Venezuela Analysis

New war is exciting. We all want it.

Well, the TV news networks want it. The TV news on the evening of the ground assault and capture of Presidente Maduro was using Marvel Movie type action music as a background. It came off as comical.

I did get a little internal "thrill" out of watching it myself, like an Epinefrine rush.

I don't buy into the jingoistic, tribal "YEEEEAHHH WE GOT THE MOTHER FUCKER AND WE OWN THE OIL" self congratulation. I see the pros and (there ARE!) cons.

The US and Trump acted unilaterally, but IMO completely in keeping with the precedent over several decades of waging war without congressional approval. But it's not really a war. IMO the action seems to be framed as peacekeeping and neutralization combined with military coercion of Venezuela to be a much better neighbor state.

There are so many constitutional problems with US military actions going back to Iraq (and even Vietnam, Panama, etc) that it feels like cherry picking to stop now and wring hands over the "ethical" issues. Precedent says to me that Trump was OK in doing this.

Was Venezuela a bad state? I believe so.

Economic low performance is one big metric. VZ sits on the largest crude oil reserve in the world but produces a fraction of its historic output, because Maduro and others have used gross ineptitude in economic management. This was incompetence, infrastructure rot due to lack of investment, and greed at work, not some green agenda: the world needs oil. VZ had a very high standard of living 20+ years ago but commies have trashed their economy. VZ exported gang violence and drugs throughout the US and the Carribean. The president constantly challenged the US in policy and verbally and stuck to the corruption and incompetency. Lastly, VZ has allegedly been a satellite of China and Russia.

VZ has blatantly been a bad actor internally and externally. Overall, Venezeula sucked the huge one. If any country deserved a revolt or overthrow it was Venezuela.

It's been mentioned "since Mexico has been the big drug vendor to the US why didn't Trump undertake action there?" since drugs were most of the uttered Venezuela takeover rationale. I believe that in short Trump correctly saw Venezuela as extremely dysfunctional already therefore there would not be popular resistance to takeover. While OTOH even though Mexico has cartel and corruption issues it is a healthy economy and aside from crime and cartels is functional. Mexico and any other healthy country would be a disaster to take over. VZ, not much reason to push back. IE: Yeah, Trump could also take Paraguay and it too would be a pushover but they don't export drugs and crime.

Petrodollar: BRICS wants to diminish the petrodollar as currency. The VZ takeover is in my opinion a bid to take over potentially massive oil production in order to protect the petrodollar and also assist with the national debt. (one thing libtards forget is that VZ nationalized several oil company's assets in the country so Venezuela has grossly mismanaged valuable stolen infrastructure.

2020 Election: It was alleged that servers used to perform vote tabulation were based in Venezuela and that that government assisted with skewing the election toward Biden. Sydney Powell the attorney went to prison trying to press that case. Allegedly it is a huge stick up Trump's ass to investigate that contention. (Every single challenge filed in 2020 was dismissed for lack of standing, and no evidence was ever heard.) Old things are new again. This will FINALLY put that entire issue to bed one way or another.

So that's my 360 review of the entire thing.

To me, it's not jingoism - I think occupying Venezuela as a client country for a few years will be overall a good thing for all of these reasons. It helps the people of Venezuela have better lives, it helps the US economy, it neutralizes a source of drugs and crime, and it facilitates a legal investigation that should have happened in 2021. AND it sends a clear strong message to the rest of South America as well as the world to not fuck with the US.

This will FINALLY put that entire issue to bed one way or another.

Any evidence of 2020 election fraud has long been destroyed. While there were lots of suspicious things, they never were properly investigated. People on both sides got hysterical over the issue. Democrats obstructed every attempt to get and analyze records. Trump supporters were sometimes too overzealous.

I don't see why someone who asks for an investigation of potential fraud should be prosecuted, even if it turns out they were wrong and there was no fraud. The aggressive prosecution of people trying to investigate fraud is extremely fishy.

Even if Maduro says "Yes, there was fraud and I was involved.", people would say he just told people what they wanted to hear so he would get a plea deal.

US oil companies wanted Venezuelan oil and now they have it.

BRICS is a genuine threat to SWIFT and the petrodollar and US global financial hegemony. I assume kidnapping Maduro will weaken BRICS but I don't know enough about Maduro to propose a mechanism for it, mine or anyone else's.

South America has a history of being sympathetic to communists because South Americans want to resist the US, and communists help them to do that. Being a so-called communist in South America is not on its own enough to class you as a bad person, there needs to be more.

I don't believe US election data was sent to Venezuela. Why would you?! There are easier ways. It's nonsense on its face. A theory that makes more sense to me is that the programming was written in South America for the purpose of rigging elections in those countries, and later the code was installed on US voting machines.

The US has a history of doing whatever the hell it wants. That's why decades ago "international law" was usurped by "rules-based international order". Which sorta sounds the same if you don't think about it but actually means the US makes the rules. Now, in one sense I don't object to that, history has always been might makes right, until the Treaty of Westphalia. But I do think that with power comes responsibility, and a morally upright superpower should not abuse its power.

...And that raises an interesting question. The history of most countries is one people moving into the territory and displacing a resident people. And that might've happened multiple times, especially on the European continent. So in today's world, what to do with the displaced peoples if they still exist? You can't give them the land back because innocent people now live there. You can't give them cash because that doesn't solve a problem. Maybe just bite the bullet and say sorry it's history and try to help them live a prosperous life in today's world? I'm thinking of Australia's aborigines. In the outback, the majority live a traditional life, more or less. But in Sydney, say, that's not an option.

Thx ,ndo

BRICS is a genuine threat to SWIFT and the petrodollar and US global financial hegemony. I assume kidnapping Maduro will weaken BRICS but I don't know enough about Maduro to propose a mechanism for it, mine or anyone else's.

What I read is that Venezuela has not yet become a BRICS member.

South America has a history of being sympathetic to communists because South Americans want to resist the US, and communists help them to do that. Being a so-called communist in South America is not on its own enough to class you as a bad person, there needs to be more.

YES, that is the major fly in the ointment to this coup-by-abduction. Maduro is a fucking !@&( commie but South Americans LOOOOVE their commies, Latins vote for commies by reflex, and the guy was in power specifically because they cluster around collectivism and communist tropes. I suspect that VZ will become a client of the US without free elections.

I don't believe US election data was sent to Venezuela. Why would you?!

Uhhh... because a bunch of online right wing nutjobs convinced me in 2021... :-D

Offshoring an activity is a major way of delegating responsibility for malfeasance. Example: The spy agencies in the US use agencies in the UK and other 5 eyes/9eyes countries to perform wiretapping and other surveillance on US citizens within the US. Perfectly "legal". The foreign agencies aren't bound by the fourth amendment, but evidence gathered internationally is admissable as evidence.

I saw a lot of chatter in 2021 describing voting data flowing through servers in VZ run by Dominion.

The US has a history of doing whatever the hell it wants. That's why decades ago "international law" was usurped by "rules-based international order". Which sorta sounds the same if you don't think about it but actually means the US makes the rules. Now, in one sense I don't object to that, history has always been might makes right, until the Treaty of Westphalia. But I do think that with power comes responsibility, and a morally upright superpower should not abuse its power.

Yes. Agreed.

Which makes the imperative to preserve US military supremacy of utmost importance. The US *tries* to do the right thing. Often fails, often succeeds. If China became the one who makes the rules, then organ harvesting would become an acceptable way to deal with a subordinate people.

The US can be a bully and sleazy but we are more trustworthy than every single other country on Earth. I used to rank the UK in the same category until they started putting people who mouthed off on Facebook into prison.

...And that raises an interesting question. The history of most countries is one people moving into the territory and displacing a resident people. And that might've happened multiple times, especially on the European continent. So in today's world, what to do with the displaced peoples if they still exist? You can't give them the land back because innocent people now live there. You can't give them cash because that doesn't solve a problem. Maybe just bite the bullet and say sorry it's history and try to help them live a prosperous life in today's world? I'm thinking of Australia's aborigines. In the outback, the majority live a traditional life, more or less. But in Sydney, say, that's not an option.

I'm totally in favor of a hand/leg up and helping those who are historically oppressed and suffer from - CURRENT!!!! --- lack of opportunity.

But in the US, almost *EVERY* immigrant community - Latino, Somali, eastern European, Asian - protects their own kind. In the US, "marginalized community" pretty much applies to white 2nd+ generation Americans because we have NO community to uplift us.

As far as "US heritage" blacks or Somalian immigrants being marginalized, I heartily say eat a bag of dicks.

I don't believe US election data was sent to Venezuela. Why would you?!

Sorry for being unclear. What I meant by this was, I don't believe US election data was sent to Venezuela because Why would you send data to Venezuela when there are easier ways of achieving the same result, such as sending the data to servers inside the US.

we have NO community to uplift us.

Why do you suppose that is? Generations of indoctrination? The notorious "rugged individualism"? We have something of that shortage of community here. There are exceptions, thankfully. Check out the so-called Cronulla riots. Ten years ago? Unsurprisingly, that was mischaracterised by the news coverage but in fact what happened was: after years of muslims harrassing women for "dressing immodestly" on and around Cronulla beach(!), the local boys got fed up, and they confronted the muslims and told them to fuck off. It turned physical. Since then, the Cronulla area is one of the only areas in the country where the muslim population has decreased instead of increasing.

The US has wanted Maduro for a long time and now they have him. Maduro was indicted in NY in 2020 as a narco terrorist, among other charges. Strategically, it was a good move by Trump to kick China and Russia out of VZ and our hemisphere. Trump acted unilaterally, but it was within his presidential powers to do so. He didn't wage war in the country or overthrow the rest of the existing government. He just arrested Maduro and his wife and brought them to NY to face charges.

Our military operated like a well-oiled machine. They are just exceptional people. The people in VZ are overjoyed that Maduro is gone. He drove the country further into ruin from top to bottom after Hugo Chavez. I see it as a win/win for both countries in many ways and a win for South America. Trump's plan for VZ is to rebuild the infrastructure to produce oil revenue for the country and the US. If what's left of Maduro's regime doesn't play ball they will be removed.

Maduro is a desperate man. I don't know if he was involved in election meddling in the US in 2020. Its possible, so maybe Maduro will spill the beans. The 2020 election was rigged and implemented by someone.

I love your last paragraph and totally agree.

The US lost absolutely all claim to moral high ground. We just demonstrated that might makes right. Now that Trump has established that concept the US can't go back to being the world's moral arbiter.

After this invasion and Trump's clear commentary that we will essentially own VZ oil and governance for the time being, we have nothing to say about any other country that invades smaller nations.

Taiwan, Ukraine as key examples.

Tucker has extremely cogent observations about the situation. So does Megan Kelly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgM0aI3IK8

Trump definitely wants to demonstrate the might and resolve of the US to the world. He has to do it because the US has been taken advantage of by many other countries for years but also, things will never change for our country unless we put a stop to the drug cartels and the presence of China and Russia in South America.

Trump has control of the oil for now which he will sell on the open market to benefit VZ. The US will also benefit from that. US oil companies will rebuild their oil industry infrastructure which Chavez and Maduro let deteriorate. We did VZ a favor by removing Maduro. The people are happy he's gone. They've lived in poverty for years, but now they have hope for a better future.

What Trump did is a win for both countries. It isn't like what Putin has done in Ukraine or what Xi would do with Taiwan. Trump left the rest of the Venezuelan government in place. Its under US watch for now, but so far it seems to be working. He's not looking to take over the country, he wants to partner with them before China or Russia does. Strategically, that can't be allowed to happen.

Tucker has some good points. I didn't hear the whole video yet but so what if we're now an empire? We're doing good things.

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