So the author still wants the failed neocon route regime change->spread democracy?
I reserve my judgement on US Venezuela oil deal since there is something not very transparent to me now. But I support the direction of this kind of foreign policy that’s based on national interest (both U.S. and the partner country’s), geopolitics(Venezuela oil development, if we don’t get involved, somebody else (China, Russia….will do). My main point in post is against this author’s moral foreign policies and his neocon approach to Venezuela.
1. International politics is amoral because international relations is always anarchic and there is no world government to provide order. We know the globalist have been trying to create world government with a world order. But we know how unpopular it has become, starting from brexit to today. The consequence of preaching moral foreign policies in the world is, I know it better than anybody else on this board, other countries people think U.S. is too hypocritical.
2. There is a reason why countries that rely almost entirely on single resource such as energy often become authoritarian, regardless of socialism or (crony) capitalism in these countries. This is because of what economics called rentier state or in plain language the resource curse. You don’t have a diversified economy. So you don’t have diversified interests. So you don’t have diversified institutions. So you don’t have anything else to democratize. Everybody’s interest is on oil. In this situation the authoritarian government usually is a better stable choice.
To escape the resource curse, you need to create a diversified economy. To do so, at first you need to separate the fortunes you made from that single resource, say oil, from injecting oil cash directly into the local economy which will suffocate other industries . Then Restructure the country’s economic development by using the fortunes to you made to invest in other industrial sectors. This separation of oil money from directly injecting back to local is a gradual process. You can not do this in a cold turkey way because the country’s economy is too reliant on oil money. You don’t want an economic shock. So it takes time. Norway is a good example to use oil money to diversify its economy.
Once a country’s economy is diversified, your economy will be in a good shape. The authoritarian government finishes its mission. Then you can start your democracy. Chile is a good example.
1. International politics is amoral because international relations is always anarchic and there is no world government to provide order. We know the globalist have been trying to create world government with a world order. But we know how unpopular it has become, starting from brexit to today. The consequence of preaching moral foreign policies in the world is, I know it better than anybody else on this board, other countries people think U.S. is too hypocritical.
2. There is a reason why countries that rely almost entirely on single resource such as energy often become authoritarian, regardless of socialism or (crony) capitalism in these countries. This is because of what economics called rentier state or in plain language the resource curse. You don’t have a diversified economy. So you don’t have diversified interests. So you don’t have diversified institutions. So you don’t have anything else to democratize. Everybody’s interest is on oil. In this situation the authoritarian government usually is a better stable choice.
To escape the resource curse, you need to create a diversified economy. To do so, at first you need to separate the fortunes you made from that single resource, say oil, from injecting oil cash directly into the local economy which will suffocate other industries . Then Restructure the country’s economic development by using the fortunes to you made to invest in other industrial sectors. This separation of oil money from directly injecting back to local is a gradual process. You can not do this in a cold turkey way because the country’s economy is too reliant on oil money. You don’t want an economic shock. So it takes time. Norway is a good example to use oil money to diversify its economy.
Once a country’s economy is diversified, your economy will be in a good shape. The authoritarian government finishes its mission. Then you can start your democracy. Chile is a good example.