Imagine the protests of the 'Gilets Jaunes' escalating to such an extent that the infrastructure of France and its economy begin to totter. Then, Marine Le Pen, hijacks the movement and declares herself President of France. Bizarre, no? And would it not be even more surreal and objectionable if the USA, Canada, Britain and other European countries suddenly decided to back the usurper?
Venezuelan National Anthem
Well, in a way, that is just what is happening in Venezuela. Of course, President Maduro is not Macron, and his inept (at best) policies and repression are by no means a marginal problem. The 2018 presidential elections, besides, were anything but free and fair, with many in opposition harassed and barred form the process. Have we not, however, learned anything from the chaos and bloodshed we caused in other countries like Iraq and Libya, were hundreds of thousands have died because of foreign interference? Writing in the Palestine Chronicle, the editor, Ramzy Baroud, sums up such interventionist motives nicely:
"The West’s love-affair with intervention has little to do with restoring democracy, either in Venezuela or anywhere else. In fact, “democracy” has been the tool throughout the 20th century to provide legal and moral rationalization for US and Western meddling around the world."
And is it not hypocritical for the USA to send food parcels to a country that it is partly responsible for bringing to the brink of starvation through its aggressive sanctions? US Security Adviser, John Bolton, made it clear that he has an interest in Venezuela's oil, as he no doubt did on Iraq's when he was one of the leaders of the charge against Saddam Hussein. Macron can sleep in peace, after all: it is unlikely that the lure of French wine will make Trump or his associates drool enough to bother about interfering too much into French politics.
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