My December 5 post – Venezuela: follow through or dial down – weighed competing factors before concluding that America’s ugly show of force in the Caribbean will likely end in a climb-down testing to the limit its narrative managers’ ability to spin mission success from the reality of failure. That’s a conclusion Yanis Varoufakis shared yesterday in his own assessment, while considering military, political and economic implications not just for Venezeula and a weakened global hegemon, but for the Monroe Doctrine and, as in the Ukraine, an accelerated shift from unipolarity to a multipolar world.
Unacquainted with the warp and weft of Venezuela’s situation internally, I’m in no position to affirm or contest Yanis’s forthright condemnations of Maduro, though I often find his otherwise incisive assessments flawed by liberal prejudices. These matter little here. There’s no mistaking the forceful intelligence of his analysis, or its primary focus. 1
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Doors shut. Others are opened as the focus switches to the various “Home Fronts”:
Trump’s ‘Naughty List’ casts a wide net:
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/leak-fbi-list-of-extremists-is-coming
“Attorney General Pam Bondi is ordering the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism,” according to a Justice Department memo published here exclusively.
The target is those expressing “opposition to law and immigration enforcement; extreme views in favour of mass migration and open borders; adherence to radical gender ideology,” as well as “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” and “anti-Christianity.”
– Ken Klippenstein
Though, to be fair, as does Starmer’s, on behalf of his handlers:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/12/the-terrifying-case-of-natalie-strecker/
“The prosecution explicitly stated, and the judge notably intervened to make sure that everybody understood, that it is the offence of supporting terrorism to state that the Palestinians have the right to armed resistance in international law.
Judge John Saunders interrupted the prosecution to ask whether they were saying that he would be guilty of support for terrorism if, in a lecture, he told an international law class that Palestinians have the right to armed resistance in international law.
After some kerfuffle when faced with such an awkward question, the prosecution replied that yes, it could be the offence to tell law students that…..
……In effect, Alison Morgan and the UK government are attempting through this prosecution to make even the most basic expression of support for Palestine a serious criminal offence. Remember that a terrorism conviction destroys your life – it almost certainly brings loss of employment, debanking and severe travel restrictions……
……The prosecution has also relied on the extremely wide definition of support adopted in UK terrorist cases, that “support of” merely means “expression of agreement with”.”
Thankfully, on this occasion, the defendant, Natalie Strecker, was found not guilty.
However, what passes for a UK Government is already busy working on transposing the Labour Party discipline and grievance procedures onto the UK judicial system. Starting with the abolition of jury trials for any offence which, for the sake of the convenience of those who determine such self-definitions, is deemed non-serious.
It surely cannot be too long on the present trajectory before ducking stools, village stocks and burning stakes come back into fashion? Not sure, though, how they will widen that gate from the Thames into the Tower of London to cope with the likely projected volume?
Perhaps people will be tried in batches, like the old French Tribunals?
Looks like Starmer and his crew are using 1984 as an instruction manual. However, I don’t think he will still be PM this time next year – his popularity is so low, and inevitably descending. But his replacement might be just as bad, if the previous history of the ‘Labouring’ party is anything to go by. Really, we have to get rid of this crew of sycophants to the wunch, and their right wing colleagues in ‘tory’ and ‘reform???’
I too don’t see Starmer surviving. If Owen Jones – whose brilliant coverage of Palestine goes some way to offsetting liberal prejudices far more serious than Yanis’s – is right, the Morgan McSweeney (i.e. ruling class) plan was to use Starmer to crush Corbyn, then find a leader less spectacularly inept.
He’s 100% FOS about Maduro’s “catastrophic mismanagement” – unless he wants to do a full spectrum rundown of the US sanctions on that country/economy, which he doesn’t do here. Try running a country like Cuba or Venezuela when Uncle Scam’s boot is so firmly on your neck in almost every conceivable way. The intent of these sanctions – the stated intent, now that the mask is off – is to immiserate the population (meaning the poor and working classes) to the point that they’ll risk their lives to stage a revolt. It also, naturally, in many cases, causes the targeted government (aka “regime”) to enact draconian countermeasures aimed at preventing this artificial revolution. I can speak from experience, knowing several Venezuelan ex-pats and without fail, the upper class among them (those who often have properties in Miami or even Madrid), are anti-Maduro as they have always been anti-Bolivarian Revolution (Chavez). Prior to Trump’s crackdowns, the poor and working class ex-pats were critical, but always in the context of US sanctions and their effects, which of course include the worsening of the wealth gap and the rise (or appearance thereof) of government ‘corruption’ – making sure that their strongest supporters in the business and media realms are well taken care of.
Long story short, I refuse to listen to anyone talking about Venezuela or Maduro without the voluminous contextual foundation of the illegal economic warfare perpetrated on the country/government/people by the US and its partners in crime. This doesn’t even touch on the covert operations that have been underway in-country since Chavez first swept to power or the (often shadow) NGOs sowing discord and anti-government (or pro-US) sentiment, as they are designed to do.
Uncanny. I awoke early this morning. After an hour’s meditation – something I do but seldom these days – I fired up the PC, intent on adding a footnote along these lines:
My only disagreement with your comment is over that “I refuse to listen …” . Baby and bathwater, a frequent theme of mine these days, come to mind. Yanis’s podcast, despite the flaws you and I deplore, is a valuable contribution to our understanding of a rapidly evolving global transition.
PS – I had to look up FOS. I’m always keen to keep abreast of urban slang acronyms!