I hope to write a serious article shortly about the position of Venezuela, which is rather that of a hostage with a gun to their head, attempting to appease a psychopath.
But for now here are a couple of small videos illustrating that it is a lie that the country is failed, starving or repressive.
Obviously in this crisis the government is under some strain. I am however trying to work my way up to get a minister to talk to me on the record about the extent of economic liberalisation, how far it is being driven by the Americans, how the country’s revolutionary principles can be preserved, and the prospects for the United States lifting its naval blockade of Venezuelan oil to non-US customers.
If I can’t get the access we may reach the limit of how much I can usefully do here; there is still more to bring you from the ground, and simply showing you that long term Western propaganda has given an entirely false image of the country has its uses. A mini documentary on the commune system is in the edit.
As ever with an entirely individual donation and subscriber model, there is also a question of financial sustainability. We are employing a little local team here including Natalia our cinematographer, Andreina our journalist, Jonathan our editor and Greimar our assistant, and we are hiring an apartment. It takes time to get the production pipeline going and I do understand that the output does not yet justify the expense.
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Looks busier than most British towns and certainly more aesthetically pleasing.
Keep exposing them.
Nice going. I’ve sent the YouTube links for the two reports to my MP.
Certainly looks a lot better maintained, with a far more thriving city centre (and with a population looking far more healthy too) that we typically see in South Wales.
Far less drug dealing, menacing gangs, and oppressive authorities with their thuggish police out looking for people to harass and shake down too, for that matter!
The first video was interesting – the shops were often empty though. Because they had just reopened after lunch?
The shops seemed to be largely fashion boutiques or similar? No food shops apart from a churro outlet?
Perhaps a middle/moneyed class area.
A stroll through a supermarket or the equivalent in a working class area would be informative.
As would a walk past one of the prisons holding “political” prisoners…
The second video was a bit static.
I reported on shops in working class areas (with photos) a couple of articles back. These videos are town centre, not the posh areas. Supermarkets are stocked at exactly the same kind of levels as UK supermarkets.
Thanks for the reply.
When I said “the shops were often empty though” I meant very few people, not low stock levels.
I’m still puzzled as to how people pay for luxury goods like those in the shops in the first video given the dire state of the economy.
Of if the economy is in good order, why have so many people left the country?
I do suggest a walk around a supermarket though!
Questions, questions…
JK Redux
I wonder whether many are shopping at Waitrose these days?
Craig has not shown us the Local Lidl.
Like you – I am suspicious.
Strange that you are suspicious but, believe every word that is written or said by the Western Media.
Except for Gaza – because that is easy for a liberal mind.
MARK M CUTTS
February 17, 2026 at 22:10
I’m puzzled, not “suspicious”..
The camera operator didn’t follow Craig into any of the shops and didn’t really show the interior of the shops.
An opportunity missed imo.
We haven’t seen food prices irn supermarkets in Craig’s videos – that would tell a lot.
YouTube presenters just use cameras pinned to their chests, no need for a camera operator and much easier to walk around and give a Craig’s eye view with voice over.
(See my previously posted link to a recent YouTube vid of Caracas by “Matt and Julia”. https://youtu.be/bLw3omzSW8s?is=Aw3s99fIhLN7bKLd)
Looks a bit TOO normal to me!.
Just kidding. So who the fcuk are these lying bastard so-called journalists saying that Craig’s lying?!!
Any chance of you finding areas with real suppliers (eg bakers, butchers, fishmongers), manufacturing and primary production instead of shops similar to those which I have seen in some English towns.
Supermarket visits would be interesting, maybe get supplier lists and then find out where provisions originate? Much hostility to Venezuela, seen a few years ago, referred to medicine supplies so what have you found by way of pharmacies? Can you find any engineering supplies establishments?
Hope you find what I consider to be the necessities of an economy of whch precious little remain in England. The streets shown in your videos seem similar to areas in England which I have seen.
Good luck, keep safe,
The street in the first video looks in a far better state than London’s Oxford Street.
Nonetheless dangerous areas of Caracas where it’s dangerous even for residents to go out at night do exist. (The person who told me this is one such resident, living not in a barrio but in an apartment block, and she is favourable towards Maduro and the memory of Chavez, so she hasn’t been duped by “western” MSM.)
Totally agreed about the government’s efforts against antisocial crime. Of course it’s not all going to be solved in five minutes, so credit where it’s due. The ban on violent video games was great too.
Listen, never mind hanging around waiting for a ministerial interview. Every capital city looks good in many areas and certainly in central zones. Even Baghdad and Kabul. But thats no indication of the real stuff. Get out of Caracas, go travelling through the countryside and small towns. Talk to as many people as possible. Are they willingly confident and trusting to talk to you about difficult subjects? Politics? Job opportunities? Can they afford complex medical help? Can they afford to eat well? What is the median earning power of working class ppl in relation to prices / rents etc. ?
Using an interpreter is a good way of guaging reactions to the same questions. That tests your interpreter as well as an interviewee. Yes, you certainly are an experienced judge of repressive regimes. So you’ll know not to trust the surface impressions of things.
You cannot make a similar walk through any city centre in Britain these days without seeing large numbers of homeless people begging on the street. Small towns too. (Something that has of course characterised every city in the Home of the Free for decades).
As regards Venezuelans’ access to complex medical help, 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.
Is this what you were hinting at when you said not to trust the surface impression of things in Venezuela?
They are now doing the same to Cuba btw
I often pass people begging outside Sainsbury’s on Newland Ave. A couple of years back I suggested to one of them who asked me for a quid that he needed to revise his business model as I wouldn’t give him less than two. Not using cash like I did, I usually get something to eat these days.
When it comes to Cuba, it seemed to me that life was harder in the capital than elsewhere. About the only place I’ve been where it was like that. I doubt Venezuela is similar but the differences may be less stark than in, say, the UK.
Cuba is difficult to move around due to an almost complete absence of petrol stations. I tried and failed to hire a car, and wondered if it was machismo that meant the salesman merely repeated over and over, sorry no cars, but then filled in forms with a couple who came after me. However I travelled by shared taxi on my brief holiday there, and we drove up a track to a farm to purchase a jerrycan of fuel in the farmyard. Nodding oil derricks along the coast were small scale. Lorries were still 1950s style polluting, leaded fuel engines. People feel poor because they see the apartheid luxury holiday gated community and they still have rations of beans and rice, and no electric kettles. However it is a gentle and welcoming world, despite its tourism apartheid, and it still had 2 different currencies operating simultaneously in the shops and bars due to differences in wealth and earnings. Healthcare is the best in the world. Nobody is homeless. You can also hitch hike and share fuel costs if you speak the language.
Images of uncollected bin bags due to no fuel for lorries are a sign that the blockade of Venezuelan fuel is causing immediate problems. Sanctions have been weathered for decades and the battles that overthrew the US were hard fought and remain well remembered.
Does Cuba use the US 110v electricity system? If they do, electric kettles take too long to boil.
“Healthcare is the best in the world. Nobody is homeless.” These are among the reasons why so many Cubans will resist any direct USA military effort to remove the government and restore mafia rule – and why they will defeat it. They’ve got something worth fighting for against Wall Street and the narcos.
Most working class people in Latin America don’t use electric kettles. (Except perhaps in the bit of Latin America that overlaps with USA and Canada?)
Notable there is no mention in the MSM’s sanitized Jesse Jackson eulogies of his staunch support for the socialist revolution in Venezuela.
Jackson spoke at Hugo Chavez’s funeral and in 2019 even when ravaged by Parkinson’s he made his way to Washington to defend the Venezuelan embassy against violent right-wing gusanos.
zoot
He was also on the massive March against the attack on Iraq.
Great orator and good man to have on your side.
The MSM ( now he is no longer a threat to the Established Order)
are eulogising him now, but no doubt when he was running for the
Presidency of the US he would have been vilified and undermined.
He certainly was in his own country at that time.
Jackson’s term “rainbow coalition” dates back to the Panthers.
He was also very much the labour candidate when he ran for US president, rather as Sanders was later.
Shame he didn’t win.
A very poorly dubbed into English February 2026 “walk around a supermarket” YouTube video from a provincial Venezuelan city.
https://youtu.be/E3mqbaFBgSc?si=aaEZ2X27YCNtN75z
Prices look high, similar to W Europe or higher. Chicken seemed very expensive.
I can’t see anyone from the Barrios shopping here?
Back in the day, chicken was expensive in Britain. For most people, it was an occasional luxury – as organic free-range chicken still is today.
Then came the battery factories.
I remember chicken being a luxury in the late 60s – early 70s, then cheaper than beef. I didn’t mind, I preferred a chicken leg for Sunday dinner and didn’t know why the price had dropped so much. I can’t wait for chlorinated chicken. NOT!
The contrast in these videos between Caracas and British cities is stark. The former seems far more like southern European cities than some disintegrating third world dictatorship, as it is unfailingly portrayed in the official media.
I forgot to mention earlier – you cannot go through a city in the UK today without seeing drunks everywhere, aggressive begging, and boarded up shops. Not to mention filthy streets, dilapidated buildings, roads clogged with traffic. Homeless people – doubtless practicing a ‘lifestyle choice’ set themselves up in entrance ways with some filthy mattresses and blankets, even small tents in supermarket car parks where they indulge them.
The homeless who are lucky enough to be put up in B&Bs by the council get turfed out by 8am daily, and head directly to the offy to have the day’s first Special Brew, white cider, etc. – this is the main reason for the staggering levels of drunken riff-raff lolling around.
Didn’t see any of that in these videos.
On the contrary, Caracas appears to be positively thriving. Some commentators have suggested that Craig should be in the smaller cities, and that’s where the real poverty is to be found. But in the UK, as in the US, there is no shortage of poverty right in the capital and major cities. Why would things be so different in other countries such as Venezuela?
The UK these days looks and feels like it lost a war that nobody realised we were in.
Because the UK has lost a war, Margaret Thatcher started it and Neoliberania has won.
She basically began it and Blair, Mandelson and Brown carried it on. Read for instance ‘Thatcher and Sons’ by Simon Jenkins.
The world seems to be run by a cartel of bankers, allied to various royal families. Hopefully now the crimes of Mandelson, Blair, Brown and the relevant UK royals get exposed. I think some UK royals are innocent of all wrong-doing and some are unbelievably entitled crooks … but oh what a dysfunctional family.
” The UK these days looks and feels like it lost a war that nobody realised we were in.”. Excellent comment/thought, Glenn.
I think that’s exactly the case. The * war * that the perennially disadvantaged have been in, really since time immemorial, but, in the modern era – let’s say since the Industrial Revolution, ie the struggle for some kind of fair distribution of the national pie, opportunities, dignity & respect, despite a succession of ” New Dawns ” and varying degrees of progress, eg the ( virtual ) elimination of slum housing, free, universal education ( though Higher/University Education may, on present trajectory, revert to how it was in the past – the exclusive preserve of the Middle & Upper Classes and these days foreign students with the requisite resources ); that war, the one that EVERY actual, military war for the last couple of hundred years was supposedly going end, has never looked more in danger of being comprehensively, definitively, lost than it does currently.
Decades of Neoliberal/Capitalist promotion of selfishness, greed & mindless consumerism have weakened the superstructure of the ( always rather provisional ) Social Contract; Identity Politics have fragmented previous class & national bonds; unrelenting attrition by the Corporate/Political/MSM Class on Trades Unions have weakened that historic source of Working Class solidarity/ protection + the sellout of the latter by various Union leaders – seduced by generous salaries and proximity to power, how many of the current mob live anywhere near or in the same * condition * as the people they supposedly represent? Thatcher & her pack undoubtedly seriously damaged the Unions – as well as selling * ordinary * people the fantasy of being beneficiaries of the so-called Home Owning Democracy; * Free Market ” HA! Capitalism, eg buying a few shares in the once publicly-owned/benefitting national utilities, eg BT, and the philosophically savage notion of ” no such thing as Society ” – come in Charlie Darwin, your time has come; with a twist…….the ” Natural Order “, eg the predation of one species on a weaker, is not confined to the animal kingdom but can, in fact should, be encouraged in the human realm too. Greed Is Good + Empathy = Loserdom.
Now with the advent of AI & the New Omnipotent Tech Gods calling the shots, * ordinary * humans will come to be seen as even more superfluous, literally surplus to requirements, hence – and this may seem a bit of a stretch ( I don’t ) – the increasing focus of Governments on policies like ” Assisted Dying “; the renewed advocacy of War, M.A.D apparently having lost is power as a grim deterrent, the lunatic concept of a winnable, * limited * Nuclear Strikes being seriously considered, eg amongst the U.S War pornographers – and probably by posturing buffoons like John Healey; was ever a politician more deserving of a hefty smack in the gub that that fckn clown? ( I know, he has a lot of competition in that category ).
It * could * appear that the political classes are more focused on ways to shorten/ make miserable the lives of those they are supposed to serve ( fck, remember that now obsolete concept?! ) than doing anything to improve those lives
“The * war * that the perennially disadvantaged have been in, really since time immemorial, but, in the modern era – let’s say since the Industrial Revolution, ie the struggle for some kind of fair distribution of the national pie, …”
As far as I can see it’s the war of selfishness and greed against generosity and altruism and, like most civil wars, it cuts across all classes. Sadly, the chief reaction to being exploited seems to be a desire to become one of the exploiters, rather than to shun exploitation. Many a “people’s revolution” has discovered that the hard way.
” As far as I can see it’s the war of selfishness and greed against generosity and altruism and, like most civil wars, it cuts across all classes. Sadly, the chief reaction to being exploited seems to be a desire to become one of the exploiters, rather than to shun exploitation.”. Absolutely, B.
I’m always hesitant about using terms like ” human nature ” or ” that’s just the way it is ” as they suggest a determinist fixity that I don’t consider accurate re our species: habits are learned, not – necessarily – innate. Unfortunately, the dreary, depressing predictability with which victims so readily become victimisers is so recurrent it’s not surprising that it has come to be accepted as ” just one of those things “, ” natural “.
Human Nature, though, is NOT fixed; things, we, can always change: always do change. We have only really scratched the surface of understanding what we’re about as a species, what we’re capable of creatively/ perceptually. We’ve seen copious amounts of brutality – and beauty, but I like to think that – assuming we don’t kill ourselves and/or the Planet through terminal stupidity, we have 1000’s of years left to evolve beyond the pitifully meagre, self-defeating sets of beliefs & behaviours that have poisoned the Eden that was bequeathed us for most of history
I remember in the early 90s a mate from my schooldays saying that the pending Tory employment law changes were going to institutionalise a lumpenproletariat and that the thing to do was to make sure that we were on the rich side of the new economic apartheid. He did, I didn’t. We didn’t stay in touch.
Just to pick up on the mention of Charlie Darwin if I may. I believe he actually promoted the importance of society and social emotions. He tried to develop a modern psychology of it. That can be true even though both he and Wallace had been influenced by Malthus on populations competing for resources.
I believe it was more so Herbert Spencer who promoted selfish capitalism. He was famous first, including in America. With ideas about universally improved fitness via Lamarkian evolution. When he realised Darwin’s new theory was correct, Spencer tried to salvage his own by creating the hybrid ‘survival of the fittest’.
Of course, Venezuela means “Little Venice”.
“The UK these days looks and feels like it lost a war that nobody realised we were in.”
Not quite yet, but headed that way. Venezuela looked like precisely that for a while a few years ago.
Brian Red.
On the UK, well England (Westminster) – what they say in public – and what they do in private, are two completely different things.
“The UK has reportedly refused Trump’s request to use British RAF bases, including Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, as launch points for potential strikes on Iran, citing the need for legal and political approval before any offensive operation – The Times”
It was only the other day, that the MSM reported that Chagossian’s on their own islands were told to leave by British troops, or be arrested and imprisoned.
I post it here since it concerns London:
BRITISH MUSEUM has removed references to “Palestine” after Israeli lobby groups complained.
Academic research bowing to genocidal propaganda may be as old as academia itself but it´s shocking and highly upsetting.
“British Museum removes some references to ‘Palestine’ after accuracy complaints
UK Lawyers for Israel prompts change, arguing applying name to periods when no such entity existed risks ‘obscuring the history of Israel and the Jewish people’”
Febr. 16th
https://www.timesofisrael.com/british-museum-removes-some-references-to-palestine-after-accuracy-complaints/
This is part of a wider “re-clanification” and covert identity politics of the worst kind (Nazi by logic), reclaiming of Western intellectual culture completely reversing the insights of the 1960s emancipation as it was also grounded in Germany by – ahem – Jürgen Habermas´s seminal theories on normative thought.
Making this point regardless of Habermas´s total intellectual failure above all re: Gaza – his attempt to rationalize how societies are organized on non-racist/ethnic, non-religious, neither capitalist nor feudalistic – altogether non-metaphysical principles – grounded on agreements via genuine democratic decisions bottom to top – was a new school of political and philosophical sciences which would pave the way for what has since become part and parcel of “The West”. That this notion of the West in itself is deeply ideological (don´t look further than the betrayal of Venezuela by Europe) doesn´t diminish its significance at least as a suggestion of possible paths. After all complementary results could be observed in academic research all over beyond “The West” – like Venezuelan civil society and Chavismo.
William Dalrymple has been posting that the museum story is made up Israeli propaganda
Thank you.
As the museum is concerned:
“(…)
Dalrymple said Cullinan told him that the labelling change was “something our curators have thought long and hard about”.
According to Dalrymple, the British Museum director said he had known nothing about the UK Lawyers for Israel complaint until after the Telegraph story was published, and was “disgusted by the whole thing”.
(…)”
https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2026/02/row-after-british-museum-removes-term-palestine-from-some-displays/
Same article has so far one reader comment, by a non-professional, however quoting from the scholarship:
“(…)The Egyptian name for Palestine (Peleset) first occurs in the 13th century BC and is not witnessed in any earlier historical source. So it would be inaccurate to use the name Palestine for the region before the 13th century. However, to be historically accurate one should point out that the name of the region of Palestine prior to the Late Bronze Age is simply unknown.
(…)
The UKLFI claim of the British Museum’s terminology being “inaccurate” or conveying an “incorrect meaning” or that the term “Palestine” is in some circumstances “no longer meaningful” is in my opinion motivated by ideological, not scientific considerations.
By all means, let’s have a proper debate about ancient Palestine.
(…)”
Valid point.
So this is not over, I guess.
p.s. After all, disregard of native/indigenous accomplishments and agency on the territory of Palestine e.g. in German academiy had been and still is being denied by authoritative scholarship. A popular example Zionist botanists at the turn of the century cultivating the place…
It’s worth recalling that the IDF has an archaeological contingent that ensures when any archaeological remains are found during IDF war crimes they are first on the scene to make sure the right interpretation is made. Similar propaganda is applied to the interpretation of the Dead sea scrolls. Another instance of the Ministry of Truth !
“Who controls the past controls the future”
Stevie Boy
Oh the IOF – can do better than that, they can plant weapons in the al-Shifa hospital (after they’ve killed everyone that is) to make it look like their war crimes on doctors and patients was justified.
“IOF” – that´s actually a great idea of rebranding
RoS. As the IOF, so the SAS, say no more.
Speaking of SAS although he was not SAS – when Prince Harry´s killing of 25 Taliban came up briefly in MSM the Afghan government claimed those had been civilians. Others I think claimed they had been soldiers or at least armed but had been shot in cold blood and not during combat.
What did really happen? I had an argument short while ago and I cannot find trustworthy info. (Al Jazeera had the Taliban comment but that one report doesn´t make it automatically true.)
AG.
The British government operates a policy of ‘neither confirm nor deny’ (NCND) in regard to the SAS which means they can do whatever they want and get away with it. But there is some pushback now as people begin to realise they are just a bunch of thugs. More info here.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/sas-shot-toddlers-in-their-beds-afghanistan-inquiry-told/
Stevie Boy.
The SAS is a terrorist outfit, sent in to cou tries to cause mayhem – to assassinate and kidnap and to prep the way for regime change.
Craig,
Chris Hedges in today´s Q&A again suggested the Gaza death toll to be much higher than the official numbers.
The latest LANCET study estimated 75,200 violent deaths and 16,300 non-violent deaths.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(25)00522-4/fulltext
methodology:
“(…)We surveyed 2000 households across 200 primary sampling units, documenting the vital status of 9729 household members as of Oct 6, 2023, plus newborns. The sample was stratified by dwelling type and Governorate of origin. We used raking procedures to adjust for demographic characteristics and calculated confidence intervals using Taylor series linearisation. Sampling occurred in accessible areas, with displaced populations representing inaccessible Governorates.(…)”.
Hedges argues these are only registered casualties while countless are not accounted for. So we may well end up with a few hundred thousand. Norman Finkelstein in Athens I believe made a similar argument.
Earlier studies as I remember offered much grimmer numbers. They eventually seem to have distanced themselves for whatever reason.
(This particular study did use a grant by the EU but I wouldn´t go as far as to question their integrity at least within the scientific approach which they chose.)
As much as it would be desireable that it is indeed less than more dead if the truth is much worse it is vital that this is being brought to the broad public´s attention. Only if Israel is acknowledged as a pariah state by a critical mass of the population in the countries complicit will it be possible to stop these maniacs. The people in Israel itself will most certainly not rise up.
But until scientists who are delivering the normative numbers do not understand their power in all this the foundation for Israel´s pathologic conduct will not be shattered.
Craig, Here’s an interesting left-wing commentary/critique on Venezuela’s recent history, if you haven’t already seen it. Spoiler alert: Maduro doesn’t look good
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/venezuela-the-end-game-2/
Show me the leader and I’ll show you the negative criticism !
thanks
From the text:
“(…)It is the conclusion of this book’s writers from the left in Venezuela that among observers in the advanced countries of the Global North, there has been a tendency “to unwittingly lend credibility to a regime that uses the language of socialism to obscure its own oppressive and anti-worker practices. By failing to reckon with the realities of Venezuela’s crisis, such positions inadvertently sideline the struggles of the Venezuelan people, who are fighting both the consequences of the Maduro government and the suffocating sanctions imposed by the United States.” It is not socialism that failed in Venezuela, but the failure to apply socialist policies to end the sabotage of the capitalist sector in the country and to unite the working class organisations in the struggle against US imperialism. (…)”
Not dissimilar to Socialist and Anrchosyndicalist critics of current Russian politics the authors appear to be either overly detached from power politics or pretty biased. How do they think can a country with such vital resources seriously escape the global capitalists´ stranglehold?
They let you meddle along until you get out of line, or self-preservation by e.g. the USA reaches a new quality and exploitative policies end the status quo.
Without the necessary military power and control of territory you will not get far if you have riches of interest to the US.
Haymarket which does have a decent track record as publisher has a couple of reviews on the book below the book description.
The reviewers´ true political colours to me are more telling than Haymarket might want to admit or actually be aware of.
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2621-venezuela-in-crisis
“(…)”Venezuela in Crisis is an essential contribution to understanding the process known as the “Bolivarian Revolution,” its authoritarian drift, and its recent transformation into a kind of factory reminiscent of the colonial enterprises of the 16th–18th centuries.(…)”
– Atenea Jiménez Lemón, Sociologist and activist, co-director of the documentary Venezuela Under Siege
“(…)for well over a decade it has been impossible to deny the depth of the mire into which the Bolivarian process has sunk.(…)”
– Jeffery R. Webber, co-author of, The Impasse of the Latin American Left
“(…)The specific intent by its authors is to try to undo some of the damage that they believe has been done to left discourse by desperately trying to characterise Venezuela as a socialist state, and that is a worthy goal in itself.(…)”
– Dominic Alexander, for Counterfire
“(…)first under Chavez, from 1999 to his death in 2012, the second, the period under Maduro, from 2013 to the present. The latter contrasts sharply with the former in terms of leadership, achievements, and both national and global impact.(…)”
– Jorge Giordani, Marxist engineer-economist, former planning minister under Hugo Chávez
“(…)helps us all better understand how a country that was once the most exciting social laboratory for change descended into such a profound crisis.(…)”
– Federico Fuentes, Editor, LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal
The most weighed:
“(…)”Unlike the schematic, polarized takes that dominate discussion of Venezuela, this book offers a well-informed, reflective examination that aims not to persuade but to probe—critically and in depth—the political, economic, and environmental dynamics of the current Venezuelan process. Newcomers will find enough context to form a solid, integrated picture of what’s happening, while readers seeking more will find rigorous, up-to-date analysis of Venezuela’s complex reality today. I highly recommend this book.”(…)”
—Edgardo Lander, Retired professor Venezuela Central University
“(…)Notwithstanding its socialist rhetoric, the Maduro regime has turned to authoritarian control in its drive to deepen a model of extractivist and rentier capitalism that has sacrificed the working class to local and transnational capital. The degeneration of the Bolivarian process(…)”
—William I. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Global, and Latin American Studies University of California at Santa Barbara
Not a single excerpt seriously lays the blame on the Global North as the one party that seeks to destroy the revolution since 1999.
I find that more than astonishing.
I am starting to think that the CIA had easy game not only due to a disloyal military but an intellectual elite that was among those who in fact lost touch, and not as much the government and administration.
How can you expect a man swim with both hands tied to his back and then blame him for nearly drowning?
np
February 18, 2026 at 19:46
That’s a depressing report that has the ring of truth: “The Trump administration has been clever and cautious; it has not yet replaced Maduro with the right wing, free market, Nobel peace prize winner (sic), Maria Machado, for fear of generating a tumult and even civil war. Instead, it is steadily forcing Rodriguez into acceding to all its demands in preparation for elections later that can then bring in a completely pro-US regime. ”
Trump of course isn’t clever but Rubio is (at least in comparison).
a colourless colour revolution
“That’s a depressing report that has the ring of truth”
That wouldn’t be because it’s telling you what you want to hear, would it? You do realise exploiting this tendency is the No,1 tactic of the conman, don’t you?
The Cuban foreign minister was in Moscow meeting with President Putin yesterday. Hope Cuba gets some help from Russia soon though it is a bit tied up in Ukraine.
The vids are good Craig. Very peaceful, happy country. hope lots of people see this!
Rosemary MacKenzie.
February 19, 2026 at 04:42
Hi Rosemary.
Yes the Russian military is “tied up” trying to seize the territory of its neighbour.
At catastrophic human cost to itself and to Ukraine.
And as you say, Putin is no longer able to help traditional Russian allies.
Perhaps the “Special Military Operation” was a mistake…..
Jk Redux would prefer to carry on bombing the Russian speeking populus in Crimea, Dombass and Luchansk, as before Minsk 1+2, preferably with NATO countries ‘helping out/getting involved.
The right sector and the Asov brigade would love to carry on fighting, as long as the money (not siphoned off by Ukrainian officials helped by Zionists abroad) comes flooding in to pay for the bang and reconstruction.
Is that your russophobic vision or have you got your own?
I put another well earned 50,- rubs into your account, keep safe out there.
Nevermind
February 19, 2026 at 10:56
A bit incoherent but I get your drift.
Russia Good, Ukraine Bad.
I’m Russophobic only in the same sense that most of Europe was Germanophobic during WW2.
Putin’s war on Ukraine is a war of choice and will stop when his regime collapses and he is liquidated by the siloviki.
What currency is ,-rubs?
“Russia Good, Ukraine Bad.”
Is that really as deep an analysis that you are able to carry out? If it’s not “Russia bad, Ukraine good”, then it must be “Russia good, Ukraine bad”? I got deeper critical thinking than that arguing with my schoolmates in my early teens.
Bayard
February 20, 2026 at 09:12
“Russia Good, Ukraine Bad” was my unkind summary of Nevermind’s post.
As you are replying on his behalf; what currency is ,-rubs?
““Russia Good, Ukraine Bad” was my unkind summary of Nevermind’s post.”
Yes, that was what my comment was referring to WRT lack of depth of analysis. If that’s all you could pull out of his comment, my criticism stands.
JK redux
So the thieves Kitchen, Nato – is now using dodgy old Dutch and US pilots to fly military jets to Ukraine – recently Nato bigwigs crapped their uniforms, when the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi’s took down weak Nato forces, with a small force and some drones – Putin has said that Nato is getting closer and closer in its involvement with the Neo-Nazi dictatorship in Ukraine in a military sense, and Russia is preparing for the day it needs to intervene in Europe – which doesn’t look that far-off to me.
The Yanks couped Ukraine and the plan was to put missiles and nukes close to the Russian border – three-minutes from Moscow or there abouts – Russia not only stopped that happening – it prevented a genocide in the Donbas, which had been going on for eight years previously.
Meanwhile the Yanks and much of Europe backs a genocide in Gaza – Putin aint no good guy – but next to Nato leaders he’s an angel.
Republicofscotland
February 19, 2026 at 16:29
What do you mean by “recently Nato bigwigs crapped their uniforms, when the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi’s took down weak Nato forces, with a small force and some drones”??
Well when I said recently it was last year – Russia would destroy Nato forces, in a war in Europe, simply because it has first hand modern warfare experience whereas Nato troops – are used to doing drills.
https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/world/ukrainian-forces-destroy-british-brigade-in-drone-exercise-involving-more-than-16000-nato-troops/ar-AA1WkqXJ
Republicofscotland
February 19, 2026 at 19:06
The link that you provided says that Ukrainian forces defeated British forces in a NATO exercise.
Nothing to do with Russkiy troops.
The result of the exercise is, however, a good argument for welcoming Ukraine to a European military alliance, the Ukrainian military are the best and largest military in Europe.
And battle hardened..
The Russkiy troops are …. not so much. More battle softened…
My comment mentions Russia and Ukraine – as does your one above mine – the exercise shows quite clearly that Nato isn’t ready for real modern warfare against Russia, which is in the middle of defeating a Nato backed (including Nato weapons and some troops) Neo-Nazi dictatorship in a country that was couped by the Yanks in 2014.
I won’t be slightest bit surprised if Nato – and the EU invite the Neo-Nazi Ukraine to join them – birds of a feather as the saying goes.
“The link that you provided says that Ukrainian forces defeated British forces in a NATO exercise.
Nothing to do with Russkiy troops.”
Do try to read the whole linked piece. The Ukranians were pretending to be Russian soldiers for the purposes of the exercise. You know that, in a military exercise, there are troops that are acting as the “enemy”, don’t you?
Bayard @9.18
Yes I do know that – what I was pointing out was the sheer weakness of British and Nato forces against a force that has had and still has recent combat experience, imagine what the Russian’s would do to your lot, if the Neo-Nazi’s of Ukraine can kick their arses.
So keep shouting the propaganda – for that’s all that the Brits are good for.
RoS @ 15:41
I was quoting JK Redux, therefore my questions were aimed at him. I was quite aware you were aware, as, I expect, is everyone else.
It was a military exercise, that’s what exercises are for, to try out different tactics. So a calm and scientific post-action analysis and no soiled underwear.
What is this’Neo-Nazi dictatorship’ of which you speak? Any evidence regarding the positioning of WMDs on the Ukraine border?
Pears Morgaine.
There isn’t much point of having countries in NATO who don’t want some Nukes installed now or in the future.
Otherwise you may as well do it direct from the USA and cut out The Middle Man in Europe.
Cynics would say that this is to create a type of Nuclear Buffer Zone between the US and Russia by means of Proxy Nukes.
Anyone who thinks that Article 5 after WW2 would bring the US a runnin’ if a European country was attacked needs their bumps feeling.
That was a promise and you know the US and their promises.
Not lost on Israel all that promising – I’m sure.
p.s. I am one of the cynics.
“Any evidence regarding the positioning of WMDs on the Ukraine border?”
Even a cursory following of the news of the war will reveal the information that Ukraine has yet to join NATO.
Never fear, the tide will now be turning as Ukrainian forces are enhanced by the cream of British manhood. Humpty humpty or is it captain mainwaring steps into the valley of death.
https://www.rt.com/news/632803-uk-mp-ukrainian-nazi-brigade/
“What is this’Neo-Nazi dictatorship’ of which you speak?”
Pears Morgaine.
You know fine well what I meant by that – we’ve had this discussion before – or maybe not – it depends whose using your handle – and what shift they are.
Republicofscotland
February 20, 2026 at 15:43
Calling the Ukrainian Government a “Neo-Nazi dictatorship” is just silly name-calling.
The term is far more appropriate for Putin’s nasty authoritarian regime, though still inaccurate.
JK redux @8.03.
The little Neo-Nazi dictator himself said that the Azov – now the 3rd Assault brigade are what they are, they are also part of the national guard, the national hero of Ukraine was a Nazi sympathiser – many streets in Ukraine are named after Nazi sympathisers, and there are many monuments to them as well.
Republicofscotland
February 21, 2026 at 10:53
Some streets in Ukraine are named after dodgy Ukrainian nationalists. Ergo Ukraine is neo-Nazi?
Pretty weak argument there Ros.
Ukraine was and is fighting for the lives of its people and its existence as a State and a nation.
JK redux.
Is it really – from what I’ve seen Ukrainians want Zelensky gone, along with military kidnapping groups.
“Ukraine was and is fighting for the lives of its people and its existence as a State and a nation.”
Oh yeah, how do you come to that conclusion? (Please give examples from the real world, not planet Propaganda as represented by the Dail Mailexpressgraph, such as things Putin has actually said.)
If the Ukraine government was really interested in the “lives of its people” they wouldn’t have gone to war in 2022.
Rosemary MacKenzie
Indeed Mexico sent food and bay milk products a few days ago – but Sheinbaum – was afraid to send fuel – incase Trump put severe sanctions on Mexico – its the illegal US sanctions that are causing such hardship in Cuba.
Cuba desperately needs fuel – the Yanks and and Western leaders, in general – are so afraid of socialism, that they try to destroy it wherever they find it.
Discussion forum thread on Britain-related stuff not suitable for comments here:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/a-thread-for-britain-related-stuff-not-suitable-for-comments-on-latest-post/
Good News. Another 12 defendants from the Filton 24 have received bail today. I think its just one defendant (Sam Corner) still on remand although I could be wrong about that.
https://www.cage.ngo/articles/bail-granted-to-remaining-filton-24-as-cage-calls-for-collapsing-prosecution-to-be-dropped
Venezuelan stand-in President Rodriguez is definitely captured by Trump.
“Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has enacted an amnesty law meant to grant immediate clemency to individuals jailed for participating in political unrest.
The law, signed on Thursday, had been formally proposed by Rodriguez in January, weeks after she was appointed interim president. Rodriguez assumed office after US forces abducted President Nicolas Maduro, who now faces US charges of narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking, and firearms offenses, which he denies outright.
The Amnesty Law covers a period between 1999 and 2026, with specified events ranging from the 2002 coup against the late President Hugo Chavez and the subsequent oil strike to the protests against Maduro’s re-election in 2024.
”One must know how to ask for forgiveness and one must also know how to receive forgiveness,” Rodriguez said while presenting the document. The law will take effect upon publication in the official gazette.”
“Venezuelan stand-in President Rodriguez is definitely captured by Trump.”
As William Boot used to say in Evelyn Waugh’s novel “Scoop”, “Up to a point, Lord Copper”. I think Craig summed it up in his opening sentence to this post, “I hope to write a serious article shortly about the position of Venezuela, which is rather that of a hostage with a gun to their head, attempting to appease a psychopath.”
Trump, Netanyahu,
In the bunker. Spring, clouds, rain.
What’s the fallout ? O..
Russian oil tanker – (Sea Horse) – loaded with fuel, heading straight for Cuba, lets see how this pans out.
Source Bloomberg.
Republicofscotland
February 21, 2026 at 16:05
The Cuban Miss Oil Crisis!
(Sorry, I’ll get my coat.)
“The Cuban Miss Oil Crisis!”
Who she? (ed)
Bayard
February 21, 2026 at 17:26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
(I’m not quite old enough to have been aware of it at the time.)
Sorry, it’s no longer funny when you have to explain it, but my comment was an attempt at humour to match yours, which to be fair, I found genuinely amusing: I had a mental picture of a dusky beauty with long black hair posing in a shiny black swimsuit as the Cuban “Miss Oil”.
J K redux @17.12.
I wonder if you’ll find this amusing.
Slovakia’s president Fico to halt all electricity supplies to Ukraine on Monday, if Ukraine doesn’t resume sending Russian oil to Slovakia – the oil transits through Ukraine to Slovakia and Hungary – EU bigwigs already tried to assassinate Fico he was shot five times, but survived – the reason for the hit, was Fico stayed neutral on the Ukraine conflict as did Pakistan’s Imran Khan – who the Brits and Americans had removed and imprisoned in a military coup a few years back, because he wouldn’t take Ukraine’s side in the conflict.
Orban of Hungary has also said that – he might halt electricity supplies to Ukraine – if Russian oil doesn’t flow to Hungary.
Republicofscotland
February 21, 2026 at 20:08
Fico is a fellow traveller of Putin’s. As of course is Orban.
Many they both suffer the contempt of their countrymen.
And, far more important, the loss of their “foreign investment accounts”.
A pair of cvnts.
“Fico is a fellow traveller of Putin’s. As of course is Orban.”
That doesn’t tell us much, since “fellow traveller” just seems to mean anyone who doesn’t follow your line on Putin. I am sure there are are plenty of Slovaks and Hungarians who feel that their egos are more important than the wealth or, indeed the lives of their fellow countrymen, you know, the ones who actually voted these leaders into power, and no, they don’t all have “foreign investment accounts”, any more than you do (or do you?).
“A pair of cvnts.”
Ad homs say more about you than rational criticism ever can, to paraphrase a well known advert.
Bayard
February 22, 2026 at 09:13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_traveller
A fellow traveller “is a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization’s politics, without being a formal member”.
The “political organization” in question here is Putin’s authoritarian kleptocracy.
JK redux
February 22, 2026 at 15:59
I know what “fellow traveller” is supposed to mean, duh. I was commenting on how you appear to use the term.
JK redux
I’m pretty sure if the little Neo-Nazi dictator Zelensky – held elections this year, he would be held in contempt by his countrymen and women, that’s why there’s no elections in Ukraine – Zelensky knows he’d quickly be dumped, of course dictators usually fix elections to win, so who knows.
Ukrainians want peace – Zelensky and his EU/British backers do not.
His approval rating, 67%, suggests otherwise. Ukrainians may crave peace but they are not ready to surrender.
https://kyivindependent.com/zelenskys-presidential-rating-drops-to-20-poll-shows/
Republicofscotland
February 21, 2026 at 20:08
I think we should henceforth refer to the EU as The Fourth Reich (FR), considering that the First Reich was The Holy Roman Empire, which was a sort of predecessor to the EU. The less said about the third one the better, although that’s not to say that valuable lessons can’t be learned from it.
Keep up bayard 🙂
In the glorious days of brexit [2016-2020], before the country was sold down the remainer river, the EU fourth reich was one of the rallying cries of freedom lovers. Because the job wasn’t finished in 1945, the problem remains.
Comparing the EU solely to the Third Reich is a bit simplistic and, anyway, it is much more like the Holy Roman Empire, in that the Second Reich (the German Empire) was not contiguous in the main and the Third Reich had almost no existence outside war time.
Bayard
I don’t have a problem with that – Ursula von der Leyen and the likes of Kaja Kallas already fit the bill.
China and Russia should send out a fleet of oil tankers and enough of their substantial navies to protect their purchase from evil pirates operating at ill will in the Carabean, see what the mango django dares to do.
Bring a couple of Orishniks and some of those hypersonic Chinese anti ship missiles, just to be sure to be sure.
Neither China or Russia are going to go head to head with the USA over Cuba, Venezuela or Iran. Taiwan or Ukraine maybe, because that’s their backyard. They prefer diplomatic approaches regardless of how unpalatable they may be. The long game will deliver the end of Trump (~2yrs), the end of Israel (<20yrs), the end of the USA (<50yrs), time heals ?
Stevie Boy:
I can see that quite plausibly for Cuba and Venezuela (regrettably) but Iran ?
From the non-mainstream media sources that I listen to it seems that Iran’s conventional capabilities are more than enough to deter and cause damage to the Genociders big and small. My worry is that the US/Israel are planning a nuclear attack on Iran. Obviously the Genociders and their enablers will have their brief about this; the US will claim they used conventional weapons against Iran targeting its “nuclear” sites with the resultant radioactive material being emitted (thereby confirming the hypothesis the Iranians were enriching uranium to nuclear weapon grades and therefore providing moral grounds for the attack). Alternatively the Israeli’s will claim that the initial attack against Iran was by the US and not them but that subsequently Iran attacked them [Israel] unprovoked thereby representing an existential threat to Israel necessitating a nuclear response against Iran in return. Both needless to say a fiction to exculpate themselves from an act of nuclear aggression by them.
I struggle to believe that China or Russia will standby to witness an escalation to the nuclear level given Iran’s proximity and strategic importance to both nations. Especially with the US/Israel crossing the rubicon by undertaking a nuclear attack (given that there are now other nuclear powers who are Iran’s allies). You of course could be right (I hope not).
I suspect there is alot of financial horsetrading going on behind the scenes with respect to the US bond market etc which we will not be privy to and that President Trumpstein is seeking to maximise his leverage over the Chinese.
My hope is that the UN (remote chance) will stand up and all the nuclear powers and other states will make it clear that if nuclear weapons are deployed the aggressors will a nuclear response. I hope this would be a deterrant.
You’re right in that a nuclear attack would change everything, but in what way is unclear. No sensible person would want MAD but Israel and the USA are not sensible by any definition.
Russia and China will provide arms and intelligence to support Iran, but IMO no boots on the ground, so in a ‘fair fight’ Iran would win, again.
Trump has yet again rushed into a situation that has left him backed into a corner. Because Iran won’t play his game, now he needs to escape without looking like the prat he is. Lookout for the ‘Trump JCPOA II’ as a potential getout.
JK Redux.
‘Dodgy’
From your favourite site: Wikipedia.
If it’s wrong you can always edit it.
Ten streets named after him so , nothing to do with an error in Town Planning.
There are no streets named after Hitler or Goering in the UK.
MARK M CUTTS
February 22, 2026 at 19:30
Sure.
Are there still streets named after Stalin in Russia?
There certainly were many until the collapse of the USSR.
Stalin murdered many many more innocent people than Bandera.
“Stalin murdered many many more innocent people than Bandera.”
Do you have any proof of that statement, like how many people Stalin killed with his own hands compared to Bandera ditto?
Please don’t start waffling on about Stalin “murdering” people by sending them to the gulags. The history of every country is peppered with leaders who took decisions that sent people off to their deaths against their will, the most recent being Zelensky.
So because Hitler and Himmler never actually killed a Jew with their bare hands they’re not guilty of genocide? The same could be said of Netanahau (sp).
“So because Hitler and Himmler never actually killed a Jew with their bare hands they’re not guilty of genocide? The same could be said of Netanahau (sp).”
Did you actually read what I wrote, or did the red mist rise and the fingers fly towards the keyboard? I was writing about murder and you start waffling about genocide. You do realise the two are not the same, don’t you?
JK Redux
Here’s the wiki link:https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_Stepan-Bandera
If you want to get into body counts why not include all the Soviet Union deaths in
World War Two?
Stalin told them to do that by telling them to fight the Nazis.
Liberal whataboutery and I must say juvenile.
Banderas must have been a more ‘evil ‘Nazi as he was arrested by the more decent Nazis.
But ( Sighs ………. a KGB Assassin shot him dead in the end.
Another body down to Stalin.
Disgraceful.
There are however numerous places named after the likes of Churchill and Cromwell who are equally controversial in many parts of the world. Some quite close to home.
Could also point out that there are at least ten roads named after the Prince formerly known as Andrew.
Surely he’s the Andrew formerly known as Prince?
Purple Reign …
Perhaps he hasn’t done anything illegal? It’s only the media that keep implying that, based on unverified sources, as well as politicians and royals probably running scared of the CIA’s blackmail operations – I still don’t see any facts.
Distraction technique, target the low hanging fruit while the real criminals walk free.
Pears Morgaine
Very liberal nifty – ness there I’m afraid.
My point is that many claims have been made on here and elsewhere
that Nazis do not have any sway or say in the Ukranian Government.
The naming of streets is reflective of a countries past or even present.
There are no statues of Cromwell or Churchill in Ireland.
There’s reason for that.