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...

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.