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37 thoughts on “لا يوجد مواد (= “no hay material” in Arabic)”

  2. “There’s no shortage of irony, however.

    Venezuela is the biggest oil producer on the continent, the region’s leader in CO2 emissions and, thanks to a generous fuel subsidy, sells gasoline for less than a penny a gallon. As a result, domestic consumption has soared in recent years to around 700,000 barrels a day, meaning Venezuela dedicates about a quarter of its crude production to supply its population of 30 million”

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    • The further irony is that the most predatory capitalistic behavior is that of monopoly. Monopoly is considered so predatory that it is outlawed in almost all capitalist economies. Venezuela, however, is a founding member of a cartel designed to create a monopoly that can maintain prices at a level not warranted by actual supply and demand. This predatory behavior drains the cash from consuming countries, many of which are poor, to the considerable advantage of a few exporting countries. Wonder what Marx would think of that.

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      • The chaburro regime holds the most crushing monopoly within Venezuela: The dollar monopoly, made possible by the infamous currency exchange control system.
        They have stated it clear enough, aristoburro said “If we take out the currency exchange control, we’re toast.”

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      • “Wonder what Marx would think of that.”

        I’m extremely sorry to be the one telling you, but Marx was not particularly known for being an enthusiast of private enterprises freely competing against each other and markets where the invisible hand was the single and ultimate authority defining supply, demand and prices, you know?

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        • What? Marx didn’t advocate free markets? I’m crushed. Based on what you’ve told me, I’m guessing he wouldn’t have liked country with socialist pretensions participating in a cartel controlling international petroleum markets either. On the other hand, Groucho was always unpredictable, so you never know.

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  3. Que papelon! y que verguenza ajena.

    I can only imagine the increasing level of disrespect PDVSA and Venezuelan officials get in these international meetings.

    But the cuban propaganda is world class and the attention span of media consumers ever decreasing.
    Not our issue how the messages land in foreign audiences, but to focus on how to tip the unstable equilibrium within.

    Dakaso 2014 will surely outshine any conscious messaging though!

    Esperando al cisne negro!
    Cheers,

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  5. The money line….”But during an open forum with environmental organizations, Venezuela’s top official on climate matters, Claudia Salerno, refused to allow talk of cutting the use of fossil fuels to be included in the final draft of a resolution to be presented to the U.N…….”

    Really, Venezuela officials are morons. Better these officials begin to think of how to prevent Venezuela from economically imploding instead of pretending to care about the environment.

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  7. “…He wasn’t comforted when an attendant told him that his oil minister Ali al-Naimi, probably the single most powerful figure in global oil markets, would need to get in the queue…”

    Yep, nothing like showing to who can basically send you a lifeline or let you sink like a rock one of the worst, most annoying aspects of Venezuelan “daily life”.

    Call me hyperbolic, but now I can blame the stupid queues and snail-like bureaucracy of “matraca” from the very ruin of the country xD

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  8. Yeah, when conference organizers say 9 am tomorrow, it invariably means: maybe some time this week, someplace else.

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  9. “He wasn’t comforted when an attendant told him that his oil minister Ali al-Naimi, probably the single most powerful figure in global oil markets, would need to get in the queue and receive his name tag in person. ”

    Come on, it’s not like this small man comes from an advanced civilisation or anything alike. The dude is Saudi, meaning that he comes from a barbarian primitive society where sharia law is the “judicial system”.

    I simply loved the attendant’s demeanor! “Yeah, get back in the line if you want your tag you mr. nothing, are you happy to be told what to do by a female?”

    Simply L-O-V-E-D IT! Can someone give a raise to that girl?

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    • Sharia law is not “barbarian” or “primitive”. Your ignorance and bigotry are though.

      There are diverse interpretations of Quran and sharia laws. ISIS doesn’t represent all muslims, in the same way Westboro Babtist Church doesn’t represent all protestants. But that won’t get through your thick skull.

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      • I knew a saudi girl (who’s now my friend) that told me the story of a woman living in Canada that wanted to marry a christian. The thing got to a point where saudi government wanted the Canadians to deport her, she had to be punished. For my saudi friend, they were barbaric. She hated that side of her culture.

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        • Luna, as a woman it’s understandable that you are more sensitive about the issues pertaining fellow women than the men above. Don’t expect that the average ‘Latino macho type’ will actually care about the Saudi Government stoning adulterous women to death. “It’s not barbarian or primitive, she got that coming.”, it’s what they say. A guy I know once told me that the Saudis “are correct about not letting women drive, because women can’t drive anyway.” Can you believe it?

          Actually, it doesn’t strike me as a surprise that so many people in backward Latin America, which is a very misogynistic part of the world, ‘understand and accept’ what women endure in Saudi Arabia. “It’s just their culture.” Ha!

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          • As one of the men above, who is neither from Latin America nor a “Latino macho type”, where, at any point, did I say that “she got that coming”? Just because you are culturally biased doesn’t necessarily mean I am. You are passing judgment from a socially liberal framework. Imagine how Brazil or Venezuela appears to the Saudis: rampant crime and corruption, an economy in shambles, the drugs, political instability, the vibrant chaos that typifies Latin America.

            You might be surprised to learn that most Saudis are fairly well educated and relatively liberal. Reforms come slowly for a number of reasons, but a primary one is, as a Saudi coworker once told me, due to the fact that the notion of a Saudi nation would fall apart and collapse were such reforms simply enacted en masse; there are still too many “old guard” traditionalists and it will be generations before things mirror the West, if they ever do. In his words, as I recall them, “My country is still a nation of children needing to be reassured that there is no boogeyman waiting for them in the dark if they turn of the lights to face the unknown.”

            Something to take into consideration: Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have had access to oil for about roughly the same period and they have similar populations and reliance on oil (>95% of exports). Which has progressed further from their original state and which has capitalized the most on its resource “opportunity”? I’d point you in the direction of some basic economic and social indicators…you know, things like infant mortality rate, educational attainment, primary, secondary and university enrollment rates, murder rate; a broad spectrum of things and see how a primitive and barbaric society competes with, say, Brazil and Venezuela.

            Lastly, you assert they stone women for adultery in Saudi Arabia. To my knowledge, they haven’t done so in 30 or so years. Moreover, adultery is a hudud crime: something that under Sharia law requires a bit more proof than you might believe would be required in a “barbarian or primitive” society and is applied to both sexes, not just one.

            Saudi Arabia has a long way to go in some areas, but it has come a longer way still in the past 50 years. To put forth the notion that they are a “barbarian primitive society” is remarkably ignorant. Riyadh or Medina may not be your cup of tea, but I’m sure the Saudis feel much the same about Rio or Sao Paolo or Porte Allegre, let alone Caracas or Maracaibo.

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            • Say whatever you want, a country that bans music, movies and any religion besides their own, is a primitive place. Also, you may like KSA if you agree with modern slavery: millions of migrants find themselves in that awful situation when working for the so-called liberals/educated Saudi nationals you like so much. I’m talking about Indians, Filipino, Bangladeshis going through a hell in Riyadh or Median … not your panas or yourself from the oil Industry)

              That without mentioning they are a repressive and misogynist society that are still living their own dark ages.

              Between those cities you mention, I’d choose without any doubt any city in Brazil or Venezuela (even with La peste roja). I don’t care

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      • Javier.

        Barbarian and primitive is what you see every morning in the mirror. We may have “thick skulls” but we all know what kind of crap women endure in Saudi Arabia.

        And Saudi Arabia looks like the most “benevolent” place for them in the muslim world.

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      • Right…that is why Pakistanis and other “lower muslims,” have to learn the Koran in Arabic. What is the penalty for interpreting the word of mohammed (PBUH..the p does not stand for peace) in any other way as he intended them to be?

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      • Yes, ISIS doesn’t represent all Muslims or all forms of Sharia. That doesn’t mean that Sharia, as practiced in Saudi Arabia, is not also barbaric, particularly in its treatment of petty thieves, apostates, blasphemers, and women in general (just to pick a few). Saying so is hardly ignorant.

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      • well you could always ask the women subjected to this “non primitive” law if they like it or not…

        enough with the PC bullshit!

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        • Yeah, let’s ask them. Oh. Wait… they cannot speak with anyone outside their family!

          such a lovely place to have a daughter. I’m sure all the apologists will be more than happy to live with their daughter over there (outside a compound of course)

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    • So: “They deserve it” is the new rule for diplomatic relations? I hope you would not complain if something like this or worse happens to you when travelling abroad.

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  10. What the hell is wrong with these people? The Saudis are the last people you’d like to piss off!

    Thanks to the Herculean efforts of these fucking idiots, oil price might reach $70 per barrel next week. Some people are their own worst enemy, but they’re dragging down a lot of other Venezuelans with them…

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  11. How long did Mr Ramirez and his entourage have to queue to get their identity name tags ?? , quite sure they did not have to queue at all because it is an accepted norm of civility that important people dont have to go through the hassle that lesser beings have to go through . A question of diplomatic courtesy which is extended to all Important Officials when they visit other countries. There is nothing to praise in the boorish attitude of the petty Venezuelan official in demanding that the Saudi Minister queue to get his identity name tag.

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