Let's start with a guy who's been in and out of mental institutions all his life... Roger Waters: From Pink Floyd Icon to Nicolas Maduro Puppet Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters has emerged as a leading supporter of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. By Q24N Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters has been making headlines this week in an unlikely region of the world: the Andean region. Is he going to be swinging through Quito, Bogota, Lima, Caracas, and LaPaz for a tour, you ask? Roger Waters is furious that Richard Branson is sponsoring a concert in Cucuta, in opposition to Maduro’s Venezuelan dictatorship (Futuro). Hardly. (Although given his affinity for Nicolas Maduro, a “concert for the dictatorship” wouldn’t be out of the question). Rather, it’s his expertise as a geopolitical commentator, rather than his musical stylings, that have been making headlines. Waters is outraged…outraged, that his countryman Richard Branson is sponsoring a “Live-Aid-ish” type event in the city of Cucuta, on the Colombo-Venezuelan border, a place that has become the focal point for the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis. Waters sees Branson as an unwitting pawn of the “Evil Empire”: the United States, which, of course, just wants to steal all of Venezuela’s oil. (He apparently believes that Russia and China have no interest in Venezuela oil, and is blissfully unaware that the United States has been buying the lion’s share of Venezuelan oil for decades already…”buying” on the global market is now “stealing” according to Waters). For Waters, here is the rub. Branson’s ambitious goal of raising USD$100 million for sick and hungry Venezuelan refugees has nothing to do with humanitarian aid, but rather with the planned United States “takeover” of Venezuela. Not exactly. The United States is not interested in “taking over” Venezuela, any more than it is interested in “taking over” Mexico, Chile, Peru or any of our other close allies in the region. And waters really gets steamed up about democracy…according to him, Venezuela has a spectacular and “real” democracy. This is beyond laughable. The overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan people stand with the opposition and the National Assembly, which won a two-thirds supermajority the last time free and fair elections were held. If imprisoning, torturing, and banning opposition politicians from running in elections constitutes a “real democracy”…then Venezuela would undoubtedly have one of the “most real democracies” in the world. Waters argues that Branson’s event has nothing to do with the needs of the Venezuelan people. Enlighten us, Roger. I suppose those three million people who have fled Venezuela left because they just wanted a change of scenery, right? I suppose that the 500,000 Venezuelans now residing in Peru are there because they had always wanted to do the full tour of Machu Picchu and enjoy some world-class ceviche? I suppose the streets of every major Colombian city are packed with Venezuelans because of the world-class healthcare and education that was promised by brother Maduro and friends? It’s amazing how they have billions for their palaces, mansions, private jets, and overseas bank accounts, but don’t seem to be able to find money for food and medicine for the working class people they claim to champion. Roger Waters may be a musical genius, but he is an all-around fool if he buys hook, line, and sinker, the entirely false narrative put forth by the socialist dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. This is a prime example of what happens when you allow your ideology, your extreme political bias, to cloud your judgment. Peter Gabriel, call me! Waters seems most concerned that his fellow British pop icon Peter Gabriel is slated to perform at the event. He begs the former Genesis singer and world famous solo artist to give him a call, so Waters (noted political commentator and observer of the Andean region) can set his friend straight. Because of course, a concert to raise USD $100 million for hungry and starving Venezuelan refugees would very likely lead us into another Iraq. This is one of the worst analogies of all. Iraq was a disaster because it led to the United States refereeing a long-simmering sectarian and inter-ethnic conflict featuring Sunni, Shia, Kurds, and others, all forced to live together due to badly-drawn colonial borders that were imposed by the British. The Iraqi people did, briefly, rise up and celebrate the demise of a brutal dictator, but rather than clamor for freedom, they soon turned to perpetuating a bloody conflict largely rooted in Islamic jurisprudence. Venezuela is an entirely different can of worms. Maduro has virtually no popular support. In an actual free and fair election, he would be hard pressed to get 10% of the vote. And that is being generous. None of this matters to Waters. He is so far removed from reality that he believes Venezuela is Switzerland. Source: Panampost.com http://qcostarica.com/roger-waters-from-pink-floyd-icon-to-nicolas-maduro-puppet/
Funny. Trump was and is a celebrity and people admire him and they are... well, you know, the word you used to describe the ones you were trying to put down. Nice try. Checkmate.
Personally, I listen to rock stars for their rock music. I take celebrities who express opinions on political matters for the most part with a grain of salt. I wouldn't get too worked up about Mr. Waters if I were you.
I was convinced this was going to be about Donald Trump, or Ted Nugent, or Sean Hannity, or Mike Huckabee, or Rosanne Barr or....
It'll end like every thread started by maris. He'll come in smug thinking he proved something important, the usual group will come in and dissect his post for either A: inaccuracies or B: huge fallacies that he thinks prove his point and C: he'll slunk off and start another thread.
I'm pretty sure that a lot of the posters over here have different world views than I do, sometimes maybe drastically. I "like" to believe though that, that doesn't mean we can't have a generally good dialogue about things. Our world views, if laid out respectfully, shouldn't prohibit friendships, and if that's too much in the very least it shouldn't prohibit us from showing decency towards each other. Yes, of course, there are very extreme world views, that are at such great conflict with each other they deem the other one to not be deserving of that decency, but honestly, I believe those are fairly rare. I saw @Chris Craig post something yesterday that really bothered me, in the way he put it, but I know enough about him to realize he is a "good" guy. The problem I generally have with this "type" of thread is that to me, seeking conflict, calling a group of people Trumpets, Morons, whatever from the start of the conversation does absolutely nothing positive. In fact, it usually just makes people who feel like they're targetted jump into defensive positions, which means when it comes to actual conversation, you will have none. Some may call it weakness, but I don't live my life seeking conflict with people who disagree with me, I live my life seeking to understand people who disagree with me, trying to figure out how they got to where they're at.
The GRU are nothing. The FSB is where it's at. We at the FSB are so cool that we get to wear our hats slightly cocked off center. And the chicks dig our uni-s.
I guess since no rebuttal at all pertaining to the OP, we can all agree Roger Waters and the idiotic opinions he expresses, and the people who admire him for them, are brain-dead.
