The Real News Network has the video Left Media Coverage of Venezuela Questioned (1/7).

Prominent Venezuelan sociologist and intellectual Edgardo Lander says while it’s correct to oppose U.S. intervention and interference, Left media should not minimize the responsibility of the Maduro government for the economic crisis.

A very important discussion has been started here in the first part of the seven part episode. The application to Socialism in the USA is extremely pertinent. I don’t consider myself a socialist nor a capitalist. I call myself a “what worksist”. If we cannot look at various parts of our society to talk about what works and what doesn’t, then we are foregoing some of the opportunities to make the society work better for more people.

Some people might miss the point that some government sector capitalism is not the only alternative to private sector capitalism. Prof. Lander made clear what Venezuela and Cuba did well, and what did not work so well. Of course the USA interference made things much harder, but that is no excuse for refusing to look at what the Chavista movement could have done better even under the circumstances of USA interference. This is the first criticism from the left that I have heard that is specific about what Chavez and Maduro could have done better. I anxiously await the next 6 parts. People who favor some more democratic socialism in the USA should take to heart the lessons that Prof. Lander is trying to teach.

RT has the article ‘We saw this playbook in Iraq’: Ilhan Omar shoots back at VP Pence in socialism spat.

Freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has fired back at Vice President Mike Pence, after Pence accused her of “choosing socialism over freedom” by opposing regime change in Venezuela.

VP Pence is the one who deisn’t know what he is talking about. Are you enslaved by Social Security and Medicare? How does Socialism as practiced in the USA for several hundred years amount to a loss of freedom? Well there is an answer to that. Socialism means a loss of freedom for the oligarchs wanting to plunder our economy. This freedom to plunder is exactly what Pence wants. I don’t want it for the USA, and I think the people in Venezuela who reject it are right. Of course, what the people of Venezuela want is none of my business.

RT has the article Russia tops global gold buyers list as it turns away from US dollar.

Net gold purchases by central banks hit a six-year high in the first quarter of 2019, with Russia securing the leading position, as nations seek diversification of their assets and less dependence on the greenback.

This type of thing is an obvious attempt to dethrone the USA dollar as a world reserve currency. This dethroning is what Modern Money Theorists do not foresee in the near future as something that can happen to cause inflation in the USA. If Trump continues to weaponize the USA dollar with economic sanctions and tariffs, what MMT dismissed so easily before Trump could come to pass sooner than they could imagine.