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| Separated at birth? Assange and Ron.... |
Alek Boyd gives us the goods on Assange, preferring Lukashenko to the Venezuelan media. That is, if we are to believe the thesis of Alek, Assange is just yet another mediocre anti US creep who use a silly US army guy who is now in jail while Assange is a "celebrity". He got embassy cables that have not revealed much that was not known already, and proved in fact that the US foreign service was much nicer than what folks like Assange could have ever suspected. As a result it will be more difficult to make diplomacy in the world, open talks will be rarer and of course we will all pay the price for that since when lousy or unpalatable deals cannot be made with discretion the option left is open confrontation, or worse. And some people are nominating Assange for the Peace Nobel! Dear Lord!
The other item, closer to home, is the death of Lina Ron. At 51, this more than A type personality had it coming and she died of a heart attack. At a private clinic, mind you, not some hospital or CDI for the people managed by the glorious revolution she defended.
They say that you should not speak ill of the departed but in her case there is really no positive eulogy you can come up with unless you are from the idiotic chavista fringes: many inside chavismo disliked her heartily. I will leave to Gustavo for her life resume and legacy of violence which started with her burning the US flag in front the US embassy after September 11. Nothing good could have ever been expected from this crazed pasionaria.
However I will discuss something that you may not find easily elsewhere because nobody from either side will dare to admit to it. In the past decade Lina Ron has been the lone chavista to establish a leadership of her own. Not one in the opposition or the PSUV has been able to create the devoted following that she did, to the point of worrying Chavez more than once. Not that she was able to really threaten in any way, like Assange she was too messy and prima donna to have a true long term strategy, but in her own sickly ways she was an indication of the true nature of chavismo lumpen, something that scared even Chavez were he to lose control of her someday. Of all chavista leaders she is the only one that I followed, with an anthropological fascination, as the embodiment of the latent violence and amorality of Venezuelan society
To end this obit of sorts on a more positive note, Lina's passing is an interesting coincidence when finally more civilized leadership is starting to make inroads. I suppose that we had to go through people like Lina Ron to finally understand that we needed to follow people like Lopez or Radonski if we wanted to climb out of Barbary some day.
PS: Well, well, well, Lina Ron gets an obit from the BBC itself.... Those Brits are always suckers for this type of people, so un-phlegmatic.....