November 30, 2025

"... Maduro is embracing English, singing John Lennon’s 'Imagine,' advocating for peace and dancing to a remix of his latest English catchphrase, 'No War, Yes Peace.'"

I'm reading "Venezuelan leader Maduro may seem desperate. But his loyalty vs punishment strategy is hard to crack/Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was once critical of English" (ABC News).

46 comments:

mccullough said...

Fitting that he’s singing Lennon. December 8 is next week.

Peachy said...

If you pan the camera around- Sean Penn(C) is helping.

tommyesq said...

"Imagine." Ugh.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Where have you been Waldo?

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Where have I seen that golden decor in the background?

tommyesq said...

Venezuela, once a prosperous country, has suffered an economic collapse under Maduro's leadership, with its GDP falling drastically. Millions of citizens have fled the country, and the economy is in a state of severe crisis.

Apparently he can imagine no possessions (at least for his subjects).

Achilles said...

Imagine is probably the most overtly evil song ever written and performed.

Maduro should be killed just for singing it as inspiration.

JaimeRoberto said...

He should be deposed for singing Imagine.

n.n said...

A well placed missile up an Iranian proxy ended the second Iraq war. Maduro probably wants to avoid being designated a "burden" in an ethnic Spring.

Achilles said...

Why can't Trump just go to congress and get permission to kill him?

It would make the offer of Argentinian retirement a lot more attractive.

Dave Begley said...

He’ll be in Cuba soon.

n.n said...

Not all is fair in lust and abortion. Just imagine.

Aggie said...

I think we need to start a Saddam watch with Maduro. Remember the gradual development of nervous tics in Saddam's public speeches, as effects of the tremendous pressure started to accumulate? And then, the appearance of Baghdad Bob, with his news updates? Will there be a Caracas Carlos analog in this play?

TheThinManReturns said...

It’s not sad, it’s desperate. He’s been hanging out with China, Iran and some terrorist organizations in the middle east. The real problem is that he’s a figurehead for narco terrorists in his own country. He’s a true POS.

Achilles said...

Dave Begley said...

He’ll be in Cuba soon.

He would be stupid to go to Cuba with a bunch of money. They will just take it from him.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

If true, that Sean Penn is advising Maduro, doesn't anybody remember what happened to El Chapo after his meetup with Penn?
This is comedy gold, Gerry.

RCOCEAN II said...

I have zero idea why we're threatening Venezuela - but I'm sure all the foreign policy geniuses can assure me, the leader is "just like Hitler" and we have to destroy him.

baghdadbob said...

John Lennon once described Imagine as "basically, it's The Communist Manifesto." That said, he also wrote "if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow."

Peachy said...

RC - Hitler invaded country after county and he needed to be stopped. Hitler got snuggly with... wait for it... Islamic males.
dang.
Sorry that pisses you off.
As far calling everyone 'Hitler" - that's a leftist phenomenon.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Maduro in motion is not all that far removed from Ally McBeal's dancing baby.

Disparity of Cult said...

Maduro was a follower of guru and alleged sexual predator Sathya Sai Baba, whose claimed motto "Love All, Serve All" might have been more accurately represented as "Love All, Service Some".

Iman said...

Pinci cabron

Dave Begley said...

His money is in a number of Swiss and off shore banks. Also, crypto and diamonds.

gadfly said...

SecTreas Scott Bessent announced that the United States is investing $40 billion in the Venezuelan economy, but what he didn't say is that there’s another notable beneficiary of the Trump admin’s Argentina bailout package: major hedge funds led by Bessent’s friends. Several major investment funds, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Pimco, stand to significantly gain from the aid transfer, as do several independent investors with ties to Bessent.

Meanwhile, we murder speedboat crews and float the largest armed fleet in the world in the Caribbean, somehow for the benefit of Demented Trump and his oligarchy.

narciso said...

Hes a foolish figurehead but that doesnt relieve him of thar tbe sebim does

Wince said...

Trump is implementing a hemispheric wide economic-national security policy.

US made money off Argentine currency swap, Treasury secretary confirms

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the US government has profited from the $20bn currency swap provided to Argentina. In addition to the initial $20bn swap line, which Bessent confirmed is now active, the US floated plans for an additional $20bn privately funded facility to invest in Argentine sovereign debt, bringing total US support to $40bn.

'We used our financial balance sheet to stabilise the government, one of our great allies in Latin America, during an election,' Bessent stated in an MSNBC interview on November 11. 'The president there won in a landslide, the government is going to make money.'

Bessent referenced Argentina's midterm legislative elections, where President Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza party secured a decisive victory. 'In most bailouts, you don't make money,' he continued. 'The US government made money.'

The Treasury Secretary framed the intervention as part of a broader strategy to build alliances across Latin America, a continent where China is rapidly expanding its footprint, citing upcoming elections in Chile and Colombia as additional opportunities for US-aligned conservatives to dislodge leftist governments. 'By stabilising the economy there and making a profit, then that is a very good deal for the American people,' Bessent said.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/us-made-money-off-argentine-currency-swap-treasury-secretary-confirms/ar-AA1QiExR?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds

Jupiter said...

"I have zero idea why we're threatening Venezuela ..."
You can read all about it in "Stolen Elections: The Takedown of Democracies Worldwide" by Ralph Pezzullo, which you can purchase through the Althouse Amazon Portal. It's not real well-written, and could use some proof-reading. I gather it was written in haste.
Short version; remember all that about Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic? It was all true, and Venezuela is at the root of it.

MadTownGuy said...

baghdadbob said...

"John Lennon once described Imagine as "basically, it's The Communist Manifesto." That said, he also wrote "if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow."

Lennon mentioned Mao only because he couldn't bring himself to say the quiet part out loud. But as Don McLean said, Lennon read a book on Marx...

Bob Boyd said...

He’s dancing because Trump is shooting at his feet.

Rocco said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Achilles said...

RCOCEAN II said...

I have zero idea why we're threatening Venezuela - but I'm sure all the foreign policy geniuses can assure me, the leader is "just like Hitler" and we have to destroy him.

Why is easy.

If every country in South/Central America followed the path of El Salvador and Argentina then the US would have stable wealthier neighbors.

If you believe economies are zero sum then you would be right.

But economies are not zero sum.

Leland said...

Communist strong men under pressure to step down and US making money. Seems like this is worth at least "wait and see" before becoming too critical.

n.n said...

Emigration reform.

RCOCEAN II said...

"RC - Hitler invaded country after county and he needed to be stopped. Hitler got snuggly with... wait for it... Islamic males.
dang."

Wants funny is that Hitler didn't actually do that. (OMG, OMG, someone's defending Hitler!!! No, I'm not. I'm just giving you a history lesson.)

Hitler didn't really invade Austria. The Austrians want Anchluss. He didn't invade the Sudaten (sic) land. That was full of Germans. He did invade Bohemia in March 38. And he allied himself with the slovaks.

And he invaded Poland to settle the Danzig problem. And then the UK and france declared war on him. And claimed Hitler wanted to conquer the world!!

After Poland was conquered Hitler offered peace. It was rejected. After the fall of france, Hitler offered peace. It was rejected.

Meanwhile, Stalin also attacked Poland. And then attacked Finland. And then conquered the 3 Baltic states. And pressured Romania to give up part of their country. But y'know - no one ever claims Stalin wanted to.... conquer the world!! That came in 1948.

Before that he was "Good ol' Uncle Joe" - our dear friend.

narciso said...

Right thats why they put a dozen death campa in poland are you for real

buwaya said...

In Poland the Germans immediately began the "lebensraum" policy of getting rid of the Poles and settling Germans, plus exterminating all the Polish leadership/intelligentsia they could catch. Not to mention the Jews, which were @10% of the Polish population at the time.
Danzig was a pretext.

narciso said...

The todt organization built the death camps

Achilles said...

Europe had a millennia of war that preceded world war 2.

Europe is a perfect example of stupid moral preening and bullshit.

Should Hitler and Germany have been stopped? Of course.

Was France or England or Poland any less likely to invade if they had the chance than Germany or the Soviet Union were?

If you think Germany was the only bad guy in world war 2 you believe history started in 1939.

RCOCEAN II said...

There were two bad guys in Europe in 1939: Stalin and Hitler. People - even 80 years after the end of WW 2 - want to talk about Hitler's crimes. Never about Stalins. We all know about Dachau, German warcrimes, Holocaust, etc. Its been drummed into us by 1000 movies and TV shows. Not to mention books.

Meanwhile the millions killed by Stalin are mostly anonymous. And mostly forgotten by everyone. Morally? Both evil. But Hitler seems to be the only one condemned.

But then its hard to reason with morons. They just want to call names, and morally preen. History and truth is irrelevant.

RCOCEAN II said...

So many of these comment threads go like this:

Me: History shows this. blah blah
Others: Hitler bad.
Me: Yeah Hitler bad, but history shows blah blah blah.
Others: Hitler bad
Me: Well what about Stalin blah blah blah
Others: Hitler bad.

Dr Weevil said...

Ah, yes: Hitler "invaded Poland to settle the Danzig problem". That's why he sent in troops from both sides, captured Danzig and a buffer zone of 10-15 miles around it, put up a fence, and let the Poles keep the other 98% of their territory and population.

What's that you say? He actually divided Poland with his equally evil buddy Stalin and they conquered the entire nation, then murdered tens of thousands of military and political leaders, priests, bishops, and intellectuals? That couldn't possibly have happened! He only wanted Danzig!

Of course, the story that he invaded Denmark and the Netherlands must also be false: he only wanted Danzig, and France and the U.K. declared war on him, but Denmark and the Netherlands did not, so they were entirely safe from invasion.

narciso said...

This is was exactly the plan hitler laid out what he wanted to do in mein kampf to the jews the slavs the americans

narciso said...

Now stalins plans were more nebulous just kill off the czarists social revolutionaries kadets and every one would be fine

narciso said...

Well he didnt quite spell it out

Aggie said...

"...So many of these comment threads go like this:

Me: History shows this. blah blah
Others: Hitler bad.....


'So many comment threads', huh. I wonder if there's, you know, like a common thread running through each of those, that's the source of your consternation?

Saint Croix said...

Putin is not helping him.

Xi is not helping him.

"Mr. Mayor, you're our only hope."

"Democrats! You're our only hope."

"Journalists! You're our only hope."

Post a Comment

Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.