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Economy Ideas

Venezuela Is A Pariah State And Must Be Treated As Such

After last week’s sham election, the international community — starting with the nations of Latin America — need to isolate Maduro and encourage peaceful, democratic regime change.

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In The News OneShot

World Press Photo Of The Year: Watch The Story Behind The Winner

AFP photographer Ronaldo Schemidt has won the prestigious 2018 World Press Photo of the Year Award. Check out our special OneShot video of his winning photograph: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/1EET4lFsXMw expand=1] 2018 World Press Photo of the Year (©Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP) José Víctor Salazar Balza, 28, catches fire amid violent clashes with riot police during an anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns. OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot: […]

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In The News OneShot

Watch: OneShot — Venezuela Crisis

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/dkO3eApLxdE expand=1] OneShot — Venezuela Crisis, 2017 (©Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP) José Víctor Salazar Balza, 28, catches fire amid violent clashes with riot police during an anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns. This photo is among the World Press Photo of the Year 2018 Nominees. OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot: [rebelmouse-image 27068863 original_size=”320×320″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068864 original_size=”174×174″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068865 original_size=”128×128″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068866 original_size=”227×227″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068867 original_size=”256×256″ […]

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives

A Half-Million And Counting: Venezuelans Pour Into Colombia

Decades ago, thousands of war-weary Colombian made their way to Venezuela in search of better opportunities. Nowadays, the flow of migrants runs in the opposite direction.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Latin America: When Elections Are A Bogus Tool For Dictators

Calling rulers like Venezuela’s Maduro or Nicaragua’s Ortega democratically elected leaders is to mock the real meaning of elections — and democracy.

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In The News

Evo Morales, Economic Success Can Never Justify Autocracy

The legalistic formula the Bolivian leader has found to perpetuate his presidency is despotic and shameful.

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In The News

From Maduro To Kitties, The Other Side Of The Bitcoin Formula

-Analysis- After running into some trouble at the end of last week, the virtual currency bitcoin has hit a new high and is now approaching the $12,000-mark, just days after passing $10,000 for the first time. Countless experts are warning that this bubble, like the dotcom bubble before it, will inevitably burst. But until it […]

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In The News

Maduro’s Venezuela, When ‘Democracy’ Is Worse Than Dictatorship

-OpEd- As the old saying goes, no situation is so bad that it can’t get worse. The cruel irony of Venezuela’s going from bad to worse is how the government of President Nicolás Maduro is incompetent at everything save keeping power. It is a power play designed to spread suffering further every day, while keeping […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Is Populism Finally Dying In Latin America?

-OpEd- BUENOS AIRES — In Latin America today, what is the future of populism? In Ecuador, socialists in power are discussing among themselves how to abandon populism. President Lenin Moreno seems determined to ditch populist policies. The economy’s figures are in red due to overspending and foreign debt. The viability of its redistributive system has […]

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In The News

Venezuela On The Brink, Lessons From Castro And ​Perón

Colombian novelist William Ospina had advice for Fidel Castro, and now for Nicolas Maduro. Given the discontent with modern capitalism, Latin America must offer a realistic and democratic alternative.

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In The News

Not A Game: Erdogan, Maduro, Trump And The Thirst For Power

The new season of Game of Thrones, which premiered Sunday, will surely be filled with all manner of sabotage, conspiracy, and politicking. The fictional world of author George R. R. Martin is essentially a timeless story of the pursuit of power as an end in itself. But that same show, it appears, is not only […]

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In The News

Mustache, That Must-Have Facial Prop Of Any Strongman

Dictators, gangsters and gun-toting guerillas all seem to have a fondness for facial hair — specifically above their upper lips. But why?

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In The News

Venezuela, Where Leftist Revolution Is The People’s Enemy

As Venezuela’s leftist regime further tramples its own laws and social-democratic ideals, protesters are reminding us what a popular uprising looks like.

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In The News

Mussolini To Maduro, An Old Recipe For Killing Democracy

The Venezuelan president’s calls for a constitutional overhaul suggest a possible first step toward the ‘corporatist’ policy forged by 20th century rulers like Castro in Cuba, Francisco Franco in Spain and Italy’s Benito Mussolini.

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In The News

Extra! Venezuelan ‘Brutal Repression,’ Growing Isolation

El Nacional — April 27, 2017 CARACAS — The embattled government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has raised the stakes on both the domestic and foreign front. At home, the death count continued to climb as the state responded to anti-government protests, a scenario Caracas-based daily El Nacional“s Thursday edition characterized as “Brutal Repression.” Most […]

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In The News

Caracas To London To Ankara, Expressions Of Democracy

Democracy has never been an easy thing. That most British of statesmen Winston Churchill famously called it “the worst form of government, except for all the others.” In its ideal form — with regularly scheduled elections, peaceful transfers of powers, constitutions that are upheld, checks and balances respected — democracy can work quite well. Certainly there are examples still in today’s world. But as shown by events taking place right now in Venezuela, Turkey and even on Churchill’s turf, it can also be a deeply messy affair. In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro is clinging to power against a groundswell […]

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In The News

Venezuela’s Chilling ‘Self-Coup’

-Analysis- You don’t need to be an army general marching in with troops to mount a coup in a country. Sometimes democracy can be crushed by the very person elected at its helm — the president. In Venezuela, analysts and opposition leaders are describing this phenomenon as a “self-coup,” after President Nicolás Maduro ordered the […]

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In The News

Venezuela, Constitutional Dictatorship Or Drug-Gang Regime?

Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolás Maduro has brought his country to the lowest socio-economic levels in its history. His clinging to power is a dangerous thing.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Ortega Ambitions, Nicaragua’s First Couple Edges Toward ‘Dynastic Rule’

Nicaragua’s once revolutionary president Daniel Ortega has won reelection, this time with his wife Rosario Murillo as VP. It’s an accumulation of power and money that makies their own supporters squirm.

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In The News

Venezuela, Democracy Or Dictatorship?

The shoes were clearly too big for him to fill. Three-and-a-half years after Hugo Chávez’s death, his successor Nicolás Maduro is losing an already loose grip on the helm of his country. A disastrous economic and social crisis is turning into a political one, and the country’s long-suffering opposition feels primed to remove him from […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Venezuela: Maduro Fails Democracy Test, But Is He A Dictator?

Massive protests Wednesday target recent actions by Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro for banning a referendum and evading parliament. Does he compare to Latin American strongmen of the past?

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Geopolitics Ideas

Ideology Over Interests, Why Latin American Leftists Broke With Brazil

The withdrawal of the ambassadors of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela from Brazil to protest Dilma Rousseff’s ouster is a good example of partisan zeal harming the national interest.

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blog

Germany Caught Between Its Past And Turkey

Turkey, past and present, is a particularly tough balancing act for Angela Merkel. On the one hand, Germany’s own past means its leaders face a bigger responsibility than those of other nations to officially recognize the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide. But Berlin knows that it is an immensely sensitive topic […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Venezuela: Maduro Turns To Police Power To Silent Dissent

-OpEd- Frustration is the lifeblood of dictatorship. Just look at what’s happening in Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro recently declared that he had readied a decree to revoke the institutional immunity from criminal prosecution of “all public positions,” including members of parliament of course. As you may recall, since the last elections in January, the majority […]

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blog

Tech Giants With Feet Of Clay

It was the week two U.S. tech giants saw their seemingly unstoppable sprint toward global domination hit a wall. First, on Tuesday, Apple was ordered to pay up 13 billion euros in back taxes after the European Union ruled that a series of sweetheart tax deals made with the Irish government were illegal. That’s a […]

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blog

Extra! Mass Protests In Venezuela

El Nacional, September 2 “Massive, without fear and in peace” reads Friday morning’s front-page headline of Venezuelan daily El Nacional, after one of the largest protests to date against President Nicolas Maduro’s reign. Tens of thousands of chanting protesters marched Thursday through the streets of Caracas demanding a vote on recalling Maduro. In recent years, […]

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blog

Russian Boots In Syria?, Japan Boy Found, Paris Floods

SPOTLIGHT: ISRAEL-PALESTINE TALKS IN PARIS, A “USELESS CONFERENCE”? The headlines in France on the new Mideast conference are hardly inspiring. “The French initiative will fail,” declared right-leaning daily Le Figaro. Newsmagazine Le Point was more succinct: “A useless conference,” it noted. As is often the case with Israel-Palestine peace talks, expectations are low at the […]

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Economy Geopolitics Society

In Real Life, Venezuela Is A Ticking Time Bomb

OCUMARE — It’s midday on this Thursday, and hundreds of people are squeezing inside a supermarket in Ocumare, a poor city about an hour’s drive south of Caracas. Armed police officers are allowing people in, but just a few at a time, infuriating the multitude massed outside since dawn to buy corn flour at a […]

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blog Geopolitics

Maduro Pushes Venezuela To The Brink

With his recent “state of emergency” declaration and decision to put the army on high alert against the threat of hostile “interventions,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro continues to show that he has no intention of being either pushed or voted out of power. Since opposition parties won a parliamentary majority in December, Maduro and his […]

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blog

London Mayor, Aleppo Truce, End Of “Bin Laden” Bills

WHAT A MUSLIM MAYOR COULD MEAN FOR LONDON It’s Super Thursday in the UK, with voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland choosing their next parliaments. But it’s the British capital, which is set to replace maverick Boris Johnson as mayor, that has eyeballs from around the world. Frontrunner Sadiq Khan, if elected, would be […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Nicolas Maduro And The Art Of Clinging To Power

Venezuela’s economic woes are depriving the socialist regime of its remaining popularity, even as the government uses every constitutional and political trick up its sleeve to block the opposition’s ascent to power.

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blog

Paris Terror Suspect, Trump Sweeps, Doggie Stress

ABDESLAM EXTRADITED TO FRANCE Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the terrorist group that carried out the Paris attacks last November in which 130 people were killed, was extradited this morning from Belgium to France. He will be tried by French courts for participation in terrorist murder and the activities of a terrorist organization, […]

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Geopolitics

Evo Morales Ups Ante As Other Latin American Leftists Fade

Bolivia’s president lost a referendum earlier this year that could have kept him in power beyond 2019. The long-serving leader may try to seek reelection regardless.

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blog

Second Turkey Attack, Obama To Cuba, Moka Maker

TURKISH TROOPS HIT AGAIN IN DEADLY ATTACK Photo: Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua/ZUMA A Turkish military convoy in southern Turkey was targeted by a roadside bomb this morning, an attack that killed at least six soldiers and wounded another, Hürriyet reports. It came just hours after a car bomb in Ankara also targeted military personnel yesterday, killing 28 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Adios Populism! Cleaning Up Ruins Left By Maduro And Kirchner

Falling revenues, dire financial conditions and voter exasperation have curbed populist-socialist power in Venezuela and Argentina. The opponents have their work cut out for them.

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blog

Far Right Sweeps In France, Spanish Treasure Found, Free Money

FRENCH FAR RIGHT SWEEP REGIONAL VOTE France’s National Front became the country’s “first party” Sunday, winning nearly 30% of the vote in the first round of regional elections held just three weeks after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks. The nationalist party finished first in six of France’s 13 regions, with party leader Marine Le Pen […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

The Real Risk That Maduro Would Defy Election Defeat

As Venezuela’s government becomes nervous about possible defeat in parliamentary elections Sunday, its threatening rhetoric shows signs it might refuse to acknowledge a loss at the polls. Then, all bets are off.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Argentina Elections, A Wake-Up Call For Latin American Left

BOGOTÁ — Recent election defeats for the social-democratic Peronist candidate in Argentina, and for Bogotá”s unapologetic socialist mayor, may be part of a wider trend for leftist leaders across Latin America. Both those elections — not to mention several mass protests against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party — suggest voters are tired of business-as-usual […]

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blog

Another Venezuelan Opposition Leader Jailed

CARACAS — Venezuelan security agents have detained Manuel Rosales, an opposition politician returning to the country after six years in exile, at the airport in Maracaibo, in the western state of Zulia. Opposition daily El Universal reports that the 63-year-old former presidential candidate and ex governor of Zulia, was arrested “literally as he got off […]

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blog

Migrant Tragedies, Facebook Billion, Awesomesauce

MIGRANT BOAT SINKS OFF LIBYA More than 200 people are feared to have drowned off the Libyan coast after two boats sank early Thursday, the BBC reports. The Libyan coast guard said it had rescued some 200 from the two separate boats carrying some 450 people in total . The victims are said to include […]

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