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Comment by coldcode | Hacker News Reader

They still have a enormous amount of oil in the ground but not the government to use it wisely. Despite the disaster the country is with the resources in the ground it is still possible to turn the country around, but clearly not with the present leadership. Sadly South America doesn't have a good track record with coups actually improving things.

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The only country where the possession of oil hasn't been more of a curse than a bless is arguably Norway.

Venezuela's economic situation is more of a product of having oil than it is a product of the so-called socialism of the previous government.

Free money from extractive industries has normally served to let whatever government keep power through handouts to the populace.

Saudi Arabia, as another example, may not be an economic disaster but the regime broadly is a disaster for the foreign workers it abusively employs and the nearby areas it exports its reactionary ideology to.

Saudi Arabia? UAE? As troubling as some of their policies, they are not failed states like Venezuela.

Did you even read what I wrote?

They're not failed states, they're disasters for the world as whole.

You're right. It's been widely observed that oil and many other valuable natural resources are actually bad for countries unless they already have good governance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse

Is there somewhere where military coups do have a good track record?

Does the world war II counts?

I think a coup is necessarily internal. Wars aren't generally considered coups

All are contentious, but solid cases could be made for

- Turkey (it could use another one about now, if the military wasn't neutered)

- Thailand (providing stability currently)

- Egypt (removed Muslim Brotherhood)

Portugal had a peaceful military coup in 1974. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution

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