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CSI Venezuela

Started by Savonarola, October 22, 2013, 02:15:32 PM

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derspiess

#405
February 26, 2019, 03:43:02 PM
Quote from: Threviel on February 26, 2019, 02:54:47 PM
It's just that if Venezuela is so fucked up that the truck drivers risk being shot it would probably be safer to go with colombian och brazilian drivers. Or even US drivers, I have a hard time believing that US citizens would be shot.

Foreigners might not get shot by the Army or Police.  But the Army or Police might look the other way while militia members or gang members take you into the woods and shoot you.  Not a very safe place for gringos.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Threviel

#406
February 26, 2019, 04:04:59 PM
Damn, is it Somalia bad over there or what?

Valmy

#407
February 26, 2019, 04:06:21 PM
Quote from: Threviel on February 26, 2019, 04:04:59 PM
Damn, is it Somalia bad over there or what?

Now that would be an interesting statistical comparison.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

derspiess

#408
February 26, 2019, 05:28:17 PM
Quote from: Threviel on February 26, 2019, 04:04:59 PM
Damn, is it Somalia bad over there or what?

Dunno, but it's pretty horrible.  Somehow this oppressive regime manged to let crime get out of control.  I guess it has to do with their arrangements with the colectivos (gangs).

What's just as bad is the lack of food, and medicine.  Kids are chasing garbage trucks in hopes of grabbing scraps of food.   Hospitals are in terrible shape.  Acute shortages of medicine, medical supplies, and beds.  You're not allowed to take cameras or phones into hospitals there, but someone sneaked some pictures of patients lying on the floor and infants/children being kept in paper boxes and laundry baskets lined with blankets. 
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

derspiess

#409
March 11, 2019, 11:54:11 AM
Venezuela has been mostly without power for days due to failures on their grid.  I don't fully understand the issues, but an NYT reporter named Anatoly Kurmanaev has been posting updates on Twitter.  Apparently every time they try to start things back up, a substation catches on fire. 

https://twitter.com/AKurmanaev

Venezuela is mostly dependent upon hydroelectricity, and this Kurmanaev guy is saying their main dam (Guri) had its turbines catastrophically fail.  If that is the case, Venezuela is screwed because they don't have money or any remaining technical expertise inside the country to replace them.

Valmy would understand this stuff way better than I.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Valmy

#410
March 11, 2019, 12:09:29 PM Last Edit: March 11, 2019, 12:11:37 PM by Valmy
Big pieces of power equipment are notoriously expensive and have large lead times. Even modern first world countries can have substations and plants go down for days because a large transformer or turbine or some big piece of capital equipment (or, God help you, a boiler) unexpectedly fails. Most power systems are designed with the expectation that at least one thing is going to be down at any one time. Obviously they try to keep spares but this is expensive, but they often have contingency plans and temporary stopgaps to work past the issue as well such as temporary portable substations.

In Venezuela where everything is breaking down a big piece of specialized equipment that probably is not even manufactured in the country would be almost impossible to replace. Even under normal circumstances that would force the plant to be out for awhile.

Obviously faults from the generator can cause the oil in substation transformers to catch on fire. But it could also be that because this one very large generator is down, the system is operating under fault conditions just generally due to insufficient generation. One would think engineers would drop load rather than let that situation cause equipment failures that could shut huge sections of the system to go down for a long period of time.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

derspiess

#411
March 11, 2019, 12:44:11 PM
One thing I'm noticing on Twitter-- at least half the Venezuela-related posts in English are calling out the US for organizing a coup or whatever other shenanigans, while about 80% of the tweets in Spanish seem anti-Maduro, pro-intervention, etc.

Yes, I know, Twitter is a cesspool that is marginally less bad than youtube comments, but I thought that was interesting.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

FunkMonk

#412
March 11, 2019, 01:19:08 PM
The Twitterati love declaiming because it earns them points with their crowd and it makes them feel like they're actually doing something with their lives.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

OttoVonBismarck

#413
March 12, 2019, 12:19:41 PM
Starting to look like Venezuela may go the route of just becoming a failed state. May not be an ouster of Maduro but he may end up just running a fortress around Caracas while armed cannibal gangs rove the rest of the country as it descends into anarchy.  :huh:

Barrister

#414
March 12, 2019, 12:24:22 PM
Apparently with the power out there is also no running water in Caracas for the past few days.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Valmy

#415
March 12, 2019, 12:38:27 PM
Quote from: Barrister on March 12, 2019, 12:24:22 PM
Apparently with the power out there is also no running water in Caracas for the past few days.

Sometimes I wonder not how Maduro manages to keep power, but why he wants to. Surely he can see this situation cannot and will not end well for him.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

derspiess

#416
March 12, 2019, 12:38:57 PM
People are going to polluted streams to get water now.  It's turning into Mad Max, if it wasn't there already.  I'm still not sure if I'm ready for military intervention yet.  But how much worse does it need to be?
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Barrister

#417
March 12, 2019, 12:40:40 PM
Quote from: Valmy on March 12, 2019, 12:38:27 PM
Quote from: Barrister on March 12, 2019, 12:24:22 PM
Apparently with the power out there is also no running water in Caracas for the past few days.

Sometimes I wonder not how Maduro manages to keep power, but why he wants to. Surely he can see this situation cannot and will not end well for him.

But that's exactly it.  The days when dictators could flee into comfortable exile on the French Riviera are over.  If he leaves power he's probably hauled before either a Venezuelan court, or the ICC, for crimes against humanity.  He has to stay in power for his own survival.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

derspiess

#418
March 12, 2019, 01:01:48 PM
He can always go to Cuba.  Also doubt Turkey would extradite him.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Barrister

#419
March 12, 2019, 01:08:02 PM
Quote from: derspiess on March 12, 2019, 01:01:48 PM
He can always go to Cuba.  Also doubt Turkey would extradite him.

Cuba needs Maduro in power almost as much as Maduro himself.

He could probably go to Turkey or Russia, but then he's stuck relying on the goodwill of those countries.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.
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