I have now been in Caracas for 48 hours and the contrast between what I have seen, and what I had read in the mainstream media, could not be more stark.
I drove right through Caracas, from the airport through the city centre and up to posh Las Mercedes. The next morning I walked all through and weaved my way within the working class district of San Agustin. I joined in the “Afrodescendants festival”, and spent hours mingling with the people. I was made extremely welcome and invited into many homes – this from a district they tell you is extremely dangerous.
I must admit I had great fun at this bit.
After this I continued on for miles walking through the residential area and through the heart of the city centre, including Bolivar Square and the National Assembly.
In all of this I have not seen one single checkpoint, whether police or military. I have seen almost no guns; fewer than you would see on a similar tour taking in Whitehall. I have not been stopped once, whether on foot or in a car. I have seen absolutely zero sign of “Chavista militia” whether in poor, wealthy or central areas. I drove extensively round the opposition strongholds of Las Mercedes and Altamira and quite literally saw not a single armed policemen, not one militia man and not one soldier. People were out and about quite happily and normally. There was no feeling of repression whatsoever.
Again, nobody stopped me or asked who I am or why I was taking pictures. I did ask the Venezuelan authorities whether I needed a permit to take photos and publish articles, and their reply was a puzzled “why would you?”
The military checkpoints to maintain control, the roving gangs of Chavista armed groups, all the media descriptions of Caracas today are entirely a figment of CIA and Machado propaganda, simply regurgitated by a complicit billionaire and state media.
Do you know what else do not exist? The famous “shortages.” The only thing in short supply is shortage. There is a shortage of shortage. There is no shortage of anything in Venezuela.
A few weeks ago I saw on Twitter a photo of a supermarket in Caracas which somebody had put up to demonstrate that the shelves are extremely well stocked. It received hundreds of replies, either claiming it was a fake, or that it was an elite supermarket for the wealthy and that the shops for the majority were empty.
So I made a point, in working-class districts, of going into the neighbourhood, front room stores where ordinary people do their shopping. They were all very well stocked. There were no empty places on shelves. I also went round outdoor and covered markets, including an improbably huge one with over a hundred stalls catering solely for children’s birthday parties!
Everyone was quite happy to let me photograph anything I wanted. It is not just groceries. Hardware stores, opticians, clothes and shoe shops, electronic goods, auto parts. Everything is freely available.
There is a lack of physical currency. Sanctions have limited the Venezuelan government’s access to secure printing. To get round this, everybody does secure payment with their phones via QR code using the Venezuelan Central Bank’s own ingenious app. This is incredibly well established – even the most basic street vendors have their QR code displayed and get their payments this way. Can you spot the QR codes on these street stalls?
To get a Venezuelan phone and sim card for the internet I went to a mall which specialises in phones. It was extraordinary. Four storeys of little phone and computer shops, all packed with goods, organised in three concentric circles of tiered balconies. This photo is just the inner circle. I picked up a phone, sim card, lapel microphones, power bank, multi-system extension lead and ethernet to USB adapter, all in the first little store I entered.
Registering the sim was quick and simple. There is good 4G everywhere I have been in Caracas, and some spots of 5G.
“Relaxed” is a word I would use for Venezuelans. You could forgive paranoia, the country having been bombed by the Americans just three weeks ago and many people killed. You might expect hostility to a rather strange old gringo wandering around inexplicably snapping random things. But I have experienced no sense of hostility at all, from people or officials.
The African festival was instructive. A community event and not a political rally, there were nevertheless numerous spontaneous shouts and chants for Maduro. The Catholic priest giving the blessing at the festivities suddenly started talking of the genocide in Gaza and everybody prayed for Palestine. Community and cultural figures continually referenced socialism.
This is the natural environment here. None of it is forced. Chavez empowered the downtrodden and improved their lives in a spectacular manner, for which there are few parallels. The result is genuine popular enthusiasm and a level of public working-class engagement with political thought that it is impossible to compare to the UK today. It is the antithesis of the hollowed out culture that has spawned Reform.
I am very wary of Western journalists who parachute into a country and become instant experts. Although the stark contradiction between actual Caracas and Western-media Caracas is so extreme that I can bring it to you immediately.
Pretty well everything that I have read by Western journalists which can be immediately checked – checkpoints, armed political gangs, climate of fear, shortages of food and goods – turns out to be an absolute lie. I did not know this before I came. Possibly neither did you. We both do now.
I had lived for years in Nigeria and Uzbekistan under real dictatorships and I know what they feel like. I can tell sullen compliance from real engagement. I can tell spontaneous from programmed political expression. This is no dictatorship.
I am, so far as I can judge, the only Western journalist in Venezuela now. The idea that you should actually see for yourself what is happening, rather than reproduce what the Western governments and their agents tell you is happening, appears utterly out of fashion with our mainstream media. I am sure this is deliberate.
When I was in Lebanon a year ago, the mainstream media were entirely absent as Israel devastated Dahiya, the Bekaa Valley, and Southern Lebanon, because it was a narrative they did not want to report.
Disgracefully, the only time the BBC entered Southern Lebanon was from the Israeli side, embedded with the IDF.
The BBC, Guardian or New York Times simply will not send a correspondent to Caracas because the reality is so starkly different from the official narrative.
One narrative which the Western powers are desperate to have you believe is that Acting President Delcy Rodríguez betrayed Maduro and facilitated his capture. That is not what Maduro believes. It is not what his party believes, and I have been unable to find the slightest indication that anybody believes this in Venezuela.
The security services house journal, the Guardian, published about their fifth article making this claim, and flagged it as front-page lead and a major scoop. Yet all of the sources for the Guardian story are still the same US government sources, or Machado supporters from the wealthy Miami community of exiled capitalist parasites.
What is interesting is why the security services wish you to believe that Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, Speaker of the National Assembly, are agents for the USA. Opposition to US Imperialism has defined their entire lives since their father was tortured to death at the behest of the CIA when they were infants. They are both vocal in their continuing support for the Bolivarian Revolution and personally for Maduro.
The obvious American motive is to split and weaken the ruling party in Caracas and undermine the government of Venezuela. That was my reading. But it has also been suggested to me that Trump is pushing heavily the line that Rodríguez is pro-American in order both to claim victory, and to justify his lack of support for Machado. Rubio and many like him are keen to see Machado installed, but Trump’s assessment that she does not have the support to run the country seems from here entirely correct.
A variation on this that has also been suggested to me is that Trump wants to portray Rodríguez as pro-American to reassure American oil companies it is safe to invest (though exactly why he wants that is something of a mystery).
Meanwhile of course the USA seizes, steals and sells Venezuelan oil with no justification at all in international law. The proceeds are kept in Qatar under Trump’s personal control and are building up a huge slush fund he can use to bypass Congress. For those with long memories, it is like Iran/Contra on a massively inflated scale.
I am trying to get established in Venezuela to report to you and dive much deeper into the truth from Venezuela. I am afraid I am going to say it takes money. I am looking to hire a local cinematographer so we can start to produce videos. The first may be on what happened the night of the murderous US bombings and kidnap.
I did not want to crowdfund until I was sure it was viable to produce worthwhile content for you. The expenses of getting and living here, and building the required team, to produce good work do add up. I was very proud of the content we produced from Lebanon, but ultimately disappointed that we could not crowdfund sufficiently to sustain permanent independent reporting from there.
So we now have a Venezuela reporting crowdfunder. I have simply edited the Lebanese GoFundMe crowdfunder, because that took many weeks to be approved and I don’t want to go through all that again. So its starting baseline is the £35,000 we raised and spent in Lebanon.
I do very much appreciate that I have been simultaneously crowdfunding to fight the UK government in the Scottish courts over the proscription of Palestine Action. We fight forces that have unlimited funds. We can only succeed if we spread the load. 98% of those who read my articles never contribute financially. This would be a good moment to change that. It is just the simple baseline subscriptions to my blog that have got me to Venezuela, and that remains the foundation for all my work.
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I was sceptical about Fazal Majid’s best friend’s brother in law’s assertion that “collectivization of cacao farms had been a disaster for production and quality”. This is what AI has to say in response to my asking for facts on the development of the Venezuelan cacao (cocoa) industry,
Venezuela’s cocoa industry developed from a world leading export powerhouse in the 1800s into a small but globally prestigious fine flavour producer today. Its trajectory is shaped by colonial history, genetic heritage, economic shifts, and modern revival efforts.
Industrial decline evidently started in the mid – 20th century (long before the Chavez era) due to:
• Shift to oil based economy
• Disease vulnerability of pure Criollo
• Lack of modern agronomic practices
• Land insecurity and weak export infrastructure
Current output
• Today Venezuela produces 15,000–20,000 tonnes annually, roughly 0.04% of global supply—a tiny share compared to major producers like Ivory Coast.
• Production has remained relatively stable over the past decade, fluctuating between 16,000 and 18,000 tonnes, peaking in 2017.
• Smallholder driven sector
• Around 17,000 small farmers cultivate cocoa on 5–10 hectare plots, supporting about 100,000 rural residents.
• Many producers still operate with a “small farmer mindset,” limiting commercialisation and export capacity. (Note no mention of collectivisation)
Government policy
• Export oriented incentives such as tax exemptions have been introduced, though structural barriers remain.
• Land insecurity and administrative hurdles continue to constrain growth.
Key Takeaways
• Venezuela’s cocoa industry has moved from global dominance to niche excellence.
• Despite low volumes, its genetic diversity and flavour quality remain unmatched (as stated).
• Structural challenges—land tenure, farmer training, and export barriers—continue to limit growth.
• The country’s cocoa future lies in specialty markets, not mass production.
Another example of best friend brother in law myth making?
Fantastic stuff as always, Craig. Thank you so much for going.
One thing puzzles me. Jeffrey Sachs has suggested that US sanctions have caused the deaths of 40,000 people or more in Venezuela. If the shops are well stocked, what is it that they have been deprived of? Medicines, perhaps?
According to UN and CEPR estimates, US sanctions have killed more than 100,000 Venezuelans over the past decade through blocked access to life-saving medicine.
Hospitals across Venezuela have been unable to import insulin, chemotherapy drugs, dialysis equipment and critical vaccines due to Washington’s financial blockade. Even humanitarian shipments have been seized or delayed under the guise of ‘maximum pressure’.
What Washington calls ‘targeted sanctions’ have in reality crippled Venezuela’s healthcare system, cut off supply chains, and condemned scores of thousands of people with treatable illnesses to death.
And, that is not accidental, that is one of the specific aims of sanctions. Exactly the same happened in Syria and the same is happening in Iran and worse is happening in Gaza. Of course, the MSM blames the targeted government rather than the people applying the sanctions, the USA, its vassals and the UN fence-sitters. One has to question the sanity and morality of the people who do this !
Thank you both for elucidating.
The cruelty of US foreign policy takes one’s breath away sometimes.
Huw
it is worse than that – it is similar to Israel.
It isn’t even a tactic for war.
It is un- adulterated spite and revenge.
That is Trump’s and Netanyahu’s schtick and also their reason for living.
I see Craig is being told by journalists sitting in London that what he has observed of everyday life in Caracus is not accurate. The Economist’s geopolitical editor, a War Studies graduate of King’s College, calling Craig a ‘useful idiot’.
Wow, what are the enemy so scared of? Excellent work by Craig! The Economist’s geopolitical editor is David Rennie, whose dad was head of MI6.
That RottenChild house journal for their pliant servant classes? That Economist?
Lol they can GF themselves. All semblance of ‘authoritative’ has been absented from the so called journals of record in the Collective Waste. Their purpose now is to maintain the propaganda narrative enforcement from their daily more desperate bunkered last stands. All consumers and believers in these ‘Bibles’ are no more than Hitler youth and Old Men rushing to the front to stop the inevitable – while the Old Bastards shuffle away to emerge elsewhere. That includes the pink shit FT too.
“I see Craig is being told by journalists sitting in London that what he has observed of everyday life in Caracus is not accurate.”
He’s right. You just have to keep up with the changes of meaning of words. “Accurate” now means “in accordance with the official narrative”.
CRAIGH MURRAY IS IN VENEZUELA.
A big thank you! To Craigh Murray our Great Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights Defender, to bring us worthwhile content, for bringing us the truth based on facts on Venezuela, doing so, is disbanking all the lies and manipulation done by the extreme right individals, like the traitor Karina Machado.
Defend the truth, defeat the lies!
Very interesting report on Venezuela. Thank you Craig. One interesting thing I learned recently about Venezuela was that it was the first country in all of South America which passed a law to outlaw discrimination against people of colour – that was in1999. Here is the link to one of Julian MacFarlane’s posts – part way down there is a video of a young man talking about the impact of this law on the non white people of Venezuela https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/trump-breaks-bad#media-f9eceb69-f53d-42db-8d95-dd7d351786aa
This was, in fact, a promise made by Simón Bolívar who was Venezuelan!
Interestingly on past travels in south America I noticed that there seemed to be a marked class divide between the indigenous ‘indians’ and the decendents of the ‘white’ invaders, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. There was certainly friction and inequality, I guess that hasn’t changed.
You link to your substack account. I have recently found, when I try to access anything on substack, a notice saying
Verify your age
Due to the Online Safety Act, readers in your country must verify their age to access Substack.
(this applies to my own substack, https://streisandeffect.substack.com/, as to anyone else’s).
Which also means that I can’t make a comment like this on anyone’s substack, or subscribe to anyone’s substack
(other than the ones I was already subscribed to when this Online Safety nonsense was introduced).
So please don’t recommend substack (at least for authors)
Substack is great Jeremy, and it should be recommended. The UK government has broken your internet, and the message you are receiving indicates you’re in the UK. Consider obtaining and using a decent VPN that bypasses this filtering; the same applies to UK readers who are in the same bind as you. The Starmer government has an authoritarian impulse, but banning VPNs is a complex problem, and for now I don’t think they will try it.
Yes, use a VPN. then you can access all the stuff we’re not supposed to by our democratic leaders.
Opera has a built in free VPN, it’s not necessarily secure but it does get around blocked content.
Dear Mr. Murray
I was wondering I can get your permission to send your article on Venezuela for publication left veiws news portal from India (www.leftviews.in). It will carry your name and the link to this post will be given.
Yours Sincerely
Bodapati Srujana
I think that permission is implicit on all articles, Bodapati. See this bit:
I should think if you can translate to other languages, so as to reach a wider audience, that would be especially welcome.
As Jon says, all my articles are free to republish.
No offence, Craig, but I don’t believe in the fantasy of international law, and anything sent to my screen is free to publish.
You requested it, it wasn’t sent. Slight difference.
Met a lot of Venezuelans in Colombia last year. A lot of the youth have left. Many whole families. In principle I support the Bolivarian revolution but the imposition of sanctions probably coupled with what I’d frame as very old school socialist ideas has certainly driven a lot away.
Big problem in South America is extreme polarisation of both left and right. Gustavo Petro in Colombia is trying a more consensual route to change which seems to me the way to go. Caveat being external influences. Very well done going over Craig
Fantastic part of the world.
” I’d frame as very old school socialist ideas has certainly driven a lot away.”
One of the least popular “very old school socialist ideas” is the prevention of the many ways that most Western societies offer for getting rich quick, without having to do much work e.g. land and other forms of speculation.
I get that but I wasn’t referring to the spoilt brat class throwing there toys out of the pram. There are genuine (sometimes ignorant) fears from the lower middle classes whenever the hard left come to power all over SA.
“There are genuine (sometimes ignorant) fears from the lower middle classes whenever the hard left come to power all over SA.”
That’s hardly surprising given some of the propaganda that these people are subject to. For instance, on this very blog we have a comment referencing a “collectivisation programme” that appears never to have happened, but of course it’s plausible: it happened in the Soviet Union, so of course, it must happen whenever a “hard left” government comes to power, stands to reason.
Bayard, I am sure you will know that there was also a widespread collectivisation programme, covering many areas of economic and public life, in Cuba after 1959. Cuba is of course rather nearer to Venezuela than the Soviet Union was.
“I am sure you will know that there was also a widespread collectivisation programme, covering many areas of economic and public life, in Cuba after 1959. ”
So? That still doesn’t mean that every communist government does them. Anyway neither you nor I know very much about what “collectivisation” actually involved and how it impacted the poorest of the rural inhabitants. Why not try and produce some information about this supposed Venezuelan collectivisation and its impacts rather than irrelevancies about other countries?
Bayard, do you also disapprove of the majority of the people getting richer slowly (as has happened in most of Europe and some other regions, including Latin America, since WW2)?
Luis Cunha da Silver.
If you care to look that particular avenue of history has been explored and is now over.
Europeans are hardly getting ‘ richer ‘
The buying off of the Middle Classes went a long time ago with Clinton in the USA and as usual the Europeans caught on to the trend a fair bit later.
Bear in mind that the US does not have a Welfare/Social State and Europe still has one so, their future plans in order to fit into the US’s New World Order means they have to get rid of it in order to compete.
” do you also disapprove of the majority of the people getting richer slowly”
Why would I do that? Most “get-rich-quick” schemes are zero-sum: my gain is your loss. Industrial capitalism (remember that?), OTOH, makes everyone better off, so long as the capitalists don’t take all the profits, which, pace the hard lefties, is not a given. Industrial capitalism is now a thing of the past, largely, in the West, having been outsourced to China in the main. and has been replaced by financial capitalism, which is entirely zero-sum, adds no value at all and makes some people poorer to exactly the same extent as it makes other people richer.
Excellent Craig. Your report coincides 100% with my own experience of Venezuela (I was an official observer of the 2018 presidential election which Maduro won). If you haven’t already done so, I recommend taking the cable car to the poor barrios on the hillsides above Caracas – though preferably accompanied if you don’t speak fluent Spanish. If you are interested in interviewing government representatives I might be able to help. Feel free to email me privately.
AC – a good friend – has just told me that she has provided you with the contacts so my offer is redundant. Have made a contribution… Good work and very useful for my current efforts to bludgeon a few truths on the issue into the leaden skulls of the inhabitants of Downing St.
When you were trying to sort out permissions before you went, did that involve a formal visa application, or just making sure someone knew who you were and what you would be doing, in case problems arose?
Heads up – Off topic:
Craig Murray – @CraigMurrayOrg – 30m
I GOT THE JUDICIAL REVIEW IN SCOTLAND!!!!!!!
Please discuss at links below rather than here:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/01/a-step-towards-sanity/#comment-1093282
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/01/court-of-session-tomorrow-on-palestine-action/#comment-1093283
Congratulations to Mr Murray, Joanna Cherry KC and all their team !
Excelente, as they might say in Caracas!
Happy travels CM.
Been 35 years since i visited and did a bit of travelling through VZ – not for long as it was backpacking across Equador then Venezuela and a Mardi Gras in Tobago for few days then back via margarita to VZ for a trip to the Grand Savannah that got me close (500km) away from the northern borders of the Amazon in Brazil. A night in Bogotá does not count. Though memorable.
Spectacular! The rivers, waterfalls etc. there were still tribes of pure Indios.
There were jesuite mission schools too. They got everywhere that mob.
The concrete road ended and it was dirt roads after that. Needing a off road vehicle.
On the way south that concrete road went through a place, a mini township, known as Kilometer 55. Multiple army/ military road blocks to negotiate on the way there, not quite a shanty town with one petrol station/shop and one airconed restaurant, the rest was many shacks with gold and silver traders!
That was what was the main reason for the road I figured.
There was gold and silver in that Savannah and the miners were not allowed to take any to the cities – everything had to go through these ‘traders’.
The money was instantly spent on booze and prostitutes and gambling in that crazy little town – then the miners went back to work. We wanted to, but never made it the digging grounds it seemed it was pretty controlled by the owners and militias. Our ‘guide’ discouraged it.
All before Chavez – it had that overt militarisation as did most of the other countries then.
Hopefully it is as changed out of the main cities as you describe Caracas is now.
Back then there was obvious hostility between the majority of Indios and the few military types that ruled the roost.
I don’t know what has transpired to the big cities and towns heading south. If the concrete road was completed to Brazil and the fate of that Km55 goldtown – but I am sure that the region can’t have run out of the precious metals yet!
Maybe I will try a trip before getting too old.
Hopefully they haven’t poisoned the great freshwater rivers and the massive amazing grand savannah – dare say it’s worth a visit if you there long enough and get a good connected guide. I guess ours is long finished trekking. He had great stories. Was a friend of Papillon…
Looking forward to the reports and will add a monkey to the regular sub at end of month.
It’s great that you’re reporting from Venezuela. Too many people ignore Latin America. The grocery stores look very similar to Mexican grocery stores here in San Francisco.
Very good article. Helps to explain many mysteries around Venezuela. I always thought Machado and her Miami gang were even worse than the right wing in Spain who try to intoxicate discussion of Venezuelan affairs here.
However you must comment on all the ‘political prisoners’ being released in Venezuela. Now over 600 released…
Craig, with all due respect: this is like a slap to the face of all of us who had to leave the country, even more to the ones who stayed.
This normalization it’s a way to cope a horrible situation that is impossible to el ciudadano de Calle to manage for themselves (bc it’s been multiple times taken down and abused). Life can’t stop, protests and ppl rebelling to this dictatorship have tried it, some were murdered, others flew the country because the government have them on sight to be harassed and others were captured and sent to the worse kind of places you could imagine or not, because these were cells and rooms for torture and abuse.
It’s hard to see how people like you dedicate themselves to try and explain Venezuelans and foreigners that VENEZUELA ITS A RATHER RELAXED COUNTRY . That everything is fine, and that dictatorship there is just some crazy right wing propaganda
No! It’s not!
You’ve been to ccs but have you considered passing by the outsides of big detention centers where the mothers of multiple unfairly incarcerated ppl is being held, have been staying day and night with the hopes of seeing their beloved ones again. FYI some of them have died waiting for their sons and daughters. Inside these prisons ppl die after being exposed to inhumane conditions, sexual abuse, torture, famine, mental abuse and I could keep going because the officers inside stopped serving the community long time ago, ahora son verdugos del régimen.
No, you haven’t been in 2019 when in my city Maracaibo we stayed DAYS without any power, after a massive black out in the whole country. And it wasn’t the first time, I remember general black outs since 2012!!! You know how difficult it is to stay sane when the city is as hot as 37 to 40C and you don’t even have any fresh water and passing the night with intense heat and mosquitoes, so the next day would be the same?? Oh, and it wasn’t just about comfort, is that old ppl and babies, ppl with chronic illnesses were the most affected just because we didn’t have ANYservice
Or to do DAYS long lines for gas so you could go to work. So then you had to pay some overpriced service and if you were w an empty tank, you’d have to wait until next week bc you only have one chance to pump that day based on your id number
No, you didn’t lived on a sardines, lentils and mango diet during 2016-2017 because there was no food in the stores
Have you checked on what the government have done with our coasts and forests? And what have they done with the indigenous ppl??
No, you didn’t have to see how your friends family died when there was no hospital with the necessary equipment and medicines to take an emergency
I thought on give it a try to your article bc I’m a humanitarian person, I cannot agree on right wing views , I’ve always leaned more towards the left, so I said okay let’s see if this person has any reasonable pov; but it was just sad and painful, not bc you say you had a good experience, but bc you decided to washed the face of a dictatorial state, while thousands are suffering their consequences.
No vengo a querer a cambiarle ideas a nadie, en estos tiempos la gente se ha radicalizado al punto de no poder ver más allá de sus ideologías, se les olvida de que primero somos humanos para que estas ideas existan. Usted y todos los que están de acuerdo con lo que siente y cree que está pasando en vzla claramente están consumidos dentro de sus cabezas, y viven en una realidad tan alterada como la que critican y condenan. Es de humanos se incoherentes, pero es desagradable y falto de alma decir tan atrevidamente que todo está bien en un lugar ajeno al propio, y siendo tercos a querer conocer y compartir las diversas perspectivas de un mismo tema.
24 años viví en vzla, mi conocí nada que no fuera el chavismo, crecí con una abuela chavista que nunca cambió su opinión. Escuche a Chávez hablar por horas porque ella lo amaba, yo nunca lo entendí . Nunca sentí interés por el partido, y luego solo desarrollé un inmenso desagrado que casi llamo odio. Un odio que creció de las injusticias que presencié y viví en Venezuela como mujer venezolana . No tuvo que venir un gringo ni un privilegiado blanco a decirme que creer o no. De adulta solo he confirmado que Dios ha sido bueno porque mantiene mi mente clara y jamás me permitirá mi juicio y mi amor por la humanidad, ser tan vil como la cuerda de zurdos malabañados que pretenden decirle a otros que los países en dictadura no son dictaduras y que solo son resultado del capitalismo gringo. Están pelando bolas, usted y todos los que nieguen la realidad del venezolano.
Give the man a chance, he has only been there 48 hours.
At other people’s expense
Everyone lives at other people’s expense by that metric, including you.
What an extraordinary thing to say.
Think Sanctions, Sanctions, Sanctions when evaluating comments such as this.
https://www.wola.org/2020/10/new-report-us-sanctions-aggravated-venezuelas-economic-crisis__trashed/
Can’t tell how truthful this report is, but at least this is an estimate of sanctions effect.
By your own admission you are not in the country, craig is.
Why did you ‘have’ to leave ?
When did you leave ?
Where are you resident now ?
Is your surname machado, Maria ?
Repeat to oneself: “Don’t feed the troll … don’t feed the troll … don’t feed the troll …”
“You know how difficult it is to stay sane when the city is as hot as 37 to 40C ”
And yet everyone survived in the C19th without air conditioning.
My family lived in Argentina, Tunisia, and Portugal. All places where it got that hot in summer, sometimes for weeks on end. There was no air conditioning. Life went on.
Cónchale, ‘Maria’, buena historia.
¿Qué tal, pana?
Aferrarte a tu collar de perlas chica.
tío tranquilito, todo va a salir bien. Qué ladilla hacer eso .
“sardines, lentils and mango diet” – that’s not tough, that’s luxury! We used to live on tinned pilchards and pea curry and rice for years; couldn’t afford mangoes, that king of fruit.
There is no Left/Right there is only the many below and a very few above. Anyone still trying to sell that trope is an agent of tyranny. ‘Maria’ is such a critter. Knowingly or deluded? Shame.
Ps – ‘Están pelando bolas’ = are peeling balls ??
‘Pelar bolas’.
‘This phrase left me very confused the first time I heard it. It is a humorous way of saying you’re broke or low on money. It’s very common among young people. Meaning: To be broke. Example: “Este mes estoy pelando bolas.” (This month, I’m broke.) ‘
https://lingopie.com/blog/venezuelan-slang/
Pps – no, I do not speak Spanish
Ppps – @ Jen – sorry couldn’t help myself self this time. Looks like CM will be ruffling plenty of FO, 77/ii feathers with this reportage too!
English translation of the last two paras from Google of post of Maria (January 27, 2026 at 21:31):
I’m not here to try and change anyone’s mind. These days, people have become so radicalized that they can’t see beyond their ideologies. They forget that we are human beings first and foremost, for these ideas to exist. You and everyone who agrees with what you feel and believe is happening in Venezuela are clearly consumed by your own biases, living in a reality as distorted as the one you criticize and condemn. It’s human to be inconsistent, but it’s unpleasant and heartless to so boldly declare that everything is fine in a place other than your own, and to stubbornly refuse to understand and share different perspectives on the same issue.
I lived in Venezuela for 24 years. I knew nothing but Chavismo. I grew up with a Chavista grandmother who never changed her mind. I listened to Chávez speak for hours because she loved him; I never understood him. I never felt any interest in the party, and later I only developed an immense dislike that I almost call hatred. A hatred that grew from the injustices I witnessed and experienced in Venezuela as a Venezuelan woman. It didn’t take a gringo or a privileged white person to tell me what to believe or not. As an adult, I’ve only confirmed that God has been good because He keeps my mind clear and will never allow my judgment and my love for humanity to be as vile as the bunch of pathetic leftists who try to tell others that countries under dictatorships aren’t dictatorships and are merely the result of American capitalism. You’re all talking nonsense, you and everyone who denies the reality of Venezuelans.
A huge amount of your rant seems to be complaining about the effects of sanctions. Perhaps you are directing that at the wrong country?
I don’t understand why there is so little pushback from Delcy Rodríguez? Trump is holding meetings, trying to get oil executives, like Exxon, to invest up to $100bn and talks as if he has ‘acquired’ Venezuela. Caracas may be cash starved and sick of sanctions, thus inclined to cooperate, but is such a Faustian bargain like this, the way? Iraq still doesn’t have economic sovereignty after the U.S. foisted managing the proceeds of their oil sales on that country. The U.S. is currently threatening revenue payments again, threatening to withhold over the inclusion of parties seen as pro-Iranian in Iraq’s parliament, in govt. Wouldn’t the U.S. similarly be able to dictate Venezuela’s govt’s composition?
The U.S.oil execs understandably are reluctant to invest, because they know Trump is in breach of international law, under the principle of national sovereignty over natural resources, and they’re also citing high-risk factors including severe political instability. The Democrats and Republic and SC opposition to Trump, may be gutted, but if Venezuela refuses to cooperate what can Trump do, bomb them? invade? On what pretext? The U.S. supposedly arrested Maduro over his alleged involvement in the drugs trade, or the more sexily titled, narco-terrorism, but that accusation appears to be falling apart upon inspection.
The only way Trump could ‘run’ Venezuela is via a land invasion. That ain’t going to happen because it would turn into another Vietnam. So, bombing and sanctions are his only weapons, and that isn’t a good look for investors. Trump has done his usual ‘bull in a China shop’ routine, now he’s got the time to realise his folly and the big hole he has dug himself into, can he make a deal, will he release Maduro ? Tune in for the next exciting episode of ‘Doh, I’ve done it again’.
“I don’t understand why there is so little pushback from Delcy Rodríguez? ”
How do you know there is so little pushback? Do you know her personally?
Yes!!! Delcy Rodriguez and the courageous people of Venezuela, must push back harder! Taking firm action contunuosly in every way, against the demented, criminal invader Trump and corrupt corporations from United States.
The Venezuelan Oil, belongs to the Venezuelan people, NOT to the convicted criminal Trump and complicit.
We the people of the world, demand the Liberation inmediately! and without any conditions of the Constitutional President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro Moros and the First Lady Cilia Flores, they were violently kidnapped on the 3 of January 2026, by the coward and brutal war criminals headed by Trump, in the very early morning, when the Venezuelan people were sleepping. This is an act of war! and Trump must be brought to justice in the Hague.
Possibly because she’s a woman and thus has less hormonal need to look big or save face. Her task is to do her best for the people of Venezuela in the real situation right now. I expect she thinks there is nothing to be gained by confronting the gringos. If she keeps quiet and does nothing much to help them, Trump will probably have forgotten that Venezuela exists in a week or two.
Brer Rabbit would understand.
Look! A mall!, don’t look at the dead, look at the mall!
Outstanding circle jerk in the comments, trampling over the skulls of thousands of dead people in the hands of the narcos. Good job stealing Venezuelan money to report the lies that righteous gringos want to read.
Source Narco Rubio and Alex Jones.
Over 100,000 dead in the past decade due to life-saving medicines being thwarted by US sanctions. Source United Nations and Centre for Economic Policy Research.
Why do people who need to perpetrate their phantasies have to resort to such deranged comments?
I didn’t understand it, so I passed over it quickly.
Der Pratter
apt name btw.
Maduro is not head of drug cartel, US admits
Nicholas Maduro is no longer accused by the US of being the leader of a drug trafficking cartel.
Justice department drops allegations toppled Venezuelan leader was head of ‘made-up’ group. The Department of Justice(DoJ) dropped allegations that the toppled Venezuelan leader was the head of the drugs-trafficking group Cartel de los Soles, which translates to Cartel of the Suns, a gang analysts believe does not actually exist.
Der Pratter
AKA: The Pratt.
Sorry to be a ‘ righteous gringo ‘ but if you looked under the carpet of any country you will reveal some cockroaches.
A bit of whataboutery but, do you anti socialist righteous gringos ( right wingers) think that your stables are clean?
Your friend Trump ( or Farage ) are Corporating Gaza and want build and put in footings over the dead bodies of hundreds of thousands of dead Gazans.
That the act of Ghouls.
Right – that’s the Holier Than Thou stuff done but ,don’t compare what The West has done to the Non West – it’s crazy.
By the way ‘The Narcos ‘ exist in the US – they are called The Pharmaceutical Industries – the drug pushers on the streets can’t compete with Official and Legal Prescription Drugs anywhere in The Western World.
So, back to The Daily Mail or Express with you to consult your editor.
To paraphrase one of my posts from recent weeks the Sackler pharmaceutical company is the Olympus Mons of dope pushers
Nice. Duly noted!
Quick A! fact check to consider when evaluating dictatorial Venezuela’s propensity for putting people into prison in comparison to free, democratic USA.
Scale difference:
The U.S. prison system is over 25 times larger than Venezuela’s in absolute numbers.
Incarceration rate:
Venezuela’s rate is 199 per 100,000 but the U.S. rate is three to four times higher, making it the world leader in incarceration.
Crispa
That’s because the U.S. has what’s referred to as a prison industrial complex. Poorer States(typically Red) vie for new prisons, because of the well -paid jobs they provide. And because they are run as businesses, and judges run for office – state-level judges are selected through popular elections – there are often really sleazy relationships between judges that favour long sentences, and reelection campaign donations from the Prison companies hoping to keep their prisons at full or near max capacity.
Goose
Apparently once you are in a US prison according to The Constitution the Prison Authorities can treat you as an unpaid slave.
Like putting fires out when the Fire Brigade is under-staffed.
In the UK in the sixteis they used to sew Mail Bags for the GPO ( the old Post Office).
There were two young men on a US Youtube Channel many years ago who had been around a bit in Gangs.
One Black – One White.
They were saying that Back In The Day in ‘The Hood ‘ that all they had were pistols whereas now the Young Punks had semi – automatic machine guns.
They were pretty much convince that the PTB were putting these more deadly guns were being given/sold cheap the young kids to get them longer sentences so as that the Private Companies that run US Prisons could make more money out of them.
The worse the crime the longer the sentence – the longer the sentence – the more they could be exploited for profit.
It made sense to me.
Ah yes, as long as they’re not as bad as the US it’s fine.
Major problems in Venezuela’s prisons are overcrowding and that there are many political prisoners.
You could also have mentioned that Venezuela’s incarceration rate is lower than Russia’s (300/100,000) and Cuba’s (794/100,000).
Pears Morgaine
Perhaps if they hadn’t been sanctioned over the years they could have built more nicer prisons in Venezuela?
Trump’s Anti -Immigration policies send ‘ illegals ‘ to the wonderful prisons in El Salvador.
Oh and Ice have shot have killed around 9 people so far in their shifty existence.
Plus Gitmo wasn’t a nice prison either and Abu Graib.
I imagine US prisons are
Most of the ‘ Dictators ‘ prisons are fully backed by the many US administrations for decades.
From Pinochet to many other Juntas over the years.
I would not put the US up as a Paragon of Prisons globally.
It’s not a great defence and sounds a bit Western tankieish to coin a phrase I read many times on here.
“Major problems in Venezuela’s prisons are overcrowding and that there are many political prisoners.”
Unlike in the UK, eh? (yes I know there aren’t that many political prisoners in the UK, although our host is a notable example, but that’s not for want of trying by the government. Still, with the proscription of Palestine Action, we’ll soon catch up.)
That Nobel peace prize winner is openly calling for the US to bomb her country. If she was a US citizen calling for, let’s say, Russia to bomb her country she would be in prison for treason. A political prisoner. The west has a habit of stretching the meaning of political prisoner to include such people as spies and paid propagandists, though only when it comes to non-empire countries. Assange wasn’t a political prisoner for instance.
CIA setting up outpost in Venezuela – CNN
RT reports
https://www.rt.com/news/631607-cia-base-venezuela-ukraine/
There aren’t many other worthwhile sources of Venezuela news but there is Venezuelanalysis.
(I found it from browsing news.mafraresearch.eu.)
Can’t wait to hear your comments on ‘CNN Exclusive: US Planning CIA Foothold in post-Maduro Venezuela’, according to which ‘sources’ say the CIA plans to run like it did Ukraine after 2014….?
Thank you for an interesting article, a good introduction into what will no doubt be an interesting series.
Interesting but not surprising to see that the tech mall had large banners advertising Chinese phone brands; Xiaomi and Honor, the Volkswagen and Toyota of Chinese phone brands. No doubt other brands were on sale like Huawei (Mercedes) and Oppo (Kia). I would be interested to know what brands of car are on the roads there, I believe that Chinese brands have good penetration in South America. And why wouldn’t they? They are good solid products at a very competitive price point.
Good relations with China and no barriers to trade make these fine good value products available to the population and generally raise the quality of life and fuel innovation such as the QR codes which have allowed business to adapt to currency issues. This is win win and definitely not the zero sum expectations we get from Western institutions. Meanwhile citizens of the US and UK etc pay through the nose for legacy brands or more likely go without and loose out on the associated opportunities.
Dear Craig,
You could try contacting the staff at Venezuelanalysis or TeleSur who could recommend a cinematographer.
Any sign of the rampant inflation Craig (682% at the last reckoning)? I wonder if that was behind the QR codes on the market stalls.
A quarter of the country’s population have left, mostly to Columbia where you’d have thought they’d be worse off. Certainly the one million who fled to the US face an uncertain future under Trump.
Pears Morgaine
January 28, 2026 at 07:55
Pears, easy for Craig or an assistant to find out.
Just revisit that burger stall and check whether prices have increased then do the arithmetic…
I expect that the US$ prices won’t have changed, just the prices in Venezuelan currency.
The prices are certainly in US dollars, even if that is not indicated (eg in the second photo).
With the exchange rate of roughly I US$ to 330 bolivars, there is no way those soft drinks shown in the second photo are priced in bolivars (6.50 bolivars).
Could be 6,500 Bolivars. Italian shops used to price stuff like that in Lire days, saves having to write out a string of ‘0’s. I take it that’s for a pack of six bottles too?
I’m sure that Columbia’s economy is doing ok as is a lot of Canada.
Pears, how is inflation related to the use of QR codes for payment? Where I live, every shop or market stall uses QR codes. Even the beggars, not seen as much as a decade or two ago, have QR codes.
A quarter of Bulgaria’s population has also “fled” though and Bulgaria isn’t under crippling sanctions (it’s just at the bottom of the EU pyramid scheme).
Rubio Warns of Force if Venezuela’s Rodríguez Fails U.S. Demands
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress on January 28 that the administration is prepared to act militarily if interim President Delcy Rodríguez does not meet demands like expelling diplomats from Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba. Delta Force and CIA operators snatched Maduro from Caracas on January 3; he’s now jailed in New York facing narco-terrorism charges after pleading not guilty. Rodríguez pledged oil sector access for U.S. firms and reconstruction funding, prompting potential sanction relief, but U.S. intelligence doubts her resolve amid the CIA’s new permanent presence in Venezuela. She pushed back on January 26, saying the country has had enough of U.S. meddling.
Even by the standards of Little Marco and Trump’s mafia outfit, this is outrageous.No wonder Trump supporter, Steve Bannon said, if they weren’t in power, they’d all be in jail. Sometimes calling an opponent’s bluff is the only way. Were I Venezuelan (I’m not), I’d rather our govt sabotage and destroy any oil infrastructure than accept Trump’s subjugation. What would Simón Bolívar do?
Goose
January 28, 2026 at 16:41
Unfortunately, it isn’t obvious that the Maduro government is a high minded group of idealists.
They are already compromising with the Trump gang – threats of violence may well cow them?
He’s doing exactly the same with Iran : President threatens regime with bombardment if it does not negotiate a nuclear weapons deal
Literally, the return of gunboat diplomacy.
He previously boasted he’d destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities in the illegal strikes, on Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Strikes NATO’s Mark Rutte so effusively supported and welcomed. Trump doesn’t just want Iran to forswear any imagined nuclear weapons programme, he wants no enrichment of uranium whatsoever – an unthinkable stipulation for a country with 90 million people. He also wants Iran to curtail its ballistic missile programme, which is its only viable deterrent to Israel. Thus leaving itself defenceless to any future Israeli aggression.
The Zionists want to install puppets in Iran similar to their ones in UAE or USA, but over many millions of corpses.
“They are already compromising with the Trump gang – threats of violence may well cow them?”
If you were confronted by an armed gang in the street demanding your wallet and your ‘phone, would you “compromise” and hand them over, or would you stick to your principles, get beaten to a pulp and lose them anyway?
Yeah, it’s not nice being threatened.
But look at it this way; if it came to an election, and the choice was complete sovereignty under Rodriguez or subservience under Machado, most people, in most countries, faced with a similar choice would choose sovereignty. So Delcy Rodriguez would be in a stronger position, than had she just capitulated to the Trump administration’s demands. The U.S. fought The American Revolutionary War, aka. the war of Independence, on the same principle, so they can hardly take umbrage.
I’d put this historical context to Trump and Rubio. they know their own country’s history, don’t they?
Bayard
January 28, 2026 at 19:23
Shouldn’t the Bolivarian leadership be prepared to fight as the Ukrainian leadership did?
Instead the Acting President is ducking and diving…
And yes the US military is much stronger than Putin’s.
But should the Polish and Finnish armies in the 1940’s have immediately surrendered to the (respectively) Nazi and Stalinist invaders of their countries?
JK redux
It’d be a hell of a risk, for sure. But Trump is risk-averse too. He ran for office, remember, promising no forever wars. He can’t risk large scale troop deployments, i.e., boots on the ground, and bodybags with all the negative connotations with past military misadventures they bring with them.
What Trump is trying to achieve, both in Venezuela and Iran, is invasion/occupation levels of control with air power alone. He can’t risk a protracted messy military campaign, in either Venezuela or Iran, not in an election year with MAGA already deserting him. And Iran is too big to invade /occupy. In Iran, I’d assume they think the people will overthrow the regime if it’s attacked. But, you’d have to be a strange individual to rise up during bombing by a foreign power, urging the regime change that power is calling for. More likely people get lynched for such treachery when the country is under brutal attack.It may even help the regime shore up its support, as Netanyahu and Trump aren’t exactly popular in Iran already.
Ukrainian leadership was not prepared to fight in 2022. They almost signed the peace treaty in Istanbul and only became resolute after Boris Johnson promised them unlimited support from the West.
“But should the Polish and Finnish armies in the 1940’s have immediately surrendered to the (respectively) Nazi and Stalinist invaders of their countries?”
Maybe they should have learned from the Czechs who did not fire a shot in anger in March of 1939, except for one company commanded by a certain Karel Pavlik?
Ukrainian leadership was not prepared to fight in 2022. They almost signed the peace treaty in Istanbul and only became resolute after Boris Johnson promised them unlimited support from the West.
A complete myth as we’ve already established. Ukraine was putting up resistance prior to the Istanbul talks which didn’t produce a workable treaty anyway.
During the occupation of Czechoslovakia between 294,000 to 320,000 people were murdered, large numbers were taken as slave labour, the country’s resources were stolen and enough munitions were captured to equip half the German army. Their capitulation gave the Nazis the confidence and the hardware to move against Poland and France.
Appeasement doesn’t work.
Yuri K
January 29, 2026 at 04:05
You said ” Maybe they (Poles and Finns) should have learned from the Czechs who did not fire a shot in anger in March of 1939, except for one company commanded by a certain Karel Pavlik?”
What’s your point?
Resistance to tyranny is futile?
“Shouldn’t the Bolivarian leadership be prepared to fight as the Ukrainian leadership did?”
Luckily for the Venezuelans, they are not so stupid.
If it was Ireland being threatened, would you be urging your government to fight and would you be first in the queue at the recruiting office? You are very keen that other people should get themselves killed and their homes and infrastructure destroyed to defend principles that you feel are important. Perhaps you would like to answer my question as to how long those precious principles would last when your personal safety is at risk. The sensible course for a government is always peace. What has Ukraine gained from taking on Russia? I am sure that all those bereaved Ukranians go to their freezing beds a little happier knowing that there is an armchair warrior in a distant country who approves of their government’s decision to go to war.
“A complete myth as we’ve already established. Ukraine was putting up resistance prior to the Istanbul talks which didn’t produce a workable treaty anyway.”
Ah, we progress! It wasn’t that long ago that you were maintaining that there wasn’t any such thing as a treaty. Now there was, but it wasn’t a workable one. I’d agree with you there, there was never going to be a workable treaty as far as the US and UK were concerned, given their choice was Russia’s complete capitulation or war.
Bayard
January 29, 2026 at 08:36
You said ” Luckily for the Venezuelans, they are not so stupid.”
The Venezuelan military are there to control the people of Venezuela, not to protect them from foreign aggression.
Or to put it another way, the military of small countries (Finland for example) are prepared to die if needed in defence of their people.
If the Finns hadn’t fought the Red Army in the Winter War, Finland would have been incorporated into the USSR.
“But should the Polish and Finnish armies in the 1940’s have immediately surrendered to the (respectively) Nazi and Stalinist invaders of their countries?”
I see you still believe in the myth of the “unprovoked aggression” as if some dictator or other just got out of bed and said to himself, “today I feel like invading a country” and all his armed forces spring into action with a few minute’s notice and the tanks are rolling across the border by lunchtime. Meanwhile, in the real world, there are months of lead-up to any such invasion and the time for diplomacy is then. I suppose you think that the Danes and the Norwegians should have fought the Nazis, too and had their army wiped out. Perhaps you could explain how the Poles ended up better off having resisted and lost than they would have done by not resisting. Agreed, the Finns managed to fight off the Soviets, but only with the eventual loss of more territory than the Soviets had demanded before the war started and which led to the war, not to mention all the soldiers killed, so yes, they would have been better off not fighting in the first place. While you are about it, you could also explain what Britain gained out of WWII to counterbalance the huge loss of life, the vast expenditure, the loss of empire and the destruction of infrastructure that the war caused.
“The Venezuelan military are there to control the people of Venezuela, not to protect them from foreign aggression.”
Is that true of all armies, including the Irish one, or just the ones of socialist states? If the latter, how do you know?
“Or to put it another way, the military of small countries (Finland for example) are prepared to die if needed in defence of their people.”
All very noble, but it still doesn’t mean that asking them to do it is a sensible decision. You still haven’t answered my question as to you are prepared even to get hurt in defence of the same principles that you are urging that other people should die for.
“If the Finns hadn’t fought the Red Army in the Winter War, Finland would have been incorporated into the USSR.”
That is bollocks, along the lines of “Putin wants to recreate the USSR”, as even a cursory examination of history would reveal. If it had been the case, why did the USSR not absorb Finland after winning WWII?
“Appeasement doesn’t work.”
That’s one of your favourite sayings, but what does? Ok, appeasement over Czechoslovakia didn’t stop Hitler invading Poland, but war over Poland didn’t stop him invading practically every country in Europe apart from Britain and a few countries that had stayed neutral. So appeasement may not work, but war doesn’t work either, if the object is to prevent invasions.
These characters like to pose as world war two experts, while evading the fundamental truth that it was won by the incredible sacrifice and resolve of the Soviet Union and its people.
They deeply imbibed all that Iraq war-era crap about Churchill’s opposition to appeasement being the key to victory over Hitler.
But what can the U.S. realistically do to Venezuela?
If they bomb Venezuela, the American public may start waking up, to how utterly preposterous and unreasonable their wannabe colonialist leadership, actually is.
And ponder also. If Rubio makes good on his threats and starts bombing Venezuela, where does that leave the opposition and the ghoulish Machado; who gave her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump? Not in a good place!
And if they bomb Iran, with what Trump childishly calls his ‘beautiful armada’, Iran has a population of 90 million. As per Iraq, in any huge aerial campaign, power infrastructure will be bombed, vital to water treatment facilities ; creating a humanitarian crisis and possibly tens of millions of refugees heading to Europe. To think we’ve got idiot politicians and people in the FCDO, MoD and MI6 cheering this on. They’ll be the first complain if small boat crossings to the UK increase exponentially, as a direct result.
The fundamental truth that it was won by the incredible sacrifice and resolve of the Soviet Union and its people.
But following Bayard’s logic they should’ve surrendered and millions of lives would’ve been saved.
You’d think the one lesson the US and UK would have learnt from : Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Gaza. Is : don’t wreck functioning states. Destroying is easy. The country urging that, for Iran; namely Israel, accepts zero refugees. Netanyahu’s govt doesn’t care if bombing Iran creates a huge humanitarian crisis, because they are completely insulated from it. it’ll be Europe’s problem, with the likes of JD Vance chastising us over the number of refugees we’re accepting, and how it is, in his opinion, destroying our societies.
Pears:
“A complete myth as we’ve already established. Ukraine was putting up resistance prior to the Istanbul talks which didn’t produce a workable treaty anyway.”
I do not know what you personally established, but you completely misunderstand the meaning of the word “prepared”. The fact that Ukrainian army resisted where they could does not change a thing, they were UNPREPARED for a full scale Russian invasion. The fact that Russian leadership for their part missed the opportunity for a quick victory does not change this one way or another.
“Appeasement doesn’t work” is the usual mantra of your ilk of warmongers. Fact is, sometimes it does, sometimes it does not. For example, the Camp David Accords of 1978 was an appeasement of Egypt and it worked. Mexico appeased the US by yielding half of its territory in 1848 and it worked. On the other hand, the Versailles Peace Treaty certainly was not an appeasement of Germany. Did it work?
JK Redux;
“Resistance to tyranny is futile?”
Pardon me for being brutaly honest, but this is a dumb question because you are trying to replace realpolitics with ideology. Finland had no threat of “tyrany”, they had a choice to accept Stalin’s demand to switch certain territories between the states and have peace, or to reject it and have war. BTW, Finland took these territories by force in the war of of 1919-20 when Russia was weak, so I have absolutely no problem with Russia taking these lands back when she became stronger, and the same is true for Poland. What goes around comes around; you took it by force, you lost it by weakness. It is obvious that Stalin had only limited goals regarding Finland, so yielding to his demands would be reasonable for them.
As for the Hitler-Poland question, this is more complicated because Hitler was less predictable. It is obvious, however, that Hitler was trying to avoid full-scale war with Great Powers in 1939, so yielding to his demands (which were quite limited, BTW; he insisted only on Danzig and a plebiscite in the “corridor”) would at least give Poland, England and France a break to better prepare for war.
Pears Morgaine:
“But following Bayard’s logic they should’ve surrendered and millions of lives would’ve been saved.”
To the contrary, millions more lives would be lost. There were different kinds of threats in WW2. Luxemburg and Denmark faced only the loss of soverignty, so this was wise for them to surrender. Czechia and Poland had a greater threat of hardships but nobody could predict this in 1939. The numbers of dead you quoted were mostly Jews, and Holocaust was nothing but Hitler’s caprice. GB played her part, BTW, by refusing emigration of Jews to Palestine, the solution that Hitler had opted for originally. Soviet Union, on the other hand, faced annihilation of most of its population if they surrendered or lost the war. This would be like the blocade of Leningrad all over the country, except maybe “Ukraine” (which, per German definition, included all South of Russia, east to Saratov on Volga and south to Stavropol in the North Caucasus). However, of note, even in Kharkov about 25,000 died of hunger in the Winter of 1941/2.
Bayard
January 29, 2026 at 09:13
Bayard, you said ” That is bollocks, along the lines of “Putin wants to recreate the USSR”, as even a cursory examination of history would reveal. If it had been the case, why did the USSR not absorb Finland after winning WWII?”
The USSR didn’t absorb Finland after *the Allies* (not the USSR alone) won WW2 because (in decreasing order of likelihood):
The USA might have prevented it – the USA had nukes and initially the USSR didn’t.
The USSR was militarily exhausted after fighting from Stalingrad to Berlin.
Stalin still cared about the good opinion of the other Allies.
It would have been wrong to launch another uprovoked attack on a neighbour.
JK Redux:
Re Finland, the simple idea that Soviet leaders simply wanted good relations with their neighbours after WW2 did not cross your mind?
“But following Bayard’s logic they should’ve surrendered and millions of lives would’ve been saved.”
Well, some would have, but not that many. Fewer soldiers would have died, but the civilians who died, died in the main because there simply wasn’t enough food. There is no evidence that the Germans wouldn’t have carried out their plan to depopulate Eastern Europe in order to feed a Germany that had been cut off from its food imports. I know we are supposed to believe that Germany killed all those people in concentration camps simply because they were racists, but actually it was because, when there isn’t enough food, a lot of people have got to die and the Jews, Gypsies, Slavs were at the top of the list.
Ironically, if Britain hadn’t declared war on Germany, the Germans would have been much more likely to have defeated the Russians and ended the Soviet Union, which I am sure you must regard as a bit of an own goal by Churchill in hindsight.
“If they bomb Venezuela, the American public may start waking up, to how utterly preposterous and unreasonable their wannabe colonialist leadership, actually is.”
I’m not sure that the wannabe colonials give a shit about what the American public thinks, ditto the rest of your comment.
“The USSR didn’t absorb Finland after *the Allies* (not the USSR alone) won WW2 because (in decreasing order of likelihood):
The USA might have prevented it – the USA had nukes and initially the USSR didn’t.”
The USA didn’t prevent them taking over all of eastern Europe up to East Germany. Indeed they encouraged it. When Stalin suggested that Germany not be partitioned so long as it remained neutral, like Austria, the US chose partition.
“The USSR was militarily exhausted after fighting from Stalingrad to Berlin.”
See above: exhaustion didn’t prevent them taking over Eastern Europe.
“Stalin still cared about the good opinion of the other Allies.”
Yes, that is unlikely. Stalin knew the other “Allies” hated him and probably knew they were planning to attack the USSR (Operation Unthinkable).
Let’s look at what really happened: (From Wikipedia)
By the end of World War II, Finland remained an independent country. However, Finland ceded approximately 10% of its territory to the Soviet Union, including Viipuri (Finland’s second-largest city [Population Register] or fourth-largest city [Church and Civil Register], depending on the census data[3]). Finland was also required to pay out a large amount of war reparations to the Soviet Union and to formally acknowledge partial responsibility for the Continuation War.
Finland promised to be neutral and the US didn’t veto it, so it remained an independent country, like Austria, but unlike East Germany.
Perhaps you can point me to a historic document showing the the Soviet Union expressing a desire to take over Finland. The Winter War was about not ceding some territory tothe USSR. The USSR tried to take it by force, was defeated, but the Finns lost it anyway after being on the losing side in WWII.
Bayard:
“The USSR tried to take it by force, was defeated, but the Finns lost it anyway after being on the losing side in WWII.”
This is big news to me. As far as I know, Finland lost Winter War, then they again lost the War of Continuation, as they call it. Technically though, they won WW2 by switching sides, just like Italians and Romanians.
” As far as I know, Finland lost Winter War, then they again lost the War of Continuation, as they call it. ”
Sorry, I can see that my synopsis was a little hasty: The Soviets were initially defeated, but later were successful in negotiating a peace treaty that gave them their pre-war demands and more. I should have made that clearer.
Bayard:
“Sorry, I can see that my synopsis was a little hasty: The Soviets were initially defeated, but later were successful in negotiating a peace treaty that gave them their pre-war demands and more. I should have made that clearer.”
You can’t be successful in negotiating unless you are successful on the battlefield.
I think from now on he should referred to as “Narco Rubio”. Just so we don’t forget.
There is the right wing propaganda of those outside of Venezuela that oppose the Bolivarian Revolution. There is the left wing propaganda of the government and those outside of Venezuela that buy their story. And there is “The Venezuelan Revolution: A Critique from the Left.” It is only the view of one person and it is already over a decade old, but it may still have some relevance. I wish you all the best in your coverage of Venezuela in 2026 and beyond.
Thanks, that was a valuable report. I thought the US siege was more successful. That was a pleasant surprise.
The way I see it there is a major conflict inside the Trump admin between Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard. JD Vance seems to be somewhere in the middle but the Israeli lobby is intent on Rubio being the next President. Trump is pegging back the invasion of Venezuela on Gabbards intelligence whereas Rubio is mad on the all guns approach both for Venezuela and Iran.
My bet is Tulsi Gabbard will resign if Trump bombs Iran.
Trump seems to think he’s invincible. I’m nor religious thus not a believer in providence, but it’s as though someone sent him to illustrate everything wrong with an executive presidency and all that power concentrated in one individual.
I’d wager, in November’s elections, if he continues like this, he and his party, will have their status put into some perspective by the American voting public. Apparently, Ted Cruz recently warned Trump, that they could be facing “a bloodbath in the midterms” and Trump allegedly repsonded by telling Cruz to “fuck off”.
The midterms may well be the turning point or tipping point for American democracy, setting it on a direction of recovery or failure. My concern is that Trump might try to go all the way to turn America into a fascist state by attempting to delay or suspend free elections, though the most recent events in Minnesota IMHO make that a bit less likely. Trump’s response to Ted Cruz holds out a hopeful sign – he will only listen to yes-men and ignore negative poll results. This appeared to work in 2016 and 2024, but it might not this time, or in 2028, if enough Republicans are fed up with what is happening, and especially the rise in prices, the even bigger rise in medical insurance costs, and the failure to make progress in disclosing the Epstein files.
The only thing to worry about may be Trump’s forthcoming diversions (outrages) of the month, to draw attention away from the Epstein files. Therefore I hope that the Epstein files will not be forgotten, and that the reaction to every outrage will be renewed demands for their full disclosure, as ordered by judges.
PS. A friend not part of this forum suggested that an attack on Iran could be the next “diversion” Orange Man has in mind. Could be, IMHO, especially if an American fleet is already on the way. Maybe not a full “boots on the ground” affair as in Vietnam, unless Orange Man gets desperate.
Tulsi Gabbard has surprisingly pro-Istarel stance, so this is ulikely to happen. She fell out with Trump because she was not so sure that the 12-Days War gave big beautiful results.
Tulsi Gabbard’s pro-Israeli stand is no surprise to me. I believe her particular Hare Krishna / Hindu beliefs predispose to favour Israel’s interests over the Palestinians. In her early adult years she had some association with a cult group within the Hare Krishna movement that was hostile towards Islam and Muslims. The group was led by a New Zealander whose name I forget.
Interesting idea…to support your point, according to Pew Research polls, India is one of the very few (if not the only) country where public has favorable opinion of Israel.
Well said Craig. I was schooled in South Africa, and indeed was fortunate to have access to George Orwell’s, 1984 and Animal farm, among others, as set-books. I like to think of myself as the old horse observing the fraternisation of the pigs (now walking on 2 legs) with the humans in animal farm. Yes, msm propaganda is most pervasive. In SA, RT is banned from our television network, and we endure the master liars, the BBC, CNN and Sky! Best wishes for your plans to reveal the unequivocal truth and expose the lies.
Marco Rubio referred to the “CIA’s new permanent presence in Venezuela,” and the U.S.is trying to dictate to Venezuelan authorities the expulsion of Russian & Chinese embassy personnel – neocolonialism in full swing it would appear. I think it brave therefore, that Craig ventured, first to Lebanon, and now Venezuela, to witness for himself and others, the realities. But given western intelligence agencies’ massive politically facilitated overreach over the last few decades, and their obvious shameless desire to completely control the narrative western public i.e. us are exposed to – through appallingly compromised MSM and corrupted journos – like those criticising Craig on [X]. You do wonder if it’s safe to challenge these narratives so directly, as Craig is doing?
Jonathan Cook has a good article about Iran. And the lack of any media incl.BBC &Guardian, pushback about the illegality of what appears, as I type tonight, to be an imminent campaign. The Guardian, in it’s editorial ‘opinion’ piece, presumably written by Freedland or Behr(?), didn’t mention the UN, nor how any U.S. attack would be a violation of its Charter. And even Trump’s demands of Iran, his ultimatum if you will, has almost impossible terms, that no country Iran’s size/population could agree to. The demands also violate the NPT. What is the point in any state complying with the rigors of demanding NPT inspections, when doing so offers zero protection?
Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) recognizes the “inalienable right” of all state parties to develop, research, produce, and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination. This right, considered a core pillar of the treaty, allows for the exchange of equipment, materials, and scientific information, provided the activities comply with non-proliferation obligation.
Trump also wants Iran to surrender its ballistic missile programme, which was its only deterrence against Israel, in that country’s unprovoked twelve-day war.
Totally disarm so that we can destroy you, otherwise we will destroy you !
Democracy 101, American style.
Hi Craig, Was hoping for more insights by now given you’ve had a few more days inside the country to get a handle on what’s going on in the background. Yes I’m impatient I know. Interested whether this is a capitulation by stealth, or if Rodriguez really is holding the fort.
Any news welcome.
Awaiting the CM Intelectual Keyboard Defence League coming to your rescue.
Also have the radical announcements by Gustavo Petro across the border been noticed at all. By my reckoning his move to introduce huge wage increases for military and health workers could if fully implemented pull the rug from any hopes Colombias hideous right wing has of derailing the quiet revolution underway there
Mark
February 1, 2026 at 09:27
Yes, I’d also be interested in more info on the situation in Venezuela.