It's the classic socialist play carrying itself out -- the ultimate end is death and destruction. Hopefully the Venezuelans will recognize what's going on and be able to stop it.
I say all that to basically explain that it's unlikely he will collapse any time soon.
He's certainly a populist leader, which I find personally distasteful. And he has little respect for free speech or democracy, which is even worse (from my POV). But I think we're also understanding that the "western model" isn't that great either (articles of evidence: (1) the recent financial fiasco; (2) China).
[Edit: I feel I am not really contributing much except uncertainty here. So here's a more decisive take: the biggest problem facing S American politics is, in my opinion, corruption. The kind of approach that Chavez uses encourages corruption and so should be resisted. On the other hand - more uncertainty - most alternatives (particularly military law - this is a big lesson from Chile) also encourage corruption. And, wow, downvoted already... some passive aggressive cunt who hasn't bothered to explain why. What a surprise...]
Indeed. If you downvote someone's comment, you should at least have the balls to make a coherent reply stating what you disagree with, or upvote such an argument.
Edit: PG said he didn't want to let HN go down without a fight. It's our reponsibility to fight for it too. You've been around here for a long time and made many valuable contributions (definitely including this one, if that noxious bit were excised; there are so few comments on Venezuela that aren't 100% determined by ideological agenda).
> the "western model" isn't that great either
and
> classic socialist play
How much more shallow can you get in your analysis than pithy comments like those? Both of them are flame bait for various people and ultimately don't seem to produce productive discourse.
I ask because I'm noticing that while people seem to care less and less about "fuck" in conversation they are caring more about that word.
(this is a genuine interest by the way)
In sum: A curse is not high class, but might pass. A general insult to someone, because they disagreed, is much worse.
(And I partly agree with the poster, if someone disagrees I'd like a motivated comment. A vote up/down is just frustrating; what can I learn? [Edit: But to vote up/down to show you're (dis)agreeing is the culture on HN, it seems. So I accept that.])
Disclaimer: I'm not a native English speaker, but afaik "cunt" is quite offensive.
(and yeh I agree with the rest of what you say)
You wrote a reasoned discussion about a subject filled with propaganda and locked positions in your whole hemisphere; please give me people that don't care.
But, for Fuck's sake, keep a minimum of politeness -- especially in sensitive subjects like this. They are degenerated enough as they are before any keyboards are touched.
Edit: To be clear -- the f word was a bit of a joke, considering what I criticized. Enough of this, I've written all I can add.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
When the oil runs out, the clow.. politicians will stop making trouble with foreign countries so they have external enemies [edit: which makes all opposition close to treason; most of the troublesome countries are oil countries today]. That is because the politicians will need to make the internal economy run well, so there is anything worth stealing for them. (Just hope they won't think they are too unpopular to keep earning and take off the velvet gloves, North Korean style.)