Bernardo Salazar

The argument that Venezuela would become an ungovernable, Haiti-like failed state after Maduro falls is equally lazy. Armed para-state groups do operate inside the country, but mostly in rural border regions and the south — far from cities or seats of government power. It is unlikely they could challenge a post-Maduro administration backed by... See more

An ordinary Venezuelan won’t skip a visit to SAIME to renew its passport just because Maduro’s state isn’t legitimate. They won’t ignore a fine or tell a police officer they have no authority because the state they serve is illegitimate. They’ll go to SAIME because only the state can issue a valid passport. They’ll obey the officer because he still... See more

An ordinary Venezuelan won’t skip a visit to SAIME to renew its passport just because Maduro’s state isn’t legitimate. They won’t ignore a fine or tell a police officer they have no authority because the state they serve is illegitimate. They’ll go to SAIME because only the state can issue a valid passport. They’ll obey the officer because he still... See more

Sure, the legitimacy argument has served to sanction chavista actors and claim legal control over foreign assets. But as a political tool, it has failed to drive real change. The theory embraced by some opposition lawyers and advisors was straightforward: the force of law comes from its legitimacy—that is, the justification or reasoning that... See more

But in the end, gravity still works, and a balloon can be inflated only so much. The bitcoin bubble is an artifact of market manipulation and has no more economic substance than the Hawk Tuah coin does. The U.S. government may be ripe for plunder, but other nations need to take steps to shield themselves from the impact of rug-pulling on a global... See more

Bitcoin remains a strangely useless asset that doesn’t do anything. All you can do with it is buy, sell, or hold. The only use for cryptocurrency other than pure zero-sum speculation is bitcoin’s original use case: evading regulations, most often for illegal purchases, money laundering, or dodging sanctions.

Crypto is seen as the domain of cheap scammers. Ordinary people are not flocking into crypto.

But crypto trading is thin and almost entirely unregulated—perfect conditions for commodity market manipulation.

Tech is destructive if it operates outside of core human values and holistic, empathetic thinking. Those STEM disciplines are useful, but only when they contribute to human flourishing.