“Ineligible for recommendation”. Turns out that freedom of speech was when TikTok was Chinese.

To be entirely honest, i don’t know what our “values” are anymore.

That’s the normal thought now, and not “At least compared to our declared current enemies, you’re allowed to criticize our government without consequences” :

In a speech of 355 b.c., Demosthenes rightly remarks that the most important difference between the political systems of Athens and Sparta is that at Athens it is permitted to praise that of Sparta and denigrate one’s own, whereas at Sparta no one may praise any system other than the Spartan. (Dem.20,§106)

That’s the basis of freedom, and once we lose that, what are we left with ?
A bourgeois “democracy” where medias are owned by the capitalists and citizens-owned medias are increasingly threatened of disinformation ? When you’re choosing the least bad and are surrendering your power to elected people that often decide in private, and almost never once through referendums.
A rule of law with many lawfare cases proving a lack of independence from the government ? Where money can buy good lawyers, and blue-collar crimes are treated way harsher for the same sum of money stolen than white-collar crimes ? And the latter is even legalized under fiscal “optimization”, and laws promoted by their lobbying.

Without painting other countries as even worse, what values are we left with ?
I literally have hundreds of such examples : https://x.com/i/status/2012799140061659566
That is even more shocking than censorship : https://x.com/i/status/2014796564624253394
And many dozens of journalists because they were supporting Russia https://x.com/i/status/2014655503616405681
And our “leaders” don’t seem to realize that critizing ourselves is the basis of our system(, and that unlike countries victims of our attacks we don’t even have such excuses) : https://x.com/i/status/2012724357072892409
The e.u., u.k., and Australia, are multiplying laws restricting what they’re deeming illegal speech. They already proved their intent with covid, and are even acknowledging that it’d be a dictatorship if they directly regulated social media posts(, but since it’ll be indirectly through proxy organizations such as EUvsDisinfo instead of WarOnFakes, then it’s all right 🙄).

Additions from other posts&comments :

If i understood correctly, mexicans would need to work 3-4 times more in order to buy the same thing :

So much “justice”.

Has anyone here ever looked at what a normal oil contract looks like ? That is just plain robbery and it’s considered normal. Once an oil company reimbursed its expenses(, cost oil), it won’t ever gift the equipment/… to the state but keep it to themselves, nor will they stop there because they need to make a profit, but even once they’ve had a 20% ROI it’s still not enough, it’s never enough, so they won’t say that the remaining profit afterwards will be 100% for the state and its population but, e.g., 60-40 for the state, or at best 80-20, and they’ll also lie on the real price of the cost oil, and prevent countries to do 100% of the initial investments/risks in order to gain 100% of the profits, and it’s not just about oil.

You probably already know that Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran was overthrown by the west two years after nationalizing Iran’s oil in 1958, but did you know that the same thing happened a decade earlier for Rómulo Gallegos, 9 months after implementing a 50-50 share of Venezuela’s oil in 1948 ?
He wasn’t replaced by a western-backed bloodthirsty king, but by one of our many western-backed bloodthirsty dictator, Pérez Jiménez, who received the Legion of Merit in 1954 for its anti-communist activities.
Guatemala also had a similar experience when it nationalized territories from the United Fruit Company(, 1954), or when S.Allende nationalized copper in 1971, or Syria in 1949, Congo in 1960, … Because their ressources are ours.
They should increase the prices of the raw materials as OPEC did in 1973, unite together, and nationalize their ressources. They’ll be sanctioned/overthrown/attacked/invaded/…

On the difference between GDP and GNI :
The GDP is the total (market )value of all goods&services produced in a country, while the national income(GNI) is the total (market )value of all goods&services produced by a country.
The GDP of India will then include goods&services produced by, e.g., Coca-Cola in India, but won’t do so in the GNI(, apart from wages/taxes/…).
Conversely, the GDP of India won’t include what indian companies produce when operating in foreign countries, but the profits repatriated to India will be added to the GNI.
The United States apparently has a large negative net international investment position(, roughly –$27 trillion), while Europe still records a positive balance

From Our world in data again :

(ouch)

History of the voting on the United Nations General Assembly resolution entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” (1992-2021).

(annexes)

The US is currently the main(only?) obstacle to world peace and shared prosperity, and we(sterners) are increasing our military budget

I reiterate that we could leave in peace, united in diversity instead of struggling to impose our hegemony, we just don’t want to, and actively oppose such future. We’re humankind’s enemies. Seems like an objective statement.

Has anyone here ever looked at what a normal oil contract looks like ? That is just plain robbery and it’s considered normal. Once an oil company reimbursed its expenses(, cost oil), it won’t ever gift the equipment/… to the state but keep it to themselves, nor will they stop there because they need to make a profit, but even once they’ve had a 20% ROI it’s still not enough, it’s never enough, so they won’t say that the remaining profit afterwards will be 100% for the state and its population but, e.g., 60-40 for the state, or at best 80-20, and they’ll also lie on the real price of the cost oil, and prevent countries to do 100% of the initial investments/risks in order to gain 100% of the profits, and it’s not just about oil. Nothing is just down here, this has to change and if the euro-americans have to be sacrificed in order to bring down the main wall to a better future then we’re not left with a choice.

So much horrors heard every day about Gaza, Israel is destroying Palestine, beating/torturing/killing innocent palestinians every single day. But let’s attack Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, China, Russia, the DPRK, the AES, and any country that remains after our multi-decades wars&coups all around the world. https://x.com/i/status/2010689634292859227
We don’t have values, and should be opposed.

And before being accused of double standards : Ukraine should respect the will of the crimean population and its south-east. If it doesn’t want to lose territories then it should give up on its european future, especially since it means excluding/opposing Russia. The will of the population doesn’t work only in the case of the u.s.s.r.'s or Yugoslavia’s destruction. So many lies and double standards as usual, no wonder that someone honest-looking like D.Trump was elected, and other populists(, even if he’s a liar like all western presidents i know that).

Don’t be active(, or inactive,) towards the imposition of our will/interests, but be active towards the imposition of the common good, even for “regimes” we despise, that our propaganda will always depict as authoritarian hellholes that await our liberation.
So pointless to talk online, i.d.k. why i keep doing it and should have stopped a long time ago instead of imagining/fantasizing that it has some use.

I’m perhaps wrong but if they sell the oil at an unfair price, while paying for the whole infrastructure themselves, then they could keep 100% of what the u.s. leaves them, and use it for the good of the venezuelans.


https://open.substack.com/pub/gzucman/p/understanding-us-intervention-in
« In 1958, the 40–50 thousand workers employed by the oil and iron industries, comprising less than 3% of the country’s total workforce, earned more than half of the country’s wages. In addition, their housing, education and health services were provided by their employers.
In contrast, the common city wage earner employed in industry and commerce on the other hand, spent 48% of his income on food. Less than one-third of dwellings were reported to have running water in the 1957 national census. Thus, even if Venezuela reportedly had the continent’s highest per capita income at the time—US$743 in 1962—this wealth was concentrated in the hands of those who benefited from the oil industry. » (source)

It depends on how much the u.s. intends to rob them but, foolishly perhaps, i’d like to naively hope that D.Trump would then leave them in peace despite their direct democracy and egalitarian values(, until the next u.s. president).

A weird idea would be a national referendum along the lines of “Would you rather [u.s. economic demands post-negotiations], or fight an invasion ?”, both to show that they’re not a dictatorship, and in order to leave the fate of the revolution to their hands.

Through negotiations, these kind of demands could be granted as long as it doesn’t exceed +10% of non-us products, reducing it to a selection of sectors. If it’s understood that it’d ease the negotiations on oil, and be included in the eventual national referendum, just my ignorant opinion.

1. With Venezuelan President Maduro deposed, what do you think the people in Venezuela would do in response to the US (under Trump)’ involvement in his deposition ?

Guerilla warfare worked for Afghanistan(, no doubt that they’ll be called terrorists and not the u.s. troops).

2. Would Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez (who served as Maduro’s Vice President) pick up where Maduro left off ?

I.d.k., i.m.o. she should prepare for the incoming counter-revolutionary propaganda by, e.g., reminding everyone that the economic revival was going to happen and that’s why the u.s. attacked, they’ll need illegal propaganda outlets if invaded.
And also prepare actively for resistance cells, how to hide them, finance them, recruit, plan ahead, achieve a relative autonomy, etc.
An advantage to them is that Trump is hated by the (neo-)liberals, so they may repel an invasion by holding out long enough. Any last stand would in any case be of use to fuel the future nostalgia.
Here they/we thought that the darkest times were past them, it’s not fair.

3. How do you stay hopeful and optimistic despite the current (as of this post) administration?

I don’t, but what’s the difference compared to before ?
I/We hated the west for a reason, it tells us that we(sterners) haven’t changed.

5. Also, would Venezuela be better off if it were decentralized ?

https://venezuelanalysis.com/infographics/15642

What’s not said is that France’s censorship laws are so authoritarian that we kidnapped a 18 y.o. iranian woman 6 months ago for terrorism apologia because she supported the palestinian resistance to israeli colonization : Mahdieh Esfandiari
We don’t know if it’s a simple release of hostages or if Iran obtained something.

The number of condemnations for terrorism apologia were zero in 2011, five in 2012, 2013, and 2014, but 338 in 2015 and 447 in 2016(, source), because we are Charlie or sthg.
Now it has become a habit, with 60 condemnations for the first quarter of 2025, and we’re still adding new laws to condemn those who think differently from the power in place : disinformation, diffamation, incitation to hate(, 4200), infringements of image rights or privacy, …
There’s also cyberbullying, used to condemn opponents who said something true, but since other netizens sent mean tweets you’re responsible for up to 2-3 years in jail and the new technical possibility of banning you from every social medias for up to 5 years, which is what the numeric identity is for. Thousands of condemnations in 2022-2024, currently used by Brigitte Macron but politicians as well

The law SREN was censored in 2024 by the constitutional council, but the Digital Service Acts does something similar anyway.
It’s not online(, yet?), but the offense of contempt of public authority condemns tens of thousands of citizens each year.
Anyway, our sole argument for sanctioning “dictatorships” all over the world is freedom, especially freedom of speech to western-backed opponents, it’s at the core of our accusations and now we’re giving up on our only argument.
As of now we still believe that we’re more free than the dictatorships we’re fighting against, because we underestimate our authoritarianism and overestimate theirs, and also because we’re forcing them to protect themselves from our attacks.
Sure, continue to destroy our internet, why would i care anyway, it’s none of my concern, just so surprising to see people changing their mind on what was once our core value(, i just saw that but it’s every single day, and one more found randomly a few minutes later, or that one(, they also banned PressTv)).

TIL : The first edition was in 1965 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervision_Song_Contest
We promised a higher growth than the evil commies had if they followed our advices(, and i love Jeffrey Sachs but it’s quite certainly multifactorial and we can raise Poland, Israel or South Korea if we want to), yet on the contrary post-u.s.s.r. countries economy was destroyed after following our advices on (perestroïka and )shock therapy.
We(sterners) never perceive it that way, yet it seems factual to state that we betrayed their trust/good-will.

The eleventh edition is already programmed, and it’ll be in Riyadh. Great.

Ukrainians, and perhaps even western ukrainians one day, will regret not to have joined crimeans and the Donbass. They were sure that they chose the winning side, and the “only” thing necessary to convince (most of )them to join their historical ally instead is if they change their mind, and see the East as the future.

Sure, thank you, my autocritic was more directed at the form than the substance(, although a bit too “old-school” perhaps), but if you missed that then it’s probably ‘more alright’/‘less amateurish’ than i first thought :)