Venezuela Meeting Proves The Security Council Is Just A Circus.
On Saturday, the U.N. Security Council held its 8,542nd meeting. No, that’s not a typo. They’ve done so much good in the world after the last 8,541 meetings that they figured they would try it once more. This time, it was about Venezuela and the Maduro out/Guaidó in Presidential crisis.
The U.S. called the meeting, and it only squeaked through by one vote. (They had to hold a vote to meet.) After all, it was a Saturday. and who wants to work on a weekend? Plus, if anyone knows how totally useless the Security Council is, it’s the representatives who serve on it! They wanted to stay home.
Still, the U.S. felt it important to make a diplomatic show of its good, democratic intentions in Venezuela, but why they didn’t realize it would simply degrade into a three-ring circus is puzzling. They should have known much better.
No actual vote was on the agenda, and there was nothing to actually be gained by just meeting and talking, especially since no one really talks to each other at these meetings anyway; they only make speeches, or more specifically, criticisms of each other. Even if there was a vote, it’s a 100% guarantee that permanent members with veto powers would take opposing positions and make the exercise totally futile.
Some countries around the world still recognize Maduro as President, others support and now recognize Guaidó, and still others went to this weird space in geopolitics where they recognized neither, and simply called for calm and non-interference. (Hey, somebody’s gotta be President there now, right? Pick one, damn it!) Everyone knew most of these positions the day before, so we certainly didn’t need a special Security Council meeting about it on a nice Saturday morning. But the meeting gave a platform for some sitting SC members to voice the worst position of all (member states of the E.U. no less), representing the E.U. position as a “whole,”demanding that Maduro call for new elections within 8 days or they will recognize Guaidó.
Now, giving eight days to call for elections is one thing. Setting a realistic date is another. Expecting Maduro to hold these elections within a reasonable timeframe, let alone being free and fair, is outright fantasy. What are they smoking?
It was probably the dumbest, most confusing tact in diplomatic history, directly contradicting the position that Guaidó is now the President as recognized by the U.S., Canada, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Argentina, Panama, Peru, Kosovo, the U.K., France, Denmark, Albania, and majority vote by members of the Lima Group and the OAS. (Please note there is membership overlap in the nations and organizations cited here.)
Supporting Maduro, so far, are Russia, Iran, Turkey, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Iran, but China’s stance is fairly neutral at best. They’ll work with anyone in power in Venezuela to get paid past monies and oil shipments owed them.
Had the E.U. immediately recognize Guaidó and not issued this nutty 8-day warning to Maduro, more than 50 countries would have sided with Guaidó on Saturday, the guy who has already promised that he will call for free and fair elections within 30 days!
Was the E.U. trusting Maduro, based on past experience, over Guaidó, to run fair elections? (Bad Europeans. Maybe they’re still upset over reduced U.S. funding of NATO.)
Fortunately, Maduro being Maduro, he soon rejected the E.U.’s ultimatum, putting Guiado now at around fifty, except he still has a few days to come up with a strategy to fall back on the E.U. “proposal” and wiggle himself back into legitimacy.
To add to this circus-like atmosphere, Maduro supporters complained about U.S. interference in the crisis (not even necessarily militarily but politically), not realizing at all that their support for Maduro is interference. They can’t color outside, international support for Guaidó as interference, based on the legitimacy of the Venezuela National Assembly which claims Guaidó as President. and the Constitution which gives them the power to do it. This was the major hypocrisy of hearing these clowns talk, telling the U.S. to behave one way, while they behave another.
It will be interesting to watch how the U.S. and Guaidó’s allies behave during the eight-day E.U. deadline period, but it’s going to be a real circus after that. There’s a sucker born every minute, and right now, it’s the E.U. playing that part.
This sounds like the entire anti-USA United Nations–USELESS TO A FAULT!!!
I live on the Texas Mexican border. It is a criminal mess, with centuries of smuggling 25 undocumented illegal immigrants ruining America from entering the country going downhill. Job stealers , wage killers, drug smugglers , poor, uneducated third world animals LIFETIME WELFARE , Catholic breeding machines of poverty to America. BUILD THE WALL 30 FOOT HIGH OF STEEL SPIKES.
Trump is very caring President of America he always thinks the safety of this nation and it’s cetizens his not a wake Leader every President should be like him the nation should be strong always he improves the economiy.the fault of this long gov. Shut down just because of Nancy Pelosi,Shuck Shoumer,and the liberals and not the president.
There was a purpose to the meeting. It once again proves how worthless the UN really is. We should totally cut their funding and indeed start charging them rent for the building.
Build the Steel SPIKE barriers, yeah 30 ft high
or higher. Demand for 25 billion, instead of just
5.7 billion dollars. Plus all powerful high technology gadgets
So now what?
Sounds a little like Syria, without the sand. Populations being crushed by a criminal government, that orders the military to confiscate all assets, and shoot their fellow countrymen, countrywomen, and children as needed. Chaos, death, starvation, disease, become the norm.
A new leader is in the wings trying not to get assassinated before he eats his next meal. Will this one be better? He sounds good but, we all know that absolute power, …(you know the rest).
Maybe the US can learn from the last couple of regime changes we got into, like Iraq, Lybia, Syria, and all the rest over the last 60+ years.
1: Do not go with airstrikes and destroy their infrastructure, killing thousands and making a return to normal life a 50 year process .
2: Do not decapitate the existing Military – bring them over to our side. How you ask? How about a negotiated settlement? What do they need? To continue to breathe and live outside a jail cell, retain their power and status, the opportunity to serve their country and feel like they did when they signed up for military service. Bonus: They weed out the truly bad actors and witness their justice meted out by a court of law, not a mob-rule street murder.
3. Once you have the support of the Military, you formally charge and detain the Dictatorial cabal and subject them to justice. Then allow the INTERIM government leader to assume the executive role. Then immediately call for a new election to take place in 6 months to CONFIRM or REPLACE the supposed new president (how can this leader be known to be the choice of the people from a flawed election?)
4. Organize a team of Judicial experts from around the world to observe and advise the national judiciary team, and weed out the politically corrupt types that are not following the rule of law.
5. Immediately following Step 2, organize and deploy teams of medical personnel to establish MASH-type field hospitals and clinics to care for the citizens medical and dietary needs. As order is restored, jump-start the formerly existing commercial supply chains.
Using this or a similar approach, the US would be looked upon as a force for good and just national governance, not the biggest and baddest.
Go ahead and flame me, but offer a reasonable alternative if you do so, please.
THAT SOUNDS JUST TOO REASONABLE TO EVEN BE CONSIDERED! POLITICIANS THE WORLD OVER ARE REALLY NOT THE MOST NOBLE OR
CARING FOR THEIR CITIZENS, BUT IF IT MAKES THEM LOOK GOOD, IT JUST MIGHT WORK!
I concur with Knobby’s proposal – excepting the portion, quote: “Organize a team of Judicial experts from around the world to observe and advise the national judiciary team…” – end quote.
In its place, I propose this amended-version, to wit:
Organize a team of ‘Republican [rule of morality-based body-of-laws] Judicial Team of Advisors from republican-countries-only to observe, advise and lead-in-crafting the fundamental-foundations of Venezuela’s national judiciary and legislative branches of government … in finessing Venezuela’s constitution and laws emanating from such constitution. Get Venezuela’s legislature to allocate 3-to-5%of its oil-exports revenues to provide for the basic needs of this proposed ‘Republican Judicial Team of Advisors’.
Knobby, thank you very much for your profoundly-crafted proposition. Are you a political/legal-expert by vocation?