This is what people like john & Greg do when they want to destroy threads on the failure of socialism.

It's another tactic of the new totalitarians.

bogarde73 wrote on May 29^th, 2016 at 10:48am:


While a discussion on the problems it is facing is potentially interesting, I fail to see why we need to do anything with Venezuela.  Can someone explain why the question needs to be asked?

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 6^th, 2016 at 12:14pm:

There is no doubt that Venezuela has major problems, a great deal of which appear to be the result of incompetence and corruption in the political system, compounded by the fact that the country's economy relies so heavily on oil exports (oil accounts for something like 96% of its exports).  The country is a basket case, and nothing short of a complete change of government can save it.

You asked what are we going to do with Venezuela? Or as you most eloquently put it "What're we gonna do with Venezuela?".  Given that Australia does not have any special sort of relationship with Venezuela, and that the Venezuelan brand of socialism bears little resemblance to what we have here, I fail to see that there is any pressing need for Australia to do anything about it.  It would be more appropriate for other countries in the Americas to intervene rather than Australia, which is, after all, a relatively minor player on the international stage outside of our own geographical area.

Can I ask you again what we need to do about it and why we need to do anything about it?  You say you want a discussion about what you posted, but you shy away from answering questions.

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 6^th, 2016 at 12:14pm:

Oh yes, and there is no need to resort to personal abuse of the sort one would expect from an unintelligent troll.  I am sure you are capable of a better response that that.

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 7^th, 2016 at 7:59am:

Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not hurt or offended by what you said - as far as personal abuse goes, it is at a fairly low level.  I was just calling you out for the troll that you are.  You say that you want a discussion, but you ignore what people say about the topic and instead indulge in name calling and puerile comments about the person rather than have any sort of discussion about what they say.

I also get the impression that you seem to think that I am a committed Socialist of the old school.  While that might have been the case 40+ years ago, my political stance these days is much closer to the centre than to the left.

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 7^th, 2016 at 7:59am:

I have no idea what you’re on about - Cecil Rhodes, a Greek island, a Sydney suburb?

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 7^th, 2016 at 7:59am:

That did occur to me as a possibility but you should really learn to word your posts a bit better than you do, so that forum members know what you mean rather than having to guess.

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 7^th, 2016 at 7:59am:

I said in my last post that Venezuela was a “basket case basket case, and nothing short of a complete change of government can save it”.  Did it occur to you that I might actually agree with some of what you said?