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.