Venezuela from Re: I'm back! And I don't give a F**k about politics anymore.

[Downunder Dolphan]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-03/venezuela-explosions-low-flying-aircraft/106196656

You wonder why we don't trust the "good guys" anymore?

It's when you do shit like this. The drugs angle is complete bullshit, it's to have control over their oil assets that you can get and refine for your own market.

[Sibster]

No it's not.  It's about bringing freedom back to a country that was under oppression from a narco-terrorist group.  Maduro wasn't even the rightfully elected president and a lot of Venezuelans were suffering under him.   Hopefully this sets the stage for some more showdowns with other countries.   Iran, Russia, Cuba and North Korea better take notice.

[Dave Gray]

No it's not.  It's about bringing freedom back to a country that was under oppression from a narco-terrorist group.

Even our own administration isn't saying it's about bringing back freedom.

Trump wants the oil.  He doesn't give one shit about the freedom in other countries.  He doesn't give one shit about drugs.  He just pardoned a convicted narcotics guy, plus doesn't care about freedom in other parts of the world.  And he wants to hand the country back to the VP of the narco group, so don't come at me with that garbage.

Maduro is a bad guy and he isn't legitimate, so I'm not shedding any tears over this, but let's not pretend we are doing it for good reason.  We want to pilfer another country's resources and set up a puppet government.  Whether or not that will work -- who knows?  Setting up friendly regimes in South America has a bad track record.  Trump doesn't care and I think this won't really hurt him because the fallout won't be immediate.

[CF DolFan]

Like the Venezuelans have been saying ... who cares? China and Russia only want their oil as well but at least the US comes with freedom. I have no idea if it is for oil or drugs, but I certainly believe the taunting of Trump by Madura was the final straw for Trump.

[Spider-Dan]

I guess we are now a nation that declares war based on whether our head of state has been taunted.

It is pretty hilarious to see all the "anti-war" conservatives swiftly turn on a dime the moment the Great Orange Emperor makes a move:






Turns out the Iraq War was actually a great idea all along!  Why shouldn't we invade other countries for their oil?

[Sibster]

Like the Venezuelans have been saying ... who cares? China and Russia only want their oil as well but at least the US comes with freedom. I have no idea if it is for oil or drugs, but I certainly believe the taunting of Trump by Madura was the final straw for Trump.

It seems like the only people who are denouncing this are the ones who hate Trump, so they will go against anything he says or does.

If Trump said it's wrong to pollute the air, every single leftist in America would be burning their garbage and yard waste.

[CF DolFan]

Get ready for them to start defending Russia. We just boarded 2 tankers with newly registered Russian flags (formerly Venezuelan) in front of Russian forces.

[Dave Gray]

I don't know how this will turn out.  I am sketchy on presidents unilaterally doing military attacks on foreign nations without even notifying Congress.  It's not that it would never be ok, but I'm just not sure and I don't trust Trump's reasoning.

It's not to spread democracy.  That neocon mindset probably is ineffective, anyway, but that's not what's happening here.
It's not for drugs.  That's obvious.  He doesn't care and he pardoned that other guy.

It might be because the guy didn't bow to Trump and bribe him, so he's sending a message.  But also, this is a long time in the works.  All of this crazy shit with Tren de Aragua being a rightwing boogeyman, focusing on drugs from a specific country where they aren't likely coming from en masse, blowing up boats -- it was all because he was creating a narrative to go in and take out this one guy.  But why?

I guess it's because he wants their natural resources.

I'm just not about that.  That's not what America is, to me -- going in and stealing other country's shit.

I haven't heard a compelling reason for doing this -- at least one that I believe.

[Sibster]

I am sketchy on presidents unilaterally doing military attacks on foreign nations without even notifying Congress.  It's not that it would never be ok, but I'm just not sure and I don't trust Trump's reasoning.

All you need to do to confirm your sketchiness is look at what past president's have done.   Every president all the way back to Harry Truman has authorized air strikes without running it by Congress first.   Every single one.

[Spider-Dan]

"Past presidents" haven't abducted leaders of other countries without authorization from Congress.

And despite your attempts to downplay and sanewash this as just "air strikes", according to the President of the United States, "We're in charge of Venezuela now."

[Sibster]

"Past presidents" haven't abducted leaders of other countries without authorization from Congress.

And despite your attempts to downplay and sanewash this as just "air strikes", according to the President of the United States, "We're in charge of Venezuela now."

Bullshit.   Look no further than George Dubya in Iraq.   For the longest time, the U.S. was in charge.

Also, your beloved Obama hunted down and killed Bin Laden.   That right there counts as an abduction.

[Spider-Dan]

Congress approved military action against Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban on 9/14/2001 (420-1 House, 98-0 Senate).
Congress approved military action against Iraq on 10/11/2002 (296-133 House, 77-23 Senate).

Congress has not even taken a vote on authorizing such action against Venezuela, much less approved it.
Your glorious orange god simply does whatever he wants, depending on his loyal foot soldiers like you to make up excuses after the fact.

Note that Trump himself doesn't even bother with the pretense of legitimacy; he directly says shit like we invaded because he made fun of my dance. He leaves the rationalization to his bootlickers, who have proven willing to invent explanations for anything he does.

[Phishfan]

Isn't anyone else the least bit surprised at how easily this happened. It's almost like we were allowed to capture them on purpose. It doesn't seem like it was nearly as difficult to do as you would think it should be.

[Spider-Dan]

I haven't seen any reporting at all about the number of fatalities that were needed to facilitate Maduro's capture, so I'm not that surprised at all.  I think the primary deterrent to kidnapping any head of state - at least, for any modern military or intelligence operation - is the threat of reprisal from that nation.

Like, do I think Israeli Mossad could kidnap France's President Emmanuel Macron?  Sure.  They just wouldn't like what the response would be.

[Dave Gray]

Isn't anyone else the least bit surprised at how easily this happened. It's almost like we were allowed to capture them on purpose. It doesn't seem like it was nearly as difficult to do as you would think it should be.

There may be someone working from the inside.  Or the regime could be a paper tiger.  ...as could the oil.  We don't really know what they have, because they can't be trusted.