Old Man Mike
Fast as Lightning!
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Still sounds like a lot of corrupt "leadership" in many layers to semi-permanently replace with "boots on the ground."
I once home-welcomed a visitor from Honduras for two weeks in my house here in Kalamazoo (a program for qualifying Latin American men who wanted economic training.) Henri was well-spoken in English so we could talk. Honduras was a wild place in most security senses (and FAR smaller than Venezuela.) He worked in the government. And he went "out" into the very uncontrolled countryside doing errands to the power people who controlled their fiefdoms "out there." If there was trouble this was no simple cut-off-a-head-the-body-dies situation, nor were there a great mountain of nice democratic fellows just waiting for a chance to be great guys. These were dangerous powerful (locally) men who RAN things according to very undemocratic ways. Tell me Venezuela is different.
Once Henri was caught between his central government and the outland power people (once that he told me about as an example of REAL LIFE rather than TV fiction.) He had his government car in which he could make it (usually safely) through the streets of distant power peoples' domains and be ushered into their presence. This time he had "bad news" for one of them in terms of how central government wanted him to behave. Henri began his statements. The powerman sat behind his big desk. He slowly drew out a large pistol, and placed it with a notable sound on that desk. He stared at Henri and finally said: THIS is how it's going to be. Any objections? Henri nodded, said (meekly) that he was only the messenger, and escaped with his life.
Lord I wish we'd grow up and admit the hard-assed realities of these things. People are capable of just killing you. In sprawling poor transportation territories, just waving some threat and going elsewhere means almost precisely Zip. STAYING there means long years of getting your ass shot off. Get-the-effing-REAL. Nothing Ha-Ha about this. Even the Oil areas: how else can they be secured for "American Company Control" other than huge military colonies fenced off from the maniac and violent men? When you choose to splatter the organization of government country wide, you create power micro-states and militia insurgencies and gangs. Are they easy to mop up? How many of the "happy" democratic-leaning Venezuelans are chomping at the bit to race into the upper Amazon to kill and conquer them?
SHOULD those people be gotten rid of someway? I can agree to that. What totally disgusts me is goonish followers and fantasizers thinking that this will be oh so rosy and quick with minimal soldier involvement.
I once home-welcomed a visitor from Honduras for two weeks in my house here in Kalamazoo (a program for qualifying Latin American men who wanted economic training.) Henri was well-spoken in English so we could talk. Honduras was a wild place in most security senses (and FAR smaller than Venezuela.) He worked in the government. And he went "out" into the very uncontrolled countryside doing errands to the power people who controlled their fiefdoms "out there." If there was trouble this was no simple cut-off-a-head-the-body-dies situation, nor were there a great mountain of nice democratic fellows just waiting for a chance to be great guys. These were dangerous powerful (locally) men who RAN things according to very undemocratic ways. Tell me Venezuela is different.
Once Henri was caught between his central government and the outland power people (once that he told me about as an example of REAL LIFE rather than TV fiction.) He had his government car in which he could make it (usually safely) through the streets of distant power peoples' domains and be ushered into their presence. This time he had "bad news" for one of them in terms of how central government wanted him to behave. Henri began his statements. The powerman sat behind his big desk. He slowly drew out a large pistol, and placed it with a notable sound on that desk. He stared at Henri and finally said: THIS is how it's going to be. Any objections? Henri nodded, said (meekly) that he was only the messenger, and escaped with his life.
Lord I wish we'd grow up and admit the hard-assed realities of these things. People are capable of just killing you. In sprawling poor transportation territories, just waving some threat and going elsewhere means almost precisely Zip. STAYING there means long years of getting your ass shot off. Get-the-effing-REAL. Nothing Ha-Ha about this. Even the Oil areas: how else can they be secured for "American Company Control" other than huge military colonies fenced off from the maniac and violent men? When you choose to splatter the organization of government country wide, you create power micro-states and militia insurgencies and gangs. Are they easy to mop up? How many of the "happy" democratic-leaning Venezuelans are chomping at the bit to race into the upper Amazon to kill and conquer them?
SHOULD those people be gotten rid of someway? I can agree to that. What totally disgusts me is goonish followers and fantasizers thinking that this will be oh so rosy and quick with minimal soldier involvement.
