The All Things Political Topic - SNAFU edition

[Malcador]

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-maria-corina-machado-weekend-interview/

The privatization will be good for US corpos.  Smedley would be proud.

[BruceVC]

14 hours ago, rjshae said:

Yes, the public already knows he's a sleezy philanderer, yet they elected him anyway. The only possible additional harm is an association with the underage sex activity. He already gets heavily criticized, so I'm not sure that's the concern. I do think he's worried this might cost him his base (and thus his Congressional power).

Yes but the Epstein scandal is different, its a  much greater type of crime and degeneracy. This is not like Trump  having affairs 

Some  people in MAGA already believe in conspiracy theories that "pedo and Satanic " circles have influence in government so the whole Epstein story aligns with this 

Trump would be aware of the damaging optics specifically around this story if it becomes public he knew about the underage sex and didnt say anything about it 

This is about loss of support from parts of his base, its not because of the people who already dont like him and dont vote for him 

 

 

[BruceVC]

4 hours ago, Malcador said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-maria-corina-machado-weekend-interview/

The privatization will be good for US corpos.  Smedley would be proud.

This interview is a few weeks old  and I watched parts of it when it was live and its still relevant 

I agree with basically everything she is saying around the illegitimate reality of Maduros government and how he ignored the results of the last election

She is the type of candidate that would be ideal for regime change because she has real domestic support within Venezuela  

And once Maduro is gone the country would need economic support from the likes of the US and the region 

It would be like Syria now that Assad is gone, small but steady steps to support the new leadership. But it takes time and effort  to reverse the damage done from a  failed state 

[Zoraptor]

Poor old Juan Guaido. A standing ovation in the the US Congress one day, off to the scrapyard of history the next. Someone must have finally pointed out his resemblance to a certain former President to Trump.

Still, I guess at least neither he nor Machado were deputy to ISIS' first caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, which puts them one up on Al Jolani. That obviously stood her in good stead with the Nobel Committee.

[Malcador]

12 hours ago, BruceVC said:

And once Maduro is gone the country would need economic support from the likes of the US and the region 

Heh, yes, support is a good marketing term for it.  Wonder how clean it would go though, she doesn't have the backing of everyone.

Maduro should have been proactive and get as many AShMs from China and Russia as possible.

Edited 21 hours ago by Malcador

[BruceVC]

10 hours ago, Malcador said:

Heh, yes, support is a good marketing term for it.  Wonder how clean it would go though, she doesn't have the backing of everyone.

Maduro should have been proactive and get as many AShMs from China and Russia as possible.

Yes lets say she becomes the next president, this would be temporary until Venezuela  can have a election. But Maduro obviously has his supporters and he controls the security forces which are also beneficiaries of his corrupt regime so it wont be a smooth transition but Im talking about a return to the principles of democratic rule and the freedoms that come with that. And support really means ending sanctions, providing loans and then investment cant be forced. It will happen organically when investors believe the new regime can be trusted 

I also think getting Venezuela stable again will be much easier than  Syria for several reasons 

Do you believe that Maduro should stay on in power at all costs, how would getting missiles and more military resources from China or Russia  help the people of Venezuela?

 

 

11 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

 

Still, I guess at least neither he nor Machado were deputy to ISIS' first caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, which puts them one up on Al Jolani. That obviously stood her in good stead with the Nobel Committee.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/5/everything-you-need-to-know-about-syrias-first-post-assad-elections

Have you looked at who sits on the Syria Supreme Council which was appointed by al-Sharaa and this council decided on 2/3 of the Peoples Assembly in the last Syrian election?

There are women, Kurds, journalists and SJ activists but mostly moderates. They cant be further away from ISIS if you tried and as I mentioned they were appointed by al-Sharaa

We should try to move away from this outdated criticism of al-Sharaa being " an Islamic extremist ", he is clearly not that anymore and understands Syria needs international support to rebuild and he is making the right decisions around Syria's transition to Democracy as much as reasonably possible 

That criticism is more from people butthurt that Assads regime collapsed and its because he was anti-Western and a Russian and Iranian proxy

You too logical and analytical to believe  that type of assessment. Lets focus on supporting the new Syrian regime and hope the country can rebuild 

 

 

[Zoraptor]

Ah yes, the democratic elections where 1 in every 3000 people got to cast a vote. Every one of them, selected by al Jolani's hand picked committee, as were the candidates they could vote for. Makes you wonder why he bothered only directly appointing 1/3 of them really.

I don't really need to say much except the guys that al Jolani 'accidentally' sent off to genocide alawites on the coast a few months ago? You know, when the western media buried their heads in the sand because al Jolani changed his name and is a Good Guy now? Hamza division? Sanctioned by the US for genocide against kurds? One of their fricking leader is on it (M. Ali M. Yassin). 

So is at least one other 'ex' al qaeda guy, and another who was associated with the genocidal turkish proxies, and at least three other turkish stooges. A couple of liberal sops there so the cheerleaders aren't too embarrassed, but they're Quislings.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

Ah yes, the democratic elections where 1 in every 3000 people got to cast a vote. Every one of them, selected by al Jolani's hand picked committee, as were the candidates they could vote for. Makes you wonder why he bothered only directly appointing 1/3 of them really.

I don't really need to say much except the guys that al Jolani 'accidentally' sent off to genocide alawites on the coast a few months ago? You know, when the western media buried their heads in the sand because al Jolani changed his name and is a Good Guy now? Hamza division? Sanctioned by the US for genocide against kurds? One of their fricking leader is on it (M. Ali M. Yassin). 

So is at least one other 'ex' al qaeda guy, and another who was associated with the genocidal turkish proxies, and at least three other turkish stooges. A couple of liberal sops there so the cheerleaders aren't too embarrassed, but they're Quislings.

And I would expect these types of teething problems and sectarian flareups considering the years of war, sectarian violence and the overall failed state of Syria

Like I mentioned no failed state that was an autocracy for decades can suddenly transition to a more Democratic  system without real hurdles 

But the real question around the success of this transition and societal change is " is the new leadership committed to this change and will they get supported by the West " which typically ends up being the main donors of aid and they  get involved in sustainable and meaningful investment. But in Syria's  case they also getting support from most of the stable and wealthy ME countries now that Assad is gone 

And so far al-Sharaa is making the right moves and signals. He is reaching out to everyone including Russia and China so he isnt burning any bridges 

So Im cautiously optimistic and I dont consider him an Islamic extremist anymore 

 

[HoonDing]

There are no good guys in the Middle East. Well, actually the entire East. And the West. But there might still be some in the South and North.

[Gorth]

How can you not love Bernie Sanders?  

 

ok, so I’m a bit biased. Still worth a listen