So, Trump finally got his war. Well, not actually a war. More reminiscent of H.W. Bush’s action in Panama 35 years ago. Another action to save us from ourselves…
I find it comical that Trump is using the same bullshit excuse H.W. did…drugs. If we take nicotine, alcohol and all the street and currently legal drugs consumed in America the number pushed close to 60% of the population taking something.
H.W. wanted strategic control of the Panama Canal. Noriega was fine as a CIA asset…until he took a few of their pages on drug trafficking and money laundering to heart… We even had a trial and everything to make our action look a little less contrived.
Trump is doing the same thing, in essence. The primary difference, in my mind, is the caliber of advisors H.W. Bush had at his disposal. Granted, Dick Cheney and James Baker were no shining beacons of integrity…but you did have Colin Powell chime in…before H.W.'s kid fucked up his credibility…
Today, Trump has such whiz kids as Kevin Roberts, Russell Vought, Stephen Miller and Just Detestable Vance at his side…not discounting Hegseth as the sycophant enabler deeply in need of an intervention himself… What could go wrong with such a scenario?
While we ponder the potential for Trump to enact his War Powers, what do you think?
The threads of evidence I’m pulling at in various media suggest that Trump has been quietly focusing on foreign … adventures … for several weeks now as he understands he needs the distraction (and the organic boost it tends to give leaders with the public – although he probably is overreaching in this case). This invasion was originally planned for Christmas day but they got distracted lobbing some bombs into Nigeria instead, then there were weather delays, and here we are.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves (albeit some of the lowest quality). Greenland has both oil and rare earth elements, as does Nicaragua. Control of the Panama Canal is just an economic fulcrum, and guess what Venezuela is right next to. Trump has designs on all of these. And on Canada, which also has considerable oil.
Seen through this lens, and understanding that he probably sees himself dividing up the dwindling resources of a dying planet along with Russian and China, it makes a kind of sense.
Of course it won’t end well, either for us or the rest of the world.
The show trial of Maduro actually might somewhat play well with his base because Maduro was already endicted by the DOJ on 2020 for cocaine trafficking, and he’s no saint, hence, lots of rationalizations to be had at least for Trump’s loyal base. I’m sure most media won’t discuss that he just pardoned the former president of Honduras for the same offenses.
The worst part here is really that they go in with boots on the ground in another sovereign country to arrest someone. It doesn’t matter if they do it by military force or with police. Just the very fact that they interefere with internal affairs in another country is such a clear violation of international law and all understandings of sovereignty. How would Trump and MAGgots react if, say, China or Cuba sent police forces to arrest a US citizen in the US by force and then transport him out, without prior approval from US authorities?
I think the point we’re glossing over is how will forces and entities in Venezuela and surrounding it going to react to this.
Vice President Delcy Rodríguez hasn’t gone anywhere. Trump has already said he’s not going to work with Rodriguez, so that leave the Vice President with few option but to fight on.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López didn’t buy a plane ticket either. With his ties to the PDVSA he has no reason to quit either.
Jorge Rodríguez, the vice president’s brother, runs the National Assembly. He’s still out there. Diosdado Cabello, ex-military officer and head of the pro-government legislature has his paws all over military intelligence (DGCIM), domestic surveillance, and armed civilian colectivos. He’s still there, too.
Don’t forget about the Colombian rebels…they’ve had a hard-on for the US for some time now.
Too bad Trump gave all those billionaires a tax break. They’re all he can steal from to pay for this occupation now that he’s screwed the 99% blue.
We will be pouring billions into this mess for at least a decade. This will become a study in Murphy’s Law with an orange tint. Welcome to Act II of the Kakistocracy.
As I’m sure most of us are aware by now this has changed and Rodriguez has agreed to play ball, at least for the moment.
The other interesting development is that the reaction of the oil industry to the investment “opportunity” that Trump has created has been a great big yawn and a “no thanks”. I think the term they used was “uninvestable”. In fact it was Trump’s first administration that chased a couple of the oil companies out of Venezuela, long after Venezuela nationalized the oil industry in the first place. Between that and the neglected oil infrastructure and the unverified claim by Venezuela about the size of their low-quality crude reserves … you don’t even have to raise objections about how (un)stable the country is going to be for the at least 10 year window they’d need to turn things around, or guarantees, that, say, the US will buy the oil if markets are soft or collapsing, as they already are starting to do as the rest of the world moves on from oil to renewables.
