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Where's the cia when you need them to topple a dictator who oppresses with slave labor

baybal2 6y ago
You usually cannot "topple" a rogue regime, unlike a civil government. Dictators almost always have secret police, and domestic espionage agencies in every corner. This is why I do not subscribe to notion that Western spies are trying to stage revolutions in repressive regimes for a simple reason that they can not.
- pietrovismara 6y ago
  Oh but they did. Time and time again. Given the pattern there's no reason to think western powers are not meddling with foreign affairs today.
- pydry 6y ago
  They failed in Venezuela recently but that didn't stop them from trying. There was a democratic Senator who ascribed the failure to Trump's incompetence. Most of Latin America had had a US backed coup at some point in its history. Many very successful. Pinochet, etc.
  - baybal2 6y ago
    And this is a very good example of what I said. US only ever managed to use staged coups to unseat civil governments, and failed miserably with tougher targets like real totalitarian regimes. The only notable exception I think was Noriega, who was a joke of a dictator, and possibly even put in power with American help in the first place.
    - CountSessine 6y ago
      Except that the spooks failed even when it came to unseating Noriega because they had to call in the military to stage an invasion. The only two cases that I’m aware of where the US clandestinely toppled a foreign government were Chile and Iran - and apparently even the Iranian operation was mostly driven by the British secret service. And by all accounts, Chile was more of a nudge than a push.
pydry 6y ago
Out toppling a democratically elected government that threatened US investors' profit margins. I'm pretty sure they're stirring up trouble in xinjiang also. Pitting ethnic minorities in hard to defend mountainous border regions against central government is a standard divide and conquer empire tactic. The British Empire used it a lot in Asia, for instance.
philwelch 6y ago
That’s door number 2. I’m not opposed to going through door number 2.

You usually cannot "topple" a rogue regime, unlike a civil government. Dictators almost always have secret police, and domestic espionage agencies in every corner. This is why I do not subscribe to notion that Western spies are trying to stage revolutions in repressive regimes for a simple reason that they can not.

pietrovismara 6y ago
Oh but they did. Time and time again. Given the pattern there's no reason to think western powers are not meddling with foreign affairs today.
pydry 6y ago
They failed in Venezuela recently but that didn't stop them from trying. There was a democratic Senator who ascribed the failure to Trump's incompetence. Most of Latin America had had a US backed coup at some point in its history. Many very successful. Pinochet, etc.
- baybal2 6y ago
  And this is a very good example of what I said. US only ever managed to use staged coups to unseat civil governments, and failed miserably with tougher targets like real totalitarian regimes. The only notable exception I think was Noriega, who was a joke of a dictator, and possibly even put in power with American help in the first place.
  - CountSessine 6y ago
    Except that the spooks failed even when it came to unseating Noriega because they had to call in the military to stage an invasion. The only two cases that I’m aware of where the US clandestinely toppled a foreign government were Chile and Iran - and apparently even the Iranian operation was mostly driven by the British secret service. And by all accounts, Chile was more of a nudge than a push.

pydry 6y ago

Out toppling a democratically elected government that threatened US investors' profit margins. I'm pretty sure they're stirring up trouble in xinjiang also. Pitting ethnic minorities in hard to defend mountainous border regions against central government is a standard divide and conquer empire tactic. The British Empire used it a lot in Asia, for instance.

philwelch 6y ago

That’s door number 2. I’m not opposed to going through door number 2.