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Bulletins and News Discussion from December 4th to December 10th, 2023 - The Legacy of Kissinger - COTW: Laos

Due to American cluster bombing campaigns advised by Kissinger during the Vietnam War to damage supply lines, over 2 million tonnes of ordinance were dropped on Laos over about a decade, averaging a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes. Laos is thus the most bombed country on the planet up to this point. 80 million bombs failed to explode - the cleanup operation is expected to take centuries, and 25,000 people have been killed and injured by bombs in the last 50 years. About 50 people are killed or injured every year to this day.

After the United States withdrew from Laos, the Pathet Lao took power and abolished the monarchy. Kaysone Phomvihane became a dominant figure in Laotian politics, keeping the course on Marxism-Leninism and implementing the first Five Year Plan in 1981. The second Five Year Plan in 1986 was modelled on Lenin's NEP, and this doubled rice production and significantly increased sugar production. After the fall of the USSR, Laos allowed a small capitalist class to exist, with similar control over them as in China. Laos maintains a 48-hour work week with paid sick leave, vacation time, and maternity leave, and workers are well-represented in trade unions. They faired relatively well during coronavirus from a social standpoint due to quick and efficient action to lock down the country, experiencing ~750 deaths out of a population of over 7 million.

There is hope even after utter destruction by genocidal oppressors.

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The Country of the Week is Laos! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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  • ExxonMobil Shares Fall for the Third Day in a Row

    The fall took place after Venezuelan announcements on the defense of the Guayana Esequiba territory.

    On Friday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez drew attention to the three consecutive days of decline in the value of ExxonMobil shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

    At the close of trading on Wall Street, the shares of this oil multinational were trading at US$100,44 on Tuesday, at US$99.11 on Wednesday, and at US$98.42 on Thursday.

    Currently, ExxonMobil is attempting to illegally exploit oil and gas fields in a maritime area pending delimitation near the Guayana Esequiba, a territory that the United States and the United Kingdom stripped from Venezuela through the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award.

    Despite being an area pending delimitation, the Government of Guyana granted oil concessions to the U.S.-based transnational company and other energy multinationals.

    On Dec. 3, in a message of unity and determination to defend the Venezuelan sovereignty, over 10 million citizens voted in favor of the YES in the Essequibo consultative referendum.

    After this democratic process, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro presented a bill for the defense of the Guayana Esequiba to the National Assembly. Approved in the first discussion, this bill includes measures to advance the peaceful resolution of the territorial dispute.

    "Respect international law, respect law, respect good neighborliness, and respect coexistence," the Bolivarian leader said, giving energy companies three months to leave the area pending delimitation.

    Maduro also reminded Guyanese authorities that the resolution of the dispute must be carried out through political-diplomatic means as stipulated in the 1966 Geneva Agreement.

    "We are willing to negotiate. Peacefully, everything. With force, nothing," he stated, reaffirming the Venezuelan foreign policy that has been based on the "Peace Diplomacy" principle.

    According to economist Alejandro Moncada, the value of ExxonMobil shares is falling because international markets have recognized Venezuela's firm stance regarding the defense of the Guayana Esequiba.

    "I think they will think it over very carefully," he said, referring to international investors trading with shares of energy companies.

    "Venezuela has not only the legitimate right but also the support of major countries like China, Russia, Turkey, or Belarus... Venezuela is not alone; it has people to defend it," Moncada emphasized to explain recent stock market behavior.

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