This author says amoral - in reality, it’s immoral.
We spent two decades trying to explain that the war in Iraq was not designed to steal oil. Now Trump openly says we are going to steal oil. Why? Because we’re stronger.
Make no mistake - it will not reduce price at the pump.
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.
I really know nothing about it.
And of course you are fine with stealing a neighbor's resources.
Disappoint you. I know you’re a democracy fundamentalist. But in reality as an ideology nationalism is stronger than democracy. It’s worldwide, not just MAGA in U.S.
As I said earlier, because no global government/police in this system, countries must worry about their survival, their security which are always their top priority in their policies.
with that being said we do have a very weak international order under which countries can cooperate on something. But I don’t put too much weight on it.
Nationalism is acutely poisonous - see, for instance, the utter moral rot of Russia.
But tell me more about multipolarity. So interesting.
1. U.S. 2. China. 3 India, EU, Russia. 4 Japan, Saudi, Turkey, South Korea… each power has their own strengths.
India is and will be the biggest beneficiary of multipolar world. In 15-20 years India will be today’s China. The global economic system in multipolar world is being reset. Its rules are challenged. I don’t know what kind of new rules are. Seems to me Trump sensed the incoming changes in multipolar world, therefore tried to grab anything to benefit America before the change. Other politicians, either left or right are still thinking like it were in unipolar era of 1990s.
I didn’t mean nationalism is an ideology opposite of or rivalry to democracy. So, yes, they can co exist. But nationalism is bigger than democracy, more fundamental to a state than democracy.
A side note: to me nationalism is an ideology. Patriotism is not. Patriotism is 100% politics free.
It's a good deal for a country that has been completely destroyed by "Democratic Socialism". This will be good for Venezuelans.
I don't have strong opinions on all this, but your colonialization hyperbole and claiming that we're stealing the oil is flat out wrong. A fallacious argument is never persuasive, you should know this.
Based on all the accurate reporting, this will be good for Venezuelan's which should be the goal. It seems like you would prefer that Maduro's reign of terror was still going on.
It will be good for the Venezuelans in that oil might start to flow....with profits not going to them.
It is a terrible deal for the Venezuelans, spun heavily by a predatory administration.
Expected Economic Benefits for Venezuelans
Supporters, including interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, argue the agreement is essential for reversing the country’s severe, multi-decade economic crisis:
Massive Infrastructure Investment: NABEP has committed to infusing $100 billion in new capital to reconstruct Venezuela’s heavily decayed oil infrastructure.
Substantial Tax Revenues: The deal is projected to generate over $200 billion in tax revenues, flowing directly into the state treasury to help fund public operations and economic recovery.
Job Creation: Revitalizing these 17 major oilfields is expected to expand employment for local engineers, oilfield technicians, and laborers.
Elimination of Sanction Discounts: Sanctions relief allows Venezuela to sell its crude openly rather than offering 20% to 30% discounts to buyers like China to bypass restrictions.
Or making a normal deal with oil companies. One that does not include direct payments to the predatory US government.
1. We removed the authoritarian dictator that was oppressing his people.
2. We are investing in the country to the mutual benefit of both country's people.
3. We are eliminating the state sponsored corruption and narco-terrorism.
4. We are helping them move towards the return of democratic elections and a seat at the table on the world stage.
This is all good for Venezuela, the Venezuelan people and The United States of America. It is bad for Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and apparently college professors.
The Oval Office is a corrupt criminal autocracy, allowed to do as they please as their GOP soldiers in the Senate and the House lack the integrity and moral courage to check their mob boss.