
As Venezuela Collapses, Children Are Dying of Hunger - iKenshu
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/17/world/americas/venezuela-children-starving.html
======
seibelj
This made me so unbelievably sad. A country that was prosperous, educated,
full of natural resources, gets destroyed by a corrupt and despicable
political system. There is no reason this should happen.

------
detcader
As Yemen Collapses, NYT Publishes Saudi Arabia Propaganda

------
pmarreck
I don't know why this is flagged, but I do see a lot of hot air about
socialism in here without much pointing to evidence

------
JonasJSchreiber
That was so disheartening. Folks really need to jump off that sinking ship -
emigrate - or Maduro needs to be ousted.

~~~
vhogemann
Already happening, thousands of Venezuelans are migrating to Brazil. Some
towns near the borders are already having trouble to manage accommodating so
many families.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/hungry-
ven...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/hungry-venezuelans-
flood-brazilian-towns-as-threat-of-mass-migration-
looms/2017/01/01/39f85822-c6d1-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.c828311f41f6)

------
andrenth
“The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it.”

The NY Times cheered for the socialist regime, but won’t admit it.

~~~
pmarreck
Evidence?

------
thriftwy
I used to think that economic collapse after the fall of Soviet communism was
the worst outcome possible. Now it is apparent that crash with communism
intact is much worse.

------
eugenerg
Quoting someone else: "NY Times major piece on starvation in Venezuela.

Carefully avoids mentioning socialism. All the problems are passive voice ("as
the economy collapsed," "as hyperinflation appeared") or exogenous ("oil
prices collapsed").

Walter Duranty lives."

~~~
toomuchtodo
It was government corruption, not socialism that led to the current crisis.

Socialistic Scandinavia countries that have sovereign wealth funds from their
oil extraction prosper.

~~~
spraak
Genuinely curious and not trying to troll: how successful would Scandinavian
socialism be without oil?

~~~
jalk
Norway's is the only Scandinavia country with substantial amounts oil.
Taxation is largely what is funding the welfare state.

~~~
candiodari
That may be true, but all 3 countries are tiny with a large natural resource
sector (so is Russia, incidentally, except on the "tiny" front). None depend
on manufacturing or resources, despite all their European neighbors doing just
that. Of course, sure, only 1 has a real oil sector. Like the middle eastern
countries, though, Norway is somewhat guilty of sabotaging their own
agricultural sector to appease political interests (ie. the greens), and
compensating large amounts of importing from their immediate neighbors.

------
X86BSD
Socialism ends this way every. Single. Time. “If only socialism was
implemented correctly for a change!” The snowflakes chant. Ignoring history.
Implementing more and more socialist programs at home. Sigh.

~~~
oculusthrift
ah yes. we all know sweden and switzerland and norway are about to collapse
and have people die of starvation on the streets.

~~~
madengr
Thanks to western democratic principles. You have conveniently ignored all
their neighbors in the east block.

~~~
jszymborski
You've named the problem though I don't think you can see it yourself.

No matter where you are on a continuum of socialist and capitalist policies, a
fascist dictator will always lead to abuses of power. Strong democratic
principles do their best to mitigate and limit that, with varying degrees of
success.

Venezuela did not have a strong democratic system. Military force was used to
coerce elections, the democratic process to remove Maduro was initiated,
completed successfully, and ignored entirely.

The lesson here is that this can happen to any country when our democratic
systems are weakened. I'd argue that the United States has been on a glacial
path to this for quite some time.

------
frabbit
The NYT crying crocodile tears over dying children is a bit hard to take.

Looks like the USA's determined to continue carrying out its coup after all:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d%27%C3%A...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt)

~~~
eternalban
I don't read that rag anymore. Have they shed any tears for the children of
Yemen?

~~~
Mikeb85
Of course not. No one cares about Yemen because atrocities are being carried
out by a US ally. It's plain to see when and where the media generates
outrage.

~~~
weerd
NYT has covered the horrors in Yemen:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/world/middleeast/yemen-
cr...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/world/middleeast/yemen-crimes-
against-humanity.html)

[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/opinion/saudi-arabia-
yeme...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/opinion/saudi-arabia-yemen-
famine.html)

[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/world/middleeast/yemen-
sa...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/world/middleeast/yemen-saudi-
airstrike.html)

[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/yemen-war-
unconst...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/yemen-war-
unconstitutional.html)

