******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Trump may have changed his rhetoric (no longer talking about invading Venezuela), but he has not changed his actual policy (economic blockade). I suspect the change of rhetoric was mainly due to the failure of Guaido's latest coup attempt. Only a handful of soldiers responded to Guaido's call. If the Venezuelan army remains united, a US invasion would be very costly. The US has been hoping for a split in the army, in which case US forces might intervene in support of the anti-Maduro section. In the absence of such a split, I think a full scale invasion is unlikely. (Raids across the border are possible) Trump is continuing the blockade in the hope that a continuing and deepening economic crisis in Venezuela will eventually lead to a split in the army. Activists in the United States and its allies should be campaigning vigorously to end the blockade. I don't think Trump's comments welcoming a Russian role in Venezuela are very significant. Short of shooting down Russian planes flying to Venezuela, the US can't stop Russia from sending aid, so it doesn't matter what Trump says about it. Chris ________________________________ From: John Reimann <1999wild...@gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, 9 May 2019 10:06 AM To: Chris Slee Cc: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition Subject: Re: [Marxism] Trump and the reluctance to reckon with something fundamentally new Chris, please quote me accurately, meaning in context. I did not say that Trump's blockade is irrelevant; I said that what you raise is irrelevant to my main point. In relation to the blockade, my main point was how Trump completely changed the tune of his administration (as communicated by Bolton and Pompeo) immediately after talking with Putin. THAT was the point. In any case, there really is a lot more to Trump's foreign policy than Venezuela, as I demonstrated in my article. John Reimann On Wed, May 8, 2019 at 3:19 PM Chris Slee <chris_w_s...@hotmail.com<mailto:chris_w_s...@hotmail.com>> wrote: John Reimann says that Trump's economic blockade against Venezuela is "irrelevant" in judging whose interests Trump serves. I think the blockade has been imposed in the interests of the US ruling class, which does not want to see left wing governments in Latin America that challenge the economic interests of US corporations. If John thinks that Trump follows instructions from Putin, he has to explain why it is in Putin's interest for Venezuela to be blockaded by the United States and its allies. Chris Slee ________________________________ From: Marxism <marxism-boun...@lists.csbs.utah.edu<mailto:marxism-boun...@lists.csbs.utah.edu>> on behalf of John Reimann via Marxism <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu<mailto:marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu>> Sent: Wednesday, 8 May 2019 10:46:06 PM To: Chris Slee Subject: Re: [Marxism] Trump and the reluctance to reckon with something fundamentally new ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. ***************************************************************** To be blunt, the responses of Chris Slee and Richard Fidler to this article are perfect examples of exactly what I was raising: The failure of socialists to absorb what is happening in US politics. The failure to consider that the way capitalism has ruled in the US ever since the Civil War is undergoing a basic shift. (Disclaimer: Please note that I'm not saying it's all the way there, but just the fact that we've gone this far is huge.) Venezuela is only one small part of this issue. And in any case, what Chris Slee raises concerning Trump's Venezuela policy is really irrelevant to the main point I was making. Marxists, above all others, are supposed to be looking at the big picture. John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/chris_w_slee%40hotmail.com -- “In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
