A parallel commentary from Anatoly Kurmanaev writing in the Wall Street Journal (“The Tragedy of Venezuela“):
Growing up in provincial Russia in the 1990s, I lived through the collapse of a superpower and witnessed the corruption, violence and degradation that followed. I thought I had the street smarts to navigate Venezuela’s maddening Socialist bureaucracy and controls, while enjoying much nicer weather.
What struck me on arriving was how little the Socialist leaders cared about even the appearances of equality. They showed up at press conferences in shantytowns in motorcades of brand new armored SUVs. They toured tumbledown factories on live state TV wearing Rolexes and carrying Chanel handbags. They shuttled journalists to decaying state-run oil fields on private jets with gilded toilet paper dispensers.
HT: https://www.aei.org/publication/wednesday-evening-links-13/