. The procedure itself precludes any possibility of anyone knowing how a voter cast her or his vote; and it is impossible – as we verified – for an individual to vote more than once or for anyone to vote on behalf of someone else.”
      https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/international-observers-to-venezuelas-election-pen-letter-to-the-eu

      1. Rob_G

        This delegation stands alone among the many, many civil society organisations who have roundly condemned the elections.

        1. f_lawless

          Were they present to observe the elections taking place? Which are they exactly? I mean, you must be aware of how the so called “international community” operates by now – you either almost always align with, or kowtow to, US interests

          1. Mel

            Do you know the makeup of the delegates that were invited to do the overseeing? I remember hearing one of these jokers interviewed on the radio. He was a SIPTU official.

      1. Rob_G

        er, that’s from 2012.

        Here is a more recent prognosis:

        “The Atlanta-based Carter Center whose founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, once said Venezuela had one of the best election processes in the world, also came out against the process.

        “On top of the fact the election was illegal, the (electoral council) broke every rule in the book of electoral integrity,” said Jennie K. Lincoln, the Carter Center’s director for Latin America and Caribbean. “This election destroyed any vestiges of democracy that might have yet existed in Venezuela.”

        https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-turnout/opposition-leaders-election-experts-decry-venezuela-vote-idUSKBN1AG2FN

    2. RuilleBuille

      The opposition won the Assembly elections and the US is OK with that result.

      Maduro won the Presidential election and that is not OK with the US.

      Seems the US, and FF, pick and choose which election they support.

  2. Jake38

    Maduro’s Venezuela is a wonderful lesson in how to bankrupt a wealthy country with populist socialist economic voodoo. It the kind of stuff Ms Mc Donnell spouts at every opportunity (subject to approval from West Belfast).

  3. Junkface

    I know a Sky News report on Venezuela on their youtube live channel. They showed the state of their hospitals, no medicine, no working equipment, broken machines, just some dying patients in bed surrounded by mosquito nets. That’s all they can afford. What a reckless, deluded regime. Another Socialist country failure. It seems to always fail because it goes against human nature of ambition, ingenuity and improving life for your loved ones and friends.
    Some socialism in a Capitalist society works well, but full blown socialism. Disaster

      1. Junkface

        What, you think the whole thing was faked? Come on, they were interviewing the patients family members, some of the sick patients, some of the doctors, it was real. Its not like they are Fox news, even though they are also owned by Murdoch. Euronews had a similar report, but from a different hospital in Caracas.

        1. f_lawless

          I’m just surprised that people are still prepared to lap up these narratives; not realising the role that corporate media plays in manufacturing consent among the public for Western imperialist campaigns. It’s happening time and time again – Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine – the list goes on, and yet some people refuse to see reality.
          Did Sky attempt to set the proper context of the situation? Was there any mention economic sanctions imposed by the US on Venezuela or of the Venezuelan oligarchs who control much of the food production? Did they interview any supporters of the Bolivarian revolution (still the majority of the public) as to why they support the government?

          1. Junkface

            f_lawless have you ever spent time in a fully socialist / communist country? I have, and it is shocking. People lose all motivation for work, standards of food production drop, people become malnourished. Teenagers become desperate for anything from abroad that gives them hope or the optimism of escape. They regard all tourists as millionaires, and girls turn to prostitution for the price of a drink in a nice bar with a tourist because they feel glamorous for one evening. Its awful and would make you despair for humanity.

          2. Mel

            +1 Junkface. I’ve witnessed exactly this in Eastern Europe in the late eighties and even in to the mid nineties. It’s dreadful. The vestiges are still there, it takes generations to recover.

          3. f_lawless

            you’re showing just out of touch you are. Venezuela is not a fully socialist county. It still operates within a capitalist system – capital accumulation drives ecomonic activity; most industries are privately owned and profit seeking; Venezuela still operates within the global capitalist market.
            That’s the problem when you buy too much into any ideology. You start to selectively observe only what fits into your one dimensional view of the world. “look you see, just like I always said. Socialism is bad!”

          4. Junkface

            No, when you let Socialist ideals dictate or dominate your economics then you will destroy your economy. Some socialism in western societies around Europe have worked out well, never perfect but nothing is.

          5. f_lawless

            did any of those European countries endure sustained campaigns, of several years, by foreign forces to overthrow the government – orchestrated coup attempts; the funding of opposition right wing groups to the tune of tens of millions; crippling sanctions, blocked from making any international transactions, Venezuean oligarchs restricting food supply,etc?
            ” when you let Socialist ideals dictate or dominate your economics..”
            Sounds like you’re succumbing succumbing to selective ideological thinking again

          6. jusayinlike

            Before a coup takes place, economic sanctions are imposed to turn the people against the government and promote a populist uprising, enter stooge guida, if that fails the violence is unleashed.

            See Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Haiti, Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, Grenada, Cuba, and previously Venezuela.

  4. DrGonzo

    Typical FF

    Supporting American regime change operations in yet another oil rich country. Naming an right wing opposition leader President without any election victory (because they know he wouldn’t win). Standard FF.

    We have all seen this playbook before. Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, all part of US attempts at toppling foreign governments. Venezuela is just the next one up.

    Until Europe deals with the source of the problem which is a warmongering USA it will continue going from country to country. EU should be on the side of No more Wars. But we have American lackeys like Fianna Fail in this country that have more loyalty to the yanks than they do to Europe.

    Last time they tried this shit in Syria Europe ended up having to clean up the mess of the immigration crisis from over 2.5 million refugees fleeing the war.

  5. Eoin

    USA picks a fight with a country with huge oil reserves. Deploys military personnel to neighbouring country .They tell other countries they need to pick a side. Feel familiar at all? All we need now is for Colin Powell to turn up at the UN with a little phial of sugar WMDs.

    If the USA wanted to invade an oil rich country which actually did do harm to the USA, they could start with Saudi Arabia which killed the US resident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. But Trump and his golden circle have big business interests dependent on the Saudis.

    Fupp off USA and fight your own oil war.

    1. bernard

      Not only the USA but the EU which includes us now
      So basically if civil war results from this we cannot stand there saying how neutral we are

  6. bernard

    Here we have the mentality of those who believe everything they read in the media
    Though I cannot bear Sinn Fein and their past pre GFA their policies and mentality
    I actually commend them for their stance on Venezuela
    If you study the sad history of Venezuela you might just understand why Hugo Chávez came to power
    If you actually examined the history of Cuba and other Latin and south American countries you would also understand
    This government was democratically elected and due to decades of undermining these governments by foreign powers Venezuela is where it is

  7. Ben Redmond

    Is this Fianna Fail’s local elections manifesto? When the party has sorted out Venezuela, what are its local election candidates going to do about street lamps, waste disposal, rural buses, draining the Shannon and supporting small businesses by making boarded up town shops available to entrepreneurs??

    1. Rob_G

      Those 3 million people are surely just an invention of Sky News… Have you not seen on RT that everything is hunky-dory, and that Venezuelan comrades don’t mind eating their family pets?

    2. f_lawless

      ok so that’s one section of the Venezuelan population. What then, about the opinions of those too poor to fly abroad – the opinions of poorest class, the largest section of the population, who still support the Bolivarian programs that are underway, the ones never given a much of a voice if any on corporate media?

    1. Rob_G

      Things were going to hell in a handcart long before the sanctions.

      Evo Morales has lead a socialist government for years, and he is not facing sanctions, and his people are not starving.

    1. f_lawless

      reading that article was like stepping into a reality bubble where aggressive economic warfare isn’t being waged by a group of nation states, led by the US, over the state and citizens of another

        1. Sham Bob

          Well Mel, reading your posts feels a bit like stepping into the uncanny valley. Can’t quite put my finger on what’s so off about them…

  8. Eoin

    Look at what Simon Coveney, who is in Washington today, has just done on our behalf

    “I join other EU Member States in acknowledging and supporting Mr. Juan Guaidó, President of the democratically elected National Assembly, as President ad interim of Venezuela, in order for him to call for free, fair and democratic presidential elections”

    Just so you’re clear, Guaido did not contest the presidential elections last May, he’s the “President of the democratically elected National Assembly” which sounds grand but is in fact just the Ceann Comhairle of the Venezuelan parliament, just like Sean O’Fearghail or John Bercow.

    https://www.dfa.ie/news-and-media/press-releases/press-release-archive/2019/february/tanaiste-simon-coveney-announces-irelands-support-for-mr-juan-guaido.php

    1. f_lawless

      what happens when you can only think in terms of what’s good for ‘Ireland Inc.’ Truth or moral values don’t come into it!

  9. Truth in the News

    In two US elections the popular vote did not elect the rightful winner, infact Trump is
    not directly elected, its the electoral college that elects him, remember the chits in
    Florida, and what is Trump and the European Union doing about democracy in
    Saudi Arabia and look at the British in their First Past the Post, how democratic
    is it…..?…..Mother of Parliaments how are you, examine all the Legislation enacted
    by this outfit, where up to 1880’s very few had the right to vote and it took to 1919
    for a woman to exercise her right, its time we had a review of the Legislation that
    was enacted by those who were elected from the rotten borough’s.

    1. bisted

      …welcome to Broadsheet…this is a ‘pick your own’ borough…democratic deficits a speciality…evryone is a qualified majority – of one…

  10. Geronimous Bosch

    Lads we should embrace Sinn Fein’s engagement with Venezuela, with any luck they’ll send some experts in conflict resolution like they did in Colombia

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