Army sent in to Venezuelan cities as unrest prompts coup warning

The Telegraph ^ | February 13, 2014 | Hannah Strange, Alasdair Baverstock

[iontheball]

Venezuelan troops fanned out across the capital, Caracas, and other major cities on Thursday after President Nicolás Maduro ordered a military clampdown against deadly unrest that he warned was part of a "fascist" coup plot.

Piles of burning rubbish sat smoking along Caracas' main avenue as troops moved to secure the city following an outbreak of street violence that left three dead on Wednesday. Armed soldiers surrounded government buildings and diverted traffic, while riot troops guarded entrances to the shuttered subway system as residents picked their way through broken glass.

[Georgia Girl 2]

He better be taking notice. This is coming to a street near you soon. People are only going to take so much before they take to the streets.

[Windflier]

Homeland Security has 70,000 agents authorized to carry arms. They have recently submitted massive ammunition buys for "training purposes." Obama's threat to form a "civilian security force" that would rival the uniformed services is proceeding apace.

And? There are at least 100,000,000 lawful gun owners in America who possess an estimated 300,000,000 firearms and billions upon billions of rounds of ammo.

In this political climate, another Ruby Ridge or Waco would touch off a prairie fire of resistance that no force on earth could extinguish. If the little CommuNazis have a lick of sense, or self preservation instinct, they'll tiptoe verrrrry gently around the people.

[Windflier]

Fascists always shoot at civilians who protest.

They'd be nuts to do that in this country. There's a rifle behind every blade of grass.

[Windflier]

What I’m wondering is... would we protest here? Would we go out en masse armed only with signs? Or would we do something more coordinated and... substantial?

Depends on the pain and threat level to the citizens.

Every citizenry has a breaking point. Your latter scenario will surely come to pass if the people's pain threshold is exceeded in this country. Just looking at the direction and pace of events, I can't see how we're going to avoid it. The little monsters in the regime are hell bent on creating their Socialist utopia, and nothing's slowing them down. Something's going to break at some point.

Now, that latter scenario may only involve widespread protests and civil disobedience. Perhaps we'll see millions of Americans show up and camp out in DC until we get some redress of grievances. Then again, maybe the people will stand motionless, waiting for someone else to make the first move, and conditions will worsen even further.

If that happens, we're talking the worst result possible. It means that the people will be forced to exercise the only solution left for them to restore their country.

And that's a very dangerous thing for any wanna-be Nazis who are running a country filled with millions of armed citizens.

[bert]

Since the cities are black and there is black power, there will likely be no American urban unrest adequate to bring Obama down.

When I look back I see two precedents. Julius Caesar and Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus).

Julius Caesar was done in by his friends in the Senate. He went beyond what they would tolerate.

Caligula was done in by his Praetorian guard. He made them sick and ashamed of Rome.

Both were inside jobs by those close to the Emperor. Barack Obama knows or has been told of these events. He never strays on any but carefully checked ground. He never dares to be in a crowd. Moochelle aka the Wookie might be afraid to fly with him.

[crosslink]

Ping

[Windflier]

I see two precedents. Julius Caesar and Caligula
Julius Caesar was done in by his friends in the Senate. He went beyond what they would tolerate.
Caligula was done in by his Praetorian guard. He made them sick and ashamed of Rome.
Both were inside jobs by those close to the Emperor.

Yes, and both came from within the established regime. One political, one military. In neither case, was it necessary for the citizens to revolt to oust the dictator.

With the threat Obama's become to his party, I can see the possibility of a cabal forming within the Democrat establishment to destroy him politically, in a bid keep him from doing further damage to the rest of their party. That could (but probably wouldn't) include impeachment.

The scenario of him being ousted by the military is, in my opinion, less likely, but still possible. It all depends upon how far he over-reaches in his quest for complete power in the next three years. If he tries to invoke martial law for any reason, that would be the likeliest trigger.

[bert]

-——the military-——

I wonder if there is “the military”

After 5 years is our officer corps a homogeneous entity?

[metalurgist]

Homeland Security has 70,000 agents authorized to carry arms.

That's not enough people to hold Philadelphia. Bag pipers will be busy.

[BfloGuy]

Or would we do something more coordinated and... substantial?

I wonder if we'd do anything at all.