MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
New York Times warns Obama's strategy towards Venezuela could be failing
In an editorial piece, “A failing relationship with Venezuela”, The New York Times expressed doubts about the latest measures imposed by the Obama administration on seven top officials from the Venezuelan government and goes even further questioning whether they will not end actually reinforcing President Nicolas Maduro position. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWith so much resources and leverage the US has, just banning Vzlan oil and PDVSA doing business in the US is enough to make the regime collapse...
Mar 13th, 2015 - 11:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0If you are going to get blamed for anyway you might as well hit them with a hammer.
I'm surprised the U.S. still has a diplomatic mission in Venezuela. The temptation to simply wash their hands of these lunatics must be irresistible. I hope their staff are getting some serious hardship pay.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 12:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Agreed, but does the USA want more chaos so close to home? because surely then there would be calls for them to step in...
Mar 13th, 2015 - 12:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
I think Obama is being quietly cautious and waiting for the Maduro regime to collapse in on itself through internecine fighting.
Meanwhile he can still claim the moral high-ground and 'be seen to be doing something'.
Everyone is just waiting for it to collapse or for it turn into the next Cuba. In the end it doesn't matter one bit to the USA. As long as we don't get more “refugees” Another SoAm country going down the drain is not news or relevant. It happens too often for anyone to notice.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 12:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Your Comment
Mar 13th, 2015 - 03:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#3 Ibsen : I live there: and agree with you :Damned if they do, damned if they don't. The sanctions make one feel good, but they will unfortunately have the opposite effect. You have to use reverse psychology on people like Maduro.
@3. What chaos? Do you mean the failing food supplies and other essentials? Way back Britain used to employ 'the blockade'. Now, on one side, Venezuela has Colombia. On the other, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. And, of course, Brazil to the south. Colombia has aspirations to join NATO. No help for Venezuela from there. Guyana has its own problems with Venezuela. And leans toward the US. Doesn't seem to have been much sign of Brazil trying to help so far. So perhaps an outright blockade might have an effect! Give MADurine something he can really complain about.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 03:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Incidentally, why does Obama need the moral high ground? Looking around the world there seems to a lot of countries that just say “We're doing this because it suits us”. Have we noticed Russia, China, North Korea, Romania, Bulgaria, any of those countries ending in 'stan', Ecuador, argieland, most of Africa trying to get to the moral high ground? Why not hand them something similar to what they try to hand out? Let's take an example with argieland. How long has that been at court? Ten years? The next time it wants paying, let's just respond with “Call us again in ten years and we'll think about it”. Give them something to really think about. Perhaps when North Korea plays up, the US could consider some 'test' missile firings into the northern part of Korea Bay. We always seem to act like such wimps.
Yankeeboy
Mar 13th, 2015 - 03:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0With all due respect, both Chile and the USA have benefitted from Venezuelan emigration. Many are from the middle class, well educated and want a better life for their families. The poorer, less educated have a tendency to work hard.
Do you realize just how many Venezuelan medical doctors alone now work in the United States?
What's amazing about Maduro is that he actually believes the Obama administration, one of the most liberal in decades, who has proposed the lifting of the Cuban embargo, is plotting to overthrow the Chavez revolution. To address his real threat, he only needs to look in a mirror.
7. That may well be but until we fix our immigration system we can not have a flood of new ones. I have never met a Venezuelan Dr and I am not sure how they would practice here unless they went to med school in the USA. I think they have to start all over to practice here legally.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 03:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Maybe you meant bartenders.
The US is the principal buyer of Venezuelan crude. If they stopped purchasing it they would cut off 95% of the US$ that flow back into Vnzla in return.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 04:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Turn off the tap, (CD2's 'hammer blow') and the country would collapse in a few weeks.
Thus causing a humanitarian crisis which the world would then pressure the USA to help resolve.
Why would the US desire this extra headache and additional cost?
I think Obama is hoping that Maduro's own inepttitude will be the downful of the current regime and he won't have to get his hands dirty.
Miserable working conditions, meager salaries, lack of medicine and the lack of basic medical supplies has resulted in a massive exodus of Venezuelan doctors to leave their country. In the past three years, about 45% of residents and specialist doctors have emigrated to the United States or Europe.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 05:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0There are over 20,000 Cuban medical doctors working in Venezuela today which work for nearly nothing. About 3,000 Cuban doctors each year escape to other countries to re-eventually practice medicine.
One of my new Venezuelan neighbors is an orthopedic surgeon who's wife is a professor of medieval French literature. Their immigration to Chile is not only positive for their family, but is highly enriching for our society here. I think you need to reflect upon your personal feelings about Latins. There is nothing wrong to work as a bartender, gardener or taxi driver, but do you really feel that we South Americans are worthy of nothing else? I'm disappointed.
You say you've never met a Venezulean doctor, well not surprising, but if you walk into any clinic in the United States, I have a feeling you'll encounter about one half the staff from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico,Turkey, Iran, Vietnam.... and guess what Yankeeboy, they didn't attend medical school in the United States either. Instead, just like in Chile, they have to be board certified and pass all the tests to obtain a license to practice.
@ 10 Chicureo
Mar 13th, 2015 - 07:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I just cannot see how a professor of medieval French literature could be an asset to Chile in general.
She is clearly a well educated person, could she not teach French (if there is any call for it)?
10. I think you are very misinformed. First, clinics in the USA are for very very very poor people, second you can't be a doctor in the USA just by passing hoards you must go through a residency program and a lot of other hurdles , third, nurses and med techs are not Doctors, I get the feeling your confusing the USA with a third world country.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 08:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Try again.
Listen, this may well be a silly idea,
Mar 13th, 2015 - 08:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0but would it not be better for these anti west countries,
if the west actually just packed up and left these countries to get on with it,
if they succeed , great, but if they fail it will be their failure and not the wests,
just saying like.
Chic yankee is correct here. My ex is a Nephrologist and being a physician in the USA is no picnic for the doctor or their family.....trust me I know. There are like 800k physicians in the USA and less than 10k are foreign trained. They have to do a USA residency before they can receive their medical license (state issued) regardless of passing the exam. It is somewhat a shame because we have a shortage of close to 150k physicians in the USA. We are not unique as other countries require it as well, though they tend to have a more abbreviated residency for experienced doctors. We have great trained doctors we just suck at being able to afford healthcare or nor how to effectively deliver it to our population. Hell.....a typical health insurance policy will cost 10 to 15k a year for family coverage.....think of the typical US annual salary. This is where capitalism sucks; if you are poor or underclassed....you will be seeing the bottom tier of doctors and some of them should not be practicing medicine but like the police, doctors have a code of silence. Massachusetts has some of the best hospitals and doctors, but they are also staffed by multi-millionaires. If they US healthcare proctors were to eliminate that shortage.........physician wages will drop. Besides....it costs about 300k to get a medical education in the USA.
Mar 13th, 2015 - 08:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The jingoists will disagree, but they know shit. Christiaan Barnard would not be allowed to practice in the USA if he were alive, without taking a residency.....again. Though he did teach in the USA as a consultant. But hey....how bad can it get when we have Ron Paul & Son.
Yankeeboy
Mar 14th, 2015 - 12:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0No clearly, it is you that is wrong. I become disappointed in your attitude towards Latin Americans. I admire the United States, and had the fortune to study there for part of my life, but there is much more to world of culture than just New York and Los Angeles.
Captain Poppy
You need to check your sources. I googled the American Medical Association for mine.
According to the AMA, 1 in 4 doctors practicing in the United States earned their medical degree abroad. Many inner city hospitals it's nearly half. (Google Detroit or Miami for example.) Also, according to the AMA, there four steps needed for foreign trained doctors to practice medicine in the United States, which includes for the majority a 3 year residency program. The AMA states that most resident doctors nationwide, make on average $47,699 a year. (Guess what a doctor on average earns in Caracas?) My neighbor, chose Chile instead because of the quality of life here and the very low cost of malpractice insurance.
There are an estimated half a million of Chileans of French decent (including Bachelet and Pinochet) and there are schools where students are educated in French K-12. The Alliance Française is the most important one in Santiago. There are also university courses in French literature (although limited) offered here as well. (My neighbor's wife is currently teaching at a Spanish language private school elementary French.) It's my personal opinion, educated people of all backgrounds add to a nation's culture. It is ngot that uncommon in Chile for middle and upper middle children to be taught in English, German, French or Italian as their primary language.
@11 ChrisR
Mar 14th, 2015 - 02:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0Intersting digression from the topic, can't resist...
Hmmm... okay, who would you prefer living 'next-door' in your community...
A Venezuelan professor of medieval French literature , who must have a good work ethic in order to achieve her position, and might add to a lively debate over a glass of vino....
Or an Eastern European scrap-metal dealer/gangster who claims govt. hand-outs for his kids back home and doesn't pay tax?
Ok, neither is going to be much of a GENERAL asset to (insert Country of Choice, here), but I know who I would prefer.
Let's extrapolate, just for fun. If a thousand of both types moved in, what would the general benefit be?
Would Chile become the global centre of learning for French Medieval Literature? Or, heavens forbid the other option...?
Go on, tell me!
:-)
*wearing devil's advocate hat*
/( ;-0
lol!
(And no, everybody, I'm not being 'xenophobic'' just using some current examples, should anyone wish to start that particular bun-fight !!)
Exactly. The policy is counterproductive.
Mar 14th, 2015 - 02:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0@17
Mar 14th, 2015 - 02:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0oh go on then 'British Bomber'/Hepatia.
What policy, and how is it counterproductive? and to whom?
Chicu a couple of things. One, after rereading my post, thanks for pointing to me that I was not clear in what I was meaning. Yes, there are a lot of “foreign trained” physicians and many are also American who are foreign trained. What I meant and was not clear is well established foreign physicians who have ”already did a residency, albeit in another country. The US system does not make it easy nor encourage foreign trained, post residency physicians to relocate to the USA. There are many well trained physicians outside of the USA.
Mar 14th, 2015 - 10:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Residents make shit wages, long extremely long hours....that's well known. I am not sure your point there. My overall point is that in the USA, doctors a lot of money and we as a system can learn from other countries how to deliver general healthcare to our population. Now I've been long gone from my ex, but I know American doctors are burning out. I also think we should change how we accept established physicians in the USA because they can help with out shortage. My wife has been in the USA a handful of years and still has issues how we deliver healthcare.....the paperwork, insurance et al.....and I agree, it's a mess.
ILSEN
Mar 14th, 2015 - 07:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The reason why I know so much about them personally is because my wife and I met them socially and we found them to be the kind of people you would want in your neighboorhood. And yes, the conversation is much more enjoyable over a glass of wine with someone interesting.
Captain
What's interesting according to the AMA is that the USA is not only currently experiencing a doctor shortage, but it is projected by 2025 it will be a crisis. “...Residents make shit wages, long extremely long hours....I am not sure your point there.” Yes, and they earn even lower salaries as certified doctors in Caracas, where the country is no longer safe for their families. That's my point.
18 ilsen
Mar 14th, 2015 - 08:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0he cant answer , wont answer , he knows nothing but the odd insult then legs it.
I am aware of all that Chicu. The biggest crisis will be in the GP arena because everyone want to be a specialist. BTW, residents here are barely considered doctors because they are still in the learning stages. As I said...delivering healthcare in the USA is bad.....but not so much the physicians.
Mar 14th, 2015 - 10:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Compaired to what? Cuba? or Venezuela? or some other 3rd world country?
Mar 15th, 2015 - 12:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0I wouldn't compare it to any of the 13 cesspool in SA.
Mar 15th, 2015 - 04:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0Any further comments on Obama's strategy towards Venezuela would be welcome.
Mar 15th, 2015 - 06:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0Thank You (in advance!)
Also, my screen-name is 'ilsen' , deliberately 'lower-case', because I am not the story, the issue is the story, and because I don't feel the need to SHOUT, personally I prefer, Debate - logic, reason, research, knowledge, quality of rhetoric, and, (I hope), the occasional witty aside...
Also, I don't mind poking fun at those p*ters who are such fucking cunting wank-badgers that they are too afraid to swe*r or or say what th*y fuckin me*nt.
Cow*rds, all of th*m.
It's only w*rds.
However, I don't like it when it is just vitriol and insults.
That's just lack of imagination and poor education.
Meanwhile, let us have more comments on
Obama's
strategy towards Venezuela ...
Captain Poppy
Mar 15th, 2015 - 09:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well, considering French Guiana is included, that means Chile is one of the “cesspools” you refer to... ...your ignorance is astounding...
ilsen
No offense was meant by my uppercase.
Although, I'm not that impressed with Obama's diplomatic overtures in South America, overall he's done a decent job.
Other than protesting human rights violations, Obama has left Maduro alone. The American congress however has been making Venezuela quite irritated, but it's their own damn fault.
Talking about the rest of The continent:
Colombia has been the USA's most spectacular success. The Americans poured billions of Dollars and military aid into the country to break the FARC and it seems to have succeeded. Colombia is doing economically very well.
Brazil was a failure, due to some very embarrassing leaks that were released just before a highly prestigious state dinner in honor of Brazil at the White House, which resulted in a chill of relations.
Argentina has been completely ignored by both Bush and Obama, ever since a US Air Force cargo jet was detained by CFK. Clinton actually leaked to the press that Cristina was off her rocker. Obama has ignored the country completely.
Although we haven't received an significant financial aid, Chile has been promoted as a good example for the rest of Latin America to follow. We've received the visits of both Bush and Obama that were very successful and our joint military cooperation is outstanding. Our navy and air force closely cooperate in extensive joint training that is nearly completely funded by them. If you include the subsidies they give us for the Antarctic support, it is over a billion dollars annually.
Peru is being treated very fairly, with lots of support to develop their free trade, but Bolivia and Ecuador are their own worst enemies. Paraguay, Uruguay and the Guianas are somewhat ignored.
As is your enlightenment.
Mar 15th, 2015 - 03:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#27
Mar 15th, 2015 - 04:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I think ilsen's observation that “vitriol and insults” are “ just lack of imagination and poor education.” Apparently your opinion of my country differs from mine and I wish you may discover someday that there are some good things to be said about my continent. Obviously I should not have insulted you for your bias. PAX
It almost goes without saying that Obama’s order is deeply hypocritical as well as semantically void. Like Reagan before him in Nicaragua, Obama is at pains to point out that The order does not target the people of Venezuela, but rather is aimed at persons involved in or responsible for the erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to antigovernment protests, and arbitrary arrest and detention of antigovernment protestors, as well as the exacerbating presence of significant public corruption in that country. Many of these accusations could be made – in spades – against some of the US’s key allies, whether its Uzbekistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Egypt, but none of these countries have been designated national emergencies or threats to US national security. There is also the question of human rights ‘erosion’ in the US itself, a country where it is possible for cops to throttle a black man to death in broad daylight and not even get charged with manslaughter. Last year as many as 1,039 Americans were shot dead by police. Last month alone 39 Americans were killed in police shootings – four less than the 43 who died in last year’s demonstrations in Venezuela, some of whom were killed by opposition demonstrators. But one thing is clear: these problems are not the business of the United States, and they are not a threat to American national security.
Mar 15th, 2015 - 04:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@29
Mar 15th, 2015 - 04:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It almost goes without saying you are a shill for Nick the Mad.
http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b521/imoyaro/chopperlaff_zpsryuikyku.gif
The real purpose of Obama’s executive order was revealed in the statement from White House spokesman Josh Earnest, that ‘The Treasury Department and the State Department are considering tools that may be available that could better steer the Venezuelan government in the direction that we believe they should be headed.’ no surprises there then lol.
Mar 15th, 2015 - 05:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0US sanctions against Nicaragua were similarly intended to make the Sandinistas ‘mend their ways’ or rather ‘cry Uncle’ as Reagan once prosaically put it. But it isn’t the role of the United States in the early 21st century to ‘steer’ Venezuela or any other Latin American government in any direction at all
#31 Paragon
Mar 15th, 2015 - 08:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The USA has many times illegally involved itself into Latin American politics. The list is long and disappointing. Chile experienced it numerous times throughout its history. You also seem to have a level of intelligence and understanding of what pragmatism of diplomacy means and make a good case for the irony of having an close diplomatic relations with countries like Saudi Arabia.
Here's my sincere question: Should the US ignore the gross violations of Venezuela's own democratic constitution and do absolutely nothing?
It seems clear that Obama is not about to militarily invade the country. Do you?
Do nothing , they appear to be part of the problem lol
Mar 15th, 2015 - 09:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Faced with the growth of Latin American trade and investment ties with China – with $250 billion in the pipeline over the next ten years – pioneered by Venezuela, Washington fears the loss of the 600 million Latin American consumer market. Plus US failure to secure passage of a US centered Latin American Free Trade Treaty and incapacity to secure across the board support in Latin America for its Middle East wars
The current US political offensive against Venezuela is a reaction to over 15 years of political defeats including failed coups, resounding electoral defeats, the loss of strategic political assets and above all decisive set-backs in Washington's attempts to impose US centered integration schemes.
More than ever, US imperial strategists today are going all-out to subvert Venezuela’s anti-imperialist government, because they sense with the decline of oil revenue and export earnings, double digit inflation and consumer shortages, they can divide and subvert sectors of the armed forces, mobilize violent street mobs via their mercenary street fighters, secure the backing of elected opposition officials and seize power. but non of this is news Washington has being doing this all over the world for years not just in Latin America Yesterday's colonies are today's client states lol
95% of American's couldn't find Venezuela on a map and 100% don't care.
Mar 15th, 2015 - 11:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 033. Gads you have no idea how powerful the USA is and how weak and insignificant all of SoAm is.
We could care less what the current crop of Marxist Monkeys are doing to ruin the lives of the millions of people they are stealing from and driving to hunger and misery.
Give it a rest.
SoAM did ”DEMAND that the USA talk to Venezuela.......lol.
Mar 16th, 2015 - 02:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0What I find interestingly funny is the use of the word REJECT by South Amoians. From my thinking, when a leader or leaders use the word reject, generally what follows is an action doe not take place and fails to move forward. South Amoians use the word REJECT excessively without any thing happening. They reject Britain's refusal not to talk to them and did it make Britain talk to them?, they reject the USA's declaration on venezuela, yet did it stop the executive order? They reject this they reject that. I say find a new word to use repeatedly without any effect. Because we in fact reject South Amoians use of the word reject.
Thanks for all the responses.
Mar 16th, 2015 - 06:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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