The left have always liked Stalinist regimes - they think that the future is rule by experts, the experts of course being them. Orwell was a Trot and he often pointed to this
http://orwelltoday.com/readerfabianorwell.shtml
"...The ugly fact is that most middle-class Socialists, while theoretically pining for a class-less society, cling like glue to their miserable fragments of social prestige....The Coles,
Webbs, Stracheys, etc., are not exactly proletarian writers...Sometimes I look at a Socialist — the intellectual, tract-writing type of Socialist, with
his pullover, his fuzzy hair, and his Marxian quotation — and wonder
what the devil his motive really is. It is often difficult to believe that it is a love of anybody, especially of the working class, from whom he is of all people the furthest removed. The underlying motive of many Socialists, I believe, is simply
a hypertrophied sense of order. The present state of affairs offends them not because it causes misery, still less because it makes freedom impossible, but because it is untidy; what they desire, basically, is to reduce the world to something resembling a chessboard. Take the plays of a lifelong Socialist like
Shaw. How much understanding or even awareness of working-class life do they display? ... You get the same thing in a more
mealy-mouthed form in
Mrs Sidney Webb's autobiography, which gives, unconsciously, a most revealing picture of the
high-minded Socialist slum-visitor. The truth is that, to many people calling themselves Socialists, revolution does not mean a movement of the masses with which they hope to associate themselves; it means a set of reforms which 'we', the clever ones, are going to impose upon 'them', the Lower Orders..."
Incidentally it's actually odd how many people who started off Trots ended up becoming politically very interesting - both the Hitchens brothers, Brendan O'Neill and the Spiked Online people, all the Neocons and Orwell spring to mind.
It's good to see Rubio and Trump, both flawed politicians to be sure but both of whom I can't help but like, are working together to kick the suddenly vulnerable Maduro regime.
And the interesting thing is that you need them both to do it. Rubio is an arch Neo Con/
PNAS imperialist while Trump is probably an isolationist or Reaganite Peace Through Strength/Realpolitik type, though in Trump's case it depends on what day of the week it is and who he's speaking too. Rubio is consistent, but he'd probably push for massive US intervention against the commies if he could.
Hopefully together than can destabilise and destroy the Maduro regime without some sort of heavy handed US invasion, occupation and nation building. Don't get me wrong - if the US just flat out assassinated Maduro I would not object. What's important is that there is no occupation and the US hands over political control to the National Assembly as soon as possible.
And the thing is even under Realpolitik you're not completely banned from giving an unfriendly regime a push when it looks wobbly. The US needs to be like a rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes don't tend to attack you, but you don't want to mess with them because they've got fangs and venom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_flag#Snake_symbolism
Chavez
tweaked the snake's tail for too long. And his successor Maduro his charisma, has ruined the economy and has given up all pretence of being democratically elected.
Now's the time to bite. And in this case the venom being administered is a lethal dose of financial sanctions. Best thing is they affect Maduro but not Venezuela because Guaido's regime will still get the money.
Guaido has offered Maduro amnesty if he steps down on Chilean lines
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-46997555
Seems like a smart move.
Maduro offered talks and Guaido turned him down. Meanwhile the US is pointedly putting hardcore neocons in charge of US efforts to restore democracy, which I think even the dimmest of anti American dictators would notice has a hint of menace about it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-47009301
Germany and Spain have both said that they will recognize Guaido unless Maduro holds elections
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-venezuela-hold-elections-or-we-recognize-guaido/a-47228335
In practice this means they're not on Maduro's side. The Germans are terrible weasels when it comes to foreign policy, but the Spanish have a pretty good record on calling on undemocratic behaviour in Spanish speaking countries and it seems like in this case the Germans have decided to help them out.
