Hi did you know that Venezuelan ECONOMY has tanked? And that they’ve run out of FOOD? And it’s just like in ZIMBABWE down there? And that they’re about to go to WAR with somebody although we’re not exactly sure who? And that Chavez was planning to DEFRAUD the electorate last December but was stopped only by the threat of MILITARY INSURRECTION? And that Venezuelans don’t even LIKE HIM anymore? And that the opposition has turned into DEMOCRATIC FORCE in the country?
Had you going until that last one sorta! Here’s a tip for reading the Washington Post: Jackson Diehl writes the paper’s unbylined foreign policy editorials. When the rest of the ed board refuses to back him, they make him put his name on it and move it to the right hand side of the page. When this happens, it’s usually a pretty good sign that he’s just making shit up. (They haven’t actually fact checked him since his rah rah Iraq war days, which prompted at least this dude to quit).
BTW the only independent updated study of Venezuela’s economy I know of came out last week and it, um, “notes continued progress in economic growth, poverty reduction, employment, and health and education indicators” and points out that “the Venezuelan economy does not fit the mold of an "oil boom headed for a bust," as frequently described by observers and analysts.” But don’t take the economists’ word for it. Jackson Diehl knows they’re all doomed.
