Venezuela Cry for Help

[bemildred]

22. That isn't likely to get you far.

I was a student once, and I'm still pissed off. But I don't expect it to get me far, don't think it is a sound basis for action, being mad. Rather the opposite. When you are mad you can't think for shit, you do stupid things, you get drunk.

I don't know. Maduro may or may not be making a mistake. He seems to think it is necessary to crack down, which may be because he feels less secure, or maybe because he needs to crack down. But I tend to think he got impatient too, and the "students" do raise some serious hell. But I'm not there, and out here in TV land you have to assume it's all bullshit, selective, and in any case not intended to keep you well informed as opposed to selectively informed. Nobody shows you their own warts. And most of them will flat make shit up when it is their interests that are threatened.

On the other hand, I think there is an element for Maduro, deciding to crack down, of being able to get away with it, and I'm dead sure the "students" have picked a truly bad time to start a fight. Nobody is going to invervene on their side. I mean, the whole world is in an uproar, nobody is going to have time to stress about Venezuela. They are small potatoes at the moment. And if he gets aways with it, it's not a mistake.

The point being, Maduro is legitimately elected, and he does have plenty of support, so picking a fight now because you are mad, is, well, juvenile. They should wait. Maduro is so incompetent, their time will come. These things go on for generations. Already have for that matter, as we all know here. The rightists have been in power many times, somehow they never last, even without honest elections. If you want to stick around, you have to find a way to govern well.

You notice Obama never gets mad in public, and doesn't run his mouth to amuse himself, and he always keeps his eye on the ball, and when he gets a shot, he takes it. Discipline.

And if he gets aways with it, Maduro sits more securely in power for a while. Like Yanukovich would if he succeeded in suppressing the protests there. But he probably loses some support for it. And violence is always bad.