Crisis in Venezuela

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm also skeptical that recognizing Guaidó achieves anything to resolve the political crisis, but for goodness' sake, Jacobin, what the hell happened to you? You used to be such a smart guy. You're better than this.

Maduro is a dictator, plain and simple, and dictators have no right to sovereignty. If there actually is a way to remove him peacefully and lead Venezuela through a peaceful democratization (which I don't know if there is, but is worth at least considering) it would be immoral not to take it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

There is no such thing as a "right to self-determination" for dictatorships. A non-democratic regime has the exact same amount of legitimacy in ruling over people as a foreign country (ie, zero).

So any foreign intervention that actually succeeds in reestablishing democracy (which of course is not the case for most of them) is by nature preferable to non-intervention.

[Antonio the Sixth]

There is no such thing as a "right to self-determination" for dictatorships. A non-democratic regime has the exact same amount of legitimacy in ruling over people as a foreign country (ie, zero).

So any foreign intervention that actually succeeds in reestablishing democracy (which of course is not the case for most of them) is by nature preferable to non-intervention.

Christ that's a lot of countries you want to invade.

What a compelling refutation.

[Antonio the Sixth]

But personally I think I’ll pass on this democratic manifest destiny. Perhaps western democracies should consider how they’ve become a joke before exporting it any further.

"Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Churchill quotes are often overrated, but this one never quite gets old (mainly due to the continued existence of edgelords like yourself).